This choice: Ask about bringing in Jenny • Go Back... Would any of them go for that? No, you realize, probably not. Well Mike and Carlos might but Fairfax? He comes off as the kind of guy who has things planned out down to when he takes a piss and for how long. You can't imagine him doing well with having a monkey wrench this big thrown in at the last second and your constant waffling.
But as Jenny sits there, obviously having worked herself into a bout of self-pity, you keep thinking maybe you should ask. What actual harm is there in doing it? It's a bit like when you debated asking her to come out. If you ask and they say yes then that's great but if she says no? Well it's you and Fairfax and Mike and Carlos (one of them being a Beta) and Jessica Garner against her and between you five it shouldn't be too hard to get a mask onto her anyway.
Oh jeez, five of you teaming up on one girl to put a mask on her so that one of you can steal her life leaving her trapped in a kind of suspended animation under a shell that makes her a robotic duplicate of yourself. When put like that it feels very wrong and you're not sure you want to put Jenny through that. So you decide to just continue the conversation, feel things out and ask Fairfax once he contacts you.
"I didn't know it was that bad," you tell her sympathetically. "I mean you never really show it so I thought --"
"Well yeah, I'm not going to come to school bawling," she says. "But it still sucks you know?"
I can understand that I guess," you says. "But it's good to get that off of your chest too and just be direct about it. That's a hell of a lot better than Lisa."
"Oh god," she groans and you think you're about to get the business from her too. "Yeah I'm sorry about that," she says to your surprise, "I kind of don't feel like I can say anything around Eva and Jessica because they're tight with her but it's really bullshit the way she's treating you."
"I don't think she's doing it to be mean or anything."
"Nuh uh, screw that," she says and she now sounds fired up. "Whether or not she means it isn't the issue. Don't dance around the issue like that and go 'oh well yeah we were totally making out and stuff but he wasn't my boyfriend'. That's just so... I can't stand people like that!"
"James does kind of the same thing I guess," you say before realizing that's probably a mistake.
"Yeah he does," she says before quickly adding, "not that I care about that though since it's not like that, don't get the wrong impression. He's just one of my oldest friends."
"Well you've got other friends too, right? I mean Yumi --"
"Oh god, Yumi," she wails. "I haven't been seeing her as much out of school since the year started. I guess Chelsea's really putting the screws to them now, like she wants to double up on making everyone miserable while she still has the chance." With that she falls backward and lays flat on the bed. "We're a pair aren't we?"
The conversation hangs for a minute or two at that and, without really thinking, you start talking to bring it back. "Have you ever thought about like, I don't know, if you could have a new life," you ask.
"All the time," she states.
"Well, okay, so what if you could be somebody else. Would you do that," you ask.
"I guess," she replies. "I mean that could be interesting."
"Okay so who would it be?"
"Well Kelsey's the obvious answer because she's filthy rich," she says in an amused tone. However that's dropped in favor of a more serious one. "But I guess if I could choose... then I'd probably choose Yumi."
"You'd choose her? Really," you ask in surprise.
"Sure," she states. "I mean we're as close as sisters so I think I could pass myself off without, you know, arousing suspicion. Plus her family's pretty tight with each other and she's a lot prettier than me and, well, lots of people."
"That's not true. There's nothing wrong with how you look," you blurt out and instantly you want to fall into a hole.
"No, she is. She's nice and feminine and all the guys love her whereas with me..." she trails off. "Maybe I trade in the jeans and sneakers for skirts and pumps."
"There's nothing wrong with that either," you say and you're suddenly feeling like a prisoner in your own body. You're trying to tell your mouth to shut up but it's having none of it. "Some guys like that."
"Oh yeah," she states as she sits back up, a puckish look plastered on her face, "which guys?"
"Well, I mean, I wasn't talking about anyone --"
"Uh huh, so which guys," she asks again. "Guys like you?"
"I wasn't talking about --"
She bursts out laughing at that. "I'm just messing with you, Will, calm down," she says. "Yeah I know there are guys who like the tomboy thing. They just don't go to Westside apparently."
