The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

Beware of Booby Traps

Previously: "To Strike at the King" 

"Jack Li," you blurt out.

And you flinch. Your voice seemed to carry very loudly inside the library, though none of the students at the other tables seem to have noticed.

Eva looks startled. "Jack?" she says, and her gaze goes distant. "Okay," she says. "Um, he's, uh, gay, so—"

"So let's make it him. Do it tonight?"

Eva blinks. "What's the rush? I mean, you're not even—"

But the door opens at that point, and the rest of your study-hall friends come trooping in. Eva hushes you with a twiddle of her fingers—a gesture that clearly also means, We'll talk about this later.

* * * * *

The study hall that follows brings a sort of dividend, for in addition to the usual gossip you're able to learn how your beta landed on Jack's and Leah's radar.

The long and the short of it is that Audrey Briscoe and her sex-pest boyfriend, Mitchell Belz, were hanging out at Besandwiched (a cafe/restaurant by the college) with Mitchell's sex-pest friends Randal Moore and Daniel Parrish when Jack and Leah and Melanie Saxon came in. They pushed some tables together to make room for the whole party, but there was still room when Will came stumping in by himself, so they called him over. (Who called him over? you asked, and learned it was Randal and Mitchell. They remembered him from the Warehouse last Friday.) So apparently he made an impression on more than just Jack, because Audrey wants to know more about him too.

"He's just a guy I know," you tell her, and squirm in your seat.

"He says he hangs out with you," Audrey presses.

"We just hang out. I don't even know him that well!"

"Sure you do," Eva says, and there's a malicious laugh behind her eyes. "You have lunch with him, like, every day!"

"I do not!"

"Every time I go out to eat with you and Carson and James, he's out there with you."

"That's because he hears when you're going to be there," you snap. "Honestly, he's so fucking transparent, him and his friends, they only— What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing," Eva says as she continues to gurgle with ill-suppressed hilarity. "You know."

Audrey, a narrow smile on her face, flicks her gaze between you and Eva. "Is there something going on between you and Will?" she asks.

"No! Ask Eva what's going on between him and her!" you bluster. "Him and her and Jessica! Him and her and Jessica and Cindy!"

Audrey turns to Eva, who smiles back serenely.

"We gave him a makeover," she says. "You like his look? You like his new hat?"

"Randal was all trying to grab it off him," Audrey says.

"That was us." Eva turns back to dimple at you. "We gave him a makeover like you wouldn't never believe!"

Even Rachel, who is never a gossip, looks intrigued, and with Audrey she leans forward with a rapt expression.

"We were just doing him a good turn," Eva tells them while you sink, red-faced, back in your seat. "I always liked Will, but he needed something. Me and Jessica and Cindy decided we could, you know, help him out."

"Is he going with anyone?" Audrey asks.

"I don't think so." Eva looks at you. "Is he?"

"No." Not yet, you silently add.

"How good friends are you with him?" Audrey asks you.

"Good enough." You flash Eva a quick, sour look.

"Well." Audrey surprises you with a grimace. "Could you give him a little advice?"

"Like what?"

"Like to stay away from Melanie Saxon?"

"How come?" You remember Melanie from Jenny's experiences with her, though they don't extend much further than the impression that she's a skank.

"Because she was all over him last night. It was like watching a couple of snakes trying to slither their way around him."

"Oh, God, really?" The image can't but excite you.

"How much do you know about Melanie?" Audrey asks.

And that's more or less the end of the talk about your beta, as the conversation shifts to Melanie and the weird soap opera involving her and Eric Murphy over the summer. It sounds very gross, though in a sexually exciting way, and you and Eva both gasp with shock and excitement as Audrey drops very broad hints about Eric getting sunburned on his ass while sharing a hammock with Melanie over the course of several hot August days. Still, you have to agree that Melanie sounds way too slutty for your friend Will and that he needs to shoot for someone better.

But as you are parting for third-period, Eva has a chance to slip in a little snark with a double meaning. "Maybe you should get together and talk to Jack Li," she tells you as she hikes her pack onto her shoulders. "Talk to him about whether Will could be his type." She dances back before you can kick her in the shin.

