Chapter #33A Good Way to Give Yourself Anxiety by: rugal b.   "So, you've made a choice," Fairfax asks as you take a seat at the table where he's chowing down on a box of (leftover?) Chinese food. Keith is already there.
"Yeah, I think so," you say as you search through your book bag and pull out the list. You shove it over to Keith and Fairfax who both take a look at it. "Look for the check marks."
"Amanda Ferguson, Mia DeWitt, Catherine Muskov, Tara Weston and," Fairfax stops to re-examine the list, "Jamie Bornholm?" He takes a moment to readjust his glasses and when he speaks it's with something close to the tone of a disappointed father admonishing his child. "I said I wanted a choice, Will. You said you had a choice. These are options."
"I have one I'm leaning towards but I figured it would be best to get together to finalize it," you say diplomatically. You then take your finger and point at a name.
"Amanda," Fairfax says and there's a bit of surprise on his face. "That's a bold choice. Is she connected to anyone from the cheerleaders though?"
"I don't think so," you admit. "But she could be."
"She could," he replies as he pokes at a bit of Chinese food, "but we want to try to keep things as in-character as possible. There can be exceptions here and there but it wouldn't do us well to turn everything on its head." As he takes a bit he gets a thoughtful look on his face. "However, maybe introducing some variables could lead to some interesting results. But that would be for down the road. If you were someone in the AP group though and wanted a connection to the cheerleaders..."
You watch as Fairfax's eyes scan the list and finally he points out another name on the list. One that makes your heart stop and curse under your breath that you forgot to cross off. "Lisa Yarborough would make a good substitute," he says. It's at that moment however that he gives you an odd look. "Are you okay Will," he asks. "You look like you've just seen an atrocity."
"Dude," Keith chimes in, "that's his ex-girlfriend."
"She is," Fairfax asks in surprise though his expression softens considerably. "Well I apologize, I didn't know. But if that's the case that would make it easier for her to get, if I could just take emotion out of it for second."
"It would," you state quietly, "but I'd rather not."
"Understandable," he replies. "But Amanda would be very hard to get. Unless you were already one of her friends I don't see how you could approach her."
You decide to stop moping, for now at least, and perk up a bit at that. "Well that would make her a good get wouldn't it," you say. "She's so impenetrable that if we can get in it would be a valuable source of info right?"
"That's true," Fairfax states and he eventually relents. "If you think you can get her then try and have her out there by tomorrow. But we'll need to focus on getting Eva and Jessica out there today. You did think of way to do that didn't you?"
"Crap," you exclaim as you smack your forehead with the palm of your hand. "I was so absorbed in narrowing down the list that it slipped my mind. What about you Keith?"
"I didn't even give it any thought," he says bluntly. "They don't like me so I don't think it'd work."
You can tell that's irritated Fairfax a bit so you try to placate him. "Well Jessica has this lunch period too and if I can't find her then Jenny has fifth lunch as well so I can ask her to talk to Jessica for me and see if she can send her my way or at least convince her to come out to the storage unit."
You're not quite sure how well it works but Fairfax simply nods an approval. You promise him that you'll try and find Jenny and get that worked out and with a quick goodbye to both him and Keith you practically sprint out of the lab and towards the cafeteria.
* * * * *
You don't really have far to run though because no sooner do you round the corner that leads to the hall between the outside walkway and the library do you see Jenny coming from the other direction. "Hey," you call out happily, "just who I was looking... for..."
That jovial expression is replaced by a more concerned one as Jenny is headed your way (which is good) with a pretty sour expression on her face (which is not so good). "That's nice and all but you're not who I'm looking for," she says as she walks up. "Though maybe you'll do."
"You pissed about something?"
"Carson and James dipped out on lunch," she says with frustration in her voice. "They've been flaking out a lot on me, James especially, and I've about had it."
You note that it's James that's really sticking in her craw due to the fact that she likes him. So you try to reassure her. "They've probably got good reasons," you say. "They've been going around talking about chemicals and stuff right? So maybe it's related to school?"
Jenny laughs in your face at that. "Like hell they are, not if I know them," she says. "No, if I know them they're up to some dumb shit prank or something childish and when I find them I'm kicking their asses for it." She sighs and seems to have calmed down thankfully. "Anyway, you said you were looking for me?"
"Oh, yeah, I just wanted to know if Jessica was with you at lunch today. I need to talk to her."
"Obviously not if I'm marching around the halls looking for those two idiots," she replies. "There's nothing today so she doesn't have any reason to come over. What'd you need to talk to her about though?"
"Yeah. Mike Hollister and Carlos Montoya have their video thing right," you say to her.
"I've heard of it from the Two Man Idiot Squad," she replies.
"Well, they're working on one today, Bring It On or something like that I think," you tell her. This is all going to be one big lie of course but if you're lucky it's a lie that'll work. "So because of that they want a cheerleader to show up. Not to say anything but like a silent walk on cameo or something."
"You want me to talk to Jessica about doing it," she asks. "I mean if you need a cheerleader I'd have better luck with Yumi."
"They were kind of insistent on it being either Eva or Jessica," you quickly counter. "Something about how they're filming from the neck down to conceal the identity and that Eva and Jessica have that classic cheerleader look. I guess they figured they'd have a better shot going to them than they would going to Cindy or Chelsea."
"Chelsea would probably drive her car into the river before she agreed to do that. Hey, maybe we should ask her then," Jenny jokes. At least you think she's joking. "I've only got study hall third period with Eva but I've get Jessica in eighth so I can talk to her there for you. I can probably convince her."
"That's great," you exclaim. "You're a life saver Jenny, thank you!"
"And you can pay me back by telling me if you've seen the dipshits," she responds.
You shake your head at that. "I'm as in the dark as you are, sorry," you tell her.
She grunts at that and bids goodbye. You're out of the woods which is a huge relief off your shoulders except... "Hey, before you go," you say as she walks past you. "Uh, make sure that Jessica knows it's recorded at... you know that storage complex? Top Self or Top Shelf or whatever," you ask which gets a nod. "Well that's where Carlos has his studio so tell her to come out there around four."
* * * * *
You spend what's left of lunch trying to think of a way to get Amanda out to the and it's causing you to feel anxious. You're not even sure how you would approach her. To start with you're pretty sure she's never spoken even a syllable to you through the entirety of high school; even Kelsey has at least told you to move in her bitchy voice. You've never even gotten that from Amanda.
So you're left to come up with plots and then discard them as being doomed to failure until it happens: a little before lunch ends you see Lisa and her boyfriend. Mansfield must have something to do (since both of them share their next class) because he quickly kisses her and then heads off somewhere else. That's when you can feel a heavy, dull feeling in your chest.
Every time you see Lisa you can feel the sweat forming and your heart rate increase. Every time you see her with Mansfield you can feel the swirling in your stomach. The way she denied that you were even going out. The way Mansfield seems to lord it over you any time your paths cross. It all produces feelings of bitterness, anger and jealousy.
At that moment those thoughts about leaving Lisa off of the list vanish, replaced by what Fairfax had told you. You could go up to her, talk to her and ask her to come out to the storage unit. You could put a mask on her and then know exactly what's been going through her mind. More importantly though, you understand exactly how Keith feels. The way he wants to use Cindy to utterly ruin Seth... you get it. As you look, Lisa seems to catch you and she gives you a friendly look and a wave.
You could be Lisa Yarborough and you could utterly destroy Geoff Mansfield.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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