This choice: Swap Sarah with Dana first • Go Back...Chapter #43Unwanted Teammates by: Seuzz   Actually, now that you've got three masks as requested, the first thing you should do is tell Patterson you're all set up. Nail down that "senior position."
"Westside sucks!" you shout into the phone when he answers. "Give Patterson the message. Oh, but he knows that already. Tell him I got the three masks he asked for."
"I'm right here, Prescott," he growls. He's unimpressed when you tell him who you've recruited ("What the fuck good are freshman girls?") and even welshes on his promise to make you a senior member for having recruited them: "I don't believe this bullshit. Prove you've got a team worth having. Fifteen masks, and make 'em good, and then we'll talk about your being a senior member."
"What counts as 'good'?" you ask through gritted teeth.
"Hot girls. Guys with hot girlfriends. Guys who get lots of action with hot girls."
And then comes the topper: He's sending Keith and Jason Lynch over to Eastman to finish their jobs. "Kick their asses. Or I'll kick your ass."
I oughta kick your ass, you think as you hang up. I oughta let Joe and Frank loose, leave them with your name, go hide, and let them stomp your ass.
You go out to the garage, where Frank has been mixing up the ingredients for new masks. He watches silently as you fire and pour out one mask, and then another, and then a third. "This stinks," he says.
"You talking about the smell or what we're doing?"
"Both. You got your agents. What do we do about Patterson?"
"Do you want to be in charge, Frank?" you ask without bothering to hide your irritation.
"It's what I'm used to."
"Well, get these polished up," you say, handing them to him. "And then we'll talk about a switch."
* * * * *
"Eat up, girls," Joe grins. "You won't have to worry about those figures much longer."
"Don't be crude, Joe," you say. "And careful eating is a good habit." You sit back in the chair and ignore the muffin sitting in front of you. Joe snorts and buries his muzzle in a cinnamon roll.
Carrie, Joanna, and Sarah shift uncomfortably in their seats. It's lunchtime, but the five of you are across the street from school at Munson's Bread Shop. Other students are shuffling in and out. Joe waves cheerily to them; you, now impersonating the more subdued Frank, merely nod. You're not surprised that Joanna and Sarah seem ill at ease, sitting in a very public place with two of the senior basketball players, but Carrie's attitude seems hard to explain. "What's wrong, Carrie?" you ask.
"Nothing," she says. She cuts a small piece out of the cinnamon roll that she is supposedly sharing with the other two girls. "I-- We didn't know that you were, um, you know, with Joe on-- on--"
"We do everything together. Have since we were kids. Being brothers and all." Carrie and the other girls continue to avoid your eye. "You worried about the upcoming swap? Don't be. We'll handle the job for Sarah tonight and then take care of you. You thought any more about your position, Joanna?"
She swallows, and it's not any of the snack. "I don't think I really want to--"
Your eye catches Joe's. He leans in on her. "I need a girlfriend," he murmurs. "Someone I can be really sweet to. Someone I can make really happy." Joanna gasps and stiffens.
"You girls are getting a lot of attention, being at this table with us," you say. "It would be a lot easier to be seen with you if you were seniors."
"Of a certain type," Joe adds.
"I wanna talk to Sarah about it," Joanna mumbles.
"And to me," Carrie says. Joanna doesn't concur.
"Is that your brother?" you ask Joanna as a slim, dark-haired kid walks past the window. He seems to be heading for the neighboring comic book shop.
"Yeah." She shoots a little glance at Sarah.
Joe raises an eyebrow. You shake your head. Doesn't meet any of Patterson's criteria.
You feel Carrie's hand brush your thigh. Little tramp. She was all over Joe yesterday.
* * * * *
"Is that you, Prescott?" Lynch's voice carries all the way from the front door to the dining room.
"Who wants to know?" you hear Joe retort. "Frank, it looks like the sanitation department left a couple of assholes on our doorstep. Do I let 'em in?"
"Might as well." You lean back in the chair and gaze back steadily as the two visitors enter. "Lynch," you nod. "Tilley. You have a message from Patterson?"
