Removing the Mask (15 page)

“We’re going to have to play dirty if we stand any chance of winning.” Jasmine states as she looks in the large mirror that takes up the majority of the wall, and takes out her small hoop earrings.

“We’re going to get dirty anyway; the field is so muddy.” Ida says as she fumbles with the clasp to her necklace; she only takes it off when we have P.E. because she doesn’t like the way it sticks with her sweat. The single diamond that hangs from the thin silver chain winks at me before she tucks in safely into the zippy pocket of her bag. She doesn’t have to worry too much about someone stealing it because most of the students have gone home; only the ones staying for the clubs afterwards are here and they’re all in the building on the other side of the school. Well, except us; who stupidly agreed to do a football match against the guys.

Jasmine looks at me in the mirror, a smile tugging at her lip at Ida’s naivety.  

“It’s freezing outside and it’s almost pitch-black; how are we supposed to play footie like this?” Amanda (the most unwilling of us) whines as she laces up her trainers.

She seems to have taken my decision well, unlike her sister, and hasn’t said anything about it other than congratulate Ida.

The door swings open and I see the neon blue bag before I see JJ; she wastes no time going down her bag and changing, obviously realising we’re all ready and waiting on her.

“You guys go ahead; I’ll catch up!” She smiles apologetically

Shrugging, I grab my phone and tuck it into my pocket. Ida follows me out and we walk in silence to the boggy football field. The air is chilly, but not as bad as I anticipated; though by the time we make it to the football field I have goose bumps on my arms.

When we’re all finally gathered in the middle of the football field, instead of going over rules like we planned, we jump straight into it after deciding that Jimmy and Jasmine should be the captains.

We manage to hold our own but eventually Josh manages to get the ball past the cold looking Amanda; who stands shaking in the goal, looking like she wants to be anywhere else.

We only last half an hour before we admit defeat; shaking with the cold, we all ignore the boys as they run their mouths off; high from their victory.

Jason doesn’t say anything as he threads his cold fingers through mine and squeezes; he just glances down at me with a smug smile and gleam in his eyes. I realise he doesn’t have to say anything, it’s written across his face. I yank my hand out his even though it makes my stomach warm, and walk faster to put space between us; he has none of it though and slings an arm over my shoulders and pulls me against his side.

“Don’t be a sore loser.” He says it close to my ear and my cold shoulder melts as I wrap my arm around his waist; enjoying it too much to care anymore.

“Okay, so you’ve made your point tonight: you guys are better at football than us, but who is the best out of your guys?” Jasmine asks as she walks backwards in front of us.

The guys size each other up; all grinning arrogantly. “How are we going to determine this exactly?” Josh picks up a tennis ball discarded by the court and lobs it farther down the path; it disappears down an incline.

“Girls? Any ideas?” Jasmine asks before tripping with a gasp and almost falling over.

“A race?” Ida offers up as she walks beside Bradley.

“Wait, I thought this was about football, what does winning a race have to do with anything?” Kyle asks with his hands shoved deep into his pockets.

“What’s the matter Kyle? Afraid of losing?” Jimmy’s grin is too cocky for his own good.

Kyle walks straight into
J immy’s goad and snorts. “I’m faster than you any day.”

“Yeah, yeah enough smack. Are you guys going to race or what?” I ask before looking up at Jason; the limited light casts shadows across his face.

“Let’s make it a piggyback race!” Ida jumps up and down with excitement; a grin stretching across her face.

“One problem with that: there’s six boys and five girls.” JJ says looking down at her phone; the light from the screen makes her face white.

“Great! I don’t need to race!” Kyle says as he breaks off from the group. “I’m heading home anyway. See you guys tomorrow!” He waves his goodbye before turning and strolling towards the guy’s changing room.

“No excuse now!” Ida’s grin becomes wicked. “But if you guys don’t think you can do it, we understand, right girls?”

We all play along and agree. It’s worked because the guy’s faces become conflicted before they start picking girls.

