Social Mask

“Haha! She really left! Can you believe it Gracie~?” I chuckled.
“I know. I can’t believe she walked out again. It’s a good thing Miss Crocksmith leaves me in charge of bringing in the attendance slip to the office; otherwise Blair’s dad would have killed her by now. However, I can’t keep doing this. What happens if the teachers caught me, Tori?” She said with a sigh.
“Hmm...I guess you’re right. Let’s go find her after school and talk to her about it, ok? I’m sure she’ll listen to you! Hee hee, she’s probably at the hideout~!” I say trying to cheer her up.
She smiles and pats my head. “Yes, let’s do that.”

The bell for the first class rang and we headed off to our classes. Gracie is a junior so I don’t have a lot of classes with her, only homeroom and P.E. I headed to the first floor to room 103, theater. I love theater! Everyone is so nice and funny! I go to my seat which is next to my pal, Zane. He’s your typical cool guy having a chill day.
“S’up Shorty?” he says with a smile.
“The ceiling, sky, the sun… A lot is up silly!” I say jokingly.
“Huh, I suppose you’re right! Haha!”
“Mhm~! Oh! Guess what?”
“What?”
“Blair walked out of homeroom again.”
He rolled his eyes and smirked. “What’d Cockbitch do this time?”
“Told her what to do.”
He shook his head and made a ‘you shouldn't have done that’ face. Just then our teacher, Mr. Harley walked in and started talking to us about a play we were going to do. It was Alice in Wonderland. He pasted out the scripts and told everyone to study the lines we wanted because tryouts are next week. I take a look through all the characters and decide which one I want.
“Which part are you going to try out for?” asks Zane.
“Queen of Hearts~!” I said chipperly.
“Really? That’s a hard role, Tori. What if you don’t get it?” He said in a concerned tone.
“I got a back up character! If I can’t be the queen I’ll go for Duchess! Any-who, what are you going tryout for?”
“The Mad Hatter. If I don’t get that I’ll try for The Cheshire Cat.” He said confidently.
“Wow~! Two major roles! Hehe, we better do our best then, huh?”
“Damn straight.”
After that we thought it’d be a good idea to practice for the rest of the period. After a long period of studying lines, the bell for the second class had rung and we had to go.
“See ya, Zane!”
“Later small fry.”
I then dashed off to my next class.

I had to go all the way to the fourth floor. I truly hate going up the stairs. No one ever moves fast enough for me to get to my class and it is just an exhausting walk! I got to my class just in time for Chem 1 and sat down. I hate this class. Don’t get me wrong, I like all the experiments we do and the work, but the people in the class are assholes! For example, my lab partner, Cain. He is so full of himself! He thinks that just because he’s on the football team that everyone loves him. He always hits on the girls in our class when he has a girlfriend of his own! The weird thing is that he’s Zane’s older twin brother. Ironic isn't it?
“Hi there, baby girl.” Cain says flirtatiously.
“Save the sweet talk for your girlfriend, dumb-ass.” I say in an annoyed tone.
“A cutie such as yourself shouldn't use such vulgar language.” He chuckled.
“I do what I want, idiot!” I said sounding even more annoyed.
“Aww, come on Tor~! You know you lik-”
“Cain, you fail at getting girls, you're a dork, and a leech. Now, stop talking and let me teach my class.” Said Ms. Hallows.
I love her! She’s not afraid to crack on people and she knows how to teach! The only thing I don't like about her is that she paired me up with the annoyance. She says 'We'll always have someone we don't like, but in the real world we have to deal with it...' or something like that.
After learning about the periodic table and putting up with Cain, the third bell rung and I had to go to math interventions. I can’t stand that class one bit! The teacher is an idiot who couldn't teach what 1+1 is!... Well actually he could, but he'd going into the mean of 1+1 and what the true meaning of the answer really is. I think I’m going to find Reese and skip this period. Reese is one of my best friends! He’s super funny and awesome!
I roam the halls until I see Reese standing near a water fountain.
“Ressie piece~!” I yell while waving to him.
“Don’t call me Ressie piece, Phillipa.” He said.
“DON’T CALL ME THAT!” I yelled. God damn! I hate my name. I hate it so fucking much! Was my mother high when she named me? The answer is yes, cause she's a dead beat mother who'd rather do drugs then take care of her daughter.
“Fine. Well, what do you want, Tori?” he asked.
“I’m skipping the period and wanted to know if you would accompany me?” I said with a smile.
“Sure. I got nothing better to do.”
Oh Ressie piece, you never cease the chance to skip, huh? I thought to myself and giggled.
“Cool, let’s get going.” I say heading down the hall.
Reese and I went to the auditorium. We walked up the stairs and sat in the back row of seats.
“So now what?” asked Reese.
“I brought some video games. Here I’ll lend you one of my DS’.” I said handing one to him.
“Why do you have two DS’?” he asked.
“I dunno. I thought that if I broke one of them it’d be better to have another.”
“What do you mean ‘one of them’? There’s more?” he said in a jealous tone.
“I don’t want to brag but, my daddy is kind of good in the money section. He’s a surgeon at a hospital down town. Plus that and I am ‘daddy’s little girl’ so you can see why I get the stuff I have.” I said trying not to sound snobby.
“Oh. Cool I guess. What games do you have?” he asked.
I pulled out my bag of games and handed it to him.
“Look through that and play whatever you want.” I said turning the power to my DS on and start to play Phoenix Write. I’m on Episode 1: Turnabout Memories. I’m so finding out who killed Doug Swallow!
“Sweet, you have Sonic Colors! I’ma play it!” Reese yelled.
“Mhm. You do that.” I said not really caring.

