%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
Pick a path to continue |
Previously: "The Jockettes"  Lots of possibilities. Instead of picking one, though, you ask Sydney which team would be the easiest to infiltrate. "Well, a lot of the girls I know are on the volleyball team, so I guess one of them—" She breaks off as you jerk in surprise. For a moment neither of you says anything. Then you squeak, "One of you friends?" "Yeah." She frowns at you. Then a light breaks in her eyes, and she smiles. "Oh, you think that's kind of pervy or something?" she says. "Using my friends?" You nod. "Well, not all of them are my friends, Will. And one of them at least would still be my friend—" She reaches out to tweak the front of your t-shirt. "After you were her." You jump. "Okay, we won't do one of my friends!" She laughs. "In that case, how about Autumn Mattera? I know her through Reagan, I have her in a class, and I can get her alone someplace pretty easily." "Is she on the volleyball team?" Sydney laughs again, which causes you to blush. "You're really stuck on the volleyball team, Will," she says. "Because you want it to be the volleyball team, or because you want to stay away from them?" "I—" "She's on the softball team." Whatever, you think, for you just want a decision and be done with it. "Okay, if you like her, Sydney. I mean, if you think she'd fit." "She'd fit, Will. Anyone would fit." You hesitate. It seems an awfully big step to take regardless, and with very little to go on. But Sydney is probably right. Anyone would fit. So you can start with anyone. So you nod. "Great!" Sydney picks up one of the two masks you have finished. "I bet I can even get her over tonight." * * * * * You pass a very restless evening and night as you anticipate the great change to come. So great is your preoccupation that you hardly even notice your parents or your brother, and don't even think of them until after you have gone to bed, when it occurs to you that very soon they won't be your family anymore, because you will have a new one. Will you ever see them again? Well, sure, you reassure yourself. Just because I'm turning myself into someone else doesn't mean I'll be that person forever. I can always switch back with myself, for a little while. Maybe I'll even switch back for keeps after I graduate. This is just to get me out of the shitstorm I'm suddenly in. You're not altogether convinced by these arguments, for in the back of your mind is the dreadful certainty that Sydney is going to push this Baphomet business very far: so far that there might be no coming back to your original life from it. But you thrust that from your mind, and tell yourself that, when it comes to saying good-byes to your family, you will have tomorrow at least for that. Instead, after you are in bed, you think on this new girl that is coming into your life: Autumn Mattera. Sydney couldn't show you any photos of her, but you did look up the WHS softball team online after you got home. Autumn turns out to be Hispanic, at least partly so, for she has dark brown hair and a light brown skin, and she has the "look"—big eyes, with cheekbones—that you associate with Hispanics. The page says she's a senior, but she looks very young in her official team photo, and you would have pegged her as a junior, no more, and maybe even as a sophomore. Maybe that's on account of her terrified-seeming smile: she looks as though she's been shoved in front of the camera for a fast photo before she can scamper off. She is very cute, and you find it very easy to fantasize about her lips kissing you tenderly and shyly about the mouth. And that's going to be Sydney, you think. And I'm going to be— Wait. Almost you said, And I'm going to be her boyfriend. But does she already have a boyfriend? Are you going to be him? Would you have to be him? Or could you be someone else while still being her boyfriend in secret? You groan and grind the heels of your hands into your eyes. So complicated! * * * * * You didn't hear from Sydney last night, and you didn't bother her. The next morning, though, which is a Saturday, you text her almost as soon as you're awake. It's another hour before you get a reply: Lets see a movie, talk there. Silver Theater at 2? It puzzles you that she wants to see a movie instead of just getting together. But it seems like a boyfriend-girlfriend kind of activity, so you agree. Instead of letting you pick her up, she says she'll meet you there. She's already got a bucket of popcorn and a cola when you arrive at the Silver Cineplex by the mall, and is standing on the other side of the ticket taker, who eyes you warily when you go up to talk to her. You respect the boundary, and talk to her in front of the guy without crossing the line. "Yeah, I didn't want to prejudice you or anything," she says, "so I didn't want to talk to you about it beforehand. And I'm not gonna talk about it now. But this is a double-date, sort of. Autumn is bringing someone." She cranes her neck to peer past you. "Who?" you ask. "I said, I don't want to prejudice you. Go get your ticket and food," she adds. "I came on ahead because the guy selling the popcorn was flirting with me." You think you see the