True Colors (Masks #1)

by Melissa Pearl

  I bit my lip, nerves skittering through me like frenzied fireflies. “You want to help me do it?”

  No. I could see it all over his face.

  My insides deflated as I watched him push his lips together and then sigh. “You know I can’t afford to screw up this close to the end of the year. I can’t get involved in anything that’ll jeopardise what I’ve been working so hard for.” He winced and let out a soft hiss. “But I want to get Indie out of whatever shit she’s into, so I’m in.”

  I wanted to wrap my arms around him and kiss him. I was so relieved.

  Instead I sufficed with a friendly slap on his arm and jogged with him back to the changing rooms. We agreed to broach it at the biology assignment meeting we’d set up before school that day. I was so nervous I wanted to puke, but knowing Micah would be there to back me up was a huge comfort.

  Pulling out my phone, I texted Eric with an update as I’d promised I would. It was good knowing he was there for me, even if not in the physical sense.

  This day will go one of two ways. I’ll find out the truth and sneak Indie into freedom or I’ll find out the truth and everything will blow up in my face.

  I rubbed my stomach and forced my lungs to inflate as I made my way to the library, the attack on Friday night still way too raw and fresh in my mind.

  24

  The study area of the library was empty, which was why we’d agreed on Friday to meet there first thing Monday morning. Libby’s idea was huge and brilliant, but it was taking us longer than we expected. No one seemed to mind the extra workload. We were enjoying hanging out together, but a very different feel hung in the air that particular morning.

  Indie arrived looking flustered. Her hair was mussed and she was busy adjusting her white linen dress. She caught me watching her and shame turned her cheeks pink. I could tell she’d just been made to do something she hadn’t wanted to. I didn’t know what, but the sick feeling in my gut made me wonder. Her hands trembled as she sat down across from me, unable to look me in the eye.

  “Morning,” I said with a smile.

  “Hey,” she mumbled.

  “How was your weekend?”

  “Okay.” She shrugged, looking small in her chair tucked under the big library table.

  “Yours?”

  I tried to look casual and unfazed. “It was pretty quiet, although Friday night was interesting.”

  She went pale, her high cheekbones sticking out as she ruffled her bangs.

  So she did know about what had been done to me. Stripping back another layer I saw her guilty tears. Any simmering anger I may have been harboring against her evaporated. She looked so wretched.

  Micah strolled in—edgy, but determined. He sat down next to Indie and a calm relief descended around her. She shot Micah a polite smile, but I could see how safe she felt beside him. Micah glanced my way and I gave him an encouraging smile. We hadn’t really talked about how we were going to broach the subject and I kind of I wished we had.

  Who would start the inquiry? Was it better if I did? Libby was still a little afraid of Micah, but she didn’t seem too keen on me either.

  “Morning, everybody.” Libby bubbled into the room.

  I gave her a warm smile, which she instinctively returned before swallowing and slumping into the chair beside me. Everyone was silent. It was mega-awkward, to the point that Indie actually initiated.

  “So, what are we working on today? Where’s everyone up to?” She opened up her book of notes and began scanning them. “Did you all manage to gather some more samples over the weekend? I only got a few. I haven’t had a chance to identify them yet though.”

  She reached down to unzip her bag and I took my chance.

  I willed my courage not to flake as I leaned forward and laid my hands on the table. “Before we get started, I just wanted to say...” I glanced at Micah. “How much I enjoy working with you guys. I feel like we’re a really great group. We work well together.” Although confused, everyone nodded. Indie sat up with a small grin, giving me the confidence to go on. “It might sound weird, but I feel safe with you guys, like I could tell you anything and it’d be okay.”

  Indie’s smile fled. She glanced at Micah who was watching her with the softest expression I’d ever seen. Behind his mask his face was glowing with pure affection. It was so strong, it was breaking through and Indie saw it. Her eyes glistened before she had a chance to turn away and blink at tears.

  Libby squirmed in her seat as my gaze hit her. “Do you feel that way?”

