Chapter #15The Blitz by: Seuzz   It's already evening, so there's no time to go out and get any supplies. In fact, now that you think about it, going out to get supplies might be hard. Cindy hasn't a car of her own, and usually has to rely on Seth or her sister, Lucy, for rides. Tonight you're in her dad's car, and that's only because it's Sunday night and he doesn't need it.
So, soon after getting home you stick your head into Lucy's bedroom. "Can I borrow your car tomorrow afternoon," you mousily ask.
Lucy closes her laptop and frowns at you. "What's wrong with Seth's car," she asks without bothering to hide her disdain.
"I just need to run some errands. I'd only need it for a few hours."
"I said, What's wrong with Seth's car?"
"Well, what's wrong with yours," you grumble.
Wrong question. "Nothing," she snaps. "Except I need it. Ask Dad for his, if a blow job won't get you Seth's."
You wince: Lucy can't stand Cindy's boyfriend, and it was a mistake for Cindy to get Lucy to start buying condoms for her. "What do you need it for that you can't loan it to me?"
"It's my car, so I don't need a reason," she snaps. "But since you want to know, I'm taking a short road trip, starting tomorrow."
"Don't you have classes?"
"It's for a class!" She's very red in the face by now. "My work study professor is sending me and another girl out of town to do some research."
"Like an archaeological dig? Okay, sorry, I just thought I'd ask. Jeezy Lu-eezy, Lucy." You close the door against her glare.
In your own bedroom you clear a space off the desk and set out the book. You flip past the first page, with its metamorphosing faces under the title page (Libra Personae) and turn to the first spell. You snap open a pen and start to copy down a list of ingredients into a notebook.
The pen runs dry, leaving only blotchy creases across the page. Same thing happens with another pen. The mechanical pencil keeps breaking. In frustration, you start typing into your computer, but the word processing program crashes, and crashes again.
You delicately scratch an eyebrow. Chelsea had mentioned something about not having any luck copying anything from the book, but you'd put that down to her general taffy-headedness. Now you're inclined to think some kind of magic protects the book from being copied.
But you're able to get a translation program working long enough to get the words translated into English, and the book seemingly doesn't object to your making an English version of the shopping list. You also get down, in scratchy form, a précis of the techniques needed to put them together.
But then there's the sigil. It's an intricate design composed of smaller interlocking designs, and all the ingredients are supposed to be put inside it when casting the spell. You and Chelsea have been using the sigils in the book, because it would be just too much of a pain to copy them. If the book doesn't want you copying ingredients, there is no way it will let you copy the sigils. But nothing ventured, nothing gained, so they say, and you'll need copies of them if you're to make masks after Chelsea has reclaimed the book.
Not that you have a firm plan in mind. You just don't like Chelsea having a monopoly on pawns. Maybe Seth would make a good pawn, if he's going to be getting access to the fuck room now. Or one of Chelsea's own close friends, like Maria. Chelsea had suggested you replace one of them.
To your immense surprise, the previously busted pens come to life again as you trace out the sigil in a large sketchbook. You're careful not to jinx it by congratulating yourself, and diligently work for long hours. The lines seem to flow smoothly and naturally, with no need of correction, out of your pen ...
* * * * *
"Oh God, he's wearing that t-shirt that lets you see his bellybutton," Gracie McGraw gasps. "I bet you could bounce quarters off that thing." Sophia Wilson nudges her, and Gracie blushes. "Sorry, Cindy, I--"
"It's okay," you smile, after turning to see Seth Javits approaching. "My boyfriend is sexy." You slip a slim arm around his waist as he steps up and press a palm against his six-pack--voted sexiest in the junior class last year!
"Yeah," he says absent-mindedly. "Can I talk to you alone?"
"Anything you want. I'll get that homework back to you before second period," you call to Sophia as you walk off with Seth.
He's quiet until he's got you by a deserted corner of the main building. "Um, listen," he says. "We're gonna have to, uh, stop seeing each other. For a little while."
"What do you mean?" You frown, even though you're sure exactly what he means. Chelsea got her pawns to move fast.
