The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)

Saturday Night Orders

Previously: "Of Fakes and Feelings" 

"We've already helped out your girlfriends," you tell Michelle after she has described the people she wants to duplicate and replace, and her reasons for picking them. "You should use at least one of your picks to help your boyfriends."

"Why do I only get to pick six?" Michelle asks.

After all the dramatics she showed earlier—making herself ill as she used the masks on Christine and Kendra—her question impresses you. Oh, really? you want to say. Gotten over our moral qualms, have we?

Aloud, you just say, "I suppose you could have more. But six is more than enough to try to manage, don't you think? I do."

"Is that how many you've got?"

"Never mind how many I've got. But yes. Now then, your friends Roman and Justin and ... ?"

"Scott," she says. "And Glenn."

"Right, they're on the JV basketball squad? Well, I don't think you need to worry about them. Number Three can get Diego to lay off them." You look at her sidelong. "Do you want to get Diego out of the way completely?"

She pales. "Like how?"

You pinch her. "Not like that! I only mean, like, get him off the JV squad. I know Gordon and Steve are always talking him up with Coach Brooks, but honestly? That's only because they don't like Roman and his friends."

Michelle mutters something under her breath.

"But they could always go to the coach and tell him they've changed their minds," you continue. "Tell him that Diego's an incompetent asshole who's ripping the JV squad apart, and that Coach needs to put Roman in as JV squad captain instead."

"You could get them to do that?"

"Steve is gone, Michelle. Remember? Number Three took his place."

"And Gordon?" She blanches a little.

The Him too stick a little in your throat. You cover it by fluffing out your hair and smiling, and saying, "I told you I'm not really Chelsea. And believe me, I didn't turn myself into her so I could have that lummox breathing all over me. So don't worry about Steve and Gordon, and don't worry about Diego." You slip your arm inside hers and pull her close. "Tell me about Ryder Hillberger."

* * * * *

Of course, you have other things to do on a Saturday—your mom takes you for a pedicure and lunch, and then takes you window-shopping, which is about the only way that Chelsea could relate to her; it's the only subject that doesn't naturally and inevitably return to the business of the cheerleading squad—but you're done with all that and with supper by seven-thirty. Still, it does leave you a little late for the "staff meeting" that you ordered everyone to show up for at the gym.

It's been a week since the last such meeting, and as with that one the gym is plunged in darkness when you enter. The duplicates, again, are standing in a circle: things with the faces and forms of Steve Patterson, Kim Walsh, Will Prescott, David Kirkham, Kelsey Blankenship, and Jack Li.

"Number Three," you crisply order after taking your place in the circle. "Report."

He hands you his cell phone, on which a video is cued up. You play it as he talks.

"A-Three and I checked into the Donna at a little after one. We took Room Nine, which gave us a perfect view of Room Eight. Well, not the door," he admits, "but you can see everyone who goes in and out."

Indeed you can. Kelsey's BMW is parked only a dozen yards from the camera; the top is down and the girl is clearly visible behind the steering wheel, touching up her face with one hand while holding up her phone with the other. She does a little double take as Justin Roth, dressed in blue jeans and a billowing linen shirt open down to his navel, comes trudging up from the direction of the office. They exchange a few words, and Justin is about to put the key card into the lock of Room Eight when Kelsey calls him, and he comes over to lean against the car. He grins at her as she smiles and chatters at him. At one point, she puts her hand inside his shirt, and tickles him.

"It was Number Four who recommended Room Nine," the Patterson doppelganger continues, "when we texted beforehand. She'd— Kelsey," he corrects himself, "had noticed some people in there one time, it made her nervous about being seen. So Number Four thought it would be the perfect vantage point. Also," he adds, "it's next to the Coke machine. You'll notice that at one point Roth comes out to get a bucket of ice. He's not wearing a shirt."

"I told him not to put one on," Number Four puts in. "I thought it would sell things better."

"Have you seen this?" you ask her.

"Yes, Number Three sent me a copy."

"What do you think?"

"It will definitely cause a scandal."

"Where did you put the phone, that you got all this?" you ask Number Three.