“Come on.” Jason says as he crouches down so I can climb onto his back; with his arms hooked under my legs, I have to wrap my arms around his neck to keep from falling backwards when he stands up.

He leans backwards and I let out a scream when I feel myself slipping. “Stand up! Stand up! Stand up! You’re going to drop me!” Laughter erupts out of me loud and free.

He straightens his back again before hefting me up higher so that my head is over his shoulder. “Comfortable?” He asks and turns his head, putting our faces inches apart; my stomach flutters uncontrollably.

“Yeah.” I breathe and before I can lose my nerve, kiss his cheek quickly. “For good luck.” A smile pulls at the corners of my mouth but I fight it with everything I’m worth.

A look crosses his face as he looks round at everyone before turning
his gaze to me again. “If I win, I get to kiss you.” He challenges with a smug smile.

Snorting, I shake my head. “Only if
you win.” I don’t look at him as I say it, wanting to play hard to get; that’s slightly difficult to do as I’m on his back.

“Hey Ken!”

I blink in surprise when I see Ida on Josh’s back; I thought she’d end up paired with Bradley.

“Guys! Let’s do this!” Jasmine orders from Jimmy’s back. “To that post: the one by the entrance to the gym.” She points to it, releasing an arm from around Jimmy’s neck. “Ready. Set.
Go
!”

Laughter pours out of all the girls as they throw their heads about laughing. Uneasy about watching the ground blur under Jason’s feet, I just tuck my head against his neck. The race is over just as quick as it started and Bradley lets out a hoot before letting JJ drop to her feet. 

“I am
the
best!” He slaps JJ’s hand in a high-five.

Jason lets me slide to my feet gently. “We’re never going to hear the end of this.” He mutters as he places his arm around my shoulders again.

As much as I don’t want to be the party pooper, the cold has well and truly set into my bones and I’m fighting to keep my teeth from chattering.

“I’m freezing; I’m going to go get changed.” I say to Jason as I slip out from under his arm before jogging to the girls changing room.

I burst into the changing room and just manage to clamp down on the scream that bubbles up when I come face to face with JJ. “Holy crap! You scared me senseless!”

“Sorry.” She smiles apologetically before rushing past me and towards where I left the others; she’s got Amanda’s bag over her arm as well as her own. Is she in a rush to get somewhere? Are her parent’s here to pick them up?

Shaking my head, I scramble to get my own gear together, before jumping out of my muddy track suit bottoms and into my jeans and one of Roger’s old baggy thermal tops; it always seems to keep me toasty warm and it’s soft from being washed so many times.

Bundled up in my hoodie and body warmer, I go to walk out the changing room with my bag slung over my shoulder but I come face to face with Ida; but unlike me she doesn’t contain her scream of surprise. As soon as she realises that it’s me, she bursts out laughing so hard that tears come to my eyes. “Oh my git!” She gasps as she slaps a hand over her mouth in surprise and this time it’s me laughing like a maniac.

Her eyes are wide with surprise as she hurriedly tries to correct herself. “Oh my god! No! Oh my gosh! I can't talk!” She laughs along with me and I step back so she can get into the changing room.

“Can you wait for me? I don’t like being in here by myself; it give me the creeps.” She visibly shudders and rubs her arm with her hand.

Shrugging, I sit down and let my bag drop onto the floor. “Sure.” 

As I wait for her to change out of her slightly muddy clothes, I can’t help but think of the kiss I would have gotten if Jason had won the race; my stomach curls with disappointment.

“You and Jason look so cute!” She grins and she pulls her knee high boots back on before reaching into the pocket where she put her necklace. “I hope I get th…” She leaps to her feet to look where her hand is still buried in the bag’s side pocket. “It’s gone! Someone stole my necklace!” She looks from inside the pocket to me and back. “Oh my gosh, Kenzie what am I going to do? That was my mum’s! She got it from my grandma before she passed away! And now it’s gone!” Tears stream down her face like a running tap and heartbroken moans escape through her gasping breaths; but I can’t do anything because I’m frozen still, I know who has her necklace but I don’t want to believe that she would stoop that low; her apologetic smile before she left moments ago flashes across my face.

