You don't give an immediate answer and instead simply tell Deanna that you need to think about it... which is true. You're having a tough time really making up your mind and even as you go to sleep for the night you still haven't come to any kind of decision.
That night, though, you have a vivid dream. There's a girl, nervous and shy as she walks through the halls of school. The most popular girl in school stops her, glares at her, and tells her that they have business to discuss. Her friends titter while the girl gulps and agrees. She follows the popular girl through a school that's seemingly turned into a labyrinth and into a hidden, foreboding room. Figures—other students and all far more popular than her—surround the girl as she walks in. Her heart races, her breath is more excited... and then she smirks and the figures kneel. She adjusts the ski cap on her head and laughs. Who would ever suspect her of controlling the school? Of being the boss of all of these popular boys and girls?
In the morning, you send a text to Deanna.
karen rogers. thats who I want
Her reply doesn't come until you're about to head out. Oookay I'll think of sumthin ttyl
Oh sure, Karen isn't the most attractive choice. Jenny and Leah are both way better looking, that Sarah girl isn't so bad either and even Cassie, you admit, is a little cuter. But not being the most physically attractive choice is exactly what makes her so attractive you decide. On its face, you would't really be increasing your social standing at all if you became her but there's something thrilling about that at the same time: Chelsea and Kelsey and others all having to answer to a girl who's socially little better than you.
It's one thing to simply steal the life of someone popular and run everything as them. It's quite another to completely upend the social order like that. It makes it feel like there's an extra layer of humiliation there; an extra layer of payback. It makes you excited to think about it.
* * * * *
"So, Karen Rogers, huh?" Deanna asks from the other side of a bookcase. You're skipping out on lunch while this is her study hall so you're meeting in the library though it was her idea that you meet like this so that "rumors don't get started" or some nonsense. "It's an outside the box choice for sure but that's why I gave you her name."
"Will you be able to get her somewhere?"
"Well, you see, that's the thing," she explains. "I don't know her and don't share any classes with her or anything like that."
"What about Chelsea?" you ask.
"Based on what I've picked up from her social media and her friends' social media... that'd maybe be coming on a little too strong," Deanna states. "It might scare her off. But I've got one of her friends in my next period class so maybe through her I can set something up? Do you need to get this done, like, the second school ends?"
"Not really," you answer for you stopped by the school basement before school to grab supplies and noticed that you still needed to make one of those metal doohickeys that copies the brain. "I actually need a little bit of time to get ready. Maybe an hour or two."
"Mmm, alright then. I'll think of something and get back to you." There's a pause before she speaks again. "So, you're really going to do this? Become a girl?"
You're taken slightly aback by that. "That's not weird, right?" you ask with maybe a bit more discomfort than you'd like. "I'm only going of of what you suggested. If you're messing with me—"
"Relax," Deanna replies with a giggle, "I was just asking is all."
With that you separate and once school finally lets out for the day you practically fly to your hideout where you spend the better part of the afternoon working on making that metal band and then gluing it to a polished mask. It's close to supper time when you finally get a series of texts from Deanna telling you that she was able to set up something, under the guise of a get together to study and do homework, at the municipal library at six o'clock.
With barely contained excitement, you wolf down your dinner and tell your parents that you're meeting up with some friends at the library. You quickly gather up everything that you'll need and head out.
* * * * *
where are you???
That's the text you send to Deanna as you look around the first floor of the library. There's a corner with tables that's used largely for people who want to read and study and though you see some teenagers there, none of them are Deanna. You finally get an answer when she texts you back to meet her on the third floor. You've never been up there and tell her as such when she meets you at the top of the stairs and she explains that it's largely for staff but there's also some conference rooms and such which can be used after hours if you know the right people.
"And thankfully," she confidently tells you, "my aunt works here so it's all good." She then gets more serious with her follow up. "So I told Lotte Linde in sixth period to organize a study group, invite friends you know? I meant Karen but... she took the plural form a little literally."
