The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

Field Babes

Previously: "The Games That Girls Play" 

[Text by rugal]

Gillian definitely wants me to go off somewhere else alone with her, you think to yourself... and the worst part is that you don't know what to do!

It reminds you of earlier in the week when she had you keep her company at the comic shop and so you can't help but to be excited. But you put a clamp down on that excitement. She has a boyfriend, after all... unless she doesn't. Maybe they're on the outs because of what happened on Tuesday; Gillian definitely seemed to be upset about it. Maybe they're broken up and she wants to quickly rebound.

Or maybe they're not broken up but she just wants to make her boyfriend jealous. If you took her out to lunch and someone saw you, if Braydon saw you, then that could mean trouble. Going to the soccer match, however, means you can spend time with Gillian while having the plausible excuse that you were simply giving her a ride up there to meet up with a mutual friend.

Wait, is Natalie your friend? Well, you want to her to be, at any rate, which means that it wouldn't be good to stand her up.

"Yeah, we're going to the game," you tell her after much (but quick!) internal debate. "I mean, it'd be kind of shitty of us to leave Natalie off on her own while we go have fun by ourselves, right?"

Gillian studies you with amusement before smiling and giggling softly. "Yeah, you're right," she says. "You know, Will, that's a good quality to have."

"Huh?" you dopily respond as you pull out of the driveway and onto the street.

"Keeping your word and not standing a girl up. We like that."

"You do?" you ask. "I figured everyone liked that."

"Some boys need to be reminded of that, I guess," she states.

"Are you mad at Braydon for not showing up at the comic shop a few days ago?"

But Gillian doesn't take the bait—were you actually trying to drop bait?—and instead counters your question with an observation. "You and Natalie spent a lot of time together after I left, huh?" she asks you. "She said you showed her this cool place that she refused to tell me about because she said it was totally top secret."

"Uh, I didn't swear her to secrecy or anything," you tell her.

"I didn't say you did, that's just how her brain works," she snickers.

"Well, it's not like my and my friends have told anyone else about it, either."

"Except Natalie, right?" she teases. "So what else did the two of you do?"

"Um... there was Taco Famoso--"

"Oh god, Taco Barfoso!? You didn't actually eat the food, did you?"

"A little," you say as you feel yourself begin to sweat nervously. "We mostly just, you know, talked. About classes we have and friends and stuff like that. Why?"

But Gillian says nothing of substance to that beyond a simple "just curious". However, she does add something after looking down at her phone. "You're a pretty nice guy for keeping her company like that," she tells you. "I guess I've got good instincts."

You don't even pretend to know what she meant by that.

* * * * *

You arrive at the field though it looks like the game hasn't started yet. So you and Gillian mill around for a bit, grabbing some hot dogs and sodas from the concession area. As the two of you are putting on your condiments, you find yourselves accosted by two girls. One of them is wearing glasses and looks rather plain compared to her camera wielding companion, a girl with hair dyed half-purple and looking like she crawled out of a garage sale.

"We're from the Eastman school paper," the glasses girl says, "and we're asking people about the game. So you guys are Wests—" She abruptly stops, however, as she seems to stumble over her words before picking herself back up. "I mean, are you Westside or Eastman students?"

You find yourself thrown off and it's Gillian who quickly jumps in. "Westside, duh!" she says.

"So you guys are here to cheer on Westside, then?"

"Nope!" Gillian exclaims as she wraps her arms around your own arm, pulls you against her and squeezes. "We're just here to take in the atmosphere and have fun!" She then looks at the girl with the camera. "Hey, make sure you take a picture, okay? Print it in the paper if you want!"

The girl acquiesces to Gillian's demand and snaps a few photos before the glasses girl thanks you and moves on. Gillian laughs a bit after they leave, although she demurs from saying anything when you ask her what's so funny. Not that it matters because it's not long before you hear another voice call your name. You find yourself freezing up when you see who it belongs to.

