Free Find Me in the Dark by Karina Ashe

am not going to sit here and let that asshole get away with this.”
    “Uh, Cassie, what are you doing? Sit back down,” Dolly warns.
    Cassie’s eyes are gleaming when she turns back to us. “I’ll be right back.” And then she’s off, straight across the cafeteria, for Derrick’s table.
    Shit.
    I jump up and Dolly does the same. Anna looks at us like we just ran over a puppy. “Is she going to do what I think she’s going to do?”
    “Afraid so,” Dolly says before marching off in Derrick and Cassie’s direction.
    “Oh no,” Anna says, stumbling to her feet. “We have to stop her.”
    Dolly and I are already running over. We don’t know how Cassie started the conversation, but it doesn’t look good when we get there.
    “What the hell are you talking about?” Derrick squints. “Who are you?”
    “I’m Cassie,” Cassie says as I stop by her side, panting. Then, she takes my arm and yanks me in front Derrick. “Her friend.”
    Derrick frowns. “Okay…”
    “Okay? Is that really all you got? Okay?” Cassie snaps.
    Derrick leans forward and waves a hand between us. “Uh, who are you guys?”
    “Oh!” Cassie waves her hand around and snaps. Uh oh, the snap. She’s gone. “No. No, you do not do this. You do not hook up with a girl and not even have the fucking courtesy to say hello to her when you pass her in the lunch line. You do not sit some skank down on your lap just a few feet away and make her watch.”
    Derrick is obviously still confused. “Dude.”
    Dude? Who even says that anymore? How could this guy be considered the hottest thing in school? How could my friends think I slept with him?
    Dolly tugs on Cassie’s arm. “Hey babe, I think we should let these guys work it out. He’s not worth it.”
    “I know he’s not worth it,” Cassie shrugs out of Dolly’s grip and stomps towards him like it’s her first night at Fight Club. “But he’s got to own up to his shit.”
    Derrick just frowns. “Look, I don’t know what you think I did babe…”
    “Cassie,” Cassie bits out.
    “Oh sorry, Cassie,” he replies sweetly. “But I’ve never seen that lying skank before—”
    Oh no, did he just say that? Does he have a death wish?
    “My friend is not a liar, and you’re the skank,” Cassie says.
    Dolly rolls her eyes. “Come on Cass.”
    “Listen to your friends, Cass. I’ve never seen you or that chick before, thank fucking God.”
    But Cassie’s not going. She grounds her teeth. “Her. Name. Is. Laura.”
    Dolly looks at me. Anna arrives looking like she’s about to cry. This has to stop.
    And then my prayers are answered. I see a brilliant crown of golden hair from the other end of the dining hall, more luminescent than an angel’s halo.
    I don’t look at anyone. I just start running.
    “David!” I yell, waving my arms like they’re wings.
    David turns and smiles. “Hey…” he frowns when he notes my expression. “Laura, what’s wrong?”
    Everything! “Cassie thinks I slept with Derrick.”
    “Derrick? You mean Derrick Derrick?” David’s eyes widen with concern. “Wait, did you? Did that asshole hurt you?” He grabs my shoulders. I’m not ready for it. It’s strangely…manly. I don’t think of him that way generally. He doesn’t seem like that kind of guy. But right now, it looks like all I have to do is say the word and he’d go to war for me.
    “Of course I didn’t sleep with Derrick! Why does everyone think I slept with Derrick?”
    David’s grip softens a tad. “So you didn’t sleep with Derrick?”
    “No!” I groan. “But Cassie thinks I did. And now she’s chewing out Derrick because he didn’t say hello to me, which isn’t surprising since he’s never even met me before…”
    David nods.
    “And I need you,” I finish lamely.
    David’s eyes widen again. I don’t recognize the emotion that fills them. “You need me?” he repeats softly.
    “Yes, badly! Please tell them I was with you last night.”
    David doesn’t move