09 | BURY A FRIEND

     ATHENA couldn't sleep or eat the next morning, neither could Allie. Though every time the Parker girl would close her eyes, all she could see was Cassandra's deceased body. She was exhausted as she made her way down the stairs to see Luke, Jason, Grizz, and Clark in the kitchen with shovels. Allie was dressed in her funeral attire whereas Gordie was already sitting silently at the kitchen island in a dazed state. It was early in the morning, too early, though Athena had lost track of time as she had not slept for hours. Everyone watched as the brunette slowly made her way into the kitchen and grabbed a mug, pouring hot water into it. Athena still hadn't said a single word since they found her on the pavement holding Cassandra's lifeless body.

     She had decided to call Allie, who then contacted Will, Gordie, Luke and Grizz who all then headed over to where she was with Cassandra. They all stood in shock as they saw Athena still holding onto Cassandra's body as her dress was covered in blood. She almost looked paralyzed as she was tightly holding onto her friend's body as Allie approached her with tears in her eyes and cried into the brunette's shoulder. Though, when a few of the guys asked what had happened, Athena, for once in her life, didn't have anything to say.

     "Athena, we were wondering if you could tell us what had happened last night. Gordie is going to do an autopsy while me and the guys are going to start on the grave." Luke decided to speak up, since no one else dared to say a thing as they all continued to watch Athena sip her tea quietly by the stove, away from where everyone else was in the room. Athena stopped drinking her tea and set down the mug slowly as she contemplated what she was going to say before finally looking up at everyone. Grizz exhaled sadly as he saw his friend's fearful eyes, the same ones he saw when Emily had passed away.

     "We were the, um, last two people to clean up the gym." Athena spoke, her voice slightly hoarse and dry, "she wanted me to leave earlier than her so that I could make sure Allie was okay back at the house," Athena glanced at Allie who had her head down with tears in her eyes. "I had been walking down the road for a few minutes when I, uh, heard the noise."

     "The gunshot." Jason spoke quietly as Clark smacked him on the chest as a signal for him to shut up. Athena sucked in a sharp intake of air as Jason spoke before nodding silently in agreement.

     "I ran back to her when I heard the second one go off, but by the time I reached her, I was, um..." Athena clenched her teeth as she felt her heart clenched tightly in her chest as the images of Cassandra's dead body on the sidewalk with blood pouring out of her filled her thoughts, causing her to flinch in the slightest. "I was too late, I was too late." Athena turned away from everyone as she sniffled and rubbed at her cheeks with the sleeves of her sweater before grabbing her mug of tea and taking a sip. Everyone was in shocked silence as they absorbed the reality of what had happened as Allie approached Athena and placed a hand on her shoulder, causing the brunette to flinch slightly before turning to face her friend with a sigh as she shook her head in despair. "I could've saved her, I shouldn't have left her there by herself—" Athena was then pulled into a hug by Allie who cried silently into the brunette's shoulders. The Parker girl was still stunned by the experience as she stood still for a moment before responding to the hug as she wrapped her arms around Allie in a comforting manner.

     After everyone had left to do whatever they could, Athena went upstairs and got herself ready for the funeral before heading with Allie to where Gordie was doing an autopsy on Cassandra's body in one of the laboratory rooms at school. Athena watched in silence as Gordie pulled out the two bullets and examined each of them before wrapping up the body. Athena sighed as she left Allie before heading to the church to prepare for the funeral service since no one else knew what to do. She had kindly asked one of the orchestra girls to play a song on her cello as everyone piled into the pews of the church and waited for the funeral to start. Will had made his way over to where Allie and Athena were and gave a small smile to Athena as she got up and went to go sit next to Gordie, she made sure to look back and check on Allie every so often before she saw Will leave her side and approach Harry and Campbell. Athena stood up and just as Will began to argue for them to leave before Gordie stood up along with Jason, Luke and Clark as well and went over to where Will was to diffuse a brewing fight.

     "Get the fuck out!" Will now shouted as Athena went around to stand in front of him in a defensive manner as Gordie placed a hand on Will's shoulder. The people began to notice the tension between the guys and a few even turned to see what the commotion was as Athena made sure neither of the three guys would do anything irrational, mainly Will with how upset he appeared to be.

     "Hey, Will, I need you to calm down—" Athena tried as Will glanced at her angrily before reverting his attention back to Campbell and Harry.

     "They need to go—"

     "What are you doing?" Gordie finally said in a hushed tone of voice, not wanting to attract any more attention from the surrounding audience of gathered individuals.

     "What?"

     "Isn't this bad enough already?" Gordie nodded to Athena, who stepped out of the way slightly before reverting her attention back to Will with a concerned expression. It was already bad enough that everyone was on edge about Cassandra's sudden death, along with the fact of how there was now a murderer living amongst them.

