There was a moment of hesitation in the universe.

And then Linora Brown blew that delicate balance out of place using only her bubbly personality.

"Whoa. Cassidy, that's tall, dark, Party boy!" She stage whispered behind me.

Ah yes.

I had almost forgotten about the friends if her parents, and their ridiculously gorgeous son, who I had suspected of being fake.

Well, he was real.

Real confused.

"Cass?" He let that question hang.

At the exact same time, Derek asked, "Cassidia?" More in suprise than in taunt, like he thought that was name.

"Oh. My. Gosh. Cassidy, you know all the cute boys." Linora complained in a whisper.

It was not quiet enough.

Derek's eyes looked right at her young, innocent friend.

And then his playboy smile flashed.

Cassidy stopped thinking. Her body went into a fight or flight mode.

Derek was never going to even talk to Linora.

That was never happening.

Ever.

"Time to go." Cassidy decided, grabbed Linora's arm and started walking.

Fast walking.

Around the corner.

And the gate.

Across the field.

They were jogging by the time they got back.

"Ay! Sticks is back." Hispanic boy shouted, rousing cheers from the kids on the ground.

"Whoa. Are you guys okay?" Yance asked.

Cassidy waved them off, still panting a little.

"Did you race?"

Linora shrugged.

She was covering.

"Hey, Sticks! Cassidy needs a nickname."

"Yeah! You're part of the group now!"

"I was just here for today with Loisa." Cassidy objected.

And after running into the football team, she was probably never coming back.

"Nah. You're a good one, so we decided while you were gone that you're part of the family. You can come back anytime. We're gonna seal the deal by christening you with a nickname." Those words came from a child with short blue hair. Flower? Flo?

"What Fleur said."

Fleur. Right. Wherever that nickname came from.

"How about Curly? Like her hair." One kid suggested.

Yance shook her head.

"No, it's gotta be cooler than that."

"How about Splash, because it looks like there's water on her shirt?"

Cassidy looked down at her shirt, where there were wet spots.

A visual of her slamming into sweaty Leo popped into her head, and she went tomato red.

Linora appeared to be thinking the same thing, because she snickered.

"She got water from the fountain. Little clumsy though." Linora outright lied.

"Splash."

"I like it!"

"Welcome to the family, Splash!"

Great. Nicknamed for close contact with a hot football player.

After practice, Loisa drove her home.

"So, what did you think?" Loisa asked, turning on the radio.

"It was fun. They're all great kids." Cassidy responded honestly.

"The music was really good too."

"That's awesome! If you want, you should come with me more. We practice on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, but Wednesdays we get the Big Field because the team isn't out there. What do you say?" Loisa invited.

Cassidy thought about all the laughter.

"That sounds super fun."

"Great. And I can drive you home afterwards." Loisa finished, pulling up to Cassidy's house.

Cassidy opened the door.

"Thanks for the ride, and for today." Cassidy blurted.

Loisa smiled.

"Thanks for staying with me. I would really love to be your friend. See you tomorrow?" She questioned, eyebrow raised.

"Absolutely." Cassidy told her, before closing the car door.

She got inside and closed the door before she heard Loisa's car pull away from the curb.

"Hey, Cassidy." Eli greeted from the couch. "How'd the cinnamon rolls go?"

Cassidy felt a surge of guilt.

"They were great. I actually ended up giving them to a couple kids at Marching Band practice who were really hungry. They told me to send my compliments to the chef."

"That's cool." Eli said, pretending he didn't care, but his face flushed at the praise.

"Where's Lucy?" Cassidy asked.

"She's in her room. We decided tonight is leftover night."

"Good choice." Casssidy confirmed.

"Hey, Eli, I might go with Loisa to Band Practice more often. Is that okay with you two?" Cassidy asked.

"You're only an hour later than if you would have walked, so it's fine. As long as you're hone before eight."

He ended that last part, mimicking a stern parent, but his eyes held a real worry.

"I promise." Cassidy told him, sliding up close to mess up his hair.

His face relaxed a little.

"I would miss you suckers too much to be gone that long anyways." Cassidy declared.

"Who are you calling sucker?" Eli scrunched up his face, grabbing a pillow off the couch and attacking.

Cassidy let out a Yelp and grabbed her own ammo.

After attacking each other with pillows and wrestling on the ground, they fell over laughing.

Eli stopped laughing, suddenly.

"Cassidy?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah, Elijah?" She answered.

"Thanks for being here." He said softly.

Cassidy felt the yank on her heart.

There were some days where she wished they didn't have to look out for each other.

She didn't know that Eli felt Dad's absence as much as she did.

"What are you doing on the floor?" Lucy asked, wandering into the living room.

Cassidy noticed that while she asked that question, she laid down across both of her older siblings, her head on Eli, and her legs on Cassidy's stomach.

"Hey, kiddo." Cassidy greeted.

They didn't answer her question, but she didn't seem to mind.

They laid there for a few moments before Lucy asked, "Can we have ice cream if we're going to cuddle?"

Cassidy and Eli laughed.

"Yeah, Luce. I'll go get some if you'll get off." Eli teased. "Your head is weighing me down."