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Cassius left his morning class with a large coffee in hand and his own iPod blasting music. Since getting scolded the other day, he decided to grace his English class with his presence this morning. He promised his teacher he'd 'get over his depression' so he could 'get the courage to sit around others in class'. Unfortunately, his teacher saw Cassius socializing this past weekend so the gig was up. Back to class it was for now.. until the next fabulous excuse he could come up with.

As he walked through campus he smiled at anyone who walked by him and said hello. There were a few faces that looked familiar from classes but others were just random girls blushing and scurrying by him. Campus wasn't as bad when the weather was this nice. Plus girls switched to dresses and skirts when it was warmer and that always rocked. He was also relieved to be done for the day. As if he'd go to his history class. Especially when the teacher never took attendance! One of his classmates was turning his paper in for him with no problems. The system was always better when one found ways around it and Cassius was constantly doing that.

He stopped quickly when he saw familiar hair on a bench next to him. The girl was dozing off, but Cassius realized exactly who it was within seconds. Oh Peyton, if she wasn't careful she'd start drooling in public! Cassius then put his things on the ground, turned his own iPod off and moved one of Peyton's headphones out of her ear. "Nice underwear." he then whispered, while awaiting her usually entertaining reaction.

He couldn't help himself- she left herself wide open for that kind of joke. He probably should have left her rested and comfortable, but he hadn't seen her in a few days so it was time to wake her up!

He supposed he should have felt bad for embarrassing her, but now there was room for him to sit on the bench so he was happy. "Oh come now, I was just kidding. No one could see anything. I just needed an excuse to wake you up- you know how needy I am for attention." He waved his hands dramatically while grinning at his pink-cheeked friend. And without hesitation, he planted himself next to Peyton and checked out her iPod.

As he was looking at whatever she was listening to, he realized something. "I don't think I've ever seen you around at this time of day." He scratched his head while thinking about it further. "Don't you have class now?" He quickly checked his watch. Hm, now he was confused.

Naw, there was no way Peyton was ditching class. If anything, the teacher probably cancelled it or something. Or Cassius was wrong entirely and Peyton didn't have class right now. Yep, her ditching was the farthest thing from Cassius' mind, since he knew her just as well. "Did you do anything fun this past weekend?" Every day was basically a weekend for Cassius but for everyone else he knew Friday/Saturday were their 'going out!' nights.

Cassius was probably the BEST person to be sitting next to Peyton right now. Rather then telling her she was dumb for missing class, scolding her for her mistake or even laughing at the situation, he just sat there and glanced at her spazzing tactics. "What? Whatever don't worry about it. It happens, yo." Why should she make herself go crazy when it was just a little mistake? Plus a mistake that Peyton never did.

"You won't get killed. People do it all the time. And you like never miss class." He waved his hand nonchalantly as she leaned against him. "If anything just tell them you weren't feeling that great and that you couldn't make it." Peyton was a good student and no one could get mad at her for missing one day.

He had no idea if his advice was actually helping her. But seriously, what was done was done. She had missed a class. She was still alive and healthy. That was the only way to go about living life in Cassius' mind.

"Party on Friday? Where the hell was I?" Now that he thought about it, he sighed lightly and put his head in one of his hands. Friday was not a good night for him, and he such a horrible date. He thought he'd be free when the date was over, but no. The girl would not let him go and started freaking out when Cassius said he had to leave. Even though she was pretty she was too effin crazy. Bad combination right there.

Damn Peyton for being at a party and for him having such a terrible evening! "Are you calm yet, or no?" He figured- no?

Cassius didn't understand how people could freak out about things they couldn't control, especially with this one already being in the past. He wanted to sympathize with her but he honestly didn't know how. Plus the whole him not really caring about school was creating a gap in his mind. But he was trying here. And he didn't like to see her upset, that was for sure.

"I know I know." he finally said, while leaning his own head against the bench. He didn't mind her new positioning at all- and as a matter of fact, it was pretty comfortable. "You can't beat yourself up about it though, you'll drive yourself crazy." he sighed lightly and dug around his pockets for a piece of gum. When he nabbed two, he offered one to Peyton before putting the other in his mouth. It felt like they both needed a refreshing boost or something.

