Behind The Mask

One

First bell.

Gwen sprays another round of her trademark perfume in the air around her and throws her bag over her shoulder. Another two minutes and she'll be late. And Gwen is never late. She has perfect attendance.

She hurries, but doesn't run, to class. Gwen never runs in heels, even though she can. It's not cool to run in heels.

The bell rings right as Gwen sits down. She flashes a smile at the teacher when he raises an eyebrow at her, and then turns to talk to a friend. When class begins, she organizes everything on her desk with manicured fingers. When the teacher's back if turned, a note lands on her lap. Gwen smiles and opens the note behind a book, pen poised for gossip. And so her day begins.

The hours pass at their usual, boring speed. By listening to whispered conversations at lunch, she learns that yet another girl is pregnant. Gwen rolls her eyes, wondering how people can be so dumb.

Sara and Emma, her "closest friends," plan a shopping trip after school with some of the other populars. Of course, Gwen's invited. And, of course, she'll go. Shopping is way better than going home to an empty house.

Gwen's Science teacher gives the whole class homework. She'll have to do it tonight, if she remembers. The bell rings and Gwen stuffs her things into her bag. Soon the Science teacher leaves, and Gwen's alone. Her phone vibrates. It's a text from Emma, asking where she is. Gwen doesn't watch where she's going as she rushes out the door, texting Emma as she goes. Her heel catches on a crack in the floor and she trips, landing on her hands. Muttering to herself, Gwen picks up the back of her phone with one hand, and stuffs a book into her bag with the other. Her wrists ache.

Another hand comes out of nowhere and starts putting her phone back together. Gwen looks up, startled, and holds back a gasp. Gorgeous blue eyes are all she sees at first. And then a face, so close to hers she can feel the heat of his breath on her face and smell his mint gum. He's gorgeous.

When Gwen leans away she sees his faded blue jeans and black hoodie. She's about to thank him, but before she can say anything another face flashes before her eyes. And then she can't say anything at all because of the vomit building up in her throat. The memories are still too strong...

Gwen grabs the rest of her things and hurries out of the room, not daring to look back. That guy, whoever he was, reminds her too much of... him.

She's almost far enough away to let her tears fall when she hears a voice.

"Aren't you going to say thank you?"

It's him, the guy who helped her. And then just like that, Gwen gets defensive, just to hide her pain. It's a natural defense now; she doesn't even have to think about it anymore.

She turns, rolls her eyes, and smirks. "Whatever. I don't even know your name." 'And I don't want to know your name.' she mutters under her breath.

She starts to walk away, but he speaks up again, and Gwen can't help but stop.

"Well then. Nice act, beauty queen."

'What does he mean by that?' she wonders. But she doesn't answer. Instead, she walks out the door.

His voice follows her like the wind, and soon she hears his name without wanting to. "It's Dallas. My name's Dallas."

And then, Gwen runs. More than anything, she runs from the memories.

She refuses to cry, even though the memories are killing her. She never cries in public. It tells people that you're weak. So, when the city bus pulls up, Gwen climbs aboard and sits down in one of the only two empty seats. And she stares out the window.

The bus driver starts to drive away, but before he can get too far, the bus screeches to a stop and he opens the door. And someone climbs on. Gwen doesn't see who it is until he sits next to her. And then she looks back out the window to avoid his eyes. It's Dallas.

The first few minutes pass in silence, and then Gwen speaks up. "Are you following me or something?" she snaps. Inwardly, she's regretting that she has to be so rude. After all, it's not his fault that he looks like... the other person... But being defensive and rude is the only way to keep herself from breaking down. So she puts on an act every day.

Gwen's anger doesn't seem to get to Dallas though. He chuckles and shakes his head slightly. "No. This is how I get home. I ride this bus every day."

'He does?' she asks herself. Gwen only rides the bus occasionally, when she goes to her house. She hadn't even been thinking about what she was doing when she'd gotten on the bus. Completely forgetting that she was supposed to be being rude to Dallas, Gwen pulls out her phone. Four missed calls and six texts from Emma and Sara. She groans and sends them both a text that says she's changed her mind and she's going home instead. It isn't a lie. Gwen really has changed her mind. She doesn't feel like going shopping anymore. Being alone probably won't be good for her either, but what else is there?

Gwen turns off her phone and stuffs it back in her bag. She turns and sees Dallas trying to hide a smile. "What's so funny?" she demands. 'Who does he think he is?' she wonders.

He grins at her and raises an eyebrow. "You try so hard. It's funny."

"What?" She's confused. What could he possibly mean? He didn't know anything about her... right?

"That little act you do every day? I see right through it. The only reason everyone doesn't know who you really are is because you hang out with other shallow people who don't question anything deeper than their next party." And then he shrugs and pulls his iPod out of his front pockets. His words start to make sense in Gwen's mind while Dallas scrolls through his songs. And then suddenly she's accusing him, barely able to keep her voice down.

"Shut up! You don't know anything about me! You don't know anything! So just shut up!" she hisses.

Dallas rolls his eyes and chuckles, amused. People start to stare, but neither of them notice. "I know plenty, beauty queen. I know enough. I may even know more than you think."

Those gorgeous blue eyes watch her knowingly. 'It's like he can see right through me...' she thinks. Gwen's stomach flips. She swallows. Hard. Dallas unnerves her. It's almost as if he knows everything. But that's crazy, because no one knows everything, at least not when it comes to Gwen. She stares back at him, speechless. He is so unlike any other guy she has ever talked to. And as much as it scares her, it's kind of a nice change. 'It's almost... easy, talking to Dallas.' she thinks. 'At least, it's easy whenever we're not accusing each other.'

She's about to scoff, and question how much he really knows like what he's said hasn't bothered her, when the bus stops. Gwen looks up. It's her stop. She hadn't realized how fast the time had flown by. So she glares at Dallas, picks up her bag and stands up. But before she leaves, she says, "You don't know anything."

If she hadn't been so close, she would have missed his answer. "Whatever helps you sleep at night sugar. But you never know. People can surprise you."

And then Gwen's gone, rushing up to the door of her house and fumbling with her key, anxious to get away. Dallas watches her from the bus window and chuckles to himself. "If she only knew..." he mumbles. And then the bus drive away, and he turns back to his music.

He drowns out the world as she falls to the floor in her house.

-Alyssa <3