Chapter #30Circles and Circles by: Seuzz   Cheerleaders.
That's where this "long-term plan" is centered. Fairfax has made it clear that it's his plan, and everyone else is just along for the ride. He and his three friends intend to put four of the cheerleaders on ice, and will use a set of masks to take their place.
It has to do with some kind of "sociological investigation" of the school and the way the various groups interact -- Fairfax's theory is that the cheerleaders indirectly run much of the school and he wants to trace out how it works. To do that, his gang will replace Chelsea Cooper -- the captain of the cheerleader squad, through whom (he says) all the orders go -- with Josiah Shank, while Carlos and Mike replace the Eva and Jessica Garner. He himself will impersonate the bubble-headed Maria Vasquez -- a good vantage point to observe and record the "data," he says, though he also says he might change locations later.
"What if we want to impersonate someone who isn't a cheerleader?" Keith asks. Fairfax says he'd like it if Keith impersonated someone who could "contribute" to the study.
Long experience with Keith warns you that he's about to say something unfortunate, so you lean across to pick up a carton of rice in a way that you can press your knee onto his hand. "We can decide that later, right?" you say in a voice that's a trifle too loud. "I mean, if you're wanting to study the, uh, sociological scene, there's a lot of different places you could study it from. Right?"
"That's right," says Fairfax.
"And if Chelsea and them are as plugged in as you think they are, we should wait until you've got your -- " You do a double take at Josiah, who has been quietly listening to all this with wide eyes and an open mouth. "Got your agents in place," you continue before tearing your eyes from Josiah's face. "Then you'll have a better idea of where to place the rest of your, uh, your crew. Right?"
"That makes sense," says Fairfax. His brow wrinkles. "But I was assuming people would be in a hurry to get started, and that even a temporary placement as some of the cheerleaders would -- "
"I'm not in a real hurry," you say, and stab at the rice. "This is all pretty new to me, you know? I mean, just an hour or so ago, I thought I was coming out to record a video review." You glance at the wall of the unit -- a few spaces down, there will be a duplicate of you sitting down to record that review. "I guess I am recording that review, just not the way I figured I'd be doing it."
Fairfax smiles faintly. "Well, if you want to wait -- "
"Give me some ideas now of the kind of places you want to investigate, and -- Well, one thing. Do we have to impersonate girls?"
"They seem to be channel that most of the communication moves through," he says. "Of course, there are some guys, like Charles Hartlein -- "
"That's not the kind of guy I was talking about," you hurriedly put in. No way you are interested in impersonating the out-of-the-closet Charles Hartlein. "I just mean, in principle -- "
"Oh, in principle, I think you could impersonate anyone at any level, so long as -- Well, let me give you my theory of how the various groups interact." He dusts himself off before exiting the room.
You and Keith are silent, and so is Josiah. When Keith nudges you, though, and nods at the door like he wants to go, you turn your back on him to speak to Shank. "So, you're going to be Chelsea Cooper. That's got to be pretty exciting."
His eyebrows go up, and you can see his eyes starting to water. "Yeah," he says in a grating kind of squeak. He jabs a finger behind his glasses to rub his eye. "I already have a bunch of classes with her, so, you know, I get to watch her and the way she -- " He mimes fondling some big breasts.
"She plays with her boobs in class?"
"No!" He giggles shyly. "I just mean -- " He turns pink and bites on a smile.
"You know you're going to have to deal with Gordon Black, don't you? I don't think he's used to hearing 'no'."
You thought you could shock him, but Josiah just keep staring into the middle distance with a dopey smile disfiguring the bottom half of his face. "I know," he sighs. "I'm actually looking forward to, uh, doing it once, at least. Be interesting to see what it's like. From the girl's point of view, I mean," he hastily adds, and the pink blush darkens to bright red. "I've heard and read, online and in, like, videos, that for girls it can be, like, the most incredible -- "
His eyes blaze with fevered anticipation, and little strings of spit form in his mouth. Keith softly says, "Oh my God," and you're inclined to swear right alongside him. You sure didn't mean to turn Josiah on this way.
