Sorry for the cliffhanger! Hope this fixes it, sort of :)

Chapter 16
The Strongest Stars

"Cassian," Jyn said, dropping the pen and turning away in the vague hope he couldn't see her face. "Go away."

"Jyn?" he said again, this time more alarm than confusion coloring his tone. Her footsteps on the tile floor of the bathroom approached her and suddenly hands were touching her shoulders and it's just like before and her mind jolted back to that place and no no no…

Cassian jerked away and the hands left her body, coming up to cover his left eye. He fell backward onto the floor on his tailbone and only then did Jyn's hazy mind get it together enough to realize she punched him. That was why her knuckles were stinging.

"Jyn!" She shrank away at the sound of his shout, her fight-or-flight response that had always chosen 'fight' malfunctioning in a burst of sparks inside her. "Jyn," he said again, quieter and with no trace of anger in it. "Jyn, I'm not going to touch you again. I'm sorry. Can—can you tell me what's wrong?"

The roaring in her ears gave no indication of subsiding, and her tongue refused to untwist, so she shook her head, breaths coming in short gasps.

"You're safe," Cassian said, pulling his legs into a sitting position in front of her. The image of him was blurry but getting clearer, her eyes drying out and the world slowly slipping back into focus. "Do you need me to get someone? Should—should I get an adult?"

Jyn shook her head again, forcing her mouth to cooperate past the lump in her throat currently trying to choke her. "No—please—don't get anyone else."

"Okay," Cassian said. "Let me know if there's anything I can do. I'm not gonna leave you though."

Jyn nodded, just trying to get her frantic heartbeat under control. Her gaze stayed mostly glued to the floor, but the occasional glance up at Cassian showed him obviously discomfited, twisting his hands together over and over again.

"Would it help if we talked about something else?" Cassian said. She couldn't unstick her throat fast enough to answer before he plowed onward. "Like, I don't know…watched any good TV shows lately?" Jyn shook her head. "Or...what were you learning in Draven's class today? Anything interesting?"

"No," Jyn choked out. "I don't want to talk about it."

The concerned, slightly panicked look returned to Cassian's face, but he spoke again anyway. "Okay, well...I really like your shirt."

"My shirt?" Jyn said, her surprise momentarily silencing everything else going on in her head. She looked down to see what she was wearing. "Oh. Thanks."

"No, it's like...a cool design, and I like the color," Cassian tried again.

"Thanks," Jyn repeated. "No one's ever liked my shirt before?"

"What?" Cassian asked. "You had crappy friends, wherever you came from."

"Wobani," Jyn said, the corners of her lips turning upwards just slightly, her breaths becoming a bit less ragged. "And I didn't have any friends."

"Whoa. I was your first friend?" Cassian said. He put an exaggerated hand to his heart. "I am honored, Jyn."

"You weren't my first friend," Jyn retorted, matching his teasing tone for all it was worth though her voice shook slightly. "You were an ass that first day at tutoring. Leia was my first friend."

"You wound me," Cassian said, feigning hurt. Her eyes flicked upward to his left cheekbone even as her body uncurled from its tensed position.

"I did hurt you," Jyn said, smile disappearing. "I punched you."

"It's okay," Cassian said. "It probably won't even leave a mark."

"It's pretty red," Jyn informed him. "Sorry."

"What's a punch between friends?" Cassian said, lifting a hand to his face, poking the injured flesh. "Ow."

"Sorry," Jyn said again. "Baze said I wasn't allowed to punch people."

"Sorry to get you in trouble?" Cassian offered, a sheepish look on his face.

Jyn scoffed as well as she could manage around the massive lump in her throat. "Don't apologize to me for me punching you, idiot. At least you didn't get stabbed like last time."

"Like last time?" Cassian said, eyes growing huge. "Wait—stabbed?"

Jyn shrugged, not in the mood for storytelling.

"Are you okay?" he asked finally, after a few long seconds of silence.

Her gaze dropped to the floor. "I don't know."

"Will you—can you tell me what happened?" Cassian tried gently. "I want to help."

Jyn looked at him, considering. She didn't want to talk about it. She didn't. But this was what friends meant, or so Leia was always telling her, and she didn't want to lose Cassian as a friend. "We, uh, were doing sex ed. In Draven's class."

"Okay," Cassian said, brow furrowing in confusion.

"And we were watching this video and I don't know...it just made me feel really weird and brought up these weird memories and I freaked out and came here," Jyn said really fast.

"Sex ed," Cassian repeated. "Brought up weird memories. That doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah, like I said," Jyn told him, latching onto that idea like a lifeline.

