The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)

Fakes on a Date

Previously: "Fatal Flirtations" 

"Oh, fuck you, man!" You shake all over as the tension gushes out through every pore on your body.

Michael—your friend Caleb, under a mask—laughs. Filtered through Michael's nasal cackle, it comes out sounding especially nasty. "You should'a seen the look on your face, Will. If I'd'a whipped out my cock, you pro'ly woudn've—"

"When did this happen?" you demand, pointing up and down at him. "This morning?"

"When else? Though maybe technically it was after noon." He smirks. "Joe and Grant called Michael up. Weirdly enough, I happened to be with them—"

"What do you mean, weirdly enough?"

He stares at you, then rolls his eyes. "It was a joke, man. 'Course I was with them, that's what I was with 'em for." He whips off his trucker cap and pushes his fingers through his thick, soft hair. "But then I had to go home for chores, and this is the soonest I could get out here to—" He cackles again. "Freak you out." His smirk deepens.

"So I hope you had fun, you cocksucker. But what did you want to meet up for? No," you add as he waggles his eyebrows at you.

"Fine. Let's just go get something to eat. Michael wouldn't know what else to do with Lindsay's dumpy Korean ass anyway."

* * * * *

But he still won't leave it alone, even after you're seated at the McDonalds with two burgers and a mess of fries between you. "I hate to break it to you, man," he says, "but anyone catches us here like this, they are gonna think we're on a date." He jams a fistful of fries into his mouth.

"We're in Speech together, Michael," you remind him in your most patient voice.

"Oh yeah!"

"Yeah. We're just here to talk about social mobbing and social shame for class."

He scoops up a fat glob of ketchup on the end of a fry. "I bet Laura knows a lot about social mobbing."

"Psht. You know, she's just gonna leave all the work to us, because—"

"And Lucas."

"What?"

"She's gonna leave it to us and Lucas."

"Alright, and Lucas. Jesus! You're acting just like Michael." Caleb grins at the compliment and inhales part of his burger. "Because she doesn't believe what we're arguing. She's totally on the pro-shaming side of it."

"Oh, I dunno," he mumbles with a full mouth. "She's so—"

"Oh, never mind. Tell me what's going on with the guys."

Caleb's mouth falls open, giving you a close view of his half-chewed burger. "You wanna make up your mind?" he says. "Are we supposed to be in character or not?"

"Just tell me."

"Fine. So, they're set up to swap Grant in for Kaylee Mercier this afternoon. God, she is so hot! They've maybe even done it now." He squints at his cell phone. "They're s'posed to send me a text when it's done. Anyway, they're doin' that but they're also trying to get this girl Alejandra for Joe this afternoon. She's a junior."

"I know who she is. Evie's told me about her."

"Yeah, well, it's gonna be Bhodi and, uh, Andrew— Andy—" He shrugs. "Guess it doesn't matter which one I call him, it's the same guy. Oh, man!" He throws his head back and chortles at the ceiling. "They did that one last night, at that party, practically right in front of, uh, you and Michael." He grins at you.

"Yeah, I noticed. It's a good thing it was me and not Lindsay," you add as his face falls.

"Michael didn't notice anything!"

"He didn't know what to look for. When did they do the swap with Ethan?"

"I dunno. Yesterday sometime, or day before. I wasn't around. Anyway, it's all s'posed to be done by tonight." He ticks off his fingers. "Ethan and Andrew and Kaylee and Alejandra. And, uh, me. And you." He grins.

"Are you supposed to keep an eye on me?"

"Yeah. You gonna make it easy on me, start going out with Michael?" He puffs out his chest.

"You really wanna go out with Lindsay?"

He makes a face, then turns thoughtful. You don't much like it when he turns an appraising eye on you.

"You know," he says, "the thing about these, uh, masks is that you really do get to look at the world through the other fucker's eyes. More than that." He takes off his cap and rubs his scalp. "You got all the equipment up here, and it just changes everything you think and feel about things. If you let it, you know," he hastily adds, and settles the cap back on his head.

"Yeah, I know, I got one of them too."

"Oh yeah." That smirk reappears. "So who does Lindsay think of when she, uh—?"

"Shut up. This is embarrassing enough. But you're saying you could go either way with Lindsay?"

