MASKED

Chapter Two

Lexy was stuck in the abandoned hallway. The blonde lady at the administration office had said:

"You'll be in Room 6, Bluey", giving her a knowing grin.

'Bluey???' Lexy thought to herself.

Mistaking her bored look for that of puzzlement blondie added with a chuckle:

"Don't worry, you'll find your way real easy. And if you don't ,well......" she shrugged and her thick hair bobbed elastically on her shoulders. She turned to share a joke with the clearly uninterested nerdy secretary with red rimmed glass perched precariously on her nose; whose slender fingers were busy tapping away at the keys on her keyboard.

Lexy used the opportunity to grab her schedule from the cluttered desk and scurried away. She wasn't sure she would have been invited to share in the joke. Not that she wanted to be apart of it anyways; she didn't have time to fake laughs this morning. The typist's eyes never left the

monitor. Down the corridor she could still hear the clicking of keys.

Lexy chuckled to herself. 'Poor keyboard'.

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Room 1.......a bunch of offices......the gym........ Room 4 ...... more offices ............ the cafeteria, ('wow, now that is one huge place to eat') ..................... janitor's closet? ('Yeesh, looks like a living room').........Room 9.......????

Where is Room 6???

Lexy was frantic. She had spent over 15 minutes searching for her class and it seemed as if she had been walking in a maze and it didn't help that the school was already large as it was. She climbed stairs, used the elevator thrice, read labels.......no Room 6. Worst yet she hadn't chanced upon anyone who could assist her.

'You're not helping?!', she almost yelled at the wall clock ticking loudly, echoing in the hallways as if to mock her.

8:17 and stuck in this maze of a school; not a terrific way to start a first day was it?

'Just my luck'

35 minutes later, an exhausted Lexy eventually found Room 6 (with the untimely assistance of the Vice Principal) which happened to be on the 3rd floor of the building and she had somehow managed to miss. All the way he kept patting his bald head and asking her in disbelief:

"My, oh my, Lexy dear, are you sure that that's the natural colour of your hair? Not that we have a strict policy on hair dyeing or anything; now don't be mad but Lexy but I genuinely do find it hard to believe....."

Mr. Peterson was a jolly fellow with a personality as large as his pot belly and with a striking sense of humour but his endless chatter was beginning to blow her a headache. She was relieved when he lead her right to her class, Room 6 and said:

"Here you go Lexy, this is your class. Hope you remember were it is next time."

Lexy flashed red quickly in embarrassment. He did not seem to notice.

"Anyways I'm afraid our little conversation has to end here. I have go see to my duties. Enjoy your stay at Pin Oak Flores. If you need me, I'll be in my office. Have a nice day, Lexy.", he sang;

And with that he bounced away.

"Oh hello there sweetheart, come in, come in. You must be Lexy".

The cute teacher called out to her when she slowly opened the door.

'How nice, they already know my name'. Lexy bit into her lips as she stepped into the class.

Eager eyes feasted upon her as she made her entrance.

Lexy didn't know if that was a good thing or not but tradition here at Pin Oak was that before a new student actually arrived at the school his or her name was announced over the intercom to the entire school. Well at least she didn't have to make any introductions.

"Have a seat, Lexy. You can sit any where you like"

She chose the only seat available. It was right in the middle of the class and the seat next to it was unoccupied. She didn't want to look unfriendly or a loner to the rest of the class but then if this was the only seat she could get, why not?

The cute teacher, Miss Hawekins was very nice, fussing over her the entire period.

"Wow Lexy you've got such amazing hair!" She kept on saying.

Apart from all the new girl decorum and fuss about her hair, the day passed quite uneventfully. When she heard the last and final bell for the day she was relieved.

'Thank God for Fridays.'

She had time to brush all this new girl fiasco behind her over the weekend.

She'd be ready to face whatever came at her on Monday.