Redthorn Academy for the Magically Gifted discussion

((The school's library is a labyrinth of study rooms and bookshelves. There is a day librarian, and a night librarian. The library is open at all times, except when there is an assembly or something. The library is open at night for students who need a quiet place to study or students who completely forgot about their test that they had first period and remembered they still needed to study at 3 am))

“Blah..” groaned Andy, after downing her third cup of black coffee. The pod holder opened up on her Keurig and the used pod floated out and fell into the trash. A new pod quickly floated over and shoved itself into the pod holder and the lid closed. Then, the water began to pre-heat until it was boiling inside. Andy paused for a moment, as her cup quickly shot over and landed under the Keurig. The buttons began to push themselves, and Andy sighed as the scent of coffee wafted through the air. A metal book cart rolled over to her desk, and Andy quickly scanned the books. One by one, they floated over to their bookshelves and slid right in. All over the library, hundreds of books were being put back into place. Andy sniffled a little bit, and a tissue quickly floated over and landed in her waiting hand. She wiped her nose, and frowned at the small blood stain on it. Her abilities did take a strain on her body, although it was rare for this to happen. It must be because of her lack of sleep. She usually slept through the day, but they needed her in the forest to patrol the energy emitting from it. Andy yawned and tossed the tissue into the trash. A few seconds later, she took a sip of her coffee, that had floated over immediately after she was done.

((Woah. Coolest library ever! XD))

Marcus tried his best to quietly shut the door behind him when it smacked with a cringeworthy BANG! Closing an eye for a moment out of embarrassment, Marcus took in the library and inhaled a deep breath. The library was always a placed filled with wonder. And even though he really wasn't much of a book work, nor a studyholic, the library always managed to make it worthwhile to pop by every now and then. Even now, the library smelled like morning coffee and Marcus couldn't wait to get his hands on some. Tucking his folder and assigned books under and arm, Marcus searched for the coffee pot and soon spotted a girl close by. Smiling to himself, he walked over and a tiny white cup sped right in front of his face, screeching to a halt like an animation. He took the cup in his left hand and waded over to the pot. Keeping an eye on the girl, he heard a small sniffle from her direction. Turning his head to see if it was her, Marcus's face changed into that of concern. "Are you alright?" He whispered, grateful to have remembered that this was a library.

The night librarian looked up, just now noticing that someone had entered the library. “Welcome, and yes, I’m alright.” She spoke. Andy brushed a lock of hair out of her face, then decided that it was time to put it up. Her hair began to tie itself into a bun, her hands still on the coffee cup. Andy glanced over at the clock, and noticed that it was later than she expected. “Do you have a pass?” She asked. It would have been fine if there wasn’t one, but she just wanted to make sure. Due to the increase in dark energy emitting from the forest, the school wanted to ensure safety and make sure that they knew where students were at all times. Another cart rolled over to Andy’s side, and one by one, the books floated to their proper spaces on the towering bookshelves.

((Oh! One question, is Andy, Arden?))

Marcus didn't expect her to reply so smoothly. And her question came at an even bigger surprise to him as he filled his cup with the sweet coffee. "Er, no. I knew I had forgotten something!" Marcus exclaimed as he cursed under his breath. "I had forgotten to ask my teacher and the moment slipped when I tried to." Cringing once again, he asked, "Does this mean i should run back over to her and ask her for a form then?" He didn't mean to cause any trouble, but it would be a bother for him to travel back to the classroom

((Andy is my new character Andromeda, the night librarian!))

((Ooh! Cool!)

“No, no it’s quite alright!” She spoke, grabbing a pen from a cup sitting next to her. The small booklet of passes flew from atop a filing cabinet and onto Andy’s desk. “Name?” She asked, scrawling down Andromeda Williams onto the teacher signature line. Andy took another sip of her coffee, then set the cup gently back down onto her messy desk. A soft ding echoed throughout the library, as a small pop-up appeared onto her computer, showing that she received an email from the Headmaster.

"Marcus. Marcus Fox, ma'am," he added quickly, only now remembering his manners as well. While Marcus was tempted to look at the screen in front of the librarian, he refrained from doing so. He watched the library come to life as books flew up into the air and nestled into their proper places. "How do they do that?" He asked suddenly. "The books, I mean. Is it some kind of levitation spell?"

Andy scribbled down his name onto the pass. She ripped the yellow slip out of the pad and handed it to Marcus. "Here, just give this to your homeroom teacher or a teacher at the dorms." She said. "It's my ability, a form of telekinesis." She spoke, sending the final books into their places. The rest of the carts slid into a closet where they were kept, and Andy let out a sigh of relief after everything was in order. She really needed to get more sleep, using her abilities were tiring her out easier.

Marcus grinned as the librarian handed him the slip. At least now he wouldn't get into any trouble if his slip mysteriously disappeared. "Thank you," he said to her with a smile. As she explained how the books were able to float in the air, Marcus's jaw drop. "You're doing it? That's awesome! I thought that someone had placed a levitation spell and they just stayed up like that." Then his face turned into that of concern. "Wait, you're not tiring yoursel, are you?"

“Well, yes. But that doesn’t matter. Just as long as the job gets done.” Said Andy, as she clicked on the email from the headmaster. “Hmm..” she muttered, scanning over it. Again?? she thought as she read over the words “I was wondering if you’d go back to the forest for one more task? If it isn’t too much trouble. Otherwise, I could just send someone else to do it..” which was the headmaster’s way of guilt tripping her into doing it.

((We don’t have to continue this rp if you don’t want to. If you’re too busy, we can end it.))

((We can do a few more posts. :D I wouldn't mind at all!))

As the librarian told him about her being super tired because of the levitation, Marcus frowned. She would eventually tire herself out if she continued like this! Someone should help her! "But. . . but how could you do things in the day if you tire yourself out for a night?"

((Oh I meant that Andy was reading the email to herself, the headmaster was asking her to go into the forest once more!))

((Terribly sorry! I'll write my post! XD))

((Edited!))

“It’s really alright, I sleep during the day.” Said Andy. “The forest isn’t too much of a hassle, just bubbling up dark energy spots and sending it away!” She spoke. “Anyways, is there anything else I could help you with?” She asked, then took another sip of her coffee. Andy exited out of a few tabs, and quickly began replying to the email.

"So what? You're an owl now?" Marcus joked as he snorted. But when she started to speak about something different entirely, Marcus cocked his head to the side and asked, "Are you alright? I didn't know that the forest had dark energy." It was the first time he had heard it too. Was it something that wasn't suppose to be heard in the ears of a student? "Nope. That was it. Thanks miss. . . Librarian?"

((Is this thread taken?))

James had been staring at the phone on the table for a good 10 minutes now, fiddling with the piece of paper in his hand. It was the phone number Cassie had given him and he had curled up the paper so many times that the edges were beginning to rip on the sides. He didn't want to text Cassie, but he also really did at the same time. He was still angry at her fro what she had done in class before but James forgave easily and being around Cassie was fun. She made everything seem more interesting by just standing there. He wanted to keep being friends with her. Every so often he would glance back at the number in his hand before looking back at the phone.

One thing that ought to be mentioned was that the phone in front of James was not actually his in the first place. It was his friend's phone officially. James had a flip phone given to him by his brother Theo before he left for the academy, but it was so slow that usually James just ended up using a pay phone or something to call home. This phone was a new (and very exciting) gift to James. It was still an old phone and the screen was cracked, but James could text on it. His friend had gotten fed up with James always asking to use his phone so he had given James one of his old ones. His friend came from a very rich family so it wasn't much to sacrifice. James couldn't pay for the phone plan so his friend payed for that too. It was more charity than James was usually willing to take but since it really was nothing to his friend, he had accepted it.

Finally James decided that he had to do something rather than just staring at the phone all day. "Hey, Cassie. Can we talk?" He typed before deleting the message. A minute later he re-wrote the sentence and then deleted it again. He repeated this process a few times before finally retyping it one more time and sending it. Now all he had to do was wait for Cassie to reply. He wasn't sure what he would say to her when she replied. Would he want to yell at her for being so mean to his teacher? Or would he just tell her that he was bored and wanted some company. Knowing his personality, the latter was probably more likely.

“That little bart!” Cassie spat into her phone hearing her friends on the other side mutter in reply. “I mean how dare he! Oh he’ll get what's coming for him!” She yelled not caring who heard at this point. She was sure everyone in the rooms below and beside could hear her rants. She paced back and forth screaming at the top of her lungs to her friends that were on the other side of her phone.
“And how could they put you in confinement! I mean you did nothing wrong.” One said both sympathy and annoyance in her voice that could have meant anything.
Honestly if she was annoyed at Cassie’s yelling Cassie would have noticed. She needed someone to yell to and right no anyone would do.
“I know!” Cassie replied stopping her pacing and flopping back on her bed. Her hair spread around her like a halo making her look almost angelic despite her attitude. “I mean i’m sure they have someone outside my door in case I try leave. Do they know who I am. I mean who do they think I am!” Cassie complained. “I will talk to my family and involve them. They say they will call them but I bet they will take my side so it’s really not a punishment. And I mean what’s the worse they can do? They can kick me from this school but that won't matter me at all.”
“Oh but we will miss you Cas.” Her friends replied making Cassie grin.
“Oh thanks girls.” Of course they would miss her, she’s their leader they would be lost without her. Again Cassie didn’t really realize they were just saying the things she wanted to hear. Everyone knew not to mess with Cassie when she was like this. Well most people did or quickly learnt not to. She was much more danoguers when she was mad.

Now this ranting went on forever, Cassie had so much to rant about that she went to standing and pacing to flopped on her bed at least ten times. She could go on for ages about who some dumb kid in James’s class ratted her out and then all then teachers came, even her home room one, and escorted her away. Now it was said that Mr teacher that she mind controlled was in intensive care thanks to her. Cassie just laughed at that. He deserved it. But she couldn’t tell that to the teachers despite how true it was. So Cassie made up excuses, and truthfully she was good at that, her acting skills were flawless, in her eyes. ‘It wasn’t my fault his brain was weak, I didn’t do anything to him but make him sit down. I gave him a break from teaching and became the teacher myself. Ilet their class to a practical and explore their powers more. I also made some friends!’ She would say acting her innocents, acting like she was sorry. But she wasn’t, at all. That might be why she was lock in her room not being allowed to go out without and escort. Either way it annoyed Cassie like nothing.

Cassie was still complaining to her friends when her phone buzzed playing the rather interesting ringtone she set that signaled an incoming text. Cassie sighed expecting it to be her cousin rubbing it in her face she got caught. She had fist text him in class but wouldn’t be surprised if he only text back now, gosh knows what that boy was doing.
“Talk later girls someone's texting me.” She said hearing their goodbyes said by her friends before ending their call. Throwing herself back onto her bed, Cassie lay stomach down her phone resting in front of her. With a few taps of her long black painted and red tipped nails, Cassie opened her messages. Amazingly she didn’t see a text from her cousin but one from and unknown number. Cassie grinned already know who it was without needing to read the text. So he did decided to text me, I knew he would Cassie thought setting his contact to his name so she knew who it was before opening the text not even bothering to stop herself laughing. She didn’t know could they they talk? It depends how stick Cassie no-leaving-her-room rules where. He might want to only talk over text but Cassie was much more interested in face to face conversations right now. Deciding it didn’t matter, she could get out, Cassie text back.
Sure. When, where? With a tap of her finger she sent it before swapping to her and her friends chat group.
Find that brat and be ready to take him where I tell you, make sure as many people as you can go where I text, this needs to be public. I will show them for ratting me out.
A second later her phone vibrated with an incomingmessage.
This will be fun.

While waiting for Cassie to reply, Jame had gotten up and began to wander around the library. James liked to read, but recently he had been too busy to do much more than study. He liked movies more anyways. It was the stories the he craved, the escape from reality. People didn't understand how much he enjoyed them, so he usually went to movies on his own. He didn't like having to talk to someone during the movie since it pulled him out of the story. He wanted to live whatever fictional land he was reading or watching about just like the actors were. But he was in the library now, so he decided he might as well just wander around.

When James finally did get the text back, he didn't notice because his phone was so old that sometimes it messed up and only notified him about things hours later. So, he just went on looking at books. Finally though, he opened his phone to check the time and saw her message. He was glad that Cassie wanted to meet up because he liked talking face to face more and his phone was so old that texting for more than 10 minutes usually killed it's battery. Library? Now, if that works for you. He texted back after yet another long moment of hesitation. At the moment he was glad that he was texting her rather than talking because he wouldn't know what to say otherwise. Slipping the phone into his pocket he went back to looking through library books.

Somehow James ended up picking out a book about a girl who could control other people's minds. Funny huh? It was probably just because he had Cassie on his mind. Of course, the girl was a total maniac who ended up killing thousands of people which was not encouraging in any way at all. He read a few pages before closing the book and playing around with his ice powers a bit. He knew that Cassie had been interested in his abilities, although she hadn't told him why. Taking his water bottle, James spilled some water onto his hand and froze it into intricate swirls that crept up his arm. Despite the fact that James was always cold, he didn't feel the chill of the ice. He had never really understood that, but didn't question it.

(( hey Freea is back so i was windering if we wanted to bring her and Ian in to thus RP again or do we just want to keep this between Cassie and james????

((Bringing in Freea and Ian sounds great. The more drama the better!))

((You know how hard it is to play a character like Cassie when u have no idea about fashion or makeup lol. It’s impossible. But i'll apologize now for Cassie XD))

Was James slow was she just inpatient? It had been like fifteen minutes since she last text him back so what was taking him to long. Cassie was literally about call him when he finally text back.
“Took you long enough.” Cassie muttered opening his text.
Library, now. Yeah that worked. The library wasn’t the most public place but it would do. It would have to. Without hesitation she text back, unlike James she wasn’t going to leave anyone waiting
Sounds perfect, c u in 30. With that Cassie opened her group chat.
Library in 30. Be there. Seconds later she got a reply.
Sweets we’ll be there.
A sick little grin spreading across her face, Cassie stood tossing her phone on the bed before rifling through her draws. Let’s say she need to make this moment memorable.

Standing in front of her mirror, Cassie studded her new outfit before finally decided she liked it. She had changed completely now wearing a slightly glittery a purple crop top and, high rise metallic silver skirt that may or may have been very shot only going halfway down her thighs. A diamond jeweled belt rested around her waist matching the silver of her skirt. She was still sticking with her heels changing them to her silver lace up ones reaching just past her ankles. Now she might have gone a bit over top with her make up and everything but she wanted to be noticeable. And she had succeeded in that. Her hair was done into a elaborated bun her long heart earrings falling halfway down to her shoulders were silver with red highlights. She also wore a matching jeweled necklace. Cassie didn’t often wear makeup but today she did and she went all out, good thing was she knew exactly how to do her makeup. No foundation or anything, that was a waste of time for her. She just put on eye shadow that faded from a metallic silver to purple. She gave herself perfect wings with the eyeliner her lips now stained a blood red the only thing different from her rest of her outfit which made it stand out even more. Cassie grinned the red making her teeth look whiter. Yes this would do well. This would make it a memorable day.

She was about to leave being it had already been twenty minutes but she had one more task to do. Grabbing her phone Cassie called the one person she never wanted to see. The one she didn’t think she would ever talk to again, but if today was a lesson of everyone it would be a lesson for him to.

