One day, Abdullah lay in his room, doomscrolling. He flicked through his Snapchat, not really paying attention, just passing time. Out of boredom, he tapped into his Quick Add.
A name caught his eye.
"Cassie with a c," Abdullah read to himself.
He added the girl, and soon after, she added him back.
Abdullah followed the plan Tomek had given him.
"So where are you from?"
"Oh I'm from Cavan."
"Oh nice," Abdullah said.
What the hell is Cavan? Abdullah thought to himself, quickly searching it up.
"Oh you're from up north so," Abdullah said.
"Yeaa I am, where are you from?"
"Kerry."
"Omggg really I love Kerry, have ya been to Dingle? The beaches, it's beautiful."
"Yea I have been, the beaches are real nice."
The two continued to speak about their counties until Cassie said:
"One second, I got a message from my dad, be right back."
"Okay."
"Alright I'm back, he's actually being so annoying."
"Oh what did he do?"
"Like he never comes to anything for my school, like it's always my mam. Like bruh, in primary he never came to any of my plays either and they all ask like 'oh where's your dad' and I don't know what to say."
"Yeah sure, but he could be busy with work though. I mean my dad never came to mine either but it didn't bother me too much."
"Yea I guess… like I don't know, I guess I'm just getting upset over nothing. But like look at this, I asked him if he could come and he says 'no promises.'"
"Ok I can't lie, that's kinda messed up. Like if he just said straight up yes or no, like false promises is wrong."
"Yea like exactly, you get it. Like I swear I hate him sometimes."
"What about your mom though?"
"Yea I guess i don't know, it'd just be nice if he tried."
"Sometimes in life, you know, we focus too much on what we don't have and not enough on what we do. It's just our nature to keep wanting more. Once you can appreciate what you do have and be satisfied, you'll be a lot more at peace. It takes time, you know."
"Don't let other people make you feel shitty."
"Thank you Abdullah," Cassie replied.
Abdullah stared at the message for a few seconds. He felt a small smile forming on his face.
"You're welcome, Cassie."
The next day, Abdullah woke up and decided that his sister's life had been too peaceful.
So he went to annoy her.
He stood behind her, doing absolutely nothing.
"GO AWAY."
"I didn't do anything."
Abdullah sent a snap to Cassie.
"omg your sister's so cute"
"She's real annoying as well, do you got any siblings?"
"Oh I got five, one big sister, one big brother, and 2 lil brothers and one lil sister."
"Holy shit I feel bad for your mom."
"Ha I know right"
"so like damn five of you guys."
"Yea but the ones younger than me are like my half siblings."
"Like same mom different dad?"
"Yea, my dad and mom divorced."
"Wow… and like you're so like nice and normal and not awful."
"Thanks? lol"
"No sorry, just my cousin, like she got divorced parents and she was always using it as her sob story. Like I know it's bad and stuff but she was horrible, stupid bitch"
Abdullah continued to explain everything about Sara.
"Yea and she just made me feel like shit about myself. Like some people have that voice in their head, she was that voice for me. Constantly making me feel not good enough when all I wanted to do was help her. Like I know I made some mistakes but that doesn't make me a bad person, does it Cassie?"
"Wow she sounds like a real bitch, like nah you're not the bad person there. She didn't even try to listen to you. Like I get feeling uncomfortable or whatever but she could've talked to you about it. Like genuinely good that you cut her out."
"Exactly, like she made everything worse. Like I should've just given up on her and I cared too much to give up and she couldn't care less about me."
"she's the bad person. You only did what you thought was right."
"A wise person once said to me to not let other people make them feel shitty," Cassie said.
Abdullah chuckled.
"Must've been very wise."
Over the course of the next few days, Abdullah and Cassie talked daily.
"How are you""How's your day been""Do anything fun"
The two would check up on each other.
One day, Cassie sent a snap and he saw a woman next to her.
Abdullah's jaw dropped.
"Woah, who's that?"
"Oh that's my mom."
"And you're telling me your dad divorced her? She looks like a model."
"Ha lol, she was a model, retired now."
"I'm not surprised, like I know it's your mom but you can really tell she was a model. How old is she?"
"42."
"Doesn't look a day over 30, holy genetics. How tall is she?"
"5ft 3."
"So how tall was your dad?"
"Oh he's 6'4 with gray hair and a grumpy old man."
"Wait so basically your dad is Trinity from Dexter? 6'4, 110 kilos, old man with white hair, lemme show you."
Abdullah sent the picture.
"Is this your dad?"
"It's actually not too far off."
Cassie showed her father.
"Literally Trinity," Abdullah said.
Another day, Cassie told Abdullah about a boy named Mark.
"How do you know if a guy like likes you or not?"
"Well it's usually pretty obvious I feel."
"What can ya tell me about him?"
"Well like he kinda doesn't talk much, like he says he doesn't use his phone often. Like sometimes he won't reply to me for days but I can see his snap score go up, but like I don't wanna seem obsessed by asking him about it. And like to be honest when he does talk he's always asking if I wanna see his thing, like obviously I say no, but he sends these snaps. He's so cute."
Cassie showed him the image—a tanned guy with brown eyes and black hair.
"Well from the sounds of things this guy is dodgy as hell. Like realistically if he actually cared he wouldn't be doing all that, don't ya think? Like why do you even like him?"
"Oh well he's really hot though," Cassie said.
"Yea but look at his personality," Abdullah replied.
"I mean I know but I just really like him."
"Just do what makes you happiest. Like this guy could lead you on, lovebomb you, ghost you. He's probably just a lustful guy. Like he could block you anytime and it might not make a single difference to him. Like just protect yourself."
"Would he really do all that?"
"You never know, so just be careful."
"Thanks, you're really smart."
"I had like a whole situation with a girl called Kassie with a k, coincidentally it's funny you guys got almost the same name. I really liked her, you know, and I put my faith in her. I tried to do everything right to be good enough for her, and she just blocked me in the end. And I couldn't understand what I did wrong but I mean… it wasn't that I did anything wrong. The problem was probably just that it was me. It hurt really bad and you know I'm like getting over it. I just don't want you to make the same mistakes I did."
"She's stupid, she's missing out alright. You were good enough and there's nothing wrong with you. You're a good guy, you deserve someone better and I'm sure you'll find someone for you one day, don't worry."
"Thank you Cassie, I appreciate it," Abdullah said, feeling a bit lighter inside.
Abdullah came into school one day as usual, and at the end of the day he saw Agim.
He was jittery and looked scared.
He saw Abdullah and spoke quickly.
"Abdullah, I'm about to get jumped."
"What, by who? Why though?"
"Like just a ton of people, like it's all because of Eire. She made some picture and blamed it on me."
"You shouldn't have stuck with that retard, I knew she was trouble. Should've dropped her. Don't worry man, I'll help you, we'll fight them together."
"No it's fine, I think I'm just gonna talk to a teacher."
"Alright man, stay safe."
Abdullah didn't know it yet…
…but eventually, Agim would tell him about
Picture Day...