Cassidy James
Copyright © 2016 by Ashley Wilcox
ISBN-13:978-1534638266
ISBN-10:1534638261
Edited by Erin Roth
Cover design by Makeready Designs
Formatting by Champagne Formats
All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products, bands, and/or restaurants referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Before
Now
Huge Thanks!
About the Author
Other Books
“Graham, wait for me!” she screeched from behind me.
I smirked as I glanced over my shoulder to see the distance I made as I bobbed and weaved through the trees behind our houses. When I came to the clearing, my hands dropped to my knees. I panted, exhausted, as I waited for her to catch up.
I didn’t flinch when Cassidy’s fist punched my back. I smiled because it didn’t hurt at all. Girls were such wimps.
“You’re not very nice, you know?” she panted, cheeks pink from the heat, little twigs and branches sticking to her braid.
I shrugged my shoulders as I passed her. I could almost feel her glare burning a hole through my back. I smiled, of course, when she followed.
It was a Friday night. Our parents were on Cassidy’s deck, drinking and laughing. We lived down a long country road with a lot of woods and fields, the only two houses for miles. There was nothing really to do but run down trails and hide in the tall grass behind where we lived.
“I brought us a blanket,” she said, spreading out a pink My Little Pony blanket on the grass before sitting down.
I shook my head. No way was I sitting on that girly thing. “No, thanks,” I said and plopped down on the grass instead.
Unaffected, Cassidy lay back on the blanket, arms at her sides and eyes to the sky. I lay down too, but didn’t look up. I just stared at her. Cassidy was the prettiest girl that I had ever seen.
“Did you see that?!” She moved quickly up to her elbows and looked at me, wide-eyed.
Hurriedly, I looked up to the sky, which looked the same as it always did. I swallowed hard then spit out, “Uh, yeah, that was awesome!” I hadn’t seen it, but I knew what she was talking about. Tonight there was a meteor shower, the biggest one all year, and Cassidy loved shooting stars.
“Wow! I never saw one that big before. Have you, Graham?” There was so much excitement in her voice.
I smiled. “No, that was definitely the biggest,” I replied, still playing along.
Cassidy’s smile reached each side of her face, showing her two missing teeth in the front. “What’s so funny?” she asked, confused as I giggled at her.
“You look funny with no teeth.”
She tilted her head to the side and shot me an evil glare before pushing me down to the ground. “You’re so mean,” Cassidy said, huffing as she lay back down and looked up to the sky again.
She tried to ignore me lying next to her for the next I don’t know how long, but it didn’t last, especially when the stars started shooting all over the place, one after another, so bright even I noticed them.
“Holy moly, there’s two more!” she shouted again, pointing at each one as they soared across the sky.
“Wow!” I pointed to one that was like a mile long. “Did you see that one?”
“Oh yeah! That one was awesome,” Cassidy said as she sat up, practically shaking with excitement. “This is so crazy! I’ve never seen so many in my whole entire life. There’s like a gazillion of them, Graham. This is amazing! Can you believe we’re witnessing an actual meteor shower?! These aren’t always visible, you know. Usually it’s too cloudy anyway.”
“ I didn’t even know meteor showers existed,” I admitted, sitting right up with her, not believing that this was actually happening. “Holy cow! There was like three at a time!” I shouted, pointing.
This was so crazy.
“What was that?” Cassidy’s tone turned frightened, her excitement quickly vanishing as both of our bodies jerked around at the sound of rustling branches and crinkling debris—like someone walking towards us.
My stomach was in my throat. My first instinct was run, but I knew Cassidy was a scaredy-cat, and probably freaking out inside. I couldn’t just leave her, especially when I knew how slow she was. She would never be able to keep up with me.
Swallowing my fear, I shrugged my shoulders. “Probably a deer or something,” I assured her, turning back around.
But then she practically jumped on my lap, and screamed, “Oh my God!”
I looked over my shoulder and saw the frame of a person. Holy crap. I jumped up immediately, naturally in front of Cassidy. I stood there and waited, not knowing what to do. I hoped that he wasn’t going to be big and mean and strong—I was only a boy, I didn’t have big of muscles yet—but I wouldn’t let him get near Cassidy. She wasn’t big at all, much smaller than me.
My body visually relaxed when the body grew closer, my fear actually turning into annoyance when I saw who it was.
“Hey, guys!” Connor Blakely appeared through the clearing, smiling, his hands in his pockets.
I took a step forward and glared at him, less than enthused. “What are you doing here?”
But before Connor could even respond, Cassidy, appearing much more relaxed and bubbly, filled the space in between Connor and me, causing me to immediately roll my eyes.
“Hey, Connor. We were looking at shooting stars. Do you want to watch them with us?” Cassidy asked cheerfully. “There’s so many of them. Like a trillion!”
Huffing and shaking my head, annoyed, I stepped to the side and back in sight of Connor. “Why are you here?” I asked sternly, disregarding Cassidy’s invitation.
