All Chapters of The Aloof Observer: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

I remembered it clearly. In the final moments of my life, Winnie Frost had leaned close and laughed smugly by my ear. "Cassandra, weren't you trying to stop Sheldon and me from getting matching tattoos? Why bother? Just die already. Sheldon is mine. Don't even think about taking him from me."I jolted awake, only to feel a burning sting across my cheek.Sheldon Miller shook his hand impatiently, then grabbed my arm and dragged me toward the tattoo shop. "Cassandra, quit wasting time. Today, you're going to stand there and watch me get Winnie's name inked onto my wrist."The classmates around us immediately echoed him."Cassandra is just jealous.""She acts all proper, but maybe she just doesn't have the money for it.""She is seriously messed up. She knows we have exams tomorrow, yet she is still dragging this out. She is trying to mess it up for all of us because she can't stand other people getting what they want."As their malicious guesses piled up, a chill slowly seeped int

The next day, Sheldon and the rest of the class were notified to return to school for a routine physical exam. It didn't take long, and soon, everyone had their reports in hand.The moment the reports were distributed, the classmates all turned to stare at me in unison.They mocked me openly. "After we bring these reports home, we can just wait for our acceptance letters. Not everyone gets that chance after missing the SAT.""I can't believe Cassandra still had the nerve to show up for the physical. We all know she isn't getting into college anyway."I cleared my throat and looked at them with an amused expression. "What makes you so sure I can't get into college?"Sheldon raised an eyebrow and pulled out an exam admission slip, flicking it against my face. "Cassandra, I hid your admission slip. You couldn't even take the exam those two days. At this point, not even a community college would want you."The second he said that, the class erupted in laughter. Even Winnie let out a

Ms. Tyson didn't know how to comfort Sheldon for a moment.I looked around at the other students. Some were choking back tears, while some were outright sobbing and screaming. All their earlier arrogance had vanished."What are we going to do? This was my dream major!""I just wanted a stable job. If my parents find out I'll never get into this field because of a tattoo, they'll kill me.""Our lives are over. Why did this have to happen?"Winnie's legs trembled uncontrollably. She suddenly turned to glare at me, then whispered to the others, "The only thing we can do now is get some cash to keep our parents happy. I heard Cassandra's family owns a mall—they've got funds. Perhaps we could…"The other students immediately caught on. Winnie shouted, "It's all your fault, Cassandra!"I blinked in confusion. "How is that my fault?"Winnie darted over to Mr. Reed, sobbing. "Mr. Reed, this is all Cassandra's fault! She said getting tattoos wouldn't hurt our chances at college and enco

As Dad approached, his imposing, heavy build made Sheldon freeze in fear. He sank down and kept apologizing frantically. I ran forward to stop Dad.He looked at me in confusion. "You're forgiving him just like that?"I shook my head. I slapped Sheldon across the face, then followed it with a hard kick. "I'm just making sure you don't get blamed for anything. It's only right for me to do it."Dad nodded in satisfaction. "If anyone ever dares to bully my daughter again, I won't let it go."I was so moved my eyes burned with tears. After exchanging a few polite words with Ms. Tyson, my parents took me home.Ms. Tyson and Mr. Reed looked at the hopeless mess left behind and walked away with resigned expressions.Everyone collapsed onto the floor, staring at one another in shock.At first, they sobbed and whined, but soon, their complaints turned to angry replaying of every detail that had happened."I just remembered. It was Winnie who convinced us to get the tattoos!"In an insta