You continue weighing your options or at least the two that look most viable.
Christian's RPG gang would likely be the easiest to slip into as they're the most like you and your friends though not exactly. If you had to be honest, you've always found them to be even worse. They're not bad people or anything but for the most part they fit right into cartoonish role of the nerds obsessed with their nerd activities to the point of being quite pedantic about every little detail. You'd hung out with them in the past but it was that vibe that caused you, Caleb and Keith to drift away from them.
There's also the fact that, like you, they're going to have their share of bullies and what would be the point of switching into another, presumably better, life if it wasn't much better?
Well there is one large difference that would make it better. You watch as she walks through the door carrying some sodas and other snacks. She spots you and gives a small wave and a smile while you dopily wave back. You feel a small sinking feeling in your chest as she then sits down next to Braydon and plants a large, sloppy kiss on him.
Gillian Keifer is someone you wish would give you those large, sloppy kisses. But she has only a passing familiarity with Will Prescott and that aside she's obviously taken. Of course if you used the mask on Braydon... oh, but then you'd have to be Braydon and as much as Gillian is a turn on, Braydon is a turn off. He's someone you've always found weird to the point of creepy and uncomfortable. You don't think he's a bad guy but there's something about him you've never quite liked.
Of course you could use the mask on Gillian if you wanted to run your hands all over her body so much... but that thought quickly goes away because, again, Braydon and that thought causes you to shudder.
So you turn towards Karl's group, the wannabe artistes. You've had some interactions with them but not a whole lot aside from sharing classes here and there. Neither Karl nor Andy hold much appeal but Tim... well, something about him attracts the girls. He'd definitely be a great spot for you and a real step up. You've seen some of the girls he and his friends hang around with though names mostly escape you. There's this really cute hippie girl for instance. You could probably get her, or any of them, through Tim.
But that doesn't put you anywhere away from Chen. In fact, it puts you nearly as close. These guys, true to their artsy reputation, enjoy getting high. That means they have to get their weed from somewhere and that means the likely source is Chen himself. That thought scares you because even if it's just to buy some weed you don't want to interact with Chen in any capacity and you half wonder if any of these guys sell too and if so, is it for him or against him?
Neither possibility is very reassuring.
So that leaves the Eastman group.
You'd dismissed them because you knew nothing about them and didn't want to make the same mistake you'd made stepping into Evie's mask. But you think and it's not really stepping into the unknown that freaked you out but the way it happened. You hadn't given any thought to it, you just did it. You didn't have time to prepare yourself and psych yourself up for what was going to happen. That wouldn't be the case this time though. Besides, your goal was to get someone as unconnected from all of this drug shit as possible and you can't get more unconnected than someone from a different school.
But are they unconnected? They known Dane so does that mean they get high too? If they do, where do they get their stuff from? But that's just paranoia. If Dane hangs around the comic shop quite a bit, then maybe these people are just regulars who have struck up a rapport. Dane's a likable guy after all.
So with a little reassurance, you firmly make your decision and head over to the Eastman group.
* * * * *
"Yo, dude! It's been a minute hasn't it," states one of the guys. He's taller and lean yet well muscled where he needs to be. Hazel eyes sit on either side of a perfectly sized nose. His face overall has a very friendly and handsome look to it. The only thing stopping him from looking like he stepped out of some dream of someone pining for the nineteen-fifties is his hair that hangs flat.
"Uh, yeah it has I guess," you tell him as you smile weakly. He gives off a nice vibe but without Dane's mind you have no clue who he is.
He eyes you oddly. "I know it's been a while since we've dropped by here but you've forgotten us already," he asks.
"Well it's not like you come down here all that much," states the girl clasping his arm. "I'm down here way more often."
She's shorter than him, not a surprise since he's tall, but if she comes up to the middle of his bicep she'd be lucky. Her eyes, sitting behind a pair of dark-rimmed glasses, are a pale, almost icy blue. They contrast with her thick, long dark hair. You can't help but think there's something vaguely familiar about her but someone that pretty you'd definitely have more than a vague memory of.
