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Co-Author: SkyyRyder

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Fallen Now is Babylon the Great

Chapter 7: The Masquerade Part I

-Babylon's POV-

I spent most of the afternoon figuring out what to do with my hair, and how I should wear my make-up. I hadn't really planned on getting all dolled up to go out with him, however, we would be in front of the whole school, and I had appearances to keep up.

I decided to leave my hair down, loose waves of black hair resting precariously past my shoulders. My make-up was subtle, but a bit dramatic around the eyes. I didn't want the hair, or the make-up to outdo the dress.

It was the most beautiful piece of clothing I had ever seen, and the story behind it made me love it even more. I held the dress against my chest and took a deep breath. It's too bad that such a beautiful thing has to be wasted on such a sorry-excuse for a human being.

Just the very thought of him put a sour taste in my mouth, or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

I took a step in to the dress and slid it on carefully. My fingers trailed over the intricate design of the lace. I closed my eyes and could just imagine Amma dancing with the man she was going to marry, even if she hated his guts at first.

Just like I hate Reid.

Ugh. I pushed that ugly thought out of my head. My situation is nothinglike Amma's. Nothing at all.

Taking a deep breath I glanced at the clock; it was nearly time for him to pick me up. I don't want to go through with this. I really didn't want to be seen in pubic with Reid Garwin, Spenser's playboy. I can only imagine the vile things he tells people we're doing.

Another grotesque thought. I shook my head and picked up the mask I had picked out from one of the smaller shops in town. It was a little much, but it was perfect with the dress that Amma had let me wear.

"Babylon, it's almost time for your date to be here," I could hear Shena's mocking tone as she skipped down the hall.

"It is not a date," I muttered under my breath.

She hopped onto my bed and smiled. She looked a lot like me, and I was reminded of that as I turned to look at her. She smiled and nodded her head in approval.

"Seems like a date to me." She gave a grin before rolling off of my bed and touching the gold fabric. "This was Amma's?"

"Yeah," I nodded my head and followed her fingers. "Beautiful isn't it?"

She only nodded before running back into the hallway screaming for our Amma. Imogen was already in bed, early; Mother's orders. Shena was allowed to stay up later and Amma was to make sure I was 'home at a decent hour'. Mother was working the graveyard shift tonight and I wouldn't see her until early tomorrow morning, if then.

I heard the doorbell ring and felt my heart stop. Could he possibly be here already? My eyes flicked to the clock again and it was sure enough eight o'clock. Sighing, I grabbed my clutch, and slipped into my shoes.

This was going to be a long night, I could definitely feel it.

I walked into the stairwell and I could hear Reid using that charming tone of his. I stayed back in the shadows watching him lay it on with my little sister and Amma. He smiled his hands behind his back as he pulled out a bouquet of wild flowers in one hand.

"Aren't these beautiful," Amma gushed as she touched Reid's cheek. It was quite a reach for her I noticed. She was actually in her wheelchair for once.

"I figured a house full of beautiful young women needed some equally beautiful flowers," he grinned handing them to her.

I nearly gagged. What is he doing?

"Babylon never said how cute you were," Amma gushed, and Shena sighed dreamily.

Oh, I know that look. I rolled my eyes. How could she be taken by that mess of blonde hair and those blue devil's eyes? Ugh, the thought of him revolted me. I worry for Shena if these are the kind of men she continues to like. Rushing down the stairs, I was instantly at Reid's side, halfway out the door, saying goodbye to my family.

"Why are you in such a rush?" Reid asked glancing at Amma and Shena. "I was just chatting with your beautiful sister, and aunt?" he asked glancing at Amma.

He was kidding, wasn't he? I could just hurt him right now. I could see it; a slow painful beating was exactly what he needed.

"Oh, he's good," she chuckled at me, but I didn't find his false charm nearly as amusing as she did.

I rolled my eyes. "Cut it out," I demanded the blonde.

"Babylon, dear... don't be so rude. This sweet young man was just telling us about tonight." Amma grinned eagerly.

