Cassiopée Smith's substance addiction and relapse

Cassiopée Smith's substance addiction and relapse emerge as a private cycle of distress, concealment, intoxication, and aftermath. After several months without drugs, she returns to cannabis and cocaine amid conflict in her family and a growing sense of isolation. The narrative gives the relapse concrete shape through the substances hidden beneath her bed, the three lines of cocaine she takes, and the crash that follows; Dorcas Peters's discovery turns a concealed crisis into a source of fear and concern between friends.

Background and Vulnerability

Cassiopée's drug use is set against a family life in which visits to her father, Ryan, leave her feeling depleted and angry. Her relationship with her stepmother, Ella, is a central part of that distress: Cassiopée regards Ella as manipulative and unkind, and resents her father's failure to recognize or confront the household's tensions. Her younger brother, Theo, also experiences the conflict. During one difficult weekend, he chooses to stay with Cassiopée rather than be in the same room as Ryan and Ella. The visit leaves Cassiopée isolated with the family situation she cannot resolve, and she returns to university carrying its emotional effects.

The novel also presents her drug use as part of a wider atmosphere of unease rather than an isolated incident. One night, Cassiopée wakes with a bad feeling and tries unsuccessfully to contact Theo. Unable to settle, she watches the room and Dorcas sleeping, envies how easily her friend seems to rest, and eventually goes outside with a joint. Like Shelby Anderson Barnum and Jungkook Jeon, she fails to find relief from sleeplessness. The scene links cannabis to an attempt to quiet distress, while making clear that it does not restore the sleep or security she wants.

Concealment and Relapse

The relapse is hidden in Cassiopée and Dorcas's shared student room. After Dorcas has left for class, Cassiopée retrieves a box concealed beneath her bed, containing objects she does not want her best friend to discover. Among them is a bong decorated with King Kong. She finds a bag of cannabis in her own bag, prepares it, and smokes repeatedly. The careful concealment matters: her substance use has a private space within the room she shares with someone close to her, and Dorcas's absence gives Cassiopée the opportunity to return to it unseen.

A second packet draws her attention: cocaine. Cassiopée takes the drug while singing along to Lynyrd Skynyrd's “That Smell.” The sequence is sharply incremental. After the first line, she smiles; after the second, she laughs; after the third, she drops the tube and lies stretched out on the floor, muttering in distress. The progression from apparent exhilaration to collapse gives the relapse its immediate dramatic shape. What begins as an act she performs alone, among hidden objects and music, ends with her physically incapacitated on the floor.

Dorcas later asks how long Cassiopée has been using again. Cassiopée answers that it has been happening since the start of the academic year. That admission changes the meaning of the morning's discovery: this is not only a single episode, but a return that has already been under way for some time. Dorcas is especially shaken because Cassiopée had managed to stay away from drugs for several months. Her response combines disapproval with fear; she has seen Cassiopée at a very low point before and remembers how difficult it was to see her smile.

Aftermath and Friendship

After the cocaine use, Cassiopée spends time walking around campus and gradually feels better. Dorcas brings her back to their room and lays her on the bed. The improvement is limited and provisional: Dorcas is preoccupied with what will happen next, and, seeing that the room is disordered on Cassiopée's side, realizes that her friend has taken more than cannabis. She sighs and puts the room back in order. The gesture is practical, but it also shows how the relapse reaches beyond Cassiopée herself, making Dorcas responsible for responding to what Cassiopée has hidden and what she can no longer manage alone.

Cassiopée later wakes to the setting sun and sees Dorcas and Shelby nearby. A bandage covers her left forearm, and she appears exhausted. She gets up, washes her face, and studies herself in the mirror, noticing how tired she looks and how the drugs have affected her. The narrative does not explain the bandage's cause, so it does not establish it as a consequence of the drug use. What Cassiopée does recognize is the contrast between the hallucinations she enjoys in the moment and the unpleasant state that follows. Her awareness of that contrast does not erase the relapse, but it gives the aftermath a clear, self-critical dimension.

Significance

Cassiopée's addiction is characterized by recurrence rather than a single clean break between use and recovery. She had abstained for months, yet reports using again since the academic year began; the substances were kept out of Dorcas's sight, even as their effects became impossible to overlook. The hidden box, the King Kong bong, the cannabis, and the cocaine make secrecy tangible, while the three-line sequence and the later exhaustion expose the short-lived nature of the escape.

The account also places friendship beside, but not in place of, Cassiopée's own struggle. Dorcas notices, asks directly, stays near her, and takes care of the room, but she is frightened and cannot know what will happen next. Cassiopée's return to use is therefore presented both as a personal crisis and as a strain on the trust and care shared between them. The episode offers no simple resolution: it records a relapse, the harm visible in its immediate aftermath, and the continuing uncertainty surrounding Cassiopée's recovery.