Chapter #15The Well-Connected Girl by: rugal b.   Your head is swimming as consciousness comes back to you. The tile you're sitting on is cold against your... bare skin? That jolts you from drowsy to fully awake. Where are you and why the hell are you naked? The last thing you can remember is sitting in Chelsea's room as she was trying to set you up with... you don't remember his name but you've seen him around in fourth period; that's why he looked familiar.
You'd only come over in the first place because she'd said something about getting the cheerleaders to support the girl's basketball team a little more and you were hoping you could turn that into a little help with... all of that. Instead she Shanghaied you into trying to get with that boy.
Not like you were interested but he was so nervous, so fidgety that you couldn't help but feel a little bad for him; Chelsea was clearly taking him for a ride. Part of you wants to know what her game is, how she even knows this kid (because he may be a senior but everything about him just screams immature) but for the most part you don't particularly care. Things have started draining you mentally and you don't need to add being caught up in some scheme of Chelsea's to your plate.
As he sat there muttering and fidgeting he took that ceramic whatever it was and thrust it at you; that's when everything went black.
And that's how you woke up here you realize as you regain yourself and bring yourself to your feet. Here not just in Chelsea Cooper's bathroom but in...
You move hair, long and golden and loosely curled, out of your view as you take a look at girl whose body and life you're now occupying. It's a face that's very traditionally pretty. Not striking in the way a Cindy Vredenburg is but if you had to picture the prototypical All-American girl Samantha Carpenter would be it. You give yourself a smile and you like how it seems to brighten the bathroom.
From there you look down at pear-shaped breasts that are a little larger than you'd expect given the frame that they rest on and you resist the temptation to touch and massage them; there will be plenty of time for that later. Instead you ponder the fact that Samantha Carpenter, though on the taller side of things, has a lithe build that seems like it belongs more to a runner than a basketball player.
Well duh, comes another voice from the back of your head that's more like a lightbulb. Yes, it's a runner's build because throughout freshman and sophomore years she was on the track team. She loved it, loved pushing herself. But she'd also been on the JV basketball team in sophomore year and when the varsity team needed members the next year... Plus her friends said it'd be a good idea since Catherine Muskov had come over from Eastman.
That's not to say that Samantha doesn't enjoy playing on the basketball team or holds ill will towards Catherine; in fact the two are good friends and Samantha's a frequent presence at Catherine's frequent parties. But she does miss being part of the old team so she makes sure to get up early for a two mile run every morning, as much for nostalgia as to keep in shape.
Although lately...
Ugh, no! I can't let that stuff drag me down, that little voice says once more.
Right, best not to dwell on anything right now. Samantha's got places to be, places that'll put her in a better headspace. So as quickly as you can you get dressed: on goes the underwear, the shorts, the shirt, the socks and shoes and finally the windbreaker. You give yourself a quick glance to make sure everything is in place and, satisfied, you decide to pay your respects to Chelsea before heading out.
"Is that you?" Chelsea asks with excitement once you've made your way back into her room. "Oh my god I just saw your, uh, thing! You know, the robot you or whatever? So it worked?"
"Yeah, it's me in here," you answer.
At that Chelsea lets out a squeal of delight and it makes you (well, the part of you that's Samantha) want to laugh; who could've thought that Chelsea Cooper could come off like an excited little girl?
Instead you regard her with Samantha's own neutral demeanor towards her. Samantha doesn't really have the same ill will towards Chelsea that a lot of her peers, even ones on the basketball team, have. That's not to say she likes Chelsea per se, just that she knows that everyone is playing a game of some kind and if it wasn't Chelsea then it'd be Kendra or Cindy or Kelsey or...
But Chelsea doesn't bother her so why should she get worked up? She's got her own network of friends that would in no way be affected by Chelsea anyway so she's not really a concern. And if Chelsea wants to get on her good side, be friendly with her? Well there's worse people to have on your side. It might piss off some people but then there's just as many that'd be pissed if Samantha was on the other side.
It's all such a pain in the ass.
