Chapter #3Make Like a Banana by: rugal b.   You need to leave, you know that much, but you don't think that you can just disappear either. You're in Beth Larter's body somehow. You look like her and sound like her but that's really it. Could you even pass yourself off as her? Maybe not and you don't want to stick around long enough to find out. But you feel like you need to make an appearane before leaving since this is, technically, a party for the team and so you open a door and push yourself out of the car, Beth's car you guess, and back into the house. You want to keep a low profile while you say your goodbyes but very quickly you find yourself accosted by some other girls who you don't immediately recognize.
It's all too much and as you're shunted from there into another group your head begins spinning. You shouldn't have gone back in because everything that's happened in the last twenty minutes or so is freaking you out too much. You feel like you're about to lose your balance and fall when an arm wraps around yours.
"You okay, Beth?" asks a girl.
You look down to see Aurora Lund, a girl from the marching band who was a partner, along with Beth, for a lab in a science class last year. That's actually how you'd first met and got to talking with Beth. But something else flashes through your mind and you realize that Aurora and Beth are also long time friends, something you hadn't actually known. So how do you know it?
"Uh, yeah... maybe," you say a little unsteadily. "Um, no, not really. I think the, uh, stuff that Joshua brought was a little strong. It's starting to hit me hard. Plus, uh, I drank a little. I was about to take off."
It's a lie but not a particularly big one from what Beth had told you earlier so it's probably safe to tell. Aurora, for her part, seems to buy it because she suddenly gets a concerned look on her face.
"You gonna be good to drive?" she asks as she looks you over. "Aww screw it, I'll get you out of here."
"Oh, no, you don't have to!" you exclaim in surprise.
But she's already heading off and doesn't seem to hear you. "I'll be back in a sec. I'm gonna go say bye to some folks," she tells as you as she turns back for just a second before disappearing.
So you move away from the crowd and stand around rather awkwardly. A few times some people try to talk to you and you wave them off. It feels like an eternity before Aurora finally returns and leads you out of the house. As you approach the car you insist that you're fine but accept that she's not going to let you drive home on your own so get into the passenger's seat. You rest your head against the window and to your surprise you find yourself drifting off.
* * * * *
You find yourself in a place that you don't really know how to describe. It's like a museum or a library but all of it seems to be dedicated to Beth. There's what look like screens, an endless amount surrounding you, and with curiosity you touch one. You find yourself back at the party, off in a side room and looking at the world through Beth's eyes. You're with Joshua Cheswick and Eileen Piper and some others, like Julie McDowell (why do you know who that is?).
There's also Scott Frazier from the Westside basketball team although you're even more confused why you'd know him.
A joint is being passed around and you finish off a beer. Joshua asks if you're going to be fine since it's already your third and you wave him off and say it's fine. You lean in to Eileen and whisper to her that David came out here and you wanted to get him alone so you could ask him out but he showed up with that self-important bitch Dana Pak and now you don't know if you can which is why you're starting on your fourth beer in the last hour.
Eileen squeezes your arm and tells you to do it anyway because you're not going to get anywhere by moping. Then Joshua says that you should go into one of the other rooms if you're going to be a couple of rug munchers and the both of you flip him off.
You're suddenly back in that weird area looking at all those screens. That must have been some memory of Beth's from earlier tonight that you'd experienced. You look at those screens in wonder. These must all be Beth's memories. With less trepidation you touch one. Then you touch another. On and on you do this until suddenly you're bolted awake.
* * * * *
"So did your little nap help?" Aurora asks.
"It was like ten minutes," you reply, "but sure, I guess it did. Maybe it was the environment, I dunno."
The two of you have been up in Beth's room for about the last fifteen minutes but you are right in that that small nap did help. Not so much with how Beth's body is feeling physically (four beers in a short time will do that to a girl) but in your own ability to be her. Because in the ten or so minutes it took to get from Amanda's to Beth's you'd managed to take in a lot of memories from the last couple of days and you suddenly feel more comfortable in being Beth. You wonder if maybe you could get a lot more once you sleep but you should probably be fine until Aurora leaves.
