The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

It's Like Marking Your Territory

Previously: "Some Things That Yumi Can Do With Her Mouth" 

You text Chen's mom to tell her you'll be spending the night with David Kirkham. And because that's something Chen often does, you send the Jeep spinning off to his place without waiting for permission.

* * * * *

"Fuck you, man, you didn't."

Those are the first words out of Kirkham's mouth when you shove in through his door. You give him a long, slow wink as you strut past, and a sharkish smile.

"Wasn't even my idea," you brag as you head for his kitchen. "I mean, sure, it was. But I didn't even have time to suggest it. Almost the first thing out of her mouth was, 'D'ju bring the condoms'?"

"Psh!"

You yank the refrigerator open and study its guts. They're between leftovers, it looks like, so you grab an apple from the crisper. Well, fuck it, it's better for you anyway than the casserole-like dishes his (single) mother typically leaves for him and his little brother.

"We went out to Panera—" you start.

"Fuck!" Kirkham sniggers.

"Fuck you, I let her pick, it put her in a good mood. She had rabbit food and I had a sandwich and then we went out to the river. Had it to ourselves. So when she pulled down my pants and blew me, there wasn't no—"

"Oh, psh!" Kirkham flings his hands at you. "If you're gonna fuckin' lie, man, either make it good or make it believable!"

"Oh, it was good, motherfucker, it—"

"Fuckin' penetration." He jams a stiff index finger into a closed fist. "Penetration or it don't count."

"Oh, it counts—"

"An' I don't believe it either. Shit. Yumi Saito? You've sucked at least twice as much cock as she has."

You freeze, the apple almost to your mouth, and coldly calculate the likely ramifications of hurling it into his face. He might take it and just curse you back. But he might also throw himself onto you.

You settle for taking a hard bite while daunting him with your gaze. "Well, then, I guess I'm the first stud she ever blew," you tell Kirkham in your quietest voice. "'Cos I ain't never sucked cock."

He grimaces at the floor, and kicks at it. "Still, if that's all you did," he sneers.

"No, I gave her some back with interest. We spent—"

"Queer!"

You cock your head. "The fuck is queer about putting my tongue up her cunny?" He shrugs. "Look, if you don't want me braggin' about it, wha'd you ask me out here to spend the night for? You knew I was gonna—"

"I thought you was gonna come crying to me," he says. "About how she kept her coat on, her knees together, and her lips glued shut."

"Well, thanks for trying to be a pal. No, fuck you! Or fuckin' try the other play, motherfucker, the fuckin' play where you're fuckin' happy your fuckin' friend fuckin' nailed a fuckin' cheerleader!"

He rolls his eyes. "'Cept if it was a blow job, then you didn't nail her. Technically."

"Oh, eat a dick. Here, eat my dick." You yank down your zipper. "You don't believe me?" you continue as you root around in your underwear. "Suck me off, you can probably still taste her lip gloss on my cock."

He looks away and kicks at the floor some more. "Put it away, man," he says as you flap Gary Chen's dick at him. "I believe you. And fuck it, yeah, I'm happy for you."

"Thanks." You tuck yourself back in. "I'll see if—"

You break off as he treads up up to you, and throws his arms around you in a manly hug. You stiffen—Gary Chen is no more of a hugger than you are—then clap him on the back a couple of times.

But Kirkham tightens his hold on you. He forces you back a couple of steps. Alarm bells start to go off in your head as he pushes you up against the counter.

Then he hikes himself up, hanging off your shoulder, and looks into your face. His lips part.

And slowly, he searches for your mouth with his.

He's able, leech-like, to suck one slimy kiss off your cheekbone before you succeed in hurling him off.

* * * * *

Chen's homework is all done, so it doesn't matter that it's back at his house. You camp out in Kirkham's bedroom, talking dirty and looking at porn on his computer and spinning up elaborate fantasies about which other cheerleaders you and he would like to take and how you would take them.

In other words, not much different from the stuff you and Caleb would do together, only with a heavier threat of violence behind it.

David Kirkham, like Gary Chen, is on the small side, and like Chen he makes up in compact muscle and quick, hard reflexes what he lacks in height and mass. The two have been friends since middle-school, when each of them (being small for their ages even back then) found themselves on the end of some bullying. Both bonded over it, and over their joint determination to stop the bullying on their own terms; and both of them now prowl Westside High with a reputation for hair-trigger tempers and a near-lethal capacity to inflict pain.

