The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)

Chelsea Wins the War

Previously: "The Shopping Trip" 

"I'll have to think about it," you tell Chelsea, and are silently consumed by thought all the way home.

* * * * *

You've not heard from anybody in the meantime, which you take as a sign that the wires are burning up behind your back. You put that deduction out of your mind as well as you can, and as it appears that you're still not talking to Lin, so you start the night's activities by calling Jessica at around eight. "Hey," you start. "Have you talked anymore to Marc about that stuff with Martin and Gary?"

There's a silence, then a kind of whispering; you have the distinct impression that at least one other person and maybe more are with Jessica. "No," she says when she speaks again. "He doesn't want to talk about it."

"Well, I got Gary's side of the story this afternoon. You know," you continue after shoving back a sudden spasm of resentment, "it helps to wait for other people to explain themselves before you run off all half-cocked."

You can practically hear Jessica rolling her eyes. "So what did Gary have to say?"

"Well, first of all, before I tell you what he said and what I figured out after that, I have to ask. Do you guys know where Kelsey gets her—?" You drop your voice, even though you're alone behind a locked bedroom door. "Her party stuff?"

"I know she doesn't get it from Gary," Jessica says impatiently.

"Of course she doesn't. But does she get it from Martin? I mean, is he the one that actually brings it in?"

There's another silence. "Maybe," Jessica says.

"Oh, don't be fucking coy with me, Jessica," you snap. "Is he or—?"

"Okay, fine, he's the one that actually gets the stuff. Wait." There's more of that whispering. "Are you gonna say that Martin gets it from Gary?"

"That's what he told me. He says he brings in a bunch of that stuff to the country club once a month—because, like you know, he and Martin both work there—and Martin buys it off him for these 'reefer parties.'"

How lame is it that Kelsey actually calls them that?

"You didn't tell him about that!" Jessica gasps. "Oh my God!"

"Keep your hair on. He already knows about them and he doesn't give a shit. And that's what I'm getting to, because that's how he figured out it was Martin who framed Marc."

You launch into a script that pretty closely tracks what Marc said at lunch: Chen might give Marc a lot of grief, but he does respect him as a kick-ass captain of the soccer team, and he just about lost his shit when Coach Gellman and Mr. Sagansky forced Marc to quit as team captain after they got a tip about that stuff in his locker. "He started thinking about it. He knows that Marc doesn't smoke that stuff except at Kelsey's parties. Uh, does he?"

"No comment."

"Well, that's what Gary believes. Anyway, he started thinking about it, and he just got the idea that maybe it was Martin who put it in Marc's locker, to get back at him or something. So he, uh, talked to him last night, and Martin confessed. He said it was only a prank that got out of hand."

"Yeah, that's what Martin told Marc," Jessica says. "But it doesn't make any sense. The stuff showed up in my locker and Eva's too. Was he trying to prank us? Why would he do that? And how would he get in the girls' locker room without being caught?"

"Well, what if it's actually like this?" You take a deep breath. "It wasn't a prank, and Marc wasn't the target. It was Kelsey. She put it in your lockers, and she got Martin to plant some in Marc's locker to throw people off the track."

There's a very long silence. You think you must have blown Jessica's mind, but when she speaks again she just sounds puzzled. "Why would she do that?"

"Because of the situation with the squad! Remember what Kendra said? Two weeks ago, or like that, Chelsea told Kelsey she wanted to put her back on the squad if there was a vacancy. Then nothing happens and nothing happens, then bang! The administration gets a tip there's something in you guys's gym lockers, and suddenly you and Eva are off the squad! There's a vacancy for Kelsey to fill."

Jessica draws in a deep, gasping breath.

"Uh huh! Better than that, there's two vacancies, which Kendra says is pissing Chelsea off because it means she has to hold some trials. Bet you anything, though, that Kelsey's got her own candidate to bring in, and she'll suggest it to Chelsea, and—"

"Olivia!" Jessica exclaims. "At the start of the year, Kelsey was trying to get Olivia onto the team so she could have her vote in the election! Oh!" There's some gabble on the other end, and you lean back against your bed's headboard to silently laugh.

