After leaving Maria's house, you went to Brianna's home and said hello to Brian and Anna Kirschke, her parents. After dinner, you petted Brianna's pet Labradoodle, Missie, and browsed her social media profiles for the rest of the evening. You felt her annoyance at her little brother Evan, and the boredom with not having gone out with her friends or visiting Melanie. And after spending some time feeling up Brianna's body with her own hands, you brushed her teeth and fell asleep in her pajamas.
Saturday morning. You're sitting in the bleachers at the football field, sandwiched between Destiny Nelson and Philippa Hosford. You set down Brianna's clarinet after wiping the reed clean, shivering in the chilly early October morning breeze. In a rush to get out there this morning, you misplaced Brianna's windbreaker and had to settle for one of her long-sleeved, cotton Westside High sweatshirts. You also forgot her music stand clip and had to borrow one from Destiny.
You tied Brianna's brunette hair into a bun and washed her face before leaving the Kirschke's home. While you had since managed to wrangle Brianna's thoughts and desires under control, you discovered how much easier things are when Fairfax isn't around. You feel like you can borrow whatever you need of Brianna's persona when hanging out with her friends, reading her sheet music, or memorizing pastry recipes. But around Fairfax -- even the Beta-version of him -- Brianna's obsessive crush can get a little overwhelming.
The only reason Mr. Stemple has you all gathered out here today is to get ready for the football team's homecoming game next week. As much as he (correctly) perceived everyone slacking off yesterday while he was gone, today he's back with a vengeance to make up for lost time.
"It's so freaking cold out here..." Moans Becca Daly, the junior trumpeter sitting in the row in front of you.
"Couldn't we have practiced on the basketball courts?" Yawns Jesse Hughes, the junior boy next to her. "On the warm, cozy, indoor bleachers?"
"You've been awfully quiet about last night, Bri." Philippa nudges your shoulder. She's Brianna's best friend, having attended the same schools together since kindergarten. She looks a lot like Brianna: short, pale, brown-haired, full chested, but with a splash of freckles on her cheeks and contact lenses instead of glasses. A few months ago on a weekend band trip, the two girls got drunk and got tattoos on their forearm: astrological symbols like a cupid's bow (Brianna) and a libra (Philippa).
"You're not gonna make me ask, are you?" She titters.
"Ask about what?"
"About your little playdate with Philip Fairfax? We didn't hear from you for several hours. We assumed that whatever it was you two got up to was better than going to Maggie's party or hanging out afterwards at the Warehouse."
You raise your eyebrows. The Warehouse is a bar and dance club open only to high school students on Friday and Saturday nights. Rumored to be run by a local crime syndicate, its location in the bombed-out, post-industrial wasteland in the heart of town is not exactly a nice place to be at night.
"First off, it wasn't a playdate. Whoever told you that is full of crap." You retort hotly. "Michael Hollister and Carlos Montoya invited me out for some interview for their YouTube movie review show. Fairfax -- Philip -- happened to be there too."
"You wouldn't have gone out there if Philip wasn't there too!"
"I so would have!"
"He's the reason why you stayed, then."
You huffed, thinking up the lie you had rehearsed the night before. "Yes, but only because he needed help with an art project."
"An art project?" Destiny chimes in. "He doesn't exactly strike me as the artsy type."
"Which is why he wanted my help."
"And...?" Presses Philippa, "You can't end the story right there. Something else happened. I know when you're lying, Bri, don't do me dirty and fess up, girl."
"We need all the details." Destiny rejoins.
You shrink down in your seat, saved at the last minute by Mr. Stemple blowing his whistle and telling everyone to flip their music sheets to Seven Nation Army.
* * * * *
"You're not getting off the hook that easily."
Later that day. You're on Brianna's lunch break, thumbing through her phone at all the messages her friends sent her last night. Brianna's shift at La Patisserie started right after marching band practice, and you didn't have time to pack a lunch so you were starving. Rather than throw out the old pecan galettes, madeleines, and pains au chocolat, you stuffed them into a to-go box. The desserts are kryptonite to Brianna's erstwhile diet. But to those who don't work there all the time like Susie Lekuawehe, Genesis Lee, and Mackenzie Fuller, they're a special treat.
