“What do you guys want?” Chris asked, removing his arms from their shoulders.
“Strawberry shake and fries,” Cassie answered.
“Garden salad, but make sure that it is freshly washed, and no dressing,” Melissa told him.
Chris and Cassie rolled their eyes. Chris was still shaking his head as he wound his way swiftly through the crowd gathered around the outdoor picnic tables. It wouldn’t be long before the tables were taken in, and the outdoor area was closed for the winter. Until then, everyone was enjoying the last bit of good weather that September had to offer.
Cassie and Melissa made their way to one of the few empty tables in the back. Eager greetings followed their every step as people turned toward them. They returned them politely, but neither of them stopped to talk. Cassie barely got her butt on the seat before Marcy Hodgins, the class president, was standing beside her.
“Hey Cassie, I was wondering if you had started planning for the homecoming dance.”
Cassie fought the urge to groan and roll her eyes. She had been head of the dance committee since freshman year, but every year it became harder and harder to find the time to dedicate to planning the dances. And this year she simply didn’t feel like doing it at all. She had not planned on running for the dance committee again, but earlier this year she had been automatically voted in.
“Homecoming isn’t for another two months Marcy,” she gently reminded the girl.
Marcy fidgeted slightly, her hands clasped and unclasped before her as Cassie’s answer obviously irked her. “Yes, but it will need a theme, decorations, fliers.”
Cassie sighed heavily. “Maybe you should just find someone else this year…”
“But you’re the best!” Marcy interrupted loudly. “You did a great job last year, and now that we’re seniors don’t you think we deserve the best memories possible!”
Cassie shot Melissa, a just shoot me now, look. Melissa smiled brightly, annoyingly, in return. “Of course I do Marcy, but I’m really busy this year…”
“I’ll get you more help!”
Cassie didn’t know if she wanted to scream in frustration, rip her hair out, or throttle the obtuse girl. Instead, she shoved all of her irritation aside, and forced a bright smile. “I’ll work on it Marcy.”
“Let me know if you need anything, anything at all.”
“I will.”
“Also, I do have a few ideas for themes that I would love to run by you. Maybe we can get together after school tomorrow to discuss them.”
Cassie’s hands clenched as she tried hard to keep a tight hold on her patience. Marcy meant well, but sometimes her OCD was enough to drive a saint to murder, and Cassie was far from a saint. She glanced at Melissa again, silently pleading for some sort of reprieve, but it came in the form of Chris as he dumped their food on the table.
“Hey Marcy,” he muttered absently, his mind on the food he was rapidly dolling out.
Marcy’s pretty face flooded with color as she ducked her head shyly. Cassie lifted an eyebrow, she turned to Melissa who grinned brightly back at her. “Well… I uh… I have to go, but I’ll talk to you tomorrow, ok Cass?” Marcy stammered out.
“Of course,” Cassie replied happily, glad to be free of the girl and amused by her obvious crush on Chris.
Marcy made a hasty retreat back to the table of girls she had been sitting with. Cassie turned eagerly back to Chris. He looked as if he was trying to solve the problems of the world, his eyebrows drawn tightly together in concentration. His attention was focused upon the shakes as he lifted the lid on one before plopping it down in front of her.
“I think someone has a crush on you,” she teased lightly.
“Huh, what?” He glanced up, a handful of fries, her fries, already halfway to his mouth. Before he could eat them all, Cassie surreptitiously slid her plate away from him as he scanned the dwindling crowd. “Who?” he demanded.
“Marcy.” Chris’s frown deepened as he looked toward the girl who was determinedly not looking their way again. “Short brunette just speaking to me,” Cassie reminded him.
Chris snapped out of his food trance as he grinned down at her. “No way, Marcy’s to prim and proper, likes the more refined guys.”
“Well you are definitely not refined, but she does have a crush on you,” Melissa insisted.
“Why, did you see something in my future?” he asked eagerly.
Melissa rolled her eyes as she shook her head. “I am not your crystal ball Chris.”
He rolled his eyes at her as he propped his leg on the bench. Striking a pose, he rested his arm on his leg, and gazed intent at Marcy. “Very sexy with the mouthful of fries,” Cassie teased.
“You know it.” He flashed a bright grin as he popped more fries in his mouth and sucked noisily on his shake.
“Don’t you think she’s a little much?”
His blue eyes twinkled merrily as he shook back his disheveled hair. “I’m a teenage boy Cassandra, there is no such thing as a little much to me. All girls are acceptable.”
“Ugh!” Melissa and Cassie both groaned as Cassie threw a fry at him.
He dodged it easily, catching it before it hit the ground and popping it into his mouth. “You’re gross,” she told him laughingly.
“But you love me.”
She couldn’t argue with that. Turning away from him, she focused her attention on her greasy fries, and delicious shake. Cassie glanced across the table; Melissa had a distant look on her face as she poked absently at a cucumber. To any passersby it simply appeared as if Melissa wasn’t hungry, but Cassie knew that Melissa’s concentration was actually fixed upon something that no one else could see.
This was not one of her fleeting glimpses of the future either, but a full premonition of something to come. It was one of the premonitions that took Melissa over, and held her hostage until it was done. A chill ran down Cassie’s spine, she hated these moments. They always left Melissa drained, and with an old, knowing look in her eyes that went far past her seventeen years.
Chris leaned slightly forward, his handful of french-fries forgotten as he studied Melissa intently, worry etched his brow. Melissa shook her head, she broke free of the claws hooked into her as her onyx eyes snapped into focus again. She did not seem as beat down by this vision as she was by many of the others, but a secret look lingered in her dark eyes.
“Did you see my death?” Chris inquired like he always did when one of these premonitions seized hold of her in his presence.