The Masqueraded

12

Stefan was running across the corridor that morning, his feet pounding against the marble tile. Adrenaline shot up his whole being as he rounded a corner and dodged a few people who scowled at him angrily and even swore behind him as he sped across the hallway.

He made his way to the student lounge all the while trying to reach Melanie on the phone. Ru saw Stefan sprinting towards the entrance of the lounge and grabbed him from his arm tightly.

'Hey, what's with all the hurry!' Ru noticed perspiration dripping down his neck when he turned to face her with an almost annoyed look. Seeing that it was Ru who was standing there, his face relaxed a bit.

'Hey Ruera, saw Mel anywhere?'

'She has a class', Ru replied, 'but after she's done she'll be free for the day!'

'Good, when is she finishing?' Stefan asked, narrowing his eyes as if he was thinking of something else. Ru looked at him confused for a second before responding.

'She'll be done by ten', then asked after a moment's hesitation, 'what's this about?'

'I'll explain everything to you later, I promise!'

'Ah, so it's exclusive treatment for Mel!' Ru smirked suggestively.

She didn't get the expected response from Stefan, he looked zoned out the whole time she was speaking.

'I have a lead', he finally said, looking about him, extremely distracted. Ru's eyes widened.

'Whatever do you mean?' the girl asked but it was clear Stefan didn't want to say it just yet.
He shook his head.

'You're going to have to wait Ru, I need to confirm something', he  responded in an extremely serious tone. Ru realized it was  time to stop asking questions and patted his shoulder.

'Okay Sherlock, let's wait for Mel. You guys talk it out!'

'Where's Mavis, Wesley and Kira?' Stefan asked, a little bit more focused, looking about him.

'Mavis is taking her little sister to this event at her school, so she's busy at home with that. Wesley is with Mel. Kira...' she paused, 'she's at home. Her leg isn't okay yet'.

Stefan glanced at Ru's leg.

'You don't look too good yourself Ruera, are you sure you should be coming to school just yet?'

Ru kept silent as the two of them walked into the lounge room. Sam was sitting at a table in the far corner of the room listening to something on his headphones. They made their way over to him.

'I rarely ever see that guy at school! He used to be around you guys a lot!' Stefan exclaimed observantly.

'Actually, he's a nice guy...' she responded, 'we met in town before he came to College, you know?' Ru explained, 'he's just been a bit AWOL since recently...'

Ru got lost in her thoughts afterwards as they sat down at the table. Sam looked up from his phone and seeing Ru, grinned widely at her. He took off his headphones and kept it on the table.

'Hey Ru, haven't seen you around in a while!'

'I could say the same thing about you!' she responded, smiling.

It was so difficult to not like him. He was cheerful as much as clueless and sometimes dense. He was nice and always had a smile in his face. However, he turned out to be a bit different from what she thought he'd be at first. He wasn't always around and as much as she was happy initially to have a good friend she realized she still didn't get a chance to actually get to know him.