The next morning when Nick woke up, he rolled over and saw Cassandra still asleep in her bed. "I must have fallen asleep in Mercedes' old bed," he said to himself. He sat up and stretched and saw Cassandra begin to stir. Isabella walked into the room and sat down next to Nick. "Um, hi Isabella," Nick said.
"Nick, I'm gonna be straight with you. Something's going to happen today, I can feel it. I don't know what it is though. I suggest that you stay close to everyone today, especially Cassandra."
"Um...all right. But-"
"I have to go. I'll see you later."
When Cassandra had fully awaken, she sat up and heard voices coming from downstairs. She looked at the clock and saw that it was eleven o'clock. She groaned and headed downstairs. When she reached the kitchen she saw Nicole, Jonathan, Brian and Kevin huddled around Howie. "Hey, good morning guys, and Nicole," Cassandra said. "Howie? Where are Mercedes, Emalia and Coreene? And what's up?"
"Good morning to you, too," Brian said. "Mercedes, Emalia and Coreene are out getting supplies for our party and-"
"And Angel broke up with me!" Howie finished.
"Excuse me?" Cassandra said and sat down next to Howie. "I'm confused."
"Okay," Jonathan said, "let me field the party. See, when Howie came back and told us the story, I suggested that we do something fun. I think that we could all benefit from it. We're inviting Brandon, too, because of Coreene."
"Wonderful!" Nick said, coming into the kitchen.
"But what about that other part-"
"Angel?" Howie asked.
"Yeah," Cassandra said.
"S-She broke my little heart!"
"Oh, Howie," Cassandra said and went over to him and hugged him. "What happened?"
"Well, we had become very, very close and very, very serious. So, I bought this huge ring and I asked her to marry me. I felt so sure of myself until she turned me down and freaked out and ran away."
"Why would she do that?"
"She said that I was moving too fast and she couldn't get committed right now."
"Howie, I'm so sorry."
"Naw, it's okay. I'll get over it."
His words rang through Cassandra's head over and over again. Naw, it's okay. I'll get over it. Cassandra stood up and shook her head. "Howie, damn it, I wish I could be like you."
"What are you talking about? You mean all cute and suave?" Howie smiled.
"Not really. You just said that this is all okay and that you'll get over it. I wish that I could say the same. I wish that I could do the same."
"I know. You will. I have faith in your strength."
"At least somebody does." They both smiled.
"Go on and get your bathing suit and let's get this party rolling!"
Later on that afternoon, Jonathan, Nicole, Emalia, Kevin, Brian, Mercedes, Coreene, Brandon, Howie and Cassandra were all in Jonathan's backyard with the stereo turned up loud, not caring what the neighbors thought. Nick, Isabella and A.J. sat on the grass together just watching in boredom.
"Hey," Jonathan said, "how about like the last time that we were here, we have a relay race? You know, it was in the beginning."
"Yeah, I remember," Emalia said. They all agreed except for Howie and Cassandra.
"Oh, come on you guys!" Brian protested.
"Come on, Cassandra," Brandon said. "You gotta play."
Nick glared at Brandon. "Shut the fuck up, Brandon."
"Hey," Cassandra said. "How about Howie starts making dinner and I'll judge? Okay?"
"Well, okay," Jonathan said. Jonathan and Nicole, Emalia and Kevin, Mercedes and Brian, and Coreene and Brandon teamed up. Howie went over to the grill and Cassandra sat on the diving board.
"Ready?" yelled Cassandra. "Go!" The first four jumped into the pool and Cassandra was watching until she felt like she had done this before. "I-I remember-" She thought back to the one night when she had had the dream with Nick by the garden of roses. She had had a dream before that. "It was terrible-" All of a sudden, she began to see the dream. It's Nick, she thought. Oh God, I was sitting right here, and Nick, w-was hitting me over and over and over... She closed her eyes and saw the rest of the nightmare. Nick was changing. He changed to a dark person. Dark clothes, dark hair, and he was now hitting her and Nick was now watching, not helping her. She was screaming for Nick and reaching for him, but he kept getting farther and farther away. She was so scared. The guy smacked her head hard and pushed her into the pool.
"I'm so sorry, Cassie," Nick said to her. "Cassandra, Cassandra, Cassandra-"
"Cassandra? Cassandra!" Jonathan yelled at her.
Cassandra snapped out of it. "Huh? Who won?"
"That's what I was going to ask you."
"I-" She looked around at everyone. "I'm sorry," she said and ran into the house. Nicole and Coreene ran after her. "Hey!" Coreene called. "What's wrong?"
Cassandra looked frantically around the room, avoiding looking at either of them. "God, Nicole. It's awful. I remembered that nightmare."
