This choice: Listen to Caleb's suggestion • Go Back...Chapter #24Caleb's New Plan by: Seuzz   "I thought we had a plan," you say. You give Caleb only a brief glance as you set up your laptop and open the database. You count off the names in the database against the eight golems in the VIP room, confirming they are all present. "I thought we were just going to keep making golems. I've got a list of people here, and Kim and Charles will be helping me add to it."
"I don't see much point in that," Caleb replies. "We got the people who count. Steve--" He points to himself. "Gordon and Chelsea. Kim and Charles if we want information. The rest of them are just candy." He gestures at Jessica and draws her over. He caresses the side of her head and fluffs her bosom. "People to fuck."
You roll your eyes. "Okay, so we've turned ourselves into the assholes and got what they got. I thought we were gonna clean the school up."
"School's already cleaned up, as far as I'm concerned. We run it as these guys, and right now it suits us just fine."
"Is it?" you snort. "So let's make a new mask so that idiot over there--" You point to the golem-Caleb. "--so he's your guy instead of mine. And while you're outside of Steve's mask and being yourself, trying telling me again how nice Westside is."
He snorts in turn but complies, stretching his very long frame out on the floor and taking Steve's mask off. You drop one of the new blanks onto his face, and while he's unconscious you reflect that it would be very easy to put the golem-Caleb mask on him and turn him into your slave. Oh, but then all of his golems wouldn't be under your control. And you wouldn't double-cross him.
You kick him awake after the new mask appears, and continue the talk with him--in his original form--while you paint a golem shell inside it. "You still think this new plan is a hot idea?"
"Well, just listen to it," he says crossly. He jogs the side of his head with the heel of his hand. "It's mostly Patterson's, but that doesn't make it bad. Just kind of evil in a neat way."
You almost make a sharp retort to that, but catch yourself in time: a lot of your ideas are probably Chelsea's, which probably would also count as "evil in a neat way." You just ask him to continue.
"Look, between Patterson and Black and Chelsea we run the school. And what do we want? I'll tell you what I want, and that's pussy." He picks up Patterson's mask and fingers it. "Well, that's what Patterson wants, and I want it too. I can get it as him."
"But if we turn people into golems--"
"Are you really so keen to turn people into zombie slaves?" he asks, and you frown. Why is he getting moral all of a sudden. "Here's the way I figure it," he continues. "We've still got that old golem we made. You know, before we made Eva." He shoots her a glance. "We bring it up here. We get masks of lots of people. Girls, I guess. Hot girls. And we put the masks on the golem and have fun with them when we want."
"That doesn't help clean up the school."
"It doesn't make zombies, either. No one gets hurt."
"I'd still like to do something about--"
"Alright, fine. You can switch into Kim and make the school run nice. Make lots of slaves for yourself. I'll beat up the Molester and score pussy. We'll both be happy."
"That's not what I-- Are you going to stick to being Steve?"
"Yeah. His home life is a lot less fucked up than Gordon's."
"Mm. Okay then. Where's the real--? Make Gordon lay down. You, Caleb!" You snap your fingers at the golem, and he stupidly points to himself. "Yes, you. And Jessica. Lay down next to each other." The three golems comply. (Caleb also lays down, and returns Steve's mask to his face.) You pull the masks off Gordon, Jessica, and the fake Caleb, then put Caleb's new mask onto Steve, put Gordon's mask onto the original muscle head, and Jessica's onto herself. Clothes distend, and you order them to change while you wake Steve back up.
"Okay, that's three golems switched around," you say. "Now we know where their originals are just by looking at them."
Steve grunts and sits up. "And I'm back to being Patterson. A good thing, too, because he's got another idea."
You groan.
"Just listen to it," he says peevishly. "It'll help you get what you want, and what I want."
While he speaks, you continue to switch masks around, putting Chelsea under your mask and her own face onto the golemized Eva.
"We recruit a team," Caleb says. "Like, three or four or five losers. We tell them about the book and show them how it works. And we make them get masks for us. Masks of all the girls we want to have copies of. They do all the work, and we collect the rewards."
