Chapter #17The Queen of Discord by: rugal b.   "Kendra?" you ask as you quickly shut the door behind you.
"Yes! Wait, no! It's... argh! You have to help me, I just... just..."
Her response is scattered, her voice is wavering and her lips -- those large, cushiony lips -- are quivering. It's quite a sight really, Kendra acting in a way that is very much the opposite of what you would ever expect to see. Yet here she is, a confused mess and begging you for help. No, she's not acting like herself at all. She's acting a lot more like...
"Chelsea?" you ask with hesitance.
"Yes!" Kendra exclaims with relief. "It's me, Will! You have to..." she trails off and she looks sheepish. "I'm stuck," she admits.
It is indeed an odd thing seeing Kendra act like this. Neither you nor Samantha are experts on Chelsea's hanger on but based on what you do know and seeing her like this now really puts the two into contrast.
That is to say that for all of her grandiose scheming and lofty pretensions of power, there's something almost immature about Chelsea. The way she giggles and talks, the way she moves and practically bounces when excited. It's an odd thing to think and it could even just be a disarming act but there's something of a childish innocence to her even when she's plotting or trying to boss you around, like she's a little girl playing at being the archetypal queen bee cheerleader.
But in the times you've seen her, and in the few interactions Samantha's had with her, Kendra is almost Chelsea's polar opposite. She carries herself with a level of confidence -- arrogance really -- that you've only ever seen out of someone like Amanda Ferguson. She always appears cool, collected and completely in control. Where Chelsea rules by complete force of will Kendra has charisma. Chelsea will just demand you do something but Kendra will push every button you have getting you to do things without ever having to outright tell you.
Chelsea comes off more like a bratty princess; Kendra a seductive queen.
It's that difference, then, that makes someone like Kendra a wholly more detestable person to Samantha than Chelsea. Chelsea, even if she's not trying to be, is very up front and transparent. But Kendra is shadowy and duplicitous which might possibly make her even more dangerous.
Which of course makes it odd that everything has come together such as it has. Samantha (well, you) having to keep up to date on the drama that causes her such a headache, as Chelsea's mole having to play a role that would unnerve her greatly and now standing here in the loft above the gym with Kendra Saunders except it's really a mask of Kendra worn by...
"Chelsea, what are you doing in that thing?" you finally ask.
"I just... it's dumb," she replies in frustration. "I wanted to try that mask out, like what we used on Gary and the real--" she waves her hand. "So I did it after practice. Kendra was easier than... than Yumi or... and she's dangerous, Will! She's so--"
"Chelsea, relax. I'll get you out but--"
"Right," replies Kendra. "Kendra she... she thinks she's so fucking sly but I know she's talking to that bitch Lin! She's probably talking to Kelsey too!"
"On your orders?"
"No!" she emphatically declares. "She just wants to... god it pisses me off! She probably just wants to work every angle so she's on the winning side no matter what but she's not as smooth as she thinks she is. So I had to deal with her but... but I got freaked out that maybe it might not work that well if I had more than, like, the ones I had with Gary and Gordon."
"So you, what, put on Kendra's mask so you could look at everything personally?"
Kendra nods at that, her auburn-hued curls flopping this way and that. "I put some of that stuff in my mask because I figured even if Chelsea wasn't listening to me we'd be on the same page. But now..." She looks at you, her dark eyes water and pleading. "Just help me get it off."
You reach out towards her face, ready to chant the magic words that'll help you pull the mask off when something she says gives you pause.
"It's stupid, I don't even have everything."
You eye her queerly. "What do you mean you don't everything?" you ask.
"Like up here," she answers as she taps the side of her head. "Like if I think really, really hard I get, like, a piece here and there but not everything. How long does it take to get all of it?"
"Immediately?" you reply in bewilderment. "I had it all as soon as I put on the mask. So much that it took me a little bit to even sort out if I was Samantha or myself."
Kendra can only give you the stinkeye. "Stop bullshitting me," she states with barely disguised annoyance.
