The Book of Masks (Vol. 1)

Bids for Attention

Previously: "The Hot Potato" 

Mr. Walberg opens first period by humiliating everyone who hasn't already brought him something for the time capsule. He doesn't even have to try.

"Ms. Harmon," he booms out from his desk, "you have something for me?"

"I thought it was due on Wednesday," Dorothy replies in a small voice.

"And why'd you think that?"

"I dunno. I guess I got confused."

Kelsey Blankenship—the stylish, stuck-up bitch who runs a little clique of rich kids bound for the Ivy Leagues—leans over to murmur something to her friend Amanda Ferguson. Amanda lifts her eyebrows and sniffs. Kelsey half-turns in her chair to smirk in a lofty way at the rest of the class.

"You got till the end of the day to bring me something," Mr. Walberg says. "Make it good." He runs a finger down the class roster. "Mr. Prescott!"

"Sir?"

He looks up at you from under bushy brows. With his jowls, his drooping moustache, and his receding hairline, he looks like a walrus. "That honorific isn't your contribution to the time capsule, is it?"

"Uh ... Sir?"

"You got something for the time capsule, Mr. Prescott?"

Out of the corner of your eye you see Kelsey's smirk deepen. Beside her, Geoff Mansfield covers his smile with his hand and watches you with glinting amusement. You grip the book.

Fuck 'em, you decide. You could take the book up to Mr. Walberg. But the assholes would still smirk at you for waiting until the last possible minute. And if it's too late to help Dorothy by giving her your contribution, you can at least soften her humiliation by standing with her. "Uh, I also thought the deadline was Wednesday, sir," you say.

"Bullshit," he barks. "You have until the end of the day to bring me something good," he adds as little titters break out. "Alright, let's get started."

You catch Caleb giving you a look. "Shut up," you mutter at him.

* * * * *

If you were hoping to get some credit from Dorothy by sacrificing some of your dignity, you are disappointed, for she says nothing to you before bolting the classroom at the end of the period. Caleb, at least, doesn't inquire about your supposed lapse of memory when you exit together.

You have the vague idea of going to find Carson, to give him the book to use in a prank against Seth Javits, so you have it out and with you when you plop into your desk second period. Keith Tilley, who sits behind you, jerks his head in greeting. "T'sup?" he says. "How was your weekend?"

"Pfeh. Oh, check this out." You drop the book on his desk.

He rears back. "The fuck?"

"It's a book."

"I know it's a book, dumbass. Why are you showing it to me?"

"To find out if you can read. Oh, never mind," you growl when he just stares at you. "No, wait, I'm showing it to you 'cos Carson has an idea for using it in some kind of prank against Seth."

"Yeah?" His eyes widen. For Keith, dropping Seth's name into conversation is like dropping Satan's—it runs the risk of summoning up something awful. "What's the plan, and how's he gonna get it to backfire on me?"

"It's not gonna backfire on you."

"Fuck you! You remember that shit he pulled at the start of school? Gluing Javits's—" He catches himself and glances around warily. "Gluing his books together. Javits thought I did it, that's how come he hauled me onto the fucking gym roof and— The fuck are you grinning at?" he snarls at Steven Buckner, who is hunched over in the next row, his mouth gaping with silent laughter. "We should find out sometime how you'd like it if someone did 'at to you?"

"So show him now," you challenge Keith. You throw a quick grin at Buckner. "You up for finding out if you like being hauled up on top of the gym roof?"

"Sure, if it gets me out of class," he chortles. "Come at me, bro," he tells Keith.

Keith glowers. "Psshhhh!" He picks at the book, which is still sitting on his desktop. "So how's Carson gonna screw me up this time? What's this prank he's planning?"

"I dunno, he didn't get a chance to explain it, but he needs this thing here and—"

"Oh, fuck it to hell." Keith grabs up his backpack and moves to a chair in the back of the room. You and Buckner exchange rueful smiles, and you slide the book into your backpack.

* * * * *

Your plan is to talk to Carson at lunch, to find out more about this scheme of his, so you've got the book with you on your way to fourth-period English when a hand grabs you in the middle of the hall. Instinctively you flinch—this is how things start when David Kirkham or Lester "The Molester" Pozniak or even Seth Javits himself are looking to have some fun at your expense. But it's only that blonde kid from before the start of school—

Sean! That's his name. Sean.

