# chapters

path: 113312111211211111113212111112121121
author_id: seuzz
title: Pretender to the Phone
chapter_content:
<div><div style="padding:0px;margin:0px;"></div><div> <span>"We can get rid of Seth." Your voice is shaking with desperation. "Like we got rid of Marc."<br/>
<br/>
"But he's coming right back!" Jessica protests.<br/>
<br/>
"Not if we text him <i>now!</i>"<br/>
<br/>
"Shh!" Jessica frowns past you into the studio, and you turn to find Cindy casting an irritated look back at you. Jessica grabs you by the ear and yanks your face back around toward hers. "If Seth finds his girlfriend knocked cold on the floor," she growls, "and us standing over her—"<br/>
<br/>
"So we'll lock her up in your workout room," you hiss. "That way he doesn't find her!"<br/>
<br/>
Jessica gapes at you. Then she glances back into the studio.<br/>
<br/>
"Fine," she spits as she hauls you by the elbow over to the next bay. "But <i>you</i> have to be the one on the phone, telling her boyfriend to haul his ass out of here. You know them better than me and Mike do!"<br/>
<br/>
Almost you change your mind, but she's already pulling up the sliding door to the workout room. The light springs on. Just inside the doorway is a crate, off of which she twitches something. "Keep watch," she orders as she exits. "Yell if Seth starts coming back."<br/>
<br/>
You wedge yourself in the unit doorway, to watch the far end of the corridor. Your heart pounds hard and your skin crawls with fear. You jump at a sudden quick, sharp cry from the other unit—sounding like surprise—and then a masculine voice shrieks, "Catch her!" followed by a curse. You glance back to see a pale-faced Eva Garner peering around the corner at you with wide eyes. "Coast clear," you assure her. She snarls at you, and disappears.<br/>
<br/>
A moment later a short, a heavily laden parade shuffles into the hallway, consisting of beta-Mike and beta-Carlos carrying an unconscious Cindy Vredenburg between them, with Eva and Jessica offering half-hearted support. You step out of the way to let them pass. In the workout room there's a short, muttered conference before they lay the girl on the workout bench. Beta-Mike and Beta-Carlos cast black looks at you.<br/>
<br/>
"Here." Jessica slaps a cell phone into your hand. "Get on it. If Seth comes back, we're blaming it all on you." She and the others start to leave.<br/>
<br/>
"Wait, what do I do with <i>her?</i>" you squawk, nodding at Cindy.<br/>
<br/>
"When the mask shows up on her face again, come get us," Jessica says. Eva adds, "Assuming Seth hasn't ripped your own face off and fed it to you." The quartet march from the bay, and with sulfurous mutterings Jessica yanks the door down with a clang, leaving you alone with Cindy.<br/>
<br/>
And with her phone. With trembling fingers you open up her messaging app—thank God the phone itself was still unlocked—and search for Seth's number. Luckily, it's near the top.<br/>
<br/>
Your mind is blank for a moment; then you remember what Cindy had said about her and Seth meeting up with Darren Green and a girl. Cold fear drapes you as you start to type a message.<br/>
<br/>
<i>U go meet darren n them,</i> you thumb in. <i>I get ride w Eva n J.</i> Your heart somersaults into your throat as you hit "Send."<br/>
<br/>
For a long frozen moment you stare at the screen, waiting for a reply. When none comes, right away, your ears start to prickle as you listen for footsteps in the hall. But it's no relief when a series of dots appears at the bottom of the screen, indicating that Seth is replying. If anything, you start to feel queasier.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Are they coming too?<br/>
<br/>
Yes think so probly</i> You almost throw up with fear as you send the reply.<br/>
<br/>
Dots appear almost instantly. Then: <i>Why not ride with me?<br/>
<br/>
No room for all us.<br/>
<br/>
No they drive them. You go with me.</i><br/>
<br/>
You make a face as you feel your brain seize up. <i>No better this way.</i><br/>
<br/>
There's a long pause from the other end, and you pass the time—as a prickling nausea crawls up and down your gullet—by flicking backward to review earlier texts in the thread. You frown, knowing that there's something about them that bothers you. But not until a series of dots are showing again do you realize what it is. Cindy writes her texts in complete words and phrases, not the broken, rat-tat style you favor. The realization almost causes you to throw up in your panic.<br/>
<br/>
<i>This supposed to be double date not hen party,</i> Seth says.<br/>
<br/>
<i>I want to talk to Eva and Jessica about this,</i> you type. It feels like an agony. <i>I want them to come.</i><br/>
<br/>
During the long hiatus that follows, you quickly reread the earlier texts in the exchange. They set your pulse pounding, for they sketch an unhappy drama between Seth and Cindy over their nightly plans, with Seth pleading and cajoling Cindy into going on a double date with Darren Green and Sophie Van den Berg. <br/>
<br/>
Seth: <i>Hey, I told Darren and Sophie we'd meet them for supper at La Cocina, okay?</i> Cindy: <i>Thanks for making plans without me.</i> Seth: <i>I thought we were going to La Cocina anyway.</i> Cindy: <i>I thought just us. Why Darren and Sophie? Ew.</i> Seth: <i>Darren wants wingman/couple.</i> Cindy: <i>Double ew. No.</i> Seth: <i>It's all set up.</i> Cindy: <i>So unset it. Or go without me.</i> Seth: <i>You like Darren.</i> Cindy: <i>I don't like Sophie and I don't want to be wing couple. Tell him to take Steve and his whore for tonight.</i> Seth: <i>It's just dinner.</i> Cindy: <i>Give me an iou then</i> Seth: <i>Ok. Iou.</i> Cindy: <i>Pick me up 5:30 but I'm not getting dressed up.</i><br/>
<br/>
You glance back at Cindy, in her t-shirt and sweat pants. <i>You certainly didn't get dressed up,</i> you think.<br/>
<br/>
With this background, you feel a tiny bit more confident when Seth finally replies: <i>Come out here and let's talk about it?<br/>
<br/>
Nothing to talk about Seth,</i> you reply while holding your breath. <i>I changed my mind staying here with Eva and Jessica. Go be Darrens wingman yourself.</i><br/>
<br/>
But almost as soon as you sent it, you know you've miscalculated. <i>Then you and me go someplace by ourselves I done here. I want be with you not Darren and Sophie ew,</i> you quickly add.<br/>
<br/>
Another long pause. <i>Can you come out and we talk about it?<br/>
<br/>
Busy now with these guys. You should go I'll get them drop me off meet you later.<br/>
<br/>
What do I do while I wait?</i><br/>
<br/>
With growing confidence you write: <i>Go meet Darren and Sophie. Tell them I'm coming but have to change first. Will get them to drop me off. Then you and me go off just us.</i> After sending it, you scroll frantically back to find some favorite emojis of Cindy's, and append—though it almost makes you throw up again—some kissing and heart emojis.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Okay I'll do that,</i> he replies after a long silence. <i>But this cancels iou.</i> You reply with a thumb's up and a <i>Love you see you later.</i><br/>
<br/>
You are almost faint from terror and anxiety as you let the phone drop from your numb hand. After a few fearful moments, you raise the door to the bay, and trot down the corridor to peer out. There are two white trucks visible through the glass door, and it takes you a moment to realize that if one is definitely yours, the other must be Seth's. You sweat and twitch as you watch. But at last a rumble comes from one of the trucks, and it backs out, turns around, and prowls slowly off. Your knees are weak and trembling as you run back to the studio with news that Seth has gone.<br/>
<br/>
But you don't tell them that you basically promised—in Cindy's guise—to hook up with him later.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
The sequel is surprisingly easy and fast. Eva and Jessica, after pushing the betas out of the workout room, pull Cindy's clothes off her, giving you a splendid view of her alabaster-naked body. Hardly a minute or two later, a blue mask, glowing like a piece of the sky, appears on her face, and they twitch off it. From a workout bag Jessica produces a plastic tub which she opens and dips a brush into, and paints the inner surface of the mask with a syrupy goo; Eva cuts a bit of hair off the side of your head, and drops half of it into the mask. Jessica then flicks a cigarette lighter into the mess, releasing a quick-burning flame and a waft of smoke. "Now let's get your mask ready," Eva says.<br/>
<br/>
"Ready how?" you warily ask.<br/>
<br/>
"To put on Cindy," Jessica says as Eva walks out the door. "You don't want her walking around while you're pretending to be her, do you?"<br/>
<br/>
"I know that. But I mean, what do you need to get my mask ready?"<br/>
<br/>
It turns out they do the same thing to your mask as they did to Cindy's: painting it with some goop, dropping the rest of that hank of hair into it, and setting it ablaze. Jessica smirks at you as she lays the mask onto Cindy.<br/>
<br/>
And a moment later, almost between blinks, Cindy has vanished, and sprawling where she had been lies a lanky, flat-chested teenage boy with bony arms and legs, a patch of wiry hair in the center of his chest, and a shock of dirty blonde hair atop his head. He opens his eyes, blinks, and sits up. His eyes widen as they lock onto you. "Holy fuck!" he exclaims.<br/>
<br/>
You'd say the same thing in his place. Because, in a sense, he is in your place. He's the spitting image of ... you!<br/>
<br/>
"Will Prescott," says Jessica, "say hello to beta-Will Prescott. He'll be you from now on. Or until you're ready to be yourself again."<br/>
<br/>
"As if," Eva says with a roll of her eyes.<span class="QbcRddgOKK"></span></span></div></div>


path: 1133121112112111111132121111121211211
author_id: seuzz
title: Your Two Faces
chapter_content:
<div><div style="padding:0px;margin:0px;"></div><div> <span>You stare at your doppelganger with bulging eyes. He stares back.<br/>
<br/>
He's skinny, with bony shoulders and arms, and knobby elbows and knees. His eyes crinkle up with pained embarrassment beneath stiff, straw-like bangs, and his mouth twists up into a rictus-like grin; his lips seem to entangle themselves with big teeth. He hunches on the workout bench with his hands folded over his crotch. They seem to rest casually \, but you're sure that if you tried to move them, they'd rest stiff as stone there.<br/>
<br/>
"Okay, this is hilarious," Jessica drawls. "Almost as hilarious as when Mike and beta-Mike met for the first time." Eva shoots him a baleful look. "But if you wanna get on with it, Will—"<br/>
<br/>
"Er, yeah," you croak. "What do I do now?"<br/>
<br/>
"You can start by giving him your clothes. Unless you want to send him back to your house naked."<br/>
<br/>
You twitch. <i>Take off my clothes?</i> you think. You shiver—and it's not from the air conditioning. <i>If I give it my clothes, it'll put them on. And then it really will be ... me.</i> So your limbs are stiff and numb as you toss your ball cap into the corner of the room, and pull your t-shirt off over your head. In a minute, you are as naked as the beta that is hunched and shivering on the workout bench. It hasn't said anything all this time, but only turned green as it watched you.<br/>
<br/>
"Now tell it to get dressed," Jessica says. "Come on, Will, this should all be obvious."<br/>
<br/>
So you tell the thing to get dressed, which it does, and then you and he make an awkward dance as it stands up and you sit down where it had been. <i>This is what it saw when it woke up,</i> you think as you stare up at the thing that is a perfect copy of you, from the sloppy, dirty-white ball cap down to the boat-like sneakers. <i>It saw something that looked just like it, and which was ... living its life.</i><br/>
<br/>
Right: It's going to live your life.<br/>
<br/>
So as Jessica opens her mouth to speak again, you preempt her with orders for the beta. "Go home," you order it in a voice that growls with anxiety. "Um, be me. Do what I would do." The thing's eyes dart uncertainly. Eva says, "Don't you got anything special to tell it?"<br/>
<br/>
Your life isn't that full, but lamely you add, "Go do your homework. My homework," you correct yourself. "Don't get in trouble with, uh, Dad. Go to school, and hang out with—" You swallow. "Caleb and everyone else. You know. Just ... be me." You feel your eyes watering. "Can you do that?"<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah?" it says, sounding slightly incredulous. Jessica rolls her eyes and plucks at its elbow.<br/>
<br/>
"Come on," she says, "let's go introduce you to the other guys." She and Eva smirk over their shoulders at you as they lead beta-Will away. From outside, Eva points at the crate where the other mask is laying.<br/>
<br/>
"Just put that on," she says, "and come find us after you're dressed. Don't put it on while standing up, though," she adds. "Lay down." You nod, and she pulls the bay door down with a thump.<br/>
<br/>
You suck in a deep breath. <i>Okay, that was creepy,</i> you think as you wipe a sweaty palm on your bare thigh. <i>Looking at myself, seeing myself, seeing that ... thing. But at least I'm—</i><br/>
<br/>
And you are suddenly cheered. Or, if not cheered, your spirits spark back to life. <i>Because I'm going to be Cindy Vredenburg!</i> You lever yourself to your feet and hop on numb feet over to the crate where the mask sits. It seems to burn in your hands as you pick it up. The outer surface is shaped like a human face, with eyes (but no holes for them), a nose, cheeks and cheekbones, lips, chin and forehead. <i>I just have to put this over my face,</i> you think, <i>and</i>—<br/>
<br/>
You turn it over. Glowing blue letters seem to float over its inner surface: CINDY CYNTHIA VREDENBURG. <i>So I guess her middle name is Cynthia. I wonder what else I'll find out about her when I'm her.</i> The thought causes you to gulp. There are a lot of secret, mental things about yourself that you wouldn't want anyone else finding out. A hard shiver runs up your spine. <i>I'm going to find those things out about Cindy!</i><br/>
<br/>
Except you won't, not as long as you keep procrastinating. And why are you procrastinating? Isn't this what you wanted, what you arranged, what you risked being straight-up murdered by Seth, to get?<br/>
<br/>
Your cock is rising like a drawbridge as you hobble back to the workout bench. You sit, then lay back, straddling the bench, and hold the mask at arms-length over your face. You slowly lower it. Halfway down, you clench your eyes shut, and hold your breath as you lower the rest of the way.<br/>
<br/>
The mask is very warm on your face. For only a moment it rests there, with your palms hovering over it. Then it grows very heavy and very hot. You tiwtch—or you would if your limbs were still working—as you feel your face soften and melt. A great weight sinks down through the front of your skull, into your brain, and out the back of your head, dragging you backward with it into darkness ...<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
You're not conscious of opening your eyes; you only know that suddenly they are open, and the thought <i>I'm awake</i> springs to the forefront of your consciousness. <i>But when was I asleep?</i><br/>
<br/>
You are staring at a dull, beige-colored surface, and the only sound is the dull whoosh and roar of a ventilation system. You are very chilly, and when you clasp your arms to warm yourself, you discover that you are bare naked. That, at least, is enough of a shock to get you to swing upright and blink at your surroundings.<br/>
<br/>
You're in a small room with tan-colored metal walls, barely furnished with a workout bench (on which you were lying), a couple of crates, a shapeless workout bag, and a footlocker. There are fluorescent lights in the ceiling, and a metal door, like a garage door, in one wall. Off to the side is a floor-length mirror, which you catch your reflection in. Almost unconsciously, you twitch your hair, pulling one long drape of it behind your head to hang over your other shoulder.<br/>
<br/>
It looks very familiar. You should know where you are. <i>I hope I know where I am,</i> you think with a gulp, <i>if I'm here naked.</i><br/>
<br/>
But it takes only a moment to place it all. <i>This must be that storage complex that Eva and Jessica asked me to come out to. Some guys had a studio set up inside one of the bays, that looked like this one. Is this another bay? What am I doing here?</i> You feel anger and fear begin to well up inside. <i>And where the fuck are my clothes?</i><br/>
<br/>
But though you feel more certain of yourself, you can't shake that the feeling that you are forgetting something very important, more important than knowing where you are or how you got here or what happened to your things. You've been here, in this very room, before; and you remember—don't you?—laying down on that workout bench. You had something with you ... and there was someone else on that bench ... and you felt very sick about something ... something to do with something that had been on that crate over there ...<br/>
<br/>
"Oh!" Almost you swoon, and cover your face with your hands. Your knees wobble, and you sink to the floor. "Oooohhhhhh!"<br/>
<br/>
You remember now. The mask. And Cindy. And Eva and Jessica. Only it wasn't Eva and Jessica, it was Mike and Carlos. And they helped you make a mask and you put it on and now you—<br/>
<br/>
You giggle, its sound muffled by the fingers that you still spread over your face. You giggle again, and drop your hands, and grin up at the ceiling. You push yourself to your feet and sway over to the mirror. Shyly, you nibble a fingernail as with watering eyes you study your reflection.<br/>
<br/>
<i>My reflection!</i> you think. <i>That's me! I'm Cindy Vredenburg!</i><br/>
<br/>
And you are. You drink in your new body greedily with watering eyes.<br/>
<br/>
Maybe her body—<i>My body!</i>—isn't <i>quite</i> as glorious as you fantasized, or led yourself to believe as you stared down at her earlier. She is <i>very</i> slender in the upper torso and shoulders, with ribs and shoulders that show just a little too clearly through the skin. But she has great, taut, firm breasts with big nipples prickling in the midst of half-dollar-sized brown tips; a firm, curved tummy; well-shaped hips and buttocks; and strong, shapely legs. <i>You need to work on your upper body strength,</i> her big sister has told her. And in your exultation you don't wonder how you know that.<br/>
<br/>
You twist around and around, studying your new self from every angle, and scooping up fistfuls of hair to get it out of the way. The greatest discovery, so far as you're concerned, is that Cindy shaves her cooch, so that it is silky smooth and tender to the touch. But you get almost as much pleasure from just staring into your face with your big, doll-like eyes as a faint smirk plays about your lips. <i>My face now!</i><br/>
<br/>
At last, sounds from the next bay over remind you that you should finish up and join your co-conspirators. Mike and Carlos dropped Cindy's things in a corner, and as you bend to pick them up, you remember what Seth said when he picked you up: <i>You're wearing that?</i> to which you retorted, <i>I'm not getting dressed up for Darren and Sophie!</i> But aren't you supposed to not have Cindy's memories yet? <br/>
<br/>
You told Seth that you'd meet him later at the restaurant, and you feel strangely certain that you could fake your way through the date. But it would also be easy to blow him off after the excuse you gave him over the phone.<span class="QbcRddgOKK"></span></span></div></div>


path: 1133121112112111111132121111121211211111
author_id: seuzz
title: F Is for Fake, and for Flinch
chapter_content:
<div><div style="padding:0px;margin:0px;"></div><div> <span>"So wait," the naked Keith Tilley says as he gingerly presses at his bare torso with his fingertips. "If I got this straight ... I got <i>Yumi Saito</i> inside me?"<br/>
<br/>
You sigh. "Technically speaking ... yeah, I guess."<br/>
<br/>
You are trying to look everywhere except at Keith, and even when you do look in his direction you try very hard not to look anywhere below his eyebrows.<br/>
<br/>
"Oh man," he gurgles. "So when I jack off tonight—"<br/>
<br/>
"Oh, God!" You feel the vomit rising in the back of your throat. "Will you <i>shut up</i> and get dressed?"<br/>
<br/>
Yes, based on what you witnessed a few minutes ago, he's got the real Yumi Saito magically hidden somewhere inside him, like one of those Russian dolls nested inside another Russian doll. And that's because he's not really Keith Tilley. He's beta-Keith, the fake version of your friend that was made by putting Keith's mask on top of the sleeping Yumi Saito. But he's such a vivid and life-like copy of Keith that it's hard not to think of him as the real deal.<br/>
<br/>
Worse, he's a naked copy of your friend. And worse still is the way he's lustfully touching himself. But worst of all is the discovery that Tilley's penis is everything that he was always boasting about. It is long and thick and it dangles like a rope between his legs.<br/>
<br/>
He smirks at you, and his gaze turns hooded.<br/>
<br/>
"So, uh, the way you was flirtin' with me out in the hallway a little while ago," he says. He jerks his chin at the workout bench, where an identically naked Keith Tilley is still passed out. "He doesn't have to know it if you and me go off and—"<br/>
<br/>
He steps up so close that the musty breath wafting from between his thick, chapped lips brushes your face.<br/>
<br/>
"Yycchhh!" You shove him back, then hurriedly wipe your palm on the front of your sweat pants. "That was just <i>fake flirting,</i> you creep! And I was doing it with the real Keith! You're just—" You feel your lip curl.<br/>
<br/>
"Hey, I gots everything he gots." He grabs his cock and waves it at you.<br/>
<br/>
You respond by fleeing the bay, to join beta-Philip in the hallway. "Can we lock them up in there?" you cry.<br/>
<br/>
"I'll take care of him," beta-Philip sighs, and blocks the naked beta-Keith. They argue as you duck back into the bay and kick Keith's disgusting clothes into the hallway. Eva and Jessica come out to add their voices to the argument, but you pull down the sliding metal door, shutting yourself inside the bay with the unconscious Keith Tilley. Eventually, the voices move off, and fade.<br/>
You pass five minutes or so in a distracted state before there's a groan from the bench, and Keith raises up. He winces and squints at you, then looks down at himself. "Hey," he says in a muzzy voice. "I thought I was s'posed to be Yumi by now."<br/>
<br/>
"It's all ready for you." You march over to a crate where the finished mask is sitting atop Yumi's neatly folded clothes. "But Philip— Beta-Philip— Whatever. He said to wait for you to wake up first. Said something about it being less 'disorienting'"—you hang finger quotes in the air—"for you to wake up as yourself before putting on the mask. God, where does someone learn to talk like that?"<br/>
<br/>
Keith grunts and lays back down. You carry the mask and clothes to him, and a gleam comes into his eye as you look down at him. "'D'ja fun lookin' at my"—he pats at his crotch—"while I was asleep?"<br/>
<br/>
"Gah. Your fucking beta already sexually harassed me with his penis, and now you." You drop the clothes onto his chest, but keep the mask. "Lemme put this on you now. If you're gonna do gross things with your genitals, at least do them with Yumi's."<br/>
<br/>
Keith's leer widens, but you quickly hide it by pushing the mask onto his face. It goes through the front of his skull, and your palm touches his nose and jaw.<br/>
<br/>
But it's not his nose and jaw anymore. It's Yumi Saito's. You catch your breath, for the transformation surprised you even as you were expecting it.<br/>
<br/>
Her expression is slack as she lays unconscious. But she's got the same pie-pan cheeks and pursed mouth; the same mica-black hair cut in a short bob.<br/>
<br/>
And she's definitely got the same body.<br/>
<br/>
Temptation is too great, but you yield to it only this far: You pick up her slack hand, and cradle and stroke it in your own. <i>Yumi is such a good friend,</i> you find yourself thinking. <i>So loyal, so true, so passionate. Did I really have to do this to her? Could I really have done this to her?</i><br/>
<br/>
Then you giggle. <i>Sure I could! She's still be loyal and passionate and true. It'll just be a different friend driving her body!</i><br/>
<br/>
You lay her arm over her taut stomach, then retreat back to your corner of the workout bay and take out your phone.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
"Oh, dude, lookit me!" Yumi groans as she stares at her reflection in the floor-length mirror. She pushes her palms slowly up and then down the sides of her torso and her hips. "I'm smoking!"<br/>
<br/>
"You sure are," you agree. You are standing behind her, looking into the mirror over the top of her head. (Yumi is about half a head shorter than you.)<br/>
<br/>
She bites down hard on her lower lip, and her eyes roll back as her head wobbles atop her neck. "F'ck 'ee!" she mumbles.<br/>
<br/>
You lay your hands on her shoulders and sniff the top of her hair. Yumi's intense arousal is turning you on.<br/>
<br/>
"God! I bet she—! Gets herself off—! Every night!" she gurgles. Then she jumps, banging you in the nose with the crown of her head. "Jesus," she says as she holds her hand out, and her expressions turns a little frightened. "I'm <i>sloppy wet</i> down there!"<br/>
<br/>
"I'm not surprised."<br/>
<br/>
Yumi suddenly seems aware that you're holding her by the shoulders, with your nose only inches from the back of her head. She wheels and stares up at you with a look of shock on her face. You stare steadily back, unsure of her reaction.<br/>
<br/>
Then her eyes lower, and her lips, which are parted, quiver a little. You bend to kiss them.<br/>
<br/>
And just as they touch, voices sound in the hall. You freeze, and at a rattle of the metal door, you step back and look quickly around. But Yumi continues to stare at you with shocked eyes. <br/>
<br/>
It's Eva and Jessica. They're already grinning, but their eyes pop when they see the naked Yumi. "Oh my God!" "Whoa!" "Dude, what are you getting up to in here?" "Can we play too?" They openly leer at you and her.<br/>
<br/>
"He's just waking up," you tell them. "Still getting used to the new him. Her"<br/>
<br/>
"Nice!" They circle her, and she sways a little under their stares, and shoots pleading glances at you. "You know, tomorrow," Eva burbles, "their's gonna be a cheerleading practice, and we're gonna get to be in a roomful of naked girls like her and us."<br/>
<br/>
"You too, Cindy!" Jessica winks at you.<br/>
<br/>
"Sure. So what are we doing tonight?" You have the sudden urge to get away from them.<br/>
<br/>
"Make a short pyramid?" Eva suggests. Jessica adds, "And take turns looking up each other's skirts?"<br/>
<br/>
"What's Fairfax say?"<br/>
<br/>
"I dunno." At mention of his name, the air seems to leak from Jessica. "I guess we could all go back and find out. We just wanted to check up on you guys, make sure everything was okay." She flashes a wicked grin. "Make sure you weren't doing anything gross in here without us!"<br/>
<br/>
"I'll help Keith get dressed," you stammer. "Be with you in a minute."<br/>
<br/>
"Keith doesn't need your help, man."<br/>
<br/>
"Do you have Yumi's memories?" you ask her. "Remember anything about her?" Yumi shakes her head. "He, uh, might have trouble with the clothes."<br/>
<br/>
"We didn't have trouble with ours, Will." Eva sneers. "We know what you want!"<br/>
<br/>
Reluctantly, you follow them out, glancing back at Yumi. She follows your gaze with a haunted gaze of her own.<br/>
<br/>
In the studio, beta-Keith is nowhere to be seen, and you guess he's been sent away, but Maria and beta-Philip are in quiet conference. They break it up though as you and the Garner girls troop in.<br/>
<br/>
"So it appears I won't be able to lure Chelsea out here tonight," Maria says. Her manner and demeanor are uncharacteristically dry and direct, and there's a penetrating gleam of intelligence—also uncharacteristic—in her eyes. "Tomorrow night will be the earliest we can effect her replacement, and I've already texted Josiah to let him know. In the meantime, I suggest we all lay low, avoiding friends and family, and returning home only when it is so late we can all go directly to bed, to minimize the chances of making mistakes or arousing suspicion. In the night, if past phenomenon can be trusted, we will acquire our impersonations' memories and characteristic personality traits." She says this with such sober dispassion that you almost shiver.<br/>
<br/>
"Except for you, Will." Maria turns to you. "Are you truly certain that you already have full possession of all of Cindy's, uh, psychological states?"<br/>
<br/>
You blink at him, translating. "Oh. Uh, pretty sure I do. You can ask me anything you want."<br/>
<br/>
"I wouldn't know the answers. What about Keith?"<br/>
<br/>
"He says he doesn't." Even as you speak, you hear a noise behind you, and Yumi, looking much more shy and even a little frightened, slides into the studio. Her expression is wary and watchful.<br/>
<br/>
"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter if you stay or go," Maria continues. "Though I thought we would begin by discussing how we intend to proceed in our studies." She lifts her eyebrows slightly.<br/>
<br/>
You feel the pressure to stay, and maybe you should, though you really don't want to. But if you don't stay, you probably would have to go find Seth, who has been texting you, and you really don't want to do that. Maybe you should just go home.<br/>
<br/>
But what you want to do—except it would surely set off of gossip among the others—is go off someplace with Yumi.<span class="QbcRddgOKK"></span></span></div></div>


path: 11331211121121111111321211111212112111113
author_id: seuzz
title: The Run for Home
chapter_content:
<div><div style="padding:0px;margin:0px;"></div><div> <span>You've had enough of Mike and Carlos, so you don't want to spend the evening at the complex with them. Still less do you want to see Cindy's boyfriend. So the only question is, to go home by yourself, or to go home with—?<br/>
<br/>
Maria rescues you, as though she were reading your mind.<br/>
<br/>
"I don't see that you <i>need</i> to be a party to our discussion circle, Will," she says. "Though of course you're welcome to participate. You're a member of equal standing in the project. But if you think your presence is required, um, elsewhere—"<br/>
<br/>
"I don't have to be anywhere else," you admit, "but you're the one doing the planning. I'll go along with whatever you decide." You glance between Maria and the Garners. "Um, I feel like I'd just be in the way."<br/>
<br/>
"I understand," Maria says. "But I also want you to know that you're an equal member."<br/>
<br/>
"Thanks." You glance over at Yumi, who has been listening to all this with darting eyes. "I was just going to go home, but, um, Keith, if you wanna leave, you know, you can come hide out at ... my place." Almost you said "Cindy's place."<br/>
<br/>
Yumi's eyes double and redouble their darting about the room as Eva and Jessica exchange hooded glances. "Yeah, um," she stammers, "I kinda feel the same way as Will. You don't really need me, right? I mean, I don't think I got the brains fer this, um—" She turns pink as Eva and Jessica's exchanged glances ratchet up to sly grins.<br/>
<br/>
"Sure thing," Eva says in a slithering tone. "You two just go off and ... keep each other out of trouble."<br/>
<br/>
You have the urge to march over, grab her by the hair, and yank really hard, but you tamp it back. "Come on, Keith," you say, and tug Yumi by the elbow. "I wanna get out of here before Seth decides to come looking for me. I'll see you all at practice tomorrow!" you call back as you hurry out of the bay.<br/>
<br/>
Yumi doesn't say anything until you're almost outside, when she mutters, "So, am I following you back to Cindy's place?"<br/>
<br/>
"You're driving. I got a ride up here with Seth."<br/>
<br/>
"Where is he?"<br/>
<br/>
"On a double date without me."<br/>
<br/>
She stops. "The fuck? You already break up with him?"<br/>
<br/>
"No. It's a long story, and boring as shit. But we have to take your car, so you're driving."<br/>
<br/>
"I don't know how to drive Yumi's car!"<br/>
<br/>
"What do you mean you don't know how to drive her car? It's a fucking <i>car,</i> you dope!"<br/>
<br/>
She blinks at you, and it's a sudden shock to see that, with Yumi and Keith, it's the reverse of  what it was with Maria and Philip. Maria was uncharacteristically sharp-eyed and intelligent with him looking out through her eyes. But Yumi, who is usually bright as a tack, is dead-eyed and slack-jawed.<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah, I guess," she now mumbles. She grips the sides of her heads. "I'm so fucking confused."<br/>
<br/>
"About what?"<br/>
<br/>
"I 'unno. I got these milk jugs hanging off my front, for a start, they're all distracting." She grabs her breasts and shifts them around. "And I can't seem to get my balance right." She twists to look back and down at her hips. "I feel like I've got a seat cushion shoved in back there."<br/>
<br/>
"Well, you'll be used to it by tomorrow." You grab her by the arm. "Come on."<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
The drive back to your place is an aggravation, as Yumi takes it all very carefully, like she's in a driver's ed program again. You have to refrain from chiding Keith with the news that the real Yumi is an aggressive terror behind the wheel, notorious among her friends for running yellow lights as they turn red, skating around corners at high speed, and darting from lane to lane through traffic just to gain a dozen yards.<br/>
<br/>
"Shit," you grumble as she pulls up in front of your house "Lucy's home." You make a face at the SUV.<br/>
<br/>
"Lucy?" Yumi says dumbly. Then her eyes pop. "Jesus, dude! You're living with <i>Lucy!</i>"<br/>
<br/>
You understand her reaction, and it's so intense that you almost vibrate in sympathy with it. Lucy is Cindy's older sister—two years' older—who captained the cheerleader squad when you and your friends were sophomores. She was incredibly swoon-worthy, having the same hair and coloring and face as Cindy, but with a lot more curve, and somehow (at least in your memory) she could make her assets "pop" about ten times bigger than Cindy can.<br/>
<br/>
But balanced against these ravishing temptations are Cindy's own experiences with her sister, who is a mean-girl extraordinaire and openly contemptuous of her little sister's attempts to follow and emulate her. To the extent that Lucy pays any attention to Cindy, it's to sigh with exasperation over her—or to sneer at her taste in boyfriends—but usually she passes by her with frosty, contemptuous silence. Fortunately, Lucy spends most of her time on the college campus, and though technically she still lives at home, five or six nights out of seven she will sleep and eat on campus with friends, at sorority houses, or—so Cindy is convinced—in bed with basketball, football, baseball, soccer, lacrosse and other players, and not always (so Cindy silently, peevishly suspects) of the opposite sex. When Lucy is home, Cindy tends to stay in her room.<br/>
<br/>
"Listen," you hiss at Yumi, "if we run into her, don't talk to her. She's not all that, not what you think she's like. Just say 'hi' and be prepared to duck. And don't go <i>looking</i> for her."<br/>
<br/>
"How come?" Yumi stares at you, and when you glower back her expression curdles. "Yeah, just be a selfish, fucking bitch about it, Prescott, keepin' yer hot sister to yerself."<br/>
<br/>
"Fine," you snarl as you climb out of the car. "But don't come crying to me if she takes your head off with a bazooka." You slam the door and march up the driveway.<br/>
<br/>
It was a surprise—after all the excitement and business at the complex—to have stepped outside and found the sun still shining, and it's a surprise now to come in and find your family still at the dinner table, eating. Your mom and dad look up with cheery smiles at your appearance, but Lucy gives you a blank look and goes back to shoving stewed carrots into her face, even as your mom asks how your date with Seth went.<br/>
<br/>
"I had to cancel it. Something came up." You roll your eyes as your phone goes off with an alert, undoubtedly from your boyfriend again. "But I ran into Yumi—" You pull the girl forward; she's been hanging back. "And brought her home with me. We're gonna do some schoolwork together." You look at her. "Where's your schoolbag?" you ask her.<br/>
<br/>
She blinks at you, mutters, <i>Shit</i> in a low voice, and hurries back outside. "So," you continue, "we're gonna hide out in my room—"<br/>
<br/>
"You can have the family room," your dad offers. "Or sit down, have some supper."<br/>
<br/>
"I might pick at some leftovers later." You notice Lucy looking up at you from under lowered brows. And maybe under that pressure, and because you feel like you have to blurt out something—anything—to get out of that room, you add, in a low, hissing voice, "Yumi's having 'boy' troubles!"<br/>
<br/>
Mr. Vredenburg gets a glazed look, while Mrs. Vredenburg suddenly looks very interested. Her expression is almost hungry as Yumi, empty-handed, returns with a pale look. "I can't find my stuff," she says, "I must'a left it at—" She gulps. "My house."<br/>
<br/>
"It's okay." You push her toward another doorway. "You can just copy out of my books." You almost trip over each other as you shove her in front of you.<br/>
<br/>
"Fuck me," she hisses as you prod her upstairs toward your new bedroom. "I felt like I was naked, like they were looking right through the fucking mask and saw <i>me</i> there!"<br/>
<br/>
"Stop freaking out." You at last push her into the bedroom of the girl whose body, mind, and life you have taken over. You shut the door behind you—<br/>
<br/>
And are momentarily taken aback by the room.<br/>
<br/>
It's on the small side but pin-neat, dominated by a four-poster canopy bed. The wallpaper is a spray of baby blue and pink patterns against a white background, and white, lacy curtains are on the windows. Shelves on the wall hold rows of gleaming trophies of various sizes, and there's a white-blonde desk in the corner with a laptop, a desk lamp, and a Barbie doll mounted on a plinth, its arms posed over its head, which is tilted back to flash a vacant smile at the ceiling.<br/>
<br/>
And it's like you're seeing it with two sets of eyes, one that looks at it all with a slightly bored, <i>Yeah, this is my room, I need to change it up, it's getting stale,</i> while the other set yelps, <i>Holy fuck, I really am a girl, if this is where I'm sleeping!</i> You shake your head, and the two points of view merge into a single one: <i>Mmm, this is nice, and this is mine!</i><br/>
<br/>
You heave out a vast sigh. "Okay man, now we got the door closed, <i>now</i> you can freak out."<br/>
<br/>
But Yumi is preoccupied with looking the room over, craning her head this way and that—another uncharacteristic reaction, as Yumi has been up here plenty of times. Her gaze settles on the Barbie doll, and she totters over to grab it up. <i>Like a chimp grabbing a banana,</i> you find yourself thinking. "Th'fuck's this?" she says.<br/>
<br/>
"It's a paperweight, a tchotchke, a thing." You march over and grab it from her. "Just sit on the bed and keep your hands to yourself."<br/>
<br/>
She drops onto the bed and bounces. Again, those dead eyes rove the room, then come to rest on you. And slowly they look you up and down. Her lips purse into a smirk, and an ugly gleam comes into her eye.<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah, so, dude," she says in a husky voice. "We were gettin' pretty steamy back at the place." Her smirk deepens. "Wanna pick up where we left off?"<span class="QbcRddgOKK"></span></span></div></div>