Luckily, Fairfax returns just as Josiah is starting to use his hands and some alarmingly dexterous fingers to illustrate some of the techniques he has seen diagrammed in hentai titles. Fairfax has a large sketchbook tucked under his arm, and he brusquely shuts Shank up with what sounds like a much-rehearsed presentation.
* * * * *
You'll say this Fairfax -- he's a well-prepared son-of-a-bitch, and he'll make an excellent engineer some day, if he ever gets tired of being a female cheerleader. He has diagrammed his theory of the various social groups at the school, showing with a series of overlapping circles who is at the center of which groups, and which individuals belong to multiple groups.
Every name is female. When you mention this fact, he flips to another page, and shows a different set of circles, where all the enclosed names belong to guys. You spot your name on it. It floats in a lower corner with Caleb's and Keith's. Keith's name overlaps with the circle that contains Fairfax's, but you and Caleb, according to Fairfax's observations, are by yourselves.
You can't argue with his conclusions. You couldn't even argue against the line -- not even an overlapping area -- that connects you and Caleb to Carson's circle. Though you are impressed that he and his friends have deigned to notice you.
The diagram is complicated enough that you only take in the highlights. There are the cheerleaders at the center of it. Chelsea's name is isolated inside the center circle. This circle is surrounded by a ring of other circles that overlap it in a series of complicated Venn diagrams, and every other cheerleader sits in at least one overlap. Kendra Saunders, for instance, overlaps with a group that includes Catherine Muskov. Eva and Jessica overlap a group that includes Kelsey Blankenship. Yumi Saito overlaps the group that includes Jenny Ashton. Cindy Vredenburg overlaps with Anne Starkey.
There's a second ring of circles overlapping with the first ring, and a third ring around that one. Circles overlap in complex patterns, with the occasional double-line (another method for indicating overlap, Fairfax explains) connecting circles on one side of the diagram with circles on the opposite side. The names pile up until they don't mean anything anymore.
So you fall silent as Keith takes up the conversation again. He seems more in control of himself, so you don't have the same urge to intervene.
"Okay, so," he says, "what you want is for us to impersonate some of these girls that belong to more than one group. Except for Chelsea."
"That's correct," says Fairfax. "The Garners, for instance, are perfectly positioned to monitor the influence factors running from Chelsea Cooper to Kelsey Blankenship, as well as between those two and -- "
"Right right right," says Keith. "That's how come you were talking about Kendra and Yumi and Lin." He points to their names, then points to another. "What about her?"
"Well, she's another one," says Fairfax. He tugs his ear. "In point of fact, I was saving her as a possibility for later. If Maria didn't work out as a vantage point. But she and Chelsea seem caught in such an antipathetic relationship -- "
"You mean they hate each other," you observe.
"That's right. So the communication flow there -- "
"If we're going to be impersonating cheerleaders," says Keith, "that's the one I want."
You jerk backwards. Keith has just said he wants to become Cindy Vredenburg.
That's the girlfriend of Seth Javits, his archenemy.
Fairfax blinks a couple of times, then shakes himself all over. "Well, okay then. That's your assignment." He looks over at you. "Will, that leaves Kendra or Yumi or Lin as the most important -- "
"I'd like to think about it," you say. "Keith got to pick his, uh, impersonation. I'm going to need a little longer for mine."
"The choices are right here," says Fairfax. He points to the center of the chart. "If you can tell me before we break up for the night -- "
"I'd like to take the chart home. Study it. I know what you want," you tell Fairfax when he frowns. "I won't mess it up." You grasp the chart. After a moment's hesitation, he lets go.
"We were hoping to get started tonight," he says. "We know that you -- "
"I'll tell you in the morning, when I give this thing back. Promise." You stand up. "Thanks for dinner. And for, uh -- " You swallow. "Letting me in on all this."
"You want to see Carlos and Mike before you go? They're in there recording your -- "
"That's okay, I'll look at the final video when it's uploaded. Besides, it would be kind of weird seeing myself outside a mirror."
The others watch you with mild surprise as you awkwardly step over the spread out food and leave.
  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
| Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
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