"Cassidy Clemonte?" The office lady called.

"Um, right here."

"Oh. Good." The lady pulled out a note from a pile. "Your father called. He's got work, so you'll need to ride the bus home."

"Of course. Thank you so much." Cassidy told her.

Wow. 20 minutes of waiting in the hallway, just to be told that she didn't have a ride home.

Cassidy sighed as she walked back to class, weighing her options.

She wasn't riding the bus. That was not one of the options.

She could ask Emy for a ride.

Or ask someone else.

Or....she could just walk the four miles.

Yeah. That was probably what she was going to do.

It meant she wouldn't be home to pick up her little sister from the bus stop or be there when her little brother got home, but neither of them minded, and they weren't snitches.

Cassidy pushed open the door. Derek looked right at her before his elbow jerked out, hitting an open water bottle and sending it crashing onto her bag.

The sad thing was, Cassidy's first thought had been, Man, if only his aim was that good during sports. Our teams might not suck so much.

Her second thought was, Oh my god. My book was in there.

Cassidy rushed across the room frantically pulling things out of her backpack and brushing it off, but the water bottle had been full, and the damage was done.

"Cassidia, I am so sorry. I didn't even see that there." Derek apologized, dutifully.

Cassidy brushed the water off the paperback, the pages were warped and soft from the water. In an hour they would stick together.

"Derek, isn't it pathetic to vandalize other student's property to feel powerful? Are you trying to compensate for something?" Cassidy questioned sweetly.

Her attack would've worked if she hadn't been outnumbered.

Derek sputtered, face red, but his lackies backed him up.

"Cassidy, we're all trying to help you. You don't need to lash out." Ivan reasoned.

"Um, Cassidy, it's just a little water-"

Cassidy turned her famous death glare on Shay-James who had the good sense to slam his big mouth shut.

New Guy walked over with paper towels. To be honest, Cassidy hadn't even noticed he'd left.

He helped to mop and soak up the water.

Cassidy pushed her damp stuff back into the bag. It was all wet anyways.

The third jock rarely piped up, but when he did, he always pulled the slam dunks of awful things.

"See, Cassidy? Henderson is brand new, and even he can tell that you need help."

Cassidy zipped up her bag and twirled around to face Mr. Gurshed.

"I'm taking a truant. Please mark me absent." She announced.

She knew that tomorrow it would be all over, about what a drama queen she was, but she had a 4 mile walk to start on.

Or...at least, that's what happened in her head.

In reality, her mouth opened, then closed.

Then opened again.

"You're right, Derek. I apologize. Accidents happen all the time." Cassidy acknowledged, sitting back down.

She pulled out a few ruined papers and a pencil.

No one noticed that it was the already completed final.

New Guy was looking at her with a puzzled expression.

Another concert to the "Cassidy is Crazy" rumors.

Cassidy decided it was okay that it had been destroyed.

She hoped the stupid jocks all failed the assignment.