Don't Care Where We've Been 1/2
Title: don't care where we've been
Author: heavyhart
Rating: NC-17 (warning: underage (17) consensual sex, some light angst)
Pairing(s): Cassadee/Alex/Jersey (background The Like GSF, killyjoys!MCR (sort of), Pete/Ashlee)
Summary: Three orphans with superpowers escape an evil boarding school and make their way across the country to a much more accepting place for kids like them. Shenanigans ensue!
Notes: 20,000 words. Written for cool_rain_kiss for bandomstuffsit. As always, thanks to boweryd for the amazing beta help.
Cassadee was in prison.
Okay, not exactly prison. Her foster family had sent her to a boarding school for "kids like her," also know as mutants, but she was pretty sure they just wanted to get rid of her until she turned eighteen next year. She couldn't really blame them - Cassadee had been through more foster families than she could count since she was a kid, and more often than not it was her fault when the family eventually gave up on her. She always had trouble controlling her powers when she was younger, and then it got even worse as she hit her teen years. Being a mutant and an orphan wasn't easy. Over the years Cassadee had heard horror stories about mutant children being kidnapped and experimented on, about secret laboratories and not-so-secret hospitals that would do brain surgery to try and suppress a mutant's powers. It terrified her, thinking that could happen to her when she had no real family to look out for her.
And then this boarding school, well. She was stuck in a place that made all those public schools Cassadee went to look like vacation spots. At least in public school you had some kind of freedom. Here they all had to wear collars that let the teachers know where they were at all times, and Cassadee couldn't even leave her room past curfew to use the bathroom without someone finding out. There were uniforms and restrictions on everything they did.
It wasn't a completely hopeless situation, though. On her first day there, Cassadee had met two boys who were orphans like her, put in the boarding school against their will. Alex could control the elements and Jersey could read people's emotions. They were Cassadee's best friends and kept her sane amidst the grueling classes and the monotonous day-to-day routines, so when suspicious stuff started happening around the school, Cassadee knew they all had to find a way to break out. She couldn't think of anything better than getting away from this place.
-
Cassadee looked around the lunch room until she spotted Alex, sitting at the end of a table by himself. There were a couple of girls eying him, but Alex was so oblivious he never noticed the attention he got for being cute. Not that Cassadee liked him or anything, but still, she had eyes.
"We have to break out of here," Cassadee grumbled, slamming her tray on the table and watching a bit of carrot go flying. Alex's mouth twitched.
"Cass, if you think the uniform is itchy just wear a shirt underneath it."
"That's not-- ugh, not all my problems are centered around my uniform being itchy! I'm never telling you that again," Cassadee said, tugging at her pleated skirt self-consciously. She'd much rather be wearing pants than the regulation uniform skirt for girls, too, but that was a whole different issue. "But seriously, I'm going crazy. Don't you miss freedom? Doesn't it freak you out that students get selected for 'special tests' and are out sick for weeks?"
"It freaks me out when you get all caught up with your conspiracy theories," Alex said, but his eyebrows wrinkled a little in concern and his voice got softer. "Who's gone missing this time?"
"A friend of Jersey's. He's been pretty upset about it, and then we've got these stupid collars reminding us we can't leave every second." Cassadee tugged at her own collar. They were given them as part of their uniform to help "control" their powers, or rather, so they couldn't use their powers at all, but when Cassadee stood still so it could be slid around her neck, she had no idea she wouldn't be able to take it off. Ever. It's not like she missed accidentally telling people to do something and them having to do it, but she sure as hell missed a time when she wasn't treated like some freak that needed to be locked up.
Cassadee groaned, letting her head fall to the table and poking at her macaroni and cheese with her fork. She had a vague feeling that if she picked the tray up and turned it upside-down, the macaroni and cheese would stay put.
"Hey," Alex said, stealing one of Cassadee's fries, making her lift her head up. She shot him a glare, because she loved her fries and he knew that, but he just dipped it in ketchup and held it up to her mouth. She grinned a little and opened, letting him feed it to her. Alex was pretty okay sometimes, and Cassadee knew that he was as worried about the students going missing as she was. They all knew how dangerous it was out there for mutants, how much crazy shit went on behind closed doors, and they all had to look out for each other until they could get away from it.
-
"I have a plan," Jersey said, dropping his backpack on his bed across the room, and Cassadee whooped from where she was playing cards with Alex on his bed.
"Those are the words I like to hear," Cassadee said with a big grin. It wasn't really a secret that she loved drama and adventure, but whatever. Being cooped up at this school had made her constant need to be doing something even worse. "When are we breaking out?"
"Two nights from now," Jersey said, and Cassadee saw Alex sit up next to her.
"Wait, what? You mean you're actually serious--"
"I talked to my friend, Mike, who said he can get our collars off. Alex, how good are you with rain?"
"You've both lost your minds," Alex said slowly, his eyes a little wide. "We can't actually--"
"Alex," Cassadee interrupted, giving him her Serious Look until he shut up. "We can't stay here. We can't. You know there's something going on here and our only chance is to get out before we're the ones disappearing. We're almost eighteen. Who's going to come looking for us? Our foster parents?"
"What are we going to do, live on the streets?" Alex asked, and Cassadee's face turned soft as Jersey sat down on the bed with them, grabbing Alex's hand.
"There's a place in California. I've heard it brought up a few times while I've been here. Pete Wentz, I guess, is the name of the guy in charge. It's a boarding school like this one, for kids like us, but he doesn't try to restrict your powers or keep you locked up," Cassadee said.
"In California," Alex repeated.
"Yeah, but if we--"
"We're in Maine, Cassadee. I want to, okay? I do. But this sounds--"
"Like we don't have a chance?" Jersey offered, and Alex shrugged. "It's better than the alternative, Pimpshaw," Jersey continued, and Cassadee saw Alex's mouth twitch up in something like a small smile. "It'll just be like a road trip."
"An adventure," Cassadee added, waggling her eyebrows and bumping her shoulder against Alex's. "The worst that'll happen is that we can't find the place and end up living in California. Which, seriously, does not sound like that bad of a back-up plan."
"I guess," Alex said slowly, and Cassadee gave Jersey and grin over his head. "But, okay. How the fuck do you plan to get out of here, exactly?"
-
"It's a good thing the weather man had it right about this rain," Cassadee mumbled, peering outside where it was just starting to storm. "Or else we'd be fucked up a river without a paddle."
"Cass," Alex said, but she could tell he was trying not to laugh, so her attempt at being ridiculous at least worked a little bit. It was all nerves at this point, really. Cassadee loved adventures (something that got her into trouble with a lot of her foster families) but there was always that nervous anticipation that made you kind of queasy - that voice in the back of your head making you think about what'll happen if everything goes wrong.
But they were going to do this. And succeed. As soon as Mike actually showed up to help them get their collars off.
"Hey, Jersey, are you sure he's coming--" Alex started, his voice trying for casual but coming out hesitant, and Jersey stopped where he was pacing by the door, tugging a little at his spiky hair.
"He'll be here. Just-- it's only been five minutes, he's not that late."
Five more minutes went by, and then ten. Cassadee was kicking her backpack back and forth between her feet and Alex kept giving Jersey looks like he wanted to grab him and sit him down so he'd stop pacing when there was finally a knock on the door.
"Hey dudes," Mike said, flashing them all a nervous smile. His uniform was disheveled and he looked like he was out of breath, like he had been running, but he was clutching something in his hand. "Who wants to lose those awful collars?"
"You're amazing," Cassadee breathed, watching closely as Mike used what looked like a small, electrical key on Jersey's collar. There was a pop and sizzle and Cassadee jumped, but the collar fell to the floor, smoking a little bit.
"Holy shit," Jersey breathed, rubbing his hands over his neck where there was a pale mark that was rapidly turning red. "Holy shit, you're all so scared," Jersey said, staring accusingly at Alex and Cassadee. Cassadee was smiling, though, she couldn't help it - it worked. Jersey had his powers back.
"Lay off, we're just nervous," Alex said, but he shut up as soon as Mike started with the key on Alex's collar. It did the same thing as before and then Alex was free, smiling widely and walking over to try to manipulate some water in a cup while Mike walked toward Cassadee.
"Ready?" he asked, and Cassadee could feel Jersey watching them. He was probably still picking up on the tornado of emotions running through Cassadee at the moment.
"Definitely," she said, even though she was shaking a little. She closed her eyes and turned away while Mike touched the key to the metal part of the collar, pressing until the popping sound happened. It didn't hurt, thankfully, but Cassadee did gasp when it snapped open and fell to the floor, leaving her neck bare. Her hand flew up to her throat, rubbing carefully over the sore skin.
"Mike," Cassadee said suddenly, focusing, reaching out with her powers. "Put the key down."
"Why?" Mike asked, but Cassadee could feel his mind, feel his will bending slowly as if it was a ruler Cassadee was controlling - something that needed to be bent very carefully or else it would snap. It was scary, and she hated doing it, but she had to know if she still could. Mike set the key down on the floor, blinking slowly up at Cassadee. "Uh." Cassadee quickly let go of his mind.
"Sorry, I am so sorry, but oh my god, we're free," Cassadee said happily, picking up the key and handing it back to Mike. "You're a hero, Mike." Cassadee lunged forward and hugged him and Mike patted her awkwardly on the back.
"Yeah, totally, it's no big deal. Just take care of yourselves. I'm gonna--" He looked over to Jersey, who was grabbing his stuff, and Jersey stopped to nod to Mike. "I'm gonna stay here. I have a little sister, I can't leave without her, and she can't leave without her friends. You know how it is. But we'll figure it out."
"Good luck, man," Alex said, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and giving Mike a one-armed hug. Cassadee stopped staring and got her stuff ready too, looking back just in time to catch Jersey give Mike a hug and kiss him quickly on the cheek. She immediately got the feeling like she just saw something that wasn't hers to see. She looked up to Alex, who was staring back at her, his eyebrows furrowed a little.
"Alex, were they--"
"Come on," Alex said shortly, and they went ahead out the door. Cassadee mentally said goodbye to the comfort of her bed.
-
Getting outside wasn't actually that difficult. The guard who stood by the door was on 3:00 AM shift change, all according to the plan. They got out the front doors and immediately all pulled their hoods over their heads, cowering from the rain, but the wind was still cold and there was the distant sound of thunder. When they got to the main gate they all ducked for cover behind a corner post and Alex pulled his hood down.
"The electrical box is over there," Alex said, pointing, and Cassadee squinted in the dark at a small, grey box high at the other end of the fence. "If I direct the rain to it and overload it there's a good chance it will explode and the power will shut off."
"A good chance," Cassadee repeated in slight disbelief, shaking from the onslaught of wind and rain, and Jersey linked his arm in hers.
"As soon as it's off, we're out," Jersey said. "And if you try to pull some kind of martyr thing, Alex, I swear--"
Alex choked out a laugh, the sound getting lost in the wind as soon as it left his mouth. "Relax, Jersey. Like you'd make it all the way to California without me," he added, and Cassadee leaned in closer to Jersey and gave Alex what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "We're ready when you are."
"Right," Alex mumbled, turning and stepping a few feet closer to the box. Cassadee felt like holding her breath, she was so nervous and they were so in over their heads. She had to be squeezing Jersey's arm pretty hard but he didn't pull away. She glanced at him quickly and his face looked as nervous as she felt.
"Accio rain," Alex whispered, making Cassadee and Jersey share a quick smile, and then they both watched as the rain started to shift, just slightly, until it was forming a direct spray at the box like there was an invisible hose pointed at it.
Alex stared, unblinking, his hands raised slightly and shaking in the wind. Cassadee felt like her clothes were completely soaked through by now, cold down to her bones even with her coat on and hood up, but they stood and stared, waiting, waiting. Minutes went by until they saw the spark, heard the quiet fizzing noise.
"Oh, fuck," Alex said quietly, and then the box exploded in bright flash of sparks and flames, leaving dark scorch marks and tiny pieces of grey plastic in its wake. Alex fell back on the ground and Cassadee and Jersey ran over to him, blinking rain out of their eyes as they knelt down to help him up.
"Alex? Alex, hey, come on, are you okay?" Cassadee grabbed his arm and felt a quick, painless zap of electricity, but she didn't let go, helping him to his feet as he started to cough.
"Gate," Alex rasped. "Check the gate, go on."
Jersey looked like he didn't want to leave Alex's side but he stepped forward and pushed at the gate anyway, and relief and excitement flooded Cassadee's chest when it swung open.