"In the window, between the pane and the curtain. I watched through the spy hole."

Eventually, in the video, Karl pulls up in his late-model VW bus. The three talk for only a few seconds though, before Kelsey gets out of her car and accompanies them to the door. She grabs each of the by the ass just as they are going inside.

"Do we also see them coming out when they're done?"

"Yes. Number Four had her arm around both of them. Like she had to be helped out."

"You told me," Number Four says, "to make it look like they'd fucked me halfway to death."

"And did they?"

"They tried. It took awhile to get them loosened up." In the darkness, it's hard to tell, but there may be just the shadow of a smirk on Number Four's lips.

"I'll watch the rest of it later," you say, and pass the phone to Number Seven, who is standing on your right. "Number Two." Kim Walsh twitches to life. "Anything I need to know about?"

She fills you in with some student council stuff that isn't very interesting. You direct her to have a "serious talk" with Kelly Rinaldi and Anita Nuevo about the Eastman-Westside "banner" incident, making sure to insinuate that she blames them for the fiasco but without actually coming out and accusing them. Deny that you blame them, you tell her, but make sure they understand that you really do. You also ask her about Zion Barber, the junior-class president, and tell her to prepare for you a list of suitable girlfriends for him. When she says that he already has a girlfriend, you tell her that that is going to change.

"Number Five."

Kirkham has nothing new to report, so you give him the video file to handle: He is to show it on his phone to all his friends, telling them that it was emailed to him anonymously, and that he is to do his best to goad Justin into making a permanent play for Kelsey. "He's going to be one of us soon," you explain. "I don't want it to look like a sudden thing when he and Number Four start going out in public. Number Four?" You turn to Kelsey. "You will blame Number Five and Mindy McAdams when the video starts showing up online, and you will goad Anthony, Geoff, Martin, the rest of her country-club boyfriends, into doing something about it. Something confrontational, you tell her. "I want it to turn into a fight." To Number Five, you say, "When they come at you, have fun with them." He nurses his fist and smirks at you.

Number Seven reports that Cindy and Lin haven't spoken to him since his elevation to squad captain, but the Garner sisters have offered their congratulations and suggested that he and they and "a bunch of other people" hang out soon. You second and encourage his plan to draw them into his own social circle, abandoning Lin and Cindy. As for tonight: "A bunch of us are going to Legends. Including Number Six," he adds.

That brings you to the last of the circle: Number Six. He is as impassive as the rest, but there is an awkward hang in his shoulders and hips. Your heart melts to look at him.

But you keep it professional, and listen dispassionately to his report about a study group he attended with Number Seven (and others) on Thursday; the night of trick-or-treating that same group played at on Halloween; and the gossip Laura MacGregor passed along to him. He is very vague about the latter, and you are forced to chide him, ordering him to immediately write it all out and email it to you anytime she has something juicy to share. He is to continue resuming his friendship with her, and with her friends. "Talk him up," you order Number Seven. "Include him in everything you do."

Perhaps Six expected a private conference with you afterward, for he was very slow-footed when he leaves. But it was Number Three you kept behind.

"I have two special jobs for you," you tell him. "First, come up for a reason Coach Brooks should kick Diego Rojas off the JV basketball squad, and why Roman Robey should be made captain."

"Gordon and Steve-o hated Roman," Number Three reminds you.

"I know, but it has to be done."

"Understood. It's going to look weird, though."

"Do your best. Second job, bring Ryder Hillberger up here tomorrow."

"The football player? The JV football player," he corrects himself, for Steve Patterson was nothing if not a snob about the varsity/junior varsity divide.

"Yes. He's the next one we're going to duplicate."

He nods thoughtfully, but says, "If we're trying to get control of the Warehouse, Carstairs would be a better choice."

"And who do you think we're going to use to get to Erik?"

You can't stop the wicked smile from creasing your face. Number Three mirrors it.

That was your real reason for pushing Michelle to pick Ryder Hillberger. The football team runs the Warehouse—that infamous party spot—and Ryder is one of the "junior executives there."

Next: "Girl Bosses" 

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