The school day had come to an end. The rests of the days classes had gone by fairly quickly. Susan had continued to slowly munch on the M&M's all day. Meanwhile an unwilling passenger had come along for the ride. Where her fate would end, was anyone guess.

       All of the high school kids fled the school in a rush as the sound of the final bell did ring. Cassie and Susan were among them. Cruising through and between the other kids in the hall as if in a mash pit, the kids rushed out of the school through the main entrance. In all, there was about fifty or so kids heading in the same direction as Cassie and Susan. There was a lot of busses in the parking lot as well. The bus they were heading for would be the one heading for the poorer rural suburbs.

      Of course the rich kids their age would be driving home in their own cars, well, except for Janet. Her car would raise suspicions on a later date. Right now though, the busses were Cassie's and Susan's ride home. So the cars peeling out of the tarmac outside were merely a distraction at best.

      So while Susan and Cassie and a bunch of other fellow poor children herded onto the bus, Susan couldn't help but wonder if Joel too was getting on her bus. She had not been to class, and Susan thought it odd, since Joel was not the type of girl to skip class. The tension of the ride home made her quickly forget about her friend Joel however.

      Susan kept noticing Cassie glance at her. She wished she would stop, after all she was still furious with her. Susan was also wandering where Joel had run off too. She hated to suspect her friend, but Cassie was beginning to showcase a darkness she had never seen before. As she pondered and suspected her friend she couldn't help but fiddle with the penny in her pocket.

      Cassie wasn't even aware that her glances were intimidating her best friend. She was keenly focused on the bag of M&M's in Susan's other hand. At best only a few pieces remained, but while they remained in that bag, there was a potential for Joel still becoming a nuisance.

      "Stop staring at me Cassie! It's seriously creeping me out!"

      "I'm sorry Susan."

      "What are you staring at me for anyways, you know I don't want to talk to you today."

      Put on the spot Cassie was unsure how to answer her friend. "I was just wandering when you were going to finish you M&M's."

      "Take them!" Susan yelled as she threw the opened bag at her friend.

      Caught unprepared, Cassie failed to catch the bag correctly. The few remaining contents of the bag spread onto the floor where some young boys were sitting.

      Cassie stood up only to be chastised for doing so by the bus driver.

      "Sit back down!" He yelled as he let off the air brakes.

      When she sat back down she watched as the boys grabbed up the chocolates. "What a waste." She thought as she confirmed the bag in her hand was empty. It was safe to assume now Joel would never get between her and Susan now. Of course she would much rather of had Susan finish her off, as she had with so many others. Then again, there was a high probability chance Susan had already done so earlier today.

      As the bus drove on, the two friends were awkwardly silent.

      "I'll see you tomorrow Cassie, we'll talk in the morning."

      Cassie waved off her friend Susan as she exited the bus. As she left she pulled out her Penny. "I've got lots of plans for you soon." She whispered.

      Like Cassie, Susan also lived on a farm. Hers was simply endless fields of corn. Cassie on the other hand mostly dealt with livestock, like cows, pigs, and sheep. Sure Susan's family had chickens, but they were mostly an agricultural family. After brining in her things she headed back outside.

      Behind her house, a small brook, which was actually a irrigation run off ditch, was in front of Susan. She was holding the penny in her hand. She was seriously considering throwing the cursed object into the brook. Cassie would be angry, for quite a while she imagined. She had almost thrown it several times now. Sure the penny could be used for Evil, but Susan was sure her choice in friend had been good. But overlooking what happened to Janet today was unthinkable, this object was dangerous for her friend. She still remembered the first day she had been introduced to the Penny.

      It was also on  that day, her friendship with Cassie had been cemented. That first day Cassie had discovered the Penny, she had gone through some horrible experience. Susan had been there for her to cry on her shoulder.

***

      Cassie also remembered this story, but not quite in the same way as Susan. Susan had brought back her sanity at that time.

      Of course it wasn't truly her first out of body experience. Cassie first real time would have been with her cat Spitz, this story happened when she was eleven, an entire year later.

      The day had been a normal summer day. With no school, she was helping around with the family chores. Still the day was special as she had company that day. Her father's brother, her Uncle Stew, and of course her nine year old cousin  Kimberly.

      They would be arriving before noon, so that left Cassie with little time after her chores to attempt to make herself more presentable to her extended family.

      Of course she intended to show her cousin her prized possession. Today was a really good day, she was going to get to play with Kim, and then play with her friend Susan from school.

      When Uncle Stew's truck pulled up, Cassie couldn't help but be overjoyed. With family now here, she could play instead of doing chores.

      "Hello their young lady!" The older gentlemen spoke to Cassie as he got out of his truck.

      "Hey Uncle Stew!" Cassie couldn't help but blush, she really liked Uncle Stew. He always had brought her presents.

      "This is fer ya." Uncle stew handed her a plastic case with some early silver dollar double struck coins. "Don't go telling yer dad. I heard you've been talking about coins lately, I hope you like them." Cassie smiled at her Uncle, and said thank you.

      In truth she valued the gift, but not nearly as much as the coin within her back pocket.

      Hoping out on the other side of the truck, a small girl hoped out. She rushed around to the other side in a jiffy.

      "You two have fun now. I got to go talk with your father."

      "Cassie!" The smaller girl yelled up to her older cousin.

      "Calm down Kim, were going to have lots of fun today!" Cassie declared to her younger cousin.

To be Continued.