The Masqueraders: Part 2

A New Target
The tap of a pencil on a desk was the only sound in the room, besides the occasional cough. The girl tapping the pencil flipped her blonde hair back. This test was harder than she had anticipated. Maybe she should have studied harder. This clock mocked her with its constant ticking. No time, no time, no time. She chewed on her eraser. Five minutes and she still had one tough problem to solve. Three minutes. One minute and counting. She had totally blanked out.
“Ahhhhh! What’s the answer?” she screamed in her head. Another blonde head poked inside the room and looked at her. The girl flashed her a grin then withdrew. A few seconds later she heard a crash and a yell outside the door. The teacher glanced up from her desk and frowned. She pushed her chair back and exited the room. The girl exhaled her held breath. Gracie had created a distraction. Now she just had to get her head straight and finish up this last problem. She scribbled down what she guessed what was the right answer just as the teacher walked back into the classroom. She handed in her paper mechanically as she thought of the robbing at the new bank. Genius, that’s what it was. The teacher beckoned her with her finger.
“Yes Ms. H? Is there something you need?” Ms. H didn’t answer immediately, but stared at her for a moment.
“It seems to me that you’ve been distracted lately, Louise. Is there something going on?”   Louise felt a drop of sweat go down her back.
“Ah, I’ve just been thinking about that break in at the new bank. It was pretty amazing, huh?”
“Yes, it was. Did you know it was a group of cat burglars?” Mrs. H said distractedly.
“I did hear that,” she replied somewhat nervously. Louise stood there for a moment, but Mrs. H didn’t respond. She was lost in her own thoughts. The bell rang and everybody jumped out of their seats, some even scrambling over their desks to get out of the stuffy room. Louise didn’t have to worry about being late for class, seeing as she had her next class in the same room. Some of the teachers I her school moved around. That made it harder to find some of them if you needed something, but it worked for her. It meant that she had four minutes to hang around until the next bell rang.
She perched herself on her desk and watched as a few students filed into the classroom. They were a few girls, chatting about makeup and the normal teenage girl stuff. But one of them managed to get onto the subject of the bank robbery that had happened the night before. Louise smiled. Everyone sure was making a big deal out of this bank robbery. More and more students filed into the classroom as the one minute bell rang. By this time the whole room was filled with different conversations, most of them including the robbery in one way or the other.
“Hey did you hear what happened last night?”
“A bank got robbed, right?”
“Did you hear that new bank was robbed?”
“That bank was supposed to have the highest security by far!”
“Do you think the robbers will be caught?”
“I had some fried ham for dinner last night.”
“That robbery was amazing!”
“Not only was it amazing, but no one knows who did it!”
“I heard the robbers left calling cards. Maybe they’ll be back. “
The whole class went silent as soon as the teacher walked in. She wasn’t scary, but when she walked in the way she did that morning, she meant business.
“I want you all to pull out your books and begin reading chapter fourteen. I have some important business to attend to and I want it quiet in here. You got it?” Then she left. Just like that. Instead of the whole classroom turning into a war-zone, everyone was silent.  Unusual. Very much so.   
The girl sitting three rows down from Louise was scribbling something on a piece of paper. She was wearing entirely blue, which is what she always wore. She wadded up the piece of paper, and then stuck it in her belt loop, like it had accidentally stuck there. Then she sneezed. She stood up and mimed like she was going to get a tissue, but passed Louise’s desk on her way. She brushed up against Louise’s books ever so slightly and knocked the paper out of her belt loop. Louise inhaled sharply, bringing the paper a hair closer to her. She made sure no one was watching and with one sweeping motion, knocked the paper into her lap. She smoothed it out and read what it said.
      Ryu,
A masquerade ball is being held on the night of Halloween in England. There’ll be all sorts of people there, but only those who can afford it. We need to make sure we are among those people. It’ll be the perfect opportunity to “publicize” ourselves. More details later.
                                                                                        Sakana
           P.S. Kujaku made me write this.
Louise scribbled a quick reply. She kicked it casually across the floor three rows down. The other girl picked it up. She scanned it briefly then chucked it into the trash. She shrugged, the flicked her eyes in Louise’s direction. That meant she’d read it and she’d give her reply later. Louise hunched over and stared at the paper. She must’ve read the sentence three times before she realized what she was doing. So many thoughts cluttered head, but only one stood out. She’d need a costume by Halloween. A really, really good costume.