"You did it!" Jersey said, running back to Alex's side and beaming at him. "Alex, you did it."
"Of course I did," Alex said, but he still looked a little unsteady.
"Quick, let's get out of here before they realize that wasn't thunder and lightning," Cassadee yelled above the sound of the rain, and she and Jersey grabbed Alex's arms and helped him out of there as quickly as they could. The bus stop was four blocks away but the rain was calming down and they walked the last two blocks, tensing up each time a car whizzed past them on the road.
"The bus should be here in five minutes," Cassadee panted, glancing at a clock inside the coffee shop behind them and then riffling through her bag until she found her wallet. When she looked up Jersey had his hands up underneath Alex's shirt and looked... a little bit like he was trying to have sex with him. "Um. Guys?"
"He doesn't believe that I'm not covered in electrical burns," Alex said, rolling his eyes. "I promise I'm fine. I feel fine. I know what year it is, and I know Cassadee's favorite flavor jellybean, and--"
"Your hair!" Cassadee gasped, just now noticing it. Even with the pounding rain from earlier when Alex had his hood off, it now stood out at weird angles, making him look like a lion that just woke up from a nap.
"I like it," Alex said a little defensively, admiring it in the reflection of the shop window. "It gives me character."
"Whatever you say, Mufasa," Cassadee said, smiling, as Jersey reached up to try and touch it. But then the bus pulled up, interrupting them, and they all got their stuff together to get on.
-
They took the bus as far as they could, to the end of its route. Jersey nudged Cassadee awake and the bus driver watched as they all stepped off, Cassadee yawning and saying thank you.
"So now what?" Alex asked, dropping his bag on the sidewalk and looking around. The sun was just starting to rise, making the whole sky glow light pink, and Cassadee yawned again. They were out of the main city and near a residential area, but it wasn't until Cassadee spotted the movie theater that she realized where they were.
"Come on, we still have a little more walking to do," Cassadee said, stretching and then starting down the street. "One of my first foster families lived around here. Back when I was a kid, we used to always get in trouble for playing in this abandoned house a few blocks away."
"And that's where we're going to stay?"
"Got any better ideas?" Cassadee kicked a rock in the front of her on the sidewalk. "I think we at least need a night to plan before we do it."
"Do it?" Alex repeated, sounding amused, and Cassadee groaned while Jersey snickered behind her.
"I was talking about stealing a car, dumbass," Cassadee said, and Jersey abruptly went quiet.
"Uh, Cassadee, do you think maybe we should talk about this first--"
"Here it is!" Cassadee said, ignoring both of them. There was a path in front of them that led back a little ways between some trees to what was unmistakably an abandoned house. Years had gone by but it still looked the same. It was comforting, in a weird way.
"That's probably the sketchiest place I've ever seen," Jersey said slowly, but Alex slapped him on the back and started forward down the path.
"Home sweet home," he said, looking back to Cassadee and grinning.
When they reached the porch, the door wasn't boarded up completely but there was one board across the middle, and it took Alex and Cassadee pulling as hard as they could to get it off. Jersey mumbled something about tetanus but Cassadee saw his eyes go wide when they pushed the door open and revealed a kind of creepy wonderland - the place was cold and stale and empty but plants had started growing in where the windows had been busted higher up or there were cracks in the roof and floor and walls. Not enough to be a jungle, but seeing all that green inside an empty house, the sunlight just starting to stream inside as well, was more beautiful than Cassadee remembered.
"I think I can get some vines to grow up and cover the door, make it less obvious we broke in here," Alex said, and Cassadee nodded.
"You can grow plants?" Jersey asked, surprised, and Cassadee smiled to herself as Jersey followed Alex to the door.
"Yeah, earth is part of my powers. Earth, fire, wind, water--"
"Heart!" Cassadee yelled back to them out of obligation.
"Heart?" Jersey asked.
"By those powers combined, he is--"
"I know where you sleep!" Alex yelled, but Cassadee was having too much fun.
"--CAPTAIN PLANET!"
"Wow," Jersey said, and Cassadee broke out in a fit of giggles as she dragged an old mattress out of the front hall closet and kicked it a few times to make sure nothing was living in it. She threw the extra blanket from her backpack over it and opened up Alex's backpack to get the other blanket, laying it on top.
"This is definitely sketchy," Jersey said when he walked back over to Cassadee, Alex right behind him.
"Buck up, wimp, this is going to have to do for now." Cassadee shrugged off her still damp coat and pulled off the top blanket so she could crawl onto the mattress. "Nap time?"
"Yeah, alright," Alex said, bumping his shoulder into Jersey's and lying down on the mattress next to Cassadee. Jersey huffed out something like a sigh but took off his coat and joined them, lying down at the very edge of the mattress. Alex was between them, also looking like he was trying not to touch anyone more than he had to, and Cassadee smiled at them, rolling her eyes fondly.
"Seriously, wimps," Cassadee said, curling up next to Alex and pulling the blanket over them, ignoring the way he went still next to her. "I can't be the only one who's cold. Stop pretending you're gonna get cooties from touching, come on," she continued, touching Jersey's arm, and Jersey slowly rolled over onto his side, giving Cassadee a look as Alex moved his arm behind Jersey's head.
"You're way too committed to cuddling."
"Warmth, Jersey. Alex is okay with it, right?"
"Yep," Alex said, his eyes already closed.
"See," Cassadee said, softer now, her hand curled up in a fist and resting on Alex's chest. Jersey looked like he wanted to say something but then his face softened instead and he said, "Good night, guys."
"'S morning." Alex apparently wasn't asleep yet.
"Good nap, then," Jersey corrected, a smile tugging at his lips when he finally closed his eyes, and Cassadee followed suit. Sometimes she wondered what is was like, reading emotions, and just how often Jersey did it. But she was too tired to stay awake thinking about it for long, and she fell asleep just as the birds started to wake up.
-
They only got about six hours of sleep and Cassadee woke up with a stiff neck, but she was warm and felt much better than last night. She yawned into Alex's shirt and Jersey started to stir next to her. They were both up and eating the sandwiches they made yesterday when Alex finally woke up.
"Come on, buddy," Cassadee told him, handing him his pb&j while he was still yawning and stretching. "You're gonna need the energy."
"Cassadee's going to steal a car today," Jersey said cheerily, and Cassadee rolled her eyes.
"It's not like I'm doing it for fun. We need to get out of here and a car's our best bet. I figured we could find a used car lot and go for an older car so it won't have any kind of GPS they can track in it."
"Wow, you've thought about this a lot," Alex said, reaching for his water bottle. He didn't sound judgmental, though, just a little impressed. Cassadee was grateful she could count on them not to freak out on her. She had a feeling that as soon as they started staying in motels instead of abandoned houses Jersey would feel better about this whole running away thing, too.
Once Alex was done eating they packed up their stuff and got ready to leave. Cassadee was moving the mattress back into the front closet when she saw Alex touching a plant that was growing up out of the floor, making it grow taller until the bud at the end of the stem turned into a flower. Cassadee got so distracted watching him that when Alex stood up, Cassadee accidentally dropped the mattress on Jersey's foot. She tried to project the sorriest feelings she could at him, but she couldn't really blame him for giving her the silent treatment as they headed out.
The first used car lot they came across was probably the best they were going to get. The cars there were all at least ten or fifteen years old, but they didn't look so junky that there was a chance they wouldn't get very far in one. Cassadee tugged her coat tightly around her as she walked into the little store attached to the lot, trying to look as grown-up as possible (it helped a little that the blonde streaks in her hair from her rebellious teen phase had mostly grown out). By some stroke of luck, there was no one else there.
"Hi," Cassadee said, looking straight into the man's eyes and reaching out with her mind. He was older, maybe in his 60's, and he already smelled like alcohol this early in the afternoon. It wasn't that hard to take control of his will, thankfully. Cassadee hated the sick feeling she got when people resisted, trying to fight back against her persuasion. She couldn't blame them one bit, but it was still one of the worst feelings ever.
"I'm taking the black Ford Contour from your lot. As soon as I leave this place, you will forget you ever had that car. You will not go looking for it because there's nothing missing to go looking for. Do you understand?"
"I don't have that type of car to sell, ma'am," he said slowly, handing Cassadee the keys, and Cassadee could feel his mind shifting, bending and rearranging with the instructions she had given him.
"Oh well, thank you anyway," Cassadee said, leaving the store slowly, her hands only shaking a little. Cassadee had made sure he was focused on the paperwork on his desk for the next few minutes so they would have enough time to get away without being noticed.
"You're driving," Cassadee said, handing the keys to Alex and getting into the backseat with Jersey, and as soon as they were in the car, Jersey grabbed her hand. Cassadee looked up, surprised.
"Are you okay?" Jersey asked, his eyes full of concern. Cassadee thought maybe he noticed how white she was until she realized just who it was who was asking, and how he could probably sense everything she was feeling right now, all the worry and guilt and exhaustion. She flushed a little in embarrassment.
"I'm fine, really. I'll be fine. Alex, do you know where you're going?"
"I have the map up here and the entrance to the highway is only a few blocks away, yeah. I haven't driven in over a year, though, so, uh-- buckle up?"
"Right," Cassadee said grimly, fastening her seatbelt. As soon as she leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes, she felt Jersey reach out for her hand again, linking their fingers together and holding on. Cassadee didn't say anything, but she was grateful. She hoped he could tell.
-
They drove for about three hours before they had to stop for food and bathroom breaks, and then two more hours with Jersey driving this time and Cassadee up front playing with the radio until they finally found a motel to crash at. Jersey held Cassadee's hand again (she almost asked, and maybe he sensed it, because he took her hand without saying anything) when she had to use her powers to get the key from the lady working at the desk, and then they dragged Alex (who was falling asleep in the door frame) to their room. There were two tiny beds and Jersey volunteered to share with Alex before Cassadee brought it up. Alex obviously didn't mind, though, since he fell asleep as soon as his back hit the bed. Cassadee took a shower first, scrubbing her skin too hard without realizing it and later trying to fall asleep without thinking about having control over anyone else's mind. She only sort of succeeded.
-
The next day they made sure they were packed up and driving away before the maid came by and caught them. They stopped for meals and Cassadee got them gas by handing the person at the desk in the gas station a dollar bill and telling them it was a twenty, but other than that, they were on the road for eight hours. They sang loudly to the radio as they took turns driving, and by nightfall Jersey's arm was bruised from a particularly vicious game of Punch Buggy, but they had made it through three states.
They found a motel to crash at, and to make Cassadee feel better for using her powers on the desk clerk, they pushed the beds together, ate Doritos, and played poker with the deck of cards Alex had brought with him from school. It started out friendly enough, then Cassadee upped the ante by betting chips, and somehow it devolved into the three of them sitting around in their underwear.
"You lose this, Pimpshaw, and you're naked," Cassadee said, clutching her three queens to her chest.
"Yep," Alex said. He didn't look in the least concerned, but Cassadee was down to her polka dot bra and underwear. She still had a sock left, but she was barely holding on. Stupid Jersey still had both his socks and his shirt on. Somehow he opted to lose his pants before his shirt.
"I have to pee," Jersey said, throwing his cards down, "so I'm going to fold and go do that. Don't give into the sexual tension while I'm gone."
Cassadee barked out a laugh, about to make a joke until she realized that Jersey was an empath. She swallowed and looked back down at her cards. If there was sexual tension - and Cassadee totally wasn't saying that there was - then Jersey would be the one to notice it. Fuck all.
"Still in?" Alex asked, waggling his eyebrows, and Cassadee stared him down.
"You bet your ass," Cassadee purred, purposefully ignoring any and all non-existent sexual tension. "On the count of three. One--"
"Two--"
"Three!" they both yelled, slamming their cards down. Alex had a pair of fours.
"Alex," Cassadee said, laughing, but Alex had pushed the cards and chip crumbs aside and dove across the bed at her, grabbing her around the waist. Cassadee squealed, trying to push him off of her and adjust her bra at the same time.
"I thought I told you not to have sex?" Jersey said, amused, as he came back into the room. Alex let go and Cassadee was gasping, making sure her boobs were still in the cups of the bra like they were supposed to be before pulling her shirt back on. Wrestling topless was kind of dangerous for a girl.
"It was all him. He sucks so hard at cards."