Ida’s sob breaks me out of my daze and I rush forward to wrap my arms around her; she rocks back and forth slowly, trying to breathe properly.

“Ida, it’s okay! We can get it back! We’ll find it!” I coo as I rub her back.

“Bullshit! It’s gone! You know that!” She sobs into her elbows as she continues to rock back and forth.

The door opens and Jasmine walks in with a huge smile on her face until she sees Ida. “Holy Mother! What happened?” She rushes forward to wrap her arms around Ida; I let her take my place and storm towards the door.

“Someone stole her necklace; I know who
did it and I’m going to go get it.” I say without looking back as I pull the door open with an unreasonable amount of force; the door hits the wall with a harsh bang but I don’t care, I’m far too angry. She’s gone too far.

Knowing they’re going to be picked up, I run towards the car park like I’m being chased by a knife wielding serial killer. I almost melt with relief when I see them waiting by one of the benches. 

JJ spots me and watches me approach her. “I get it: you’re upset that I didn’t choose Amanda but you have no right to steal Ida’s necklace. Hand it over and I won’t tell the others you stole it, we can pretend that it never happened.”

Her face twists into a sneer. “You think I stole her stupid necklace? Why would I want an old necklace like that?”

“I’m cold, tired, irritated that I didn’t get my kiss tonight and now incredibly angry. I’m not going to play up this drama, JJ, give me the bloody necklace before I blow a fuse!”

“Kenzie calm down! JJ didn’t steal Ida’s necklace, right Jay’?” Amanda places a hand on my arm before turning to JJ; she doesn’t respond, just continues to stare at me with an angry tint to her blue eyes. She wouldn’t lie to her twins face would she?

“JJ?”

She doesn’t respond.

I look at Amanda; if anyone will be able to get JJ to admit to stealing the necklace, it’s her.

“JJ, please tell me you didn’t steal the necklace over something as petty as going on TV.”

JJ looks down at the floor and Amanda face drops in dismay; she doesn’t say anything though, just waits but when JJ doesn’t make a move she huffs. “Give her the necklace JJ; don’t make this any worse than it already is.

I wait and sigh with relief when JJ pulls the necklace out of her pocket; I wait for her to lob it into the darkness and make me spend the night looking for it, but she calmly drops it into my palm without a word.

I clutch the necklace so hard, that the diamond digs painfully into my palm. My gaze is unwavering from hers. “I’m not going to tell the others but I’m also not going to forget about this.” I take a step back before turning to walk back to the changing room; as soon as I’m out of sight I take off at a run, hoping Ida’s somewhat calmer.

***

Every now and again a car drives past and I lift my gaze from the pavement to watch it, before returning my gaze to the black tar beneath my feet.

I can feel the guys looking at me every few minutes but I don’t acknowledge them; even when Jason falls back from Josh and Jimmy to walk beside me, I keep my eyes down.

“What’s wrong?” His voice is low like he doesn’t want Jimmy and Josh to overhear, but I know they have prying ears so I pull Jason to a stop and wait for them to walk a safe distance away, before turning and looking up at him.

I open my mouth to tell him what happened tonight but the words don’t come out. Instead I just shake my head.

“What? Come on, you can tell me.” He steps closer before taking my hand out of my pocket and holding it in his.

“JJ is really upset that I didn’t pick her sister, so she stole Ida’s diamond necklace tonight; if it wasn’t for Amanda, I wouldn’t have gotten it back. I feel so angry-”

“I don’t blame you-”

“-and guilty.”

He stares at me for a moment and start wondering what’s wrong, when he lets out a deep breath and shakes his head. “You feel guilty because
JJ
stole Ida’s necklace? Did you help her steal it?”