She had to call him twice before he finally picked up and when he did she scowled at her first few words. Not wasting her time on his silly questions Cassie cut to the chance.
“Are you with that brat.” She snarled having a feeling he would say yes, that would explain why she hadn’t seen her for ages now. She would have thought Freea would want to rub it in her face that Cassie got caught but she hadn’t seen her. So either she was wrong, which he highly doubted, or that charming cousin of hers was using his magic. Low and behold she wasn’t amazed at his reply and she already had a list of colourful words to spit at him, which was exactly what she did. He seemed to let it go on while for yelling at her to shut her mouth. Cassie grumbled a few more words before saying more.
“Well come to the library I got something to show you both.” She said holding her spear hand on her hips. There was silence as he considered her statement before he questioned more.
“Oh hush.” She said. “But like I said I wanna show you and you brat something. Meet in under 10 mins.” And with that she hung up grinning to herself. She had riled him like she planed and then the rest would play out. It just depended on how interested Freea was over with her offer.

A few minutes later Cassie strode down the hall a diamond studded handbag swinging by her hip. She took no notice as people stared at her or even followed wondering why she was so dressed up. Which was exactly the reaction she wanted. The more people in the crowd the better. Cassie flung the libraries doors open as she walked in attracting everyone's attention the silence of the library dropping even lower. Some moved back as if the wanted the bookshelves to hide them as they feebly tried to hide from her gaze. Others just watched in interest as she looked around for her victim. It didn’t take long to find him sitting in one of the tables in the middle of the room. Next to him sat a group of his friends and a few of hers further away from him. Cassie grinned, she would teach them for ratting her out. She headed towards him with purposeful strides. Out the corner of her eye she saw James but paid no mind to him, not yet anyway.

“Noah, Noah, Noah.” She said sweetness dripping from his voice as she stood behind him.
Her friends stood moving to her side as Noah swiveled to face her his face going pale.
“What, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” She laughed noticing how he struggled to keep his eyes on her face.
She grinned again, her blood lips peeling back to show her pearl teeth that it look less like a grin more like a snarl.
“What is it Noah, you afraid of me? Well you didn’t seem afraid when you sold me out.” She said her voice suddenly going dark. “You seemed more than happen to rat me out like the rat you are.”
She hissed stepping up so she was standing on the table Noah was sitting at. He followed her with his eyes fear written all over his face.
“Tell me Noah why did you decided to sell me out huh? What insane though made you think that was a smart idea.” She waited raising an eyebrow as she got no reply. “No reason then.”
“Sorry.” He finally blurted making Cassie laugh, as if words like that would fix it all, he still ratted her out and he still needed to suffer.
“Oh well that makes it all better.” She said crouching in front of him.
She grinned taking his hand in hers. He looked down but she made sure he kept his eyes on her face.
“I’m sure you're so very sorry now but what about when you sold me out. I bet you felt so happy like you finally defeated me. Well i’ll tell you something...” She said drawing a love heart on his wrist before writing 'Cas' in the middle of it with neat cursive writing. She grinned sweetly before pulling him towards her, moving her lips to his ear.
“But you only made your situation much, much worse.” She said soft to his ear.
With that she pushed him back so he toppled from his chair. Cassie laughed standing back up and stepping down from the table.
“Run rat run!” She yelled watching him scamper away his friends remaining behind.
She turned to them her lips curling back to revel her teeth once more.
“Stay or follow it’s your choice but just remember who’s side your on.”
She watched a few leave but most reminded behind going back to their books at her glare.
“Go make sure he doesn't rat me out again.” She told her friends watching them dart off after Noah.
Cassie smiled to herself as her eyes once again scanned the room everyone looking away as she met their gaze. She had made her point, she had proven exactly why no one should mess with her.

With her job done Cassie turned to where she had last seen James.
“Oh there you are.” She exclaimed trotting towards him people moving out her way as she walked. Everyone would remember this moment. Remember it for a very long time.
“So what did you want to talk to me about?” She asked settling herself gracefully beside him. She felt people watching her, watching as she talked to James, as she treated him like on of her own.
“Oh and sorry to keep you waiting before I just had a little something to deal with but now i’m all ears.” She said wondering if she would get a lecturer from James or not.
She knew how much he would have liked her little show being she saw just how much he liked her little taking-over-the-teachers-roll stunt she pulled before. Now she just wondered what he would do.

(( I can't match your long posts!))

Of course Cassie texted back the second he sent his message. She was probably one of those people who constantly checked their phone so that they never left anyone hanging. James had lived without a phone for most of his life, so he was still getting used to it. Things like emojis and short-forms were all still things that James didn't really understand. Okay, see you soon He replied after a moment before going back to his book. It wasn't a very good one, but it would have to do for now until he found a better author to read. Flipping absentmindedly through the pages, James let his mind wander off from the book and back to Cassie. How had he gotten mixed up with someone like her? He seemed like the least likely person for her to ever want to hang out with. Sure, it wasn't like he was exactly unpopular or anything, he had his group of friends, but he was nothing compared to her.

By the time Cassie walked in, James had checked his watch what seemed like a billion times. Maybe she responded to texts quickly but it certainly took her long enough to get to the library. It felt like way longer than half an hour. Of course, when she walked in, James understood why it had taken so long. She had decided to dress like she was about to go out to party. It must have taken her a crazy amount of time to get everything just right. And while it pained James to admit it... he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Maybe if her skirt had been at a decent length it would have been easier, but it was short... like really short. James was a normal teenager and like any normal teenager, there was still a little bit of lust when it came to the gender they were attracted to. Cassie had taken that feeling and had made it ten times more noticeable. She certainly knew how to catch a boy's interest. Obviously, James was not the only one who was interested, as she sashayed into the room, every eye was on her. James wasn't at all surprised with the reaction that she got. Half the people surged forwards, wanting to see what was going to happen while the other half shrunk back, as if praying to god that Cassie wouldn't notice them.

James watched with horror as the scene unfolded before him. He had been hoping that maybe, just maybe he could make Cassie a better person. But it was quite obvious that she wasn't going to let that happen. James knew Noah. Not closely but they had talked and he knew that Noah was a nice person. A person with morals and honesty. That was something James respected and while he hadn't known that Noah had ratted Cassie out, he respected that greatly. Most people would have been too scared to go to a teacher about that. But before he could react properly, it was over, and Cassie was walking towards him.

Her smile was a mix of being the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, and the most scary thing he had ever seen. She looked like a smug predator that had just killed it's prey. But of course, James couldn't help but let his eyes wander a bit, taking in her flashy clothing and intense make up. Whether or not Cassie noticed... He wasn't sure.
"What did I want to talk to you about?" James scoffed and fixed her with a cold glare. It wasn't often that James got angry, but when he did, his eyes turned to ice. Not literally (although he could potentially freeze the water in his eyes) but with his pale blue irises, when he wanted to look angry, he could. Leaning back he regarded Cassie with narrowed eyes, biting the inside of his cheek with annoyance.
"Oh, I don't know... I wanted to talk to you about not being a terrible person. But I guess that's not possible. It just comes to you naturally." He growled, his cheeks flushed against his pale skin with anger.
"I can't believe that you actually find this stuff amusing. Don't you have better things to do than torture people?"

((It’s ok you don’t have to match my posts :-) You give me more than enough to go off so don’t worry about it. Beside I take ages to reply to we are even.))

“Well that is what I asked you.” Cassie replied rolling her eyes. “It’s also the second main reason I bothered to snuck out my room so can we please get on with it.” She said putting her feet up and deiverting her eyes to her nails. Now Cassie wasn’t the type to use her looks. Don’t her wrong she had them and she could rock them if she wanted to but unlike her cousin she wasn’t a flirt. She couldn’t say a cute line for the life of her or be flirtatious in anyway. However her outfit she made sure to rock. The position she was sitting in with her legs kicked up onto the seat next to her wasn’t too revealing but enough to catch they eye of many. She would show them all for messing with her. She would just about do anything if her reign over the school was being affect as it was now.

Cassie just started impatiently back at Luke as he glared at her. What did he want? If he was waiting for her to say something she wasn’t going to. Beside she was way to busy watching the way people looked at her to care about Lukes little guessing game. No one's reaction were exactly existing her so she was grateful when Luke finally spoke up.
“You said it yourself dear it comes naturally to me.” She said watching the red climb up.
It was amazing how the slight colour looked so bright against James’s pale skin. If she wasn’t mistaking it would look like he was blushing. She had seen him eyeing her up slightly before so maybe it just looked like he was angry. Being slightly curious she opened a telepathic link. And, just for his privacy, only let herself see his top thought frowning when most of them were angry ones not surprisingly directed towards her. There were a few about her looks but they weren’t his main thought. His paleness was slightly interesting though, just like it frost powers. They really interested him. Who knows maybe he could be like Elsa. Wouldn’t a male Elsa be fun. Cause everyone loves frozen, mind you Cassie wouldn’t mind having an ice dress.

Now Cassie was about to reply to his other other statement of her torturing people when she heard the thoughts of someone walking towards her.
Give me a second She said unintentionally saying it in his mind. Completely forgetting to close the telepathic link between them, Cassie didn’t bother turning to face the approaching company she was already reading his motives for being here.
“I don’t like creeps.” She said plainly her eyes following him as he walked towards her.
Short blond hair, tall and muscular build clearly someone of fame by the way other people watched him. Probably some sports player by his build. Digging though her thought Cassie wasn’t amazed to find she was right and that he was in fact a basketball player. His name was Jason and she was sure she had seen him before, maybe talked a few times he was of a high rank in the school so they probably knew each other.
“I’m sorry my dear, I was merely coming say hello.” He said his voice soft yet gruff.
“Mmm yeah and I can simply read minds.” She said sweetly picking at her nails while still not facing him.
She glanced over at Luke telepathically sending him her displeasure with this. She didn’t really want to deal with Jason, she was here for James and James alone. She saw his thoughts quite clearly and also felt his eyes on her back taking in all the glitz and glamour. This wasn’t the exact reason she wore this outfit but it got people's attention and that’s exactly what she was wanting. He grinned stopping in front of her and Cassie didn’t stand. She didn’t even glanced up at him she just back at her nails.
“I must say you look rather spectacular today, what’s the occasion.” He asked and she just rolled her eye.
He wasn’t going to go anywhere was he? Seriously she didn’t need no random guy to help her keep her status in the school, she worked alone. Their really was only one way she would get rid of him wasn’t there. Finally turning to face him, Cassie stood, standing about the same height as him thanks to her heels. Taking his hand Cassie got the same pan she used with Noah.
“I was just teaching someone a lesson.” She replied while writing her number on his wrist.
He watched her in fascination as she drew a fancy little love heart around her number exactly like she did with both James and Noah. It was her mark, one she did around her number every time she gave it to someone and what she did to mark her place.
“Call me.” She said before once again turning away from him.
Seeming to get the message she was currently uninterested Jason just grinned.
“See you later sweets.” He said before walking off to do whatever sports boys did.

Cassie let out a sigh of relief as Jason walked off.
“Maybe I went slightly to over bored.” She muttered. “Oh well. Now back to the matter at hand I don’t find it overly amusing.” She said which was almost true.
Seeing people second guess to hurt her was kind of nice to see, she liked keeping her power over the school. Best way to do that was to make people fear going up against her. Beside mind readers are not the best people to make enemies from.
“Beside this is the best thing I can do. It mercy that I teach them so quickly who's who and why they shouldn’t mess with me. If I let this go on who knows what would happen.” She said innocently with a shrug.
Cassie let her words sit for a bit, letting James think them over before she spoke up once again still reading many highly anger thoughts of his all directed towards her.
“I mean what do you want from me? You said it yourself it comes naturally how do you want me to change what’s in my blood. I’ll tell you what,” Cassie said putting her feet down and leaned forward a smirk playing on her blood lips. “If you can think of an way for me to somehow change and be nicer then maybe i’ll agree. We can have like a week to see if if can be good.” Cassie laughed, how ridiculous did that sound.
Her, being good! Like her being like James. She was nice but her kindness came in a different form then James’s one did. Her niceness came from not publicly humiliating people or even building them the foundation to rise up and become actually known in the school. She could never be Like Jame. They way he help people no thought about it. They way he willingly saw the best in everyone even when Cassie told him they were they worst person ever, and if a mind reader says that you should believe them. But Luke never did, always thinking them friends until they did something really wrong. It was quite cute how he did that. Cassie liked that about him but at the same time trust like that would get him nowhere. Cassie being like James would ever happen. It couldn’t happen, right? There was no way she could ever change what now came so naturally to her. However she If she had to be nice that would tear down her whole rank in the school. How could someone be nice but be queen? Biting her lip Cassie cursed to herself. Luke was smart, she knew that. What had she just signed herself up for?

James honestly didn't know what to say to Cassie. It wasn't like James had lived in a little pocket of heaven before this school. In fact, he had lived with kids who had done a lot worse than just shoving someone off a chair, or publicly humiliating anyone. Honestly, James was pretty sure that Cassie and his (honorary) brother Theo would get along extremely well. The natural disposition of being a total jerk seemed to be a part of both their personalities. Not to mention the weird constant flirting and sarcastic remarks. Now that James really thought about it, Cassie was basically a female more diva-like version of Theo. It was sort of freaky. The only big difference was that Theo wouldn't have wanted the attention Cassie got. Theo didn't need to be popular, he didn't need the titles, people still followed him anyways. But despite his anger issues, constant sarcasm and everything James didn't like, James still loved his brother with all his heart. Because underneath all that anger there was a boy who was kind and gentle. The boy who once took care of two kittens despite the fact that he could hardly feed himself. The boy who had brought James into his little family and had hugged him when he was sad, and somehow managed to always put James before himself. That was the Theo that James had found eventually. And he was sure, that no matter how horrible Cassie acted, she still had a side like that too.

James didn't know why he had this constant need to find the best in people. Why he had this obsession with knowing that everyone had a good side. Maybe he needed to convince himself that there was still good in the world. Sometimes when it felt like everything was crashing and burning around him (which seemed to be pretty much always) he needed to remind himself that there was still good in this world. He had once read the Diary of Anne Frank, and in her diary she had said "Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart". That was how James wanted to live. He wanted to believe that no matter how hard things got, people were still good at heart. With Cassie, maybe it was going to be harder to find that side, but James knew it had to be there. After all, she was kind to him wasn't she?

A familiar ringing feeling in the back of his head, made him shift suddenly to give Cassie a sharp look. That was the feeling he got when she was rooting around in his head or speaking to him through her power. But from the way she wasn't looking at him, James figured she hadn't meant to do that. He watched the boy come up to their table with a curious but slightly guarded expression. For some reason he didn't like that this guy was talking to Cassie. From the wave of annoyance that flew into his thoughts, Cassie didn't like it either. That surprised James, since this guy sort of seemed like the exact person Cassie would hang out. Pinching his lips together he watched with a bored expression as the scene unfolded before him until the boy finally walked away. He watched as the boy excitedly showed his friends the number on his wrist as they walked away.

James decided to ignore the 'slightly overboard' comment. Slightly was not how he would describe what Cassie had done. Frowning at her next few ideas he gave her a pensive look. How was he supposed to make Cassie be a better person? Honestly, he couldn't think of one way he could possibly change her beyond just spending a lot of time with her and letting time take its path. That's what he'd done with Theo, and it hadn't really worked, but once and a while Theo would have a good day and actually be nice. That wasn't much, but it was more than before he had met James.

Leaning forwards, James suddenly snatched Cassie's phone off of the table and slipped it into his pocket. He wasn't sure, but he figured that to Cassie, her phone was very important to her.
"Alright. Here's the deal. You come and volunteer with me, and talk to people in a civil way, and not try and be a jerk for this entire week, and I will give your phone back after this week." He smiled sweetly at her. He figured that the volunteering part was not going to be a good time for her.
"I work at the animal shelter twice a week, and I help out at a foster care center for young kids once a week, and you're coming with me." He added, his sweet smile turning into a bit of a smirk.