"I do not, I'm a master--"
"Oh please, are you kidding? You're the worst," but Alex was grabbing at Cassadee's feet and she was still laughing. She reached out for Jersey and tugged him down onto the bed next to her, fitting herself behind him. "Hah, human shield! Take that!"
"You guys are insane. We're going to get reported for having orgies if you keep yelling--" Jersey started, but Alex touched the cup of water next to the beds and water shot out of it, hitting Jersey in the face.
"Nothing can stop us!" Cassadee said, high-fiving Alex and then ducking as Jersey tried to take her out with a pillow.
-
"Oh fuck," Cassadee said, the car sputtering to a stop after an hour of driving the next day. "I totally jinxed us."
-
Cassadee rolled up the sleeves of her hoodie and stepped back to the front of the car, where Alex and Jersey had the hood up. She was letting them do their thing - whatever that was - but she got bored staring out at the miles and miles of corn that surrounded them.
"So what happened?"
Alex and Jersey exchanged a look, staring at each other just long enough that Cassadee was seriously starting to think they were lying when they told her they couldn't talk to each other through their brains. Granted, Cassadee had been really tired when she accused them of that. But still.
"We don't actually know," Alex finally said, shrugging. "We don't know the first thing about cars."
"We thought opening up the hood and standing here would give us magical car knowledge," Jersey added. "But it did not."
"It's smoking, though, and it needs oil even if that's not what's wrong with it."
"We're totally doomed," Cassadee groaned, resisting the urge to shake her fist up at the sky. "So what are our options? We don't have phones, and no tow truck would help us out without insurance anyway."
Alex leaned back into the car, running a hand through his already untidy hair. Cassadee half expected to see an oil streak through it, but Alex's hands were clean. "Looks like it's wait or walk. These are back roads, so who knows how long we'll be waiting, but we're so fucking far out that we'd have to walk at least five miles just to reach a barn. And there's no way to know if that'll result in help or, well--"
"Cannibal farmers," Jersey said solemnly.
"Jersey!" Cassadee yelled, because maybe the corn had been starting to freak her out anyway, but she didn't get to continue because just then they heard the sound of another car, way down the road. "Oh shit, quick, let's get over there and wave!"
"You're actually-- yep, she's serious," Cassadee heard Alex say, but she ignored him, jumping up and down and waving her arms. It was a van, not a car, and as it got closer, Cassadee could see it was white and covered in black polka dots. Which was definitely not what Cassadee was expecting. But it was slowing down, too, until it stopped a few yards away from Cassadee and she looked back to Alex and Jersey, grinning widely and mouthing, "See?"
"Cannibals!" Jersey mouthed back, but Cassadee ignored him too and turned back around when the side door of the van opened up. There were a few moments of nervous excitement and then out stepped a girl with short, blond hair who looked about Cassadee's size, wearing a short, white dress and knee socks. Cassadee realized her staring was bordering on gawking, but the girl was kind of insanely pretty. She was wearing make-up that made her eyes look big and, with a quick glance back, Cassadee saw that Alex and Jersey were both staring too. This girl was not what they were expecting to see.
"You kids lost?" The girl's voice was surprisingly low and husky, and Cassadee got the feeling she was at least five years older than they were.
"We're part of a traveling circus and we got left behind," Alex said casually, and when the blonde's eyebrows went up Cassadee groaned before she could help herself.
"He's just joking. He's a compulsive liar, he does that all the time." She shot Alex a glare but he just looked kind of pleased with himself. "We're, um. We ran away from school and now our car broke down."
"School sucked that bad?" The blond just sounded amused, though, not really suspicious or annoyed. Cassadee exchanged a quick look with Jersey, who nodded, and then she took the leap. There was no way they'd be able to hide it for long if they did hitch a ride, and this girl deserved to know what she was getting into.
"We're mutants. They were-- they kept us in collars there, and kids would go missing. So we left. It kind of did suck that bad."
"Shit, that's fucked up," she said, her eyebrows knitted together. She glanced back at her own van, and Cassadee wondered for a moment who was driving it, if they were more people in there. "And now you're stranded? No family or anything?"
"Alex and Jersey are my family," Cassadee said softly, feeling a little stupid for admitting it. But, well, it was true. And it made the blond beam at Cassadee like she had said exactly the right thing.
"God, I'm so easy for sweethearts like you. You kids grab your shit and we'll fit whatever we can into our van."
"We only have our backpacks," Cassadee said quickly while Alex went and got them from the car. "You can really-- you're serious?"
"You think I'd stop and then leave you guys here? Do I look that mean?"
"Sometimes you do," a taller blond with long hair and what was almost certainly an English accent said, hopping out of the van and walking over to them. She was also wearing a dress and knee socks and Cassadee was starting to wonder if it was, like, a thing. A uniform. The taller girl leaned her chin on her friend's shoulder.
"Fuck off, Tennessee. I found us some orphans, is that cool?"
"As long as you tell them not to drink Annie's vitamin water, yeah, I think that's cool," the taller girl, Tennessee, said with a grin.
-
It turned out there were four of them and they were in a band together called The Like. Which was awesome. Cassadee loved music but never really got a chance to play, so she couldn't really blame Jersey for leaning in and whispering "calm down," in her ear every five minutes because of how excited she was. Real live musicians, though.
"Do you all live together?" Cassadee asked. She was leaning back against Tennessee while Tennessee braided her hair and Z strummed a little on the guitar in her lap next to them. Laena and Annie both had dark hair and similar outfits, and Laena drove while Annie kept eying Alex and Jersey. It was making Cassadee nervous on their behalf. It didn't help when Z started playing "Maneater" on guitar.
"In a shitty apartment, yeah. We try to tour as much as we can, though."
"We can't be tamed," Tennessee said, growling a little and making Cassadee laugh.
"Oh, but hey, are you-- are any of you mutants? If you don't mind me asking," Cassadee added when the van got quiet, but Tennessee squeezed Cassadee's shoulder reassuringly.
"Z's a firestarter and Annie's an icestarter. Great for food preparation but a bit rubbish for everything else."
"Hey!" Z said, slapping Tennessee's leg. "It's also good for when the heat gets turned off in our apartment. And Annie keeps our drinks cold," Z added, shooting Annie a smile. Cassadee caught Annie smiling back and she took a moment to admire just how pretty all four girls were.
"What about you two?" Cassadee asked after a minute, tilting her head up to look at Tennessee.
"We're Normals," Laena said from up front.
"But we're ferociously talented musicians as well!" Tennessee protested. "I play drums, Laena's on bass, and Annie's our keyboardist. It's too bad we can't keep you, we could use a triangle player."
"Cass used to play guitar," Jersey spoke up, ignoring Cassadee when she shot him a glare. "She was really good but then class got in the way and she had to give it up--"
"That was forever ago, I could barely play at all," Cassadee said quickly, blushing because Z was looking at her expectantly. "So where are we headed to?"
"The Den of Sin," Z said in a surprisingly sultry voice, and Tennessee whispered in Cassadee's ear, "She means our shitty apartment."
-
As "shitty" as they thought their apartment was, Cassadee thought it was the coolest place she had ever seen. Instead of lamps, they had Christmas lights strewn all over the walls, and instead of a television they had a huge record player surrounded by albums and some records sitting out of their sleeves. They had two couches that looked like you could sink right down into them and instead of a kitchen table they had a long bar separating the kitchen from the living area. There was also a Christmas tree set up in the corner, and since it was October, Cassadee couldn't figure out if it was there very early or very, very late.
"We leave it up all year long," Laena said, smiling at Cassadee's furrowed eyebrows. "You can drop your stuff off in the corner there. The couches both pull out into beds so you can sleep there tonight if you like. We have a spare bedroom but-- well, there's nothing but tour equipment in it."
"It doubles as a practice room, much to the displeasure of the people living below us," Tennessee said, grinning mischievously.
"And above us," Z added, going straight into the kitchen. "I'm making pasta because it's one of the five things I can actually cook. Any objections?"
"Real food?" Jersey said, a dreamy look on his face, and Z laughed.
"If I don't burn it, then yes! The bathroom is just down the hall, by the way, across from our bedroom," Z said, pointing, and Cassadee saw Laena nudge Z. Z didn't notice, though, already busy digging through the cupboard for pasta.
-
"I think I've heard of this Pete Wentz," Z said, chopping up vegetables while the pasta cooked away on the stove fifteen minutes later. "Is he short? Kind of creepy?"
"Um, I don't know. I've never actually met him, I just overhead some kids talking about him."
"Hmm." Tennessee came to stand next to Z and stood there with her mouth open until Z fed her a bit of carrot. "Well, we have a show later tonight, but tomorrow we're heading out West for a show before we come back East again."
"You know, I could probably help you guys find a car," Annie spoke up, sitting on the couch between Alex and Jersey, her arms spread out across the back of the couch. Alex was chatting to Laena where she was trying to match up records to their sleeves and Jersey was looking uncomfortably aware of how close Annie was sitting to him. "A lot of people owe me favors."
"You make it sound like you're a mob boss, Annie," Tennessee said around a mouthful of cucumber, and Annie just grinned widely.
When the food was done cooking everyone got a big bowl of pasta and vegetables and they all sat on the floor of the living area, listening to some old records and laughing as Z and Tennessee tried to out-embarrass each other by telling stories from when their band was just starting out, back when they were teenagers. Cassadee ate until she was full and laughed until she had tears in the corners of her eyes, and she could see Alex and Jersey enjoying themselves just as much. Cassadee knew they couldn't stay with these girls but part of her still wanted to. Z let Cassadee have some of her wine and Cassadee blamed her blushing on the alcohol when Z was showing Cassadee the proper way to hold her fingers on the guitar neck, her hand over Cassadee's as Z helped her find the right chords.
"So hey," Z said, setting the guitar down a minute later, "you should all come with us to our show tonight. The venue's small, just a room and a bar, but it'll be fun! We can dress you up if you'll let us," Z added, eyes glittering as she stared at Cassadee, and Cassadee felt herself blush again.
"Sure, that sounds awesome!"
"We get dinner and a show?" Alex asked, grinning, and Tennessee threw a carrot at his hair.
-
Z and Tennessee took the task of finding Cassadee an outfit to wear to their show very seriously, bickering and tearing apart their closet full of short dresses and polka dot everythings while Cassadee sat on the bed and picked at her jeans that hadn't been washed in days. She honestly wasn't sure if there was a single pair of pants in the whole apartment, but there was a whole drawer filled with nothing but knee socks and thigh highs. There was also just one huge bed, which Cassadee assumed they all shared, but she tried not to think about it too much because it made her blush even harder.
"Ooh, yes, yes!" Tennessee said, clapping her hands as Z held up a dress. Tennessee grabbed Z's shoulders and turned her around, letting Cassadee see the dress. "What do you think?"
"I think it's awesome," Cassadee said immediately, because it was. It was bright green with buttons in front and white trimming but wow was it short.
"I know it's short," Z said, reading Cassadee's mind, "but with some knee socks and saddle shoes you'll look adorable in it."
"Also your boobs are a bit bigger than Z's," Tennessee said, ducking when Z tried to smack her. "So you'll have those boys' jaws on the floor when you step out of this room!"
"Not everything is about impressing boys," Z mumbled, walking over to Cassadee and laying the dress on the bed. She leaned down and whispered, "But they're totally not even going to know what to do with themselves. You okay changing while we go fight over what make-up to put on you?"
"Yeah," Cassadee said, smiling and standing up. She appreciated Z and Tennessee going to the bathroom and shutting the door behind them, giving her a minute to change. Cassadee undressed and folded her clothes up, putting on the dress and buttoning it up in front before she went over to the mirror to see how she looked.
It was really short. Cassadee was glad she was wearing her boyshorts because if she had to do any bending down at all, she was fucked. But it was also really cute, and Cassadee was trying to hide the band of her bra (the deep V made it near impossible) when Z walked into the room, Tennessee behind her and telling Z that the whole point of privacy was knocking first.
"Oops," Z said, but she was smiling and didn't look sorry at all. "Oh my god, Tennessee, we're geniuses."
"She wears that dress about ten times better than you," Tennessee said happily, ducking when Z swung at her again. "I'll get the socks - Z, you should get her bra off."
"Um," Cassadee said, her face heating up, but Z just laughed, stepping forward until she could reach out and fix the collar of the dress.