“My mom and dad are playing cards with yours and Cassidy’s tonight.” He smiled. “Your mom told me you guys were somewhere back here, so I just went down the trail.”
“All by yourself?” Cassidy asked, intrigued.
I shook my head. It wasn’t even a long trail.
“Yeah, why?” he said, shrugging his shoulders.
“It’s so dark,” Cassidy answered, her voice almost as awed as it was over the stars. Like he was some brave superhero or something. It was ridiculous.
“It’s not that dark,” I pointed out.
Cassidy looked up at the sky and then to me. “Uh, yeah it is.”
“It’s not even black yet.” It was getting pretty dark out, but I was right—it wasn’t really, really dark…not yet. Not to mention, he had a flashlight. What the heck was going to happen to him?
“I’m pretty tough,” Connor interrupted. “I wasn’t scared at all.”
“I’m afraid of the dark,” Cassidy admitted. She was zoned in on him and only him. I didn’t get what her fascination with Connor Blakely was. I mean, I didn’t not like him. We actually play at each other’s houses sometimes, it was just when Cassidy and Connor were together she acted so dumb and annoying.
“I’ll protect you.” He sm
iled at Cassidy, making every last ounce of her melt into him.
Ugh!
“I think we should head back,” I said, nudging Cassidy’s arm to get her attention. “It looks like it’s going to rain.”
She and Connor both looked up.
“There aren’t any clouds in the sky,” she commented, confused.
She was right again. There weren’t any clouds in the sky…not even one.
I let out a defeated sigh.
“Well, we told our parents we’d be right back,” I tried next. “We’ve been out here for a really long time.”
“Yeah, I guess we did,” she said sadly, a frown on her face. “Sorry, Connor. You should’ve come sooner. The shooting stars were awesome.”
I didn’t hear what else she said to him because I was too busy rolling up her blanket. I did hear her giggle, though, and he had a smile on his face when I started to walk in their direction.
Eww. I can’t believe he likes girls like that.
“Oh, you’re going to wait for me this time?” Cassidy asked, raising an eyebrow when I stopped next to them.
“You said you were afraid of the dark,” I pointed out.
“That didn’t make a difference before,” she reminded me, her hand on her hip.
I rolled my eyes as I took her arm. “Just come on.”
It was the first day of senior year. It felt like I waited forever for this day to finally come—just like it was taking forever for Graham to come pick me up. I wasn’t allowed to drive yet. I had my permit, but my parents said I had to wait until I turned eighteen to get my license. Graham was the only person they allowed me to drive with. Guess who my chauffeur was?
I tapped my foot, my arms crossed over my chest as I waited for him on my porch, checking my watch at least a million times. I waited inside the first few minutes, but now, with him taking forever and running the risk of being late, I moved to the porch, allowing me to jump in the car quicker. I’m not crazy; I consider myself prompt. And maybe a little excited. Nonetheless, it wouldn’t kill Graham to have a little more consideration for arrival time. His parents’ old Honda Civic rolled up into the driveway what felt like hours later. It took me all of two seconds to get in. I don’t even know if the car was in park yet.
“What the heck took you so long?” I questioned him immediately, fastening my seatbelt.
He looked at me like I was insane before glancing down at the dash, pointing out the time as he did. “It’s quarter to seven. How early were you expecting to get to school?”
“I don’t know. Not only ten minutes before first bell, though.”
We lived on the outskirts of town, at least fifteen minutes out. By the time we got there it would be 7:00 and first bell rang at 7:10. That barely left any time to hang out prior. I’d be lucky if I could say hi to one friend before having to be to class.
“What, ten minutes isn’t enough time to catch up on the summer gossip before homeroom?” he said sarcastically before pulling out onto the main road.
I rolled my eyes. He could be so annoying sometimes.
“Some people like to get there a little early on the first day of school to say hi to the people they haven’t seen since last year,” I responded matter-of-factly.
Graham had friends—just not a lot of them. Basically the soccer team. He wasn’t a loser or anything. Graham actually was really cute, in a shaggy-haired, soccer build kind of way. He just…I don’t know, he was quiet. Kept to himself.
“You mean, two and half months ago?” he responded slyly, smirking at me quickly before looking back to the road.
Two and a half months ago…huh? I looked at him, confused. I had no clue what he was talking about. I hadn’t seen most of my friends since last year. My dad is a super geek and likes to go on ridiculously long summer camping trips. “Family bonding time.” “Enjoying the land that God gave us.” A summer killer was how I saw it. I barely saw anyone- even Graham.
“Are ya serious?” he asked like I was crazy.
And then it dawned on me. Oh my God! Duh, Cassidy!
Even though I totally just had a blonde moment, I shrugged it off. “What? I knew what you were talking about,” I said, acting as confident as I could. Really. I wasn’t an airhead. I was actually pretty smart…seriously. “I meant the end of the school year.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, okay!” He rolled his eyes and continued to laugh.
A smile inevitably cracked on my face. I hit his arm before I joined in and laughed at my expense. Okay, point for him. My moment of stupidity was obvious.
