Free Removing the Mask by Aimee Whitmee Page B

will need it.
    I spend the next hour or so going through my clothes and putting them away before finally venturing out my room.
    Downstairs, I find Bessie’s at the sink in the kitchen washing vegetables and sit down at the table waiting for her to notice me.
    “Are you alright?” She keeps her back to me, but her voice expresses her concern.
    “Yeah, Poppy peed me off, that’s all.” I snatch an apple from the fruit bowl and take a bite into it. I listen to the crunch before I actually taste the sweet and slightly bitter concoction.
    “Do you always cry when you’re angry?” After turning the running water off, she turns round and settles back against the counter with her arms crossed. Her eyebrow’s raised.
    “No.”
    “Then why were you crying?” She watches me and I squirm under her gaze.
    “I don’t want to talk about it.” It’s the best I can do right now; I’m not ready to have a real heart to heart with her yet. Maybe another day, but not tonight.
    She turns back to the various vegetables and turns the water back on. “I need you to go get the eggs, and I think you’ve forgotten about the puppies in the other room. There’s a basket in the corner under the table that you can put them in.”
    “The puppies?”
    “No! The eggs!” She gives me a disbelieving look over her shoulder.
    With a laugh, I step outside. The bite in the air brings me to run all the way down to the chicken coop. The apple core is discarded into mud as I grab the goods before running back again.
    Bessie’s packing away the veggies when I stumble through the back door but quickly takes the basket away from me, before going back to her veggies.
    “We’re going to have company in a bit; Jimmy’s bringing the mob home with him, I guess this is your chance to meet them.”
    “Oh great.” The phone rings before Bessie has the chance to question my sarcasm. While she answers the screaming phone, I wander into the living room before going into the adjoining room where I’m met with a dodgy smell and what seems like four ADHD puppies. I let them out into the living room and sit down on the rug that covers the hard wood floor to fuss them. 
    “Kenzie, I believe we have a problem,” Bessie steps into the room, her face is slightly pale and her eyes are little too wide.
     
     
     
     

Chapter Nine
     
    “This is Karma coming back to bite me in the butt!” I groan into my hands.
    Bessie is quiet for a second before asking, “What did you do to deserve this?” There’s a hint of laughter to her voice but I don’t comment on it, I don’t need to be wasting any more time.
    “Tell me the plan again.” I rub my eyes until colourful spots dance across my vision.
    “We get you ready and to the studio; from there on it’s simple.”
    “I don’t have anything to wear unless you count jeans without knees and band t-shirts. Bessie, I need a dress.” I follow her up the stairs when she beckons me.
    “You have the mask and wig, right?”
    “I have a mask, but I don’t have a wig; it’s okay though, I’ve gone without before.” I answer to her butt as she tromps up the stairs in front of me.  
    “Good! I have dresses from when I used to go out dancing, you’ll just have to wear one of them.”
    I supress a laugh; by no means is Bessie over weight, but she certainly isn’t a petit little thing. Afraid of offending her, I don’t say anything. She’ll see my unspoken point.
     
    ***
    “It looks beautiful on you!” Bessie’s face goes soft as she watches me examine the dress in the mirror. “You should wear it, your mum can’t argue with that and really; it suits you.”
    “Thank you, Bessie. Are you sure you’re okay with me wearing it?” I turn to face her rather than looking at her in the mirror; the skirt sways around my bare legs making the cool material tickle my skin. I was wrong when I thought her old dresses wouldn’t fit me, they’re actually a little snug.  
    “Of course! Like I’m ever going