The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

Unhappy Sequels

Previously: "The Party Scene" 

Sorry busy here, you text back to Maria. You almost add Maybe tomorrow, but you feel like you don't need any complications in your new life.

* * * * *

The low-key party continues until after eleven, which is when Will has to be home, but most everyone has drifted off by midnight. Charles is one of the first to go, though he is more often the last to leave, and he has nothing to say to you before going. You clean up what little mess they've left behind so that your mom—who comes dragging into the house while you're brushing your teeth—doesn't have to look at it. In bed, you text Will: Did u like the party?

Does a beta sleep? His reply is almost instantaneous: yeh fatimas cute.

You'd agree. She has lustrous, almond-shaped eyes and dark, cascading hair. I think she liked u.

are we going to date?

For a moment you think he's asking if you and he will be dating, before deciding he must be talking about Fatima. Dont know will think abt it. Was everyone else ok to u?

think so r all anrea's friens gay?

You can't help making a face. Lots. Gnite talk to u tomorrow.

So Will also noticed that Charles packed the house like that. As you turn onto your side, you wonder if that meant anything.

* * * * *

"So, way to blow Chelsea off. Not smart, girl."

You don't need to look around your locker door to see who is chiding you from the other side of it. Her snotty sing-song is a dead giveaway. So you finish loading up your books for second period before answering.

"What's she going to do about it, Kendra?" you ask the horrible number-two girl on the cheerleading squad. "And am I supposed to be scared?"

"You can be whatever you want, Andrea." She peer down her nose at you, her eyes glazed in a dead-eyed stare. "Everyone's going to know what you are, too."

"What kind of a threat is that?"

"Not a threat. Just a prediction. Got a message for Chelsea?"

"No."

"In that case she's got a message for you." She holds out a tightly folded note, and glares at you until you take it. "You can text her your answer. And you're gonna have an answer, girlfriend." She brushes against you hard as she slides back into the slipstream of students changing classes and changing books.

The fuck is going on? you wonder as you force your own way through the crowd to History class. That was Mike, wasn't it? What was he being so deep in character for? Did you piss the other guys off when you declined Josiah's message last night? The answer still isn't clear even after you've settled at your desk and opened the note. All hands meeting at studio 4 pm, it says in a loopy, feminine scrawl.

"What's that?" Jelena asks from the desk next to yours.

"Just a note." You crumple it in your fist.

"Who sends notes?" she snorts. "Who was it from, Tom Sawyer?"

"What did you think of Will last night?"

"Who? Oh. S'alright. What do you care?"

"I think Fatima likes him."

"Really? Huh. Is that why Charles had him out at your place?"

"I don't know. Do you see them together?"

"Who, Fatima and whatsisname? Have they started going out?"

"No, I mean— Never mind."

"Hmph." Jelena gives you a look before turning around to face the front of the class. "Yeah," she says, "it's a funny thing for you to be worried about, Andrea." Then she adds, "I'd'a figured Charles was trying to set him up with Alex or Crispin."

* * * * *

Speaking of Charles, by the end of school you're beginning to wonder why you haven't seen or heard from him. He hasn't sent you any texts, and he hasn't fallen across you path, either. When he doesn't show up at your locker after the final bell, you send him a text: Running errands this afternoon.

His reply doesn't come until you're walking to your car. Y do I need to know?

Because I wont be home tll later

Y do I need to know

You make a face but hurl your phone into the front seat next to you without sending another reply.

You're early to the meeting, and you wait in the car nearly ten minutes before someone shows up. It's Carlos—the beta. "Hey," he grunts, and openly looks you up and down as he taps the door code in. "It's really Will, right? You having fun?"

His tone is surly, and you stiffen under his gaze. "Sure."

"Not too much fun, I hope," he says. "Not looking like that."