ticket-taker's eyes shift a little at that. With a prickling skin, you go to the concession stand to make your purchases. "Yeah, I know his name," Sydney tells you a few minutes later, after you've joined her in front of the auditorium, and told her it was Alec Brown, a wrestler, who was flirting with her. "We could've picked him, you know, for the Brotherhood," she adds. "We could still pick him." You ignore this very off-hand observation. "So what's the deal with this double-date?" you ask. "And why are we seeing this movie?" It's called Beyond the Bell: Skinwalker Ranch, and you've never heard of it. "Because Autumn and her friend," she says, stumbling a little over the last word, "were coming out to see it. So we set up a double date, like I told you." "Who's her friend?" "I don't want to prejudice you," she says for about the dozenth time. If that's her intention, though, it's not working, and you are edgy with anticipation by the time the rest of your party arrives. It's Autumn you spot and recognize first. She is a small thing, the top of her head probably coming up only to eye level with you, and she looks just as cute in person—if not more so—than in her photograph. Her eye is bright and her smile wide and excited, and her shoulder-long hair shimmers with highlights. You're a little disappointed that her breasts—what you can make out of them under her black t-shirt and the plaid wool shirt she is wearing over it—are on the small side. But she is curved nicely; and she's got a great ass. "Hey Sydney!" she exclaims as she hops up to meet you. "Is this Will?" She turns that bright smile onto you, and it seems to deepen a little. "Hey, I'm Autumn!" "Hey, nice to meet you," you reply, and hope that your boner isn't showing through the front of your cargo pants. You quickly turn your attention to her companion. The way Sydney was hedging, you didn't know what to expect—like, maybe Autumn was going to show up with Mr. Walberg, or a bull-dyke. It's just a guy, though, and not a particularly striking one either, though you suppose he is, in his boyish way, as cute as Autumn. He's a little shorter than you are, and similarly lanky, with brown hair that falls lightly across his forehead. His grin is wide and his eyes dart excitedly, and his Adam's apple bobbles. There is something slightly "dorky" about him, and you can't decide if he is an excitable sophomore who looks a little old for his age, or a junior who hasn't shed all of his middle-school mannerisms. He is wearing a gray hoodie under a purple fleece jacket, and is in jeans and tennis shoes. "Hey," he says, and his eyes dart and dance as he addresses Sydney. "Glad you came out with us!" Oh my God, you think, feeling thunderstruck. He's coming on to my girlfriend! Okay, he isn't, and you recognize pretty fast that he isn't. Still, it knocks you back on your heels to realize that you've got someone you can be jealous over, and that she's someone that almost every guy is going to be aroused by. Sure, you knew that after your run-ins with Blake's friends, and with Kirkham, and Sydney herself mentioned that Alec Brown was flirting with her. But those were just jocks and assholes being jocks and assholes. This is basically a peer who is standing here next to your girlfriend and getting wood! Half-unconsciously, you sidle up to Sydney until you are rubbing arm-against-arm with her. The guy grins crookedly, and finally remembers to introduce himself: "Hey, I'm Aaron," he says. "Will," you coolly reply. "I guess we can go find our seats before the show starts," Sydney says, as though sensing there is a situation to be defused, and your quartet shuffles into the auditorium. Through some unspoken agreement, the girls wind up sitting next to each other, with you and Aaron flanking them. Sydney waits until all the food has been arranged and shared out, and for a commercial for soda to start booming out, before whispering loudly in her ear: "Give him a chance!" "Who?" "Aaron." "Is he her boyfriend?" "Could be!" * "Invalid Chapter" * "Invalid Chapter" How the Poll Works To vote in this poll (the Free Poll) click on one of the choices below. To give even more weight to your choice, click on one of the links above (the link you'd like to see continued) and use the "Tip the author!" form at the bottom of the chapter to send the author GPs. In the final vote tally, each vote in the Free Poll will be worth 1/5 the average of the GPs contributed during the round. GPs voted for losing choices will be refunded in full to those who voted. GPs voted for the winning choice will be divided among those who voted for losing choices, in proportion to their share of GPs voted for losing choices. In other words, if you vote GPs for a losing choice, you will get your GPs back and will likely collect a dividend proportional to the size of your GP vote. If you vote for the winning choice, your GPs will count as a kind of commission payment for seeing that storyline continued. This poll will close on Sunday, April 20, at 12:00 PM Eastern Time. |
Wait for something better to come along. |  | 21 Votes | 65.6% |
Become Aaron. | | 11 Votes | 34.4% |
Total Votes: | 32 | 100% | |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
