The Book of Masks (Vol. 1)

Flirting with the Enemy

Previously: "Unlikely Partnerships" 

What u doing ths wkend, girl?

That's what Steve Patterson, a Westside basketball player and one the alpha-est alphas in the school, wants to know.

You want to know how the hell he found you on x2z. Before you quite know what you are doing, you type back a DM demanding to know exactly that.

Okay, it's not your x2z profile that Patterson found. You don't have an account at x2z, which is to the internet what an open sewer is to a medieval city crawling with plague and famine. It's the account of "Yeni Mojdeh," which you are using to keep in contact with Cindy.

Of course, you realize with a grimace. That's how he found me. I told him I knew Cindy, so he asked her.

You're tapping in a query to Cindy, when Steve himself confirms it: Got ur name from cindy. But what u doing this wkend?

You tell yourself that you should ignore him. No good will come from talking to Patterson, who is a bully and an asshole, and who inhabits a social strata at Westside so lofty that the clouds obscure it from your view below. Besides, you're not even the person he thinks he's hitting on.

Of course, as soon as you realize that, you realize with a grin that you have to reply. So:

No plans yet. What u got in mind?

You squirm in your chair while waiting for his reply. Is your reply convincing? Does it sound like it comes from a girl? Maybe you should get Yeni's help.

Patterson's reply comes as you're thundering downstairs into the living room with your backpack on your shoulders. "Going to meet Caleb, need his help on some math problems," you announce to your parents as you run through.

"You could get your dad's help," mom calls. You skitter to a stop at the front door and turn to look back, your eyes and mouth wide with horror.

But your dad keeps his own eyes fastened onto the TV. "He'll do just fine with Caleb," he tells your mother. "Just be back by eleven."

"Thanks," you gasp, and grab the door handle. Your phone chimes with an incoming DM.

I like quiet nights n quiet wkends, you read on your phone as you hustle over to your truck. "Hey!" your brother yells at you from his bedroom window, above and behind you. "Where you going?" You flip him off and jump into your truck. Drive in country, park by the river, visit wilderness, Patterson continues in a series of DMs. Hate being in crowds. Like company tho. Be my company? You gag at the emoji—a smiling face with hearts for eyes—then giggle. Steve Patterson, jock-asshole, is coming onto you hard.

Letme think, you tap back with one hand as you back into the street and turn toward the old elementary school. You need to buy time, so you send another DM: Oops brb. Your palms are sweating hard as you gun your truck, and you pet the bag containing the Yeni mask, to reassure yourself that you brought it.

* * * * *

You're searching online for a photo of a likely-looking dog—you've told Patterson that you, Yeni, have a dog named "Kentucky," and he asked to see a picture—when you get a DM from Cindy. Heads up, she tells you, Steve wants know ur name I think so he can dm u. You roll your eyes and smile to yourself. After sending Steve a picture of a pale blonde Labrador, you send Cindy a quick reply. I know doing dms w him now.

Patterson declares the dog to be awesome in his reply; Cindy sounds horrified in hers. R u crazy!

Lol its fine, you assure her. Just chating abt dogs n flowers.

It's a side to Patterson that you'd never have suspected. He moved fast, proposing a Saturday afternoon stroll through the Suffolk Wilderness, followed by a casual, dine-in supper at a restaurant somewhere, then a drive. You feinted by asking if you could bring some of your girlfriends along; he'd affably agreed so long as dinner was just the two of you. Still you resisted, challenging him to tell you things about himself. He described the classes he took and the grades he got, the odd jobs he took around town, some charity work he had done for a homeless shelter. And I play basketball for whs, he added in a modest-sounding, throwaway aside.

From there, talk spiraled out to include mutual interests. Drawing on what little you had to say, augmented by what Catherine's memories could give you, you affected an interest in astronomy, and he told you about a dark hollow on the other side of the hills south of town, where you could see the Milky Way, and he described nebulas and constellations that you only know by name and reputation. Despite yourself, you feel yourself melting a little.

