8. Cassie's unforgiving Wrath

-Kaeden pov-

"Hey, are you doing anything else for the day?" I ask Finley as he packs up to leave art.

"No, what do you think of my art? Can I be an artist now? Maybe I should put it up in a frame." he chuckles as he shows off the beautiful stick figure he had drawn when we were suppose to be drawing the shadows of a lamp.

"I think it's beautiful," I say sarcastically and he throws it in the trash while I pick up my bag and toss it over my shoulder.

"No, I'm not doing anything, why?" He ask as we walk out into the hallway and back towards our apartments.

"I was just going to drop my stuff off at home then walk over to the practice theatre for rehearsals. You're welcome to join me," I offer and he thinks about it for a second, scratching his chin.

"Hmm I dunno, I'm running on two hours of sleep here my dude," He laughs and I shrug, slightly disappointed.

"It's fine, go home and sleep then. I'll see you later," I try to push the disappointment aside, hoping it doesn't come through in my voice.

"But Maybe I can sleep in the booth while you do all the work," He says and I narrow my eyes at him.

"Not like you did any work anyway," I huff as I go to open the door to my apartment.

"Hey, I went costume shopping with yo-," He's silenced when I open the door which gives a full view of our kitchen. I turn to see what the fuss was about only to find Noell sitting on a stool at the kitchen island with Cassie hovering over him.

"Hey, what's going on?" I ask, surprised to see Noell wasn't attached to Maisie at the hip or something. My dearest friend and mom of our group takes a step away from Noell to reveal the large bright red bruise Noell had on his right eye.

"Noell!" I call out his name as I drop my bag at the door and go to him.

"Noell? What the fuck happened?" I ask as I grab his face in my hands and examine him. I had never seen him so tired and defeated.

The large fist-sized bruise covered his eye and it was already swollen shut. He opens his mouth to respond but he stops when he sees Finley in the doorway and tears fall down his cheeks.

"Noell? Who did this to you?" Fin asks and Cassie suddenly turns on the heel of her plastic shower sandals with a loud squeak at the sound of Finley's voice.

"You bastard!" She screams and rushes up to Finley and without warning, slaps him straight across the face.

The loud clap echoes throughout the kitchen as he smacks into the door at high speeds with the amount of force this tiny woman put into it.

"Hey!" I drop Noell's teary-eyed face to help out Finley as Cassie takes off her sandals and starts whipping Finley with it while cursing him out in a long series of Spanish curse words I couldn't keep up with.

"Cassie! Cassie stop!" I grab her arms and try to pull her back.

"You fucking whore! You did this to him! You did this to my baby Noell!" She roars like an overly protective mama bear.

"I didn't do anything!" Finley calls back and she throws the flip-flop, smacking him in the face one final time before letting me pull her back.

"Will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on!" I yell at both of them. Cassie goes for another punch and Finley flinches on the floor.

"Vete a hacer puñetas, guarra," She spits out and he turns to her.

"No sé lo que dices. Se los juro, yo nunca lo toqué!" FInley replies back...in what sounds like native Spanish.

"You speak Spanish?" Cassie asks, her voice seems to lose a small amount of the anger she had previously and she stops fighting me.

"Of course I do, my grandmother is Puerto Rican and only speaks Spanish," He says and Cassie picks up her other sandal and throws it at him, smacking him in the face again.

"Hey, cut it out," I say in a calm voice but she shoves me away.

"Finley and I fucked around last night and Maisie found out," Noell's small shaky voice finally explains as he takes a hit from his Juule to try to calm down his nerves.

"And you should be the one taking the hits not Noell! You convinced him! You took him home!" Cassie growls but I can barely hear her over the sound of my own heart pounding in my ears.

I look down at the bare wood floor, staring at my shoes for what seems like hours as Cassie goes off again.

The ringing builds up in my ears as the world around me goes on mute.

I can hear every breath my lungs breath in, and with every forced contraction of my lungs, I can feel the binder compressing my chest, forbidding me from taking a deeper breath.

Holding me against my will, and bringing me back to reality. For some reason, the burning ache in my heart causes it to appear, the thought that always runs through the back of my mind.

"You will never be a real man,"

charges through the wall I had previously built. Mingling with other morbid thoughts that I could never erase.

"Kaeden?"

I feel a weight on my shoulders and come back to my senses. The room had gone silent and a heavy air had replaced it. I look up to see Noell standing in front of me.

"I'm sorry," he whispers but I shrug it off.

"It's fine, let's get something in that eye of yours so you can see," I put on a smile and push myself to move on. I look in the freezer and grab an ice pack, wrapping it in a small kitchen towel hanging from the stove.

"Kae?" Finley says my name but I don't respond. Noell sits back down on the stool and I hold the ice pack to his eye.

"Here, hold this for a few minutes okay? I have to go to the theatre." I gently ruffled his hair and he gives me a small smile.

"Thank you Kaeden," He smiles, that magnificent smile that catches all the attention of those who cast their eyes upon him. A smile I wish I had the energy to produce.

"I'll get him out of your way Cass, just take care of Noell. Come on Finley," I call him and he follows behind me. Cassie gently closes the door behind us as we leave.

"Kaeden! Hey Kaeden, slow down!" Finley calls out to me as I walk out the front door to the apartment to be welcomed by the fresh air scented with flowers.

The fresh air helps with the anxiety, but it doesn't take away this burning pain in my heart. The heat causes my face to flush and I cover up with a scarf.

"What's up?" I ask as I turn to stare him down but he refuses to shrink back.

"I'm sorry, I thought you said you didn't like Noell," he says and I laugh like a fucking maniac, shaking my head in disbelief. This dumbass, how could he not see it.

"I don't like Noell," I repeat myself but he gives me an incredulous look instead.

"Then why are you upset?" He asks and I roll my eyes.

"I'm not upset, you just slept with my best friend and he got beat up by my other best friend. You've now caused this new drama and I don't know if our production is going to suffer because of it. Tizzy is going to blame it on you, which will lead to me since I introduced you to everyone and now I'm thinking about the consequences." It was a good lie and a believable one too for split second improv. I guess I was picking up some acting skills too just by being around them.

"Hey, I got beat up too!" He calls after me as I keep walking to the bus stop. I look at the hand-shaped mark on his cheek.

"And I think it was well deserved so don't be a little bitch and take it like a man," Is all I have to say as he stands beside me and waits for the bus with me.

"That's funny coming from you," He says and I feel my heart stop.

He did not.

"Excuse me?" I turn to Finley and he shrugs.

"What? You look like the kind of guy who's never been in a fight before," He says as I give him a hard look.

"Why are you..." His eyes suddenly open wide and he claps a single hand to his mouth.

"Oh shit, fuck I'm sorry man. It had nothing to do with that I swear to fucking god. I completely forgot about the trans thing," He admits.

I believe him but stay quiet as the bus pulls up and I get on, tapping my wrist to the port and walking up the stairs to the second level.

Sitting down at the very front I put my feet up and sit back for the fifteen-minute ride.

Fin plops down next to me, taking off his backpack and awkwardly searches for the right thing to say.