This choice: You want to be someone at Westside. • Go Back...Chapter #59The Field of Play by: Seuzz   You glance around.
It's a big house with great toys in it. The way Caleb is talking, Cody gets plenty of the kind of action you'd love to get—or, at least, more of it that you do. (It would be hard to get less.) And Keith is offering to turn it over to you.
There's only one problem:
"I thought you guys were only going to hang out here for a couple of days," you mutter to him.
"Well, that's the plan. I don't want to hang out with Johansson longer than that," Cody mutters back. "I mean, if you can talk him into giving Jared to you, I'd—"
"That's not what I meant. I mean—" You lick your lips and glance around again, to make sure you're not being overheard. "Whatever happens, this ends in a couple of days. Right?"
"That's the plan," he repeats.
You make a face. "Let's talk to Caleb."
"Jared," he corrects you. "He's not quite the asshole Johansson is."
* * * * *
Jared and Cody listen, eating quietly, as you explain yourself.
"I want to do this at Westside," you tell them. "I know Westside, I don't know Eastman. I know, you're going to say that I'll know Eastman if I, you know—" It's awkward to describe aloud what you're proposing to do. "But I want to do it at Westside instead," you conclude lamely with a sigh.
Jared and Cody look at each other. Then Jared says, "You have somebody in mind, Will?"
You have to shrug, because you don't. "I guess that's something we can talk about."
"'Cos we were supposed to get Teresa out here tomorrow or even tonight, but if you're not coming out here—"
"Does she have someone at Eastman picked out?"
"She's letting us pick for her. She trusts us," he adds with a kind of emphasis that you dislike.
"It's not that I don't trust you. I just want to make the choice myself, and—"
"You could come out to Eastman tomorrow—"
"Or with us after school," Cody interrupts, turning to Jared. "Dad needs us to help Uncle John out at the yard. I told him we—"
"'Dad'?" Jared asks.
Cody frowns at him.
"You're the fucker who told me to get into character," he snarls. "So," he resumes as Jared shrugs, "I told Dad that you and me—Jared and Cody—would get some of our friends to come out and help out at Uncle John's. We're gonna get twenty an hour, and Prescott's gonna come out too, and he can look over—"
"No," you protest. "I'm not coming out to help you move shit, because I'm not even gonna bother looking. I want Westside."
Jared stops in mid-chew, and sucks on a tooth. Then he looks over at Cody.
"We could get Micah for him," he says, then looks back at you. "He goes to Westside."
You roll your eyes.
"That's not what I had in mind. Besides, didn't you say you were going come back to Westside by the end of the week?"
"That's what we said—" Jared starts to say.
"Then why would I want to keep being Micah after you're back at Westside and aren't these guys anymore?"
"Who said you'd have to? Or maybe you could help us do ourselves up as some of Micah's friends."
You sigh with aggravation, but only say, "I'll think about it."
"Good. Either way, we should move back over along about Wednesday or Thursday. Halloween's on Friday, and I think the guys might notice if they missed Halloween."
"What about Teresa?" Cody asks. "What about Colin?"
"What about them?" Jared asks. You ask, "Who's Colin?"
"Guy that Tilley wants to switch with. Yeah," Jared adds, glancing at Cody. "Did you talk to Will about—?"
"He said no," Cody replies flatly, with a beady-eyed look at you.
"Well, I'll talk to Teresa, maybe she'll—"
"See what I have to put up with?" Cody seethes. He jumps to his feet and darts up the ladder to the floor above. You hear footsteps, then a heavy thud.
Jared rolls his eyes and shakes his head.
"Look around Westside, decide what you want," he tells you. "Hell, maybe you can go ahead and make a switch of your own. One thing you should do, is make some more masks. We're gonna need at least—" He thinks a moment. "Five new masks. Maybe six, in case I miscounted."
"You're gonna make me do all the work?"
Jared sighs. "Make them, then bring a bunch out to us so we can help you finish. Jesus," he then adds with some heat. "Will, it's bad enough I've got Tilley acting like a child. You got me thinking maybe we should just throw all this stuff away, if it's not gonna be fun!"