He keeps giving you sidelong looks—hungry sidelong looks—all the way down the corridor to the studio, until you are totally creeped out. He lets you into the studio to wait while he goes into the workout room. You're giving some thought to returning to the car—you don't feel safe being alone with that thing—when you hear voices raised in argument. The words are gibberish, and it takes you a moment to recognize them as Spanish. All clarifies when Marcos—the real Carlos, under his new mask—swaggers in.

"Ay, nice to see ya," he says as he perches on the desk. Like his beta, he looks you up and down. "Really nice to see ya," he adds as his eyes settle on your legs.

"What's this meeting about?"

"Pft, Philip. Peckerwood's got some idea we need a fuckin' project to keep us busy." He pulls his shirt off, showing off a taut, glossy torso with rippling abs. "This look like someone got trouble keeping busy? How 'bout you?" He leans across the desk. "We could keep busy together," he murmurs.

"Not interested."

He sucks a tooth, and is very slow about breaking off eye contact. "Yeah, okay," he says as he fluffs out his shirt. "I know what you look like under that thing anyway."

"Have you tried that line on Kendra? About keeping busy together?"

His glance is quick and sharp. The muscles in his cheeks tighten.

"Yeah, okay, I wasn't serious," he mutters. "B'sides, I got enough action now." He studies his shirt, then pulls it back on.

"So I don't understand," you say, and you say it with gentle indifference, for you want him to sense that you're not upset with him. "You were being Jessica before. Why switch to— Well, to a guy?"

He looks like he's about to answer, but voices sound in the corridor, and he hops outside to meet them. It's four cheerleaders—Kendra, Maria, Cindy, and Chelsea—who come back into the studio with him.

Your heart skips at the sight of Chelsea, and at the gleaming, smiling stare she settles on you. The memory of that evening two years comes back, when Andrea, alone with Chelsea, with almost infinite bravery kissed the little blonde goddess ... and the little blonde goddess kissed her back.

But she says nothing now and only settles onto the floor with a private smile as Maria calls the meeting to order.

* * * * *

You were wondering why Philip hadn't found himself a new beta yet, and the explanation is that he wants there to be a plan for the new betas. (And, to your relief, it turns out that Mike was only playacting as Kendra when he made that very thuggish visit to your locker.)

"Some of you already have new betas," Maria says in that very sober and very intense way that she's had ever since Philip moved in behind her face. "So do you have ideas about what we can do with them?" He grimaces when Marcos makes an obscene suggestion. "A legitimate experiment," she says.

She might as well be a teacher and the studio might as well be a classroom, for all the cooperation she gets. Cindy suggests that, as they've succeeded in raising someone's reputation—yours—maybe they could try their hand at ruining someone's. "My boyfriend's a candidate," she snickers. Kendra suggests setting up some new romantic couples, maybe between (she clucks) "inappropriate people." "Or we could just screw around with the sophomores and freshmen," she adds, though she only shrugs when Maria asks her to expand on the idea.

So the mood quickly turns grumpy and impatient, and it quickly ends. Maria falls in next to you as you walk out. "You haven't picked a second beta yet, Will," he says. "I wish you'd specially think about what you could do with it that might be interesting."

You mutter something indistinct. She replies, "Josiah really wants to get together with you."

"I know. I can guess what for."

"You're not interested?"

You smile tightly. "I'm thinking more about my secondary beta."

Maria actually looks thunderstruck by that reply.

* * * * *

Charles doesn't come over until much later that evening, and he's in a snippy mood. Not until after he's criticized the music you're playing, the book you're reading, and the last movie you'll admit to having seen does he archly announce: "I've decided not to ruin your life."

You raise an eyebrow. "Thanks. How were you going to do it?"

He gives you a look. "That guy you had out here yesterday."

"Adrian?"

"I can never tell when you're trying to be funny but are just bellyflopping at it. I've decided I'm not going to tell anyone about how that guy was here early yesterday. You've been very coy about it, so I'll be coy too, and that's all I'm going to say." He turns away with his nose in the air.

But the implication is clear: He won't stand for seeing Will Prescott hanging around you.

That's all for now.

*
"Table of Contents (Vol. 4)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)"