"There's not really a way to hide your bra in this dress," Z said, tugging at the front of it, her eyebrows furrowed, "so you should try it without and see how it looks. Here," she continued, already unbuttoning the front, and Cassadee let Z hold the dress on her shoulders for her while Cassadee unhooked her bra in back. Cassadee slipped each arm out of the dress to get the bra straps off too, but Z was just staring at Cassadee's forehead the whole time, her smile warm when Cassadee glanced up. Cassadee suddenly didn't feel that nervous as Z was buttoning her back up, tugging at the dress until she was satisfied with how it fit Cassadee. Cassadee poked at her boobs a little but Z just laughed, squeezing Cassadee around the waist.
"You look gorgeous, Cassadee."
"I think plain white will work best," Tennessee said as she walked over to them, and Cassadee sat back down on the bed so she could pull on the knee socks. It was so different from what Cassadee was used to wearing that she almost didn't recognize herself in the mirror, twirling after she had put on the saddle shoes. Z and Tennessee high-fived each other behind her.
-
There was a quick make-up session where they finally decided on just enough to highlight Cassadee's features, like some mascara to make her eyelashes look longer and eyeshadow and eyeliner to make her eyes look a little smoky. After helping Cassadee with a really pretty berry shade of lipstick and then cooing over her freckles for another minute, Z insisted on announcing Cassadee before she could walk back into the living room.
Cassadee stepped into the living room and Annie gasped while Laena wolf-whistled. Cassadee heard Z laughing behind her. "What do you think, boys?"
"Wow," Jersey said. His eyes were really wide.
"That's really short," Alex said, but when Annie elbowed him he added, "and you look really pretty."
He had a weird look on his face, like he was caught between a smile and a glare, but Cassadee smiled at him anyway. "Thanks, guys."
"We're all going to get ready and then leave in about an hour, okay?" Laena said, standing up and walking toward Z.
"Okay!" Cassadee moved into the kitchen to start doing the dishes for them - it was the least she could do - and she almost screamed when she turned around and Alex was right behind her.
"Oh my god, what's wrong with you?"
"You can't go out to a bar like that, Cass," Alex said, and Cassadee's expression turned cold.
"I can do whatever I want, Al," she shot back, scrubbing a bowl with a little more force than was necessary.
"I just don't want you to get hurt--"
"You mean you don't want anyone else to look at me!" Cassadee set the bowl down and stared Alex in the eye, secretly a little glad to see how taken aback he looked. "I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself, and if I want to wear a short dress I'll wear a short dress, okay?"
"Fine," Alex muttered, walking out of the kitchen, but Cassadee had a feeling this wasn't over yet.
-
The ride to the venue was an exercise in pretending things weren't awkward between Cassadee and Alex. It was almost worth it, though, with the way that Jersey kept trying to strike up conversation with Laena and Laena kept looking over to Z for help. When they finally arrived Laena was the first to hop out of the van, and unpacking didn't take that long with everyone helping. Then it was a lot of waiting.
"You didn't tell me you guys were headliners," Cassadee said in awe, listening to the second band play from where they were hiding out in the green room.
"This isn't actually a proper tour, we just got the chance to do some one-off shows," Z said with shrug. "We haven't had our own big headlining tour yet."
"It's the dream!" Tennessee said, drumming her fingers on her legs.
"I can't wait to hear you guys play," Cassadee said, feeling giddy with excitement, and Z smiled and stood up.
"Well good! Because their set just ended and that means we're up, girls."
"After we set up," Laena pointed out.
"Yeah, yeah, after 20 minutes of setting up, whatever. You guys wanna go hang out in the crowd?"
"Let's go," Jersey said, grabbing Cassadee's hands and helping her up off of the couch, and Alex followed them out.
Tearing down and setting up did take about 20 minutes, but it was all worth the excitement Cassadee felt when The Like came on stage. And they were awesome. The style of their music was one that Cassadee had thought died out decades ago but everyone in the place just loved them, and the girls had plenty of energy and talent to win over anyone who wasn't a fan of the genre. Z even went out of her way to dedicate a song called "Fair Game" to Cassadee, and Cassadee couldn't help grabbing Jersey's hands and dancing to the energetic beat, twisting and jumping until Jersey was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes. Cassadee grabbed Alex for the next song, "Narcissus in a Red Dress," and ended up slow-dancing with him, his hands on her waist and her arms around his neck. It was a small attempt at smoothing things over from their argument earlier, but it couldn't hurt anything. She smiled at him, swaying with him to the music, but he kept flushing whenever he looked down at her, and he looked relieved when the song was over and Cassadee let go of him with a quick hug.
"I'm going to go get a drink," Alex said, jerking his head toward the bar and avoiding her eyes. "You want anything?"
"No thanks," Cassadee said. She looked back to the stage, watching the girls rock out. Cassadee smiled widely when she caught Z's gaze but Alex's reaction was still bothering her. When she turned back to the bar, her heart sunk further.
It shouldn't bother her, it was so petty, but there Alex was, sitting on a stool at the bar and laughing as Jersey danced between his legs. She saw Alex grab Jersey's hand and spin him, Jersey now laughing too, and Cassadee hated the jealousy that was bubbling up inside her. She hated it even more that she didn't know who she was more jealous of.
"Hi, hey, would you care to dance?"
Cassadee whirled around and saw a boy who wasn't much taller than her standing there, wearing a vest and skinny jeans and a really earnest smile. "These girls are so awesome," he said, fidgeting a little. "So, did you wanna dance?"
Cassadee smiled, taking the boy's hand. She knew a fellow teenager when she saw one and even though his eyes kept darting down to her boobs, he seemed sweet. "I'd love to!"
They danced to an upbeat song called "He's Not A Boy," just holding hands at first, but then the boy moved his hands to Cassadee's waist and she put her hands on his shoulders, swaying with him. It was a nice distraction up until the boy's hands started wandering, first up too close to her boobs ("Hey, down here, thank you," Cassadee snapped, and the boy at least had the decency to look sheepish the first time) and then down too low on her hips. Cassadee moved his hands back up to her waist, grateful that the song sounded like it was almost over, when Alex suddenly was right next to them.
"Fuck off and leave her alone," Alex said to the boy, and with a good four inches on the boy and a particularly icy glare, he managed to scare the kid away. "Are you okay--"
"Are you kidding?" Cassadee interrupted, and she didn't need height when she could scare Alex with just a look. "He was, like, sixteen at the most, where the hell do you get off barging in here--"
"He was groping you! Jesus, I was just helping, calm down--"
"I was handling it!" Cassadee yelled, her voice thankfully drowned out by the applause so they didn't draw attention to themselves. "I told you I could take care of myself but no, you have to waltz over here like you fucking own me. I'm not your girlfriend, Alex! You don't get to tell people off like that for me, especially not when I'm not even in any real danger!"
"Cass--"
"Just-- leave me alone right now, okay?" Cassadee was almost shaking when he tried to reach out for her, and she didn't even realize until she saw him drop his hand and give her a confused look that she lost control of her powers for a second. She felt his mind slip from her control but it was too late, she had given him a command and he had to obey and he knew she had used her powers. She felt sick as she turned around and saw Jersey behind her, his face pale and full of understanding and Cassadee hated that too at the moment, completely irrationally - that none of her feelings were private with Jersey around.
"Jersey--"
"No, you're pissed off, I get it. But, just. You should know he's trying, Cassadee."
"Sometimes-- sometimes trying isn't good enough," Cassadee said, and she felt like the biggest asshole as she stalked away to help The Like get their equipment offstage.
-
When they got back to the apartment later that night, everyone got ready for bed and Tennessee made them snacks and tea while they danced around in pajamas until they were too tired to stand and their stomachs hurt from laughing. Cassadee wasn't actively shunning Alex and Jersey or anything, but the group dance party was a welcome distraction, helping her avoid being alone with them until she had to.
"Tada!" Laena said, throwing some extra pillows on the pull-out mattress after they put some sheets and blankets on it. "Do you want us to pull out the other couch for you, Cassadee?"
"No, we can share," Cassadee said softly, rolling her eyes when Z winked at her.
"Well, we'll be in our room if you need anything," Laena said, giving Cassadee a quick hug. "Your clothes should be done in the dryer by the time you wake up."
"Don't make babies on the pull-out bed, please!" Tennessee said, hugging Cassadee around the shoulders, and Z laughed and grabbed Tennessee's arm, dragging her into the bedroom.
"This is okay, right?" Cassadee asked hesitantly once their door was shut, turning to the bed where Jersey and Alex were already settling in.
"C'mere," Jersey said, patting the space next to him and scooting over closer to Alex so Cassadee had room on Jersey's other side. Cassadee crawled into bed and pulled the covers up, but before she fell asleep she reached out and found Jersey's hand, giving it a quick squeeze. Jersey squeezed back and Cassadee's heart felt considerably lighter when she finally gave in to sleep.
-
Cassadee woke up to the sound of Tennessee and Z arguing over something in the kitchen. She sat up and saw Jersey spooned up behind Alex. Her heart ached a little but she forced herself to smile anyway, hopping out of bed to see what Tennessee and Z were making for breakfast.
Alex and Jersey eventually woke up and joined them for breakfast, the smell of pancakes and coffee too good to sleep through. They decided that once everyone was dressed they would head out to see a friend of Annie's who actually had a car they owed her, and from there the two groups would part ways.
"Are you sure you're not a mob boss?" Tennessee asked over a mouthful of pancake, and Annie just grinned wickedly as she bit into a strawberry.
-
They were almost all packed up and ready to go when Cassadee walked over to the bathroom to tell Jersey and Alex they had ten more minutes. They were both just brushing their teeth, but they were smiling at each other and Alex kept knocking his shoulder into Jersey's, nudging him aside and making Jersey laugh, and Cassadee left before they noticed she was there. She sat back down on the couch and went through her backpack, trying to double-check that she had everything, but her mind kept going back to their smiles, to how close they were.
"Hey," Z said softly, sitting down on the couch and nudging Cassadee's shoulder. "I know we've just met and all, so feel free to tell me if I'm out of line, but. You look like you could use a hug, sweetie."
Cassadee wanted to say no. She wanted to pretend she was tougher than that, that she wasn't freaking out and overreacting instead of being happy for her two best friends. But then Z gave her that knowing look and Cassadee just couldn't pretend anymore.
She nodded slowly and Z pulled her into her arms with the ease of someone who's given many hugs, squeezing her tightly and rubbing her hand over Cassadee's back while Cassadee took deep breaths and kept telling herself she wouldn't cry. Z smelled like Laena's perfume and maple syrup and it was more comforting than it should have been, probably.
"Oh, Cass," Z said, her voice softer than Cassadee ever remembered hearing it before. "You're trying way too hard to do everything, huh? To act like it's not bugging you. I went through the same thing when I was a teenager - hell, I went through the same thing when my douchebag ex cheated on me last year. But you're only 17-years-old, you can't be tough about everything."
"I want them to be happy but I don't want to lose them," Cassadee finally said against Z's chest, resisting the urge to sniffle, and Z gave a short laugh and kissed the top of Cassadee's head.
"That's something you're going to have to figure out on your own, honey, but don't give up hope yet. You'll see it when you're ready. All three of you will."
Cassadee nodded because she didn't really know what to say to that. It struck her, suddenly and a little scarily, that she had wanted this longer than she could remember. Someone smarter and older than her to hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay, that it was okay not to be perfectly stoic about everything, and to mean it. Cassadee finally pulled back from Z, missing the warmth almost instantly but also trying not to freak out about how she just thought of Z as her mom, despite the huge crush Cassadee had on her.
"Since we're already acting all mushy, come on, I want to give you something before you leave," Z said, standing up. Cassadee followed Z to the spare bedroom and stood awkwardly near the doorway while Z went to the closet. She came back with an acoustic guitar that looked well used and absolutely beautiful because of it.
"She was my first," Z said, looking down at it fondly. "She made me realize how much I love music, how much I was willing to give up everything for it. I'm not telling you to go join a band or anything, but I want you to take her. And never give up what you want because it doesn't seem like you have any chance of getting it."
"Oh my god," Cassadee said in awe, her eyes wide. "I couldn't. Z, I can't!"
"It would mean a lot to me," Z said with a smile, reaching out for Cassadee's hand and then giving the guitar to her. "Take it? For me?"
"Okay," Cassadee said, holding the guitar like it was made of glass. "Okay, but oh, Z, thank you so much." Cassadee threw her arm around Z's neck and hugged her tightly, her cheeks going pink when Z kissed her cheek.
"Now go tell your boyfriends to get ready, we've got to get going."