After five minutes of playing the best lawyer game ever, I hear the door on the other side of the room open. Reese and I turned off the games turned to each other.
“Shit.” He whispered.
I look around and noticed the light room door was unlocked. It must have been the advanced theater class from last period.
“Follow me and don’t make a sound.” I whispered back.
I took my games and hurried to the door. Reese follows and we went inside. I closed the door carefully trying not to make a sound.

“Smart thinking Tori.” said Reese in a low voice.
“Thanks.” I said in a soft tone.
The footsteps were coming up the stairs, but not to the top. I heard the voices of a boy and a girl.
"Who’s that?” asked Reese.
“Shh! Let’s find out.” I whispered.
We pressed our ears to the door and began to eavesdrop.
“What do you want?” says the girl in soft yet angered voice.
“Come on baby~. There’s no need to be so pissed. I just wanna talk to you about something.” says the guy in a seductive tone.
I know that voice! It’s Cain.
“Look, the only reason I’m here is because my best friend asked me to do a favor for her 'ever so amazing' boyfriend. I’m even skipping class for this, so hurry up!” yelled the girl.
“Alright, I got it. I wanted to ask you if you..." Cain paused.
"If I what?" the girl said impatiently.
"Heh heh, can keep a secret.”
All of sudden we heard a thump and a few muffling sounds.
“What the fuck is going on?” I ask.
“I don’t know.” says Reese.
I have a bad feeling about this...
I hear the girl gasp and slap him.
“How dare you!” she yells.
“Did you just hit me?” Cain asks. He sounds really pissed.
“Do me a big favor. Go to he-AH!!” she yelled. I think Cain just hit her.
“I don’t like what I’m hearing. I’m going out there.” I say grabbing the black bandanna from around my head.
“Are you crazy? Reese said grabbing my arm.
“Reese. Do NOT try to stop me. Stay here; I know what I’m doing.” I said removing his hand from my arm.
Before opening the door I tied the bandanna around my face so Cain couldn't tell who I was. Well, he probably still could but I kinda have to do this.
I kicked the door opened and ran to the stairs to see a girl with brown hair on the ground and Cain standing over her. The girl looked so helpless and innocent. How could he just hit her like that?! My head was filling with rage and hatred.
“You son of a bitch!” I yell running toward him, getting ready to punch him.
“Who are you?” he yelled with a ‘I didn't think anyone was here’ face.
Wow I guess he’s dumber then I though. As soon as I’m close enough, I try to hit him but he grabbed my fist before I could even touch him. Shit! He’s got good reflexes.
“Trying to play hero, shorty?” he said with a smug look on his face.
Before I knew it, he lifted me up by my hand and my feet weren't touching the ground anymore. I gave him a nasty look tried to squirm my way out of his grasp.
“Aww, how cute! Let’s see who’s behind the mask, shall we?” he chuckled.
Waitwaitwait! Duh! I’m at the perfect height to kick him in the balls! I thought to myself. I didn't hesitate for a second and kicked a hard as I could. Needless to say he was down for the count and released me quickly.
“Agh!” he groaned, shaking on the ground.
I take the opportunity I have to help the girl out. I turn her over to see who she is. It’s Madeline Ashford, that girl in my homeroom! She’s knocked out cold and her head is bleeding.
“You poor thing.” I say to myself.
I decided to pick her up and bring her to the light room so Reese can take her to the nurse. I may be small, but I’m strong enough to carry a bull! With her now, over my shoulder I run to the light room.
“What happened to Maddie?” Reese said rushing to us.
“You know her?” I asked handing her to him.
“Yeah, she’s my older sister’s best friend.”
“Oh yeah that’s right, Shan’s your sis.”
“That’s not important right now. What happened!?” he yelled.
I look away for a moment and finally told him what I saw.
“That fuck nut! I’m gonna kill him!” he yelled.
I shook my head and looked him in the eyes. “I’ll handle him; I want you to take her to the nurse right now.”
He looked like he was about to say something but was interrupted by Cain.
“Come out, come out, where ever you are! If you keep hiding, I’ll find you soon enough!”
I turned around and grabbed my bag. “When I yell go, you run out the door. Got that?”
I didn't even wait for a response and ran out the door.