The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)

Projects and Projections

Previously: "The Reluctant Friend" 

Rufkm? you text Caleb back Lol.

Then, more seriously: My rents wont let me out n I cant get away also we had a deal I got the money u get the dirt.

It's some minutes before Caleb replies, and then it's with a curt ok followed by a I will do it tmorw nite.

You roll your eyes. You're so transparent! you want to yell at him. If I don't do it tonight I'm not going to do it tomorrow!

Then you switch back to an earlier conversation with Tenille: Should she be trying to hook up with Harrison Bonny or hold out for David Harrell? It's a tricky question, because one of your other friends, Kaitlyn Page, would make a much better match with David if only you could get her to see it ...

* * * * *

"Evie!" It's lucky you just happened to notice her, for she's already walked past you with her lunch try, and she has to turn around at your call. "Come sit here!" You bump Alexandria Hull over to make room next to you at the cafeteria table.

Evie looks back over to where her other friends are waiting before slowly shuffling back over to you. "Hey, thanks again for the ride yesterday," you gush as she settles in beside you. Her knuckles are white as they grip the lunch tray.

You're in your element at lunch, sitting in the middle of the table and flanked by Alexandria at one side and Dana at the other; more friends, like Kaitlyn and Carly and Charles Sweeney are clustered about.

And on the other side of the table? Ethan and some of his friends. Bradley and David Harrell. Johanna Bergstrom. Luke Brock and Kieran Matthews. From your central position you can dart between conversations as you like.

But now you have Evie to concentrate on. "Did you write that extra credit thing for Mr. Fernandez?"

"Don't let Madison see it," Luke warns Evie with a chortle. "She wants to copy it!"

"I do not!"

"You copied mine last time."

"And I only got three out of ten on it! I'm never copying off you again!"

"No, I didn't do the extra credit," Evie murmurs as Luke bursts out laughing.

"Evie's already got, like, a perfect grade in there," David Harrell says.

You whirl on Evie. "You do?" She shrugs and shoves a spoonful of fruit cocktail into her mouth. "How do you know?" you demand of David.

"I worked with her on that moot court thing," he says. "We got an A."

Kaitlyn jumps in from a few seats down. "You did all the work, right?"

"Psh, no. I just helped out. She did all the research 'n stuff."

Out of the corner of your eye you see Kaitlyn's brow lower. Kaitlyn, like Leslie Osbourne, is a hard-charging AP type, and even dresses like a junior-achiever CEO, in dark shirts and pants, heeled boots, and hair in a severe braid, and she would probably run Evie over with an SUV if she saw extra credit points in it. Before you can leap in to change the subject, David adds, "She got her partner an A in French when we had to do a skit."

"You guys have French together too?" you ask.

"And Geometry," David tips back his carton of milk, and his eyes twinkle mischievously as he gazes at Evie.

"Oh my God!" You wheel on Evie. "You need to join our study group! What science class are you taking?"

"AP Biology," David says, continuing to answer for the girl. "Next period. We have that one together too."

"Wow!" You drop a hand to gently pat Evie's thigh. "We should all get together for a study group again. How about tonight? David? Can you hang out?"

"Sure." He leans around Ethan to smack Darrell Jackson in the shoulder. "Party at Madison's tonight."

"I heard," Darrell says, squirting applesauce out his mouth as he says it.

You lean in to hiss in Evie's ear: "Bring anyone you want. Any of your friends. Paulina for sure!"

Evie nods, and resumes bolting down her food.

* * * * *

"—so I'm like, my God, Evie! Do I have to grab you by the scruff of the neck and rub your face in his shirt to get you to see that he likes you?"

Caleb only grunts as he snips off a lock of his hair. "Do I just throw it on the pile?"

"I guess. Anyway, maybe it's a good thing she's so oblivious about David. I already got too many friends chasing him to manage. Wait. How many tablespoons of this stuff did I already put in?" You freeze with the heaping measuring spoon hovering over the dirt pile.

It's Saturday afternoon, a little after four, and you and Caleb are back in the elementary school basement, finally putting together the next spell. You found bags and bags of cemetery dirt waiting when you arrived a little over an hour ago—the dirt that Caleb collected last night while you were hosting a small, quick-and-dirty party at your place. You've been telling him about it ever since he got here.