Part two
Author: heavyhart
Rating: NC-17 (warning: underage (17) consensual sex, some light angst)
Pairing(s): Cassadee/Alex/Jersey (background The Like GSF, killyjoys!MCR (sort of), Pete/Ashlee)
Summary: Three orphans with superpowers escape an evil boarding school and make their way across the country to a much more accepting place for kids like them. Shenanigans ensue!
Notes: 20,000 words. Written for cool_rain_kiss for bandomstuffsit. As always, thanks to boweryd for the amazing beta help.
Cassadee was in prison.
Okay, not exactly prison. Her foster family had sent her to a boarding school for "kids like her," also know as mutants, but she was pretty sure they just wanted to get rid of her until she turned eighteen next year. She couldn't really blame them - Cassadee had been through more foster families than she could count since she was a kid, and more often than not it was her fault when the family eventually gave up on her. She always had trouble controlling her powers when she was younger, and then it got even worse as she hit her teen years. Being a mutant and an orphan wasn't easy. Over the years Cassadee had heard horror stories about mutant children being kidnapped and experimented on, about secret laboratories and not-so-secret hospitals that would do brain surgery to try and suppress a mutant's powers. It terrified her, thinking that could happen to her when she had no real family to look out for her.
And then this boarding school, well. She was stuck in a place that made all those public schools Cassadee went to look like vacation spots. At least in public school you had some kind of freedom. Here they all had to wear collars that let the teachers know where they were at all times, and Cassadee couldn't even leave her room past curfew to use the bathroom without someone finding out. There were uniforms and restrictions on everything they did.
It wasn't a completely hopeless situation, though. On her first day there, Cassadee had met two boys who were orphans like her, put in the boarding school against their will. Alex could control the elements and Jersey could read people's emotions. They were Cassadee's best friends and kept her sane amidst the grueling classes and the monotonous day-to-day routines, so when suspicious stuff started happening around the school, Cassadee knew they all had to find a way to break out. She couldn't think of anything better than getting away from this place.
-
Cassadee looked around the lunch room until she spotted Alex, sitting at the end of a table by himself. There were a couple of girls eying him, but Alex was so oblivious he never noticed the attention he got for being cute. Not that Cassadee liked him or anything, but still, she had eyes.
"We have to break out of here," Cassadee grumbled, slamming her tray on the table and watching a bit of carrot go flying. Alex's mouth twitched.
"Cass, if you think the uniform is itchy just wear a shirt underneath it."
"That's not-- ugh, not all my problems are centered around my uniform being itchy! I'm never telling you that again," Cassadee said, tugging at her pleated skirt self-consciously. She'd much rather be wearing pants than the regulation uniform skirt for girls, too, but that was a whole different issue. "But seriously, I'm going crazy. Don't you miss freedom? Doesn't it freak you out that students get selected for 'special tests' and are out sick for weeks?"
"It freaks me out when you get all caught up with your conspiracy theories," Alex said, but his eyebrows wrinkled a little in concern and his voice got softer. "Who's gone missing this time?"
"A friend of Jersey's. He's been pretty upset about it, and then we've got these stupid collars reminding us we can't leave every second." Cassadee tugged at her own collar. They were given them as part of their uniform to help "control" their powers, or rather, so they couldn't use their powers at all, but when Cassadee stood still so it could be slid around her neck, she had no idea she wouldn't be able to take it off. Ever. It's not like she missed accidentally telling people to do something and them having to do it, but she sure as hell missed a time when she wasn't treated like some freak that needed to be locked up.
Cassadee groaned, letting her head fall to the table and poking at her macaroni and cheese with her fork. She had a vague feeling that if she picked the tray up and turned it upside-down, the macaroni and cheese would stay put.
"Hey," Alex said, stealing one of Cassadee's fries, making her lift her head up. She shot him a glare, because she loved her fries and he knew that, but he just dipped it in ketchup and held it up to her mouth. She grinned a little and opened, letting him feed it to her. Alex was pretty okay sometimes, and Cassadee knew that he was as worried about the students going missing as she was. They all knew how dangerous it was out there for mutants, how much crazy shit went on behind closed doors, and they all had to look out for each other until they could get away from it.
-
"I have a plan," Jersey said, dropping his backpack on his bed across the room, and Cassadee whooped from where she was playing cards with Alex on his bed.
"Those are the words I like to hear," Cassadee said with a big grin. It wasn't really a secret that she loved drama and adventure, but whatever. Being cooped up at this school had made her constant need to be doing something even worse. "When are we breaking out?"
"Two nights from now," Jersey said, and Cassadee saw Alex sit up next to her.
"Wait, what? You mean you're actually serious--"
"I talked to my friend, Mike, who said he can get our collars off. Alex, how good are you with rain?"
"You've both lost your minds," Alex said slowly, his eyes a little wide. "We can't actually--"
"Alex," Cassadee interrupted, giving him her Serious Look until he shut up. "We can't stay here. We can't. You know there's something going on here and our only chance is to get out before we're the ones disappearing. We're almost eighteen. Who's going to come looking for us? Our foster parents?"
"What are we going to do, live on the streets?" Alex asked, and Cassadee's face turned soft as Jersey sat down on the bed with them, grabbing Alex's hand.
"There's a place in California. I've heard it brought up a few times while I've been here. Pete Wentz, I guess, is the name of the guy in charge. It's a boarding school like this one, for kids like us, but he doesn't try to restrict your powers or keep you locked up," Cassadee said.
"In California," Alex repeated.
"Yeah, but if we--"
"We're in Maine, Cassadee. I want to, okay? I do. But this sounds--"
"Like we don't have a chance?" Jersey offered, and Alex shrugged. "It's better than the alternative, Pimpshaw," Jersey continued, and Cassadee saw Alex's mouth twitch up in something like a small smile. "It'll just be like a road trip."
"An adventure," Cassadee added, waggling her eyebrows and bumping her shoulder against Alex's. "The worst that'll happen is that we can't find the place and end up living in California. Which, seriously, does not sound like that bad of a back-up plan."
"I guess," Alex said slowly, and Cassadee gave Jersey and grin over his head. "But, okay. How the fuck do you plan to get out of here, exactly?"
-
"It's a good thing the weather man had it right about this rain," Cassadee mumbled, peering outside where it was just starting to storm. "Or else we'd be fucked up a river without a paddle."
"Cass," Alex said, but she could tell he was trying not to laugh, so her attempt at being ridiculous at least worked a little bit. It was all nerves at this point, really. Cassadee loved adventures (something that got her into trouble with a lot of her foster families) but there was always that nervous anticipation that made you kind of queasy - that voice in the back of your head making you think about what'll happen if everything goes wrong.
But they were going to do this. And succeed. As soon as Mike actually showed up to help them get their collars off.
"Hey, Jersey, are you sure he's coming--" Alex started, his voice trying for casual but coming out hesitant, and Jersey stopped where he was pacing by the door, tugging a little at his spiky hair.
"He'll be here. Just-- it's only been five minutes, he's not that late."
Five more minutes went by, and then ten. Cassadee was kicking her backpack back and forth between her feet and Alex kept giving Jersey looks like he wanted to grab him and sit him down so he'd stop pacing when there was finally a knock on the door.
"Hey dudes," Mike said, flashing them all a nervous smile. His uniform was disheveled and he looked like he was out of breath, like he had been running, but he was clutching something in his hand. "Who wants to lose those awful collars?"
"You're amazing," Cassadee breathed, watching closely as Mike used what looked like a small, electrical key on Jersey's collar. There was a pop and sizzle and Cassadee jumped, but the collar fell to the floor, smoking a little bit.
"Holy shit," Jersey breathed, rubbing his hands over his neck where there was a pale mark that was rapidly turning red. "Holy shit, you're all so scared," Jersey said, staring accusingly at Alex and Cassadee. Cassadee was smiling, though, she couldn't help it - it worked. Jersey had his powers back.
"Lay off, we're just nervous," Alex said, but he shut up as soon as Mike started with the key on Alex's collar. It did the same thing as before and then Alex was free, smiling widely and walking over to try to manipulate some water in a cup while Mike walked toward Cassadee.
"Ready?" he asked, and Cassadee could feel Jersey watching them. He was probably still picking up on the tornado of emotions running through Cassadee at the moment.
"Definitely," she said, even though she was shaking a little. She closed her eyes and turned away while Mike touched the key to the metal part of the collar, pressing until the popping sound happened. It didn't hurt, thankfully, but Cassadee did gasp when it snapped open and fell to the floor, leaving her neck bare. Her hand flew up to her throat, rubbing carefully over the sore skin.
"Mike," Cassadee said suddenly, focusing, reaching out with her powers. "Put the key down."
"Why?" Mike asked, but Cassadee could feel his mind, feel his will bending slowly as if it was a ruler Cassadee was controlling - something that needed to be bent very carefully or else it would snap. It was scary, and she hated doing it, but she had to know if she still could. Mike set the key down on the floor, blinking slowly up at Cassadee. "Uh." Cassadee quickly let go of his mind.
"Sorry, I am so sorry, but oh my god, we're free," Cassadee said happily, picking up the key and handing it back to Mike. "You're a hero, Mike." Cassadee lunged forward and hugged him and Mike patted her awkwardly on the back.
"Yeah, totally, it's no big deal. Just take care of yourselves. I'm gonna--" He looked over to Jersey, who was grabbing his stuff, and Jersey stopped to nod to Mike. "I'm gonna stay here. I have a little sister, I can't leave without her, and she can't leave without her friends. You know how it is. But we'll figure it out."
"Good luck, man," Alex said, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and giving Mike a one-armed hug. Cassadee stopped staring and got her stuff ready too, looking back just in time to catch Jersey give Mike a hug and kiss him quickly on the cheek. She immediately got the feeling like she just saw something that wasn't hers to see. She looked up to Alex, who was staring back at her, his eyebrows furrowed a little.
"Alex, were they--"
"Come on," Alex said shortly, and they went ahead out the door. Cassadee mentally said goodbye to the comfort of her bed.
-
Getting outside wasn't actually that difficult. The guard who stood by the door was on 3:00 AM shift change, all according to the plan. They got out the front doors and immediately all pulled their hoods over their heads, cowering from the rain, but the wind was still cold and there was the distant sound of thunder. When they got to the main gate they all ducked for cover behind a corner post and Alex pulled his hood down.
"The electrical box is over there," Alex said, pointing, and Cassadee squinted in the dark at a small, grey box high at the other end of the fence. "If I direct the rain to it and overload it there's a good chance it will explode and the power will shut off."
"A good chance," Cassadee repeated in slight disbelief, shaking from the onslaught of wind and rain, and Jersey linked his arm in hers.
"As soon as it's off, we're out," Jersey said. "And if you try to pull some kind of martyr thing, Alex, I swear--"
Alex choked out a laugh, the sound getting lost in the wind as soon as it left his mouth. "Relax, Jersey. Like you'd make it all the way to California without me," he added, and Cassadee leaned in closer to Jersey and gave Alex what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "We're ready when you are."
"Right," Alex mumbled, turning and stepping a few feet closer to the box. Cassadee felt like holding her breath, she was so nervous and they were so in over their heads. She had to be squeezing Jersey's arm pretty hard but he didn't pull away. She glanced at him quickly and his face looked as nervous as she felt.
"Accio rain," Alex whispered, making Cassadee and Jersey share a quick smile, and then they both watched as the rain started to shift, just slightly, until it was forming a direct spray at the box like there was an invisible hose pointed at it.
Alex stared, unblinking, his hands raised slightly and shaking in the wind. Cassadee felt like her clothes were completely soaked through by now, cold down to her bones even with her coat on and hood up, but they stood and stared, waiting, waiting. Minutes went by until they saw the spark, heard the quiet fizzing noise.
"Oh, fuck," Alex said quietly, and then the box exploded in bright flash of sparks and flames, leaving dark scorch marks and tiny pieces of grey plastic in its wake. Alex fell back on the ground and Cassadee and Jersey ran over to him, blinking rain out of their eyes as they knelt down to help him up.
"Alex? Alex, hey, come on, are you okay?" Cassadee grabbed his arm and felt a quick, painless zap of electricity, but she didn't let go, helping him to his feet as he started to cough.
"Gate," Alex rasped. "Check the gate, go on."
Jersey looked like he didn't want to leave Alex's side but he stepped forward and pushed at the gate anyway, and relief and excitement flooded Cassadee's chest when it swung open.
