The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

The Wrong Guy for the Wrong Girl

Previously: "Is This a Gag?" 

You can only stare as Yumi and Gary murmur to each other. "So how was the party?" Gary asks her.

"It was good." Yumi glances back at you. "Or ask Jenny, it was her party."

Gary looks up at you. His expression is hooded but not unfriendly. "So how was it?" he asks. "You like the glove?"

"Gary helped me pick it out," Yumi says.

"Uh ... Yeah!" Your voice feels like it's coming from somewhere down near your colon, and losing strength as it takes the long journey up and out. "Thanks."

Yumi looks back up into Gary's face. "So, you still up for hanging out?" she asks. The muscles in his cheek tighten as he grins down at her.

You have to lean against one of the record racks to keep from falling over.

Gary Chen is a thug, one of the worst at Westside. He's not a big guy, but he is strong and wiry. And he's mean, one of the meanest assholes at the school. He doesn't go around looking for, but he is quick to take offense, and quicker still to pop someone with a hard, fast blow to the face when he thinks he's been disrespected. Once, when you accidentally stepped on the back of his foot at the drinking fountain in the tenth grade, he wheeled and put you on the floor with a haymaker to the cheek. Then he yelled at you to get up, and when you tried he put you on the floor again.

He also deals weed, and maybe other things. You wonder how good his sales could possibly be, since everyone you know is too terrified of him to even look in his direction.

And now Yumi Saito—supposedly—is fiddling with the zipper of his heavy coat and running her tongue over her lower lip while staring up at him from under lowered brows. "So, you figured out a place we can hang out?" she asks him.

"I got some ideas." He catches her hands in his, and squeezes them.

And still you say nothing, even as they turn and glide off toward the front door. Yumi bumps up against Chen as they walk, and he bumps up against her. "Great party," she tosses off over her shoulder at you, and those are the last words from her before she's gone.

* * * * *

"No!" Jessica exclaims when you call her later that evening with the news. "Gangbang Gary?"

"I swear to God!" You pace your bedroom with your cell to your ear, bumping against the walls as you wheel about. "Have you ever heard Yumi say anything about, like, uh—" You grasp for any possible word that wouldn't make you gag. "Being into him?"

"That's not Yumi," Jessica reminds you. "Eva!" she shouts. "You gotta hear this!" To you: "You did say it was Gary Chen she was flirting with, didn't you?"

"Yes! He—"

You break off at the sounds of a struggle on the other end of the line. "Okay, what were you saying?" Jessica gasps. "I'm back."

"We're both back!" That's Eva, and it sounds like both of them are breathing heavily into the phone. "Details!"

So you describe as well as you can remember what happened exactly as it happened: How you followed Yumi into House of Wax to talk some more about the cheerleader scene, and of what she said about the Garners and Lin not really liking Cindy and so not really wanting to get behind her to unseat Chelsea.

But that, even before you can get to Chen's arrival, provokes outraged cries from the other girls.

"Oh, she's so full of shit!" Jessica says, and Eva says, "I never— We never— These girls never said anything against Cindy! She's one of our— One of their friends!"

"They voted for Chelsea when it came time to vote for squad captain," you remind them.

"They were going to vote for Kelsey, but she stomped off in a snit first. And besides, everyone, even Cindy, voted for Chelsea."

"It was only unanimous," Jessica puts in, "because Chelsea was going to win anyway."

"She was only going to win," you put in, "because Eva and Jessica's votes were going to put her over the top. At least, that's what Yumi—the real Yumi—told, uh, Jenny, back when it happened."

"It's still bullshit," Eva insists, but Jessica shushes her. "Gangbang Gary," she says. "Go on with that?"

So you tell the story a second time, emphasizing the flirtiness that Yumi showed with him. "They must have set it up to meet when the party was over," you conclude, "because he knew all about it. He even wished me a happy birthday. I think. Honestly, my head was reeling so hard—"

"When would they have set it up?" Jessica asks.

"No, the question is why!" Eva says.

"That's why I was calling you! Well, to tell you all about it, and to ask, have you ever heard Yumi say anything about liking Gary that way?"

"No," Eva says after a brief pause. "It's totally not like her. It must be Chelsea. Oh, God!" she cries. "You don't think Chelsea has a thing for—"

When you all finish squealing with horror, Jessica says, "Maybe she does have a thing for him. I mean, she's all into Gordon."

