The Book of Masks (Vol. 3)

The Lying Game

Previously: "Who's the Mansfield?" 

"Yo, Tilley, lemme borrow the keys to your car," you say after your friends have woken up.

Eva--whom you're looking at--cocks an eyebrow. "Over here, dipshit," Jessica says. "And my eyes are up here," she adds as your gaze swivels from Eva's breasts to Jessica's. "What do you need them for?"

"I was gonna go keep the real girls distracted, just in case," you say. "Can I touch those?" You reach out to tweak a nipple.

She slaps your hand away. "What's wrong with your ride?"

"They might recognize my truck. Caleb's car, too."

You get a nice view of Jessica's ass as she bends over to pick up Keith's pants--until Eva steps directly into your line of sight. "Is that really necessary?" she asks, and then frowns. "Oh, what the fuck. Better to have you buggering them with that leer than us."

* * * * *

"You've got a lot of nerve," Eva says. She's blocking the doorway, and shows no inclination to let you in.

"Come on, Eva, don't be like this. I just want to talk."

"What about?" Her tone continues to be belligerent.

"Is Jessica here? Maybe she'd like to hear what I have to say. She's got a mind of her own, doesn't she? Or do the two of you only have one that you share?"

For a moment it looks like Eva is just going to slam the front door in your face, but at that moment Jessica materializes behind her. "Keep it down, Eva," she hisses. "Mom and Dad are listening."

"Well, let them listen! I don't want--"

"I just want to talk," you interject. "If you don't want to let me in, will you at least come out in the front yard?"

Jessica whispers something to Eva, then barges past and pushes you back onto the porch. "I'll give you five minutes, and it better be good."

You look at her and her sister appraisingly. The makeup and hairdos are a little different, but otherwise there'd be no way to tell the difference between them and the friends that you saw drive away from the elementary school not fifteen minutes ago. If you got them all together, you muse, you'd have four of the same near-identical type. Then if you got them out of all of their clothes--

You shake your head free of the vision, and lean back upon one of the porch supports. "Okay, well, first of all, can you tell me if Lisa has changed her mind about sleeping with me?"

Both girls turn several different shades of colors. You smile lazily. Jessica is the first to recover her voice. "I thought she already had. That's the story you've been spreading around, isn't it?"

"Yeah, well, there's a difference between what I've been saying and what's really the case, right?" You grin. "But there doesn't have to be. I mean, if she gave in, I wouldn't have to lie about it, would I?"

Again, a kaleidoscope of colors wash over the Garner twins' faces. "What kind of a sick fuck--" Eva starts.

"Are you really that fucked in the head, Geoff?" Jessica says, almost simultaneously. "You really think that spreading that kind of story is going to make her want to look at you, let alone--" She gasps over words that she can't bring herself to say.

You shrug. "Yeah, well, how believable is the story she's telling? Who believes her? You two and who else?" Now they are both a solid crimson color. You smile and look off to the side. "Girls always deny what happened when it actually did."

"And boys are always bragging," Eva says huffily. "If this is all you've got to say, Geoff-- Come on, Jess." She grabs her sister's elbow.

"Look, she's not gonna win this fight, so she might as well give up," you say. "That's why I came, to make peace. On my terms, but still. I can't lose, with Kelsey on my side."

"Kelsey's not God on His throne," Jessica sputters.

"It was her idea," you interject, seizing on a sudden intuition.

It gets their attention: "What do you mean?" Eva asks, her eyes narrowing.

"I know she's been putting the screws on Lisa," you say. "She wants to see us together. We've been talking." You shrug again. "She's the one who had the idea to pretend Lisa had already given in."

They just stare.

"Anyway, those are my five minutes," you say, straightening up to go. "Lisa has my number if she wants to talk terms." You brush your hand through your hair--one of Geoff's characteristic mannerisms--and turn to leave. You walk slowly, giving them every opportunity to call to you, but they don't.

