Jonathan Cambridge's Story

“It has been far too long since we last saw each other. I suspect your ‘vacation’ went well, Mr. Cambridge,” Mrs. Rushing said while buttoning her blouse back up with nervous fingers. Her skirt was crumbled and there was a mild stain on it but nothing that could not be dealt with and made invisible.

“Spent time with my father,” the young man said while leaning against the window with his forearm prone against the glass. Jonathan was watching the students below begin to trickle back onto the school grounds and gather in a horde around the memorial.

“And how was that,” Mrs. Rushing asked him after discovering a run in her hosiery.

“Don’t pretend to be interested in me. We both know the reason you keep having me come to your ‘office’ for ‘counseling’. You sound like fool, Deirdre,” Jonathan stated while his eyes viewed a girl from above. It was Cassidy. She was to be his next victim when it came to his games with the ladies of the school. He couldn’t wait to begin it either.

Jonathan was going to be her console; the shoulder to cry one, the ear that listened, and whatever foolishness was needed in order to conquer her. Cassidy would fall to his manipulative ways no matter what level Jonathan had to stoop toward.

“Fine. Get out.”

“As you wish,” Jonathan said with a smirk and he abruptly left the woman’s office without straightening his tie. He walked down the halls with his briefcase thrown over a shoulder careless and a hand in his pocket. It was an arrogant walk and one that said Jonathan had money, status, and popularity. He owned the school and he acted like it. The boy was not afraid to flaunt his father’s name and it showed.

And as he walked through the halls of Archer’s, all he could think of was how that woman’s stench clung to him.

After leaving Mrs. Rushing’s office, Jonathan meandered through the halls, taking up shop at a window in a stairwell. From this vantage point, he could observe the other students milling around the makeshift memorial set up for Sarah. Specifically, he had his eye on Cassidy. As he watched her, his mind began to wander.

She hadn’t been half bad in the sack. Granted, she wasn’t the best. Inexperience and uncertainty did not lend themselves to the confidence he generally preferred. But she’d been so damn eager to please him, and that made it very worth it for him. Very worth it indeed. He looked over the memorial dispassionately for a moment before looking back to Cassidy. Seeing her hug another guy, he leaned closer, narrowing his eyes. Oh ho! Competition in this game? Fabulous.

Trying to ignore the lingering scent of Mrs. Rushing’s unique perfume, he contemplated his game plan until the buzzing of his phone drew him from his reverie. Annoyed, figuring Dierdre was texting him to apologize, he pulled the phone from his pocket disinterestedly and stared down at the message. ‘I’M STILL HERE.’ Unknown number. Interesting. Which past conquest was this? Deciding it didn’t matter, he locked his phone and slid it back into his pocket, looking back out the window to notice that Cassidy and the guy she was standing with were also looking to their phones. Curious, he looked closer and noticed that a few people in the crowd were doing the same. The brunette chick he’d slept with last year. And that redhead weirdo.

Noticing that Cassidy was on the move, he decided that now was probably a very good time to intercept her. Especially after spending so long at Sarah’s memorial. Surely she’d need a compassionate shoulder to cry on. Straightening his collar, he made his way out to intercept her, only to find her in conversation with the aforementioned redhead. Great.

“Ladies,” he greeted, affixing his most winning (yet sincere) smile.

It was that awkward moment where she knew that the person she was talking to was merely humoring her for no other reason than to humor her. When Cassidy looked at Ellie, all she could see was this stern, guarded look behind her eyes. It made the other girl nervous, especially since she didn’t know Ellie all that well.

Then, when it became really apparent that Ellie knew who she was, Cassidy felt that familiar surge of embarrassment for not having recognized this girl. Strike one, it seemed. She was about to open her mouth to speak, to say something to rectify her major social blunder, when Ellie suddenly asked her about the paper in English Comp.

“I did, actually.” She said with a slight lift to her brows. “And if I know Ms. Sweeney, it’d take hell and high water for her to decide to give us some kind of lee-way on homework.

It was true that she was Sarah Kaplan’s best friend at one point, but the last thing she wanted to do was talk about the dead girl too. There was so much drama behind the pair of them, stuff that the vast majority of people didn’t even know about. It made her nervous to dwell on it for too long. So, she didn’t. Her hand fished into her pocket when she remembered that text, flipping it open and scanning over the words.

Almost angrily, she hit the ‘delete’ button.

“Well, since I was an idiot and didn’t remember your name, can I make it up to you by getting you coffee before class starts?” Cassidy asked, giving Ellie a small, but genuine smile.

”Ladies.”

Oh, there was a voice she knew she wasn’t ready to hear.

Turning slightly, she watched as Johnathan approached, all self-important and confident like everyone knew he was. She licked her lips, her steps slowing as he approached, and lifted her hand in a slight wave.

