It is Friday night, and you and Caleb sit before the flaming dirt pile. You found it still ablaze this morning. It looked a bit different than you remembered, like it had melted down making it long and narrow, but there wasn't time to check closely, so you just locked the door and headed off to school.
The day had turned out well when you got the tests back and found you passed both, much better than you expected. After the way you looked yesterday, even Lisa said she was proud and amazed at your recovery. Of course it probably helped that you had run out of clean T-shirts and ratty jeans and were wearing a polo and chinos that weren't wrinkled. The guys wanted to know who were trying to impress or get lucky with, and the girls seemed to be giving you the once and even twice over. Well, at least those not in the upper social levels.
"So, she asked what I was doing this evening," you tell Caleb about your talk with Lisa. "Like an idiot I told her you and I had a project we needed to work tonight. ... DAMN IT!" you curse yourself again which is all you've done since lunch when Lisa talked to you - alone.
"Dude, she is playing you, like I said before. You are just consumed with her. You need to focus elsewhere."
"DAMN! But I don't want to focus elsewhere when what I want is right in front of me."
"You want a flaming pile of melting muck people?"
You backhand his shoulder hard and snap, "You know what I mean."
"Then don't be an ass and call her up right now. Tell her Caleb broke off your date with him because you kept calling her name while we sat together before a romantic fire of ..."
"Too late," you interrupt. "By seventh period she and some girlfriends had already decided to go shopping and maybe hit a movie."
He just shakes his head then squints at the pile, before saying, "Looks like it's melting and changing again."
You stare at it but it's hard to tell, although it does look more than a big blob where one end is now forming into something like a bowling ball and the other is long and flat with a peak at the tip. When you checked after school, it had stretched, and the flame had gone out, so you relit it before going home for dinner. When you and Caleb got back this evening, you could see more of an irregular shape. It is interesting to watch the strange cool, blue flames, but your thoughts are drifting back to what you should do with the knowledge you've gained so far.
"So, if we made a bunch of masks who should we go after so we can pretend to be them?" you broach Caleb again.
"Or get the secrets in their heads and use those against them for fun and profit?" he smirks.
"Or get our asses laid bare and hung on the flagpole for everyone to see after we try that," you counter.
"I still say we do the twins and blackmail them into ..."
"Can you think of anything besides sex with the twins?"
"Sure there's Cindy Vredenburg, actually any of the cheerleaders, and ..."
"What about the Molester? Or the other bullies?" you snap back. "Wouldn't it be better to get them off our ass? You may find Chelsea's group more evil than you think and able to turn the tables so you have to have sex with who they say, and it may not be a chick - or in private."
"OK. So blackmail might not even be the best approach. But how would we use a mask especially if we can't get the real person out of the way?"
That's is a conundrum that has stifled all ideas you had, too. You might be able to impersonate someone for a short period if someone kept watch on the real, but that would be very tricky. You change the subject.
"What about letting Keith in on this? He's the one with good intuition. Maybe he can see a better plan."
"So now we form a group? Maybe make masks of each other and fool our parents and teachers. We could sell or rent them. Soon, we could have half the school in on it. It will spread and eventually the spooks will hear and whisk you and the book and masks away to some lab to be experimented on until they brainwash and release you, if they do."
"He's one guy." you insist. "We've always done stuff together, although we seem to have drifted this year."
"Not as much as Richards. Maybe we should use that one to go scare the shit out of a few folks, starting with Tilley."
"That's exactly why we need him to get some real ideas besides sex, blackmail, and bullying."
You both are quiet for a while, again watching the flames. They're almost hypnotic, and your mind starts drifting seeing Jeremy and Lisa's face in the flames until Caleb's voice brings you back.
"Didn't one of those first spells say you could put multiple faces in a mask that would merge to make a new form?"
"Yeah, I think so," you say picking up the book and looking back at the first spells. "Yep. It refers to creating a new image by placing the mask on multiple faces before adding the stabilizing glop." You look up at him and ask, "What could we do with that?"
"We get the best looking guys and create a super stud or maybe make the perfect girl ..."
You hit him with the book just as the flames go out and your cell goes off.
* * *
Fifteen minutes later you drive up to the mall movie theater, and Lisa and Cassie Harper climb into your truck. Cassie's short, cute and a bit pudgy plus a never-ending talker.
"Thanks so much, Will," Lisa says.
"Brenda just disappeared with the others when we came out of the movie," Cassie adds. "We called but no answer. We went to where she'd parked, but no blue wagon anywhere as we wandered through the lot thinking we had the wrong spot, and after all the previous walking while shopping at ..."
Cassie then proceeds to ramble on at an alarming pace detailing an almost step by step description of the evening at the mall. What stores they went in and what they saw and what they almost bought, how cute, gaudy, stylish, sexy, out of style, etc. You listen politely wondering why she never has to take a breath of air that could allow someone else to get a comment. You're just grateful when you pull up in Lisa's driveway and you all get out so her voice will stop. Unfortunately, Cassie climbs back in as you walk Lisa to the door.
"You don't mind do you, Will, taking Cassie home? Mom's out with the car this evening, or I would."
Of course, you'll take Cassie home. You'd drive the devil to hell for Lisa. You just wish she could see you more than a friend.
"Sure, Lisa. No problem."
"I know Cassie can be a bit intense, and I'll make it up to you for rescuing us, too." She leans over quickly and pecks you on the cheek before dashing through the door saying, "Call me tomorrow."
You float back into the driver's seat and try to make small talk with Cassie for the next ten minutes to her house. It's very small on your part as she keeps going non-stop. When you get there, though, she is much more grateful than Lisa and hugs you affectionately then plants a big kiss right on your lips before going inside. It surprises you, but not as much as your reaction as you walk back to the truck feeling the tightness in the front of your pants.
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author