"Gordon's captain of the basketball team," Eva retorts. "She has to be into him, it's a professional obligation. But Gary's just ... g'yuuhhh!"

"But some of it's gotta be Yumi herself," you say. "Like you and Hawaiian pizza, right, Carlos? Even if she had a thing for Gary, if Yumi was all repulsed by him—"

"Which she is," Jessica puts in. "She's got to be."

"Then Chelsea wouldn't want to—"

"She can't want to anyway!"

"Well, she's into him some way!"

"But how much is he into her?" Jessica sniggers. "Some way, part way, or all the way up and inside?"

You and Eva both scream.

"Okay, the thing to do," Jessica says when you've all calmed down again, "is to talk to Josiah. He was playing Chelsea, he'll know if—" She breaks off; it sounds like she's trying to stifle the giggles.

"No," you object. "He's not going to want to tell us if Chelsea was, you know."

"Dude! He was telling us what she smelled like! Fingers up her pussy and—"

"Eww! I don't want to hear about it!"

"Well, we'll call him. He was gonna spend the day with Philip. You know, with Maria, we can talk to both of them about it, see what they have to say."

"Call me back," you tell her. "I'll call Cindy and tell her, then tell you what she—"

"What does it matter to her? To Tilley, I mean?"

"What does it mean to any of us?" you retort. "But it's fun!"

With laughter on both sides, you hang up.

Before dialing Cindy's number, though, you pause to peer down at the front of your slacks. Fingers inside and then—?

You shake your head. It's tempting, but you've got a whole night ahead of you to fill.

* * * * *

Cindy, like the Garners, is flabbergasted by the news about Yumi and Gary, but she hasn't anything to say. Nor does Eva when she texts you later on: meet at studio tmrrow to talk, she says. She remains cryptic in the texts that follow, except to say that Philip wants to talk over that and some other stuff. Your guts feel like twisted-up rubber bands as you anticipate the morrow and what you might learn, and it takes a hot bath—and some slow and discreet underwater probing—to relax you enough for bed.

The next morning you have church to get through, and then lunch with your parents—Jenny's dad is a lot more relaxed than yours, but otherwise the Ashtons' Sundays are a lot like the Prescotts', and it's nearly two o'clock before you've shrugged off family duties and can meet your friends inside Carlos's makeshift gym.

"The guys are watching a movie," Jessica says when you ask about the sounds coming from the studio next door. "For their next video. Cocksucker." She jabs Cindy, who is texting on her phone. "You should be in there watching it with them, if you're going to make a video with them."

"What do I need to watch it for?" she retorts without looking up. "I'm just being cast for my tits."

"Where's Deanna?" you ask, for she's the only one of the company not present.

"Not coming," Maria says. "He's got other commitments. But I talked to Josiah. He didn't have anything to say about Chelsea or her, um, crushes. He said he doesn't really remember anything, not anything that Chelsea knew."

"Fuck," Eva snorts. "You saying he didn't get deep enough into her? Bullshit."

"No, he got in deep enough I'm sure," Maria says. "Only the memories seem to have faded. It's an interesting phenomenon, one we'll have to study closer when another one of us moves from their primary beta into their secondary." She gives Cindy a very long look, but Cindy is still preoccupied with her phone.

"How's Yumi dealing with being Chelsea?" you ask.

"Okay, I guess," Maria says. "She was very quiet all Friday afternoon and evening, but she had all her confidence back by yesterday. The memories, you know. Tomorrow should be interesting at practice."

Eva snorts. "It'll be more interesting when she finds out that, um, she is dating Gary Chen."

"And that's what I want us to talk about," Maria says. Her lips whiten as she presses them together. "I think it's a really bad idea for Gary to get involved with her."

"Dur. So what do we do about it?"

Maria hesitates. "We could wait to see if it will end on its own. It doesn't seem like something that should last. It would be interesting to observe as it evolves over its natural lifespan."

"'Its natural lifespan'," Jessica retorts in a mocking simper. "She's gonna get hurt, and it'll be Yumi who—"

"The alternative is to make another switch," Maria says. She looks around. "One of us could take Gary as a second beta."

Next: "Bagging a Thug" 

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