Chapter #17Distant Relations by: rugal b.   "Does it have to be Westside?"
Jessica looks at you suspiciously and you see one of her eyebrows go up. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asks.
"I mean... I don't really know," you confess. You begin nervously rubbing your hands together as you try and grasp for something; some kind of an idea. "I guess what I'm thinking is that... shit, Westside is just full of assholes."
"No duh, but that's the point of becoming them," she replies. "I mean, if we're better off then it'll be harder for people to mess with us."
"Would it?" you ask as you begin to build momentum. "Think about it. What if you replaced Jessica permanently? From the outside it looks good but then you'd still have to deal with Chelsea, right?"
"Then I replace Chelsea," she states bluntly.
"And then you have to be around Black and Patterson and, I mean, do you want to actually have to fuck Black?" you ask. "And if you're Chelsea, then you'd have to constantly be on look out for Yumi and Cindy and them."
"Well if I was Chelsea, then you could be Yumi and we wouldn't have that problem," comes Jessica's next retort.
Admittedly, it's a pretty good point as well and one you don't really have a counter for. But you keep pressing forward. "Look, I'm just saying that Westside is a snake pit and no matter where you turn there's probably going to be some asshole or cunt looking to make your life miserable," you bitterly state. "So why even bother? If we can use these things to become anyone and take over any lives we want, why not just get out of Westside?"
"And go where, Eastman? Agape? St. Xavier's?"
"No, definitely no—wait, do you or Jessica know anyone that goes to St. Xavier's?" When that gets a shake of the head, you move on. "Well, whatever, a bunch of rich kids means it's probably even worse than Westside; a whole school of Kelseys."
"Now that's an enticing image," Jessica replies. "What? The snootiness makes her hotter," she says in response to your groaning.
"Look, I just mean why not get out of high school entirely?"
"What, like moving over to the college?" She pauses for a moment, looking thoughtful, and then slowly a grin breaks on her face. "Okay, yeah, getting away from the assholes and being around hot coeds is definitely a good idea. You've mentioned you have a cousin who goes to Keyserling, right?"
"Yeah, and she's off limits," you growl. "What about you? You know anyone?"
"No not r—wait!" she exclaims while snapping her fingers. "Actually the twins do. You were in Eva's head, don't you know that?"
You shake your head. "Whatever I'd had has long faded," you answer.
"Okay, well, Eva and Jessica have a cousin—Allison—who goes to Keyserling," she explains. "Problem is, they're not particularly close with her, or at least they haven't been for a while. So it'd be weird if one of them just called her up out of the blue asking to hang out."
"So why bring her up?" you ask.
"We can still get to her," Jessica says, "you know Eva and Jessica's aunt, right?"
"The one who works at the bank?"
"Right," she nods. "Anyway, Allison is her kid so I'm thinking if we just detour through her, then we should be able to get a mask on Allison and then from there Keyserling is wide open for us."
"Alright and how are we going to do that?" you ask with heavy skepticism.
Jessica, in response, picks up one of the blank masks and hands it to you. "First, you need to put this on," he says. "Oh don't look at me like that. I'm thinking quickly, Will. I've got an idea, don't worry."
You sigh. With nothing better to do, you raise the blank mask to your face and you're soon enveloped by the darkness.
* * * * *
It's around six and you and Jessica find yourselves walking into the bottom floor of the newish mid-rise near the university. You glance over and point out Arnholms, the used book store where you found the book but that doesn't seem to get much of a reaction out of your partner. Instead she glides over towards an elevator and you're forced to catch up. The two of you ride up in silence sans Jessica asking, and you confirming, that you have everything you need in the bag slung to your shoulder.
Once the elevator stops and the doors open, the two of you step into a hallway and after a few seconds of thinking, Jessica leads you down one until she stops at a door, confirms on the number outside that it's the right one and hits a button. You hear a distant voice on the other side of the door which then opens. Standing there is the woman—the twins' aunt—from the bank though dressed down considerably in sweatpants and tight tanktop.
You hadn't really thought about it when you'd gone into the bank but seeing her like this, she's a very attractive woman and looks considerably younger than you'd expect her to be. Her dark brown eyes look at you cautiously and her body language seems guarded.