Several times during the night you catch yourself eyeing him sidelong, and wondering what his reaction would be if he knew that his best friend, under a disguise, is the kind of rabbitty cuck they both despise.

* * * * *

Kirkham's in the shower when you wake the next morning. You quickly heave yourself out of the sleeping bag and shove yourself inside your old clothes, texting him that you'll see him at school. You stop off at home first—only long enough to get your books—then grab a donut and some coffee as you race to Westside.

Yumi isn't at her locker when you arrive, and after loitering nervously there you text to see where she is. But she doesn't reply before the first bell, and your nerves are jangling with alarm as you head to English. When that class is over, you practically fly out to the gym to look for her.

She comes out alone, trailing Kendra Saunders and Gloria Rea. There's a puffiness about her eyes, and when she sees you she does a double take. You think for a moment that she's about to pass you by. Instead, after a tiny hesitation, she flings herself at you, embracing you in a tight hug. You hug her back.

As you hold her, you get to look Jessica and Eva Garner and Maria Vasquez squarely in the face as they stride out. They give you brief, flickering glances before turning with grimly set mouths toward the main building.

Yumi lifts her head to gaze at you. "What lunch did you say you have?"

"Fourth."

She bites her lip. "Can you skip fifth? I don't feel like eating with my friends today."

She doesn't have much to say, though, when you hook up with her then. She just curls up very close and holds you. But she does insist on eating out on the front quad where everyone can see you together, including Jessica Garner, who is eating with Jenny Ashton and her gang. They ignore you, though, and you ignore them. You and Yumi walk together to math class; part for seventh; then reconnect in Orchestra, where it's Eva Garner's turn to ignore you, even though she and you and Yumi are all in the viola section.

Never do you let Yumi see your phone, and the text from Maria Vasquez, requesting that you meet her and the others up at the storage complex after school.

* * * * *

"How the fuck can you eat so much without getting fat?" Jessica Garner sneers.

You shove another forkful of fried rice into your mouth. "How the fuck can you suck down so much cum without spewing up?" you retort. "I'm askin' you, Montoya, not Jessica."

She shows you her teeth.

You were late to the meeting because you stopped by Chen's aunt's restaurant for takeout, which you're wolfing down now. But Maria is late too, so it's you and the Garner girls hissing at each other until she arrives. Jessica and Eva don't question the evolution of your plans, but Maria does, as soon as she steps in the door. "When will you be ready to switch out of Gary's mask?" she asks without preamble.

"Not," you reply. "I'm'a stay here. Best for everyone."

Startled looks from Eva and Jessica. Maria says, "Not for Yumi."

"Yes for Yumi." You look up at her from under your brows.

"Why?"

You set the box of rice down on the desk. "Because I been talkin' to her, you know, between blow jobs," you explain, "and this is our best play. Dunno if it's Chelsea's personality or if she's got a plan, but it's pretty clear she wants to go out with a dangerous guy. She came on to Chen because he's dangerous. And if he breaks up with her, she'll just latch onto some'n else. Latch onto Kirkham, onto Mendoza, maybe onto Josh Call if she really wants a psycho for a boyfriend.

"And what then?" You give each girl a long look in turn. "Do we turn ourselves into the new fuckers, break them up with her? Go down the line like a bunch of assholes? Uh-uh." You pick the box of rice back up and fluff it with your fork. "Simplest that I stick to her ass as Chen. Don't worry, I'll treat her right. Her and her ass," you add as you jam another forkful of rice into your mouth.

You munch and gulp into the ensuing silence. Then Maria says, softly, "I bet she'd rather date Gordon instead."

"Whazzat s'posed to mean?" you shoot back.

She smiles in a way that gives you a chill.

"I mean, if she's going to date a 'dangerous guy'—and Gordon's plenty dangerous—she'd probably rather it be her old boyfriend. She'd drop you in a nanosecond for Gordon, Gary. And Will, wouldn't you rather be the captain of the basketball team? The team that's going to State this year?"

Next: "Protecting Your Interests" 

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