Chapter 1

"Come on Cassie, you're gonna be late for school."

I groggily turned to my alarm clock to see what time it is.

7:30 am

Shit!

I let out an exasperated sigh and jumped out of bed.

I hurriedly got dressed and practically flew to my mom's car, barely finishing my make-up in time.

I closed the door and turned to my mom, smiling broadly.

"Morning Mom."

She just looked at me with a raised eyebrow, clearly suspicious of me. Usually I wouldn't care whether I'm late to school or not, but today I wanted to get on her good side.

"What's got you all happy?"

I hesitated before saying, "Well...my friend and I were gonna go out later. Is that okay?"

Mom was silent for a few minutes, thinking over her decision. I sat impatiently, playing with my hands, whilst awaiting her reply.

Finally she submitted.

"Okay, you can go. Just make sure you're back by 8 o'clock, deal?"

I beamed at her and nodded my head.

"Deal. Thanks mom."

My mom just chuckled and shook her head.

"Okay, well let's get you to school now."

*****************

I was walking to my locker when seemingly out of nowhere, Chris Brooks steps right in front of me and stops me dead in my tracks. I just rolled my eyes.

"What do you want Chris?" I asked with annoyance.

Chris Brooks. The school playboy. He and his friends have this game where they try to sleep with as many girls as they can by the end of the year. And girls willingly throw themselves at him whilst knowing this. Everyone but me that is.

He just pouted at me, feigning innocence.

"I just wanted to hang with my little Cassandra is all."

"Don't call me that. Ever."

"Aw, little Cassandra doesn't want to be called by her real name, does she?"

He just loved to piss me off. I wanted to slap that mock innocence right off of his face. I shoved him aside and continued to my locker. He followed me there and continued to pester me.

"Would you stop following me? It's annoying." I said, exasperated.

"Now why would I do that?"

"You value your future kids, right?"

It took him a second before he realized what I meant. He covered his manhood to protect it from my wrath. Serves him right.

"Look, I just want to talk to you."

"I have nothing to say to you Brooks. Now leave me alone." I said as I slammed my locker shut. Students eyes turned to us and I blushed slightly in embarrassment. He really knows how to push my buttons.

"Why Cassie? I did no such thing to make you angry, did I?"

I just glared at him and shoved him out of my way.

"I'm completely serious Chris. Leave me alone. I don't want to have anything to do with you or be a part of that stupid game you and your friends have."

He grabbed my wrist before I could escape.

Great.

"Cassie, Cassie, Cassie." he tsked as he shook his head. "You know that once you're nominated there's no way out, right?" he said with a glint in his eye. That just about made me snap.

I yanked my wrist out of his grasp and pushed him back.

"Well FYI Chris, I'm not nor will I ever be a part of that dumbass game of yours. So just do yourself a favor and back off."

With that I turned and walked to my first period, not once looking back.

*********************

"I think this dress looks beautiful on you Cassie." Charlotte said, holding up a black flowy dress. It had one shoulder strap and fit snug at the top. The bottom flowed out down to the ankles. Simple and pretty.

"I don't think so Char. Let's look for another one."

This is my best friend Charlotte Hernandez. She's a social butterfly who has rich parents. Even though her family is rich, she doesn't flaunt her money in the slightest. She's the nicest person I know.

She just rolled her eyes at me and put the dress back on the rack.

"You're super stubborn, you know that?"

"Yep." I said, giving her a broad smile.

"You weren't supposed to agree genius." Charlotte said, laughing.

"But I did, so deal with it."

After looking around for 20 more minutes, I decided we'd go to another store.

The Homecoming Dance for our school was in a month. And I still had no dress. This was getting nerve wracking.

We walked into this pretty Boutique on Main Street called "Dress Paradise" and looked around for more dresses.

"Oh my goodness! Cassie, come quick!" Charlotte shrieked.

Thinking something bad happened, I hurriedly ran to the other side of the boutique.

"Charlotte, what's wrong?"

"Look." Charlotte held up a beautiful baby blue dress that flows all the way down to the ankles. It was strapless and hugged the full body, with silk like fabric coming out of the waist. The top was studded with rhinestones.

I gasped, "Charlotte, it's so beautiful. But I can't afford that. It's way too expensive." I said, disappointed.

"Cassie, don't be ridiculous. What do you think I took my dads credit card for?" she said, raising the card up from between her fingers.

I looked at her in shock. "You took it without him knowing?"

She nodded her head excitedly, mischief clear in her eyes.

I looked at her hesitantly, thinking over what I would do. I looked at Charlotte and smiled.

"Thank you so much Char!" I exclaimed whilst bear hugging her. " How can I repay you?"

"You can repay me by buying the dress."

I just shook my head and smiled at her. "You're something else."

We bought the dress and walked to a nearby cafe. We talked about Homecoming, who our dates were, school work, and just about anything we could think of.

**********************

"I'll see you later Cassie." Charlotte said, as she drove off.

"See ya. Thanks for the ride." I said, waving.

I took out my keys and unlocked the door.

"Mom. I'm home."

Mom walked in from the kitchen in her apron. She loved baking. When she was in college, she was an undecided major for two years. Eventually though, she found a passion for cooking desserts. She got her Masters degree and opened up a business.

"Hey Cassie. How was it?" she asked.

"It was good. I had a lot of fun."

She looked at my hand and saw the dress I was holding. She stood shocked for a moment until she registered that it was mine. She looked at me with a questioning look.

"How did you get that dress?"

I hesitated. I forgot about the dress.

"Charlotte helped me pay for it. It's for the Homecoming Dance."

"That looks pretty expensive. Where did you get that kind of money from?" she asked suspiciously.

"I had money saved up." I said quickly.

Shit. Now I'm busted.

She looked at me for a minute, debating whether to believe me or not. Eventually she let it slide.

"Okay. Well I made some cookies if you want some. Just came out of the oven."

"Maybe later mom. I'm kinda tired and I want to get in the shower."

"Okay. Well off you go."

"Thanks mom." I hurriedly ran upstairs and locked my door.

Phew. That was a close one.

I put the bag in the corner of my room and hung the dress in my closet.

Today was one long day.

I took my shower and just as I was walking out of the bathroom I got a notification from my computer.

Thinking it was Charlotte, I opened the message. Instead of it being Charlotte, it was the one person I never imagined it would be. Chris Brooks. I was about to ignore it and go do something else when something caught my eye. And what it was completely shocked me.