First Meeting (Patreon)

Just before summer of junior year, everyone at Castlewood High School was talking about the new student, Casey Holland. Personally, Bria found her a little suspicious. Casey seemed just too perfect to be real. She was smart, good at sports, she knew how to fix cars, and above all else, she was so pretty she looked like a movie star. Bria had always wanted to talk to her, if only in the vain hope that some of Casey's total perfection would somehow rub off on her, but she could never work up the nerve to make the approach. Casey wasn't unfriendly, but she was far too brisk and intimidating for a shy girl like Bria.

And so it was for a couple of weeks, but over time, well, Bria began to think Casey wasn't too perfect to be real anymore. In fact, Casey was starting to seem a little too real. In a scary sort of way.

It was little things at first, Casey got busted for getting high with some girls on the school grounds. Then she got in trouble for tackling another student who insulted her. Soon all these rumors started going around about her, seeming to get more extreme by the day. People were saying she was nuts once you got to know her. They said that she was likely to hit you in the face if you so much as looked at her wrong, and there was even talk that she was having sex with a teacher.

Within a few more weeks Casey's former fans were crossing the hall to avoid her. Casey Holland was clearly dangerous and best stayed away from. Within a month she had gone from queen of the school to being its resident pariah.

One day Bria saw Casey sitting by a tree outside the school. Bria's interest in getting to know her had faded fast once she started hearing how psycho she was, but something was compelling her finally talk to Casey right then. Bria had never felt that all that bad behavior was who Casey really was, she thought that there was something more to her that none of her peers had stuck around to discover.

Unable to resist, Bria's mind was made up. This pretty girl sitting alone was simply too curious a case to ignore, and it was time to make a new friend. She swallowed hard and started towards the tree, hoping she could keep a steady voice when she introduced herself.