Masks

Chapter 7

It flaps its wings,
But never takes flight.

~~~

"I see, so you snuck out too."

Violet nodded ashamedly from her window. "I didn't want to let you down."

"Now Mother's forbidding me from ever seeing you again," Quinn sighed. "But if it's that, I refuse to obey her."

"But why?" Violet asked, worried. "Maybe I should stop seeing you. I'm just a distraction. You're gonna get into more trouble."

"It never crossed my mind to think of you as a distraction."

Violet's mood rose, and she smiled back, but he could tell she still felt bad for getting him into trouble.

"School begins again tomorrow," she said. "We might not be able to talk to each other like this so often."

"That could be true," he replied. "Schoolwork is gonna start piling up."

"I'll work hard, she said. So I can still talk to you."

"Same here," he replied. "But still, I never got to really talk to you."

Quinn knew what he was saying this time, making Violet blush again. She hastily scribbled a reply.

"My voice isn't anything special, really. I talk quietly, too quietly. There isn't much of a need for you to hear my voice."

"If we keep talking through our windows like this, then the more I'd be curious." He said. "Loud or soft, I'd still remember it as Violet's voice."

Violet hid behind the curtain, trying to hide her red face as she wrote her reply.

"Quinn, your voice is strong. You sound like the type of person who'd stand up for other people. I like your voice, it matches you."

  ~~~

She woke up the same time she did everyday. After making her bed, she changed out of her pyjamas.

Violet liked her uniform. She wore a white button-up dress shirt underneath a grey sweater vest, which was underneath a black blazer. Around her waist was a mid-thigh length blue plaid skirt, and wore black tights on her legs. A thin black ribbon was tied in a bow around the collar of her shirt.

She was served breakfast earlier than everyone else in the house, since she would leave the house early. She packed a satchel with her textbooks and notebooks before she left the house, Irene seeing her off.

She felt uneasy going to school. She was afraid someone would recognize her, and she wouldn't be able to escape from her life back in Paris after all. Walking to school with her bag around her shoulder, she grasped onto the strap tightly, similar to when she walked into the Waters' household for the first time.

For a town like Scarlettview, which had many small structures, Mount Evergreen High School was much larger than what Violet had expected it to be. A brick fence surrounded the old fashioned building, and students entered from the black metal gates.

There was a large whiteboard in the main lobby of the school. While many students looked for their names on class lists, Violet relied on the information sheets she was given from Mrs. Waters to find which class she was in.

Class 2-B at room 203. Where is that again...?

She had arrived to school early to have time to explore the school, but that went to waste as she spent her entire time looking for her classroom. Afraid to ask people where to go, she decided to go find it by herself.

She made it to the classrooms seconds before the bell rang. An empty seat in the middle of the classroom was left for her, and she slowly walked towards it and placed her bag down. A woman walked in not long after Violet arrived and set her things on the desk at the front corner of the room. Picking up a piece of chalk from the blackboard, she printed "Mrs. Clarke" in large letters.

"My name is Mrs. Clarke, and I will be your homeroom teacher this year. I'm looking forward to it." She said with a smile. "Let's take attendance."

This was what Violet was afraid of. Mrs. Clarke went down her list, reading everyone's first name then last name. Violet would have to time her response perfectly.

"Violet Ch-"

"Here!" Violet rose her hand eagerly. Mrs. Clarke looked at her in surprise, but continued down the list.

Violet sighed. Good, she didn't have to say it. She laid back in her seat and ignored her as she called then next few names in the small class.

"Quillon Hayes."