The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

Monday Bombshells

Previously: "Gag Gifts and Otherwise" 

You hadn't actually settled on Anne Starkey by the time Eva and Jessica and Cindy—looking very hot and blown—arrived. (They'd been out jogging, and someone—Jessica explained with a slit-eyed glare at her sister—had set her phone alarm for the wrong time so they were late getting back and God! she felt so hot and sticky and dirty because they'd come right out to the studio without getting cleaned up first.) But the possibilities thrummed in the back of your mind all during the meeting, and by the time it all broke up you felt pretty certain that you'd be picking Anne as your second beta.

As for the meeting itself:

It was pointless. Fairfax only wanted everyone to "report" on how the projects were going. You didn't even get to hear from Josiah because (Philip reported) he had texted to say that he'd got caught up with stuff that Deanna had to do.

So the only news was news from you, the news that you were this close to getting Chelsea (as Yumi) to start going out with your beta. That titillated the others but didn't excite them, and the meeting broke up after less than thirty minutes. Any real news about Yumi and Chelsea, it seemed, would have to wait until after the first cheerleader practice.

After that, you drove out to Acheson, where you texted your beta to meet you at the old elementary school. It's been a community recreation center for as long as you can remember, but it still has a swing set and some climbing bars in the back fields. You rocked back and forth in one of the swings while waiting for your beta to arrive, while speculatively eyeing the door to the school basement. You busted into it last year, and explored all the dank and dusty old equipment—book cases and school desks and discarded cabinets—then replaced the busted lock with one of your own, and for a couple of weeks you and Keith and Caleb treated it as a kind of clubhouse. But it's been nearly a year since you've back inside. Surely the center's maintenance staff has found and replaced your lock in the meantime.

"Hey, so I got to see Cindy's boobs this afternoon," you tell your beta when he arrives. He's back in something like your old clothes—shorts and a hoodie—as he drops into the swing next to yours; you give him a critical look up and down, but decide it's okay for him to dress down for a Sunday afternoon. "Cindy's and Eva's and Jessica's boobs."

"Bitch," he sighs. "Girls are so fucking lucky."

"Don't you want to know how I managed it?

"Pfft. Why wouldn't you all strip in front of each other?"

"What are you being a grump for? Have you talked to Yumi today?"

"No. And I'm being a grump because you bragged about getting to see those girls' boobs. Do you want me to call her tonight?" He gives you an anxious look.

"No, you don't want to look too eager. Talk to her tomorrow."

"That's good." With calculated indifference he adds, "'Cos I'm supposed to hang out with Reagan Hackett and her friend Sydney tonight."

The swing creaks and groans as you whirl on him. "What?"

"Yeah. I don't know if it's a double date or anything, but I'm supposed to meet up with them at the university."

"So if it's a double date, which one is for you?"

He rolls his eyes. "Reagan, I assume. Sydney's bringing her own guy along." He leans back in the swing and stretches his legs out.

"You and Reagan? Really?"

"Is there a problem with that?"

"You're not into Reagan. I know you're not into Reagan."

And it's true. Reagan Hackett is a loud, bluff girl with a prow-like nose and a pushy personal manner. Maybe Reagan is into your beta, and she's just the kind to shove herself onto him, but you wouldn't be into her. And your beta doesn't argue.

"Well, be polite," you tell him. "But remember that you're interested in Yumi."

He nods. "So is that still happening?"

"I'm working on it. You are too. In fact, you're gonna get some more help on that, from Anne Starkey."

"Yeah? How come's that?"

You give him a look. Understanding is very slow to dawn on his face.

"No!" he says.

"Yes. It was Fairfax's idea. She's not part of Jenny's gang. So if she leans in on Yumi and tells her that you're a real hottie and she'd be lucky to be going out with you, it'll be like, you know, an independent opinion. Except," you add with a sharkish grin, "not really.

"Psh. Wow. Okay, so if that's what you want to do. Way to take one for the team." His mouth curls up into a wry smile. "Way to take one from the football team."

This reply puzzles you for a moment, until you sort out what he means.

He's referring to the fact that Anne Starkey is going out with Cameron Huber, the school's beefy, barrel-bodied quarterback.

