The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)

Boyfriends Who Are Bad for You

Previously: "At Play with Chelsea Cooper" 

Hanging out with "Gordon" would be too weird. First of all, he's not acting like Gordon. And second of all, you would know why he's not acting like Gordon.

Besides, "girl talk" with Eva in the school library sounds a lot more fun!

* * * * *

"Oh my God!" you sigh as you throw yourself into the chair beside Eva. You heft your backpack onto the table—right on top of her books.

Not that she was doing any studying. She was leaning back in her chair, closely studying her cell phone as you came sailing into the library.

"Have you ever had one of those days, Eva," you ask, "where it isn't even noon and you're still ready to kill everyone?" You make a face at a boy at the next table who is openly staring at you.

"Who do you want to kill today, Chelsea?" Eva asks. She slips her cell phone into her pocket.

"Everyone. Oh, not you!" You lay a hand on her arm. "You were great at practice today. So much better than usual." Damn, that came out wrong, you think. "But if everyone was like you were today, always, I wouldn't have so much stress in my life. You know?"

"Uh huh." Eva shoves your pack off her books. "I've got some studying I have to do before next period."

"So do I, so don't mind me. I'm only skipping French. So, like, oo-la-la-di-dah!" You take your phone from your bag. "Oh, by the way, how was your date with Caleb this weekend?"

You ask it as casually as you can, with your eyes locked on the cell phone screen. But it was the big reason you came in here. You want to probe Eva about that date you had with her Saturday, under Caleb's mask.

"It wasn't a 'date,' Chelsea," Eva says in a pinched voice. "We just got together to, you know, hang out."

You look up and give her a long, open-mouthed stare. Eva was really defensive with you—with Chelsea—about Caleb the last time that Chelsea asked about him. Look, if I want to go out with a guy, that's my business, is what she'd said. Now she's claiming that she's not going out with him.

"I don't understand, Eva," you reply. "I thought you liked the guy."

"I do like him! But as a friend—"

"That's not what you were telling me last time."

Eva turns pink. "What was I telling you last time?"

"Only about how much you liked him. How perfect he was for you. That he was everything that you wanted in a—"

"I don't think that's what I said!"

"Tch! Well, that's what you were saying, even if it wasn't in those words." You turn back to your phone. "But if you've changed your mind—"

"Oh, what do you care?"

"I care about you!" You lay your phone aside and turn a face, eyes brimming with tearful concern, onto Eva. "I want you to find someone who'll make you happy! And if that guy— What was his name?"

"Caleb." Eva grinds the name out through gritted teeth.

"Well, if he makes you happy, if he's everywhere you want to be— Well, you need to look out for yourself and listen to your heart."

You pick your phone back up again. Eva says nothing, but only hunches in her chair.

And then— Because some part of you just can't leave things alone—

You say, "Of course, I also have responsibilities. I have to think of the squad."

Eva makes a noise halfway between a snort and a bark. "What does the squad have to do with—?"

"Tch! Don't be so dense, Eva!" You know what you're going to blurt out next, but somehow you are helpless to stop it. "We're supposed to set a tone and a standard around here, and if you're dating a goblin-faced—"

Oh, you can't believe you said it, but you did. You just called Caleb "goblin-faced."

Because that's the picture that pops into your mind's eye when thinking with Chelsea's brain. Caleb as a big-eared, pop-eyed, fish-lipped, funny-haired troll.

"Look, think of it from his point of view," you tell Eva. You snuggle up close to her, as though to share a tender confidence, but she shrinks from you. "He would love to go out with you. He's dying to go out with you. And why not? You're one of the most special girls in school! You and Jessica. And it's not just on account of you being on the squad! You've just got everything a guy could want! In fact, I just don't get why you or Jessica haven't landed someone special yet!"

