Masked Risks

Chapter 1

"Shhh! How are we supposed to keep it a secret if you shout all about it?" I whisper-shouted. 

Avery put her hand on my shoulder, "You'll have to excuse our precious Olivia here. She's a little sleep deprived, and we all know how cranky she gets when she doesn't get enough sleep." She looked at me pointedly.

I swatted her hand away and took a sip of my Arizona iced tea. "Shut up" I grumbled. 

Chad seemed to have finally finished eating his pile of food that could probably feed a small third-world country and came up for a breath of fresh air. 

"Promise me you'll take a nap before rehearsal tonight," he begged me with puppy dog eyes. 

Before I could answer, the lunchroom started buzzing as people moved around and whispered to each other. Our school is small, so everyone gets really excited with little pieces of new gossip. I turned around in my seat to see what was going on. I saw Lindsay, who’s the popular girl in our school, standing by the lunchroom doors, surrounded by her usual group. She had her arm wrapped around some unfamiliar dark haired guy. Every week, Lindsay had herself wrapped around a different guy, so this wasn’t anything new.

I turned back around to face the table. “Why is everyone freaking out?” I asked, crumpling my paper bag in my hand.

Avery finally faced me. “Well, that’s what I was going to tell you about! Since you were late, you didn’t hear that there’s a new kid and he is unbelievably attractive. Thank God, ‘cause this school needed some more attractive guys.”

“Hey, what about me?!” Chad chimed in.

Avery winked at him. “You know I’m just kidding. Obviously, you’re the most attractive guy this world has ever seen. We worship you.” She crawled down onto the floor and made a movement like she was bowing down to him.

“And this here is the weird table. Avery is doing what she does best and cleaning up the floors.” Lindsay was standing at our table, now, with at least half of the school surrounding her. “It’s the only way her family can afford this school.” She pretended to whisper to the new kid. Her usual group snickered behind her.

“Go away, Lindsay,” Kevin sighed, finally pulling away from Pepper who had been doing weird couple-y things at their end of the table.

Avery stood up off the floor and brushed herself off, her face bright red as she sat back down. She never liked to talk about the fact that she was one of the few scholarship kids at our school. Most students had fancy cars and expensive clothes because their parents bought everything they wanted. Avery didn’t have those unnecessary luxuries, but she was really a genius and deserved to be at the school much more than most of my other classmates.

“What? I was just introducing Erik to everyone. He’s new here, and I thought he should know who he shouldn’t be talking to.” She gave Kevin an innocent look.

“Give it a rest. I’m really not in the mood for your bullshit today, so just leave us alone and finish parading around the cafeteria like you actually mean something.” I gestured around the small cafeteria where most people had lost interest in Lindsay and went back to their normal conversations.

She glared at me, but didn’t say anything. We used to be friends because we knew each other since kindergarten, but we both changed in middle school and found our own friends, which was just as well since she turned into a stereotypical mean girl. Our paths rarely crossed, which I was thankful for, but when they did, she didn’t really fight with me.

“Come on, Erik, let’s go sit down. I’ll introduce to our table,” she pulled the new kid along. He gave us a little wave and a small smirk as he was whisked away. Before his cool green eyes met mine and he winked.

“I feel bad for that guy,” I said, taking a swig of my iced tea, finishing it. The bell sounded, signaling the end of lunch. The screeching of the metal chairs against the wood floors filled the room as everyone starting leaving the lunchroom. “Off to English we go!” I threw my bottle in the recycling bin and grabbed Avery’s arm. “See ya later, guys!” I waved to the rest of the table.

“Forget about her. You know none of that’s true and Lindsay’s just trying to show off because there’s someone new to corrupt around here,” I tried to reassure her as we followed the sea of students exciting the lunchroom.

“I know, I know,” she sighed. “Let’s just get the rest of this day over with. I need it to be the weekend.”

Avery and I were on the same page when it came to dance and we always looked forward to the solace of the dance studio where all of this disappeared. We only had a few more hours before this dreadful week was over and we could focus on something we actually loved with the company of people we actually enjoyed.

Author’s Note:

I’m sorry for all of the mistakes. Some of this stuff is subject to change because I’m not sure how I feel about everything at this point. There is a large possibility that I will change the title. I’ll need to go back and revise this, obviously, but I’ll probably do that once the story is complete. Please, let me know what you think! I’ll add pictures of the characters soon, so let me know who you think each character should look like!