𝚂𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚖 𝚒𝚜 𝙼𝚢 𝙱𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍 (Complete)

𝚂𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚢 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚂𝚞𝚛𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚂𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝

"Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky Steve," I murmur. I tiptoe to the side of the school building, ignoring the confused whispers of the teenagers walking into the school. I flatten my back against the wall. "Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky—"

"Um, Paris?"

"Sn—AH!" I jump back, swiping my head back and forth, trying to find the source of the voice. "Who's there?! I'm not Paris! I'm Steve!"

Ｄｉｓｇｕｉｓｅ

𝐀 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 (𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞) 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

Ｄｉｓｇｕｉｓｅ

𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐈 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤

My eyes finally land on Lillian, giving me a confused look. "Who's Steve?"

"I'm Steve."

"But you're—"

"Don't blow my cover, Lillian! I'm counting on you!" With that, I slip away silently, whispering sneaky, sneaky, sneaky all the way to my first class.

"If you're looking for the drama room," Collin says as he leans on the doorway, "then you're going the wrong way."

I freeze, slowly turning my head to face him and then frown as I say with my arms crossed, "Maybe you should be looking to the drama room."

"You wound me," he says dramatically, and I laugh mockingly at his performance.

He suddenly grows serious. "Is this about the video?" He gestures to my disguise.

"What video? I have no idea what you are referring to." I huff, turning away and walking into the classroom. I can feel his worried stare on my back, and I sigh, pausing in my steps. "If you really must know then, no, I'm not upset about the video. I'm over it."

"Then why are you wearing sunglasses inside?"

"Because cool people wear sunglasses inside."

"Do they really?" I can imagine him raising a single eyebrow. "I think you should take it off. You're covering what really shouldn't be covered." I turn around to face him, but he's already gone. I sigh and walk over to my desk, slumping down into my seat as though the weight of the world is suddenly on my shoulders.

I feel a tap on my arm and look up to see Lillian and Justin standing over me. She leans down and whispers, "Lucas explained everything to me."

"Don't you worry!" Justin says loudly, turning a few heads. "I'm not quite sure what's going on since I was only half-listening to Lucas, but I know that the glasses and..." He gestures in a circle around his head a few times. "...make you stand out like a sore thumb." He somehow has the nerve to give a smile at the end.

Lillian lifts her lips in a small smile and smacks him over the side of his head. She looks back at me and says, "Do you really think it will be all that bad if people recognized you? It's not like you've changed or have the biggest pimple in the world resting between your eyes or anything. I was called the Queen of Pimples for half a year after coming in with a mighty fine one a few semesters ago." She winks at the end, her smile still lingering on her face. She's obviously not upset about it anymore. In fact, she's so totally over it that she's ready to make a joke of it. I wonder how long it will be before I can make a joke of the stage incident. Who knows if I'll even be able to?

I look down for a moment, staring at the previous owner of my desk's funny drawings of fish wearing formal attire and birds living in grander mansions than Lucas'. I let out a small laugh before reaching up and pulling my glasses then my cap off my head. I leave the fabric wrapped around my head only because I don't want to mess up my smooth hair. The chatter around me seems to increase, and I'm almost certain a hear my name more than a few times. When I still and strain my ears to carefully listen, I completely freeze into a block of ice.

What she did was so brave. I don't think I could ever have gone on that stage.

Whoever posted that video was a big jerk.

Did you see Paris rocking that stage? I can't believe two epic rockstars go to our school!

A girl suddenly approaches my desk. "Girl, you were awesome up there," she says. "Never let those haters get you down." She grins down at me and then walks out of the room with a quick salute.

I haven't moved an inch. I hadn't even flinched at her words.

What the flying pig is going on?

I barely manage a few 'thank you's at the continued encouraging commentary from my fellow classmates. When I go to my locker a few classes later, sticky notes with kind messages litter the front of it. I open it and more notes flow out.

So this is support.

My school supports me.

And for some reason, they found something good in what happened Saturday night.

"Hey, Paris?" a small voice questions from behind me. I turn and see a relatively short girl with long red-brown hair reaching down to her waist and a small little bow propped in her hair. "I just want to say that I'm a fan! I fan of your voice, I mean. It's really pretty." She shifts awkwardly. "I'm sorry, I've just always been scared to approach you before."

I blink, staring for a minute in confusion. "You've been...scared?"

"I think most everyone has, though they probably won't admit it."

When she sees me giving her a blank gaze she hurries to explain. "It's just that, you used to seem so...unapproachable. Your eyes were never focused on anything around you like you were in your own little world. You never seemed to smile, which made me sad, but the constant look on your face kinda stopped me from talking to you...although I have tried a few times when I gathered enough courage..." Her eyes flutter to the floor and I see the artificial lighting reflecting off the tears beginning to form in her eyes.

I have never seen this girl before in my entire life. Had I really been that far away from planet earth?

A pang of guilt pierces through me.

Before I can reply, she continues, "You looked so lonely, and I was so glad when you started hanging out with Lucas, Justin, and Lillian. It made me think that there was hope of becoming friends with you." She smiles at the ground before finally looking up to stare at me with her large, warm brown eyes. "I hope we can be friends now that I know you aren't mean after all. No offense! You're not mean...you just look mean. Well, you used to look mean. I mean—!"

I give her a reassuring smile. "I would love to be friends."

Her rambling dies away, and she looks up at me with wide, unblinking eyes. Then she smiles. "Thank you so much!"

"No, thank you." I match her smile with my own.