Chapter 2

The latino yawned as he looked down at his half-finished U.S. history exam; he rubbed his eyes multiple times and pinched his arm to keep himself awake to be able to complete it. Thankfully, he knew some of the answers thanks to his best friend; it was great to have a genius tutor U.S. history, and chemistry and pre-calculus, basically all of the subjects in school. However he couldn't get his mind off of the masquerade, he was so tired even though he, surprisingly, went to bed early so he could pass this exam and get a passing grade for the semester. As much as wanted to concentrate he couldn't with the thought of Diamond and his lips tingling from the kiss. He constantly placed his fingers on his lips and thought about those sparkling hazel eyes before he looked down at his paper and come back to reality.

With great difficulty and a few arm pinches later, he sighed in relief when he finished his test and turned it in. He looked up at the clock hanging on the wall to his right and realized he had twenty minutes left before class ended for lunch. He folded his arms on his desk and with some time to kill he decided to take a quick nap as he laid his head and closed his eyes.

Making himself comfortable, he breathed softly and loosened his shoulders relaxing for a few minutes before he fell asleep.

…

"Carlos."

He was startled when he heard his name being called, but couldn't quite make it out who it was, it was so quiet, as if it was a whisper.

"Carlos."

It was a bit louder this time and he heard other noises, soft noises, similar to footsteps, but it sounded like water dripping onto a puddle.

"Carlos."

Diamond? he thought when he recognized the voice.

"Yes, Carlos it's me."

Opening his eyes he saw nothing but mist and fog surrounding him. Was he dreaming? It didn't feel like a dream, to him, not like the one he had with Diamond last night. He looked down to see he was wearing the same clothes he wore to school today, a gray sweater with a red shirt, dark blue jeans, and wearing his favorite Nikes, his lips parted in surprise when he realized he was standing on water. If he leaned forward he could see his own reflection staring back at him, cautiously, he took a step forward and noticed it didn't disturb the clear surface.

"I want to be with you." He looked up toward his voice, "Come Carlos."

Unconsciously, he took a couple steps forward but stopped when he looked around again. He had no idea where he was, what was going on or which direction to take and didn't know whether to move forward or not. However, a warm feeling in his chest made him consider wanting to go further to see Diamond, he quickly shoved the thought of their kiss and looked around again. Where are you?

"I'm here, come Carlos, I'm here."

I can't see you. Not wanting to give up, he moved forward in search of the brunette.

He stopped when he suddenly felt a tug to his right and turned, continuing his search; the fog became less dense and felt a warm breeze coming from the direction he was walking toward to.

"Yes, Carlos. You're close."

Suddenly the latino felt something pulling him back making him gasp and look behind him.

"No!"

Turning back to his voice his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Please come to me, I don't want you to go please come, please."

The pleading tone in his voice made him want to go to the brunette, comfort him, but something was holding him back. He felt his body shake a bit and his senses became clearer the more he paid attention to his body. He can feel his arms touching the cool desk, his cheek and jaw warm, and a firm grip on his shoulder.

"Carlos."

The fog started to disperse and become lighter, but it wasn't toward Diamond, it was toward something brighter.

"Carlos wake up, dude."

Kendall? He thought when he felt his shoulder shake again.

"Don't give up Carlos you're so near I can almost see you, please come."

The latino turned back toward his voice again to see a faint shadow in the distance, but didn't go towards it, instead he went toward the voices that were calling his name and telling him to wake up.

"Carlos, no come ba-."

It was the last thing he heard before he opened his eyes. He groaned when he felt a strong grip on his shoulder shaking him furiously.

"Wake up!"

The latino lifted his head off the desk and yawned, he turned to see his other best friend staring at him, he was wearing a blue plaid shirt, his sleeves rested slightly above his elbow, with dark blue loose skinny jeans and black converse and had a relieved expression on his features.

"Dammit Carlos you scared me." He crossed his arms and furrowed his bushy eyebrows, "this is fifth time this week, you're lucky it's almost Spring Break and getting tests for the semester over with otherwise Mrs. Wright would have given you detention…again."

"Sorry," he mumbled. "How long was I out?"

"A while. Not long after the bell rang."

Carlos grabbed his backpack and slung the strap on his shoulder and walked toward the door leaving the empty classroom with his tall blonde friend in pursuit before he moved and began walking next to him. They both walked through the empty halls of Palmwoods High before they reached the cafeteria and went inside; Carlos winced at the loud noises of the talking and shouting students giving him a slight headache. He shook his head and began walking to a table near the corner of the room where a brunette was buried in a large book he had in his hands and three trays close to him.

The brunette looked up when he heard footsteps coming toward his table and smiled at the sight of his best friends and closed his book, "hey guys."

"Hey Logan," Carlos greeted with a weak smile, making his smart friend frown, he was currently wearing a button down light blue shirt with a black sweater vest, blue skinny jeans with dark blue vans. The latino sat down and moved his tray of food to the side and laid his head on the surface before he closed his eyes and sighed.

