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All Chapters of The Girl with the Masks and The Student Body President: Chapter 121 - Chapter 130
140 Chapters
Chapter 31 (ii)
Across the room, Aunt Jen wore a smug smile as she took in the chaos her daughter stirred. She was thrilled that Tara had managed to drive a wedge between me and the boy who, an hour earlier, was declaring his fondness for only me. After a night of near-constant losses, her daughter had finally won. It didn’t matter the underhanded methods or the havoc she wrought; my aunt was pleased with the work of her daughter’s hands. “Why don’t we give him a chance to speak before getting so up in arms?” Aunt Rebecca asked, descending the stairs.“Why?” Mom asked. “So he can lie to us and my daughter again?”“I’m not trying to—” Jayden tried but once again, he was cut off.“Shut up!” Mom said, all but screaming at him.Mom’s demeanour had grown so hostile that even Tara saw the need to say something. “Aunt Anna, I already said it wasn’t
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Jayden was the first to be released from the spell the video had held us under. He took me by the hand and tugged me from the house before I could begin to process his action. He didn’t stop until we were at the end of the driveway, wanting to be as far away from the chaos and loud relatives as possible.His face was grave, even more so under the pale glow of the moon. His eyes held a sorrow I couldn’t comprehend.“I’m…so sorry,” he said.His words left me dumbfounded. Of all the things I thought he would say—the accusations he would’ve been right to lay out against me—an apology was the very last thing I expected.“For what?” I couldn’t meet his gaze, too ashamed by the ease with which I’d condemned him without ever giving him a chance to explain himself. I’d been as ready to crucify him as my mother had been. The faith I was meant to have, the trust I should’ve pu
Read moreChapter 31 (iv)
My voice was barely above a whisper when I spoke. “Let me go…”“You don’t want me to.”“Yes, I do.” My tone left us both unconvinced, but my next actions cemented my decision. I pulled out of Jayden’s grasp and sprinted inside without ever looking back. I couldn’t bear to see his final look as I ran away. It would cause me to melt then there was every chance I would’ve gone back on what I knew to be a necessary evil.It had to be done, no matter how much it hurt in the moment.I tossed the front door open then made an immediate beeline for the sanctity of my room. My family, even in the middle of their own business, were shamelessly nosy and I wasn’t in the mood to explain the decision I’d just made to people I was certain didn’t truly care one way or the other. I needed to be alone for the inevitable breakdown I’d only barely kept at bay.Inside my room, I s
Read moreChapter 32 (i)
That night, I held my cousin until she’d cried herself to sleep. After, I pulled Emi close and held her.My mind was flooded with the information Tara had shared and it kept drifting back to the most harrowing of what-ifs; what if Mom had succeeded in her attempts to remove Emily before she had a chance to be born? The thought sent a cold shiver down my spine and made me hold her tighter.Nana and the others would be leaving in the morning. After everything that had happened, there was mutual agreement between them all that the visit be cut short. It wasn’t worth risking further tension or anyone taking matters into their own hands after feeling they’d been slighted one too many times. They would leave…t
Read moreChapter 32 (ii)
I swallowed roughly but knew there was no going back. “Aunt Jen’s the one on about Mom disowning her grandchild but she’s even worse. She forced Tara to have an abortion. Mom …sometimes pretends hers doesn’t exist but, Aunt Jen, you wouldn’t let yours live in the first place.”I watched my grandmother’s eyes grow wide as she turned to face my aunt. “You killed my great-grandchild?”Aunt Jen was quick to respond even as she scrambled to find words. It was an accusation she couldn’t bluff her way around given my grandmother’s strong sense of family.“Mom—no, I—it wasn’t—”
Read moreChapter 32 (iii)
My heart sank. The street was still warm from Aunt Rebecca’s tires whisking Nana away, and my mother was already defying her orders. I’d thought, perhaps foolishly, that I would finally be able to keep my baby—that I would be able to take care of her and make her truly understand that I was her mother rather than the babysitter who came by.My voice was small when I spoke. “But…Nana said she could stay.”It was the wrong move. Mom whirled around, getting me right in the jaw. The blow sent me staggering until I grabbed hold of the table for support. The woman had had her fill of being told what to do in her own house and wasn’t about to have the likes of me further add to her mounting fr
Read moreChapter 33 (i)
Blinded by my preoccupations, I didn’t see Jonie until after she slammed me into a nearby locker. It took my eyes an extra second to focus and my brain another minute, but I could see by her creased brows that she was upset.“What the hell’s wrong with you?” The girl had never been one for small talk and didn’t think that day would be a good time to change that.My own brows creased as I took in her frustration. “What…are you talking about?” I’d been at school for barely 10 minutes. In that time, it was unlikely I’d manage to do anything of consequence to the often-elusive girl.“Why did you break up with Jayden? Have you lost your ever-loving mind?”I eased her away from me, not in the mood to deal with something so comparatively trivial when I’d likely arrived at the end of my life and had only hours to live. While I cared for Jayden and was still hurt by the events of the previous night, they paled in comparison to the mortal danger that stared me in t
Read moreChapter 33 (ii)
The bell rang and the others filed in. My only hope was that the responsible student body president would choose to skip the class, but he appeared at the door with a few friends shortly after the teacher did. When he arrived at our workstation, Jayden brought with him a suffocating silence. I couldn’t remember a time I’d ever felt so uncomfortable, not even when we first met.Some part of me understood it was the new normal I would have to acclimate to. However, like everything else, it wouldn’t matter soon.I snuck glances at him through the class, actively fighting the urge to say something. He’d already started on the road to getting over me—no matter how small the progress. Reintroducing myself into his space would only force him to start over. I would have to be strong for both of us.He never looked back. For the entirety of the lesson, Jayden’s eyes remained firmly fixed on the chemistry teacher. He broke his gaze only
Read moreChapter 34 (i)
At the end of the day, Jayden sat out on the steps with me to wait for my mother. I’d poured my heart out to him during the lunch period, and he was as anxious as I was for what might be waiting for me upon her arrival. He wanted to follow me home and stay for as long as he was allowed but I knew my mother would never go for it.While not shy, she typically preferred to go without an audience when the devil took over.Jayden’s phone rang.I watched his brows furrow as he tried to read the ID but nothing came up. It was an unknown number. Confused, he answered it. “Hello? Uh…yeah, she’s right here…” I shot him a curious look but there was no need for questions. In another second, he handed his phone to me. “It’s your mom.”I hesitated a moment before placing the phone to my ear. “Hello?”“Hello, darling.” The sing-song cadence of her voice coming through the phone
Read moreChapter 34 (ii)
Agitated, I took off at a sprint once more. It was too difficult to stand and wait for someone else to make them safe. There were three people in the building who had my heart, and the thought was enough to propel me toward that peril. However, before I could get far, I was tackled to the ground by a burly fireman who’d put his weight into taking me to the ground.I coughed, both from the smoke and the wind that had been knocked out of me.“You can’t go in there!” he said. “It’s too dangerous; you could die in there. Let the fire department handle it.”I…could die…A few of the men ran by me, rushing toward the burning building without a moment’s hesitation. They beat the front door down then disappeared into the thick, grey clouds of doom. While those on the outside worked at putting down the flames, those on the inside began their desperate search for the people they’d heard screaming m
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