Unmasked ⚜️ Malum

Three

"You honestly need to relax. Take a breath. Nothing bad will happen." Anna said as she parked in the parking lot at school.

"I can't do it. I can't do this." I said and she placed her hand on my arm, as an act of reassurance.

"You can do it. Everything will be okay. Nothing bad will happen." Anna repeated and I nodded my head a little.

"But, won't people be suspicious? Especially if I get out of the car with you. My-"

"If your family gets suspicious, I'll tell them you're a friend from out of town. Easy as that."

I nodded some and we both got out of the car before walking into the school.

"It feels weird being here at night." I whispered to Anna and she nodded a little.

"It does. But, it'll be fine. It's in the gym and it'll be all decorated and stuff. It won't feel like school when we get in there." Anna said and I shrugged.

"I guess you're right." I said quietly and she smiled a bit.

After going into the gym, I looked around for a while.

"I'm going to go dance. Have fun." Anna said and I faked a smile before going to sit down at a table.

After a while, someone walked up to me and sat next to me. I faked a smile as I glanced over at him before looking away. I knew exactly who it was, and he made me nervous as hell.

"Hey. Why are you sitting here all by yourself?" He asked and I shrugged my shoulders a little, not wanting to even actually talk because I was scared he'd notice my voice. Not that he ever noticed me anyway, but, I was scared he'd be able to tell I was a guy.

"Not much of a talker, are ya?" He said and I nodded a little bit. "That's okay. Would you like to dance?"

"I don't dance." I said softly and kept looking away.

"Oh, come on. I'm sure you're fine. A lot of people say they don't dance, but a simple slow dance is very easy. Come on, I'll show you." He said and stood up before holding his hand out to me.

I stared at his hand for a moment before slowly lifting my head to look directly into his eyes.

"Hey.. You look familiar. Have I seen you somewhere?" He asked and I almost froze.

"Um.." I said quietly. "I don't.. think so. I'm-"

"From Pennsylvania. She's from Pennsylvania." Anna said as she walked up behind Calum.

Nice save.

"Hm. Weird. I could have sworn I've seen those pretty green eyes somewhere." Calum said and I took a deep breath.

"Lots of people have green eyes, Calum. It's the most common eye color in the world." Anna said and patted his back for a moment before walking away.

"Well. She came out of nowhere." Calum said and I let out a tiny laugh.

"She's my cousin. I came to visit for the weekend and she begged me to come to this." I said softly.

"Well, look who's finally talking. Come on, let's dance." He said and I slowly stood up and placed my hand in his.

He smiled a bit and led me to the dance floor before pulling me close.

"I thought we were going to slow dance." I said and he smiled a bit.

"We are. Why else would I pull you this close?" He said and I shrugged a little.

"I don't know. I just thought. Well. This isn't a slow song. Why would we slow dance to a fast song?"

"I see your point. We'll just tune this music out and dance as if it was slow music. Use your imagination." He said and I just stared at him for a moment.

"It's hard to tune this music out. It's blaring through the speakers quite loudly." I said and he got quiet for a moment, and it looked like he was thinking.

"I have an idea." He said after a few minutes and let go of me before grabbing my hand again to lead me away.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"You'll see. Hm. Actually, can you stay right here for a moment? I want to do something real quick." He said and I nodded a little bit.

"Yeah, sure. I'll stand right here until you get back." I said and he smiled a bit.

"Good. Stay out. I'll be back as soon as possible." He said before starting to walk away.

At this point, I realized he was probably ditching me. Great. Back to sitting alone.

"Hey. Where's Prince Charming?" Anna asked as she walked over to me.

"I don't know. Probably bailing on me to go find his Cinderella." I said and she sighed and shook her head a little. "I told you I didn't want to come. I should have stayed home, Anna. I knew something would happen."

"You're his Cinderella, though, Michael. Maybe he just hasn't realized it yet." Anna said and I shook my head. "I'll go find him and see what's going on."

I shrugged a little and watched as she walked out of the gym. Great. First Calum, now my best friend. Looks like I'll be going home sooner.