"Chelsea, why would I bullshit you?"
"Because you..." But she trails off, her eyes darting around as she shifts uncomfortably. "I guess you wouldn't," she admits, "because you've been straight with me so far." At that point her expression changes, not brightening so much as if she's just had an epiphany. "Oh my god, you could've used this stuff on... on me! You could've..." she gulps.
"But I didn't. You haven't given me any reason to distrust you and I really do want to help you," you tell her. "Besides it's kind of my fault. If I'd never given the book to Caleb..."
"Well, whatever, you didn't and I," she shifts some more, still uncomfortably. "Thanks."
You damn near fall flat on your face when you hear that.
* * * * *
It's almost right after her unexpected gratitude that she goes back to telling you to get the mask off of her. So you do and if you're expecting another "thank you" once she's back to normal then it's not coming. So instead you tell her the words she'll need to chant so she can take a mask off and though she's reluctant she gives in to your insistence that she try it herself. So Kendra's mask goes back onto her face and after going over the chant with her again you have her try it herself.
"Oh my god, it worked! I did it!" she exclaims excitedly once she's back to herself. Again if you're expecting thanks then you're left wanting because immediately her eyes light up and she's on to what she feels are more pressing concerns.
"So, what's up with her? With the basketball team? You said that she's friends with Catherine Muskov right? Come on, tell me!"
She's practically speaking a thousand miles a minute and you tell her to slow down.
"Samantha's on good terms with a lot of people but the basketball team..." That gives you pause. It's been becoming such a sour point for Samantha over the last month and she hates thinking about it, but Chelsea wants to know so you don't really have any choice but to press on. "She's been pretty withdrawn from most of the team lately," you admit. "Samantha really, really doesn't like drama but for whatever reason... you know what's going on with the girls soccer team right?"
"With that girl that came over from Eastman and Anita right? I've at least heard about it," Chelsea says.
"Well for whatever reason it's spilled over onto the team because Stephanie Wyatt, for whatever reason, has a bug up her ass about that girl, Hannah, too," you explain. "So Stephanie and Anita have been working together, trying to fuck with Hannah though Samantha doesn't know how. She just doesn't want deal with the drama so she's been hanging around Catherine more. Things between Anita and Stephanie and Hannah are getting worse and Samantha wants no part of it."
Chelsea's eyes gleam. "Maybe there's something I can work with there but I'd have to think about it some more. Anything else I should know?" she asks.
"She's really good friends with a bunch of Eastman girls that play on a couple of the teams over there," you tell her. "They all live in the same neighborhood."
Chelsea gives it a moment of thought but dismisses it. "I'm not really worried about Eastman right now," she says, "but it might be good to know in the future. What I am worried about is making sure everything's right with the squad."
She's holding Kendra's mask and examines it intently as she turns it this way and that. "She's more useful to me than that girl you are right now but..." You can see the gears turning in her head. "Hey do you want to switch? Like put that stuff in that girl's mask and then you take over for Kendra?"
"You want me to be Kendra?" you ask in astonishment. "You trust me that much?"
Chelsea just grunts. "You haven't fucked me over yet so sure, maybe a little," she states. "Like I said, I'm worried there might be problems with her if I try to just put this mask on her seeing as I've already got Gary and Gordon under my control. Kendra's way too dangerous to leave alone so I need to make sure she's neutralized. But if you don't want to..."
Chelsea looks you directly in the eye with a grim seriousness you haven't seen since getting entangled with her. "If you're going to stay then you need to find an angle to work that'll help me out," she tells you. She then looks back down at the mask. "I'll stick the rest of the day out as Kendra. I know her enough that I can probably do it, plus I think I had a little bit more by the time you took the mask off than when I first put it on."
"So if I'm staying as Samantha..."
"Somebody has to be Kendra so I guess I'd stick it out for a little bit until I feel better about her staying under my control," she says. "Do you know where Kendra lives?" When you respond negatively she gives you her address. "Come by Kendra's after school and we'll figure out what's going on." You have the following choice: 1. Continue |
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