Chapter #93Gym-boree by: Seuzz   Like you, Seth has to get to the gym for after-school practice, so you figure this "session" with Tilley won't last long. You take a different route to your destination.
A few players are already suited out and limbering up on the court when you arrive. Chelsea is there too, sitting on a front bleacher with Maria, and she waves you over. "Hi Rosalie," she gushes. "How was your first day?"
"It was fun. I got tired of introducing myself--"
"But I bet you made lots of friends. Doesn't she look like she could have lots of friends, Maria?"
Maria blinks, seeming to retrieve her attention from very far away. "She looks like she could have lots of friends," she echoes.
"It's so much fun to have a new person," Chelsea says. "It gets so boring here with the same few hundred people."
"Do you have lots of friends, Chelsea?" you ask. "There didn't seem like a lot of people there at lunch."
"We all have different lunch periods. That's not going to be your final schedule, is it? I want to see more of you."
"It's a temporary one. Is something wrong, Maria?" Chelsea's friend is suddenly staring hard at you.
"Don't mind Maria," Chelsea says. "She's a very deep thinker, and it sometimes takes her awhile to come up for air."
Maria has a reputation for being a total space cadet, but there's nothing vapid about the look she's giving you. You have the impression she's trying to open and unpack all the closets inside you.
"Hey Chels, so this is where you are." You turn, and find Jordan Cooper--unshaven and bloodshot--trudging up. "You got the keys to the storeroom?"
"I'll give them to you later and go with you," she sniffs without looking at him. "Oh, Rosalie, this is my brother, Jordan. He's goes to college at Keyserling."
"I need to get my shit, Chelsea--"
"And you can wait until I'm done here. Gordon can help you."
"I don't need Gordon to-- Oh, fine." With a deep sigh he falls onto bleachers a few seats up and behind. "So how are they going to do without Patterson?"
"They'll do great, Jordan, they always do. And don't say anything to Gordon about Steve." She gives him a sharp glance over her shoulder. "He's still pissed about--"
"Your boyfriend can bite me." With another sigh, Jordan takes out his cell phone and hunches over it.
Your eye falls on Maria as you turn back around. It surprised you a little to find her here with Chelsea, but now-- She's boxed in by three pseudo-Stellae, who are going to have a meeting when practice breaks up. It was nice knowing you while you were still yourself, you think to yourself, and hide a small smile.
There's no further conversation as practice begins in earnest. Gordon runs the team hard--you've heard he does that--and you study each player openly. It doesn't feel odd to do so; you've already discovered that your new persona is not shy about scoping guys out, and you've also discovered that the guys like being scoped out by a girl like Rosalie. But you assume that this is also an audition being put on by Chelsea: possible bodies for Frank, and maybe for you as well. So you grade them as you watch.
Seth Javits is the most impressive, throwing himself with great energy into every exercise with speed and grace and stamina. Based on what you learned yesterday, you have to guess that Chelsea is thinking real hard about acquiring him as a golem. He'd be a natural fit as a member of Gordon's reorganized posse; he's charismatic and handsome and athletic, and (as you know from poor Keith's case) already acts as a kind of enforcer in the school; and he can help her make trouble thanks to his vexed relationship with Cindy and the other cheerleaders.
But for Cindy's sake, you rather hope he doesn't get chosen.
The only other person on the court you know is Jeremy Richards. Jeremy was a friend of yours in middle school, a dopey guy like you and Caleb and Keith, until he hit a growth spurt and decided he wanted to be a jock. But he's not very good, you have to admit. Though he's got the height and strength, he's just not very good on his feet, and he's clumsy with the ball. Gordon yells at him a lot, leaving him looking like a whipped dog. There's no advantages to be had there, you think.
Most of the others, you think, look like thugs. Oh, they're clean-cut enough--lots of buzz-cuts, and no tattoos or body piercings in obvious places. But they are tight-lipped and hard-charging, and few of them look like they're having fun. Only Luke Bennett catches your attention for long, for you remember the impressions he gave you yesterday while you were in Andrea's body. You should ask her about that.