Of course even if Dane's seen her more often you wouldn't remember so you just give a kind of dopey grin while the other guy speaks up.
"C'mon Julianna, he's probably too baked to remember," he says.
He's shorter and leaner than his male friend. His face, like his friend's, is handsome but where the other guy's is friendly and inviting, there's an intensity to his. His somewhat swarthier appearance made to look even darker by deep brown eyes that look as if he's squinting just a bit from the light.
"Stop being such a prick," states the other girl as she punches him in the shoulder. "Fucker," she adds with a playful annoyance.
She's only a bit shorter than him with her chestnut hair tied back in a short ponytail. A green and white (the colors of your cross town rivals) t-shirt with the image of an old style megaphone and pom-poms that reads "Eastman High School Cheerleading" hangs loosely over short athletic shorts that hug muscular thighs.
"Oh come on Leslie, you can practically smell it on him," he replies before flashing you a grin. "Besides, I'm just messing with him."
"Yeah, it's all good" you say lazily and as blissfully unaware of any possible insult as you can project.
The first guy, whose name you eventually learn is Timothy Johnson. invites you to hang out with them for a bit while they're in there. During the course of the fifteen or so minutes you're around you learn that the four of them had just finished lunch when Timothy's girlfriend, Julianna Seaton, had wanted to make a quick comic run and that jogs your memory: you've seen her in here a few times before though always alone and never with the courage to approach her.
The other two you eventually learn are Nick Stathis, a friend of Timothy's and member of the baseball team, and Leslie Keys who's Nick's girlfriend and on Eastman's cheerleading squad. You find that you're enjoying their company and when they mention a party later this evening at the house of another Eastman student you eagerly ask if it'd be cool for you to drop by. Timothy mentions that there'll probably be some Westsiders there so it's not like there's any harm.
You get an address and bid them farewell. There was no way you'd get one of them here but at a party? You shoot a text to Caleb telling him of you'll have a new home by tonight.
* * * * *
The party's held at the home of someone named Amanda Conners who you, again, don't know but you learn as you're there is one of the big shots on Eastman's apparently really good girls' basketball team. Timothy was right about the Westsiders since you notice more than a few, mainly among the AP set: Deanna Showalter, Ricky Golia, Amanda Ferguson... Lisa and Mansfield. Your heart skips at that and you do what you can to avoid them.
It's how you end up hanging out with another group of people and ones who seem more likely to associate with Dane... well mostly: Lisa Rickover carries an imperious air about her while her friend, Summer Nguyen, is reserved to a level you've never seen. But the others--the pierced Terry Fitzgerald, his doe-eyed and lavender-haired girlfriend Lisa Palacki and the wiry, semi-androgynous Chris Yves--are more natural with Dane. Especially once Lisa and Summer leave.
Much like with the others at the comic shop, you find these three fairly agreeable. Chris might be intense but that's more passion than bitchiness on her part. In fact, the whole Eastman scene seems more agreeable. You find it's easy to "stay in character" too, or rather the character you've created for Dane. Just hang back, laugh and offer nothing substantive and nobody seems to pay you any mind.
That should make it easier to pull off a switch, you hope. You'd come with the hope of grabbing one of the four from the comic shop, Timothy preferably but any would do, but haven't had much luck in catching them around. One of your current companions though? That could be much easier.
But another thought gets you. Lisa and Summer, the two girls that were here... chatter after they'd left informed you that they're part of the so-called Rumoratti: a nickname for a group of Eastman girls keyed into every bit of gossip at the school and even a fair bit outside of it. The other members are Natalie Dawkins, Maddy Caron, Tina Branson and Mandy Simpson with the group being led by Alyssa Randall, head cheerleader and Eastman's queen bee.
You're moving on from Westside but there's still a lingering paranoia over how far Chen's reach extends. Likewise you'd probably still find yourself curious about what's happening there. All of that and you'd need an excuse to talk to Caleb in your new guise. Grabbing one of the Rumoratti, while ambitious, would check off every box.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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