Masqueraded: Act One ~ Alternate Draft Chapter

End of Chapter Six

Wordlessly, he got up and started walking off.

“Stela, is everything okay?” Myrtle quietly asked, confused and worried by Lement’s change in behavior. 

I had turned and watched in panic as he went back to the student parking for his car that was hidden somewhere. I couldn’t very well call out to him and risk drawing attention from the monitors. But, I couldn’t just let him head off and potentially go confront Nick. If only I was capable of following after him. I looked on as he disappeared in despair.

“Stela?” It was now Aidan who spoke up, concerned.

I turned back, wide eyed, “He thinks Nick did it.” I explained, voice higher because of stress. My head started pounding.

“Your dad?” Aidan responded, “Why would he think about your dad?”

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. 

“My parents invited their clients over yesterday without telling me but wanted me to meet them. Lement and I were seeing ACT so I stood them up for several hours.” I shook my head, “They were so upset about it that he probably thinks that Nick lashed out at me and that the stairwell accident is a lie.”

I tried to breathe steadily but anxiety was firmly setting in. My brain felt like there were knives being pressed slowly into the back of my head. Once again, everything was becoming too overwhelming.

“Well, did you fall down the stairs?” Cole questioned plainly. “Did he push you down the stairs?”

Myrtle had an attentive glint in her light blue eyes as she silently waited to see how I’d respond.

My eyes darted towards him questioningly, “No?” I tried to pass off the whole ordeal, “He wouldn’t do that. It’s not that serious.” 

Cole blinked, “Stela, you’ve always been a horrible liar.”

My gaze fell to the table where they rested on the fries and lemonade that I had entirely forgotten about. Life as I’d known it was crumbling down and was about to go up in flames.

Start of Chapter Seven

“Stela, is that true?” Myrtle quietly asked, her face looking two shades paler than usual. She sounded like she didn’t want the allegation to be true–I didn’t want the allegation to be true–but unfortunately it was.

Even though the answer was basically out in the open, I still could not bring myself to outright say it. That was the confirmation the rest of the table needed.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Aidan wondered, earning a swat from Rebekah. I knew she was trying to keep her older brother from being tactless, but I could understand the question. 

Myrtle’s expression became upset.

“What is anyone going to do about it?” I answered with a bleak question before continuing to explain, “They have money to make their problems go away. Even if the police did believe me, they could buy whatever lawyer they wanted or pay off a judge or something. Not to mention, what would happen with me? I get relocated to a foster home for two weeks? I’m almost done with high school and have just the two weeks left anyways before graduating and turning eighteen. It wasn’t this bad before so I figured I could manage until then.”

My head felt lightheaded from that the stress the past twenty-four hours produced. I couldn’t remain focused on how I felt though, something that was not going to improve anytime soon. 

I needed to collect myself and figure out what I was going to do next. Making sure Lement didn’t confront Nick would be a start. School was going to have to take the back burner for the moment.

“We could’ve figured something out.” Aidan replied, sounding cautious of how he came across. I was sure he was uncertain of the right thing to say, more than likely not having dealt with a situation like this before. Most people usually don’t have to.

“And we still can.” Rebekah added reassuringly, “You could stay at our house. We’d just have to come up with a reason or something to explain why. That is if you don’t want to go to the police.”

“The police might be involved anyways depending on Lement.” Cole pointed out, pragmatic as ever. “Figuring out what he’s doing now needs to happen before we can figure out anything else. Can you call him?” 

Cole’s collected and logical mind is what I needed.

“I threw my phone out of his car when I saw the thirty plus missed calls.” I admitted, “That’s probably why he came here. There was no other way of him contacting me otherwise.”

I was still kicking myself over that impulsive act of stupidity. If I’d had it still, he could have shot me a simple text as to how everything turned out with my parents. Melissa and Nick would have undoubtedly confiscated it as punishment, but I knew where they stashed it when I was grounded. I could’ve played everything off as being okay, it would’ve probably been several days before he’d show up to see me, and by then the swelling and knot wouldn’t have been as bad. All of this could’ve been adverted.

