masked

#24

Walking to my first class meant pushing through the massive crowd of teenagers all trying to get to lessons on time. I was starting to feel a little claustrophobic. Then someone crashed into me, almost knocking me to the ground.

"Watch where your going, dickhead."
A voice to my left said, I turned to see my best friend narrowing his eyes at the boy in front of us.

"S-sorry." The boy stammered and literally ran away.

"Tobi!" I squealed, wrapping my arms around his neck. He hugged me back but stayed silent.

"We need to talk, okay?" He said, taking my hand to guide me towards the Science lab.

My face fell, I could lie to him but that would just add to the growing stress building up inside me. Tobi would be angry but I knew he had always anticipated this. I should've listened to him when he warned me.

I took my usual seat in class and watched the door, seeing all the students file in. Chattering about their holidays. I waited but Simon never showed.

Not in Science or Maths and he wasn't there at break either. Did he not even come to school? I couldn't see Harry anywhere either.

Everyone noticed that I had been a but quieter than usual. My excuse was that I was tired. It wasn't a lie, I was painfully tired physically and emotionally.

"I'll be right back, guys." I smiled, excusing myself from the lunch table and heading over towards the toilets.

My hair was a mess and my mascara had smudged all over the place, why did I even bother. I splashed some cold water on my face to see if it had any effect but I still looked like a zombie. My clothes didn't fit me right either, hanging off me loosely. I had lost a lot of weight.

Suddenly, I heard something and whipped around. I wasn't expecting anyone to be in here with me. I listened carefully and could make out a sniffling sound from the cubicle at the far end.

"Hello? Are you okay in there?" I called out, softly.

More sniffling. "Im fine, thank you."

I frowned, trying to recognise the voice.

"Freya? Is that you?" I tried.

A few seconds later the door opened and she came out. Her make up had ran down her face and her cheeks were tear stained. She looked just as rough as me, possibly worse.

"What happened?" I asked, rummaging in my bag and then handing her a tissue.

She blew her nose and then paused for a minute before sighing. "Josh broke up with me."

I stared at her.

"What?" She asked nervously, confused at my shock.

"Simon broke up with me." I admitted.

"Oh! Josh told me you were together-"

I frowned.

"No don't worry! He didn't tell anyone else." She said quickly, correcting herself.

"Have you seen Josh today?" I asked, thoroughly confused by now.

"Nope, he didn't even give me an explanation but when I do see him I'm going to get one." She said, adamantly tossing her hair.

The bell rang and we walked to class together. Freya was around the same height as me and had blonde hair but hers fell straight whereas mine was curly. Her eyes were a smooth shade of brown while mine were a startling seafoam green colour.

I took a seat next to her in class, which some people noticed and shot some weird looks at us. Three seats in the class were empty; Simon, Josh and JJ. Harry's seat was always empty, he never bothered coming to class.