Share
Chapter 12 (iii)
Ten minutes flew by without my notice, but the ringing of the doorbell was harder to ignore. On his way down to get it, Matt stopped by my door to threaten me again. One could never instill too much fear, after all. He warned of dire consequences should I make any attempt to hog or otherwise so much as speak to Jayden for any period of time he deemed excessive. Should he feel slighted, he would tell our mother that I’d hit him—the most grievous of transgressions in our house.
The regulations were too arbitrary for my liking and left a great deal of room for error. Not wanting to end up on the wrong side of a 13-year-old’s temper tantrum, I opted to shut the door and be done with it. I would return to my earlier plans for the day; out of sight, out of mind.
Related chapters
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 12 (iv)
A chorus of laughter erupted before a sudden and suspicious silence enveloped the second floor. Matt’s door creaked open but never closed. Soft footsteps made their way to my door, pulling my attention from the ceiling and the thoughts that held me captive there. My bedroom door began a slow creep open, alluding to a mission of stealth. My heart dared hope Jayden had managed to sneak away but it was only Kaden, the boy with one whole strand of facial hair.He stuck his head inside, nearly jumping out of his skin when our eyes met. The boy paled, losing the courage had seen him down the hall.“What?” his presence was disappointment enough without any attempts at lingering.
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 13 (i)
The door to my room creaked open slowly. It was turning out to be the most action the bloody thing had seen in ages, and I was beginning to think that wasn’t a good thing. “Go away, I said I’m not giving you my underwear,” I said without ever turning to look another pimpled-faced try-hard in the eyes. The embarrassment was sufficient without that unnecessary bit of intimate connection. It was just like them. Seeing the others head next door, I suppose I was meant to lower my guard, fall asleep as they’d hoped. Then, they would make their move again. I wasn’t an idiot, and I wasn’t amused. “Fine, I’ll just get Jonie to take a pic and send it to me.” I whirled around so quickly that it caused my eyes to prolong their motion. I ignored the moving room, more concerned with the entitled boy who’d let himself into my room. “Don’t you dare.” With anyone else, in any other situation, I may have been able to laugh it off as a cheek
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 13 (ii)
“…Jayden.”“We can start with the small stuff,” he encouraged.“I can’t.”“Why not?”I shook my head, wanting desperately to dispel the thoughts that crept in from the corners in the wake of this change in topic. “I can’t,” I repeated, as much a reminder for myself as it was a response to his request. Jayden said all the right things and knew the right expressions to melt my heart, but it was too much of a risk. I didn’t know—didn’t remember what lay dormant beneath the mask and couldn’t risk such a reveal. “You won’t like what you see…”
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 13 (iii)
“Her father taught her well. The trick is getting to them before their fathers have a chance to give them the talk about the horror of boys and their raging hormones.” “Oh. How old are we talking? Seven?” Jayden sputtered, realising only after my brother’s response that perhaps he needed to be more careful with the reckless advice he’d been slinging since he first got there. “NO! Absolutely not—you trying to get arrested? They lock ‘em up as young as you, you know.” Matt paused, giving it a moment’s thought before shrugging mildly. “You’re right. I’ll go back to older girls—lots of ‘em don’t have fathers, so I’ve still got wiggle room.” “We…are gonna need another talk,” Jayden said, appalled at how his message had been so far distorted. I watched the two engage in causal conversation, waiting for the other shoe to drop and for Matt to start making his demands. It wouldn’t be a happy ending. My brother had struck gold when he walked in
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 14 (i)
Day after day, I was forced to watch Matt walk around with my iPod. When asked where he’d gotten it, the boy was ready with the excuse a friend had recently gotten a new one and had allowed him to have it. There weren’t any questions after that, there never were for Matt. Mom didn’t care where he got it, not truly; she’d simply been curious about the newest addition to his collection.Like everything else he owned, he treated it poorly. Sometimes it was left sunken into the couch where someone could sit on it. There were times it lay on the ground, forgotten and primed to be stepped on. He would break it before long, then neither of us would have it.I wanted to take it back, to yank the earphones from his ears and lay him flat for how careless he continued to be. It was wishful thinking and little more. Nothing would justify such an act in my mother’s eyes, not even learning it first belonged to me. She would pop it into the dishwasher or
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 14 (ii)
“Why don’t you invite him over for dinner tomorrow?”Mom scrolled the length of the document on her screen, paying no particular attention to me or my brother. She nibbled on the cap of her pen, her eyes glazing over from their tedious work. “Isn’t your school dance coming up? Remind me I still need to get you a dress for that.”I gaped at her words, considering for the first time that I may have fallen asleep back up in my room and that this nearly pleasant conversation was little more than a figment of my most starved imaginations.She wanted to have Jayden over for dinner and wouldn’t be subjecting me to my scraps of clothing for the dance. I wanted to ride the wave of her sobriety and the neutral mood that came with it, but I knew there was a cost. There was always a cost. Soon enough, the work would end, and I would be made to pay for her passing acts of kindness.“Cool, Jayden’s coming over!&rdqu
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 14 (iii)
I was still working through the math on Jayden’s earlier statement when I realised they’d both turned expectant gazes to me. Somehow, I’d ended up in the middle of a standoff I’d rather watch from a distance and it brought the most unpleasant churning to my stomach. If I said no, it would unnecessarily offend the boy who’d approached me in good faith. If I said yes, I’d offend the boy who still hadn’t learned I wasn’t his property.My stomach hurt too much for this mess.“Um…thank you. It was very sweet of you.” I smiled, trying to soften the blow of the rejection Jayden had offered on my behalf. I relaxed only after he mirrored my smile with one of his own. Josh wasn’t angry—at least, he didn’t seem to be. He’d been disappointed by the outcome, but his reaction was not the world-ending catastrophe I’d convinced myself it would be.The boy waved his goodbye then head
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 14 (iv)
“Mom wants you to come by for dinner tonight if you can,” I said, breaking the silence as we approached the door to room 31.“Tonight’s a bit short notice for me. Got a date with Alyssa…or was it Erica? Seira?” He rubbed at his chin contemplatively, lost in his own musings.The deadpan expression he’d managed to elicit with his words only served to amuse him. A wide, boyish grin took shape before my eyes, attempting to coax movement from my lips. I remained resolved in my disapproval; my lack of amusement was hard to miss.“I’m kidding. I’ll be there at six.”I rolled my eyes, nudging him aside to walk by him into the classroom. There was only so much of Jayden Pryce’s humour that I could tolerate before my eyes went permanently inverted.I spent the day on autopilot, my mind preoccupied with thoughts of the sanctioned dinner to take place in the evening. Conversations f
Latest chapter
- The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 25 (iii)
- The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 25 (ii)
- The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 25 (i)
- The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 24 (iv)
- The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 24 (iii)
- The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 24 (ii)
- The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 24 (i)
- The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 23 (iii)
- The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 23 (ii)
