Masked

Chapter 2

I woke up by being shaken violently by Ariella. 

"Wake up! Dinner is being served." I slowly opened my eyes, letting go of the picture book  that was surprisingly warm.

"What is it?" Usually my mom comes and drops off dinner for us and goes out with dad. It's like that every night. I don't particularly like any of my parents. Because all they do is yell at me. Ariella shrugged her shoulders and I slowly got up, feeling dizzy, and walked down stairs. I sat at the table, not caring what I was eating and just sat there staring at my food. I wan't all that hungry. 

"Are you going to eat, Elle?" Skyla asked me.

"No," They both looked at me quickly. "What?" I asked.

"You aren't gonna be that kind of girl, right?" We all laughed and I shook my head. 

"Can I just crash here tonight? I really don't want to go home. My parents don't care." Ariella asked me.

"Yeah sure. Sky? You too?" Sky nodded and we both went up to my room. We just watched vines and called it a day. We didn't bother doing homework because it was due in a few days. I was texting Brandon... But he told Sky and Ariella he had to go just to talk to me. 

Him: Are you sure your okay?

Me: Why?

Him: You were a little shaky in class today.

Me: Yeah, it's nothing, though.

Him: Okay. Oh, and I'm sorry if I've hurt you.

Me: You've hurt me lots. I'm used to it.

Him: I'm sorry. You know I love you.

Me: You do?!

Him: As a friend...

Me: Goodbye. 

I put down my phone and went to sleep. Skyla and Ariella were texting each other, probably about me. But I didn't care. I went to sleep, crying. I woke up from either diziness, or a fever. I was sick. I didn't show up to school the next day. Skyla and Ariella went and once the day was over, they came home to me. I was resting.

"Hey, are you okay?" I looked up at them. 

"Yeah, just sick that's all. Did I miss anything?"

"No, but we got invited to Brandon's party. He told us to give you this." Ariella looked down at her feet as Sky gave me the envelope. I put it under my pillow and closed my eyes. 

"Are you sure your okay? You look pale." Ariella layed down next to me, wrapping her arms around me.

"I'm fine. Stop... Your going to get sick from me." But she just shook her head.

"I don't care. I want you to be okay." She hugged me tighter and Sky came to my other side. I buried my head in Sky's shoulder and smiled. I have people who care about me. 

The next day I went to school. People were staring at me oddly. Was there something wrong with my mask? I opened my locker to look at myself. I looked fine. I don't know why... And then I saw it. They were all looking at their phones and pointing at me. Ariella came running up to me,

"LOOK AT THIS..." She showed me her phone. It was this picture of me without my mask because I took it off yesterday because of my sickness. How could someone get a picture of me like this? I looked HORRIBLE! I ran down the halls into the bathroom. And I saw the blue group.

"Oh look who it is!" RiRi looked and pointed at me. And her entire blue group started chanting,

"Unmasker! Unmasker! You WHOREibble UNMASKER!!" They grabbed my arms and dragged me into the bathroom stall.

"STOP! NO! NO!" They shoved my head into the gross toilet water. I kicked and wriggled, trying to get away but they kept a tight grip on me. They kept my head in the toilet for a long time, I sucked in water on accident. And I was drowning. They wouldn't let my head up. 

Then everything went black. 

I woke up on the bathroom floor, my mask soggy and stuck to my face. I looked up and no one was around. I pulled out my phone, time for History. I slowly walked into history class with my hood on, mask down. I only looked at the floor because I could feel everyone staring at me. I was dripping wet and still had a cough. After class, the teacher called me over.

"I heard what happened with you. It isn't okay. I don't agree with unmaskers. Because they don't get very far. Sure, it isn't illegal... Not really. But no one agrees with it. And if I find out you take that mask off again, that will be the end of you." I nodded and walked away. I didn't want to suffer any more classes. I ran back into the bathroom, and looked at myself. My mask was blurry and paint splattered. Purple drenched my cream colored mask. It was ruined. I had to make another... I ran out of the school, I ran and ran blocks. I got to the Masker store and I bought a plain white one. 

When I got home I put that white one on. And left it blank. Literally. I wrote the words: BLANK On the forehead. I am scared. I don't want to go to school. And then I got an idea. 

I drew on the mask, black tears strolling down the cheeks. 

Blank. Is all I see.