Masquerades

Chapter 19 (Part 2)

She thought the cafeteria would be peaceful, with William and his crew of misfits forbidden to bully anyone this week, but another person was actually making a fuss.

“I can’t believe this! Why am I not allowed to go there? I should be with them, in the first place!” the other Calista screamed at the top of her lungs.

Four of the jocks, including Maddox and Connor, are barricading the stairs towards the middle mezzanine floor where the Masquerades are. The six looked unperturbed by the chaos happening on the ground floor, like they knew someone would handle the problem even without them saying anything.

“This place is only for Section M, and I never heard Arcane say you’re officially a part of the Masquerades, so you’re naturally prohibited from going up,” Maddox said with an impassive look on his face – as if he’s dealing with a stubborn kid.

“Do you know who I am?” the fake Calista scoffed.

The words made her smile as she finally entered the cafeteria with her best friends. Shannon was able to convince Warren to eat with them, despite the guy’s reluctance. She’s planning to slowly make her way into his good graces again. Ren rarely gets angry and when he does, you shouldn’t insist on him to forgive you right away. She needs to be careful not to annoy him further.

She watched the exchange alongside everyone. She’s sure the student body is quite happy with the free entertainment. “Calista Song, of course,” Maddox mockingly said, though the girl didn’t seem to notice.

“Then why am I, the one and only Song heiress, being disrespected like this? And this isn’t the first time! You- you put me in Section E?! I hate this! I will make sure everyone knows what you all have done to me!”

Maddox raised both his hands and almost took a step back, looking quite defensive. “Hey, why are you yelling at me like it was my fault? I wasn’t the one who put you in there. You should’ve been smarter at impersonating someone. Maybe you could’ve fooled at least three people.”

The students didn’t even hide their snickers and chuckles, causing the girl to send death glares all over the hall. Dakota suddenly stood up from her seat in the east mezzanine and leaned over its handrails to look down at her new target.

“I believe you,” the queen bee suddenly announced.

Calista’s – the real one – brow rose. What is this girl planning to do now?

“Want to join us up here instead?” She then offered, and the fake Calista didn’t waste any more time walking up to the cheering team’s area.

Before Cali could turn back to her meal, Dakota had already caught her gaze. The latter tilted her head and smirked, as if challenging her… into what, she doesn’t have any idea. But she’s guessing the manipulative girl is planning to use the fake and more gullible Calista against her.

Hmm… why does she feel like she wanted to annoy the pair? She feels like this new Dakota-and-Calista duo is going to be the bane of her existence soon, so why not annoy them as early as now?

She smirked back and stood up, causing the queen bee to frown. In no time, all eyes travelled towards her direction. And as Dakota and fake Calista visibly became alert, she started walking towards Maddox who was originally about to leave.

He smiled at her, “he’s waiting for you.”

He intentionally made his voice louder for everyone to hear, which almost earned an eye roll from her. This guy usually tends to keep quiet in situations like this. Why did he suddenly change? Is this because Arcane had a change in behavior towards her, too? Everyone says Maddox is Arcane’s shadow, but she tends to ignore those trivial rumors. She doesn’t expect that it’s actually true.

“I know,” she simply replied.

Maddox stepped aside to give way, and as she was walking up the stairs, she didn’t forget to look up at the pair’s direction again. To her satisfaction, both Dakota and fake Calista have sour expressions on their faces. If looks could kill… she would’ve been shot dead by now – twice.

Once again, she found herself towering over the sitting Arcane, who never failed to smilingly look up to her. She internally scoffed, remembering the first time they met. He was also throwing death glares in her direction back then – the guy was the biggest hypocrite she had ever known.

“I’ll go back with you… in Hall M, just leave 12-B alone.”