Speaking of which...
"How are you gonna get home anyway?" you ask her. "I can't really drive you back to get your car."
"I came out with the rest of the crew in Harper's van since we were going to dip out to head over to the Warehouse," Aurora explains. "But that's off the table now so I'll probably just Uber home."
"The rest of—even Sylvia?" you ask in surprise.
Aurora laughs at that and shakes her head. "Oh dear god, no. She wasn't even at the party," she answers. "I mean, you know how Ann is about her baby sister. Fuck, half the reason that Ann is even in the band is so she can keep an eye on her at Warehouse gigs."
"I feel bad for whoever tries to date Sylvia," you say with a snicker. "Ann'll probably, I dunno, hex 'em or something."
The two you giggle at that. "Oh come on she's not that gothy," Aurora says, "and she's nice. Really."
You yourself don't really know who Sylvia or Ann are but Beth knows them as two sisters—a sophomore and a senior respectively—who play with Aurora in one of the myriad of local bands. Ann is also in the jazz band with Aurora, who splits her time between that and the marching band.
"So, did you actually talk to David?"
You find yourself taken aback as the sudden question from Aurora surprises you. "David?" is all you can confusedly sputter.
"You told me yesterday that you were going to talk to him at the party," she states. "So, did you? Or were you too messed up to do it?"
"Did I..."
You trail off unsure of what to really say. You weren't expecting the subject of yourself to be brought up so you don't know how to approach it. And what would you even say? You obviously can't tell her that you are David. Well, you suppose that you could but she'd think that you were crazy. It's not like you could prove it anyway, you only vaguely know her from one class last year after all.
"I, um, I wussed out," you say in a dejected tone. "I saw him and talked to him a little but couldn't, you know, bring it up."
"You're going to need to do it sooner or later," Aurora tells you. "Sooner hopefully, because I want to do some double dates. Tyler always gets grabby when it's just the two of us, you know. I think he'd mount me right there in the theater if he thought he could get away with it."
You want to laugh but yourself being brought up is suddenly bringing down your mood and you find yourself beginning to feel a little nauseous. Aurora must notice it too because she leans over and places a hand on your back.
"You alright? You're looking really flush."
You shake your head. "I... I think I'm gonna..."
"Oh jeez!" she exclaims as she leaps up. "I'll go grab something in case you, uh... oh god!"
Aurora practically flies out of the room and no sooner does she than you feel something rising and begin to expel from your mouth. On instinct, to try and stop it, you put your hand close and try to close your mouth. You sit there panting for a moment before you notice something odd: it felt like you threw up a bit but you don't see any on the bed.
You pull your hand away and are shocked to see a glob of blue gunk that looks vaguely familiar resting inside of it. And disorientingly you can see Beth Larter's face from your hand.
"Hey, I've got some paper towels!" Aurora calls as she comes charging in waving a tube. "If you're gonna throw up..." She stops as she approaches where you're sitting. You notice her expression change. "The fuck is that?" she asks.
You notice that she's looking at your hand and at the blue gunk inside of it. How are you going to explain this to her, you wonder? No sooner does that question come up than you feel something like an instinctual feeling deep at the back of your brain. You feel it coming from the goo as well. You don't know why but you feel like you know what to do and so you follow that instinct and smash your hand into Aurora's face.
The feeling from the goo fades and you watch with barely disguised horror as Aurora collapses onto the floor. She hacks and wheezes and convulses as her eyes roll back in her head. You panic and bend down to grab her.
"Oh my god, Ro, are you alright!?" you ask desperately.
And soon all of it stops. You feel something.
"Yeah, I'm alright," Aurora says with a groan. Except it's you saying it and you said it on instinct. You stop. Because for some reason you're now staring up into the worried face of Beth Larter.
Except you're also staring down at the bewildered face of Aurora Lund. And both girls stare at each other before you finally find the nerve to speak.
"Holy shit!" comes the cry of two voices in unison. You have the following choice: 1. Continue |
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