The Book of Masks (Vol. 1)

Work and Play

Previously: "A Distracted Diversion" 

by rugal

You're still hemming and hawing over what to do when you eventually realize that the reality is that you only have one option. You've largely been improvising everything without telling Caleb and simultaneously been throwing most of the work on him. Though you think it's a bit of revenge because his going home as you is what kicked off this chain of events in the first place. Still you figure that if you thought you owed Alex then you do owe Caleb since on top of everything else he did spot you some money.

Messing around with this house is most likely going to be too much trouble as well so you decide the Masonic cemetery is the only real choice. But you remember your promise to Caleb -- that you'd let him mess around with "Lizzie" -- so you head back to the theater first.

"Where the hell have you been?" Caleb impatiently asks as you enter.

"Hey to you too, buddy," you reply sarcastically as you place the mask and clothes onto the floor. "I just got caught up in something, no big. I'll get out to the cemetery to get the dirt later."

"Uh huh, just pass it over," he says as he holds his hand out.

So you crouch down and remove the band, handing it to him once you come to. He takes it, sits down where you were and places the band to his head. You wait the couple of minutes it takes for him to open his eyes. "Well?" you ask. "You getting it?"

"Am I...?" He pauses and blinks. "Yeah I think so. Jeez, this is way different from being you, dude. It's like this girl's got a hundred different thoughts going on at once." He heads over to where you'd placed the stuff and grabs the mask. He looks at it for a moment before looking back at you. "Gimme a little privacy," he says.

You shrug and head outside whiling away the time on your phone. It's about fifteen minutes before Caleb emerges completely decked out as your made up character.

"Shit," he says as he sees you.

"How is it?" you ask.

"I wore this girl's mask on its own but with that Alex chick's mind to go with it..." He shivers a bit. "It's just so fuckin' weird. Like it feels natural because she's a girl too but at the same it doesn't 'cause, ya know, this isn't her body."

"I felt like that too," you admit, "but you have to grow used to it. You just have to be careful because Alex has got a strong personality. You can't let it overwhelm you."

"Yeah, yeah I'm already getting that." Caleb looks thoughtful for a moment and then grins. "Shit, that was a pretty good story you told her and that Eastman clown though," he says with a laugh. "If you'd told it to me I might've actually started to believe you too."

"Well I'm glad you're getting it then," you state, "because you're gonna need to be in top form."

"Why would... oooh," he realizes. "Yeah I think I can handle this. Fuck me though you didn't tell me this Alex chick knew Rae Caldwell."

That takes you by surprise. "You know her?" you ask.

"Dude, yeah!" he exclaims. "She's starting to get kinda popular on her social media stuff. Her Insta is like over fifteen thousand? Posts a lot of pictures and photo sets of herself and her outfits. Gets a lot of likes and shit."

"Didn't know you were such a connoisseur of that stuff."

"I'm not," he grins a little more lasciviously and it looks a bit weird on Sarah's -- or Lizzie's, you suppose -- face. "She's hot, that's all I really care about."

"Well lucky for you then 'cause you're supposed to be meeting Alex and them out at Second Pickin's in a bit," you tell him. "Just try to keep yourself in check around them though."

Caleb, with a dismissive noise, waves off your warning as being unnecessary. After he's gone you head back into the theater. The book is there but it's a bit too early to head back to the cemetery so you scour through the stuff you'd purchased until you find the ingredients you need, and then opening the book you follow the steps and it's not long before you've got an unpolished mask.

But that's not the end of it. You find the buffer that Caleb tossed in and get to work. It's a process that's far less tiring on your arms and you're amazed when it's not long before you see that the entire mask is now a nice, brilliant blue. You can hardly believe it, the damn thing actually worked. Best of all it only took maybe forty-five minutes or an hour to do all told.

You can't help but to pause and think about the possibilities. With this and all the stuff you bought you and Caleb could build yourselves a nice collection of masks.

* * * * *

After making that mask you get to work on a band which takes less time than you expected to finish.

Once you're done you look at your phone and realizing the time you grab the box of sandbags and toss them into the back of your truck. You also grab the mask, the band and the book before you lock up and head home. You eat dinner and tell your parents that you're going back out and over to Caleb's to help him with a project.

