Chapter #38Reorienting Yourself by: rugal b.  "How do you have friends that go to Eastman?" you ask. It's a question that's been buzzing in your brain since you'd heard that claim. "I mean, with you being new in town and all..."
"Uh, just because I'm new here doesn't mean I don't get out or anything," Sydney retorts. "Plus, I never said that they were my friends. I just said that I knew some girls."
"Okay, well then how do you know some Eastman girls?"
"It was a party right after school started," she tells you. "I ran into some girls there and we got to talking and when I told them I'd just moved here they got, like, really curious. They started asking me about where I was from, what school I was going to, what I thought about Westside and Eastman and blah blah blah."
"There's a difference?" you ask.
"Maybe, I don't know. After all, I'm new," Sydney says giving you a playful and teasing smirk as she does. "So, okay, I just talked to them a bit and yeah it turned out they went to Eastman. We're not, like, friends but I keep in touch with them some times. They're always curious about what's happening on the other side of town."
Now that she's said that, you're kind of curious about that yourself. Truth be told, you've never heard much about Eastman yourself and so only know it as the high school, as Sydney just put it, "on the other side of town" so you can't help but wonder about it. What goes on over there? Do they have all the same kind of cliques and things that Westside has? Is there an Eastman Chelsea Cooper dating an Eastman Gordon Black and making life miserable for Eastman Yumi Saito and Eastman Cindy Vredenburg?
Is there an Eastman Will Prescott?
Well, probably not. It's not some kind of alien planet, just a school across town. But all the same, you're now curious about it.
"Well, maybe I wanna know too," you say nonchalantly, trying hard to be cool in front of Sydney.
"Is that so?" asks Sydney with amusement. "Okay, well I can probably put a feeler or two out and get something set up." She takes her phone out and you see her begin to tap at the screen and listen as it dings back a response. You're there for a few minutes as this goes back and forth before Sydney finally puts her phone away. "Alright, I've got something all good to go. They're going to be coming over to my place in a little bit. Mind driving me there?"
So you do... eventually. First, though, she has you stop to get some supplies. This includes making a mask of herself and she laments that it might have been fun if the two of you swapped with each other for a day. You almost pass out at the thought of wearing Sydney's body. But instead you take a bit of here hair and get the spell ready, coating the inside of the mask with that pedisequos paste.
Then it's driving Sydney to her house.
You're surprised when you start to get into the northwestern area of town. The part of Saratoga Falls where the houses get much bigger and much fancier. The part where you can't help but feel out of place. It makes you self-conscious in a way. Not only is Sydney beautiful and smart but her family's got some serious coin as well to be living out here. You almost want to pinch yourself to make sure you're not dreaming that you've landed someone like this.
But unfortunately, you're dissuaded of seeing the inside of the fancy house you find yourself pulling up to.
"Sorry, Will, but this is where we're going to have to break off for the night," Sydney tells you as you shut the truck off.
"You're not going to need any help?"
"Mmm, no, I think I can manage fine on my own," she tells you. "But more importantly, I want to surprise you."
"What's that mean? I don't even think you've told me who you're becoming."
In response, she leans over and kisses you on the cheek; you start to feel hot. "It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, would it?" she asks. "But don't worry, you'll like it. Trust me."
So she exits and you're left to drive home, spending Friday evening not with friends or even your new girlfriend but occupied with the internet, video games and other stuff. It's not until late at night, some time after ten, that you realize you haven't heard from Sydney and so decide to text her phone to make sure everything's alright.
its fine, comes the text. she'll text you tomorrow.
So that means the switch must have gone off and that was the fake-Sydney you'd just had that brief exchange with. You wonder why Sydney didn't just text you herself, though. Maybe whoever she's switched with is busy and so hasn't had the chance? By the time you've gone to sleep you still haven't heard anything. Worry carries over when you wake up the next morning though, it dissipates a bit when you see some messages on your phone from an unknown number.
hey will, its me. evrythings good. meet me here.
around 11 AM good? i'm here alone right now.
