The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)

The Someone Else

Previously: "A Heel Turns" 

"Christ, it's about time you got here," Chelsea mutters as she admits you into the foyer of her house.

"I told you I'd be late," you retort. "I had to—" You break off as Chelsea's mother looks in from another room.

"All I know is I ran out of small talk nearly an hour ago and—" Chelsea breaks off and follows your gaze to look over her shoulder. "Thanks, Mom!" she calls to her. "Uh, this is Will. From yesterday?"

"Nice to see you again, Will." Mrs. Cooper beams at you. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. Thanks." Chelsea's mother looks like a somewhat aged version of her daughter. Short, very fit, with blonde hair and a slightly insane cast about the eyes.

"So, I know you can't stay long," Chelsea says in a very loud voice as she seizes your wrist and drags you toward the stairs. "Thanks for bringing that homework assignment over."

"And what are your scholarly aptitudes, Will?" Mrs. Cooper asks as you and Chelsea brush past her.

"Math and English," Chelsea hollers back as she drags you, nearly tripping, up the stairs. "He's going to check our grammar and arithmetic."

"Be sure to check her essays for split infinitives!" Mrs. Cooper calls at you from the foot of the stairs. "Chelsea's always been good at doing splits!"

"God!" Chelsea hisses as she drags you around the corner. "I swear it's like she doesn't trust me to have a guy who isn't Gordon over. You have all the stuff?" She stops short in the middle of the hall, and you bang into her.

"Of course I do. I spent all afternoon and evening making it up." In truth, you spent all afternoon and evening making one of the masks. You found the other—which God damn him contained a copy of your own face and mind—hidden in Caleb's room when you snuck into his empty house after school.

"Then come on. I want to get this done with."

"No, hang on," you tell her. "First, I want you to tell me what you're up to."

"Up too?" Chelsea frowns under raised brows.

"Yes." You push open a half-closed door, disclosing a guest bathroom. You clutch at Chelsea, and drag her into it.

"That girl waiting in there," you say, pointing through the closed bathroom door in the general direction Chelsea's bedroom. "That's not Yumi and that's not Cindy. You said you wanted me to be one of them."

"I know what I said, Will!" Chelsea's eyes flash. "But if you—"

"So why are you okay with me being her instead." Again, you jab your finger at the door.

Chelsea's frown deepens. "I don't understand what you're upset about, Will," she says. "I said you could be Yumi or Cindy because that would help you figure out where you and ... Lisa ... went wrong. But if you think that—"

"Cut the shit, Chelsea. You want me to be Yumi or Cindy because it will help you out with the cheerleader squad. They both hate you, I hang around with Yumi and Lin enough to know what they say about you." You ignore her quick gasp of outrage. "So why didn't you argue when I came out and said I'd be—" You jerk your chin at the door again.

Chelsea glowers at you, then shuts her eyes and shrugs.

"Fine," she says. "You're right. I figured we could help each other. You could help me by, mm—" She shrugs again, stiffly. "Being Yumi or Cindy, since, like you say—" Her mouth twists up like she's bitten into something sour. "And you could help yourself because they could tell you what you want to know about Lisa. But if you'd really rather be—"

"So why are you okay with her?" you demand. "What's in it for you?"

Chelsea cocks her head and studies you. Then she shrugs again.

"Because I figure that if I'm nice to you, then you can make her be nice to me. You can help me out still, you know. I mean, if she says this about me, or she says that about Cindy or Yumi or Lin—" Her jaw tightens. "People might finally start getting the right idea about us."

Yes, in a flash you can see that now, and you wonder that you didn't see it before. Chelsea wants allies, and will take them anywhere she can get them.

"But what about you, Will?" she says. "What are you going to get out of it?"

Your brain freezes up. You honestly have no answer to that. You only blurted out her name because you didn't want to say "Yumi" or "Cindy", and because you'd been watching her in the library before school and so had her name on your mind.

But is that the only reason you said her name? Coincidence? Is there a deeper reason why you are willing to let Chelsea turn you into—

"Whatever," Chelsea says. "Come on, let's do this before she gets away." She takes you by the wrist and pulls you back into the hallway.

* * * * *

But she hasn't gotten away. She's preoccupied with her cell phone when Chelsea sweeps into the bedroom, and quickly puts it away with a guilty expression.

So that's who I'm going to be, it comes to you in a flash. When I walk out Chelsea's front door, I'm going to be—

* To continue: "Black Narcissus" 

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