Just as Coreene was getting the leftover cheesecake out of the fridge, the phone rang.
Isabella got the phone. "Hello?" Isabella asked.
"Hello Isabella."
"Who is this?"
"Don't you remember me? I've called before."
"Oh, I know," said Isabella nodding her head.
"Let me talk to Coreene." Isabella slowly drew the phone away from her ear, and handed it to Coreene who had joined her by the phone.
"Hello?" said Coreene.
"Hello Coreene."
"Who is this?"
"Oh come now Coreene, I know you better than that."
"Oh yeah? I'll be the judge of that! Who are you?"
"Must you use that tone with me?"
"Screw you! I'm hanging up!"
"I wouldn't do that."
"Oh yeah? You're not me, watch me!" Coreene slammed the phone down. Just then, Cassandra walked into the kitchen.
"Who was that?" Cassandra asked.
"Lucy!" said Isabella.
"What do you mean?"
"Remember that phone call I got that one time saying they were going to kill you?" Cassandra nodded her head. "Well, Lucy and Austin confessed to that, right? So it had to be them!" The phone rang again. They all just stared at the phone.
"Oh come on, I'll get it," said Cassandra and picked up the phone. "Hello?" There was no response. "Lucy, this is you isn't it?"
"Oh Cassandra, you wish it were Lucy."
"Who is this?"
"We could call me an old friend, but that would be lying on my part."
"I don't like riddles."
"Yes I know. I know everything about you, Cassandra."
"Oh you know everything about me, do you? Like what?" said Cassandra disbelievingly.
"Your favorite color is green, you married too young to a blonde named Nick, you have a purple fish named Nicholas Brent that he bought for you, and a simple opal ring on your right hand."
Cassandra looked down at her right hand and saw her opal ring right there. "What? How did you know that? Who are you?"
"I told you. I know you better than anyone. And the question isn't who am I, it's where am I." The connection went dead.
Cassandra swallowed hard then slammed the phone back down. "H-he knew everything about me. It wasn't Lucy!"
"Are you sure?" Isabella asked.
"Yeah. That couldn't have been Lucy! He knew everything!"
"This is some sick joke!" Isabella yelled. The phone rang again. "What do you want!"
"This is no sick joke," they said and hung up. The lights went out, and the power went dead.
"Oh God, what is this?" Cassandra asked.
"I don't know!" Coreene said.
"Where is everyone else?" Isabella asked.
"They're all at the guys' house," Cassandra answered.
"How do we get over there?" Coreene asked scared.
"We run!" Isabella yelled running to the front door, whipping it open, and running out of the door, leaving it open.
"Oh God, oh God, oh God," Coreene kept repeating.
Cassandra grabbed Coreene's shoulders. "Coreene! Get a grip! We have to get over there, too. Come on, are you with me?" Coreene nodded her head slowly. "Good." Cassandra grabbed her hand. "Let's go!" She dragged her sister out of the door and they ran as fast as they could. Cassandra burst through the door and ran into Nick. "Nick!"
"Cassie? What's wrong? I heard. Are you okay?"
"No, no, we're fine-" Just then the guys' phone rang.
"Oh God, not again," whispered Coreene.
"How come you guys didn't lose power?" Cassandra asked.
"What are you talking about?" A.J. asked. Cassandra gave him a confused look.
"Cass, it's for you," said Kevin handing her the portable phone.
"H-hello?" she slowly said.
"You know you can't hide from me Sweetie."
"Who am I hiding from?" she yelled.
"Let's just say that the man that you hold so dear to you, you shouldn't have always trusted. Tell Coreene the same." With that, they hung up.
"Hello? Hello? Damn it!"
"Was it him?" Nick asked. Cassandra nodded her head. "What'd he say?"
"Well," started Cassandra, "when I asked him who I was supposed to be hiding from, he said that the man that I hold so dear to me, I shouldn't have always trusted. He told me to tell Coreene the same thing."
"What does that mean?" Coreene asked.
"Who do you hold dear to you?" Isabella asked Coreene.
"I dunno."
"Okay then, Cassie," said Isabella turning to her other sister, "what do you think it means for you?"
"Well I hold Andrew very dear to me, but he's dead, so the only other person that could fit that description is-" She stopped. "No, no, there's just no way." She shook her head.
"What? What is it Cassie?" Emalia asked.
"Well the only other person besides Andrew, is, Nick." They all looked at him.
"Oh come on!" said Nick. "You don't think-"
"No I don't!" said Cassandra. "I know that we've had out trust issues in the past, and I want them to be in the past."
"Come here," he said and pulled her close to him.
Cassandra was still hugging Nick when she opened her eyes and saw a figure in the back window. She screamed loudly and let go of Nick, and ran out the door to her house.