"You did it!" Jersey said, running back to Alex's side and beaming at him. "Alex, you did it."
"Of course I did," Alex said, but he still looked a little unsteady.
"Quick, let's get out of here before they realize that wasn't thunder and lightning," Cassadee yelled above the sound of the rain, and she and Jersey grabbed Alex's arms and helped him out of there as quickly as they could. The bus stop was four blocks away but the rain was calming down and they walked the last two blocks, tensing up each time a car whizzed past them on the road.
"The bus should be here in five minutes," Cassadee panted, glancing at a clock inside the coffee shop behind them and then riffling through her bag until she found her wallet. When she looked up Jersey had his hands up underneath Alex's shirt and looked... a little bit like he was trying to have sex with him. "Um. Guys?"
"He doesn't believe that I'm not covered in electrical burns," Alex said, rolling his eyes. "I promise I'm fine. I feel fine. I know what year it is, and I know Cassadee's favorite flavor jellybean, and--"
"Your hair!" Cassadee gasped, just now noticing it. Even with the pounding rain from earlier when Alex had his hood off, it now stood out at weird angles, making him look like a lion that just woke up from a nap.
"I like it," Alex said a little defensively, admiring it in the reflection of the shop window. "It gives me character."
"Whatever you say, Mufasa," Cassadee said, smiling, as Jersey reached up to try and touch it. But then the bus pulled up, interrupting them, and they all got their stuff together to get on.
-
They took the bus as far as they could, to the end of its route. Jersey nudged Cassadee awake and the bus driver watched as they all stepped off, Cassadee yawning and saying thank you.
"So now what?" Alex asked, dropping his bag on the sidewalk and looking around. The sun was just starting to rise, making the whole sky glow light pink, and Cassadee yawned again. They were out of the main city and near a residential area, but it wasn't until Cassadee spotted the movie theater that she realized where they were.
"Come on, we still have a little more walking to do," Cassadee said, stretching and then starting down the street. "One of my first foster families lived around here. Back when I was a kid, we used to always get in trouble for playing in this abandoned house a few blocks away."
"And that's where we're going to stay?"
"Got any better ideas?" Cassadee kicked a rock in the front of her on the sidewalk. "I think we at least need a night to plan before we do it."
"Do it?" Alex repeated, sounding amused, and Cassadee groaned while Jersey snickered behind her.
"I was talking about stealing a car, dumbass," Cassadee said, and Jersey abruptly went quiet.
"Uh, Cassadee, do you think maybe we should talk about this first--"
"Here it is!" Cassadee said, ignoring both of them. There was a path in front of them that led back a little ways between some trees to what was unmistakably an abandoned house. Years had gone by but it still looked the same. It was comforting, in a weird way.
"That's probably the sketchiest place I've ever seen," Jersey said slowly, but Alex slapped him on the back and started forward down the path.
"Home sweet home," he said, looking back to Cassadee and grinning.
When they reached the porch, the door wasn't boarded up completely but there was one board across the middle, and it took Alex and Cassadee pulling as hard as they could to get it off. Jersey mumbled something about tetanus but Cassadee saw his eyes go wide when they pushed the door open and revealed a kind of creepy wonderland - the place was cold and stale and empty but plants had started growing in where the windows had been busted higher up or there were cracks in the roof and floor and walls. Not enough to be a jungle, but seeing all that green inside an empty house, the sunlight just starting to stream inside as well, was more beautiful than Cassadee remembered.
"I think I can get some vines to grow up and cover the door, make it less obvious we broke in here," Alex said, and Cassadee nodded.
"You can grow plants?" Jersey asked, surprised, and Cassadee smiled to herself as Jersey followed Alex to the door.
"Yeah, earth is part of my powers. Earth, fire, wind, water--"
"Heart!" Cassadee yelled back to them out of obligation.
"Heart?" Jersey asked.
"By those powers combined, he is--"
"I know where you sleep!" Alex yelled, but Cassadee was having too much fun.
"--CAPTAIN PLANET!"
"Wow," Jersey said, and Cassadee broke out in a fit of giggles as she dragged an old mattress out of the front hall closet and kicked it a few times to make sure nothing was living in it. She threw the extra blanket from her backpack over it and opened up Alex's backpack to get the other blanket, laying it on top.
"This is definitely sketchy," Jersey said when he walked back over to Cassadee, Alex right behind him.
"Buck up, wimp, this is going to have to do for now." Cassadee shrugged off her still damp coat and pulled off the top blanket so she could crawl onto the mattress. "Nap time?"
"Yeah, alright," Alex said, bumping his shoulder into Jersey's and lying down on the mattress next to Cassadee. Jersey huffed out something like a sigh but took off his coat and joined them, lying down at the very edge of the mattress. Alex was between them, also looking like he was trying not to touch anyone more than he had to, and Cassadee smiled at them, rolling her eyes fondly.
"Seriously, wimps," Cassadee said, curling up next to Alex and pulling the blanket over them, ignoring the way he went still next to her. "I can't be the only one who's cold. Stop pretending you're gonna get cooties from touching, come on," she continued, touching Jersey's arm, and Jersey slowly rolled over onto his side, giving Cassadee a look as Alex moved his arm behind Jersey's head.
"You're way too committed to cuddling."
"Warmth, Jersey. Alex is okay with it, right?"
"Yep," Alex said, his eyes already closed.
"See," Cassadee said, softer now, her hand curled up in a fist and resting on Alex's chest. Jersey looked like he wanted to say something but then his face softened instead and he said, "Good night, guys."
"'S morning." Alex apparently wasn't asleep yet.
"Good nap, then," Jersey corrected, a smile tugging at his lips when he finally closed his eyes, and Cassadee followed suit. Sometimes she wondered what is was like, reading emotions, and just how often Jersey did it. But she was too tired to stay awake thinking about it for long, and she fell asleep just as the birds started to wake up.
-
They only got about six hours of sleep and Cassadee woke up with a stiff neck, but she was warm and felt much better than last night. She yawned into Alex's shirt and Jersey started to stir next to her. They were both up and eating the sandwiches they made yesterday when Alex finally woke up.
"Come on, buddy," Cassadee told him, handing him his pb&j while he was still yawning and stretching. "You're gonna need the energy."
"Cassadee's going to steal a car today," Jersey said cheerily, and Cassadee rolled her eyes.
"It's not like I'm doing it for fun. We need to get out of here and a car's our best bet. I figured we could find a used car lot and go for an older car so it won't have any kind of GPS they can track in it."
"Wow, you've thought about this a lot," Alex said, reaching for his water bottle. He didn't sound judgmental, though, just a little impressed. Cassadee was grateful she could count on them not to freak out on her. She had a feeling that as soon as they started staying in motels instead of abandoned houses Jersey would feel better about this whole running away thing, too.
Once Alex was done eating they packed up their stuff and got ready to leave. Cassadee was moving the mattress back into the front closet when she saw Alex touching a plant that was growing up out of the floor, making it grow taller until the bud at the end of the stem turned into a flower. Cassadee got so distracted watching him that when Alex stood up, Cassadee accidentally dropped the mattress on Jersey's foot. She tried to project the sorriest feelings she could at him, but she couldn't really blame him for giving her the silent treatment as they headed out.
The first used car lot they came across was probably the best they were going to get. The cars there were all at least ten or fifteen years old, but they didn't look so junky that there was a chance they wouldn't get very far in one. Cassadee tugged her coat tightly around her as she walked into the little store attached to the lot, trying to look as grown-up as possible (it helped a little that the blonde streaks in her hair from her rebellious teen phase had mostly grown out). By some stroke of luck, there was no one else there.
"Hi," Cassadee said, looking straight into the man's eyes and reaching out with her mind. He was older, maybe in his 60's, and he already smelled like alcohol this early in the afternoon. It wasn't that hard to take control of his will, thankfully. Cassadee hated the sick feeling she got when people resisted, trying to fight back against her persuasion. She couldn't blame them one bit, but it was still one of the worst feelings ever.
"I'm taking the black Ford Contour from your lot. As soon as I leave this place, you will forget you ever had that car. You will not go looking for it because there's nothing missing to go looking for. Do you understand?"
"I don't have that type of car to sell, ma'am," he said slowly, handing Cassadee the keys, and Cassadee could feel his mind shifting, bending and rearranging with the instructions she had given him.
"Oh well, thank you anyway," Cassadee said, leaving the store slowly, her hands only shaking a little. Cassadee had made sure he was focused on the paperwork on his desk for the next few minutes so they would have enough time to get away without being noticed.
"You're driving," Cassadee said, handing the keys to Alex and getting into the backseat with Jersey, and as soon as they were in the car, Jersey grabbed her hand. Cassadee looked up, surprised.
"Are you okay?" Jersey asked, his eyes full of concern. Cassadee thought maybe he noticed how white she was until she realized just who it was who was asking, and how he could probably sense everything she was feeling right now, all the worry and guilt and exhaustion. She flushed a little in embarrassment.
"I'm fine, really. I'll be fine. Alex, do you know where you're going?"
"I have the map up here and the entrance to the highway is only a few blocks away, yeah. I haven't driven in over a year, though, so, uh-- buckle up?"
"Right," Cassadee said grimly, fastening her seatbelt. As soon as she leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes, she felt Jersey reach out for her hand again, linking their fingers together and holding on. Cassadee didn't say anything, but she was grateful. She hoped he could tell.
-
They drove for about three hours before they had to stop for food and bathroom breaks, and then two more hours with Jersey driving this time and Cassadee up front playing with the radio until they finally found a motel to crash at. Jersey held Cassadee's hand again (she almost asked, and maybe he sensed it, because he took her hand without saying anything) when she had to use her powers to get the key from the lady working at the desk, and then they dragged Alex (who was falling asleep in the door frame) to their room. There were two tiny beds and Jersey volunteered to share with Alex before Cassadee brought it up. Alex obviously didn't mind, though, since he fell asleep as soon as his back hit the bed. Cassadee took a shower first, scrubbing her skin too hard without realizing it and later trying to fall asleep without thinking about having control over anyone else's mind. She only sort of succeeded.
-
The next day they made sure they were packed up and driving away before the maid came by and caught them. They stopped for meals and Cassadee got them gas by handing the person at the desk in the gas station a dollar bill and telling them it was a twenty, but other than that, they were on the road for eight hours. They sang loudly to the radio as they took turns driving, and by nightfall Jersey's arm was bruised from a particularly vicious game of Punch Buggy, but they had made it through three states.
They found a motel to crash at, and to make Cassadee feel better for using her powers on the desk clerk, they pushed the beds together, ate Doritos, and played poker with the deck of cards Alex had brought with him from school. It started out friendly enough, then Cassadee upped the ante by betting chips, and somehow it devolved into the three of them sitting around in their underwear.
"You lose this, Pimpshaw, and you're naked," Cassadee said, clutching her three queens to her chest.
"Yep," Alex said. He didn't look in the least concerned, but Cassadee was down to her polka dot bra and underwear. She still had a sock left, but she was barely holding on. Stupid Jersey still had both his socks and his shirt on. Somehow he opted to lose his pants before his shirt.
"I have to pee," Jersey said, throwing his cards down, "so I'm going to fold and go do that. Don't give into the sexual tension while I'm gone."
Cassadee barked out a laugh, about to make a joke until she realized that Jersey was an empath. She swallowed and looked back down at her cards. If there was sexual tension - and Cassadee totally wasn't saying that there was - then Jersey would be the one to notice it. Fuck all.
"Still in?" Alex asked, waggling his eyebrows, and Cassadee stared him down.
"You bet your ass," Cassadee purred, purposefully ignoring any and all non-existent sexual tension. "On the count of three. One--"
"Two--"
"Three!" they both yelled, slamming their cards down. Alex had a pair of fours.
"Alex," Cassadee said, laughing, but Alex had pushed the cards and chip crumbs aside and dove across the bed at her, grabbing her around the waist. Cassadee squealed, trying to push him off of her and adjust her bra at the same time.
"I thought I told you not to have sex?" Jersey said, amused, as he came back into the room. Alex let go and Cassadee was gasping, making sure her boobs were still in the cups of the bra like they were supposed to be before pulling her shirt back on. Wrestling topless was kind of dangerous for a girl.
"It was all him. He sucks so hard at cards."
