The Book of Masks (Vol. 5)

The Lunch Bunch

Previously: "Another Fashionable Choice" 

You've got the clothes and the book both with you when you go into class the next morning, and you offload them as quick as you can. Fifteen minutes before class starts you hand the bag to Mr. Walberg, and then go looking for Dean. He has class out in the Ag Annex, but it's in a computer-crowded classroom that you find him.

"Hey, cool," he says when you show him the book. "Thanks." He pats his pockets, pulls out his wallet, and makes a face when he looks inside. "How much did I say? Crap. You know I'm good for it, right?" he anxiously asks you.

"I can hang on to it until you got the money," you tell him.

"Okay, sure—"

"I'm just giving you shit, man," you say. "I know you're good for it." You shove the book at him, and he takes it with a faintly bashful smile.

"Hey Will," someone says behind you, and you turn. It's Paul Davis, who is a friend of Carson Ioeger and James Lamont. He nods at Dean as he sets his pack down next to a computer. "I never see you in here."

"It's the Ag Annex, man, it smells like cows."

Paul smiles tightly, then nods at Dean before turning back to you. "You gonna eat lunch with us out front today?"

"I dunno. Depends on what Caleb and Keith wanna do, I guess."

"What lunch do you have?" Dean asks.

"Fifth."

"Me too. Who do you eat with?" His eyes dart between you and Paul.

"Caleb and my friend Keith. Sometimes with this doofus—" You grin at Paul. "And Carson and James. Ioeger and Lamont, you know."

"Can I come eat with you guys? I don't feel like talking to the other guys today."

"Sure, I guess." You look at Paul, who returns your glance with an open expression. "Quad out front of the library? Just look for Carson and James, and Paul, they always get there before the rest of us."

"Sure thing. And thanks again," he says as he slides the book into his pack. Something about the way he says it, though, sounds like he's thanking you for the invitation to eat with you, not for the book.

* * * * *

Caleb shrugs in first when you tell him that you want to eat with Carson and his friends, and that Dean will be there. "I like Dean," he says. "He's about the only one of them I can stand."

"You don't like them?" you ask. That puzzles you, for he made a point of playing minigolf on Saturday with them. He shrugs again.

"Lorenzo's an ass," he explains. "Patrick's a goofball. The girls—" He makes a face. "Dean's a good guy, though. He should hang out with us instead of them."

"Well, I hung out with them Saturday night," you tell him. "Dude!" But Mr. Walberg brings the class to order before you can tell him any more, so it isn't until lunchtime that you have a chance to share with your friends your experience at Legends.

You have to let Carson have his way with Dean first, though.

"The fuck are you here for, Hudgens?" he brays as Dean drops onto the grass next to you. "I saw Whiting heading for the cafeteria, shouldn't you be in there with your nose between his ass-cheeks?"

Dean gives him a dark, tired look.

"Gimme a break, man," he sighs. "I need one." He digs inside his sack lunch to pull out a sandwich and a couple of baggies.

Carson studies him, then looks at James, who cocks an eyebrow.

"Could there be trouble in Asshole Paradise?" Carson loudly asks. "Could the peasants be revolting? Or have they finally noticed that it's Whiting who's revolting?"

"I didn't come out here to talk about Lorenzo, man," Dean snaps at him. "If you want me to go off someplace else—" he adds as he starts to put his food away.

Before you can say anything, Carson stretches an arm out to restrain him.

"Hey, I'm just givin' you shit, man, you're always welcome here, you know that. Fuck me, I'm always asking how come I don't see you around more. Isn't that right?" he asks James. "Aren't I always asking, Where's Hudgens, I want to see Hudgens, I pine for Hudgens!"

"He's always saying that," James agrees. "Sometimes, when it's late and he's a little cronked, it's your balls he starts pining for."

"Bite me," Dean mutters.

"No, seriously, why the change of scene? You—"

"Will you shut the fuck up, Carson?" snarls Jenny Ashton. She has been occupied with her phone, but now she looks up with a frown. "Dean doesn't have to explain himself to you."

"Will came to see to me before first period," Dean says. "We just got to talking and—" He glances over as Paul shuffles up and falls onto the grass next to James. "Here I am. If that's okay," he adds with a little acid.