path: 113312111211211111113212111112121121111131
author_id: seuzz
title: Making Someone's Dream Come True
chapter_content:
<div><div style="padding:0px;margin:0px;"></div><div> <span>You return Yumi's smirk with a gaping stare of your own. In the all the fight and drama of getting out here and getting into this bedroom, you'd clean forgot how you were starting to grope your friend back at the complex. All the desire has drained from you.<br/>
<br/>
But as you look Yumi over, as she leans back on the bed with her legs spread wide; as she gives you a hooded smirk down the length of her nose; well, that desire starts to swell within you again. This girl, she's your friend, she's Yumi Saito. But she's also your friend Keith Tilley, who you helped to steal this body. Yes, it would be a little weird making out with one of your friends. But that's part of what gives it hard thrill. You've both fantasized about these girls, and you've helped each other into copies of their bodies. You <i>are</i> Cindy and Yumi now, and you'd be making out <i>as</i> them.<br/>
<br/>
You lean toward her, then pause to gauge her reaction: the gleam in her eye deepens a touch. You take a step forward, and another, and she leans back to peer up at you. Your knees touch.<br/>
<br/>
You can't help quailing just a little. Yumi, you can tell, is trying to look smoky and seductive, but with her mouth hanging limply open, and her eyes almost invisible behind her hooded lids, mostly she looks stoned. It doesn't help that you can hear the gurgle of her breath in her nose and the back of her throat.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Oh, what the fuck,</i> you think. <i>Once we just get started—</i><br/>
<br/>
Again, you flinch, at a flashback to times Cindy had a hard time getting started with Seth because he was looking a little gross. But you thrust the memory behind you, and bend over Yumi to put your mouth to hers.<br/>
<br/>
"Mmphgh, <i>mmphgh!</i>" She slurps hungrily at your mouth, and her hand grabs your left tit like a claw. <br/>
<br/>
"Jesus!" You wrench yourself free, and touch your lip with a fingertip to see if there's blood. "Fuck, dude! What are you trying to do, shove a chest-burster down my throat?"<br/>
<br/>
She falls back onto the bed with a moan. "But you're making me so horny!" Her legs fall apart, and she strokes and grabs at her pussy through the front of her shorts. "You know how much I want to—?" She freezes, and her eyes roll. "Oh, fuck me," she groans, and resumes grinding at herself. "I want my cock back! Oh, God!" Her face twists up as she humps at the air. "I want my—! Cock! Back! Push it—! Out through—! From inside—! Fuck myself—! Fuck Yumi—! From inside—!"<br/>
<br/>
It's like she's having a fit, an episode. You jump forward to cover and grip her hands with. She lifts her head to stare at you with flushed and perspiring face.<br/>
<br/>
"Shh! Will you calm down? We don't want anyone coming up and finding us like—! Listen," you hiss, "you wanna make out, we'll make out. I want to too, you know." You glance up at the door, to check that it is in fact locked. "But you're gonna have to let me set the pace, man. I don't wanna get hurt, get any cuts or bruises. So let <i>me</i>—"<br/>
<br/>
She snorts.<br/>
<br/>
"—set the pace. You don't know what you're doing. And keep it down." You push her hands from her crotch. "And since you're feeling so hot and buzzy down here, I guess that's where we'll start." You hook a finger into the top of her flannel shorts, and pull. When she stays frozen to the bed, you frown at her until she starts to wriggle from them.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
You're kneeling on the bed, on your knees and elbows, clasping Yumi by the thighs, with your face and mouth pressed deep into her hot, wet, bristly genitals. Her feet twist and kick, brushing your elbows, and every once in awhile she knocks you on the side of the head with a knee. Her hips grind and twist and thrust upward from the mattress.<br/>
<br/>
She's sweat and loamy and briny on your tongue and in your mouth, and every few moments there fleets through your head, <i>I'm gonna have to gargle for hours to get the taste out.</i> But you can't stop yourself, and when you do lift your face it's only for the briefest second to catch a deep breath before plunging back in. You burn to nuzzle deeper and deeper, to shove your tongue in harder and faster, to find and touch and tickle with your mouth the very furthest back wall of the crevices of Yumi Saito. You dig your nails deeper into the yielding flesh of her hips and thighs.<br/>
<br/>
She's got a pillow over her face, she's got it shoved into her mouth and she's biting on it hard, gripping it with talon-like hands. Still, every few seconds, a tiny muffled scream escapes her, sounding like the scrape and scream of metal hinges. It worries you that someone will hear her, or will hear the occasional rhythmic creak from the bedsprings, and come looking to see what you're doing. (Or simply that they will deduce it without having to come check.) It worries you too that you apparently haven't brought her to climax, and you worry what kind of volcanic roar she will loose when you do. <br/>
<br/>
And you also worry—though it's absurd and you know it can't happen—that Keith Tilley's giant dong will pop out of Yumi's pussy, ram its way down your throat, and impale itself in the back of your throat.<br/>
<br/>
It's a tough image to get out of your head, what with the flashbacks you keep getting to all the times that Cindy went down on Seth Javits. That's another reason you keep pushing yourself harder and deeper into Yumi. It's not only the desire to scrape off and lap up all her softest tissues. It's the desire to crush and drown those memories under the humid weight of the present.<br/>
<br/>
At last, even as you're flagging, Yumi looses one long, bone-deep groan into the pillow, seems to gather all her strength in a concentrated point under your lips, and explodes upward, jarring you in the chin and nose as she frantically humps your face. Her thighs clamp closed and grip your head like a vise, and she grabs the back of your head with a claw-like hand to push your face deeper into herself. She squeaks no more, she's beyond that, but snuffles and pants into the pillow like she's trying to inhale it. It seems to take hours for her to expend herself, but at last with a soft groan she relaxes all over. She releases your head, her thighs fall away, and she goes limp and boneless all over.<br/>
<br/>
With creaking neck and limbs, you push yourself upright and look down at her. Her shorts and panties, of course, are gone, exposing her black and wiry bush, and all the rest of her sweaty mid-parts between knees and navel. Her shirt is pushed up under her neck, and one cup of her bra is pushed up as well, exposing a brown-tipped breast. You push the pillow off her face. Her eyes are unfocused and her mouth hangs open. A long, gooey stream of drool winds from the corner of her mouth down the side of her neck and into a pool just under her ear. She would look dead, save for the flicker of life in her eyes.<br/>
<br/>
"Okay, wake up." You slap the side of her thigh. "You can't pass out."<br/>
<br/>
"Euuugggghhhhhh," she replies.<br/>
<br/>
"I'll go downstairs and get us something to drink. I want you back in your panties, at least, when I get back."<br/>
<br/>
"Euuuuckkkhhhh?"<br/>
<br/>
"Yes, panties. And pull your shirt down."<br/>
<br/>
"Euuuugphhhh!"<br/>
<br/>
"I'm serious, no arguing."<br/>
<br/>
"Yeeuuurmgph?" Her mouth twists up into a leering half-smile.<br/>
<br/>
"Yes, it was fun for me too." <br/>
<br/>
"Urmph?!"<br/>
<br/>
"I think you're too wiped out. Maybe tomorrow night."<br/>
<br/>
"Mmmphgh-eughchkkkk!" She turns to the side, nestles down more firmly onto the bed, and closes her eyes.<br/>
<br/>
"Get back into your clothes, man!" You smack her again on the side of the thigh, and she flinches. "Now!"<br/>
<br/>
She sighs, and pushes herself upright onto an elbow. Her eyes briefly cross and uncross, and she limply clutches at her disordered bra.<br/>
<br/>
When you're sure she's going to finish the job, you check your face in the vanity mirror for signs of what you've been doing. You are momentarily startled by the sight of Cindy's doe-eyed face staring back at you, but you settle yourself to check for damage. Your mouth is a little flushed, and the gloss on your lips has faded and cracked. You repair it, then with a big plastic comb settle and reorder long, platinum tresses that have gone a little stringy. When you look good enough—which is more than good enough, when you've got Cindy Vredenburg's face—you straighten up and turn back to the bed.<br/>
<br/>
Yumi is sitting up and pulling down her shirt, and she gives you a hooded, exhausted, and dirty look.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Funny,</i> you think as you stride into the hall and down the stairs on confident, scissor-like legs. <i>I just went down on one of my best friends. Never did that before, never had a chance or the urge. I wonder if it'll change things between us?</i><br/>
<br/>
You pause. You know it won't change things between Cindy and Yumi, because those girls are gone and you've replaced them. But will it change things between you and Keith?<br/>
<br/>
You're interrupted in mid-thought by the sound of your name. It's Lucy, looking up at you from the sofa. "You need me to give you a ride to school in the morning?" she asks in a resentful tone. "Or you gonna get one from Seth?"<span class="QbcRddgOKK"></span></span></div></div>


path: 1133121112112111111132121111121211211111313
author_id: seuzz
title: Two More Rides
chapter_content:
<div><div style="padding:0px;margin:0px;"></div><div> <span>Yumi is back in her panties and top when you return to the bedroom with two bottles of spring water, but she's sitting up on the bed and twirling her shorts around on the end of a finger. As you enter, she tries giving you that same smoky and seductive leer as earlier. "Cindy," she whimpers. "Come kiss my pussy some more."<br/>
<br/>
"Shut up!" you hiss, and glance behind into the hallway. Luckily, it's empty. "Get a fucking grip on yourself, man," you say as you close the door. "What if—?"<br/>
<br/>
"Psht. Get a grip," she echoes and paws at her crotch. "I got nothing to get a grip on, man, and I'm fucking horny still. Fuck!" She strokes herself with a fingertip and gasps. "I keep thinking of Yumi's pussy, and how I want to—"<br/>
<br/>
"Well, try calming down with this." You hand her a water bottle; she tucks it down the front of her panties and grinds it into her pussy. "God, you're disgusting!"<br/>
<br/>
"Well, what are <i>you</i> gonna do tonight after I'm gone?" She sits up, but continues to stroke and squeeze the bottle like it's a fat cock. "Is Cindy's pussy so dainty she—?"<br/>
<br/>
"I'm gonna have fun!" you protest. "I've just got more self-control than you do, is all." You sit at the desk, opposite her. "And I'm asking <i>you</i> to have a little more self-con— What?"<br/>
<br/>
Yumi is looking you up and down with a light sneer. You glance down at yourself, and see nothing wrong, until you realize you have crossed your legs at the knee and ankle in a very "femme" way. With a sigh, you uncross them and spread your knees out, like a guy would. "You're not going to be like this at school, are you?" you ask.<br/>
<br/>
"I 'unno," she mumbles. "Shit." She wipes her forehead with the back of her arm. "I'm a fucking cheerleader now, I'm gonna be at practice, gonna be in the fucking changing room with a buncha other naked cheerleaders." She sits up very straight. "Shower with me tomorrow?" she pleads.<br/>
<br/>
"If we have time. Chelsea doesn't always give us time to get really cleaned up after practice."<br/>
<br/>
She snorts. "How th'fuck you know that?"<br/>
<br/>
"Because I've got Cindy's memories."<br/>
<br/>
"Thppbt! Bullshit. Fairfax and them, they say—"<br/>
<br/>
"Well, I do," you insist. "I don't know how, maybe something weird with the mask, but I've got all her memories and I think I've got some of her personality and stuff."<br/>
<br/>
"So you got her memories'n shit?" Yumi looks dumbfounded. Moronic <i>and</i> dumbfounded. "Already?" You nod. She stares at you. Then a horrible grin spreads across her face, and she chucks her chin at you. "So," she smirks, "you remember what Javits's cock tastes like?"<br/>
<br/>
You feel your expression harden. "Yes." She smirks at you. "And tomorrow you'll remember everything Yumi remembers."<br/>
<br/>
The grin slowly fades from her face, replaced by a look of thoughtfulness, and then of worry. "Like what?"<br/>
<br/>
"You'll find out," you singsong at her, though you really have no idea what shivery memories Yumi might be carrying around. "But speaking of Javits, can you give me a ride to school tomorrow?"<br/>
<br/>
"How come?"<br/>
<br/>
"Well, I told Lucy I didn't need a ride from her—"<br/>
<br/>
"Don't you got a car?"<br/>
<br/>
You sigh. "If you had Yumi's memories, Keith, you'd know I don't. But if Lucy doesn't take me to school, then I have to get Seth to come by and pick me up. Which he usually does. I mean, he usually picks Cindy up in the mornings. But if you said you'd give me a ride—"<br/>
<br/>
Yumi falls back onto the bed, and her free hand again goes to her pussy. "Give <i>me</i> another ride," she says, "an' I'll carry you to fuckin' school on my <i>back!</i>"<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
So you eat her out again, though you break it off before bringing her climax (which she doesn't seem to mind) and then you insist on doing some homework. You do it on the bed, though, lying on your stomach with Yumi laying beside you. She can't stop leaving your hair alone, though, and a couple of times she throws a leg over yours and tries humping you like a dog would.<br/>
<br/>
By ten o'clock you've had enough, and you tell Keith he has to take himself and Yumi's body home. He begs to stay and spend the night, telling you he's terrified of fucking up if he goes back to Yumi's place without her memories, but you are very firm about seeing him out the door. He is borderline tearful, and shoots you lots of angry, disgruntled looks as he shuffles off toward Yumi's car.<br/>
<br/>
Upstairs again, you get ready for bed, which means scrubbing off makeup, brushing and combing out your hair, and taking care of your teeth. The latter involves three different kinds of floss, the use of a waterpik, an electric toothbrush, a tongue scraper, and mouthwash. Then you change into a soft sleeping gown and after putting out the lights you crawl between creamy sheets.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Wow,</i> you think as you turn onto your side and slide a hand down between your legs. <i>When I woke up this morning, it was going to be an ordinary day. And now I'm somebody else. Or somebody else is me.</i> Your eyelids droop closed. <i>I was just the same old ordinary girl, but then—</i><br/>
<br/>
Without noticing, you fall into a deep sleep.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
You're woken by the chiming of your phone, which is on your desk. Your mind reels drunkenly as you pull yourself upright and lunge half out of bed to grab it. Your hair falls across your face, and it takes you a minute to numbly comprehend the text and its meaning: <i>I'm outside, u ready soon?</i> You swipe the screen to the clock, and see that it's six-thirty.<br/>
<br/>
The text is from Seth. You forgot last night to tell him not to come pick you up. You sigh deeply, then patiently thumb in a reply: <i>No I'm running late go on without me.<br/>
<br/>
How long u be?<br/>
<br/>
Too long. Just go without me see you at school luv u bye.</i> You wince after hitting "send," having not realized you had typed in the last, rote expression of regard. You wait until you hear the sound of a motor moving off outside, then stagger to your feet and stumble to the bathroom to start getting ready. Even if you hadn't forgotten to text Seth, you would be late getting started.<br/>
<br/>
So it's a somewhat truncated shower that you take, giving yourself hardly more time than to wash your hair. Once out, you tie it all up inside a towel and quickly dry off before throwing your sleeping gown back on. After that, you concentrate quickly on getting made up. That means lots of washing and scrubbing and the application of cleansers and acne medicines before laying down a foundation for the rest of the work. You hardly have time to enjoy the sight of your reflection in the mirror, though after getting the mascara on, you do indulge in a little staring contest with yourself. You really do have big, beautiful green eyes!<br/>
<br/>
Out in the bedroom, you text Yumi to confirm that she'll be picking you up, and to get an ETA. She is very late in replying, which gives you time to change into a sloppy but carefully considered ensemble: short-shorts that disappear under the drooping hem of an XXL white sweatshirt with the University of Vermont logo on the front ( a giant green "V" for "Vredenburg"), and pink, broken-in canvas Chuck Taylors that you pull on over your bare feet. You're patiently combing your shimmering platinum hair into long sheets when Yumi's reply comes in: twenty minutes, she says. Which give you enough time for a fast breakfast of egg whites, fakin' bacon, skim milk, and a shot of orange juice, which you take at the breakfast table with your father. He's engrossed in his tablet, but he glances up to ask if Lucy is supposed to be taking you to school. You shake your head and tell him that Yumi will be coming by.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
It's cool and overcast as you wait out front for Yumi, and you're foreboding rain when her silver Sentra swings around the corner and comes purring to a stop at the curb. You throw your pack into the back seat, and climb into the front. "Tch!" you exclaim as you buckle yourself in. "Have I ever told you how much I <i>love</i> your car? I'm gonna steal it from you, one of these days!"<br/>
<br/>
Yumi gives you a slit-eyed side glance, and a secret smile. "Wanna swap?" she asks as she pushes back into the street.<br/>
<br/>
"What?"<br/>
<br/>
"Faces and cars."<br/>
<br/>
"Are you serious?" The proposal takes you aback.<br/>
<br/>
"Not really," she says. You're still in a residential neighborhood, but she pushes the car up past thirty-five. Just like the real girl would do. "I was just thinking maybe you're having some regrets."<br/>
<br/>
"You mean about last night?"<br/>
<br/>
"What?" She wheels on you, then flushes. "No! Fuck me, that was <i>awesome,</i> dude," she growls through clenched teeth. "I got myself off again after I went to bed, and I almost creamed myself—or whatever girls call it—in the shower this morning." Her knuckles whiten on the wheel. "We're gonna do that again, like, tonight, aren't we?"<br/>
<br/>
"Sure thing." You stroke her thigh, which is bare beneath the red-and-white checkered skirt that's riding high up her legs. "But you need to control yourself at school. Yumi's not a dyke, is she?"<br/>
<br/>
"No," she growls in the back of her throat. "But I'm thinkin'a comin' out as one. Wouldn' be a surprise, would it?"<br/>
<br/>
"Maybe not," you allow. "But we're only doing this temporarily, you know. You don't want to screw anything up for her, for after we let the girls loose again."<br/>
<br/>
"Fuck me, man." She shoves a hand between her thighs. "I ain't givin' this up less'n I can get me another. Kendra, maybe, or— Wait a minute." She squints over at you. "Whaddaya mean, we're not gonna screw things up for—? You're gonna bust up with Javits, right?"<br/>
<br/>
You've given it some thought in the back of your mind. Bust him and Cindy up? Or just torture him while still being his girlfriend?<span class="QbcRddgOKK"></span></span></div></div>


path: 11331211121121111111321211111212112111113132
author_id: seuzz
title: Tortures Planned, Torments Suffered
chapter_content:
<div><div style="padding:0px;margin:0px;"></div><div> <span><i>Break up Cindy and Seth? Was that the plan?</i> Keith seems to think it was, but you're not so sure.<br/>
<br/>
"Well, I'm not gonna break up with him right away," you temporize. "I wanna have some fun jerking him around first. You know. The kind of fights that him and Cindy are always having." You glance over at Yumi. "You know what I'm talking about, right? You did get her memories last night, didn't you?"<br/>
<br/>
"Oh yeah." She's come to a stop at a light, but as it turns green she jack-rabbits into the intersection. "You don't gotta worry about me, man. Oh, fuck!" She laughs. "When I saw Mokichi this morning, I—" She snickers all through the story she tells of the way she went off on Yumi's big brother about hogging the bathroom. "And speaking of things that piss Yumi off," she adds in a darker growl, "I wanna be there when the guys take down Chelsea and put Josiah in for her!"<br/>
<br/>
So that gets her off the topic of Seth, and she spends the rest of the drive speculating about how raunchy Josiah's going to get with his new body, and whether you and her want to get in on some of it. She's so worked up, in fact, that after you are parked at the school, you reach over to give her a calming pat on the thigh.<br/>
<br/>
"That all sounds great, man," you say. "But we're here, and we need to remember who we're supposed to be now."<br/>
<br/>
She blinks at you, then grins wickedly.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
The cool, wet air feels good on your bare legs as you stride off toward the gym; Yumi hustles alongside you. You're aware, of course, of the looks, both veiled and open, that you get from the guys, and it gives you a prickling feeling of pride. Which is not what Cindy is used to feeling, you reflect in some surprise when you compare your emotions this morning with the ones you remember from other mornings. Though Cindy finds the attention gratifying to an extent, she also gets tired of it. This morning, though, you can't help preening as you glide along the breezeway toward the gym, noting the way guys who are standing in knots on the quad will turn at a word from their friends to look back over their shoulders at you. <i>No one ever fucking paid any attention to me before,</i> you gloat to yourself. <i>But look at me now. Yeah, you sad, needy cocksuckers. Just look at me now!</i> You tuck back a stray lock of shimmering hair behind an ear, and pull open the door to the gym.<br/>
<br/>
Basketball practice is still going on, with a scrimmage in progress. Out of habit (Cindy's habit) rather than real curiosity, you glance over in search of Seth. He's down at the other end of the court, tense and hunched and watching for a chance to intercept the ball if it comes his way, and he doesn't seem to see you. But a hard thrill runs through you, even as you wrench your eyes off him.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Jesus,</i> you think in some alarm as you feel a flush ripple through your genitals. <i>It's almost physical, isn't it? It's like Cindy's body is addicted to him!</i> You hope it's her body, and not <i>you</i> who felt the touch of hot, burning lust when you looked at him.<br/>
<br/>
But it's not a surprise. You couldn't help thinking of Seth this morning as you got ready for school. You knew, you <i>felt</i> what he does to Cindy. But that was a memory, recollection at a distance. To be in the same room as Seth, to lay your eyes on his skin ... Well, that is more like being jabbed with a hot needle.<br/>
<br/>
You feel yourself turning a little pink as you accompany Yumi into the girls' changing room. But if Keith noticed you ogling Cindy's boyfriend, he doesn't say anything.<br/>
<br/>
Eva and Jessica Garner are already in the locker room, and are already changed out into short-shorts and t-shirts, and are just tying their shoes. You and they have the place to yourselves. "Well, aren't we all here early," you say, and they look up at your voice. "Almost as if we all of us just couldn't wait to get started with the first day of the rest of our lives." The sisters exchange a glance, then grin at you.<br/>
<br/>
You wheel open the combination lock of Cindy's locker, and swap out her workout clothes for your backpack. You drop onto a low bench to untie your shoes, then ask, "Has anyone got an extra pair of socks I can borrow? I wasn't thinking this morning when I—" You waggle the toes of your slim, bare feet.<br/>
<br/>
"I got a pair you can borrow," Yumi says. She digs into her workout bag, and tosses you a fresh pair of ankle socks.<br/>
<br/>
"I bet they were trying on more than each other's clothes last night," Eva gurgles, but her jape is followed by a quick "Hsh!" from Jessica. You look up to see Michelle Estrich—a quiet girl, and the only "unpopular" member of the squad—enter. You turn away, and resume dressing out.<br/>
<br/>
You're combing out your hair, preparing to tie into a ponytail, when Chelsea and Maria enter. Chelsea comes chugging in like a miniature blonde diesel locomotive, and you feel an upwelling of hate, as visceral as the lust you felt for Seth. <i>Scheming little cunt. Stole the squad from me when </i>I<i> should have been squad captain. Like Lucy was before me.</i> Maria follows at her shoulder. They sweep past, and you and Maria catch each other's eyes for the briefest of moments. Her expression is vague and empty, as usual, but for half a second there's a glint of recognition and conspiracy in it as you hold each other's eyes. Then she's gone, on her way to her own locker.<br/>
<br/>
Yumi comes up as you tie your hair back. She stares past you, at Chelsea and Maria, then looks you in the face. There's the trace of a smirk there. You feel the trace of a smirk appear on your own lips. Then you shut your locker, spin the wheel, and lead her out onto the gym floor.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
"Yumi," Chelsea snarls, "my grandmother can get her feet up higher than you, and she's in a nursing home!"<br/>
<br/>
Yumi turns to you as Chelsea wheels to bark at another unfortunate. "I'm gonna kill her," she growls. "I'm gonna kill her and hang her upside down from the—"<br/>
<br/>
"Is that someone grumbling?" Chelsea yells. "That better not be grumbling! You know what we say about team spirit, if you don't got team spirit you got no business on the team!"<br/>
<br/>
"I'll give you team spirit," Yumi mutters, but in a lower voice.<br/>
<br/>
It's been quite a morning, even by Chelsea standards. So far only Maria has escaped the sting of Chelsea's tongue, and that probably because Chelsea's been getting the rest of your lot sorted out before putting Maria through her paces.<br/>
<br/>
She came up with some new routine over the weekend, involving some pretty intricate, choreographed gymnastics routines. Everyone is supposed to do the same thing, but with staggered entrances, so that while girls A and B are coming in with steps 1 and 2, girls C and D are moving on to steps 3 and 4, and girls E and F are onto steps 5 and 6. This wouldn't itself be a challenge, but the line and direction of tumbles bends back on itself, and you all are going to have to show better timing and coordination if you're going to avoid cartwheeling into each other. As it is, Lin Pol has a very red nose from colliding face-first with Kendra Saunders's left sneaker.<br/>
<br/>
Lin, as it happens, is the odd girl out in your quintet of impersonations: It's Cindy and her four friends against Chelsea and her three (and Michelle off all by herself), and Lin is the only one of Cindy's group that you and Fairfax's gang haven't replaced with a fake. So you've been on your toes with her, keeping yourself as firmly in character as you can.<br/>
<br/>
So when she drifts over to your side after getting a broadside from Chelsea, you slip an arm through hers and pull her close. "You're doing fine," you whisper. "It was Chelsea whose timing was off."<br/>
<br/>
"No, I was off too," she sighs. "You got time to talk today? Fourth period?" That's lunch, which she and Cindy usually share in the cafeteria. <br/>
<br/>
"Sure, what's up?"<br/>
<br/>
"Lin!" Chelsea shrieks. "I shouldn't have to call you over, you should know you need to be over here!"<br/>
<br/>
"Meet you out front of the cafeteria," Lin mutters, and slinks away.<br/>
<br/>
"Wha' wuzzat about?" asks Jessica, who has slid over on your other side. "Wha'd she want?"<br/>
<br/>
"I dunno. Girl talk."<br/>
<br/>
"Hot!" She turns around, putting her back to Chelsea and all the other girls. "You check your x2z DMs yet?"<br/>
<br/>
"No."<br/>
<br/>
"Well, check 'em. We set something up last night, for private chat. We got something in there we want you to do."<br/>
<br/>
"What?"<br/>
<br/>
"That's what the private chat's for, to tell you." She turns back around. In a louder voice, one that will carry, she says, "This routine's stupid. Even if we get it right, it'll look dumb."<br/>
<br/>
Kendra Saunders—one of Chelsea's toadies—flicks her eyes over at the sound of Jessica's voice. Jessica ignores her, but you make a face at her.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
There's a lot more little conferences like that, some with confederates and some not, but that one with Jessica is the only one that alludes to the changed composition of the squad.<br/>
<br/>
Until Yumi shoves herself between you and your locker after practice and thrusts her cell phone in your face.<br/>
<br/>
You blink at the screen, and it takes you awhile to recognize x2z's version of a Discord chat. There's only a few posts, but one from Philip Fairfax directly addresses you. It's long but when it gets to the point, you gasp.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Would you go along with it if we spread a rumor that Cindy and Seth are engaged and going to get married right after graduation?</i><br/>
<br/>
Yumi's face, when you glance into it, is very hard and unhappy.<span class="QbcRddgOKK"></span></span></div></div>


path: 113312111211211111113212111112121121111131321
author_id: seuzz
title: Two-Faces and More
chapter_content:
<div><div style="padding:0px;margin:0px;"></div><div> <span>Yumi shakes her phone in your face and glares. You glance back over your shoulder at Eva and Jessica Garner, and at Maria Vasquez a little farther down the line of lockers. All of them are unconcernedly changing from workout clothes and heading into the showers.<br/>
<br/>
"We'll talk about it later," you mutter at Yumi.<br/>
<br/>
"You're gonna say 'no', aren't you?"<br/>
<br/>
"We'll talk about it later!" you hiss. "Right now I wanna get cleaned up."<br/>
<br/>
Yumi looks startled, then glances around. She pales, then hurries back over to her locker to start stripping.<br/>
<br/>
You strip too, and join the others in taking a quick shower, one just long enough to to soap and suds all the sweat and stink off yourself. None of the other girls talk as they shower, and you're pretty sure it's because the guys are too busy secretly scoping out each other and the other girls. But you're too preoccupied to join them.<br/>
<br/>
<i>What the fuck is Fairfax thinking in wanting to spread a rumor like—?</i><br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
<i>It would be a juicy rumor and would be easy to track,</i> he explains in the chat after you ask the question there. <i>We are trying to track connections and communications lines, and that would be the first of the rumors we would launch as part of our study. Of course, we won't do it if you think it would cause problems for Cindy.</i><br/>
<br/>
Regardless of whether it would cause problems for Cindy, it would cause huge problems for you and for Keith, who have been thinking of breaking Cindy and Seth up.<br/>
<br/>
But you haven't even seen Fairfax's answer before you run into Seth himself, and have to deal with him.<br/>
<br/>
He's loitering just inside the gym, studying his cell phone, when you emerge from the changing room with Yumi trotting along at your elbow. He's in jeans, dirty sneakers, a v-neck t-shirt, and his varsity jacket, and the sight of him in all his jock/gym-rat splendor gives you a hard thrill. <i>He's mine!</i> Cindy growls in the back of your head.<br/>
<br/>
"Hey," you say as you approach, and he looks up. Usually he's got a smile for Cindy, but today he looks wary. You hesitate, but your instinct is to play it soft and friendly, at least for a start. "Sorry about the mix up this morning. Me not being ready."<br/>
<br/>
"'S'alright," he grunts, and slides his phone into his back pocket. He puts out an arm, and you slip inside it to embrace him. "Long as you got to school okay."<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah, I gave her a ride," Yumi says in a had jeer.<br/>
<br/>
"How was the double date last night?" you ask him.<br/>
<br/>
His expression tightens. "It wasn't much of a double date—"<br/>
<br/>
"Don't start with me, Seth," you warn him. "Something came up, squad business, I had to skip it."<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah, squad business," says Yumi. She's glaring at Seth, and either doesn't see or totally ignores the quick glare you shoot at her.<br/>
<br/>
"Fuck the double date," he mutters, "I wanted to see you after."<br/>
<br/>
"I wanted to see you too." You slide a palm up inside his jacket to stroke his back. "But it didn't work out."<br/>
<br/>
"Could it work out tonight?"<br/>
<br/>
"Mm. Maybe. I'll try."<br/>
<br/>
He holds your eye, then puts his face close to yours. You hesitate, then open your mouth to his. His lips and tongue are strong and warm and quick, and you melt a little as you remember how he's used them on Cindy's body. The way you used Cindy's mouth on Yumi last night.<br/>
<br/>
"You guys are gonna be late," Yumi says.<br/>
<br/>
"See you in third," you murmur back, then put your face into the crook of Seth's neck and rub your nose into it. "I don't like it when we fight," you sigh, "but I like it after."<br/>
<br/>
"Mm-hmm," he says. His lips are working their way through your hair and to your ear, so that's all he can say.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
You and he share a Leadership/Citizenship class second period, and then Chemistry II. It's during the break between second and third that you see Fairfax's reply. Also, some whooping and hollering from Carlos and Mike about how <i>fucking hot</i> you and they and all the other cheerleaders are when they're sudsed up under jets of steaming water.<br/>
<br/>
Lin texts you at the end of third to remind you that she wants to talk during lunch, so you ask Seth to sneak out some "to go" trays from the cafeteria for you and him, and to meet you and Lin in the small quad outside the gym. You've been sweet to him all morning, so he doesn't buck. Nor does he ask why you're going to be eating with Lin outside instead of in the cafeteria at the main table with Chelsea and Gordon and the rest of the A-list crowd, as you usually do.<br/>
<br/>
Lin seems a little shy about broaching whatever topic she wants to talk to you about, so you push her by casually mentioning that Seth will be coming out with food shortly. Her expression tightens, and she says in a rush, "Have you been following those threads on x2z?"<br/>
<br/>
As Cindy is a devoted reader of that garbage site, you can guess now what this is about. But you ask her anyway, "Which threads?"<br/>
<br/>
"The ones about me," she snorts.<br/>
<br/>
Uh-huh. Oh yes. Cindy's been following those. Hasn't been contributing to them, but has definitely been watching them.<br/>
<br/>
Because even though Lin is a friend, and so Cindy would never pour gasoline on a fire, she is mesmerized by the flames.<br/>
<br/>
"Tch," you sigh. "People exaggerate. They are exaggerating, aren't they, Lin?"<br/>
<br/>
"Cindy!"<br/>
<br/>
"I mean, you're totally not—" You glance around, and lean in to mouth the words, <i>blowing the whole Eastman basketball squad.</i> "But," you resume in a normal but low tone of voice, "but I don't know how, um, how much you, um—"<br/>
<br/>
"Oh, Jesus!"<br/>
<br/>
"But we never talk about this, you and me, so—"<br/>
<br/>
"'Cos I don't wanna talk about my sex life! Or have other people talk about it!"<br/>
<br/>
"Tch. They're gonna talk about it anyway. They talk about mine. They talk about Chelsea's." You giggle. "Did you hear that someone snuck a phone up into the loft and recorded her and Gordon doing it?"<br/>
<br/>
"Yes," she sighs, "you told me about it last weekend."<br/>
<br/>
"God, I would <i>kill</i> to ahold of a copy of that file!"<br/>
<br/>
"Well, what am <i>I</i> going to do?" Lin whines. "The way people are talking about me—"<br/>
<br/>
"They're going to talk about you that way regardless, Lin. 'Cos they're jealous." You lean across to give her a tight, one-armed hug. "You're so <i>lucky,</i> Lin. You're smart and you're gorgeous and people love you." <i>And you're hot and I love touching you!</i> "And there are people who can't stand it, can't stand for you to be so happy and lucky, so they make up stories about you. Gloria, for instance. I bet anything that new thread, the one that popped up last Sunday? Bet you <i>anything</i> that was Gloria. Tch! She may be pretty, but she's so <i>mean</i> that no one likes her. Only way she can get laid—" You snap your fingers. "Is a quick fuck in the back-seat of a little rat car. Hey babe," you call out to Seth as he comes out. It looks like he's only carrying his backpack, but the way he's carrying it shows that there's more inside it than books. "Would you let Gloria give you a blowjob if she begged you?"<br/>
<br/>
Seth freezes in mid-motion as he starts to squat, and a panicked look pops onto his horsey face. "Um, no," he says, and slowly lowers himself the rest of the way.<br/>
<br/>
"Tch, you don't have to lie about it. I mean, I'm talking about if you and me weren't going out, if you weren't seeing anyone. Would you let Gloria give you a blowjob?"<br/>
<br/>
He silently busies himself unzipping the backpack and pulling out a couple of Rubbermaid containers, each one packed with food scraped off a cafeteria lunch tray. Lin asks, "What are you trying to prove, Cindy?"<br/>
<br/>
"I'm trying to prove that Seth, after he lets Gloria suck him off, wouldn't go back for seconds! Would you, Seth?" You smile at him.<br/>
<br/>
"I wouldn't go in for firsts," he mumbles as he hands you a lunch.<br/>
<br/>
"Isn't he sweet, Lin?" You reach out to pat his cheek. "He's so sweet when he lies."<br/>
<br/>
"Cindy," Seth says. There's a reproachful tone in his voice.<br/>
<br/>
"I'm just trying to make a point to Lin, Seth. That Gloria is a dried-up cunt who's too mean to love and so is jealous of Lin, who everybody loves!"<br/>
<br/>
Lin looks pained. "That's not what I wanted hear, Cindy."<br/>
<br/>
"So? It's what you <i>needed</i> to hear!" <br/>
<br/>
But you let the subject lapse, and talk instead about upcoming plans for Halloween, and who's going to be throwing parties between now and then. Afterwards, as you and Seth stroll with arms about each other's waists the long way around the front of the school to the wing where your shared locker is, he asks you what that was all about with Gloria.<br/>
<br/>
You put your head on his shoulder. "I wasn't trying to put you on the spot," you sigh. "I'm sorry it sounded like I was. Lin's just sensitive because of a bunch of nasty threads on x2z, making her out like she's the high school whore. The Eastman High School whore," you add when Seth says nothing. And still he says nothing. You straighten up. "You don't think she's the school whore for— I mean, so she's gone out with a couple of the basketball guys at Eastman!"<br/>
<br/>
"No, I don't think she's— Um—"<br/>
<br/>
"Still, it's kind of gross of her. Like saying that our guys, you guys on the squad, are all a bunch of ... I dunno. Pricks, bastards, and assholes." He doesn't say anything to that either. You smile secretly to yourself.<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax wants a bit of gossip to spread around. Maybe you could launch a bit of gossip about Lin instead of about Cindy?<span class="QbcRddgOKK"></span></span></div></div>