Dont b insane, Cindy tells you. What r u doing?

Letting him hit on me, you tell her. Its hilarous!

U get n so much trouble, she warns you. If he finds out u will be dead n stomped to death.

How he find out? you ask. He never know it me he sees yeni at school ths lots better pank than carson n james want to do.

Another DM from Patterson, again proposing a trip out to the Wilderness, one without anyone else along. You might have assented, but Cindy's warnings have at least sobered you up that far, and you counter by suggesting a date at the Warehouse, a dangerous party spot in the heart of the city. He demurs, telling you that he hates loud music and big crowds.

Cindy falls silent, leaving you to banter with Patterson. He presses and goads and won't take no for an answer, and the fun begins to pall. You finally manage to end the conversation by telling him to DM you tomorrow. He promises he will. You DM Cindy the news that you managed to shake him off without committing yourself to doing anything with him. Good u wouldnt like it, she tells you. You make a face at your phone.

* * * * *

The whole thing starts up again the next morning, though. Patterson is early with a DM reminding you that it is now "tomorrow" (a Friday) and again proposing a quiet, you-and-him-only date extending from the end of school until who knows what time. There's also a DM from Cindy, urging you not to make any plans with Patterson for the weekend, at least not until the two of you have had a chance to talk. It's that last bit that gives you pause. What would there be to talk about? you wonder. It's not like you want to go on a date with Steve Patterson!

More trouble awaits you at school. You've just parked and are just getting your stuff together when both your truck doors open. James gets in on the passenger side; Carson shoves at you from the driver's side. "Hey!" you yell, but they get in with you, closing the doors and pinning you between them. "Are you a mouse or a rat, Prescott?" Carson demands.

"What?"

"Are you a mouse or a rat? Are you too chicken-shitted to help us out, or are you a lying, two-faced rat who took our money and then—"

"I'm working on it!"

"Oh, I believe you, Prescott," Carson coolly assures you. "That's what I keep telling James, that you're doing your best. Only your best is turning out to be pretty shitty." You glance over your shoulder at Carson's friend, who glares back with a stony expression. "But he's not convinced," Carson continues. "He has doubts, Prescott. And when James has doubts—"

"I said I'm working on it! Me and Cindy are trying to—" You clap your mouth shut, and feel your eyes bulge.

Carson's eyes go dead, and he lifts an eyebrow. "You and Cindy are what?"

"Okay, I told Cindy about it. It made sense to! She hates Chelsea! Chelsea and Gordon and Steve, she hates them! And she can't get up into the fuck room herself, they won't let her or Seth up there! So she wants to get back at them as much as you do! Maybe more!"

This confession is met with silence.

"So I told her!" you continue. "And her and me, we're trying to figure out a way— I only told her yesterday, so we haven't come up with anything." You shrug. "But we're working on it, and—"

"Did you mention our names?" James asks.

"What? Well, yeah!"

He looks past you to Carson, and says, "Fuck."

"She's lying, Prescott, she can totally get up into the fuck room," Carson says. "Or Seth can, anyway. He's been up there with—"

He breaks off to look past you at James, and the two hold some kind of telepathic colloquy. You look between them, your head swiveling fast.

"We'll get back to you," Carson says. He and James hop out simultaneously. "In the meantime, you just keep your mouth shut and your powder dry. You've bought yourself a day, at least." They slam the doors shut on you.

Keep you mouth shut? Not likely! You send Cindy a DM: Carson n james want prank done fast they say seth goes up to f rom n u do too. ?????

* * * * *

Her reply comes at the end of fifth period. It's lunchtime, and you're hiding in the library when you get it. It shocks you so hard that you rear back, banging your head into a bookshelf. "Way to almost knock yourself out, asshole," a fat girl jeers at you from a nearby table, and her friends giggle and roll their eyes. You glare at them, but you've no outrage left to spare them.

Not after Cindy's DM: We can prank them tmrw if u r ok to suck my boyfrn's cock.

Next: "Someone's Fake Girlfriend" 

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 1)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 1)"