"You look amazing Baby…"

Silence rang in my ears as I looked him in the eye. Was he telling the truth? Did he really think that I looked amazing? I saw that playful glint in his eye and felt the anger boiling deep within me. Why me? Why did I have to be the one that he set his sights on to torture?

I hate him.

I glanced at my Amma. She was simply taken by him. Why? I haven't the slightest clue. He said some sweet things to her and she just gave him goo-goo eyes, like a love struck teenager.

She was biting his bait. I cannot believe this! My Amma is seriouslyfalling for the schmuck standing on our front doorstep? I can't believe this! She's usually very good at reading people and seeing right through them. What was causing her intuition to falter with this one?

"We're just going to be at school. And I'll have her home at eleven sharp," Reid assured my grandmother.

"How wonderful, you kids enjoy yourselves," Amma stated. I leaned down and gave her a brief kiss on the cheek before telling Shena to behave herself. Reid politely said goodbye to my Amma, then sent a wink Shena's way, causing her to blush.

Gag me again.

My younger sister literally floated away on cloud nine. How could this be happening? How could all of my family literally be against me? They didn't know him like I did though. Every time they saw him he was putting up that façade, like he was some charming young man that was going to sweep me off of my feet.

He wanted to sweep me all right; right into his bed.

The thought made me cringe and at that moment he grabbed my hand. I snatched it out of his grasp and glared at him. Had he lost his mind?

"Don'ttouch me." I felt like a broken record.

He tossed me an amused smile and opened the door to his car, a sleek, red chevy; some older model, but the car was pristine. I glanced at him and noticed Amma peeking out of the window, of course. I shook my head and climbed into the vehicle. He closed the door behind me and slid in next to me in the driver's side.

"Should we give her a little show?" he asked suggestively.

I gave him a hard stare, letting him know that wasn't even slightly funny. All the anger inside of me, all of the resentment inside of me that I could muster up was in that very glare.

"I'd rather die," I pressed and folded my arms over my chest.

"I don't want to hang out with your friends all night. They don't like me." Reid's eyes rolled dramatically as he stopped short, snatching my hand up in his.

"Who told you that? They don't' even know you," he defended, trying to get his way.

"Kate Tunney knows me and has made it pretty clear I'm not her favorite person, which means Sarah and Pogue probably hold that same low opinion of me." Reid huffed as I pulled my hand away from his and crossed my arms over my chest. I probably look like Shena pouting at Mother about not being able to stay up past nine o'clock on school nights.

"Listen, do you really want to hang around those idiots you call friends all night? Because I sure as hell don't feel like being mauled by them. I just want to have a nice, relaxing time, so can you please, please just come over there with me. If Kate starts being a bitch I'll say something, okay?" He's sort of begging. Okay, maybe this one last time I can cut him a little slack. I too am not in the mood to be surrounded by those gossip queens, drilling me for information regarding the non-existent relationship between Reid and I.

Sighing, I let my arms fall to my sides, Reid quickly picking up my right hand once again, and I allowed him to lead me over to the three other notorious Sons of Ipswich and their respective girlfriends. Well all except Tyler. He appeared to have come stag to the dance. Not that there weren't already a collection of girls eyeing him like wolves would a sickly lamb. The females in this school are incredibly pathetic.

"Sup fellas? Ladies," he said, greeting everyone with a nod of his head before doing one of those 'man hugs' with Tyler after letting my hand go thankfully. Most of the school already has the wrong idea about Reid and I, me being at this dance with him certainly not helping the matter. I don't need him holding my hand all night to intensify the rumors and make me look like an idiot when I deny any actual involvement with the blonde Son of Ipswich romantically.

"I believe you all know my date, Babylon." I flushed slightly when all attention was on me and offered a small smile and a wave of my hand. Nervously, I crossed my arms over my abdomen and stood awkwardly while Reid joked around with his friends.

I could feel Kate's eyes on me. It's no secret she finds me bossy, controlling and overbearing, but someone has to take charge of the Yearbook or it would never get done the way the rest of the members on the committee work. I wasn't made president for nothing. I don't mean to come off as a bitch, but if that's how it happens, so be it.

