Welcome back, my lovelies! There's a new title up, just for the heck of it. Feel free or don't, whichever!
I hope you had a lovely November and that those of you striving for a NaNo novel were successful in, at the very least, getting some thoughts on paper. Now here's to a fantastic December!
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So I wrote this a day ago, but my internet wouldn't work long enough to post it. So, here!
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Cassandra sat in the playground, waiting for Nancy. They'd been best friends since the first day they met, despite their differences. Something in them knew they'd be together for life, and they were.
There was no-one else in the playground now. School had finished hours ago and the summer sun was ready to set, burning red on the horizon, the same colour as the dust at Cassandra's feet. Cassandra kicked her feet in the air and waited. They'd promised to meet each other here, a long time ago.
They first met in English class. English class was pretty simple back then - they just had to know their ABCs and how to spell cat, ant, and elephant. Nancy was top of the class at her old school, and top of the social hierarchy, too. When she moved to Everstone Primary, that changed; Cassandra was also top of her class.
Cassandra always knew Nancy was smarter than her. She spent all her time in class bored out of her mind, staring out the window, only paying attention to the class when the teacher asked his question for the third time. Unlike the boys in the back, though, she'd get it right. Cassandra stayed at the top of the class even after Nancy arrived, but only because she worked so hard. Nancy didn't seem to work at all. She spent all her time slouched in her chair, daydreaming.
Nancy was still the top of the social order, even when she changed schools. She was pretty as a child, and drop-dead gorgeous by the time they all left school. Her parents were rich enough to buy her the right brand of clothes, and she was rude enough to the teachers to win approval from the other students.
Cassandra liked most of her teachers, and spent her time at home studying. She was never pretty when she was young, and she never thought about herself any other way. It was only years later that she found that under Nancy's shadow, she had her own beauty.
That was why they had spent so much time apart. Cassandra was always living under Nancy's shadow, and even though they were as close as friends could be, they were so very different from each other. Cassandra tried to keep up with Nancy's late nights at the bar, with work, with studies. Nancy was around less and less, and Cassandra kept herself more and more busy.
The last time they had seen each other was seven years ago, at Nancy's wedding. She was getting married to a man she had left twice before, but he was handsome and rich. Cassandra didn't know him well; when Nancy was around boys Cassandra became far too conscious of her own shortcomings. If it was going to be a night out with the boys, then Cassandra would stay at home, and so she hadn't seen hide nor hair of her best friend for weeks.
She was still the bridesmaid. Cassandra looked down at the bouquet - what was left of it after seven years. Nancy had been insistent that Cassandra be the only bridesmaid. Several cousins and the groom's sister had been highly offended, but Nancy always got her way, and it was her way to let her best friend know that even though they weren't spending much time with each other anymore, they were still best friends.
"Always," she had said as she put on her shoes and got ready to walk down the aisle.
Cassandra didn't see Nancy again after the wedding. Cassandra lived halfway across the country, and Nancy lived with her husband in the same town she and Cassandra had first met. Nancy never settled down, but she did calm herself a little, and she and Cassandra would spend most evenings on the phone to each other. It was the only thing that kept Cassandra sane through the veterinary course, talking about nothing with her best friend. Nancy would even help with her coursework - she knew nothing of veterinary practice, but she still managed to figure out things in a few minutes that had had Cassandra stumped for hours.
Cassandra didn't know it until later, but those phone calls were all that was keeping Nancy sane, too. The quiet life was not for her, and especially not the role of housewife that her husband expected. She only once told Cassandra how bad it was, that they'd been fighting ever since they got back from the honeymoon, that she was miserable, that she drunk herself stupid every night after getting off the phone.
Cassandra still remembered that phone call.
"I can't take it anymore," Nancy had said. It was the only time Cassandra had ever heard her cry. Nancy was the toughest girl around, and it shook her to hear the tremble in her best friend's voice, and it tore at her that she was too far away to give her a hug. "It's too hard. Everything is falling apart. First the doctor, then that good-for-nothing husband. They're all pigs."
"I'm coming to see you, okay? I'll catch the first flight in the morning."
"You can't do that."
"Yes I can. Remember what you said when you gave me the bouquet, at your wedding?"
Nancy sniffed. "No. Yes. See you in seven years. It was a joke, you know. We hadn't seen each other in so long."
"We still haven't. It's been seven years, Nancy."
"Oh god, I know. It's just all so - I hate it."
"I'm coming."
"No, you're not."
"I'll meet you at the playground."
Nancy laughed. "You hated that playground. I'd drag you out there every lunch break, and the boys would make fun of you, and I'd beat them up."
Cassandra laughed. "Yeah, and they'd cry, too."
"Well, I guess they're getting their revenge," Nancy said. She sighed. "See you there."
Sitting on the merry-go-round, Cassandra realised neither of them had agreed what time to meet. She'd caught the first flight she could find, and took a taxi straight to the old school. Her bag was sitting in the dust, and its shadow was as long as she was tall.
When Cassandra woke up, she was curled into a tight ball on the merry-go-round, she couldn't feel her hands or nose anymore, and the sun was exactly as high as she'd left it. It took her a moment to realise it was in the other half of the sky.
"You took your time." The voice came from behind her, and Cassandra blinked. Was it a lingering dream, or had Nancy finally arrived? She hadn't seen her in so long, she didn't even know if she would recognise her or not. She did recognise the smile in her old friend's voice - whatever was happening to her in her life, she still had a smile left. Cassandra smiled and turned her head around.
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