Lynch glares. Keith swallows. "He said we were supposed to come see you," he says, looking between you and Joe. "We're supposed to transfer, finish our ... our jobs at Eastman, under you."
You look at Joe, and he shuts the door.
"So, basically," you tell the two Westsiders, "you're saying you were such fuck ups you couldn't hack it at Westside." You phrase it as an assertion, not a question. "So he's kicking you downstairs to me. How many masks do you owe him?"
Keith wilts. "He says we have to start over. Five each."
Great. "So, between my three new recruits getting fifteen masks, and you two assholes getting ten, I'm responsible for getting twenty-five masks for him."
"Look, just get me a hiding place and stay out of my way," Lynch says."I'll make my quota and--"
"You have your mask with you?" you interrupt. He nods and drops his back pack to the floor. "Is it all charged up with your latest memories?" He grunts an affirmative.
You get up and cross over to him, and gut-punch him, hard. You haven't Frank's supernatural strength, but you're plenty strong in his own body, which is more powerful than it looks. Lynch bends double, and you strike him on the side of the head. He wobbles, then tries leaping at you, but you fell him with another blow.
"I'm in charge over here, Lynch," you say in a low but firm voice. "You'll do what I say. You'll put on the mask I give you and you'll target the people I tell you and you'll do it on the time table I give you. Patterson gave you to me, and now I've got to prove I can do better than him at managing you. I'll turn you into a fucking golem before I admit I can't. Same goes for you, Tilley." Your old friend cowers.
Lynch clambers to his knees. "You think you're such a fucking bad ass," he says in a slurred voice, "because you're all done up like--"
You grab him by the hair and force him back down. "Yes I do. That's the great thing about these masks. They give you what the mask has, and this cocksucker is a bigger badass than you've ever met. Bigger than Patterson and Black put together. He wouldn't tolerate any bullshit from you, and as long as I'm him, I won't either." You throw him to the side and kick him in the stomach. A stream of ugly brown liquid runs from his mouth and puddles in the carpet.
"Joe, call Ian, invite him over," you say. "Tilley, you got your mask with you?" His chin quivers as he nods. "Good. Carpenter's the captain of the basketball squad, and he's not dating anyone. That makes him the most eligible guy in school. Suck it, Joe, it's true," you tell your partner before he can object to the characterization. "If you can't get these jobs done as Ian, you'll deserve everything that's coming to you. In fact, I'm upping your job to ten masks. That's how easy it's going to be."
Keith swallows hard, but nods.
"As for you, Lynch--" you say as he glares up at you.
But wheels, which have been turning in your mind all afternoon, are locking into position. While Joe talks to Ian you take out your own cellphone and move into the bedroom. Joanna isn't happy to hear your voice, and her reply to your abrupt question isn't happy either: "No, I haven't thought any more about doing a swap."
"That's okay, because I've come up with a perfect place for you. Your friend Carrie," you add when she says nothing.
She gasps, and in a quavering voice demands to know why she'd want to do a thing like that.
"Carrie wants to be friends with you again," you explain. "You're not thrilled with that. It's because you don't understand her. You're not close any more. Give her a chance, Joanna. Get close. And there's no way to get closer to someone than by walking around in their shoes. Literally."
She's silent for a very long time, and you wish you could have pitched this idea in person, so as to gauge and guide her reaction. But when she speaks again, you can tell you've already won: "Would she be okay with that?"
"Leave that to me," you assure her. "But I think she'd be rather flattered with the idea of you wanting to be her."
"Well, it's not like that," she says in a very flustered tone.
"Of course it isn't," you say, though you more than half suspect it is. "But if we put it that way, I think she'll be fine with it." You end by securing from her the promise that she'll find a way over to your house to make a swap, if you can arrange it with Carrie.
Then you return to the living room. Joe says Ian is on his way over. That leaves Lynch to be dealt with.
You mean to swap Dana and Sarah tonight. Probably you can use them to get Joanna's brother, David, and pass his identity along to Lynch. You'd like that, for David would cause Lynch lots of problems. But it might not sit well with the girls if they found out what you'd done.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
| Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
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