The Man In the Pink Mask

Prologue.

Everyone has their hero at one point in their life. Whether it's a doctor saving you at birth; a police man, saving you from a kidnapper. A fireman, saving you from a local house fire. Or whether you're a cat stuck up a tree, and need a savior with a ladder. Whether you're a deer, stuck between the sharp teeth of a hunters trap. Like I said, everyone has their hero, once.

Not me. I had mine lots more than just once. Not that I would change anything that happened, oh no. This man is my savior. My hero, my knight in shining armor.....Well, not exactly 'shining armor'.

No, he was my own little hero. The man in the pink mask.

Chapter one.

Our form room doors were thrown open as my best friend charged through them, carrying a sealed box labeled 'MASKS', with the biggest grin stretched on her face.

"Quietly, Rebecca," Mr. Alexander called out, but shook his head, smiling to himself all the same.

She nodded her head enthusiastically and rushed towards the empty seat next to me, the smile never leaving her face. She dumped the box on the desk and almost dived into the available chair. I rolled my eyes, reaching out for the box in front of me, before it was snatched away before my eyes. Sitting there, dumbfounded, I turned towards Becca for an explanation.

"Not yet," she whispered, as if this was a private investigation that no one else could find out about, but in such a childish manner. I stifled a laugh, causing a glare from 'detective Becca'.

"When can we open it?" I whispered back, hoping she would catch on that we were acting like five year olds.

"Not here, it's for the masquerade, and if anyone sees them, they'll instantly know it's us when we get there!"

"I kind of figured it was for the masquerade, you know, seeing the big letters on the side of the box," I pointed out, showing her the letters that she obviously wrote, "and besides, we're practically the only ones here. Apart from Mr. Alexander, no one else is in the room. That's why you asked me to get here early, isn't it?"

She sat back against her chair, shuffling and fidgeting until she was comfortable. She was such a fussy girl. She fiddled with the cellotape which was keeping the box closed, hiding what was inside, making it a mystery to be unsolved, - aside from the big letters which scream 'MASKS IN HERE!' at you - a mystery that was driving me to the edge of impatience. I grabbed the box from her grasp, and tore the tape from it.

"Annabell Jennifer Anderson!" Becca screeched at me, her mouth forming the shape of an 'o'. I actually think if her jaw wasn't attached to the rest of her skull, it would have fallen straight to the floor.

"Quiet down Rebecca," Mr. Alexander had said, "be as melodramatic as you want, just do it quietly!"

"Sorry, sir," she replied, "Annabell what on Earth have you done? You've opened it without my permission, that's what you've done! You've torn the tape off!"

"Chill out, it's just a box..."

"Just a box? Just a box?! How can you say that? It's more than just a box! It's a --"

"It's a Marks and Spencer's box!" I interrupted.

"Shut up, Annabell," she scolded.

"Sorry, mum."

"Now, you know full well if you're going to call me anything, it's 'Aunty Becca', alright?"

I ignored her comment and opened up the box containing our masks for the masquerade ball. "I actually cannot wait to see what my mask looks like. I hope it matches my dress, Bec! It better do, as I left you in charge of masks."

"You'll love it," she simply said and took out one of the masks wrapped up in tissue paper. She carefully unravelled the tissue paper, revealing a stunning white glittery mask with pink rhinestones and lots of small pink feathers along the top. The pink shade matched my dress colour perfectly from what I had remembered. The mask was so pretty, I could turn up wearing sweats and no one would notice.

"It's perfect."

Becca nodded her head in agreement, and pulled out the second tissue paper covered mask. She unravelled it once again, revealing a gorgeous purple sparkled mask with small white feathers along the top, and two somewhat larger feathers at the edges. I knew just from looking at it that it would suit her dress perfectly!

"You, my dear, are one good mask picker," I complimented my bestfriend, giving her a small sideways hug.

"You know it!" she cheered, grinning from ear to ear.

*

 A few of our close friends, Toni, Dana and Lara, joined Becca and I at our usual dinner table. Everyone knew it was our table, so we didn't have to worry about anybody sitting there before we managed to squeeze our way into the cafeteria. Squeezing our way through, because we have one hungry school, who like to pile into the room wanting to feed their hungry tummies.

"Oh-Em-Gee! Guess who asked me to the masquerade!" Toni said, looking as if she would scream with excitement at any moment. She flicked her black curls out of her face and looked between all of us, waiting for a reply.

"Don't say that ever again," I told, with a serious face, "now, who asked you to the masquerade?"

"J......"

"Jo-aco-eromy!" Dana, Lara and Becca all guessed at the same time, making the three names pour out like cat food.

Pour out like cat food?

Whatever, it sounded like gibberish either way.

I rolled my eyes, asking her again, "Who?"

"Josh!"

 "Yes?" a male voice sounded behind us.

Toni's face had turned a raspberry shade, and a cute little smile formed on her lips. "Hi," she choked out.

"Hello," he replied with a mischievous smirk, "how are you?"

"I'm f-fine," she stuttered, "and you?"

"I'm great thanks. Listen, I'll catch you later, yeah? Got a football game to play. The team needs me," he said, placing a kiss on Toni's cheek, making her turn an even darker blush.

"O-okay."

As we watched him rush to his football game, Dana had changed subjects in our conversation.

"So, Annabell, who are you going to the masquerade with?"

"Well.....err.......nobody?" I smiled and looked down at my lunch. Beans and pasta........Yum?

"What?" Dana, Toni and Lara questioned together, while Becca just smirked and turned to look outside. Lara didn't fail to notice this.

"What are you smirking at, hmm? What do you know, that we don't?"

"Oh, nothing...." she smiled innocently, returning to her window stare. There wasn't actually anything up, she just had this theory that someone would ask me, and that I would say yes. Not that anybody would ask me, I'm just not that type of girl that guys are in to. Everyone wants a bonny face, with perfect curves and big knockers. Not the sarcastic one with the plain face and plain body. The boring one. That's me.

Plain old, boring Annabell.

~♥~

Hello:-)! This is my new story. The idea just popped into my head like, POW! PINK MASK!

If you could comment what you think of it, that would be lovely ;o

You don't have to.....I just like to think that someone actually reads my things :]

Sorry if there are any mistakes.

Thankyou for reading!

- Mia xo