"So you had a good time Friday night." he then added, while chuckling of course. "And no, I wasn't there. I was stuck in the pits of hell while you were enjoying yourself." His hand ran itself throughout his hair before hearing Peyton's mention of Saturday. "Oh. I could probably be there Sat." From the top of his mind he couldn't remember if he had any other plans for the weekend.

"I need to get out and socialize some more." Especially when it came to people at their school. Since Cassius rarely came to school, he had very little connections besides Peyton and a few others. "I should be moving into my own apartment finally, so I'll be throwin' down there when the time comes too."

From Peyton's shift to talking about the weekend, Cassius was guessing that she may have been feeling a little better. The gum must have been a nice add on, too. "Oh overly drunk people. They are fun for a little bit until they can't walk anymore." Cassius enjoyed drinking as much as anybody else, but he didn't enjoy getting emaciated all the time. Although, on certain holidays and birthdays he may have done otherwise..

"It was horrible. Clingy McClingster Psycho Sad Girl." He had names for everybody. But apparently this girl needed tons of words for one quick description. "Ah well, it happens to us all." And she would most definitely never happen again.

"I would love to hang and meet them. I promise I won't embarrass you too much." He let out a laugh. "But what about you? No boys wrapped around your fingers at the moment?" He was smiling lightly and poking her shoulder sort of childishly.

At her mention of it 'being time', he could only reply, "Please, I couldn't just move out to any apartment. I waited for months until finding the perfect one. Plenty of space, decks outside, the whole shebang." Of course, Cassius did at first look for the fanciest apartment since he could afford anything he wanted. Surprisingly, he fell in love with a certain mid-level expensive one he just had to have it. He couldn't wait to get everything ready and moved in.

He was SO ready to get the hell away from his father. Sweet freedom came so soon.

"I know I know, I tend to forget the conversation part is sort of important." It actually wasn't that often that Cassius had terrible dates but such was life. This particular girl was already erased from his mind so there was nothing else to worry about. "And since when do I embarrass you?" He glanced at her nonchalantly before shrugging with a grin in response. "I'll try to be on my best behavior." Even if that was usually rare.

No boys at the moment? "Hah, I have no suggestions here. As if I even have many guy friends." Cassius didn't get along with most men. He found them to get jealous of him easily and to be mostly socially awkward in general. "If I find somebody you'll be the first to know, I promise." He liked setting people up in that sense.

She seemed very interested in his apartment and he shook his head at her eagerness. "I can't believe you are asking me such a question." He was enjoying being playfully dramatic at the moment. "You'll be the first to be invited once everything is complete and ready, obviously." Cassius needed people around him at all times, so his apartment would most likely have friends there a lot.

"So, tell me what else is new, besides your class fiasco earlier. Got any other good plans coming up or anything like that?" It may have seemed like petty small talk but Cassius was definitely interested since Peyton had always been a good friend. "You are usually a busy bee like that. I can never keep up."

Cassius didn't know what it was exactly but Peyton was correct- he was always around girls for some reason. He had a hard time getting along with males and he understood girls much better. He also liked taking them out and entertaining them to keep himself busy. He had two categories for girls, and either he liked them and respected them and wanted to be friends with them or they were flat out conquests. Surprisingly, Cassius kept his private life quiet and most were unaware of whatever he did. He wasn't someone who got a kick from boasting about his pastimes.

"We are strange creatures." he then added, while sitting with his eyes closed while he talked. The sun felt so good. He needed to get a better tan going for when bathing suit season arrived. It was a tough world out there so everyone needed to look good at all times. "But you all can't get enough of us at the same time." And sadly, that was so true. Males were the exact same way towards females.

"Man, you work a lot." Cassius wasn't sure what he'd do if he had to work like most people did. That's why gambling was so much easier and large amounts of money would come in at the best of times. "You should make sure to have more time for fun things so you don't overwhelm yourself! As for me.. nothing much is new actually." Well, that wasn't entirely true. He had his whole Lieutenant duties to keep track of but so far even that wasn't too demanding. "I just try to keep myself and other's busy. Life is good so I can't complain." He glanced at her and shrugged. "And somehow do some schoolwork?"

He didn't need to explain to Peyton his priorities since she was well aware of his poor attendance and horrible work ethic at Soveriegn Heights. But hey, at least he liked all forms of after school activities?