((I think maybe Cassie should meet Theo one day, it would be fun!))

((Yes Cassie and Theo would be a great together. They will either get along so well or because they are so similar they will not get along at all and find it a competition to out word the other XD Maybe we could make a reason for Theo to come to the school because James (Mostly Cassie) did something? Just throwing ideas out there.))

Cassie watched James waiting to see what he would do next. A expectant look rested on her face as if she was challenging James to try make her good. Truthfully she was interested to see what he would come up with. What would he try make her do and how. Yes, she had just got herself into a tight spot but she wasn’t about to back out on what she said. Nor was she going to let Jame know she was doubting herself. Her curiosity and pride getting in the way of that. Beside what could James do that would make her be nice. After all she was the mind reader. She was the one with the blackmail and she was the one more then willing to use it. Even if James had the best bribery in his hands he wouldn’t use it.

However what James did Cassie was not expecting. She noticed a second to late and ended up only touching air as she tired to stop him. Cassie growled her gaze sharpening.
“Ok rule one you do not take a girls phone, especially not mine.” She snapped but knew full well she said exactly what James wanted to hear. Ok she was wrong he did use bribery. “I...Ah.” She huffed knowing James was serious about this.
She got herself in this mess and now James was holding her phone hostage only giving it back to her when this week was over.
“Wait volunteer work, who do you think I am!” She whined. “Giving up precious hours for unpaid work, why would anyone do that, who would do that?” She said before realizing exactly who did that, and that someone was sitting right in front of her a painfully smug look on his face and her phone in his pocket
Thankfully she had a password on her phone but still she had some privet and important stuff on there, she needed it. What would happen if her friends wanted to get in touch with her? She would miss so many calls and text over this week. She got like twenty calls in one day how many would she miss over the week! How would she even get up in the morning. She would be up in the afternoon without no alarm! Well at least her still had her laptop, right? Cassie met his sweet smile with her own knowing it was forced and making sure James knew that. Being civil, like that would be possible for her but if she wanted her phone back she would need to. Why was James to smart?

Cassie had mostly accepted her fate but James just had to make it all worse.
“Three days of it!” Cassie didn’t both hiding her disgust, this would not be a fun week.
Ok two days with animals I guess I can do that. She thought to herself. Animals were cute right, they wouldn’t be to much work surely. She had a few pets of her own so she would be fine. However she was not liking the sound of James next job. Children. Cassie did not do well with little people, like at all.
“Oh please don’t make me deal with children.” She almost begged. “They are annoying and whiny and I don’t think it’s smart to take me there.” She told him know full her very little tolerance with children. “James I really really don’t think this is a good idea.” She insisted once again.
Even if she wasn’t the nicest to people she still didn’t really want to get James in trouble or to kill little people. She could image how it would look if James took her to help with the children but she ended up killing one of them or doing some serious damage to their heads… She could already see it going so wrong.

Then again he pleads were worthless. All of her whining was James point. This whole week was meant to make it so she could deal with people, for once anything she said was twisted against her. And that annoyed her. She had no choice but to agree if she ever wanted her phone back. It would almost be easier to ask her parents to get her a new phone, maybe she would get the newest phone, it would be much different compared to her current one but it would be new. On the other hand her phone was important is had so much stuff on it. Cassie sighed, she would have to go along with it. However, she might be able to get something from it.
“Ok fine i’ll do it but… I want something from it.” She said grinning herself this time.
She had had her eye on James since what, her first year at this school? She hadn’t ever talk to him but he did stand out from the other guys that were all trying to get her number. Now that she actually has talked to James she found him rather attractive and rather sweet even though they were totally different. Then again opposites attract right? So this would be the perfect time to see exactly what James thought of her. His thoughts never really said anything, every time he was around her he never thought anything other then how evil she was which, for the record, she didn’t agree with. In all honesty it was rather annoying to see him warming up to Lizzy. James didn’t know it yet but he was hers, she would
“If after this week I have survived I want one thing from you,” She lent back once again putting her feet up. “I want a kiss.” She said having the telepathic link open so she could see his thoughts in case he didn’t say what he thought.

((Should we time skip soon? Maybe ur next post.))

James was pretty proud of himself for his plan. He was happy that he had been able to read Cassie well enough to know that her phone was important enough to be used as a piece of bribery. Smiling brightly at her he put her phone into one of the pockets of his bag. From now on he was probably going to have to protect his bag with his life until he got to his dorm where he had a lock-box under his bed. He was pretty sure that Cassie would be willing to do pretty much anything to get that phone back. Luckily, that also meant she would be willing to do something like volunteer with him. This was probably the meanest James would ever get. He already felt sort of bad because he had taken something important of hers, but he convinced himself that it was for good reason. Sometimes James's sweet nature got him into a lot of trouble because he couldn't say no. If Cassie asked for her phone back in a very nice manner, it would probably take everything James had not to just hand it back to her.
"Don't worry, i'm not going to try and look at your texts. I don't even want to think about who you talk to." He said jokingly at her forced smile. It was true that James would never go so far as to look at her phone. That was an invasion of her personal privacy. James took privacy very seriously which was partly why he hated it so much when Cassie looked into his mind. Luckily she hadn't seemed to find anything in his thoughts worth mentioning... yet.

Watching Cassie practically beg made him feel like the worst person in the world. For others it would probably make them feel powerful, having someone like Cassie pleading in front of them, but for James it just made him feel terrible. He hated being the one wielding the power, because he always thought he would use it wrong. Forcing a smile he leaned forward, propping his elbows on the table.
"C'mon, it'll be fun. They're going to love you!" He promised, giving her a reassuring look. He would probably have to teach her a bit how to play nicely with younger kids, but he was sure that even Cassie would be able to handle it. He didn't think for one moment that her mind powers might be bad for them. Anyways, if she could be nice to little kids, she certainly could learn to be nice to teenagers.

Uh-oh. Now Cassie was trying to negotiate something, and that was putting James on edge. Giving her a wary look he raised an eyebrow at her. When Cassie wanted something, she got it and the grin on her face was not helping his self-assurance. Little did he know that what she wanted had no evil intent to it at all, but rather something romantic. So when she finally told him what her terms for the agreement of surviving this week was, James was shocked. He didn't know what to say, or do, or think. If Cassie looked into his mind right now she would probably just see a huge blob of random words. A bright red blush crept into his cheeks and he looked away from Cassie for a moment before. Finally he managed to get his brain into working order again. Cassie was mean and sassy and annoying. He hated her sometimes but still, whenever she decided to talk to him he always felt this little flutter of gentle curiosity in his heart. The type of curiosity that made you wonder what it would be like to kiss that person. Because she wasn't just mean, she was also funny and smart and quick-witted, and not to mention prettier than anyone James had ever met. So, maybe James did want to kiss her in the end, the one problem was, was that he didn't know how to tell her.
"Um... sure... I mean, Yes! Yes, i agree to that... not that I..." He trailed off and grinned sheepishly at her. He had been about to end his sentence off with "not that I've ever thought of kissing you before." But he was glad he had cut himself off.

Cassie had never heard or seen a guy look so shocked before, it was quite funny actually. His pale skin made his blush so bright she almost felt bad for him. Almost. She still kept the link open, reading his thoughts as they came and went even though the made no sense whatsoever. She wondered how he made any sense of his mind, how did he ever keep his cool. With her one question everything exploded. She couldn’t even make sense of what he was thinking. Finally though he figured his thoughts out and she didn’t like his first thing that came to his mind. She was mean sassy and annoying, well that was a great start. Yes those were the most commonly used words to describe her, as much as the didn’t agree, but she never thought James would think them. None the less think them in the same sentence. However his next thoughts were better. Much better. Ranging from, ‘I want to kiss her’ to ‘she’s pretty’ to his own worries about what to say. Cassie grinned slightly finding a bit of amusement in his confusion and shock. He was rather cute when flustered.

Now she could have answered for him, she knew exactly what his answer was at this point but she wanted to see his words just to see exactly what he would say. She could see thoughts not predict what he was going to say. She waited patiently for him to finally stammer out his reply which made her try, and fail, to bite back a laugh. Cassie covered her mouth but ended up letting out a little stream of giggles as he continued to fumbled over his words.
“Well it looks we have a deal.” She said grinning once he finally finished all his explanations.
She thought she asked a fairly simple question but apparently not. Oh well he got his answer out and she liked it she had no complaining to do.

Cassie was about to say more on that matter when someone, more like a group of very annoyed someones, interrupted.
“Cassandra Jane Jackson get over here now!” The very annoyed call of her teacher rung above any chatter that was being passed through the room.
Cassie rolled her eyes letting out out a sigh. Of course they had to end her fun. Well she had… manipulated her room guards into letting out.
“Coming.” She yelled back making sure to sound very bored. “Sorry about this,” She said not directing her voice to only James. “Now I would say text me about these jobs but someone has taken my phone so your going to have to come get me when our jobs meant to start. Don’t tell me and expect me to remember, I wont.” She said before leaning over placing a soft kiss to his cheek. “See you later James.” She announced not caring who heard that last statement.
With that Cassie stood and strode off towards the waiting teacher who were looking very disapprovingly at her. She stopped in front of them adding a slight hair flick in as she did so. Her heels made it so they couldn’t look down on her, in fact she was looking down as a few of them, it was a beautiful moment for her.
“Oh calm your horse and tell me who sold me out already.” She demanded adding yet another eye roll.
They were so tense it was funny.
“We are not tell you anything Cassandra.” Her homeroom teacher replied stiffly.


Now telepathic people knew telepathic people and Cassie knew full well the moment her teacher entered the room she was in her mind reading everything she did while out. Now Cassie could have stopped her, she knew how to hide thoughts and images from people but found no reason to keep thoughts thoughts hidden. Other then the jobs and her feelings for James, she would let No know of her feels for him until she wanted them to know. So other than that she opened up her thoughts watching her teachers face change from annoyance to pure rage. It was a rather entertaining time.
“Don’t call me Cassandra, it doesn't sound good.” She said simply deliberately trying to get on the teachers nerves yet getting no reply.


There was a silence that Cassie was perfectly fine with. She knew her teacher was still sifting through her thoughts and deliberately thought of weird things to get her annoyed. Stuff like ‘are tomatoes a fruit or vegetable?’ or ‘I wonder what would happen if a mixed all my lipsticks together. She even thought of hot actors or movie and T.V characters just for some added fun. Her teacher was being boring and not letting Cassie into her thoughts but she could read faces just as good and knew exactly the point of anger she was at. She also knew her teacher was relaying everything to the other teachers, the ones that were standing around being no help other then to stop Cassie leaving, tell them exactly what she did, well exactly what Cassie was letting her see. Cassie was perfectly content with the silence more eyes were on her and they weren't hiding her thoughts. She knew exactly what impact her outfit had on them. It was rather entertaining to think of that and then let her teacher see her thoughts. Yet another way she was annoying them.
“Ok Cassie enough is enough follow us.” Her teacher finally said.
“No.” Cassie replied simply not wanting to let them have their way easy.
“Now come on Cassie we just want to talk.” Another teacher spoke up.
Cassie turned her head slightly meeting the speakers eyes with her own bright aqua ones. “No.” She replied once again.
“Cassie you’re coming with us.” Her teacher demanded and with a simple flick of her hand Cassie had one adult on each hand tugging her away.
“Heck all you had to to was ask nicely.” She laughed before pulling away and walking off shooting James a wink before she left around the corner.

Next day

One good thing about being on room detention or whatever it was they called it was Cassie didn’t have to go to class. Yes she had to do the work in class but she didn’t have to deal with bird brains. She could just do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted as long as she had escort when she left the room. Or she manipulated them again. She really didn’t need and escort when she was going to have a shower. Now Cassie wasn’t in class but by her guess school had finished. Now she didn’t know when her jobs were but she had told the principal about them and it was finally decided she could go but had one chance and if she stuffed up she wouldn’t be allowed back. No mind Cassie didn’t plan to killing any kids to animals, as annoying as both of them about be she did have a soft spot for them. She had also been told James would given a talk about her telling him to keep and eye on her and whatever he droned on about. Cassie found that kind of funny. Luke was already keeping an eye on her. Heck he was holding her phone hostage just to try and make her good. She had full faith that James could keep an eye on her.

Cassie was almost waiting for James almost wanting him to come and take her from this boring place even if she didn't have a job on today. However at the same time she didn’t want to do a job, especially if they first one was with kids, she was very afraid for that day. Now being Cassie didn’t know what she was doing she picked her outfit based on what she wanted. She picked a more reasonable outfit this time her hair done into a high ponytail so it was swept fully away from her face. She had a strapless frilly black top cover by a black diamond studded leather jacket and skin tight pants that, amazingly, were of a reasonable length this time. Blue feathers dangled from her ears and a slight sparkly blue eye shadow and rested on her eyelids her shoes matching that in dark blue jeweled sandals with a slight heel. Of course her unmatching amethyst ring rested on her left middle finger. It’s purpose was clear but it wasn’t helping her at all, she still abused her power It wasn't all out but enough to catch the eye, which was safer than she usually played but it was good enough. If she caught the eye it was fine.

Cassie was very bored. She had no idea what to do without her phone. She wouldn’t touch a book and she had been on her laptop all day that it was getting boring. Growling to herself Cassie flopped down onto her bed letting out a large sigh. Her hair fanned out around her in a auburn halo. Yes she had school work but right now she didn’t care about school. It was annoying and a waste of time. She would have text her friends but she didn’t have her PHONE! She was told that apparently the principle would tell her parents which would mean she would get a call from them asking what happened. So it was almost a good thing that she didn’t have her phone, she couldn’t be bothered dealing her her parents. Mind you her lack of reply wouldn’t make them happy either. They were putting so much pressure on her, especially her dad, and it just didn’t end, it was so painful. Oh well she would get her entertainment back at the end of the week as well as a kiss for James, the only good thing at the end of the week. She was waiting for it wondering exactly what it would be like. She almost wanted to kiss him now anyway just to see his reaction. But for now she wouldn’t, for now. She was in one of those moods that anything could happen.

James wasn't sure how he was going to be able to spend time with Cassie now. He was going to become some muddle-brained boy who couldn't help but spend his time thinking about kissing her now every time he saw her. It wasn't that he was obsessed with her or anything, but she was the first girl who had ever shown interest in James. Yeah, maybe there had been a few girls with crushes on him and vice-versa, but Cassie was the only girl who had suggested actually doing something about those feelings. It was going to be a long week and this was not going to help James concentrate. Forcing himself to look back up at Cassie he willed the blush that had spread across his face to die down a bit. Finally when his skin had reverted to its normal ice cold hue he opened his mouth to say something.

Before James could even get a word out though, Cassie had started laughing. James couldn't help but feel a bit indignant at the giggles that ran from her mouth like a torrent of waves lapping against a beach. He didn't understand why she was laughing and it didn't sound like she was laughing with him, but rather at him. Another blush crept up his cheeks, slightly less noticeable than when she had asked to kiss him, but still against his pale pale skin, it was easy to see. He felt like a child who didn't understand what was happening and wished desperately that he could.
"yeah, looks like we do." He finally managed to say, his voice soft and quiet.

James looked up with surprise when a teacher came striding over, looking at Cassie with a stern look. He also took the time to file away the information that Cassie's middle name was Jane. It seemed like such a good-girl type name for someone like Cassie. But it wasn't like she had chosen the name, so whatever. It still just didn't fit with her. He was also surprised when she actually went to meet the teacher with hardly any complaint. Sure, a little bit of an eye roll and an annoyed look, but she hadn't had a total fit, so maybe he was making some progress.