"What the heck is Susie doing in this picture?" You try to change the subject. Susie clambers over next to you to see a photo of Mackenzie playfully patting Susie's Levi-clad butt on a large dance floor. Two boys sneaked interested little glances from the background.
"That was at the Warehouse..." Her mouth twisted into an awkward smile.
"No duh, everyone must have been there." You roll your eyes. "I mean how much did you have to drink to let other girls smack you on the ass?"
"Oh! I lost a bet is why." Mackenzie explains. "See that guy in the photo? That's Cole Stanchik, it's a long story."
"That's fine, go ahead hun." You lean back in your seat, smoothing out the floury, blue cooking apron tied around your back.
Mackenzie rubs and pinches at her arm before answering. "He's in my Sociology class, and he bet me that he would get a better grade than me on Friday's test."
"He may be on the football team but he's not an idiot."
"Plus all the sports guys share cheat sheets from prior years' tests, so he could have known the questions beforehand." Adds Susie.
"It's not like I could prove it!" Mackenzie sulks. "Anyway, whoever wins would get to make the other person do something at the Warehouse later that night."
"Oh, goodness. Having you slap my butt doesn't seem like the worst thing I could imagine a guy like Cole asking of you." Susie says, causing Mackenzie's face to turn beet red.
"Okay girls, that's history," Genesis says after thoughtfully chewing a macaroon. "What I still wanna know is what Brianna got up to with Philip last night."
Shit. "It really wasn't much, honestly!" You reiterate emphatically.
And that was true, but Brianna's friends were either not buying it or lightly teasing her about it. In truth, after you drove Brianna's car to Maria's house, the real Philip peppered you with questions about Brianna's social circles. He seemed impressed that you got her mannerisms and memories down pat so quickly, just like you had with Eric. Informing you that all the others took varying amounts of time to pick up their new body's personas, ranging from several hours to a few days.
And the weirdest part of being with Philip-as-Maria last night? Brianna's brain kept butting in and preventing you from getting over-excited about being alone with a cheerleader. Even one as sexy as Maria. Will Prescott hardly ever talked to cheerleaders before, except perhaps Yumi Saito but only as an acquaintance. Seeing Maria dressed in fuzzy pink pajamas last night, her half-naked, tanned figure sprawled on her bed while reading an astrophysics book, did nothing to arouse you. Though your Will-mind certainly liked what it was seeing.
"Genesis has had... how many crushes since starting high school with us?" Mackenzie says, counting off on her fingers. "You remember what you said when she was head-over-heels for Scott Frazier, don't you?"
Don't bottle up your feelings, or else it'll make you go crazy. Brianna took it upon herself to try to mush Genesis and Scott together. That relationship lasted about five seconds, long enough for Scott to join the basketball team and 'trade up' for another girl and for Genesis to crush over Justin Roth after seeing him shirtless at a pool party last summer.
Genesis merely shrugs. "You know we want the best for you, Bri. Philip is a nice guy, but I don't think he's ever been in a relationship before."
"You don't think he's gay?" Chirps Susie.
"I doubt it, he never hangs out with the out-of-the-closet types like Charles or Christian." Muses Mackenzie, referring to Charles Hartlein and Christian Padilla, two prominently gay seniors in school.
"We could ask Jack Li, he would definitely know."
"How about no?" You interject.
"Why, because you two got up to something together last night? Ow!" Mackenzie rubs her shoulder where you smacked her.
"Because I don't want the whole school knowing that I like him, is why."
"Aww, you're no fun Brianna!"
You look at the clock, before getting up and putting on Brianna's hairnet. Saturdays are always busy, particularly because it means baking cakes, cookies, and pastries for last-minute shoppers for events like parties or church gatherings.
"The espresso machine is broken," You murmur to Brianna's friends, as they throw away the empty box of pastries. "And I need to get back to my shift."
The girls leave you to resume your work, and you get your hands all floury with dough and frosting behind the counter. It's warm in the pastry shop. It smells sickly sweet and the light jazz music helps take your mind off of things.
That is... until you recognize a familiar face... yours! And he's holding hands with Lisa Yarborough???
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