Chapter 2: Hey, Cassidy?

I sigh, unable to focus on the worksheet my teacher had given me. I try to focus, but it's been hard to do that in the past few days.

At least... not with His gaze on me. I turn my head and strain my eye against the corner of my vision, looking at Him. I saw a teen, busy drawing something in His notebook.

With black hair, blue eyes, and a beauty mark under His left eye. He isn't bad looking, if anything, He's cute. But with that permanent gloomy expression on His face, and knowing that He's been watching me these past few days, I could only feel disgust towards him.

I just want him to stop. I hate the feeling of his gaze roaming over my body.

*****

I prod at the peas with my fork, not able to muster the will to feel hungry. For the past few days, I haven't had much of an appetite. Again, because of Him.

"Cass," I hear my friend, Isabella, whisper. I raise my head from my palm, and look at her.

"What?" I ask, not really in the mood to talk, it came out harsher than I meant.

"You know Casey?" I shook my head, I don't know someone called Casey.

"The guy who's been making googly eyes at you?" I certainly knew him, I nod with a frown.

'So his name is Casey?' I wonder.

"Well, you see, I don't know if this is true or not..." Isabella looks around the lunchroom warily before saying in an even quieter voice, "I think you're his next target."

"You're not making me feel better," I tell her blandly. Like, seriously, she couldn't have said that anymore ominously.

"No, I'm serious!"

"Well, okay, Ms. Serious, if I am indeed his next, 'target,' what does that even mean?" I inquire, trying my best to not show my nervousness.

"Uh... I don't really know for sure." I let out a sigh as I held my face.

'I got all worked up for nothing, huh?' I feel like a real idiot now. Though there was still the very real problem of Him staring at me...

"Whatever," I huff, but just before I begin to ignore her, she hurriedly says,

"Casey's quite infamous." May as well lend an ear. It'll be interesting at the very least, take my mind off Him staring at me.

"Infamous?" I wonder aloud.

"Yeah... again, I don't if this is true, but I have heard that he's stalked some girls before. And since he's been watching you... well, yeah," Isabella gossips. I won't lie, her rumor spreading and hearing abilities may have come in handy this time.

"Are you sure?"

"No! But that's what I heard, and... I figured I'd tell you," she explains.

"I'll be sure to look over my shoulder then as I walk home, or just call my brothers to pick me up," I suggest.

"Well, another reason is that I told Eric, and... he's not happy. I heard all this stuff about Casey from him." Eric?

"Who's Eric?" Isabella's cheeks slightly flush. "My uh, boyfriend..."

"So that's the name of the guy you've been gushing about lately." It made sense.

"And, as I've mentioned, he's pretty tough, so..." I blink, her words not processing.

"So... what?"

"He may be calling Casey after school to have a... 'talk' with him," she says skittishly.

"Oh." My mouth formed an, O, as I try to think about what this means.

'So, essentially he's going to kick Casey's ass?' I'm not... against it, but that probably should have been one of that last options.

'I should have just mustered up the courage to ask him to stop... sorry, not... sorry, Casey?' I don't know how to feel. Because while I wanted him to stop, I didn't want it to end in this way.

_ _ _

My back slams into the brick of the school's wall. Being held up by the scruff of my shirt is not comfortable. I look at the guy who is nearly an entire foot taller than me, with some of the broadest shoulders I've ever seen.

This guy for some reason came up to me and asked me to follow him. Now he's suddenly... attacking me after I did what he asked?

'This is an interesting way to say hello,' I think, both amused and fretful.

"Listen, uh... do you have a problem with me or something?" I say to him with a frown.

"I have many problems with you, Shaw," he growls. I raise a brow, the smile on my face widening for some inexplicable reason.

"Are you trying to intimidate me or something? Newsflash, my Dad's scarier than you, dude." Being a little shit to my aggressor probably isn't the best idea, but he's the one who suddenly held me against the wall.

"We need to talk," he utters.

"Uhm, we're talking, aren't we? Just get to the point so I can get down." I just want to get home, and him holding me in the air was counterproductive.

"Stop creeping on Cassidy," he demands. Welp, seems I was found out. Not that I was even trying to hide it.

"Hm... No," I say simply.

'Honestly, it's like I'm begging for an asskicking,' I ruminate.

"What?" His jock brain seems to have trouble processing what I said.

"I mean, I don't see what the problem is," I answer with a shrug.

"You serious?" he looks at me with an incredulous expression.

"What? Something so wrong with openly showing my affection?" My grin widens.

"Oh yeah? What about the affection you showed Sam?" the jock questions me.

"How about Lila, Danny, Avery, or Nicole?" I remember them! They were the people I watched in the past few months.

"Yeah? What's the problem?" I ask once more, an easygoing grin on my face. "I've moved on," I clarify.

"The fucking problem is that you made them feel unsafe! Is that so hard to understand? Jesus..." He closes his eyes, as though speaking to me gave him a headache.

I grab his wrists and pull them off my shirt. My back slides against the wall a bit as I'm lowering, and finally, my feet touch the ground. The jock opens his eyes and glares at me.

He annoys me. I stop smiling for the first time since I began talking with this guy. But, I knew he didn't know what he was talking about. And I also purposely made it seem like I was doing it because I actually liked them. So I couldn't blame him, since it was indeed my fault.

Being labeled a creep helped me explain some of my weirder actions. It also made it so that nobody wanted to get close to me, another boon. Though sometimes, it also brought trouble. Like this guy.

"That's all?" I ask softly.

"That's all... you..." He looks at me as though he was unable to understand what I meant.

I feel a small smile stretch onto my face. "So they feel a little unsafe. Cry me a river."

"You bastard-!"

"Eric," I suddenly name, making him freeze. "I could have made them feel a lot more than unsafe, remember that," I state darkly.

Letting go of his wrists I begin to walk away.

*****

I flip through the notebook. It had a few drawings of Cassidy.

'She has short, straight black hair. Blue eyes. Round face. Ear piercings. One eyebrow piercing on her right brow. Isn't close to too many people, Isabella being her only "close" friend. Has two older brothers, and a single father. Her Dad is the co-owner of a franchise of restaurants. Quite the well-off family I have here. They live... ah, here!' I pinpoint the address on Joogle maps.

'In her free time, she either plays the drums, or help out at her family's restaurant. She likes music, anime, romance novels, and some other things not worth mentioning. She hasn't had any boyfriends, so no need to worry about her suddenly sneaking off at night,' I think, recounting all the knowledge I have learned about her.

Yes. Another reason I didn't bother fixing the perception of me being a creepy stalker, is because I am a creepy stalker.

Making people hate me made me feel better about myself. It's also fun to play the role of a creep.

My face straightens solemnly, as I flip to the first drawing of her I made. The one where she has her throat split. I frown as I stare at it thoughtfully.

"Hey, Cassidy? How do I..." I pause as I imagine if I could only ask the real one. But that was impossible. It isn't that simple, after all.

"How do I save your life?" I ask myself out loud.

Some people might call me saving others heroic. I call it repentance. For years, I've been desperately trying to absolve myself of the guilt weighing down on my soul.

But if I save one person, they take two more, and I turn a blind eye to their misdeeds. Because I am a coward.

I don't have the bravery, nor the strength to expose them. They are my family. What the hell am I suppose to do in this situation?