But when Jessica comes back on, she's got an objection: "But we were also supposed to vote for Kelsey. You know that, you were pissed at us because we weren't going to vote for Cindy. Why would Kelsey frame us instead of, well, you or Lin? Or Cindy?"

"Maybe because Kelsey doesn't like you that much?" you suggest. "Or maybe— Look, those reefer parties are an open secret. Everyone knows about them, knows who goes to them. So if some of that stuff shows up in your lockers at school— I'm totally not saying this is right, I'm just saying what a lot of people were probably thinking— But it would be real easy for people to just think, well, the Garners are doing that stuff at parties and they got sloppy and brought some of it in. But me and Lin and Cindy, we don't do that stuff—"

"Bullshit, Yumi."

"Not as much! I'm just saying, maybe that's another reason Kelsey would have picked you guys. Because there's already kind of a presumption that, uh, you guys—"

"Okay, I get what you're saying. Jesus!" There's some more talking, then Jessica pops on long enough to ask if she can call you back.

Sure, you tell her, and drop the phone between your legs with a contented sigh.

* * * * *

She calls back a little later to invite you to her place, where Lin is with her and her sister and brother. You again share your theory with them that Kelsey framed Eva and Jessica, with Marc as a red herring, in order to get the girls tossed off the cheerleader squad and make way for herself. But it's clear that most everyone is already convinced.

"So what do we do?" Lin asks. "Go to Coach Tesla, Mr. Sagansky, tell them about this so Eva and Jessica get put back on the squad?"

Marc answers for you. "Martin only said he put the stuff in my locker, he didn't say anything about you guys. Without a confession, I don't think they'll do anything."

"And Chelsea would have to go along with it," you point out. "She's not going to bring you back."

"So Kelsey wins!" Lin exclaims. "Un-fucking-believable!"

"No, not if we tell Chelsea about this," you say. "Maybe Eva and Jessica can't get back on the squad, but she's got to know she can't put Kelsey on if we all think Kelsey's in back of this shit."

"But Kendra says Chelsea doesn't want to hold a tryout! That's why she's going to ask Kelsey—"

"But she's already got to hold tryouts 'cos there's two slots to fill. It's no more work to fill one than to fill two."

And that settles the matter. Since you were the one who broke the scandal open, and you're the one who got the key information from Gary Chen—whose part in busting Martin's face has now been forgotten, if not forgiven—you're given the task of calling Chelsea when you get home.

So you do. "Perfect," she gloats after you've caught up to her on her cell phone, for she's spending the evening as herself.

"Uh, one thing I forgot to ask you this afternoon," you say. "Did Martin really put that stuff in Marc's gym locker?"

"Of course not. I had Gordon put it there."

"So why did Martin confess?"

"Because I had Gary beat the snot out of him until he promised that that's what he'd tell people."

Oh.

Oh.

* * * * *

The next morning's practice is almost a denouement. Chelsea tells the assembled squad that she's changed her mind about asking Kelsey to rejoin the squad because she has found out some "disturbing" news about her. Then she announces that she will be talking to Kim Walsh about changing the bylaws so that Westside can establish a JV cheerleading squad. "Kendra will be in charge of whipping them into shape," she says, "assuming we can get Kim to go along with it."

Kendra looks startled by the announcement, but says nothing. Naturally, no one else says anything about it either, except to murmur that it sounds like a good idea.

None of it matters. Even if Kendra has double-crossed you and your friends (as it would appear based on what Chelsea has said), there's not enough votes to overthrow Chelsea without Kelsey. Indeed, as you look around during practice, you realize that there are now only three reliably anti-Chelsea votes.

Well, two. Yumi's vote isn't as solid as Cindy's and Lin's.

"Fuck yeah," Chen murmurs in your ear when you point this out to him after school. You're at the Panda Garden Buffet, where he's comping you an afterschool celebratory meal, and he's got his arm around you. "And you know who'd be perfect for you get masks of? Cindy and Seth. Or Lin and ... someone." He bites your ear. "Think how hot that would be."

* To pick someone tied to the squad: "Occupied Territories" 
* To pick someone just for yourself: "Possibilities That Surprise You" 

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