She leads you into one of the unused conference rooms where you see Karen and three other girls sitting on either side of one of the ends of a long table. "This is the other person who I was able to get to come," Deanna says as she takes a seat at the head of the table.
"Hey, I'm Will," you say casually as you look around and lock eyes with a girl with dark hair. She gives you a friendly smile and says something quietly to the girl next to her who then moves over. The dark-haired girl motions for you to sit in the now vacant seat between them.
"I'm Lotte," she says and her voice is warm and honeyed as you take your seat. "That's Gwen," she says pointing to the girl on your other side, "Abby," she motions towards the girl in a pink hoodie directly across from you, "and Karen," she then points out the girl in the ski cap close to Deanna. "So how'd you get roped into this?"
"Uh, I don't know," you say. "Deanna suggested it. I'm having trouble in calculus so—"
"Oh! Calculus, I thought you looked familiar," says Gwen. "You've got Kowalski for sixth, right?" It's at that moment that you recognize that "Gwen" is Gwendolyn Beene from your calculus class who you know largely because she sits a few seats in front of you and gets some of the scores on the pop quizzes that Mr. Kowalski likes to give.
And from there the atmosphere loosens up a lot.
For a little bit you actually find yourself almost forgetting about the masks as Gwen patiently and carefully explains some things that actually had been giving you trouble and at one point even says that she'd be willing to give you some one-on-one tutoring if you feel like you need it. Of the girls there, she's frankly the plainest of them and the least feminine. She wears jeans and, like the rest of them it seems, a baggy hoodie. Her face is long and she doesn't seem wear much makeup. If it wasn't for her hair, which is very long, and her surprisingly soft voice then you'd almost mistake her for a somewhat girlish boy.
But even as you're getting help from Gwen, you find yourself chatting just as much with Lotte. Not really about schoolwork (besides complaining about certain teachers) but just random topics. Your interests don't overlap all that much but Lotte is chipper and charming in a way that makes her pleasant and easy to converse with and you find she keeps giving you small, bashful smiles and looking away when your eyes meet. And the more you study her, the more you find her to be the cutest of the girls there... Deanna excepted.
Abby, meanwhile, also happens to share a class with you... Walberg's, as it turns out. You don't really recognize her but she says that it's because she sits on the other side of the room and is mostly quiet. "I don't really want to talk to Kelsey and Amanda and all of them. They're such bitches," she says making sure to really emphasize that last word.
"Yeah, they're, like, total rivals," Lotte says with amusement.
"They're not... ugh!" Abby moans. "My dad owns a few businesses around town that's all."
"That's underselling it," Gwen says which causes both you and Deanna to perk up. "He owns Northgate Plaza. You know, that small shopping center near the mall?"
That certainly surprises you because Abby, well, doesn't look like she comes from a family of means. She dresses, like the rest of her friends, very plain. She's not an unattractive girl, to be honest. You almost want to say that she takes up a lot of space being tall and curvy, but she seems to have no real fashion sense. And when you look at Deanna you can practically see it written on her face: with some good advice she could go far.
Abby drops another surprise for you when everyone decides to take a break, some going to the bathroom and some going outside to check their phones, leaving just the two of you. She confesses that she noticed you right away because you're always hanging out with Caleb. "I had a class with him last year and, uh, you know I guess I thought he was kind of funny and, uh, cute?" she says nervously.
So far, Karen seems like she may be a bust. She's barely said a word since you've been here and just seems way too shy for you to be able to get alone. If you wanted to, you could maybe get Abby alone by wanting to talk to her about Caleb. Or you could set up a study session with Gwen. And Lotte needs a ride home since the three of them came her in Abby's car and, well, you seem to be connecting pretty well with her.
You can always hold out for Karen but truth be told, you're not necessarily committed either and it feels like you'd have an easier time grabbing one of her friends.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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