"Something is seriously wrong with him," Kendall said before he sat next to the brunette. "He's not stuffing his face like usual."

"Shut up," Carlos mumbled.

Logan gave him a worried expression. "Did you get enough sleep last night?"

The latino slowly raised his head and covered him mouth from a yawn before he nodded.

"Did you have another dream with the dark figure?"

Confused, he opened his mouth to speak , but the blonde beat him to it.

"Again?" Kendall asked, making the latino more confused. "This is the sixth time this week you've dreamt about him."

"Him?"

Logan took a bite of his apple and swallowed before he spoke, "since you don't know what it is and you keep describing it as a person, preferably a guy, we just call him a figure since you guys didn't want to call it John Doe."

"Would you get over the name already?" Kendall asked before sipping his pink smoothie.

"His name is Diamond," he said without thinking. They both stared at him with surprised expressions on their faces.

Curious, the blonde leaned forward, "how do you know?"

"He told me," he explained, remembering last night's dream. "I was in a ball, everyone was wearing masks including me, I was leaving when he appeared and asked for a dance."

At this point, both Logan and Kendall gave each other worried glances when they saw Carlos with a small smile that made a shiver go down their spines; he had a faraway voice each word becoming quieter than the last close to a whisper. His eyes were glazed and he was facing them, but his orbs seemed as if they were staring right through them as if they aren't there in the first place. His eyes began to droop and began to slightly sway in his seat, frightened, the blonde got up and grabbed Logan's book before he walked around the table and was standing next to him.

"He had the most amazing eyes and the most gorgeous smile I have ever seen, he was tall, he had a mask too, charming, and we danced. Then we went outside, the air was so fresh and the garden was incredible, and we sat under a beautiful full moon, we were so close and we-ow!" He scrunched his face in pain when he felt a sharp sting in the back of his head and rubbed it.

Looking up he saw Kendall next to him holding a large book. "Dude, stay awake!"

He gave him a questioned look, "I am awake, tonto."

"You were falling asleep."

"I don't feel sleepy."

"Not anymore," he said waving the book in front of him.

Logan yanked his book away from the blonde's hand and turned back to the latino, worried. "This is serious Carlos, you get enough sleep, but you're tired all the time. It's not healthy for you. When did you start having these dreams? If we find the cause maybe we can help you stop having them."

Carlos bit his lip nervously, a part of him didn't want to stop, didn't want to stop seeing Diamond, he only had one dream and wanted to see him again tonight. But one concerned look from both of his best friends he answered, "the week after we turned in the research project Ms. Simmons assigned us."

Kendall and Logan's eyes widened at his answer.

"That was nearly three months ago," the brunette said. "You've been having these dreams all this time and you never told us until last month, why?"

He shrugged and moved his tray of food in front of him, making sure to keep his gaze away from them. "I didn't think it was important at the time and thought it would go away on its own."

"Hm," Logan turned toward the blonde and saw a thoughtful expression on his handsome features. Carlos let out a small chuckle at the brunette when he began to stare at him with a dreamy expression and quickly cleared his throat when he gave him a peculiar gaze. Kendall's green eyes brightened before he spoke, "I remember that project. I did it about a book that has to do with gothic literature-."

"And I had to do the project for you," Logan ended crossing his arms.

"You helped," he corrected while Logan shook his head and muttered underneath his breathe about needing new friends. "I remember how you, for once in your life other than the reading times when we were in pre-school, were so into a book that you didn't ask Logan for help with your project and got an A plus too."

"He's right," the brunette said remembering. "That was the first time since kindergarten I had a break from doing your work-shut up." He said when Kendall opened his mouth to say he 'helped' instead. "What book were you reading for the project?"

Carlos looked at his backpack with a perplexed gaze. "I think I have it with me," he said it more to himself than to the brunette.

"That's a first," Kendall said as they watched the laitno grab his backpack and open it.

He reached inside and searched when he felt a hard object and pulled out a thick medium sized book. The cover was dark blue with gold designs on its spine and on the corners of the book and in the middle was the title in gold bold cursive words The Plague of Passion. When Logan opened the cover he felt his fingers and palms go icy cold and had the feeling of someone forbidding him to continue, but ignored it.

He flipped a blank page and felt another shiver go down his spine at the image before him. Kendall looked over his shoulder and was also surprised at the page as well, I wonder, "uh…what color of the mask was the guy in your dream?"

"Black," he replied, "a plain black mask, why?"

Logan moved the tray of his untouched lunch and placed the book in front of him, his eyes widened at the answer in front of him. In the middle of the antiqued yellowish page was a plain black mask, the same black mask Diamond wore in his dream.

I want to clarify that the book I put in doesn't exist. I just made up the title and the book itself.

Thank you to those who favorite, followed, and reviewed my story. I look forward to your reviews and your opinion.

Hoped you enjoyed it and stick around for the next chapter.

Translation: Tonto- idiot