“Hey John.” She said, offering him a nervous smile. “Um…Ellie and I were just heading off to class. Maybe..we could catch up later?”

Or never.

She looked around for Alex, realizing he’d disappeared to talk to someone else, and then shifted to look at Ellie. “Coffee then?”

Lifting an eyebrow, Ellie looked at Cassidy. Coffee? Ellie glanced back toward the room she would be sharing with Cassidy and shrugged. “Sure,” she agreed. Her agreement was not because she actually wanted to have coffee with the girl… but more because she didn’t want to go into their shared room just yet. There was nothing that made her feel more trapped than the small shared dormitory rooms… and always with a roommate that wanted to talk… or that pretended that Ellie didn’t even exist. Always that. No middle ground.

As Ellie’s eyes moved over to Jonathan, she considered him for a moment. Despite the fact that he seemed to only have eyes for Cassidy, he had included Ellie in that plural greeting, hadn’t he? She looked between the two of them for a moment before taking a step back. “If you’d rather have coffee with him, it’s okay,” she muttered, tugging her sleeves down.

Blown him off. She’d blown him off. That was unacceptable. Completely unacceptable. Hiding his frown behind a confident grin, Jonathan positioned himself between Cassidy and the mostly empty hallway, resting a hand against the wall and leaning, taking up most of the corridor and effectively blocking her path. “Ah, Cassidy, I was wanting to speak with you.” His eyes never left her face. Instead, they bored into her own eyes, ignoring Ellie completely. “I wanted to offer my condolences. Nasty business, this stuff with Sarah. It just doesn’t make sense. You know, that night, I was walking through campus, and I swear I saw—“ He trailed off, shifting his eyes to Ellie before clearing his throat. “Well, I’ll tell you later what I saw.” His eyes lingered on the awkward redhead for a few moments before he straightened and removed his arm, allowing the two access to the corridor again, once more staring intently at Cassidy. “Please, come see me when you have a moment. There is something I would like to discuss with you.” One more pointed look to Ellie. “Alone.”

Cassidy nodded, but not necessarily because she wanted to go. She was willing to agree to just about anything if it meant getting Jonathan away from the pair of them. "You have my number." she told him, stepping back and glancing to Ellie.

"Uh, later."

She started to walk away, glancing at Ellie to make sure she was still following. As they walked, side-by-side, Cassidy kept her thoughts to herself, if only for a moment.

"Look...this isn't easy for either of us, but since we're sharing a dorm room we're going to have to establish a couple of things so we don't end up wanting to kill each other by the end of the semester." It wasn't hard to tell that Ellie was uncomfortable. Cassidy wasn't all that eager either. She would have preferred to be in a private room. "I mean, I'd like for us to be amiable, at least, but I won't bother you if you don't want to be."

She knew Ellie was the loner type, from what she'd gleaned from Sarah. In fact, Sarah hadn't much liked the girl, something that surprised Cassidy.

She couldn't help sensing that there had been mutual dislike.

Jonathan chuckled quietly. “Yes, I have your number,” he muttered, allowing his eyes to roam over Cassidy’s body as she walked away. “I definitely have your number.” As they disappeared around a corner, Jonathan ran a hand through his hair and turned to walk the other way, whistling to himself as he began planning.

Ellie fell into step beside Cassidy and dug her hands deep into her pockets, her shoulders hunched up as she listened. “Amiable,” she repeated, falling silent for a few steps. “Look, I’m not the type that enjoys slumber parties and gossiping and telling secrets and pillow fights and whatever else you normal girls do. It’s not my scene. I’m not looking for a friend, so don’t feel like you need to try to force yourself to like me. Previous roommates have found that pretending I don’t exist seems to work pretty well for them.”

"Well, I'm not going to ignore you, but I'm not going to paint your fingernails and play dress-up either."

She swallowed.

"Sometimes, it feels better knowing that there's someone out there to be lonely with."

She shifted her gaze to the ground, picking up a hand and running it through her hair. "But, like I said, wont' force anything on you."

A small snort escaped Ellie and she stared straight ahead as they walked. “Yeah. Like you’re lonely.” The scoff and disbelief was impossible to ignore.

A sudden flare of barely suppressed anger made her breath cut off in her throat.

"Oh, thank God. I thought I was going to have a boring room-mate who couldn't read my thoughts."

Rolling her jaw, she wordlessly stalked past Ellie, disappearing around the corner and on out of sight.

So much for the coffee date.

-----

Later on, Cassidy had her phone in-hand during class, shooting off a text to Alex that she felt was a necessary one to send.

Meeting up with Jon later since he asked. Going to the run down building. Meet us there around midnight so I don't have to suffer him by myself?

She breathed a sigh, sending the message and snapping the phone shut before tilting her head back against the back of her chair.