Destined for Danger

[SecretsInTime]

The secretary looked up only briefly to the rebel, and said, "I'll tell Principal Thompson. Go on." She immediately turned back to the computer monitor, where her secret game of solitaire was waiting. She had to play this while she waited for the Principal to leave - her hours were required to be the same as his.


Cassie's phone buzzing nearly caused her to jump out of her skin. She had set it near her in case Blake texted, and sure enough he did. She was just absorbed in the final touches of her English essay and forgot what she was waiting for. As quickly as she had reacted, she scooped up the phone and read his message. She smiled at his adaption to her new name for him, and typed a quick reply.


"Good for you! How's it feel to be in the sunshine and out from behind those bars?" She asked, wondering if she could ask when exactly this challenge of theirs would occur. She was extremely curious to see how he would pull it off now, and almost impatient.

 

[ichthys]

At the secretary's admission Blake turned on his heel and walked out of the office. With a content sigh Blake walked out to his jeep, smiling at Sarah who was perched on the small hood. She was sitting cross legged with a paperback book in her lap and her dirty blonde hair spilling out of a messy pony tail and curtaining her face. Blake snuck up on her with a practiced ease and poked her before chuckling. His sister made a surprised gasping noise and glared at him, sliding off the jeep and opening the door once Blake unlocked them. Still grinning proudly Blake started the jeep and then answered Cassie's text.


"Absolutely fantastic. I've had enough time behind bars to last me a lifetime." Blake replied jokingly. Sarah was giving him a smug look, trying to see who he was texting that had made him smile. Because Blake was smiling he realized, he had started grinning when he read her text. Clearing his throat and giving his sister a challenging look he sent the text and sat his phone down in the cup holder so the music could play. It was a good song.


He had to drove by his house first to drop Sarah off. The drive wouldn't take long, around thirty minutes at the most. And then drive to the mechanic shop to visit with Quinten. Blake pulled out of the school parking lot quickly after setting his phone down and buckled up as he did. His mom always got really mad at him if she found out he drove with out a seat belt. Sarah would tell on him too if she was with him in the vehicle so Blake learned quickly to just do it and avoid the issue. It was probably a good thing though, he didn't want to get in an accident and get terribly injured. It was definitely not the kind of thrill he was looking for.

 

[SecretsInTime]

Cassie smiled with his confession, wondering if he really would try and stay out of trouble now. He was a rebel, that point was irrefutable. The countless punishments he'd had to go through were proof of that. Whether he really was a bad boy as his reputation stated was up in the air for Cassie, but that was besides the point. If he stayed out of trouble for a while, that could really help the situation with her dad.


"Perfect! So what's the first thing you're going to do with your freedom?" Cassie asked, curious what Blake was up to after school. Besides the few things she had learned about Blake in their conversations, she didn't know much. That was a bit of a sobering point - she should probably get to know Blake. For example, she didn't know his favorite color. It was a lame example, but it was true. She knew Maya's was mint green, which changed from lavender in the seventh grade. It was just something you should know about important people in your life. Blake was definitely important now.

 

[ichthys]

Blake heard his phone go off where it was sitting and had to try hard not to reach over to grab it. He was driving and he wasn't stupid. Rebellious maybe but not stupid. He didn't want to get pulled over or get in a wreck. Especially not with Sarah with him.


He waited until he got home and dropped Sarah off to grab his phone. He smiled again as he read her text and rubbed his ear as he thought about her question.


"Well right now I'm heading over to the shop to hang out with a friend. Might see about a new paint job for my jeep too. I'm thinking hot rod pink." Blake was kidding of course, but he wanted to see what she'd say.He sat in his drive for a few minutes, wanting to hear back from her before he drove to the shop and couldn't text her.

 

[SecretsInTime]

Cassie waited for some time for his reply, enough minutes to finish her essay details entirely. In the back of her mind, she worried about his last response, wondering if she had been too eager. She pushed it away though, editing and finishing. This essay was one of her better ones, she liked to think.