It was done, though, so I needed to stop lingering on that and sort out what I was going to do. I willed my foggy mind to straighten up and cooperate.

Around us, the rest of the seniors in this lunch block were continuing on status quo. Although there was a sort of crisis at this table, everyone else would’ve never suspected a thing. It was funny how life was like that. The day could be nothing out of the ordinary for some people while the next person over was facing what seemed like the end of the world. Little did anyone know…

Focus, Estela.

“Do you know his number?” Aidan asked, holding up his phone. I grimaced and shook my head in response. Myrtle, having been in a silent state of turmoil previously, then spoke up. 

“I do.” She revealed to the surprise of all of us given her unfavorable opinion of the man. Noticing the surprised expression of all us collectively, she further explained as she pulled out her phone.

“His dad was like a mentor to my dad once.”

This was news to me as well. I’d never known that there was a history, or family history, between Myrtle and Lement. So she knew of him… but didn’t know him… but has his phone number?

“Small world.” Cole mused to which Rebekah agreed.

“You don’t say.” 

Myrtle, ever so old fashioned, opted to call Lement and put him on speaker. It was probably a better idea, anyways, to talk it out instead of trying to text a novel over the phone.

Her phone rang… and rang… and rang once again before it became evident that he wasn’t going to answer. Although he didn’t answer, I knew he still had to be driving. Both my parents’ office building and the police station were downtown so he wouldn’t have been able to make it there in the few minutes he was gone, but he’d be approaching either one soon.

Reasonably thinking, I knew it had to be the office building he was headed for. With Lement’s track record and last visit being only just yesterday, the police wouldn’t take his report seriously and if anything, believe he’d beat me himself. And in anger, he’d be apt to confront Nick and do God knows what else. I began getting up from my place at the table. There was no way I could just sit here and do nothing having no idea what was he was about to do. Every scenario that passed through my mind worried me to no end. Pieces of Lement’s confetti and silly string drifted towards the ground at my movement.

“Stela, what are you doing?” Rebekah asked before any of the others could. I pushed my side of fries and lemonade bottle to the middle of the table for them to share. 

“Going to find out what Lement’s doing.” My answer was met with a chorus of disapprovals from all but Myrtle, who was distracted on her phone either texting or looking something up.

The sound of them discouraging me, the buzz of the other seniors talking over lunch, and the stress of the situation made my brain reel, dazed. I knew it wasn’t a smart idea and that I wasn’t capable of being able to do much, but I knew myself. There was absolutely no way that I was going to go to French class and sit there knowing that the possibility of Lement going after Nick was all too real.

Honestly, I didn’t care about what happened to Melissa and Nick. In an ideal world, they’d have fallen off of the face of the Earth, but instead my concern was on Lement. I didn’t want him to do react out of anger without thinking and do something that did land him in jail. 

Half of the whole point of me not saying anything about Melissa and Nick was me not wanting to drag anyone else into my mess. If he ended up in jail and his life damaged because of my ordeal, I’d never stop blaming myself for it. He didn’t need to get himself into trouble because of me.

“You can’t walk all the way to your parents’ job from here, Stela. Even if that’s where Lement is heading and goes AWOL, by the time you get there, it’s already done.” Aidan noted, but he might as well had been talking to a brick wall. It didn’t make a difference as to what I was going to do.

“Not to mention, you’re in no state for that. You might have to let whatever happen, happen. It’s beyond your control.” Rebekah chimed in as well. 

“I’m not sitting here. I’m not going to French class. Whatever happens is going to happen, I guess, but I’m going to be in the middle of it.” As I responded to their condemnation of my plan, I noticed one of the school monitors starting to walk my way. Indisputably coming to tell me to either sit or to go wherever I intended to. Of course, that referred to throwing trash away, going to the bathroom, or back through the line for something and not leaving the school.

I sat back down at the table long enough for them to return to their post. Now they were going to be more likely to keep an eye on our area for the rest of the block, but my mind instead contemplated how they would react if I walked off. Call my parents? That’s where I’d be headed to anyways.