* * * * *

Well, that is a complication, but Keith has showed how to handle a randy boyfriend, and you figure that as Anne you'll be able to hold Cameron at bay.

But maybe it was bothering you a little, because it's not until later that evening that you text Anne to see if you can meet up with her after school tomorrow. She's agreeable, though you have to tap-dance a little when she asks why you want to meet at Top Shelf Storage, and have to give her a story about showing her some old furniture that she might be interested in. But with that set up, you text Maria to tell her that you'll need a new mask by four o'clock tomorrow. She texts back to say that she's already got a beta working on it.

* * * * *

Eva is late to study hall the next morning, and she is flushed and wide-eyed when she bursts into the library. "Oh. My. God," she gasps as she falls into a chair between you and Rachel. She chops at the air with her hand. "Total. Amazing. Really weird stuff at practice this morning."

"Yeah?" You lean in, for you've been dying to hear how the first cheerleader practice with the body-swapped girls was going to go.

"Chelsea must've dropped acid or something this weekend," she says, glancing at Rachel and Audrey before turning to you. "Or she got born again, or she got kidnapped by space aliens and they scrambled her— Anyway." She brushes the last image away. "She comes in, and she has the rest of us warm up and do routines while her and Cindy—" She repeats the name, and repeats it again. "So she and Cindy go off and talk to Coach Tesla in her office. And when they come back, she says that she and Cindy are now—" She takes a breath. "They are now co-captains of the squad."

"No!" you exclaim.

"I shit you not."

"What did Cindy say?" You glance at Rachel and Audrey, but they're not as into the cheerleader drama as you, and only listen with bemused expression.

"Uh, she said 'Thanks'? She hardly said anything! She was so shocked!"

"What about the rest of the squad?" You edge up close. "What about Yumi, what did she say?"

Eva rolls her eyes heaven-ward and chops the air with both hands. "Wow. And that was the other thing. Chelsea put Yumi in charge of coming up with some new routines, and Yumi just bubbled over at it. She squealed and she actually hugged Chelsea!

"Oh my God!"

"And then we practiced, and Chelsea—My God!—was supportive of everyone, just totally encouraging and everything. You should have seen the looks that Kendra and Gloria were giving her!"

Well, that certainly is bombshell news, but you can't talk openly to Eva about it in front of Rachel and Audrey, so you have to pretend to be just as mystified as Eva pretends, and to cynically suggest that it must be some kind of scheme.

Naturally, you want to find Yumi to talk to her directly, but you can't find her at lunch or at her locker, and she ignores the texts you send. But the other girls tell you that she is very excited and supportive of the changes to the squad. "So she's decided to be in character," you ask Jessica.

"I don't know," she mutters back. "It seems to me more like she thinks she's supposed to be happy about it all."

* * * * *

But since you can't find Yumi, you put her out of mind for the moment to concentrate on Anne—in seventh period English you confirm with her that you'll meet up with her at the complex.

But too late Maria texts you that she'll be delayed getting out there to give you the mask, and you're waiting outside the gate for her when Anne drives up. She waves and rolls down her window when you approach. "I'm supposed to meet Maria Vasquez out here too," you tell her. "She's got the code to get us in."

"Oh, that's awesome," Anne says. "I'd like to talk to Maria anyway, find out what's up with Chelsea."

"Oh? You heard?"

"Heard what?" Anne's expression turns puzzled. "Never mind, get in," she says, and gestures you to join her.

"So, I got a weird text from Chelsea at school today," she says after you've crawled into the passenger seat beside her, "and I'm supposed to meet up with her when I'm done here. Are we going to be here long?"

"Depends on Maria," you temporize. "But what's Chelsea want to talk to you about?"

"Our boyfriends. You know that Cameron and Gordon don't get along."

"Yeah, I had that impression. But then, who does Gordon get along with?"

Anne gives you a quick, tight smile. "Well, Chelsea says she wants to talk about them and the stuff between them." Her eyebrows go up. "She says she wants to figure out a way to get them to bury the hatchet."

Next: "Anne and the Air Head" 

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