Then Cassie did something totally unexpected and totally unfair. She kissed him. Sure, not a kiss on the lips and hardly a lingering romantic one either, but a kiss none the less. James's eyes widened slightly and he put a hand to his cheek as she drew away.
"Uhm, well, yeah. Bye..." He stammered as she walked off even though she couldn't hear him. His thoughts once again turned into a total jumble of thoughts before he finally managed to be a sane person again. He couldn't seem to think straight, so instead he just stood up rather suddenly, pulled on his bag and walked quickly out of the room, not staying to watch the rest of the scene with Cassie and her teacher.

Next day

James had gone back to the dorm last night and had slept rather fitfully, waking up every few hours before falling back into a restless sleep. James had always been a heavy sleeper, the second he was asleep he was out like a light, so this was a new experience for him. He wasn't sure why he couldn't sleep. Maybe it was because he couldn't get Cassie out of his mind, or the feeling of her lips on his cheek, or maybe he was nervous because tomorrow he was taking Cassie to the kids center. Either way, he totally blamed Cassie for the fact that when he woke up, he had dark circles under his eyes and his pale skin looked even paler.

Getting out of bed was a terrible experience and James skipped breakfast since he was already late for classes. He practically slept through most of his classes and by the time the end of the day came around he had managed to wake up a bit after a good hour long nap in math class. Since he was usually such a good student none of his teachers had gotten too angry when he dropped off in their class. When the day was finally over, James snapped his binder shut, swung his bag onto his slim shoulder and went straight to Cassie's dorm. He had already gotten permission for her to come out with him after finding out that she was under house arrest... or detention, or whatever they wanted to call it.

James paused right before he knocked on Cassie's door. Once he knocked, there was no going back. He would be totally responsible for her after this. If she did something to one of the kids, it would be his fault and he would have to deal with the repercussions. But James was willing to make that sacrifice if it meant that he was going to be able to make Cassie a good person. At least, that was part of it, he also just wanted to see her. Taking a breath, he leaned against the door frame and knocked lightly on the door.
"Hey Cassie, it's me." He called through the door just so she knew it wasn't a teacher or something.

Bored, bored, bored! Cassie was unbelievably bored and she had been bored for what felt like hours now. Yes it had only been a few minutes but it felt like ages for Cassie. How long did she have to wait for something exciting to happen. It would be more then right to call her impatient. Cassie had no patience whatsoever and it was even lower if she was waiting for something. If she wanted something she wanted it then and there or she would get very impatient. And clearly James didn’t exactly want to hurry up. Apparently he was quite content on taking his sweet time which drove Cassie mad. Couldn’t he just hurry up? Was he even coming? Why did he have to take her phone?! Then she could have text him and demanded an answer or bugged him to hurry up. She could have text anyone to entertain herself but no. No she didn’t have her precious phone because James had it. He was almost as painful as he was attractive, which was saying something.

Finally, after years of waiting, Cassie heard the familiar approaching thoughts. Letting out a sigh Cassie jumped to standing. Straightening her clothes and pulling her ponytail tighter, Casse flung the door open before James have even knocked.
“Took to long enough.” She said grinning slightly.
She knew he was there ages before he even arrived at her door. It was near impossible to hide stuff or sneak up on a telepathic person like herself. However she had waited before opening the door after seeing James hesitate. She would have just ignored it but she was curious as to why he waited. She sifted through his thoughts but it wasn’t hard to find his reason for his hesitant actions. Were her actions really going to affect James that much? She didn’t want to hurt a kid anyway neither did she want to get James into to much trouble. She knew he was responsible for her but why would he get in trouble if she did something wrong. This was just another reason school sucked. Oh well now she just had a real reason to be on her better behaviour.

“Now there is a chance you’re here just cause but it much more likely we are going to do some ‘job.’ By the look of it you are making me deal with kids.” She said getting all the information from reading his mind.
If James was going to be around her for so long he would have to get used to her using her powers with no care. Mind you he had probably already realized that, he had been around her enough that she bet he knew what it felt like to have her in his mind. Maybe he would even figure out the difference between her just chilling in his mind compared to her actually digging through his thoughts. Anyone trained enough could tell. Just like her homeroom teacher, she could tell when Cassie was in her mind and what Cassie was doing to it, it was rather annoying actually. However James had the power to block her from his mind, if he could do that then he had a lot of mental strength that only time will strengthen.

“Right.... So I guess we should go now, can’t be late to a job.” Cassie said slipping out the door and shutting it with her heel.
She noticed but didn’t care how close she made their bodies once she step out the way of the closing door. She was kind of testing James, see exactly where his comfort zone started and ended when it came to that of people. Now she could have just dug though his thoughts to find out his past love life and his tolerance but she though for one she would do it the mostly human way. Beside it wasn’t the most pressing thing she wanted to know. After all her biggest fear was this kid place. She didn’t want to go to this nor did she herself care about being on time but that part of her that was nice said that she couldn’t make James late. If her actions to directly affected him she would have to really play this being good thing. Shooting a sweet grin at her guards that were posted outside her room, Cassie had great fun rubbing it into their faces that she was free, they had no more authority over her. She slowed her pace once out of sight of the guards letting James catch up. She fell into step with him which is the closest she will get to letting him lead.

“Ok Honestly I have no idea where we are going or how to get there.” She admitted once they were out of her dorm building.
She guessed they had to go off campus but she had no idea where to or how long it took to get to said place. As long as she didn’t have to walk for miles she was ok. She knew people were looking at them both. She was updated on the rumors and she knew that people guessed she was being kept prisoner so it was clearly a shock to see her out and free. Also to she her out with James was clearly a shock to all. People hadn’t yet figured out her thing for James or why she was with him all the time. Oh well it would only take a matter of time before they figured it out putting two and two together. But for now Cassie just stared at them grinning. Their Queen was free and she had her king by her side.

Something felt wrong. Like the feeling you get when someone is staring at you, but no one was looking at him. James shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other and hunched his shoulders uneasily. He hadn't been around Cassie enough to really understand that feeling he got when she searched around in his mind. Sometimes when she did it, he knew right away but this time he wasn't sure what was happening. Finally he realized that this was the feeling he sometimes got when she began combing through his mind for information.
"Cas, would you stop it?" He asked with an annoyed look on his face. He knew that getting angry at her wasn't going to help, but he couldn't help but look a little bit annoyed. Couldn't she just let people have their secrets? Or get to know people like a normal human being? He still felt vaguely uncomfortable, but he was glad that he knew why this feeling was washing over him.

"Yeah, time to become the worlds best babysitter." He said cheerfully, although he was still giving her an annoyed look. They job description wasn't really babysitting, but that was basically all you had to do. Keep kids occupied, make them happy for a few hours before they had to go back to whatever foster home they lived in, whether or not it was a good home or a bad one. James had never been in the foster system because by the time he had actually been registered into the governments system, his brother had been old enough to legally adopt him. How they actually managed to convince the government that would be a good idea? James still didn't know. But he had seen what some of the foster care houses were like, and had heard from other kids horrific stories about them. He figured that he could at least try and give these kids a few hours of fun every week.

"Let's get going then." He replied as they began to walk down the hall, past the guards posted by Cassie's door. He wasn't sure if it was intentional or not, but Cassie was pressing super close to him as they walked. Although, knowing Cassie, it was definitely intentional. When it came to romances, James was a little bit air-headed. He had had a few short relationships but they had mostly been when he was a lot younger and they had never lasted long. Especially since most of the girls he saw were the ones that his brother liked to hang out with, and James didn't even like talking to those girls. They terrified him. So, when Cassie pushed just a bit too close to him, James blushed slightly and did a half-sideways step to move away from her. Not that he didn't like it, he just didn't know what else to do.

The kids center was actually just outside of campus, a few long blocks away, but still not too far. James was wearing much more sensible footwear than Cassie and he had done the walk before, so he didn't blink an eye at the distance.

Skip the walk (cause I figure nothing is going to happen)

When James opened the door into the center, a little boy probably around 4 came running towards James, as fast as his little legs could take him.
"Hey Dean!" James stooped down and scooped up the boy, spinning him around. James had always liked kids, and since he had first met Dean, the boy had refused to leave his side when they were both at the center. Dean giggled and proudly showed James a drawing he had made. It was a crayon drawing of a person with spiky white hair like James's.
"It's for you!" Dean crowed happily, giving James the picture. James grinned back at the boy and took the picture before folding it up and slipping it into his back pocket. He loved Dean, because he was always so happy despite everything that was going on in his life. He was a very tough 4 year old. Suddenly Dean's interest shifted from James to Cassie as he stared at her with a puzzled expression. James had never brought anyone else with him to the center before. Noticed the shift in the boy's interest James smiled.
"Dean, this is my friend Cassie. She's new okay? We want her to feel welcome just like everyone else, so would you like to give her a welcome hug?" He asked, grinning at Cassie. Dean hardly hesitated for half a second before reaching up as far as he could and giving Cassie a hug. Of course he only reached her legs, but the sentiment was still there.

((This is the saddest thing i have written in ages, I swear I was crying while writing it.))

Of course they walked. Couldn’t just hitch a ride, call a taxi anything that did mean she had to walk. She wore and ok outfit for going out, mostly because she had no idea what slave labor she would be made to do of if she would end up doing any at all. For once she didn’t even wear insanely high heels. In fact she just wore her best walking ones exactly for this. However that did not mean she liked walking, or even wanted to walk. She would have been more than happy to call a taxi but James seemed quite content on walked and because Cassie had no idea where she was going she had to follow along whether she wanted to or not.

Cassie was actually amazed she hadn’t talked James ear off that whole walk. Let’s just say she had an opinion about this whole walking and looking after kid thing and was quite content with getting said option out. She did really care what poor sole was there to listen Nor could care whether any of what she said made it into James head but she got her complaints out and that was enough. Finally she was shut up as James took a turn heading towards a faded yellow building. Clearly they had reached the end of their walk and now came the hard bit, dealing with young children. She let James lead they headed through a dozen gates that made this place seem like a prison which, in all honesty, did improve her option on the place. As soon as James opened the door a young boy dropped whatever he had been doing and dashed towards James as fast as his pudgy little legs could take him. Cassie just watched the interaction between the teen and the boy amazed at the genuine grins the lit up both her faces. She knew kids were entertained by anything but the look James had was rather perplexing. In fact in that moment she learnt a lot about him without having to read his mind. He clearly had a lot of tolerance and his love for that of young people was actually truthly genuine.

Cassie was quite happy just watching, her eyes roaming over what the other kids were doing. Some were just staring at her wondering who she was being they had never seen her before. Others couldn’t care less about her arrival and were to busy with what they were doing to give her a second glance. There were some other adults and even some teens her age working there. They were better at hiding the stares but she could tell they were looking her over. After all someone like her being with someone like James would be quite a surprise. Every time she caught them looking she would flash them a sweet grin causing them to instantly look away. However she was pulled from her thoughts and sweet looks as James said her name and hug in one sentence. Cassie turned back to the pair moments before she felt little arms wrap around her leg.

Many emotions flashed across Cassie face in that moment. Shock, disgust, fear and most of all confusion mixed with a bit of horror as she had no idea what to do with this child that was clinging to her leg. She looked almost pleadingly at James, asking him to do anything to get this kid off her leg or at least tell her how to do it herself without hurting it. However, even as her fear and confusion remind, she couldn’t help but smile slightly as the kid clung to her leg like it was a life line. This kid was kind of cute and his attempted hug still held sentiment despite everything. Letting out a sigh Cassie bent down picking the younger kid up and letting him rest on her hip before James could do anything. The younger kid happily wrapped his hands around her neck resting his head against her chest. Cassie stiffened slightly at the boys reaction to her. Yes she had younger kids in her familly but she doesn't see them often nor does she really interact to them when they are with her, ever since she got her ring she wasn’t allowed. Her family doesn't really trust her with young ones. Her powers are much too scary to have around little easily breakable brains. So in all honesty she hadn’t really had the chance to deal with children in her family's fear she might hurt one with her powers or just because she was rough or had little patients.

However this little boy seemed to break something in her. She grinned as he clung to her clearly taking James hint to hug her a bit too seriously. Cassie looked at James a rear soft smile on her face. However the look in her eyes was still that of confusion as to why this kid was clinging to her and what do to now. But before Cassie could do more she a little voice rung out from behind her.
“Who you?” It asked.
Cassie jumped slightly. She could only deal with one child at a time! Fighting to reduce her panic, Cassie once again got the young boys attention by tickling him making him giggle and squirm. He almost fell from her grip which just made him laugh more as he tipped backwards, not exactly what she was trying to do but his laughter was contagious making her smile herself despite how annoying he was being.
“James your turn.” She said handing him the giggling kid before he could protest.

With that kid off her hands, Cassie spun around to see the one who had spoken before still standing there staring up at Cassie. She wore her blond hair in little pigtails various paints smeared across her whole body. A little paint pot and brush still clutched on in hand. She looked a year or two older then Dean a curious look resting in her deep blue eyes.
“Who you?” She asked again.
“Hey, my names Cassie. What's yours?” Cassie asked crouching down to the girls eye level.
“I’m Lilith.” The young girl replied.
“Well nice to meet you Lilith. Now what exactly are you doing?” Cassie asked honestly curious as to what the younger girl was doing to get so much paint everywhere.
“Face paint.” Lilith replied proudly holding up the paint and brush.
Cassie grinned. Of course it was, kids were so bad when it came to paint.
“Do you want some help then?” Cassie offered. She wasn’t artsy at all but she knew how to do makeup and surely that was similar enough.

As soon as the words left Cassie's mouth the girls face lit up apparently liking that idea.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes.” The girl chirped grabbing Cassie's hand in her little one and dragging her away with all her strength.
Seeming not to be able to back out Cassie followed shooting James a slightly apologetic look. She did mean to abandon him, nor did she really want to be on her own with a kid but then again she didn’t really have a choice at this point in time.
******
Moments later Cassie was sitting with a bunch of the younger kids in a veys badly structure line in front of her. Paint covered nearly every inch of her now but she didn’t really mind. Yes it was all over her clothes, thanks to the impainet children she tried to give little butterflies to, but it was face paint and face paint was meant to come off. Lilith was at her side the whole time handing her all the different paints when she asked for them. She seemed to like the title of Cassie's little helper after Cassie gave her a full makeover, even getting into the dress ups and making her look like a princess. Or closed enough to one, good thing was kids had ever small expectations. Most of the kids she was dealing with were between four to about 7 any older then that and they noticed Cassie ignorance and younger then that they were too little and she couldn’t deal with babies, babies were drawing the line.

However now that Cassie had given Lilith a makeover all the kids wanted one and that’s how she ended up sitting on a small chair with face paint on one side the dress up box on the other and a long line of kids in front of her. She had long since lost sight of James being to focused on her clients that were wanting to look like dragons and other weird things. In fact she had also forgotten about her power, this whole time she hadn’t used it once. She was to distracted by the kids to worry about her power. Being after they were done with their makeover, Cassie would send them on their way only to watch as they paraded around bragging about her work some started long games having heroes and princesses and Dragons. It was rather entertaining to watch and surprisingly she found that she was actually enjoying herself. All these kids here was adorable and were right sweethearts. Especially her little companion Lilith who was always by her side.

Cassie was focusing on painting a star around one girls eye when she heard a cry from a familiar voice.
“No! She’s mine!” Lilith called out.
“No mine!” Yelled another voice Cassie couldn’t place.
Curiose, Cassie glanced up from her work her eyes scanning the room until she saw Lilith and another girl she didn’t know squabbling over, something . Now Cassie wouldn’t have cared but the fact that Lilith somehow got a pair of scissors worried her. With the way Lilith was swinging them around and eye could quite easily be poked out.
“Give me a second.” She said the the ever patient girl in front of her.
She nodded seeming quite happy to wait as Cassie stood making her way over to the to squabbling girls.

