Masked love

Chapter 6

Joseph didn't want to let go of her, and it was awhile before he did. His arms fell slowly to his side, as Nikita stood up on her own. He looked at her face. It was beat red. She must have been crying. He touched her face gently, wiping away her tears. His hand reached into his pocket and pulled out a small hair tie. Nikita looked at it. The hair tie was black with gold stripes, the one her mother had given her. "I-a picked this up off the um ground," Joseph said nervously. Her eyes lit up as her hand went to touch it. She took it and placed the hair tie in her pocket. "I-a guess we should go back to the cafeteria now."

Nikita immediately shook her head, "no...Nell." Her voice was barely above a whisper. Joseph stared down at her.

"You want to see Nurse Nell?" Joseph asked, making sure that was what he heard. Nikita nodded, not able to speak. Joseph nodded, turning to walk toward the end of the hall. His hands were gently swaying by his side. Nikita walked beside him, staring at the ground. They walked to the end of the fourth hall. At the end of the hall they turned, walking through the commons. Joseph felt something touch his hand. He looked down, and saw that Nikita's hand tentatively brushing against his. It didn't seem accidental. He smiled slightly and gently took her hand into his. Their hands fit perfectly in each other.

They walked to the K hall, where nurse Nell's office was. They walked down the hall and entered the room. Luckily it was empty. Joseph let Nikita pull her hand away as Nell entered the waiting room. "Nikita, how are you?" Nurse Nell asked concerned. Nikita looked up at Joseph, and he understood.

"Could we talk in your office?" Joseph asked. They didn't want someone walking in , while they were talking. Nell nodded and they followed her into her office. Nikita sat on one of the beds, with Joseph was sitting next to her. He explained to Nell what happened in the cafeteria, while Nell listened quietly. When he finished, Nell walked behind Nikita to look at her hair.

"I have told the principal that if you're going to have the whole floor at lunch at the same time, then you need to have enough teachers to watch them all. It's a shame this happened to you, but there's not much I can do. I can report them to discipline, but I'm not sure what good that would do." Nell offered. Nikita shook her head. Nell showed a half smile, "You sure? Well I can even out the ends. Do you have any preference on how it's styled?" Nell picked up a pair of scissors, delicately touching Nikita's hair.

Joseph looked back at Nell, knowing exactly what could make Nikita feel better. "Could you braid it, like she usually has it?" Nikita looked at him, surprised. "She has a hair tie, that you can use."

Nell smiled. "Yes I can do that." She said happily. She started by carefully evening out the ends, but kept it the same length. Joseph seemed to be staring at Nikita. He wasn't. Instead he was spacing out, and beating himself up inside.

"Nikita, I-"

"Don't." Nikita said strongly. Joseph looked at her. "Don't apologize. This wasn't your fault and you couldn't have stopped them. You didn't know their plan."

"But I should have done something, If I hadn't-"

"Honestly, I'm happy. You stayed, even when I ran away you came. Because of you, I didn't have to go through this alone." She said, her voice almost breaking. He looked at her and smiled halfway. He was feeling better. Her walls were beginning to go down for him and only for him.

Nell began to separate Nikita's hair and braid it. "Joseph, why don't you go grab your stuff from the cafeteria and bring them here, that way you'll be ready when you go to class?" Nell asked Joseph. Joseph looked at Nikita first, but nodded in agreement. He walked out of the room reluctantly and into the commons. He walked toward the cafeteria. He kept his eyes focused on the ground. He heard footsteps closing in on him, and he tensed up. He felt a hand grip his shoulder, making him stop. Joseph turned and stared with hatred eyes at his face.