This choice: Try to get Connor's help shooing Mansfield away • Go Back...Chapter #9Party Poopers by: Seuzz   You have no idea how you're going to stop Geoff Mansfield from crashing a party that he has just supposedly left. But you have to try.
So while Geoff is still walking up to the front door you wave frantically at Connor and draw your finger across your throat. "Uh, hey, Mansfield," he says while still gazing in an aghast way at you. "Is, uh, is that your car?"
"Yeah," says Geoff. "I mean, technically it's my dad's, but I get to -- " He trails off and follows Connor's stare, glancing back over his shoulder at you, and catching you in the act of sinking to your knees with your hands clasped in a desperate, pleading gesture. "You okay back there, Prescott?" he calls.
"I think he's having a seizure," Connor says. "Uh, did you bring anything for the party?"
"Like what?"
"Oh, chips, dip, beer -- "
"Is it BYO? I didn't hear that part."
"Yeah, Prescott didn't either." Connor's face is frozen. "He was heading out to pick something up. Maybe you two could -- "
You shake your head violently.
" -- travel separately."
"Doesn't matter to me," Mansfield says. "I was just telling him he should re-park his truck anyway, it's taking up too much damn -- "
"Yeah, that's exactly what he should do," Connor says. "You have a fake ID? Can you pick up some beer for us?"
"I just have my driver's license."
"Not even Blueberry Ale?"
Geoff stares at him. "I don't know. I've never heard of it."
"Ah." Connor goes back to staring hard and fearfully at you. "Just some chips and dip, then. We already got some Lays, though."
"Yeah, we can do better than that," Mansfield agrees. "You want a ride?" he asks you.
"I have to talk to Connor about something first."
Mansfield shrugs and returns to his car. You watch in agony as he slowly starts it and slowly drives off. You don't move until you feel Connor brushing past you. You take a deep breath and clench your fists as he passes by to peer into the bed of your truck.
He says nothing for what seems like an eternity. Then he half turns to give you a sidelong glance. "Do you, uh, know who's laying in the back of your truck?" he asks.
"Uh huh," you say. "I know exactly who's back there, and I'll tell you all about it, but -- " You trot up and grasp him by the shoulder. "But you have to promise that you won't tell anyone, and I mean anyone. Also," you continue as he flinches a little, "you have to call Mansfield and tell him the party got cancelled. Tell him someone got sick, or the cops busted in on the place."
"What am I going to tell everyone else?" Connor says. "I can't bust up the party."
"Do you want to see what happens when Mansfield gets back and walks in there after the performance that guy -- " You stab a finger at the figure huddling in the bed of your truck. " -- put on in your back yard?"
Connor blinks. "So Justin and Jenny'll kill him. I'm okay with that."
"If you don't cancel the party, I won't explain what's going on."
"I think you better," Connor says, and his tone turns dangerous.
The fake Mansfield sits up. "It's okay, Will," he says quietly. "You go back to the party and watch things there. I'll talk to Connor."
"I want Will with me," Connor says.
"It's okay, man," Caleb says. "I'll take my face off and you'll see it's okay." He ignores the way Connor has turned green at the phrase "take my face off". "Then we'll go talk." He jabs you in the shoulder with a finger. "Now you better get back in there and start telling a story."
* * * * *
But you don't tell a story when you're in the back yard again, beyond telling everyone that after speaking with Geoff and Connor, you decided to let Mansfield run after some chips and dip by himself. "I was going to drive him up to the mall and leave him there," Jenny tells you in a waspish aside. "I wish you'd let me do that."
"Be nice to him," you tell her. "His medicines are out of whack, that's all."
As for Connor, when Justin asks what's happened to his roommate, you tell him that he remembered his own errand he needed to run.
And things actually go pretty smoothly after Mansfield is back with a bag of gourmet tortilla chips and three jars of expensive salsa. No one alludes to his horrible behavior before he went on that errand, and he says nothing that sets off any more alarm bells. In fact, he's on pretty good behavior, being reasonably polite and cheerful to everyone except you, so that even Justin -- to your chagrin -- is laughing at his quiet jokes by the time it's gotten dark. But you're still on needles the entire night, so that you're poor company for Lisa, and she winds up sitting next to Geoff atop one of those cinderblock walls while you stuff your face with fistful after fistful of greasy Lays. Your nose is itching with incipient zits when your phone buzzes with a text from Caleb: Come to clubhouse when you can. It's only nine-thirty when you make some not-very-regretful goodbyes.