"I do not, I'm a master--"
"Oh please, are you kidding? You're the worst," but Alex was grabbing at Cassadee's feet and she was still laughing. She reached out for Jersey and tugged him down onto the bed next to her, fitting herself behind him. "Hah, human shield! Take that!"
"You guys are insane. We're going to get reported for having orgies if you keep yelling--" Jersey started, but Alex touched the cup of water next to the beds and water shot out of it, hitting Jersey in the face.
"Nothing can stop us!" Cassadee said, high-fiving Alex and then ducking as Jersey tried to take her out with a pillow.
-
"Oh fuck," Cassadee said, the car sputtering to a stop after an hour of driving the next day. "I totally jinxed us."
-
Cassadee rolled up the sleeves of her hoodie and stepped back to the front of the car, where Alex and Jersey had the hood up. She was letting them do their thing - whatever that was - but she got bored staring out at the miles and miles of corn that surrounded them.
"So what happened?"
Alex and Jersey exchanged a look, staring at each other just long enough that Cassadee was seriously starting to think they were lying when they told her they couldn't talk to each other through their brains. Granted, Cassadee had been really tired when she accused them of that. But still.
"We don't actually know," Alex finally said, shrugging. "We don't know the first thing about cars."
"We thought opening up the hood and standing here would give us magical car knowledge," Jersey added. "But it did not."
"It's smoking, though, and it needs oil even if that's not what's wrong with it."
"We're totally doomed," Cassadee groaned, resisting the urge to shake her fist up at the sky. "So what are our options? We don't have phones, and no tow truck would help us out without insurance anyway."
Alex leaned back into the car, running a hand through his already untidy hair. Cassadee half expected to see an oil streak through it, but Alex's hands were clean. "Looks like it's wait or walk. These are back roads, so who knows how long we'll be waiting, but we're so fucking far out that we'd have to walk at least five miles just to reach a barn. And there's no way to know if that'll result in help or, well--"
"Cannibal farmers," Jersey said solemnly.
"Jersey!" Cassadee yelled, because maybe the corn had been starting to freak her out anyway, but she didn't get to continue because just then they heard the sound of another car, way down the road. "Oh shit, quick, let's get over there and wave!"
"You're actually-- yep, she's serious," Cassadee heard Alex say, but she ignored him, jumping up and down and waving her arms. It was a van, not a car, and as it got closer, Cassadee could see it was white and covered in black polka dots. Which was definitely not what Cassadee was expecting. But it was slowing down, too, until it stopped a few yards away from Cassadee and she looked back to Alex and Jersey, grinning widely and mouthing, "See?"
"Cannibals!" Jersey mouthed back, but Cassadee ignored him too and turned back around when the side door of the van opened up. There were a few moments of nervous excitement and then out stepped a girl with short, blond hair who looked about Cassadee's size, wearing a short, white dress and knee socks. Cassadee realized her staring was bordering on gawking, but the girl was kind of insanely pretty. She was wearing make-up that made her eyes look big and, with a quick glance back, Cassadee saw that Alex and Jersey were both staring too. This girl was not what they were expecting to see.
"You kids lost?" The girl's voice was surprisingly low and husky, and Cassadee got the feeling she was at least five years older than they were.
"We're part of a traveling circus and we got left behind," Alex said casually, and when the blonde's eyebrows went up Cassadee groaned before she could help herself.
"He's just joking. He's a compulsive liar, he does that all the time." She shot Alex a glare but he just looked kind of pleased with himself. "We're, um. We ran away from school and now our car broke down."
"School sucked that bad?" The blond just sounded amused, though, not really suspicious or annoyed. Cassadee exchanged a quick look with Jersey, who nodded, and then she took the leap. There was no way they'd be able to hide it for long if they did hitch a ride, and this girl deserved to know what she was getting into.
"We're mutants. They were-- they kept us in collars there, and kids would go missing. So we left. It kind of did suck that bad."
"Shit, that's fucked up," she said, her eyebrows knitted together. She glanced back at her own van, and Cassadee wondered for a moment who was driving it, if they were more people in there. "And now you're stranded? No family or anything?"
"Alex and Jersey are my family," Cassadee said softly, feeling a little stupid for admitting it. But, well, it was true. And it made the blond beam at Cassadee like she had said exactly the right thing.
"God, I'm so easy for sweethearts like you. You kids grab your shit and we'll fit whatever we can into our van."
"We only have our backpacks," Cassadee said quickly while Alex went and got them from the car. "You can really-- you're serious?"
"You think I'd stop and then leave you guys here? Do I look that mean?"
"Sometimes you do," a taller blond with long hair and what was almost certainly an English accent said, hopping out of the van and walking over to them. She was also wearing a dress and knee socks and Cassadee was starting to wonder if it was, like, a thing. A uniform. The taller girl leaned her chin on her friend's shoulder.
"Fuck off, Tennessee. I found us some orphans, is that cool?"
"As long as you tell them not to drink Annie's vitamin water, yeah, I think that's cool," the taller girl, Tennessee, said with a grin.
-
It turned out there were four of them and they were in a band together called The Like. Which was awesome. Cassadee loved music but never really got a chance to play, so she couldn't really blame Jersey for leaning in and whispering "calm down," in her ear every five minutes because of how excited she was. Real live musicians, though.
"Do you all live together?" Cassadee asked. She was leaning back against Tennessee while Tennessee braided her hair and Z strummed a little on the guitar in her lap next to them. Laena and Annie both had dark hair and similar outfits, and Laena drove while Annie kept eying Alex and Jersey. It was making Cassadee nervous on their behalf. It didn't help when Z started playing "Maneater" on guitar.
"In a shitty apartment, yeah. We try to tour as much as we can, though."
"We can't be tamed," Tennessee said, growling a little and making Cassadee laugh.
"Oh, but hey, are you-- are any of you mutants? If you don't mind me asking," Cassadee added when the van got quiet, but Tennessee squeezed Cassadee's shoulder reassuringly.
"Z's a firestarter and Annie's an icestarter. Great for food preparation but a bit rubbish for everything else."
"Hey!" Z said, slapping Tennessee's leg. "It's also good for when the heat gets turned off in our apartment. And Annie keeps our drinks cold," Z added, shooting Annie a smile. Cassadee caught Annie smiling back and she took a moment to admire just how pretty all four girls were.
"What about you two?" Cassadee asked after a minute, tilting her head up to look at Tennessee.
"We're Normals," Laena said from up front.
"But we're ferociously talented musicians as well!" Tennessee protested. "I play drums, Laena's on bass, and Annie's our keyboardist. It's too bad we can't keep you, we could use a triangle player."
"Cass used to play guitar," Jersey spoke up, ignoring Cassadee when she shot him a glare. "She was really good but then class got in the way and she had to give it up--"
"That was forever ago, I could barely play at all," Cassadee said quickly, blushing because Z was looking at her expectantly. "So where are we headed to?"
"The Den of Sin," Z said in a surprisingly sultry voice, and Tennessee whispered in Cassadee's ear, "She means our shitty apartment."
-
As "shitty" as they thought their apartment was, Cassadee thought it was the coolest place she had ever seen. Instead of lamps, they had Christmas lights strewn all over the walls, and instead of a television they had a huge record player surrounded by albums and some records sitting out of their sleeves. They had two couches that looked like you could sink right down into them and instead of a kitchen table they had a long bar separating the kitchen from the living area. There was also a Christmas tree set up in the corner, and since it was October, Cassadee couldn't figure out if it was there very early or very, very late.
"We leave it up all year long," Laena said, smiling at Cassadee's furrowed eyebrows. "You can drop your stuff off in the corner there. The couches both pull out into beds so you can sleep there tonight if you like. We have a spare bedroom but-- well, there's nothing but tour equipment in it."
"It doubles as a practice room, much to the displeasure of the people living below us," Tennessee said, grinning mischievously.
"And above us," Z added, going straight into the kitchen. "I'm making pasta because it's one of the five things I can actually cook. Any objections?"
"Real food?" Jersey said, a dreamy look on his face, and Z laughed.
"If I don't burn it, then yes! The bathroom is just down the hall, by the way, across from our bedroom," Z said, pointing, and Cassadee saw Laena nudge Z. Z didn't notice, though, already busy digging through the cupboard for pasta.
-
"I think I've heard of this Pete Wentz," Z said, chopping up vegetables while the pasta cooked away on the stove fifteen minutes later. "Is he short? Kind of creepy?"
"Um, I don't know. I've never actually met him, I just overhead some kids talking about him."
"Hmm." Tennessee came to stand next to Z and stood there with her mouth open until Z fed her a bit of carrot. "Well, we have a show later tonight, but tomorrow we're heading out West for a show before we come back East again."
"You know, I could probably help you guys find a car," Annie spoke up, sitting on the couch between Alex and Jersey, her arms spread out across the back of the couch. Alex was chatting to Laena where she was trying to match up records to their sleeves and Jersey was looking uncomfortably aware of how close Annie was sitting to him. "A lot of people owe me favors."
"You make it sound like you're a mob boss, Annie," Tennessee said around a mouthful of cucumber, and Annie just grinned widely.
When the food was done cooking everyone got a big bowl of pasta and vegetables and they all sat on the floor of the living area, listening to some old records and laughing as Z and Tennessee tried to out-embarrass each other by telling stories from when their band was just starting out, back when they were teenagers. Cassadee ate until she was full and laughed until she had tears in the corners of her eyes, and she could see Alex and Jersey enjoying themselves just as much. Cassadee knew they couldn't stay with these girls but part of her still wanted to. Z let Cassadee have some of her wine and Cassadee blamed her blushing on the alcohol when Z was showing Cassadee the proper way to hold her fingers on the guitar neck, her hand over Cassadee's as Z helped her find the right chords.
"So hey," Z said, setting the guitar down a minute later, "you should all come with us to our show tonight. The venue's small, just a room and a bar, but it'll be fun! We can dress you up if you'll let us," Z added, eyes glittering as she stared at Cassadee, and Cassadee felt herself blush again.
"Sure, that sounds awesome!"
"We get dinner and a show?" Alex asked, grinning, and Tennessee threw a carrot at his hair.
-
Z and Tennessee took the task of finding Cassadee an outfit to wear to their show very seriously, bickering and tearing apart their closet full of short dresses and polka dot everythings while Cassadee sat on the bed and picked at her jeans that hadn't been washed in days. She honestly wasn't sure if there was a single pair of pants in the whole apartment, but there was a whole drawer filled with nothing but knee socks and thigh highs. There was also just one huge bed, which Cassadee assumed they all shared, but she tried not to think about it too much because it made her blush even harder.
"Ooh, yes, yes!" Tennessee said, clapping her hands as Z held up a dress. Tennessee grabbed Z's shoulders and turned her around, letting Cassadee see the dress. "What do you think?"
"I think it's awesome," Cassadee said immediately, because it was. It was bright green with buttons in front and white trimming but wow was it short.
"I know it's short," Z said, reading Cassadee's mind, "but with some knee socks and saddle shoes you'll look adorable in it."
"Also your boobs are a bit bigger than Z's," Tennessee said, ducking when Z tried to smack her. "So you'll have those boys' jaws on the floor when you step out of this room!"
"Not everything is about impressing boys," Z mumbled, walking over to Cassadee and laying the dress on the bed. She leaned down and whispered, "But they're totally not even going to know what to do with themselves. You okay changing while we go fight over what make-up to put on you?"
"Yeah," Cassadee said, smiling and standing up. She appreciated Z and Tennessee going to the bathroom and shutting the door behind them, giving her a minute to change. Cassadee undressed and folded her clothes up, putting on the dress and buttoning it up in front before she went over to the mirror to see how she looked.
It was really short. Cassadee was glad she was wearing her boyshorts because if she had to do any bending down at all, she was fucked. But it was also really cute, and Cassadee was trying to hide the band of her bra (the deep V made it near impossible) when Z walked into the room, Tennessee behind her and telling Z that the whole point of privacy was knocking first.
"Oops," Z said, but she was smiling and didn't look sorry at all. "Oh my god, Tennessee, we're geniuses."
"She wears that dress about ten times better than you," Tennessee said happily, ducking when Z swung at her again. "I'll get the socks - Z, you should get her bra off."
"Um," Cassadee said, her face heating up, but Z just laughed, stepping forward until she could reach out and fix the collar of the dress.
