Mesmerized | ✓

33

Candace couldn't take the pressure. Accepting the crown and pretending to be over the moon about it was hard enough but when Yuli asked her to dance, she knew she needed to at least splash her face with cold water, or otherwise she would pass out and make the completion of their plan impossible. She breathed heavily walking off the stage and leaving the lecture hall in search for the bathroom.

She pushed her way through the crowd of people that only seemed to be increasing in number. New ones were still coming making it that much harder for her to breath. Candace pulled off her mask cursing Yuli for choosing one that covered nearly all of her face. She stormed into one of the restrooms, occupied by a few girls. Once they saw Candace and her angry face, they left.

The girl leaned against one of the sinks and took deep breaths, meeting the gaze of her reflection in the mirror. Candace noted that her face were all sweaty and her make-up was smudged. Maybe the mask wasn't that bad after all. At least Yuli didn't see the shaking mess that she was. She tried to calm herself down, knowing that the plan depended on her keeping herself together and not letting the fear intervene.

"You've got it." Candace said to herself and nodded her head as if her own reflection could convince her that she was capable of condemning another person to death, no matter how much of a monster that person actually was. "You've got it." She repeated and stood up straight. She did some singing exercises that usually calmed her nerves before the performance and luckily this time it worked too. She felt a little better.

Ready to face the music, Candace went to leave the bathroom but much to her surprise the handle wouldn't budge, as if something had locked her inside. "Hey!" She called out, still trying to get the door to open. "I'm locked inside!" Candace yelled hoping that someone would come to her rescue.

But no one did.

*****

After having made sure that Candace wouldn't intervene with her plans, Robin walked back into the lecture hall, just in time to have her heart shattered by an image she had hoped she wouldn't have to witness again. But there they were, Carl and Yuli kissing, as if just to spite Robin. The girl clenched her hands into fists wondering why the hell she was even bothering to save than asshole if he cared about nearly everyone but her.

But she calmed down a little when she saw Yuli pull away from her brother and leave him alone on the dance floor. He noticed Robin standing by the stage and walked over to her with a smile on his face that made Robin's anger melt away, to some extent at least. "Don't mind that." He said dismissively taking hold of Robin's hand. "Just wanted to indulge him a bit."

Robin wanted to say something but she feared that he would recognize her voice and she didn't want that just yet. So she only nodded her head. "Do you want to dance now?" Another nod. "You're trying to play mysterious now?" Yuli chuckled lightly dragging her to the spot where he had just kissed her brother. "Too bad I know what you look like underneath the mask."

The girl smiled to herself letting Yuli pull her into his arms. She enjoyed the short moment of bliss that she knew she would have to soon break. Yuli twirled around her a few times but other than that, they just mostly swayed slowly to the music. Robin itched to pull off her mask and kiss him, like Carl had the courage to do but she knew that there would be time for that later. Once Yuli knew who she was and what she did to save him.

Robin managed to tear her eyes away from Yuli to try to check if Mark and Carl were still in the crowd. But they were nowhere to be seen which meant that it was the time for action. This time it was Robin who took Yuli by the hand and led him away from the crowd, into one of the storage rooms that she knew of. Once they were inside she flipped on the lights, they illuminated Yuli's make-up and Robin's work of art. "What did you bring me here?" Yuli asked, still holding onto Robin's hand. He sounded a little confused but also exited.