  She shrugged, but I could see that she did.

  I took her hand. “Libby, you can tell us anything and it’ll be okay.”

  I looked to Indie. Her blue eyes were wide with fear. “You too, Indie. No one’s going to hurt you here.” She flinched, her gaze pressing into me with a look that was both pleading and annoyed.

  The tension in the air grew thick and suffocating, and I wasn’t quite sure what to say next, but then Libby drew in a deep breath and let out this hiccuping sob. “I didn’t want be involved in this, but after the whole Carter thing I had no choice.”

  “Libby, stop.” Indie’s voice was steel cold, but behind her mask she was a quivering mess.

  “I can’t do this anymore, Indie! I don’t care what Liam threatens me with.” Her bravado was only just masking her palpitating terror.

  “Keep going, Libby, tell me what’s happening with Liam.” I tentatively touched her arm, not wanting to scare her off, but feeling like human contact might help her along.

  Libby sniffed, big fat tears popping onto her lower lashes. “He started up a business last year. He recruited a whole bunch of vulnerables.” She pointed at herself in anguish. “And he makes them do all this extra work - assignments mostly, but he’s managed to steal a few tests as well. We have to complete them and then hand in the answers and then the rich kids who are too lazy to do their own work, pay him.”

  “Libby, please stop.” Indie’s teeth were clenched.

  “No, Indie.” Libby threw a vehement look at the meek redhead before turning back to me. “Liam approached me a few months ago and I was hesitant at first. It felt wrong to me, but he kept telling me how much he needed me and how there’d be these great rewards.” Libby swiped at her tears. “That’s why I knew whenever you guys were doing anything social. He knew I wanted to be part of your crowd and he kept inviting me and finally I caved. But then I started second-guessing myself and I tried to quit. I told Liam the workload was getting too much. That’s when he set up the Carter thing. He knew I liked Carter and he also knew there was no way I’d have the guts to do what Carter was demanding. It was the perfect threat to keep me in line. Carter was going to start these rumors about what we’d done in that upstairs room. He made sure everyone saw us go up there and then people saw me leaving in tears. On Monday, Liam told me he’d taken care of any rumors, but nothing could stop him from igniting some new ones. He threatened to call my parents. I had no choice but to do what he wanted.”

  “Libby, shut up!” Indie slammed the table. “Don’t you get it? He’ll destroy you. If this gets out, you’re dead.” Her voice hitched.

  “Indie, it’s okay.” Micah gently touched her hand.

  “It’s not okay.” Tears flooded her eyes, making them a brilliant blue. She yanked her hand away and stood from her chair. “You don’t know what he’s like. You don’t know what he’s capable of doing. Libby needs to shut up and toe the line. That’s the only way to be safe! You’re an idiot, Libby!” Her finger was trembling as she pointed at the weeping girl beside me. “You should have kept your mouth shut! Now we’re both gonna pay!”

  “Indie.” Micah’s voice was a soothing balm. He reached for her hand again and held tight when she tried to snatch it away. “It’s okay.” His large thumb caressed her pale skin. She looked so small and fragile beside him.

  Her chin trembled as her lips fought for control. “It’s never going to be okay,” she whispered.

  “Yes it is.
” I could see Micah’s anguish as he gently pulled her onto his knee. I thought she’d fight him, but she didn’t. She sank into his embrace and buried her face in his shoulder. His strong arms encircled her, cocooning her from the world.

  Her pitiful sobs brought tears to my eyes. I looked at Libby and nearly started laughing. We were all blubbering messes. I yanked some Kleenex out of my bag and passed one to her. She gave me a watery smile as she took it, her eyes filling with an apology that didn’t need to be said. I shook my head and squeezed her hand.

  As Indie’s tears slowly ebbed, she turned to look at me. Her head was perched on Micah’s shoulder and she didn’t want to move it. I passed her a Kleenex. Our fingers brushed as she took it and her face crested with pain.

  “I’m sorry about what happened to you on Friday.” Her voice was small. “I didn’t find out until after… and I felt so bad.”