"Well, sure." He sucks down the last of his cola. "Of course, it'll all be for public show. When it's just us we won't— I mean, unless you—"

"What does Michael see in Lindsay?" You feel yourself blushing as his eyes crinkle up. "What's the attraction? Why's he—?"

"Why's he got a raging boner for her?"

"God!"

"Ha! Well, he's got a raging boner all the time anyway. Mostly for girls like Kaylee, naturally. God!" He arches his back. "But Lindsay?"

He settles sideways in the booth with one foot up next to him and his elbow on the table as he studies you speculatively.

"She's kind of a firecracker. She doesn't take any shit from people. She's fun."

"Fun?"

"Well, not fun like people were having fun last night. We really need to hang out and get you to loosen up, man. A good back rub or neck massage, like you were talking about last night. But I dunno. She just seems kind of, like, alive somehow." He tries pulling the last fumes of his soda out through the straw. "But come on, you gotta know what she's like, being all mixed up with her."

"It's like I'm too close to her."

"I don't get it."

"Well, do you know what Michael is like? Being all mixed up with him?"

He shrugs. "Meh, kind of a well-meaning goofball."

"Well, that's what I'd say about him. What would you say about Lindsay? Michael, I mean. What would he say? Three words."

He sucks on his straw again as he studies you.

"Dangerously active volcano," he reply after a very long silence.

* * * * *

It could have been worse, you suppose. It could have been a false description in addition to being an unflattering one. You're not sure what it says of Michael Duncan that he is attracted to dangerously active volcanoes, except maybe he's a goofball who's too dumb not to risk getting singed.

Anyway, you and Caleb part soon afterward with the agreement that you will be close study partners at school, but nothing else. Back at your house you do homework. Lindsay is only a fair-to-middling student, despite the effort she puts into her work, but you mastered Algebra I a long time ago so you can improve her grades there, and the other sophomore classes aren't much of a challenge either. You exchange texts with friends: not only Paulina and Evie, but Ava Brewer and Julie Eckler and other girls that Lindsay is friendly with.

Sunday is a waste. You have church the next morning, and after church you learn that Paulina and Bhodi are still doing stuff exclusively with each other, and that Evie is off playing a pick up game of soccer with some of the other girls on the JV squad. In fact, she's so wrapped up in it that she doesn't answer your texts until late in the afternoon, and it's Michael who informs you that Evie got a call from Alejandra Roldan Cortes inviting her out for the day.

Instead, you spend the afternoon fending off texts from Justin Orr, Joe Dickerson, Grant Lowery and Andy Jensen. Not from the actual guys, who (Caleb informs you) are now firmly entrenched in a quartet of new identities. But from the doppelgangers they left behind. You demur with a slight shudder.

That's another downside to your plan, it now occurs to you. Sure, you're keeping them safe from Lindsay by being Lindsay. But in addition to having to be Lindsay, you are also going to have to hang out with ... things ... that you know aren't real while pretending that they are. You go to bed Sunday night with a pit of dread in your stomach as you anticipate Monday morning in the library.

* * * * *

"I'll catch up to you inside," you shout at Andy Jensen when he gestures at you from across the front quad of the school. He nods and grins and proceeds toward the library.

You feel your own smile fall off your face as he turns away. Usually Lindsay would go in with him. But you follow Hannah into the school so you can stop at your locker first. Anything to delay the moment when you have to sit down with a lot of magical robots and pretend that they are your friends.

But speaking of fakes: You quail as a trio of students comes marching down the hallway in your direction. Ethan Claybourne, Andrew Webb, and Kaylee Mercier. Their heads are up, and their mouths are open and bright with teeth as they stride along. You avoid looking at them directly, as you're not sure you trust yourself not to betray your knowledge of who they really are.

But you're caught by the elbow by Andrew Webb, the asshole soccer player. A.k.a., the real Andy Jensen, though you're not supposed to know that.

"Hey, Lindsay," he says, and jerks his chin at you in a smirk. "How was your weekend?"

"Huh? Um, it was great."

"Yeah, mine was pretty awesome too. Great party Friday, huh?"

You nod.

He glances at Ethan and Kaylee, who are watching. "We're heading to the library," he says. "Come sit with us?"

Next: "The Popular Kids" 

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 2)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)"