cassidy stacy had a toxic relationship with high school. the formative years of his education had been wrought with stress and obnoxious chatter; not that he was the subject of it, most of the time.

he had a habit of keeping to himself, mostly surrounded by friends that attended the same church as his family; his mother whinged less when he remained in the tightly knit community. bible study on tuesdays, youth camp on fridays, the silver band of his purity ring glinting on his slim fingers. perhaps that is why his friendship with you came as such a surprise.

you were not a delinquent by any means, like alex yearly and his group of what you could only dub as a future motorcycle gang, yet you were still not the company that kept his mother pacified. you’d been friends with his effervescent sister, gabriella, first. possibly because gabby actually enjoyed talking, a little too much, perhaps.

either way, although some of the things you did positively scandalized him, considering his upbringing, he didn’t mind you very much.

“oh fu—“ cassidy nearly toppled from his chair in the canteen when he felt your hand on his shoulder; you never intended to manifest into existence like a sleep deprived ghoul, but it was quite easy to catch him unaware. the depressed-looking grey table was typically inhabited by cassidy himself, mavros vasileiou, johnathan abrams, and isaac mercier; he seemed to have arrived early, though.

“you really need to stop doing that.” he lamented, inky lashes fluttering like a rabbit’s heartbeat as he rubbed his forehead, exhaling through his nose. his free hand was still picking absently at the hem of his sweater, tugged negligently over his oversized white uniform shirt.

he pinned you with what he had hoped was a scowl, but with his curls awry on his forehead and his cheekbones dusted with a cerise flush, was diminished. he looked more halfheartedly reproachful. “every time you scare me, i promise you, you’re taking ten years off my life. i’d be lucky to even make it to twenty one.”