You gulp at Seth's threat and when you look at Caleb you see that he's also looking very nervous. Both of you know that Seth could very well be serious about his threat and neither of you wants to find out if "could be" would actually become "is." But you're equally nervous about agreeing to it because you don't know how Yumi would react to one of you impersonating her friend. So you look at her and it seems like similar thoughts—how should she feel and react and such—are running through her head. Unlike either you or Caleb, though, she seems to have the ability to actually speak. The benefit, you think, of being one of the alpha girls. She's probably never at a loss for words.
"I don't think that's really a good idea, Seth," she states. "And Will's right, I don't like the idea of someone running around and pretending to be her."
"They don't have a choice," he growls at her. "They fucked with me so now I'm fucking with them and I'm being nice about it. Because it's better for them than me fucking them up."
"Look, uh, Jenny is Yumi's friend though," you interject.
"Huh?" Seth grunts as he wheel's on you. "The fuck did you say?"
"Just th-that Yumi should, uh, should be able to have a say i-in what's done with... with that mask of Jenny and—"
You're cut off by Seth grabbing your shirt collar and leaning in close which causes you to yelp. You can feel his breath on you and his anger is written all over his face. He's still pissed off from yesterday and maybe he's just looking for an excuse to pound you into next week. Maybe he intended for you to say yes or maybe he only came up with the idea once he saw Yumi and decided that he could offer something he knew would never be accepted so he'd have an excuse to kick your ass. So you ready for it as best you can while wondering how you're going to explain it to your parents. But it never comes.
"Seth, cut it out!" Yumi interjects. "You want them to do it, then fine! Just stop acting like... like a stupid caveman!"
Seth immediately lets go of you and turns to Yumi and you half-expect him to try and slug her. But he doesn't. Seth may be a lot of things but he's not dumb enough to try and hit a girl. He knows he'd destroy his reputation if he did that. So he just stares at her hard, trying to intimidate her, but Yumi shows no signs of backing down.
"You can think that Cindy doesn't care about what you do but I guarantee you that she does," she follows up. "But if you think there's something else going on and you want Will and Caleb to find it out, then fine. They can do that. And when they come back and say that Cindy told them that she wants you to calm down, you won't do a damn thing except maybe learn how to not act like a thug if you don't want to lose her."
With that she turns and, rather angrily, stomps up the stairs and out of the basement. Stunned, you watch her go before turnin back to Seth who looks like he's both surprised and seething. "We'll, um, do it. I'll do it," you say before you dash up the stairs. "Hey wait up!" you call out to Yumi once you're out.
She's walking towards her car but stops and turns to you. "What?" she responds with a frostiness that chills you. "Don't think I'm happy with you either."
"I'm, uh, sorry?" is all you can sputter out.
"Sorry!?" she says with irritated disbelief. "This is messed up! This whole thing is... it's so messed up!"
"I wasn't... we weren't trying to do anything bad," you assure her. "We were just messing around and trying to see what this book did."
"You're messing around with real people, Will!" she cries out. "That mask... it wasn't rubber or some kind of cheap Halloween prop. I was that girl; I was really her. And when you use that mask of Jenny then whoever puts it on is really her and she has to deal with the fallout of someone else's actions."
"Yeah, I know," is all you can meekly utter.
"No, Will, I don't think you do because if you did you would have stopped after the first time." She draws into herself, a gamut of emotions probably flowing through her right now. "I don't like it, Will, but I'm willing to go along with what Seth asked because I don't want to see you guys beaten to a pulp and maybe," she pauses. "Seth's not a bad guy, you know. Cindy wouldn't date him if he was."
"Tell that to Keith. Or me or Caleb or anyone he sets his sights on," you say with bitterness.
"I don't," again she pauses. "I think it's mostly the people he hangs around with, Steve and Gordon and them. They're the assholes and I think he thinks that he has to keep up with them to stay in good with them. It's all toxic masculinity bullshit. But maybe if he hears that Cindy herself wants him to change, that he has to choose between her or his stupid macho pride..."
You're not inclined to feel any sympathy for Seth and you're only slightly more inclined to feel it for Cindy who's always struck you as being only marginally less of a bitch than Chelsea. But you like Yumi you do feel sympathy for her so you can't really dismiss the way that she feels, nor can you deny the negative effects that your actions (for she's right, you did bring in Keith) have had on her.
"Look, I'm not going to do this for him," you say. "I don't give a shit about Seth Javits. but if this makes us even with him then fine. That's all I care about it."
"Yeah, fine," Yumi replies. "But I'm not going to let you all off the hook. When this is done, I want all of that stuff."
You look at her curiously. "What for?" you ask.
"So I can burn it or toss it or lock it away or whatever. You don't need to mess with this stuff."
* * * * *
The next morning you meet up with Caleb and ask him how everything went since you'd left at the same time that Yumi did. He tells you that it was just awkwardly quiet until Seth told him to explain everything in detail. So Caleb did (not like he had a choice) while Seth just silently listened. At the end, he'd only given a perfunctory "huh" before reminding Caleb that he and his "butt buddy" better do what he said; the "or else" was implicit. Neither of you are really sure how you're going to pull this off since you don't even have Jenny's mind but you told him that part, at least, you don't have to worry about.
In second period Keith doesn't talk to you when you come in and when you try to talk to him after class has let out, he blows you off and simply says that he's "done with all'a that bullshit" and that he "don't need to get beat on by both Seth and my supposed friends." Jenny is absent from lunch and Carson says she's still feeling pissy while James says that Yumi apparently took her off so they could eat and talk privately without everyone pestering her.
Which, of course, is part of the plan. Because before you and Yumi had separated, you said that you expressed worry that Cindy would find out you were a fake since you didn't have a copy of Jenny's mind. After some reluctance, Yumi had you hand the band over and said she'd get it for you after you explained how to use it. "I think you just put it on their forehead and it does the rest, at least if it's like the masks," you'd told her.
I's a plan that's worked because both Yumi and you have math classes for sixth with the classrooms for Mr. Kowalski (your teacher) and Mr. Muniz (Yumi's) being right next to each other and after sixth period, Yumi pulls you aside as you're coming out of the room to hand you the band. The name JENNIFER ANNETTE ASHTON appears on it in big, bold letters. If you put this on you'd have Jenny's mind and since you have a study hall for seventh, you can just duck into a bathroom to put it on.
"Jenny told me at lunch that she made tentative plans to meet up with Cindy at Dairy Queen after school," Yumi tells you, "but I'm going sidetrack her. I'll tell her that Cindy is just going to reinforce Jenny's bad mood with her own or something and we should hang out instead. That should leave an opening for you."
This is really it, isn't it? Pretending to be somebody else and fooling them. This is what others wanted to do and what you've put off... and you still have cold feet. Having Jenny's body and looking like her is one thing but even with her mind, could you think like her? Minds are complex, after all. Would you be able to parse any of it? The doubt is creeping in and you wonder if maybe it should be you who does it.
You know you said that you would but maybe it should be somebody else. Caleb? No... Brittany! Yes, she's one of the ones who's been so eager to try it out. She seems to be self-assured and she's in the drama program so she probably knows how to act and get into a role, or at least she seems very confident in her ability to do it. Maybe she'd be better at playing the part of "Jenny Ashton" than you would and, you think, maybe Yumi would be more comfortable with another girl impersonating her friend.
Granted she did say not to involve Brittany in anything but maybe she'd change her mind. Especially when you hear what she says next.
"Hey, what I said last night about getting rid of that stuff? Forget it. Keep it," she says to your confusion. "I'll tell you later but... I have my reasons."   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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