The next message is an address -- though one you don't recognize -- and telling you to come there. But obviously this must be from Sydney so you text back that you'll meet her.
It's still early enough that you have time to get eat breakfast and take your time getting ready. As you head out the door, you tell your parents that you're meeting friends for an early lunch. You hop in your truck and, with a sense of excitement and anticipation, head off in the direction of that address that Sydney sent you.
* * * * *
You pull up into the driveway of a house a bit north of Fillmore and west of King. It's a house of average size yet looks nice as you can tell that it newer. In fact this whole area -- only a hop, skip and a jump away from the downtown area around Keyserling -- has been built up steadily over the last few years. Not that you're one to pay attention to the housing market or urban planning but even you can remember a time where this area had been mostly older homes.
Sydney, at least you're sure it was Sydney, said she was alone so even though you have to take a breath as you head up the small walkway, you ring the doorbell. It takes about half a minute but the door finally pushes open to reveal a girl standing there.
She's African-American with hair that falls long and thick well past her shoulders. Her arms and thighs have a thickness to them. However it's not thickness of fat but instead of muscle; of someone who gets much use out of every single one in her body.
"Yes?" she asks and her voice, while light, is both smooth and low.
"Oh, uh, right. My name is, uh, Will?" you say as you stumble over the words. "I was, uh, told to come out here. To this address." You take your phone out and show her the message on the off chance she doesn't believe you.
"Hmm, I see. Okay, come on in," she says as she steps aside and gestures for you to come inside. She closes the door behind you when she does and gestures again to follow her when she does. "Will... you're the guy that Sydney mentioned? The boyfriend?"
"Yeah, I'm--" you want to go but stop dead in your tracks. "Sydney?" you ask tentatively.
The girl stops, stands silently for a few seconds and then spins around. A grin is plastered on her face. "Oh jeez, Will, I kinda wanted to keep this up for a little longer. You shouldn't have guessed so fast," she pouts.
"Who's this?" you ask as you gesture towards her. "Is she the Eastman girl you--"
"Mhm," she interrupts you. "Let's keep going back to my room. I'll tell you all about it."
* * * * *
The girl, it turns out, is named Alyssa Randall: a cheerleader and gossip over at Eastman. But not just a cheerleader and gossip for she's the leader of a sextet of girls who trade in gossip and rumors and since she's also the head of Eastman's cheerleading squad, this makes Alyssa a very powerful person at the school. "Like Chelsea but without the cuntiness," Sydney had mused.
But Alyssa's interest isn't just in Eastman gossip but Westside as well. It was some of her group that Sydney had met so Alyssa has hit Sydney up for gossip, rumors and the like from time to time since then. It's because of Sydney being the hotshot new girl that Alyssa couldn't pass up an opportunity to grill her about this new boyfriend she'd apparently got when Sydney had called her out to her place yesterday.
That's when the switch was made without hassle although, as Sydney tells it, she didn't have any memories at all. Even when you tell her that you've never had that problem, she insists that she indeed did and you see no point in arguing, simply tell her that maybe it's different for different people. But Sydney had Alyssa's stuff so decided to head to Alyssa's house, lock herself in her room and try to learn as much as she could.
But by the time she'd woken up this morning it was pointless because suddenly it was all there. She could think like Alyssa, remember every little detail of her life. Even her crush on... well, she demures from telling you.
"It's not important," she says as she straddles you while you sit on her bed. "Because I'm not interested in being his girlfriend, just yours." She leans in close, her smooth and unblemished hazelnut skin right next to your face, as she speaks softly into your ear. "Besides, we need to think about getting you a new identity too, baby."
Your almost make a mess of your underwear right then and there.
"Alyssa has to meet some of the girls for lunch. It's a Saturday ritual, collating what they picked up at the Friday parties," she explains. "You wanna wait here, though, I can get one of them to come back. It'd be the best place to start with our Brotherhood anyway."
That's very true but you are also feeling very horny right now. Sydney did say there'd need to be a guy as well and if you switched yourself with whoever Alyssa has a crush on... you again almost make a mess of your underwear at the thought. indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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