This choice: Go for one of the Rumoratti • Go Back... You brush those thoughts off to the side however as you reassure yourself that your paranoia is just that. Chen's not going to stalk you like a monster from a slasher film--though he may be as scary as one--and show up to completely fuck you up. Besides if you were someone like Timothy or Nick, guys who look like they can handle themselves, you'd probably be alright on the off chance that did occur. Which it wouldn't since you'd also be part of a team with guys who would, presumably, have your back. For all that he's one scary motherfucker, even Gary Chen knows that he'd be overreaching if he tried to start shit with the big time jocks at Westside so Eastman would be no different.
So you push the thought of getting any of the gossip girls out of your mind. They'd be great for settling into a new environment but realistically how would you get them? For one, if they're rumormongers they're going to get themselves into any crowd of people they can worm their way into. They'll likely always be surrounded which would make pulling off any switch impossible.
For another you only have names to go off of and have no clue what they look like. Well, you have Lisa and Summer but both leave you unsure. Summer was very meek, almost withdrawn and seemed reluctant to jump into your conversation. How is she one of the top gossip hounds then? Being her would mean playing her role correctly and you're not sure you like the idea of being someone so mousey. And Lisa? There was something about her that unsettled you. She had a very calculating air about her as if she was regarding and analyzing everything around her. It was intimidating and she seems to have such strong defenses that you don't think you'd ever be able to penetrate them.
Your current companions are not faring any better either. Lisa looks nice but seems to lack a certain assertiveness. She seems deferential to her boyfriend who in turn seems deferential to Chris who seems like someone that would dominate any room she's in. She's intense and no-nonsense, something you find out when another guy she keeps calling Karter makes his way over. The pair engage in a game that, as you watch, leaves you unable to tell if it's simple flirtatiousness or a genuine case of Chris getting bugged.
You do know that this guy is striking you as rather obnoxious and watching him act like an annoying child around Chris and her constant chastising is starting to wear on your nerves. If this is the kind of crap you'd have to put up with if you were any of them, then it just plain doesn't seem worth it to you.
After a few more minutes of this you decide that you've reached your wits end. Coming up with an excuse that you don't even remember five seconds later but you feel is suitably "Dane", you decide to grab the bag with your stuff, head out and explore around a bit trying to see if you can find your original targets. You'd come here with a goal in mind, afterall, and realize that you've been allowing yourself to get distracted by other things. Well, it's time to truly, for real this time, stick to your goal as you head back into the main part of the house.
But all the time you're wondering what you should do if you're unable to find who you were looking for?
* * * * *
You spend the next hour going around the party getting pulled this way and that by random people that you don't recognize but who certainly recognize the face you're wearing. Maybe you shouldn't be surprised that Dane is well known to some Eastman students, after all he's an outgoing social butterfly; almost the complete opposite of you really. In fact, keeping to yourself or your small group of friends and never having any interaction with anyone from Eastman has caused you to think of the two schools almost as parallel worlds.
In hindsight you realize that's a dumb assumption. Saratoga Falls is a fairly medium sized city, certainly not a large metropolis, so of course there would be some crossover between students.
It does solidify your decision to move to Eastman but it doesn't mean you can. Not if you can't find anyone and currently you've had zero luck on that front. Well you have seen a few of them: Timothy with who you assume are some of his teammates. Nick and Leslie with a few of their friends. But those situations mean they're not anywhere where you can get them alone either. As for Julianna, you haven't seen hide nor hair of her and you're surprised she's not hanging around her boyfriend.
You're about ready to give up and maybe go back to see if you can find Chris or her buddies when you hear a little bit of chatter from around a corner.
"So that's why Kristy left," asks one voice in a soft, almost creamy tone.
"Right," comes another, distinctly twanged one. "I watched her get real agitated when she saw Kelsey."
"That's not surprising though," comes a third, slightly huskier voice. "Both of them have hated each other for a long, long time."
"It's a bit more than that, Maddie," comes the twanged voice. "I mean I was talkin' to Kristy at the time an' then Kelsey 'n her pals walk by us an' give her a look. Like they were sayin' 'hey, we wanna talk to you' or somethin', ya know?"
