Masquerades

Chapter 23

It was during one of her classes when she finally thought of something. Of course, if she wants the easiest way to solve this, there’s a very obvious solution – CCTVs. Why didn’t she think of it earlier? Luckily, her locker is not in the blind spot, though it might be far, but any clue can do.

She didn’t waste any more time and raised her hand up to get the teacher’s attention.

“Yes, Ms. Song?” Mr. Pei, their English teacher, asked with his eyebrows raised.

“Sir, may I visit the doctor’s clinic?” she started acting hesitant and inconspicuously rubbed her tummy for some added effect.

The teacher frowned, “why? Do you feel unwell?”

“Uhm…” she shyly drawled, glancing around. Everyone’s eyes are directed towards her now. “I think… it started. My… period started and—“

“Okay go, go,” the man didn’t even let her finish and instantly gestured for her to leave.

She internally smirked and looked in Warren’s direction for a moment. The guy is already looking at her with his brows furrowed. She winked and his face instantly switched to an expression full of realization.

Once she finally stepped out of the room, she glanced around the hallway first and when she was sure that it was empty, she started going to the direction of the Admin building. The doctor’s clinic and the security room are both in that building but on different floors, so her mission at the moment is a bit easy.

*

Cali was about to knock on the door of the security room when someone suddenly poked her shoulder, making her jump in surprise. Whirling around, she was even more shocked to see who it was. “What are you doing here?”

“I was on my way out of the faculty room when I saw you passing by,” Maddox shrugged and glanced up at the door in front of them. “What are you doing here? Is this about the letter this morning?”

Well, he’s here anyway, so what’s the use of hiding it from him?

“Yeah, I just want to have a clue about who wrote it.”

“Hmm…” the guy nodded, “can I join you?”

“Can you keep a secret?”

He chuckled a bit, “wasn’t our first encounter still unknown to everybody? I kept it a secret even though you didn’t ask me either.”

Should I be grateful, then? She stopped herself from saying the sassy remark and just nodded at him. He’s fine. Maddox is the silent and introverted type who doesn’t easily spill information about others. Not to mention, he’s a bit anti-social too. She doesn’t even know how Shannon got close to this person… maybe because him and Connor are the closest within their circle?

She eventually realized that it was actually much better to have the guy with her. The security personnel manning the monitors easily – and happily – let them check out the footage because of him. Turns out, the Masquerades’ acknowledgement isn’t only applicable to the students but the entire school. She bet if she did this alone, the guard wouldn’t even let her take another step inside the room.

“What time did you find the note?” Maddox asked while typing something and clicking God knows what on the screen. A date and time option suddenly popped out, causing her to feel quite amazed. Of course, he’s into computers and stuff. It actually suits his persona.

“Around seven o’clock?”

“Let’s start at six then,” her companion mumbled before typing the said time and clicking some sort of settings. “Good thing our school’s security system is advanced, we can speed it up.”

“Probably sponsored by one of your classmates’ elitist parents.” It was too late when she realized what unconsciously came out of her mouth, and when she was about to apologize, Maddox was already laughing.

“Probably,” he easily agreed, smiling up at her.

Hmm… he really is not that bad.

They both went silent once again as the recorded footage started playing. Her eyes were glued on the spot where her locker is. They didn’t need to wait that long because around twenty minutes after six, a figure suddenly appeared and walked towards her locker. Maddox hurriedly switched the speed back to normal.

“A girl…” she absentmindedly mumbled. She suspected that it would be a guy, because William rarely targeted girls. The jerk says female students don’t fight much and it was too boring to tease them, yeah right… asshole. “Does she look familiar to you?”

Because her locker was a bit far from the CCTV camera, the only clues they got was that the girl has black shoulder-length hair and her physique is quite similar to hers, but maybe a bit taller? She had no other added garments or accessories on her uniform, except a plain black hoodie. She got some white sneakers on and black knee-high socks.

She reached out to pause the video herself, before taking a photo of the screen with her phone. She then stood right back up, and turned to her companion. “This will do. Thanks for your help.”

“Thanks for letting me participate in this… adventure of yours,” Maddox smiled, and it was the first time she noticed that he had a cute little dimple on his right cheek. His smile is kinda adorable too, not gonna lie.

You won’t thank me once you find out what I’m aiming for, for sure.

They both thanked the personnel, before stepping out of the room and walking side-by-side back to the main building. They were just about to enter the hall when a cold voice sounded from behind.

“Why are you two together?” The pair whirled around, and found Arcane standing a few feet away with Calista – the new one – beside him. The guy had his hands in his pockets and a dark look on his face as his eyes scrutinized them. “Why are you with him?” he suddenly gazed straight at her.

She was a bit taken aback… why did he sound like she had committed treason or some awful crime?

“What’s with you?” she chuckled and shook her head. “We just had to… do something.”

Arcane’s expression turned even darker as his eyes narrowed, “do what?”

“I think it’s none of your business?” She smirked, as she watched as the other ‘Calista’ grasped the devil’s arm and looked up at him with a calm and a bit woeful expression. Ahh… she’s working hard.

“Arc, let’s go. We should—“

Arcane immediately snatched his arm back and stepped away from her. The actions made Cali gaze at the pair with interest. Does he still not believe she’s the real one?

“You fooled my friends, but not me. Don’t you ever touch me again,” he angrily said to his companion before leaving her and walking towards Cali. “Can we talk?”