Stephanie Wyatt is a girl from the basketball team. She's also girl who you've known since the fourth grade. She's tall, athletic and strong and has a perpetually hard gaze that makes her seem like she's always ten seconds away from kicking someone's ass. Frighteningly, that gaze is trained right on you. "Prescott," she says in a voice that hits you like a cinderblock. You think you actually flinch a little when she calls out your name. "You seen Eva or Jessica around anywhere?"

"Eva and--uh, no. I haven't," you mumble.

"Whazzat?" she asks as she leans in.

"I, uh, said that I haven't seen them," you say a little more forcefully.

"Hrm," Stephanie grunts as she takes a step back and scans the crowd. Her eyes fall back on you, however, and you can't help but to think that she looks like a lioness sizing up a wounded gazelle. "You get yourself a girl?" she asks as she looks over at Gillian.

For the second time in as many minutes, you find yourself unable to speak and so it's Gillian who jumps in once more. She drapes her arms over your shoulders, letting them hang in front of your chest. She clasps her hands and you feel her chin rest on your shoulder. "Will's not my hubby but he's keeping me company and showing me a good time," she says, adding a girlish giggle to the end of her statement.

Stephanie eyes you up quietly and you think she's about to pounce, but to your surprise she backs down. "Well good for you," she says to you as she walks past and disappears into the crowd.

You let out a sigh of relief once she's gone and Gillian lets go of you. Not that you don't like having her grabbing and pulling and squeezing you but it's making you feel nervous. What if someone who knows Braydon sees? What is she even trying to get out of it? Is she trying to rile you up? Is she flirting seriously? Is she just a naturally touchy feely sort of person? And where the hell is Natalie?

That last question, at least, gets answered shortly when you receive a text from her apologizing but saying she has some errands she has to run with her family. You relay the message to Gillian who merely shrugs it off.

"Too bad, looks like you're stuck with me," she teases. "But that's not so bad, is it?"

* * * * *

It is, in fact, not bad at all. She continues to grab and poke and brush at you. In spite of her earlier denial, she cheers on the Westside players and the game winds up passing by quicker than you'd have thought. At one point Paul Davis, a friend of Carson's and James' who you some times eat lunch with, chats with you for a minute as he passes by but the rest of the early afternoon remains uneventful.

It's as you're filing out after the game that you feel someone poke your shoulder. Looking over, you see Natalie walking next to you.

"I thought you weren't going to be able to make it," you tell her.

"We got done quicker than I expected so I had them drop me off here. But the game was mostly over and I couldn't find you guys," she explains. She then looks past you and towards Gillian on your opposite side. "Hey, gimme a ride back home?"

"Can't, sorry. I'm getting a late lunch with Braydon," Gillian replies. Her attention immediately turns to you. "But Will would probably be happy to, right?" Though Gillian's expression is bright, you feel as if there's something hidden behind it telling you that you had better say yes.

"Uh, sure. It's no problem," you answer, not feeling as if you have a choice.

Natalie's face scrunches up but she seems to accept that. "So where are you parked?" she asks. When you point out your truck, she takes off saying that she'll meet you there.

Once she's out of earshot, Gillian leans in. "Remember what I was laughing about earlier? It was that girl from the school paper, the one with the glasses," she tells you in a low voice. "That was Genevieve. Anyway, I'll see you at school."

You're left to ponder what she meant by that before remembering that Natalie had told you that she had a friend named Genevieve. So the girl was likely Natalie's friend but why Gillian needed to inform you of that or why she found it funny, you have no idea.

Natalie, meanwhile, is already at your truck by the time you arrive. As she climbs into the passenger side, something seems to catch her eye and she reaches into the back. "Oh, you still got this thing?" she asks as she holds up the mask. You'd brought it and the book with you with you to work on out at the basement when you were done with the game. "Dude, it's still not done!?" she exclaims as she examines it.

"Yeah, it's been going way slower than I expected," you tell her.

She looks at it briefly before she seems to be struck by inspiration. "Y'know, I might have something that'll help speed things up for you. You've been working on it all week, right?" You nod at that. "Okay, then swing by my place first so I can grab it and we can head over to your 'secret base' to try it out. If you're up for hanging out, that is."

Next: "The Furtive Filcher" 

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