You look in the direction of the voices and see three girls: an African-American with arms and legs that are well defined. A redhead whose hair is a very deep natural shade. A dark-haired girl with a chest that would put Chelsea's to shame. All three are very beautiful and you're starting to get a strong feeling as to who they are, especially when hearing the name Maddie, so you hang back and try to listen in on what's going on.
"It's not like Kristy didn't know she was here, though," says the African-American girl. "I was talking to Kelsey for a while myself."
"Yeah, I know," says the redhead, "but knowin' that she's here an' seein' her?"
"That's not good though," states the dark-haired girl. "Kristy can't just let Kelsey try and big time her. Her family's more well off anyway."
"It ain't about that, least I don't think it is," says the redhead. "Kristy's a nice girl, it just ain't in her to risk confrontation."
"Even still," says the African-American girl, a look of consternation drawn on her face, "we'll need to come up with something. We can't have people thinking that Kristy left because she felt intimidated by Kelsey being here."
"Why not," asks the redhead. "It'll just make Kelsey look like a heel. She's comin' to our party an' tryin' to start trouble."
"Or it'll make Kristy, and by extension our school, look weak," counters the dark-haired girl.
"Right," states the African-American girl who, from her demeanor, seems to take a leadership role among the group, "because how will it look if Kelsey, or anyone from Westside, comes to our party and manages to run off our students?"
"Well, it ain't like we hate Westside or nothin'," states the redhead, "we're friends with a lot of 'em. 'Specially some of the cheerleaders."
"Right, and this isn't about denigrating Westside or anything," the African-American girl replies, "but about keeping our reputation. So Maddie and I will find everyone else. Tell them that, for now, Kristy was feeling sick. I want you to start texting her, Tina, and see if you can figure out if that's why she left in the first place. We'll coordinate something with her to make sure she doesn't lose face."
You watch as the three disperse and make specific note of the redhead as she, deciding for a little privacy and quiet to do her thing, heads off into an unused room. Slowly, warily, you follow her and as you get close to the room that she's entered reach a hand into your bag. You'd brushed off one of this group earlier but you can't really look a gift horse in the mouth.
She barely has time to turn before the mask is pushed onto her face.
You close and lock the door behind you and raise your hands to remove your own mask. You come to and are thankful that coming out of a mask is quicker than the copying process itself. That gives you time to carefully strip her from her clothes, finishing just as the mask emerges from her face. You then shove Dane's mask onto her, strip out of your clothes and, finding a closet, gather her things as you make your way in leaving the door open a crack. Through it, you watch her waking up, her initial confusion, shock and terror. Then her seeming resignation as she gets dressed.
Will she try to tell her friends? Maybe but who will believe her? Once she's left, you again close and lock the bedroom door and put her mask to your face.
* * * * *
Seventeen years old and originally from Huntsville, Alabama. Your mom, a kindly and somewhat plump woman, works as a teacher at Schuyler. Your dad's a lifelong military man and as such, much as your mom wanted to keep you in one place, after a while it became infeasible and your dad's transfers have led to you living in North Carolina, New Jersey and Tennessee before his transfer here to Fort Suffolk. It was through that shared connection of the base that you made your first friend at Eastman, Diana Lord whose father is the highest ranking officer there.
It was through her that you fell in with Alyssa Randall's group and met Maddie Caron who, despite opposite personalities, has become something close to your best friend in this city.
Then you snap back to reality. Since putting on the mask with the band you've been having to fight not getting overwhelmed.
"Sweet lord, I really am Tina Branson," you say thrilling at the southern lilt that sounds so sweet to your ears.
You regard your face in the car's rear view mirror. Deep set green eyes sparkle brilliantly, your cheeks dusted by light freckles. Your nose and chin have a bit of a point to them but it adds to the charm. You can hardly believe the girl looking back at you is, well, you!
"Well now," you say with a smirk, "ain't this somethin'?"  You have the following choice:  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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