Cassie's reflexes were sharp when her phone finally buzzed. She laughed at Blake's response, as he was obviously joking about the pink. "Really? I think a baby pink would look better than that." She went ahead and responded like this, her sarcasm dripping from each blocky word. She rolled her eyes at their own jokes and set the phone down again, leaning back in her chair.

 

[ichthys]

Blake had his phone sitting on his lap as he drove out of his driveway. He could dictate his texts and he wanted to keep talking with Cassie so he figured that would work well enough. Laughing to himself at her sarcastic remark he rolled his eyes.


"Baby pink? That's low AP! What do you take me for?" Blake spoke into his phone and double checked it before clicking send. He turned up his radio as he drove, hearing some favorable songs playing. As he drove along he though about Cassie and their conversations and worried a bit about their little challenge. He would need some help figuring that out. But, Blake intended to show her he could be a gentleman. He could pull off a tuxedo or something he supposed, at least for homecoming. He didn't think that would be too hard.


Along with that thinking though he thought about all the ideas she had given him for fun things to do. He couldn't help but want to know which one she would like to do the most. But then he wondered again about what they were and weren't. He wasn't exactly confused. But he did want to know if they could be more than just friends and homecoming dates. Homecoming would be nice to go to with Cassie but it was only one night and it didn't exactly mean they were together. Blake thought about that nagging thought for the rest of his drive.

 

[SecretsInTime]

Cassie scoffed at Blake's reply. "Low? Baby pink is an actual color, jailbird! Not an insult. Look it up!" She laughed a little at her own message and her nickname usage as she sent the text off. Did he actually not know what baby pink was, or was he kidding? She shook her head at his ridiculousness.


Her father entered the house with a little slam of the door. Cassie got up and shouted down the hallway, "Food's on the counter!" She escaped back into her room, hearing her father's grunt of a response behind her.


She needed something new to paint tonight, as her last one was finished. She had started a depressing one, but she wasn't in a bad enough mood to work on that one. She needed a bright new idea. Cassie fell back onto her bed, her hair splayed out on her covers and arms carelessly to her sides. Staring at the pristine white ceiling, she emptied her mind. Well, she tried to, but that glaring sun from her window wouldn't get out of her eyes...


An idea popped into her head. A bench in the middle of willow trees, sunshine peeking through in beams, birds perched here and there, eating seeds sprinkled on the ground in the corner. And the face of a little girl in the trees in the background, just peeking through. She sketched it all onto the canvas lightly before she forgot, wishing she could photograph her mind.

 

[ichthys]

Blake grinned as he read her text, it took him several glances up and down as he was driving but he was on a mostly deserted, fairly unchecked sort of back road street. Blake wondered if she would keep calling him jailbird. He didn't mind it, quite the contrary, he thought it suited him. He figured Cassie thought that too or she wouldn't've stuck with it. Blake wouldn't ever tell anyone but he really did like his few nicknames. Sarah and his mom called him Bee as an inside joke about his demeanor and temper. And now Cassie was starting to call him jailbird, thanks to his rebellious track record of punishments no doubt.


"I do know it's a color! But it's not manly! It's even in the name, baby pink. I'm not riding around in a baby pink jeep! Especially not if I get asked what color it is! Do you know what people would think? It would ruin my image." Blake sent back, his response coated in humor and sarcasm. He had been joking about the pink color, he was thinking of repainting it gray or black if anything.


The car ride passed quickly, thanks in part to considerably over the speed limit driving on Blake's part. He got safely to the shop though, and jumped out of his jeep with his phone. He was met by a stoic looking boy roughly a half a foot taller than Blake with an adequate amount of muscles, closely cut curly black hair and dark brown skin. Blake smiled and gave his friend a high five in greeting, the two walking inside.


They started talking about random nonsense over a the hood of a defunct car with a can of soda in their hands. Blake was telling Quentin about his recent brush with school authorities and smiled with an easy going expression as his friend laughed at his escapades. When Blake started to tell him about Cassie and everything that had happened that week Quentin grinned at him with a wide, toothy smile that made Blake redden. Quentin shook his head as Blake recounted his run in with Jake and looked at Blake with a sympathetic look.


