The Book of Masks (Vol. 1)

Imposters at the Improv

Previously: "Girls Gone Weird" 

"Wait," you pant, and pluck at Jessica's elbow. "As long as they're here, why do we have to get rid of them?"

"The fuck?" Jessica gives you a look. "We can't have her boyfriend here while we're—"

"But maybe we could get rid of him later? All I'm saying is," you plead, "get 'em both in here, then maybe one of you, um, could distract him while me and the other deal with Cindy? In another room?"

She gapes at you. "That'll never work! I mean, for a start, me and Mike don't know anything about how to act like these girls! Like, we don't got their memories or—"

Her face curdles into a deep frown, but her gaze goes distant. You hold your breath.

"Oh, fuck me, a bad idea," she mutters, "but maybe we could swing it." She grabs the seat of her jeans and tugs it down. "It could be fun to try." She gives you a hard look. "I do look just like her, right? Jessica?"

You swallow. "Yeah!"

She nods. "Okay, go back and tell Mikey I'm bringing Cindy and— Shit, what's her boyfriend's name?"

"Seth. Javits."

"Tell Mikey I'm bringing Cindy and Seth back, and that we're gonna try getting rid of him while keeping her around."

You sprint back to the studio. Eva Garner is studying her phone with a puzzled expression while two guys who look like Mike and Carlos stand watchfully nearby. Eva looks up as you come in.

"The fuck is going on out there?" she demands. "Cindy just texted, wants to know if someone is going to let her in or not."

"We're letting them in." Your breath is coming in quick heaves, and you feel like you might faint. "Carlos is letting them in"—out of the corner of your eye you see beta-Carlos straighten up alertly—"and then we have to try getting rid of Seth so—"

"I thought we were getting rid of both of them!"

"Change of plan, we want to keep Cindy around as long as she's here, and just get rid of Seth."

"Seth? Is that her boyfriend?"

"Jesus, don't you and Carlos pay attention?"

"We pay attention to the girls, dickface, not the guys they're sucking off!"

"Well, his name is Seth Javits and he's on the basketball squad, and he's Cindy's boyfriend!"

She rolls her eyes. "The fuck I gotta know this for, Will? I shouldn't, not till I get it—" She punches herself in the temple with the heel of her hand. "From the mask. Fuck! What is Carlos—?"

"Shh!" You wave her silent, for you hear voices approaching. "You just have to act like Eva, and figure out an excuse to send Seth away!"

She mouths a curse at you, and there's a hot gleam in her eye as those echoing voices resolve themselves into words. You give Eva a quick glance up-and-down, wondering if this is possibly going to work. There is nothing ladylike about the way she's slouching on the desk with her legs spread wide.

Then the voices come around the corner and into the studio. "—seemed like a good idea just to try something out. You know?"

It's Jessica talking, and there's a strongly defensive note in her tone; her expression is taut, and she glares quick daggers between you and Eva. But your gaze quickly shifts to the people with her.

Cindy Vredenburg is looking even more willowy and beautiful than ever, maybe because she's here, glancing directly at you, in an almost empty room, instead of pushing obliviously past you in a crowded hallway. It makes her much more present, so that her beauty has a chance to unfold fully and envelop you.

She is slim and tall—almost as tall as you?—with her face floating above a gazelle-like neck and her platinum-white hair falling in neatly combed sheets past her shoulders. Her big green eyes are solemn, and her pink-frosted lips set in just the trace of a frown. She's dressed down for the afternoon, in a plain white t-shirt and blue sweatpants.

You can hardly tear your eyes off her, but you do know what's good for you, and you twist almost sideways and hop back into a corner, while trying to hide from Seth the hard boner his girlfriend is giving you.

Seth isn't a very handsome guy—his long face and nose, and slightly popped-out eyes, give him a horsey look—but he's got presence to spare. He's at least half a head taller than you, and though he isn't bulging with muscle, he carries himself like an alpha, putting himself wherever he wants and sending guys like you scurrying out of his way. Right now, for instance, you have to fight the urge to cower under the skeptical scowl he's making as he rakes a hard glance over the studio and its contents. A determined red flush is settled over his bold nose and cheeks, and his jaw is set. The best you can say is that there is no obvious, special malice in his glance toward you. You're just another piece of shit in what he has obviously judged to be itself a shit-show and a distraction.