It's at that moment that you're thankful when your phone buzzes and you see that it's Fairfax telling you that everything's set. You can just bring her back but you decide to broach the subject with the others about bringing her in as well. "Hey, that's Fairfax," you tell her as you hop out of the bed. "They're almost ready but they just kinda want to talk to me first. So give me a couple of minutes and I'll be right back."
* * * * *
"Oh man, you're serious," Mike asks with excitement.
"I think he's serious," Jessica -- really Carlos under there -- says.
"So now, at the very last second, you're trying to turn things around and you want Jenny to join our group," Fairfax asks. He's sitting in a chair, glasses off and holding the bridge of his nose. "I don't think I ever said anything about just bringing people in. You didn't just tell her about all of this and then decide to ask us did you?"
"No way," you say defensively. "And you guys brought me in because... well, because. Look I'm not asking to bring in half the school here, I just think it'd be good both for her and us."
"How do you even know she would do it," he asks.
"We were just hanging out while you guys were getting that done," you say as you point to Jessica. "I didn't say anything about the masks but I kind of asked her if she'd ever want to trade lives with somebody --"
"Okay but I don't see how --"
"Look, just trust me, give her the right person and she'll do it I'm sure. I know who as well," you interrupt him. "Yumi. Bring her in, explain everything and tell her she can switch with Yumi and I'm sure she'll do it."
"Yumi was someone you were hoping that Will would take," Jessica says. "Plus having another hand or two here can't hurt."
"Yeah and, like, if she doesn't want to do it," Mike says and then mimes shoving something, a mask presumably. "I mean I don't think she could slip away from all of us."
Fairfax sighs but places his glasses back on. "It looks like I'm out-voted here and I'm sure Josiah and Keith would want to do it too," he says. "Fine. Bring her in but if she starts to back out then we're doing the replacement."
* * * * *
"This is the weirdest fucking thing ever," Jenny says in wide-eyed shock. "If I wasn't seeing it I'd think I was going nuts. Maybe I actually am."
You're sitting in the same chair Fairfax had been in, wearing your own clothes but the body of Jenny. You'd brought her in and explained everything to her... well Fairfax did, he's good at laying everything out clearly. She didn't seem to believe it -- she thought Jessica was just playing along for some reason -- but didn't immediately bolt for the door either. Even when he'd mentioned the long-term play and replacing other people for at least the semester she didn't flinch. She did want proof though and with her permission a mask was used to copy her (and seeing that process freaked you out) and, since you'd brought her in, was given to you to put on.
"So you've got, um, everything in there," she asks cautiously as she taps her head. "Even up here?"
"I think so," you tell her.
"Okay so tell me something only I know. Um, let's see, something embarrassing." With that she leans in close to you, because she's not going to let them hear it, and after a moment you whisper something into her ear. "Oh my god," she says in astonishment. "Okay, yeah, I believe you guys. Oh my god. This stuff is all real."
"Right so now that you know we want you to be involved in our little sociological experiment," Fairfax tells her. "Just tell us who you want to be, it doesn't have to be immediate, but --"
"Yumi," she says before he can even finish. "I... I want to be Yumi."
"We can do that," he states. "If possible we can start tonight actually."
"She's got family stuff tonight," she states. "But... tomorrow I can probably..."
"Tomorrow's fine," he tells her. "Just figure out how to get her out here and we can make the switch for you."
After that you, with the help of Fairfax, remove Jenny's mask.. It winds up being stored in the studio for safe keeping until tomorrow where you'll figure out what to do with it: either given the treatment of the other masks so you can be someone else (probably Mia as originally intended) or you can take it and Yumi gets put under your mask.
The others tell you that they're going to try to get Eva and ask if you want to stay but both Jenny and yourself demure. As you get to your truck you get ready to say goodbye to her but she stops you.
"Hey, you know, this is all so..." She pauses and looks like she's at a loss for words. "Look do you want to go up to Milagro and grab some coffee or something?"  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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