She was on her way to retrieve her phone.

She was terrified, but she kept telling herself that he wasn't there.

It was between classes.

He was on his way to history, because that was where he thought she would be.

It was fine.

But her subconscious knew that those were weak words, and her hands shook and trembled.

She sucked in air, almost hyperventilating.

She knew.

It was just beyond the wall.

She could do this.

She reached into her coat, feeling the handle of Pepper's knife.

She breathed deep.

Cassidy gripped the handle and spun around the corner.

Someone was there.

Tall.

Her mind stopped thinking.

Same place.

She fell backwards and scrambled back.

"Cassidy?"

The figure turned around and Cassidy was shaking hard now, tears running down her face.

She grabbed the knife from her jacket and held it out, pointing.

"Whoa! I'm sorry I scared you. Hey! Put that away!" The figure yelped.

Cassidy's hand was shaking, made more obvious by the wobbling blade.

She sucked in air and tried to focus.

No one was touching her.

She stared at the figure while things came back into focus.

"Your hair is red." She breathed.

Ian was blond.

Then she gasped, tears leaking down her cheeks.

"Uh, yeah? You wanna put the knife down?"

Derek Gurshed had his hands up in a surrender position.

In one of them was a shiny blue object.

Her phone.

"Don't move." Cassidy whispered. "Please, don't move."

Derek slowly knelt down, his large form dropping, his hands still in the air.

"Hey, is this....your phone?" Derek asked.

Cassidy was still searching for air.

"I'm not going to move. Promise. I'm going to set down the phone, and you are going to set down the knife." He bargained.

"Your hair is red." Cassidy muttered.

"I can tell that this is very important. My hair is red, and no, I'm not Irish." He responded.

Cassidy dropped the knife with a clatter and pushed her hands into her hair.

Derek took his hand and gently lowered her phone before backing up.

It was awkward, him shuffling backwards on his knees on the sidewalk.

Cassidy reached out and snatched the phone from its spot on the ground, inhaling and exhaling.

"What happened?"

Cassidy lifted her head to Derek.

"You should go to class."

He shook his head.

"I wasn't planning on it. There's blood over here, and you have a knife. Something happened."

Cassidy didn't bother to glance where the blood was.

"You're a jerk. Why should I tell you anything?" Cassidy hissed.

Derek flinched.

Even when he's an ass. He's so smart. Everything he does is intelligent. And he wishes that he didn't have it, but I can see how smart he is.

"Loisa says you're smart. Good."

Derek's head jerked up.

"Loisa?" He repeated.

"Yeah. Crazy. Are you?"

"Am I smart? Or am I good. Those are different questions."

Cassidy didn't say anything.

"I guess. I'm neither." He decided quietly.

"Do you...want to be?" Cassidy asked. "Good, that is."

This was really weird.

She was sitting on the ground, cradling her phone, only a few feet away from the biggest jerk there was, on his knees.

"Sometimes. All the time. I try sometimes. Does it matter?" He answered.

"Yeah. It does. Why are you here?" She asked.

His face twisted.

"Because I saw Ian over here yesterday. Just sitting here. And he's lying about something. And then I found your phone. So, ergo, something happened."

Cassidy didn't move.

Derek didn't move.

"Will you tell me?" He asked.

"Will you try harder?" She fired back.

He sighed.

"Yeah." He croaked. "No promises. I'll see what I can do."

Cassidy stared at him.

"Listen. I think you're awful, but I won't come at you anymore. I just need some answers." Derek told her.

She didn't ask why he thought she was awful. Xander had talked.

"He was here."

"Yeah, yesterday. Except we didn't even have practice-"

"Not yesterday. Tuesday."

Cassidy let him absorb that.

Derek nodded.

"Okay. Yeah, that lines up. He was gone during the break."

"I was here. During your...break."

"Okay...?"

Cassidy reached out and grabbed the knife.

Derek jerked backwards.

"He almost got me." She admitted, the weight of that slamming into her.

Derek didn't move.

Cassidy pulled up her sleeves.

Derek made a sound.

"Cassidy, are those..." He trailed off.

"I hate him. I hate Ian Montgomery." She stated.

Derek was still staring at her arms, absolutely horrified.

"Did he do that?"

Cassidy dropped her head.

"I'm sorry. That sick idiot. That bastard." Derek snarled.

"I know he's your friend." Cassidy said.

"Not by choice. My parents are friends with his. I can't believe that he-- Cassidy, are you okay?" Derek blurted.

Cassidy stared at him.

"Probably not." She whispered.

"I'm sorry." He croaked.

And he meant it.

Loisa saw this.

Cassidy understood.

"Whatever you think about me, you're wrong. Ian will tell you I put out. But we know different. Others will tell you who I was, but I guarantee that you don't know it all." Cassidy told him.

His eyes lit up in pained understanding.

They didn't move.

The wind blew her hair out of her face.

"We're going to be late to history." Cassidy added.

"I'll wait for you to go. I'll be there after you. And I'm sorry." Derek whispered.

Cassidy pushed off the ground, carefully.

She slid the knife into the sheath, hands still shaking a little.

Derek didn't move.

"I know." She whispered back, before turning around. "See you in class. Try harder."