Masked Risks

Chapter 9

“What did you just call me?” We were stopped in the middle of a busy sidewalk. People were bumping into us, telling us to get out of the way, but I didn’t feel or hear anything as I waited on Erik to answer me.

“That sassiest squirrel around.” He said it so casually and with a playful smile, like he didn’t just hint at knowing my secret. He pulled me over to the alcove of a small boutique that was closed now. “Isn’t that what Kevin called you last week?”

“Erik, I’m not kidding around. What are you talking about?” My voice was hard and I felt myself standing on guard.

“Your videos,” he shoved his hands in his pockets. “I figured out it was you a while ago, but I knew for sure with the last video because you were sitting out, icing that ankle.” He pointed at my left ankle that was in a small brace hidden beneath my boot.

I ran a hand through my hair looking at the stretch of food trucks I was so excited about just moments before. Obviously, he knew the truth about me, about my crew. I couldn’t try to deny it, so I just asked, “How did you figure it out?”

I was mildly freaking out because if he could figure it out so easily, then anyone should be able to, right? The whole point of the masks was to hide our faces and keep our identities mysteries. If that was no longer true, what were we gonna do?

When I looked back up at him, he shrugged. “It wasn’t that hard. Lindsay showed me one of your videos the first day I got here. She’s a huge fan, by the way.” I glared at him as he continued. “I was pretty impressed, so I went home and watched the rest of the videos you guys uploaded. At first, I thought it was just some random people from some place I never heard of.”

I smirked. At least it wasn’t that obvious.

“But I noticed it was only five people and I remembered the five of you. That wasn’t a giveaway, but when Upgrade U was uploaded, you were the only five people in school not going crazy about it. I heard a lot of people talking about it, both at that party at your house and in school on Monday.”

“So? Maybe we just didn’t care about that stuff,” I countered.

“True, but remember when you got changed that day when we were working on homework at your house?” I nodded. “Well, you wore that same outfit in one of those videos and it just looked too much like… you to not see that it was you.” I arched my eyebrow and crossed my arms. He held up his hands. “Hey, I’m sort of obsessed with the videos. Plus, I recognized at lot of your mannerisms. Look, I really like you and I can’t help but look at you when we’re in the same room.”

I blushed. I don’t think anyone’s ever really paid attention to me like that because no one had any reason to.

He laughed. “You’re really cute when you blush.”

He started to reach us hand to my cheek, but I stopped him. “No, I’m sort of freaking out right now. This is a big deal. I need my crew to remain a secret.”

“Why?” He scrunched his eyebrows together. “You guys are really good and you deserve credit and respect for it.”

I snorted. “Sounds nice, but if people in school found out it was us, they’d laugh and stop watching.”

“I doubt that.” He rolled his eyes. “Is that the only reason this is a secret?”

I shook my head. “None of our parents know. My parents for sure would hate it because they don’t see the point in it. There’s no future with it, at least in their eyes. It’s not even like I’ll try pursuing it as a career, but I love it. So, I keep it a secret.”