"There's not really a way to hide your bra in this dress," Z said, tugging at the front of it, her eyebrows furrowed, "so you should try it without and see how it looks. Here," she continued, already unbuttoning the front, and Cassadee let Z hold the dress on her shoulders for her while Cassadee unhooked her bra in back. Cassadee slipped each arm out of the dress to get the bra straps off too, but Z was just staring at Cassadee's forehead the whole time, her smile warm when Cassadee glanced up. Cassadee suddenly didn't feel that nervous as Z was buttoning her back up, tugging at the dress until she was satisfied with how it fit Cassadee. Cassadee poked at her boobs a little but Z just laughed, squeezing Cassadee around the waist.
"You look gorgeous, Cassadee."
"I think plain white will work best," Tennessee said as she walked over to them, and Cassadee sat back down on the bed so she could pull on the knee socks. It was so different from what Cassadee was used to wearing that she almost didn't recognize herself in the mirror, twirling after she had put on the saddle shoes. Z and Tennessee high-fived each other behind her.
-
There was a quick make-up session where they finally decided on just enough to highlight Cassadee's features, like some mascara to make her eyelashes look longer and eyeshadow and eyeliner to make her eyes look a little smoky. After helping Cassadee with a really pretty berry shade of lipstick and then cooing over her freckles for another minute, Z insisted on announcing Cassadee before she could walk back into the living room.
Cassadee stepped into the living room and Annie gasped while Laena wolf-whistled. Cassadee heard Z laughing behind her. "What do you think, boys?"
"Wow," Jersey said. His eyes were really wide.
"That's really short," Alex said, but when Annie elbowed him he added, "and you look really pretty."
He had a weird look on his face, like he was caught between a smile and a glare, but Cassadee smiled at him anyway. "Thanks, guys."
"We're all going to get ready and then leave in about an hour, okay?" Laena said, standing up and walking toward Z.
"Okay!" Cassadee moved into the kitchen to start doing the dishes for them - it was the least she could do - and she almost screamed when she turned around and Alex was right behind her.
"Oh my god, what's wrong with you?"
"You can't go out to a bar like that, Cass," Alex said, and Cassadee's expression turned cold.
"I can do whatever I want, Al," she shot back, scrubbing a bowl with a little more force than was necessary.
"I just don't want you to get hurt--"
"You mean you don't want anyone else to look at me!" Cassadee set the bowl down and stared Alex in the eye, secretly a little glad to see how taken aback he looked. "I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself, and if I want to wear a short dress I'll wear a short dress, okay?"
"Fine," Alex muttered, walking out of the kitchen, but Cassadee had a feeling this wasn't over yet.
-
The ride to the venue was an exercise in pretending things weren't awkward between Cassadee and Alex. It was almost worth it, though, with the way that Jersey kept trying to strike up conversation with Laena and Laena kept looking over to Z for help. When they finally arrived Laena was the first to hop out of the van, and unpacking didn't take that long with everyone helping. Then it was a lot of waiting.
"You didn't tell me you guys were headliners," Cassadee said in awe, listening to the second band play from where they were hiding out in the green room.
"This isn't actually a proper tour, we just got the chance to do some one-off shows," Z said with shrug. "We haven't had our own big headlining tour yet."
"It's the dream!" Tennessee said, drumming her fingers on her legs.
"I can't wait to hear you guys play," Cassadee said, feeling giddy with excitement, and Z smiled and stood up.
"Well good! Because their set just ended and that means we're up, girls."
"After we set up," Laena pointed out.
"Yeah, yeah, after 20 minutes of setting up, whatever. You guys wanna go hang out in the crowd?"
"Let's go," Jersey said, grabbing Cassadee's hands and helping her up off of the couch, and Alex followed them out.
Tearing down and setting up did take about 20 minutes, but it was all worth the excitement Cassadee felt when The Like came on stage. And they were awesome. The style of their music was one that Cassadee had thought died out decades ago but everyone in the place just loved them, and the girls had plenty of energy and talent to win over anyone who wasn't a fan of the genre. Z even went out of her way to dedicate a song called "Fair Game" to Cassadee, and Cassadee couldn't help grabbing Jersey's hands and dancing to the energetic beat, twisting and jumping until Jersey was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes. Cassadee grabbed Alex for the next song, "Narcissus in a Red Dress," and ended up slow-dancing with him, his hands on her waist and her arms around his neck. It was a small attempt at smoothing things over from their argument earlier, but it couldn't hurt anything. She smiled at him, swaying with him to the music, but he kept flushing whenever he looked down at her, and he looked relieved when the song was over and Cassadee let go of him with a quick hug.
"I'm going to go get a drink," Alex said, jerking his head toward the bar and avoiding her eyes. "You want anything?"
"No thanks," Cassadee said. She looked back to the stage, watching the girls rock out. Cassadee smiled widely when she caught Z's gaze but Alex's reaction was still bothering her. When she turned back to the bar, her heart sunk further.
It shouldn't bother her, it was so petty, but there Alex was, sitting on a stool at the bar and laughing as Jersey danced between his legs. She saw Alex grab Jersey's hand and spin him, Jersey now laughing too, and Cassadee hated the jealousy that was bubbling up inside her. She hated it even more that she didn't know who she was more jealous of.
"Hi, hey, would you care to dance?"
Cassadee whirled around and saw a boy who wasn't much taller than her standing there, wearing a vest and skinny jeans and a really earnest smile. "These girls are so awesome," he said, fidgeting a little. "So, did you wanna dance?"
Cassadee smiled, taking the boy's hand. She knew a fellow teenager when she saw one and even though his eyes kept darting down to her boobs, he seemed sweet. "I'd love to!"
They danced to an upbeat song called "He's Not A Boy," just holding hands at first, but then the boy moved his hands to Cassadee's waist and she put her hands on his shoulders, swaying with him. It was a nice distraction up until the boy's hands started wandering, first up too close to her boobs ("Hey, down here, thank you," Cassadee snapped, and the boy at least had the decency to look sheepish the first time) and then down too low on her hips. Cassadee moved his hands back up to her waist, grateful that the song sounded like it was almost over, when Alex suddenly was right next to them.
"Fuck off and leave her alone," Alex said to the boy, and with a good four inches on the boy and a particularly icy glare, he managed to scare the kid away. "Are you okay--"
"Are you kidding?" Cassadee interrupted, and she didn't need height when she could scare Alex with just a look. "He was, like, sixteen at the most, where the hell do you get off barging in here--"
"He was groping you! Jesus, I was just helping, calm down--"
"I was handling it!" Cassadee yelled, her voice thankfully drowned out by the applause so they didn't draw attention to themselves. "I told you I could take care of myself but no, you have to waltz over here like you fucking own me. I'm not your girlfriend, Alex! You don't get to tell people off like that for me, especially not when I'm not even in any real danger!"
"Cass--"
"Just-- leave me alone right now, okay?" Cassadee was almost shaking when he tried to reach out for her, and she didn't even realize until she saw him drop his hand and give her a confused look that she lost control of her powers for a second. She felt his mind slip from her control but it was too late, she had given him a command and he had to obey and he knew she had used her powers. She felt sick as she turned around and saw Jersey behind her, his face pale and full of understanding and Cassadee hated that too at the moment, completely irrationally - that none of her feelings were private with Jersey around.
"Jersey--"
"No, you're pissed off, I get it. But, just. You should know he's trying, Cassadee."
"Sometimes-- sometimes trying isn't good enough," Cassadee said, and she felt like the biggest asshole as she stalked away to help The Like get their equipment offstage.
-
When they got back to the apartment later that night, everyone got ready for bed and Tennessee made them snacks and tea while they danced around in pajamas until they were too tired to stand and their stomachs hurt from laughing. Cassadee wasn't actively shunning Alex and Jersey or anything, but the group dance party was a welcome distraction, helping her avoid being alone with them until she had to.
"Tada!" Laena said, throwing some extra pillows on the pull-out mattress after they put some sheets and blankets on it. "Do you want us to pull out the other couch for you, Cassadee?"
"No, we can share," Cassadee said softly, rolling her eyes when Z winked at her.
"Well, we'll be in our room if you need anything," Laena said, giving Cassadee a quick hug. "Your clothes should be done in the dryer by the time you wake up."
"Don't make babies on the pull-out bed, please!" Tennessee said, hugging Cassadee around the shoulders, and Z laughed and grabbed Tennessee's arm, dragging her into the bedroom.
"This is okay, right?" Cassadee asked hesitantly once their door was shut, turning to the bed where Jersey and Alex were already settling in.
"C'mere," Jersey said, patting the space next to him and scooting over closer to Alex so Cassadee had room on Jersey's other side. Cassadee crawled into bed and pulled the covers up, but before she fell asleep she reached out and found Jersey's hand, giving it a quick squeeze. Jersey squeezed back and Cassadee's heart felt considerably lighter when she finally gave in to sleep.
-
Cassadee woke up to the sound of Tennessee and Z arguing over something in the kitchen. She sat up and saw Jersey spooned up behind Alex. Her heart ached a little but she forced herself to smile anyway, hopping out of bed to see what Tennessee and Z were making for breakfast.
Alex and Jersey eventually woke up and joined them for breakfast, the smell of pancakes and coffee too good to sleep through. They decided that once everyone was dressed they would head out to see a friend of Annie's who actually had a car they owed her, and from there the two groups would part ways.
"Are you sure you're not a mob boss?" Tennessee asked over a mouthful of pancake, and Annie just grinned wickedly as she bit into a strawberry.
-
They were almost all packed up and ready to go when Cassadee walked over to the bathroom to tell Jersey and Alex they had ten more minutes. They were both just brushing their teeth, but they were smiling at each other and Alex kept knocking his shoulder into Jersey's, nudging him aside and making Jersey laugh, and Cassadee left before they noticed she was there. She sat back down on the couch and went through her backpack, trying to double-check that she had everything, but her mind kept going back to their smiles, to how close they were.
"Hey," Z said softly, sitting down on the couch and nudging Cassadee's shoulder. "I know we've just met and all, so feel free to tell me if I'm out of line, but. You look like you could use a hug, sweetie."
Cassadee wanted to say no. She wanted to pretend she was tougher than that, that she wasn't freaking out and overreacting instead of being happy for her two best friends. But then Z gave her that knowing look and Cassadee just couldn't pretend anymore.
She nodded slowly and Z pulled her into her arms with the ease of someone who's given many hugs, squeezing her tightly and rubbing her hand over Cassadee's back while Cassadee took deep breaths and kept telling herself she wouldn't cry. Z smelled like Laena's perfume and maple syrup and it was more comforting than it should have been, probably.
"Oh, Cass," Z said, her voice softer than Cassadee ever remembered hearing it before. "You're trying way too hard to do everything, huh? To act like it's not bugging you. I went through the same thing when I was a teenager - hell, I went through the same thing when my douchebag ex cheated on me last year. But you're only 17-years-old, you can't be tough about everything."
"I want them to be happy but I don't want to lose them," Cassadee finally said against Z's chest, resisting the urge to sniffle, and Z gave a short laugh and kissed the top of Cassadee's head.
"That's something you're going to have to figure out on your own, honey, but don't give up hope yet. You'll see it when you're ready. All three of you will."
Cassadee nodded because she didn't really know what to say to that. It struck her, suddenly and a little scarily, that she had wanted this longer than she could remember. Someone smarter and older than her to hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay, that it was okay not to be perfectly stoic about everything, and to mean it. Cassadee finally pulled back from Z, missing the warmth almost instantly but also trying not to freak out about how she just thought of Z as her mom, despite the huge crush Cassadee had on her.
"Since we're already acting all mushy, come on, I want to give you something before you leave," Z said, standing up. Cassadee followed Z to the spare bedroom and stood awkwardly near the doorway while Z went to the closet. She came back with an acoustic guitar that looked well used and absolutely beautiful because of it.
"She was my first," Z said, looking down at it fondly. "She made me realize how much I love music, how much I was willing to give up everything for it. I'm not telling you to go join a band or anything, but I want you to take her. And never give up what you want because it doesn't seem like you have any chance of getting it."
"Oh my god," Cassadee said in awe, her eyes wide. "I couldn't. Z, I can't!"
"It would mean a lot to me," Z said with a smile, reaching out for Cassadee's hand and then giving the guitar to her. "Take it? For me?"
"Okay," Cassadee said, holding the guitar like it was made of glass. "Okay, but oh, Z, thank you so much." Cassadee threw her arm around Z's neck and hugged her tightly, her cheeks going pink when Z kissed her cheek.
"Now go tell your boyfriends to get ready, we've got to get going."
Part two