Chapter #31Don't Ever Toss the Chickens Overboard by: rugal b.   You give it a moment of thought. The entire business that started with Stephanie putting you down at the coffee shop has made you much more self-aware, and much more critical, of your own shortcomings. The mannerisms might be "off" but you know that they're not that far from reality. What you saw there, that's what other people would see; the skinny little dork trying to make himself seem like the too-cool-to-care slacker. Because people like someone who seems flippant, that's a sign of confidence right? But it's not, not in your case anyway because it's not natural.
If you could see through it then so can everyone else. That's what they see when they look at you, you realize. You're just a snot-nosed little twit and come off less like a senior in high school and more like an immature kid trying to emulate the cool older kids.
The more you dwell on it then the more full of disgust and resentment you feel. You feel like everyone looks at you that way. Stephanie certainly does. So does Lisa. The Garners? Mendoza, Renerhoff, Kirkham? Probably and so does...
"Yumi," you say.
That catches Fairfax's attention. "Excuse me," he asks.
"If we're going to do this and become cheerleaders then let me have Yumi," you tell him. Yeah, for all of her niceness you're sure even Yumi thinks of you that way. She's never gone out of her way to offer her sympathy. When she sits with Lamont and his crew she seems to mainly be interested in sharing gossip with Jenny giving you little more than the customary bits of conversation.
Maybe you're just feeling worked up and maybe it's nothing but you can't help but feel upset.
"That's fine and all but but is there any particular reason," asks Fairfax.
You give yourself a moment to cool down. You're not really angry at Yumi since it's not like she's done anything to you. Nor are you overly upset at Stephanie or any of the others. It's mostly yourself you suddenly have a problem with. Not that you can tell Fairfax that of course.
"Well," you start, "it's just... I know her. Not like we're best friends but when I sit with James and those guys at lunch she's there a lot with Jenny."
"So you've been to her house?"
"Not exactly," you admit. "I mean maybe once or twice in the company of some of the others, uh really more to give people rides, so I know where she lives at least."
"Even still that's as good of a start as any compared to the rest of us," he says. "Plus from that would make a nice starting point for getting the other cheerleaders." He gives you an amused smile. "Isn't it kind of funny that you're the last person in the group yet you're going to be the first one set up in position?"
"Yeah, a laugh riot," you reply dryly. "But I do have to admit I'm interested in seeing all of this."
"Aren't we all," Fairfax says with as much eagerness as you've heard out of him so far.
Fairfax then goes over explaining to you how the process is going to work just in case you didn't quite get it the first time. The stuff that will be used to coat your mask, the material that will be needed to copy Yumi and "seal" the mask and that once all of that is done that it's as simple as placing your treated mask on her face and her mask on your face. He assures you that with the treatment in place the real Yumi will be asleep under your form so there's no chance of your Beta (as they're called) going rogue.
With that Fairfax grabs a pair of scissors and snips off a bit of hair -- for the Beta he tells you -- and tells you to go and relax for a bit. Once it starts getting closer to night that'll make it more likely that Yumi's at home and he'd really like to have you in position as soon as possible. But as you wait for everything to be done and for the time to come, something eats at you. You start getting a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach. This all seems a little too neat and easy right?
You relay these worries to Fairfax but he brushes them off and says that it's likely nerves as you're new to all of this. He offers to go with you and says that with his help everything should go off without a hitch.
* * * * *
"Well this sucks," you grumble as you sit in your truck parked across the street from Yumi's. Fairfax and yourself had gone up and knocked on the door but had only been told by her mother that Yumi was busy at the moment. Busy doing what you're not sure, maybe she just wants to avoid you. That was about ten minutes ago.
"It's unfortunate but we should be able to get her tomorrow at least," Fairfax sighs. "I really was hoping to get started tonight."
You're about to give a response when you notice something. The front door of Yumi's house is opening and you see someone coming out. Is it Yumi herself? Well it's hard to tell as it's dusk but not quite time for the street lights to come on making it much harder to see. But she looks to be around the same height so it's probably her right? You decide not to waste any time, signaling to Fairfax, hop out with the mask in hand.
