The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

Safety Last

Previously: "The Warlock and the Maiden" 

It's a dicey situation, but you hold off Gillian as best you can. Which is hard, because she keeps trying to touch and tickle you.

* * * * *

Natalie texted you again at the beginning of last period, and she texted again when classes got out, each time sounding more desperate. You ignored her because you weren't quite sure what you were going to do, but now, on your way out to the parking lot, you pull out your phone: On way get u now. Then you add, Want me bring gilly all of us can hang out.

Natalie calls you back direct. "Are you with Gillian now?" she asks in a guarded tone.

"No, I'm on my way to my truck. But I can go look for her—"

"Yes, do that! Text her right now, she sometimes gets a ride with Braydon, but you can give her a ride instead."

"Okay. Then—"

"Hurry! Then call me back soon as you can!" The line goes dead.

Jeez, you think. Someone's got ants in her panties.

So you text Gillian, then call Natalie back. "Okay, it's not set up yet," you tell her, "but I did text her, asked if she wanted to come with me to pick you up, and then we could all three hang out."

"Awesome! Except— Give me twenty minutes before you get here, then I'll text you saying I got a ride from someone else and can't hang out."

"The fuck?"

"And then you and Gillian go hang out together. Like, all night if you can swing it. Just don't let her bring Braydon along!"

"What? Why do want me to—? Oh!"

"Yeah, Will, this is perfect! She must'a had a fight with him or something, and she's doing her flirty, 'I'm gonna go off with someone else' thing. And she picked you again! So take advantage of it. Please?"

"Yeah, alright. Um—"

"Yes?"

"Nothing." You were going to ask to make sure if that wouldn't make her jealous, but change your mind at the last minute. And besides, your phone's chiming. "Gotta go, I think that's Gillian."

"Good luck!" she cries, and hangs up.

* * * * *

It is Gillian texting, and she is glad to go off with you. But once you're in your truck, she starts wheedling. "Do you have to go pick up Natalie?" she asks.

"Well, I said I would."

"But can't you text her, tell her something came up and she'll have to find someone else?"

"But I told her—"

"Yeah, but I couldn't do this"—she walks her fingers up your thigh, and you spasm with glee—"if she's along."

"Well," you croak in a voice about an octave higher than usual, "maybe that's a good reason to have her along."

"Are you two serious?" she asks. "I hear you're serious."

"Well, I— I— Uh—"

She giggles. "You're stammering. That means you are!"

"We— We haven't ... talked about it!"

"You don't have to talk about it, not something like that. How do you feel about Natalie, Will?"

You're glad that you're just reaching your truck and haven't started it and driven off in it, because with the sudden wave of dizziness that hits you, you'd probably steer into oncoming traffic.

Fortunately, you're saved by the realization that you don't have to be truthful with Gillian, or even with yourself. Natalie wants you to flirt with Gillian, to wedge yourself just a little bit into the crack that's still open between her and Braydon. And telling her (as you suspect you would if you were honest) that you are starting to have feelings for Natalie wouldn't work.

"Well, we've been hanging out, and I do like her," you reply.

"But do you like her?"

You've just reached your truck, and you wait until you're both inside before saying, "I like her, but I don't think I like her that way. Or, if I do," you think with what seems to you a bold stroke of genius, "it's because she reminds me of someone else." You turn toward her with what you hope and intend is a smoldering stare.

Gillian stares back, open-mouthed.

Then she bursts out laughing.

* * * * *

You insist on driving out to Eastman, despite Gillian's shriller and shriller pleas, and you're almost there before you get the text you were expecting, cancelling the pick up. Gillian busts out a sigh of relief, and instantly suggests that, as you're about to drive past it anyway, you stop at King Kong Komics to hang out with Christian and his friends.

They're not there, though, and when after thirty minutes they still haven't shown up, Gillian prods you into texting Christian to find out when they're going to show. The answer: They're not. Howie Baylor has a dental appointment, so Christian and the guys are meeting someplace closer to where they all live. And where's that? The answer gives you a jolt: The Acheson Community Center.