"That's stupid. Why can't we just get these masks ourselves?"
"We can get some of them. You can get copies of the cheerleaders. I can get copies of some of the girls I score with. But the losers can get us some of the ones that it would be hard for us to get."
"I still don't see the point. And couldn't you and Gordon just hustle anyone up here we want to copy?"
"Might be hard to do that with guys like Delacroix."
"We could just invite him."
"And Cameron Huber."
True, you think as you make a face. Huber is the quarterback, and he and Gordon hate each other.
"But my idea," Caleb continues, "would be like having a secret society inside a secret society. Those guys, the ones we recruit, they'd think they're actually using the book, kind of like the way we were planning to use it. But actually, we'd be running their secret society and giving them orders."
"That sounds really complicated."
"It's like a pyramid scheme. Here's what we'd do. You and me, we each recruit three people. We tell them about the book and show them how the masks work. We tell them that if they each get, like, five masks, then they can all share them with a golem. And when they get their five masks, then they can switch with one of the people they get, like you and me switched with Steve and Chelsea. That's the prize that keeps them interested."
"So why not just bring them all together and make one big group, with all of us working together?"
"Because then it would be too big. They'd all want to vote and stuff. You and me wouldn't be running it any more. Here--"
He grasps your arm.
"You could try your scheme for changing the school using your three recruits. You wouldn't have to turn anyone into a zombie. You'd just tell your guys that you have these masks, and that you want to change the school. Give them the names of three people they can switch with, people who you can work with to change the school. They'll do what you tell them to do, which is to get five masks each, in order to get that prize. At the end, you'll have three guys, like employees, helping you to do your thing, and you won't have to zombify anyone. And you'll have fifteen new masks, without having to do any work, that we can all have fun with." He shrugs. "I'll do the same with mine."
You turn the idea over in your head. It is quite complex, but you have to admit it would seem to give you what you want, and without having to keep making these puppets. But--
"They wouldn't believe it if Steve and Chelsea went to them and said 'I want to fix the school'."
"So, we don't go to them as Steve and Chelsea. We go as ourselves. Or we go as one of their friends. We secretly swap into one of their friends, and we pretend like we're that person and we found the book. Like you found it."
You ponder this further, and then you catch sight of all the golems standing around, listening. "Everyone go home," you tell them. "Except Kim. And Charles. And Gordon. You go downstairs and stop Jason from coming up here."
Your boyfriend glances at Steve, who nods. "We could use this scheme to take care of Lynch," he points out. "Hold him out as a possible prize."
"Jason is no prize."
"But it sounds like you're more less on board with this idea?"
"Who are some of these 'loser' people you're talking about using? Keith?"
He shakes his head, then cocks it. "Eh. Maybe. What about Lamont and Ioeger?"
Your brow darkens as Chelsea's thoughts briefly take over: They're always mocking you and your friends behind your backs, and pranking them. "Maybe. But I like them. This scheme of yours sounds a little too much like abuse."
"It doesn't have to be. Remember, you could pitch them the idea as 'cleaning up the school'."
"Hmm." Your eye falls on Hartlein. "Charles, who are some guys who--? Wait, did Karl Hennepin and Kelsey Blankenship go off and find a motel room last weekend?"
He sniggers. "Karl and his magic fedora. Yeah, I heard they did, and I also heard from lots of people that no one knows that they did it."
"Some of those guys would probably be really open to the idea of ... switching around," you muse aloud. "And cleaning up the school."
"You're not friends with them," Caleb points out. "Chelsea definitely isn't, and Will Prescott isn't either."
"So I would switch with one of them." Your nostrils flare. Andrea Varnsworth.
Caleb doesn't notice. "Let's keep our two groups separate. I think it would be fun to hang out with James and Carson and Jenny while scoring masks. I could find a way to get close to some of the musicians, too. Jelena Petrovic!" He waggles his eyebrows, and you wonder if Andrea's name has just crossed his mind as well. "This scheme was my idea, so I'll let you pick your teammates."
* Pick Andrea Varnsworth and her friends (non-canonical): "A Monopoly of Three"    indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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