"She's smart enough to keep your sorry self outta trouble so I'd say keep her. You hardly even listen to me! Let alone anyone else." Quentin joked, but he gave Blake a serious look. Quentin was one of the only people that knew of Jake and his history and how difficult it was for Blake to walk away from a fight, especially with someone like Jake.

 

[SecretsInTime]

Cassie heard her phone buzz beside her, and pulled herself away from her sketch after a few moments of hesitation. She rolled her eyes at his mention of his image, and began a response.


"Oh, because hot rod pink is so much better? Pink of any sort will ruin your reputation without questions asked, and you know that. So what's the real color gonna be?" She asked, lightening up her tone for those last sentences. Now she was actually asking about the color, though she wouldn't be surprised if he pretended it would still be pink.


The sketch was coming to life with just pencil. Cassie added some notes for highlighting here and there, some examples of future detail, then busted out the paints. She mixed away for the colors of the background, biting her lip a little in thought.

 

[ichthys]

Blake looked down at his phone, it was laying on the hood. He gave a scoffing laugh and looked up at Quentin. He quickly explained the conversation he and Cassie were having and smiled as his friend laughed. Picking up his phone Blake rubbed his ear thoughtfully, wondering if he should continue joking or perhaps tell her the actual color he was thinking of.


"You're right, pink's not good enough. How about a dark purple?" Blake quickly sent her the text back and looked at Quentin. He wanted to ask his friend what kind of colors he could use. He figured he would just use one. He wasn't wanting any decals or customary artwork On his jeep.


Quentin gladly took him to the paint they had on hand and Blake grinned as he found a vibrant, deep purple color. Taking a picture he sent it to Cassie.


"See, much better than pink. What do you think?" Blake sent his text and the picture with a smile and pulled out the varying shades of gray and a few blues. He wanted a dark color but not exactly black. But he wanted to try to make Cassie think he'd be showing up in a purple jeep the next day at school.

 

[SecretsInTime]

Cassie frowned at her shade of green on her pallet in her lap. It wasn't quite right. She added a little more black and her phone buzzed. Mixing with one hand, she picked up the phone in the other.


She was surprised to find the purple awaiting her. She raised her eyebrows suspiciously at the picture, and typed a curious message.


"Purple wouldn't look bad! I'm surprise by the choice though. I would've pinned you as more of a dark blue or black paint guy." She couldn't deny that that purple would look good on that car, though. She wondered whether he was still kidding...


She began to fill in the background. She added small dots and touches slowly, keeping the shading in mind. She had screwed up forest backgrounds before, and since she loved this new idea, she didn't want to mess up this time.

 

[ichthys]

Blake and Quentin had finished picking out a color for the jeep and Blake was deciding whether the paint job should wait or if he could get by with doing it now. He checked the watch on his wrist and frowned. He had time. He had, surprisingly, finished his school work so he could be out as late as he liked. And while the jeep got painted he could sit and talk some more with Quentin.


Blake heard his phone go off as he moved the jeep around to where the other employees would apply the new paint. Sliding out of the driver side Blake reached for his phone and read Cassie's text.


"Well I guess there's a lot about me you don't know AP." Blake sent the text and slipped his phone into his pocket with a satisfied smirk.


He didn't intend to paint the whole jeep purple, even though he really did like the color. He had settled on a dark gray- almost black color and had asked for a thin purple stripe along the sides. The two colors had looked good together and Blake honestly did like purple. It wasn't his favorite color he supposed, but it ranked second or third.

 

[SecretsInTime]

Cassie pursed her lips reading Blake's response, about to protest that he was messing with her. She stopped and realized what she had thought earlier - she didn't even know his favorite color. She didn't know too much about Blake, and he didn't know much about her either.


"Fair enough, I suppose. I look forward to seeing it then." Cassie said as a reply, sending it off. She looked back at the picture of purple paint, and to her easel. She wanted to match that color and add that to some of the trees. It could be shading for something technically, but she saw it as more of a fantasy purple-leaf tree.


