Invisibly Masked

Chapter 17

 

IMASK- Chapter 17

Sorry for the long wait. Again.

“Arissa, what are you doing?” A voice said behind me, making me look up with guilty eyes. I smiled, wiping the icing off my face.

“Nothing,” I said with a mouth full of cupcake. Cat smiled at me as I set the cupcake down on my napkin, wiping my hands and then straightening my dress. It was a small ruffled, black dress with a white design on the front, paired with a light pink blazer with silver buttons and a small bow in the back with a black ribbon brioche. My hair was up in a nice bun and I had on a shiny pair of black heels. Cat laughed at me, fixing her gold bracelets on her arm. She had a white, off the shoulder dress with pastel pink heels with a bow on the side.

“Looks like you were stuffing your face with cupcakes,” she accused, looking at me with her arms crossed. I shook my head, picking up my cupcake and tearing the paper away.

“What, am I not aloud to eat any sweets?” I asked, taking a bit of the vanilla sweetness. Cat walked up to me and grabbed the cupcake out of my hands. I protested and reached for it, but she shook her head and smacked my hand away. I rubbed my hand and pouted, wishing I still had my sugary goodness.

“No, But I know for a fact you tend to get a sweet tooth when your nervous. You need to calm down, everything will go smoothly,” Cat said, throwing my cupcake away. I scowled.

“Just because I'm nervous doesn't give you the right to throw away a perfectly good cupcake. Imagine all the kids in the world that have no food,” I reprimanded. She rolled her eyes and grabbed my arm, pulling me out of the lobby and into the the actual theater. With how fancy everything was, it made our auditorium look like a janitors closet. Which is why we're dressed so fancy. Its a pretty big deal, hence why I'm so nervous.

“What if nothing goes smoothly?” I asked, looking at Cat with worried eyes. She sighed and pushed some of her curled hair behind her ear, looking at me softly.

“You will be fine. Nothing will go wrong, I promise. Too many people have scholarships riding on you, so many of them will watch your back,” She reassured. I rolled my eyes and watched as people took their seats, Lena and Tiana waving to us. I smiled at them and waved back.

“Well its reassuring that most of the people protecting me are only doing it because their getting something out of it,” I mumbled, which was very pessimistic of me. Cat gave me a look that told me not to go there, so I didn't. Watching from the sidelines as a bunch of people found their seats.

“So when exactly are you guys gonna get ready?” A voice from behind us made me jump. Looking to see Jessie, dressed in a suit and tie, I held my hand to my heart.

“Jesus!” I whispered, making Cat chuckle. Jessie smirked at me, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“No, its just me. Though I don't exactly see a resemblance, its still appreciated.” he said smugly, getting an eye roll from not only me, but Cat too. I pushed my glasses back up on my nose and shook, my head, looking back out the the growing crowd.

“I'm not staying,” I said, ignoring the head swivel from Jessie in my peripheral vision. “I have a- uh, thing to go to with Sydney. Can't miss,” I took this moment to look at Jessie, his eyebrow raised. I knew he didn't believe me. Crap.

“A thing? What kind of thing?” He asked. I felt Cat's nails dig into my arm, a sign that I needed an excuse. And fast.

“A- uh, convention! A collegial convention. Its way out in the city, it'll take almost two hours to get there,” good, keep it up the the lying. I felt my hands start to shake. There was just something about lying to him that made the guilt ten times heavier. “So I'll only be able to see the actual orchestra. I'm leaving, like, ten-fifteen minutes before you guys go on. I'm sorry,” I said, and I was. So very sorry.