As the sun has mostly set you figure now is as good a time as any to get this over and done with. You head into the garage and grab a shovel and when your dad asks why you need that you simply tell him that it's something that requires a lot of digging and Caleb says that with work he's not up for that part. You can hear him sigh but he says nothing more beyond reminding you to be back by curfew. Once you're out the door you waste no time in getting over to the cemetery.

There doesn't seem to be anyone around so you pull your truck in, grab the shovel and a bag and start digging. What follows is work that is long and laborious. Despite the crisp air of the early autumn night you still quickly become hot and sweaty and you begin to mentally curse Caleb as he's out probably having fun with Alex and her friends while you're out here getting aches in muscles you didn't even know existed.

It takes a few hours but you are able to eventually, thankfully, finish as the last of the sandbags is filled and put into the bed. Drenched in sweat, your clothes stick to you making the ride back out to the theater uncomfortable and because of all the work you've been doing it takes a little while longer than you'd thought to move the dirt into theater. You still have about an hour before curfew and you give some thought trying out the next spell but you realize quickly that you're too exhausted to do anything else.

Instead you text Caleb to just take the stuff home with him tonight and you can worry about it some point tomorrow because you're turning in for the night.

Back at home your dad takes one look, and one whiff, at you and tells you to take a shower and throw those clothes in the wash. You're only happy to oblige as you've cooled off by this point and the warm water offers a bit of blessed relief. Once you're done you change into some shorts and a t-shirt you use for lounging and sleeping in, toss what you'd been wearing in the wash, and head up to your room where you promptly flop onto the bed and fall asleep.

* * * * *

"Have fun?" Caleb grins at you the next morning as you meet him in the parking lot at school.

You're still sore from last night so you can only cast a hooded glance at him. "Yeah, it was awesome," you grumble. "I'm sure everything sucked for you."

"It was eventful that's for sure," he replies with a laugh. "I met Alex and them right? We're talking outside for a bit and that Brett guy you hung out with comes rolling up with that Joe dude that you mentioned."

That jolts you awake. "The hell?" you ask.

"I guess Brett and his buddy were talking about it and Joe overheard. Said he wanted to meet 'Belinda' or something and figured 'she' might be there again," he explains. "Dude must be a horn dog because he was lookin' at me and flashing me a smile an' shit. But Alex I guess really doesn't like him because she and the others didn't even give him a chance."

He laughs but you're still feeling uneasy.

"They just grabbed me and bolted. Told him to fuck off. Alex had some choice words for Brett too for standing her up," he continues. "Doesn't blame Lizzie though for what it's worth."

He continues like this, telling you that they got some food and hung out and that Alex wants to bring Lizzie out to the Warehouse on Friday to really help her make a splash. So it sounds like he had a good time, but you yourself are thrown off. It's starting to feel like you can't take two steps without turning around to find Joe's grinning face waiting for you. Well he's a handsome, popular and seemingly extroverted athlete and apparently can't keep his libido under control so maybe it's not actually all that weird that he's interested in this girl.

But you still can't help but to think that maybe it kind of is.

You try to put it aside though as you open your backpack to show Caleb the mask you made. You tell him that his buffer idea worked like a charm and that with it you should be able to get a mask done within an hour. You also show him the band that you finished. He lets out a low whistle and seems to get excited about the possibilities.

"We can get another pair of tits to mess with," he says gleefully. "Like Jenny or Yumi." He stops and seems to have an epiphany. "No, wait... Jenny and Yumi! We have to seal a mask before putting it on right? So if we got one on both of them before sealing it, maybe that'd, like, combine both of 'em into a new person. Bet you're curious what that'd look like aren't you?"

He grins at you and you admit that it does sound interesting. As you head to class you look at different girls and wonder what it'd be like to be them or what it'd look like if their appearances were combined. But what Caleb said about Joe is bothering you as well. He seems to want to meet Lizzie so maybe you should let him meet her so you can finally put this whole thing to rest.

Next: "Hurly-Burly" 

*
"Table of Contents (Vol. 1)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 1)"