Halfway through practice, the door opens and Gillian Kiefer comes in. She waves at you, and you wave back, but she doesn't come over, and instead plops onto a seat on the far side of the gym. "You already know the darndest people, Rosalie," Chelsea says.
Gillian will be the fourth of your quintet for the meeting. Andrea will be the fifth.
Or will she? A minute later, Braydon Delp comes in, padding over to Gillian and draping an arm around her shoulder. You remember what Gillian told you: He's a mischief-maker, a natural home for a Catilindrian. Has Andrea--?
Or, like Maria, is he here to be a victim?
You take out your phone and send Andrea a note. Coming to the meeting? A minute later comes the reply: Yeah. But that doesn't say anything, really, about where your other conspirator is. "Who're you talking to," Chelsea asks you.
"My dad. I'm telling him I've already made lots of friends."
"Be careful," a very soft says. You look over, startled, for it was Maria who spoke. But she just stares straight ahead, seemingly a million miles away.
Back at you, you think.
The puzzle about Braydon doesn't entirely clear up when he stands up just before practice ends, bends over to nuzzle at Gillian, and leaves. By this point you're a little jumpy with suspense, and wish Chelsea had sent some kind of note explaining what was going to happen.
"Finally," Jordan says when Gordon calls a halt to practice. "Can we get that key now, Chelsea?"
"It's up in the-- Hey, come up and see, Rose," Chelsea says. You flinch a little at the nickname, thinking it makes you sound like someone's maiden aunt. "We've got a neat little clubhouse up in the corner. You should make it a regular hangout. Come on, Maria. Jordan."
Maria looks dazed, and mutters something under her breath as she gets up, and you catch her giving you a queer look. But she follows as Chelsea leads the three of you up the steps to the loft. Gillian retains her seat on the far side of the gym, though.
* * * * *
You might not have been included in the plans, but everyone else was. As Chelsea marches over to a supply cabinet, Jordan closes the door and grabs Maria from behind. Chelsea swings around, and with a pert smile slaps a mask onto her friend's face. "Tell Gillian she can come up now," she says to you.
"Neat work," you say as you step toward the door. "Where's Andrea?"
"She'll be along."
"As Braydon?"
"Huh?" Chelsea swings in surprise. "What makes you think--?"
"The way he was sitting over there during practice."
Chelsea frowns. "I don't know anything about--"
"Aren't you in charge, Chelsea?" Jordan asks. He straightens up from laying Maria onto the gym mat.
"I thought I was, but if Andrea--"
"I'm sure it was just a mistake on my part," you interrupt, and exit the loft long enough to wave at Gillian, who leaps up and runs across the gym toward you. "There was some talk about maybe getting Braydon."
"Well, we need to talk about that stuff anyway," Chelsea says. She leans against a crate and grins at you. "How was your first day, Rose?"
"Rosalie," you correct her. "I told you, I made a lot of friends."
"Any you want to get closer to? Like, inside?"
"Mostly I was just getting myself set up. I think you guys should move first."
"Noted. Frank?"
"I'll fit in wherever you think I can go," he says.
"Okay, I was thinking--"
Gillian bursts in. "Oh God," she gasps. "I thought I'd never get rid of Braydon." Her eye falls on Maria. "Perfect. Let's get her undressed." She leaps over to the girl.
"Did Braydon or any of them say anything about me?" you ask.
"Not in front of me. Did you have any classes with them?" she asks as she tugs Maria's sweater off. You shake your head. "You need to hang out with them before they'll talk about you, probably. They're kind of dense."
Chelsea studies the screen of her phone. "So, with Maria, you'll have five faces, Joe," she says. "That fills you up, and we need to think about hooking some of them up with ourselves. Maria could use a boyfriend. Could Dane take a girlfriend?"
"Someone could take Braydon out of my hair."
Chelsea glances at you; you don't respond. "So let's think about Frank," she says. "I pointed Seth Javits out to you--"
You were afraid of that. You could let her press Seth onto Frank--she is, technically, in charge of your group. You could only forestall her by proposing an alternate.
"Laurent Delacroix," you blurt out.
Chelsea turns gleaming eyes on you. "Yeah," she says. "He was into you this morning. We could arrange to make you and him a thing."
But you were going to hold Rosalie aloof.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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