Not that you haven't executed your part of the deal. You spent the morning and early afternoon running around town buying a lot of chemicals and liquids and powders with half the money you collected at school. After Caleb joined you, you laid the open book on the floor, covered it with the dirt, and have been adding everything else the spell calls for.

And maybe too much of it. "Caleb," you repeat as your friend rummages through the last shopping bag. "How many tablespoons of this stuff did I put in?"

"I dunno, man. I thought you were paying attention. I know I wasn't. I ain't been paying attention to you for the last hour at least."

"Oh well, a little more won't hurt," you say, and dump the spoonful onto the pile."Wait, what do you mean you haven't been paying—?"

"Don't put anymore of that stuff on, okay?" Caleb interrupts as he measures out a length of igniter cord, which he made a point of going out and buying himself. "We got enough shit in the pile already to take down this whole building if this goes pear shaped."

"It's not going to explode," you retort. "The book wouldn't— Well, hang on." You frown at the pile. "Maybe we should be doing this outside."

"Too late now," Caleb says as he snips off the cord. "Besides, I kind of want to blow this place up. It'll put a stop to your shenanigans."

"My shenanigans? You're the one who— Hang on there." You interrupt yourself as Caleb shoves one end of the cord into the pile. "I still gotta add—" You grab up the last jug of fluid that the spell calls for, pour out two cups of it, and dribble it over the pile. "Okay, I think that's all."

"Good. Got your phone ready?" Caleb lifts the other end of the cord and holds a lighter to it. "Go."

You hit the stopwatch as he drops the fizzing cord, and together you run up the stairs and out to his car. Your heart is beating hard as he peels out and up the street to park two blocks away. You anxiously split your gaze between the stopwatch and the tree line, where in twenty seconds ...

Nineteen seconds ...

Eighteen seconds ...

... you are half-expecting to see the roof of the old school levitate atop a bloom of flame and smoke.

The timer hits zero. Nothing happens. For another thirty seconds, and then for another thirty after that, you and Caleb wait in the silent afternoon.

"Maybe it's okay," you say as the silence continues.

"Maybe the fuse went out," Caleb retorts. Slowly he drives around the block and approaches the school from another angle. It appears to be intact.

The basement is filled with an eerie purple glow when you re-enter. Ghostly flames envelope the dirt pile. You and Caleb exchange a glance, then hurry forward. Though the flames dance and lick the roof, they give off no heat. Caleb lets out a low whistle. "I wouldn't have expected this, given all we dumped in it."

"Toldja it would work," you gloat. "So now I guess we wait for it to burn its way through all that stuff."

"And how long will that take?"

You glance at the instructions you scribbled onto a sheet of notebook paper. "I forgot to write it down."

"You're such an airhead."

"I'm not an airhead! And that's sexist!"

"You were an airhead long before you gave yourself a set of jugs, Will."

"I'm gonna kick you in the balls!" You toss your hair back. "So anyway, I guess we'll just have to wait. I do remember it saying something about how you have to relight it if it goes out. Keep relighting it until it won't relight anymore."

Caleb lets out deep sigh and hoists himself onto the long, heavy conference table you had to shift to make room for the experiment. After a pause, you join him. "But anyway, like I was saying, I don't know what to do about Evie and David. I mean, I guess I could just let him make a move and if she doesn't want to, you know— Hey, where are you going?" you demand as he leaps to his feet and bolts for the stairs.

"Home, man. I got better things to do than hang out here watching dirt burn. Call me when it's done. Or, I dunno, take care of it yourself." Before you can haul your jaw back into place, he's gone.

Well! I guess he didn't want to hear the gossip about my new friends! you think. That's okay, you can just go hang out with them.

But you want to keep an eye on this fire. Even if it is going to get lonely.

Then you think: Why does it have to be lonely, when I can invite Evie to come out and join me.

Or Paulina. She skipped the party last night, and you're getting the feeling that she's trying to avoid you.

Next: "The Curious Miss Cummings" 

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