Chasing Starlight- Cassandra's Story Read online

  “I’ll be sure to let her know,” I assured her, amusement in my voice. “Speaking of which, it’s time for you to go to sleep, or you’ll be a mess in class tomorrow.”

  As if I summoned her yawn, Halle covered her mouth. “You’re right. Goodnight, Cass. Love you.”

  “Love you, too.”

  The next day, I returned to Canopy Oaks for the faculty meeting and to finish setting up my classroom. I smiled timidly as the teachers and staff gathered in the cafeteria. It was noisy, almost overwhelming, as they chatted with a familiarity I should have expected. Megan from the front office mentioned that most of the teachers have been around for years. I was distinctly aware of feeling like an outsider and hung back against the wall, waiting for the meeting to be over.

  When my anxiety rose, I exhaled through my nose to stave off another episode. Alice sidled up beside me. “There you are! Why don’t you come sit with me? I’ll introduce you to the other third-grade teachers.”

  Her offer was so kind and genuine that I nodded, allowing her to take my hand and lead me to a row of chairs where three other women were sitting. “Hi, you must be Cassandra Williams,” one of them said with an outstretched hand. “It’s nice to finally put a face with a name. I’m Harriet Nielson.”

  “Oh, you’re in the room right next to mine,” I informed her with a smile.

  Harriet grinned. “You’ve got a good memory.”

  The other women introduced themselves as well, and we shook hands while exchanging pleasantries. We were silenced by Principal Montford standing on the stage.

  “Welcome everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful summer. We have some new faces this year. Please join me in welcoming them to the Canopy Oaks family.”

  The people around me offered some polite applause before he continued. “Melissa King in art, Kelsey McBride in fourth, and Cassandra Williams joining us in third.”

  As their names were called, the women stood up and smiled while waving to the crowd. My cheeks warmed to a violent blush as I rose to the sound of my name and winced at the sudden attention. I hoped it came across as an easy smile, but my insides were anything but relaxed.

  When they were finished, I took my seat and slunk into the chair, willing myself invisible so that I could disappear entirely. Thankfully, the moment was forgotten once the principal moved on to remind us about schedules and school-wide activity days. Before long, the assembly finished, and we were dismissed in time for lunch. Amidst the commotion of well-wishes on my way to the door, a tall man with dark brown hair approached me.

  “Hello there, gorgeous,” he addressed me with a smile. “You must be Cassandra.”

  “I am.”

  “Matt Christensen, Physical Ed, but you can call me anything you like after I take you out for a date on Friday.”

  My blush intensified as I responded. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Christensen, but I’m not really interested in dating anyone right now. Thanks for the offer.”

  His smile widened. “You should call me Matt.”

  “All right, Matt…but I really should get going.”

  Alice came to my rescue by placing her arm around my shoulder and casting him a warning glance. “Really, Matt? Isn’t it a little early in the school year to start cheating on your wife? She just let you move back in.”

  Coach Christensen frowned. “I’m just keeping my options open.”

  “Well, do it somewhere else—she’s not interested.”

  We quickly made a beeline for the door and made it to the hall where she whispered, “Don’t worry about it, Honey. He does that to all the new girls when they start.”

  “Why doesn’t the principal do something about it?”

  “Because, strictly speaking, having an affair is not a fire-able offense if it takes place off school property.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Oh brother.”

  She nodded while we approached another set of doors. “I’d just stay away from him if I were you.”

  Before I could ask anything, she disappeared through the doors, leaving me scratching my head, trying to figure out what just happened. It was an emotional morning, and I was starving. I took the opportunity to head for the parking lot and walked as fast as I could.

  Once safely in my car, I took a few calming breaths to overcome the encounter before backing out of the parking space. Tears pricked my eyes as I carefully maneuvered the car out of the lot and pulled onto the main road. I knew the area well and, since familiar places soothed me, I picked a food truck just around the corner to get myself some lunch.