"Cassie! Wait!" Nick yelled.
"Oh God! Where is she going?" Isabella asked. Then she, too, saw the figure and grabbed A.J. and screamed.
"Oh God you guys," said Nick, "get over to Jonathan's house. I'll go after Cassie."
"I'll go with you," Kevin offered.
"No, stay with Emalia. I'll be right over."
"All right, you be careful man." Isabella, Coreene, A.J., Kevin, and Emalia ran out of the door and started across the street. All in hand, they burst into Jonathan's house and slammed the door. Nicole gasped and turned around, still at the table.
"What's going on?" she asked.
Nick took a deep breath and started slowly over to the girls' house.
Cassandra ran up the stairs, into her room and slammed the door. She ran to her phone.
"Hello?"
"Mercedes! Oh God, it's happening again!" she said.
"Cassandra? Wait a second. What is happening again?"
"That night in the beach house, it's here. It's happening again."
"You're kidding! What's going on? Where are you?"
"I'm upstairs-" she stopped.
"What is it? Cassie what is it-"
"He's here," Cassandra whispered. "Someone's downstairs. There's someone coming up the stairs. Oh God-"
"What?"
"They're outside my door."
"Are you in your bedroom?"
"Yeah-"
Nick opened the front door of the house, and tiptoed inside.
"Cassie?" he whispered. "Cassie where are you? Cassie!" He walked through the living room, then the kitchen, checking each room carefully. "She must be somewhere!"
"The noise stopped," said Cassandra to Mercedes, "it must have been nothing."
"Be careful okay?" She heard Cassandra gasp. "What is it?"
"The d-door knob. It-it's turning!"
"Quick!" said Mercedes. "Hide!" Still with the phone, Cassandra ran into her closet, and silently closed the door. "Do you hear anything?"
"No. Wait. I hear him. Oh God, he's saying my name, and he's in my room! I gotta see who it is."
"Cassie don't!"
"Mercedes, I will call you later."
"Cassandra, wait-" but she had already hung up. Cassandra opened the closet door just a crack to see who it was. His back was to her, but then he turned around and she saw his face. She threw the closet doors open.
"Oh my God!" she yelled.
"You guys, I am seriously worried!" said Coreene.
"I know, they should have been back by now," said Kevin.
"Anyway, Coreene, who could this person be?" said Isabella.
"Wait!" said Coreene. "I just thought of something, Matthew! He's the only person that I trusted that I shouldn't have!"
"But that doesn't make any sense!" said Isabella. "He's nothing to Cassandra."
"Maybe there's more than one," said Emalia.
"Oh please don't put that into my head!" said Isabella.
"I'm going over there," said Coreene.
"No Coreene," said Kevin, "you're not going."
"Kevin, I'll be fine! If it is Matthew, I have some words for him."
"And if it isn't?"
"I'll be fine," Coreene said doubtfully, and slowly walked out of the door. Emalia pulled back the drapes in front of the front window, and watched as Coreene quickly tiptoed across the street and into the house.
"Nick!" Cassandra screamed. "I thought you were him! Her! It! Whatever!" She ran to him.
"Cassie, I thought for sure that something had happened to you!" They heard a crash downstairs.
"What was that?"
"I'll go see," Nick volunteered.
"No Nick, don't g-"
"Cassie, look at me. I'll be fine. It's probably just Isabella. You know what a klutz she can be." Cassandra smiled but it faded. "Stay by the door, and I shouldn't be more than a minute." He kissed her quickly. "I love you.
"You seem like your saying good bye."
"I'll be right back," he assured her and slipped out of the door. She closed it behind him, and leaned against the door.
"I love you too," she whispered.
Nick tiptoed down the stairs and looked around. It was still getting darker out and harder to see. He thought that he heard the noise come from the kitchen so he headed in there first. He looked around. Suddenly he felt someone tap him from behind.
He turned around. "Cassie?"
"No, I don't look like her do I?"
"Oh my God, oh my God! What the-"
"Believe it blondie."
"What's taking him so long?" Cassandra said to herself. "I'm going down there." She snuck out the door and tiptoed down the stairs. All of a sudden, she felt something hit her. She gasped loudly. "Coreene!"
"Cassandra!"
"What are you doing here?"
"I might ask you the same thing. Where's Nick?"
Cassandra shrugged. "We heard a crash so he came down here to see what it was. He was gone for a long time so, here I am," said Cassandra.
"Well.....wait, what was that?"
"It came from the kitchen." Cassandra started towards the kitchen. When she went into the kitchen, she saw Nick in a chair, collapsed over the table. "Nick?" When she got closer to him, she saw a gash on the side of his head, dripping blood. "Nick!" she screamed and shook him. She pushed him so he leaned back and hit his back hard against the chair. "Nick!" She slapped him across the face.