As we pulled into the senior lot, I couldn’t believe that we were back already. Summer felt like it was over before it even started. Work and soccer, soccer and work pretty much summed up my last two months. I worked for my dad during the summer, roofing. It sucked major ass, but allowed me to save up enough money to last me through the school year. Getting decent grades was hard enough. Throw a work schedule in there too and I’d be toast, repeating my classes for sure!
Not to mention, I had to actually try this year…hard. University of North Carolina Wilmington was scouting me. They told coach that they were really interested—full scholarship interested—so I had to stay on top of my shit if I wanted it to be an option. It was a good school. They wouldn’t take some dumbass kid. This year, as my dad said, was all about applying myself.
The smile on Cassidy’s face as we walked up to school was priceless. Cassidy got all giddy about the first day of school. Always has. I’m sure she spent over an hour last night picking out her outfit. Good selection, by the way, too.
The best description of Cassidy James I could give was beautiful. Head to toe, Cassidy was unbelievably hot. She was short, super short—I’d say five feet was pushing it—but don’t the let shortness throw you off. She had curves, not a stick figure girl at all. Of course, Cassidy hated that about herself. She was always on some kind of fad diet, eating only grapefruit or kale chips or some crap, but seriously, she was perfect. And ask any guy in our school—they all fucking watched her as she walked by.
All in all, though, it was her hair and eyes that stole it for me. Cassidy’s hair was this amazing reddish brown color, and she always wore it down. I fucking loved it. And okay, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sniff in the floral scent that it gave off every time she whipped it around. But then her eyes…they weren’t your everyday green/hazel ones. No, they like jumped out at you. Bright ass crystal green eyes. God, they were amazing to look at.
That was where it ended with us, though. Cassidy was good to look at, and hang out with, but that was it. Cassidy was just a chill girl that I happened to live next door to. She was like the hot sister that was okay to look at. Creepy? Okay, just the hot next door neighbor then.
As soon as we walked through the entrance doors, I nudged her arm, and said, “See ya later,” before we went in opposite directions.
I ran my hand through my hair as I turned the corner of the hallway, making my
way to the gym. As expected, Troy and Caleb were already inside, shooting around the ball. I dropped my school bag to the side and lifted my hand to get the next pass.
Troy lifted his head in greeting as he passed me the soccer ball. “Morning, dude,” he said as he did. “How’s the wife?”
I shook my head and rolled my eyes. They were such dumbasses when it came to Cassidy.
“Cass is fine,” I replied, annoyed, making them both stifle a chuckle. I made sure that when I passed the ball to Caleb, I kicked it extra hard, channeling my annoyance.
“I take it you’re still playing taxi driver?” Caleb added, making them both laugh yet again.
So frickin’ funny, they are!
“Whatever, man, she doesn’t have a car,” I tried to justify myself, once again. It was a never ending battle with those two, on repeat all the fucking time!
Apparently, it was hilarious to constantly bust my balls about Cassidy. But whatever—it was what it was. Cassidy and I were just friends. Point blan
k. Somehow that was a hard concept for everyone to get.
“And looks who’s talking.” I raised my hand in both of their directions. “You guys are so disgustingly pussy-whipped by your girlfriends that I’d be surprised if you could even function on your own!”
They both looked at me like I was crazy, but we all knew it was true.
“At least we can admit that they’re our girlfriends and not just ‘a friend,’” Troy said, adding in the douchebag air quotes.
I rolled my eyes; I was done with this conversation, and was saved by the warning bell, anyway.
“See ya, handsome!” Caleb yelled as I grabbed my bag off the ground.
A response wasn’t needed.
Locker assignments. Just about the most exciting thing about the first day of school. I was ecstatic with the locker that I’d been given—right in the middle of the senior wing, center of everyone. Perfect viewing in each direction. I was booming with excitement, my day made.
“Per usual, you suck,” Abby, my best friend, said dryly as she saw where my locker was. “Every year. Every. Stinkin’.Year.”
“Change your last name.” I shrugged my shoulder as I put the last of my things in my new locker and then shut it.
Thank you, Dad, for giving me this last name!
“Where are you? All the way down there?” I craned my neck towards the end of the hallway. Abby’s last name was Wade, putting her the farthest away from the action, or at least pretty close to it.
“Whatever,” she snubbed. “Graham and I will make the end of the hallway the coolest place to be. Everyone will be jealous. Just wait.”
I laughed at her proclamation, even though her chances were doubtful. Graham was far from Mr. Entertainment. He had some wit that got me laughing from time to time, and he wasn’t too hard on the eyes, but yeah, that was it. She’ll be on her own with making it party central down there.
“Laugh it up, Miss I-Think-the-Center-of-the-Hallway-is-the-Hot-Spot. You’ll be sadly mistaken when everyone’s hanging out with the cool kids all the way down there.” Abby lifted her chin in the direction of her locker just as Graham looked towards us. The confusion on his face was hilarious.
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