Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President: Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 40

At the end of the day, the rumour mill had once again fired up. I entered the hall to find Madelyn with her ear all but pressed to another girl’s lips; it had become a common sight throughout the day. While she wasn’t Jonie, Madelyn was good in a pinch and more accessible besides. I stood by the lockers, waiting for her to spot me. She’d want me to know everything; it was one of her better qualities. “What’s going on?” I asked when she walked over. “You will not believe it,” she said, her eyes catching fire as she set to fill me in on the whispers around the halls. “You know how Jayden and Carmen went at it last Friday, yeah?” “Yeah…” Surely there was more. That story had begun to lose its steam by lunch and was all but stale by fifth period. It wouldn’t have garnered this reaction at the end of the day. "You will not believe it. Turns out she might have given him something.” Maddie’s eyes widened for the drama and theatrics of it all. The misfortune of the girl and potentially ou

It took another month, but I could finally say that things had settled down. The halls once filled with the business of other students now buzzed with talk of the upcoming dance. With as exciting a time as they’d been promised, no one seemed to remember my social faux pas back when I’d first arrived. They’d accepted I was the outspoken, spunky, go-getter just looking for a shot and had begun to excuse the greater portion of my ‘misplaced enthusiasm’. It was the life I’d hoped to lead from the moment I entered the school and with the twists and turns that had met me at the start, I’d begun to despair that I never would. The body had even grown more accepting of my presence whenever Jayden or Jonie invited me to sit with them—Erin being the obvious exception. There were rumours that insisted she’d been the one to orchestrate Carmen’s downfall in the prior month—a means of teaching a lesson to the girl and anyone else with designs on the student body president

Before another word could be said, Jonie appeared. I hadn’t seen her in days, but there she stood creating another barrier between us. She spun around to face him, a viciousness set in her eyes. “I explained something to you over the weekend, yet here you are doing this shit.” Her words were furiously whispered before she grabbed me by the hand and all but yanked me from the cafeteria. I followed without protest, shame washing over me at the thought of what she may have told him and how our little scene had looked to our audience of onlookers. The whispers followed us until we hit the door—nothing less than expected by this point. Jayden and I had put on quite the show without giving any resolution or so much as an explanation for the fire that had sparked between us. It would be interesting to hear the theories they came up with for our tragically derailed interaction we’d been all too eager to participate in just moments before. I resolved to ask Jonie what she’d explained to J

Erin rolled her eyes at the childish retort. “Anyway,” Seth said, regaining the attention of the others, “it would be quite the inconvenience for Jayden if he decides to reconsider. He’s already told her no; if he changes his mind, he’ll have to go back to Kai, and she’ll make him beg.” Not…a wholly inaccurate deduction. “Furthermore, if she’s as wary of guys as Jonie’s tried to paint her out to be, he won’t be begging in private. She’ll want an audience to feel safe and that’s the sort of damage he could do without.” Yet another…fair deduction. “I never thought of that,” Jayden said, now mulling over all his friend had laid out. “You’re a dirty rat, Seth Robinson,” Sydney said, moving beyond the level of patience she possessed for the matter. “The only reason you’re so hell bent on Jayden not changing his mind is so you can ask Kai yourself.” The boy straightened in his seat, looking positively scandalised by her accusation. “Me? I wanna ask Kai?” “It’s what you were plucking u

Multiple footsteps barrelled up the stairs and I could hear the nonsensical chattering of the newly minted teenage boys. It was as I’d thought, only my brother’s germy friends. They would lock themselves away in Matt’s room trying to uncover the mystery of girls and comparing their facial hair—or lack thereof. The puny one with the lanky limbs and pronounced Adam’s apple had one hair long enough it could be plucked. It made him the winner by default.I lay listening to the music on my iPod for what could’ve been an hour before I heard the faint approach of too many feet. I stashed my prized possession beneath my pillow then trained my gaze to the ceiling.As far as either my mother or brother knew, it was all I did when there was no schoolwork left to be done. Without a phone, I couldn’t text anyone. Mother never bought me either a computer or a laptop—Matt had already broken three. The only books I could read were those taken from the library, but Mom refused to take me there and I h