Carson reaches over again to pat the grass next to Dean's knee.

"I was just giving you shit," he says in a tone that is much more earnest. "You start eating with us every day and I'll still give you shit, but that's the price you pay for being the kind of guy I like having around." He glances at you. "Notice how polite I always am to Prescott here."

You shoot him a brief glare.

You catch Caleb eyeing you over his sandwich. Maybe because he saw you catching him, he asks, "What were you talking to Dean about before class?"

"Oh, I just had some business with him. We were working on homework last night—"

"Don't let me forget I owe you," Dean says.

"There must be trouble in Asshole Paradise," Caleb says, "if you let Prescott do your homework for you instead of— Ungh!" He grunts as Jenny punches him between the shoulder blades.

"We did stuff this weekend," you explain. "Me and Caleb and Keith ran into him and some other guys up at, um, by the mall. I wound up meeting up with them later, at Legends."

"You went to Legends?" asks Keith, who has been listening silently to all this up until now. "Dude, why didn't you call me?" he wails.

"It just kind of happened."

"Well, next time something just kind of happens—!"

"Why didn't you do something fun?" Carson interrupts. "Legends," he snorts.

"I did do something fun!" you yell. "Oh, God, I have to tell you!"

And now that the chance has finally opened up, you do tell them, you tell them all, about your night at Legends, and the girl you met.

* * * * *

At first, they all listen with what looks like polite skepticism as you tell about being at Legends and meeting the school volleyball team up there. Their looks deepen into a kind of amusement when you tell of the blonde girl that you danced with, and who went off with you instead of a guy in an Eastman letterman jacket. And they start to exchange knowing grins when you tell of how gorgeous she was, and how you sat in the back of your truck with her in the parking lot, talking.

But you don't really get their attention until you tell them that her name was "Sydney."

They all look startled at that, and Jenny actually bolts upright and barks the name.

"Sydney?" she exclaims. "Sydney McGlynn?"

"I don't know her last name," you confess. "She just told me her first name."

"Sydney McGlynn," Jenny repeats, and gives a description that sounds like the girl you met. "Holy smokes," she says to Carson and James.

"You are fucking with us," Carson says to you. "No fucking way you were hanging out with her. You're trying to gaslight us."

"I'm just telling you—!"

"Sydney McGlynn is property of the lacrosse team," James says.

"What?"

"Lift her skirt and you'll find 'Property of WHS LAX' stamped on her ass," he says.

"The fuck're you talking about?" Carson demands of him. "I ain't heard that—"

"She's their kind of meat," James says. "Flank steak for that type."

"Bullshit," Carson snorts. "I heard she's turned down every guy who's asked her out"—he turns back to you—"which is why Prescott's story is smoke-cured bullshit as well."

"Well, I just know the type," James mutters.

"Hey, I didn't say I went out with her!" you exclaim. "I asked her out, and she turned me down! I'm just saying we sat in the back of my truck and talked for a little while!" You don't add what she told you about it being strictly a diversion, as it's humiliating enough what you've confessed.

Carson clambers up onto his knees and clasps his hands together as he addresses the sky above.

"I came to school one day and I saw Sydney McGlynn," he says, "and I said, 'There is a God!'" His beatific smile sours into a glower. "And then I heard that she talked to Will Prescott before she ever spoke a word to me, and I said, 'There's a devil too!'"

"Then you can go to hell and say hi to him for me," you retort.

You glance over at Dean after you say it. You expect to see the same skeptical look on his face. Instead, he looks surprised. Impressed, even.

* * * * *

Later that evening, as you're doing homework, you get a text from him.

Hey I'm looking through that book you sold me, he says. Bring you that money tomorrow. But there's something weird with it. Want to get together and talk about it after school?

You didn't sell it to him so you could keep it in your life. Besides, Keith was talking to you after school about a video project he's doing with Michael Hollister and Carlos Montoya, and how maybe you could get Sydney interested in it, so you were already basically set up to go talk to them after school.

On the other hand, you don't want to be rude, and you've basically decided that you like Dean and wouldn't mind adding him to your circle of acquaintances.

That's all for now

*
"Table of Contents (Vol. 5)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 5)"