"Hey Yumi," you call out as you get close.
"Huh," she asks but you're already there and you've got the mask on her face making sure to catch her as she goes slack.
"Come on, let's get her in," you say as you point to the car.
"Is it her's," Fairfax asks.
You shrug. "I don't remember what it looks like," you tell him, "but if it's parked here it has to be right?"
Fairfax goes for the back door and, thankfully, it's unlocked so you pick up Yumi and place her in the backseat... and that's when you realize she's not Yumi.
"Will," Fairfax asks with trepidation, "who's this?"
"I... I have no idea," you state as you look at her. She's pretty though not as pretty as Yumi. Her face is a bit broader, her nose shaped differently, her eyes spaced a bit differently and she has, you can now tell, longer hair. Nothing to take away from her appearance but enough to differentiate her from your intended target.
"Her sister," he asks.
"I don't think so," you reply. "She looks close in age to us and I think Yumi's only ever mentioned a younger sister. Maybe she's a friend or something but I've never seen her around school."
"Well we can't just leave her here," Fairfax says as he begins digging through her purse eventually pulling out her keys.
"Dude, what the hell," you exclaim.
Fairfax doesn't bother to look at you as he gets in the driver seat. "I'm going to need you to grab your mask," he simply states.
"Waitwaitwait! You're stealing her car," you ask in panic.
"Of course not," he replies. "We can use this mask to get to Yumi tomorrow so we can't leave the car here. We're going to go back to the storage complex."
"Jesus this is insane," you state as you head back to the truck wondering just what you've gotten yourself into.
"Thanks," Fairfax says as you hand the mask over to him. "When I get the chance I'll pull over to get this on her. Then you can put her mask on to get Yumi out here."
You really don't even know what to say so you simply hop back in your truck and head back to Top S(h)elf Storage where, not remembering the code to get into the unit, you wait for Fairfax to come back.
* * * * *
Oh yeah, this girl is definitely not Yumi Saito and you surely can use her to get Yumi. That's because this girl, Dana Pak, is Yumi's cousin on her mother's side and even ignoring their being cousins the two of them have been close for a long time. She's probably Yumi's best friend after Jenny in all actuality and she's hung out with the both of them more than enough. So why was she over there today?
Well because she needed to borrow a book for a class belonging to a teacher whose name you don't recognize and Dana had left hers in her locker. A lot of the basic material is the same between both schools so she's not losing out on anything by using Yumi's book for some homework.
And yes, both schools because the intriguing part of what's come your way isn't just that this Dana girl is Yumi's cousin but that she's also a student at Eastman, the high school across town. You've never stepped foot in Eastman and don't know anyone from there yourself so it's always seemed like a bit of an alien world to you. But you guess that's just another example of how uninteresting and boring you are. After all, you think back to Catherine Muskov's party and the presence of Eastman jocks there. Or even Catherine's presence herself being a transfer and all.
So there's probably more intermingling than you'd have ever guessed.
You're surprised by how much you already know about this girl who, half an hour earlier, you didn't even know existed. Fairfax had said the mind comes in a few hours but you've felt like you've had to stop yourself from getting overwhelmed.
So you have Dana Pak's mask and her mind. Maybe you can suggest using the mask to check out Eastman and see if you can help make a sketch, if not a full map, of the school for Fairfax. That'd certainly be useful for him, especially if you can convince Keith to step in for Yumi so Fairfax would have a solid connection between the two schools.
Besides after what you saw this afternoon and what you've been through over the last week or so you kind of want to get as far away from Westside, and yourself, as possible.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
| Members who added to this interactive
story also contributed to these: |
<<-- Previous · Outline  · Recent Additions © Copyright 2024 rugal b. (UN: rugal at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Seuzz has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work within this interactive story. Poster accepts all responsibility, legal and otherwise, for the content uploaded, submitted to and posted on Writing.Com. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Get MORE!
Shop Memberships
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