"This is actually totally exciting!" Chelsea beams. "The basketball team has been such a blind spot but now..." At that she can hardly contain herself.
"Yeah, I'll be your mole," you tell her though you're unable to come close to matching her own enthusiasm. "I can't really start dishing right now though. I have to sift through everything first, really get used to playing her. We can meet up," you pause, "I was going to say lunch but I think she's got fifth."
"I can skip fifth, it's some bullshit class," Chelsea says waving off your concern. "You'll have everything by then though? Because I'm going to want an overview on how things stand with the team first so I can figure out what we do there."
"While you work on the squad?" you ask coolly.
"Right! We've already got, what's his name, but he's not useful or anything so I'll need to test the mask on..." she trails off for a moment, thinking, and then her face lights up. "I'll have it for you then! Isn't that going to be exciting?!"
So Chelsea's going to show off her... prize, you'd guess? You hate thinking of another person like that but with the way Chelsea's acting... "Sure," you reply simply, "but I've gotta get home. Acclimate and everything, you know? I've made out at least enough to do that but," you pause. Should you give Chelsea this bit of information? Well, what's the point in holding out? You're already all in anyway.
"Well, I'll have to really get it mapped but Samantha knows a lot of people," you tell her. "She's friends with Catherine Muskov and has, well, a lot of connections. I should have it all for you by lunch tomorrow though, so..."
Chelsea doesn't say anything. The look she has as you gather your stuff up says it all.
* * * * *
"Sam! We were waiting for you!" calls out a brown-haired girl as she bounces a basketball in her driveway.
"Sorry," you reply as you catch the ball she tosses towards you. "Chelsea wanted to talk and I kind of got caught up there."
"Chelsea? As in Cooper?" Another girl, a more serious-faced blonde asks.
"What does the Terror of Westside want with you?" It's another blonde this time, similar in appearance to the first but not quite.
All you can really do at that is shrug which leads to groans of disappointments. "You have to have something!" exclaims another girl with honey-colored hair. "Is she as bad as the stories say?"
"Couldn't tell you," you answer as you take a shot. "I try to keep out of that stuff, remember?"
"I swear, you are so out of place there," says the honey-haired girl. "You and Catherine both."
"How is Catherine holding up anyway?" asks the brunette.
"She's not on Chelsea's bad side if that's what you mean," say as you watch the other two blondes engage in a little offense-defense maneuver. "You know her parties aren't Westside only right? It's pretty much an open invite for whoever wants to come."
"Probably less dangerous than the Warehouse too," the brunette girl states. "But, ugh, I'd feel so out of place I don't know anyone from over there, really, except for you."
"My ex goes to Westside," the perkier of the two blondes interjects. "I say we do it. Is Catherine having a party this weekend?"
"Do fish swim?" you ask and that causes the five of you to laugh. "Look, just come out. Her parties are fun, no pressure or anything. It'll be cool."
If it wasn't for the presence of Samantha Carpenter there really wouldn't be much that's out of place about the group. After all, the five of them have all grown up together in this neighborhood, played on many teams together, have held many sleepovers at each others' houses, all the normal stuff. This group -- Samantha, Monica Bratt, Amber Duckett and the non-identical twins Ashley and Penny Stricker -- are as close as any group of friends that's grown up together can be.
The only thing that separates them is school: Samantha goes to Westside and the others are Eastman students. Samantha probably would've gone to Eastman as well but the track team at Westside was rebuilding meaning she'd easily got a slot there whereas Eastman's was all full up.
Of course jokes about Samantha being a "daywalker" aside something as dumb as what school you attend shouldn't really matter much in the long run, school pride aside, but at times it does feel like there's a gulf between them as much as there's a gulf between the disparate groups at Westside. It's stupid that the four of them should feel weird about going to a Westside party just as it's dumb that some on the basketball team...
Nope, not now, says the voice again. There'll be time to worry about that tomorrow but for now you just want to enjoy a nice evening with your friends.  You have the following choice: 1. Continue |
| Members who added to this interactive
story also contributed to these: |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Get MORE!
Shop Memberships
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
