This choice: It's none of his business • Go Back...Chapter #32Some Accidental Discoveries by: Seuzz   "It's none of your business," you retort. "Yours or-- the other guy's."
His eyes flicker slightly at your reprimand. "Yeah, okay. It's a little out of character to be talking about you and Chelsea Cooper." You feel yourself flush. "Lisa Yarborough, on the other hand--" He sucks on his lip. "You talk to her lately?"
"I'm gonna go find Keith," you snap. "At least he's in character." You stalk away.
* * * * *
Lisa.
Yeah, it's been awhile since you've talked to her. You, of course, have been busy being Cara. And the golem-Will has also been avoiding her. Well, "avoiding," is too strong a word. Say rather that neither you nor your alter ego has had much reason to talk to her, and both have had one very good reason not to go out of your way to find her: her new beau, Geoff Mansfield, who is always close by her.
Lisa.
It's the bargain between you and Chelsea and Frank and Joe: to try to return things to the way they were the day before you found that book. You'd be much happier if you could turn the calendar back farther, to the end of summer, when you and Lisa were still together. Or were you even together back then? We never said we were dating each other, Will, Lisa had told you coolly that day a few weeks ago, when she'd wriggled free of your arm. But even if you weren't "dating," you were still "together," at least in the sense that you saw her every couple of days, and did things together, and touched and held each other.
Someone jostles you hard in the shoulder as you push through the hallway; you turn with a frown, but it's just another nobody student, pushing through the other way to their own class. You stop in your tracks, and are buffeted by the streams of students trying to pass. You're near the intersection of B wing and the main corridor. Lisa's locker isn't far.
So, with a sigh, you go looking for Lisa at it. If you're going to be returning to square one, you might as well scout out potential square twos.
Craning your neck, you catch sight of Lisa, and are pleased to see that Mansfield isn't with her for once. That would give you the courage to approach her, but she's with Kelsey Blankenship and Amanda Ferguson. You suck hard at your upper lip. But faint heart never won fair maid--that's what they say--so you push on toward them.
"--should have it at my place," Kelsey is saying, and she has that pinched and peevish look she gets when she's feeling thwarted. She rolls her eyes and sighs. "But whatever, Megan." Her eyes fall on you as you approach, but she doesn't react to you.
"She's got a nice house," Lisa says.
"Like that's the point," Kelsey snorts. "The point is-- May we help you?" Her eyes flash as she finally acknowledges your presence.
Lisa turns and does a slight double take to find you right behind her. Her smile is warm and gracious. "Hi, stranger."
A week ago this friendliness would have excited you. But at this moment you only feel the slightest quiver. Lisa is still lovely, but she's kind of plump, you're suddenly aware. Oh, the padding is in all the right places, but as you think back you remember that the padding seemed to cover more padding, and padding beneath that. There's no tautness to Lisa. And though her eyes sparkle, there's no real electricity behind them. Her smile is very mild; there's no snap to it. When was the last time she said or did something exciting?
But she's expecting you to say something. And you've nothing to say, you suddenly realize. "Hey, me and Caleb were gonna get together this weekend," you stammer out for a lack of anything else.
"Well, rock on, you and Caleb," Kelsey sneers. She grips Lisa by the arm. "If Megan is going to have this party--"
Again, you're jostled from behind, and plunge forward, knocking against Lisa, who knocks against Kelsey. "God, you are such a klutz," the latter half-shrieks at you.
"It's just Chelsea and her new mini-me," Amanda says.
Your head practically swivels 180 degrees on your neck. Sure enough, Chelsea, followed by Cara and Kendra and Gloria, has just passed. And she has stopped, only a few feet away. Even as you turn, she turns too, though much more slowly. Her face is a mask, and her eyes flick only briefly past yours; and as they sweep along, you can tell she is taking in Lisa and Kelsey and Amanda too. But she betrays no reaction.
Still, she's close enough that you can hear her speak: "Hang on, guys, I forgot something." And so she goes back the way she came, past you and the other girls, and you can't help staring as she goes by, even though she completely ignores you. The others ignore you too, though you think you detect the faintest dimple in Cara's cheek as she goes by.