"Huh?"
"Nick, what happened?"
"Uh, Cassandra....." said Coreene. Cassandra looked over and saw that someone had an arm around Coreene's neck.
"Matthew," Cassandra whispered.
"So it was you!" yelled Coreene.
"Hey Nick, it worked!" said Matthew. "You got her! Now do you want to bash Cassandra's brains in, or should I? Or do you want to take care of Coreene?"
"What are you talking about?" Cassandra demanded.
"You don't think that I could have done this alone, do you?" Matthew asked. "It was just easier to have someone on the inside."
Cassandra backed away from Nick. "Matthew shut up!" Cassandra yelled. "Nick? I don't think so."
"Believe it."
"Give me a fucking break Matthew! Please!"
"Yeah! Get a life!" Coreene said and elbowed him in the stomach and ran to Cassandra.
"Oh come on Cassandra, all the times Nick's been gone, all of the lies, the excuses! Does Kimberly ring a bell? That was a good one Nick! You sure fooled her with that whole best friend was beat up and she needs me thing! I couldn't have set Cassandra up better myself!" He paused. "Cassandra, I needed a partner! Come on, think about it."
Cassandra shook her head. She felt like she was in denial about the whole thing. Nick would never do that to her, but Matthew was so convincing. "Oh Cassandra, you're such a fool." Cassandra looked over to where Matthew was looking and saw a huge baseball bat fly, and hit Nick in the head. Nick groaned for a second, then collapsed again on the table.
"Cassandra, you know that he would never have hurt you!" said a voice from the shadows.
"Now who could that be?" Matthew said. "Oh, could it be the mystery guest? It is! And now the real person who helped me, your so-called friend, Andrew!" Cassandra and Coreene slowly turned around, and gasped.
"Hello Cassandra."
"A-Andrew? It can't be! You're that guy that was hired to play my best friend."
"Shut up Cassandra! I'm not your friend, I never was and I never will be."
"I thought that you were dead! That you were murdered. I saw your grave!"
"Yes you may have seen my grave, but did you actually see me in it?" He brought up a good point.
"Then how can I be sure it's really you?"
He sighed loudly and rolled his eyes. "Sabina Gadeki, the opal ring on your right hand, your fish named Nicholas Brent, I used to live with Jonathan, I met you in eighth grade, we did a musical together, we had a couple of fights-"
"It is you."
"Very good! You still haven't changed Cassandra. You're still slow."
"But Andrew, you were my best friend-"
"Hello, Cassandra! I went to an acting school for God sakes! I acted like your friend! Why do you think that I had the lead in that school musical?"
"You sucked in that musical! You couldn't even hit any of the notes! I could have done better, and I did do better! You sounded like you swallowed a goat! I think that your tights were just too damn tight, though!"
"Oh, like you did any better! You never showed up for any of the rehearsals, and when you did you either weren't paying attention, or you were fooling around!"
"I thought we had gotten past that?"
"We, didn't get past anything. There never was a we! There never will be a we or an us."
"Then why did you act like my friend? What about all of the years that I have tried to be so nice to you and shower you with compliments and you took them without any recognition? What about the necklace you made me? You got mad when I didn't wear that necklace every day because you spent so much time on it!" Andrew didn't answer right away. "Well?"
"Oh great! Now where's Coreene?" Kevin said beginning to pace in front of the door. Everyone else shrugged. "I'm going over there."
"No Kevin, you can't!" said Emalia.
"Emalia, I have to! I will be right back!"
"Yeah? That's what Nick and Coreene both said!" said Isabella.
"Okay, then you come with me!" Kevin said to Isabella.
"Fine, I will!" Before anyone could protest, Isabella and Kevin ran out of the door. They ever so quietly entered the house, but stopped when they heard screaming and yelling coming from the kitchen.
They walked slowly over to the edge of the kitchen and peered inside the room. They saw Matthew, Coreene, Nick collapsed on the kitchen table, a baseball bat lying on the floor, and Cassandra yelling at someone.
"Is that-" started Isabella.
"Shh," Kevin hushed her. They could only watch.
"That's what I thought Andrew! You never had anything nice to say back to me, I should have known!" yelled Cassandra. Nick was starting to come back to consciousness and was hearing every word that was sparred, but he knew that he couldn't stand up right away without collapsing again.
"Oh get over it Cassandra!"
"You hurt me deeply! I tried so hard to hold on to our friendship but that one time that you yelled at me, it was just too much. I couldn't believe that you could be like that."
"Well, believe it."
