Their Masks

The Perfect Guy's Mask (Part 1)

Even with what most people spoke of, Justin Mani was perhaps the most elusive boy in his high school. There was nothing that the seventeen-year-old could not do. Football was a given with that arm of his built like a cannon. Acting was a pleasure when he made every female swoon with his Romeo performance. Being smart was a surprise when he was tutoring his peers on covalent bonds. Popularity was expected when he was the object of affection by every girl in his year.

The problem with Justin Mani was that he knew how good he was. He knew just how he made the girls lose sleep over him running laps on the track with no shirt on. He knew how he was envied by most of his peers for the fame and skills he possessed. He knew why the football team held him in the highest regard with all the ladies he had drawn out to see their games.

And he hated the attention more than anything in the world.

He hated that people considered everything he loved doing not worthy of a guy like him. Because of football, he could never try out for the hockey team. Because of drama, he could never sit in his closed space and just be alone. Because of him being good at Math and Science, no one ever believed he would consider Art relevant.

And worst of all, because of being popular, he was never going to be able to ask Gwen Summers for a date.

Maybe that was what was truly eating him up inside. Gwen was a girl who was the complete opposite of any that was considered worthy of Justin Mani. She was almost invisible in the school. Her hair possessed no glossy look of being cared for like the cheerleaders'. Her clothes were only considered fashionable because they were not torn.

Justin himself had never glanced at her for all the six years he had been in the school until that one day he ran into her coming from the restroom. She was such a fragile thing to his frame of six feet. Her skin seemed so soft that it took everything in him not to reach out and touch it. He loved the scarlet colour that lit her pale face when she bumped into him randomly in the corridors. She'd then proceed to whisper her apologies and literally flee the scene.

Such an insignificant thing for Justin to like in all the girls he knew. But he never stopped seeing her since that day. Every time at lunch she would sit with her friends and her laugh would bring wonders to those hazel eyes of hers. Every lesson of Gym she would wear that volleyball uniform that almost made Justin lose his mind. Every History class she would play with the ends of her cooper red hair and the breeze would blow a sweet lavender scent Justin's way.

Even today as Justin sat with the usual company of his football team and the cheerleaders, his eyes were trained on the object of his heart's desire laughing with her friends. Today her hair was held as a long braid behind her back. Her blouse was a steel grey colour that meshed very well with her eyes. He also loved the way her hair danced when she laughed.

"Justin knows what I'm talking about. Right, Justin?"

Someone drew his attention back to the table and he had to flow with the conversation he had been using as background noise to look at Gwen. He engaged in the mindless banter for a while and once their hare-brained attention span waned, he went back to his earlier activity.

But something was wrong.

He hadn't noticed it before because he had only been focusing on Gwen. But now that he was looking up, the table held an extra person than the three friends Gwen had. And this new occupant did not appease Justin's peace of mind in the least bit. He didn't know about the boy, but it must have been another unknown mask that went to this school.

He would never have interested Justin's curiosity until Gwen rose from the table, her hand in his. Justin never knew much about the feeling of jealously. What was there to be jealous of when he was Justin Mani? He was used to having no interest in anything that was enclosed in the walls of his school that wasn't on Gwen's body.

But now when he witnessed the boy leading his heart's motivation for pumping away from the room, he felt a sudden desire to introduce the boy's face to his shoe.

"What's wrong, Justin?"

The voice to his right brought him out of his silent rage trance. He had not noticed it but the can of soda he had been working on was now being crushed in his grip. He cussed as he shook the excess soda from his hand. This day was not improving.

"Nothing."

"Here," the blonde girl offered a napkin as she moped up the mess from the table. Justin didn't particularly know her, but the fact that she sat next to him meant that she was a cheerleader.

"Thanks." He took the napkin, his mind still on Gwen's hand-holding friend. He was attempting to make Justin's life a living hell. Something had to be done.

But what could he do? If he ever tried to contest for Gwen's hand, the shame to his popular status would be too much for him to bear. He could not risk his entire life that he had built since fifth grade for that. But every minute he was aware the boy had with her was a torment to his mind. He needed to do something about it.

He rose from the table to make good on his word. He was going to need some time alone to think if he was going to remove this mask that was trying to obscure the face of Gwen from his view. Justin was so caught up in his thoughts that he did not notice the blonde cheerleader still cleaning the table.