path: 1133121112112111111132121111121211211111313212
author_id: seuzz
title: Flirtations with Disaster
chapter_content:
<div><div style="padding:0px;margin:0px;"></div><div> <span>Lin's a nice girl who would sometimes even talk to you—albeit, that was back when you were dating Lisa—so you quickly discard the idea of using her sex life as the subject of Fairfax's social experiment.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
After lunch you have Yearbook class, which Cindy always finds aggravating because it's dominated by Chelsea's claque—Kendra and Gloria and Maria—even though Chelsea herself isn't in it. So when Cindy isn't skipping (which she often does) she sits with Kerri Mullen and Ellie Kemp of the volleyball squad. That's what you do today, but even then you're quiet and withdrawn, pulling back to do "deep research" online in social media. When asked what you're doing, you say you're trying to find subjects for possible inclusion in the "Movers 'n Shakers" section of the book.<br/>
<br/>
Mostly though, of course, you're looking for alternative bits of gossip or dirt that you can feed to Fairfax for his "experiment." And you find you can't keep your eyes off him, not when he's sitting just a little ways away, on the other side of the room, wearing the face and body of Maria Vasquez. Not that anyone could tell; not that <i>you</i> could tell if you didn't know that it was really him. Maria is a notorious space cadet, the kind of girl who (in the words of one of Cindy's friends) could drown by staring up open-mouthed into a cloudburst. She is perpetually distracted and has to be summoned back to reality with a snap of the fingers in her face, or by a rough shake of her shoulders. Sometimes even then she gives the appearance of only half-returning from outer space; and when she does fully return she will often shoot the interrupter a reproachful look before sinking back down into another reverie. Cindy often wonders what the hell Chelsea sees in Maria, but also feels a little sorry for her. She seems like a sweet girl, and to the best of Cindy's knowledge has never engaged in any of the skullduggery that Chelsea's other friends get up to. So it seems a shame that she's caught up with such a poisonous crew.<br/>
<br/>
But of course the real Maria is out of it now. The fake Maria, though, is doing a very convincing imitation, frowning into her cell phone (like the real one is always doing in Yearbook class) and slowly chewing a piece of gum while her two friends chatter and whisper and snicker. Her gaze, though intent upon the screen, is still somehow vacant, as though she is staring through the screen into an emptiness behind. You dip out of your own researches long enough to get onto Discord and post a short note: <i>I'm still thinking about Cindy and Seth idea, but need time. If anyone has another idea though I'd vote for it.</i> That seems a safe enough statement: discouraging without closing a door that you have not, in fact, chosen to shut yet.<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax must have some kind of alert thing set up on Maria's phone, because as soon as you post that note, Maria comes briefly to life and starts scrolling and tapping at her phone. A dull, vexed frown appears on her face as she bores holes in the screen with her eyes, as though trying to remember how the apostrophe in "I'm" works. Then the phone droops in her hand as she lifts her face to gaze vacantly into the distance. Her eyes rove the room and drift over your face, locking onto your eyes for just an instance before resuming their orbit. Finally, she lays the phone down; her head falls to one side; and her mouth hangs open as all the life goes out of her face, body, and eyes. It looks like she's going to start drooling from the corner of her mouth.<br/>
<br/>
Kendra apparently notices, and reaches out to snap her fingers in Maria's face. The girl starts visibly, and after vaguely recovering herself she gives Kendra a slow, dirty frown. Then she picks up her phone and goes back to slowly scrolling across it while working at that piece of gum.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
Sixth period is Calculus. Will Prescott and Carson Ioeger are in that class, and without seeming to look for them, you make a point of picking them out of the corner of your eye when you come sweeping in. Beta-Will is shifting uneasily in his chair, but he freezes when he sees you. Carson is preoccupied with pulling books out of his bag, but he too slows up to surreptitiously eyeball you. He shouldn't have, for it gives get a wicked idea.<br/>
<br/>
Casually, as though you're on your way somewhere else, you swing into the row where they are sitting one behind the other, and drift toward them. Carson finishes fishing out his book and pretends to be absorbed in it, but you know he's watching you—or your legs; his face is ducked low—as you approach. You smile privately to yourself as you bend to mutter in his ear.<br/>
<br/>
"Seth says he's gonna be looking for you and your 'motherfucking friends' after practice. I don't care if he finds you, but maybe <i>you</i> care."<br/>
<br/>
You straighten up and stroll over to your usual seat next to Kelly Rinaldi and Josie Holden, to greet them with Cindy's usual smiles and expressions of regret at having to be here in math class.<br/>
<br/>
And yet it is one of Cindy's favorite classes, for it is full of football players. Cameron Huber, the quarterback, shares it with his girlfriend, Anne Starkey, so he has to be careful about who he ogles. But Brian Kelly, Roy Nelson, and James Bridges are free to stare at you, and Cindy often puts on a show for them. You do too, and lean into it a little harder today, taking out a comb and brushing out your long, lustrous hair while chatting vacantly with Josie, and sitting with one shimmering, sexy leg crossed provocatively over the other where the guys can see it. You even glance in their direction—through and between them—but paying close enough attention to confirm that they are staring at you. It makes you want to preen even harder. <i>God, you'd love to have me, wouldn't you?</i> you think even while listening with bland attention to Josie as she tells you the latest story about the cute thing her dog did. <i>You'd love to fuck this body. But it's my body now, you mouthbreathing morons, and </i>I'm<i> the one who gets to play with Cindy's pussy.</i> You giggle appreciatively when Josie reaches the climax of her story.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
Seventh period is Visual Journalism, and it's the one class you approach with some trepidation, for beta-Carlos and beta-Mike will be in there. If they are in character, nothing should happen, for the class is firmly divided between those who are taking it because they aim to be "on air" talent, and those taking it because they like to run the equipment. (Okay, there is one exception to that rule: Chris Love, the sexy soccer player, is almost as enthusiastic at playing with the mechanical toys as he is at playing for the camera.) So, normally, Cindy has little to do with Mike and Carlos. But you worry about how the betas will act.<br/>
<br/>
And it looks like your worst fears are going to come true, for they keep horsing around and tossing glinting, secret grins at you while snickering and muttering to each other. It puts you out of sorts, to the point that you retreat, muttering, to the corner of the room to bitch about them with James Brewer. "Those guys are always fucking annoying, but today they're being extra stupid," you fume from behind crossed arms.<br/>
<br/>
James, who is a well-coiffed clothes-horse known for his gracefully flirty ways and serial dating, smiles with melancholy sympathy. "One of 'em probably dreamed about you last night, and been telling the other one all about it," he says.<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah, well, they should get fucking permission before they have those kinds of dreams about me. <i>Uyckhh!</i>"<br/>
<br/>
"Cut 'em some slack, this is the closest they're gonna come to having any kind of real fun."<br/>
<br/>
"It's practically sexual assault! I could get 'em in real trouble if I told Mrs. Hart what they're doing over there!"<br/>
<br/>
You don't complain, of course, but you make a special note to say something to Eva and Jessica. For it's not so much that you're grossed out by their behavior (though you are, somewhat) as that you're rattled by the fear that the betas will accidentally let something slip.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
Finally comes the last class of the day, AP English, where you rejoin Seth, to nuzzle and coo at each other just inside the doorway until it's time for class to start. It's all pretend, of course, and you feel wicked glee at the thought that he has no idea who you really are. But it's also a little disconcerting how buzzy your cunny gets as you scrape your face against his and murmur little affectionate nothings.<br/>
<br/>
After classes are over, you stroll with Seth to the gym to watch him at practice, taking a perch high up in the bleachers; on the other side of the gym are seated Chelsea, Kendra and Gloria, who are today joined by Maria as well.<br/>
<br/>
You're joined by Yumi. "God," she says after settling in next to you. "Look at Chelsea. Fucking hard t'believe that tomorrow it's really gonna be Josiah sitting over there shaking her hair out."<br/>
<br/>
"And she fucking deserves it too," you agree. "Getting herself skinned and worn by him."<br/>
<br/>
"Fucking amen, bro. That's happening tonight, right? Wanna go watch?"<br/>
<br/>
"We'll ask 'em to call when it's done, then we'll all go out."<br/>
<br/>
"I wanna watch."<br/>
<br/>
"Then go. I shouldn't, though. Might put Chelsea on her guard if Cindy's there."<br/>
<br/>
Yumi gives you as sidelong look. "You gonna be off sucking your boyfriend?"<br/>
<br/>
"Shut your fucking trap, Tilley."<br/>
<br/>
"Pft. It's not like you're talking to Philip about going through with that rumor bullshit!"<br/>
<br/>
And maybe you are. Not because you want to marry Seth Javits. Jesus, no! But a rumored engagement, coming prior to the break-up you and Keith are planning for them, could really fuck with Seth's head.<span class="QbcRddgOKK"></span></span></div></div>


path: 113312111211211111113212111113
author_id: seuzz
title: Circles and Circles
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span><i>Cheerleaders.</i><br/>
<br/>
That's where this "long-term plan" is centered. Fairfax has made it clear that it's his plan, and everyone else is just along for the ride. He and his three friends intend to put four of the cheerleaders on ice, and will use a set of masks to take their place.<br/>
<br/>
It has to do with some kind of "sociological investigation" of the school and the way the various groups interact -- Fairfax's theory is that the cheerleaders indirectly run much of the school and he wants to trace out how it works. To do that, his gang will replace Chelsea Cooper -- the captain of the cheerleader squad, through whom (he says) all the orders go -- with Josiah Shank, while Carlos and Mike replace the Eva and Jessica Garner. He himself will impersonate the bubble-headed Maria Vasquez -- a good vantage point to observe and record the "data," he says, though he also says he might change locations later.<br/>
<br/>
"What if we want to impersonate someone who isn't a cheerleader?" Keith asks. Fairfax says he'd like it if Keith impersonated someone who could "contribute" to the study.<br/>
<br/>
Long experience with Keith warns you that he's about to say something unfortunate, so you lean across to pick up a carton of rice in a way that you can press your knee onto his hand. "We can decide that later, right?" you say in a voice that's a trifle too loud. "I mean, if you're wanting to study the, uh, sociological scene, there's a lot of different places you could study it from. Right?"<br/>
<br/>
"That's right," says Fairfax.<br/>
<br/>
"And if Chelsea and them are as plugged in as you think they are, we should wait until you've got your -- " You do a double take at Josiah, who has been quietly listening to all this with wide eyes and an open mouth. "Got your agents in place," you continue before tearing your eyes from Josiah's face. "Then you'll have a better idea of where to place the rest of your, uh, your crew. Right?"<br/>
<br/>
"That makes sense," says Fairfax. His brow wrinkles. "But I was assuming people would be in a hurry to get started, and that even a temporary placement as some of the cheerleaders would -- "<br/>
<br/>
"I'm not in a real hurry," you say, and stab at the rice. "This is all pretty new to me, you know? I mean, just an hour or so ago, I thought I was coming out to record a video review." You glance at the wall of the unit -- a few spaces down, there will be a duplicate of you sitting down to record that review. "I guess I am recording that review, just not the way I figured I'd be doing it."<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax smiles faintly. "Well, if you want to wait -- "<br/>
<br/>
"Give me some ideas now of the kind of places you want to investigate, and -- Well, one thing. Do we have to impersonate girls?"<br/>
<br/>
"They seem to be channel that most of the communication moves through," he says. "Of course, there are some guys, like Charles Hartlein -- "<br/>
<br/>
"That's not the kind of guy I was talking about," you hurriedly put in. No way you are interested in impersonating the out-of-the-closet Charles Hartlein. "I just mean, in principle -- "<br/>
<br/>
"Oh, in principle, I think you could impersonate anyone at any level, so long as -- Well, let me give you my theory of how the various groups interact." He dusts himself off before exiting the room.<br/>
<br/>
You and Keith are silent, and so is Josiah. When Keith nudges you, though, and nods at the door like he wants to go, you turn your back on him to speak to Shank. "So, you're going to be Chelsea Cooper. That's got to be pretty exciting."<br/>
<br/>
His eyebrows go up, and you can see his eyes starting to water. "Yeah," he says in a grating kind of squeak. He jabs a finger behind his glasses to rub his eye. "I already have a bunch of classes with her, so, you know, I get to watch her and the way she -- " He mimes fondling some big breasts.<br/>
<br/>
"She plays with her boobs in class?"<br/>
<br/>
"No!" He giggles shyly. "I just mean -- " He turns pink and bites on a smile.<br/>
<br/>
"You know you're going to have to deal with Gordon Black, don't you? I don't think he's used to hearing 'no'."<br/>
<br/>
You thought you could shock him, but Josiah just keep staring into the middle distance with a dopey smile disfiguring the bottom half of his face. "I know," he sighs. "I'm actually looking forward to, uh, doing it <i>once,</i> at least. Be interesting to see what it's like. From the girl's point of view, I mean," he hastily adds, and the pink blush darkens to bright red. "I've heard and read, online and in, like, videos, that for girls it can be, like, the most incredible -- "<br/>
<br/>
His eyes blaze with fevered anticipation, and little strings of spit form in his mouth. Keith softly says, "Oh my God," and you're inclined to swear right alongside him. You sure didn't mean to turn Josiah on this way.<br/>
<br/>
Luckily, Fairfax returns just as Josiah is starting to use his hands and some alarmingly dexterous fingers to illustrate some of the techniques he has seen diagrammed in hentai titles. Fairfax has a large sketchbook tucked under his arm, and he brusquely shuts Shank up with what sounds like a much-rehearsed presentation.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
You'll say this Fairfax -- he's a well-prepared son-of-a-bitch, and he'll make an excellent engineer some day, if he ever gets tired of being a female cheerleader. He has diagrammed his theory of the various social groups at the school, showing with a series of overlapping circles who is at the center of which groups, and which individuals belong to multiple groups.<br/>
<br/>
Every name is female. When you mention this fact, he flips to another page, and shows a different set of circles, where all the enclosed names belong to guys. You spot your name on it. It floats in a lower corner with Caleb's and Keith's. Keith's name overlaps with the circle that contains Fairfax's, but you and Caleb, according to Fairfax's observations, are by yourselves.<br/>
<br/>
You can't argue with his conclusions. You couldn't even argue against the line -- not even an overlapping area -- that connects you and Caleb to Carson's circle. Though you are impressed that he and his friends have deigned to notice you.<br/>
<br/>
The diagram is complicated enough that you only take in the highlights. There are the cheerleaders at the center of it. Chelsea's name is isolated inside the center circle. This circle is surrounded by a ring of other circles that overlap it in a series of complicated Venn diagrams, and every other cheerleader sits in at least one overlap. Kendra Saunders, for instance, overlaps with a group that includes Catherine Muskov. Eva and Jessica overlap a group that includes Kelsey Blankenship. Yumi Saito overlaps the group that includes Jenny Ashton. Cindy Vredenburg overlaps with Anne Starkey.<br/>
<br/>
There's a second ring of circles overlapping with the first ring, and a third ring around that one. Circles overlap in complex patterns, with the occasional double-line (another method for indicating overlap, Fairfax explains) connecting circles on one side of the diagram with circles on the opposite side. The names pile up until they don't mean anything anymore.<br/>
<br/>
So you fall silent as Keith takes up the conversation again. He seems more in control of himself, so you don't have the same urge to intervene.<br/>
<br/>
"Okay, so," he says, "what you want is for us to impersonate some of these girls that belong to more than one group. Except for Chelsea."<br/>
<br/>
"That's correct," says Fairfax. "The Garners, for instance, are perfectly positioned to monitor the influence factors running from Chelsea Cooper to Kelsey Blankenship, as well as between those two and -- "<br/>
<br/>
"Right right right," says Keith. "That's how come you were talking about Kendra and Yumi and Lin." He points to their names, then points to another. "What about her?"<br/>
<br/>
"Well, she's another one," says Fairfax. He tugs his ear. "In point of fact, I was saving her as a possibility for later. If Maria didn't work out as a vantage point. But she and Chelsea seem caught in such an antipathetic relationship -- "<br/>
<br/>
"You mean they hate each other," you observe.<br/>
<br/>
"That's right. So the communication flow there -- "<br/>
<br/>
"If we're going to be impersonating cheerleaders," says Keith, "that's the one I want."<br/>
<br/>
You jerk backwards. Keith has just said he wants to become Cindy Vredenburg.<br/>
<br/>
That's the girlfriend of Seth Javits, his archenemy.<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax blinks a couple of times, then shakes himself all over. "Well, okay then. That's your assignment." He looks over at you. "Will, that leaves Kendra or Yumi or Lin as the most important -- "<br/>
<br/>
"I'd like to think about it," you say. "Keith got to pick his, uh, impersonation. I'm going to need a little longer for mine."<br/>
<br/>
"The choices are right here," says Fairfax. He points to the center of the chart. "If you can tell me before we break up for the night -- "<br/>
<br/>
"I'd like to take the chart home. Study it. I know what you want," you tell Fairfax when he frowns. "I won't mess it up." You grasp the chart. After a moment's hesitation, he lets go.<br/>
<br/>
"We were hoping to get started tonight," he says. "We know that you -- "<br/>
<br/>
"I'll tell you in the morning, when I give this thing back. Promise." You stand up. "Thanks for dinner. And for, uh -- " You swallow. "Letting me in on all this."<br/>
<br/>
"You want to see Carlos and Mike before you go? They're in there recording your -- "<br/>
<br/>
"That's okay, I'll look at the final video when it's uploaded. Besides, it would be kind of weird seeing myself outside a mirror."<br/>
<br/>
The others watch you with mild surprise as you awkwardly step over the spread out food and leave.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1133121112112111111132121111132
author_id: seuzz
title: Choices from Inside Other Boxes
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Your dad corners you when you get home, and asks about this "extra credit assignment." You reply that it's a "movie review video" for your Film class. He lifts an eyebrow at that, but lets you go after you say you've got some other homework to finish up. After transferring most of the junk on your desk to your bed, you settle in to do some math.<br/>
<br/>
But you divide your attention almost evenly between calculus of the mathematical sort and calculus of the social sort. <br/>
<br/>
It's an astonishingly complex series of diagrams that Fairfax has constructed, and it only looks more complicated as you study it, flipping back and forth between the various pages. But even for all his care, you can tell that he has only diagrammed a tiny fraction of the senior class, and has caught only a few names from the lower classes.<br/>
<br/>
Naturally the diagram would be incomplete, since Fairfax and his friends can't possibly know everyone in the senior class, or have anything like a complete schematic of who hangs out with who. But it's enough to baffle you in a lot of places.<br/>
<br/>
So there are a lot of names that you're not familiar with, for instance. Who are Brianna Kirschke and Susie Lekuawehe, and why do they share a circle with Gloria Rea and Maria Vasquez? There are also names you know but which are grouped in circles that you never suspected. You know Lin Pol and you know Danielle Davis, but you would never have identified them as belonging to a common group. But according to Fairfax they share a circle with Anne Starkey and Hermione Gilbert (the latter is new to you, at least as a name).<br/>
<br/>
Now, you really like the idea of impersonating a cheerleader. At the same time you know from listening to -- okay, <i>eavesdropping on</i> -- Eva and Jessica and Lin and Yumi that the squad is riven with spite, hatred, jealousy, and mutual contempt. Your gang isn't going to be able to replace/impersonate the entire squad, which means that you'll likely be caught up in it. That doesn't really appeal to you.<br/>
<br/>
So as you study Fairfax's diagrams, you start moving away from the center circle toward the outer rings. <br/>
<br/>
The first place you look is at the girls who are connected to the cheerleader squad by sharing a circle with a cheerleader. Kelsey Blankenship, Rachel Burton, Olivia Byrne, and other AP snots, for instance, are in a circle that also includes the Garners. Kendra Saunders shares a group with Catherine Muskov, Anita Nuevo and Bonny Trask, among others, and Cindy Vredenburg connects the cheerleaders to a group that includes Jamie Borhnolm, Rachel Burton and Deanna Showalter.<br/>
<br/>
So you start by copying down names that are directly connected to cheerleaders.<br/>
<br/>
From that list you draw out a secondary list: girls who connect the first ring of circles to the second ring. Jamie Bornholm, for instance, belongs to a ring that includes Cindy Vredenburg -- connecting her to the cheerleaders -- but also belongs to a circle that includes many girls on the swim team -- Bethany Lewis, Christine Coolidge, and Andrea Varnsworth -- who themselves have no connection to the cheerleaders. <br/>
<br/>
You then turn to making a list of girls that connect the second ring to the third ring, but after a thorough search find that there aren't many such names -- the third ring is mostly a free-floating set of groups that (you suppose) Fairfax and his friends know directly. You don't recognize a lot of those names, and the ones you do know -- like Molly Shaw -- have no appeal as people to impersonate.<br/>
<br/>
After reorganizing the list of names a couple of times and in a couple of ways, you see a pattern emerging: a set of impersonations that could give Fairfax what he says he wants -- vantage points from which to study this "field of influences" he claims to be interested in -- while getting you away from the cheerleader squad. It lies with those girls who sit inside multiple, overlapping circles.<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax sounded real happy about putting Carlos and Mike in for the Garner girls, for instance, because he said that would let him study how the center circle connects to some of the first-ring circles. You're willing to bet that Fairfax would let you impersonate someone who connects the first ring to the second ring, particularly if it was someone who would let him map some of the farther reaches of this diagram and could maybe open up additional connections and circles.<br/>
<br/>
There are a couple of possibilities here, but the standout possibility is Rachel Burton. Fairfax has her listed as part of two "first ring" groups -- the AP crowd and a circle that includes Cindy Vredenburg and Anne Starkey -- and he's also listed her as part of the swim team. So that's three groups that you can spy out for him from under her face. Beyond that, you always see her around with Deanna Showalter, who is a notorious school gossip, so you could also improve Fairfax's "social map" by using Deanna as a source.<br/>
<br/>
Rachel's not bad looking, either. Swimming has kept her trim, and you've seen her around school lots of times in skimpy tops that show smooth, creamy shoulders and a well-shaped bosom, and her legs are long and well-shaped. Her nose might be a little big, and something about her smile suggests that either it or her mouth sits at an angle to the rest of her face, but she has bright blue eyes and shoulder-length brown hair that looks good whether it's draping loose or has been piled atop her head. She's on the short side, which makes her look more "cute" than pretty.<br/>
<br/>
Yes, Rachel would be the "safe" choice, for lots of reasons. But there are two other, more radical options that you can't rule out.<br/>
<br/>
One is Gillian Kiefer. Normally you would pass over her completely. You don't know her very well, for a start. And though there is something in her smile -- some glint of intelligent, puckish mischief -- that lights up her face in an adorable way, she is a little on the plump side. And if it were simply a matter of doing an impersonation, you would steer entirely clear of her because she has a boyfriend that you're not too fond of.<br/>
<br/>
But the fact that she is Braydon Delp's girlfriend now causes you to linger over her. Delp has been after this book that Fairfax and his friends now have, to the point of tracking down its last owner and pressuring you for information about it. It makes you nervous. Gillian would be the perfect blind from which to spy on him and maybe trip him up if he needs it.<br/>
<br/>
Of course, Delp himself would be a better choice for an impersonation if that's what you really wanted, but you're not sure that Fairfax would want to go that route -- he seems fixated on this "sociology" thing, and on cheerleaders. But Gillian, who Fairfax has placed in an isolated circle with Brianna Gould, Rebecca Sykes and Katie Byrd (none of whom you know too well) could help there as well by adding a lot of circles that lie beyond the boundaries of his current map.<br/>
<br/>
And then there's the third possibility. The one that you keep playing with, then rejecting, only to take it up again to play with it some more. <br/>
<br/>
It's Stephanie Wyatt.<br/>
<br/>
You're pretty sure you wouldn't have paid any attention to her -- she'd be just another name like "Samantha Carpenter" or "Tara Weston" -- but for your recent hassles with her. That's why you keep rejecting her when your eye runs past her name. You're it's just resentment that keeps pulling your eye back to her name. If you told Fairfax to bustle her into cold storage so that you could take over her life, it would only be because you are angry at the serial humiliations she's foisted on you.<br/>
<br/>
You know it's resentment because you recognize the hot feeling you get in the back of your head when you think of her, and when you think of putting yourself in for her. But curiosity gnaws at you as well. She is so superlatively confident in herself; what must it be like to be so confident? There is also curiosity about what makes her tick, and what appeals or doesn't appeal to her. She told you that you weren't "interesting." So who and what <i>does</i> she find interesting? Would you find them interesting as well? Could you learn anything by looking at them from her perspective? Or would you just discover that you and Stephanie really are a case of "same planet, different worlds"?<br/>
<br/>
You could probably find an angle for selling Fairfax on an impersonation of Stephanie. Like Rachel, she inhabits multiple circles; and like Gillian she inhabits some outer circles that Fairfax hasn't mapped out very well. It's true that she doesn't share any circles with any cheerleaders, but that's probably only ignorance on Fairfax's part. You know that she sometimes hangs out with the Garner girls.<br/>
<br/>
And there's one other mystery associated with her: the "black magic" that she and her friends seem to be interested in, and consulting Delp about. Fairfax might like to know about that as well.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
You sleep on it. The next morning you are in a thoughtful mood as you shower and dress, and you find yourself doing it all very carefully and self-consciously. There's a moody expression on your face as you watch yourself brush your teeth.<br/>
<br/>
It comes to you as you're walking out the door: <i>When's the next time I'll walk back through it as myself?</i> The doorknob is briefly very hot in your hand.<br/>
<br/>
But the big jolt doesn't come until you're approaching the school gym. Fairfax is waiting, and he detaches himself from the wall to approach. "So what did you decide?" he asks.<br/>
<br/>
Who are you going to spend the rest of the semester -- maybe the year --  impersonating?<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 11331211121121111111321211111321
author_id: rugal
title: Rachel, Who You Don't Know
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>"Decide? Already?"<br/>
<br/>
You give Fairfax a look of shock. You knew he'd want a choice by today but to have it ready when you've barely even walked into school? You'd had someone in mind before you'd gotten her but being put on the spot like this you're suddenly finding it difficult to commit. Maybe it's just anxiety though. You agreed to do it and there's little sense in backing out now.<br/>
<br/>
"Well, yes," Fairfax states plainly, "because I really would like to get everything started as soon as possible. Preferably right after school."<br/>
<br/>
"That soon?" you ask.<br/>
<br/>
"We're behind schedule, in fact; I had been hoping to start last night remember?" He has a look of consternation on his face. "So please, Will, the sooner you've made your choice the better."<br/>
<br/>
"Right, okay, yeah." you tell him as you do what you can to psyche yourself up. You head off to the side and out of the way in order to minimize the risk of anyone overhearing you and pull out the sketchpad. "I was looking this over a lot last night and after going over everything the one name that kept popping out for me was Rachel Burton."<br/>
<br/>
"Rachel..." he says as he squints his eyes at the sketchpad. "I was hoping something more along the lines of, well, Kendra or Gloria or... well, I was clear right?"<br/>
<br/>
"You were, yeah, but think of it like this," you say as you begin pointing things out on the pad. "you guys have the cheerleaders pretty well covered and most of them go out into different groups already so that's a lot of ground. But Rachel's part of the swim team, that's a group you don't have covered."<br/>
<br/>
"I don't think it's necessarily about spreading ourselves out." Fairfax states.<br/>
<br/>
"Isn't it?" you ask. "Because look at what groups Rachel's connected to by proxy. You have her in one with Anne Starkey, well Anne is dating Cameron Huber so that's the football team but that also includes the band too. She's also on the swim team with Andrea who you've got listed with the artsy types like Jelena Petrovic."<br/>
<br/>
"But that doesn't mean that <i>she</i> hangs out with them, just --"<br/>
<br/>
"But we don't know that she doesn't hang out with any of them either." you tell him. "Plus I know she <i>is</i> friendly with Deanna Showalter since I see them and Jamie Bornholm talking a lot as I'm going into the cafeteria for lunch and they're coming out. Deanna's a gossip so everything in the school is going to get filtered through her which means, you know, I can tap her as a source of information. Plus Keith's going to be Cindy and you have Cindy and Rachel in the same group which means one can be gotten through the other."<br/>
<br/>
"But Deanna shares that group as well." Fairfax gives you a stern look. "If you don't want to be a cheerleader why not just go for Deanna directly?" he asks.<br/>
<br/>
"Because," you start. Well because you've seen her hanging around Mansfield and if she's friendly with him then you don't think you'd want to be her. In contrast you don't think that you've ever seen Rachel with Mansfield. Not that you'd tell Fairfax that romantic bitterness is playing a part. "Well, because of the swim team thing I guess. Rachel just seems well placed to give us a lot of intel, if you want to call it that, from various places."<br/>
<br/>
"Look, we had this worked out --"<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah you did," you interrupt him, "long before I joined probably. So if I'm on the outside looking in anyway then what's the issue with letting me stay outside?"<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax lets out a discontent sigh as he studies the pad and you notice a slackening of his shoulders and face. "Fine," he says as he hands the pad back to you, "if you want Rachel then you can have her but it's going to be your responsibility to figure out how to get a replacement done."<br/>
<br/>
"But I don't --" you start but Fairfax's serious gaze cuts you off. "Okay, that's fair I guess. I mean I don't have any classes or even share lunch with her but I'll... I'll think of something."<br/>
<br/>
"Good because I'm also leaving it up to you to figure out how to get Eva or Jessica out to the storage complex today as well."<br/>
<br/>
"Them too? Why not Keith or Mike or --" Once again, however, Fairfax's cool gaze is enough to cow you. "Fine, I'll talk to Jenny or something," you sheepishly say.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
Okay so you have to get not only Rachel out to the storage complex but one of the Garners as well. You managed to track down Jenny before first period and asked her if she shared any classes with Eva or Jessica. She does have a study hall during third with Eva so you tell her that's great because you have a favor you really need to ask of her so you'll drop by. Well that's the set up of one problem gone though who knows how the actual execution will go.<br/>
<br/>
Rachel will undoubtedly be a much tougher nut to crack. The only time you reliably see her is, as you told Fairfax, when you see her and Jamie and Deanna exiting the cafeteria together. You share no classes and you've never talked to her so how in the blue hell are you even going to broach the subject?<br/>
<br/>
It's why you're actually surprised when, after first period lets out, you start going your usual route to Hawke's class by going down the main locker corridor. It's as you're passing D-wing that you manage to see Rachel by herself. This is definitely fortuitous but you feel the knots in your stomach and your muscles tensing. She's headed your way though obviously not looking at you. Still this is as good a chance as you're going to get so with a deep breath you call out to her as she gets near.<br/>
<br/>
She stops for a moment and looks around inquisitively. So you call to her again. That seems to get her impression as her gaze is suddenly directed at you. "Hi," she says as she approaches and though the tone isn't negative you can't mistake a bit of wondering at just who you are. "You needed me?"<br/>
<br/>
"Oh, um, yeah." you say nervously. "I actually had a favor to ask you, uh, it's dumb but.."<br/>
<br/>
But there's a sympathetic light to her eyes as she looks at you. "I get it, don't worry. It happens a lot." she states. "I've got study hall so if you're free do you want to join me in the library?"<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
"Oh god, I'm so sorry." she says with a bit of quiet laughter. "I'm just so used to people asking for that that I kind of assumed..."<br/>
<br/>
Obviously you should be in Hawkes' class right now but really what's missing a day of boring movies compared to spending the period in the library in the company of Rachel Burton? However this little talk got off on a bit of miscommunication as she thought you had wanted a little help in a class: Muniz's or Montague's or anyone like that.<br/>
<br/>
"It happens a lot?" you ask.<br/>
<br/>
"Like you wouldn't believe." she replies. "I don't, like, advertise it or anything but I guess a lot of people feel like they can come to me for informal tutoring. I don't even know how that got started."<br/>
<br/>
"That's rough," you tell her, "I mean if it's messing up your day and all."<br/>
<br/>
"Oh no, definitely not. I don't mind it really; it's nice being able to help people out like that." she says. "I mean at first it was but I've gotten a lot better at scheduling these things out. I try and limit it to study hall and an hour after school if need be. Do it in groups for people who are looking for help in the same subject, that kind of stuff."<br/>
<br/>
You actually spend a good while in conversation with her about various topics not even remotely related to what you wanted to ask her about. You find that she's surprisingly affable and down to earth and that allows the conversation to flow easily.<br/>
<br/>
"But yeah, it was just really awkward so I kind of got out of there." you tell her in reference to the party at Catherine's. "I mean I felt really bad about leaving her there like that but, uh, parties aren't really my environment."<br/>
<br/>
"God, tell me about it." she says with what feels like a wave of relief washing over her. "Jamie drags me to them whenever she can and I mean I do like talking to my friends there and all but the party thing scene is just... it's not me."<br/>
<br/>
"That surprises me." you state. "I kind of assumed, uh, that you're the popular type and all so..."<br/>
<br/>
"I don't think I'm <i>popular</i>," she says with a laugh, "but I guess I do okay. I've just never liked the parties though. I'm kind of a homebody in that respect. Just give me a nice book or, uh, a video game you know?"<br/>
<br/>
That surprises you but it does lead into an exchange over a subject matter you're more familiar with as you both compare different things you're into right now. But as you check your phone and notice it's close to the end of the period you realize that you need to try and get back on track.<br/>
<br/>
"Hey so, uh, I was wondering," you start with a bit of nerves. "After school I was going to, well..." You suddenly have to fight with your mouth try and form the words.<br/>
<br/>
"Oh, actually I was just going to ask you about that," she says. ""I don't get to talk about this stuff a lot so it was really nice being able to do it. I actually don't have anything going on after school today so if you want to grab a quick bite to eat we can hang out. Um, if you're not doing anything yourself that is."<br/>
<br/>
You're in shock at how things have turned out. Forty minutes ago Rachel probably had no clue who you were and now she wants to hang out after school? Well that makes your job of getting her out potentially a lot easier. Just bring it up to her and see if she wants to go. But after the disappointment with Lisa and the disappointment that Stephanie made you feel... maybe you will take her up on that offer.</span></div></div>


path: 113312111211211111113212111113211
author_id: rugal
title: Things Easier Said But Still Done
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>"A bite to eat?" you ask in nervous shock. "You and me?"<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah," Rachel replies with a tone that implies she doesn't find anything out of the ordinary about that, "well okay not <i>just</i> you and me but a couple of others. Maybe."<br/>
<br/>
"A couple of others?" is all you can repeat.<br/>
<br/>
"Uh huh, well whoever can make it." she says and gets a thoughtful look on her face. "Matt and Phoebe are free I think. Christine too. Jamie maybe? Ugh, no, I forgot her family's going out to dinner tonight because her sister got that part in the school play."<br/>
<br/>
"Is she part of the drama club?" you ask.<br/>
<br/>
"At Schuyler, yeah." she tells you. "Jamie's kind of an outlier with her family since her brother's in New York trying to get into TV and film composing and her aunt's an actress out in L.A." She shakes her head at that. "But yeah, it's this cool little place that Jamie told some of us on the swim team about so usually we'll try and run by there to grab some stuff to eat some times depending on who's free at the time. Some times we'll hang out there or at one of our places."<br/>
<br/>
"I'm guessing that depends too?" you ask.<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah. We don't really plan those get togethers or anything." she states. "They just sort of happen."<br/>
<br/>
"And you want me to hang out with you?"<br/>
<br/>
"Why not?" she asks. "They're all fine so it's not going to be all awkward or whatever. Like I said, it's all pretty informal and we get people who drop in and out all the time. It's not just the swimmers if that's what you think."<br/>
<br/>
Oh man, you really, really want to hang out with her. Hanging out with Rachel and her friends... well the guys are the guys and you can't see yourself caring too much but the girls? You think of Bethany Lewis, who you share fourth period with, her elfin features and Fairfax's flirting with her and you can feel your cock springing to life. Andrea Varnsworth and her everything... okay, you need to stop thinking about them before something embarrassing happens.<br/>
<br/>
But as tempting as it is you don't think you can blow off Fairfax and his friends to hang out with Rachel and <i>her</i> friends. Fairfax already seemed mildly annoyed with you going outside of his plans to ask for Rachel in the first place and you're not sure you should really be going any farther with that than you already have.<br/>
<br/>
"Well, um, thanks for the invitation," you tell her "but I think I'll have to pass. I have something I'm doing with some friends." But as a window closes, another opens and this is possibly your one chance to get her out there. So you snap your fingers like an idea has just hit you. "Hey, yeah, are you aware of Mike Hollister and Carlos Montoya?" Her look says she's not so you press on. "Uh, well, they do these Youtube movie reviews..."<br/>
<br/>
"Oh," she chimes in, "okay yeah. Christine had mentioned that there were some guys from our school who were doing something like that."<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah, my friend has been doing stuff with them and they want me to take part in one of their videos." you grimace at that. "I'm not overly enthused but it's for extra credit in Hawkes so I can't really pass it up."<br/>
<br/>
"So, you're asking if I want to hang out there?" she asks in a playfully teasing tone.<br/>
<br/>
"Um, well, I mean... if you want." you tell her nervously as the bell signaling the end of second period rings.<br/>
<br/>
"Well... give me your number okay?" she says as she takes her phone out of her purse. You can do nothing but stare at her dumbfounded. "So I can text you if it turns out I'm able to come by. It sounds like it'd be a nice way to kill an afternoon."<br/>
<br/>
"Right," you nervously reply before repeating your phone number. "It's out at Top Shelf Storage... or Top Self. Something like that. With the messed up H."<br/>
<br/>
"Oh, cool! Yeah, that's not too far from that place I mentioned so I know what you're talking about." she says as she gets up and smiles at you. "I should know what's going on by this afternoon so I'll text you by the end of the day, okay? It was nice meeting you."<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
You continue hanging around the library with your insides feeling like mush over what's transpired. You barely have time to catch your breath before you see Jenny and Eva walk in and wave them over.<br/>
<br/>
This isn't going to be hard, you think. You've had all of first period to craft a plausible story as to why Eva would need to come out to the storage complex. You tell her that you've got a favor to ask of her and immediately she goes on the defensive; it takes numerous assurances that this is not about Lisa before she finally, just slightly, drops her guard. You tell her that Mike and Carlos are doing a bit for their movie review series and said they needed a cheerleader for a scene. She immediately blanches at that and starts coming up with every excuse possible as to why she can't do it: she's no actress, she gets stage fright, she has to get her uniform, and so on.<br/>
<br/>
You're pretty sure she's just giving you shit to try and somewhat diplomatically tell you to fuck off but you're feeling good from your encounter with Rachel last period so you press on. You tell her that the experience and uniform aren't necessary and that she won't even need to act. Just kind of stand there for a minute or two and it's all good.<br/>
<br/>
If that's all it takes, she counters, then why would you need her? Why not Jessica? Well the reality is that while Eva at least just barely tolerates your presence Jessica's a bigger bitch about it and can hardly be bothered to even looks at you but you're sure insulting her sister would kill all hope so you instead just say that you ran into her first and don't really know the other cheerleaders. But what about Yumi she asks? Well, of course, you know her but you break down and "admit" that Mike and Carlos wanted to work with Eva specifically. They figured she'd be the best fit and easy to work with.<br/>
<br/>
This extra little bit of buttering up seems to do the trick and Eva eventually relents, reluctantly agreeing to meet you at the storage complex (and she's a little turned off by the idea of that) at right after school so she can get it over and done with.<br/>
<br/>
Deciding you've skipped enough class for one day, you thank her, get up and dash off to your Career Planning class.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
"Got Eva," you say to Mike and Carlos as you mill around in the room before fourth period officially starts, "she'll be out around four."<br/>
<br/>
"Dude!" Mike exclaims. "You're for real? Hoo boy, this is great!"<br/>
<br/>
"I guess we can get Jessica out once we've gotten her too." Carlos says a little more thoughtfully before finally looking at you. "So where are you going from here? Lin or Kendra or...?"<br/>
<br/>
"Rachel Burton, actually." you tell them. "I talked to Philip about it this morning. It took some convincing but I brought him around to it."<br/>
<br/>
"Rachel," Carlos grins, "oh yeah, she's nice. I mean her chest isn't big but it doesn't need to be. And she's always wearing those sandals --"<br/>
<br/>
Mike laughs real good at that which earns only a glare from Carlos and your confusion. "Maybe we should've gone for the swim team instead." Mike grins as he looks at Bethany and Andrea. "I mean you've got those two, Olivia, Jamie... I've got Emma in fifth. Christine's got our eighth right?"<br/>
<br/>
"You know she does." Carlos rolls his eyes before turning back to you. "When we're doing exercises this chump's always trying to get paired up with her. He totally likes her." He then turns back to his buddy. "Even though she's a butterface."<br/>
<br/>
"She's a nice girl. Besides, her face isn't that bad, a solid six and not even paper bag worthy" Mike replies with a grin. "Besides her body's a fourteen so that still brings her to a ten. Oh don't give me that look, Carlos. You'd rub her feet if..."<br/>
<br/>
At that point you tune out the rest of the conversation as you really do not want to hear the two of them going on about the merits of hooking up with Christine Coolidge. You hear enough shit like that from both Caleb and Keith as is.<br/>
<br/>
Instead class, and the rest of the day, roll on like normal as you anxiously go over in your head just what you're going to do. After all, come this afternoon you'll be saying goodbye to the life of William Martin Prescott as you take up the role of Rachel Burton for the next semester at least. What will you do once you're ehr? What <i>does</i> Rachel Burton do besides swim? What are her friends and teammates like? What are her goals? Her plans? Her dreams? Or more mundanely who does she like?<br/>
<br/>
Well certainly not you since she only just met you so that's an impossibility but does she have a boyfriend? Does she even want one?<br/>
<br/>
That all, of course, is contingent upon her even agreeing to come out and the big break finally comes right before eighth period when your phone buzzes. That fluttery feeling comes back as you read it.<br/>
<br/>
<i>hey will its rachel!<br/>
i'm gonna get sumthin to eat but i can drop by<br/>
top shelf right? does 5 sound good?</i><br/>
<br/>
You text back that it's just fine and you can't wipe the dopey grin off of your face as you walk into Astronomy class and take your seat. In about two hours and change you're going to be Rachel Burton.</span></div></div>