She mixed furiously to match the color, looking back every once in a while, until it was about the same. From there, she added the purple with the green. She smiled at the change. It was a dark shade, but still added a bit of variety or pop of color. She silently thanked Blake for the idea.

 

[ichthys]

Blake grinned at his phone when Cassie texted back. Fair enough. He smirked as he answered it. Then he set it down. He and Quentin were relaxing at Quentin's house, which was just a block or so from the shop. They were sitting sprawled out on the asphalt drive talking. Quentin hadn't quit teasing Blake about Cassie and now made a whistling noise whenever his phone went off. Blake gave him a glare the first few times but couldn't hide his own smile.


"Well, I hope you like it." Blake's reply was lighthearted and he raised his eyebrow as his friend looked over his shoulder with an exaggerated expression.


With an equally exaggerated huff Blake handed him the phone, which still had his and Cassie's conversation open. Quentin took it with greedy hands and smiled widely at Blake. Punching his shoulder Blake tried to grab his phone back.


"Okay, okay! That's enough Q! Give it back!" Blake reached to grab his phone back but his bigger friend rolled away, holding it out of reach.


"No, this is good!" Quentin crowed as he continued reading. "You like her man! Blake, you like this chick!"


"Shut up! And give it back!" Blake growled with a laugh. He tried to put his friend in a headlock and grab the phone. Quentin was bigger though and laughed at Blake's attempts.

 

[SecretsInTime]

Cassie picked up her ringing phone after a moment. She found Blake's response slightly odd, so she decided to go ahead and be sarcastic with her answer.


"I hope so too. If I don't, I'll have to tell you I told you so. Something tells me that would annoy you." She left it at that, remembering telling Maya she told her so in 8th grade. Her best friend thought that getting bangs would be a good idea, no matter what Cassie said. Obviously, she regretted it. However, Maya was one whose hair grew back very quickly. The bangs were grown back out as soon as possible.


She heard her father's footsteps in the distance. She went rigid and looked towards her door, waiting to see if his steps would come closer. Unfortunately they did, and Cassie immediately began throwing her paints and supplies in their hiding spots. Her drawers right next to her held her paints, brushes and pallet, and she slid the wet canvas under her bed. She folded up the easel as quickly as possible, and when he was right outside her door and the thing wasn't folding right, she threw it behind her. It hit the floor and was hidden from her father's gaze by the bed. She just hoped he wouldn't come too far inside.


He stood in the doorway, and almost hesitantly asked about her homework. She answered as normal, staring off into space to seem bored with his presence. He didn't make a move to come closer, so that was good. He did, however, ask about something else.


"Cassie, I've been hearing your name around recently." He began. "Are you and your friends alright? How -"


"Dad, everything is completely fine. I'd appreciate it if you just trusted me." She had a little venom in her voice, and her father snapped a little on her for it, but he at least left it at that. With a little shrug, he left the room.


When Cassie was sure the coast was clear, she slid everything back out very carefully and began again.

 

[ichthys]

Blake was in the middle of tackling Quentin when he heard the phone alert him to a new text. Quentin still had it gripped in his hand and Blake pinned him down, prying open his hand to grab his phone before rolling away from him.


Sitting up with a huff Blake looked down at his phone and glared back up at his friend who sat chuckling. Blake narrows his eyes at him but turned to respond to Cassie.


"I see how it is. Alright, alright. But I doubt you'll be telling me I told you so any time soon." Blake sent the text and slid his phone in his pocket.


He stretched out again on the drive and the boy cupped his hands behind his head and looked over at Quentin. His friend was giving him a cheeky look.


"Lay off! It's only homecoming okay?" Blake snapped at his friend but he didn't sound as convincing as he wanted to.

 

[SecretsInTime]

After some minutes absorbed in the painting, Cassie realized two things. First, she was way too tense to keep painting like she had. Her lines were too straight, too thin. She could fix it, but she needed to stretch out. And secondly, she had forgotten about her phone.


