The Book of Masks (Vol. 4)

A Bitch Slap

Previously: "Theater of the Absurd" 

The hell? you wonder. You didn't even know it was possible to send anonymous texts to people. Not until you've hit the link do you think, Shit, I probably shouldn't have touched that.

It looks okay, though, other than the fact that it's taken you to x2z.com, the shittiest social media site ever created. It's like a cross between Instagram and Twitter, where you can post threads of images, memes, short videos, and tiny bursts of text. You can do it anonymously, too, and anyone can jump in reply to anyone else's threads. There's a lot of competition to see who can launch and maintain the longest-running and most active threads.

Or so you've heard. You tend to stay away far away from it. The company encourages micro-communities to form and self-select inside its larger ecosystem, and Westside High is one of the places that has its own x2z domain. From all you've heard, whs.x2z makes the school itself seem like a church social.

It's a new thread that you've been tagged in, and when you scroll back you find that it was started by Cindy Vredenburg: Tag! You're Cursed! Pass It On! It sounds exactly like something Cindy would be into. You're only surprised to see that she "cursed" Jessica Garner, who you thought was her friend. Jessica has cursed Michael Hollister, who cursed Philip Fairfax, who cursed Eva Garner, who cursed Josiah Shank, who cursed ... you? What did you ever do to Josiah Shank?

Okay, it must be a friendly tease. After hunting around, you determine that the way to "curse" someone is by tagging them with their x2z handle.

Wait. You scroll around. Do I even have an x2z handle? Apparently you do— willmprescott.whs@x2z—even though you don't remember making an account.

Almost you put your phone back down, but you're irked enough that you text Eva to ask about it: Hey how cm I got cursed?

It's five minutes before she replies: ??

Josiah shank cursed me a x2z.

Lol just a game Will who u curse?

Dont know how, you lie.

Whats there x2z name?

Dont know havemt pickd somon

A minute later she texts back: Give me name n I'll find thm.

You snort to yourself. This is so stupid. U.

Lol. Cant curse me or anyone alredy cursd.

You roll your eyes. You're a little spun up anyway, and there's some girls you wouldn't mind "cursing." It might even make you feel better.

Next: "Cursed!" 

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