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Chapter 17 (i)
"Emi, slow down!"
She wasn’t listening. All that concerned the two-year-old was running in circles around the small coffee table in the hopes I would continue the chase. Before leaving, Lilia had warned me she’d been a ball of energy all day and wasn’t likely to crash for a little while longer. I didn’t mind. I wasn’t put out by my daughter’s exuberance; her happiness didn’t cause me the kind of distress that mine invariably caused my own mother.
Emily was beautiful in everything she did. Often, I marvelled at how I could bring such a perfect creature into this world after all the ugliness that resided inside me.
I scooped her up when she ran by me again, too dizzy to watch her go another round. Emi burst into a fit of giggles, her feet kicking about as I suspended her from the ground. I blew raspberries into her cheek then flopped onto the couch with her in my lap. Big brown eyes smiled up at me with her now beginning t
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The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 17 (ii)
That was it then.I wanted to be angry, to rage the way at least three of them expected I would, but I couldn’t. A soothing balm of numbness seeped into my bones, spreading out across my body so that all but the most extreme of feelings appeared as little more than a prickle along my skin. I supposed I should’ve felt betrayed—Jayden had promised me his vote, after all—but it was too difficult a feeling to muster. The fairytale had been too good to be true from its outset. Make a story too fantastical and the audience would have a hard time believing it.This was more in line with the reality I knew; it made the most sense to me and raised no alarms. There was an odd sort of comfort in the familiar, one that softened the blow to little more than a gentle breeze.“Why?” I asked. It was better to carry on the pretence, if only in small part. I was meant to care and that required asking questions when given such news regardless of
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 17 (iii)
“You didn’t tell me another one of your little friends was stopping by,” Mom said, oblivious to the devil she’d allowed into our home. Perhaps she knew, perhaps that sort was attracted by others of a similar nature, and she knew by some sixth sense that Erin was there to ruin my evening.“I won’t be long, Mrs. Deneiro. Kai, can we talk for a sec?”No.“…sure.”I led her back to my room, the walk filled with frantic efforts to uncover what the girl had planned. Even more pressing was how she managed to get my address. Jonie was a resourceful girl who’d helped Jayden in the endeavour, but I doubted she shared any particular affinity for the girl that would provoke the same degree of helpfulness.“Good luck tonight,” I said, closing the door behind us. As was always the case, someone would need to be civil, and it would never be her.Erin wrinkled her nose as she too
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 17 (iv)
I remained quiet, too consumed by my own feelings of inadequacy to begin to process the fact she’d referred to me with a term of endearment absent external provocation. “Jayden will be here any minute; why’re you just sitting around?”“I can’t go to the dance…” I sniffed once, willing the tears back into their glands with minimal success. To have her see me crying was unlikely to improve my evening and, while I doubted she could make it worse, she had the ability to come dangerously close.“Are you out of your mind?” she asked, crossing the room to join me by my bed. “I’ve already got the camera out—that dress was $85.”I turned to her, my eyes clouding over so that it became difficult to see the rising agitation in her eyes. “Look at me, Mom.” I wiped at my nose. Against my better judgment and the survival instincts I’d gained throughout the years, I broke dow
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 17 (v)
The commotion didn’t go unnoticed. The volume of the music did little to mask my protests, and soon I’d gained the attention of everyone present.It was enough to shut me up.My legs were set the run the moment they put me down. If I was fast enough, I could make it to the parking lot before they caught me. It would require a great deal of force from me, but I didn’t suppose it would be impossible with the level of adrenaline that now coursed through me.I took a careful step back, wanting to distance myself from the eyes that never looked away. Waves of anxiety crashed into me, reducing my frame as my shoulders began to fold inward. I took another step back but felt three hands gently pushing me forward. I turned to find the three with encouraging smiles plastered across their faces, further insistence that I go on.“Take a deep breath if you have to, but you’re not leaving,” Jonie said. Her tone was matter of fact in
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 18 (i)
I leaned onto the counter, trying to steady myself. It was the first mistake. The movement caught my eye in the mirror’s reflection, forcing them up to take in the sight that was me.They’d done a crude job of cutting my hair, tufts both long and short sticking out at odd ends in asymmetrical patterns. Some places went down to the scalp while others retained a few inches. The look complemented the bruises now once again on display in a manner most macabre. They weren’t alone; new bruises had risen in the places the hands of those girls once were.I stared on in a daze, allowing myself to be transfixed by the girl who stood before me now. This was the second mistake. She was a stark contrast to the girl who’d managed to woo me with her beauty moments earlier.A rage I hadn’t felt since I was seven filled me. Self-loathing and disgust swelled inside me; they fuelled the ferality that forced its way in. She was staring at me; pathetic,
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 18 (ii)
"Seth, what the hell do you think you're doing?!"Sydney and Jonie hurried into the room, Sydney leading the charge. It shouldn’t have surprised me that she’d come looking for me. I couldn’t say how long I’d been gone, but it was long enough to give anyone the impression I wouldn’t be going back.“Get away from her,” Jonie said.Seth pried his eyes away from me to look at the pair of girls who’d already begun to think the worst. He shook his head. “Calm down. I know this looks bad—I’ll even admit that my intentions weren’t exactly innocent when I came looking for her, bu
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 18 (iii)
"Come on Kai." Jayden took me by my good hand and led me past the boy who’d only been trying to ensure I was okay. He didn’t care about the affront he’d levied, nor did he see the need to portray himself in a more charismatic light as president. Jayden was of a more singular mind. In that moment, I was the one and only concern that plagued him and his every instinct insisted he make me safe.Jayden brought me to the board room, closing the door behind us. He hoisted me onto the meeting table, setting himself before me. His expression was resolute and there was purpose in his eyes. “Who did this to you?”“It doesn’t matter.”
The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President Chapter 18 (iv)
“As for my mother,” I said, giving a half-hearted one-shouldered shrug, “I guess…if I were a better kid, she wouldn’t have to do the things she did.” There was a formula to gaining her love and approval, but I’d searched my entire life for it with little success.I needed to be better; I just…didn’t know how.“Stop it.”“Stop what?”“I don’t ever want to hear you rationalise other people’s abuse again. No one deserves to have the shit kicked out of them for
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