The Emo Girl

The revelation

So many questions started to pop out in my mind. I was going to cross the road towards the junction that led to my home.
I stepped on the road, only for someone to pull me back by my shoulder. As soon as I was pulled back, I saw a huge bus zoom by.
I was shocked. If whoever that person was didn't pull me back, I would've been run over!
"Hey are you okay?" I heard a voice ask behind me. I turned around to look and saw a girl. She was wearing glasses and had long black hair tied into a ponytail. She looked kinda surprised.
"Hey thanks for saving me back there," I said, gratefully. "That bus would have ran me over!"
"Pe- Penelope?" said the girl, looking shocked.
Wait, she knows me? How? Am I famous in this town?
"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" I asked. "I don't think I've seen you before..."
"Hmm..." said the girl. "You don't recognise me, do you?"
I shook my head in reply.
"Who are you?" I asked. "How do you know me?"
"Fine I'll tell you," said the girl. "I'm Ash."
Wait... this is ASH?! She didn't look anything like Ash! Ash had these really pale blue eyes. This girl had really dark eyes. She also wore glasses, and she didn't look emo at ALL!
"I don't believe you," I said at last. "I know perfectly well what Ash looks like."
"Can we- can we talk somewhere else?" she asked. "We're literally in the middle of the streets."
I nodded and we both entered a cafe that was just next to us. We sat ourselves on one of the tables and ordered a drink.
As soon as the waitress left, I started bombarding her with questions.
"If you really are Ash, then why are you so emo at school when you're not?" I asked, doubtfully. "Prove it to me that you really are Ash."
She sighed and looked around to make sure that no one was watching and took off the scrunchie that secured her ponytail. She arranged her hair so that it covered half of her face and took off her glasses. She whipped out a black face mask and put it on. Well, she was definitely Ash. The only difference was that she wasn't wearing the dark eye makeup and didn't have those pale blue eyes.
"Ash?" I said, finally. "But why?"
"It's a long story," said Ash, putting her glasses back on and tying her hair back after taking off the face mask. "It's a disguise."
"Wait what?" I said, confused. "But why? And what's with the mask and those creepy contact lens?"
"As you can see, I can't see very well without glasses," said Ash. "I needed contacts so I decided to get fancy. I needed the mask to cover my face up a bit."
"Why?" I asked. "Why do you need a disguise? You look perfectly normal. And also, why do you need to cover your face?"
"You see, I'm actually a spy," said Ash. "I need to spy on someone, so I need to disguise. The reason why I wear the mask is so that I can keep my emo persona. If I don't wear it, then my my cover is blown! I am a very smiley person, and I love to laugh a lot. So to hide all of that, the mask is the only way. I can still silently laugh and no one would notice!"
"Wait you're a detective?" I asked and she nodded. "Does the administration know?"
"No they don't," said Ash. "They just think I'm a normal student. Well, I am actually, just spying on someone for my parents."
Our drinks arrived at that moment. We stopped talking for a while until the waitress left.
"Well, I'm not exactly a detective," said Ash. "I'm just helping my parents."
"Who are you actually spying on?" I asked. "Please don't tell me that you're spying on me..."
"No no it's not you," said Ash. "I'm spying on Daniel."
"Why?" I asked. "What did he do?"
"His parents are really rich," said Ash. "The police suspect them of doing some illegal business. My parents are detectives that work with the police. So to get more information about Daniel's parents, they asked me to keep an eye on Daniel. If you didn't know, I sit behind him in class."
"Oh so that's why you were peeking into the boys' room at school during recess the other day," I said, realising. "You seriously creeped me out..."
"Yeah..." said Ash. "Sorry about that."
"Your disguise was a good one," I said. "I bought it... everyone did. You see, even the bullies are afraid of you."
Ash started laughing so hard that she almost spilled her drink. She put it on another part of the table to avoid her from knocking it over.
"Really are you serious?" asked Ash between laughter. "Do I look that scary?"
"Yes you do," I said. "Did you ever look at yourself the mirror while wearing your disguise?"
"Yes..." said Ash. "Yeah it kinda scares me too..."
We talked a little more until we finished our drinks. Ash turned out to be the exact opposite of what she is at school.
"Is your name really Ash?" I asked. "Or is it a fake name?"
"No it isn't," said Ash. "It's short for Ashley. So my name is in fact Ash."
"Alright then," I said, getting up and taking the stuff that I bought. "I have to go home now."
"Can I come too?" asked Ash. "My parents aren't home yet, and I have nothing to do."
"Sure I guess," I said. "Come on, my home isn't far off."
We went back to my house and sat on the couch of my living room.
"I have a question," I said. "How could you stand with your hair all over your face at school? Doesn't it bother you?"
"It does," said Ash. "But I just gotta grin and bear it."
"Alright," I said. "You wanna see my room?"
"Sure," said Ash getting up. "I would love to see your room."
I took her upstairs to my room, with the stuff I bought and she sat on my sofa.
"I really like your room," said Ash, looking around. "And I like your bed."
I took my tablet and sat on my bed to start typing out a new chapter. I switched my tablet on and Ash came to see what I was doing.
"You have Wattpad too?" asked Ash, looking over at my tablet. "That's what I've been reading the whole time! This one writer is really good. Her username is Poppythebest."
I was astonished! That was my username! So she's the mystery reader, huh?
I opened my profile and showed it to her.
"So you're the mystery reader, huh?" I said, showing her my tablet. "I'm Poppythebest."
Ash's mouth dropped open. Then she started smiling.
"You're Poppythebest?" she asked and I nodded. "I really like your books!"
"I like how you were hiding the fact that you were reading my books from me," I said. "So you're my mystery reader. I was really wondering. Who on Earth is this person?"
"Yeah your books are great," said Ash. "I like reading them."
"Thanks," I said with a smile. "Glad that you like them."