Chapter #34And the First Seal Was Opened by: Seuzz   Cindy? Caught with weed in her locker?
"Oh, fuck!" you cry.
Chelsea's face falls. "What's the matter?"
"'Cos now Seth's not to break up with Cindy, you dumb—!"
You catch yourself, and take a breath.
"Because," you begin again, in a calmer tone, "all this stuff hitting at the same time, it's going to look totally like what it is, which is that you set it all up!"
In the back of your mind, you realize you shouldn't be yelling at Chelsea this way. But you are riding Patterson's personality too hard to jump off while in full gallop.
"Well, jeez," Chelsea retorts, "you don't gotta take it out on me!"
"So who do I take it out on?"
"Take it up with the boss."
Her words hit you like a two-by-four between the eyes. "What did you just say?"
"I said, take it up with the boss." She rolls her eyes. "I'm just holding the fort down for her!"
You look at Gordon, who just returns your stare with a blank one of his own. Then you turn back to Chelsea. "Okay, where's the boss now?"
"Working at the country club, I think," she says. "Unless there was some other stuff—"
"You mean she wearing Chen's mask?"
"Pff! There isn't another one for her to wear! Not that I know of."
You sigh.
"Alright, I'll talk to the boss myself," you say, and turn for the door, then pause when the others don't move. "You coming?"
Chelsea says, "I thought I could stay and hang out with my pookie." She falls against Gordon and hugs him tightly.
"Eughk. Okay. I'll talk to you guys later."
You glance at Gordon's face before leaving. He returns you a very level stare while hugging Chelsea to himself and stroking her back.
Jesus, you think as you dismount the stairs. They're in character even when there's no one around they have to pretend in front of!
* * * * *
You have to text Will Prescott to get Chen's contact number, and because he hasn't got it you have to get Yumi's from him so you can text her for it.
So you're not in a pleasant mood by the time you're able to sit down in your bedroom and thumb a text to Chelsea. You write it in a mood of icy fury, but that's probably for the best, because it comes out (you deem) as coldly professional. The gist is that Seth will give you a decision in the morning, but you're sure he will side with Cindy on account of what she (Chelsea) has now done to Cindy.
You then turn to your homework. You tear the solutions from the guts of the problems as though they were personal enemies of yours.
Chelsea's reply comes at around nine-thirty: All good whatever happens.
Her attitude leaves you seething. It does your own heart no good to learn that she would be okay with your play against Seth being a failure. You want it to succeed because you want to win, God damn it!
You're so distracted and vexed that you can't even summon the concentration to jerk off after going to bed, and fall asleep while twisting yourself up like a cat's cradle.
* * * * *
It's Gary Chen himself, sitting cross-legged on the hood of his Jeep, when you arrive early at the school the next morning. He is so concentrated on the phone in his lap that he doesn't look up until you are almost upon him.
"Chelsea?" you ask him warily.
He looks up, then answers with a quick, sharp grin.
"Ay-yeah! You hear from Javits yet?"
"No." You glance over at the car that's turning into the parking lot, but otherwise you've got the lot to yourselves, so you have no qualms about speaking freely. "So what's the fucking deal with Cindy and the weed?"
"The fucking deal is she got busted with ganja in her locker. I had Yumi put it there."
You sigh. "I guessed that much. Is there a plan here, or are you just screwing with Cindy?"
For an instant you see the pixie-mad Chelsea behind Chen's eyes."
"Can't it be both?" he says.
"So is that why you had me try to break her and Javits up? Just to screw with her some more?"
"No, I want them busted up—"
"Well, it's not going to happen now," you say, and you have to fight down your anger. "You said last night it would be okay no matter what happened. But it won't, Chelsea, it goddammed won't! 'Cos you know what it's gonna do to the basketball team? 'Cos of this play you just made, Seth'll be gunnin' for me and Gordon, b'cos it'll look we timed our talk yesterday for this thing with Cindy."
Chen grins and laughs once, like a bark.
"Shit, man, you're totally gettin' into this character, aren'tcha, Will?" he gloats. "The fuck d'you care about the basketball team for? You ever even been to a game?"