path: 1133121112112111111132121111132111
author_id: iren233
title: New Life Facebook Stalking
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>As the day ends and you walk out of class you are still shivering with anticipation. "What will it be like to step into Rachel's life?" You hardly know the girl besides the few things you've heard about her through mutual parties, and have only laid eyes on her a few dozen times. But those few ogles have more than enough to ensure you'll look at least better than your current self. <br/>
<br/>
You wonder if any girl has ever even given you the same look as you do to her. Will it be weird having guys look at you the way you look at her? You shake your head of the thought as you get into your car, and look at the time. A quarter to four, and you still can't wait another hour, just so you can finally get this damn anxiety out of the way.<br/>
<br/>
Suddenly you get an idea, why not just Facebook search her to find out about some things on her life now? You let out a content sigh and shake your head thinking you could have just done this all last night. But you're glad you're out of class now so you can finally use your phone again, and you pull up the website on your iPhone. As you log in you're surprised to find that you already have one new friend request from Rachel Burton. You're shocked she even found you on this site, because you hardly use it. You quickly add her to your friends list and pull up her profile. <br/>
<br/>
Well there's her profile picture, you stare, she's making a cute squinting face with a white toothy smile on her face. She's while lying down on a bed with a brown and grey striped cat. You contemplate liking the photo then decide that you're better off not doing it. "Wow, 74 likes on that pic," more than you've probably gotten in your whole Facebook history. <br/>
<br/>
You scroll down the page, Hmmm, 8 mutual friends and ... <i>634 friends?</i> How in the hell do you manage to get six hundred and thirty-four friends? You've only got forty-two, and that's counting your own mom and a couple of people you've only met online!<br/>
<br/>
You continue to scroll down her page looking, hoping, and "Wow" you softly say to yourself, her relationship status states "single". Your heart beats faster for a second, then you quickly discourage the happy feeling. "No, she'll never go for someone like me." <br/>
<br/>
As you continue looking at her profile pics you learn she lives with both her parents and is an only child -- lucky girl -- and belongs to a large church group too. <br/>
<br/>
As you proceed swiping through her photos, seeing her with friends and family, a wicked thought comes up in your mind that soon this will be your own Facebook profile. Which you'll know the password to. That you'll be the one signing in to, talking to her friends. Being the one uploading selfies of her with friends with and getting all those likes and attention from. <br/>
<br/>
Suddenly you notice you're shaking with even more anticipation now than before, you let out a sigh and you quickly log out and pull out of the school parking lot towards the meeting place.</span></div></div>


path: 1133121112112111111132121111132112
author_id: rugal
title: The Dolphin
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>You can't really say anything as you stare agog at the beautiful, feminine form of Eva Garner as she moves around in a manner that is neither beautiful nor feminine. You've always seen her carry herself with a bit of haughtiness, as if she knows she's beautiful and knows that everyone else knows she's beautiful so why act humble? But none of that is present in Eva's mannerisms as she struts around.<br/>
<br/>
Instead well-toned legs move with uncertainty and large breasts wobble around awkwardly inside of a tight shirt.<br/>
<br/>
The fact that the Eva Garner you're looking at is not actually Eva Garner but instead Mike Hollister wearing a magical copy of her while the real girl is trapped asleep under the form of Hollister himself probably plays a part in it.<br/>
<br/>
Eva, when she had arrived not longer after yourself, was in a usual mood. That is to say surly and acting as if she wanted to be anywhere else and probably not even sure as to why she agreed to do it. It took a few awkward moments of hanging around before Fairfax messaged you that everything was set. You followed her inside just in time to see her collapse as a mask was placed on her face. Mike and Carlos then played a bit of rock-paper-scissors to determine who got her, Hollister won and the end result is what you see in front of you.<br/>
<br/>
And what you see in front of you is a sexy girl with all the mannerisms of a boy trying, very awkwardly, to pass himself off as said sexy girl. "Oh gawd," she squeals as she sees yourself and your compatriots, "you guys are all, like, so <i>cute</i>!"<br/>
<br/>
"That's a bad impression, man." Carlos shakes his head.<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah, Eva would never refer to me as cute." you add with some self-deprecation. "If you want to be accurate you'd have to look at me all bitchy and try to awkwardly avoid telling me anything about Lisa." It stings, of course, but at the moment you don't care as now that you see the end result you feel as if a weight is lifted from your shoulders such that you can jokingly make that kind of observation.<br/>
<br/>
After all, soon enough you won't be Will Prescott anymore so what does it matter what Eva or Lisa or any of them think of you? Leave all of the dumb moping to your Beta... kind of an apt term now that you think about it.<br/>
<br/>
"Will's right," Fairfax states, "because if anyone saw you they'd know something was up."<br/>
<br/>
"I don't see how." Eva replies.<br/>
<br/>
"Well first off I don't think Eva plays around with her tits." Carlos says and Hollister very quickly removes his hands from his chest.<br/>
<br/>
"But it's not just that." adds Fairfax. "It's the way you move, the way you talk, that kind of stuff. People are going to notice that."<br/>
<br/>
"So what are we going to do then?" she asks.<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax can only shrug. "I don't think it will be enough to prevent us from getting the masks we'll need to get but..." he pauses and grumbles at that. "But it's a problem that we'll worry about once we're done for the night. If we wait until the last possible minute to head to our new homes then I don't think we'll have any problems."<br/>
<br/>
"So hang tight until then?" Carlos asks and Fairfox nods. "Well we still need to get others out here so..." He looks over at the Hollister-driven Eva. "Hey Fake Eva, think you can text your sister to come out?"<br/>
<br/>
Eva flips him off at that put pulls out her phone and begins texting. It's a couple of moments before her phone makes a noise and she unlocks it. From there it's more furious texting back and forth before Eva lets out a relieved sound. "Okay, it took a lot of work but Jessica will be out here close to five."<br/>
<br/>
"Sweet!" Carlos exclaims.<br/>
<br/>
However at around the same time your phone goes off and you briefly wonder if Hollister, Eva you remind yourself, accidentally texted the wrong number. But it wouldn't make sense for Eva to have your number and to your surprise it's a text from Rachel. You read it and re-read it.<br/>
<br/>
"Hey, well, get things set up for me." you finally say as you show Fairfax your phone. "I guess things fell through for Rachel so she's going to be here really, really soon."<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
You awaken on cool, hard ground in a cool, small room. Brown hair flops around your face as you sit up and lean forward as the world comes back into view. The room is rather spartan: a chest, a mirror in one corner and a weight set make up the contents of the room. That and... Will Prescott? You see him there, the boy that you met earlier, on the other side of the room trying not to leer which is very hard for him to do because you're...<br/>
<br/>
You let out a surprised squeak and instinctively cover your chest. This catches Will's attention and you immediately turn away. "Don't!" you exclaim as you point towards the door. "G-g-get out!"<br/>
<br/>
"But--"<br/>
<br/>
"Please," you reply while pointing more forcefully, "out!"<br/>
<br/>
You do your best to hide yourself as he exits and closes the door to the unit. Frantically you search for your clothes and find them in a pile near the mirror. You of course don't feel the urge to look, after all it's a body you've seen countless times.<br/>
<br/>
But of course you do look because it's a body <i>you</i> could only fantasize about. The first thing you notice of course are the breasts. They're small, about the size of oranges if you had to compare them to something; certainly nothing that could match some of her teammates. Breast size isn't the only thing Rachel gives up to them though as she's also kind of short. Andrea, Olivia, Christine... all of them are tall which makes sense, tall people seem to make better swimmers after all. In fact the only one comparable in height to Rachel is Bethany.<br/>
<br/>
But height aside Rachel's body is great for swimming with broader, stronger shoulders, a narrower waist, a flat torso and strong limbs. But more than anything physically is what she has mentally. She has great technique and knows how to position and rotate and push herself to get maximum results out of each action. It still puts her behind the naturals like Andrea or Christine but it's not a large chasm and it's why she helps out the underclassmen on the team when she can. Well it was at the suggestion of Coach Gossett but Rachel doesn't mind. Most of the girls are receptive, especially... Heaven Granberry? Is that a real name?<br/>
<br/>
It is and a flash from Rachel's mind shows an earnest sophomore with dark skin and a bright smile. Someone with natural talent in the pool that gives even the ultra-competitive and ultra-athletic Kat Newman a run for her money. Coach Gossett sees a lot of potential in her once the seniors graduate so it's up to Rachel to help her put everything together.<br/>
<br/>
<i>That's why I'm the dolphin</i>, Rachel's inner voice giggles. The dolphin... not a nickname per se, nobody would ever actually call Rachel "Dolphin" for instance, but the team likes to give each other these little reference monikers. So Rachel, being smart and being a swimmer, gets to be a dolphin. Olivia, being a great swimmer and very pretty, is a mermaid while Mark Szymanski is an otter because (in Olivia's words) he's about as good an example of an ottermode body as you'll ever find and is very cute, a thought Rachel all too readily agrees with.<br/>
<br/>
And that brings you to your first bit of disappointment as you feel things stirring when thinking about Mark. Rachel is most definitely into him which means you probably never would've had a chance with her in the first place you bemoan as you get dressed. Though her chances with him are equally slim at the moment too since he's with some girl from Agape that he met at church over the summer.<br/>
<br/>
Of course that's something that can be easily changed though... the Rachel being into Mark and not you thing. Well in theory you could, in reality you don't think you want to risk getting dicked by your Beta. But you could date him, or it, if you wanted to you think as you slide Rachel's sandals on.<br/>
<br/>
More than who gets Rachel hot though is the idea that you even know it right out of the gate like that. Didn't Fairfax say things like this took a while? After Hollister put on Eva's mask he certainly didn't seem to have much of her brain in his head when you saw him and he moved around awkwardly and ungainly. You'd have mistaken him for some kind of alien in an Eva suit trying and failing to fit in with humans.<br/>
<br/>
Yet you feel like Rachel's an open book to you and you feel as if you could jump in the pool right now and push yourself in the same ways she likes to. You'll have to ask Fairfax about it once you get the chance. For now, though, you double check that everything is in place and verify that it is.<br/>
<br/>
Not a moment too soon either because Mike's calling you through the door telling you that Jessica will be out here any minute.</span></div></div>


path: 11331211121121111111321211111321121
author_id: rugal
title: Rachel, Who You Now Know
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>You wait around impatiently for Jessica to appear... or re-appear as it happens since right now Carlos is in the other unit working is way into her body and her clothes. It's during this long wait that you mention to Fairfax and Eva about the flashes you got of Rachel's mind after putting her mask on, the fact you "felt" her with little difficulty and felt like you could slide in for her right now if you wanted. Both of them were skeptical, Fairfax especially, but as you'd insisted that you were telling the truth his face became a lot more determined.<br/>
<br/>
It was right after Jessica came in acting much the same way that Eva had been acting that Fairfax pulled you aside and said he needed to talk with you privately in the other unit.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
"Okay, so you're telling me that you think that you've got--"<br/>
<br/>
"I know I've got it." you interrupt him.<br/>
<br/>
"--think that you've got Rachel's mind available to you?" Fairfax barrels on, seemingly unable to be interrupted. "All of it?"<br/>
<br/>
"I totally do," you tell him, "but if not all of it then it's a whole hell of a lot."<br/>
<br/>
"So tell me about her." His eyes and face are unmoving as he holds your gaze. You half think he's joking at first because you wouldn't even know where to start but in the short time you've known him Philip Fairfax does not seem like the joking type. "Start with something simple," he says confirming his seriousness, "tell me about her family. Parents, brothers or sisters, that kind of stuff."<br/>
<br/>
"You're really going to put me on the spot like this?" you complain.<br/>
<br/>
"Considering what you said I most certainly am." he replies.<br/>
<br/>
"How do you know I won't just feed you a load of crap then?" you ask.<br/>
<br/>
"Because," he says, "<i>I've</i> been in <i>your</i> head remember? You don't really improvise on the spot all that well. I don't mean to sound like a jackass but I don't think for a second you'd be able to come up with a lot of fake details about Rachel on the spot. Some people are good at lying or stretching the truth but I don't think you're one of them."<br/>
<br/>
You grumble a bit as he's got you there. "Okay, so, family right?" you respond as you close your eyes. You don't <i>need</i> to do that to look into her mind of course but you figure that it's a nice way to help you focus all the same. After a moment you open them back up. "Brothers and sisters are a negative, Rachel's an only child. Parents? She lives with both of them and," you snicker a bit at the thought, "it's a bit of a surprise really."<br/>
<br/>
"A surprise how?" Fairfax simply asks.<br/>
<br/>
"The two are like night and day. Her dad's a cop and has that kind of old school manly mentality. He's not, like, an asshole or anything but he's gruff and doesn't really stand for any slacking off, that kind of a thing. Her grandfather and great-grandfather were both military so, you know, he comes from that kind of mindset. Her mother," you give it a few seconds of thought, "she's kind of the opposite. Not as strict, kind of wants Rachel to discover things for herself. It comes up a lot in regards to her school activities."<br/>
<br/>
"How's that?"<br/>
<br/>
"Her dad's very much of the idea that she study hard, go to school, get a nice education and get a nice career from there." you explain. "Her mother's a lot more encouraging of her swimming and tries to push her along that path. Her dad supports it to an extent but really hopes she buckles down on the academics once she's in college."<br/>
<br/>
"So what does Rachel what to do?" Fairfax asks with that sounds like genuine interest.<br/>
<br/>
"Let's see," you say as you tap a finger against your chin, "she's given it a lot of thought. Her parents pushing her one way or the other kind of frustrates her since she likes the academics and the athletics; she wouldn't do them both if she didn't. So she's thought about doubling up on education and something like health sciences or kinesiology. Becoming a teacher and coach or just going into personal fitness, those sorts of things. She likes helping people, mentoring and tutoring them, that sort of stuff."<br/>
<br/>
"That's fitting I guess." Fairfax states before following it up with another question. "So what's her social life like then? How do those connections play out?"<br/>
<br/>
You give it another moment of thought. "Okay, so let's start with the swim team, that's probably what you'd want to hear about first." you tell him. "It's mixed both among genders and grades, no JV squad or anything like that. The number of members on the team is pretty permeable really compared to, like the basketball team or something like that which needs a set number so Rachel's not going to be super best friends with every member."<br/>
<br/>
"So who are her friends?"<br/>
<br/>
"Jamie Bornholm's her best friend on the team and in general. They've known each other a long time and the only comparable person is Deanna Showalter. But outside of Jamie? Christine Coolidge and Mark Szymanski are probably her closest friends otherwise on the team. Christine's super nice so they hit it off pretty well, Mark she knows from church and..." you pause at that, reluctant to tell Fairfax about her crush so you just leave it there. "And that's really it for Mark. She does hang out with or help a lot of the others though. Olivia Byrne's one of them. Matthew Adams who's a sophomore."<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax eyes you quizzically. "She's hanging out with a sophomore?" he asks.<br/>
<br/>
"If you saw Matt you'd think he was a senior. Chiseled, really handsome. Oh, here's one for your notes: he's dating Phoebe Beauchamp from the soccer team who's a senior so Rachel's on good terms with her too and some of the other soccer players by extension, mainly Josie Holden and Mikaela Bowers since those two and Phoebe are all really tight."<br/>
<br/>
"Any other underclassmen?" Fairfax asks. "You said the team was a mix of grades."<br/>
<br/>
"Well, yeah. Rachel helps coach the girls in that group. Well, not Kat Newman," you say with frustration, "because Kat's so prideful and stubborn that trying to teach her anything would be like trying to teach an elephant ballet. But she's one of the best swimmers too so maybe she doesn't really need it anyway. The sophomores are generally more receptive than the juniors to that stuff. Heaven Granberry's a total sweetheart and Abby, that is Abigail Phillips, is like the little sister that Rachel never had. So, uh, probably throw her in the group of people from the swim team that Rachel's really tight with."<br/>
<br/>
You grumble a bit at the next name that pops up, "Then there's Madison Crawford." you say with a far less upbeat tone that catches Fairfax's attention. "Madison is... she's so talented but she came in with such a huge chip on her shoulder and thought she was going to be a hot shot and that turned a lot of the team off on her right off the bat. So she's not particularly well liked."<br/>
<br/>
"Rachel doesn't like her either?"<br/>
<br/>
"It's not that," you say with a bit of frustration, "actually it's more like Rachel's one of the few people on the team who works with her. But it's hard getting through to her at times. She's gotten a lot more withdrawn and her performance has suffered a lot and Rachel's worried she's going to quit the team. Not that most of the others would mind but Rachel being Rachel doesn't really want to see anyone have to drop out."<br/>
<br/>
"There's one name that's been conspicuously absent from all of this though." Fairfax says. "So what's the deal with Andrea Varnsworth?"<br/>
<br/>
"Andrea..." you trail off. "It's complicated. Rachel wants to like Andrea more but Andrea's kind of a hard person to get close to. She keeps a lot of people on the team except Bethany at arm's length and hangs out at a lot more with her other friends."<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
This continues for a short time as you go over the rest of the swim team before Fairfax finally stops you.<br/>
<br/>
He studies you for a moment or two and you can see the gears turning in his head as he looks you over and part of you hopes he's just just using this as an excuse to leer. "So you say you're getting her mind already and after hearing that I may lean somewhat towards believing you." he says to your surprise. "However --"<br/>
<br/>
But your text alert goes off and you motion for him to hold on. It's a message from Christine. Things are back on at her place if you want to drop by. You tell Fairfax about it.<br/>
<br/>
"I said I may be leaning towards your claims being true," he says with the seriousness you've come to expect, "but that doesn't mean I think that just because you possibly <i>could</i> pull off an imposture among her friends doesn't mean I think that you <i>should</i>."<br/>
<br/>
"But there's nothing stopping me is there?" you ask.<br/>
<br/>
"No, not really," he says wearily, "but I'd hope that being more experienced in how these masks work that my opinion would count for something. Besides, now that yourself, Mike and Carlos are all in place I as thinking on moving on Cindy next and thought that Rachel Burton's presence might be a boon for that. She does know Cindy right? I had them sharing a group in my graph."<br/>
<br/>
"They're not <i>friends</i> friends but friendly enough that they've hung out a few times." you tell him. "But Eva and Jessica will be with you so my presence isn't a requirement is it?"<br/>
<br/>
"You want to hang out with Rachel's friends that badly?" Fairfax asks.<br/>
<br/>
"It'd be a good test." is all you answer with.<br/>
<br/>
"I can't stop you then," Fairfax grumbles, "but as I said I'd hoped you'd consider my own opinions on matters related to the masks."</span></div></div>


path: 113312111211211111113212111113211212
author_id: vunce223
title: Unexpected Interruptions
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Suddenly a buzzing noise is heard and a soft melody to accompany it comes from the other room. Rachel's mind instantly informs you that it is coming from her purse. You quickly pick up her tan Michael Kors purse and rummage around until you find her rose-gold phone next to a small make-up kit, lipstick, and wrapped tampon stick. <br/>
<br/>
The name only reads, "Work", and you role your eyes a little and swipe to answer it with a "Hi, Rachel speaking." "Rachel?" the man other end states, (who you can now clear know as your Manager Mr.Kunningham.) "Would you be able to come into work today and cover for Sonya she called in sick?" You are a little nervous at responding not wanting to get in hot water, but reluctantly you do what would come natural to and agree to cover the greeter position at the restaurant she works at part-time. <br/>
<br/>
"Thanks Rachel, can you be here in 45 minutes?" "Yeah sure, no problem," you chirp. As you walk back into the room with Fairfax carrying your purse he stops you, "Wait who was that?" You sigh and inform him that Rachel's boss wanted her to cover a shift and you had to reluctantly agree. "So why not just skip it who cares?" "I know but I feel like this is what Rachel would do, and what better way to prove it by acting exactly like her?" That gives him a moment of thought and he begrudgingly agrees with you. <br/>
<br/>
"So what are we going to do with your beta then?" "I'll handle it you reply." Beta Will is standing in the hall way twiddling his thumps when he sees you approach and looks at the ground. "Hey I'm off to cover my shift at Rosatti's, I want you to go home and try not to mess up my life too much, ok?" you state. "O-oh okay, well I guess I'll see you later then" he mumbles blushing. "And try not to masturbate too much, I know you've just seen your first naked girl a few moments ago" you let out a small giggle and he avoids eye contact. <br/>
<br/>
Its quite interesting talking to yourself from this point of view seeing as though your Beta now towers over your 5'2 frame. But you have things to do and you sling your purse over your shoulders and make your way outside the storage building. There's a few cars there now but you walk straight to the yellow 2007 Volkswagen Beetle, the exact place Rachel's memories tell you where she parked it. Your memories tell you this was a christmas present she received from her parents the same year she got her license. <br/>
<br/>
You pull out the keys from the purse and unlock the door, and you push yourself into the driver's seat thats push up really close to the wheel, but as you get in your new self fits perfectly into the seat with mirrors and wheel being a perfect match to your body. With your hands on the steering wheel you notice something odd "Wait?" you think 'Weren't my nails painted red?" Then it hits you and you let out a small laugh, obviously the nail polish didn't transfer in the swap. You'll have to repaint them later you happily think. You put the car into drive and pull out of the parking lot and head towards Rachel's home.<br/>
<br/>
On the way over when stopped at a red light which your new memories tell you is a long one, you send a text to a few of Rachel's, hmpt YOUR, friends letting them know that you were called into work so you couldn't meet back at the diner. <br/>
<br/>
You get a text back quickly from your friend Christine, stating 'you're always so willing to help them and never have time to chill'. That gives you a moment thought and you realize compared to your old life Rachel has a busy life. With high-school, tutoring, swim-team and practice, a part-time job, and not to mention always trying to make time for her friends, which still outnumber the pathetic few you had in your life as William. But thinking on it you really like the exact drive Rachel puts into her life, and now that same drive is now yours. This makes you smile a bit and you give yourself a toothy but cute grin in the review-view mirror.<br/>
<br/>
After a few more minutes you pull into the driveway of two-story house and use the garage opener to let yourself in. As you walk through the laundry room and into the parlor a brown and grey cat meows and rubs up against you, reaching down you pick up "Aubrey" (a name Rachel choose for the cat she received as a kitten), and make a baby voice, "Mommy needs to go to work, now but she'll be back later for cuddys!" you say will giving the cat a small kiss.<br/>
<br/>
 "Rachelll, are you back so soon?" a voice calls from another room, you recognize it as Rachel's mother. "Yeah!" you call, "Mr.K needs me to cover another hostess shift at work!" You place Aubrey back on the floor and make your way up stairs. Half way up the stairs Mrs.Burton walks out of the kitchen into sight and asks you how school's been going. You casually make quick conversation with her all the while checking her out. She looks exactly like an older version of Rachel, but with larger hips and breasts and a stray Will thought tells you. She's definitely be a MILF you think. But you quickly shake those gross thoughts from your head and finish the conversation by telling her you'll be late.<br/>
<br/>
You enter the room on the right and open the door to Rachel's bedroom. Very girly is what your Will mind instantly thinks, but its all familiar to you. From the many pillows on the bed, to the dresser with a full mirror, to the television with an Nintendo 64, and the mac-book with many flowery stickers on the cover sitting on the desk in the corner. <br/>
<br/>
You close the door and quickly pull off your shirt and jeans and lay them on the bed, you open the walk in closet and find the black shirt and matching black shirt that goes with the work uniform. You quickly glance at yourself in the mirror when pull them out, you have a better view then before in the storage building, you are clad in just a bra and panties and you really like what you see. You are thin with almost no fat, but can clearly see some lean muscle and slight v-lines near the top of your panties. You breasts are small because of this you think, only B-cups but turning your backside reveals a rather firm butt. You smile and quickly finish getting dressed.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<i></i></span></div></div>