"Uh, this is Mike and Carlos," Jessica says after an awkward silence, and she indicates the two betas, who nod in acknowledgement and exchange surreptitious nudges. "And, uh, you know Eva," she adds. Inwardly, you quail.

"So you make videos in here?" Seth says to the betas in evident disbelief. "For YouTube?"

"Movie reviews and discussions," Jessica says. "Not just current movies but— Uh—" She catches herself. "You can tell them about it, guys," she says to the betas. "Like you told me and, uh— Eva." She reddens.

"Yeah!" beta-Carlos says after a fractional hesitation. "We watch new movies every week. Not just the blockbusters, but also the independent scene, and we do retrospectives of—" He turns to beta-Mike. "Like, just a week or so back we did that retrospective on body-swap movies? The Freaky Friday movies, Like Father Like Son and—" He suppresses a grin.

"Yeah, but—" Jessica interrupts as a pained expression settles on Cindy's face. "What we wanted to talk about— What you guys wanted to talk about with us," she corrects herself, "was making a promotional video for the cheerleading squad. Or setting up to do individual videos for each of us, upload them to TikTok or Instagram or—"

"I can do that myself," Cindy says. "I mean, I've done it—"

"But with professional editing and shit like that," Eva jumps in. "These guys are pros—" She indicates the betas. "I mean, not pro pros, but they can set it up so it doesn't look like you're taking an amateur selfie of yourself. Or—" Now she reddens like Jessica. "An amateur selfie of me."

Cindy gives her a reproachful look. Seth, who is standing behind her, cups her shoulders in his hands and leans in to murmur in her ear. Whatever he says, she sighs at it.

"I just don't see why," she whines. "I mean, why we'd have to come out here? Would we have to do it in here?" She indicates the studio with a look of distaste.

"No, we'd do it outside," Jessica says. "In a nice setting, someplace that photographs well, like up in the Wilderness or by the river— I mean," she stammers at the betas, "that's what you guys were talking about, right? When, um, Eva and me were asking?"

"That's right, boss," beta-Carlos says. Still he fights down a grin.

An awkward pause. "Where were some of the locations you were suggesting?" Jessica asks through gritted teeth.

"Suffolk Wilderness," beta-Carlos replies in a very agreeable tone. "A field up there. Or by the river. Potsdam Park?" he asks beta-Mike. "The gazebo there—"

"So we're supposed to get the whole squad out by the river?" Cindy's unhappiness seems to be deepening into pain. "That'd be a nightmare, guys!"

"Well," Eva quickly interrupts, "we were going to pitch the idea to Chelsea, of course. You know, her being squad captain and all, so she'd be the—"

"I thought you said you didn't want Chelsea involved," someone says, and it's only when all eyes—including Cindy's and Seth's—swing toward you that you realize it was you who said it. "I mean, I thought that was what you told, uh, Mike and Carlos." You point at the betas. "Didn't you say," you ask Jessica, "that Chelsea could go fuck herself? That you didn't even want to tell her about it?"

It must be that some part of your brain is thinking faster than you are, and it dove in to try to save Mike from the blunder he just made. You're not that plugged in to the cheerleader drama, but from your time with Lisa and her friends over the summer, you know that Cindy hates Chelsea, and that Eva and Jessica don't like her either. So as soon as Mike said Chelsea's name, you saw the thundercloud beginning to form over Cindy's brow.

"That's how come you were talking about doing individual videos for individual girls," you continue, now that you've caught up to your own instincts. "To put you guys out front." You point to Cindy and the other girls. "And Yumi and Lin and— Not Chelsea and her friends."

It relieves you to see Cindy's expression turn more thoughtful. "Well," she says, "I guess it's something to think about."

"Later," Seth mutters at her. She glances back over her shoulder at him and says, "Ask Darren if he minds Eva and Jessica coming along?"

"But it's—" Seth freezes, then shrinks. "I'll talk to him," he mumbles, and stalks from the studio. "We were going to meet up with Darren Green and some girl from school," Cindy tells Jessica.

It has taken you a moment to realize the chance you now have, and you dance out into the corridor, gesturing Jessica to follow you. "We can get her now," you mutter while watching Seth's retreating back.

Jessica shakes her head. "He'll be right back. We'd need at least twenty minutes."

Maybe we should use the mask on Seth instead, you find yourself thinking. It's not Keith's and mine's plan, but it might be the only way we get out of this.

Next: "Pretender to the Phone" 

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 1)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 1)"