Pepper and Loisa had cleaned her up pretty good.

They'd helped her to the bathroom, then they'd washed the scrapes on her hand and face, her knees.

The back of her head.

Loisa had lifted her shirt and found some smaller scrapes from where she'd hit the wall.

"I'm getting you a knife." Pepper announced out of the blue.

"Um, what?" Loisa hacked.

He stared at Cassidy.

"My sister went through this. And she didn't come out okay. This isn't going to happen again. I'm getting you a knife." He concluded, the Spanish bite of his accent deepening.

"Okay." Cassidy agreed.

They didn't talk a whole lot after that.

Cassidy stayed for the rest of practice, but she just laid in the grass in the dogpile, staring.

After practice ended, Loisa waited with her until the football team left, then drove her home.

"Are you going to be okay?" Loisa voiced, concerned.

Cassidy gave a jerky nod.

The energy had left her a while ago, feeling tired.

"Okay. Let me know what I can do. Let me know if you want to talk about it. I'm always here."

Cassidy gave another nod, then stumbled inside.

She walked towards the hallway, stopped by Eli's voice.

"Hey, what happened?" Her baby brother demanded.

She stopped.

Then turned around.

"It's fine. I tripped and landed pretty hard into the concrete." She told him.

"Oh. Wow. And all of those bruises are from that?" He questioned.

"I basically slammed down." Cassidy explained, sliding her definitely bruised wrists behind her, carefully.

*****

"What happened to your face?" Her dad asked when they were in the car.

He hadn't even noticed until they'd gotten outside.

"I tripped. Into concrete." Cassidy said.

"Oh."

Silence.

Blinker. Turn.

Silence.

"You should be more careful." He sighed.

She would be.

He stopped the car and she pushed out, body aching.

"See you later, honey."

"Bye, dad." She responded.

She walked as smoothly as possible, clutching the straps of her backpack.

Her hair was down, because the back of her head had protested when she tried putting it up.

Her jacket had lengthy long sleeves that covered her hands.

And her wrists.

No!

She had on leggings, because her scraped knees still hurt.

And her body was covered in bruises.

She'd tried to cleverly hide most of the ones on her face with makeup, but the scrape was still there, and she didn't usually wear makeup, so anyone who looked too close would see it.

"Cassidy!" Emy called.

Cassidy sighed and shuffled over to her friend.

"I had such a great time with Shay-James yesterday. I tried texting you about it, but you didn't respond. So I guess your phone probably broke again." Emy chirped.

Her phone. Cassidy froze.

She would have to go get it.

"And that was great....so I feel like we're really connecting on a deeper level now. Hey, what happened? Why is your cheek scraped up?" Emy asked.

Cassidy stared at her shoes.

"I tripped."

"Hm. That must've hurt. I like your hair down, by the way!" Emy beamed.

"Oh look! There's SJ. Shay-James!"

Cassidy fled while she was distracted.

She ran into Yance in between classes.

Yance's eyes widened.

"Splash! I'm pretty sure Pepper has something for you if you want to grab it before practice." She informed her.

"Thanks. I'll grab it later."

Cassidy walked a little slower when she got to the hallway she had class in.

She could see the door.

But her feet wouldn't move.

You're fair game.

She forced her foot forward a little.

She could see the entrance.

She was so close.

So close.

Only a few feet from the door.

She couldn't move.

Her hands were shaking.

She stared, frustrated, at the place she wanted to get to, her body uncooperative.

Why couldn't she move?

Loisa poked her head out the door and smiled sadly when she saw Cassidy.

She walked out.

"Hey, you dont have to come to class if you aren't feeling good. We can sit in the bathroom if it's too much."

Cassidy shook her head, tears filling her eyes.

"I'm trying to get there. The door. I can't." She croaked, frustrated.

Loisa held out her hand.

"Want some help?" She offered gently.

Cassidy swung her cloaked hand into Loisa's and squeezed it.

Loisa pulled her forward and into the classroom.

Some people looked up when they came in.

Cassidy jerked her head down, letting her hair cover up her face.

She detoured around the entire section on the other side, over by Xander in order to get to her seat.

She couldn't be too careful.

She pulled out her book.

She could hear him.

Talking.

Laughing.

Her mind replayed sounds, images.

The smell of the pavement.

Her hands quivered.

The chair next to her pulled out and she jerked away.

"Hey, Cass."

Leo.

Leo.

"Hey." That one word came out a little croakier than Cassidy would have liked.

He pulled out a container and set it on the desk.

Cassidy stared at her book.

Desperately trying to focus.

He popped the lid open.

She pulled her sleeves down over her fingers.

He slid her fork towards her.

But she didn't pick it up.

*****

Pepper met her in the band room.

With a knife.

One she could put in a sheath that he duck taped to the inside of her jacket.

And another smaller one that she could fit in a pocket.

"We want you to feel safe, valiente. Whatever it takes." He explained.

"Pepper, what happened to your sister?" Cassidy asked.

He didn't move.

"She's alive. She chose to keep the kid. But she doesn't trust. Sometimes, she doesn't sleep." He rasped.

Cassidy told him that she felt a lot better.

But when everyone else went to go to the field, Cassidy walked out and circled around.

Not needing more of what she already saw in her head.

The band was playing a beautiful triumphant first movement on the Big Field.

It was Wednesday, the only day they got to practice on it.

No football players.

And as Yance braided Linora's hair, Cassidy closed her eyes and laid her head on Pepper's leg.

The brass practiced their march routine, then put it together with music.

Repeating over and over again.

The round sound wrapped around Cassidy and echoed in her mind as she closed her eyes.