path: 1133121112112111111132121111132112121
author_id: vunce223
title: Getting Ready
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Slipping out of the pink panties Rachel wore to school today, you open the top drawer of the dresser to reveal a great many types of underwear and bras. You grab the cute white frilly pair and slide them up your soft legs. Looking at the digital clock on the nightstand reveals you still have 25 minutes to be at work, which is only about a 8 minute drive from your new home.<br/>
<br/>
You contemplate if you should take a quick shower to clean yourself off. Hmmm, 'Rachel would make sure to be there early' you think to yourself. 'But this will be a fun detour to her normally hectic schedule'. So you kick off the underwear you just put on and reach around to unfasten the bra, and walk into the connected bathroom. You grab one of the pink towels on the rack and wrap it around your hair, 'it'd take too long to dry it before work' you naturally think to yourself. <br/>
<br/>
Pulling back the curtain and turning on the water, and waiting for the stream to turn warm before slowly stepping into the shower. You let the warm water hit you and watch it cascade down your body. You reach to the side of the tub with the many lotions and products, and squirt some flowery scented body wash into your hands and lathering it into your breasts and belly. You feel the small pricks of the hairs on your pubic area as you wash over it and grab the pink razor by the side of the tub and shave it until you're completely soft and hairless down below.<br/>
<br/>
All the while you are cleaning yourself you suddenly realize you've been unconsciously singing a soft melody. It was the song 'When I'm Gone,' from one of Rachel's favorite movies, Pitch Perfect. It was a little embarrassing as you realized that she literally never sings in front of anyone out of the perceived embarrassment it would cause her but yet here you are doing so. That's the moment when you realize that, yeah you really do have all of Rachel's upstairs. Interesting, you think. This morning you barely knew really anything about this girl, but here you are in her house, in her shower, singing her songs, in her body. That thought makes you let out a small laugh. <br/>
<br/>
Turning off the water and stepping out of the tub you grab the other pink towel on the rack and remove the current one around your head. Drying your face and looking into the bathroom vanity mirror you pull open the drawer that has all of Rachel's makeup kits, its particularly well organized, and you instinctively go to work on your face. Masterfully applying the foundation, blush, mascara, and a little bit of concealer for the small pimple on your chin, in 4 mins you look up to reveal the stunning face of Rachel Burton looking exactly like Will Prescott witnessed her earlier this afternoon at school. Its too late to straighten your hair you think, so you just bush it quickly and hurry out of the bathroom. <br/>
<br/>
You grab the cloths you discarded and the bed and quickly pull on the beige bra and filly white panties. Next goes on the work pants and over it the black hostess skirt with the small cloth belt. You then notice your pierced earlobes are missing the rose-gold earrings Rachel had in earlier. "Shoot!" you say, trying not to curse, as Rachel never curses. "Those were from Grandma Mary!", Rachel's deceased grandmother. They must have fallen out when Will (you) made the swap, not acknowledging them, "Clumsy A-Hole" you think to yourself. So you just open the small jewelry box on the dresser and slip in some gold ones. <br/>
<br/>
Finally you button up the black work shirt and twist yourself around viewing yourself in different angels the mirror, "Cute", you think. But then you realize Rachel really hates it when people refer to her as such, being so short she often get that a lot to her annoyance. Slipping on the low black work heels, you grab your cellphone and purse then walk out the bedroom door. <br/>
<br/>
You fasten the designer watch on your wrist and hurry down the stairs, Rachel's parents aren't exactly rich so to say, but being an only child she acknowledges she has it pretty good compared to her other friends with siblings. "Byyyye! I'm going to work now!" you call out as you exit out of the laundry room. "Bye, Sweetie!" you hear two voices of her mother and father yell back. You make it outside, unlock the doors, fasten your seat, belt, close the garage, reverse out of the driveway, and off to work you go.<br/>
<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 11331211121121111111321211111321121211
author_id: vunce223
title: Continue
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>"Hi, table for two?" you ask with a warm smile at the middle aged couple who approached the restaurant's front counter. The man gives a nod and agrees and you tell them "Right this way," as you grab two menus and lead them to a small table near the bar, making a gesture and telling them, "Your server will be right with you." You place the menus on the table and face them with a smile, which the man mimics back just a bit longer than his female partner does.<br/>
<br/>
You smile and make your way back to the front of the Italian restaurant which isn't quite as high class as a five star but much better than any chain restaurant. You've been here for about 3 and a half hours now but the work has gone quite smoothly. You had always loathed the fact you would have to eventually work a job in your life as Will Prescott but this job was almost too easy. Answering phone calls, guiding guests to tables, holding open the front doors as patrons enter an exit and giving a smile was all that the job really asked for. Your new memories told you its a really comfy job and the tips you get from servers paid well. "Being a cute girl does have its charms", the back of your mind states. <br/>
<br/>
You've just written out the family name of a table of four in your new neat following penmanship when your boss Mr. K approaches. He thanks you for coming in on such short notice and mentions that you can take your break now. You thank him and head back to the kitchen to grab your purse and dinner for the night. "Here you go Rach" says the slightly chubby middle aged cook Eduardo sliding a white plate with a big green salad with many different veggies on top. Rachel is a strict vegetarian due to her love of animals. You give him a big smile as he pours some dressing into a small plastic cup and places next to the meal. "Fat-free Italian like usually," he says with a laugh. <br/>
<br/>
You thank the cook and carry the meal to an empty back table, cross your legs and unwrap some silverware. You are diving into your salad as you pull out your rose-gold cell-phone and read the many texts you've missed while on your shift. <br/>
<br/>
One text from Christine reads:<br/>
<br/>
<i> Party at Michael Allens house tonight you should come :))</i><br/>
<br/>
<i> sorry at work til 10 :( </i> you reply<br/>
<br/>
<i> its going til like midnight come on you never come to partys anymore!!!</i><br/>
<br/>
<i> i've never been to Catherine Muskov's boyfriends house b4 </i><br/>
<br/>
<i> its k ride with me you should come heard that Mark is going 2B there </i> Christine is actually one of the few people who know about your wild fascination with Mark Szymanski. <br/>
<br/>
<i> soo lol he has a gf already </i><br/>
<br/>
<i>umm you didnt check FB recently he's single now </i><br/>
<br/>
<i> WHAT????????? he broke up with that girl?</i><br/>
<br/>
<i> yeah so like you can totally like seduce sad little him and fuck his brains out tonight girl ;))))))</i><br/>
<br/>
That text gives you pause for a second, Rachel is not foreign to the dating scene and while having a few boyfriends throughout high-school she is still in fact a virgin, something due to her religious up-bringing. She wants to save sex until she's married but while never going fully going all the way with sex she has given a couple hand jobs and a blowjob before. That blowjob being her latest ex who she broke up with a few months before and ,"Who's name should not be spoken!" the inner Rachel thoughts tell you. As the short relationship ended on a sour note. <br/>
<br/>
<i> maybe but i don't want to be his rebound or anything so ill let you know when im out </i><br/>
<br/>
You then casually scroll through your texts and reply to some friends and one from Rachel's mother. As you continue eating the dinner salad you've been really contemplating going to this party tonight, but Rachel wasn't lying earlier today at school when she said she was a bit of a homebody. She'd much rather prefer cuddling in bed with her cat and a good book to going to a loud party with a bunch of jocks and slutty girls. <br/>
<br/>
In fact there's that one romance novel she is currently half-way through reading that actually quite interests you and you're actually really wanting to finish it to find out what happens. However, the thought of hooking up with Mr. Otter-mode Mark sends you tingling with butterfly's in your belly. Rachel's not one to be so forward especially with talking to guys and guys she likes but you think you could definitely work your magic with this one. But then again there's no rush and you feel like you've already been moving a mile a minute with Rachel's fast paced life and you've been living it for less than a day.<br/>
<br/>
Also you are needing to reconnect back with Fairfax and the others as you never gave them your new information and cell number. You can probably do that when you're back home you think.<br/>
<br/>
                                                                                                      *****<br/>
<br/>
As you finish up work for the night you a tipped by the waiters and make your way outside to your car. So what should you do tonight you contemplate, relax back at home or head to the party and try and meet up with Mark?<br/>
<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 113312111211211111113212111113211212111
author_id: vunce223
title: A Rachel in character
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>As you drive back towards your home you cant help but love the feeling of zipping around in your yellow volkswagon beetle. Its nice and compact and a little cozy and feels so right. You would never be caught dead driving one of these as Will Prescott as the term "gay lord" forms in the back of your head thinking of being seen by your friends driving something like this, compared to your old pick-up truck. However, it fits Rachel perfectly and you love not just the feel but the personality of it all. She even gave the car its own the nickname "Edwin". <br/>
<br/>
As you pull into the side driveway and turn of the Hunter Hays music you've been entrenched in you exit your car and stretch. You are actually quite tired from not just the part time job but also because you and Rachel have been running around all day. As you enter your house you greet your parents watching a movie in the living room, odd because they can almost never pick out something they both like. You make quick conversation and your Mrs.Burton asks if you ate dinner tonight and tells you there is some left over veggie burgers in the fridge, but you tell them you've eaten already and head up stairs.<br/>
<br/>
You enter your room and close the door behind you, setting down your purse and kicking off your black work heels come first. You then sit on the edge of your bed and take off your watch and work shirt and unfasten your beige bra and let your breasts fall out. "Freedom" you say, as you feel the un-comfort of the bra straps slip away. You never realized how nice it felt to take off a bra you've been wearing for hours, actually you did know but you never personally felt that thrill. <br/>
<br/>
You fall back on your light blue and white fluffy comforter with spiral floral designs and let out a deep breath. Your brown hair falls in your face and you brush the strands aside. Pulling out your cellphone you hold it above your face and reply to a few text messages, the offer from Christine still stands for the party tonight, you can tell she was disappointed about the get together at the coffee house falling through today so she's itching for some excitement tonight. Though its not uncommon for Rachel to spend her Friday night's alone at home you do feel bad for not wanting to go with Christine. You send her an apology text telling her you're really quite tired with a frowny face and telling her text time you don't have a shift on the same night you'll party with her. You are a little disappointed in passing up an opportunity to meet Mark at the party but he can wait, you think. <br/>
<br/>
Its only 10:14 on your digital clock and Rachel usually doesn't go to bed until 1 on weekends, so you decide to do what she normally does alone on weekend nights and read while taking a bath. After all, the novel she's currently on does peek your interest now. You stand up, unfasten the cloth belt around your waist and pull down the black skirt and white underwear off your legs. You collect the clothes you were wearing tonight and discard them in the laundry basket, you then fetch the book off of the nightstand. You walk nakedly into the bathroom and place the book by the edge of the tub, and turn on tap letting warm water fill the tub.<br/>
<br/>
As you're waiting for the bath to fill you wash off your make-up with some remover and water and study your reflection in the mirror. You are small compared to the total length of the bathroom mirror, just seeing your face and the top of your breasts in the bottom quarter reflection. Rachel always wanted to get a small stool in the bathroom, but if her friends were ever over and saw it in here it, would embarrass the living day light out of her, even though you know they probably wouldn't say anything about it. <br/>
You then realize the deep anxiety Rachel often felt of being judged by her peers especially from her female friends and classmates. It was much easier to just hang out with guy friends as they were far less drama. So she often felt more comfortable talking to guys and being more forward with them compared to the girls.<br/>
<br/>
Staring longer into the mirror once the make-up is washed away: you don't look bad without it, but it certainly helps. <i>"But Your nose, its kinda long and sticks out and your breasts are kinda small and your.."</i> You shake those creeping thoughts from your mind and put your hands on your hips - (something of a ritual she does to purge her mind of negative thoughts) and say aloud "I am Rachel, I have a 4.0 GPA, I take AP classes and tutor on side, I'm on the swim team and the Dolphin of the team, and I have many loving friends and family members... and I'm quite beautiful!" (You added in that last part Rachel never really says but the warmup has the desired effect on your self esteem). You give a smile to the reflection and turn towards the nearly full bath.<br/>
<br/>
You turn off the warm water, and retrieve a small blue bath-bomb from under the sink and drop it in. You watch as the clear water turns a deep glittery blue and you retrieve and light a couple lavender candles from below the sink and place them on the side of the tub. A small bath pillow is already present in the bath and you dip your toes in to test the water, then you lower your body in the warm water careful not to get your hands and arms wet.<br/>
<br/>
You cant even remember the last time you took a bath as Will, but you are intoxicated with the hot water around you and let yourself take in the aroma of the room. Only your arms, top of your chest, and your dainty toes which you wiggle remain above the water. You close your eyes and let yourself enjoy the bath for a few minutes and then grab the book on the side of the tub.<br/>
<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1133121112112111111132121111132112121111
author_id: vunce223
title: Continue
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>20 minutes later you're still deeply engaged with the book, and you're going along its contents quite quickly. Rachel is quite a speed reader from years of reading and hundreds of novels, and you like how fast you can make it down a page while retaining all of its contents. The book is a just another cheesy Romance novel about a young woman from England and her secret lover from France and has all the contents of the "forbidden love" trope. However, its also quite raunchy and the sex scenes explicit, and many of scenes have you bitting your lower lip.<br/>
<br/>
A scene where the main character is asleep in her hotel room bed and is awoken by a surprise visit from her lover as he peeled her dress up and she opens her eyes to her half naked lover, sends up goosebumps along your arms. You're starting to feel hot below and not just from the bath water either. As the sex scene continues it has you thinking aloud "Why can't I ever find a guy like that?" You then shift the book to one hand and slowly submerge your free hand until its rested on your submerged vagina. As you continue reading you start rubbing the top of your pubic bone.<br/>
<br/>
 Suddenly, thoughts of the book are replaced with thoughts from earlier this afternoon, back before the two distinct personalities and memories were merged, back when you can remember two of each.. And you start rubbing yourself. <br/>
<br/>
<br/>
                                                                                                 ***** <br/>
<br/>
"Hey, well, get things set up for me." you finally say as you show Fairfax your phone. "I guess things fell through for Rachel so she's going to be here really, really soon." <br/>
<br/>
You are nervous, "Shit, Is this really going to happen?" you apprehensively think. Rachel had just sent you the text confirming she'd be arriving at the storage unit in less than 5 minutes and you'd have to let her in. You had waited nervously near the entrance of the unit peering out the door's window to see if she'd really arrive. It felt like an eternity as the 5 minutes crept by with you standing there. <br/>
<br/>
"Where is she? I told her I'd let her into the building when she came," you think to yourself. *(Hmpth, well its not like you gave me any exact instructions Will)* You fidgeted impatiently as you constantly check the time on your phone. 6 .....7 ....8 ...9 minutes go by and still no sign of her. Suddenly a horrific thought entered your mind "What if she knows? What if by some chance she figured out about all this mask business and called the police? What if she saw Eva's car and knew about what we are doing?" The irrational thoughts dissipates as you suddenly see Rachel approaching the front door as she walks around the parking lot.<br/>
<br/>
"Hey you made it." you say as you open the door with a smile. "Oh, haha, sorry I ran home after school to change and got kinda lost on the way over." She slings her purse tightly over her shoulder as you open the door wider for her to enter. "No problem I did the same thing the first came here," you reply. <br/>
<br/>
You notice she indeed has changed clothes from her earlier attire at school. She's wearing a short sleeved white blouse with frills on the ends of the sleeves and bottom, with some tight dark blue jeans that end just above her ankles, and some sandals strapped around her feet. *(Yeah and it took me a lot of time to retouch up my hair too!)*<br/>
<br/>
"So this where all the Youtube magic happens?" she says with a smile as you lead her down the hallway towards the others. "Yeah Mike and Carlos have things set up in one of the units down here." <br/>
<br/>
As you walk besides her you notice theres a small pink canister of pepper spray around her keychain thats around her purse. "Shit this could be really bad if she somehow decides to use it." you think,  "While four of us and a golem can easily overpower her that pepper spray can be bad especially in a enclosed building. The intensity of your nervousness is coming toward a peak and you're hoping this could just be over with as soon as possible. *(I should of used that while I had the chance)*<br/>
<br/>
You turn a corner to see Fairfax, Mike, and "Eva" standing the hallway. "Oh Hey Eva!" Rachel calls out when she turn the corner, "I didn't know you were going to be a part of these videos too." The Eva impostor looks up and lets out a long "Heeeeeyyyyy" and tries to make conversation with the girl. As their talking Fairfax looks up and mouths the word, "Masks", and points to the open storage unit behind you. Peaking behind the wall reveals the blank mask and one with your mind strip attached.<br/>
<br/>
As you hold the masks a sudden prong of guilt hits you for what you're about to do. Rachel was very friendly, almost too friendly, for a girl of her status to take an interest in someone you. As you return to the hall Rachel's back is turned and she is greeting the other guys and shaking Mike's hand. You are now feeling really bad about going through with this all of a sudden, but you continue forward anyway. <br/>
<br/>
An arms length away she suddenly peers over her shoulder and looks up at you and then down at the mask between your hands. You freeze unsure of your next move. She tilts her head a little lets out a questioning "huh", then swiftly Fairfax grabs her wrist and she turns her head with a sudden gasp, giving you just the moment to sandwich the mask into her face.<br/>
<br/>
It instantly disappears as it touches her skin and she falls backwards, you grab her free arm and Fairfax holds her wrist tight , but you only hold her from falling completely on her back, and she lands on her butt on the floor with a thud. <br/>
<br/>
"Niccce work man!" Eva lets out, and raises a hand for a high-five, "Just shut up and help me move her." you reply. She's not heavy at all but Fairfax lifts her from under her arm pits while you grab her ankles carrying her into the unit. After telling them to leave and shutting the unit, you're alone with the lifeless Rachel Burton.<br/>
<br/>
She's pretty like that, her eyes are closed and hair messy now but very cute indeed. You kneel besides her and peel open one of her closed eyelids. A blue iris appears back but its unmoving and rolled up. Yup out cold. <br/>
<br/>
So now begins the process of disrobing her, you feel even more guilty now. Though you wipe your sweaty palms on your pants, shake your head and start with the sandals. Her dainty feet are secured in light brown designer sandals with black laces, and her nails are painted a polished deep red, you undue the clasps and remove them first. <br/>
<br/>
Next you slowly unbutton the white blouse from the top down, revealing her chest secured in plain looking beige bra. You push the blouse open and slide the bra's  straps off her shoulders but you still have trouble with removing the latch. So you pull her upper body off the ground sliding the blouse off and unhooking the bra in a bear-hug fashion, which takes you a little bit of time and your check brushes her's briefly. Finally managing to unhook it you pull that off.<br/>
<br/>
Rachel's exposed chest reveals itself to you, and you can't help but feel yourself getting a little hard. You can see a visible tan line from a one-piece swim suit that separates her exposed and unexposed parts while in swimwear. Her breasts are nothing too large but they are round and firm looking, and you can't help but run a couple fingers around the pink aureolas. *(perrrrvv)* <br/>
<br/>
Next comes off the jeans as you unzip the fly, and tug the them down with a few yanks. A pair of plain reddish-pink cotton panties is all she is wearing now. You notice a small patch of short trim pubic hair sticks out the upper side of her underwear. Then pulling those off too and setting them in a pile with the other discarded items you then gaze upon her completely nude form. She doesn't have a bush but theres definitely a little fuzz all around her pussy. *( Well no point in always having to shave it when you're single!)* <br/>
<br/>
A close examination makes you cringe back a bit, when you notice a thin white string hanging outside her vagina. "Shit periods forgot about those." you think, but you cant just leave that in there for the swap. Reluctantly you pinch the string and pull out the tampon, to your relief its clean, as clean as you can tell, you then toss it to the side of the room. "Shit I'm going to start using those too", you think. *(It's biological! And actually I was just getting off of it too …but nice going a-hole)*<br/>
<br/>
You notice that her nipples have now gotten hard, probably from the cool exposed air, when the mask appears on her face. You grab it and quickly drop your own over Rachel's face. A clone of you sits up as you're already stripped down. Before he has a chance to speak you hand him your clothes and usher him into the corner and tell him to be quiet and get dressed.<br/>
<br/>
The name on the mask reads: "RACHEL ANN BURTON", and you study it for a bit. Your confident that this is definitely the climax of your anxiousness as you can feel how hard your heart thumps. You lay back on the cold ground and take a deep breath.."Okay no going back after this..." With shaking hands you lower the mask over your face…..<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
*******<br/>
<br/>
You are masturbating pretty vigorously now as you've stuck your middle finger deep inside you. The water of the tub is rippling and your toes are curled up. You don't know why you are getting so turned on by that memory but soon your body releases a powerful orgasm. You bite your lower lip and muffle it with the back of your hand trying to suppress the whimpering sounds you just made from the rest of the household. <br/>
<br/>
Feeling a little bit flushed and a little bit embarrassed you rise from the tub dripping and wrap your body in the length of towel. "Shoot! I need to get in touch with the others" you suddenly realize. <br/>
<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 11331211121121111111321211111321121211111
author_id: vunce223
title: Settling In
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Once you have dried yourself off, brushed your teeth, and moisturized your skin you walk over to your dresser. Opening a drawer you pull on some blue boy shorts and grab a purple silken nightgown, which you pull over your head and let it drape over your body, it ends right below your knees.<br/>
<br/>
You decide you should just get a jumpstart on your weekend homework, AP classes do give more work after all. Walking over to your desk and unzipping the backpack you pull out a few text books and note pads. First starting on the AP calculus you get to work scribbling down formulas and numbers, just like your reading comprehension you seem to have gained some advanced mathematic knowledge as well in your new life. You are able to memorize the formulas and theorems much better now and in no time you have completed the worksheet.<br/>
<br/>
Next you get to work on the literary assignments, which wasn't homework but you have to take notes for next Wednesday's big test. You really didn't have to take notes but Rachel always made detailed outlines and study guides for herself as well as for tutoring purposes. The work is quite boring as you read from the text and scribble down notes, but you continue for a while as you love watching yourself write out the straight, neat, and following cursive in the pink pen. It also thrills you to flip to previous pages from earlier in the school year to handwriting that is exactly identical to the fresh handwriting you have made tonight. With the exact same looping "L"s and dotted "I"s.  <br/>
<br/>
However, boredom does set in and you close the notebooks shut and grab the mac-book with the flower stickers on the cover. You dive onto the bed and lay on your stomach with your feet dangling in the air as the computer loads on. Checking Facebook is a nightly occurrence for Rachel and you're no different. <br/>
<br/>
You spend some time scrolling down your news feed and liking some posts and commenting on some others. Olivia has posted a new profile pic and you like it and comment "Beautiful!" with a heart eyed smiley emoji. Phoebe Beauchamp had a birthday today and you wish her a "Happy B-Day." But you cringe a little as you notice you were tagged in the background of one group photo on Andrea Varnsworth's profile. It was a photo of the last swim team meet and Andrea is looking beautiful "as always", as Captain in her leotard swimsuit. You see yourself in the background looking to the side in your own swimsuit, not looking bad but definitely a bit dopey. You click on Andrea's profile and scroll through her pics with envy, "How can she always look so pretty?" you idly think. Before any more jealousy can set in you decide to check your inbox.<br/>
<br/>
A new message from Maria Vasquez tells you all you need to know that Fairfax's own swap with the masks was successful. Maria was already a Facebook friend of Rachel's but never have the two girls actually messaged or swapped phone numbers. Dialing the number from the message into your phone you hold it to your ear.<br/>
<br/>
 "Hello?" comes a voice on the other end.<br/>
<br/>
"Hi, Maria. It's Rachel."<br/>
<br/>
"Ahhh Will, finally! What took you so long?"<br/>
<br/>
"Hey I was working remember? So how did everything go? Where are you?"<br/>
<br/>
"Hey I'm here with Eva, Jessica and Chelsea, we are all spending the night at the Garner's house for a sleepover and- STOP THAT!" she cried as giggling erupted in the background. <br/>
<br/>
The sudden thought of all of them in those bodies made you shake your head with a little bit of disgust, (and some jealousy from your Will thoughts.) <br/>
<br/>
"What are you guys doing? Aren't you guys getting into character, with the upstairs knowledge and stuff?"<br/>
<br/>
"No, its not coming yet, I've got a few things here and there but nothing yet - QUIT PLAYING WITH MY FEET!" - more laughter on the other side of phone.<br/>
<br/>
You then proceed to tell each other about the night and what your next goals are from here. The phone call is long and by the time you're finished you're on the floor with cotton between your toes and the phone between your shoulder and ear, as you've just painted your toes a bright red color and now just waiting for the polish to dry. <br/>
<br/>
"So I'll see you tomorrow at Starbucks at 11:30 AM, got it, see you then!" you say and click the phone off.<br/>
<br/>
As you wait for your nails to dry you hear a meowing outside your bedroom door. "Awww sorry kitty, Mommy was on the phone." You say in a baby voice as your cat Aubrey walks in and jumps on your bed. You get back to Facebook and check the rest of your messages, in bed. <br/>
<br/>
One message is from a guy you didn't know as Will: Griffin Lewis, a guy who plays the saxophone on the school's marching band, and also someone who Rachel has been tutoring for the past few weeks. They have been messaging back and forth the past few weeks, not just on school work but on a variety of different topics. However Rachel only see's him as a strictly platonic friend, but from the past glances he's given you he seems to want something more. "Goodness I hope not." the back of your mind says, a very Rachel thought as well as your own.<br/>
<br/>
He has sent three different messages each at a different time: <i>"Hey your online finally :)" </i> at 11:23 PM, <i> " What are you up to tonight??" </i>  11:35 PM, and a <i>" Ok don't respond..." </i>at 12:03 AM<br/>
<br/>
"Wow, can this can this guy get any more desperate?" you think. But you send a message with <i> Sorry I left my Facebook message on and had to take a phone call :("</i> Three minutes later he responds with: <i> "okay" </i> What a baby but you reply with a <i> "Are you mad at me? :("</i><br/>
<br/>
<i> "No sorry, I just thought you were ignoring me lol." "Hey that one movie came out that you said your were interested in, I kinda want to see it too, would you like want to go like tomorrow?" </i><br/>
<br/>
Damn, This guy is desperate! But as awful as it sounds you can't imagine being with him and his slightly pimpled face in public, sure he's not at all bad looking but definitely not someone Rachel would consider dating. However, she does view him as a good friend.<br/>
<br/>
You shoot back a reply  <i> "Sorry I'm actually meeting some friends tomorrow but maybe some other time? Sorry I'm about to fall asleep we'll talk later. "</i> You hate leading him on, but you really don't want to lose his friendship. You then close your computer not waiting for a reply and turn the lights off leaving you in darkness.<br/>
<br/>
As you drift to sleep you can't help but see your own self in Griffin's shoes. Sure you'd never be that forward with a girl but that was totally you in the library today talking to Rachel smiling and laughing with her. Its not her fault she's really forward making friends and guys interpret it differently, but you could see how exhilarating it seemed to actually become friends with and possibly start dating such a girl.<br/>
<br/>
That gives you some pause as you slowly drift to sleep. </span></div></div>


path: 113312111211211111113212111113211212111111
author_id: vunce223
title: First Day Big Decisions
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>*"Will stop fucking around and come help me!" It was from Caleb's distant voice..he was telling you something about getting a girl's number for him, because you had to move some.... text books? Now its gym period and your Middle School gym teacher is telling you to get up while the other guys laugh because you just ate shit in the mud. "Oh no not this again. Wait again?" Now its your Dad, Harris Prescott, he's mad at you for something about not having a job or.........* <br/>
<br/>
"Wait, is that Taylor Swift music?"<br/>
<br/>
Suddenly you wake up with a gasp. Your mind races for a moment, "Wait... this is not my bedroom! Wait..what am I wearing?! Huh, why is there a.. cat on.. my bed?" Then it hits you all at once like a train and you lay your head back down with enormous relief and newfound excitement. "This is exactly where I'm supposed to be," you think. You reach over to your nightstand and hit your digital alarm clock and the music its playing to "off". It's 9:45 AM.<br/>
<br/>
 You then peak down at the curled up cat on your bedcovers and say "Morning Aubrey." Your voice that comes out is high pitched and a little bit squeaky but its enough to give you a small burst of exhilaration. You throw off the bed sheets and skip the three feet towards the dresser and mirror. In the mirror stares the reflection of a young woman in a nightdress with stunning blue eyes, a white toothy smile that looks a little strange on her face, and some messy short length light-brown hair. The girl reaches up and fixes her hair with her hands. "How could I even forgot yesterday?" you think to yourself.<br/>
<br/>
You study your face longer in the mirror. Back in freshman and sophomore year your friends would often tease you and tell you that you looked very much like a young Alexis Bledel in the show 'Gilmore Girls'. "But my nose is bigger than hers.. and she's not a 5'2 midget like me...and my hair is not long and pretty like...." You shake your head of those thoughts, and give your reflection one last brief smile and walk over to your closet.<br/>
<br/>
On a hanger rests the one-piece team swimsuit with the Westside logo on the front. You slip out of your purple night dress and undergarments and dawn the dark blue one-piece swimwear. You slide it over your torso and pull each of the straps over your shoulders, and the swimsuit covers all of the faint tan lines on your body perfectly. Its tight and a bit cold against your flesh but thats how it should be. <br/>
<br/>
Walking back out to the dresser mirror you examine yourself in the Westside swim team attire. From a side view it gives your skinny frame some sleek curves not normally seen, your breasts creates a nice small rounded curve but your butt makes a much nicer one. Turning to look at your backside you can seen your slightly tanned back where the swim suit reveals the small of your back, but the garment kinda rides up your butt giving the world a nice outline of your ass. "Yeah I bet Mr.Vargea likes that view, perrrrvvv." He was one of the mathematics teachers at Westside High who would often attend the swim teams meets, as he was one of the swim coaches. Rachel more than once caught him staring at her backside and the back sides of her female teammates as well. Though he was a nice guy overall so she kept that knowledge to herself.<br/>
<br/>
Heading downstairs the lights were still off in the home as your Mom and Dad often sleep in on the weekends. After spooning some cat-food in Aubrey's food dish you grab a swim cap, towel, and some goggles from a closet, then you make your way to the backyard.<br/>
<br/>
The grass was still covered in dew as you walked barefoot to the above ground swimming pool in the backyard. The same year Rachel joined the swim team her father had surprised her with the pool on her birthday, so that she could practice her swimming from home whenever. Climbing up the pool's side railing you make it to the top and place the cap over your hair, and googles over your eyes. Dipping a foot into the pool reveals the ice coldness of the early morning water, but that doesn't you from gliding in. <br/>
<br/>
The water is cold but you drift effortlessly through the water. You can't dive in the pool as the pool is only 5 feet deep, but its deep enough so that only by standing on your tip toes can you keep your head above water. You practice your regular strokes in the pool for the next half hour, breaststrokes, backstrokes, sidestrokes, and butterfly, you can do them all. However, your speciality is defiantly the backstrokes which you practice the longest. You finally decide to get out when you here your mother calling you for breakfast. Climbing out you can see how pruned your fingers are and notice your now hard nipples can be seen through the swimwear. <br/>
<br/>
You wrap yourself in a towel and walk back inside to enjoy homemade breakfast made by your mom of white egg non-yolk omelets with peppers, mushrooms, and cheese. (While being a strict vegetarian eggs are your one exception to the non-meat diet, as long as the eggs come from cage free farms.) You make small talk with her for a few minutes after eating and then head up stairs to get ready to meet your friend.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
*********<br/>
<br/>
You park your beetle in the Starbucks parking lot at 11:20 and head inside. You're wearing a pair of beige sandal wedges, to show off your new red toenails, a few metal bracelets on your arms, designer sunglasses, a light red skirt and beige belt, and a white shirt with a designer's logo plastered on the front. You only put on a small amount of makeup as you didn't want to over-do it, but as you walk in you double guess that decision. <br/>
<br/>
Taking off your sunglasses you look around until you spot Maria Vasquez sitting alone at a table and she waves at you. You wave back but you decide to place your order in first while no one was in line. You place your order and take back your credit card then walk over and give Maria a brief hug, you like that she's one of the few other girl's who's similar in hight to you. Then once your name is called you take your order then finally sit down at her table and cross your legs.<br/>
<br/>
"Pumpkin Spice? Wow, you really are a basic white girl now." Maria says like a laugh. <br/>
<br/>
"Hey! It only comes around seasonly."<br/>
<br/>
"I'm just fucking with you, relax." she replies<br/>
<br/>
"So I can see you've started to get your memories in check then?" <br/>
<br/>
"Mostly, but I'm learning new things every hour so its just chill back and slide into the impersonation."<br/>
<br/>
"Well I can see that you're really slipping into the bratty cheerleader role quite well." you say. <br/>
<br/>
While both Maria and Rachel knew each other well enough they never really cared for each other much, as being the best friend of Chelsea Cooper often put a bad taste in Rachel's mouth. Ever since she over-heard Chelsea's snickering remarks calling Rachel a hobbit behind her back Junior year and hearing the other cheerleaders laugh she avoided the bitchier members of the squad.<br/>
<br/>
"Hey well look at you sitting here sipping on your whipped cream latte like a perfect little princess that you are." she replies<br/>
<br/>
"Okay okay, lets stop. Can you just get back into Fairfax for a moment here? I just wanted this to be civil." you say trying to calm the bickering. <br/>
<br/>
She gives a cat like smile for second, closes her eyes and breathes in, then drops her expression<br/>
<br/>
"Okay, Will whats up, hows everything going.?" <br/>
<br/>
"Good, I feel like I just stepped into an entire different world, yet everything feels completely familiar but also exciting."<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah. I'm feeling it too, I stopped by at Maria's house this morning, after the sleep over, and nobody, not even her parents, could tell a difference in their daughter."<br/>
<br/>
She takes a sip of her coffee.<br/>
<br/>
"So how are you feeling about this so far? The whole experiment I mean?" she asks<br/>
<br/>
"Honestly?" you say looking around, then in a whisper "It's fucking amazing." "This morning I could swim so effortlessly now its like I've been doing it for fucking years." It feels weird to hear yourself curse as Rachel but it also excites you a little too. <br/>
<br/>
"Good. So I'm still thinking of keeping our golems as ourselves for the remainder of the semester are you down with that?"<br/>
<br/>
It hits you then: thus far you've been trying to avoid the entire morality question of what you've been doing so far with these masks. You always tried to brush the thought off but now you can't help but think of how you are basically stealing another person's life and imprisoning that person for an indefinite amount of time. Can you really call yourself a good person if Rachel Burton lies behind a mask in a coma at your doing? <br/>
<br/>
"So you want to keep these masks on for the next semester? No swapping out people?" you say.<br/>
<br/>
"Okay well maybe I might change myself a bit if I get tired of Maria. But what about you? Are you down for the semester plan or do you want to back out?"<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1133121112112111111132121111132112121111111
author_id: vunce223
title: The Decision
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>You place a finger on your chin and think.<br/>
<br/>
**  "Go back to being the boring introverted William Prescott?" you think? "Well Rachel is just as big an introvert as in your old life.. but thats just mostly her choice and lifestyle, you could probably change it if you wanted, but Will seemed to be an introvert by everyone else's decision." <br/>
<br/>
Well its not like you have to go back to living your own life you could always become someone else, but who? For some reason the thought of becoming another guy really didn't appeal to you now, more so than before, and frankly kinda grosses you out now. "They are big, and hairy, and mean." You can't tell if that's completely your Rachel mind thinking or partially your own.<br/>
<br/>
Hmmm, You could always become another girl or woman, you now have a much fuller and better list of girl's lives that would seem like a good life to live thanks to Rachel's memories. But then again the morality of it comes back to bite you. "You already destroying one person's life, you don't want to do it to another." You can't tell if the Rachel memories are now clouding your judgment but you entirely agree with them. <br/>
<br/>
Maybe if you took of the mask you mind will be more clear and at ease, but then that means turning back to Will and…your thoughts of him dampen, "The perv lured me out under false pretenses and used me like a piece of meat to steal my body and life."  Woah, where'd those thoughts come from? Maybe you are settling too much in your new mind but…. is that a bad thing? I mean its a life you can remember living since you were a little child and how obsessed you were with unicorns, Princess Bell,  and…. "Okay clear thoughts"<br/>
<br/>
Hmmm maybe just taking a semester long vacation as Rachel wouldn't be such a bad thing, after all its not like you'll be living it forever. You are only just escaping from a worse one for a little bit... "Why couldn't I have just been born as Rachel, it would be so much easier to just stay….NO, you are only merely borrowing this life, you'll give it back soon enough, but for the mean time…" **<br/>
<br/>
Maria stares at you inquisitively waiting for a reply, You give her a smile and say "I'll be happy living here for the next semester."<br/>
<br/>
"Okay great that's settled then, I'm still going to have to talk with the other's about what they'll be doing. We'll stay in touch now that you've got my number."<br/>
<br/>
"Okay sounds good I….." you say as you're interrupted by someone calling Maria's name from across the Starbucks. You turn to see another of Westside's cheerleaders: Lin Pol, Gloria Rea, and another blonde girl who wasn't a cheerleader but someone you don't know either waving in your direction. <br/>
<br/>
You see Maria drop her Fairfax looking gaze and call out to them each by name. They come over and say hello to her, then Lin Pol greets you, which you only respond with a small "Hi." Maria and the other girls instantly burst into some chatter which kinda loses you after the first two minutes. <br/>
<br/>
After a bit of this non-stop chatter you pull out your cellphone out of your purse and say, "Oh shoot I'm supposed to be meeting someone soon. I really need to run."<br/>
<br/>
"Oh sorry we didn't mean to interrupt." says one of the girls. "You sure you need to go?" Maria askes.<br/>
<br/>
"Yes, sorry I just kinda lost time, I'm sorry I need to run so soon." you say as you stand up and sling the purse over your shoulder. <br/>
<br/>
"Okay we'll keep in touch, girl." says Maria with a wave, and you wave in return as the other girls sit down to join Maria with their own drinks.<br/>
<br/>
You really didn't have to leave but the talking was kinda getting on your nerves. You really didn't care for the endless drama and gossip most other girls engage in as Will or as Rachel. But as you get out to the parking lot and into your car you are feeling excited about the up coming semester, after all you'll be living it entirely as Rachel Ann Burton.<br/>
<br/>
That gives you a little bit of excitement as you pull out your cell phone and go to the picture mode to snap a few pictures of you holding up your pumpkin latte and sipping on the straw. After choosing the best one you open your Facebook page and replace your current profile pic, the one with you and your cat, with the one you just took. You write a small caption next to your photo: "I love the Fall, can you guess why? " <br/>
<br/>
After only thirty seconds you've already got two people liking the photo, Jaime Bornholm and Griffin Lewis.<br/>
<br/>
You smile then close the app and pull out of the parking lot. </span></div></div>


path: 11331211121121111111321211111321121211111111
author_id: vunce223
title: 6 Months Later
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>******<br/>
<br/>
One whistle blows as you step onto the short white diving board, and you bend down to place both hands on the end of the rough board. All you see are your hands, your small feet rested forward with their nails painted teal, and only the water below. You always get chills at these moments. <br/>
<br/>
A second horn blares and you get into the water and place your feet against the wall, keeping your arms on the bars. Your swimsuit is tight and the water is chilly. <br/>
<br/>
<i> Remember. I am the Dolphin! </i><br/>
<br/>
Then the final horn blares. You push yourself backwards into the cool water and dive below. You keep your arms in front of you as you hold your breath and paddle your feet. Finally when you resurface you are on your back and paddling like you've never paddled before. It cold and hectic and theres blaring noise as you can hear the screams from the crowd. It feels like an eternity but then you reach the other side and instinctively you do a flip in the pool and kick off the side. Then you are doing the same routine again.<br/>
<br/>
Backstroke, Backstroke, Backstroke. Is all you can think. Then you reach the other wall. And its over.<br/>
<br/>
You peel off your goggles and look up to see the entire Westside swim team bouncing up and down on the side of the pool. You look up at the scoreboard at the long list of names to spot your name "Rachel Burton-Westside" at 2nd place!  <br/>
<br/>
You've taken the silver for Women's Finals Backstroke Competition!<br/>
<br/>
A girl in your nearest lane from another school congratulates you, and you thank her. You are still catching your breath as you get out of the pool when Jamie Bornholm runs up screaming and embraces you in a hug in her own swimsuit. Next thing you know your entire team is swarming you, congratulating you, and hugging you. Even Andrea comes and squeezes you into a hug. <br/>
<br/>
Looking up you spot your parents in the bleachers, they are cheering just as madly.  You raise a hand, smile and wave at them. You then spot Mark Szymanski among the rest of the boys on the Westside swim team clapping from the sidelines. You smile and race up to him, and throw your arms around his neck while on your tip-toes and he hugs you back. <br/>
<br/>
As you are being awarded your silver metal on the pedestal, along with the first and third place finishers you can't help but stare off in his direction smiling, and remembering just last week…<br/>
<br/>
***<br/>
It was when you had finally given into your nerves and anxiety that you had  approached Mark asking him to Senior Prom. You knew it was weird to ask a guy to prom, but it had paid off. He had said Yes! (Much to the disdain of Griffin Lewis who had asked you there the previous day.)<br/>
<br/>
You had gotten your hair, nails, and makeup all done at the salon with your friends the day of. You, Jamie Bornholm, Deanna Showalter, Olivia Byrne, and Christine Coolidge had all decided to wear matching dresses to prom and you chose the baby blue colored dress. <br/>
<br/>
When Mark had arrived at your house he looked so handsome, even in your four inch heels he still towered over you. After meeting your parents and taking some pictures, you had ridden in a limousine to the prom, and gotten pictures with your friends and their dates.<br/>
<br/>
It was during a slow song with you looking into his eyes, your hands on his shoulders and his on your hips, when he had finally reached down and kissed you on the lips. It had honestly felt like it was the best moment in your life.<br/>
<br/>
After the prom and after-party were over, you and him sat alone in his Mercedes which he already parked at the location. He drove you to his own perfect "make-out" area that overlooked the city. It was there and after a long steamy make-out session where he pawed your breasts. <br/>
<br/>
You then had slide out of the top of your dress and removed your bra revealing your chest to him, and he had unbuckled his pants. You were actually somewhat impressed at his length as you placed his cock into your mouth. You told him you had only did this once before, but he didn't seem to mind and after few minutes later he had ejaculated hard right into your mouth which you then shallowed, which you found miserable but were more than willing to do so.<br/>
<br/>
It was a surprise to you when his member was back up in full length in five minutes, and he was busy wrapping his cock in a condom. You had wanted to save yourself until marriage, you had wanted to say no, but the opportunity and excitement of the situation just took hold.<br/>
<br/>
In his back seat he had pulled off the rest of your dress and moved aside your thong revealing your fully nude self to him. It was the first time a guy had ever seen you fully naked (actually second time) and you were feeling extremely nervous, but he was calm and collected and he had entered you and let out a small cry. It was there, in under 5 minutes you had lost your virginity to Mark Szymanski, you had told him that you loved him. <br/>
<br/>
The following day you had asked over text if he wanted to be official, but he gave an excuse that had concerned you to this day.. that was a week ago<br/>
<br/>
*****<br/>
You see one of Mark's teammates elbow him and whisper something in his ear smiling. He looks up in your direction, and you suddenly look away blushing, as you receive your silver medal.  <br/>
<br/>
***<br/>
It was now the last week of school and you couldn't be happier. You had just finished your final group tutoring lesson of the year the day before. You were glad to get to help everyone who needed it for sure, but tutoring had made you realize just how dumb the average joe was... even though you hated thinking of others like that. <br/>
<br/>
Now with swimming over as well as tutoring, all you had to do was pass your last few final exams and the rest would be history. You already received three different full-ride scholarships from three different universities you had applied to, (and one of those being a swim scholarship.)<br/>
<br/>
As you walked to your next study hall you decided to go into the restroom to touch yourself up, just in case you ran into Mark who you haven't seen since Saturday at the State Swim Finals. <br/>
<br/>
There your reflection beckoned you in the mirror. You had grown your hair out longer past your shoulders and today you had curled the ends which gave your ends a cute bouncing motion whenever you moved your hair. You were wearing a long black and white stripped dress that hugged your upper body, black leggings, and some grey boots. On one shoulder rested your small pink backpack with Audrey Hepburn (your idol) on it. <br/>
<br/>
Once you had doubled checked your make-up and gave your reflection a smile you walked outside into the empty halls. But as you passed a corner you saw two people a distance away…. your heart stopped…It was Mark Szymanski locking kips with Lin Pol.<br/>
<br/>
You couldn't control yourself as tears instantly came running down your checks, you knew your mascara and eye liner were now ruining your entire face, as they also ran down in the tears. You suddenly turned around and ran the direction you had came, you couldn't let away see you like this. You burst back into the empty bathroom and locked yourself into a cubical, and started balling. <br/>
<br/>
"No, this wasn't supposed to happen, no no no no!" you wailed as hot tears filled your checks. <br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 113312111211211111113212111113211212111111111
author_id: vunce223
title: Emotional Breakdown
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Warm tears continued to stream down your face as you hold your face in your hands.<br/>
<br/>
<i>"I'm so stupid and ugly!"</i> your thoughts screamed. The words bearing deep into your psyche, <i>"I'm just another stupid slut just like all the other bitchy girls here!" </i><br/>
<br/>
You had told Mark you had loved him the night he had taken your virginity. You had discussed your future together that night too. You had wanted to go off to the same college he was going to attend after high school, so the next day you had applied for the one he did full heartedly prepared to go off following him. <br/>
<br/>
You previously had even (stupidly) pictured yourself living a life with him far in the future too. Your late night fantasies had always been with him across from you, slipping a diamond ring onto your finger, with you in a flowing white wedding dress and him handsomely made up in a suit. You had even thought about how cute your future children would be with his curly blonde hair. Even for the past week you've been throwing around the name "Rachel Szymanski" letting it roll off your tongue, loving how it sounded saying it out loud. <br/>
<br/>
But all those dreams came shattering down now, and you couldn't bare thinking of what you had done. Last weekend over texts, unexpectedly, you had sent him photos of you in various stages of undress, and the last one of you in nothing but a skimpy thong. You were hoping it would peak his attention, to get him to commit to a relationship, Olivia and Christine had both assured you it would work too, it worked with every guy, but it didn't. He only responded a few times after that, and nothing about a future relationship which you had proposed. <br/>
<br/>
You cringed hard at your stupidity again as your mind blared <i>"Just another stupid slut!" </i> <br/>
<br/>
Suddenly, you heard the restroom door open and two sets of footsteps walk in. You  managed to quiet your whimpering for a moment. <br/>
<br/>
"…Yeah she's such a bitch." said a familiar voice on the other side of the stall. After a moment you realize the voice belonged to none other than that of Chelsea Cooper. <br/>
<br/>
As you open the stall door you catch a quick glimpse of yourself in the mirror. Sure enough your face is ruined with long black marks under your eyes from the wet makeup. Chelsea catches you and turns and smiles at you.<br/>
<br/>
"Rachel, I didn't know you were in there. Wow, are you okay? You look dreadful." she says with a click of her tongue.The other girl who you now recognize as Amanda Ferguson from your AP classes,  looks at you with concern and asks if everything is okay.<br/>
<br/>
You wipe the tears both eyes and glare at Chelsea.<br/>
<br/>
"How long has she been with Mark?" you say<br/>
<br/>
Chelsea drops her faux concern and says with a sneer " Yeah, I don't have a clue who you are talking about."<br/>
<br/>
You take in a deep breath. Chelsea Cooper has always intimidated you, as a guy and as a girl, and the fact that she towers over you, especially now with her in heeled wedges, makes you nervous.<br/>
<br/>
But you speak with a beating heart. "Lin Pol, has she been dating Mark Szymanski? I know how you operate you know everything about the cheerleading squad."<br/>
<br/>
Chelsea's eyes perk up, with a smile "Oh Linie? She's been with Mark, on and off that is. Last I heard she broke it off, but later made up with him after prom night."<br/>
<br/>
Then it hits you, the night of prom, you vividly remember slow dancing with Mark.. right next to Lin Pol and another guy. ...He used you that night just to tempt Lin into getting back together!<br/>
<br/>
You couldn't help it as fresh tears renewed into the corners of your eyes and you quickly brushed passed the two girls and out of the restroom.<br/>
<br/>
You could feel the tears again roll down your checks as you flip through the horrible picture of you and Mark on prom day, which you set as the background of your phone, trying to text message the only person who was ever really there for you: Griffin Lewis. You haven't spoken to him since rejecting him from prom, but you know he would respond. He always did.<br/>
<br/>
As you are looking down at your phone you turn a corner and instantly bump into someone. You only clip him, but you've spilled the papers in his hands. Turning towards the boy you apologize "Oh my gosh! I'm so so sorry!"<br/>
<br/>
It takes you a second to suddenly realize who exactly bumped into. It was Will Prescott, or Beta Will Prescott to be more precise. He leans down to pick up his papers telling you that its okay. Though you bend down to help him pick up the papers as well. <br/>
<br/>
You can't believe you didn't recognize him at first, but then again its not like you have any classes with him. The most you've ever seen of him over the last few months was just in passing between your classes in the hallways at school. Whenever you noticed him all you ever gave each other was a small wave here, and a smile there. Nothing ever more than a quick "Hi" in passing. <br/>
<br/>
As you both stand up after retrieving all the dropped items you brush a stray strand of hair out of your face behind your ear and apologize again. You notice he's put on just a little bit of muscle and his whiskers seemed to have grown out a bit. <br/>
<br/>
"Hey no biggie we all have our days," he replies. <br/>
<br/>
He stares at you for a second, "Hey is everything alright?"<br/>
<br/>
"Oh yeah every thing is fine!  Its just uhhhh," You could feel the pain welling back inside you. " Uhhhh, No, everything is not alright." you say.<br/>
<br/>
"Hey, well… I mean, if you want to talk about it, I really don't have class now." he replies. </span></div></div>