She wasn’t walking overly fast not thinking much would happen but noticed too late she was wrong. Very very wrong. No one seemed to notice the fighting pair and Cassie was the closest but even that was to far away. Lilith raised her scissors and stabbed them down aiming right for the other girls face. Cassie was way too far away to physically stop her so, out of pure instinct, she opened her powers quickly taking over the young girls mind to stop her. Lilith's hand stopped inches from the other girls face. Cassie raced towards the pair instinct instantly leading her towards the young girl on the ground. She was cowering away from the scissors that Lilith was still holding high, her body waiting to receive orders from Cassie.
“You ok?” Cassie asked desperately looking the girl over to make sure Lilith hadn't done any damage before Cassie stepped in.
“Y….y…. Yeah.” The young one stuttered still hiding behind her hand.
“It’s ok you're safe now.” Cassie said as softly as she could placing a arm around the girls shoulders and helping her up.
Once on her feet the girl fell into Cassie hugging her tightly. Cassie stiffened slightly before relaxing into the hug gently wrapping her arms around they girl.
“Your my hero, i’m clearly your favorite.” She said before darting away getting distracted by something else.
Cassie watched the girl run off leaving her debating about what she said. She was her favorite? Was that really what they were fighting about. Were they fighting about her? Oh please no. She wasn't self centered enough for like tow girls fighting over her. Especially if their fights resulting in stabbing others with scissors. However Cassie barely had time to think about it when she heard a feeble whimper behind her. Cursing to herself, Cassie spun around seeing tears forming in little Lilith's eyes. Her hands were still raised and holding the scissors waiting for Cassie orders to on what to do next. In her moment of panic, Cassie retreated from the young girl's mind way to fast then she should have. Way faster then she should have and Cassie knew it. But in point of panic she didn't think. Which was a bad bad idea. Lilith stood there a bit longer her hand still raised before her body crumpled in on itself. Cassie’s arms shot out catching the limp body before it hit the ground. Cassie fell to the ground in a heap with little Lilith wrapped in her arms.
“No. No please no.” Cassie begged moving the lifeless girl onto her lap and clutching her close.

She knew, she damn well knew what happened when she played with her powers her ring was meant to remind her of that! She knew what happened when she retreated to fast or to forcefully shoved her way in but she still did it. Worst of all she did both to the young brain of this girl. The young mind that was full of potential. She hurt her to a point there would be no coming back. Cassie hunched over, clutched the limp body close to her as if she could help breath life back into the kid. Tears streamed down Cassies face smearing the paint and make up but Cassie couldn’t care. She didn’t care what he looked like. All she cared about was the motionless girl in her lap. The one She made like this.
“JAMES!” She called out desperately pain thickly lacing though her voice.
James I… I think I k… killed her She finished telepathy.
She didn’t care what people saw but yelling 'she think she killed a child' wouldn’t not end well.
James… please, please help. She begged not giving a damn about what she sounded like or that fact the she was once again begging.
She hurt Lilith, she hurt her little friend with her powers that seemed more of a curse then a gift right now.
“Please. Please. Please.” She whispered over and over again clutching the cold body close to her as she waited, pleaded, begged for a miracle to happen.

James had to admit that he had been a bit worried when he had told Dean to go hug Cassie. For all he knew, she might try and kick the poor kid off or something. There was a moment that he thought Cassie might actually do exactly that. The look on her face was priceless and James couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the look of absolute distress on her face. A lot of people who didn't work with kids a lot found them sort of terrifying because they were so breakable. People were always scared that they were going to do something wrong and hurt the kid. It hadn't taken James long though to realize that kids were a lot tougher than they looked. James was about to move forward to take Dean back from her when she unfroze and picked him up, resting quite naturally on her hip. Giving her an impressed look he smiled at Dean. He was the perfect kid for getting to know new people because he was so extroverted and the opposite of shy.

Dean seemed to have been able to get Cassie warmed up to kids pretty easily and he was happy to see that Cassie was smiling. Not only was she smiling, she was actually interacting with Dean. James watched with a happy smile as Dean giggled loudly, his little hands waving around in the air as he squirmed and laughed in Cassie's arms. That was the beautiful thing about kids, they weren't hard to impress. Even the simplest things could make them smile like the world was the perfect place. Even if everything around them was crashing down, if a kid saw a bird or something interesting, it was like nothing else mattered. James couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of that ability. There were so many times in his life that he wished he could just forget about it all and see only the happy things.

Taking Dean from Cassie he set the kid down who immediately tugged on the bottom of James's shirt and began to drag him away towards the little outdoor playground that they had. It was still gated off and secure, but at least the kids got some time outside in a safe environment. Giving Cassie an apologetic look he let himself be dragged off by his ambitious 4 year old friend.
"I'll be right outside, just pop into the playground if you need me.'" He called before disappearing out into the sunlight playground.

Immediately he was converged on by about 5 other kids who bugged him until he and another teen volunteer named Leo agreed to play hide-and-seek with them. As they played, James and Leo talked casually. They had become friends since they saw each other so often at the center and Leo was very interested in the fact that James had brought a girl with him.
"So, are you guys a thing?" He asked before getting down on his knees and peeking under the slide. A little girl with big brown eyes giggled as he reached in and pulled her out from under it.
"Got you!" Leo said gleefully as he let the girl run off to go try and find some of the other kids. Meanwhile James flushed slightly and shrugged.
"No... I mean... yes? Maybe? I dunno." He finished lamely. He passed a window that looked into the center and saw Cassie surrounded by kids, covered in paint but looking purely happy. He smiled softly and Leo snorted with laughter.
"Oh you really like her don't you." He smirked, chuckling loudly. James turned back, face flaming red and shoved his hands into his pockets before picking up some random kid who had just wandered into the playground.
"No! I mean... well, she's sort of annoying." He protested, but he knew that Leo was right. He hated Cassie and at the same time he loved being around her. Finally he just rolled his eyes at Leo and continued his search for kids.

James was blissfully unaware of what was happening inside the room as he searched around under playground equipment. He felt beautifully drowsy as the sun shone down on them, warming his shoulders and back. It was hard for James to feel totally warm because of his ice powers and he was often chilly, but right now he felt totally content. He was so happy that he didn't hear Cassie scream out at him, and neither did Leo who was too busy chasing around a boy who had managed to snatch his baseball cap. Only when Cassie reached into his mind did James pay attention.

When he first felt the familiar buzz of Cassie reaching into his thoughts, he readied a snapping response for her to leave his thoughts alone. But before he could formulate a response, Cassie broke out pleading in his mind. He was up and back at the door within second.
"Leo, don't let any of the kids in back in." He said, his voice suddenly deadly calm. Leo frowned but didn't say anything, or rather couldn't say anything because before he could respond James had disappeared back into the room. His eyes scanned over the room before he quickly found Cassie kneeling on the floor with a girl in her lap. It only took James a moment before he realized it was the girl who had come up to Cassie before.

"Cassie. Cassie. Cassie, let go of her." He gently wrestled the girl out of Cassie's death grip. Somehow his mind was completely calm as he did this. He had learned first aid before and now it was kicking in. There was only one problem, first aid couldn't fix this, because this was a problem of magic. James didn't know that yet though, so he tried first aid anyways.

He checked her breathing and pulse, and only once he didn't find either, he began to freak out a bit.
"Okay, okay..." He muttered softly to himself, and did something he had never thought he'd have to do. He did CPR. He thought stuff like this only happened in movies, but now he was trying to do it in real life... and it wasn't working.
"Damn it, wake up." He growled at the girl, fear finally beginning to shine in his eyes. He couldn't let this girl die, he wouldn't. But the panic and the emotions were all beginning to be too much and his own powers began to act up, his fingers covering in a delicate cover of frost and he was forced to stop for fear of freezing the girl herself. Suddenly an adult volunteer came running over. He told James to call the police, who did so with shaking hands.

And suddenly it was over. The police came, took her away. The ambulance went screaming off, and James and Cassie were left sitting there on the floor. James stared blankly at the air in front of him for a long while before turning to Cassie.
"Cas... what did you do? I won't be angry... but what did you do?" He asked, eyes wide and hurt.

What had she done, how had she been so stupid? This was not fair, this was the worst thing that could happen. So much trust was put on her shoulder and she just let them all down. Her parents were right. She should never be trusted with kids. This power she had was a curse and she was not the right person to have this power. She abused it and look what a mess it got ever one in. When James said he wanted to make her good she had a feeling he didn’t mean for her to gain that kindness for others by almost killing one. Problem was it worked. She had never felt so bad about doing something wrong. Never wished so badly to go back in time and undo all she did. Never ever had she hated her ‘powers’ as much as she did right now. James had trusted her. Lilith had trusted her. Everyone in this place trusted her and she let them down. At least she now she let her cool kid act down. Just under the worse circumstance did it happen.

Seconds later she heard James insanely calm voice call to her. How was he so calm in this moment? How was he no panicking or at least doing anything other then being so calm. However his calmness did help a bit. It seemed to spread to her calming her rasing heart slightly. Reluctantly, Cassie followed his orders releasing the kid she was holding and shuffling backwards so James could take control. Cassie was no good at first aid or anything of the sort. In all honesty James was probably best for this. However that didn’t stop Cassie kneeling close by watching James in hope that he worked some miracle and saved the girl. However only seconds later she noticed as the fear crept into his eyes. He seemed to e trying everything but the girl was still unresponsive to any of his attempts. His calm demeanor faded into one of panic making her once calmer plus race once again again. Neither of them wanted to see this girl die, but neither of them knew how to help. It was as the flecks of frost climbed up his fingers did she know James could do nothing more. Now James would only make it worse.
“James, stop.” She whispered reaching her hand forward to his not caring about the sting of cold the ice sent through her hand as it closed around his.
He would make it worse, who know what would happen if Lilith got frost bite as well as whatever Cassie did to her. Once the ice spread to her own hand that was damp thanks to tears, Cassie quickly broke the connection between them rubbing warmth into her arm. Now was not the time to be sentimental and he was cold. Once releasing him Cassie dragged her knees close to her tears flowing in waves down her cheeks. Which didn’t help the frost problem. But she didn’t care about herself at this point. What had she done?

She was slightly aware of James calling someone with shaky hands but wasn’t really listening she was busy staring at Lilith while thinking, searching for anything that might prove to help the little girl. But she couldn’t think of anything. She had no idea how to undo her powers effects, her powers weren’t meant for healing. Seconds later she heard the sirens approach, ringing through the still air. The adults had long since taken over and now paramedics filled the room surrounding the little body of Lilith. Cassie sat back her eyes roaming the room but never falling into the sense around Lilith. Parents were taking their kids away making sure they didn’t see much of the dying girl. They clearly chose to close the center thanks to Cassie. She had royally screwed up. Many kids past their eyes covered by whoever was leading them out. Cassie quickly learnt to look anywhere but the people walking by being she was given many looks, not a lot of them good. She also refused to look at circle around Lilith. She had seen what must have been the girls parents standing in the circle. They looked strikingly like the young girl. Their eyes were already red and puffy tears streaked down their checks. That sight just made Cassie break even further, so she didn’t look she couldn’t look. She just started absently at the ground unable to close her eyes unless she wanted to see the pale body of Lilith.

However as she sat fighting to block out the talk of the paramedics that didn’t sound good she felt little arms wrap around her. Jumping slightly Cassie looked down at the little boy who now clung to her.
“Don’t cry Cas.” Dean said looking up at her with his big eyes.
Cassie just started at the boy who was trying to comfort her in shock. What was he doing here should he be leaving, should he have left already why was he comforting her of all people. Then again he wouldn’t know what she did, he was still oblivious that she could have just killed someone.
“OK Dean, I won't.” She said forcing a smile.
Seeming to buy her smile Dean giggled slightly. “Good.” He said as Cassie lifted him into her lap hugging him to her.
Seeming to love hugs Dean returned it attempting to wrap his little arms around her. She stayed that way holding the boy close and focing herself not cry until a louder voice interrupted the hug fest.
“Dean, Dean were are you?” The franctice voice called out.
Raising her head she looked down at the boy in her lap.
“Are you meant to be somewhere?” She asked genuinely letting out a little smile.
It was rather perplexing why kids were s attached to her. Lilith and the other girl were fighting over her and Dean escaped just to give her hug, to try make her feel better. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe kids were sweet and it was just the fact that she didn’t trust herself that made her hate them. Cause right now kids weren’t bad at all they were sweet, lovable, creatures.
“Come one rascal lets get you to where you need to be.” Picking up the young boy Cassie stood resting him on her hip like before.
“No, no, no.” He Squealed hiding his head in her shirt as she walked over to the searching parent.
“This who you looking for?” She asked approaching what she assumed was the mother figure in Deans life.
She spun around taking one look at Cassie before snatching Dean off her ignoring the kids prosting and the fact his little hand attempted to cling to her top to stop him leaving.
“Don’t you hurt him too you monster.” She hissed. “Come one Dean you don’t want to be with her.” With that she lead the still squealing Dean away.
“No I want to stay with her and James! No! Cassie!” Cassie just watched mortified as he as lead away the woman glaring at her as they went.
Word clearly traveled fast around this place, and apparently people weren’t as dumb as they seemed. Fog returned to Cassie eyes as the womans words cut into her. She deserve that title and she knew it but that didn’t take the sting from the words away. However maybe she was a monster, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t try to help. That didn’t mean she couldn’t try make it right.

You can’t just sit and cry Cassie, help as much as you can, you’re the key witness so help gosh dang it! She yelled to herself. Standing slightly straighter, Cassie ran from the room to the paramedics that were carrying the limp Lilith out into the awaiting ambulance. She didn’t even give on glace to James as she ran past wanting to catch them before they left.
“Hey wait!” Cassie called out, probably not the best greeting but it would do.
A woman in white turned around her eyes sharpening as she caught sight of Cassie. Thankfully Cassie was good at ignoring death looks, she was amazingly used to them.
“Look this isn’t a normal thing you're dealing with this girl was hurt by powers. I.. I think it’s her brain that was effect by someone tampering with it beyond how much it could take. I don’t know if this is helpful but I don’t think normal strategies will work.” She got out watching the woman who was just staring at her.
“And how do you know this?” She asked raising an eyebrow.
Cassie faltered a bit before realizing she had to be honest. No more lying. “Cause… I know because I was the one that did it.” She rushed out looking down at her feet.
“Mmm. Thanks kid.” The woman said surprising Cassie.
She wasn’t yelling, she wasn’t mad? She was just accepting? Well that went better than Cassie guessed. With a nod the woman walked off heading towards one of the waiting police. Oh now things made sense, she didn’t get mad but she went straight to the police. Guess that made sense and was fair. Now what should she do? Should she smile and wave, just smile, no that would look to suspicious. So as the police looked her way Cassie turned and headed back inside not making eye contact with anyone but the ground. Beside she didn’t think she could stand looking at Lilith parents any longer, that was a good excuse to leave.