Launching across the bed to where the phone sat, Cassie scooped it up and read the text message. She could definitely tell from that one that he was kidding about the whole thing being purple too. She could sense a stall in the conversation though, so she switched it up.


"Whatever you say, jailbird. Hey, how's that gentleman challenge planning going? Any idea when you'll finally be finished drilling yourself into shape?" She was actually dying of curiosity to know when he planned to prove her wrong. She didn't like to be wrong about things often, but in this case she was strongly hoping she was incorrect.


After she sent the text, Cassie rolled out her neck and stretched out her arms. She took slow breaths and thought of good things - some of them involving the boy currently talking to her - and then got back to work.

 

[ichthys]

Blake grinned down at his phone, ignoring the figure next to him reading over his shoulder. He thought quickly about how he would answer, also letting the obvious new moniker sink in. He liked it. He wouldn't deny that, it was obviously suitable for him. Plus, it was her nickname so that made it nice too.


"I think I'll be the one saying I told you so very soon. And I guess you'll just have to wait until homecoming to see it all come together " Blake decided it wasn't a terrible idea to end the text with a winking face, simple to pass the expression on since she couldn't see him. Though she would probably be able to imagine his expression when she read his text anyway.


He clocked send and turned to face his looming shadow with a smirk. The other boy grinned back and shook his head as he sat back. Quentin didn't think Blake would be able to pull off the challenge. He said he would pay to see him in a full suit, complete with a tie. Blake upped the ante and said he would even do his hair for the occasion.


That's what he would do. He would take Cassie to homecoming in a tuxedo and a bow tie and he would style his hair all nice and gentlemanly. He would surprise her and he would win their little challenge. It wouldn't be so hard.

 

[SecretsInTime]

Cassie groaned a little when Blake said she'd have to wait. The little emoticon was surprising, and made her smile, but the content of the message just made her impatient. She wanted to express that but not outwardly say why. She settled on a response about a minute later.


"Aw, really? I have to wait that long? I wanted to enjoy my success faster than that. Is this because you're so unprepared?" She teased him, pressing send with a flourish. She smiled to herself, already imagining Blake in a suit and herself all dolled up. She really was turning sappy and he hadn't even asked her out officially. She wanted to slap herself out of it.


Maya's ringtone buzzed on her phone next. She held her breath as she opened the message, and let it out with a sigh. She was indeed already asking about a time and place for dress shopping. She had listed her availability and the long list of shops and stores they'd be looking at. She rolled her eyes and pulled out her calendar on her phone.


Her calendar was pretty detailed. It mostly involved due dates and days where homework and labs were sure to be a pain. However, it also had social events and things she was involved in - it was just buried under her details about work.

 

[ichthys]

Blake moved his hand from where it covered his phone as he sat talking to Quentin. He read her text and smiled. Moving so he could text back he glanced at Quentin and then the time. It wasn't terribly late and his jeep wasn't finished yet. Blake held up his phone.


"No AP, it's because I'm taking my time so I'll be able to properly enjoy proving you wrong." Blake sent her the text quickly, gently dropping his phone back onto the ground next to him.


He was holding it off because he wasn't exactly prepared. But Cassie didn't need to know that. He did think the idea of doing the big reveal on homecoming night was a great one. But he also needed the time. He needed to go get a suit and such. He would have to get his mom's help most likely. He was already anticipating the explosion of excitement coming.

 

[SecretsInTime]

"Oh really?" Cassie couldn't help but laugh a little at his confident response. She paused and added onto her reply. "Well I sure hope you get it right then. It would be a shame to fail..." She sent the ominous text, biting her lip a little. She could just imagine the night now.


Especially with Maya breathing down her back. She settled for shopping that Sunday. They'd both be free then. She'd just study as much as she could on other days. She sent a confirmation text to Maya about the date, and got back a lot of capital letters that caused Cassie to imagine her squeal. It wasn't exactly pleasant, but she appreciated having a positive friend.

 

[ichthys]

Blake grinned and sent her back a humorously clipped response. Cassie was teasing him, he was sure. Egging him on more likely. Blake didn't mind though. Her teasing and challenging would only give him more incentive to win their challenge.


