True Colors (The Masks #1)(35)

I kept everyone’s mask in place throughout Biology so I could concentrate on what we were doing. The experiment went smoothly, and Micah and I agreed on all our results. Once it was done, we were supposed to write up a report and that’s when my eyesight began to wander. After fifteen minutes of studying the three people around me, I had my mission set. I needed to figure out what was worrying Libby and help her enjoy the last few months of school. I didn’t feel like that would be too hard. Indie was going to be a much tougher case. I had to work out what was going on between her and Liam and then if I could somehow work it, get Micah an in with the celebrity’s daughter.





Chapter 16




“Hey Libby, wait up!” I ran down the corridor after her.

She reluctantly slowed so I could catch up.

“How’s it going?” I nudged her shoulder with mine.

Putting on a smile, she nodded and told me all was good. She was lying and I decided to be brave and call her on it.

“You’re still worried about what Carter might do, aren’t you?”

“Mhmm.” She looked to the ground.

Concern scampered through my system. “Libby.” I squeezed her shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. You did the right thing.”

“Yeah, yeah, I guess.”

As soon as she looked up, I read her and she looked really nervous...and defeated.

“Is something else going on? Has Carter approached you today?”

“No.” That was the truth, but she was hiding something. She wanted to tell me and I’m sure she was about to, but her eyes suddenly rounded and her lips pinched tight. “Look I don’t really have time to talk about it. I have a bunch of work to do and I don’t want to waste my free period. Thanks again for Friday, but I’m cool. You don’t have to worry about me or you know, be my friend or anything. Let's just accept Friday for what it was...a one-off...thing." She didn't want to say that to me. Her lips could only just form the words. "I’ll catch ya later, Caity," she whispered before scuttling away like a scared bunny rabbit.

Completely thrown by the swift change up, I looked over my shoulder to see if Carter was standing there. Something had her spooked. But it wasn’t Carter I saw.

It was Liam.

He strolled towards me, his friendly blue eyes sparkling. That half-smirk that all the girls fell for was perched on his lips, but it grew into a smile as he drew near.

“Hey, Caitlyn.” He grinned.

“Hi.” My voice did not come out as friendly as I’d hoped.

His brows dipped together, but then he smiled. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” I chuckled. “I’m good.”

“You heading this way?” He pointed with his book filled hand.

I nodded and dropped in step beside him.

“So, you enjoy the party on Friday?” Liam’s tone was sweet and casual, the familiar one I knew so well.

“Of course. Your parties are always the best.”

He liked that. I pulled down his mask and saw that it was a genuine feeling. He loved being in charge, that was obvious. I studied him as we walked down the hallway. He was chatting about the game on Friday and how epic our win was. He thought the boys deserved to celebrate. His enthusiasm seemed genuine. It was easy to see that control and fame suited him. I wanted to see more. I wanted to spot that dark, sinister glare from Friday, to prove I hadn’t just imagined it, but it wasn’t there. Sure, he was hiding a cocky arrogance beneath his sweet smile, but whatever he was feeling at this particular moment had nothing dark about it.

I hate to say I was disappointed. I should have been ecstatic that the Liam I was looking at was pretty close to the Liam I knew, but then why was Indie so scared of him? Glancing away from my friend, I spotted Andy Chen, the school math guru. I didn’t know him very well and his mask slipped away before I could stop it. His eyes went wide with fear then dropped to the floor, his shoulders tensed as we walked past. I turned back to look at him and he was eyeing Liam.

Not wanting my discovery to show, I grinned at Liam and asked him another question to get him talking. He chatted easily and I then spent the next few minutes roving the halls. Almost every person who walked past Liam had some kind of reaction. They either loved, loathed or feared him.

What the hell was going on at this school?

And how had I never noticed it before?

As our walk together came to an end, I had started to notice a pattern. The smart kids (I hate to categorize here, but you know, the uber-intelligent, slightly eccentric kids. The ones who have no athletic prowess or good looks to glide them through high school.) Yeah, well them. They feared Liam. Some of them looked up to him, some of them hated him, but all of them feared him.

“Well, it’s been nice chatting, Caitlyn.” Liam grinned, his blue eyes sparkling. I hadn’t put his mask back on and I spotted a flicker of warning run through his gaze.

I swallowed, putting the mask back in place. The scary thing was, when I did, my nerves were no more settled. In spite of his smile, that warning look was still emanating from his eyes. He licked his lower lip.

“Hey, I heard about Carter and Libby. I’ve had a chat with him, so you don’t have to worry about her. He’ll leave her alone.”

“Okay.”

He was telling the truth about the Carter part, but I didn’t believe him about Libby. I did need to worry about her. I knew Carter hadn’t been working alone. Liam put him up to it and the big question now, was why.