Gillian squeals when you tell her, and grabs your hand. "Come on!" she says. "Natalie told me that's where you and her like to hang out! I wanna see it!" You're feeling a little whey-faced on the drive out, but she won't accept your half-hearted excuses for why you should go elsewhere.

Even worse awaits you at the Center, for she insists on walking around the grounds before going in to find Christian and them, and when you round the corner leading to the basement, she drops a bombshell: "Natalie tells me you two have a secret hangout here." She nibbles on her thumbnail and grins at you. "Show it to me?"

You demur, but she pinches and pokes at you until she herself confesses that Natalie already told her that it's "in the basement." "In there?" she asks, pointing to one of the windows that peeps through the long grass, just above the ground.

Jesus, Natalie, you think as Gillian drops to her stomach to peer in through the glass. Did you tell her all our secrets? You pray that your stuff—particularly the book—are out of sight.

And maybe they are out in the open. For with a gasp, Gillian jumps up and runs down the steps to the door. "The key, Will!" she shouts as she pulls at the knob. "Get this thing unlocked!"

"Gillian, I don't think we should—"

"The key, dammit!"

She runs up and grabs at your shorts. You jerk hard, then freeze as she yanks your key chain from your pocket. She runs back to the basement and lets herself in. You follow, stiff with dread.

She's rummaging around your work area when you catch up. "Wh-what are you looking for, Gillian?" you stammer.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Will!" she answers in a haggard voice. "Wake up and smell the coffee! It's me! Natalie!"

* * * * *

The world reels, and you put out a hand to catch yourself. "Hold on. Gil—? Na—? Who am I talking to?"

"You're talking to me! Natalie Dawkins! I brought Gillian out here last night and I hit her with a new mask I made. Then I pretended we got body-swapped—"

"You told Gillian about our stuff?"

"I didn't tell her anything! I pretended like I was all confused too! Which I was, because I didn't have any of her memories when I woke up, and she didn't have any of— Oh!" Her eyes go wide with horror.

"What?"

"Shit! I didn't think about that! Or I didn't think—!"

"Gill—! Natalie! What?"

She grabs her head between both hands, and moans.

"I told her I didn't know what happened!" she says. "But I woke up this morning, and I had her memories! So when she woke up, she must've had ... mine!"

Well, dur! you think.

"Except," she continues, "when I texted her this morning she was acting like she didn't. I asked her if she could 'do me' at school, and she said she thought so but she wasn't sure. But she must've remembered— And she remembered this place because her and me were out here— And she must'a come back here after school let out—"

Horror ripples down your back. You look around, and only now notice that all your stuff—masks, book, and everything—is gone.

"She told me to keep you busy," you tell her in a hoarse whisper. "When she texted me—"

"She texted you?"

"Yes! In the library! When we were— She wanted me to pick her up, but then she told me to take you off someplace, to keep you busy, so that—" You gulp. "She wanted me to start working on making Braydon jealous!"

"Oh God!" She claps her hands to her cheeks. "She knows what I'm up to!"

"Well, fucking-A! Of course she knows what you're up to! She's got your brain, she knows what you want to do to her and Braydon—!"

"But I figured she'd understand!"

"Of course she understands! She knows you're trying to use black magic to break her and her boyfriend up!"

"I thought she'd understand!" Gillian wails. "She'd know it from my point of view!"

"Well, she does now! Do you understand it from hers?"

Gillian's face goes green. "I think so," she says. "I really don't think she'll be mad!"

You fall onto a table. "Well, she took our shit. It doesn't really matter if she's mad or not."

"We have to talk to her!" Gillian gasps. "Before she tells Braydon about it!"

"Oh, you think she hasn't already?"

"Maybe."

"Fuck us, Natalie! She knows what we did to Braydon! Making that mask of him! And how we were gonna use it!"

"So text her!" Gillian shrieks. "Before she tells him!"

* * * * *

It's like grim death, but you tap in a message to Natalie's phone: Hey I think we shld meet.

It's ten minutes before she replies. Who meet?

U n me n— You have to grit your teeth before adding, n Natalie.

Another minute's wait before she replies, Lol r u at basmnt?

Yes.

Roflmao. Ok but my hubby comes too.

You look up at Natalie. "Braydon knows."

Next: "A Face Off with Faces Off" 

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