Except you know perfectly well why they haven't. I'm sure you'd look darling carrying his child around, she'd told Jessica a few weeks ago, when she mentioned that she was going to a movie with the football player Liam Walker. But you can't do backflips when you've got a belly the size of a basketball. For Chelsea, there's zero distance between flirting and getting knocked up—or at least that's what she implies every time she hears that some girl or another on the squad is getting serious about a guy. It's like she's batting away any guy who gets close to a squad mate.

"But here's the thing," you continue, and tuck your arm conspiratorially into Eva's. "You start going out with this guy Caleb, and everyone's gonna know you're on the market. And they're not going to stand for it, Eva, they're just not going to stand for it! Seeing you with— Now, don't get me wrong, I'm sure he's got a great personality and is really smart. You wouldn't set yourself up with a loser. But no one else looking at him is going to see those very special qualities you love him for—"

Stop it, Will! you try telling yourself. But stopping Chelsea's tongue once it gets going is like trying to lasso a bus.

"I mean, Steve for one I know wouldn't stand for it!" you helplessly gabble. "He cares for you too, Eva! He looks out for you, though you don't know it! You should give him a chance!" (You shudder all over. There's a reason Chelsea would want to put Eva and Steve together, and it has nothing to do with them being a good match.) "And someone like Steve would look at your new boyfriend, and— Well— I don't want it to sound like a threat or anything. But I know Steve, and I know what he'd do. He'd take your boyfriend out behind the portables and explain to him that he really needs to find someplace else to park his pecker. And if Steve doesn't do it, someone else will."

"Oh, God! Chelsea!" Eva flies back from you with a look of disgust. "How can you—?"

"I'm just telling you what would happen, Eva! I wouldn't like it any more than you would. Where are you going?" Eva has started closing her books and putting them away. "Eva!"

But Eva, her facing flushing hard, ignores you as she stomps from the library.

Psshh! Well, that was a cock-up, you think.

And yet, it doesn't bother you nearly as much as you thought it would. Maybe because the part of you that is Chelsea is secretly pleased to have pissed Eva off.

Chelsea, you really are a mean-spirited bitch, you tell yourself.

* * * * *

You can tell that all the eyes are on you at lunch, from the moment you stride up to the "alpha table" in the midst of the cafeteria. It has to do with the way they dart around, not settling on you, but never straying far from you, either.

But it's not because they're admiring you, as they usually are. It's all on account of those stupid pictures that got posted this weekend. Gordon at that party with those skanks. Everyone wants to see how you handle things with him at lunch.

Except he's not at lunch today. The truth is, he's been skipping lunch a lot since ... Well, since the switch, even if Chelsea doesn't know that's the reason for it. He's hung out at some other tables, or just gone off to eat behind the school somewhere. Chelsea has been cold-shouldering him.

But maybe there was a different reason for his absence today. Because even as you're settling in at the table, Dalton Douglas—one of the creepy football players that Gordon and Steve allow to hang out with them—comes oiling his way to the table, to deposit a tray of food before you. "Oh, that's so sweet of you!" you cry, and blow him a tiny kiss. He blushes—and darts a quick glance at Patterson.

You chatter through the rest of lunch, with your friends and squad mates—Kendra and Gloria and Maria Vasquez; Dalton and Steve and Jason; Seth Javits and Cindy Vredenburg—as though nothing is wrong.

But from their muted conversation, you can tell they are all squirming with embarrassment on your behalf. Pretty soon it becomes intolerable, and it's with a breath of relief you escape to fifth period: Marriage & Family Life.

* * * * *

The last period of the day is a study hall, which you take with Gloria and Kendra in the library. It's an hour during which you get a daily report from them about what the gossip at school is, and how to handle it.

Today you don't need a report. You know exactly what the talk has been about. "Well, how bad is it?" you bluntly ask after you're all settled around a library table.

Kendra and Gloria look at each other. "How bad is what?" Kendra delicately asks you.

"Cut the bullshit, Kendra. What am I going to do about Gordon?" You give them both a very direct frown.

Kendra's eyes drop. She looks pained.

But Gloria returns your stare with a bold one of her own. "Dump his ass," she says.

Next: "The Bust Up" 

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