The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)

Alexis's Gang

Previously: "Heartstrains" 

Alexis's family isn't rich—certainly not Kelsey Blankenship rich—but her father is an attorney and her mother is an interior decorator with clients all over the state, and they are certainly upper middle class.

So to reach the front door you have to run down a long hallway, fly down some stairs, and dart through a sun room and a den. The bell rings long before you reach it.

"Hey, we get you out of the bathroom or something?" Roman joshes after you've wrenched the door open.

"No! You weren't waiting long!" You slap him on his meaty chest and step aside with a blushing smile as he and his friends saunter in. Roman and Justin—juniors, like Alexis herself—grin widely at you as they step past. James, who is a sophomore, gives you a shyer smile. All three are on the JV basketball squad, and Justin is tall enough that he can rest his chin on the crown of Alexis's head—a little trick he likes to pull on her every once in a while.

Roman balances a stack of board games on his shoulder. "You didn't say what you wanted to play, only you wanted to go retro. Where are we setting up?"

"Game room, upstairs. Twister?" you exclaim when you see the name printed on the side of one of the boxes. It's held together with tape, so it must be a vintage version.

"Someone might wanna play. Me, probably." Roman sniffs the air. "Do I smell tacos?"

"Where's everyone else?" Justin asks. "We the first ones here?"

"Erin and Julian were stopping at the store. I don't know where Sabrina and Alec are."

"Bet I do." Roman waggles his eyebrows.

"Who else is coming?" James says. Unlike the brunette Roman and Justin, his hair is a sun-drenched blonde.

"Well, Sabrina and Alec, and Erin and Julian." You count the names off on your finger tips. "Michelle and Tanya and Rebecca. Jesse. Craig and Douglas. Where's Scott? Didn't he come with you?" That would be Scott McInerney, who is the fourth basketball player in the group.

"I heard he has a cold. But he's coming with Rebecca."

"He better stay away if he's sick," Justin says. "If we're gonna be rubbing up all over each other on a Twister pad."

You feel your cheeks turning pink.

* * * * *

Over the next half hour you're run ragged between the game room upstairs, where you feel like you have to supervise, and the front door and the kitchen as you let people in and help them unload food.

You're supremely grateful for Alexis's instincts as you deal with them all. There's no other way you could keep everyone straight.

So there's Erin—a moon-faced girl with long, lush, chestnut-red hair—and her exotic, JV football-playing boyfriend, Julian, who's a hulking but cheery African/Maori mix hailing originally from Louisiana. Erin keeps shooting you meaningful glances as you and she unload the chips and colas they brought, but you ignore her.

Sabrina Rutledge is your other best friend now, and like Erin she's dating a JV football player: Alec Stockwell. They arrive with a third ball-player, Alec's best friend, Jesse Sargent.

Tanya Firth—an African-American girl who wears her hair in long, twin braids that dangle against her shoulder blades—and Rebecca Leary are best friends on the track-and-field team, and they arrive together. Their presence sets Erin vibrating hard, for of the girls Alexis knows they would be the most likely to get onto the cheerleader squad next year.

The two oddballs in this pack of lettermen would be Douglas Canfield and Craig Wyatt: skinny, gawky AP students without girlfriends. From deep inside Alexis you flinch to look at them. Will Prescott would fit in right next to them, and they look totally out of place next to the gods of the field and court whose heavy footfalls sound from upstairs. They must know it too, for they remain downstairs in the kitchen with you and your girlfriends instead of going upstairs to hang out with the other guys. Still, they look very awkward, and shift silently from one foot to the other while listening to the talk without comment.

The last to arrive is Michelle Estrich, the only senior of the friends, just as James Randolph is the only sophomore. Erin seems to take it as a signal, for after Michelle has put her contribution—a ten-pound bag of ice—into the freezer and gone upstairs, she nearly explodes.

"So?" she says, threatening you with two tightly clenched fists. "What did Chelsea say?"

You just smile back and concentrate on chopping up the broccoli, cauliflower and carrots for your personal vegetable medley. (All of the other food that got brought—fast-food chicken or the pizzas—makes your gorge rise.) "I told you," you reply, "I can't tell you. She swore me to secrecy."

