Behind the Mask

Chapter Two

Joe Jonas walked into the big ballroom type place, he saw all kinds of people dancing around, most wearing the same sort of custom he was wearing, he slightly wished he had done what Nick did.

Nick was still wearing a black V-neck with rolled up sleeves, but now the tee had a big B on it, standing for bodyguard, Isabella’s idea. She however was now wearing a short black dress with different color checks, a mask to match she held in her hand. They walked around awhile, meeting and talking with people they know.

“Nick, stop being so grumpy” Isabella told him.

“This is so lame.... and even more people are looking at me cause I don't have a feathered hat and tights on” he mumbled.

“I told you so” Joe stated, wisely.

“Shut up” Nick barked back at him.

“Make me, Mr. Bodyguard” Joe teased him, it's when Nick went to lunge at him that Isabella got in the way.

“Joe...you better start being nicer to your brother” she warned him. “He's shy.”

“Oh, please” Joe muttered.

“You march yourself over to that table and don't move till I get back... you got me?”

“Why should I listen to you?” Joe asked, rolling his eyes. “Your not my mom.”

“You go over there right now or you can forget about what I said latter.”

“Oh yeah?” Joe retorted, she just nodded, looking stern.

“I don't like that dress anyway” Joe muttered walking away from them, he slightly wondered what she and Nick were doing but the thoughts passed when he got to the table and saw a girl sitting on one of the cream white seats.

“Hello” he said nicely.

“Hi” she was looking down at her lap and didn't bother to look up to see who it was.

“I'm..er... Joe” he almost didn't say it, he never seen this girl before and what if she was some crazy Fan? That would ruin the whole party.

“Nice to meet you” she still didn't look up. This gave Joe a good view of her without her noticing. She had what looked to be long brown hair, it was extremely curly and half put into a bun, the other half was falling down her neck and upper back. From what he could tell she had bright green eyes, very pink and full lips and a cute little nose. As he sat there a few minutes he found himself wanting her to look up, wanting to catch her eye just to see.

“What cha reading there?” he asked, looking over the table at a book that was in her lap.

“Romeo and Juliet...” the girl trailed off, and it worked to his triumph, she looked up and showed him the hard backs of the book. He caught eyes with her and right away thought he was gonna die, that a beautiful angle that looked just like this girl would come down and pull him to the purely gates. He couldn't breath, his body begged for breath. His chest hurt with a pain that felt so good he didn't want it to end. He saw his life twenty years from now and that girl was by his side.

But to his dismay she looked away, around at the party. It took him a few seconds to recover from what he felt, he didn't happen to see if she was looking how he felt but he really hoped she did.

“Why...why are you reading a book at a party?” Joe got out, even though he was sure it got messed up on the trip from his brain to his lips.

“I didn't want to come to this party” the girl told him, looking a bit grim now, he wanted so much to wrap his arms around her and make her smile. “My sister dragged me here.. and now she's off with her LA boyfriend.”

“Your not from here?” he suddenly asked, feeling a bit dumb.

“No, were visiting from Australia” she told him, looking back down at her book. He wanted to say something good, something that would make her look up at him again.

“Oh....” he trailed off, mentally kicking himself, that wasn't gonna get her to look up again. A few minutes of silence went by, the whole time Joe watching this girl; who was wearing a gold mask with white jewels all over it, it hid her face a lot, he wanted to reach over and take it off just so he could see what she looked like more.

“Well, why are you sitting here, watching me read?” the girl then spoke, it was like knives going through him, he didn't know how to answer and he was feeling a bit embarrassed that she noticed him looking.

“I was just bored, I guess” Joe muttered, looking down at his custom.

“I see... well, I'm boring.”

“Your not boring at all” he told her.

“Sure” she smiled, he couldn't help but smile back, she had the most beautiful smile ever, and her teeth were so white.

“What you need to do is just have some fun” Joe smiled on, feeling like he was on top of the world.

“How?”

“Dance with me.”

“But I don't even know you...” she trailed off.

“That's what makes it so much fun.”