My only difficulty would be in getting away fast enough so that they wouldn’t be able to stop me. In my current state, I’d more than likely get caught and end up in the main office for having tried to escape. The odds of being able to get out of school were not looking favorable.

“So, what happens if you do leave and Lement’s not at your parents’ office?”

My eyes met Cole’s and I could only muster a shrug in response. In my mind, I was playing through that scenario. One which would go over just about as well as if Lement did end up at their office. How would I explain why I had left school? Melissa and Nick would be livid.

“Then why don’t you stay here? Later, afterschool, we can figure out where you can go. As much as you don’t like it, we may have to report it to the cops. They’re going to be involved anyways if you didn’t return home indefinitely.” Cole reasoned.

He was right. None of my friends wouldn’t let me go back home even if I did want to go back, so I’d have to stay with someone for a little while. But in doing that, Melissa and Nick would report me as a runaway and then I’d have to explain to the police why I didn’t go home. Or, I could just tell them now… I still wasn’t ready for that.

I sighed, giving up the notion of going to Melissa and Nick’s office building. There was no other choice for me other than to pray that Lement was somewhat levelheaded when he was angry. Maybe it was just my mind over analyzing things and making things seem worse in my head. Or maybe it was a reasonable train of thought. Either way, I was just going to have to wait it out at school.

“Are you good with that plan, Stela?” Rebekah asked.

Resigned, I nodded, much to their relief.

Pulling back the bowl of fries and lemonade bottle I’d slid to the middle of the table, I snacked on the food. I knew I needed to eat something, having not had anything so far today, although stress still had me not feeling hungry. It would only make me feel worse later to not have eaten anything.

In between fries, I looked over my group of friends, “I’m sorry this is what dumped on your lap when you guys sat down for lunch.” I apologized. 

“It’s not your fault.” Rebekah affirmed with her older brother echoing the sentiments.

Cole, dry sense of humor alive and well, shrugged indifferently, “It’s no more depressing than any other day with you, so it’s fine.”

“Thanks for the pick-me-up, Cole. I needed that one today.” I sarcastically replied.

Myrtle tucked her phone back away and rejoined the conversation.

“Well, to lighten the day then, Cole, have you asked her out yet?” Myrtle slyly asked, referring to his feelings towards Rebekah. The two clearly had a thing for each other, but both denied it. Last week, Cole had mentioned the possibility of him asking her out but he wasn’t certain yet. I was sure it was his mind second guessing every interaction they’d ever had. The fear of rejection planted front and center in his brain.

I grinned at the startled expression on his usually composed face.

“What?” Rebekah wondered, of course not having officially known from Cole himself that he was interested in anyone. 

“Oh.” Myrtle said in false realization, feigning innocence like she really didn’t know that he probably hadn’t yet. Despite the genuine childlike naivety Myrtle had in her, sometimes she would be a little crafty thing. Pretending to not know any better but really having known fully well. That side of her would rear its head every once in a while.

Aidan catching on to Myrtle’s reference, suddenly spoke up, “Wait what?” He leaned forward to look past Myrtle and at Cole who was looking off with a thoughtful smirk on his face.

“Oh, nothing,” Cole answered Aidan coolly, “Just have to plan payback for Stela and

Myrtle now.”

Myrtle’s eyes widened innocently, “What did I do?”

I snorted in amusement, “Well, shoot. If I’m in the doghouse already…” Angling myself towards Rebekah, I began talking in my trademark sophisticated accent, “Madame? I do believe there’s something this fine gentleman here would like to ask you.”

Scene Break

French went by uneventful. We went over our homework first before continuing on with our reviews. Since it was towards the end of the school year, we were going over everything we had learned in preparation for our exams. Some of the reviews were in the form of games, lectures, or partner work. Next class, though, we were going to watch a movie in French, so that was exciting.

Funnily enough, although my body was physically sitting in the classroom, my mind was far gone. The more complex the material was that we were reviewing, my mind felt like it the spaced out feeling one felt when falling asleep. Then when I’d tried to focus and think on what we were reviewing, it became agitated and began throbbing. If it weren’t for my cheekbone and I being swollen, my teacher would’ve probably thought I had come to class high. It would’ve probably been funny to see what my face looked like, being spacey and all.

