Chapter #30Feelings and Identity by: rugal b.   "Staying like this is probably the easiest thing to do." you say as you cross your arms and shift weight to your other foot. "And the safest."
"You seemd keen on trusting them." Will replies.
"A tiny bit but I realize that..." you pause trying to think of something good to say. Your eyes dart down at yourself, at the form and the clothes you're currently wearing. "I don't want to take any chances. Any time where we're out is time where these guys can double cross us. I don't want to risk it. When we switch back we do it later, at a place where it'll just be the two of us."
There's a pause from Will but eventually he nods. The two of you then head off into the gym.
* * * * *
The switches are eventually made: Frank, to everyone's shock, takes Caleb. Joe, to no one's shock, takes Cara. While Joe digests the book Frank uses a spell or incantation or something to put the real Caleb and Cara to sleep for around another hour. He then tells you two to hurry but you let Chelsea's personality overtake your own, and snap at him to get the fuck out you'll do it without them. Neither of them are the least bit intimidated but they do acquiesce and scuttle out of the gym.
Once they're gone it's just a matter of taking the masks off, finishing the sealent with bits of hair--Chelsea's in Frank's mask and your own in Joe's--and placing them onto Caleb and Cara. Once they come to you spend most of the next half-hour grilling them about everything they know, who they are... if either of you can think of a question it's asked and likewise answered. The two of you are put off by what they tell you, of their upbrining, of an ancient magical society filled with people with exotic names like Kali, Miko, and Rick (which, in context of some of the other names, is exotic in it's normalcy). You got in deep with this book, you got inexplicably dragged into something that extends beyond two high school kids.
It's a lot to take in and you're relieved when the basketball team starts entering the gym. You tell Will that you'll see him later and trot over to Gordon taking his catcher mitt hands into your much smaller ones. School as Chelsea is an experience and you spend plenty of time buried in the role. Information gathering from Kendra and Gloria, keeping Yumi and Eva on their toes with snide remarks, putting the screws to Gordon to get that thing with Seth and Cindy done. Gordon...
You sigh mentally. It's just not the same. The spark isn't there, he does what you say unquestioningly. Gordon might look like himself but he's definitely not himself. You have total control over him and yet you're unhappy with it. You miss the arguments, you miss the blow ups and the insults. You miss the way he'd frustrate and challenge you but he'd always give in. You'd always win in the end. Not like with Will.
Will challenges you as well, he frustrates you as well and like Gordon it thrills you. But unlike your little dance with Gordon it's not intentional. It can't be after all, he's far too nice of a guy to do it intentionally. He treats you so well, he's so enthusiastic, almost like a puppy yet his personality causes him to not dance completely to your tune; he's always a bit out of rhythym. It's different, it seems unconquerable and it makes you feel... alive? If only you could tell him... tell him what? That you...? You do, don't you? You do and you should stop pussyfooting around it.
So when you see Gordon off at lunch you tell him to find Will Prescott and tell him to meet you up in the loft after school. You've got things you have to talk to him about.
* * * * *
It's late afternoon and Will and yourself are sitting next to each other on a pile of old gym mats. You realize that at this point you're not affected that much by seeing yourself or calling the other you "Will" but really maybe that's because for the last while you haven't spent a whole lot of time as Will Prescott: that's a role that's been filled by Cara Fuhrman, the real one, and now Chelsea Cooper. It's kind of crazy to think that not long ago these were two girls who would've never given you the time of day and now they're two people that you've become bound to.
It's quiet and awkward but finally you break the silence. "So, are you ready to switch back?" you ask not even bothering to turn your head to face him but rather staring straight ahead.
"Are you?" comes the brusque reply.
"I don't know." you sigh, "I know why you switched with me but even with all night to work through your head I just... I didn't know. I wasn't sure what exactly you wanted me to see and whether what I did were your thoughts or my own mixing with yours. And I needed more time."
"Ha!" comes a sharp laugh. It's not a humorous laugh, rather it's the kind of laugh that's more like a blunt statement that says "I knew it. You were so full of shit."
"I'm sorry." you say as you continue to stare ahead. "I know you were pissed at me and I know you wanted me to understand but I wasn't able to. Not right away, anyway."
"God even when you're not you you still are." Will replies in a tone that walks the line between amusement and bemusement. "You don't need to apologize all the time, especially not now. This shit isn't easy to figure out. I didn't have it figured out either. That's why I didn't call you out. But being away from each other most of the day, having Gordon come up to me when he said that you said you wanted to talk, it made me realize. It finally clicked and I did figure it out."
"Really? And what did you realize?"
The answer comes when he runs an arm behind you, clasps onto your shoulder, and pulls you in. It comes when to your surprise, and you're almost embarassed to admit pleasure, that hand makes its way down the front of your shirt, behind your bra, and begins gently massaging it. It comes when you turn your head to him and he leans down, his lips touching yours, his tongue beginning to probe your mouth and you returning the gesture. It comes as he lifts your shirt over your head and undoes your bra while you remove your skirt and panties and he gently lays you onto a mat. It comes as he's inside of you, thrusting and moving in a way that pushes all of the right buttons as pleasurable moans and escape your mouth and sensations radiate throughout your body.
The answer comes.
And so do you.
* * * * *
The two of you lay there for a while in each other's embrace before Will attempts to get up. However you make a quick attempt to stop that and look over at him with a smile. You know how you look: it's a smile of contentment, a look in your eyes of exhaustion but also of happiness. He obviously notices it too as he sits back down, propped up against a wall. You move one arm around his waist, the other placed on his stomach, and nestle your head in his chest.
"I want to stay like this." you say softly. "Just for a little bit longer."
Will places an arm around your shoulder. "You mean just laying here?" he asks.
You nod.
"Do you mean as, well, I guess what we are now?"
You nod.
"Do you as who we are now?"
That gives you pause. "What do you as who we are now?" you ask as you crane your neck to look up at him.
"Exactly what I said." he replies. "I realize I can't take back I was or what I've done. And honestly I don't want to. It's gotten me everywhere. It brought me to the top."
"It brought you here."
He nods. "But that's who I was. Who I am, though, who I can be? I've realized that I don't care if it's as Chelsea Cooper or Cara Fuhrman or Will Prescott, I'm where I want to be with who I want it to be whether that's Will Prescott or Cara Fuhrman or Chelsea Cooper."
"So you're saying you don't want to switch back?" you ask.
"I'm saying that I've realized that it doesn't matter. If you want to stay as we are then we can and if you want to go back we can." He lets out a long breath, "You've frustrated me in a way nobody else ever has but you've made me feel a way nobody ever has either. Not even Gordon."
You realize what he's saying and you realize that you're starting to feel the same way. You were caught up on if Chelsea loved you or if you loved her that you couldn't think straight but after what happened, as you lay here, you realize you thought about it wrong the whole time. It's not about whether Chelsea loves Will or vice versa, it's about whether two people love each other. He's come to the same conclusion. It's something that you feel has transcended beyond merely two people but it's something much deeper than that, something that goes down to the very core of your soul.
But for the sake of easiness it does have to manifest in an easy way doesn't it? Yours and Chelsea's identities, yours and Will's identities, have become intertwined. You know who you were but who are you now? Are you Will Prescott and do you love Chelsea Cooper? Or are you Chelsea Cooper and do you love Will Prescott?   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
| Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
<<-- Previous · Outline  · Recent Additions © Copyright 2025 rugal b. (UN: rugal at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Seuzz has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work within this interactive story. Poster accepts all responsibility, legal and otherwise, for the content uploaded, submitted to and posted on Writing.Com. |
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