The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)

The Master Planner

Previously: "Chelsea Cooper, Marijuana Marketeer" 

(by rugal)

You desperately need to find out who took that briefcase. But Gordon, naturally, has other ideas. "Hey, so like, if we're up here, are we gonna--"

"Gordon, please, be quiet," you interrupt. "I've got a lot on my mind right now."

"Alright then," he responds as he grunts and lifts himself to his feet.

"Wait, where are you going?" you demand.

Gordon simply shrugs his broad shoulders. "I mean if we're not gonna do anything and you're busy then I don't wanna bother you or anything," he says as leaves.

You want to be angry but realize that having him around would be more trouble than it's worth. You flop onto the floor to have a good think.

There are only three people with a key to the loft: yourself (a.k.a., "Chelsea Cooper"), Gordon and Steve. And everyone else at school is too smart to mess with any of you three.

So was it really a break-in? Patterson is implying that it was, by saying he found the door open. But did it really happen that way? Or did Steve find and move the stash, and is trying to throw suspicion off himself by pretending someone busted in?

It could also be Jason Lynch, a friend of Gordon's, who also hangs out in the loft. He hasn't got a key, but maybe he lifted Gordon's from him. Or—Jason is such a sneak—maybe he's made a copy for himself.

If it was a break-in, though—

The thought chills you. Chen is the only person bold enough (you suspect) to break into the loft. Maybe he figured out that you're selling his own supply back to him, and he went looking?

No way you can confront him if he's the thief. So that's a good argument for using one of those metal thingies on him to find out.

"The fuck is going on?" Patterson's voice thunders as he walks through the door.

"Steve? What--"

"Don't you 'what' me," he says as he marches over to you. "I just saw Gordon leaving and saying you were up here and..." He's angry but he stops to compose himself and you take the opportunity to jump in.

"Okay, sure, we were both up here but..." You yourself pause. What are you going to tell him? About the briefcase? An idea begins to form in your head. "Okay, fine, I'll be complete honest with you."

"For once," he mutters.

"The two of us were here a few nights ago. I wanted to have words with Gordon myself to try and talk some sense into him," you explain. "And I thought I did; he was even at practice the last two days. But last night I came here to just... have some time to myself and think and that's when I found a stash of weed."

"You found what!?" Patterson demands.

"I don't know how it got there but it has to be Gordon's!" you exclaim defensively. "That must have been what he offered me earlier in the week when we... but I was going to confront him about it today and when I brought him up here it was gone! He must have, I don't know, gotten spooked and moved it somewhere or..."

"Oh fuck me, Chelsea," he groans. "You thought you were gonna--" He stops, however, when he hears your sniffling and whimpering. "Stop with the crocodile tears."

"They're not... you stop!" you demand angrily. "You think you're the only person being put under so much stress? Well fuck you, Steve! You accuse me of, I don't know, sabotaging my own boyfriend and... and..."

To your surprise, a pair of strong hands grasps your shoulders. You look up and your eyes, now undoubtedly red and ugly, are staring up into a pair of cold frost-colored ones.

"Look, I'm sorry, Chelsea, okay?" he says to your astonishment. "We're all stressed out because of what's going on so I'll talk to him and try to get him to come clean. Then I'll find Chen and--"

"Wait, Gary Chen? You think it's him?"

"Who else could it be?"

"Steve, don't!" you wail. "We don't know that it's him and I'm sure he's dangerous so if you try anything... I know we're not on the best terms but that doesn't mean I want you getting hurt. Just talk to Gordon first and then we'll figure something out."

He holds your eye and you hold his, neither giving up an inch. Finally, though, he cracks. "Yeah, okay; don't worry," he says.

You watch him turn and leave and you lock the door behind him. You flop down on one of the mats, look at the ceiling and laugh. He bought those tears hook, line and sinker; an acting performance worthy of an award.

If nothing else, you've put Patterson and Chen on a collision course.

* * * * *

It's not until sixth period, though, that a plan starts to come to you. You were going to get Eva and Jessica Garner out to your house tonight, but when you make the invitation to Eva, she turns you down with the excuse that she and Jessica have a little party of their own. You play on her good nature, though, to finagle an invitation out to their house instead.

That was an improvisation. But as you turn the situation over in your mind, you see a way to turn it to your advantage ...

* * * * *

"It's just... I don't know what to think!" you cry. "I want to accommodate Gordon because he seems so much happier now, you know? So much more relaxed compared to... well, you know how he is normally."

"A powder keg with a lit fuse?" asks Eva's sister Jessica.

"Right! So in a way this is better for everyone else but at the same time..." you sigh and slump in the chair you're sitting in on the Garners' back porch. "All it's doing is making Steve mad and then Steve... he keeps cornering me, getting in my face, madder and madder every time and I worry. I worry he might do something to me! He's already tried to blame me once for what's happening! He even did it today! He acts like he's the real victim but... fuck the basketball team! What about Gordon's own girlfriend!?"

That causes a few glances between the assembled girls and as you sniff you take a few minutes to excuse yourself as you grab your purse. Yumi gets up and follows you.

"Look, Chelsea, I know that we're not..." she trails off once you're in the kitchen. "But we can all see what this is doing to you and if," she pauses and sighs, "if you want a sympathetic ear... Look, what you said a few days ago? About hanging out? If you want to de-stress..."

"Just the two of us, remember?" you respond while dabbing at your eyes. "But sure, that sounds good. Maybe we can get together for lunch tomorrow?"

Yumi's silent for a moment and you know that she's probably having to swallow a lot of pride. But eventually she seems to have forced all of it down. "Look, I don't have anything going on tomorrow so if you want to meet up for lunch then I could do that," she says. "Maybe we can start hashing things out too."

"Yeah, that sounds good. I might have some other stuff going on but if not then I'll message you to set something up," you smile at her. "Anyway, you should get back to the others. I'm gonna reapply my makeup because I look ugly now. I'll be back in a few minutes."

In the bathroom you steel your nerves for part three of your plan: Make a copy of someone in the house.

In your purse you are carrying the last of your magical items: the last mask, and the last two metal bands. If you are going to make any more doohickies, you are going to have to buy some more supplies. With luck, though, these will help you nail the thief who stole the stash.

With the mask (into which you've glued one of the metal bands) you will copy someone here at the Garners', and disguised as them—so the assault can't be traced back to "Chelsea Cooper"—you will approach one of your suspects and hit them with the last mind-copying strip.

You wish Marc was here—he'd be the best choice to copy—but he's out with his girlfriend someplace. That leaves Eva and Jessica and Yumi as the easiest guests to copy. More intriguing are Anita Nuevo and Stephanie Wyatt. These are tough, no-nonsense girls (the captain of the girls' soccer team and the star player on the girls' varsity basketball team, respectively), making them exactly the sort to go up against the suspects you mean to confront.

Then, as you step from the bathroom you almost run into Mrs. Garner, who has been acting as a hands-off hostess. It suddenly occurs to her that a parental figure might be the safest choice of all to use. Go up to the school in her face, you muse to yourself, call Steve or Jason or whoever over ... Introduce yourself as the Garners' mother ... get them into a car alone with you ... hit them with the brain thing ... Who would they complain to afterward?

* To pick Mrs. Garner: "Mugging a MILF" 
* To pick Anita Nuevo: "The Toughest Girl Around" 
* To pick Stephanie Wyatt: "The Girl Who Could Be More" 

*
"Table of Contents (Vol. 2)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)"