Cassie headed inside sitting herself down beside James. Well this time it was more like a few meters away, she had a feeling James wouldn’t like her being too close. She stayed silent not know what to do or say. Tears no long streaked down her cheeks instead she just started into space. The silence lingered until James finally broke it asking the question she had been expected. Despite the fact she expected it the question still shocked her. Where did she start. Many things happened that lead to this she had no idea what to say. And the fact he literally said he wouldn’t me mad. How could he not be mad when she literally killed a kid. The teachers trusted him with her, his everything depended on her being good, and she let him down.
“Well.. I um..” She started getting cut off as a officer stepped towards them.
“Miss Jackson can we talk to you?” He asked thought it wasn’t really a question, more of a demand.
She looked towards James with a slightly shrugged. She didn’t really have a choice, beside she set herself up for this. She now had to prove she could walk the walk not just talk.
“The boy can stay to, apparently he was involved with this, incident, as well.” The officer said seeming to catching Cassie glance at him. Well at least this way James would also hear the story.
“OK then, what you want to know?” Cassie asked.

It took almost half and hour for her to explain everything start to finish. How she tried to help but messed up instead. How they were fighting over her. How she regretted everything she but but couldn’t stand by and watch Lilith hurt the girl. No one else noticed the two fighting girls so she had to do something. She also launched into a bit of an explanation of how she thinks her power actually worked and how she hurt Lilith. She retreated to fast which made her brain have to very quickly resume control, but being it was so quickly forced into control again. Being her brain wasn’t even fully developed Cassie's quick retreat overloaded Lilith and then it just stopped. After all that was said tears once again glistened in her eyes and she was very interested in her feet.
“Thank you for that Miss Jackson,” the officer said slowly trying it regain his bearings after her confession. “We have contacted your parents Kim and Dorian Jackson. They said they will meet you back at school. As for you James we have also gotten in contact with your caregiver asking them to meet back at your school but haven’t heard a reply yet. We will give you a ride back to campus after all this is over being you might be needed for more questioning.” He finished standing and looking down at the pair a wordless note book in hand. “We’ll keep in touch.” With that he turned and headed off leaving them once again in silence. Cassie watched him leave seriously dreading going back to school. She didn’t want to face her parents. Knowing they would hate what she did and she knew all too well what the consequences would be and she was not looking forward to them.
“So, I guess that, means I failed my challenge. Well now you have a new phone and you get to keep your kiss. ” She said finally looking over at James a slightly smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “Good luck figuring out the past word though.”
Yes, she was trying to lighten the mood a bit, not that she really could after all that happened. But she had given all the information she could, now she had to wait until they were sent back to school to face another round of scolding. So while waiting she might as well lighten the mood or at least lest try to make some conversation.

James watched with blank eyes as frost began to climb up Cassie's arms, swirling up in spiderweb patterns before she quickly moved her hands away from his. It wasn't often that James was so out of control with his ability. Most kids who had more focused abilities like his had an easier time controlling them. But today he couldn't seem to call away the ice as it spread, paper-thin along Cassie's skin. The good thing was that whole he was out of control with his power, it was also quite weak, so when Cassie warmed up her arms, the ice easily melted and began to drip down her arms in sparkling drops of water. The amount of water James had access to changes how easily and how strong he could make ice, but no one really thought about how much access to water there was in the human body. Sure, Cassie's tears had helped, but even just a thin layer of sweat on skin was enough for James to use.

While the ice easily melted on Cassie's skin, James wasn't having so much luck himself. Since his body temperate was always relatively low for normal people and when he got stressed out, it got even lower, he couldn't melt the ice that ran along his hands as easily as Cassie could. Frost crept up from his pale fingers and splintered across his hands and wrists in a beautiful display of white and pale blue. James never had to worry about frostbite, since while his body easily got cold, it didn't seem to be actually affected by ice or snow. James let his eyes flutter closed for a moment while he tried to call away his ice powers, but when that didn't work, he simply shoved his hands into his pockets and hoped that sometime soon his hands would unfreeze.
"Don't cry Cassie..." He said softly, almost absentmindedly. He didn't know how to feel about Cassie right now, if he was angry, or sad, but either way he automatically didn't want her to cry. Crying scientifically was created to make people uncomfortable and make them pay attention to you, usually in order to save you. But James couldn't save Cassie, or Lilith, so he just clenched his thawing fingers tightly and looked up at the kids who were rushing past them. It was all a blur of sound and colour, boots stomping past him as he sat blankly on the floor. People called frantically for their children, and the kids that had no one to call for them were quickly scooped up by social workers. Somewhere in the background James could hear a baby wailing loudly without stop.

People kept staring at Cassie, or rather giving her death glares and James could feel the anger coming off of them as though it was a wave of heat that washed through the room. He knew that they had good reason to hate Cassie right now, to fear her even though they didn't understand what was happening. But still, James couldn't help but feel that they were being a bit harsh. Cassie may be a teenager, but she was still partly a kid and she probably needed someone to comfort her more than anyone else here.

He hardly even responded when a little boy came running up, his brightly coloured clothing seeming oddly out of place in this morbid scene. James moved back quickly as Dean attempted to climb over him to reach Cassie. He didn't want to accidentally end up freezing the boy or something. But he couldn't help but smile feebly when Dean hugged the living daylight out of Cas. Or at least tried to, since his arms weren't quite long enough.
That was the thing about kids. They knew what and who they liked and nothing changed that. They are the most stubborn infuriating little things on the planet, but they were too adorable for any of that to matter.

James watched their interaction quietly, retreating into his own thought for a while. Everything was too loud and overwhelming so he just retreated into a quiet place inside of himself for a while. He east really thinking about anything, just watching Cassie and Dean without really seeing anything at all. That silent, blank world was broken though as he watched Cassie find Deans foster mom in the crowd. The way the woman snapped at her as though Cassie might just try to kill Dean on the spot, it made James's jaw clench, and stomach tighten with anger. He abruptly stood up and walked over to the woman.
"I know you're worried. But Cassie would never, ever hurt someone on purpose. So stop acting like she's the villain." He snapped. He didn't yell or anything, just spoke with a soft venom in his tone that gave no way for comeback. He was about to turn to Cassie, but when he did, she had disappeared. He glanced around nervously, not wanting to lose sight of her. Cassie didn't know it, but she really was helping James. She had anchored him among all this chaos. She was something familiar in a horrible situation. He spotted her with the paramedic and was tempted to join her but thought better of it, instead he walked off in search of the baby that was still crying. Somehow in the chaos the little toddler had managed to find his way into the paint cupboard. Someone had probably forgotten to lock it shut in their rush to find out what was happening. Scooping up the crying boy into his arms, James slowly trudged back to the main area of the room. Almost immediately the child was taken from his arms and he looked up to see a young man cradling the boy in his arms, whispering gentle lullabies to him. Unlike Cassie's previous encounter, people at the centre knew James. They trusted him. So, he was met with the full force of a bright white smile from the father and a repeated thank you for finding his baby. James just offered the ghost of a smile, nodded back and then went back to talk to

He wordlessly looked at Cassie and the police investigator and just shrugged ever so slightly, making no move to stand up, even though he wanted to. He didn't want to listen to this. He didn't want to know how Cassie, whether she meant to or not, had possibly killed Lilith. But he didn't say that. Instead he just quietly listened to her, both hands clasped together behind his back as frost once again began to creep up his fingers.

"It wasn't her fault." He said all of a sudden, breaking through his shocked quietness.
"She's new. I shouldn't have let her have to deal with the kids alone." He murmured softly, glancing up at the officer who was also silently digesting what Cassie had just said. His bright blue gaze was sharp and focused, unlike the soft, hazy, uncertainty of his voice. When the officer finally spoke, James couldn't help but look away, letting his expression drop from seriousness to ever-so-slightly-freaking-out. Of course the police wouldn't be able to get ahold of his brother, since Theo would never pick up a number he didn't recognize. He definitely wouldn't pick it up if it was a known police number, so James was going to have to call him. That was not an exciting prospect. For as long as James could remember, Theo had threaten James to terrible extents about getting involved with the police, or with an crimes. He was under no circumstances allowed to do anything illegal or even suspicious. Redthorn academy was the chance of a lifetime, as Theo wasn't going to let his younger brother ruin it for himself. And now, James had gone and messed it all up.

He was ripped out of his thoughts by Cassie. He gave her a quizzical look as she spoke before suddenly remembering the challenge. All this had been for a stupid challenge. One for a phone and a kiss. James bit the inside of his lip and just watched her for a long moment before he let words form in his mouth.
"I still have hope for you Cas. Deals not off yet. You still have to finish the week." He told her with a bittersweet smile. He didn't want to give up his kiss quite yet. He glanced out the window to the car that was waiting to take them back to school, and then offered a hand to Cassie. She didn't have to take it, but she could.

And then his phone rang. James jumped slightly before fumbling for his phone with one hand.
"Hey?" He knew it was Theo but he wasn't sure why Theo would have called him.
"your school called. Said you got into some trouble James could already hear the anger in Theo's voice.
it was a mistake. I swear. James hissed back. James was one of the few people who Theo couldn't scare. James could manage his brother's anger in a way that no one else could.
I don't care what it was, but the police are involved James! James just shrugged, even though he knew Theo couldn't see him. just come okay? And we'll figure it out. If you don't come they'll go looking for you and neither of us want that. James whispered the last part of that, not wanting Cassie to hear. On the other end of the line, he hear his brother sigh before he cut the line off, leaving James glaring angrily at his phone. All he could do now was pray that Theo would actually come.

((Sorry I messed upthe italics, I'll fix it when I get home))

((OH MY GOSH IM SOOOO SORRY FOR LEAVING!!!!!!!! I won't bother making excuses but I am so sorry for leaving I just had many things on if you know what I mean. I fully understand if you don’t want to RP with me anymore but I am still more than happy to keep going despite the fact my replies might be a bit slow…. Anyway just to start it off again here is another reply. Like I said a fully and totally understand if you don’t want to keep going.))

“Wow that’s the first good news I heard this whole day.” Cassie said almost regretting the added bite to her voice.
She didn’t mean to sound so harsh but sometimes even she couldn’t help what came out her mouth. Especially cause her feelings were all over the place. But seriously, even if she didn’t show it, having James of all people, the one who she royally screw their life over, still believe some good was in her felt kinda good. A grinned tugged at the corner of her mouth but her red painted lips split into a real smile as he stood offering his hand. Even the little gestures seemed to make the whole world slightly brighter. Without a second though she took it, her multicoloured paint smudged fingers wrapping around his cold ones. Despite the cold she was quite content with keeping her hand in his. No only because of whatever she felt for him but more because just having another human by her side and believing in her was comforting. However she quickly released his hand upon hearing the familiar ring of a phone coming from his pocket. No phone call could mean anything good at a time like this. Cassie retreated a few steps focusing on straightening her cloths and picking little flakes of paint off. She didn’t want to seem like she was listening in to his conversation but it was hard not to be curious. Rule one of winning a war was to always get as much information as possible so you know exactly what's going on, then you could get the perfect blackmail. Habits die hard after all. James was smart enough not to announce the name of the person he was talking to out loud. However she had a feeling she knew who he was talking to. He was currently talking to the rather annoyed brother of his. James kept his voice low but the shouting on the other side was more than audible even though she had no idea what any of what it meant.

Cassie waited until James was done talking before actually heading out to the awaiting car. She didn’t want to go alone and sit awkwardly alone while waiting for James. The ambulance had left rushing Lilith off to the hospital. Everyone else but the police had vanished, not wanting to hang around any longer than need be. All those remaining gave her deadly looks but she held her head high deliberately making a wider gap between her and James. The deadly looks were for her, not him, and she refused to drag him down with her. If school had taught her anything it was to not let people get under your skin, that was rule two of winning. The sooner you crumbled the sooner you were taken advantage of. No matter what sweet image the police fought to up hold they were just as bad as everyone else. Preying on the meek and using whatever methods just to get what they wanted. The police were above the law, as long as they got the answers everyone turned a blind eye. And as long as the public had someone to blame they were happy, and at this current moment she was to blame, not James.

The walk to the car felt like it took years and she felt more alone than ever. Was she just being dumb by trying to keep James out of this. In the past she would be fine with shoving him under the bus and pleading her innocence. It seemed ridiculous to deliberately frame yourself. However Cassie made her choice and she wasn’t going to back down now. Rule three if you make a choice follow it out and defend it with your life even if it feels pointless at the time. Backing down makes you look weak. She finally made it to the awaiting car and slipped in shutting the door. The driver didn’t even say anything just started the engine as soon as both of them were in, heading towards the school, and her waiting parents. She could almost see them sitting there. She got most her looks from her mother. It was almost like her father didn’t even exist and when you saw them together he looked like a stranger. Well it was almost true, he barely showed up in her life being he was always busy with work. She knew very little of him so other then that fact she carried his blood they were strangers. But he would be so mad at her. Her mother would be in tears her striking aqua eyes filled with tears. She would but babbling questions like why and how. However her father will be sitting with a glare death on his face. He would have no sympathy, only cold dark stare of utter disappointment..

Cassie kept her mouth shut not knowing what to say. James seemed so much more tense thanks to the talk with his brother. So Cassie did the one thing she knew. She reached out her hand finding his and lacing their fingers together. Rule four, know who your allies are and keep them close.
“You’ll be fine James.” She said reassuring squeezing his hand.
He would be fine, he did nothing but help. Yes he stood up for her but that couldn’t be proved nor be put against him. However her fate was still undecided. Many things could happen to her. This was the last straw and she knew it. Her parents were sick of her messing up and this was the worst thing she could have done and now she would suffer the consequence.

((OMG IT'S OKAY!!!!!! It;s fine really, just gald your back. Take your time with your replies.))

James didn't know why he was trying to hide who he was talking to from Cassie. After what they had gone through together, it wasn't like they had any reason not to trust each other, plus James was usually quite the trusting person. But even trusting James had heard about Cassie's reputation. He didn't want her to know about his brother. He and Theo lived a dangerous life that could easily be broken by a simple tip off to the police or Child Services. He didn't believe that Cassie would ever purposely try to destroy his life like that but he knew that when Cassie talked, whatever she said circulated the school like wildfire. He didn't want her to by mistake let something slip and one of the teachers or the principle getting wind of it. So, for now he dug his phone deep into his pocket and let out a long breath before going to join her in the car.

The funny things about teenagers is that they compartmentalize things very easily and they could focus on other things that didn't matter as much. Perhaps that was why so many students ended up flunking out of school because their attention was focused more on romance than school. Being a teenager meant that romantic interest was a huge part of most lives and James was no exception to that rule. He had never really been too interested in girls and even when he was he had always been too shy to admit it to them. But Cassie was different. He didn't have to admit anything to her because she had been the one to make the first move. So, despite the horrible event that had just occurred and that his brother was probably going to kill him when he got back to school, all James could think about was the feeling of Cassie's hand in his. She had held on much longer than she had too and he couldn't help but feel a wave of annoyance that Theo's phone call had forced her to let go. He had still been more than a bit shaky about the accident and just having someone be there and hold his hand comfortingly was nice.

His obsession over her tiny hand hold quickly melted away as Cassie drew away from him, walking quick enough that a sizable gap was between them. He didn't understand why she was walking away from him. Didn't she like him? After all her prize was supposed to be a kiss. Unbidden a thought rose into James mind. Maybe she actually didn't like him, maybe she was just playing around with him as part of her game. He grimaced slightly and shook that thought away. That was something Theo would think. He had to believe that she really did mean the best.

Sliding into the care beside Cassie he stared tightly out the window, thoughts of Theo and Lilith and Cassie crowding his mind until he wished that he could just turn off his thoughts for one moment. He just wanted one moment of quiet in his brain. As though Cassie had heard his exact thoughts (which, maybe she had), he felt her hand slip into his and immediately his thoughts quieted for a moment. Holding her warm hands in his cold ones, James let her body heat seep into his skin before turning to look at her. His eyes were a startling ice blue that was so pale it was almost white which often happened when he started using his powers too much. Slowly as he looked at her they reverted back to their slightly deeper shade of blue.
"I know i'll be fine. Will you be though?" He asked softly, squeezing her hand in response.

