Chapter #14You, Me & Yumi by: imaj   The way Chelsea was talking about Cindy suggests that it wouldn’t be much fun to be her. It’s unfair on Yumi, who alone amongst the cheerleading team has been friendly towards you, but it’s you or her. You feel a little guilty, but only a little.
“Yumi,” you eventually say unhappily.
“Oh, good choice Will,” says Chelsea brightly. “I knew you would make a good choice, I remember saying exactly that to Gordon: ‘Will will make the right choice’. Don’t you think that’s a good choice Gordon?”
“Yes Chelsea,” replies the golem, its voice devoid of emotion.
“Then once we hook up Yumi and Steve, it will be just our little club up here. You’ll need to get rid of that idiot Jason though Gordon.”
“Yes Chelsea.”
“I’m getting sick of this,” says Chelsea, stamping her foot. She turns and points an accusatory finger at the golem. “It’s all ‘Yes Chelsea’, ‘Yes Chelsea’. Is it all you can say?”
“No Chelsea,” says the golem. Its face remains stonily impassive.
Chelsea stares at the golem for a few seconds, trying to work out if she’s just been cheeked by it. “Don’t you have somewhere else to be,” she eventually says.
“No Chelsea,”
“That wasn’t a question Gordon…”
“Yes it was Chelsea,” interrupts the Golem.
“It was an instruction,” she continues smoothly, ignoring the interruption. “Find somewhere else to be. Now.”
The golem stomps off, still betraying no emotion.
“Honestly, I don’t know what’s gotten into him,” says Chelsea with exasperation after the golem has gone. “You’d think if he had to do everything I said he would be a little bit more co-operative. It’s like I have to hold his hand for everything. At this rate I’ll need to remind him to breathe by the end of the week.”
“Maybe that’s the problem,” you suggest tactfully. “I mean he’s acting a bit weird and everybody is noticing. If you told him to be himself he could just get on with things and you’d only need to give him instructions every so often.”
“Ooooh,” coos Chelsea. “That is a good idea Will. I’m glad you’re helping me out on this one. Like I’m helping you to be more popular and you’re helping me with all this magic weirdness. Let’s see if that works with Steve.”
Chelsea sweeps past you and grabs a mask from the top of a crate. She drops it onto the flinty grey face of the Patterson golem. Colour bleeds back into it and it props itself up and looks around woozily. It seems uncharacteristically uncertain as it spots Chelsea kneeling down beside it.
“Hi Steve,” she says, smiling like a shark.
The golem looks around the room, trying to get its bearings, trying to work out what is going on. “Chelsea,” it eventually replies guardedly.
“You have to do what I say, don’t you,” she asks it sweetly. You don’t know Chelsea that well but you suspect it’s not a good sign when she talks like that, a suspicion confirmed by the look on the Patterson golem’s face.
“Uh… Yeah,” it admits unhappily.
“Good,” says Chelsea. “You can just behave like you normally do, but if I ask you to do something, you have to do it.”
“I’ll have to live with that,” it says gloomily. Desperate to change the subject it points at you. “Who’s this loser and what’s he doing here? If I’m going to do what you asked I’ll need to get Gordon and give him a special welcome.”
You gulp.
“Gordon’s busy,” snaps Chelsea. “And there’ll be no ‘special’ welcomes for anyone I invite up here. Don’t look at me like that. It’s not like that at all. Will’s just helping me with things. You won’t be seeing him up here again after tonight anyway.”
“If you say so,” the golem acquiesces. The look on its face that next time you meet it, without Chelsea to tell it otherwise, it will not be so pleasant. You pray that will be after you make your swap with Yumi.
“Now,” says Chelsea, her expression brightening considerably. “What do you think of Yumi?”
“Yumi,” repeats the golem, puzzled.
“You know, Yumi Saito,” explains Chelsea impatiently. “The little Chinese…”
“Japanese,” you interrupt, but Chelsea ignores you.
“…girl on my squad. The short one.”
“Oh her,” says the golem dismissively. “She’s cute enough if you like that sort of thing. I’d still tap that. She must be pretty tight, being so small and all.”
“Steve,” she exclaims, a shocked expression forming on her face. “I don’t think you should say things like that.”
“You said I could behave like normal,” says the golem huffily. “That’s what I think of her.”
“It’s right,” you explain. “If you stop Steve Patterson thinking about girls like that, he basically stops being Steve Patterson. Better to leave him be in case people spot any differences in his behaviour.”
“Thanks,” says the golem in a way that somehow rearranges itself to be ‘I’ll beat you up later for that’ in your ears. “Look’s like your pet loser isn’t as dumb as he looks. She wouldn’t go with me anyway, snotty little bitch. Too uptight, not going to put out for a one night stand.”
“You know what,” say Chelsea, in that worrying sweet tone of hers. “I think you’ll find she changes her mind tomorrow.”
*****
You find yourself sitting on the toilet of the little private bathroom attached to Chelsea’s bedroom. The seat’s down, you’re just waiting till Yumi arrives. Chelsea insisted on doing it this way and you decided it was better to let her have her way. It’s always better to let her have her way.
So you amuse yourself by examining Chelsea’s copious collection of cosmetics and bathroom goods. What kind of person needs five different types of soap, you find yourself wondering. And how many shades of lipstick does she have? You open a couple of tubes experimentally and find it impossible to see the difference between the two. You idly consider the possibility that your opinion on the matter will change drastically once you are under Yumi’s mask. Your concentration is broken by the muffled sound of a conversation from the bedroom. Yumi has arrived.
“Ok Chelsea,” she says with little patience. “What is it that’s so important that I had to come over here? Why can’t it wait to tomorrow?”
“Thanks for coming,” replies Chelsea. You can’t see her through the door of course, but you’ve got enough of an idea about her personality to realise that she’ll be staring at Yumi coolly right now. “I’m making a couple of important changes to the squad and I wanted to let you know about them first. I’m afraid I’m going to have to replace some people.”
“Who is it,” asks Yumi, interrupting Chelsea. “Lin? Cindy? You can’t just ditch people because you don’t like them. Lin’s as good as I am and Cindy is better than either of us.”
Ooops, you think.
“It’s not either of them,” says Chelsea through what must be gritted teeth. “I wanted to speak to you because I wanted to let you see who I’m putting on the team first.”
“Ok, lets see this mystery girl,” says Yumi. Chelsea opens the bathroom door and pulls you out, blinking, into the light.
“Will,” says Yumi, her voice rising, clearly surprised at your identity as the mystery new squad member.
“You know each other,” asks Chelsea, equally surprised.
“A little,” you admit. “I sometimes help Yumi with her maths homework.
“Well isn’t this just a great big happy reunion,” smiles Chelsea unpleasantly. The fact that you know Yumi a little makes this whole exchange more awkward. Unfortunately that just seems to make Chelsea enjoy herself even more. “Will is going to be our new squad member and the person he’s replacing…”
Chelsea pauses for dramatic effect, like some cheesy comic book villain.
 You have the following choice: 1. Continue |
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