* * * * *

Contrary to Eva's teasing, Will and his friends aren't out front with Carson when lunchtime comes around, so you go looking for him at his locker just before sixth period. "Who'd you eat lunch with?" you ask him.

"Just some guys. Parker Stott, Jack Li, some girls, Wendy and Kristina something," he adds when you press him.

Jack Li? Your eyebrows go up. "Are you doing anything with them later?"

"I dunno. They were talking about going to play frisbee-golf, but I don't—"

"Go with them. Whatever they do, go with them," you order. "Text them— You got them in your contacts yet? Good. Text 'em after school if you don't hear from them, tell them you got the afternoon free."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Hang out with them! Jesus! Be a regular person!" You punch him in the arm, and he makes a face. "They're trying to be your friends. You like them, don't you?" He shrugs. "Well, they only hang out with dozens of girls, and you want to meet girls, don't you?"

"Do I?"

"You're waiting for me to tell you?"

"Yes."

You make a face at him. "Well, yes you do. But make sure Jack is there with you."

A furtive look skitters across his face. "I think he's gay."

"I know he's gay! But we've got plans for him, and you—" You poke him in the chest. "Are going to help us out."

Will turns a little green. But you just repeat your instructions, then hustle off to your sixth-period science class.

* * * * *

In fact, you don't know for sure that your conspiracy has plans for Jack, but when Maria calls you after school to ask if you can get close to him, you're able to report that you've already nudged your beta into position. "Where are we going to try to do the thing?" you ask.

"Wherever your beta can get at Jack," Maria says. "Chelsea can maneuver Gordon into any location where we have to do the switch."

So you talk about it, and after a lot of back-and-forthing, you ultimately settle on trying to make the switch at the school after dark, and concoct a cover story for your beta to give Jack.

You'd think that takes care of everything, but Fairfax wants to talk about the follow-through as well.

"We need to position ourselves so we can watch Gordon and Jack," Maria says, "to study their reactions to the identity change as well as to ensure they don't self-harm in a panic." (You roll your eyes.) "Josiah, of course, is perfectly positioned to observe Gordon, as am I. Are you positioned to observe Jack?"

"No. I'm not friends with him. And Jenny isn't either."

"Well, we need to test out second betas anyway." Maria pauses. "You were very quick to acquire Jenny's memory patterns, weren't you?"

"I think so. Why?"

"I'm just thinking aloud. Yes, I'd definitely like to see you pick out a second beta."

You wish Fairfax hadn't said that. You feel yourself bridling, and wanting to tell him that you're going to stick it out as Jenny same as him and Shank are going to stick it out as Maria and Chelsea.

Instead, you ask about Keith and Carlos and Mike, and what they're going to do.

Maria sighs. "Mike has chosen Kendra as his beta, so he'll be helping Josiah and I with our observations. And Carlos—" He seems to struggle for the words. "He has chosen Marcos Rivera as his beta, so if you and Keith are going to observe Jack, you will have to find a way of positioning Marcos to observe as well."

"Or we could just let Carlos do his own thing."

"I suppose," Maria admits. "But you're the only one who really knows anything about Jack, so you and Keith should consult with each other about who you will take as betas."

"I think Keith wants to stay as Cindy."

"We need at least two pairs of eyes on each subject," Maria says. "I've already told Keith he will have to inhabit the shell of a second beta, at least for a few days."

Well, as long as you're the one making himself unpopular, you think.

* * * * *

The real beauty of the plan, as far as you're concerned, is that you hardly have to do anything. You only have to meet Cindy and your beta up at the school at eight o'clock, where Cindy gives him a mask and some instructions. After that, you and she park in the farthest, darkest corner of the student parking lot to wait and watch and talk about who you will take as second betas. You quickly settle on one beta—Leah Simmons—though you don't settle on whose beta it will be. But you know that, after one of you has slipped inside her skin, he will advise the other on who to take as a second.

Next: "The Hand-Off" 

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 4)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)"