* * * * *

Well, that should stir up a real hornet's nest of trouble. Eva and Jessica--with or without Lisa--will almost certainly confront Kelsey and ask her about what "Geoff" said. Kelsey will deny it, of course, but she'll have to believe that Mansfield really had that conversation: Eva and Jessica would not be able to think up the bit about "Kelsey putting the screws to Lisa" by themselves. That should turn Kelsey against Geoff, and with her turned he will quickly find himself alone. Sympathy and support will flood to Lisa, shoring up her position and morale--and it will kill her relationship with Geoff for good.

So you're feeling pretty chipper the next day as you arrive at school. You keep your eyes and ears open for any news, and at lunch you ditch Caleb and Keith to hang out with James Lamont, Carson Ioeger, and Jenny Ashton. Yumi Saito sometimes has lunch with them, and through her you think you might hear something about the avalanche you've hoped to start.

But Yumi isn't there, and you have to broach the subject of Lisa and Geoff yourself. "Don't you know what's going on with them?" Jenny asks you loftily in reply.

"People have been asking me weird questions about the last time I saw Lisa," you say. "That's why I want to know what's going on."

"When was the last time you talked to her?" Jenny asks as Carson groans.

"I dunno. A week or two ago?"

"Did you meet her at the mall last week?"

"If you two wanna gossip and shit, take it off somewhere else," Carson says.

"I haven't seen her outside school in a couple of weeks," you say.

Jenny looks at you closely, and you feel yourself redden a little under her gaze. She grunts. "Well, just stay away from her," she says. "And keep telling people you haven't seen her in awhile."

"How come?"

"That's my chocolate muffin," Jenny suddenly snarls, turning on Carson and snatching away the item he'd tried pilfering, and won't return to your preferred topic.

* * * * *

Keith finds you in the math wing at the start of sixth period. "Where were you at lunch?" he asks. "There's a club meeting after school."

"Another one?" You snort. "I didn't think the boss man was so much into micro-management."

"Yeah, well, the boss man was asking specifically about you," Keith says.

You swivel in alarm. "Why? What did I do?"

"Beats me." He pauses. "You didn't ask me or Caleb about how things went down last night."

"How did things go last night?"

"Fine." He slouches. "I guess I have a date tonight," he mutters as he turns to go.

"No kidding?" you grin. "On a scale of one to ten, be sure to tell me how salty Javits' cum is."

Keith swings around and shoves two rigid middle fingers in your face.

* * * * *

"Good work on Cindy," Patterson says, and his eyes twinkle maliciously as he takes in the sight of you and your friends. "I got Javits set up for you, Tilley," he says. "He'll be up here around seven. You should show up about thirty minutes later." He hands Keith the mask of Cindy and turns to Caleb. "Your next target is Karl Hennepin. Sooner is better, but maybe you should keep Cindy distracted tonight while Tilley finishes his mission." Caleb nods at the suggestion. "Okay, you two can beat it. I wanna talk to Prescott alone."

Your heart hammers as your friends shuffle out, but Patterson doesn't seem angry. He just cocks his head. "What's going on between Lisa and Mansfield?" he asks.

"Having a fight," you reply nervously. "It has to do with, you know--" You lick your lips. "He says she boinked him, and she says he didn't."

"Yeah, I figured that would happen," Patterson says. "But it's getting out of control. Chelsea's involved now."

"What?"

"Yeah, Chelsea's really in her element." His eyes narrow. "You sure you're not stirring things up?"

You swallow. If Chelsea's involved, it's a pretty sure thing that word about that weird conversation between Mansfield and the Garners will filter back to Steve. Haltingly, you confess to using Geoff's mask last night, though you emphasize you were only there to keep the girls distracted while Keith and Caleb were using their masks to approach Cindy. Patterson brushes off the excuse--and to your surprise brushes off your nervous apology for making things complicated. "I couldn't give a shit," he says. "I just wanna know what's going on." He puts his hands on his hips and kicks at the floor with his toe. When he looks up at you, there's a gleam in his eye. "You wanna see Mansfield fucked up? Fucked up good?"

You keep your reply cautious. "I just want Lisa to break up with him."

"Oh, they're broken up, from what I've heard. I mean, do you want him fucked up?" You gape. "If you do a really sensitive job for me, I'll fuck him up for you."

"What job?"

He sucks on his lip. "Get a copy of Chelsea," he says quietly.

Next: "Losing Lisa" 

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