"Oh, Jessica. You said you had something to talk to me about?"
"Right. Can we come in?"
"We?" she asks. Her eyebrow goes up when she notices you.
"This is Will," Jessica says, "he's involved too so I brought him along. Is Uncle Jerry home?"
"He's still out," says Jessica's aunt.
"Good, because I really want to keep this between us. You didn't tell him did you?" asks Jessica nervously. "About that whole thing with Eva?"
"Is that what this is about?"
"Yeah, we just really need to clear something up. For Eva's sake."
Jessica's aunt—you really can't remember her name—gets a sour look but, somewhat reluctantly, relents and opens the door wider. "Just make it quick, I'm expecting a food delivery," she says with just a hint of exasperated annoyance.
"Just let me talk and follow me," Jessica whispers to you once you've walked by her aunt.
"Alright, what was so important, Jessica?" she asks with impatience as she walks by and into the living room. It's a pretty nice, and pretty new, condo from what you can see. Of course given its prime location it'd have to be.
"So, uh, Eva's been getting a lot of sh—crap because of the money thing. Everyone thinks she's gone crazy," says Jessica. "But it wasn't her who took it out. It was me."
Her aunt, taking a seat on the couch, cocks an eyebrow. "You? Come on, Jessica, I'm not dumb. I saw her and the girl who got the money had long hair, for a start."
"Right, I had a wig," Jessica quickly replies. "See I was helping my friend Will, oh this is Will by the way." You wave meekly at Jessica's aunt but she just regards you coolly. "Anyway, I was helping him with an art project and we needed, well, a lot of supplies really. The both of us were short on money but I knew that Eva had some stashed away so—"
"So you put on a wig and some ratty clothes and tried to pass yourself off as her to me," her aunt says dismissively. "Jessica, come on. You're not a kid and I'm not an idiot so you don't need to make up stories. It's good you're trying to cover for your sister but—"
"It's the truth, Aunt Meg!" Jessica cries. Right, Meg, that was her name."Look, we even have the money right here. We came by to give it back so you could put it back into Eva's account."
"So you want me to take the money and—" Meg lets out a frustrated sigh but seems to relent. "I guess I could just say it was just an error but if anyone asks, then you're going to tell people the same thing you told me, Jessica. And you're going to tell your sister the same thing when you get home. Otherwise it's my job on the line for not properly checking ID."
"Yes ma'am," Jessica says as she turns to you. "Give it to her, Will."
With that, you reach into the bag and pull out not money but instead a blank mask. And very quickly, before she can react, you leap forward and jam it onto the face of Jessica's aunt.
* * * * *
"Stop staring," you snap at your doppelganger as you pull the sweatpants up.
"I wasn't staring!" whines Will.
You shoot him a look that simultaneously conveys amusement and irritation as you turn to him. "I could feel your eyes. You're looking at me right now," you say before turning back to pick up the tanktop and slide it over your head. "Anyway, we're done for the day. I'm in, we're all good."
"So what do you want me to do then?" he asks.
"Go meet Jessica and go home. I'll contact Caleb when I'm ready to grab Allison."
Will wants to fight back but realizes that he can't and so agrees. When he's gone, you finally relax and become aware of the body you now wear. With more than a fair bit of excitement, you head over to the bathroom connected to the master bedroom and take a good, long look in the mirror.
Meg Garner's jaw is a little strong but she's otherwise a very pretty woman. Her eyes are brown and she has a nice nose and large lips. You take a moment to brush the messiness out of her neck-length dark brown hair. She's in shape and her chest is a nice size: not too large but not too small. There's actually no resemblance between her and the twin girls and from looking at her you would never think she's a mother to a girl in college.
That's because she's not. Not biologically at least. The former Megan Cummings is only thirty-four, a full eight years younger than her husband of one year. Gerald Garner is a handsome and charismatic man and holds a good position at the same bank where Meg works and when he and his now ex-wife were going through a rough patch two years back, he's the one who started things with Meg. It's not Meg's fault that she fell in love and married him. It doesn't make her a homewrecker.
Which is why there exists such a noticeable frostiness between not just Meg and her nieces but Meg and Gerald's daughter. You hope it won't make getting her too difficult. You have the following choice:  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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