"Team building exercise," he says brusquely. "Gordon and Steve. They, uh, they want me to, kind of, cut back on social activities."
You arch your eyebrows. "What kind of bullshit is this?"
"It's not--!" He looks over your head and around the quad. "Look, it's just temporary. To show that I'm, you know-- Loyal."
You drop your hand from his hip. "You're just going to let them push you around?"
"Well, sometimes you gotta give things up, you know, temporarily, in order to get ahead."
You stare at him. His cheeks have paled, but red spots show in them. "Well, I guess we can stop seeing quite so much of each other."
"If anybody asks," he says bluntly. "We broke up."
Cindy's persona closes around yours. "Well, are we breaking up or aren't we," you shriek.
He winces so hard it looks like it hurts. "No, we're still together." He tries brushing your shoulders, but you push his hands away. "Come on, we just have to pretend."
"Oh, I'm really good at pretending, if you want me to pretend," you hiss. "I can't believe you're--"
"Don't make this hard." His face tightens into a glare. "Like I said, we just ... pretend."
A tremble of anger runs through your slim body. "Okay, Seth, we'll pretend, Totally and absolutely." You shove him as hard as you can, which is only enough to force him back a step. "Go fuck yourself. Go fuck yourself, and go fuck Gordon and Steve while you're at it. Asshole!"
You swing around and stalk away. "Cindy!" he calls, but you flip him off. Not daintily either.
* * * * *
"It's Chelsea," Lin Pol says meaningfully. "Honestly, Cindy, you shouldn't have kept getting all up in her face and everything."
Yumi Saito puts her arm around you and gives Lin a dirty look. "You can't seriously blame this on Cindy."
"No, the blame is Chelsea's, totally," Lin says serenely. "I'm just saying why she did it."
"She did it because she's a cunt," you say. "A jealous, insecure, no talent, two left-footed ..." You sputter to a halt.
Lin glances around with a faint smile. It's lunch, and the three of you are sitting out on the grass while knots of students walk past, many of them furtively eyeing you three good-looking cheerleaders. "Point taken, but you gotta credit her with cunning. Like you could any snake," she hastily adds as you glare at her.
"We should hide a mongoose in her gym locker," Yumi giggles.
Lin leans close. "Don't let her get in your head, Cindy. That's what she's trying to do. Get you all messed up inside, so you'll start screwing up. She can't kick you off the squad. You're too good. But if she can make you miserable enough to quit, or at least ruin your concentration--"
"Oooh, I bet you're right," Yumi exclaims. "Sneaky."
"Ultra sneaky," Lin says. Her eyes drift upward, thoughtfully. "Chelsea can count. Most of us hate her. She's only got three solid allies on the team. If she gets rid of you, she can add another. Then if she can keep Michelle in line--or scare her off the squad--she's got a majority, and no one can touch her."
Lin and Yumi continue talking, but you stop paying close attention.
There is something in what Lin says. Chelsea, Maria, Gloria Rea and Kendra Saunders form a solid block of four out of the ten members. Michelle Estrich would be a weak fifth supporter. By sticking you in for Cindy, she's got the six she needs for a majority. She might tell you that she wants you to quit, but you doubt it; she's counting on you being a spy, and Cindy's disgruntlement over Seth would give you the perfect cover as a double agent.
"Someone on the swim team," Yumi is saying, which jerks you back briefly into the conversation. "That's where she found Michelle. Christine Coolidge, maybe?"
"Yeah, Christine hasn't got a spine. A bust, but no spine. Maybe Jamie Bornholm."
Well, what if Chelsea did get a new ally--but an ally who's actually under your control, you muse to yourself. What if one of her friends quit, and you talked her into putting Christine or Jamie on the team--after you'd secretly enslaved them? She'd be down to three sure votes without realizing it. A quick coup, instigated by Yumi and Lin and the Garner twins--something to make you the cheerleading captain, but without your fingerprints on it?
A coup would be much trickier than just putting a spy on her, but much more gratifying.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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