     "Allie doesn't need to see them," Will eyed Campbell defiantly while Athena sighed and shook her head in distress.

     "Allie doesn't give a shit about this right now." Gordie whispered as he momentarily looked back to where Allie was sitting before reverting his attention back to Will. "You're making this worse, all right? Just let them in."

     "This isn't the time or the place to be arguing right now, understand?" Athena clenched her jaw as she glanced between Will, Campbell, and Harry with a stern gaze.

     "In the back," Will finally answered, causing Athena to sigh in relief as she motioned to where Harry and Campbell would sit, next to Elle, before taking her place next to Allie for a moment.

     "I'll be right here if you need me, okay?" Athena reassured Allie as the youngest Pressman sister looked between Cassandra's body and portrait before nodding in response as she stood up and walked towards the stage to where the podium was placed. The crowd was painfully quiet as Allie surveyed the crowd before her eyes landed on where Athena sat to the right of Helena in the front where she sat only a moment ago.

     "My sister, Cassandra, was good. She was a good person. Um..." Allie paused momentarily, attempting to gather her thoughts on what she would say. "She was captain of the debate team. You didn't want to argue with her." Allie paused once more, though her face hardened in the slightest as she looked over the crowd before asking the one simple, yet complicated, question many in the room were wondering. "Who did this? Huh? Who shot my sister? Why did you do that? We needed her!" Athena sniffled quietly as she wiped her tears and stood up at the same time Will made his way to the front, both ready to comfort their mourning friend. Helena gently touched Athena's shoulder in a comforting manner as Allie cried out as she looked to her sister's body once more, "I needed her." Athena exhaled a shaky breath of air as she made her way up to the podium and nodded for Will to have Allie sit and calm down. Though, as Athena stood before everyone in the room, everyone who currently occupied the town, she realized that she could be staring the murderer in the eyes at that very moment and suddenly, she knew exactly what she wanted to say.

     "I know most of you don't even know who I am, or have never spoken to me at school before until a few days ago." Athena paused as she folded her shaking hands together on the podium and breathed. "But Cassandra, she had known who I was since we were eight years old, when my younger sister had almost died for the first time. My sister was playing outside the front of our house, while Cassandra was passing by on her bike, when she collapsed to the floor because she couldn't breathe. Cassandra had stayed with us until the paramedics came to take my sister to the hospital, where she remained for the next three weeks because her lungs had filled with mucus again, and she had almost died during her surgery." Athena looked to Allie momentarily as tears flooded her eyes and fell down her cheeks. "I had first met and talked to Cassandra that day and the first words she told me were, don't be afraid." Athena licked her lips as more tears fell from her eyes as she looked down for a second before eyeing the crowd of people. "She didn't die alone, but she most likely died in fear, and I owe it to her to make sure she receives the justice she deserves. I promise." Athena whispered the last two words as she looked to where Cassandra's corpse was before feeling a pair of arms, Allie's arms, wrap around her. Athena cleared her throat as she unknotted her intertwined hands and wrapped one arm around Allie as she nodded to where Jason, Clarke, and Grizz were sitting, causing the boys to stand up and make their way to where Cassandra's body was and take her outside to where she would be buried.

     Once outside, Athena stood by Allie as everyone watched Cassandra's body be laid down in the dirt. Helena murmured a prayer for Cassandra before Allie tossed a handful of dirt into the pit. Athena watched from behind the crowd as a few more people followed Allie's actions before Athena, again, was one of the last few people to remain at the grave.

     "I never thought I'd ever bury a friend so soon, not Cassandra." Athena muttered quietly as Allie came to her side and looped her left arm with Athena's right arm while gently leaning her head on her friend's shoulder. "That could have been me, should have maybe."

     "Don't, please don't say that," Allie sighed as she turned her head to face her friend who seemed to grow sickly pale with a dull look in her eyes. "We still need you, now more than ever, because with Cassandra gone I just, I don't know if I can do this without her-" Allie hiccuped as a few tears fell steadily from her grieving blue eyes as she took a small step back to take a breath. Athena tilted her head in the slightest as she slowly approached Allie before embracing her in a comforting hug, knowing how difficult it must be for her.

     "I'm sorry, so sorry Allie. I understand what you're going through and I know the pain you're feeling." Athena murmured against her friend's blonde hair before pulling away from the embrace to look into Allie's eyes, "I will always be here for you, no matter what. I promise you."

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n o t e
woahh, it's been a while since i've updated this fic & my apologies for the semi-short chapter, but i missed writing for this fic & you all so much so i hope you enjoyed this chapter, no matter how sad it is ( rip cassandra )
KRSV