This choice: Take Chelsea's place at the try outs • Go Back...Chapter #38This Chelsea Goes Up To Eleven by: imaj   Kim’s car is parked in a quiet lane five minutes walk from the school as you regard yourself coolly in the rear view mirror. It would not be good for Chelsea Cooper to be seen in Kim Walsh’s car. The thin veneer of her personality that you’ve wrapped yourself in isn’t enthralled by what your about to do, so you let it slip and become Will Prescott in mind again, if not in body. And now you do feel enthusiastic, your borrowed body reacting in ways that original wouldn’t. With a wave of your hand, the soft green eyes, framed in the mirror by loose red hair, become harder and piercing. The hair becomes golden.
You let out an involuntary moan as you slip into Chelsea’s body.
You feel her mind lying inside your own, a boiling cauldron of rage and petty malice. It is at once a terrifying and beautiful thing. Terrifying because of the small minded vindictiveness with which she regards everyone, and beautiful because it is ultimately a reflection of the real thing and at your command. You sink into it, and it feels like slipping into a pile of comfy cushions.
You moan again, this time louder, because if there is one thing that excites Chelsea, it’s plotting someone’s humiliation and downfall, even if it is her own. The real Chelsea is at home in bed right now, too ill to even move. That leaves a Chelsea shaped gap for you to fill at school. The sheer twisted wickedness of it all leaves your new Chelsea persona feeling very, very, aroused.
*****
“That’s an old outfit,” Kendra Saunders sneers as she leans against the changing room locker next to Chelsea’s. Of course, it’s all you were able to steal from the real Chelsea last week.
“Well,” you reply, sneering. Gloria Rea is watching the pair of you intently from the locker opposite. “Some of us are pretty enough to wear last season’s clothes.”
You pause for a second to pull off your top, revealing Chelsea’s ample breasts.
“Those are new clothes aren’t they Kendra,” you ask. Her face goes stony as she catches the implied insult. “It’s really brave of you to choose that shade, I mean especially with your coloring.”
Kendra’s eyes briefly flash with a murderous rage. She walks across to the other side of the room to finish changing silently. Gloria, who by this point has finished changing into her cheerleader outfit, stares at you, her mouth hanging open in shock.
“Close your mouth before something flies into it Gloria,” you say with an insincere smile. “because then you’d have to, like, bring it back up like everything else that goes in there.”
Gloria’s mouth snaps shut and she storms out towards the gym. The rest of the room, mostly the girls trying out for the squad, suddenly becomes a lot more interested in the contents of their bags and lockers. Only Chelsea’s best friend, Maria Vasquez, doesn’t turn away. Instead, she stares at you thoughtfully for a moment.
“Uh, Earth to Maria, Earth to Maria,” you say mockingly. Maria has a reputation as an airhead. “We’ve got try outs to do, we need cheerleaders, not space cadet’s. You are such a ditz girl.”
Everyone is suddenly even more interested in something else. You suppress a smile, because this whole being a bitch thing is much more fun than you imagined it to be. You finish off changing into Chelsea’s cheerleader outfit slowly, taking the time to surreptitiously glance at the remaining girls in the room. It’s almost like a dream come true.
By the time you slip on Chelsea’s sneakers you are alone. Almost alone, a harried looking Michelle Estrich practically tip toes over to you. She keeps on looking round, as if she expects someone to jump out the shadows at any minute.
“Chelsea,” she says quietly. “I need your help.”
“What is it now,” you snap. The real Chelsea keeps Michelle in line using fear, but you think pushing her a little too hard might cause some problems. Fun problems.
“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,” she says defensively. “Please. Please just listen for a minute.”
“I hope you aren’t going to waste my time,” you say. “I don’t want to be looking for three new cheerleaders instead of two.”
“I’m not,” she says, her face going pale. “Oh god, I’m not.”
You listen as she relates her story, full of gaps and misunderstandings as it is: A strange encounter with some unpopular guy who’s name she can’t remember. A conversation that didn’t make sense, even if she could recall who she’d had it with. The odd book lined room in a house that she doesn’t know how to find again, and then nothing, nothing at all, till she woke up in the changing room of a trendy clothes store.
In other words, everything that happened whilst she was under the influence of Keith’s anima.
An unpleasant discovery. You’d assumed that Michelle wouldn’t remember anything that happened while Keith was running he show. Instead she has a shadowy recollection and it’s nothing more than luck that you’ve found this out. You’ll need to fix this later, but with the anima band lying in Blackwell’s library there’s nothing you can do right now.
Or is there, you think. An unpleasant smile spreads across your Chelsea-face.
“Michelle,” you say, leaning into her ear to whisper to her. “I know.”
She leans back from you for a second, her eyes wide with terror as she realises your meaning. Michelle gives a frightened yelp and runs off.
*****
You end up watching the try outs from a high up seat at the side of the gym. The team members had to be ordered to run things down on the floor so you could get ‘a totally better look from up here’. They were reluctant, especially Kendra, Gloria, Maria and Michelle, but having to bitch at them again hardly hurt your plans.
The try outs can be split into three groups. Firstly, there are the girls that Chelsea had already planned to bring into the team: Megan Farris and Kelsey Blankenship. Of course, with access to Chelsea’s memories you know that she had already planned on ditching Kelsey for Kim. Neither girl is trying particularly hard, since you also know that Chelsea told them yesterday that they would get in.
The second group is a random collection of those genuinely trying to get in. You can see Cassie Harper and Beth Tanner on the floor giggling where they’ve tried and failed some complicated feat of gymnastics. Victoria Rodriguez is coolly looking down her nose at the other try outs. You also spot Jenny Ashton chatting to a couple of other girls you don’t recognise. There’s definitely some opportunity for mischief there.
The last group consists of one girl and one girl only: Cindy Vredenburg. The real Chelsea would be raging at Cindy trying to work her way back onto the team. You are more enthusiastic, mainly because you texted Jessica to tell Cindy to come to the try outs last night. That accounts for one of the two places.
The question is, who to put in the other?
“Any thoughts Chelsea,” says Coach Tesla, sitting beside you.
“A few Coach,” you say, trying to ignore the stink of alcohol on the wizened old crone’s breath. “Isn’t it great to see how well Cindy is coming back?”
“Yes,” she replies. Even in her befuddled state, the coach is able to recognise the uncharacteristic about face in Chelsea’s opinion. “Yes, it is. You think she should be back on the team then?”
“Oh, absolutely. I mean, if you think that’s a good idea,” you say demurely.
“Ok…” Tesla says after a pause. “And the other spot?”
Now that is a puzzle, because there are so many opportunities to unsettle the team. Victoria is, not to put to fine a point on it, an utter bitch – her inclusion in the team would upset everyone. Jenny is one of Yumi Saito’s best friends and picking her would alter the balance between Chelsea and her enemies on the team. As for Cassie, well you think Cassie could test the patience of a saint with her incessant chatter. Chelsea, the real Chelsea, would probably explode within days.
So, time for a quick decision, because act two of today’s little masquerade still has to be played out.
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