  “It’s not your fault, Indie.”

  She swallowed, looking guilty.

  “What happened to you?” Micah frowned.

  I flicked my hand, going for casual. “Some guy tried to give me a warning, told me stay away from Liam.”

  “Did he hurt you?”

  “I’m okay, Micah.” I didn’t want to go into details. Indie didn’t need to hear it. She already looked bad enough and it wasn’t her fault. “Indie, who attacked me?”

  “I can’t.” She shook her head. “You don’t understand. He’ll hurt me.”

  “Who? Liam or this other guy?”

  Her lips quivered. “Both.” She drew in a sharp breath. “They both have their ways of keeping me in line.”

  Micah looked ready to murder someone. I shot him a warning look. Indie did not need to meet his angry side. I knew he had one, that was why he’d been on probation...for fighting. He worked overtime to pull his emotions into line. I could see him using some sort of calming technique he’d obviously learned. The unnerving black rage I spotted slowly swirled away.

  Satisfied he wouldn’t explode, I turned my attention back to the trembling waif on his knee. “Indie, you can’t go on like this. We have to stop Liam. We have to end this and get you somewhere safe.”

  “I don’t have anywhere safe to go. Liam lives at my house.” Her breathy laughter was sad and broken. “He manipulated his way into my life and now I’m trapped. I can’t get out. He’ll kill me, Caitlyn. And as miserable as my life is, I don’t want to die.”

  She pulled in a shaky breath and pressed the tissue to her eyes. Micah rubbed her back, placing a sweet kiss on her forehead. His fond touch seemed to jolt something inside her and she popped off his shoulder. Fear struck her features. She stumbled off Micah’s knee and whipped back to her chair.

  “If Liam finds out what’s happening right now, he’s gonna...” She pointed at Micah’s lap and looked ready to puke. “He’s very particular about who I talk to. Please don’t tell him I let you touch me.” Her quavering voice tore at my heart and it was doing the same to Micah.

  He leaned over her, running his hand down her back. “I’m not going to let him hurt you anymore,” he whispered.

  “You can’t stop him.” She met his deep gaze.

  “I’m not going to let him hurt you,” Micah repeated slowly.

  But Indie just kept shaking her head. “If he finds out about this, about what Libby told you, he’ll find a way to hit us all where it hurts the most. He watches everything. He’ll figure out the best way to make our lives a living hell.”

  The threat was frightening because I knew how real it was. Liam did know how to get to people. He preyed on their weaknesses and always knew the perfect way to strike. Everyone around the table was at risk.

  But in spite of that, there was a sense of freedom and unity among us.

  Everything had finally been spilled and I could tell Libby felt a deep sense of relief. Even through Indie’s fear, I could sense a spark of hope. So I decided to build on it.

  “Indie, he doesn’t know what’s happening right now. He’s not here.” I pointed around the study room. “We’re the only people privy to this conversation and we can trust each other. Together, we can bring an end to this.”

  Her fleeting hope shimmered a little brighter. “How?”

  “We need to out Liam. There’s bound to be some kind of proof of what he’s doing.” I looked to Libby. “How does his business work?”

  “Well.” Libby sniffed. “Every morning when I get to school there’s a new set of assignments, or a test to complete, in my locker. I have to finish it three days before the deadline so whoever the work belongs to can tweak anything and make it sound more like them. If I’m late with a deadline...I find other stuff in my locker.”

  “Like what?”

  Libby looked at Indie, who grimaced and whispered, “Photos of what’s been to done to people who don’t toe the line or a flash drive with video footage.” Indie swallowed back the details and I didn’t press her for more. I didn’t want to know.

  “Liam’s crew can be pretty...mean.” Libby squeaked.

  I gripped her hand, most likely in an effort to quell my own shaking. “Who do you deliver the completed work to?”

  “We leave it in our lockers to be collected.”

  “Liam knows all his workers’ locker codes,” Indie said.

  “I leave the work in a manila folder.”

