The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)

Masks Amid Masks

Previously: "A Junior Partner" 

You text Michelle: I can have Kendra ready for you tomorrow nite. Afterward, you wonder why you picked Kendra.

The answer, which occurs to you as you're brushing your teeth, must be that you promised Michelle she could pick three of the six doppelgangers (subject to your veto), and if you let her pick Kendra (who you want to replace anyway) then you can save your own three picks.

Someone is thinking really smart, you tell yourself. I kind of wish I knew for sure it was me.

* * * * *

It's Friday! you exult as you slide out of bed the next morning.

That would hardly be compensation for setting your alarm for the ungodly hour of five o'clock. But it's not just an ordinary Friday. It's Friday, October 31.

Halloween!

You've hardly had any time to think about Halloween, what with everything else going on. Fortunately, Chelsea is a long-range planner when it comes to stuff like Halloween, and she already had a costume chosen and prepped.

It wasn't her first plan, which was to do a repeat/variation on Halloween of last year, when all the cheerleaders dressed up as dragons in honor of the school's mascot. But last year the squad wasn't riven with envy, dissension, and rebellion. So after Cindy and the other girls sulked at Chelsea's suggestion that each girl dress up as a different dragon from a different fantasy book, she gave up and let everyone go to hell their own way.

The hardest part of the costume, you discover as you bobby-pin your hair in place, is getting your glorious blonde hair tucked up and away so you can get into the wig. You grimace and cuss as you pinch your tresses together, and angry spots are flaring in your cheeks long before you are done. Almost you regret your—well, the original Chelsea's—plan to go with a wig, but the alternative would have meant dyeing her hair, and that would have meant either living with a new shade or dyeing it back. So, all in all, it's worth the bother you're going through.

You are so hot and blown (and mad) when you're done pinning your hair that you take a second, shorter shower to cool off, then dress in the specialty costume that Chelsea bought and modified with her mother's help. It's a tight-fitting, short-skirted pink dress with a hem that rides so high it barely covers your hips; long sleeves that stop just short of the wrist; and a tight, wingless collar that buttons at the throat. For footwear you pull on white, go-go style high-heeled boots that rise almost to the knee. Only after you have admired the way the outfit hugs and sets off the curves in your hips, torso, bosoms, and calves, do you pull the black wig onto your scalp and settle it. It is very stiff, but that's okay, because it's shaped just as you want, into long, straight locks that swoop up, Wonder Woman style, to bob over your shoulders.. Atop the wig you affix a little pillbox hat at a jaunty angle, and pull on the dainty white gloves.

Presto! You're now Jackie-O circa 1962! You spend two solid minutes turning around and around and studying yourself in the mirror from every angle, pulling and tucking and straightening everything out.

Then you take the gloves off and return to the bathroom to put on the lipstick, eye shadow, mascara, and face powder. Tiny pearl earrings complete the effect.

Your mom Oohs! and Aahs! when you come downstairs, and you preen under her compliments. Your dad also says that you look very nice, though you can also tell he wishes your skirt were a longer. In fact, it is a little hard to sit in it, for you keep having to pull it down to cover your panties, and crossing your legs only exposes more of the sides of your hips. But it's only for one day, and it will be more than worth it.

You drive yourself to school, for you don't want to risk dirtying yourself in Gordon's Bug, but in obedience to the text you sent him, Gordon is waiting for you outside. He has been very mulish in recent weeks—well, since being turned into a doppelganger, so you're not sure you can blame him—but there is a gleam in his eye as you climb out of the car and show off for him.

But the ultimate compliment comes from those two jerks Carson Ioeger and James Lamont, who are loitering in front of the gym. As you approach, Carson nudges James and murmurs, in a very audible voice, "Lookit that, she came as Dr. Girlfriend!"

You don't quite understand, but {i{Wow! You knew you looked sexy! But also smart and academic? That makes it a two-fer!