"Chelsea who?" asks Sabrina. "Chelsea Cooper?" Her mouth falls open when you nod.

"She asked Alix over to talk!" Erin grips the counter edge until her knuckles whiten. "And now she won't tell us what they talked about! Except that it was about the cheerleader squad!"

"But she was asking you for recommendations, wasn't she?" Erin whines. "That's what you told me on the phone!"

"I did not! And we didn't—!" But Erin has so flustered you that you've forgotten the story you'd invented and rehearsed. "We just talked about girls in the junior class, that's all," you stammer. "You know. Who's good at what, who's on what teams." You dart an embarrassed grin at Tanya and Rebecca. "I made sure to talk about you guys, though."

"So why'd she want to talk to you?" Craig asks, and he turns red as the girls gasp at his blunt question. "I mean, why would Chelsea want to, like, talk to you specifically?" He visibly cringes under a circle of glares. "Is she talking to lots girls about this?"

"Because Alix only knows everyone, that's why Chelsea wants her opinion!" Erin exclaims.

"I don't know 'everyone'," you object as you put the vegetables back in the refrigerator. "Probably she's asking everyone. I don't know why she'd think I'm, like, super connected or anything." You pause as you catch yourself in the act of taking out your cell phone. Then you shrug and take a photo of the vegetable medley that's resting on the island. "Hey everyone, get in a circle around the back of the island and I'll—" You hold up your phone.

Sabrina rolls her eyes as everyone shuffles together. "Sure, Alix. It's like you're totally invisible online."

You scrunch your nose at her but take the picture anyway. Then you busy yourself uploading it while everyone else starts trooping upstairs with the rest of the food.

Because you are totally the kind of girl who puts pictures of her snacks online. It takes you five minutes to tag and cross-reference it to your various accounts.

* * * * *

There's too much food, too many games, and too many bodies upstairs for everyone to squeeze into one space, so everyone spreads out in small groups to eat and and talk. Naturally, the couples pair up: Erin and Julian, and Sabrina and Alec. Rebecca looks a little lost without her boyfriend Scott to lean up against, but she makes do with the other basketball players.

You wind up sitting on the floor with Douglas and Craig. Or maybe it's better to say that they sit down with you, because you certainly don't seek them out. Probably it's because they feel a little out of place with the jocks, even though Alec and Roman and their friends are really cool and friendly with them. You hope they're not trying to edge up close to you. They're nice guys, and smart, but ...

But you can't keep your eyes off the other guys. Alexis's lustful fascination leaves you squirming, but you can't help yourself. Pretending to be her means giving in to her instincts, at least a little.

You keep your gaze off Alec and Julian—it doesn't do to ogle your friends' boyfriends—so it's the lean, strong basketball players who draw your attention.

James is sweet, smart, and very cute with his swooping, sun-drenched blonde hair and its ducktail bob, but he is also a year younger, and you blink to recognize the truth in what Chelsea had said: that girls want to look at guys who are their age or older, not at the guys who are younger.

Justin is the tallest of the gang, but he is still well-built, even if his long neck and long torso remind you a little of a giraffe. He has big eyes and a wide mouth, and you jump a little when you find yourself wondering if he's a sloppy kisser with those lips.

But the leader of the bunch, even with the football players in the room, is clearly Roman. His chocolate-colored hair, which twists up in little spit curls now matter how he brushes it out, hovers over dark eyes, dark eyebrows, and a wide, white smile that is bracketed at either end by deep dimples. He has a hard, powerful chest and strong legs and biceps. He speaks in a resonant baritone that gives you chills.

You try not to be obvious about it, but maybe you are. An hour into the party, when you're down in the kitchen loading up some more plates, Michelle (who has followed you down) sidles up to you. "Sabrina and Erin sure seem happy with their boyfriends," she says.

"They're great guys," you agree. Julian is exotic, but like the blonde, corn-fed Alec he is a sweet-tempered and thoughtful guy.

Michelle rubs the small of your back. "If you want me to give one of the other guys a nudge for you," she says, "I could."

Next: "Confessions from Somewhere" 

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 3)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)"