MASKED

Chapter Four

A few minutes later, her new sitting patner turned to her and said, extending a thin sun burned hand,

"Hi I'm Theodore. You can call me Theo."

"Uhhh......," she took his hand. "Yh...uhhhh, hi. I'm Lexy."

She added trying to prove her interest, "Nice to meet you, Theo".

This made him pleased obviously and he flashed her a wide smile, displaying an array of dark green braces against perfectly white teeth.

"That's some crazy hair you've got. Unusual shade. Is it natural?"

'And so the first thing he notices is my hair, huh. Why am I not surprised?'

"Haha, yep, lucky me with the blue hair", she replied with sarcasm in her voice.

"Don't get me wrong, its amazing. Brings out your eyes", he complimented her.

"It does? Oh....thanks", and then came the flash of red.

No one had ever told her that before.

"Seems I may have caused a bit of confusion here", Lexy gestured towards Penelope, who was still beaming.

"Oh trust me", he winked. "It works for all of us this way "

They kept on chatting and whispering like old friends. Once, Mr.Feguerson called on Theo when he was sure he had caught him not paying attention. Theo answered accurately even chipping in some facts he knew himself. Mr Feguerson shook his head and smiled.

"You may sit, Theo" he gave up.

Theo gave a triumphant grin and awarded Lexy with a wink. More blushing.

The lesson flew by like the wind and Lexy had even answered a few questions herself, earning her exaggerated appraisal from Mr. Feguerson.

"Now, that's all for today, class. Remember to answer the review questions on pages 97 and 98 before the next lesson. Enjoy the rest of your day. Lexy please see me after here briefly".

While the rest of the students filed out Lexy made her way to the teacher's desk.

"Mr.Feguerson?", Lexy said uncertainly.

"Yes, Lexy. How are you catching on?", he gave her a warm smile; elbows on the table and his chin resting on his hands.

"Well thankfully I'm not too far behind. I'm sure I'll catch up by next week", Lexy replied.

"That's good to know. I hope all goes well with your stay here. Do you have any problems or requests? Feel free to let me know". He was clearly referring to the incident earlier in the morning. Lexy decided that it was nothing to worry about. They had probably just started on the wrong foot.

"Don't worry about it, Mr.Feguerson", she assured him. "Its okay. Just a little misunderstanding, nothing big. I don't normally go around picking grudges with people especially during my first week."

"Alright Lexy. I'm glad everything is turning out okay. And if you have any concerns, you know where to find me."

"Thanks, Mr.Feguerson. I appreciate that."

Lexy met Theo at the door.

"Oh hey Theo....."

She wasn't expecting him to be waiting for her.

"Lexy, you done? I was waiting for you. Figured this since this was your first week you might be a bit lonely during recess. Care to join us?", he offered shyly.

"Us?"

"Yh, my friends and I. They are waiting for us at the cafeteria."

"Oh....uh...."

"Don't worry, they are cool", Theo said noticing her hesitation.

"Uhmmm... okay, if you don't mind".

"Of course I don't mind, Lexy. I'd actually be glad if you did.", he smiled, "Come on"

"Hey Theo, over here!", a brown haired girl waved over from a green table by the window at the far right of the cafeteria. Upon reaching them, Theo announced:

"Lexy, meet the gang. Just a couple of friends who like to hang around sometimes. Hey guys, meet Lexy."

The 'gang' consisted of an auburn girl with a rather rapsy voice called Cassie, the brown haired one with braids, Britney. Also a muscular guy known as Brian who happened to be captain of the soccer team. A tall one, Mike, quite funny and easy going. Malory was quiet but warm while Katie was the chatty one; talking a hundred to the dozen. Harmony was cute with her freckles but not as hyper as Kate. There was Steve and Stephanie, African American twins; and last was Patrick, whom they called 'Trick'.

"Hi Lexy, care to have a seat?", Harmony offered.

"Oh, thanks", she sat down gingerly.

"So you're new, huh? When did you arrive at Dannexville?".

"Uhmm, a few weeks ago", Lexy replied.

"Where do you stay?"

"Carrinée Lake"

"Oh, that's not far from my place", Katie said.

"Really? That's cool."

"Maybe we could hang around some time, what do you think?"

Before Lexy could react an eerie calm enveloped the cafeteria. Lexy did not have to look far to find the source.

Him. That boy again!

'Why is everyone so quiet?', she wondered.

They all seemed to be holding their breaths, frozen in time. Cassie picked at her salad and Malory kept herself busy studying the label on her carton of milk.

Steve's hamburger suddenly looked appealing and he absent mindedly began to munch on it. The others busied themselves looking elsewhere. Anywhere but at him.

'Am I the only one who is not getting all this?', Lexy was perplexed.

He marched into the cafateria as if he owned the place. He had the figure of a top model. Even from her seat Lexy could feel the force emanating from him. Her dislike for him intensified. As he strod off to find a seat, the blonde girl, Penelope was following closely. She was like a dog sniffing after its master. Lexy was sure she could almost see her tail wagging devotedly behind her. Even with all the attention Penelope gave him, he still managed to ignore her.

'What's up with this girl anyways? Talk about sucking up. If I were the one he shot such looks, i would have been ash by now'.

Penelope was blind however to this discovery, Lexy noticed.

'He' settled for a seat at the far end of the cafeteria. and the moment he sat down it was as if the time bomb had been released. Everything went back to normal as if the moment had been unfrozen.

"So, did you all hear about that...... ", Trick started suddenly.

Lexy was almost knocked off her seat.

'Woah! What just happened here????'

All through the conversation, she was quiet; trying to unravel her way through this absurd phenemenon that had happened right before her eyes.

"Hey Lexy! Lexy!", a voice interrupted her brooding.

"Huh?"

"Lexy, I asked you a question", Katie said impatiently, "Girl, you sure like to space out sometimes.". She raised an eyebrow.

"No no. I was just thinking........thinking about....something.", Lexy said.

"About what?"

"About........him. That guy", she pointed.

The table was suddenly silent again.

"That guy,", Brian broke the quiet, ".... is Orion. Orion Mcmaliney. If you care to know."

"Okayy. What's up with him?"

"Huh? What do you mean 'what's up with him'? He's Orion Mcmaliney, that's what's up.", Stephanie broke in, obviously expecting some sort of reaction from her. She was disappointed.

"So what if he's Orion Mcmaliney or whatever, I get that. Then what?", Lexy said as a matter of factly.

"Whaaattt????!!!", they shrieked in shock, mouths agape.

"So you're telling me that you have never heard of the Mcmalineys before??", Harmony wanted to know.

"No", Lexy answered, not knowing what all the fuss was about. "Why? Are they some kind of legends or something?"

"Yeesh! Lexy, you must be seriously lagging behind in the social network to ask a question like that", Mike laughed.

"Are you sure you're not pulling at our legs?", Cassie asked.

"Nope,", she shook her head and placed a hand on her chest. "Scout's honour, I am telling you, I know nothing of this Orion guy or the Mcmalineys for that matter."

"Don't you watch the news?", Britney asked.

"News?", Katie broke in. "Don't make me laugh, Brit. Who has time for news these days?"

"Oh wow, says the girl running for chief editor in a newspaper!", Britney shot at her.

"It's a magazine!"

"I was just saying."

"Well," Lexy said to avoid further argument, "Judging from all this hullabaloo I can say that these Mcmalineys are something big, right?"

"Something big? Yikes, Lexy. You need some info real quick", Trick said.

"We don't have the time for that, there goes the bell. Come on, lets get to class." , Katie said, getting up from her seat.

"And Lexy," she added, "Don't you worry. You'll get to know about him soon enough."