Hunting the Fairy Tale

Chapter 14 - The Case of the Missing Paisley

Willow

"Excuse me," I croak, as nervous as a job seeker at a daunting interview. Several heads jerk up, their faces turning towards me. I almost turn around and run away.

"Miss Priss!" Tanner grins, and I immediately regret my decision to come to the boys' hangout to find Paisley. He is casually draped all over the bench. He'd either claimed it as his territory or he's the only one who doesn't enjoy slumming it on the ground. Hunter and the boy, I think might be his friend, Dex, are lying on their stomachs next to each other on the lawn. They were watching something amusing on a phone and stopped laughing at what they were looking at when they heard me speak. They are now peering up at me expectantly, and I can feel a warm blush spreading over my cheeks while I start planning my exit strategy.

Coming here by myself was a huge mistake.

Looking at the Dex candidate, I suspect that I might have seen him in detention on Tuesday. His is not the kind of face one just sees and then immediately forgets. I might've been overwhelmed on Tuesday, but I'm starting to remember details from that day. I really think he'd been there, and he'd had a badly bruised eye then.

He'd been sitting next to Tanner, staring morosely at his phone, awfully quiet, taking no interest in what was going on around him. I'd been too freaked out to take much notice of him, but I do remember thinking that he was rather nice-looking, in an angry, broody way, despite the bruise. He mostly just scared me until he went to sleep. I don't remember Hunter interacting with him at all, though. Maybe it wasn't him. 

Come to think of it, I don't remember him having a black eye yesterday, and he doesn't have one now, either. It is very possible that I recognise Dex from yesterday and am applying him to the boy from Tuesday, my brain adding its own details to try and make sense of all the strange things I'm experiencing.

If it is the same boy, he must be using some really thick concealer. It's not a very good type, though. It doesn't last long. I'm certain that when I glimpsed him in a hallway earlier today, the bruise had been visible again. I am not sure. There are too many boys in this school, and so many of them are battered and bruised. It is rather disconcerting.

If this boy is hiding a bruised eye, he should think about upgrading his concealer. I could give him some advice on that. I've picked up a lot of make-up tricks due to the time I spent in Mount Sovereign's theatre club. I know some good products that won't wash off with the first few drops of sweat. The theatre, costumes, that kind of thing has always been my one true love. Fixing and creating theatre costumes were the inspiration that led to my hobby of making doll clothing.

The boy is rather nice-looking without the bruise. He has beautiful, gentle eyes and a warm smile. He is not overly pretty, like Tanner; he is just very pleasant to look at. He exudes warmth and comfort and has a very likeable face indeed. If it was him in detention on Tuesday, he must've been in a really bad mood. Well, I don't blame him; I wasn't happy to be in detention either. Right now, he is still very quiet, but he seems approachable and is causing me to smile back at him.

Great, now I'm blushing even more. I should get myself some of that concealer I'm thinking about.

Honestly, there's no way on Earth I'm sharing make-up tips with a boy I don't know, even if he is Hunter's best friend. My thoughts are travelling along some very strange routes these days.

Next to them, Asher is sitting in his customary knee-hugging pose. Jake, reading, as usual, is using Asher's shoulder and upper arm as a backrest. It says quite a lot for Asher's balance and strength that he can remain contentedly upright while Jake is relaxing against him like that.