The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)

Garners' Night Out

Previously: "A Hell of a Way to Wake Up" 

Chen's grip is like an iron manacle. No matter how you twist or pull, you can't get loose. He grins at you.

"Gary, let go," you hiss.

"No," he says. "Come on, this is fun." He grabs your elbow with his free hand and wrenches you toward him.

You fall off your feet and onto Chelsea. She wakes with a squawk.

* * * * *

It was the best thing that could have happened. After a lot of slapping and yelling, Chelsea woke enough to the situation to order Chen to let you go. He gave you a lot of sullen, resentful looks, but like a kicked dog he clambered out of the minivan when Chelsea ordered him gone. "I'll talk to you later," he mumbled at you in what sounded like a threat.

"No you won't!" Chelsea yelled at him. He ducked his head as flinching from a punch. "You leave her alone! Stay away from her! Don't even talk to her!"

Chen hunched his shoulders but nodded, and slunk off toward his Jeep. Yumi, who had been watching all this from the front seat, hopped out and hurried after. You watched as they stood by his Jeep, talking. Chen had a very black look on his face, but Yumi looked concerned, and she stroked his cheek gently with the palm of one hand.

But they've driven away now, leaving you alone with Chelsea. Or with Jessica, actually. While you watched the two fakes, she mumbled about "finishing changing", and when you looked back again, it was the naked form of Jessica who was slumped in her seat.

You get out of the minivan and pace about the parking lot as you wait. You're still shaken by Chen's attack, and a little light exercise, you hope, will make the trembles go away. As you pace, you try dismissing your fright—what will happen if you see Chen again?—in favor of looking at the bright side. Chen was definitely acting in character when he grabbed you, and that's good, if you don't want people suspecting that there's something different about the people you've used masks on, and he did let you go when Chelsea ordered him, so he is obeying her like he's supposed to.

But you're still bothered by the implications of the attack. If you've got Yumi trained to "be in love" with Chen, then you have to think that Chelsea also got Chen trained. And look what he did. What does that say about the training she's given him during her time pretending to be him?

Well, that's something to worry about later, you conclude. You hoist yourself onto the hood of the minivan and take out your phone, to kill the time until your fake sister wakes and joins you.

* * * * *

You've just got time to become deeply absorbed in some texts from Olivia Byrne, warning that Kelsey is "head-banging mad" at Eva and Jessica, when you hear the minivan door slide open and slam shut. In fact, so absorbed are you in the texts that you do a double-take at the girl who comes sidling up before remembering who she actually is.

Like Eva, Jessica is a bosomy blonde, but she gives the impression of being leaner, more agile, and more athletic. Part of it is her hair, which she wears in a short bob that curls over the top of her neck, giving her an air of boyishness despite her flagrant boobage. But in fact her build is hardly different from her sisters. They both have well-stacked torsos balanced atop wide, bowl-like hips and strong legs; large, china-blue eyes; a pert nose and a wide mouth; and a dusky, peach-colored complexion.

"Hey," Jessica says as she sidles up beside you. "I'm sorry about what happened with Gary."

"It wasn't your fault," you tell her, though you actually feel like it kind of was.

"He needs a good kick in the nuts."

You give her lopsided smile. "So you're getting into character as Jessica already, huh?"

"What?"

"That's what Jessica would have said."

"Oh. Well." She looks away. "I'll take your word for it."

"What's wrong?"

"Same deal I was having with Gary. I don't really—" She squeezes her head between her hands. "I'm not really getting any of the memories."

"No? Where do we live? What are our mom and dad's names? What did we have for supper last night?" Jessica shakes her head mutely at all of your questions. "Well, dang."

"Maybe it'll be okay," she says. "But it was, like, twenty-four hours before I got Gary's memories. If I have to wait that long—"

"You'll be okay. I'll help you out. And it won't be like when you had to fake your way through as Gary. Just act like yourself, Chelsea, and probably no one'll tell the difference."

"Gee, thanks," she grumbles. "You must really have it in for your sister if you'd say something like that!"

* * * * *

The Garner girls are not due back home until ten o'clock or so, so you spend a half hour at the school going over some of the things that Chelsea might need to know about her new identity. Mostly this just involves telling her about the life the girls have at home—things like, they share a room, while Marc gets a room of his own—and the roiling drama that has been stirred up thanks to her shakeup of the cheerleading squad. You still have homework to do, though, and because you don't want to do it at the house, you drive back to the Garners to pick it up. You leave Jessica in the passenger seat while you run inside to collect her books and yours.