path: 1133121112112111111132121111132112121111111111
author_id: vunce223
title: Will who you don't know.
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>"….Wow, I never would have believed it either." you say with a small laugh. <br/>
<br/>
You were sitting across from your Beta in the school library catching up with everything your golem has been up to this last school semester. It was your study hall so you had enough time to fix your face in the library's restroom without anyone noticing you. Your beta waited patiently for you to finish outside. And afterword, surprisingly enough, had kept you curious enough to temporarily get your mind off Mark and your pain. <br/>
<br/>
Though you've actually learned a great deal about the home life that you've been missing out on over the last six months. Apparently he will be attending community college next fall, studying for an engineering degree for two years before going off to university to save money. Apparently his grades had somewhat improved since last semester but he was still quite nervous about the up coming senior finals. You told him if he needed tutoring for the finals you'd be happy to help, but he had declined the offer. Though now he was talking about his current job…<br/>
<br/>
"Yup, I've been working there for nearly five months now! Packing, carrying, and unloading the shipments really builds the muscles strong. Quite the workout indeed." He states as he flexes one bicep and shooting out his other arm straight forward like some type of muscle man. That makes you laugh again. <br/>
<br/>
Apparently he'd gotten a nice paying after school job at a local Amazon warehouse packing and unloading shipments. He definitely seemed to have lost the little fat around his checks and put on a little muscle on his arms. He tells you they keep him really busy running around over there. <br/>
<br/>
"So, hows life been like with all of the other golems? I think I've seen you all eating lunch in the cafeteria together." you ask. <br/>
<br/>
"Oh the other golems? Well I guess they not all golems anymore.. Last I heard only Fairfax, and you were the last two people to have yet return to your original bodies."<br/>
<br/>
Now this really surprised you. But then again you haven't talked with any of your old group of friends in months. Sure, after the first few weeks of dawning the masks and becoming girls you all kept in touch, but eventually the mask's personalities had taken hold and you and others had all gone your separate ways. Becoming more and more like the original identities of the masks. <br/>
<br/>
The last time you hung out with any-one of them was when Carlos in the Eva mask came to a few of your group tutoring lessons. You had only talked about the masks privately with her for only a couple of minutes, but besides that is was business as usual. As you and her had gone back to exactly how the real Rachel and Eva would normally act during a tutoring session. But that was over two months ago..<br/>
<br/>
<i>"So that means…wow you really did just stand up to the real Chelsea Cooper in the restroom today, and not someone in a mask…". </i> That gave you a rush of inner strength, but you shook that exciting feeling away to ask...<br/>
<br/>
"Why did they ever give it up?" you ask. <br/>
<br/>
The golem shrugs. <br/>
<br/>
"I don't know. Maybe they got bored with it, maybe they were beginning to miss their old families. I don't know. But all I do know is that Fairfax refused to let anyone switch their masks for someone new. And in his own words: 'whoever gave up on the "experiment" forfeited the right to use the masks again."  <br/>
<br/>
This left you shocked, never once did you think about returning to your old life during your time as Rachel, hell you barely even thought about it, but apparently only you and Fairfax kept up with the masks. You couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing…<br/>
<br/>
"So.. they are all themselves again?" you ask<br/>
<br/>
"Yup more or less." the golem replies<br/>
<br/>
This gave you pause. Are you really willing to stay like this forever? I mean life as Rachel was great, and at times wonderful, but right now after the revelation with Mark it was seeming really really crappy... <br/>
<br/>
You let out a sigh. "Well I mean the whole idea was to live under the masks for six months right .. I mean I guess its time for me to go back too…"<br/>
<br/>
That actually surprised you, even as it left your cherry lip-baumed flavored lips, and you almost wanted to take back those word immediately. But you couldn't tell if it was guilt of keeping a person golemized under a mask for six months or the pain of the heartbreak that made you say it.<br/>
<br/>
But your golem looks at you in shock. "Sooo did you want to swap back now or….?"<br/>
<br/>
You shake your head, "Well no, not right now. Not with finals around the corner this week. Maybe after this week is over..we could …swap back.."<br/>
<br/>
"Okay I mean your the boss so how are we going to plan this? I mean I can..."<br/>
<br/>
Suddenly the bell rang marking the end of the class period. <br/>
<br/>
"Shit! I should have been studying for my final at 6th period! I'll see you later." says your golem suddenly as it springs up and jogs out of the library.<br/>
<br/>
You're actually a bit relieved its gone though, as your mind races. You are not sure why you suddenly wanted to go back to being Will Prescott, and you starting to regret ever bringing it up in the first . But deep down theres a bit of longing telling you that you can't back down on it now… you need to do back.<br/>
<br/>
But what do you do?<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 11331211121121111111321211111321121211111111111
author_id: vunce223
title: Homecoming
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>You are sitting on your bed, holding your cat, and surveilling your room one last time. As you've just received a text from your golem saying, "Be there in 15 mins." You're also feeling a bit depressed staring at the walls and all the items in the room, after all, its a room you remember living in since you were only 7 years old, but in actuality you've only called this room yours for the last 6 months. <br/>
<br/>
You stop petting your cat as Jaime Borhholm, your best friend, exits your bathroom. For the past week she's been sleeping over at your place for some "emotional support" since your run in with Mark. Both your parents were both fine with it, of course. You had shared the bed together over the last week, as she was helping you get over any crying spells that popped up. But you were also helping her with any questions that popped up when she was studying for her final exam. So it was a fair trade off. <br/>
<br/>
"So are you sure you're going to be okay without me for the rest of the week?" she asks as she walks over to her small overnight suitcase in nothing but a bra and panties. Looking for clothes to get dressed in. <br/>
<br/>
"Yes, I think I'll okay for the rest of the weekend." you reply as you drink in her body.<br/>
<br/>
You have absolutely no sexual attraction to her but you appreciate her long creamy legs, her firm butt checks showing out of the edges of her panties, and the tops of her large breasts peering out of her bra. You don't get aroused by them as you even have memories from years back of sleepovers since middle school of catching quick glimpses of her naked body changing. But yet you still wonder how it will be like going back to liking girls again. That sends a shiver down your spine.  <br/>
<br/>
<br/>
"And besides I think I've stolen you away from this new Eastside boyfriend of yours long enough." you add with a smile.<br/>
<br/>
"Pssssh! You're literally my B.F.F I'll blow him off whenever for you." she adds as she pull up some jean shorts then walks over and embraces you into a tight hug. Your chin rests right above the cleft of her boobs tucked in the bra.<br/>
<br/>
"Damn, we would mark a good lesbian couple." she says, <br/>
<br/>
"We would." you say, as you both giggle and end your embrace. <br/>
<br/>
"Remember everything is going to be alright Rachel." she says as she finishes getting dressed, grabs all of her things from your room and exits out the door. <br/>
<br/>
"I hope so." you idly think once she left out the front door. <br/>
<br/>
*<br/>
<br/>
No sooner has she left when you hear the doorbell ring which makes you jump in surprise. Here that soon? It felt like this entire week just rushed by...<br/>
<br/>
Your Golem greets you at the front door as you let him in. As you lead him in your room he looks at you with a smile.<br/>
<br/>
"What?"<br/>
<br/>
"So was that Jaime Bornholm who just left? I saw her leave before getting out of my truck. "  <br/>
<br/>
"Yeah so?" you say<br/>
<br/>
"So did you two like.." He says as he makes a scissoring motion with both his hands running them together. <br/>
<br/>
"Ewww, No she's my best friend! Look just take off your clothes and just lay down on the bed before I change my mind." you state.<br/>
<br/>
As your golem does so you make note of his body. <i>"Tall and hairy and skinny"</i> are the words the pop into your mind as you examine your old body. As he kicks off his boxer shorts you feel your face change red and turn to avoid seeing him nude. <br/>
<br/>
"Here just put on this night dress while I get everything set." you say as you toss him a long silken nightdress, then make your way into the bathroom. <br/>
<br/>
You study yourself in the bathroom mirror . Your hair is piled atop your head with a hairband and some bobby pins which you pull out, letting your hair drape down your shoulders. You take out your earrings and pull off your white tank top. Next comes off your grey sports bra and your breasts fall out. You kneed them with your hands one last time before stepping out of the pleated skirt that hung around your waist. <br/>
<br/>
As you fold it on the counter top it gives you a momentary memory of buying it at the mall last month. But you never got a chance to wear it in public, which is why you are wearing it now. The thought depresses you. <br/>
<br/>
But you finally pull down the white panties with a bow around your waist and study your form naked in the mirror for a final time. <i>"Why couldn't Mark just be happy with this?"</i> You think as the self-deprecation started to kick in, but before it can you reach up to remove the mask. <br/>
<br/>
Your first sense (besides the initial wooziness) is how small everything in the bathroom looks. After all you just gained nearly a foot in height instantly. You then feel your hairy legs rubbing up against each other and it makes you wince. You're now also aware of the feelings between your legs, then stare down to your dick and balls sticking out of a small bush of curly hair. The feeling of your old body feels familiar yet at the same time feeling very bizarre and gross. <br/>
<br/>
You then pick up a new mask which you made at the beginning of the week. You had sought the help of Maria to help you make a new mask and explain your situation to her. She refused initially but reluctantly agreed in the end. So Beta-Fairfax had created the new blank mask and the following day. You only needed a new mask if you were going to make this work… <br/>
<br/>
You lay down on the fluffy bath mat on the floor before holding up the new mask and placing it on over your face…<br/>
<br/>
*** <br/>
You wake up feeling dizzy and feel the weight of your new body shift as you move. You look down to see a pair of large breasts and further down to see a dark curly bush between your legs. You get up and look at yourself in the mirror, Alyssa Burton's (Rachel Burton's mother) pale face looks back at you. <br/>
<br/>
Under the sink were a pair of clothes you had stolen from the real Alyssa Burton's laundry sitting in the dryer the night before. You slip on the black yoga pants  and snap on a white bra quickly, (luckily you had enough memory as your time as Rachel to remember how to do it without a memory strip.) You then dawn a tight red shirt over that.  <br/>
<br/>
You look at yourself in the mirror and you fix your long cascading black hair into a quick ponytail, and turn around for a moment to admire your butt in the yoga pants. You admit your curvy figure fills out those pants well, but a stray memory still has you think of your reflection as "Mom". Then opening the vanity drawers with the many different types of makeup and do up your face quickly, still relying on your past memories.<br/>
<br/>
Maria had refused to give you another mind strip, but you would have to make due.You had gotten a mask of Rachel's mother in her sleep while taking a nap one afternoon, after contemplating who would be the best person to break the news to the returning Rachel -her mother or her best friend? After deep introspection you realized the former. <br/>
<br/>
As you exited the bathroom you see that the Golem had already stripped of his clothes and was only wearing the nightgown which was obviously too short, thus leaving it's junk visible to you. It grew just a little as he saw you enter the bedroom, but you made your way over to the golem and removed the mask quick enough before he could say a word.<br/>
<br/>
The sleeping form of Rachel had then appeared where the golem was resting in the nightgown, she looked exactly like she did on the day you had first became her, and not like the Rachel you had grown to become. That changed once you had dropped the mask with her own name on it over her face, without a mind strip. The change was subtle as you noticed her hair grow out to the length you had grown it yourself over the last six months. <br/>
<br/>
"Rachel. Rachel Honey." you had called out in a panicked tone after the mask was on.<br/>
<br/>
Soon after the real Rachel wearing her own mask slowly opened her eyes.<br/>
<br/>
"Mom?" she said as she slowly survived the room. <br/>
<br/>
"Rachel, thank goodness are you okay? You had tripped and fallen down the stairs, you were knocked unconscious for the last 5 minutes!"<br/>
<br/>
She leaned up on one shoulder and looked around the room. <br/>
<br/>
"Can you tell me the last thing you can remember dear?" you said while stroking her head <br/>
<br/>
"I..I was with some friends meeting them at… I was in storage facility when…. Where..How did I get home?" she states with worry. <br/>
<br/>
"Rachel look at me, you have just tripped going down the stairs of your own home and it looks like you might have hit your head hard enough to suffer a minor head injury." you said sounding as much like the concerned mother you had appeared to be. <br/>
<br/>
Suddenly with a burst of shock went through her as she shot up and asked you for the time. After telling her the time and date, she began to panic and tears came into her eyes. After reassuring her she probably is just experiencing a short burst of amnesia, you had called an ambulance for her on the house phone.<br/>
<br/>
With her parents both gone and the paramedics taking her to the hospital for an emergency cat scan you were am to make a quick escape removing your mask and leaving with the clothes your beta left behind, and in your truck he had parked out on the street… </span></div></div>


path: 113312111211211111113212111113211212111111111111
author_id: vunce223
title: The odd feeling of being a guy, again
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>As you drove your pick up truck to your old home you couldn't get over the strange feeling of your cock resting between your legs and how it felt every time you shifted your legs. This coupled along with the feeling of driving a truck instead of a small volkswagen beetle made it all the more strange. <br/>
<br/>
"Damn I never thought about the long term effects of wearing these masks," you think. Even your thinking process seems slower now. But hopefully your mind would adjust soon, you wish in the back of your head.<br/>
<br/>
You park your truck in the driveway and walk up to your home you get a rush of nostalgia as you open your front door. Not much has changed since the six months you were gone. You look over to see your brother watching cartoons on the sofa, he glances at you for a second then turns his attention back to the show. You sigh as you trudge up to your room and open the door. <br/>
<br/>
Wow, you forgot how messy you used to be. Your golem wasn't to blame for the mess you think as you start tidying up the room, no you always kept it cluttered with junk everywhere, unlike your old…<i>"No stop thinking about it,"</i> you mentally willed yourself as you pick up your room. <br/>
<br/>
After you finish cleaning the room you fall back on your bed with a sigh, <i>"It was the right thing to do."</i> you kept thinking. As you drift to sleep. <br/>
<br/>
You awaken with a groan, feeling uncomfortable and sore. Checking the time on your phone reveals its nearly 6PM and you can see the sun starting to set, casting shadows across your room through the blinds. You scratch your balls as you walk over to your lap-top and pull up Facebook. It surprises you at first to see no new messages but then you realize you're on your own profile, the Will Prescott profile. <br/>
<br/>
You sigh again not wanting to do it, but you carry on with logging out of your own profile and logging into Rachel Burton's profile which you can still faintly remember the password to. Sure enough there's many messages and comments across her profile, with things such as: "Get Well Soon!" and "I hope you are doing okay."  <br/>
<br/>
Apparently the word had gotten out that she had fallen, and had gotten short term amnesia from an apparent concussion. She had even uploaded a picture of herself in a hospital gown and bed an hour ago, smiling faintly and waving at the camera. Her parents must have taken it. A caption near the picture said, "I'm doing okay, I can't really remember much of the past few months but I'm going to see a psychotherapist tomorrow. If you want you can message me helping me remember anything over the last school year." The picture had nearly 200 likes already. <br/>
<br/>
You sigh once again, reading the messages felt nice but again they weren't actually for you. You close Facebook and then notice a Westside senior yearbook sitting on the edge of your desk, your golem must have ordered one, you bring it close and look in the front cover. Only a small handful of signatures dotted the inside, nothing compared to your own year book you had as Rachel who barely had enough room left in her yearbook for additional signatures. <br/>
<br/>
You flip to your picture in the back with the rest of the seniors, just a goofy looking smile on your face and poorly combed hair. Yup the golem sure nailed you down perfectly… Nothing like the multiple times you had appeared in the book as Rachel. Senior picture, debate team, and swim team pictures you all looked good in, you even got to post your own paragraph in a section reserved for the 4.0 GPA students. Yup, you had carved out your own little slice of the year book as Rachel, and nothing for the forgettable William Prescott. <br/>
<br/>
The thought made you depressed as you closed the book and hopped back on your bed. You had just woken up from a nap but already you were feeling tired again. A note your golem had left you said you'd be working tomorrow at the Amazon warehouse with the address and time, and you weren't particularly looking forward to it either. <br/>
<br/>
As you leaned your head against the pillow, you thought of where you were just 24 hours ago. Laying in bed next to the beautiful Jaime Bornholm and you wrapped up in your own beautiful body of a girl just like her. "Damn, I could have totally just reached over and kissed her, that would have been hot." But you didn't, all you did was watch a chick flick and talked about guys and other seemingly boring stuff. <br/>
<br/>
Going from a 100% straight girl to a 100% straight guy really didn't work well for sexual fantasies you realize. Your cock didn't get hard at the thought… but what did make it hard were the thoughts of Mark's uncircumcised cock the night you had…"No," you think. "I'm definitely not gay now!" But thinking about it still made you get a little excited.. <br/>
<br/>
Shit, the long term effects of these masks are no joke.. it seriously messed with your psyche. Hopefully they will go away soon you hoped. After all you could still feel the Rachel thoughts fading quickly, not the thoughts of the last six months, but of the memories before you had became her and the mannerisms too it felt. <br/>
<br/>
That night you took a cold shower to try and help clear your head. <br/>
<br/>
*<br/>
<br/>
Over the next week life passed by slowly. Work at the warehouse was long and tedious, and your supervisors, on a handful of times, called you out for slipping on your work. Life at you house wasn't that exciting either. It was summer vacation and you had to be getting ready for community college starting in the fall, your parents reminded you over and over again. Your olds friends were really boring and immature too you realized, and you never quite got back into the video games you played with them. You kept getting frustrated and losing too. <br/>
<br/>
Nights would be boring too, you kept looking at your phone excepting texts or phone calls to come in like they used to, but they didn't. You often found yourself logging into Rachel's Facebook account, (making sure not to like or comment on anything), but just browsing through her messages. Apparently she was doing much better from what you learned so that was good. However, you couldn't help but feel jealous at times just reading some of her messages from her friends, after all they were all your friends up to a week ago, and now they don't even know you exist. <br/>
<br/>
But you kept having to remind yourself that you were being irrational. You pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down all these things that made your life better:<br/>
~No more periods<br/>
~No more sitting down on public bathrooms when you have to pee<br/>
~No more makeup <br/>
~ No more insecurity<br/>
~Being able to walk outside at night alone<br/>
~No more creepy people checking you out...<br/>
<br/>
You tried to think of more things as you looked down at the messy list in pencil you just scribbled out. You were having trouble thinking of anything more, and in the back of your mind you even started listing the negatives. But you quickly shook your head of those thoughts and decided to just watch some porn to get your mind off it.You were glad you were back to finding girls attractive again, as the first two times you tried earlier in the week you shamefully had to get off on gay-porn which wasn't your proudest moment. <br/>
<br/>
 But as you started you business you couldn't help but notice the outfits that the women were wearing instead of the actual women themselves. As frustration set in you decided just to close the window altogether. The back of your mind was racing as a cold sweat dripped down your forehead, <i>"I need to go back. I need to become Rachel again."</i><br/>
<br/>
But another thought told you that you are being fucking psychotic about this. You can't just go back and step into the life as Rachel again… or can you?</span></div></div>


path: 113312111211211111113212111113211212112
author_id: vunce223
title: A Rachel out of character
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Along the drive back to your house you really can't get the thoughts of Mark being at the house party and being gloriously single. You've been unconsciously rubbing your thighs together along the drive you've also been rubbing the top of your work pants with the palm of your free hand when not its not needed on the stirring wheel. As a result you can feel a subtle warmth radiating from your lower areas.<br/>
<br/>
It occurs to you that Rachel usually doesn't do such things such as fantasize about these things while driving, but then again you're not exactly fully Rachel, but Rachel with the mind of Will Prescott hidden in the background. You contemplate why exactly you've been holding yourself to fit into the life of Rachel Burton so perfectly, after all you've only been doing everything exactly as Rachel would be doing. But why? You already know that you have all her upstairs knowledge and can fit flawlessly into the gap of her life you filled. Were you just doing it to prove to yourself the masks worked? But you already know the answer to whether the masks work or not so theres no reason you have to keep following her precise routines and schedules to a tee. <br/>
<br/>
As you pull in and park your Volks Beetle into the side driveway of your home you send out a text to Christine:<br/>
<br/>
<i> Okay I'm out of work now, so where exactly is this party? :) </i><br/>
<br/>
You receive a reply two mins later as you walk into your home:<br/>
<br/>
<i> yaaaaassssssss I can just pick you up if your at home</i><br/>
<br/>
<i> okay how long til you're here? </i><br/>
<br/>
<i> give me 20 mins, wear something sexy too </i><br/>
<br/>
"Christine Coolidge always was that really wild girl" your memories reveal. Rachel and Christine met freshman year of high school but didn't become friends until they both joined the swim team their Junior year. You shoot up the stairs and close the door and lock it, stripping out of your work uniform you toss them on the bed to fold later. Peeling of your white underwear reveals a rather damp spot in the front, a small sniff confirms they need a wash and you toss them into the purple hamper on the other side of the room. Christine is going to be looking real hot tonight so you might as well be too, even if thats a look Rachel typically avoids in public. <br/>
<br/>
Pulling open the top dresser drawer you exchange the beige bra you are currently wearing for a purple push-up one thats hidden in the back. You brush a stray hair out of your face as you examine your bust in the dresser mirror being held up with the bra. Your breasts aren't nearly as impressive as some of your other female friends but they look nice in the push up. You then pull out a black thong and pull up so its nestled tight between your checks. It was a bit uncomfortable as Rachel always felt like thongs gave her weegies but you adjust it until it rests comfortably between your legs. <br/>
<br/>
Pulling open the walk-in closet a variety of different outfits appears before you and many different combinations of dress appear in your mind. "Hmmm That skirt? No. That would be a hot top. No." You try on a couple of different combinations until it hits you. You walk to the back of the top closet and push away the one-piece swimsuits from junior year team, to reveal a bag from a department store and pull out an almost too short pair of black jean-shorts. Rachel only ever wore them once in the department store's changing room, but after purchasing them and taking them home she thought they were a bit too revealing and hasn't found the time to return them. You slip up the tight shorts which takes a fair bit of effort but they slide up your legs, the top resting at your navel but the bottoms just barely covering your ass. But you like how they show off your butt.<br/>
<br/>
Throwing on a light pink top with floral designs that gives others a little bit of cleavage and a half-inch peek of your belly, and a unbuttoned flannel shirt that drapes down and hangs around your arms completes your look. A twist in the mirror reveals your new look, while you might not have the largest bust, your ass and creamy legs definitely make up for it you think. Finally some short socks and black vans go on your feet. A quick touch up of your make-up in the bathroom and you exit your bedroom.<br/>
<br/>
As you walk out into the hallway you hear the television on from down stairs, confirming your father is in the living room. "Shoot" you softly say, as if anyone is a hard-ass it most certainly would be Roger Burton a police officer for the next county over. But thinking quickly you step back in the room and pull out a large purse from the closet and quickly exchange your outfit for some sweat pants and a large t-shirt. You stuff your other clothes into the large purse and head downstairs.<br/>
<br/>
"Hey, where are you going off to?" Mr.Burton calls out from the living room as you make your way to the front door. "Oh, Christine is picking me up we're going to watch a movie at her house, maybe grab some fast food at where's open late, you know." He eyes you from the recliner, " You've got your pepper spray?" You let out a breath and an annoyed looking smile, "Yes, Daddy its always on my keychain" you say. "Any boys are going to be there?" "No Dad just Christine and me!" you say as you walk over and plant a kiss on his forehead before quickly walking out the front door. "Call me if anything happens...." he calls out as you lock the door. <br/>
<br/>
Christine's car is already sitting idly on the street as you walk up. When you're in the passenger seat you look over to see Christine touching up her make-up and playing with her long dirty blonde hair in mirror. "Rachel! You were supposed to get dressed up." You close the door and hold up your purse, " My Dad was in the living room I'll change in the car." She lets out a laugh and puts the car into drive.<br/>
<br/>
It was a bit of a challenge putting your outfit back on, especially the jean-shorts but by the time you pull into a street thats loaded with parked cars you've already dressed and fixed your hair. "Wait, how big is this party?" you ask, as you notice many different guys and girls standing outside the house. " Oh yeah, Michael's older brother is in a frat, so there's going to be some older guys here too. Heard they rent out these houses when they have parties." <br/>
<br/>
"You never said it'd be a Rager!" You are suddenly feeling a bit nervous of even coming. Christine makes an exaggerated frown, "Come-on no one else wanted to go!" You reluctantly agree and you both make your way to the house. There was an older college looking guy up front taking entrance fee's up front, but when he see's you both he smiles and lets you two pass. As you enter the house you are immediately you are greeted with the blaring smell of alcohol and pot, along with a heat radiating from all the people in the place.. The music also got much louder to the point of blaring. "How the heck am I going to even find anyone!" you shout to Christine, but she only replies with a "What!?"<br/>
<br/>
As the party continues you stand in a small area free from any dancing bodies and the beer-pong game going on in the crowded kitchen. You are feeling really uncomfortable as Christine left you to talk with someone, but you have spotted a few people you and Rachel have seen around high school. Suddenly you glimpse Mark on the other side of the kitchen filling a red plastic couple with some cheap vodka, your heart flutters for a second, but as you watch you are tapped on the shoulder by a very tall looking college student, "HI, the names Kevin! What's yours?!" the giant yells over the music reaching out the hand without a drink in it. "Rachel! Nice to meet you!" you say shaking his hand. "Can I get you a drink or something?" <br/>
<br/>
You are already nervous from the party, but for some reason this guy's presence soothes you. He is pretty handsome your mind tells you from the poor lighting, you don't to be rude and walk away, but you're really wanting to go over and talk to Mark.   <br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 113312111211211111113212111113212
title: The Awkward Escapades
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>You are sitting at the front of the Arby's restaurant rapping your fingers against the dirty table wishing you were anywhere but here. But you were drove her by someone else so you can't leave.... <br/>
<br/>
You thought this "bite to eat" with your cool new friend Rachel Burton would lead you to a small group of new friends and possibly even a relationship with her. You had originally started talking to her to get a mask of her but then she turned out to be the "1%" of girls who were actually friendly, and you had made a quick friendship with her in the library then she invited you to hangout with her and her friends today after class. She had even offered to pick you up today which you readily agreed, then the disappointments started happening. <br/>
<br/>
What you thought would be a solo ride with just her, actually turned into you being stuffed in the back of her Slug-bug with a bunch of other dudes you barely knew.<br/>
<br/>
What you thought would be a little get together actually turned into a sausage party of 3 girls and 8 guys, (counting you.)<br/>
<br/>
Who you thought was a shy girl of few friends was actually quite the social butterfly with many friends, especially guy friends. <br/>
<br/>
You had tried talking with her a few times but each time you were interrupted by the louder and more aggressive guy at the "get together". Eventually you got stuck in the corner booth talking to the only kid more of a virgin then yourself, and he would not shut up about video games. You eventually got annoyed and just ate your food in silence as the louder more extroverted boys took up the attention of the three girls: Rachel Burton, Jamie Bornholm, and some other blonde girl you did not know the name of.<br/>
<br/>
Supposedly some of the guys were just out of town friends of Jaime Bornholm and they were visiting, while others were from Eastmen High. You only caught a few of their names: David, William, Kyle...but you did not care.. who you really cared about was Rachel..<br/>
<br/>
You looked over at her and practically slapped yourself in the face cringing. She was so cute and petite and pretty, no fucking way she'd try to go out with you, not when she had an ocean of better possibilities. You even <i>stupidly</i> brought condoms in your over sized backpack which made you look like an idiot in your car ride over, in the case things got "serious" but of course they wouldn't. (Good things those fuckers didn't look in the backpack too see the condoms!) <br/>
<br/>
You sigh and think to yourself, "No way I'll ever get in her pants .." but then you pause.... The two masks they are still in your backpack in the car you can still do a switch...<br/>
<br/>
..When you had gotten home today you were so excited to go on a date today with Rachel, you quickly pumped one out and then ashamed you had belittled your past self, "Wow you were actually going to use that disgusting mask to take over her life, really? YOU'RE BEING CREEPY WILL. Rachel is a really nice girl!" you told yourself. But you had then thrown the masks in your backpack anyway in hopes of eventually showing her your magic masks as friends..<br/>
<br/>
What an idiot you now think, "The only way I'll get in her pants is literally getting in them, but do I want to do that?"<br/>
<br/>
You look over at Rachel currently engaged in a conversation, laughing, with a couple of guys in the booth behind her, she's spun in the cushion giving you a nice view of her silky brown hair, and a nice outline of her ass in her black yoga pants. <br/>
<br/>
"Yes..maybe becoming Rachel for a little bit will be a kind of payback, making me come out here and waste my time... and lead me on." You know thats an extremely horrible thing to do to someone for such a petty inconvenience.. to completely take over their identity of someone and breach their inner most privacy, of not just their body but of their mind. Then trap them in a comatose state, they have no way of breaking out of....while everyone thinks they are fine. <br/>
<br/>
You pause for a minute at the realization of the true horror of the specifics of these masks, but surprisingly you arent feeling guilty about using them you are actually feeling very excited out it.  </span></div></div>


path: 11331211121121111111321211111322
author_id: seuzz
title: The Danger from Delp
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>It gave you a funny feeling when you were walking out your front door: the thought, <i>I might go home tonight as another person.</i><br/>
<br/>
But Fairfax's question is like an earthquake. He's asking for a name of the person you'll be impersonating.<br/>
<br/>
You will have her mind, her friends, her life, her body. You will be her. When anyone calls her name, you will be the one to answer.<br/>
<br/>
You shiver hard. But you give the name that was floating in your mind when you woke up.<br/>
<br/>
"Gillian Kiefer."<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax rears back. "Gillian? But she's not -- Not -- "<br/>
<br/>
"I know, but there's something going on there, something I should've mentioned yesterday." You hang your head and kick at the ground.<br/>
<br/>
You're weren't sure why you didn't tell the guys about it all -- how you were the first one to find their grimoire, and how you tried to give it away and ultimately lost it. But now that you're facing Fairfax, you <i>do</i> know why you held your tongue. It's such a frankly unbelievable story, it would be easiest to just not say anything.<br/>
<br/>
But you need to tell him, because you need to explain why you're so worried about Braydon Delp. <br/>
<br/>
Fairfax prods you out of your hesitation. "Yeah? What?"<br/>
<br/>
"This book that you guys are using, the one that Carlos showed me? The one that explains how to make and use this stuff? Well, it used to be mine."<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax doesn't react.<br/>
<br/>
"I found at it Arnholms'," you continue. "The used bookstore, you know? Anyway, I didn't know what it could do, and I sort of lost it -- "<br/>
<br/>
"Wait, hang on," says Fairfax. "You're saying that book <i>belongs</i> to you?"<br/>
<br/>
"Well, no." You make a face. "I only paid two dollars for it at the used bookstore, so if you want to give me two bucks for it, we can call it square if you want. But I'm telling you that because of something else you need to know."<br/>
<br/>
You look around, as though just thinking of Delp might summon him, like the devil. You pull Fairfax farther away from the stream of students heading toward the gym breezeway. <br/>
<br/>
"So, I  brought up to school, and I lost it in a fight. I got in a fight with Joshua Call and Jamie Rennerhoff and those guys, okay? And I had that book in my bag that day, and when all my shit fell out they carried it off. Later on I asked George Mendoza about it, because he'd been there -- " You notice that Fairfax knits his eyebrows at the mention of Mendoza's name. "And he said that he sold it someone. To you, right?"<br/>
<br/>
"No, to Carlos, actually," he says. "But Mendoza -- ? No, go on."<br/>
<br/>
"So I started to asking around, just quietly, you know, to see who might have picked it up. And one of the guys I mentioned it to was Braydon Delp. You know, Braydon, right? And the kind of shit <i>he's</i> into."<br/>
<br/>
"Uh huh." Fairfax is staring at you intently.<br/>
<br/>
"Well, Braydon got interested in it, and he came to me yesterday and said that he's tracked down the book. The name of it, I mean. He's found this professor up at the university, and this professor told him that the book actually belongs to <i>him,</i> and that he sold it accidentally to Arnholms'."<br/>
<br/>
"No way!" Fairfax exclaims.<br/>
<br/>
"Well, that's what Braydon told. He wanted me to go up to the university to talk to this professor, but I met up with you guys instead. I'm really glad I did, because -- " You glance around, and pull Fairfax even further to the side. "Because I got to thinking last night," you continue in a very low voice, "and maybe I dreamed about it too, because when I woke up this morning I had this hole in my gut from nearly worrying myself to death."<br/>
<br/>
Your voice drops to a near-whisper. "What if this professor, if had the book like he says he did, what if he's got golems or whatever of his own walking around? Like we're talking about doing -- fake people and impersonations and everything else. If it was his book, he'd have had time to cook up a bunch of them, right? And what if he's got them out looking for this book, to get it back?" You grip Fairfax's arm. "What if they trace it to us?"<br/>
<br/>
These thoughts were terrible enough last night, but this morning, as you voice them, your blood runs colder and colder, and a tremble starts down inside your guts. You can feel it in your face, too, and you're certain you have turned very pale -- maybe even as pale as Fairfax, who looks like he only suffers direct sunlight while moving from his house to his car.<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax's expression has turned rather grim, but he says nothing, but only turns to stare thoughtfully into the parking lot. "Yeah," he finally says when he speaks, "I wish you had mentioned this. It's certainly a complication and I'll have to think about it. By the way," he then says, and turns a sharp glance onto you. "How close are you to Eva and Jessica Garner?"<br/>
<br/>
"Huh? Not real close."<br/>
<br/>
"But you talk to them? Can you talk them into going out to the storage complex with you?"<br/>
<br/>
"I don't know what excuse I could give."<br/>
<br/>
"Well, try to at least think of one. I've seen you talk to them, so you're our best link to getting them alone so we can do a substitution. You only have to get one of them to come with you, of course," he adds. "After we get one we can use her to get the other."<br/>
<br/>
"Well, Keith sometimes talks to them too," you say. "To be honest, I'm a little more worried about this Braydon thing."<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah, I see. And that's why you're suggesting Gillian, right? So you can get close to him?" His brow furrows. "So why not aim for Braydon himself? He'd know directly what's going on, and he might not tell Gillian."<br/>
<br/>
"I thought about that, but I figured you'd be more interested in having Gillian as one of your, uh, <i>agents,</i> or whatever we're supposed to be. Her being a <i>her.</i>"<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax waves his hand. "That doesn't matter. Anyway, we can do a temporary replacement on Braydon, if that's what we need. But let me think about all this first. There's something about it that I don't understand. It doesn't make sense somewhere."<br/>
<br/>
That's fine with you, and Fairfax asks you to look for him in Mr. Kaminski's classroom in the Agricultural Annex during fifth period, when you both have lunch. After that, you part.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
"You get it all set with Philip and them?" Keith drawls when you drop down next to him in Hawks's film class.<br/>
<br/>
"Getting there," you reply. "I need a favor from you, though. Find a way to get Eva or Jessica out to the storage complex, so those guys can, you know, do the old switcheroo."<br/>
<br/>
Keith's eyes bulge. "I can't do that!" he hisses.<br/>
<br/>
"Sure you can."<br/>
<br/>
"No I can't! I don't talk to them!" His breathing turns labored.<br/>
<br/>
"Sure you do. All the time. It's why they don't like you."<br/>
<br/>
"Exactly! I ask either of them to go someplace with me, they're gonna think it's so I can -- " He glances around, and leans forward to growl furtively. "Molest them."<br/>
<br/>
"Naturally. That's what you <i>are</i> going to do, basically."<br/>
<br/>
Keith bares his teeth at you. "Anyway, I heard that it's <i>your</i> job -- "<br/>
<br/>
"I got something else on my mind. But with Eva and Jessica, don't tell them you want to be there alone with them. Make it something to do with the videos that Mike and Carlos are doing."<br/>
<br/>
"They're still not gonna -- !"<br/>
<br/>
"I can't come up with any ideas, man, so it's up to you. Or talk to Mike and Carlos, see what kind of excuse they can cook up. I know, all three of you go find Eva at lunch, with some idea for putting her in a video. I don't know <i>why</i> everyone wants <i>me</i> to do it."<br/>
<br/>
"It's because you got this whole <i>naive</i> vibe, Will," Keith retorts. "No one thinks you could get up to anything worse than, I dunno, wiping a booger into someone's book."<br/>
<br/>
You glare at him, and jam a long forefinger up your nose. You dig around, but Keith flees to another row before you can pull anything out.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
Fairfax doesn't show much interest when you tell him that you've tasked Keith with concocting an ambush for the Garners. "So I gave it some thought," he tells you when you're sitting in the corner of a very modern-looking computer lab. There's an extra table in the back, and he's got his lunch -- a Tupperware tray whose contents are those of an Oriental rice box -- in front of him. "And I've decided I'm not really very worried." He hands you an eggroll.<br/>
<br/>
"Why not?"<br/>
<br/>
"First, because I don't believe this professor -- if he's even telling the truth and isn't just blowing smoke up Braydon's ass -- could have an army of betas. We'd already be dead. It's one thing that puzzles me," he adds, and chews thoughtfully on some stewed cabbage. "Why <i>hasn't</i> the world been overrun with betas yet? That book has been in circulation for a long time, by the looks of it."<br/>
<br/>
<i>Maybe it has,</i> you think with a shiver. <i>Maybe we're all betas and just don't realize it.</i><br/>
<br/>
"Also, I don't believe anyone would let such a valuable and powerful book get away from them, even accidentally."<br/>
<br/>
"But if he had it for even a little while, and copied the recipes out -- "<br/>
<br/>
"Wouldn't do him any good," says Fairfax. "That's something else we've noticed. You have to use the book to make the masks. You must have physical possession of it. No, I don't think this guy's a threat. But still, if you're that worried, we'll help you do a replacement on Braydon so you can check it out. Or on Gillian -- I figured out a way we could use her to get into his brain."<br/>
<br/>
Or you could just not worry, and go back to figuring out an impersonation.</span></div></div>


