Lexi's Final Year

Chapter 9

Reading Week arrived in a flash before anyone knew it. Cassie took a train ride to her hometown of Buffalo to reunite with her father. She had managed to stay on top of her schoolwork since starting back again, which left her less stressed out than usual. She decided to reward herself by spending Reading Week doing no assignments or studying whatsoever. An actual break from all things related to school was exactly what she needed right now.

That Tuesday, Cassie and Mariana decided to hang out at their local mall for something to do. They each bought a couple of things before they decided to grab lunch in the food court. Once they had their food, they sat in a small booth and began to eat.

"I don't remember the last time I went out shopping," Cassie remarked as she dug into her chicken burrito bowl. The spiciness of her food singed her mouth in an instant.

"Yeah, me neither," Mariana said before taking a bite of her hamburger.

"I've missed this," Cassie admitted. She took a swig of water to cool her mouth.

Mariana grinned and nodded. "So did I."

For the next few minutes, neither woman spoke. They continued to eat their lunches and watch people coming and going from the bustling food court. Some were eating at their tables while others were either about to or finishing up their food. A few more walked around aimlessly, seemingly lost. The mall itself was only one story, but it was still large and had a ton of different stores sprawled about. Anyone unfamiliar with the layout could have easily gotten lost trying to find a specific store to shop in.

"Did I tell you that I talked to Isaac a couple of weeks ago?" Cassie suddenly asked.

Mariana's light green eyes went wide. "No, you didn't! Holy shit!"

Both women blushed at Mariana's outburst. Fortunately, the mall was buzzing with enough noise that no one seemed to hear them. The accompanying music playing inside also helped to drown their chatter.

"Sorry," she said in a lower voice, "but I didn't expect you to say that."

"It's okay," Cassie replied with a small smile.

"What happened?" Mariana asked. She was now on the edge of her seat.

Cassie went on to give a brief synopsis of her tense encounter with Isaac at the library. She explained how she had apologized to him for everything, as well as the reasonings she had given him as to why she had done all those awful things to both him and Lexi.

Recalling the encounter brought up a messy swirl of emotions within the pit of Cassie's stomach. A huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders ever since she'd had that hard talk with Isaac. It was freeing to get everything she wanted to say off her chest. But then again, remorse and guilt continued to gnaw at her stomach. Her apology to Isaac had been long overdue, and she knew it.

"Do you think he forgave you?" Mariana inquired.

Cassie shook her head. "I seriously doubt it, given how I've acted over the last couple of years. But it's fine. I wanna respect his boundaries and give him time to process everything I told him. He said that's what he needs, so I'm gonna respect it."

"That makes sense," Mariana said. She then smiled wide. "I'm really proud of you for apologizing to Isaac."

"I should've done it sooner."

"Hey, you did it. You finally did it! After everything that's happened, I'm happy to see that you're trying hard to make amends. Have you apologized to Lexi yet?"

Cassie bit her lip after swallowing the last bite of her lunch. "No, I haven't."

"Why not?" Mariana asked, frowning.