"It would be a shame. Guess I just won't fail." Blake looked over at Quentin with a smirk and narrowed his eyes.


Blake texted his mom to ask to be picked up, he didn't want to risk messing up the paint job by driving it tonight. He could let it stay overnight, get here early tomorrow and pick it up and drive the rest way to school. Then he could show it off to Cassie. Blake rubbed his ear at the thought. He didn't think he should be so excited by that prospect.


A few minutes later his mom texted back. She could stop by when her shift was over and pick him up. That meant he and Quebtin would be hanging out for at least an hour longer. His friend agreed and they simply sat on a stack of tires in the garage and talked about random things.

 

[SecretsInTime]

Cassie wrapped her painting up for the night. After a long couple of days, she decided that some more sleep was in order. She told Maya to stop freaking out so she could go to bed, and then gave Blake a last text. She took a minute to phrase it perfectly, and then sent it off.


"I'm glad to hear it. Now go start planning! Talk to you later, Blake." She didn't use the nickname this time, just so it would be more special when she did use it. Too much use might make it annoying.


She charged her phone, as it was dying, and finished getting ready. She got some paint off her face that she had no idea was there, and fell into her bed. She nestled into the covers and fell asleep quickly, dreaming away.

 

[ichthys]

"Good night, talk to you tomorrow." Blake capped his end of their evening conversation with a small smile and a funny feeling in his stomach. Talk to you later. Of course she would, Blake told himself with a mental scoff. She was his homecoming date after all. Blake put his phone away silently as he and Quentin sat listening to high volume music from Quentin's phone.


Blake and Quentin sat talking for nearly forty-five minutes before his mom's car pulled up. Giving his friend a quick good bye and promising to stop by again now that he wasn't suspended after school Blake jumped into the passenger seat and bucked as his mom drove off. On the twenty or thirty minute drive home Blake ended up telling his mom sheepishly about Cassie and homecoming. He was right about his mother's and his sister's reactions to his news; he was worried his mother might drive off the road as she became exuberantly excited. She insisted on hearing all about Cassie and Blake had to reign her in with firm demands to not act like that, please it's embarrassing. Satisfied with his mothers response to his pleas Blake continued, he had to ask for help in getting ready for homecoming.


After finishing the conversation, which had overlapped from the car to the dining room table, Blake wearily fell on his bed, face down in the untidy pile of pillows and comforter. His light was off, he hadn't bothered to turn it on, and Blake was out as soon as he hit the pillows.

 

[SecretsInTime]

Cassie woke up to her phone buzzing relentlessly on her dresser. It was eight in the morning, which Cassie groaned at. It wasn't specifically early, but she liked to sleep in until at least 9 on the weekends.


Annoyed, she whipped her phone closer to her face so she could see as her eyes adjusted. Maya was texting her a bunch of spam messages so she'd read the first one she sent. Typical Maya, Cassie rolled her eyes and scrolled to the first message.


"OMG!! I forgot to tell you because I got all caught up in your new love story. We were invited to Shayne Jackson's birthday party! You know it's gonna be crazy - Shayne's the one with the huge house and loaded parents who always conveniently go on vacation for his parties. It's gonna be GREAT! I'm inviting my homecoming date so you should too. I CAN'T WAIT!! Starts at 8. BE THERE OR ELSE." Maya's enthusiastic messages were always long and insanely worded like this. The spam just read 'Cassie' over and over.


Cassie couldn't help her face heating up at both Maya's first sentence, and the idea of inviting Blake to the party. At first she scolded herself for thinking it was a good idea, but then she realized she was being weak. She took a deep breath and responded to Maya, heart beating a little faster.


"Alright, I'll be there! God! And yes, I'll invite *Blake, who has a name, you know." She sent the message, holding her breath, then sent a message to Blake.


"Are you awake jailbird?" She added the nickname on in a little burst of confidence. Only after she'd sent it did she remember that it was still 8 AM. She groaned at herself and rolled over. He was probably still asleep and she'd probably wake him up. Why didn't she think ahead like she normally did?