  “Are you assigned to certain students?”

  Libby nodded. “I have three, some have up to five.”

  “Woah,” I whispered. “No wonder you’re so exhausted. You must be working round the clock.”

  “I don’t know what else to do.” Her voice tripped. “I can’t have him calling my parents. You know what he’s like. He can convince anyone to believe whatever he tells them to.”

  “Do you get paid for any of this work?”

  “No.” Libby’s voice was small and full of resentment.

  I looked to Indie. “But Liam gets paid, right?”

  She closed her eyes, looking pale and exhausted. “One hundred bucks for test results, twenty-five for every page of standard homework, one hundred and fifty for an essay and two-fifty for a full research assignment.” Her voice was devoid of life as she rattled off the amounts.

  My jaw went slack. “How many clients does he have?”

  “About forty-five regulars and another fifty one-offs. Mostly juniors and seniors, a handful of sophomores.”

  “Stella’s one of them, isn’t she?” My voice was hard and clipped.

  Libby bit the edge of her lip. “I do her work.”

  Breaths punched through my nose as my nostrils flared. “We have to stop this. It’s not fair.”

  “If he finds out you even said that, you’re dead. That warning on Friday was real. You don’t have to get into this.” Indie’s emphatic voice did nothing to sway me.

  “I’m already in it and I’m not backing down. I’ve seen how scared you are. How scared Libby and all the other students are. It’s not fair to keep going on this way. All we need is a little evidence and we can expose Liam’s whole operation.”

  “Doing that will affect so many people...all the workers and the people paying for the services...me and Libby included.”

  “I know.” I grimaced, glancing at Libby. “That’s why the decision has to be yours. If you don’t want me, or Micah, to say anything, we won’t. This will be the last conversation we have about this. I’ll walk away.” I so didn’t want to do that, but I wouldn’t fight Indie or Libby on it. If they wanted to keep suffering that was their choice. I’d given them an out and I just had to cross my fingers that they’d take it.

  25

  The silence that followed nearly killed me. If they didn’t go for it, I would have failed on an epic scale and Micah felt the same way. He was still fighting his rage, and I was worried if Indie refused that he might lose it and take matters into his own hands. I could tell he wanted to beat the shit out of Liam, but if he did, his chances of playing basketball in college were over. I didn’t want him
to miss out on that.

  I felt bad for getting him involved and was about to start a speech about how we just needed to survive the last two months of school and then we could rescue Indie over the summer, when...

  “I want out.” Libby’s soft statement pierced the restless quiet we were sitting in. “I don’t care about the consequences anymore. I hate living in fear like this. I’d rather just go back to being unpopular, fat Libby Phelps.”

  Turning in my seat, I read her to make sure it wasn’t just bravado talking, but she was being honest. I squeezed her forearm.

  I then looked to Indie, ready to plead if I had to. She was gazing at Libby’s determined face, her weak one fighting with a maelstrom of emotions I couldn’t keep up with. I popped her mask back into place to give my eyes a breather.

  “You’re brave, Libby.” Indie said softly. “But you’re not fat and you never deserved to be unpopular, because you’re one of the nicest people I know.” She glanced at me then turned to smile at Micah. “You all are.” She reached for his hand. “I never thought getting out would be an option for me. I’ve just been trying to survive...put on a show to keep everybody happy. To keep myself safe.” She licked her bottom lip. “But I’m not safe, and I really want to be.”

  Micah threaded his fingers through hers and ran his other hand over her head. She was so petite beside him. I smiled watching their interaction and thinking once again about how Micah was the strong tower Indie could recover in.

  “Indie, can you help us put an end to this?”

  Her blue eyes remained transfixed by Micah’s sweet gaze. “Liam keeps a record of all the money collected. He has the names of every person who has ever paid him and the names of all the people who work for him, locker combinations...everything.”

  “Where is that?”

  “It’s on his computer.”

  “At school?”

  “No, it’s a different computer. He keeps it in the vault in my dad’s office.”