Hiding Behind A Mask | ✔

C H A P T E R T W E L V E

"So, tell me, Annie, why were you wearing that mask?" says Lana, Chance's mom, as the both of us sit in the living room of her home, across from each other, just a coffee table sitting in the middle, separating us. 

I look at her, startled by her question.

We haven't even started a proper conversation and she's already asking me a question like this...? How nice.

Chance and I have decided to take a break from what we were doing, which resulted in us eating lots of snacks and watching television. We were talking about something that we were watching when we heard a loud knock on the door, it was his mom and so, that led me to be sitting down here with her, while Chance is in his room.

"Um..." I say, looking away from her to look elsewhere, then I quickly think of something believable as I look back to her, "Well, it was a dare from my friends... We were playing truth or dare, and of course, they wanted me to pick dare, which I did. They dared me to wear a mask and not speak to anyone for the whole time..."

She looks at me, almost as if she could sense that I'm lying. I look down at my lap, feeling nervous all of a sudden.

"Really...?" she says in a question-thinking way, and I nod my head furiously with a smile that shows my teeth, looking back up at her.

It's almost dark outside, meaning that my mom will be here for me soon. I've never been so, so eager for my mom to get here in like ever. And now, at this very moment, I really need her to get here before Lana starts asking me any more questions that I really don't want to answer.

 "Yeah," I answer her question.

Lana stares at me longer as she tries to get something out of me, or is probably thinking of something to say to get me to react.

"Chance told me," she says, and just like I've stated before, she's trying to make me react to something that she's trying to get out of me.

"He told you what?" I now ask, wanting to know what she's talking about. I trust Chance, that he wouldn't say anything about what I'm going through at school, especially to his mom and brother.

I can feel another pair of eyes on me and I slightly look to the staircase to find Chance standing there, silently. I look away from him so that Lana wouldn't notice to also look at him too, to ruin his cover.

"Well..." she says, taking a quite long pause before she starts to speak again, "...he told me about what has been happening to you at the school, about how you would get teased and bullied by... your friends..."

I furrow my eyebrows as I look at Chance quietly, and I try to pretend that I'm looking at nothing in particular. I watch as Chance shakes his head mouthing "no", probably trying to tell me that it's not true, which I believe by the serious look on his face.

I swallow hard as I look back to her. "Oh, really, well, that's what he thinks, but it's not actually true. As I told you before, it was just a stupid dare from my friends..."

"Okay, then... I understand," she says, crossing a leg over the other as she leans back into the seat. "Sorry, if I came off indifferent... It's just that I had some suspicions, especially with a girl, who comes to my house wearing a mask."

I smile at her, "No worries, I should be the one to say sorry. Someone wearing a mask to my home would surely creep me out."

She laughs just as my phone vibrates. It's a message from my mom, telling me that she's here to pick me up.

I stand up and so does Lana. "I should get my things, my mom is here for me," I say, looking at her with a small smile on my face.

"Okay, sweetie," she says, and I watch as she opens her arms and hugs me. I hug her back, and we then let go of each other. "See you next time that you come back here."