Chapter #22Some Mind-Altering Possibilities by: Seuzz   "I know it's not exactly a democracy here," you say brightly to the other three. "But I think it'd be a lot nicer if we all just kind of talked about things, out in the open. Like you know, if you have any ideas about what we should do next. Whatever your opinion, I'd like to hear it." You punctuate this shiny speech with a cheery nod.
Gordon looks at you queerly. Jeremy and Eva look at each other and back at you uncertainly. "Should we bring Jessica out here too," Eva asks sullenly. "Does she get a vote?"
"Eva, honey," you reply sweetly. "I'm being very nice, a hell of a lot nicer than I was going to be only fifteen minutes ago. Be my friend."
Eva blinks and suddenly looks very thoughtful and attentive.
"If you're asking about who your next victim should be, I'd still vote for Seth," Jeremy says. He glances back up at Gordon, who stands behind him.
You turn to Gordon. "What do you think?"
"It's a thought," he says. "But I was going to convert Patterson, tomorrow probably, and we've already got Richards. I'm not sure we need another basketball player."
"I don't know if you want another cheerleader, but Yumi Saito is someone to keep an eye on," Eva says. You and Gordon swing your heads toward her in surprise. Her eyes are very bright and her tone eager. "I don't know if you know it, but she's always dishing dirt on us with that other crowd of hers."
"Who's 'us'?" you ask her guardedly, though you know the answer.
"Well, on you, I guess," Eva replies. "You know how she's always passing on shit about Jenny Ashton and her friends? Well, she's doing the same thing in reverse. She's really two-faced."
Having just vacated Eva, you know all about Yumi's duplicity, though you'd paid it no mind.
"Why are you telling me this?"
She looks hurt. "Loyalty, I guess," she says. "Being a friend?"
You and Gordon exchange glances. "Suppose we didn't want any more cheerleaders," you ask Eva. "Who do you think we should recruit?"
She thinks a bit, and then her eyes light up. "Kim Walsh? She's student council president and everyone likes and trusts her. I mean, if you're looking for people with influence. Or how about Meghan Farris? She seems like she's really ambitious to make a social splash. She's planning on giving a big party in a few weeks, you know."
This too is old news to you—they are names you'd toyed with while inside Eva herself—but the golem's sudden eagerness to volunteer new victims takes you by surprise.
"Those are really good ideas," you tell her, grabbing her hand and giving it an affectionate squeeze. "Right now, though, this is all I want you to do. Defend me to all your friends. Talk about how nice this meeting was and how I was so sweet. Stick up for me in all the arguments. Can you do that?"
"Sure!" she exclaims. The two of you stand and hug each other tightly. "I'm so glad we had this talk, Chelsea," she says. Soon after, you send her and Jeremy on their way.
"That was pretty fucking wild," Caleb says after they're gone. "Way for her to turn on a dime."
"I think it was because I told her to be my friend," you say. "Golems have to do what you say. But to have that kind of attitude change. Yeah, wild."
"I wonder if you could give someone a total psychological makeover," Caleb says.
"I don't think it'd be a good idea to find out," you reply. "Maybe with the right, uh, test subject we could experiment. But the idea now is to turn people into puppets, right?"
"Sure," he says. But he stares thoughtfully into the distance.
* * * * *
The Eva-golem is as good as her word, even to the point of getting into a harsh argument with her own sister at practice the next day. "Jessica" is still trying to make trouble for you, and Eva rounds on her energetically. The confrontation is so unnerving that you even step in yourself to stop it. Afterward you ostentatiously take Eva aside to show yourself thanking her, and you make a point of telling your own toadies—Kendra Saunders, Gloria Rea, and Maria Vasquez—that you think you must have misjudged Eva for all these years. To your annoyance, they are subdued. Jealousy?
Whatever incipient drama is brewing there, though, is driven into the background by the pre-lunch explosion between Jason Lynch and Charles Hartlein: the captain of the baseball team and the president of the drama club. Naturally, it's the subject of conversation at the AAA table at lunch time, where Chelsea and Gordon hold court.
