The Masqueraded

3

It turned out that Sam wasn't the only new student. There were two other transfer students in their year. One of them was this "extremely annoying guy" according to Mel, whose presence made her simply furious.

The girls were sitting at the table for lunch. Mavis and Wesley both tried to calm her down as she went on and on about how "he had the nerve" to be completely dismissive when she'd asked him to stop swinging his legs and told him that it bothered her when he tapped the table with his pen, continuously.

'He was actually smirking at me when I turned around and said that! Like he didn't care if he was annoying me! I really hate the guy!'

'He was cute though, a shame for him to have such a terrible personality!' Mavis said, lightly.

'Pfft', Mel said, still scowling, 'he was grinning and all and being even more annoying after that!' Wes cut in,

'Did you see that other dude?' she asked the girls, suddenly remembering the strange guy she'd seen in class earlier,

'Who?' Ru asked curiously, 'we seem to have quite a lot of strange people coming in this year. It's like they all decided to transfer together'.

'This guy I saw at Sociology was kind of mysterious!' Wes said, in a lower than usual voice. Ru laughed.

'What do you mean mysterious?' Kira asked, laughing.

'Don't take my word for it. Look there he is!' she pointed at someone in the cafeteria counter.

The girls turned around. Ru looked at the person Wes was referring to, he walked in to the cafeteria in a hurry standing. He was a tall guy in a black T-shirt and jeans with cropped hair looking completely ordinary by the looks of it. His face couldn't be seen clearly since they were sitting on the far side of the entrance but suddenly as if he noticed someone looking at him the guy turned.

The other girls quickly turned away and pretended to be going about their own conversations. Ru wasn't that fast, his eyes narrowed down at hers and she froze not knowing what to do. She slowly turned away from him, embarrassed.

She had not meant to stare. At all. Why did he have to look at her as if she'd done a crime?

Kira patted her on the back, laughing.

'Why didn't you turn around!'

Ru shook her head silently hoping Kira would get the hint and not say anything.

'He looks completely ordinary to me!' She said, turning to Wes.

'He looked a bit glum though', Mel said. Then her eyes widened as she lifted her eyes at the entrance of the cafeteria. Immediately, her lips twisted as a displeased scowl appeared in her face.

'It's him', she said, pursing her lips together. The girls turned to see a tall guy in a black jacket with unkempt hair walking in with thick strides. He was talking interestedly to Rafael. The girls disliked Rafael and immediately saw why Mel disliked him. He looked completely in sync with Rafael. Both of them were talking about something animatedly.

Mel didn't notice that she was staring with the most disapproving look on her face until suddenly the guy looked up as if he felt someone's eyes on him. He saw her across the cafeteria and immediately recognized her. His eyes swept across the table as he looked at the other girls. He grinned at Mel and nodded his head in acknowledgment. Mel was caught off guard as she looked at him expressionlessly for a few seconds before she managed to frown at him.

He led Rafael closer to their table until he reached the table right in front of the theirs and sat down with him. Rafael called his other friends over. The guy kept glancing over at Mel from across the table. Ru quickly picked up from the looks of it that he must know that Mel was annoyed by him and was trying to trigger her. Mel completely ignored him and turned to Mavis and began to have an animated conversation with her.

'I really like your friend Sam', Mavis suddenly piped up, she didn't know about the argument that morning and unfortunately brought it up. Mel and Kira looked at her immediately with a warning look. They knew they had been too tough on Ru that morning and felt bad for it, for they liked her very much and didn't mean to reprimand her for being too nice to the newcomer.

Kira, meaning to fix the error, quickly agreed with Mavis, 'Yes, he really is a nice sort of guy. So far there's been nothing to suggest otherwise!'

'Yes, I don't think he ll be like Veronica's lot', Mel added, 'we didn't mean it earlier Ru, it's just people always turn out to be the exact people they pretend not to be', she quickly told Ru, feeling it was best to get it over with fast. Deep down Ru knew they hadn't meant to be so harsh so she smiled.

'It's okay... I guess I was just being myself. I'm sorry you guys. You were right. I mean we shouldn't be unnecessarily suspicious of people but we should be careful until we get to know them properly'.

'That's right', Mavis said, smiling. Kira smiled softly to herself, she was surprised at how sensible Ru sounded since she was rarely so smooth at handling things and was sometimes emotional and impulsive. She was glad that the girl was trying to set herself straight and appreciated it.

'I'm just not myself these days since...' she found it difficult to say, 'since everything...'

'Everything will be fine. She didn't leave, she needs a break that's all', Kira said softly, knowing it was hard on the girl. Ru didn't say anything for a while since she knew that her friends didn't know everything and telling them would only affect everyone else's mood.

'What happened?' Mavis asked softly. She was told by Mel earlier that no one should bring up the topic, but Mavis knew since it was brought up, it would only make it difficult for the girl if no one said anything. As Ru was about to respond, Sam, the transfer student, came towards them waving and grinning brightly. Ru quickly wiped her tears with the back of her hand and whispered to the others not to mention anything.

He slid down into the seat next to the Mavis and greeted them with a smile, 'hi you guys are pretty early!'

'We were hungry', Kira said casually, 'it's 12.40'. Sam grinned.

'I'll go and get something to eat, you girls want anything?'

The girls shook their heads and politely refused saying they would get something themselves. He shrugged as he got up and strode off to the counter.

Kira looked at Ru and smiled, 'he's pretty decent I guess! He has terrible timing though!'

Just as she was about to respond something unexpected happened. Someone came running into the cafeteria. Mel looked up first and immediately recognized the second year who worked part time in the school administration committee. She was white as a sheet and her pupils were dilated.

'Someone's hurt!' she shouted.