"But you haven't had sex," Cassian said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She gave a small, helpless shrug, gaze returning to the tile floor. "Jyn, were you—were you abused?" His voice dropped down to a horrified whisper.

"I don't know. Please just drop it, Cassian," she said. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. Please?"

"Okay," he said slowly. "Okay, but I think we should tell Draven."

"No!" Jyn said, jolting upright. "No!"

"He's an adult. He can help," Cassian tried. "I trust him."

"No."

"Your parents, then," Cassian said. "You have to tell someone."

I did. You, Jyn thought. Instead, she replied, "I don't have parents."

"Yes, you do," he said softly. She opened her mouth to deliver an angry retort, but Cassian kept speaking. "You have Chirrut and Baze, who obviously care about you. They would be your parents, if you let them."

After a second, Jyn realized her mouth was partway open and closed it. "I don't need them," she said finally. This time, it sounded lame even to her ears what with the tornado still whirling inside her.

"Maybe it's not about what you need. Maybe it's about what you deserve."

Jyn was silent for a long moment. "You're getting too smart for your own good, Andor. Stop reading so many books."

"Is that a yes?" Cassian asked, a hint of a smile on his face.

"Yeah, I'll tell them." He pulled himself to his feet and offered her a hand, dragging her onto hers. "I don't want to go back. How do I get out of the rest of class?"

"Just tell Draven you want to call Chirrut and Baze. He's not stupid; he knows something's up… I'm surprised he hasn't broken down the door already looking for you."

"Fine," Jyn agreed, a bit unsteadily. At the same time, they both glanced down at their hands, which were still intertwined.

"This okay?" he asked.

"Yeah." He still looked uncertain, so Jyn attempted a faint squeeze of her hand around his. It came out more like a spasm.

The existed the bathroom together to find the hallway still mercifully deserted. Cassian and Jyn walked as quickly as she could manage back to her classroom door. Their hands separated automatically as they reached it, and he gave her an encouraging nod. Taking a deep breath, Jyn pushed open the door and stepped inside, eyes sweeping over the class to locate Mr. Draven while trying desperately to avoid making eye contact with any of her classmates—or worse, her friends.

"Jyn," Draven said from a few desks away to her left. The relief in his voice was palpable. "I was just about to send someone to check on you."

"Can I go to the office and call Chirrut and Baze?" Jyn asked. "I want to go home."

They waited in a corner of the main office under the watchful eye of the receptionist, but secluded enough that they were unlikely to be overheard. "Cassian," Jyn said, "I think I might be expelled."

"What? Why?" he asked, sending her a quizzical look.

"Jedha has a zero-tolerance policy for violence," Jyn said. "Principal Mothma specifically told me that when I was being enrolled."

"So?"

"I punched you."

He raised an eyebrow. "Punched me? No, I ran into a doorframe. Maybe I should stop reading while walking."

"Oh," Jyn managed. "Um...thanks."

"Don't mention it," he said with a smile.

"How can I be sure I can trust Baze and Chirrut?" she whispered, giving voice to the fear that had been dogging her mind ever since they left the bathroom. "I've been in other foster homes, after my mom died and my dad… Before Saw's, I mean. Four different foster homes before he took me in." Cassian was quiet, letting her continue. "None of them lasted. None of them cared."

"You know Baze and Chirrut are different," Cassian said.

"Do I?"

"Of course," he replied matter-of-factly. "You have all the evidence you need. How many of those other foster homes lasted this long? How many of them would have tried as hard to find you after you ran away?"

"All of them?" Jyn said. "I think if a foster child disappears you get in trouble with the state."

"Well, yeah, but how many of them would have kept you after juvie?" Cassian pointed out. "Chirrut and Baze don't treat you any different now, right? They aren't still punish you for that mistake?"

Jyn shook her head. "They…they never did."

"And how many of them would have taken as good of care of Bodhi as they have? Therapy, an emotional support dog?"

"I…" She stopped, momentarily overwhelmed by how much about her life she'd seemingly told Cassian over the weeks they'd known each other. "None of them would."

He nodded. "Exactly. So I think you can trust them, Jyn." He turned his head to look out the glass doors of the main office. "That's them, isn't it?" Cassian reached down and squeezed her hand. "I'll see you tomorrow at tutoring, okay? And…" Looking around, he stole a sticky note and a pen off a nearby empty desk, scribbling something down. He held it out to her. "And if you need me in the meantime, that's my house phone number."

"Thanks," Jyn said, slipping the note into her pocket.

"Jyn!" the receptionist called. "Baze and Chirrut are here!"

With one last look at Cassian, she hefted her backpack and, taking a deep breath, headed out to meet them.

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