The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)

Garners and Gossip

Previously: "Who Wants to Be a Video Star?" 

Philip says not interested n chereleadr thing, you text Chelsea at the end of second period.

And then, because you will likely be spending your third-period study hall in the library with Eva Garner and Jenny Ashton (as Danielle usually does) you turn off your phone. It would be really awkward if Eva caught you texting with Chelsea.

The girls are already in deep conversation when you enter the library. They glance up at you briefly as you drop your bag on the table before resuming their talk; you flash a small smile over their heads at Josie Holden, Bonny Trask, and Tara Weston, who are at a nearby table. You ignore Victoria Rodriguez, though, and she ignores you, as she is noisily making out with her boyfriend in a far corner of the room.

You turn to listen to Eva and Jenny even as you take out your just-assigned calculus homework.

"—tell your parents?" Jenny is asking.

"God, no!" Eva gasps and makes a face. "Why would you think I'd—?"

"Well, did you tell Marc that—?"

"I'm gonna stop asking for your help, Jenny, if all you are gonna do is ask stupid questions like, did I tell my parents or my brother that ... Pfah!"

"What's going on, what are you talking about?" you ask. "I promise I won't ask stupid questions."

"Eva caught her brother and his girlfriend up in his bed— Ungh!" Jenny flinches as Eva slaps at her. "Well, if you're gonna tell me, you can tell Danielle!"

"Just keep your voice down!" Eva hisses. She raises up and looks around before ducking back down. "And I didn't catch them," she says in a very low voice when the three of you have your heads together. "Not— What's the word?"

"Fucking each other?" Jenny offers.

"No! Undressed, in the open. Flagrant, or something."

"Tell it from the beginning," you say. This is the juiciest gossip you've heard since taking over Danielle's life.

"No one was supposed to be home last night," Eva says through tightly pursed lips. "Our mom and dad had theater tickets and were gone all evening, and Jessica and I were doing something with Cindy and Yumi and Lin." Your ears can't help pricking up at this mention of a meeting of Chelsea's arch-rivals.

"Well," Eva continues, "we had to move from one place to another on account of bullshit—"

"What kind of bullshit?"

"Just bullshit. We were at Starbucks, and a bunch of assholes came in. Ryan Shuler, Dylan Lloyd," she says, naming a couple of basketball players. Sean Sax, probably you can't help adding silently, for he's on the squad too and is friends with them. "Anyway, we moved places, and— Well, while we were moving I ran home to get something, and when I went upstairs—"

"Oh God! Oh God, Marc! Yes! Oh God, yes!" Jenny moans.

Now Eva outright punches Jenny, almost knocking her out of her chair. "It wasn't—!" she hisses, then catches herself. "It wasn't like that! But what I did hear going on behind his bedroom door, it was pretty goddamn unmistakable."

"You're sure it was Hannah?" you ask. That would be Hannah Westrick, Marc's girlfriend since the start of the school year.

For a moment you think Eva is going to punch you. "Yes! Who else? My brother doesn't—!" She glances around again, and lowers her voice still further. "So my disgusting, dumbass brother," she says in a voice that seethes like a pressure cooker on high heat, "spent all fucking summer snapping selfies of his sausage and sending them to Ronnie Miller after she moved—"

"No! He did?" you gasp, and cover your mouth. Wow!

"—but he doesn't cheat on his girlfriends!" Eva finishes up. Her face is shining like Rudolf's red nose, but something about the glint in her eye and the tug at the corners of her lips suggests that she takes a familial pride in her brother's honorable faithfulness even as she's mortified by his unbridled horniness.

"But he was with someone?" you ask. "He wasn't just, uh—?"

"Marc doesn't need to get himself off," Jenny says, "not as long as Hannah is—" She tries dodging a third blow from Eva, but fails.

"So what did you do about it?" You feel your eyes bulge as you ask the question. You can't imagine, as either Will Prescott or Danielle Davis, having sex in your bedroom, even with the rest of the house empty.

"It's not funny," Eva snaps, "so stop smiling!"

"I'm not!" You press your lips together, for you realize that in your excitement you've been flashing a very wide smile. "But what did you do?" you murmur.

"Nothing. I got out of there as fast and quiet as I could."

"Did you tell Jessica?"

"No. I didn't want to tell anyone who actually lives there. This is the first chance I've had to tell anyone. You know?" Her expression twists up. "To find out what I should do?"