* * * * *

It's a light and silly day. Though only a minority of the students come in costume, everyone spends the day scoping them out, and hardly any work gets done. For instance, you don't even bother to drill the girls in first period practice, and give everyone the day off to preen and take selfies of themselves and their friends. As for who came as what:

Cindy comes in a grey-and-green ensemble with vines in her hair as some kind of elf-queen, and she apparently bullied the Garner girls into coming as her shield maidens or something. Lin, with a characteristic lack of imagination, came as Mulan. Gloria—whose family is poor—came in bib overalls and a straw hat, and dotted iridescent freckles on her face. Maria, who is totally spacey, forgot it was Halloween and actually came to class in her cheerleader uniform.

Meanwhile, in your other classes: Cassie Harper dresses up as a demented leprechaun (or maybe she was just supposed to be a leprechaun and the dementia was her own addition) and Leah Simmons came in a silver lame jumpsuit and claimed to be an astronaut who had lost her helmet. Victoria Rodriguez came in a fuzzy sweater with horizontal yellow and black stripes which, when paired with some plastic antennae, let her pretend to be a bee (with a very unflattering body shape); Deanna Showalter came as a cheerleader, but at least had the wit to dress up in Eastman High colors; and Jack Li—good old Number Seven—came as a samurai. Even some of the teachers got into it, so that you spotted Mr. Hagerman (the hunky English teacher) dressed up as a cowboy, while Mrs. Gambetta painted her face green and came as a Martian.

But the only one who came close to matching you, in your opinion, was Kendra, who dressed up in leather and bound her hair up under a silver-white wig to come as Storm from the X-Men movies.

"Oooh, I can't get enough of your outfit!" you squealed at her at the end of first period. You glanced back at Gloria, standing awkwardly some distance off as Maria fumbled with an iPhone to take a picture of you with Kendra. "Some people try to get by on imagination," you sniffed, "and they can't even manage that!" Kendra giggled unfeelingly.

"But meet up here at school around seven," you went on in a very low voice. "I wanna talk to you alone before we go out to Sophie's." That would be Sophie van den Berg, whose family always throws the biggest and most outrageous Halloween party each year.

"What's up?"

"I got something special planned." You pinched her elbow conspiratorially. "Something big." She pressed you but you refused to say more. "Let's just say I've got some extra Halloween masks I've got some ideas for, and I want you to be part of it!" When Kendra mouthed, And Gloria? you snorted and rolled your eyes.

Which tickled Kendra even more.

* * * * *

There are still some kids playing touch football or something out in the athletic fields at 6:45 when you arrive back at the school, still in costume. Michelle's car, you're pleased to see, is there, and so is Number Three's. They are both waiting in the gym, and it looks like they were talking before you came in, for they separate guiltily, and a warm smile drains from Number Three, to be replaced by a blankly expectant look.

"Kendra will be here in fifteen," you tell Michelle. "Here." From your bag you draw out a mask and the folded sheet of paper on which the usual "programming" is written for her to use on the doppelganger.. "Wanna practice your lines?"

"I don't think I need to," she says. "Kendra—"

She doesn't finish the sentence, but she doesn't have to. You see it in her face. Michelle wants to do this to Kendra.

But she's still nervous, and she paces the floor in small circles until the side door opens and Kendra comes in. There's a burst of sunlight behind her.

"Hey," she says on reaching you and the other two. Her eyes flick from you to the others, and disdain and puzzlement show on her face as looks at Michelle. But she must have seen some expression or other on your face, for she quickly shifts to a thin and counterfeit smile. "Hey, Michelle!" she coos. "You going with Chelsea and me to Sophie's? Steve?" she coyly addresses Number Three.

Before Michelle can reply, you say, "Help her out, Number Three," and Steve's doppelganger grabs and pulls Kendra to him. She gasps and struggles in his arms, and her eyes roll about over her frown. "Michelle!" you start to say.

But Michelle is already moving. She shoves the mask onto Kendra's face, and the girl goes limp in Number Three's arms.

Next: "Comes a Storm" 

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