"I really love your dress Babylon." My head jerked up to meet the eyes of Sarah Wenham. She stood in front of me, offering a friendly smile and I was a little shocked. Her and Kate seemed to be best friends and usually if your friend doesn't like someone, naturally you dislike them as well.

"Thank you. Yours is very nice as well." Sarah wore a white peacock blue chiffon dress with silver accents, form fitting and mermaid cut. She matched a silver mask with white pearls decorating it to the gown. Kate had on a deep red silken dress with a white gold mask, matching red ribbons falling in curls from the pointed corners at the top of it. The two both looked lovely. In fact, most of the girls looked gorgeous tonight.

"So... how is dance team?" This girl is desperately trying to strike up conversation with me. This is why I didn't want to come over here. I didn't want to be the pathetic one no one really wants to be around but will try to be nice to, just for their friend's sake. It's awkward.

"It's as good as it can be. A lot of the girls really aren't interested in practicing unfortunately." Okay, I was beginning to get a little more comfortable talking about dance team.

"Yeah? That's too bad. I was thinking about trying out after the next show..." Sarah pondered out loud. "I really love to dance and I need some kind of after school activity to put on my college applications."

"As long as you can dance and are dedicated, I can almost guarantee you a spot. But you'll have to be at tryouts in two weeks on Thursday after school." Sarah nodded and pulled out her Sidekick from her clutch, presumably setting a reminder for herself. "So... what colleges are you looking at?" I was curious. Sarah is one of the few students at Spenser brought in on a scholarship instead of money. We were birds of a feather in that case considering my family was not very well off since my father left, which is why I'm so studious and involved in after school activities. I need these things on my applications in order to get scholarships.

"Definitely Harvard and Brown. I don't want to go too far so I can stay with Caleb, so I ruled out Stanford right away. I'm pretty confident I can get into one of those schools on a scholarship. But I have BU as a backup." I nodded, interested in this topic.

"I want to go to Stanford but I don't want to leave home, so I'm going out for Harvard and Brown too. And there's also Yale." I was startled when a newcomer entered the conversation.

"I was looking into Yale too. But I know Pogue will want to go wherever Caleb goes, god forbid those boys are separated for ten minutes," Kate said with a roll of her eyes, coming to stand in a close triangle with Sarah and I.

As the time passed, I found myself sitting at a table with both Sarah and Kate, the three of us being sufficiently ignored by our dates. I hadn't really noticed until Kate mentioned it. I was actually quite content, far away from Reid Garwin, just talking to two non-squealing girls for once.

"They've been over there with the other guys from the swim team for almost an hour now," Kate grumbled, glaring daggers at her boyfriend's back. I turned in my chair to find all four Sons of Ipswich engaging in conversation with a few other males from the swim team. And apparently some of the girls as well. Tyler had two draped over him, which was fine because he was here alone. I can't lie though and say I wasn't a little more than irked about seeing Beverly Delvecchio hanging off of Reid's arm.

Is he trying to make a fool out of me? He makes such a fuss about getting me to come here with him, making the whole school believe something is going on between the two of us, and now he's blatantly ignoring me and letting some other girl hang all over him. Unconsciously my fists clenched into the silk fabric of my skirt and I spun back around in my chair.

"I can't believe him…" Kate scoffed. I'd assumed she'd been talking about Pogue, but apparently, I was mistaken. "Baby, are you just going to let him do that? That's such a typical Reid thing to do. Invite a girl to a dance and ditch her for some easy tramp. He's such a pig."

A small growl emitted from my throat as I thought about it. She was right! How dare he! I'm his date, not—

"Actually, I only came with him on a bet with hopes he'll stop bothering me once this is all done and over. I have to go to Pogue's party with him as well tomorrow night." Clearing my throat, I regained my composure, having just been very tense. I relaxed into my chair a little more and looked as Sarah and Kate gave each other disbelieving looks. "What?"

"Nothing," they said in unison.