"You should tell Marc," Jenny declares firmly. "No, Hannah. Or Austin. Maybe Marcos?" she adds as Eva goggles at her like a stranded fish.

"What?" Eva exclaims when she finally finds her voice. "Why would I—?"

"Because Marc has to know. So he doesn't do it again. He's freaking lucky it was you and not your parents who came home while he and Hannah were jammed up inside each other's grills." Eva turns green at Jenny's words. "And if you don't want to tell him directly—"

"He'll still know it was me or Jessica who heard him!"

"So he'll know, so what? Do you want your parents catching him?"

Eva doesn't answer, and you and Jenny exchange a wondering glance as her expression turns thoughtful. "Someone has to tell him," you urge her. It's what Danielle would say—Will Prescott couldn't give a shit what happens to Marc Garner, the captain of the boys' soccer team, and a guy who in his masculine way is almost as glamorous as the cheerleader sisters who with him comprise the Garner triplets.

"Alright," she grumbles. Her eyes dart between you and Jenny. "Maybe one of you could—?" She leaves the sentence hanging without finishing it.

"I don't have Marc or any of his friends in my classes," Jenny says.

"Well, who says you have to? Just go talk to one of them. You know. At lunch or outside class."

Jenny turns from Eva to give you a pinched look. You come real close to ignoring it.

But with a sigh you step up. "I've got Austin in my Chemistry class," you say. "Seventh period. I guess I could—"

Eva grabs your arm. "Could you?"

"Yes." You pull out of her grasp. "But you owe me!"

"Anything!"

The promise catches your ear. "Anything?"

Now Eva catches herself. "Well, almost anything," she tells you warily. "What?"

You hesitate. "You were hanging out last night with Cindy and Yumi and Lin?" Eva nods. "What was that about?"

* * * * *

You thought maybe you'd have something juicy to share with Chelsea—something to get her off your back—but Eva will only tell you that it was bitch-gripe session about the cheerleading squad, and with a sour frown informs you that she and her friends seem to be stuck with Chelsea as squad captain. It would take seven votes to unseat her, and as long as she has Kendra Saunders, Gloria Rea, and Maria Vasquez in her corner, she is safe. You commiserate with her when she complains about Chelsea's latest round of bitchery.

Chelsea's only reply to your earlier text is an ok when you check at the start of lunch, and you're careful to ignore her when you go into sixth-period English, for Eva is in that class as well. Chelsea ignores you too, but Eva catches your eye with a hopeful expression.

Then comes Chemistry. You lurk in the doorway of Mr. Cash's classroom and try catching Austin Dougherty's attention there, but he's engrossed in conversation, so you grit your teeth and shuffle into the classroom to his desk.

Jeremiah James—who Austin is talking to—looks up, and his face loses all expression as he stares up at you. You try not to look at him as you smile nervously at Austin and ask if you can talk to him outside real quick. Austin blinks, then with a shrug follows you outside the classroom, down the hallway and outside to the rear of the school. "So what's up?" he asks gruffly.

Your body almost melts under his gaze.

Austin Dougherty is one of the stars of the soccer team. He has meaty thighs, a deep chest, strong shoulders, and eyes of an intense green color beneath a shaggy mop of chestnut-colored hair. His voice is a strong baritone that can sound over the soccer fields even when he isn't shouting. It's all you can do to thrust away the vivid fantasy of him putting his large strong hands behind your shoulders, and pulling and crushing you to his chest as his mouth seeks your throat.

"Um, this is really kind of awkward," you tell him. "But, um, Marc— Your friend Marc, Eva and Jessica's brother? He was home last night, and he had his girlfriend Hannah over? Just the two of them?" You twist on your feet as Austin stares at you without blinking. "Look, don't ask who told me this, or who asked me to tell you. But you need to tell Marc that, um—"

You feel that your face must be turning as black as pitch, for it burns like it's on fire. Austin's frown deepens, and a muscle twitches in his cheek.

"You need to tell Marc that someone came home while he was with Hannah, and that they ... they heard him and Hannah. Up in his bedroom. So that he and Hannah don't, uh, do that again."

Silently you wish for the ground to open beneath you.

* * * * *

"Austin just said 'okay'," you inform Eva when you find her in the orchestra room. "And God, you still owe me so much for that!"

* To continue: "Disguise and Those Guys" 

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