path: 113312111211211111113212111113221
author_id: seuzz
title: Delp, Delivered to the Devils
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>No, you're too worried about Braydon to forget about it all. Even if Fairfax is right -- that this professor <i>couldn't</i> have betas and impersonators scattered about -- the risk is too great, and you tell him as much.<br/>
<br/>
"So we need to set you up to impersonate Braydon," he says, as matter-of-factly as though describing a homework problem. <br/>
<br/>
"Can't <i>you</i> do it?" you ask. "Do the impersonation, I mean? You know all about this stuff, so you'll -- "<br/>
<br/>
"You're the one who's worried, Will," he retorts, and he holds your eye with a very steady gaze even as he shoves a glob of white rice into this mouth.<br/>
<br/>
You hang your head. He's right. "But I don't know how to, uh, copy him or anything. Could we get Carlos and Mike to help me? Maybe do like, uh, like you guys did to me, out in the portables?"<br/>
<br/>
"We'll do it at the storage complex," Fairfax says. "That's where the stuff is, and we have better control of the scene there."<br/>
<br/>
"But how do I get him out there? I don't think he's interested in you guys' videos."<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax's expression has by slow degrees been lengthening. "How about you just tell him that we've got that book he's so interested in?" he says. "That'll get him out there. Tell him," he continues as your jaw drops a little, "that you were asking around and heard that Carlos has it, and that he'll show it to you and Braydon this afternoon after school, at his uncle's storage complex."<br/>
<br/>
"Won't that mess up their plans for Eva and Jessica?"<br/>
<br/>
"I dunno," he says dryly. "Let's find out." He pops the wonton into his mouth and thumbs a text into his iPhone.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
"So, you know Mike and Carlos?" you ask Braydon as he gets out of his car. It's almost four-thirty, and you've been waiting for about fifteen minutes in front of the Top S(h)elf Storage office for him to show up. You'd set the meeting up with him between classes, giving him that story about tracking the book to Carlos.<br/>
<br/>
"I know who they are," Braydon replies, and slams the car door shut. His dark eyebrows have knitted up. It's a look of worry, but his eyes are calm, so maybe it's just a mannerism.<br/>
<br/>
Because everything about Braydon suggests nervousness and worry. His mouth pulls perpetually down in a soft frown, and his dark hair shoots up in a great, unkempt shock. He's slim, and his shoulders seem too narrow to support his head. He fidgets, and tends to dodge people's eyes.<br/>
<br/>
"Oh, but you don't <i>know</i> know them," you say.<br/>
<br/>
Those eyebrows arch a little more, and a little contempt shows at the corners of his mouth. "No, I don't know them," he says, "and no, I don't <i>know-know</i> them either. No no no no no. No." You flush a little at the light mockery, and gesture him stiffly toward the office.<br/>
<br/>
"Well, it was a funny thing, I guess, my finding out they had that book here," you tell him. "I came out here yesterday to do a video with them, you know, that's how come I couldn't go with you to see that professor. You know Mike and Carlos make videos? Movie review videos?"<br/>
<br/>
"I hear rumors," he says, and passes into the office as you hold the door for him. <br/>
<br/>
"Well, I came out here -- " You nod at the receptionist, and lead Braydon down the back hallway and out the back door into the complex. "I came out because they wanted to do one with me. Talking about <i>Lawrence of Arabia</i> for extra credit in Mr. Hawks's -- Well, anyway -- " <br/>
<br/>
You cut the background short because Braydon has given you a look. "So they were setting up to shoot, and Carlos opens this footlocker to get some stuff out for the video, and he pulls this book out, and I'm like, Hey, I recognize that book, and I tell them about how I found it at Arnholms' and how it got, uh, taken from me, and Carlos tells me he bought it off George Mendoza 'cos he thought it'd make a great prop for a video review they're gonna do of, um, the <i>Lord of the Rings</i> movies?" You were congratulating yourself on the improvised lie, right up until the moment you had to lunge for the name of a fantasy movie. "I think that's the one. So, anyway, long story short -- " <br/>
<br/>
Braydon is again looking impatient, and besides, you've reached the climate-controlled unit. You tap the code -- provided by Carlos -- into the keypad on the door, and cold air gushes out as you open it. "They gave me my two bucks back and called it square."<br/>
<br/>
"That's all? Why didn't you ask for it back?" Braydon says. He looks around the vestibule, at the hand-carts and dollies, and peers down the central hallway. "It was yours, right?"<br/>
<br/>
"Except I didn't want it back."<br/>
<br/>
He cocks an eyebrow. "Even though you could sell it to Professor Blackwell for a couple of thousand dollars?"<br/>
<br/>
"Oh. Well. Um, I don't think they were really believing me anyway about it being mine," you stammer.<br/>
<br/>
"But they gave you two bucks for it anyway? And they probably would have sold it back to you for only twenty? Didn't you say you told them that there's a university professor who wants to buy it back for a lot of money?"<br/>
<br/>
You're rescued from having to salvage the calamitous ruin of your story -- it's like the <i>Titanic</i> crashed into the <i>Hindenburg</i> -- by a shout from down the hallway. Carlos gestures at you, and Braydon saunters on ahead. You wipe your face with the tail of your t-shirt.<br/>
<br/>
"Hey man." Carlos grins as you draw up on him. "So I hear we got something that belongs to you?"<br/>
<br/>
"No, not to me," Braydon says. He rubs the side of his nose -- he uses the finger with that giant silver ring on it. "But the book's owner -- We're talking about a book, right?"<br/>
<br/>
"Guess so," says Carlos. He keeps his eyes firmly on Braydon, pays no attention to you.<br/>
<br/>
"Well, he says he's willing to pay a couple of hundred bucks to get it back."<br/>
<br/>
"Shit, I wish I had a couple of hundred dollars <i>I</i> could spend on old books," says Carlos. He puts a friendly hand on Braydon's shoulder, and guides him into the bay where he keeps his exercise equipment. "'Cos if I did -- "<br/>
<br/>
He grabs Braydon around the torso with a grunt, and Mike steps in front of him, thrusting something blue at Delp's face. Your heart leaps and beats.<br/>
<br/>
"That do it?" Carlos asks.<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah, drop the dork," says Mike. His face is as ruddy as ever, but it's the angry red of a tomato, not the jolly red of a cherry. His lips twist as he glances over at you. "So let's get this done. You know how to do it?"<br/>
<br/>
"Do what?" you stammer. This is all going too fast, and your heart now sinks even as Carlos lets Braydon slide to the floor.<br/>
<br/>
"Get the masks done. Fuck." Mike gestures you in with a snap of his fingers. "We gotta get this over fast, because we need to get Jessica taken care of before she changes her mind."<br/>
<br/>
"What does that have to do with -- ?"<br/>
<br/>
"Just show him the shit," says Carlos. He pulls you into the unit by the collar. His face has lost all its friendliness as well. He points at Braydon.<br/>
<br/>
"That mask is going to come out of him in about ten minutes or so. When it does, you need to put <i>your</i> mask on him -- "<br/>
<br/>
"Shit, hang on," calls Mike, who is rummaging through the footlocker. He holds up a mask. "We need to finish Will's mask."<br/>
<br/>
"Ah, fuck. Give it here. And gimme the -- "<br/>
<br/>
A short, confusing colloquy follows, in which Mike and Carlos carry a lot of ingredients and gear -- including the grimoire -- into the other bay. They don't invite you along, though Mike comes back again long enough to snip off a lock of your hair with a pair of scissors. "Watch him," he says, pointing to Delp. "If that mask comes out of him, call us."<br/>
<br/>
So you kneel beside Braydon and watch him closely.<br/>
<br/>
His eyes are closed and his lips slightly parted, but he looks more than asleep -- though also less than dead. He looks even smaller now -- shrunken up inside his black t-shirt and olive-green canvas trousers. His arms are thin and his skin pale -- pale and thin like Fairfax. But it's a less-than-healthy skinniness and pallor. Fairfax only looks like he avoids sun and exercise. Braydon looks blighted.<br/>
<br/>
What is it, you wonder, that causes someone to get into magic and the occult? You've never seen the appeal yourself, except insofar as it's used to motivate action scenes in fantasy novels and blockbuster movies. Is he looking for something in the occult, or is he using it to run away, to hide, from something else? And is it the stuff he's found and read that's made him look so unhealthy? Or is it reality that's done it to him?<br/>
<br/>
While you're musing over this, his face begins to glow softly. You squint at him. Though you're not quite sure when or how it happened, his face is now covered by a bluish mask. "Guys!" you yell. "It's all done!"<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
What happened next happened almost too fast for you to process. Mike reappeared, and swept up the mask from Braydon's face and dropped another mask onto him. Braydon sat up, but he wasn't Braydon anymore, he was you. "Just swap clothes with him," Mike said brusquely. "And keep quiet. Jessica and Keith are gonna be here any minute." He returned to the other bay briefly, and sighed noisily when he came back a few minutes later to see that the two Will Prescotts had only managed to get out of one set of clothes without getting into the other set. "Here," he said, handing you a mask. Then he left again, pulling down the sliding door and shutting you in.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1133121112112111111132121111132211
author_id: seuzz
title: Delp Redone
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>You and the other Will Prescott exchange wide-eyed glances. It takes you a moment to remember who -- or what -- you're looking at. He seems to have the same delayed reaction as you, and you both flinch back at the same time. Beta-Will murmurs something. "What did you say?" you ask.<br/>
<br/>
"I said, 'Pretty freaking weird.'"<br/>
<br/>
<i>Yeah, what he said,</i> you mutter as you set Braydon's mask aside and go back to pulling on his dirty socks and floppy underwear. More loudly: "You think it's weird for you, imagine what it's like for me."<br/>
<br/>
"At least <i>you</i> know what's going on," Beta-Will retorts. You instantly hate the peevish whine in his voice.<br/>
<br/>
"I only know half of it." You glare at the floor.<br/>
<br/>
"Well, could you at least tell <i>me</i> that half?"<br/>
<br/>
<i>Stifle it,</i> you almost say. But he has a point. "I'm getting ready to do an impersonation."<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah?" Beta-Will pulls the shirt over his head. "Who?"<br/>
<br/>
"Braydon Delp." You have to say it again because your doppelganger didn't hear you.<br/>
<br/>
He runs long fingers through his stiff, sloppy hair. "What, you lose a coin toss?"<br/>
<br/>
"Shut up, it's complicated." You start to pull on the pants. They're oversized and floppy too, so they fit you well enough, even though Braydon is smaller than you. The t-shirt, though, is a very tight fit, and barely comes down to the top of the trousers. Now <i>you</i> have to tell Beta-Will to say it again when he mumbles something.<br/>
<br/>
"I said, Do you have to put the clothes on before you put on -- ?" He gestures at the mask. "That is the thing that's gonna turn you into Braydon, isn't it?"<br/>
<br/>
"Supposedly." You pick it up and stare at it. Strange reflections play over its surface, and you almost fancy they make a ghostly face. "I was kind of hoping the guys would come in here to help out, make sure I don't fuck up."<br/>
<br/>
He nods. "Seems like a good idea. Want me to go get them?" He moves toward the door.<br/>
<br/>
"Siddown, you don't have to be so quick to save me from myself. Anyway, you heard what Mike said, Jessica and Keith are gonna be along in a moment."<br/>
<br/>
"Funny pair to be going together. Is that part of the half you know about?"<br/>
<br/>
You shrug. "Mike and Carlos are going to be impersonating Eva and Jessica. Do you know that much, at least?"<br/>
<br/>
Beta-Will sags. "I don't know what I know, man," he whines. He grabs his head. "I got all kinds of garbage up here from -- Is it Monday still?"<br/>
<br/>
"No, it's Tuesday."<br/>
<br/>
"<i>Tuesday!</i>" he shrieks. "You mean I lost a whole day?"<br/>
<br/>
"You haven't missed anything. What do you remember?"<br/>
<br/>
"Last thing I remember is talking about that movie. I think I talked about it longer than I watched it. Or you watched it, or whoever." He rattles his head, as though to dislodge something. "God, the stuff that was coming out of my mouth. Mr. Hawks had better be pretty goddamned impressed, and he better as fuck not quiz me on anything I said."<br/>
<br/>
"Is that all you remember?"<br/>
<br/>
He bites his lip. "Well, there was some other stuff I said, having to do with these masks. I know that -- " He bites his lip. "I was going to say that <i>they</i> were going on about it, but I guess it was actually me and Carlos."<br/>
<br/>
"Did they say anything I should know about?" A prickle goes up your spine. It occurs to you that Beta-Will might have heard -- or even said -- some stuff that they wouldn't want you to hear.<br/>
<br/>
"I dunno." Beta-Will twists in place, like he's trying to struggle free from invisible ropes. "You have any idea how <i>squicky</i> it is to remember saying things that you don't understand, because you know it was someone <i>inside</i> you who was saying it?" He pales and pants a little.<br/>
<br/>
"No, but I guess it would be. But -- " <br/>
<br/>
You shut up as voices sound from the other side of the door.<br/>
<br/>
At first you think it must be Mike or Carlos returning, but one of them sounds like a girl's voice. You and Beta-Will exchange another wide-eyed glance. "That'll be Jessica and Keith," you hiss at him.<br/>
<br/>
"I guess," he whispers back. "Do you need to get in costume for them?"<br/>
<br/>
"No, I don't thinks so. Keith doesn't even know I'm -- " Your heart tries leaping up  through your throat. <i>That I'm impersonating Braydon,</i> you were going to say. You're already in his clothes, you're only one item away from finishing the disguise. You just have to pick up the mask and put it to your face and you'll be --<br/>
<br/>
<i>I'll be Braydon Delp.</i><br/>
<br/>
Same as in a few minutes Mike -- or maybe Carlos -- will be Eva Garner.<br/>
<br/>
That would be a lot sexier.<br/>
<br/>
But you picked this one because you've got a job to do as him, and you can't keep putting it off.<br/>
<br/>
So even though your hands shake and your fingers tremble, you raise the mask to your face.<br/>
<br/>
You've time enough to hear Beta-Will say, "Hey, shouldn't you -- ?" before you press it in. The rest of his words are lost in the darkness that closes over you.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
Your eyelids are heavy, as though weighted down with lead sinkers, and you are cold and stiff all over, as though you've been sleeping in an unheated bedroom on a winter's night under thin blankets. You have to arch your eyebrows in order to lift your lids, and they almost immediately fall closed again. You smack your lips and wrap your arms over your chest and turn onto your side and huddle into a ball. <i>Five more minutes of sleep. Well, ten. You could really do with twenty.</i><br/>
<br/>
"Are you awake?" someone asks.<br/>
<br/>
You raise an eyelid with a grunt and look over. Will Prescott, sitting Indian-style, is looking at you over the top of his cell phone.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Will Prescott.</i> You were talking to him just a little while ago, out at the storage complex where he said --<br/>
<br/>
The blood rushes to your head, and if you weren't already laying on a cold concrete floor, you might have collapsed onto it. You pull your knees up to your face and push them into your eyes. <i>Will Prescott.</i><br/>
<br/>
You followed his directions to the Top S(h)elf Storage Complex, which seemed like a funny place to go, but there was something funny about all this business, both on Will's end and on Professor Blackwell's. You followed him into a storage unit, and the stuff he was saying made less and less sense, but then Carlos Somebody popped out. You have a vague memory of being grabbed from behind before something went over your face, and then you were changing clothes, putting on Braydon's clothes --<br/>
<br/>
But you're Braydon. Except you aren't. You're Will Prescott, and you watched as Carlos grabbed Braydon and Mike smashed the mask into Braydon's face. Then you had to pull his clothes off him and you made a Beta-Will by putting a mask onto Braydon and now you have to press the heels of your hands into your temples because it's a giant clusterfuck and really hard to keep two sets of memories -- memories of the same event seen from two different points of view -- from bunging into each other.<br/>
<br/>
"Are you alright?" Beta-Will asks cautiously. "You're not having, like, a seizure or a stroke, are you?"<br/>
<br/>
"No, I'm just -- " You swallow. "I'm just learning what it's like to remember being someone else." You turn your head to look at him. His expression is unreadable, because you're looking at him sideways. "I'm learning what it's like to remember saying stuff that you don't understand."<br/>
<br/>
Beta-Will smiles. But you're looking at him sideways, so maybe he's frowning. "Well, that's better than the alternative, I guess."<br/>
<br/>
"What alternative?"<br/>
<br/>
"Busting your head open on the concrete floor. You know you almost brained yourself when you put that mask on? If I hadn't jumped over and caught you -- "<br/>
<br/>
"Really?" You sit up sharply, and with the sudden movement all the stiffness in your joints flies away. "Yikes. Uh, you hear anything from the guys?" You jerk your head at the wall of the unit.<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah, Mike came in, still looking p.o.-ed about something. I told him what you did, asked if you did it right."<br/>
<br/>
"What did he say?"<br/>
<br/>
"He said it looked okay to him, but to tell you to always be sitting or laying down when you put a mask on or take it off  'cos it knocks you out."<br/>
<br/>
"I'll try to remember from now on." You scramble up, and dust off the seat of your pants. The t-shirt is still tight, but the hem falls over your belt, and instinctively you tuck it in. Your hands are still jammed into your pants when you pause to ask whose instincts you're following. It takes you a moment to sort out that Will Prescott never tucks his shirt in unless he's on his way to church, and Braydon Delp always tucks them in even though he never goes to church.<br/>
<br/>
Then you realize how close you came to touching his junk.<br/>
<br/>
Beta-Will must have had the same thought, because when you ask what the hell he's smiling at, he laughs. "You're gonna have to touch it when you go to the bathroom, at least," he says. "Unless you just sit on the toilet."<br/>
<br/>
"Fuck you."<br/>
<br/>
"Oh, and if you have to take a shit," he chortles, "you're gonna to be wiping Braydon Delp's asshole!"<br/>
<br/>
"Fuck you! But anyway, what am I supposed to do now?" <br/>
<br/>
Beta-Will shrugs. "Mike said something about sticking close by, 'cos it'll be a couple of hours before any memories start coming through."<br/>
<br/>
Really? Because that's not what it seems like to you now. In fact, while you weren't looking, you had suddenly become much more comfortable having Braydon's memories in your head. They're just sitting there now, waiting for you to use them, and you have a pretty strong impression that Professor Blackwell is expecting you at his place at five-thirty, along with George Mendoza.</span></div></div>


path: 11331211121121111111321211111322112
author_id: seuzz
title: Getting to Know Your New Self
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>What Mike has told Beta-Will makes sense: If you don't have Braydon's memories, it will be tricky to go out and impersonate him, even if you look just like him. So until you get the memories, it's best to stay away from anyplace where you might run into his friends or family.<br/>
<br/>
But as you tie off the boots, you can't help remembering --<br/>
<br/>
-- the drive up to the complex, and the that feeling you -- Braydon -- had that there was something funky about this last-minute discovery. It wasn't just the timing that was weird. Only yesterday, when you told Will about the professor, he'd acted very odd about it, even a little scared. That's when you decided he must know a lot more about what's going on than he let on. After all, he'd more or less lied to you when he didn't tell you about going up to Arnholms to get more information about it.<br/>
<br/>
-- the look Gillian gave you when you said you'd have to skip your after-school date. She wasn't pissed -- she hardly ever gets pissed -- but she gave you that tight smile she gets when she's decided to forgive you. "It's not like I'm running off with Christian and them to the comic shop," you'd told her. She'd laughed and said, "I'd go with you if you were!" Then she got impish. "Have you told Christian you're missing today's session?" "What makes you think I am? I'm still joining them around seven -- " "Oh, you'll skip out on me but not them!" You'd felt your face redden. "No, it's just the way the timing works out, and -- " "No, it's okay, Braydon, it really is!" Her smile turned mischievous, and she edged back into the crowd. "Call me when you finally have time for me!" "Gillian!" But she'd melted into the crowded hallway.<br/>
<br/>
-- Professor Blackwell, when you'd looked up him at his university office last week. A fat man in a sports coat, dark pullover and wool pants. Greasy hair over a pasty white scalp and a scraggly moustache and goatee surrounding beaked lips. He'd been very impatient, saying he had to prepare for class, and looked at you darkly when you told him that Ted Arnholm had given you his name, saying he was the one who had sold a batch of occult books to the store. "What of it, young man," he'd said, but his manner changed abruptly when you started describing the one book you were interested in. "Did you buy it?" he asked sharply. No, you explained, but you knew the kid who had. "Are you certain?" You could bring him up to talk. The professor had only grunted, and asked you more particularly to describe it, and he became very agitated, telling you he'd sold it by mistake and very much wanted it back -- it was very valuable, <i>extremely</i> valuable -- and he would pay a very rich price to get it. So desperate was he that you got him to talk about his interest in the occult -- and your own interest -- and got him to agree to give you private tutorials as your fee for getting him the book back.<br/>
<br/>
-- And you remember the fourteen-person-deep line at the post office you had to endure last Wednesday because your mom couldn't get over there on account of she was stuck at the fabric store with a dead car battery; the start on the Friday before that of the latest RPG campaign, and Christian's shrill objection to your playing a half-giant again, and his sulky acquiescence when you'd serenely offered to give up playing Tiny if he agreed to stop playing Pugley the Half-Orc; and the date two weeks ago with Gillian, in the Eastman High School parking lot, when you peeled back her shirt and bra and spent twenty minutes sucking and nibbling on the sides of her tits while she stroked the side of your head.<br/>
<br/>
In fact you're pretty sure you could remember the name of Braydon's second grade teacher if you had to -- and sure enough, it was "Mrs. Coleman," and it fascinated Braydon that she had a faint moustache. <br/>
<br/>
But it's the stench of burning blackbird that decides it for you. That's the acrid memory you get as you slide that fat silver ring onto your index finger. It had to be charged -- "empowered" would be a better word -- in a brazier over a bed of burning charcoal into which a dead blackbird had been nestled. You were out in Sutton Wilderness when you did it, not because the <i>Book of Balaam</i> specifically called for a wilderness setting, but because it seemed more fitting that it be done in nature rather than in a suburban back yard. A little over a year ago, at the summer solstice. The air was hot and muggy, and as you worked a horsefly settled on your shoulder blade and tried to make a meal of you. The worst part was cleaning up the ashes afterward ...<br/>
<br/>
Yeah, if you can remember all that, you're pretty sure you can fool anyone you happen to meet. <br/>
<br/>
Beta-Will is giving you a slightly fearful look as you stand up. "What?" you ask him.<br/>
<br/>
"Suddenly you look just like him," he says.<br/>
<br/>
"What do you mean? That's what the mask is supposed to do."<br/>
<br/>
"No, it's more than that," he says. "Suddenly, you're like -- " He waves his hand in front of his face. "Your whole face changed. It's weird, it's like -- " He takes a step back, but leans forward to peer at you. "It's like your face muscles caught up to who you're supposed to be," he says.<br/>
<br/>
You indulge him with an amused smile. "Well, cool. I'll catch up with you later. You need to get yourself home, get started on homework." You feel your smile turn lopsided. "Thanks for asking me out here this afternoon. It really changed my life."<br/>
<br/>
"Sure," says Beta-Will, and his eyes widen as his cheeks pale.<br/>
<br/>
The metal door rattles as you pull it up, and you saunter over to the next unit. Mike, Carlos and Keith are staring down at something on the floor, of which you can only make out some bare feet. "Hey," you call out, and Keith jumps back nearly a foot and cracks the back of his legs against the desk. "I'm taking off, I've got a place I have to be."<br/>
<br/>
Mike and Carlos both start; Keith looks anxiously between them. "You're leaving?" exclaims Mike. Carlos says, "You need to stick around here, Philip says -- "<br/>
<br/>
"Philip can catch up to me later, if he needs to talk. I'll text him later anyway." You rub the side of your nose. "I'm supposed to meet someone -- "<br/>
<br/>
"Who?" demands Carlos. "Who's supposed to meet someone?"<br/>
<br/>
"A university professor," you reply. "It's part of what I need to check up on for -- "<br/>
<br/>
"I mean who is has this appointment with a professor." Carlos points an accusing finger. "You or -- ?" He leaves the question dangling.<br/>
<br/>
Your lips twitch. "Braydon Delp, of course. It's the main reason I -- "<br/>
<br/>
Mike has been turning redder and redder. "You're gonna fuck things up if you go out like that," he says. "You can't just go out and -- "<br/>
<br/>
"I can and I need to. And I'm not gonna fuck things up." You lean to the side to get a better view of the bare feet and tanned calves splayed on the floor. "Not gonna fuck them up any worse than they're fucked up here. Anyway." You smile brightly at them. "Tell Philip he can reach me at this number." You waggle Braydon's iPhone at them and turn to go.<br/>
<br/>
"Does he have it?" Carlos calls.<br/>
<br/>
"He can get it from Will if he doesn't," you call over your shoulder. "Or I'll shoot him a text." You glance into the other unit as you saunter toward the exit, but your alter ego has already split.<br/>
<br/>
The sunlight hurts your eyes when you step outside, and you fumble at your pockets for sunglasses, then remember that you -- or Braydon; you'll go crazy if you keep having to correct the pronouns of your dialogue, so you decide to just go with "me" from this point on -- Yeah, you sat on them a week ago and still haven't got them fixed. The roar of a truck engine from the other side of the office tells you that Beta-Will is only thirty seconds or so ahead of you, but you don't rush to catch up, and by the time you make it into the front parking lot your truck has already gone. All that's left is Braydon's ten-year-old hatchback. The interior has heated up in the late afternoon sun, and you sit with the door open as you check his phone.<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax's number, of course, isn't in Braydon's list, for the two only know each other as faces and barely as names -- though you're willing to bet that Fairfax is more familiar with Delp than Delp is with Fairfax. But you remember his numer, and you shoot him a quick text: <i>will here impersonating braydon on way to check things out report later.</i><br/>
<br/>
Then, on a whim, you turn the camera on and hold it up to scope yourself out.<br/>
<br/>
You know what you're expecting, but it's still a jolt when Braydon Delp's face appears on the screen, to blink and lightly flare his nostrils in tandem with your own. You lick your lips, and he licks his with a pale tongue. You peak your eyebrows, and he peaks his. His face is long and lean, with a lightly freckled nose that is maybe a little too big to be regular, and grayish-green eyes that can turn melancholic very easily. "Braydon," you murmur to yourself. "What have you gotten yourself into?"<br/>
<br/>
Your mother always told him he'd come to a bad end if he kept messing with the occult, and damn if she wasn't right.<br/>
<br/>
You take a selfie -- a trophy -- and toss the phone into the passenger seat.</span></div></div>


