A Beauteous Flower Ch. 06

"Oh, C'mon. There was no ring on his finger. Right? Nothing to get upset about. It's not like you were in love with him or anything. Right?"

Cassidy looked into the compact mirror and sedately applied a few more dabs.

"And it's your fault anyway," Cassidy continued mildly. "You didn't exactly take care of business, you know. What kind of frigid sadist won't suck her man's cock? Shame on you."

"What?!"

"You heard me. Maybe you were just too busy with that dreary sneaky link of yours. What's his name, again? Roger? What a dud he was. The intelligence of a house plant. And the sex!" Cassidy made a sour face and rolled her eyes. "Oh, my god. Totally forgettable."

As Gail sputtered with rage, Cassidy, very calmly and with a look of pure vengeance on her tiny fairy face, administered the coup de grace.

"Oh, and you should know I let them both know about each other and exactly what you think of them. One is your meal ticket, and the other is your fuck toy. Right?"

Gail's face and neck turned a rich shade of purple rage and humiliation.

"I'll kill you!"

Cassidy snapped her compact shut and hurled it to the floor, her eyes narrowed and aglow with irate heat.

"Not on the best day of your life, sister!" she hissed and lunged at Gail like a mini-fury, all sharp nails and teeth.

Fortunately, before Cassidy could apply her fist to Gail's face for a second time, everyone recovered enough from the shock to separate them. While Gail wept and screamed and cursed and carried on, wicked witch Cassidy clearly didn't give an eye of a toad or the wing of a bat, and calmly freshened her make up. Finally, unable to make any headway against Cassidy's vengeful equanimity, Gail screamed that she quit and stormed out of the locker room never to darken its door again. All eyes turned to Cassidy, who shrugged nonchalantly and gave a wicked snicker.

"In my defense, he's a great fuck and it seems that just now he's back on the available list in case anyone else wants a turn."

Then Cassidy's face went blank like a pixie assassin and, after she made eye contact with everyone else in the room, she went on tonelessly and remorselessly.

"And by the sweet little by, I'm not the only girl around here he's fucked on camera. Just the latest. Check his Insta feed if you're curious about the batting order."

After that everyone cut little Cassidy a wider berth as no one knew exactly what to make of her. Quiet speculation continued to fly, but no one asked for the whole story because no one wanted to get on Cassidy's bad side. Madison always wondered why Cassidy didn't get cut from the team for that incident, but she was afraid to piss Cassidy off, so she let it go. So did the rest of the team for that matter. Perhaps it had to do with the list of girls Cassidy alluded to that threatened the potential for a massive scandal, but the reason never came to light.

Cassidy strutted for a couple of days to make a show of how much she reveled in her destruction of her rival and how unconcerned she was that someone, probably Gail's ex-man, had posted the video on Pornhub. She took over Gail's locker and stared everyone in the locker room down and practically dared them to say anything. She and Kelly became thick as thieves, and Cassidy continued to smile at Madison, presumably because Madison spoke up for Cassidy after the fight in the parking lot. With those few exceptions, Cassidy became something of a social pariah on the team and the subject of even darker whispers of sexual impropriety. If a rumor circulated that someone's man strayed, Cassidy was the automatic primary suspect.

However, with the other girls, Cassidy maintained a professional distance almost to the point of distaste. She continued to be one of the best dancers on the team, and she didn't complain ever, but never again did Cassidy join in the bull sessions or late-night evaluations of other girls' dates, and when the team free-styled in the locker room to celebrate when one of teammates landed their future professional husband, Cassidy pointedly didn't join in. In fact, Madison noticed that Cassidy's emerald eyes showed barely contained contempt as she surveyed the gyrating knot of congratulations.

After a few more days passed, Madison noticed that whenever Cassidy went to the pool, every man looked hungrily at her. The braver of them approached Cassidy, but she wouldn't really engage them beyond a "hello" and "goodbye". A few of the more determined men continued to come around even though Cassidy didn't even cast shade at them. Eventually, though, they got the message and left her alone while the other girls huddled and whispered conspiratorially.

Then one afternoon Greg Something or Other approached Cassidy, and Cassidy's pixie giggle of a smile surfaced again. They spent two more afternoons by the pool together and then went on a dinner date, but the next afternoon Greg Something or Other didn't show up by the pool. Cassidy waited for while with a hopeful look on her face until her phone beeped her a text to read, and then she packed up her things with tears on her cheeks as the other girls whispered veiled smirks. A sympathetic and curious Madison followed Cassidy inside and when Cassidy leaned up against the wall to cry, Madison gently touched her on the shoulder. Cassidy shrugged off Madison's hand and angrily wiped her tears away.

"Cassidy, are you alright? What's the matter?" Madison asked.

Cassidy turned with a look of despair.

"They're all insipid bitches, Madison. Every last one of them. All chasing after fools' gold, because they don't know enough to want anything better."

Cassidy wiped her eyes again, took a deep breath to steady herself and then plodded up the stairs with resignation.

"It's not too late for you, Madison." Cassidy said over her shoulder. "Don't listen to those idiots. No matter how long it takes, hold on for more than a pretty life."