"Hey Will," he says, and he pulls you to the side of the crowded hallway. "So Carson was telling me you've got this crazy-ass book."

"Huh? Oh. Yeah."

"Can I look at it?"

"What? Oh. Um. Sure." Sean's sudden interest baffles you, but to oblige him you struggle out of your backpack and drop it between your feet. As you bend to open it, a girl behind you says, "Watch it, cocksucker," but you ignore her. "Here," you say as you wrench the book free and hand it to Sean.

He bends his head and runs his fingertips over it. "Nice," he says. "Carson says Arnholms was charging two hundred for it?"

"Yeah, but I got it for two because you can't get it open. Try."

Sean tries sliding his thumbnail between the pages. "Yeah, Carson said there's a trick or a catch or something to it."

"Yeah, 'cos that's what I told him," you retort. "Anyway, it's what my dad said when I showed it to him. He said it was a thing guys liked to do, like, hundreds of years ago. Make a fake book with a secret compartment in it. We haven't figured out how it works yet. Carson wants to use it in some kind of—" You glance around. "Some kind of prank."

"So he told me." Sean looks up at you from under his brows. "He's gonna lose it for you."

"What do you mean?"

"The prank. You're not gonna have a book any more, probably, if you let him use it."

"Well, he was talking about giving me twenty bucks for it—"

"I'll give you thirty."

You jump. "What?"

"Yeah, thirty bucks for it. This prank Carson wants it for, he can do it anytime." He pulls at the book some more, then shakes his head. "I'll give you thirty bucks for it, and if I can't figure out the trick I'll give it to Carson."

That sounds like a fair offer, and you accept. But Sean hands the book back to you. "I don't have the money with me here," he says. "Come find me after school."

"You still got that thing out," Caleb observes when you join him in English. He jerks his chin at the book.

"Yeah, well, not for long," you tell him. He doesn't inquire into your meaning, and only shrugs.

* * * * *

But Caleb's looking a lot less complacent after the final bell of the day has rung, He catches you outside the school library and hauls you into it. "You got a thing for Walberg yet?" he asks.

Shit! Six hours have passed since first period, and you've totally forgot Walberg's warning about finding something for him.

"Well, make sure it's not anything embarrassing," Caleb continues. "I just heard a rumor he's going to make us write a paper on it."

"The fuck?"

"Yeah! A goddamned essay on what we put into the time capsule and why we picked it. That means I'm so screwed. I can't tell him I gave him a thumb-drive full of porn!"

"Fuck [i}you, man, I don't got anything for him! I gotta get to his classroom and give him, uh—"

But what are you going to give him? You've promised the book to Sean.

"Give him your cell phone, he'll love that," Caleb says as you frown.

Your heart stops dead. "I can't bury my cell phone in a time capsule!"


"You'll get it back. After he buries it, you and me'll sneak back out here and dig it up, get our shit out of it."

"What? That doesn't make any sense!"

Caleb waves his hand. "Trust me, it'll work. Do whatever you want, Will, but you would score so many points with Walberg if you put a working piece of electronics in there. It'd blow his mind."

That gives you pause. "It would, wouldn't it?"

"Or do whatever you want. But I guarantee we can get it out again by digging it up. Anyway, I just wanted to pass on that warning." He hops out of the library like a jack rabbit on a pogo stick.

Then—almost like "speak of the devilish device"—your cell goes off with a text from Jack Li: Hey Will where r u? When you tell him you're in the library, he asks you to hold tight.

"Yeah, we're going off to meet Sean," he says when he arrives a minute later with Brent Pruitt in his company. "He says you got something for him?"

"Yeah, an old trick book. He's giving me thirty bucks for it."

Jack's eyebrows go up. "Well, I can save you a trip if you want. I got thirty on me. Sean can reimburse me."

Before you can reply, Brent says, "Is this that book with a trick cover and a hidden compartment?" You nod. "Yeah, we were talking about it earlier. I'll give you forty for it."

* To put the book in the time capusle: "A Clash of Values" 
* To give the book to Jack: "Other People's Projects" 

*
"Table of Contents (Vol. 1)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 1)"