The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

On the Outside, Peering In

Previously: "Hijacked from the Inside" 

Shift to Olivia? You wonder at Fairfax's suggestion. It sounds like he's asking you to take on a third identity. A fourth, if you include your own original name and body.

That just sounds too complicated, so you shake your head. "I can stick it out here. I don't think there's anything I could find out as Olivia that I can't find out as Leah."

Maria nods. "You're the best judge of the situation, of course." Then she glances back over her shoulder, toward the exit. "You probably better go now. It would be weird trying to explain why you're here."

You tense. "Why? What's going on?"

"Didn't Keith tell you? Steve's on his way over."

"Steve? Patterson?"

"We're going to use him as Keith's second. We decided on it yesterday," she adds, as though to emphasize that you'd be up to speed—and might even be involved—if you hadn't blown off the meeting yesterday.

"What's the story? I thought— Well, I got the impression Keith wanted to stick it out as Cindy."

"Gordon needs close observation. The new Gordon, I mean. He's not talking to the girls in his life, not even to Chelsea. Steve is his best friend, so Keith is going to do the job." She pauses. "You'd better go."

So you gather yourself up, though your mind is in a whirl. It's not until you're back in your car that you put the three pieces together—Maria, Cindy, and Steve—and see in a glance exactly how Fairfax and Tilley are planning to catch and replace Patterson. It gives you a shiver.

* * * * *

So you've now got the rest of the day free—the last day of the weekend—and you text Jack to see about getting together. Maybe he feels like he's seen enough of you the past few days, because he puts you off with the excuse that he'll get back to you after he's made plans. You're tempted to call an emergency meeting of all your girlfriends so you can tell them about Jack and his plan to turn himself straight, but both Leah's instincts and your own sense that that would be a bad idea. So you're stuck scrolling through your contact list for someone to hang out with.

It's not until you've run a couple of times past Parker's name that you remember your determination to talk privately with him about Jack.

* * * * *

"T'sup?" Parker calls as he comes sauntering out to the curb to meet you. He was out on his porch, waiting for you when you pulled up, already dressed out in shorts and knee pads, but his roller blades and helmet are still in his hands.

You've got your own with you, of course. Roller blading through his neighborhood was the idea you came up with when you talked to him earlier. It sounds casual and fun, and you figured it was a good way of getting him off alone someplace for the talk you want to have without it seeming like "a talk" was the whole point of meeting up with him.

"Just killing time until, you know, something else is going to happen." You lean against the car to pull your own blades on, and he settles in next to you. "You heard from anyone else?"

"Just a couple of people," he grunts. "Kristina's doing something with Wendy."

"You heard from Jack?"

"I texted him. He said he'd get back to me."

You give Parker a sidelong look as you pull your blades on. He reminds you of your archenemy, Geoff Mansfield. (Not that you've thought much about Mansfield these past few weeks, it seems like. But after the shenanigans he pulled with Lisa, getting her away from you, you still can't help thinking of the smug bastard as your "archenemy.") Like Mansfield, Parker Stott is tall and dark-haired and handsome in a preppy kind of way, and always neatly groomed and well-spoken. He takes AP classes. But he's not a snotty son of a bitch, even if he is kind of reserved.

Briefly flashes the thought Maybe I should switch with him to get close to Jack, the way Keith is switching with Patterson to get close to Gordon. But you push it away, like you pushed away the thought of switching with Olivia, as a complication too far. But you don't discard it, exactly.

"Ready?" Parker says after you and he have got your blades and helmets on. You nod, and the two of glide out slowly into the street. He's very confident, but he waits up for you, for you're a lot more wobbly.

Parker lives in the same subdivision as Jack—one reason they've been close friends for, like, ten years now—close to the country club, so the streets are wide and empty, the houses big, and the yards lush. It's a slow, lazy afternoon, but the weather, now that you're out in it, is all wrong for roller blading. All last week was rainy, which finally seems to have broken summer's hold and let autumn in, for the temperature is only in the mid-fifties, and broken clouds hide the sun. But you're dressed in a track suit—long pants and long sleeves—so at least you're warm enough.

