The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)

The Advisor

Previously: "The Assistant" 

(text by rugal)

Having Deanna's mind would be great and all—it's why you picked her after all—but you're unsure of your ability to actually sift through everything to find out who best to set yourself up as. Deanna also has use beyond simply being someone there for you to choose a hiding spot and besides, when you're in that hiding spot you don't know if you'd even have access to it. That is to say, to impersonate someone you'd need their brain as well as their body but would you be able to wear another mind band while wearing Deanna's? Maybe it's something you should experiment with but you're unsure about that. What if trying to wear two brain bands fries your brain or makes you go insane?

It's not really worth the risk so yeah, you'll need to get a mask of her as well. But you're startled when the bell rings once again and you turn to the door. It doesn't look like anyone you recognize from school walking in and in fact, it looks someone college age or a little older. Considering all you have to do, trying to finish it here may not be the best idea. Especially as Deanna starts to stir. You shove the band into your pocket and take your seat before she's fully come to.

"Hey, you okay?" you ask with concern.

"Am I—" she pauses and looks at you with heavy, groggy eyes. "Wha' happened?"

"I went to try and feel your forehead because I thought you looked kinda sick," you explain, "but, uh, right before I did you kinda passed out on me."

"I... huh?" she grumbles.

"Yeah," you nod. "It was pretty scary. I didn't really know what to do and I didn't know if I should have called an ambulance or something."

"No... no," Deanna yawns, "I'm just kinda tired. I didn't really sleep well on account of... well, it's none of your business."

You think you know what she's talking about, a meeting with Chelsea is just too exciting for someone like her you'd bet, and so you decide to needle her. Though not in an obvious way. "Oh, right, uh Chelsea showed up while you were out." You watch Deanna's eyes bug out as that perks her up more than any coffee. "I guess you were supposed to meet her or something? I told her what happened and she just kind of snorted and said to tell you she'd meet up with you later. She made some pissy remark about having to reschedule."

"Oh jeez!" she cries as she pushes herself up. "This? It never happened, got it? Don't tell anyone about... about..."

"My lips are sealed," you tell her, "but you're still going to school? Even after..."

Deanna glares at you hard and then walks off. You give it a few minutes and then leave yourself. You can't help but feel good as you walk to your truck and you're pretty sure you feel yourself smirk. It's too bad you couldn't get Deanna then and there but you feel like you've managed to salvage it all the same. All you need to do is get in touch with Chelsea.

* * * * *

I need u to set up w/ deanna again, you text to Chelsea as you sit in Walberg's class waiting for the bell to ring and class to start.

Her reply is quick in coming. y? i thought u got it? As succinctly as you can you explain what happened and why you had to pull back on completing things. I told her u said somthin bout rescehdule you send. when would be a good time to do it?

iirc deannas got stdy hall 5th. that could be good

Can u skip 5th?

ya! its a total bs class!

Can u reserve the loft? We can do it in there.

np, comes the quick reply. btw gordon is bein a butt. can u fix him?

You ask what she means by that but the bell rings and you tell her that you'll worry about it later. You send another text telling her to message you when everything's set for fifth... just in time for Walberg to say that class has started so phones are to be put away. Though he's addressing the class, he's looking squarely at you as he says it and all you can think is that soon enough, you won't be dealing with his shit anymore.

You spend most of the rest of the day antsy and anxious. It's about a quarter of the way through lunch when you get a message from Chelsea telling you that everything's ready to go. You message her back to tell her that you'll be right over and to wait for you outside the loft. After all (though you leave this part out) you'd probably be killed if someone saw you sneaking up there on your own and it got back to Patterson or any of them.

Making up an excuse about someone contacting you to meet them in the library (and being evasive on who it is), you say your goodbyes and head over to the gym. Inside, you find Chelsea waiting at the bottom of the stairs. You double check to make sure you've got everything you need in your backpack and after pulling out the mask, Chelsea hustles you upstairs. Deanna doesn't have time to do much more than let out a yelp of surprise before you've jammed the mask onto her face.

