Masks

Chapter 14

I never stood out,
And I never could,
Because no one would let me be.

  ~~~

  The workload on their shoulders never seemed to lighten. Violet, a month and a half into the school year, had been trying her best to keep her grades up, even if it had meant pulling a couple all-nighters just to finish her schoolwork. All of that while preparing lessons for Olivier to teach outside school hours. With that plus all her schoolwork, her workload may be comparable to the one of Quinn, who was in A.P. classes.

  "Hey, you sure you're okay there?" asked Olivier, who was sitting across Violet in one of their sessions. "You seem out of it lately."

  "Just the schoolwork." Violet sighed. "I should have expected it though. It's similar to the one from the international school in Paris..."

"You don't have to tutor me if it's interfering with your schedule." He suggested. "I seem to be figuring things out. I might be able to go on with this on my own. My grades have been going up a bit in our later assignments."

"It's okay, don't worry about it. I'm sure I can handle it." She answered. "Tutoring you isn't that difficult, you seem to pick things up easily."

"Okay, but if you need to cancel a session just let me know. I can manage, I think."

~~~

"Quillon Hayes, what is the meaning of this?" Quinn's mother angrily grasped a sheet of paper in her hands. "An 88% on your most recent physics quiz? Absolutely unacceptable!"

  "I'm sorry, Mother, I've just been—"

  Mrs. Hayes did not hesitate to slap her son in the face. "I thought Physics was your best subject. I know that you are an eleventh grader now and the courses are more difficult, but you have no excuse to be bringing home grades like these. I'd only expect numbers in the high nineties for you. You've been able to put up with harder subjects in the past, why is this becoming a problem now?"

  "I promise I'll get back to it as soon as I can. My head's been all over the place recently. But I won't let that affect my studies from here on."

  "You'd better get yourself together, and soon." She instructed. "Universities are looking for your grades from this year, so I suggest you try harder to focus on your studies this year. Another bad grade like that and your punishment worsens."

  "...yes Mother."

  Quinn let out a long sigh when his mother finally left him in his room. He touched his left cheek, red and warm from when he had been hit.

  She always hits with her right hand.

  Glancing towards another corner in his room, he notices and remembers a certain white rectangle hiding behind the end of his desk.

  Retrieving it from it's hiding spot, Quinn held up the whiteboard he had bought not too long ago. Dust had began to pile up on it, having he hadn't used it since the first week of school.

She hasn't been around to talk lately...

His gaze averted to the window, where the light from the sunset shone through the blinds. Looking directly across, he could see Violet's window, where whatever was behind it was blocked by a fabric barrier. Like before she had moved to Scarlettview, the curtains remained closed as if she had never arrived in the first place.

"What are you doing?"

The voice made Quinn jump and drop his board on his desk. He sighed in relief and placed his hand on his chest once he turned around to see who had entered.