Other than going over our reviews and being mentally out of it, nothing else happened in class. I was the only one from my main group of friends in the class, so there was no one for me to flick paperclips at as a pastime. At that thought, I chuckled at the memory of Rebekah telling me that she’d found one in her tank top when she changed one night before bed. They were like little reminder tokens of my existence for my friends. Just in case they forgot.

It was more than likely akin to how I would be when I was changing clothes later. The silly string Lement decorated me with was a little tricky to get off, but was one single web to remove. The glitter confetti, on the other hand, proved to be more difficult. It was no problem dusting the pieces that rested atop of my hoodie off, but the pieces that found a home inside my jacket were periodically sprinkling out whenever I would stand up or sit down.

After class, I headed back to the school’s entrance to meet with Myrtle and the siblings. Cole took the bus home but Rebekah, Aidan, and Myrtle also walked home. It’d usually end up being Myrtle and I once we actually left the school’s parking lot because of the siblings living in the opposite direction of Myrtle and I.

When I got to the main entrance, I spotted Rebekah, Myrtle, and Aidan just outside of the doors talking with a smaller version of Lement. Smaller being used in comparison to Lement, because it sure as heck wasn’t in comparison to me. I still got towered over.

It was Lement’s little brother Dennis who was with the others. A striking resemblance to his crazier counterpart, Dennis was the more laid back, good-natured one of the two. Lement said he got it from their father whereas Lement took after their mother. I often teased Lement for seeming more immature than Dennis. If it weren’t for Dennis looking younger and being an inch or two shorter than Lement, they could have people fooled into thinking that Dennis was the older one.

“Dennis!” I greeted as I met up with my group of friends. “Grow anymore and you and your brother will look like identical twins.”

Dennis smiled in response, “Don’t tell him that.”

He was beginning to sound like Lement too. Well, Lement’s natural voice and not the mischievous rascal accent he put on the 90% of the time he was being silly.

“Dennis is taking you to your house to get some things and then back to their home.” Myrtle said, not sounding like her usual self. She sounded distant and distracted by something.

“If that’s fine with you.” Dennis added.

I nodded, “That’s okay with me. I just don’t want to intrude or put your family in the

middle of anything.”

Dennis rolled his eyes with a laugh, “Yeah, no you won’t. Believe me.”

Aidan snorted at us, “Can I join in around the campfire too?” Of course Rebekah swat him in the side at his quip.

“If you’re bringing marshmallows then I don’t see why not.” Dennis played along before looking back at me. “Lement wants us home, uh to our place, ASAP so I’m sorry to have to cut you guys short but we have to go, Stela.”

I nodded before reaching to give Rebekah a hug goodbye, Aidan a middle finger salute in good fun, and Myrtle a hug as well. My redheaded best friend didn’t want to let go from the hug.

“I’ll have Dennis or Lement text you guys later to keep you updated, but I’ll also see you all tomorrow anyways.” I told Myrtle and the siblings as Myrtle finally resigned to letting me go. I didn’t let my face show it, but I was mildly appreciative when she did just on account of my back’s protesting.

“Copy that.” Aidan replied and Rebekah gave me a pat on the arm.

“Be careful.” Myrtle looked at me with worried eyes.

“I’ll be fine.” I tried to reassure her, but it didn’t look like she was convinced that I would be okay. 

Dennis led the way to the curb where Lement’s car waited. Seeing it made me think.

“Hey, Dennis? You drove?” The answer was obvious and already mentioned, but my mind was just catching back up to the fact that Dennis was only fifteen and thus didn’t have a license yet.

In response, he paused at the driver’s side door and gave me the most sheepish, guilty grin. I looked at him incredulously, but amused.

“Yeah…” He finally admitted before fully grinning and getting into his brother’s car. I opened the passenger side door and cautiously sat down, placing my binder in the floor. Not wanting my back to bump the backrest, I lowered it down all of the way. It was hard to sit in the car seat without slouching back, but that was how I was going to have to sit.