"Why are you here anyway?" Cassandra yelled to Andrew.
"First it is none of your business, and why the hell would you care in the first place and I know you just want to twist the story around to get kicks out of it. It doesn't even concern you so just piss off."
"Oh fuck off Andrew!"
"That is a big swear from your mouth!"
"I can do better."
"Good, go for it! Prove yourself, just like you try to do for everything else."
"You're an egotistical, pretentious, maniacal, self-indulgent, chauvinistic, bastard. Oh, I'm sorry, do you need a dictionary? Or just the dick, in dictionary?" Isabella and Kevin bit their lips so they wouldn't laugh, and Nick almost laughed but he didn't feel like it. He just couldn't.
"Those are pretty big words! Wow, you know if any one of them were true, then that would be something." That was it. Nick sprung up from the chair and grabbed Andrew around the neck. He closed his arm harder, and harder around Andrew's neck.
"Pay," was all Nick whispered with rage in his voice.
Cassandra watched as Andrew's face went from pale, to bright red as he gasped for air. She began to bite her lip, but then held up her hand.
"No Nick. We shouldn't kill him now." Nick let go of Andrew and backed off. Andrew put his hands to his throat.
"You-" started Andrew, but before he could finish that sentence, Cassandra punched him in the face as hard as she could. She watched him fall to the ground, unconscious.
"Bastard," she whispered. Cassandra turned around and glared at Matthew. He had a very scared look on his face. He turned around and tried to run, but as soon as he rounded the corner, he was caught by Kevin and Isabella. They escorted him back into the kitchen.
"Aw, Cassie, you can't be the only one that has a little fun!" said Coreene. She took her hand back and flung it into Matthew's face. "Oh I'm sorry Matthew! You're head got in my hand's way!" Coreene shrugged her shoulders and they all laughed.
"Coreene! We never thought you had it in you!" said Isabella.
"Yeah? No body did!" said Coreene.
Cassandra went to Nick. "You okay, Sweetie?" Cassandra asked Nick, worried.
"Uh, yeah," he said sitting back down in the chair. Cassandra went over to him and put her hand on the cut on his head. She drew her hand away and looked at the blood on her hands.
"Eew," she said to herself. "Come on," she said to him. "I'll fix you up at the other house. Coreene, come with us. We should get ice on our hands." Coreene nodded her head. Cassandra made Nick stand up, and flung his arm around her shoulder. She stopped at Kevin and Isabella. "Call the police, get them out of here. Then get everyone back home to the guy's house. Okay? We'll all ready be at your house, Kevin."
"All right," Kevin said. Coreene followed Cassandra as she dragged Nick over to the guys' house.
"What is taking them so long?" Emalia said, starting to panic.
"Emalia shut up!" said Nicole. "Look, here come Isabella and Kevin across the street now!" Emalia ran to the window. When she saw Kevin and Isabella, she gasped and ran out the door.
"Kevin!" she yelled running to him. "Oh I thought something had happened to you! What happened? Why do I hear police sirens? Are you okay? Were's Cassandra, Coreene, and Nick? Are they okay?"
"Emalia! Get a grip!" yelled Isabella. Kevin hugged Emalia. He tightened his grip around her and carried her into Jonathan's house.
"Isabella! You're back!" A.J. said to her.
"Yes I am!" said Isabella running to him. She ran to his arms and he lifted her off the ground.
"Will you marry me?" he whispered in her ear.
"Oh A.J." she said. "Of course I will!" They both giggled and he gently put her down, and kissed her.
Cassandra went to the freezer and pulled out an ice pack. She brought it over to the kitchen table and set it on Coreene's hand.
"Thanks," Coreene said. Cassandra walked back over to Nick who was sitting in a stool by the kitchen counter. She went to the sink and wet a couple of paper towels and brought them over to him.
She gently held it up to the gash on his head, and caught the watered down blood with her hands that ran down his face. He felt lightheaded, he had lost a lot of blood, and he just wanted to go to bed.
"Can I go to bed now?" Nick asked wearily.
"Yeah. Let's stay here tonight," said Cassandra. She flung his arm back around her shoulder and stood him up. "Coreene, if everyone comes back over here, just tell them that we went to bed already.
"Okay. Feel better," said Coreene.
"Thanks. Good night, sis," said Cassandra and took Nick upstairs, and into his room.
"Oh my God!" said Nick, letting go of Cassandra and walking over to his dresser.
"What?" Cassandra asked.
"Oh boy, it's what I thought."
"What? What?"
"Cassie, we have to pack. Tonight."
"But why? Where are we going tonight?"
"Not tonight. Tomorrow."
"Okay, then where are we going tomorrow?"
"We're going on our honeymoon!"