007 | attempt of her best friend

Cassie was in trouble.

She wanted to help Natasha in some ways possible yet she couldn't even devise a plan on how to approach Baker without stirring a rumor between her and Baker. She knew how popular Baker was in Jones High School and approaching him without second thoughts would cause gossips from the people who liked him or people who just wanted to gossip. She promised Natasha, so she would not back down, but she couldn't brainstorm any good ideas.

It was convenient for her if Baker wasn't a popular person in the school, not that wasn't the case. It just made complicated at her part.

It wasn't like she didn't trust her friends in the school, but knowing how weird her friends were, she didn't want to be teased nor give an explanation.

She gave up thinking about it, so she went to sleep because she felt drowsy.

**

"You seem to be in deep thought, Cassie. What's wrong?" one of her friends that she made in school, Samantha Field, asked.

She woke up from her thoughts once she heard Samantha. "Ah, no, nothing."

"But it tells me otherwise, you know that?" Samantha wasn't convinced in her lie.

"Yeah, yeah! I agree with Samantha!" another of her friends that she made in school, Yvonne Style, agreed.

She didn't want to spill, so she would continue to come up with excuses. "It's nice that you're both worried about me, but as I told you I'm all right. So don't worry about me, hm?"

She hoped that her words might be somehow convincing.

"Then what's up with a long look, Cassie?" Yvonne asked.

She figured out that Yvonne would still ask her.

"W-Well... I was thinking about what could I have done with that English Quiz earlier," she said a half-lie and half-truth because she wasn't lying that it kind of made her down after seeing the results of the English Quiz earlier, but it wasn't the reason why she was in deep thought today. She was in deep thought because of something else and it was about how would she approach Baker.

"Oh, yeah, now that you've mentioned it," something clicked on the mind of Yvonne. "That English Quiz was such a nightmare too!"

"I think you'll do better next time if you're willing to improve that is," Samantha said.

She couldn't disagree with what Samantha told nor Yvonne.

She ate her lunch in peace with her friends until the allocated time for lunch expired.

**

She was disappointed that she couldn't see any opening at least to talk with Baker, so the school time ended without her being victorious. She couldn't possibly talk to Baker without being spotted by the other students of Jones High School. Baker was popular, so it was natural that there were fans of him who kept following him in the school.

It was also hard to spot Baker at most of the time around the school that even his fans couldn't spot him. She wanted to figure out where was the hiding spot of Baker once the students had free time in the school. She surmised that it was possible for her to talk with Baker privately once she figured out the hiding spot of his.

But how could she even know the hiding spot of Baker when she couldn't even follow him or ask about him without arising suspicion from the others?

"Should I just give up?" she looked crestfallen. "I wish how simple it is that Mister Cinnamon would show up in front of me. So it'll be convenient for me!"

She wasn't even paying attention to where she was walking, so she crashed onto someone. Her instinct first was to apologize to that person.

"I'm so—" but when she looked whom she bumped onto, she was shocked, very shocked. "M-Mister Cinnamon!?"

She couldn't believe that her wish happened and it was too convenient, too convenient. It gave her goosebumps that it did happen. It wasn't a mistake that she crashed onto Baker.

Instead of responding, Baker ignored her, but she wasn't letting the chance would go to waste.

"Mister Cinnamon, wait a minute!" she called and then blocked his path, so he could pause his steps.

"I have no minute to spare, Miss I don't know who you are," Baker responded coldly.

She scowled. "You better have a minute to spare then, Mister Cinnamon! And you also better memorize the name of Cassie Sanders!"

"What a waste of time," Baker didn't want to be disturbed by anyone else.

Baker tried to walk to the side to avoid her block, but she blocked to the side where Baker would walk to pass her by.

"I won't beat around the bush, but you should apologize for telling a lie, Mister Cinnamon," she didn't want to take this exchange longer as well.

Baker didn't look pleased as she told that. "Telling a lie?"

She nodded. "Don't play dumb, Mister Cinnamon! I like that you stepped in to stop that situation, but you didn't have to tell a lie to cause a huge misunderstanding. Thanks to you, Nat could be in trouble today."

"Nat?" at first Baker couldn't get what she was talking about, but something clicked, so he had an idea what she was talking about. "Oh, I get it."

Baker didn't regret telling such a lie, so he wouldn't apologize.

"You better tell that to Nat!" she insisted.

"No, I won't," Baker replied.

"What!?" she glared at Baker. "Why the hell did you do it!?"

"Because she deserved it," Baker answered.

"Deserved!?" she didn't get what Baker answered, so she would ask until she would be satisfied. "Spill it—" she didn't have a chance to question Baker further when she heard giggles that sounded like the fans of Baker.

She ran away, so she would avoid further issues. She wanted to tell Baker "This isn't over!" before she ran away, but that might be overheard by the approaching giggles. And it would cause pointless speculation.

It still bothered her that why would Baker tell such a thing. It meant that Baker knew Natasha at some point, but she never heard Baker from Natasha. So what was it?