Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

When it started, it was the same as it always was; school dances, student body elections, pep rallies—I led two of those—and sporting events. Something about rules got sprinkled in but by then I’d completely checked out. Sitting still had always been difficult and, exacerbated by the monotonous droning of the school’s vice principal, I was in real danger of falling out of my chair. Sufficiently through with the sanctioned torture, I asked to be excused to the bathroom and then took off in the direction that seemed more promising. I wanted to check out the music room, chat up the teacher for a bit, and make sure he understood what a prodigy I thought myself to be. Mr. Roberts…I think that’s the name they’d given. It didn’t matter that I’d never been particularly gifted at any instrument. He would find my enthusiasm and passion too hard to resist and once I explained my fateful back story of belonging to failed musicians, he’d stumble over himself to help me actualise my dreams. Teach

In the hours that followed our orientation tour, thoughts of the convincing prankster relentlessly plagued my mind. It was that boyish grin, the ease in his movements and the way he’d been so sure of himself. It was the firmness of his chest and the mischief in his eyes that dared you to join in. They were silly little things that shouldn’t have mattered and yet, against my better judgement, I was entranced.It happened like that sometimes. You saw someone and everything just clicked in all the right—or wrong—ways. Jayden was trouble, I was nearly certain of it but that dimpled smile had etched itself into my memory in ways I’d never willingly admit.Listen to me, I sounded like a love-sick middle-schooler who’d never held hands with a boy. The disdain I felt for myself at having entertained such wayward thoughts was palpable, but even that wasn’t enough to silence the pounding in my chest every time his image flashed across my mind.Jayden had the charisma of a politician. I hadn’t y

"Are you crazy?" Madelyn countered, nearly shoving out of her own seat before catching herself. "You can’t just walk up to them. You gotta wait for one of them to acknowledge you and call you over first.""Why?" My eyebrows were rising ever higher with each new thing said about this mysterious body and the image I had cultivated was constantly changing. This…this was secret society cult business confirmed and that only made it more exciting.The sweet smiling politician was proving to be more interesting than I’d first imagined. It would be a shame when the time came to leave him behind. Madelyn shrugged, seeming at first to be at a loss of words that would make real sense. "That's just how things are done around here.""I think it's time we changed that," I said before turning on my heels and stalking off. I had to strike while the iron was hot and my nerves were still steeled. This would be nothing, a cakewalk, a…an…other metaphor that would make me think it was a good idea. All I

I’d never been happier to be home from a first day of school. While I’d expected to make some waves with my latest character innovation, I hadn’t anticipated the turn things had taken and I hadn’t anticipated the trench I’d ended up digging myself into through my questionable impulse control. By the final bell of the day, I’d started to get the feeling that everyone knew who I was and it had nothing to do with my quirky family dynamics or my musical supremacy. Whispers filled the halls from biology to French, from physics to homeroom; whispers about me I’d severely undercut my own story and didn’t have the first clue how to steer it back on track should this business of joining the body become a failed pursuit. How did anyone ever recover from such social calamity? I doubted my mother would allow me to be the reason we changed houses a second time, least of all because I’d made a fool of myself with my own ambitions. She’d be too pleased with the outcome and

She swung the bat at me but with the way she was already staggering, it missed. Missing wasn't something Mother made a habit of and it only made her angrier. "You've been sleeping around again, haven't you?!" This time, she didn't miss. It caught me square in the side of my head, sending my left ear ringing as blood trickled out. "After all I've taught you—all the shit you’ve caused, you go around being everybody's whore again!" She swung another time and caught me in the stomach. The pain bent me double as I tried desperately to regain my breath.I curled into a ball sucking in deep breaths to maintain my composure. Crying would only give her the satisfaction she craved and denying her was about the only thing I had within my power in these moments. I bit my lower lip to keep from crying when the bat co