  By the time I arrived, I managed to compose myself. I checked my reflection in the mirror before stepping onto the pavement. The moment passed quickly and I walked up to the window to place my order. The kind Latina cook smiled at me when she handed me the burritos and I thanked her, saying, “Gracias!”

  The smell of peppers and queso mixed with pulled pork made my mouth water as I searched for a place to sit. I was about to claim one of the booths when I heard my name called behind me in a deep baritone voice.

  “Cassandra?”

  My chest tightened immediately at the sound of a voice I hadn’t heard in years but would never mistake for any other. I turned slowly and was met by a pair of dark brown eyes.

  Michael Godwin.

  I hadn’t seen him since we broke up in high school, but here he was, looking just as devastatingly handsome as I remembered—it couldn’t get any worse. Our eyes connected across the sidewalk and somehow the years between us seemed to fall away. I was back in high school all over again, staring at the only man I ever loved. We were nearly inseparable during our brief yet intense relationship, but it all ended when he graduated two years ahead of me. All those feelings came back and my jaw fell open in shock. My heart fluttered at the sight of him, and I didn’t realize until that moment how much I needed to remember that part of me.

  Seeing him after all this time was a jolt, bringing a wave of emotions I was completely unprepared for. I was devastated when he left, and all it took was a chance encounter to send me down that spiral again. My first love—and my first heartbreak all in one. He was taller than I remembered, and his shaggy, black hair was brushed carelessly to the side of his face.

  Holy Hell…

  His brown eyes gazed at me, still awaiting my response when he cocked an eyebrow with amusement.

  After the shock subsided, a smile spread across my face. “Michael?”

  “Yeah, it’s me,” he responded. “How’ve you been?”

  I shook my head, still trying to wrap my mind around the likelihood of running into him on a random street corner and said, “Oh, my God, it’s so nice to see you. This is so weird; I just came here on my lunch break…”

  Michael’s smile widened and he joined me on the bench with a soft drink in his hand. “Well, this is a great place. I come here all the time. Do you mind if I join you?”

  “I would love that.”

  He took a seat on the bench beside me and said, “I didn’t realize you were back in town.”

  I chuckled, feeling heat rise in my cheeks. “Yeah, I just moved back. I took a job here right out of graduate school.”

  He nodded. “That’s great! You were getting a degree in…education?”

  He remembered.

  I grinned. “Yeah, I just finished with my masters and started teaching at Canopy Oaks.”

  “Very cool. You always wanted to be a teacher,” he responded with a grin. “What grade did they assign you?”

  “Third.”

  Michael winked as he took a drink, saying, “Ouch. That’s a rough age.”

  “Meh, not as bad as middle school. I wouldn’t touch that with a ten-foot pole.”

  He laughed as I smiled back at him and just like that, it was like old times. Something about him silenced the voices in my head. All the noise of the restaurant, my anxiety, the bustle of the outside world just faded away. I forgot about my stress and let myself enjoy the moment for once.

  I
shook my head and turned my attention back to our conversation. “What about you? What are you doing in these parts?” I asked.

  Michael grinned. “Well, while you were up at Arizona State, I was down in UCLA getting my doctorate in veterinary science. I work at the San Diego Zoo, treating the animals.”

  “Oh, my God, that’s so perfect for you.”

  “I love it,” he confessed. “There’s nothing better than talking to animals all day, but you probably knew I’d say that.”

  I nodded with a hint of a smile on my lips. Aside from Halle, Michael was one of my oldest friends—but that was no accident, fae are naturally drawn to one another. We’d known each other since we were children, the first supernatural beings we encountered outside our respective families. I wish I could say falling in love with him was not inevitable, but it was. He was the boy next door, perfectly approachable and easy to talk to. When I fell for him, it was hard.

  He knew me, the real me, and smiled like he still cared for me because of who I was. It was grounding and a relief. That is how magic works I guess; it brings you things you need even if you don’t realize you needed them. It’s not until after the fact that you realize the universe had a plan.

