Another World

Cassandra walks home alone from work on Friday. Although she always either has Victoria or Des by her side when her friend can’t be there, she actually likes walking home alone for once. It’s not that she doesn’t like having her friends around. It’s just that they don’t always give her alone time which is what she really wants. The only time that she’s by herself is when she’s in her apartment which hasn’t really happened yet. She sighs. Even back in her dimension she was never alone. Her grandmother was always watching her and making sure that she was ok. It was like the brunette was a child.
The blue-eyed girl feels a pain in her chest. This is the first time that she’s thought of her grandmother since coming into this dimension. It saddens her because her grandmother was the only person that she’s ever loved even though she didn’t know her for most of her life. Her friends may be her rocks, but her grandmother was her anchor. Cassandra wonders what she’s going to do without that anchor. Will the rocks be enough? Well, it does seem that she’s going to make some new friends, but she’s not really social, so it’s going to take some time before those rocks get big enough to actually matter.
The eighteen-year-old continues walking down the sidewalk. Her eyes glance around. Cassandra barely sees anyone. They live in a city, but there aren’t that many people around. She finds it interesting., but she mostly finds it enjoyable. She really is finally getting some alone time. Although, it doesn’t feel quite as good the closer that she gets home. Cassandra hasn’t been alone in years, so she can only take so much.
The brunette spots a store that has people in their twenties entering it. Cassandra’s curiosity gets the best of her, and she finds herself crossing the street over to it. She looks into the window and sees that it’s a clothing store with all kinds of clothes from her dimension. She’s about to walk away and simply inform Victoria of the place, but she remembers the plastic card in her pocket. She takes it out and looks at it. It wouldn’t hurt to go inside and buy some clothes that aren’t all white. Her friends won’t be mad at her if she goes ahead and buys something for herself with the money that the government gave them to use.
Cassandra walks inside and looks at the different sections. It almost looks like you took a bit of completely different stores and just put them together. She just stands there for a minute before she goes over to the accessories that are by the section that she normally wears. Her sense of fashion would be simple but nice. They aren’t too revealing, but she doesn’t wear turtle necks. The only thing that she ever wants covered is her stomach, so the shirt just has to be long enough.
Her eyes scan through all of the familiar pieces. It almost feels like she’s back in her dimension. The only difference is that she’s shopping by herself this time. Her blue eyes land on a simple light blue headband. Cassandra used to always have her hair in a ponytail or have a headband on. These last couple of days, she’s missed it. She picks it up and looks at it closer. So far, she thinks it’s cute and wants to buy it even though this is the first thing that she’s really looked at.
“I think you should get it,” a familiar voice says. “It matches your eyes.”
Cassandra turns around and comes face-to-face with none other than Harry Styles. What is he doing here though? Isn’t he suppose to be hanging with Des, Niall, and Louis? Des and Niall are probably already at Louis’s apartment right now, so why is this brunet here and not with them? That’s when she notices the nametag.
Harry notices her eyes on the plastic attached to his shirt. “I’m just getting off right now. They kept me a little longer than normal. I work here and at Nice Threads. Although, I’m thinking about quitting there. They don’t have me work that much because they got Victoria and Diana, and this place pays more. I was working two jobs so I could pay to go through C.O.L.L.E.G.E, but I’ve almost got enough for that now. What are you doing here? Did you just spot the place and decide to check it out?”
Cassandra nods before turning back around. She doesn’t like him. He touched her the other day. Even his name is tainted in her mind.
“Is that the only thing you’re going to get?” she shrugs. “I know this place like the back of my hand. I could find an outfit for you.” Hoping that Harry will leave her alone afterward, she nods. “I’ll be right back.”
The short brunette watches as he dashes over to the racks. She has no idea what he’s going to grab. Hell, for all she knows, this could just be a joke. She doesn’t expect to see what he brings back.
In his left hand is a simple pair of blue jeans that look about her size, and in his right hand is a cute top. It’s light blue which is her favorite color and short-sleeved. The bottom of the shirt has a cute lace design and so do the sleeves. The only problem with it is that it looks a little too short. It might come up by accident.
“So,” Harry says, “what do you think?”
“The shirt is too short.” Her voice is very soft and delicate.
“So you do speak! Oh, and I have another one in mind that’s longer. I’ll go get it.”
Harry quickly puts the shirt back before looking for the other light blue shirt. He really wants to impress her. Cass is really pretty, and her voice is adorable. If only she liked him back...
The curly headed young adult really wishes he could take back that hug. It’s easy to see that she hates him now. Harry is going to have to work hard for her to forgive him. He hopes she does to. Not only does she seem like a really nice girl, but she also has a nice bum.
Cassandra continues to look at the headband as she waits. When Harry gets back, he’s holding a similar shirt, but this one is longer. The brunette takes the jeans and the shirt from him and gives him a smile.
“So this one’s good?” She nods. “Well, my last name isn’t Styles for nothing!”
This causes the younger to giggle. Her hand covers her mouth. He made her laugh. That never happens. Not only that, but he’s Harry Styles. She doesn’t like him at all! How did this happen?
“You should laugh more often. It’s cute.” Cassandra shrugs.
“Niall texted me earlier about this knock-knock joke of Des’s. You should get it. Knock. Knock.”
“Who’s there?”
The words come out of her mouth before she can think. The joke may be Des’s, but Harry is the one telling her, and Des’s jokes aren’t always funny. She has an interesting sense of humor.
“Apple.”
Cassandra can’t do it. She’s never heard this joke before, but she doesn’t want to give Harry the satisfaction of getting her to talk to him about jokes. This isn’t like her.
“Knock. Knock.” Harry smiles. “Knock? Knock? What? Are you more of a Windows girl?”
Cassandra starts to laugh uncontrollably. She thought that she could hold in her secret love of knock-knock jokes. Cassandra is also surprised that Des made a good joke. She thinks Victoria mentioned this one to her before.
“Windows and Apple are actually in our world too. I assume you really liked it.”
Cassandra finally gets control of herself. “Yeah.”
“Are you ready to check-out?”
“Yeah, but aren’t you off work on?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t stand with you.”
Harry walks Cassandra up to the self check-out. Cassandra scans the shirt and jeans but doesn’t get to ring up the headband because Harry takes it out of her hands. She raises her eyebrow at him.
“I’m going to pay for this. It’s like an extended, ‘I’m sorry for hugging you’.”
“I guess that I can forgive you.”
Harry smiles and buys it for her before looking at his phone. “I better get going. They’re asking me if I died.” He hands her the small white bag. “It was nice shopping with you. You’re going to hang with us on Saturday, right?” She nods. “I’ll see you then.”
They exit the store together and wave bye. The short brunette watches as the curly haired guy walks away from her. She smiles at the sight but then frowns. She shouldn’t be feeling the way she is. She shouldn’t! Cassandra doesn’t like being close to people in anyway unless she’s known them for years. She can’t let this happen. She has to get control of her feelings. She can’t like Harry Styles.

Notes

I really like this chapter because I love getting into Cassandra's mind. I really like her secret. Hehe. She's kind of like another character of mine that I had made for a book idea that I will eventually write. Oh, and that joke was actually by me. My stepsister wouldn't answer me, so I asked her if she was more of a Windows girl. She actually laughed. (I have a weird sense of humor that only I find funny almost all the time.)