“So, your brother just gave you his car?” I questioned.

Dennis nodded as he pulled out of the parking lot, “Yes. He just said to get you from school.”

I prodded for more information, “Is he at your place?”

“He is, but he’s in a mood, like always, so that’s why he had me get you.”

“Like always?” I asked confusedly. I’d never seen Lement genuinely bothered by anything before. Of course I could only imagine that he’s human, and therefore gets bothered by some things, but it seemed to be rare.

Dennis chuckled, “I don’t know what I’m allowed to say right now. I think he’s going to talk to you about it when we get home. He just has some things to take care of at the moment.” 

His words took a second to process in my brain before I responded, “…” I opened my mouth to speak, but didn’t know what I wanted to say. I thought again for a second before deciding, “Should I be concerned?”

“By me driving? I guess.” He answered jokingly. I did have to admit that he was a pretty good driver. Especially in comparison to some adults that I’ve seen. “But him being ill? Eh…” He faltered off, “I mean, you don’t have to be concerned. You’re not who he’s mad at. He can get really nasty with people. It just depends on what they did and his mood.”

I thought over this batch of information as well. In the several years of knowing him, I’d had no idea that there was a temper in Lement. It made me think of his jest from the day before. ‘Sweetie, I’ve done far worse.’ Of course, I’m sure he meant it jokingly at the time, but jokingly to an extent. Just what exactly has Lement done? Beyond misdemeanors? 

That direction of thinking made me shake my head. Lement wasn’t a mean or violent person. Sure, he might get upset over certain things, but I couldn’t picture him doing anything that was truly bad. He was too big a goofball to be a negative person.

“It’s hard to picture Lement angry.” My face lit up at his snort in amusement, “Really! I mean, earlier, he sounded pissed when he saw my face and basically called Myrtle stupid, but that was the first and worst of anything I’ve seen from him.”

Dennis tried to compose himself from laughing at my comments, but his face still shone with mirth, “It’s just funny to think that for you, it’s hard to picture him mad, but for me it’s a totally different story.” 

“It’s nothing.” Dennis tried to assure after somewhat sobering from his amusement. 

“Like you driving right now is nothing?” I teased as we pulled up to my house so I could pack some clothes. Dennis drummed his fingers against the steering wheel and smiled sheepishly.

“Um, do you need help or anything?” Dennis shifted the topic, tilting his head questioningly towards the house.

“No, I’ll be fine to get my stuff.” I answered, picking my binder off of the floor and moving to get out of the car.

“Alright, I’ll be here.” He responded. I nodded in acknowledgement and closed the car door.

It was now time for the challenge that was going to be packing all of my clothes into one suitcase. Albeit, Melissa and Nick’s clothes that were picked out for me was a lot more than the clothes I had picked for myself, but it was still more than what a suitcase would usually hold. I was sure I would figure something out.

Author’s Notes

Disclaimers – It’s been a hot second since I wrote this deleted chapter, and I didn’t finish the full book in this draft. So, my commentary is based off of what I do remember from this version (of quite a few).

Ditching This Draft

I’m pretty sure the last part of Chapter Seven, just above, is where I stopped writing this version.

I think at the point of this draft, the backstage operations of The Midway hadn’t been laid out in full. The airstream park, the Rounds–none of that existed yet. And so for some reason, my assumption was that Lement’s family had a house and that’s where Dennis would’ve been taking Estela after leaving hers.

That, I think, being the hitch where I stopped working on the draft and following that plot because a multitude of factors spawned from the aforementioned scenario being the case:

1. The Midway is a traveling carnival. So while the Radus owning a property in one location isn’t farfetched, them living in a traditional housing situation for any period of time just doesn’t fit them. They, and all TM employees, have to travel with the carnival, which lends to them living at the carnival backstage, which lends to airstreams.
   