  We spent the next hour talking and laughing about old times before we both had to get back to work. I couldn’t stop smiling and felt butterflies in my stomach. At first, I chalked it up to nerves but, the longer he stayed, the more I wondered if it was something different.

  Michael smiled. “It was great seeing you, Cass. We should do it again some time. I could take you out for drinks if you’d like, you know, to talk more and catch up. I feel like there’s still so much to say. Are you interested?”

  “Sure, that sounds like fun,” I said, genuinely pleased that he wanted to continue our conversation and connect.

  Michael flashed his perfect teeth and my stomach did a somersault. Gosh, he was even more handsome than he’d been in high school, something I didn’t think was possible. “Great! I get off work around five-thirty. Could you meet me at The Loft at seven on Friday?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, that gives me time to change out of my work clothes. I’ll see you there.”

  His smile widened as he stood. “All right, it’s a date. I’ll see you there.”

  “Ciao.”

  Michael hesitated, then reached down and placed his hand on top of mine. “Hey, Cassie?”

  I stared up into his deep, brown eyes and felt pinned. “Yeah?” I replied, my voice little more than a whisper.

  “I’m glad we’re doing this. I’ve missed you.”

  “Me too.”

  “See you later, Butterfly Girl.”

  I turned away from him before my face erupted into the heat of an embarrassing blush and started back toward my car. My heart raced the entire way back to Canopy Oaks and only relaxed once I was forced to concentrate on work.

  This is going to be interesting.

  Skip a Beat

  Chapter Two

  Friday afternoon I held up an outfit to check my reflection in the mirror. The pattern didn’t flatter me quite the way I wanted it to, and I let out a frustrated sigh. I’d been fretting about my non-date with Michael since he texted earlier, confirming our evening plans. I didn’t want to give the impression it was anything more than two old friends hanging out, but I also didn’t want to come across as sloppy. It was a delicate balance.

  I considered a silk top with a scoop neckline and cringed.

  Ick, too green.

  Halle watched from my computer screen with amusement, saying, “Nope. I don’t think that’s the one.”

  “Ugh, I’m getting to the end of my closet,” I told her anxiously. “What should I choose?”

  Whenever we had the chance, we spent a couple hours chatting like this, the closest we could get to being together. It didn’t quite fill the void of not living with my twin, but it helped, especially on days when I badly needed advice.

  I frowned. “What do you think?”

  “I think you look good in florals,” she offered with a smile. “Don’t you have a blouse and skirt like that somewhere on your bed? I saw them earlier.”

  Nodding at her suggestion, I threw the silk top back into my closet and looked for an outfit matching her description. Half my wardrobe was florals, so it wasn’t too much of a stretch. I searched through the hangers of different fabrics and picked out one of my favorite dresses. The fabric was sheer with pink and yellow flowers along the skirt and a cream-colored liner—delicate and feminine, everything I was hoping to achieve.

  Halle watched me take it off the hanger and asked, “Why are you going out with him anyway? He broke your heart, remember?”

  I scoffed at her gross oversimplification of my dilemma. “That was a long time ago. Besides, we’re not going on a date, just hanging out as friends. It’s no big deal.”

  Her smile faded. “Sorry, I just don’t want to see you get hurt again,” she apologized. “I’m really proud of you for putting yourself out there.”

  The genuine tone in her voice made me smile. “Thanks, but you have nothing to be afraid of. Michael’s a really nice guy. We’re going to have some drinks, maybe dance a bit, and then go home—it’ll be great.”

  “Yeah? Well, this will be good practice then.”

  “For what?”

  “For when you go on a real date. I mean, there’s no hope for me, I plan on dying alone with a dozen cats, but you are way too cute to stay home on a Friday night.”

  “Stop it, you’re being ridiculous.”