"Huh?"
"That nightmare!"
"Come on, let's go back out into the pool."
"No! I can't go near the pool again."
"But-"
"No."
"Fine. But I think that lunch is ready." The three of them walked back outside and sat down at the table and they all started eating.
"Wow, great job Howie," Jonathan said. "But do we have anything for dessert?" Everyone looked around and rested their eyes on Mercedes and Cassandra.
"Um," Mercedes spoke up. "Cassie and I will make our cheesecake later...if you want."
"Great!" Jonathan said.
"Hey, Cassie," Kevin said, a little while later, after they had all finished eating, "let's see one of those fancy dives of yours!"
"No," Cassandra said. "I'm never going near a diving board again."
"Oh come on. What did Nick do now?"
"Why do you think it has something to do with him?"
"Because lately, all of your problems seem to stem from him."
"Well-"
"Come on, Cassie," Howie said. "You said it yourself. You would like to move on and be okay, too."
"I know but-"
"But nothing. Get up there and do one of the best damn dives that you've ever done!" Cassandra got up and looked at everyone then slowly walked towards the diving board.
"Hey," Coreene leaned over and whispered to Howie. "Thank you for giving my sister some strength, Howie."
He only smiled.
Cassandra stepped up on the diving board and waved to them all and they waved back. She immediately saw the nightmare again. She shook her head and began to run down the board. When she jumped, she felt like she was being hit by that guy again and her foot slipped. She felt her head hit the board and heard the crack of the contact.
All of a sudden, Cassandra was standing on Jonathan's front lawn. "I must be dreaming," she said. She saw a man standing at the end of the law and after a minute, a broad smile crossed her face. "Nick!" she yelled and ran up to him.
He whipped around. "Cassie? Are you asleep? It's in the middle of the day!"
She ran to him and they wrapped their arms around each other tightly. "No, I'm not, I don't think. I may be, though."
"Then how-"
"Does it matter?" She smiled and pulled his head down to hers and lightly brushed his lips with hers.
He smiled. "I guess not."
"It feels so real, like you were alive again."
"I know, and I don't want to lose that feeling." He leaned down and kissed her harder.
"Je 'taime, Nikolai," she said.
"Nikolai?" He laughed softly.
She laughed, too. "I learned it a couple days ago. Hey, you got to nickname me Cassia. That's your special name for me, and Nikolai is my special name for you."
"I love it."
"Okay then. Je 'taime, Nikolai."
"I strangely know what that means."
"Then reply."
"I love you, too."
Nick and Cassandra walked through the house and headed towards the backyard. "Hey guys!" Cassandra called. "Look! Nick's back! Hey what's-" She stopped when she saw everyone panicking and huddled around the pool.
"Oh my God! Oh my God!" she heard Mercedes screaming.
"Nick," Cassandra said, "what's going on?"
Oh my God, Nick thought. It can't be what I think it is. I only left her for a second! Shit, I only left for a second! This couldn't have been what Isabella thought, but-
"Nick?"
"What?" Nick said back. "I-I-"
"Cassandra!"
When she heard her name yelled by Kevin and then Brian, she ran past Nick, despite his pleas for her not to. She saw Kevin all wet and holding someone in his arms. She thought that it was Emalia at first, but when she got closer and looked at the girl in Kevin's arms, she realized that she was looking down at her own face.
"Oh God!" she screamed and covered her mouth. Nick ran over to her and put his arms over her as she lowered herself to the ground. She watched Kevin lower her to the ground and begin to administer CPR. Cassandra's eyes were fixated on Kevin as Nick pulled her head down onto his shoulder. She forced herself away from Nick and began to crawl back towards Kevin. She looked up into his face and he seemed to look right through her. She watched as Mercedes offered to call an ambulance and ran inside while everyone else was in a state of panic.
"It's no use, and even you know it," someone said from behind.
Cassandra turned her head and looked behind her. She swallowed hard and stood up. "Is it-"
"Yeah, it's me. Your long lost sister."
"Isabella."
"Oh and let me present to you your brother-in-law..." Isabella pointed to A.J. who was walking towards them. A.J. waved. "...and your husband." Isabella pointed to Nick.
"M-My husband?" Cassandra questioned and rubbed the back of her head. "I-I don't understand. My husband? Brother-in-law?"
Isabella nodded. "You're one of us now."
Cassandra walked up to Isabella and touched her hair. Then she walked over to A.J. and touched his glasses, and she went up to Nick and gently touched his face. She turned around and saw Kevin and Brian hovering over her body, covering her from everybody else. She looked back at Nick, and fainted.