The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)

The Next Phase

Previously: "A Night Like None Before" 

Monday starts as a normal day. Or at least it's normal for Kim Walsh, which means it's a succession of minor crises. Like Molly Shaw needing some advice on how to handle her supervisor at work, and Robert Vargas wanting to know how the fuck come he can't join the Dinner Club, because there's this girl he's totally hot for in there and he wants to do something extracurricular with her.

Something a little harder to manage comes along in second period, when you take a break from your Spanish study hall to use the restroom.

(Not that you needed to use the restroom. But Steve Patterson—or rather, the duplicate of him, who is doing far too good a job sometimes of replicating the original's personality—is being very tiresome. All he wants to practice, in Spanish, is his account of the morning's pre-class basketball practice, and all the ways that the guys have invented to disappoint him. He feels special ire for Jeremy Richards, who shouldn't even be on the squad. Usually you wouldn't mind listening to Patterson bitch about Richards: Jeremy was a friend of yours back in middle school, before he had a growth spurt and decided to become a jock and a jerk, only one metamorphosis being completely successful. But Patterson is so mean about it, to the point of mocking Richards for nearly bursting into tears, that you had to take a break from him.)

After you are locked in a stall and trying to relax your bladder, you hear stifled sniffling and weak cries from a few stalls down. After peeing and washing your hands, you open the door and let it fall back while standing silently in place inside the restroom. Almost immediately after, the other locked stall door opens and Meghan Farris comes out. She jumps when she sees you. Her eyes are red and puffy behind her glasses. You can guess what it's about.

Meghan is a small girl, about Kim's size, with dark hair that falls to the tops of her shoulders. She's a pretty girl, a sweet-tempered girl, a girl who has got friends and is popular with those friends. The trouble is, she wants more. And at Westside, that's like being a mouse that wants to play pro football.

You have no idea what the talent is that Chelsea Cooper, or Kelsey Blankenship, or Cindy Vredenburg, or any of the other "popular" girls, have. Even girls like Eva Garner, who is fairly shy and tends to hide herself, manage to "pop" on the social scene. But Meghan Farris hasn't got it, and the harder she tries to make herself look like an alpha, the smaller and mousier she looks.

Just two weeks ago she tried throwing a huge party, inviting all the popular kids and all the kids who like to hang around the popular kids. It was going to have all kinds of food and music, and it was going to be one of the big events of the year. But only a couple of the big guys she invited showed up (and it was guys who came, apparently because they expected a lot more of the popular girls to be there), and that turned the party into a huge disappointment for all the other people who showed up. It was like being invited to a major Hollywood premiere, and having no celebrities attend.

Well, that was two weeks ago. So why is Meghan quietly weeping in the restroom now? Probably because someone put up a mean post on x2z this morning. It wasn't even about Meghan's party, directly. It was just a reply that someone made to another post about Sophia Van den Berg's big upcoming Halloween party, and whether it was going to be any good. To which some cunt or other said that it'd be fine so long as it was better than the lame party that Meghan had thrown.

Anyway, you and Meghan lock eyes for about five seconds. And then you walk over to put your arms around her and squeeze her close. She bursts again into tears, and puts her face into the crook of your neck.

* * * * *

Monday brings third-period study hall with Victoria Rodriguez again. Just like last Monday, you can tell she is dying to ask you about Kim and Steve, because she's a busybody who can't leave anything alone, but by playing it very straight and cool you again bluff her into keeping her speculations to herself. But it's right before lunch that the big crisis of the day hits.

You're just getting into the cafeteria line when you phone rings. This is pretty rare, so are wary as you take it out, and you're not really relieved when you see that it's Jack calling.

"Hey," he says, "can you get someplace you can talk without anyone overhearing?"

"Sure, I think so. Hang on." You leave the line for a corner on the opposite side of the corridor. "What's up?"

"I wanted to call and talk direct instead of DMing. Faster this way. It's about the squad."

"What about it?" And why aren't you calling Number One? you silently add.

It's like he's read your mind, because he says, "I wanted to let you know before I said anything to Number One, but the other girls on the squad, they're trying to mount a coup against her."

Tell me something I don't already know, you think with some small irritation. Cindy Vredenburg and her friends have been trying to knock Chelsea off her perch since before school started. But— "What's the story?"

"Hang on, I'm getting my math homework out so it'll look like I'm reading the answers to someone. Anyway, Yumi Saito skipped class last period to talk to me. News of my joining the squad has leaked out, and she heard about it. She wants my help if there's a vote to take the captain's title away from Chelsea."

"They'd need seven votes for that."

"They've got them, if I help. Yumi says Kendra is working with them, and that gives them seven if I join. In fact, it was Kendra who told Yumi about how I'd be replacing Michelle on the squad."

Part of you thinks Shit! while another part thinks Interesting! "Who would be the new captain?"

"Kendra. That's the price of getting her support."

"Hmm. I'll have to think about this. Thanks for the heads up."

"Do you want me to tell Number One?"

You hesitate. "I'll tell her. What did you tell Yumi?"

"I told her I'm not on the squad yet, and that I don't like drama. Because I asked myself 'What would Jack Li do?' and that's the answer I got back."

"That's the right thing. Keep me posted on your after-school plans, in case I need to talk to you."

"You're the boss."

You close the line.

* * * * *

You zone out after school while doing work—by now this is so normal that you don't even blink when you resurface at five o'clock to find your Speech and Student Congress work done without any strong memory of doing it. But you've got that also-familiar sense of urgency pricking in the back of your head. You've decided something. Now what is it?

You glance down at a scrap of paper you were making notes on, and see five names: Meghan Farris, Victoria Rodriguez, Yumi Saito, Keith Tilley, Jeremy Richards.

Oh yes! Now you realize what you've decided.

It would be out of character for Kim Walsh to approach any potential partners in your scheme to infiltrate and control the Westside student body with duplicates. Kim is scarcely believable as that kind of puppetmaster: she is simply too generous and kind-hearted. If you approached anyone as Kim, it would have to be by revealing yourself beneath, showing that Kim is a fake. And that feels like a bad idea. It would be much better and safer if you approached potential partners from under the face of one of the duplicates, pretending (at least initially) that you are that person, with an offer of partnership.

You glance over those names again.

Yes, as Chelsea you could surely tempt Meghan and Victoria with prospects of social control and power. Kelsey could tempt them too, and could tempt Yumi as well. As Kirkham you could probably bully Keith into partnering with you; Steve could bully Keith as well, or seduce Jeremy with certain promises.

But are these the only five you could partner with? There have got to be more. And if you've been thinking this through subconsciously, you would only have been using Kim's brain and your own. The others—especially Jack Li, who you purposefully duplicated because of his wide social contacts—could give you other leads, if you got inside their masks and the instinct and memories they contain.

One thought will follow on another, and as you pack up your things, you think of a variation on the last thought. Why not let each of your doppelgangers recruit one partner—a partner for him or her. Tell the recruit that you—in the guise of that doppelganger—are the real deal, and make a one-on-one partnership. Don't tell that partner about the other partners you've recruited. Keep every one of your partners separated and ignorant of the others. That way they don't gang up on you.

Yes, the more you think about it, the more you like that idea. Switch to the face of one of your other duplicates ... think through who you could partner with and manipulate from under that face while pretending to be that person ... recruit one partner ... help them set up a group of six or so duplicates they can control ... then move to another face and recruit another partner ...

Yes, that's what you'll do. At least, for a start.

But which doppelganger mask do you put yourself under first?

Next: "Dropping the Masks" 

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