You feel your lips pressing together so hard they almost go numb. But you can't argue. This is Patterson's problem, not yours.
And yet, if you're Steve Patterson ...
"But don't you worry, Steve," he continues. "The gears ain't done turnin' yet, and there's still a couple more things to pop. No one's gonna blame you. Fuck, no one's gonna blame Chelsea!"
He uncurls his legs and slides to the ground.
"'Cos the girl I left behind's already talked to Coach Tesla, tellin' her she can't afford to lose Cindy on top o' losin' Jess 'n Eva. She's goin' to bat for Cindy! Which she'd hardly do if it was her arranged to plant that ganja around."
"She might," you dryly retort.
"Oh, well, yeah!" Chen chortles. "But you'll see, it'll work out.
"And now we've talked," he continues. "But now I gotta go in, get upta the fuck room and make a change. Gotta cheerleader practice to run."
He swaggers off, but turns once to call back: "Oh, you ever need me to set you up with a little—" He mimes taking a hit off a butt. "Just lemme know! Set'cha up with discount!"
* * * * *
Seth is moping on the gym floor near the doors when you emerge from the changing room later. He winces when he sees you.
"What's going on?" you ask, and look him up and down. He's still in jeans, shirt and jacket.
"I dunno," he sighs raggedly. His face is pale and drawn, and he hunches up behind arms that are folded tightly across his chest. "I— I think we're broken up. Cindy 'n me," he mutters.
This confession staggers you. "You 'think'?"
He stares at the floor, and draws a shuddering breath.
"Yeah, pretty sure we are," he mumbles.
"You either are or you aren't," you tell him. "There's no maybes or pretty sures."
He kicks at the ground, then lifts his chin. But he can't look you in the face, even as he says, in a firmer voice, "Yeah, we're busted up."
You allow yourself three seconds to marvel at the fact that he pussied out on his girlfriend, then clap him on the shoulder.
"Okay then. Change out and hit the floor. Get through the morning and we'll talk at lunch."
He nods, and shambles off for the locker room.
"What's going on?" Gordon asks when you join him in the middle of the court, where everyone else is stretching and warming up.
"Son of a bitch did it," you murmur back. "Busted up with her."
He looks both impressed and surprised. "No shit?"
"Apparently not."
But we'll see, you caution yourself.
Still, you return Gordon's quiet fist bump with a fist bump of your own.
* * * * *
You are intensely curious to know how things went between him and Cindy, but you know you won't be able to ask him. But Yumi Saito texts you during the break between practice and first period to tell you that she got orders from "the boss" to explain it to you. Then she calls you direct and relays it to over the phone you as you stand outside the gym.
"So they were apparently in the middle of a pretend break-up," she says in hurried, desperate murmur, "when she got called to the office."
"Hold on, what's this about a 'pretend break-up'?"
"Well, Seth was telling her about the pressure he was getting to break up with her, and how they could pretend to go along with it—"
"Okay, I get it."
"Right, and she wasn't having any of it. I mean, I wasn't there, I heard all this later from Cindy when she was bawling her head off. Anyway, she was already mad at Seth about it, and she gets called to the office 'cos of what got found in her locker."
"Uh huh."
"So she gets with him later, and the first thing out of her mouth, she starts screaming about Chelsea and you and Gordon, how you all set it up 'cos you're all against her. And the way she tells it, Seth started sticking up for you and Gordon, saying as how you guys couldn't be part of it. Chelsea, yeah, but not you 'n Gordon. Anyway, apparently it got out of control, and they went away mad at each other and never made up."
Saved by Cindy, you marvel to yourself. "Is there anything else you or the boss think I need to know?"
"I don't know how much she told you, but she told the squad this morning that she's been talking to Kelsey about rejoining."
That bowls you over. Even Steve has noticed—and been impressed by—the depths of loathing that exist between Chelsea Cooper and Kelsey Blankenship, who were on the cheerleading squad last year until Kelsey quit in a huff when Chelsea beat her in the squad captain election.
"Oh, and Cindy wasn't at practice this morning."
That last bit of news is redundant. For the entire time you were talking, you were staring at the doors leading into the main building. Cindy Vredenburg is standing next to them, glaring daggers at you.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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