"Someone's gonna step on your tongue if you don't get it back in your mouth," Amanda says acidly.
"Huh?" You turn back around. Amanda and Kelsey are gazing contemptuously at you. And Lisa-- She is still smiling at you, but her eyes have cooled noticeably. "Oh." You can't stop yourself from turning crimson. "Uh, about me and Caleb--"
"Have fun with your friend," Kelsey sniffs, and grabs at Lisa again. "Megan is going to make a total fool of herself, and this is none of your business!" Kelsey glares at you. And Amanda steps over to cut between you and Lisa.
Christ, let 'em keep Lisa, you fume to yourself as you walk away. You've got Chelsea. Except-- You bash your head against a nearby locker. Except maybe you don't.
* * * * *
You can't--and don't--forget about work again, though you'd very much like to skip. It turns out to be as weird as you'd feared. Sean got released from his mask yesterday--something Frank and Joe had taken care of away from you and Chelsea--and (for very good reasons) he seems wrong-footed by an amnesia he won't acknowledge suffering. This puts him in a worse temper than his golem had displayed, and he takes it out on you--possibly because he doesn't remember your joining the company. And "Caleb" is much more masterful than you at the job, which leaves you to bear the brunt of Sean's temper.
You try giving Caleb the slip after work, but he catches up to you. "Come on, we're going up to the school," he says in a voice more like Frank Durras's.
"You guys find a cure for Gordon," you ask, and can't tell if you want the answer to be "Yes" or "No."
"We found something," is all he says.
Chelsea and Cara are already in the fuck room when you arrive; they are seated primly on the floor, and the latter has the book open in her lap. "Chelsea says she doesn't know anything about it," Cara says to Caleb as you and he join them.
That's when you notice the expression on Chelsea's face: For the first time in weeks, she looks scared. "Will," she says. "Tell them about that torn page."
"What? Oh, yeah." You look between Cara and Caleb. "Someone ripped one of the pages out of the book."
"This page?" Cara asks, and turns the book around. You look down at it. All the pages in the book look the same--
But this one only has a little bit of writing on its top half. The bottom is blank, where there is usually some kind of complicated symbol. You frown and peer more closely at it. Vaguely, you recognize the writing: it's that list of ingredients and that gnomic instruction. But where there had been a tear, and the weirdly shifting lettering of the page beneath, there is now only a blank. Cara doesn't interfere as you pull at the sheet. It turns easily, disclosing a new spell. You look up. "I don't understand. Did you guys fix it?"
"Yeah, Chelsea told me all about that tear last night," Cara drawls. "But it's not torn now, is it?" She taps the book.
You look at Chelsea. "I didn't do anything with it," she insists. "Not after we--"
"So you say," Caleb says, and clasps his arms around his knees.
"She's not lying," you snap at him.
"And how do you know that?" Cara asks dryly.
You wheel on her with a snarl, but catch yourself. Because you had Chelsea's mask on two nights ago, and you know perfectly well that she hadn't worked any more at the book. "Because I believe her," you lamely say.
"Okay, I believe you," Cara says. "It's just very odd. As for the next spell--"
"Hang on, what happened to that metal strip we made," you ask. You tug at the book, but Cara doesn't release it. "We tried getting past that page, and we made up this metal strip." Cara looks at you blankly. You look at Chelsea. "You remember. What did you do with it?"
She blinks. "I just put it in the book."
Cara looks at Caleb as she casually flips pages. "Where?" she asks Chelsea.
"I don't know. I just stuck it in there someplace."
Cara peers into the book and runs a hand over the mysterious page. She says nothing. No one says anything.
And then you hear a sniffling, and look up to find Chelsea staring at Caleb. She looks like she's on the verge of bursting into tears. "Chelsea--" you start to say.
Your voice seems to catalyze her, for she leaps to her feet and runs from the room. You're half onto your feet as she vanishes through the door, then sag back to the floor. You hang your head.
"Dude, go after her," a quiet voice says. Startled, you look over. Cara still has her head bent over the book, but it was she who spoke.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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