Chapter #11The Perils of Pessimissm by: rugal b.   Once you arrive home you spend most of the rest of the afternoon and into the evening deliberating about what you should do. However your mind has always been your biggest hurdle and eventually you begin to convince yourself that going to Jelena about this would be a bad idea.
The reasoning is very simple to start out: you don't really have any way to get in contact with her. She didn't give you a number or anything so you'd have no way to talk to her out of school beyond possibly hanging out with her band. Of course there's lunch but you don't think she'd want you bothering her when she's with her friends. Especially not for something like this. That then segues into a slightly more ridiculous but still worrying line of thought.
What would she even think?
If you went up to her, pulled her aside at lunch and told her that you had a magic book and wanted to use it to change bodies with her so you could hang out with her sister what would she really think about that? She'd probably think you were a lunatic and then word would get to her friends which would get around the school. It'd also get back to her sister. You could kiss goodbye any chance of ever hanging out with them as well as becoming the school pariah. Not even Caleb would want to hang out with you at that point, probably.
So resigning yourself to not telling her you decide to just try hanging out normally. The problem though is that you also never got any date and place for her band's next show from Jelena. Thankfully that's a little easier to solve. If they're a band they've got to promote themselves which means social media. So you open your laptop and head to Facebook and after a minute of trying to remember the band's name you're able to find a date and place: Friday night at some bar or lounge or whatever interchangeable facility on Grant.
But should you even go? You felt so uncomfortable at that club though this is going to be a different environment, probably. Maybe it'd be good to get out of your comfort zone too. But you don't know the clientele there. At the place you went last night it seemed to mostly be college students and you felt horrifically out of place. Would it be the same there? Even if you didn't, would K.C. and Jelena even want to hang out with you after the show? Maybe they were both just screwing with you.
You don't mean to of course but before you know it you've mostly, and unintentionally, talked yourself out of going but still maybe not. It's a long time until Friday and any number of things could come up to sway you one way or the other. For now you decide to do some other unrelated browsing just to kill time, then do a bit of homework before turning in for the night.
* * * * *
"Hey, so what do you think I should do," you ask Caleb as you sit inside Walberg's classroom. The two of you are about the only people in here has you wait for others, including the teacher himself, to trickle in.
"Huh," comes your friend's response as he looks up from a notebook.
"Were you even listening," you whine.
"I heard something about a girl, assumed it was a Lisa thing and just sort of zoned out," he replies. "Sorry but I can really only listen to your crying about her so much you know?"
You groan at that. How is it he can be such a gentleman around your family and such a prick around you? "Look, just pay attention okay," you tell him. "You know what I talked to you about yesterday right? Jelena's sister and all that? Well I talked to Jelena yesterday, that's why I got up. She saw right through me but then invited me to hang out with her band after their next show."
"Okay, and? That's cool I'm really happy for you, sport," he says, "so what's the problem? You like her sister, you hang out with her sister, you get inside her sister's pants hopefully. What is she ugly or something and you're ashamed?"
"No, asshole," you shoot back, "although she doesn't have big tits so you probably wouldn't care."
"Preference," he says defensively. "They're a preference. Lack of tits doesn't stop me from imagining what Rachel Burton would be like."
"Ugh, it's not about that! Stop sidetracking me," you complain. "I just want to know what you think I should do?"
"I pretty much implied what I think just now. Do whatever you want," he says waving you off.
"You don't think I'm setting myself up for disappointment," you ask. "Umeko and Jelena both said she's a flirt."
"Oh you could one hundred percent be setting yourself up for disappointment," he states. "If your cousin--her friend--says she's a tease and her sister says she's a tease then she's probably a tease. But hey maybe there's a way around that."
You give him a queer look.
"Well I did such a good job being a better you than you could be on Sunday that maybe we should do it again," he asks. "We can swap off with each other after school and go through the rest of the week like that. I can go Friday and come Monday you'll be Mister Big Shot here because you've got a cool college girlfriend."
"Fuck off," you dismiss him. "If Will Prescott goes out there on Friday then it's going to be Will Prescott, not Caleb Johansson. Besides we only have the one mask."
"Two, actually. I finished the other yesterday," he tells you. He then answers your confused expression. "Turns out medieval wizards couldn't anticipate the modern car buffer. I got that done in maybe two hours at most and put it on. Couldn't make the band because that's at the school but still."
"A car buffer," you ask. "But the spell said twenty-four hours."
"Probably it means it needs to be buffed a certain number of times which is typically what you would get to after that time period, I don't know," he shrugs. "So we can stop by the school after we get out, get the band made and swap there."
You shake your head. "I said no, okay? I don't need you fucking things up for me more than you already did," you say in irritation.
"I fucked things up for you," he asks in shock. "No, you fucked things up for you. God you always do this shit. You have to be a little bitch about everything so you know what? I'm done with you for the day. Don't bother talking to me because I don't want to hear more of your bullshit pining over another girl you won't get."
* * * * *
You assumed Caleb was full of shit but you're surprised when he seemingly follows through on his vow as he says nothing to you throughout Walberg's class.
You try talking to Caleb again in English and at lunch but have no success there. You try texting him again after school lets out but get no response. At first you're feeling let down by the silent treatment but then find yourself getting irritated. He's going to throw that much of a fit over something minor? Why? Is he that desperate to want to hook up with your cousin or whatever the hell he was trying to do? Dwelling on it isn't helping as you're now pissed by the time you've made your way out of the parking lot and headed for home.
But you get a lift when you get home. Your mother asks you what you're going to be doing after school tomorrow. You shrug and tell her you're not doing anything. She asks if you're doing anything with your friends.
Caleb's being a whiny child about not doing a swap, not that you'd tell her though, but he'll probably be over it by tomorrow. But then he might not; Caleb can get in these little pissy moods and not want to talk for a day or two. As for Keith, you haven't talked much with him at all as he's supposedly been concentrating on studying for a calculus test that Kowalski has planned for some time this week. You'd think that an excuse with any other teacher but Kowalski's notorious for his love of tests and pop quizzes so one this early isn't too far fetched.
So you give her a negative response and tell her that you've got nothing going on. She tells you that's good because your cousin called her earlier asking if she could come over tomorrow to wash some clothes as her apartment's washing machine broke down. Your mother, of course, has no problem but wants to make sure someone's here just in case she's out. After the "date" you should feel hesitant but you never can when Umeko's involved so you agree to be home right after school.
You practically float up the stairs and into your room and it's only after you've shut the door and your backpack down does something begin to formulate in your head. Inside the backpack, of course, is the book. You'd balked at involving Jelena and you're too nervous to just go out to a show on your own. But the book, Umeko and a few days could be what you're looking for. Not only could you hang out with K.C. more naturally but it'd give you a look into Umeko's mind as well allowing you to understand her too.
But could you seriously do that? Would you be able to spend a few days impersonating your cousin?  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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