2. There’s not as much whimsy in just moving into another house and spending a portion of the book’s plot there. Sure, once Estela healed, she’d be spending free time at the carnival. But too much domesticated living doesn’t fit the carnies’ vibe, Estela’s preferences, or provide for more time exploring The Midway.
   
3. Regardless of how light she’s packing, Estela is not in any state to be packing up belongings to relocate. The degree of her injuries differed over the multiple drafts of Act One, but in each, she would still not realistically be able to do that.

I also felt that realistically for Lement’s character, he wouldn’t just leave Estela at school, especially still injured.

Of course, he doesn’t see traditional schooling of any importance, so he wouldn’t see the point in her finishing the rest of the day (which would likely be spent back in the clinic). And, he knows his mom can help her injuries heal quicker, so why not just go ahead and take Estela to her?

Furthermore, Estela going back home wasn’t going to be an option and her friends outside of the carnival are nobodies, to Lement, who can ultimately do nothing in his eyes.

Concerning Myrtle, what Lement does know is that she’s from a faction and he hates the other two, so he wasn’t going to give her the rest of the school day to coordinate what to do with Estela. Which of the other two factions she’s from wasn’t going to make a difference for him. (He knows the circus has dolls and Myrtle fits the look of one, but her ’50s aesthetic isn’t unlike the amusement park’s 1950s section, hence the ambiguity.)

All of that compiled, I ditched that draft so that Lement took Estela ‘home,’ to the carnival, from school at that moment. Lement still went after her adoptive parents all the same, but after he left Estela with Annie.

The Cut Characters

There were other scenes in at least one of the other old drafts that featured more time with her school friends.

As mentioned above, I didn’t want the first book to be obnoxiously long and drag out to get to the main plot, so a bit was cut from the front end. Ultimately, Rebekah, Cole, and Aidan’s characterization and subplots didn’t serve the main story of Estela’s entanglement between the three magic factions, thus they suffered the most on the chopping block.

Myrtle’s relationship with Estela also fell plight to this too.

The earliest of early drafts had different scenes with Estela and Myrtle that fleshed out their dynamic, but those scenes didn’t correlate to the plot of what was going on in the final manuscript. They would have been shoehorned in.

Where Act One taps in the morning after the circus dream, her and Lement are going to see a different show. Estela’s carnival friend group never overlapped with her school friend group (Estela also knew better than to let Myrtle know of Lement) and so it wouldn’t have been authentic for Myrtle to be in the mix of that.

The altercation with Nick that occurred afterwards put Estela out for the rest of the day, then it’s back to school–where Myrtle’s presence is an authentic inclusion. But with Lement taking Estela to The Midway from there, Myrtle couldn’t follow along or show up during that duration. And, Estela was trying to keep her head down in staying at the carnival as to not get swooped up by police or her adoptive parents (yet unaware of Lement’s ‘confrontation’ with them).

So, the only natural interactions with Myrtle according to what was happening in the plot was via phone calls.

I’m more of a ‘characters drive the plot forward’ kind of writing style. Maybe it’s to a detriment in cases like this where in book one, Myrtle’s friendship is more of a told rather than shown predicament. But, it wouldn’t have been genuine to how the characters would be reacting to situations, interacting with each other considering dynamics, etc to intertwine Myrtle more just so she has ‘screentime,’ so to speak.

Now for Dennis, with how Estela’s transition from school to carnival actually played out, he wasn’t needed for that. As for Estela’s duration at the carnival, it is likely that she bumped into him at times, more so in passing.

Dennis is fifteen and also actively works at The Midway. So, a great deal of his time is spent either in schooling with his tutors or working at his attraction (to be stated in Act Two). In stark contrast to Lement, he also spends a lot of time with his family and has a different, somewhat saner friend group than his brother. As such, there would have been fleeting encounters at best with him during the week-ish time skip.

With all of them, they’ll be seen more in Act Two.

Top Off

I’m currently in the throes of finishing Act Two while keeping up with the blog while keeping up with my other work, but as I shift around the Masqueraded catalog, I’ll share some more deleted bits and bonus content.

Until next, “May the magic keep you until we meet again under the Big Top.”