Caleb's is the only car when you pull up to the darkened school building -- he must have driven both himself and Connor. They're both sitting on the fender, and they're both smoking, which -- whatever it means for Caleb's health -- you take as a good sign, as he only ever smokes when he's feeling extra satisfied and relaxed. Connor also looks reasonably happy. "Hey," you call as you get out. "So. It all got explained?"
"Yeah," Connor says, and as you get close you see he's a lot more relaxed than you'd taken him to be. You also smell the marijuana, and in a jolt realize what exactly they are smoking. "Fuck me," Connor continues, "but it's all pretty fucking, you know, fucking explained."
"Should you be driving?" you ask Caleb in alarm.
"Relax, I'm only getting a contact buzz, and not enough of that," he says. "Connor here's just had the fucking doors of his perception blown off. Right?"
"Yeah, fucking doors of perception," Connor says. He rubs his forehead. "And I'm not even in school."
"Like you were going to get your doors of perception blown off in school," Caleb retorts.
"So what happens now?" you ask.
Neither one replies for a moment. "Well," Caleb finally drawls. "We looked at the next spell, got a feel for what it calls for -- "
"I wasn't talking about that. I mean, I looked at the next spell too, put the ingredients into my iPhone."
"Oh good, that makes it easy."
"Copped a feel for it," Connor says, and giggles. It takes you a moment to realize he's a few lines behind the rest of the conversation.
"Anyway," Caleb says after another pause. "Some of it might be kind of expensive, but Connor says he'll chip in some bucks."
"He's going to help us out?"
"That's what I said."
"I mean, he's going help us, work with us, making -- ?"
"Uh huh."
You bite your lip.
"And we'll have to tell Justin about it too. Connor wants him in on it."
"Both of them?" Panic begins to rise in your gullet. "What about Carson and James, how about them too? And Jenny and Paul and -- Hell, why not everyone, including Mansfield, who was at the -- "
"Keep your shit together," Caleb says. "Just Conner and Justin. They're freaking roommates. Ioeger and Lamont, they're not -- " He waves his hand dismissively. "Anyway, it's going to be like a science experiment, an engineering experiment. No more getting people in trouble, like I tried to do with -- " He snorts. "Oh, but that was pretty goddamned fun, what I got up to with Mansfield, wasn't it? When did you clue in that it was -- ?"
"Right after Lisa said he was on his way over, and you looked at her like she'd just farted in your face or something. But I don't care about that now. What do you mean we're going to treat it like a science experiment?"
"We're just going to do the spells to see what they do, what they make. That thing that happened with Mansfield -- I told you that was going to be a fucking disaster."
"You're the one who came to the party all dressed up like him!"
"Yeah, and if it was a disaster for me, imagine the clusterfuck if you'd done anything with the mask. So we're just gonna try to figure out the magic, that's all."
"Heh. Clusterfuck," Connor murmurs.
"So what are we gonna do with the mask you're still polishing up?" you demand.
Caleb says nothing at first, until Connor -- after catching up again -- leans around to peer in his face. "We'll save it for something else," Caleb says quietly. "We should keep a spare on hand. You know, for experimenting with."
And that's when you decide that Caleb is saying all this only for Connor's benefit, that he really doesn't intend to live by this "scientific experiment" bullshit.
"We should head back to the party," Caleb says, and tosses his cigarette away.
"You were never at the party," you remind him.
"So I'll show up now." He grasps Connor's arm.
"He can't go back in that state," you insist. "Who knows what he'll say and who he'll say it to."
"I've barely got a buzz," Connor insists.
"So what do you want to do with him?" Caleb says. "He's going to tell Justin about all this anyway, who cares if he stoned when he tells him?"
Now that you think about it, if Connor is stoned when he goes back, Justin might dismiss all this mask talk as a delusion -- and he might convince Connor of the same thing. But it seems risky.
You've got an old sleeping bag at home. Maybe you could talk Connor into spending the night in the school basement instead.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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