Chapter #18Confronting Chelsea by: imaj   “I think he’s Chelsea,” you continue. “It makes sense. Chelsea and Cindy are friends. Lucy used to be cheerleading captain. Chelsea would talk to Lucy, wouldn’t she? So Lucy tricks Chelsea into that big SUV of hers, next thing Chelsea knows she’s trapped in Blackwell’s house.”
“Why Chelsea though,” asks the Umeko golem.
“Isn’t it obvious,” you reply. “Chelsea pretty much has the run of the Westside. She runs the cheerleading squad with an iron fist and she’s got the basketball team sewn up too because she’s got Gordon Black wrapped around her pretty little finger. If Blackwell’s impersonating Chelsea he can use half the school against me.”
“Plus he gets to have a really nice set of boobs,” interrupts the Umeko golem. “What? Boobs are important too. I know I enjoy having them.”
“That’s why she, no scratch that, he, made such a big deal off warning Cassie yesterday. He wants to isolate me, well, Will from everyone else so he can make his move.”
“So what do we do then,” asks the Will golem.
“Well, he doesn’t know about Cassie. That’s something in our favour. In fact he was losing at bit just talking to me.”
“Losing it?”
“Yeah,” you reply. “You know how Cassie can be once she gets started. I was just talking as she would and Chelsea, Blackwell, whatever you want to call him started to get angry. I bet if we make him angry enough he’ll slip up.”
“And how do we do that,” asks the Will golem.
“He wants Cassie to break up with Will, doing the opposite will be a start.”
*****
It’s pleasantly sunny on Tuesday morning so you decide to forgo Cassie’s normal jeans and jumper combination in favour of something a little more revealing: A shortish skirt with a tight fitting jumper. A pair of, what Cassie regards as, cute boots round out the ensemble. You’ve even gone to the effort of applying a little make up and styling your hair properly rather than shoving it into bunches as Cassie normally does in the morning.
In other words, its clear to everyone who watches you bound up behind Will in the car park that Cassie Harper has made an effort this morning.
“Guess who,” you say, jumping on the Will golem’s back. It squawks and falls awkwardly on the ground.
“Ooops,” you giggle, picking yourself up and dusting off your clothes.
“Oh,” groans the golem. “Is that an angel I see before me?”
“Where,” you say, looking right round you. “Oh wait, no. It’s me silly!”
The golem picks itself up and gives you a long, slow kiss.
“Who’s watching,” you whisper in its ear.
“Gloria Rea just saw us and walked into the main building,” it replies. “She didn’t look happy at all.”
“Excellent”
*****
You’re ready when the inevitable happens during lunch period, in the main hall by the lockers. You’re with Beth at the locker she and Cassie share, removing a maths textbook. The hustle and chatter dies down as a shadow falls across the locker.
“Oh hi Chelsea,” you say smiling sweetly as you turn round.
Chelsea stares at you silently, flanked by Gloria Rea and Kendra Saunders. Beth is still standing beside you but that’s more because she can’t escape than anything else. Everybody in the hall has stopped to watch you, to see what happens next.
“I was just thinking about what you said yesterday,” you say in a loud voice. In the silence everybody can hear you. “You know, about who my friends were. I think Beth’s my best friend really, but I kinda like Deanna and Connie too.”
Chelsea holds up her hand, to motion you to stop talking. She turns round and addresses the crowd.
“Nothing to see here folks,” she says smiling. “I’m just going to have a quite chat with my friend Cassie.”
Suddenly people are looking away, at their feet, at anything else.
“I really like Will too,” you begin again before she has the chance to turn round. Before everyone else has a chance to begin talking again. “He’s kind and sweet. He helps me with my maths work which is great because maths kind of sucks and Kowalski is horrible. His friends are pretty cool too. But I don’t think you’re my friend Chelsea.”
If anyone was talking before, they’ve stopped now. Everyone’s attention is fixed on you, out of morbid curiosity if nothing else. Chelsea simply stares at you, unable to believe that someone like Cassie would ever talk to her like that.
“No, you’re definitely not my friend Chelsea, because friends don’t threaten each other. They don’t corner their friends by the lockers because they’re not doing what their told.”
You risk a brief glance up the corridor. At the edge of your vision you spot the Will golem round the corner. Behind him, Principal Sagansky.
“I don’t need to do what you tell me Chelsea,” you finish. “I’ve got my friends and you’re not one of them.”
“Why you little bitch,” hisses Chelsea, finally finding her voice. She slaps you hard across the face and launches herself at you.
*****
Beth and Caleb are waiting for you when you finally exit the Principal’s office some thirty minutes later.
“Ohmygod,” shrieks Beth. “You’re covered in blood.”
“It’s not mine,” you say smiling faintly. “That bitch Cooper’s.”
“Wow,” says Caleb. “Just wow. People are going to be talking about what happened today for years. Years. I’ve never seen Chelsea lose her cool like that.”
“Never mind that,” interrupts Beth. “What did Sagansky say?”
“I’m being sent home. He couldn’t get my Mom on the phone so he left a message.”
“What about Chelsea,” asks Beth quickly.
“Her Mom’s on the way to pick her up now.”
“Wait a minute,” says Caleb. “Chelsea Cooper, the Chelsea Cooper is getting sent home from school?”
“What choice does Sagansky have,” asks Beth. “Half the school, including Sagansky himself saw Chelsea hit Cassie first.”
“Hang on,” you interrupt. “Where’s Will?”
“Um,” says Caleb hesitantly. “Lisa said she had something important to tell him. They went out to the bleachers at the sports field.”
A horrible sensation creeps up the back of your spine.
“Wait here,” you say, running off.
*****
A single solitary figure sits in the stand by the sports field. It doesn’t respond when you wave. It doesn’t respond when you shout. The reason becomes clear as you run closer. Sitting like a statue in the oversized clothes of Will Prescott is the grey granite golem creature that was once the real Cassie Harper.
Oh fuck.
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