You let Parker take the lead, but he seems to have no plan, and silently, side by side, you glide up one street and down another, passing the neighborhood tennis courts—empty as usual—a couple of times from all different directions.

It's the fourth time you're passing them that you tell Parker you want to stop to catch your breath. He smoothly turns and slides up to the tall chain-link fence that surrounds the court, and you follow. He stays on his feet, holding the fence for support, while you drop onto your butt.

"Oh," you sigh as you gulp in a couple of deep breaths. "It's been too long since I've done this."

"Been a long time for me too."

"But you're in shape for it. All those gym classes." He only smiles. "Do you guys still go out to the gym on weekends?"

"Never miss it. You thinking of joining us?"

You shake your head. "Don't think I could." You bite and hold your tongue for a moment before plunging into what you really want to talk about. "How's Jack doing?"

Parker blinks. "Fine, I guess."

"He doesn't seem like he's been in a mood?"

"No."

"Huh." You glance around, wishing you'd brought a water bottle with you.

"Does it seem like to you that he's been in a mood?"

"Kind of." You wince inwardly. You don't want to talk about Jack, you want Parker to talk about Jack.

"Like how?"

"Oh, just little vibes I get off him. Like he's got something on his mind. You getting any vibes off him? Anything a little ... off?"

"No."

"Well, maybe it's just me." You feel yourself starting to vibrate all over. "He seems kind of quiet, you know? Preoccupied." You squint up at Parker. "Does he seem that way to you?"

Parker only shrugs. "I don't know. Hadn't really noticed."

"Like on Friday night, at Legends? I mean, he danced and all. But he seemed kind of moody, didn't you think?"

Parker shrugs again. "Not that I really noticed." But he's starting to look a little anxious.

Now you feel like you're out on a ledge, and maybe over the lip of it, hanging in mid air. Parker's going to wonder why you're pushing him this way. "Did he tell you what he did that night?"

"What he did?" Parker now at last gives you a direct look.

"He asked his secret crush to meet him out there."

Parker says nothing, but only stares. After a moment, his eyebrows go up. "Jack has a secret crush?"

"Oh sure. Everyone does. And he—"

"Who's your secret crush?"

"We're not talking about me. Anyway, Jack asked his secret crush out to Legends Friday night. I think that's how come he was in a mood, because the guy didn't show up."

"Well, I don't know anything about that."

"Doesn't he talk to you about this stuff?"

"We just talk about guy stuff."

"I thought guys were always talking sex."

Now he squirms, visibly, and stammers. "Well, he and I don't, uh—"

"Well, I guess I'm just worried about him, is all. Like, he took a really big step the other night, and it didn't work out, so he might be, um, you know." You shrug. "In a mood about it."

"Like I say, I hadn't noticed." Parker licks his lips. "He seemed fine yesterday when we played tennis."

"Did he talk to you about Olivia?"

Now he's looking harassed. "No. What about Olivia?"

"He followed her out to her car to talk. And then he went out and ate supper with her at Panera."

"So?"

"Well, I guess if you don't know nothing—"

"I don't get any of this stuff you're talking about, Leah. Me and Jack are friends, but I'm not, like, constantly taking his temperature or anything."

"Well, then you'd know, wouldn't you?" You smile up brightly at him. "I mean, with you and him being friends. If there was anything, you know, moody about him, or if he seemed like he was acting weird, you'd notice. Right?"

"I ... guess?"

"Okay. Well, come on." You grab the fence and hoist yourself to your feet. "I got my breath back."

But now it's Parker who looks exhausted and gray in the face.

* * * * *

No plans develop that evening, or if they do, they develop without you, and you wind up calling up a few girlfriends and arrange to hang out at a coffeeshop for a spell, so you can all (supposedly) finish your weekend homework. The group includes Brianna Kirschke and Genesis Lee and Hermione Gilbert. But you also make a point of badgering Wendy Terrill until she also joins you, late. That's all so you can get her alone, in the restroom, to oh-so-casually put to her the same questions you put to Parker: Has Jack seemed a little moody lately?

No, she tells you.

So it looks like Gordon has everyone fooled. But how long will that last after he tries to make Jack Li straight?

Next: "The Tracker, Trapped" 

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 4)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)"