  I slipped out of my clothes and changed into the floral sundress. The gown fit comfortably around my bust and flared around my waist, with the hem falling just below my knees. I examined my reflection in the mirror, then posed for Halle with an expectant smile. “So? What do you think?”

  Halle beamed, lowering her cup of ramen noodles so she could see me properly. “Cassandra, you look beautiful—you really do. Maybe add a necklace and some earrings? It would help dress it up a bit.”

  I nodded in agreement and raided my jewelry box.

  “How did you end up running into each other anyway? I thought Michael was in Los Angeles.”

  “He was,” I confirmed while clasping a golden chain around my neck. “But came back here after college just like I did. Now he’s a veterinarian for the San Diego Zoo.”

  Halle snorted. “That figures, it’s right up his alley.”

  I chuckled as I put on some earrings. “Doesn’t it? That’s the perfect job for him—like some cosmic plan. I ran into him at a food truck during my lunch hour and we just started talking—it was really nice.”

  Her lips twitched slightly, and she fell oddly silent. “That’s great. I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun, just don’t get any romantic ideas in your head. It’s pointless looking backward, that always backfires. I know there’s a fantastic guy out there for you, but…not him.”

  I frowned. “Give it a rest, Halle. I told you, it’s just drinks.”

  “If you say so. Listen, I’ve got to get back to the station and wrap up. Are you good from here?”

  “I think so,” I told her doubtfully. “Love you!”

  “Love you, too. Have fun and let me know how it goes.”

  “I will.”

  We hung up and I let out an exasperated sigh. I could already feel the anxiety rising inside me. My stomach tensed, and my palms began to sweat and tremble as I glanced over to the door. I was nervous about going out, nervous about making a fool of myself. That’s why I was usually such a loner and kept to myself indoors. And I was worried about Halle. I never wanted to upset my sister and, despite what she said, I had a feeling agreeing to see Michael had done just that. Red splotches of blush flared around my clavicle and neckline, only making the situation worse.

  Calm down, Cassie. You can do this, I told myself.

  My anxiety disorder worsened since I was a child and presented with chronic blushing. It sounded a lot cuter than it actually was. Our parents to
ok me to numerous doctors when I was little; a CT scan showed a condition called idiopathic cranio-facial erythema. They tried to resolve the issue with an exploratory surgery, but the attempts proved too dangerous and I was forced to live with the enduring symptoms.

  When I read in romance novels about women blushing adorably, it filled me with rage. For them, it was charming and attractive, because that was how blushing should present itself—I was not so lucky. The human body responded to stress, or adrenaline, in one of two ways; the first being the lovely pink cheeks and rosy complexion of embarrassment. The other was the way my body reacted, with heat and red, blotchy spots that broke out across the skin like hives where neurotransmitters released a flood of hormone into my body.

  It’s not attractive at all.

  Even worse, however, it was not restricted to embarrassment. The red splotches presented when I felt any strong emotion: sadness, anger, excitement, even arousal. Stress about an upcoming test, a job interview, or any number of things could be a trigger, and I had no control whatsoever. Those who knew me understood the struggle, but it still caused me a great amount of anxiety to be in social situations lest it present itself again.

  I closed my eyes and breathed deeply through my nose, counting backwards in my head from twenty. When I opened my eyes again, the splotches were gone, and I looked completely normal. Seeing the symptoms reduced helped me relax, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I left my long, blonde hair down, hoping that would make me appear relaxed and not the stuttering, anxious mess I always was. Cool gray eyes stared back at me from the mirror, usually hidden behind cat-eye glasses but, tonight, I opted for contacts instead.

  Glancing at my phone, I saw my Uber was going to arrive any minute, so I quickly finished putting on make-up and smoothed my hair.

  A few minutes later, Samantha knocked on my bedroom door to let me know the car was waiting out front. Her wavy, brunette tresses were pulled into a ponytail and she was still wearing scrubs after returning from her shift as a dental hygienist.

  “Okay, thank you!” I chirped. “What are you and Rob going to do this evening?”