"Takes big balls to call Jason a fag to his face," Dalton Douglas laughs.
"Not so much," Gordon retorts. "Patterson calls him a fag all the time." That gets a laugh and even a half-smile from Patterson himself.
"Is that why Jason's not here?" you ask, looking around with a frown.
"Sagansky hauled him away," Seth Javits says. "He was close by when it happened. Saw Lynch knock the cocksucker to the ground."
"Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen," Lin Pol says quietly.
"What do you mean," you ask her.
She shrugs a shoulder. "Gay-baiting or something like that."
"That doesn't make any sense," Gordon snaps.
"If Jason punched Charles because he's gay—"
"Faggot started it," Seth says. "He's the one that called Lynch a homo."
"I didn't say it was right," the miserable Lin replies. "I guess a ... a homo can call another guy a homo and it can't be gay-baiting because, you know, the guy who said it is himself gay."
"Too many queers in this school," Seth says, his eyes smoldering.
"Who do you know who's queer, Javits?" Douglas demands. "I mean, besides Hartlein and you and Richards?"
Seth's lips twitch, but he has the good sense to look over at Gordon for permission to respond. Gordon looks over his tablemates' heads at the lunch line. "Douglas," he says casually, "I'm in the mood for a creampuff. Take your shirt off and go get me some dessert."
Douglas sinks low in his seat, and conversation lapses for a while. Which is fine with you, because wheels have been spinning in your head.
* * * * *
The sequel comes after lunch when Kim Walsh catches you in hallways and pulls you aside.
"I guess you heard about Jason Lynch and Charles Hartlein," she says. She looks very nervous, even after you nod your head. "The thing is, Chelsea, Sagansky's really pissed off about it. About lots of things that Jason's been in the middle of." She shifts from foot to foot and won't look you in the face. "You and Gordon, you have some influence over him, and it would be kind of nice if—"
"Believe it or not, we're on the same page," you tell her quietly. "What Jason did was totally uncalled for, and I told Gordon too." It's all a lie, but a convenient one. For her part, Kim looks startled. "You don't have to say anything more. I'll see that it gets taken care of."
Kim's expression combines relief, astonishment, and ghastly fear; no one likes to hear Chelsea say that something will be "taken care of." But she stammers out her gratitude.
"Can you do one thing for me, really important?" you ask her. "Tell Charles I want to talk to him tonight. My house, at five-thirty."
"What for?" she asks you guardedly.
"My own apologies," you say. "To talk to him about the whole thing. Make sure he knows that I take it seriously. And I do take it seriously." Kim's affirmative reply is tentative, but you're sure she can persuade Hartlein to make the requested visit.
* * * * *
"You're sure Jason is gay?"
Hartlein rolls his eyes. "He can fool himself but he can't fool me. You can tell he's totally in love your boyfriend, for a start."
You glance over at Gordon; he shifts uneasily on the bed. Beside him, Patterson snorts. "I always thought there was something funny about the guy."
"Alright, we're done here," you tell Hartlein. "But I want a report from you every day, about what you've heard or seen. Anything that's interesting." He gives you an impudent little Nazi salute, which you ignore. "Also, I want a big report on all the really dirty stuff you know about. Like who else at the school is gay or anything like that."
"There's a club of cross-dressers," he smirks. "Some pretty surprising people."
"Excellent," you smile. "Set up a new email account for yourself, something without your name. I don't want anyone knowing you're emailing me stuff." When he repeats the salute you toy briefly with changing his attitude like you changed Eva's, but hold back. At your wave of dismissal he exits, his shoulders angled insolently.
"Glad he's your bitch," Gordon says. "I like mine better." Playfully he strokes Patterson's thigh. Steve makes a face but keeps still.
"He'll be awesome as a spy," you reflect aloud. "He'll know who we should recruit over on the seamier side. But I'm wondering if we should do more with him?"
"Like what?"
You don't answer. The day's drama has got you thinking that Westside really is gay-unfriendly. That doesn't bother you per se ... but the mischievous side wonders how much fun it would be if you tried making it very gay friendly instead.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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