The driver didn't look like much but he had a badge that showed he was part of the police force. He was silent as they pulled away from the care-center. James watched as the scenery passed before their eyes and it wasn't long before they were pulling into the parking lot of the Academy. There were a few new cars in the lot and while James didn't see Theo's motorcycle he wasn't sure if maybe his brother had borrowed a friends car to get here.

((Thank you so much!! I’m glad to be back too :3 Hopefully this reply makes some sense.))

“Ha,” Cassie sighed, “Good question.” Her parents would have something planned for her, and whatever it is she doubted it would be good.
But that was her punishment to take, and she didn’t really want James worrying about it. He would be amazed how many times Cassie got herself into these situations. Yes they were never with stakes as high these but that was beside the point. However she didn’t bother saying anything, no words seemed right at this moment. Dwelling in the fact that she had screwed up seemed pointless at this point. Beside Just having that small touch on their hands was enough for her. So Cassie left it like that for as long as possible.

“Get out.” The driver demanded as the car pulled into the public car park.
“Looks like we have a chaperone.” Cassie grumbled loud enough for the driver to hear as he exited the car.
Moving ment being forced to release James hand, despite how much she just wanted to stay where she was. Throwing the door open, Cassie swung herself gracefully out, letting her hand slip from James as she did so. Then without a second thought she slammed the door behind her looking dead at the drive, daring him to challenge her. Just cause she was going along with this doesn't mean she had to enjoy it. Other than a glare their chaperone did nothing other than gesture for them to follow before walking off. His lack of doing anything was a small victory in her world. Small yes but it was something.

But that was the only thing her in her favor.

As the officer walked off Cassie hesitated, taking a deep breath surprised to to hear it shaking slightly. Her hands curled into fists by her side, she would not show weakness, not at a time like this. She turned to James but her gaze looked past him at the tiger gold Camaro parked quite perfectly in the sun.
“Show off.” She muttered through a lump formed in her throat.
She knew he would be here, so why did this scare she so much? Then again seeing the car made this all to real. Somewhere in her she hoped this was all a bad dream or her parents wouldn’t show up. Well, they were here all right, and now she had to deliberately walk towards them. Lifting her chin slightly higher she forced her body to unfreeze before striding towards the awaiting storm.

The officer ended up leading the way, not like she didn’t know where the principal office was. She had been there often enough to be able to walk there blindfolded. However she had a feeling that the officer was there just so everyone knew they had done something wrong. And it worked. Everyone watched her and James as they walked through the halls. She already heard the theories and rumors begin spreading around. So once again she pulled away from James keeping the looks on her and only on her. She wouldn’t let James get dragged to the rumors. It was one thing to be noticed by the police as an accomplice or whatever, but it was a whole new thing to be caught in the midst of school rumours. She knew first hand how ugly they could get in such little time. She had no life, no friends she could chase away, not anymore. Whatever her parents did would make sure of that. But James did. He had a future here and she wasn’t going to ruin it. Beside she had been in the heart of many rumors how could this be different? Was this the some good in her that James said she had? The loyalty that came with love? Even if she denied the truth, told herself it was just a game the loyalty, the unwillingness to see him hurt, reminded. Not that she was going to be able to say anything. She had a feeling this week was not going to end with them both in the same place at same time.

Many whispers and not so shocked looks later Cassie found herself outside the principal's office, and it was deathly silent. No voices came from inside, just the ominous glow seeping through the gap under the door.
“Ha, good luck girly.” Said the officer before spinning on his heel and leaving, more or less chasing back the crowd of gathered students as he did so.
Cassie couldn’t help but spit a curse at him as he left. She was over these officers, especially this one. And then it was only her and James standing in front of the large door. Though James was beside her she felt even more alone then before. She really wanted to take his hand but she had a feeling that would just incriminate him more. So she dug her nails into the palm and approached the door.
“Better not keep them waiting.” She said before pushing the door open .

All eye turned to her and James. Like expected tears dripped from her mothers eyes and her father just stared at her with a cold glare, a look Cassie matched with her own dark look. No one said anything for ages until the principal broke the silence.
“Cassie James, take a seat.” He said gesturing to two unoccupied seats.
“I would rather…”
“Hold up!” Her father cut her off rising to his feet so he towered over his daughter. “We want Cassie, not the boy.” Her father said momentary switching his gaze to James.
Cassie tensed but kept her back straight, shoulders back and her chin high not even looking back at James.
Calm Cassie, show no fear, act like you don’t care. He feeds on your uncertainty remember that.
“Um ok, James please just wait outside, your caregiver might be here soon so we will talk to you both soon.” The principal said while he dad continued to glared at them.


Another silence settled after James left, only the sniffles of her mum breaking the tence air. Not even the principal said anything.
“Ok no one wants to say anything so I might as well.” Her father standing in front of Cassie both of them refusing to sit. “ And i’m not going to beat around the bush…”
“Well that’s not unlike you.” Cassie snapped back but he ignored her.
“Cassie we are all sick of you messing up or causing trouble. First you mind control a teacher, then you threaten a kid quite literally tattooing your name into his skin. Then you don’t answer any of our calls…”
“Well…” She stopped herself. Don’t bring James into this She told herself. She was the one who gave him the challenge. Beside he didn’t know this would happen.
“Well what Cassandra?” Her unfinished sentence clearly catching in interest.
“None of your business.” She retorted holding her ground against the lethal gaze of the monster in front of her.
“Don’t push your luck dear.” Her mother whimpered from behind her but her words changed nothing.
“Either way we have collectively decided to take you away from this school and are going to homeschool you. You have until the end of the week, so another five days, to pack up your stuff say your goodbyes and then someone will turn up at your door at exactly midday to pick you up.” But this news didn’t faze her.
She was expecting this, hearing him say that hurt more than she imagined but she was ready. She really was being forced to leave. Ha how ironic, nothing was left for her anyway.
“Fine, then you get to deal with me and my power all day, how fun for you.” She grinned determined not to let him win.
Her and her father were always trying to outdo each other. A word battle where the goal was to simply to out smart the other with the normal human word.
“Oh Cassandra, you can’t win this fight.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Oh yeah. As you know we have many contacts and some scientist have made something that is said to stop the power of someone. It stops them being able to use their ability. And guess what, they need a lab rat to test it on.” The look in his eyes darkened as he held up a little chip that made her mother weap more, even the principle seemed taken aback.
Cassie stiffened a sinking feeling filling her gut. Then she laughed. Actually laughed a crazed little laugh. “I must be dangerous if you need to do this, I almost take it as a compliment.”
“Cassie I suggest…” Her mother tried but Cassie talked over her meek voice.
“Well father you got me beat, I can’t top this. So go ahead, use your only daughter as a lab rat.”
“You are a monster Cassandra, and we are just trying to stop others being hurt by you.” He replied walking behind her and Cassie let him.
He lifted the hair revealing the back of her neck. “It will connect itself to the skin on your neck so you can’t take it off without risk of death. It was originally designed for criminals after all. It might sting a bit.” He said though hesitated bring the chip close so it tugged against his grip craving the need to end her magical energy.
“Gone one father, mark me as a criminal. And if I die, my blood will be on your hands.”
And with that he let the chip go.

At first it felt like nothing. In fact she got outside the door, leaving her parents behind the large wooden doors before the pain hit. It felt as if her life source was being drained away. Cassie screamed against the white hot pain her leg crumpling from under her. It hurt, it hurt so much. And then it stopped. Her breaths were labored her legs to weak to hold her. She felt blood drip down the back of her neck from where the chip had burrowed itself into her flesh. But the pain was gone. However with the pain went her power. Now she had been stripped of her title, her friends, her school, and her power. Everything she lived for, gone. And in a way she felt she deserved it all. So in the one moment, as she knelt crumpled on the floor blood mixing with the auburn colour of her hair, Cassie actually cried.

The stares. James couldn't stand the stares. It wasn't that people never looked at him, he wasn't the type of kid who was basically invisible. He had his friends, and he loved all of them but he still couldn't handle the stares. Somehow Cassie seemed to be immune to them. Her turquoise eyes staying straight ahead as though the other people didn't exist. As though it didn't matter for one moment that she was the center of attention for every singe kid in the hallway at the moment. James wasn't a shy person or anything, but even this was a bit much for him. Suddenly he realized just how tough you had to be to live a life like Cassie did. You have to be strong, be able to ignore everyone no matter what. It was funny, how the popular people seemed to care most what others thought but had to not care at all in order to survive. As he stared at Cassie in front of him, he couldn't help but wonder if she could keep surviving this way.

His hand twitched ever so slightly, clenching up into a fist as he walked down the hall. He wanted to hold Cassie's hand. It felt childish and cowardly to want to just hold her hand, but he couldn't deny it. His fear of what was to come seemed to abate just a little bit when her fingers were laced in his, warm and cold mixing together into something that just felt... okay. But he had finally realized why Cassie refused to walk with him. It was because while many people were watching James, he was more just a side-show to Cassie. Almost every eye was on the schools most popular girl. She was trying to protect him, but James didn't want to be protected. He wanted her to know that he wasn't going to let her take the fall for this. It was an accident and he wasn't going to let anyone get the wrong idea. Cassie really had been doing the right thing, maybe for the first time in her life. But before he could move to walk next to Cassie, he found himself already stopping at the principals door.

Unlike Cassie, James had never been in the principals office except for one time when he had first come and she had wanted to welcome him to the school. He could feel his heart flutter nervously in his chest. It was funny, knowing that so many other kids had stood in front of this door feeling just as nervous. But they were only there for throwing a wad of paper at a teacher, or getting into a fight, not for the possible death of a child. And yet, he didn't feel any more nervous than he thought he would feel if he was only here for getting into normal teen trouble.

As they walked into the office, James squared his shoulders and lifted his gaze because he was going to take this problem head on, no matter what. His resolve weakened ever so slightly though as he saw Cassie's parents. It weakened even more when her father's voice cut through the tension, telling him to leave. James hesitated for a long moment before grabbing Cassie's hand from behind the desk and squeezed it tightly. He couldn't be there with her to fight against this, but he wanted her to know that she had his support.

Once he left the room he was about to settle down on a chair when he noticed a black motorcycle outside in the parking lot of the school through the window. It only took another moment before the door down the hall was slammed open and his brother came stalking in. There was an anger in Theo's eyes that would have made anyone cower in fear, except James. He was used to it by now and could handle his brothers anxiety induced anger.
"You are a dead man James." His brother seethed, striding up to him, practically shaking with rage. James only just managed to stand up before his brother reached him. Even standing though, Theo was much taller than James, in reality and metaphorically. Theo was the type of person who could control the room with just a word while James was much less demanding and controlling.
"This is your one chance James. You have one chance and you cannot screw it up." His brother hissed at him as he pulled off his helmet and tossed it down onto a chair. James knew exactly why Theo was so angry. He didn't have anywhere else to go if something happened at this school, this was the only way he might have a future, the future Theo didn't have. Getting into trouble with the police was even worse because they might end up taking Theo away from him. His brother tried to take care of him as best as he could, but he was only 18 and not even James's legal guardian.

Theo continued to rage as James quietly let him. His mind was still busy working on understand what had happened. Suddenly Theo stopped and peered over at James with a half-puzzled, half-angry look on his face.
"James? Are you listening to me?" He tried to growl, but he didn't sound angry anymore. James was quiet for a moment longer before shaking his head slightly.
"No." He whispered out, his bright blue eyes meeting Theo's dark ones. All of a sudden he was shaking again, delayed shock any doctor would say. Theo just stared at him for a long, long time before lurching forward and wrapping his arms around his younger brother.
"Hey, you're okay. You're okay." He shushed quietly as James buried his face into Theo's shoulder. He needed his older brother right now. He was embarrassed to feel the familiar prickle of tears in the back of his eyes. He knew he couldn't cry, because compared to the life of his brother, this was nothing. But he couldn't help it, and his shoulders shook with gentle sobs, ready for Theo to pull back and tell him to man up, and suck it up. But instead his brother just tightened his hug, continuing to whisper sweet nothings to James. It took a few more moments until James could pull everything back together and he finally let go of Theo.
"I'm sorry..." He murmured, looking down at his shoes. Theo just smiled suddenly and ruffled his brother's hair.
"It's okay, we'll figure it out." He said gently. That was all James had needed to know that everything would be okay, all he had needed was a few words from his brother. Now all he needed to do was wait for Cassie to come out from her meeting and assure her that everything was going to be okay. He glanced back at the principles door and Theo looked at it for a while with him.
"Hey, I have to go park properly. I was sort of so intent on killing you that I double parked. I'll be back in a second okay?" Theo grinned sheepishly before walking back of to go re-park. It was lucky that he did, because one moment later, Cassie came barging out with a horrible expression on her face.
"Ca-" He was cut off by an agonizing cry as he crumpled to the floor, tears flowing freely from her eyes. Now, James didn't know too much about Cassie besides what he had only so recently learned, but he didn't think that she cried. She was Cassandra Jackson, she didn't cry.

"Cassie what's wrong? Cassie?" He knelt down next to her, totally unsure of what to do.
"Cassie, whatever it is, we can figure it out." He said, dully echoed his brother's words. Hesitantly he put a hand on her back because he knew that when he was younger and upset, Theo used to give him back rubs to help him calm down and go to sleep.

((This is horrible! Cassie's father is evil, and James had such an understanding encounter with his brother... totally opposite what Cassie got))

(( It’s so sad. Theo was a sweetheart and Cassie father is being a jerk.))

Cassie herd James speaking to her but his voice sounded so far away. She had lost everything. Everything that made Cassie Cassie she had lost in a simple mistake. But no one knew it was a mistake. In everyone's eye she was a monster. An unforgiving monster that just killed a young child. Even her family treated her like she was a waste of space and they made that clear by sticking the damn chip in her neck. Why couldn’t people just hear her out, why did they have to jump to conclusions? What would happen to her now? Now no one wanted her then where would she go? All her anger, her fear and sadness combined making her feeling even more useless than before. Is this what others felt like? Now that she was torn down from her pedestal was she beginning to see how others lived? No, she didn’t want to be here, she wanted back up onto her throne, she wasn’t like others. But at the same time, she knew, she knew all to well, that she was like others. Others felt this pain, sometimes quite frequently. Sometimes she caused this pain. How could she cause this pain? She couldn’t cause pain this deep, could she? No, maybe… Yes. She could and she did, not even giving it a second thought. Then she really was a monster, she had been the monster this whole time, she was the monster they said she was. Everyone had been right all along.

On the outside Cassie was a mess. Tear flowed freely down her cheeks smudging her makeup into a mess of colours. She found herself leaning into James hand, finding some peace in his gentle touch but it wasn’t enough to stop the war inside. After a few minutes Cassies tears started to dry and her back ached from the position she was in. Taking a shaky breath, Cassie moved into a sitting position letting James hand fall of her back as she did so.
“Sorry… I’m sorry James.” She said amazed to hear herself say those words.
Cassie never said those words. She never said sorry, or thanks, or please. Cassie never was polite in general. But here she was tossing out i'm sorry left right and center. What was happening to her. How had he life turned this upside down.