Marc's bedroom door is open. You avoid glancing inside, but Marc calls out as you hurry past. "Kelsey's pissed at you and Jessica," he says when you lean inside the doorway. His expression is sober.

"Yeah, I heard. Well, she can—" You glance back down the hallway. The coast is clear, but you mouth your reply to him. "Go fuck herself."

"Well, it's Martin she should be mad at anyway. Except she can't be, since he's the one that brings in the—"

"Is she mad at you?"

He blinks. "Why would she be mad at—?"

"Because you got caught with some of that stuff in your locker too."

"That's not my fault! And it all got straightened out."

Hmph. It wasn't your or Jessica's fault either. But Mr. Popular-Little-Brother gets to skate. "You going out to her place Saturday night?" you ask.

"Prob'ly not. Not if you and Jessica aren't. Where is Jessica, anyway?"

"Out in the car. We're going out somewhere to study."

Marc's face brightens. "I'll go too!"

"I think it's just a girls' night for us."

"Not now, it isn't. Where are we going?"

Such a typical Marc thing, you sourly think. So used to being the most special person in any group.

Not only that, when you get outside he takes the keys so he can drive. As Jessica is sitting up front, that means you have to clamber into the back. "Where are we going?" Marc asks as he buckles himself in.

"Milagro," Jessica answers, tonelessly. She gives you a meaningful look over her shoulder. "Yumi and Gary are meeting us there."

Marc gasps. "Oh, shit!"

"The fuck?" you demand, for Gary Chen is the last person you want to see. "Can't you text them and cancel?"

"I just got finished setting it up!"

"What? Why the fuck, Jessica?"

"Because I wanna see them!"

"Cancel, Jess," you plead. "I don't want Gary at the same table as—"

"I'll take him off your hands," Marc volunteers. "I'll take 'im to another corner, and you girls and Yumi can—"

"I want us all to sit together," Jessica says through gritted teeth. "Besides, they're gonna want to be together. If they're going together."

"Well, that's the problem," Marc snorts as he turns the motor over. "Seriously, you girls need to have a talk with Yumi. I thought she'd be smart enough—"

"I want to see them together," Jessica insists, "before we have a talk like that." She crosses her arms. "You never know, maybe they are good with each other."

Marc gives you a look over his shoulder, and snorts again. It's a very silent ride out to the coffee shop.

* * * * *

The scene is even worse when you get there. The Milagro Beanfield Warehouse is one of the toniest coffee shops in town, with interiors decorated in parched, expensively weathered wood; carefully stacked coffee sacks woven of distressed canvas; and polished table tops of knotty pine. The prices are at least fifty percent higher than those at Starbucks or some other chain shop, and the staff look like they've been hired at least as much for their piercings, their lumberjack beards, and their tattoos as for their skill with a cappuccino machine.

So of course Kelsey Blankenship and her best pal Amanda Ferguson are seated in the main dining room when you arrive.

You try to avoid noticing them, but Kelsey makes eye contact. For a moment her face freezes into an expression of contempt and anger. But it quickly changes to a sorrowful frown as she beckons you and Jessica over while Marc goes to the front counter.

"I was just about to text you guys," she moans. "Something came up, and we won't be able to have my usual Saturday night party."

"Oh, what happened?" you ask. Amanda, you notice, looks puzzled at Kelsey's announcement.

"It's a family thing. Nothing important, but— Tch! It totally blows our party plans to hell."

"What about next Saturday?" Jessica asks.

Kelsey's expression scrunches up into one of the most insincere smiles you've ever seen. "Oh, it'll be back to normal by then," she assures you. She cups her mug in both hands. "You here to do some work? I got mine done this afternoon," she smugly explains, "so Amanda and I are just chilling out."

"Yeah, I've got a short paper for AP English I've got to finish up."

Kelsey's eyes narrow. It's a sore spot with her, that she couldn't fit an AP English class into her schedule, so she has to make do with "Classical Literature."

"I'm impressed, Will," Jessica murmurs as you leave Kelsey's table. "You're a natural-born bitch."

Next: "The Difference Between Boys and Girls" 

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