* * * * *

"That was a risky thing you tried pulling with me this morning," Deanna says as you sit with her in the library. "That place is way more trafficked than you think."

Once the deed was done and Deanna was now under your control, you told Chelsea that you needed to talk to her in private. But without Chelsea around you weren't going to be able to stay up in the loft so you've made your way over to a back corner of the library—where Deanna usually is since this is her study hall—to spend the rest of the period. You've already caught her up on what's happened so now it's just a matter of getting her settled into her role and getting her help in picking out your hiding spot.

"That's true but I really needed you. I guess I just got a little ahead of myself."

"Obviously," she replies nonchalantly. "But why me? You could've told Chelsea to get you Charles."

She's referring, of course, to Charles Hartlein; another gossip and the most flagrantly homosexual student at Westside. In addition he's known to be very self-assured in a pushy, prima donnaish way. It's that last quality that causes your face to scrunch up. "I don't think Chelsea would ever be in contact with him," you say. "Besides, I'd rather have you at my side than him."

"Is that so?" says Deanna coyly.

"Sure, you're much better looking," you muse. "You're going to be my advisor, my right hand, after all."

"That's putting a lot of trust in me," she says with some surprise. "Chelsea's the queen bee after all, not me. Hell, I'm half-on the outs with Kelsey and her gang right now."

Is that so? You certainly didn't know that but it's not really of any concern right now. What is, is getting her into the right mindset, just like with Chelsea. "Well, I don't really know anyone who knows the school better than you do," you tell her as you take her hand. "You want to help me, and I want you to help me, right?"

A look of realization hits her and she nods. "Yeah, okay. I'm fine with that," she smiles and then titters. "You've got a real way with words, you know that, Will? I never would have expected it but then again, I guess I never really had much of an opinion on you before."

That's unsurprising but still a second blow to your ego in as many minutes. The first coming when Deanna had to stop by where her friends were sitting to say she needed to spend some time with you since you needed her help specifically on "personal stuff." You could tell they were sizing you up and you know that they were probably being fairly disapproving or dismissive. That really just hardened your resolve about what you were doing, though. You may be a nobody now but hopefully soon enough you'll be a nobody with the school under his thumb.

Which leads you back to the first reason you've grabbed Deanna. "Speaking of people you have opinions on," you start, "I need your help in finding me a good identity."

"You're not staying as yourself?"

"Hell no!" you declare. "What's the fun in running things if I'm still going to be dealing with assholes like Wahlberg or Kirkham? And if I suddenly become popular or get in good with people like Chelsea, then I figure that'll be weird and paint a target on my back. I want an identity that's good but might be easy to overlook as the person truly running Westside. So what do you think?"

"What do I think, huh?" Deanna says with a thoughtful expression. "Well, first thing's first... what do you want to be?"

"What do I want to be?" you reiterate.

"Right," she replies, "like are you going to be a guy or a girl? And is this just going to be for the rest of the year or more long term? Because if it's the latter, then maybe you'd want to set yourself up as an underclassman. I mean nobody would really suspect a junior or sophomore of pulling Chelsea's strings, right?"

She's... completely right, you realize. You hadn't really given it much thought at all and when put like that, it's mostly been an idea you've been playing by ear since yesterday.

"There's also the opposite route," she continues. "You know, take over a teacher? That'd start you off in a position of authority. I think..." She pauses and you see her working things over in her head. "I think if you became a teacher, then Ms. Simeon would probably be your best bet."

"Why her?"

"She runs one of the clubs, the Mentors' Club actually," she explains. "It's got a good mix of people. Some underclassmen, some jocks like Marc Garner, Kim Walsh..."

You almost want to hoot. Deanna's already paying dividends for you and helping you focus things on what you want to do and who you should be. The thing is, you still need to actually decide whose identity you should take for your own.

Next: "Choosing Cinderella" 

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