Cassie whipped her hand over her tear stained cheeks only to make to worse. Cautiously Cassie reached up touching the chip in her neck. Blood had crusted around it and little lines spread out form the chip curling around the side of her neck and up into her hair. Well no duh it hurt, it had literally spread it’s silly little tentacle things through her neck.
“I don’t think we can fix this James.” Cassie started swiping her long hair over her shoulder. “Just look.” She turned so her back was facing him. “They stuck a damn chip in my neck that stops my power I can’t even…”
She closed her eyes trying to open a telepathic link between her and James. Yet as soon as the power started flowing through her body and it looked like it might work, the chip worked it’s dark little magic and sent a wave or pain though her body. Cassie gasped letting out a cry of pain followed by a curse.
“See, I can’t even use my power and i’m being forced to leave this school in under a week. There’s nothing to figure out James. I’ve screwed things up. Screwed it up way it much.”

Ian: ((Just cause I thought a protective cousin might be a bit fun ;-) ))

Ian was just walking the halls mindlessly. He had no place to go and was rather bored. So he just decided to roam the halls to try find something interesting. He had just been walking around when he heard a scream. Ian stopped already placing the scream was female which had already caught his interest. He changed directions just as another scream echoed through the halls. This time he placed a name to the voice. He didn’t hear her scream often, in fact she almost never screamed. But he knew her voice, he knew his cousins voice no matter what. Picking up his pace Ian weaved his way through the halls. He was kind of worried for his cousin. He often knew she could fend for herself but if something had made her scream like that then something must be wrong. The further he walked the more he noticed he was heading towards the principal's office. Which then brought up the question of why was Cassie there. She was often dragged there for one thing or another. But he didn't get any complaining texts from her explain any of this. Upon hearing another cry Ian pick his pace up even more. Three screams all from Cassie, something was seriously wrong.

He rounded the last corner leading to the principal's office only to find his cousins sitting in a heap on the ground. Next to her was the boy she had been with for awhile, James was his name. Cassie looked a mess. She had her back to the boy tears dripped down her cheeks smudging her makeup and staining her clothes. There was some bruise thing on her neck. Webs of blue purple and black spread out from the back of her neck crawling up into her hairline and down past the hem of her top before fading away to nothing.
“Well isn’t this is interesting.” Ian said making himself known while slowly starting towards the pair.
To be fair, Ian had no idea what was happening but by the looks of it it was nothing good. And currently there was only one person to blame. He stepped between Cassie and the boy, looking down at him with a glare.
“Should I ask?” He said raising an eyebrow, not overly enjoying see his dear cousin in such a bad state.

((This is the first time Theo could possibly considered a sweetheart))

James had always been the friend people came for comfort for. Unlike his usually tough-love brother he was always willing to comfort people, even complete strangers. More often than not their distress was getting in the way of an obvious solution and James was always there to help them see that the problem was fixable. When it wasn't, James could never do more than just offer some kind words and a hug but often that seemed to do enough. He had never seen anyone break down as much as Cassie was though which was even scarier because she was Cassie. Cassie was the strongest person he knew so if she was crying like this he wasn't sure he could do anything to comfort her. Of course, knowing what the problem was would probably have been useful but he knew he just had to wait for her to tell him. One couldn't rush stuff like this, you just had to wait until the other person was ready to talk.

Finally it seemed that Cassie was getting a good enough hold to stop crying and he shifted slightly into a more comfortable position, still staying close to her to provide comfort. One of the things James hated most about his ice abilities was that he was always cold. No matter how good he was at comforting people there was still one thing that was always going to be missing. There was no such thing as a warm hug, or hand-hold from James because his body temperature made sure he always felt vaguely cold. When he was nervous it got even worse, and he was nervous right now so his body temperature would probably have been perceived as cold to any normal human being.

"Cassie, it was a mistake. It's alright, you don't have to say sorry." He murmured to her, his ice blue eyes trying to catch hers. He wanted her to know that he meant it. Of course, he still thought she was apologizing about the accident rather than what had just happened in that office. He fell quiet though as she showed him the chip on her neck. He didn't know what to say to her, he didn't even know what to feel. Anger, disgust, pity all welled up inside of him into a jumble of emotions that he didn't understand. How could someone do this? Even more, how could they do it to their own daughter? He had always thought that Theo could be a little bit annoying and mean at times but this was reaching a new level. Theo would have never done anything like this to James, he had practically sacrificed everything to send James to this school anyways.

With careful fingers, James gently moved a few strands of her hair away from her neck, touching her bruised skin with a feather light touch.
"Does-does it hurt?" He asked stupidly, not know what else to say. He was still processing what it meant that she couldn't use her powers anymore. When it finally clicked what she was saying, he withdrew his hand slowly, eyes wide and scared. Suddenly the annoying jingle he had first used to distract Cassie from his thoughts popped into his head. He desperately tried to send the music towards Cassie's mind, trying to make her laugh. But he quickly realized that she was right. That her powers weren't working anymore.

He knew that this must be horrible for her. Loosing her powers probably felt like loosing a part of her. James couldn't imagine living now without his ice powers.
"I-No. We can-we can fix this." He stammered out, once again inspecting the chip in her skin. He was no doctor but even he realized that you couldn't just pull it out.
"You can't leave school. You're Cassandra Jackson. It wouldn't be this school without you. We'll figure something out, we have to." He tried to say in a light tone, but he didn't know if he could fix this. He was about to say something else when he heard footsteps rushing down the hall. His first instinct was to move in front of Cassie, he knew she wouldn't want anyone to see her crying. Because Cassandra Jackson was too strong to cry, she was the queen bee. But he drew back as he recognized her cousin Ian. He was almost as famous as she was, although James didn't know much about him. He could see the thoughts flickering through Ian's eyes as he looked at both of them. Of course if he saw his cousin crying and hurt next to a guy, his first thought would be to go for the guy.
"I didn't do anything, I promise. H-her parents stopped her powers." His eyes shone with desperation as he looked up at Ian's towering form. Maybe Ian could help, maybe he could talk to Cassie's parents.... wait, that's what he needed to do. Cassie's parents must know a way to get it off again if they changed their minds. He just had to convince them.

"I have to go." He suddenly said abruptly, standing up in a rush.
"I swear I will make this okay again, this is my fault. I shouldn't have brought you to the center." He spat out as he skirted past Ian and looked guiltily at Cassie. Now that he thought about it, this was definitely his fault. Bending over he kissed her lightly on the forehead, cool lips against warm skin and then disappeared into the principles office. Luckily her parents were still in the office talking to the principle ((I'm guess they're still there? cause they didn't leave))
"Um, Mrs. Jackson, Mr.Jackson, can I, uh, take a moment of your time?" He tried his best to grit his teeth and sound polite. Anger wasn't going to help him here.

((XD))

No matter what anyone said Cassie knew things couldn’t just be fixed. Despite what James said, telling her it would be fine, Cassie knew full well things would never be fine. Not now. Not after what she did.
“James…” She said still keeping her head bowed however a slight smile formed on her lips.
It was cute how he cared. Cassie had all but given up but James still said it was possible. His determination almost made it better as well as knowing at least he would miss her. The school would be better off without her and Cassie was more than aware of that but at least James cared. She felt like she accomplished something having James like her enough to miss her. Not her twisted little way of hers when she liked bending the weak wrapping them around her thumb. No, she actually valued his… trust? His loyalty? She didn’t know what exactly the word was but either way she liked it.
“James… Relax, just make sure your not dragged down with me” She said sincerely not wanting him to fall cause of her dumb mistake.
He was wrong, the school wouldn’t be the same without him. Everyone would be overjoyed with her gone or powerless. However if James was broken just as much as her then nothing in this school would ever be the same.

Now Cassie knew she hadn’t been exactly quite throughout this whole drama but seriously hopped no one heard. Clearly however someone did and, unlike normal, she couldn’t send them a telepathic warning to stay the heck away. In fact she forgot she couldn’t and tried only to let out another, slightly quieter, hiss of pain. She cursed hating this whole situation. Her being seen as weak, her relying on James of all people, ugh that would completely mess up last week. She had wanted to try uphold her rank of Queen Bee until the very last second. Her pride was down enough to notice her causing pain to others but not enough to let he stop being Queen Bee. She noticed as James moved in front of her and for once she was simi grateful to be protected. However she also noticed him step down allowing this new arrival to see her clearly. At first Cassie though it was him getting back to her for everything she had done, to be honest she wouldn’t have blamed him. However she quickly recognized the voice which was almost worse than any other person in this school. How much would he rub this in her face. With a fair bit of effort Cassie picked herself up off the ground moving to sitting. To her ultimate surprised Ian had positioned himself in between her and James.
“Ian no!” She growled not being able to hold much ferocity but hopefully enough to be heard. “Ian he’s right, he did nothing.” She said grabbing his arm just in case he didn’t believe either of them. “Best thing you can do right now is leave.” She hissed not really appreciating her cousins appearance.
However he seemed to have other ideas and so did James. Man did she hate being incompetent.

“Jame it’s not…” She was cut off as his cool lips passed over her forehead. She both wished for more and dreaded the question on why he found that necessary. “James what are you doing?” She questioned but he had already darted off the familiar click of the door his only answer.
It only took meer seconds for her figure out exactly what he was doing.
“Nope, that’s seriously a bad idea.” She muttered darting to her feet only to topple over again.
Screw her inability to do anything.
“Whoa slow down their girly.” Ian said catching her as her legs failed. “Let the boy have his death wish.”
Both of them knew exactly how bad her father was. He was a stubborn heartless freak and would have no mercy in tearing James down. Once set in his ways, nothing would stop him, not even the strongest words.

Ian:

“Really?” Ian raised an eyebrow eyeing James closely.
He sounded truthful enough and honestly Ian couldn’t see ice boy hurting anyone, especially not Cassie. As well as Cassie gripping his arm insulting him without fear despite her little situation. However James’s explanation of who actually did it was rather…. Interesting. Now he knew his uncle was quite…. messed up in a way. Therefore Ian wouldn’t put it past him to do anything like this, but what got Ian was why? Why would he go to the lengths of actually stopping his own daughters powers. She was a bit of a brat with them yes but that only if people messed with her. So either Cassie really messed up or his dear uncle felt like being a jerk. Either way Ian would stick by his cousins side, screw his uncle who only made things worse. Ian and Cassie were usually fighting, cursing each others names or threatening to rip the others head off but Ian would stand up for her. If worse came to worse then Ian would take her side. And now was the time to stand by her.

Ian just kind of watched as James stood without warning before slipping past him. He didn’t like being shoved to the side but then again he didn’t want to interfere with their little romance time. So he just let it happen observing as Cassie looked rather shocked by James’s actions. Ian laughed to himself, clearly someone was crushing hard. However both of them were amazed by his next course of action. Neither he nor Cassie though it a smart idea to go back to her dear father. In fact Cassie tried to stop him only to trip over her own feet and make Ian ave to catch her.
“Whoa slow down their girly.” He said catching under the arms before moving her over to a chair. “Let the boy have his death wish.” He muttered flopping down on his own chair.
“He’s going to get himself killed.” Cassie muttered naturally fiddling with the amethyst ring on her finger.
“Agreed. But Cas have some faith in the boy. Dear I say it I think he has some intelligence. He has the possibility of actually making it out alive of this.”

Perents

They had never left. Neither did they react at Cassies pained screams. Both parents had prepared themselves for this however one was more… unfazed by it then the other. They had decided they would wait until Cassie had left the hallway before leaving themselves. They had a feeling their daughter wouldn’t like to see them again. At least until the end of the week. They were quite comfortable where they were making annoying small talk with the head of this mess up school. Cassie mum was still sniffling not yet fully coming to terms with what she did. Cassie dad however was stone cold his train of thought being that Cassie had brought this onto herself. Neither of them wanted to help and either did either of them think someone would come to them. However they were proved wrong as the young boy who had supposedly been with Cassie thought her monstrous act turned up asked directly to talk to them.

Cassie dad was first to rect. He didn’t move nor did he give the boy more than a annoyed look.
“Whatever you want we aren’t interested.” He replied. “So we suggest you leave us in peace and avoid our…. Dear daughter. Life would be so much better for you without her, trust me on that one.” He said waving the boy away.
He didn’t care for what icy over there had to say, they weren’t his parents and so they didn’t need to deal with him or even associate with him. However his wife clearly had a different opinion on the matter.
“No.” She finally spoke up preventing the boy of leaving. Mr Jackson turned his annoyed gaze to her but she, like Cassie, and learnt to ignore it. “Let the boy stay. If he had the nerve to come to us then it clearly must be important. I say we hear him out at least for a bit. If he’s not worth out time we can kick him out but… I think we should listen.” She said matching the gaze of her husband before turning to James a much softer gaze. Her husband frowned but didn’t say anything letting the boy say his piece. His critical gaze watching the boy ready to snap at him of stop him if he got to annoying.

James was very quickly beginning to think that this was not so good of an idea. If Cassie's parents were willing to do such a terrible thing to her, what would they do to a complete stranger they had no attachment to? He didn't know anything about them and that scared him. Theo had always been the one who jumped into things too fast. James on the other hand always pulled him back and forced him to think his actions through first. He forced him to study and research things before he went into battle full force like he always did. But now, James was barging into a situation he had done no research about, and he was terrified.

The silence of the principles room felt threatening, trying to pull him into the old walls that let no sound through. Compared to the shrieks of agony coming from Cassie before, the silence made his ears ring. James had only been to the principles office a few times, and never for getting into trouble. It had always seemed sort of cozy to him, leather seats and books everywhere. It looked like the perfect place for an educator. But now what he had once seen as "cozy" now became stuffy and closed in on him as though trying to smother him.
"Um," was all he managed to get out. His mouth felt dry and he swallowed thickly, trying to regain the bravery he had felt for a brief moment before coming into the room. His gaze slid nervously from person to person, ice blue skipping over the different eyes in the room. Cassie's father's were cold, her mother's were resigned and the principle's were bewildered. They say that eyes are pathways to the soul and in this moment, James believed that in fact they were. Forcing his gaze to settle on her father he swallowed again, trying to figure out what to say. His gaze flipped back to his wife when she allowed him to stay. Not that he was going to leave anyways, but it was nice to know that maybe he could find some support in her.
"Sir, Ma'am, with all due respect, I don't think that anyone's life would be better without Cassie." He bit the inside of his cheek as he tried to formulate a good argument.
"I know that Cassie isn't always easy, teenagers aren't" He said truthfully.
"But she's your daughter. She is Cassandra Jackson and you have taken away the exact thing that makes her who she is. Losing your power... I think it's like losing a limb. These powers aren't just add-ons to who we are, they are a part of us." He wanted them to realize that Cassie and her power weren't separate things. Magical powers were weaved through the very being of the kids here. They were a magical thread that if cut, would cause the entire kid to become unraveled.
"I know you've never met me... but I can change Cassie. I can teach her respect, and kindness but i'm not going to do it by taking away who she is." He said pleadingly. It was much harder to just make Cassie respectful and kind than he made it sound, but he was up to the task. If it meant that he could save her powers, he was willing to do almost anything. This wasn't just because maybe he had some feelings for Cassie but this was for everyone. It would be like cutting of a limb.

(for fun!) Theo

The soft jangle of keys announced that Theo was back from moving his motorcycle. He was expecting to find James still sitting in the chairs outside of the office but instead was met by a rather bewildering scene. From the snippets of conversation he had heard, it wasn't hard to make the connections that this girl was the Cassandra that had gotten James into trouble. Judging from her clothing, she was a total snob, and Theo hated people like that. He hated that she could definitely get out of trouble with the money she had while James couldn't. Even worse, she was the one who looked like she had been crying.
"You're Cassandra right? Just a word of advice, stay away from my brother." He growled at her angrily. James couldn't be distracted from school by some annoying girl who thought she ruled the world. He had responsibilities, he was going to be successful even if Theo died trying to make sure he did.