The Guardian

Chapter Ten

“Hey,” Niall said as I took my usual seat in the passenger side of his Range Rover, now that I’ve convinced him to drive to school every morning.

“Hey,” I replied, not looking him in the eye as I fastened my seatbelt.

“Ali what the hell is that?”

I jumped at the increased volume of his voice.

“What is what?” I asked, both confused and somewhat scared, finally looking at my best friend despite the guilty feeling I had from last night’s events. I gasped when my focus moved from his crystal blue eyes to the deep purple mark surrounding his left eye. “More importantly, what is that!” I shrieked, my hand reaching out to touch the bruise.

His hand grabbed my wrist, preventing me from touching the obviously painful mark. “Got kicked, no big deal. Now tell me what the hell attacked your neck.”

My eyes widened as I quickly moved my hair to the side, covering the mark I forgot had.

“It’s nothing,” I fibbed.

“Ali, seriously? You know that I know exactly what happened and you’re seriously gonna lie to my face?”

“It’s not a big deal, Ni,” I said as he backed out of my driveway.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Niall he isn’t as bad as you make him seem!”

“You just don’t get it, do you?” he said, driving a little faster than usual.

“Get what?!” I yelled back.

He took a deep breath. “You would understand if the biggest slut in school was all over me. You’d be telling me that she sleeps around and was only using me for sex and that she’d break my heart in the end. Same thing I’m telling you about Brian.”

“I wouldn’t be telling you those things if you told me she proved you wrong,” I said as I fiddled with my thumbs, looking at my lap. I looked back up at Niall, the hurt evident in my face. “I was hesitant at first, Niall. I never would’ve fallen into his trap because I know how he is. I’m not like Ella when it comes to guys, and you know that. He was totally playing me the second he walked into my house on Tuesday, but I literally watched him unfold. There’s a real person under the mask of a player, Niall. And for some reason, he removed his mask for me.”

“HA!” Niall laughed. “Brian Cassidy removing a mask? That’s even better than Kim Kardashian admitting to plastic surgery.”

“Whatever, Niall,” I said, unbuckling my seatbelt as we pulled into the parking lot.

“Ali how could you be so blind?”

“How could you be so stiff! Just because you’ve only seen the competitive side of him doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a hidden side.”

He rolled his eyes at me. “This isn’t some chick flick fairytale, Ali. He’s not gonna magically change who he is to win you over and live happily ever after. But think what you want, I can’t tell you what to do.”

“Glad you’ve finally realized that I control my own life. See ya later,” I said, turning on my heel as headed towards the building, trying to release my steam as I headed towards first period.

As I took my seat in History class, Niall’s words still managed to haunt my thoughts as I tuned out Ms. Brady’s lecture.

Maybe he was right. Maybe this is Brian’s game. Maybe he’s blinding me after all. Maybe there is no mask. Maybe the mask that I think is being removed is actually a mask that’s being put on…