* * * * *
You try to take Caleb's cry of exasperation to heart, but the afternoon has left you in a bad mood. Though you hate it, you spend the balance of the day sulking in your bedroom.
It's impossible to put your finger on what is bothering you. Certainly you find yourself unaccountably angry with your friends. Caleb is acting like an arrogant asshole, and Keith is acting like a whiny little bitch. Caleb is right, you're supposed to be having fun with the masks. But it seems like it's going to be hard having that fun as long as Caleb is trying bully everyone, and as long as Keith is going to be so moody.
But then you remind yourself that you are not going to have any fun, and neither is anyone else, if you are being moody.
You're going to have yourself some fun, you tell your reflection in the bathroom that night, as you are brushing your teeth. So think about what kind of fun you want to have.
No, you correct yourself. Think about who is going to have fun, because you are going to be that person.
* * * * *
Maybe it was that little pep talk you gave yourself before bed. Maybe it was just a good night's sleep. But you do wake up a lot happier the next morning—even though it's a Monday—and alert with anticipation. I'm going to pick someone today, you tell yourself as you are walking across the student parking lot toward the school, so I can be ready. Maybe I'll even make the switch today!
You do a double-take at Caleb when you go into Walberg's classroom—for half a second you forgot it wasn't really him, and were thinking he had come back to Westside from Eastman. Then you get a shot of butterflies in your stomach as you think, He's a fake, followed by, Pretty soon it's going to be a fake me sitting in this desk!
Caleb's nose seems to quiver as he peers down it at you. "How're you doing today, Will?" he asks in a voice that lilts with subtext.
"I'm doing fine," you reply. "How are—?"
"You have any life-changing experiences this weekend?"
You stare. Then you realize what this is about: Caleb's doppelganger isn't sure if you are yourself or are your own doppelganger.
Internally, you feel a slow grin unfold.
"Someone had a life-changing experience," you reply with an intentional smirk. "Don't know if was me, exactly—"
"You get laid or something, Prescott?" someone asks behind you, and you whirl. Dean Stratton—a lean kid with a stylishly messy haircut—is giving you a skeptically amused look. You freeze.
Then you lean back in your desk and stretch your legs out.
"Someone had a life-changing experience," you repeat with what hope is a lazy insolence. "Might have been me, but it was definitely the other."
Dean's lips twitch. "So you blew him real good, huh?"
You feel your face fall, and turn back around to hunch in your chair as Stratton snickers under his breath. It does your self-esteem no good to see that Caleb is also grinning at you.
Fortunately, Dean doesn't follow up, giving you time to tap a text into your phone. A moment later, Caleb's phone buzzes, and you reread your text as he reads it also on his device.
Boss wants someone at whs when move back we need look get ideas.
Caleb sniffs as he reads it, then looks over at you.
"Boss's orders?" he quietly asks. You nod. "Same for me?"
"You hear from, um—?" You flick a casual finger at his face. When he shakes his head, you say, "I'm supposed to get your help."
Caleb nods. "We'll talk at lunch."
Then he straightens in his seat, and lets his eye rove over the room. "See anyone in here who looks good?" he asks in a low voice.
You glance around.
Briefly your eye settles on Stratton, who is absorbed in his phone. You don't know him well, so you continue on. Naturally, your gaze quickly latches onto Geoff Mansfield, the asshole who stole Lisa from you, and his friends: Martin Gardinhire, Anthony Kirk, Kelsey Blankenship, Amanda Ferguson, and Brooke Galloway. Wealthy, country-club snots all. AP/Honors students who hang around each other in their tight little clique. They would definitely belong on a list. Caleb nods when you mouth Mansfield and them at him, and he eyes them thoughtfully.
* * * * *
You are prepared to settle back comfortably the rest of the day, making a similar survey in all your classes, and so are jolted when you find a text on your phone during the break between first and second period. Cody Larson is asking you to make a fast decision because he wants to come back to WHS "afsafp."  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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