Masqueraded Identities

Chapter Twenty

I woke up the next morning, excited to go see my family and get cool stuff. My priorities are set straight, for sure. But I was also excited to give my family and Tay their presents as well.

Tay had brought a tiny, neon blue Christmas tree from home to hang in our room. We put our little goodies for each other under it the night before, and when Tay woke up, she was just as excited as she probably would be on Christmas day to open her present as well as give me mine.

Tay, also knowing that I was always looking for cash to buy new screamo CD's, bought me an iTunes card as well. She also bought me a book I had been dying to read for a month now, but hadn't gotten yet. I was equally happy with both items, and gave her a big hug to show it.

She opened her giant card excitedly, and screamed when it started playing 'Tik Tok'. She screamed once more when she saw the bedazzled guitar necklace. She tackled me to the ground with a hug, and kissed my cheek. I wiped the spit off, sat up, and said, “Ew.”

“I love it!” she exclaimed, her face glowing.

“Yeah, I can tell,” I remarked with a huff, getting off the floor and putting my goodies in my purse.

She laughed, and stuffed her goodies in her own bag.

There was a ruffle at the door, and a card flew under. Tay and I both jumped, looked at the card, and looked at each other. Was this from who we thought it was?

I quietly crept over to the door, opened it wide, and looked around. No sign of anybody. I scanned the hall floor, looking for some clue that my stranger may have dropped. There was nothing anywhere, except for a piece of a Twizzler, but one of the girls had probably dropped that. Nothing suspicious here.

I sighed, shut the door, and picked up the little note.

Phoebe,

Promise me you or your roommate won't be in your room at 3 PM. I'm actually going away for break, for once, and I want to make sure your present gets to you somehow. But, I am not ready to reveal who I am. Promise me. I know I can't know for sure if you kept your promise until later, but, please, promise.

You would hate me if I were to reveal my identity yet.

One day, beautiful, one day.

Love,

Your masked stranger

I flung the note down, groaned, and collapsed onto my bed.

“Read it,” I said, before Tay could even open her mouth to ask.

She read it, and said, “We should stay.”

“I want to... But, yet, I don't.”

“What? Why?! This is your chance!”

I sighed. “Maybe I'm not ready to find out.”

“Not ready to find out?”

“Yeah. I'm scared on who it's gonna be.”

“Why?”

“Well, last night, Mark asked if he could draw me. And he writes poetry and stuff. What if my masked stranger is him? Because there is no way I'm crazy about Mark the way I am about my masked stranger.”

Tay sighed, and plopped down next to me on the mattress. “But what if it's not? Your masked stranger was wonderful, correct? And while Mark is cool and all, he has an edgy side that your masked lover did not have, from what it sounds like.”