path: 113312111211211111113212111113221121
author_id: seuzz
title: The Information Broker
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>The address that Professor Aubrey Blackwell gave you is a little ways off Farm Road, near the river, in a section of the city that is underdeveloped, so that you drive through a quarter-mile length of brackish fields and spinneys before coming onto it. It's hidden behind a tall, whitewashed stone wall, and you have to park in a little lane just around the corner. There's already one vehicle there -- a station wagon with a Keyserling parking permit on the bumper. The professor's car, surely.<br/>
<br/>
The meeting isn't until five-thirty, and it's with you, Professor Blackwell, and George Mendoza, so you see no reason to head in just yet. You'd kind of like to see Mendoza first, to gauge his attitude at this appointment if for no other reason.<br/>
<br/>
It was Braydon who set it up, of course, right after you turned him down yesterday about meeting the professor. You'd already told him about losing the book to Mendoza, so that was the next obvious place for him to go. Braydon would much rather have dealt with you than with that asshole, but you left him no choice. He found Mendoza coolly uninterested in the matter -- "Maybe, what's it to you?" -- until Braydon told him that there was a reward for the return of that book he was asking about. "Yeah, I know where it is. How much for me to go get it?" and then since Braydon hadn't any real money of his own, Mendoza had consented to come see the professor and sell his information directly to him. Braydon had set up the meeting last night with a phone call, and talked to Mendoza about it this morning.<br/>
<br/>
That had been a nerve-wracking meeting, for Jamie Rennerhoff had been standing nearby, sniggering the whole time.<br/>
<br/>
It's only a little after five now, so you sit back with Braydon's phone and play games while glancing up at the few cars that pass.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
Mendoza is late, and when he arrives he only pulls onto the shoulder and glares around until you get out and beckon him to park next to you. He's surly, too, which would be a funny look for him considering how baby-faced he is, but for the fact that he's six-one and weighs at least two-hundred-and-thirty pounds. "Who the fuck lives the fuck out here?" he snarls.<br/>
<br/>
"The rich folk," you reply. "You want 'em rich, right, if they're gonna give you money?"<br/>
<br/>
That puts him in a slightly better mood, though he still drags his feet and kicks at the ground all the way to the wrought-iron gate in the wall.<br/>
<br/>
You don't know what -- if anything -- he thinks of the grounds, but you can't help looking them over as you stride up the walk. They're dead. Most of the lawn is bare dirt, and the few patches of grass are brown and brittle. There aren't even any weeds. The ornamental flower beds are empty. The only living thing is a yew tree at the corner of the house, and it's a yellow and sickly looking thing. Behind it stands a stone shed. <br/>
<br/>
<i>Hang on.</i> You crane your neck for a better look. With that elaborate scrollwork along the eaves of the pitched roof, and the heavy door -- It looks more like a small mausoleum.<br/>
<br/>
The house itself is a two-story villa, with a central portion that might be half of a third floor. Shallow stone steps rise to a deep stone porch that fronts an immense front door. The button for the bell sits inside the mouth of a nasty bit of ornamental metal work -- the head of a ravening wolf.<br/>
<br/>
Mendoza stares at it, as do you. You nudge him. "Don't wanna put your finger in it, huh?" His lip curls, and he pushes the button hard. From inside the house tolls a deep bell.<br/>
<br/>
You'd almost expect Dracula -- or at least Frau Blucher -- to answer. Instead, it's Professor Blackwell.<br/>
<br/>
He beams -- not a good look on a man with ragged eyebrows. "Mr. Delp," he says. "So good of you to come. And you must be his friend, Mr. Mendoza."<br/>
<br/>
Mendoza mutters something, but if the professor made out the words, he ignores them. "Do come in."<br/>
<br/>
The foyer is deep with shadows, and cold, like the bottom of an empty well. "Can I get you something," the professor asks as he leads your company down a gloomy hallway. His tone is very oily. "Colas or water?"<br/>
<br/>
"Beer?" asks Mendoza without much hope.<br/>
<br/>
"How about an indifferent Chardonnay?" the professor ripostes over his shoulder. "Never mind. For what I have in mind to pay you -- Mr. Delp mentioned a reward? Well, you can buy yourself whatever you fancy after you go."<br/>
<br/>
You pass a junction with a staircase on one side and a tall, wide opening on the other. You pause to peer through the latter. Chill air wafts from it and grasps you about the shoulders. A discordant ticking rocks the air.<br/>
<br/>
"Don't dawdle, Mr. Delp," calls the professor, who has continued past it. You shake yourself, but your feet feel heavy as you totter after him.<br/>
<br/>
After a turn in the corridor, you all end up in a cozy sitting room with a fireplace, a rocking chair, and a settee. You and Mendoza settle on the ends of the latter, trying to keep as far off each other as you can, while with a groan the professor lowers himself into the squeaking rocker. "Now then," he says when he's recovered himself with a sigh. "Has Mr. Delp informed you of my need and offer?"<br/>
<br/>
Mendoza blinks once, then twice, then licks his lips. You answer for him. "Yes. It's the same book I described to you. Anyway," you add when the professor's keen glance settles on you. "I described what I heard to him, and he said it's the same book he sold to -- " You catch yourself in time. "Well, who did you sell it to?" you ask Mendoza.<br/>
<br/>
The professor cocks his head, but his eyes remain on you.<br/>
<br/>
Mendoza shifts in his seat. "How much is it worth to you to know?" he says.<br/>
<br/>
The professor takes a large billfold from his jacket pocket and from it pulls a sheaf of green. Slowly he counts off some bills. One, two, three ... nine, ten, eleven ... fifteen ... nineteen, twenty. It's still less than half the stack. He pauses. Then he folds one bill, slips it into his pants pocket with a slight groan, and fans the remaining mess before Mendoza's eyes.<br/>
<br/>
Every one of them is a twenty. There must be five or six hundred dollars there.<br/>
<br/>
Your phone buzzes in your shirt pocket, but you ignore it.<br/>
<br/>
Mendoza swallows. "Yeah, I won't haggle." He says it very casually, but you can hear the strangle in his voice. He puts out his hand.<br/>
<br/>
But the professor pulls his own hand back. "A name, Mr. Mendoza."<br/>
<br/>
Mendoza's eyes narrow. Then he shrugs. "Carlos Montoya."<br/>
<br/>
"And he is -- ?"<br/>
<br/>
"Guy at school."<br/>
<br/>
"A friend?"<br/>
<br/>
Mendoza shrugs again. The professor looks at you. "Do you know him, Mr. Delp?"<br/>
<br/>
Somehow it seems best to pretend you've as little to do with Carlos as possible. "Not to talk to. I only know who he is because he makes YouTube videos." Your phone buzzes again. "He doesn't know me."<br/>
<br/>
"But you know him," the professor says to Mendoza.<br/>
<br/>
"I guess. We sometimes do a little business together."<br/>
<br/>
"What kind of business?"<br/>
<br/>
Mendoza only frowns.<br/>
<br/>
"Well, would you be able to approach the gentleman, and ask to buy that book back from him?"<br/>
<br/>
Mendoza's jaw drops a little. "Why would I do that?"<br/>
<br/>
"You would buy it from him and sell to me at a profit, that's why. This," says Professor Blackwell, waving the fan of money, "is only for information about the book. Imagine how much more you would get for actually bringing it to me."<br/>
<br/>
Mendoza's mouth shuts with a click. He was probably about to start drooling. For the third time, your phone buzzes. "I believe someone is trying to get in touch with you, Mr. Delp," says the professor.<br/>
<br/>
"It won't be important."<br/>
<br/>
"It will be more important than what is happening here," he says, and there's an edge to his tone. "I do thank you for your help, and I have not forgotten the bargain that <i>we</i> struck." He smiles, but the warmth fails to reach his eyes. "Excuse me if I don't show you out."<br/>
<br/>
You feel yourself flush at this curt dismissal, and you have to force yourself all unwilling to rise. "So, when do we start with the tutorials?"<br/>
<br/>
"When I have recovered the book, Mr. Delp. It's a fascinating old tome, and we will make it the first subject of our study. I assure you that it will be worth it."<br/>
<br/>
"Alright." You shrug, and quirk an eyebrow at Mendoza. "You need me to stick around, talk to afterward?"<br/>
<br/>
"I don't think he does," the professor answers on his behalf. Mendoza only shrugs at you, as though to say, <i>What can I do?</i><br/>
<br/>
So you return a shrug with the same meaning, and saunter out.<br/>
<br/>
That doorway beckons you again as you pass it, and this time you linger long enough to peer inside. It's a library, and one of the largest private libraries you've ever seen. Bookcases rise fifteen feet in the air -- for the ceiling is very high -- along the two flanking walls; opposite the doorway is a wall with tall windows and a French door. The room is big enough that it holds not one but four desks, as though it were a reading room in a public library.<br/>
<br/>
Now it's your turn to salivate. Braydon loves books, and they don't even have to be books on witchcraft and demonology.<br/>
<br/>
But you don't want to be caught gawking, and you let yourself out.<br/>
<br/>
You're putting the key in the car's ignition before you pause. Braydon's instincts are to go home, but you don't like that Blackwell is so close on the book's trail, and you'd really like to sneak back in to eavesdrop.<br/>
<br/>
Besides, that was Fairfax trying to call you. Maybe you should consult with him before doing anything else.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1133121112112111111132121111132211211
author_id: seuzz
title: Alarming Behavior
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>You hesitate with your hand on the ignition, thinking.<br/>
<br/>
After what feels like a solid hour of gut-checking, you get out of the car and trudge back toward the house.<br/>
<br/>
You're not sure what you're worried about. Or maybe it's more accurate to say that you've got too many vague worries. Normally you wouldn't worry that a fat old college professor could hurt a young thug like George Mendoza; normally you'd be more worried that Mendoza would cosh the professor and ransack the house. But you're disguised as Braydon Delp because you were worried that this college professor -- who said he used to own Carlos Montoya's grimoire -- might have betas and impersonations of his own out there. Fairfax says that the guy couldn't make any fresh masks because you need the book to do that. But if he once had the grimoire, and he'd made some masks, what if he had a couple of spares laying around?<br/>
<br/>
What if he decided to impersonate George Mendoza and tried to get to Carlos and Philip and Mike -- and you and Keith -- that way?<br/>
<br/>
Your gut is flopping like a dying fish as you approach the front door. It sucks to discover that Braydon Delp has no more native courage than you do.<br/>
<br/>
Instead of barging back in the front, you skirt the house for another entrance. That sitting room was on the south side of the house, so you edge around to the right, toward that yew tree and the stone shed. As you close in on the latter you notice a couple of grave stones in the dirt on the other side.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Jeepers,</i> you think. <i>Cool!</i> thinks Braydon.<br/>
<br/>
Just a few feet down from the yew is a side door with a window in it, and you grasp the handle while peering inside. It's a kitchen, very dim, and you don't see anything. The handle yields to pressure, but you release it -- you can take this entrance if you don't find a better one after making a complete circuit of the house. You trot further along, and duck down under a line of windows so your shadow won't show against them.<br/>
<br/>
In this way you reach the place where you judge the sitting room to be, but when you raise your head cautiously you find the windows obscured by gauzy curtains. You won't be able to see in, but Blackwell would be able to make out your shadow. So you continue around the far corner. The windows here are also closed off by curtains, and you set your mouth grimly as you scurry to the next corner.<br/>
<br/>
You're just rounding it when there's a clatter and a scrape above you. Squirrels scampering over the slate roof, you figure, until something heavy thumps onto the dirt just behind. You whirl.<br/>
<br/>
There's nothing there, though you almost fancy there's a large depression in the dirt where you'd just stepped. You look up, shading your eyes. The air dazzles and dances along the edge of the roof, where the dark wall meets the bright blue sky, but you see nothing. <br/>
<br/>
Around the last corner to the last side of the house. There's a large brick patio up ahead, and you remember the library with its windows and French doors. You approach very cautiously, and when you reach the patio you drop first to your haunches and then to your belly as you crawl along to peer into the windows. There's a glare upon them, and you have to risk shading your face right against the glass to see inside.<br/>
<br/>
Nothing, unless Blackwell and/or his guest are crouching near the floor like you are.<br/>
<br/>
This seems the best place to make an entrance, for there will be cover among the desks and chairs. You test the handle to the French door. It opens easily and soundlessly, and you slip inside.<br/>
<br/>
The glass rattles a bit as you pull it shut behind you, and you flinch. But the coast is clear.<br/>
<br/>
Your eyes are locked on the doorway beyond, so you don't take in any more of the room, not even the source of that discordant, insistent ticking -- like the sound of a seasick grandfather clock rolling about the deck of a boat in a heaving sea. Instead, keeping low, you tiptoe across the wooden floors to the library entrance. Your heart knocks against the back of your throat.<br/>
<br/>
You're almost at the doorway when you hear a grunt. You fly back -- only managing to keep from toppling to the floor -- and duck under a desk. From the foot well you watch.<br/>
<br/>
Something soft is scraping against a hard surface, and someone is groaning softly. Then into the library entrance there appears a monstrosity gross and swollen.<br/>
<br/>
Oh, it's only the professor. His back, actually, as he tugs and drags something heavy across the parquet floor. You crane your head.<br/>
<br/>
It's Mendoza. The professor is dragging him by his feet. His shirt has ridden up, and his hands are dragging along behind his head.<br/>
<br/>
How in the hell did a middle-aged fattie like Professor Aubrey Blackwell manage to knock out George Mendoza?<br/>
<br/>
The professor pulls him into the center of the library, and you have to creep through the desk to the other side in order to stay hidden. You hear, rather than see it, when the professor drops Mendoza's feet with a groaning sigh, and then you have to scramble quietly back when he returns to the library entrance. There's a chain running through a pulley next to the door, and he fiddles with this while glancing back at the middle of the room. Something squeaks. Then he returns to the body.<br/>
<br/>
You crawl out the other side of the desk and take a heart-stopping chance by peering around the corner of the desk.<br/>
<br/>
You're safe. Blackwell's back -- and his fat butt -- are to you as he kneels on all fours by Mendoza's head. He mutters to himself, then stretches up to grasp a dangling cord. The other end is attached to library's chandelier, which is now hanging only a few feet off the ground.<br/>
<br/>
Ah, that's what he was fiddling with the chain for -- he was lowering the light.<br/>
<br/>
As Blackwell tugs at the chandelier's cord one, two, three times, the light doesn't change or dim, but the color of Mendoza's face does. First it appears bathed in a green light, then a yellow one, then a pink one. On the fourth pull, though, it turns a deathly shade of gray, like the color of old clay, and Blackwell barks aloud: "Bless my soul!"<br/>
<br/>
Then he does something very alarming. He grasps Mendoza by the face, mutters to himself, and pulls. <br/>
<br/>
Neither Mendoza's face nor form alters, but when Blackwell straightens up, he is holding a bluish object.<br/>
<br/>
You've seen objects like that before. It's a mask.<br/>
<br/>
George Mendoza was wearing a mask, just like you are.<br/>
<br/>
But if he was, it was a mask of himself, for it's still Mendoza sprawling on the floor.<br/>
<br/>
That's very strange. Why would someone disguise himself <i>as</i> himself? More to the point, why didn't Carlos and them tell you that Mendoza knew about the masks, and was using one?<br/>
<br/>
Your have to swallow your quivering heart when a worse possibility suggests itself: Maybe Mendoza played with the book and made some masks before he sold it to Carlos Montoya!<br/>
<br/>
Before you can reason yourself free of that absurdity, Blackwell is playing with the chandelier again. But this time, no matter how many times he pulls the cord, Mendoza's pallor doesn't change. He remains the same corpse-like gray color.<br/>
<br/>
You cautiously pull back as Blackwell gets first to his knees and then to his feet. He is holding Mendoza's mask in both his hands, and he peers into it. He's turned toward you just enough that you can see the grimace on his face. He looks like a man furious with frustrated curiosity. "I <i>would</i> have let her leave town on vacation," he mutters to himself, and he looks mad enough to spit, as your mother would say.<br/>
<br/>
Then, with a heavy, trembling sigh, he lowers himself into a protesting chair and braces himself against the desk. He raises the mask to his face, and presses it home.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
It's no surprise to you when George Mendoza appears where the professor had been sitting, and that he is wearing the professor's own clothes. It is a surprise, though, when he gasps, pats his hands all over his clothes, and looks around with a bewildered expression on his face. "The fuck?" he says softly.<br/>
<br/>
But you get a much worse turn when his eye falls on you.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Shit!</i> You're busted! You scramble at the doorway before you even get your feet under you. With a roar and a flying tackle Mendoza slams you to the floor. "Delp!" he hollers. "The fuck is going on?"<br/>
<br/>
"I don't know anything!" you yammer. "Just let me go! I promise I won't say anything!"<br/>
<br/>
"You'll tell me what the fuck is going on, you fucking little shit," he yells as he grabs your hair. Your scalp screams like it's on fire. "The fuck you know?"<br/>
<br/>
"You know better than me!" you bleat. "I don't know anything about magic! You're the expert, and I don't want to know anything about it!"<br/>
<br/>
"Expert?" he roars. "Where are we? We still in that professor's house?"<br/>
<br/>
You gawp and goggle, and you yell when he yanks your hair again. "Sure! I guess? Aren't you the professor?"<br/>
<br/>
"The fuck?"<br/>
<br/>
"Look, man, just stop hurting me, and I'll tell you everything I know, 'cept I don't know anything!"<br/>
<br/>
Mendoza lets you up just enough to turn you over and sit on your chest. His face is black with anger. "Where's that professor?"<br/>
<br/>
The question makes no sense -- he <i>is</i> the professor! "I don't know if you don't! I came back to check on you and -- What happened after I left?"<br/>
<br/>
Mendoza's lip curls. "He started waving that money in my face, and the next thing I know, I'm in here!"<br/>
<br/>
Your eyeballs nearly start from their sockets. Is the professor trying to bluff you? Or is there something else going on?<br/>
<br/>
Your phone bleeps again.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 11331211121121111111321211111322112111
author_id: seuzz
title: A Disappearance, But of Only Academic Concern
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>You ignore the phone -- not that you could get to it with Mendoza sitting on your chest. "Look, man, I'll tell you what I know if you just stop whaling on me!"<br/>
<br/>
"Whaling on you?" He snorts. "I ain't even touched you. If I wanted to hurt you -- " He raises his fist.<br/>
<br/>
"That's okay, I take your word for it!" you shout from behind eyes clenched shut. "Just -- " You take a chance on opening your eyes. That fist is still raised over your face. "I'm telling you, man, I'm telling you what I know!"<br/>
<br/>
"Well?" Mendoza shouts after a moment's silence.<br/>
<br/>
"Okay, after the professor threw me out, I went out to my car to leave, you know, but then I got kind of wondering what was going on with you two, so I came back to snoop. I snuck into this room because the door was open, and I heard the professor coming." You peer into your interrogator's face. It shows nothing except bewildered interest. "He was coming down the hallway, and he was dragging, uh, <i>you</i> along the floor."<br/>
<br/>
Again you pause. This is the spot where the professor, knowing he was busted, should drop the act.<br/>
<br/>
But he doesn't. He just says, "Yeah?"<br/>
<br/>
"So he drags you in here and drops you in the middle of the floor. I'm hiding under this desk, so I didn't see everything, but he fiddled with the light, and then -- "<br/>
<br/>
You have to pause. Do you tell him that you saw him pulling a mask off Mendoza? Or do you pretend you missed that part?<br/>
<br/>
Mendoza makes your decision for you by pounding you hard in the side of the face. If you weren't already on the floor, you'd have staggered.<br/>
<br/>
"Shit! Okay, he was bending over you and pulled at your face and then he was holding something, I couldn't see what. Then he sat down and he put the thing onto his face and then, suddenly -- " You lick your lips. "Then suddenly <i>you</i> were sitting there and he was gone."<br/>
<br/>
Mendoza stares at you, hard. "Are you fucking high?"<br/>
<br/>
"I'm telling you what I saw! You got a better story? You wanted to hear mine!"<br/>
<br/>
"So where did <i>he</i> go?" Mendoza glances over his shoulder, and does a double-take. He freezes, staring off at something behind him.<br/>
<br/>
It must be Mendoza -- the real Mendoza -- that he's spotted.<br/>
<br/>
Okay, <i>this</i> has got to be the point where the professor comes clean.<br/>
<br/>
He gets slowly to his feet, but you stay where you are, even after he has cleared you and stumbled back to where he'd been crouched earlier. Cautiously, you raise up to see for yourself.<br/>
<br/>
George Mendoza -- looking very much alive, but dressed in Professor Blackwell's sports coat and pants -- is staring down at George Mendoza, a gray-faced figure wearing his usual t-shirt, shorts, and sneakers. "The fuck?" says the former. He grabs his pants as they start to slide down.<br/>
<br/>
"That's, uh, you," you say. You cower a little under the hot glare he shoots you. "I mean, that's who I saw him drag in here. Then he fiddled around with his face and pulled something out, and then he -- Well, he put it on and now he -- " You swallow. "And now he looks like you."<br/>
<br/>
There. That should break it all open now, so that he <i>has</i> to confess to being Professor Blackwell done up in a George Mendoza disguise.<br/>
<br/>
But he only stares. "This doesn't make any fucking sense."<br/>
<br/>
"Well, I think he's a magician, or he's into the occult, at any rate," you retort. Exasperation is making you bold. "Trust me, I'd know, right? Anyway, it sounds like he knocked you out without your knowing it. Sounds like he <i>hypnotized</i> you."<br/>
<br/>
Mendoza bends his head to glower at the figure on the floor. Then he drops next to it and probes at it with a fingertip. "It's a statue," he says.<br/>
<br/>
<i>A statue?</i> You crawl over. A hazy suspicion is beginning to form in your mind.<br/>
<br/>
Mendoza shifts over a few steps to let you get close. You kneel next to the figure on the floor. You touch it gingerly, then push at it.<br/>
<br/>
He's right this far: It's made of rock. As finely and minutely perfect as any statue has ever been, it's a perfect representation of George Mendoza. You peer closely at the face -- even the little hairs of his light moustache have been perfectly realized! Only the clothes are real.<br/>
<br/>
"I don't understand it," you mutter. "This was <i>you</i> when he dragged it in, and the arms were flopping around all over. It wasn't this color, either." You squint at the chandelier, which is almost at eye level, and pull at the cord. Mendoza's color doesn't change, but you notice that the hand grasping the cord has turned greenish. You put your other hand out and pull the cord again. Now it's a jaundiced yellow. Another tug, and it turns carnation pink. Then blue and purple and -- <br/>
<br/>
Yow! It's like your skin has vanished, and you see the muscles and pulsating blood vessels inside it. You yank the cord again, and now your hand looks as it did before. Another cautious tug, and it turns green again. <br/>
<br/>
None of the lights turns your skin gray, however.<br/>
<br/>
You've seen something that color before recently. At the complex, yesterday, when Carlos made a duplicate of himself, then a duplicate of Mike. He made those duplicates by laying masks onto a crudely shaped statue the same color and texture as this thing.<br/>
<br/>
What did he call it? A golem?<br/>
<br/>
So is this thing here a golem too? Only one that's been carved up into the shape of George Mendoza?<br/>
<br/>
But then, where is the real Mendoza? Because the person breathing heavily at your elbow is certainly Professor Blackwell, even if he won't admit it.<br/>
<br/>
And that's when it clicks.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
"Look, trust me, whatever's going on here, you earned the money," you tell Mendoza. You're leaning over and speaking to him through his car window. It took all your powers of persuasion to get him out here, and you don't know why he won't just leave. It's not like he can do anything to help, and he'll only get in trouble if he sticks around, and you tell him so. But after darkly muttering, "You're up to something, Delp," he finally drives away with almost seven hundred dollars in his pocket. You trudge back to Professor Blackwell's villa.<br/>
<br/>
That was the professor that you sent away, even if he was wearing a mask of George Mendoza. But you're pretty sure that's okay, because you're pretty sure he doesn't <i>know</i> that he's Professor Aubrey Blackwell, and is sincerely convinced that he is George Mendoza. You're prepared to believe this because only an hour ago you sent Braydon Delp back to your house. He was wearing a mask of Will Prescott, and was sincerely convinced that's who he was.<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax had explained how that could work, since it was key to his plan for doing these impersonations. Spread a special stuff inside a mask of yourself, and whoever wore that mask would disappear, leaving only the personality that is inside the mask.<br/>
<br/>
So you're pretty sure there must have been a layer of that stuff inside the mask that George Mendoza was wearing, so that when Professor Blackwell put it on, he disappeared, leaving a bewildered George Mendoza behind. Or, to be more precise, a Beta-Mendoza behind.<br/>
<br/>
But that still leaves the question about the thing on floor of Blackwell's library. You squat next to it, elbow on your knee and chin in your hand, regarding it.<br/>
<br/>
It's a golem of some kind, and it was wearing a mask of Mendoza, wandering around pretending to be him. But where's the real Mendoza? Is this him? Did putting on that mask turn him this way? If you took that mask off Blackwell -- not that you know how to do that; Fairfax didn't teach you how to do that -- would you find a statue-like Aubrey Blackwell underneath? Or did they just somehow manufacture a golem that looked just like Mendoza? But why would they do that?<br/>
<br/>
You're not sure which would be worse: that Fairfax and his friends turned Mendoza into a golem, or that they killed and buried him so that they could replace him with a golem.<br/>
<br/>
It's an abstract problem, though. Emotionally, it makes almost difference to you. Mendoza was a nasty thug.<br/>
<br/>
But, anyway: The fact that Professor Blackwell got the mask of Mendoza off the golem shows that he had been playing with that grimoire, and with the professor out of the way, now's your chance to make a careful search of his house, to see if he has any old toys lying around. <br/>
<br/>
The library does seem the obvious place to start, but a horror of the room has been creeping over you almost from the minute you entered it, and it breaks out in the shivering willies as you glance around it. There are a number of alcoves in the walls, each holding what looks like a stuffed animal, and just the impression of them is enough to make you not want to look at them closer. You flee the room.<br/>
<br/>
In the sitting room you find a blank mask lying on the floor, but you leave it there as you search the rest of the first floor. But there's nothing else of interest in the living room, kitchen or dining rooms. Upstairs you find a luxurious bedroom decorated in crimson and ebony furnishings of vaguely Chinese design, but the dressers and armoires contain nothing but clothes -- the professor's. The other bedrooms are bare but for one, which contains a wardrobe and a bed. The latter hides nothing, but inside the former you find a very small treasure trove: two masks.<br/>
<br/>
One of these is blank, but the other has a name in it: AUBREY DESMOND BLACKWELL.<br/>
<br/>
So, he had made a Beta-Blackwell, as you'd made a Beta-Will. If you put this on, you'd know everything he knew.<br/>
<br/>
But you'd have to take Braydon's mask off first, and that would mean calling Fairfax for instructions.<br/>
<br/>
Unless you got Keith out here, and confided in him.<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1133121112112111111132121111132211212
author_id: seuzz
title: From What Direction Comes the Danger?
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>You hesitate with your hand on the ignition, thinking.<br/>
<br/>
After what feels like a solid hour of gut-checking, you turn the key and drive off.<br/>
<br/>
You disguised yourself as Braydon Delp in order to check up on what he and Professor Blackwell knew about Carlos's grimoire. You were worried that the professor might be able to make betas and do impersonations -- like you're doing -- and might use masks to get at you and your friends.<br/>
<br/>
You're still worried about that, but you don't see how you can help yourself by sneaking back in the professor's villa. He'd probably catch you, and if he's up to no good then he'd have even better reasons to do no-good things to you.<br/>
<br/>
But at least you know he's contacted George Mendoza.<br/>
<br/>
For right now, though, you should talk to Fairfax. He's the one who's been calling you, but you ignore the buzzing phone until you've found yourself a cozy, quiet corner at the closest Starbucks, which is when you call him back.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
"You were taking a real risk going in without Braydon's full memories," Fairfax tells you. You and he are curled up in deep leather chairs and talking with quiet intimacy in low voices, even though the coffee shop is mostly empty. His eyes are hard, and so is his voice.<br/>
<br/>
"I didn't blow anything, Philip."<br/>
<br/>
"That you know of. You say he basically threw you out?" Fairfax raises his eyebrows. "Maybe you said or did something, or didn't do something, and that made him suspicious?"<br/>
<br/>
"I'm telling you, I've already got all of Braydon's memories." You sigh. "I've even got all his personality quirks."<br/>
<br/>
"You might think so," Fairfax snaps. "But you ever hear of 'unknown unknowns'? Those are things you don't know, and you don't know that you don't know them." You sigh, but let him prattle on. "If there's something that Braydon knows but you don't, how would you know that you don't know it?"<br/>
<br/>
That gives you a little bit of something to think on, but it still seems very silly. "It sure doesn't feel like I'm missing something -- "<br/>
<br/>
"Sure, it wouldn't <i>feel</i> that way -- "<br/>
<br/>
"So how do <i>you</i> guys know when you've finally scored a full set of memories? Huh?" Your riposte causes Fairfax to blink. "You say it takes a couple of hours, even a whole night for them to come. How do you <i>know</i> you've got the full set after all that?"<br/>
<br/>
"Well, because there aren't any blank spots." He stammers a little. "Ask us anything, and we have the answer."<br/>
<br/>
"It's the same here." You can't help snapping a little at him. "I think you could ask me anything as Braydon, and I'd have the answer. I'm remembering stuff like -- " You grope for something obscure. "When I was ten -- when Braydon was ten, I mean, he was in a school production of <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> and he played the wizard. You'd think that's what got him interested in magic, but it wasn't." You purse your lips with amusement. "He was already into magic before then, that's why he got cast as the wizard, and he hated the part because the wizard wasn't real, he was just an old humbug. He really wanted the wizard to be a real wizard, and he even started writing a fanfiction when it was all over, where -- "<br/>
<br/>
"That's very interesting," Fairfax says with obvious insincerity, "but the point is you need to stay out of sight and trouble until tomorrow morning, at least, when we can be sure you're all set up." He flashes you a brief, mollifying smile. "You showed a lot of initiative, though, and that's good, I guess. I'm just saying we need to be <i>really careful</i> about -- " He glances around, as though realizing that maybe his voice had gotten too loud. "About tipping our hands about this stuff."<br/>
<br/>
"I get that," you sigh, and you look around too. There are a couple of middle-aged women at a table on the other side of the shop, and an old man in a straw hat and running shorts on your side. The barista is a guy who you yourself vaguely knew from school last year -- he was a senior, and someone that Carson and James were always hanging out with -- but he didn't recognize Braydon so you affected not to recognize him when you ordered your coffee. "You know that's why I wanted to check out Braydon and Professor Blackwell. To make sure we're safe."<br/>
<br/>
"And all he did was offer Mendoza a couple of hundred dollars for Carlos's name?" Fairfax looks at you very closely. You nod. "And then he threw you out?" You nod again. Fairfax sits back in his chair and tugs at his lip.<br/>
<br/>
"I figure we're not in any, like, immediate danger," you say after he's been silent a bit. "I guess Mendoza will come looking for Carlos. But Carlos, he's impersonating one of the Garner sisters now, isn't he?" A hard shiver runs through you: <i>You're not who you seem to be, and neither are the Garner girls.</i><br/>
<br/>
"Jessica, yeah. He won the coin toss." Fairfax is still tugging at his lip, but his eyes have turned beady as he studies you. "You were worried about betas and stuff, weren't you? That's what you told me when you pitched me the idea of impersonating Braydon."<br/>
<br/>
"Right. But even if it's not <i>Mendoza</i> who goes looking for Carlos, if it's this professor in a mask of Mendoza, if Carlos is already impersonating Jessica -- "<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah, then it's still not a problem," mutters Fairfax. He doesn't sound convinced by his own assertion, however. His gaze goes distant again.<br/>
<br/>
"What do you want to do?" you ask after another lengthy silence. "What do you want <i>me</i> to do?"<br/>
<br/>
"I want <i>you</i> to keep out of sight and away from Braydon's friends and his family until late tonight -- "<br/>
<br/>
"Easy to do. His mom never looks for him to get home before one, even on school nights."<br/>
<br/>
"Mm, so you think you remember. Maybe she wants him home early tonight," he retorts.<br/>
<br/>
You grin. "So I should go home now, just in case."<br/>
<br/>
"No, I didn't say -- "<br/>
<br/>
"I should go hang out with Gillian, just in case I 'forgot' they have a date. I should go hang out with Christian and Darrell, in case tonight's --  Shit!" You take your phone out. "I do need to go pretty soon, because we <i>do</i> have a campaign session tonight. Gillian'll probably crash it too, she was talking about it when I talked to her -- when Braydon talked to her, I mean, right after -- "<br/>
<br/>
"Okay, you made your point," Fairfax snaps. A pink blush creeps across his alabaster forehead. It's the most excited you think you've ever seen him. "But if you fuck up, obviously none of the rest of us can help you."<br/>
<br/>
"Hey, Eva and Jessica don't even <i>look</i> at Braydon if they can help it," you tell him, "so it'd be seriously out of character for them if they did. But what are <i>you</i> going to do now?"<br/>
<br/>
"I'm going to go find Beta-Carlos," he says, and having so declared he gets halfway out of his chair. "He's in circulation now, and I need to warn him about Mendoza, to not get caught alone with him and to tell me if he comes sniffing around."<br/>
<br/>
"Do you think the professor could try slipping under Carlos's mask, put himself in for Beta-Carlos?"<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax sucks on a tooth, and then laughs -- another first from him. "I'd like to see him try," he says, and laughs again. There's a twinkle in his eye when he looks at you. "He'd just trap himself if did that."<br/>
<br/>
"How do you mean?"<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax rolls his eyes. "Jeez, man, you need to pay attention when I explain how the masks work. We put that stuff in them, right, to put the wearer to sleep? I mean, Jessica Garner is under Carlos's mask right now, and she's asleep. If this professor dude put on the mask <i>he'd</i> go to sleep, same as her, and it would still be Beta-Carlos walking around like a -- " He catches himself before he can drop an insult. <br/>
<br/>
"Oh. Okay, so that's pretty convenient."<br/>
<br/>
"Right. But it's best to be safe, and since it'll be Mendoza, either way, who comes snooping around, that's who I'm going to concentrate on." He goes back to pulling on his lip. "I'm just trying to figure out," he adds in an aside, "whether to wait for him to come to us, or if we should go to him."<br/>
<br/>
"I don't think you can handle Mendoza."<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax gives you a sidelong look. "Well, that's why I'm having to figure it out. Anyway, it's something I'll get Mike and Carlos to help me with. They need something to do anyway."<br/>
<br/>
"So you got both of them, uh, replaced?"<br/>
<br/>
"Sure." Fairfax turns brusque. "Easy as pie. We might have Cindy too, within the hour, if they got through to her." He checks the time on his own phone. "I should get back to the complex." He gets up, and looks down at you. "You probably won't come to any harm if you meet Christian and his friends," he says.<br/>
<br/>
"No, but Christian might." You relax back into your seat, and smile. "Or Pugsley will. My half-giant and his half-orc are a bad combination."<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
You still have time to kill before meeting Christian, so you sit back with your phone after Fairfax has gone. You're checking Twitter when a text comes from Christian: <i>cmpgn a 730 stupid howie stuck home.</i> You grunt and relax.<br/>
<br/>
But after five minutes you're bored and restless. The session will be at King Kong Komics as it always is, so you can kill time there. But instead of driving directly over, you detour the other way to drive by Professor Blackwell's house again. Mendoza's car is gone, but the professor's car is still there. You'd continue past but you notice the iron gate is swinging open.<br/>
<br/>
You make a U-turn and stop in front of the villa. Yes, the gate is swinging free. You tap the steering wheel thoughtfully.</span></div></div>


path: 113312111211211111113212111113223
author_id: seuzz
title: How Far He Flew
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Fairfax says he's not worried about this professor that Braydon has dug up. You're not reassured, but you'd feel like a fool if you insisted. "Maybe you're right," you tell him. "Maybe I'm just being paranoid."<br/>
<br/>
"Nothing wrong with being paranoid, Will," Fairfax replies. He scoops up some more rice. "We're talking about fakes and impersonations. Lots of things to be paranoid about. Just remember, <i>we're</i> the ones with the book. <i>We're</i> the ones people should be paranoid about. Except, of course -- " He concludes in the same tone of calm, logical rationality as he always uses. "We're careful not to give anyone reason to be paranoid."<br/>
<br/>
Still, you can't help shivering. If you hadn't gone out to the complex on Monday to meet Carlos, would you still be part of this gang? Or would you have continued on, totally unaware of what these guys are getting up to? Would Keith -- ?<br/>
<br/>
Yeah, that's right. You rub sweaty palms on your jeans. Keith wasn't going to tell you anything about this. Or, at least, if you'd kept fighting him about Mike and Carlos and their videos, he was just going to let you keep ignoring him while he went off to impersonate -- Cindy Vredenburg? His archenemy's girlfriend? <br/>
<br/>
That reminds you that you should probably talk to him at some point about why he's doing that. <br/>
<br/>
Anyway, Keith would have gone out to impersonate someone else, and it wouldn't have been Keith you were hanging out with later, it would have been one of these "betas." Would you have been able to tell the difference? Part of you wants to think that you could always pick up on a fake, but the rest of you realizes that's a dumb thing to hope, if you yourself are going to be a fake someone. <br/>
<br/>
Then you pause at a worse thought. Would you have become a victim? Would Fairfax and Tilley and them eventually have gotten around to impersonating <i>you?</i> Or Caleb, or one of your other friends?<br/>
<br/>
You cast a quick glance at Fairfax, and find him staring at you intently. "What?"<br/>
<br/>
"Oh, nothing," he says, and resumes chewing. "You're a man of many thoughts, it looks like." He points the chopsticks at your face, and swallows. "It looked like you had about a million running through your brain just now."<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
You tell Fairfax that you'll think about another impersonation, and you borrow that sketchpad from him again. The lunch bell will be ringing soon, so you just head straight to Calculus. Mr. Kowalski has the same lunch hour as you, so his room is always empty in the hour before class starts.<br/>
<br/>
You're at your desk studying those circles anew when a face peers in through the doorway. It's Tilley, and he chucks his chin at you, but doesn't come in. "Missed you at lunch," he says, though he also doesn't sound broken up about your absence. "What time does Cindy come in?"<br/>
<br/>
That would be Cindy Vredenburg, his impersonation-to-come, who also has Kowalski this period. "Just before the tardy bell. You trying to scope her out?"<br/>
<br/>
"Don't <i>you</i> like to scope her out?" he retorts.<br/>
<br/>
"I've seen what Seth does to <i>you.</i> Think I want an excuse for him to do it to me?"<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah, well -- " Keith rolls his tongue around in his cheeks, and smirks.<br/>
<br/>
"And thanks for coming by," you continue. "I wanted to talk to you about that."<br/>
<br/>
"About what?"<br/>
<br/>
"About <i>why</i> you're -- " You can't bring yourself to say it, so you say something almost as gross. "You know Cindy and Seth are fucking each other every chance they get." Keith only rolls his shoulders. "So why do you want to impersonate her, dumbass?" The room is empty, so you can afford to speak openly about it.<br/>
<br/>
"Oh! Well." Keith grins. "They're fucking each other now, but are they still gonna be fucking each other in a day or two?"<br/>
<br/>
Now it's your turn to say "Oh!" You should have seen that angle. "And is that how come -- ?"<br/>
<br/>
He rolls his shoulders again, jams his hands deeper into his pockets, smirks even harder.<br/>
<br/>
"Of course, you're going to have Cindy's memories, even if you put a stop to the actual ass-fucks and blow jobs," you remind him. "You're gonna remember what it's like to have his cock and his tongue and his fingers and his -- "<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah, I might turn anorexic," he snarks back, "I'll be barfing so much. Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?" He glances over his shoulder -- the crowds have started to thicken in the hallway. "What about you, who you picked out?"<br/>
<br/>
"Haven't decided yet."<br/>
<br/>
"You should do like I'm doing. Pick you out someone who can really fuck with someone you don't like."<br/>
<br/>
"You haven't got a girlfriend, Tilley."<br/>
<br/>
"Ha, you so funny. I'm serious." He glances back into the hallway again. "That's what this stuff's good for, you know. All it's good for. Philip is such a baloney factory. Mike and Carlos and Josiah, they're only in it for the tits and grins, but I got my own plans." He fastens a serious expression on you. "If you're in it for the tits, go for Kendra or Gloria. But I'm gonna get some personal satisfaction out of it, and you should too." <br/>
<br/>
"I get what you're saying, but the Molester hasn't got a girlfriend."<br/>
<br/>
"He could have one. One who'd blue-ball him to death."<br/>
<br/>
"That's the most disgusting thing I've heard today, and only a minute ago we were talking about Javits shoving his cock up your hairy ass-crack."<br/>
<br/>
"Whatever. But you need to throw that thing away -- " He points at the sketchpad. "And just think about having fun."<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
After Calculus is your study hall, which you take in the library, and that's where you get down to some serious thinking about what you're going to do.<br/>
<br/>
The problem is that you've driven yourself into a hole where you can't really see any good choices. You don't want to victimize someone you know, which makes it hard to take up Lin and Yumi, who are Fairfax's preferred impostures on the cheerleading squad. You are also still jumpy about Braydon and this professor who is chasing the grimoire, which inclines you toward hiding someplace safe and unexpected. But none of the girls on Fairfax's list seem like "safe" places themselves.<br/>
<br/>
Probably because they are girls, and therefore strike you as being very vulnerable.<br/>
<br/>
It's when you have that insight that you flip the page to check out Fairfax's list of guys.<br/>
<br/>
It's much sketchier, either because he's less interested in them or because he thinks -- and you'd probably agree with him -- that guys don't move in the same hard-and-fast cliques that the girls seem to move in. Anyway, mostly it's a bunch of sports teams, though there are some circles for drama people and speech people and music people, and even for you and Caleb.<br/>
<br/>
It's probably an illusion -- how can muscle protect you from infiltrators and impostors? -- but your desire for personal safety keeps pulling your eye toward the sports teams. Lots of beefy guys to consider there. The basketball guys would be naturals, but they're relatively underrepresented by Fairfax's list. Gordon Black, the captain of the team and the boyfriend of the head cheerleader, isn't even listed, and neither is Steve Patterson. Javits is, but he's not a choice if Keith is going to try abusing him.<br/>
<br/>
No, the meatiest guys would be the football and wrestling squads. Laurent Delacroix and Alec Brown prominently represent the latter; the quarterback Cameron Huber prominently represents the former; names you don't recognize appear on both lists. After writing down names and sorting them out in different ways, you tentatively settle on Chris Ratliff -- who is both a football player and a wrestler -- as someone you could sell to Fairfax as an impersonation. You're sold on him because you have no classes with him and hence he is maximally distant from you.<br/>
<br/>
So you're about settled on him when you start looking at some of the more obscure names on Fairfax's list, and that's how you discover Eric Murphy.<br/>
<br/>
He is one of the very few names with lots of lines and overlapping circles and connections; only Charles Hartlein has more connections. The name was vaguely familiar, and it was more to put a face to a name that you went online to track him down.<br/>
<br/>
It gave you a strange turn when you found his picture. Oh, there's nothing very special about him. He looks like every other dumb kid at Westside High. What's strange is how much he looks like <i>you.</i><br/>
<br/>
No, it's not a "separated at birth" thing. But all the Instagram pictures show a guy who is lanky (like you); who seems all elbows and knees (like you); has little unshaved whiskers on his chin and cheeks (like you); slouches around in sloppy t-shirts and cargo shorts or jeans (like you); and grins inanely at any camera pointed his way (like you do).<br/>
<br/>
He even wears a white, shapeless ball cap that looks eerily like yours.<br/>
<br/>
In fact, so far as you can tell, there are only two standout differences between you. The trivial one is that his hair is a mousy brown and bunches up in curls over his ears and eyebrows, while yours is stiff and straw colored and sticks out at weird angles. The big difference is that, whereas you have only two really close friends, he seems to have billions.<br/>
<br/>
You find pages and pages of selfies he's taken with seemingly every person in school. Instagram pairs him with ball players, drama people, flautists, math geeks, and stoners. He's in pictures holding skateboards, electric guitars, videogame controllers, and tennis rackets.<br/>
<br/>
And he's got girls draped all over him. Lots of girls. And when they're not draped over him, he's half-draped over them.<br/>
<br/>
He's like the anti-Will Prescott. Eerily similar but totally different.<br/>
<br/>
How is this possible? How can a guy who is practically your twin -- physically and sartorially -- have so many friends? And more to the point, so many girlfriends?<br/>
<br/>
What has he been doing right that you're doing wrong?</span></div></div>


path: 1133121112112111111132121111132232
author_id: seuzz
title: A Funny Kind of Fascination
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>When the final bell rings, you still haven't made any decisions, and you tell Fairfax (via text) that you'll have to think about it some more. He reminds you that by tomorrow -- and almost certainly by Thursday morning -- he will be impersonating Maria Vasquez and that will make it harder to talk directly. <i>We could hang out someplace private and you could show me your boobs,</i> you're tempted to reply, but self-control prevails.<br/>
<br/>
Anyway, you probably wouldn't have thought much more about Eric Murphy -- and probably would have drifted back into Fairfax's "cheerleader" scheme -- except that Caleb caught up to you in the student parking lot and asked what you were doing. "Tilley's hanging out with cheerleaders, he says," Caleb had sneered. "I wonder where he's really hanging out."<br/>
<br/>
"With cheerleaders, maybe," you replied. But even though you knew that was the truth, it wasn't a picture that in any way drew itself, and you only shrugged when Caleb rolled his eyes. But with nothing else to do, you went home with him, wound up sitting on his bed while he lounged at his desk, and talked about nothing very much because there was nothing very much to talk about, it seemed.<br/>
<br/>
And that reminded you of Eric Murphy, and you mentioned him to Caleb. When the subsequent conversation was over, you were determined to make that guy your imposture. It went down (more or less) like this.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
"You know a guy named Eric Murphy?" you ask Caleb. The emptiness of your afternoon has reminded you of the possible fullness of Eric Murphy's afternoons, as something white may remind one of something black -- or, perhaps more aptly in this case, as hunger may remind one of a restaurant that needs trying out.<br/>
<br/>
Caleb frowns at the ceiling. "Do you mean, Is he a friend of mine, or Have I a passing acquaintance with him, or Do rumors of him reach my ears, or Would I know him if I saw him, or Have I heard the name?"<br/>
<br/>
"Any of them, I guess."<br/>
<br/>
"Hmm. No, no, no, no and, uh, no."<br/>
<br/>
You show him both your middle fingers. "He seems to know everyone else at school." You sag back on the bed. "Thought maybe you might be one of those people."<br/>
<br/>
"You're up one on me, if you even know the name. Is he friends with Montoya and Hollister too? You know you haven't even told me how that video thing went."<br/>
<br/>
"It went okay. I think. They haven't uploaded it yet."<br/>
<br/>
His eyebrows arch. "You have to see it before if you know how stupid you sounded?"<br/>
<br/>
"That's just it," you reply, ignoring his insult. "Sometimes you're not nearly as good as you think you are, after you see yourself in a video or whatever, I mean. Of course, sometimes you're better."<br/>
<br/>
"Does the 'you' in the last case ever mean you specifically, Prescott, or does it just mean 'other people'?"<br/>
<br/>
"If you're trying to make a joke, I don't follow it." Actually, you're pretty sure you know what he's trying to say, but you're not going to give him the satisfaction.<br/>
<br/>
"Well, skip it." Caleb settles more comfortably into his chair. "So what's this other guy got to do with Montoya and Hollister?"<br/>
<br/>
"Nothing, I didn't say he did."<br/>
<br/>
"Then why are you -- ?"<br/>
<br/>
"Because someone mentioned him to me, and I looked him up online -- you know, on Instagram and places like that." You take out your phone. "And I guess he just, well --  I dunno. Lemme just show you."<br/>
<br/>
(And right then you probably could have turned back, because even as you started pulling up those pictures you'd found, it seemed like a foolish fixation.)<br/>
<br/>
"There, that's him in the blue shirt," you say as Caleb, with a sigh, stretches over to take the phone from you.<br/>
<br/>
"Okay. He looks like every other dumb kid at school," he says after briefly studying the image.<br/>
<br/>
"You know, that's exactly what I said to myself. But he doesn't look like <i>you,</i> does he?"<br/>
<br/>
"I'll take that as a compliment."<br/>
<br/>
You smile sourly. "I was going to say, doesn't he look kind of like <i>me?</i>"<br/>
<br/>
"No. The hair's the wrong color for a start."<br/>
<br/>
"But what about his hat?"<br/>
<br/>
Caleb guffaws. "His <i>hat?</i> He looks like you because of his <i>hat?</i>"<br/>
<br/>
"It's the same kind of hat as I wear!" You lift your cap -- that baggy white thing -- and wave it around.<br/>
<br/>
"I guess." Caleb snickers again. "But so what?"<br/>
<br/>
"So, I was just looking at the pictures he uploaded, and he's uploaded a lot of them," you bark, and you feel yourself turning red as Caleb grins back at you. "And I just thought that, you know, he dresses like me and he kind of looks like me. He looks more like me than <i>you</i> look like me."<br/>
<br/>
"I repeat, I'll take that as a compliment."<br/>
<br/>
"I just think that, if you lined up everyone in school, and tried to find someone who looked most like me and had my personal kind of style -- Shut up!" Caleb had burst out laughing at the phrase "personal kind of style." "I was going to say that he'd be the one, the one most like me! That's all I'm saying!"<br/>
<br/>
"And that's, like, nothing. Or are you worried he's stealing your -- " Caleb guffaws again. "Your personal style?"<br/>
<br/>
"Oh, fuck it! Give it back!" You grab for the phone.<br/>
<br/>
But Caleb holds it out of reach. "No, I want to see some more of this guy. Your interest in him intrigues me, Prescott. Something about him has set you off, and I want to know what it is."<br/>
<br/>
"I'll save you the trouble," you retort angrily if none too wisely. "It's all the girls he's got all over him."<br/>
<br/>
This was, of course, a fatal admission, and you realized it was the worst possible thing you could have said when Caleb's mouth twisted up mirthfully. You'd blurted it out, actually, as a way of getting him off the subject, because you thought he'd want to dodge another talk about Lisa and your failed romance with her. But instead he settles back in his chair and starts flipping through Murphy's pictures.<br/>
<br/>
"You're right," he says after a few minutes. "He's got lots and lots of girlfriends, it looks like. Not some of the best looking girls in school, but he's got his hands on them, and they've got their hands on him, which is so much more than can be said about you."<br/>
<br/>
"And look at all the guys he's hanging out with."<br/>
<br/>
Caleb gives you a look. "What are you implying?"<br/>
<br/>
"Nothing. Except he's got tons of friends, and it's like everyone at school knows him."<br/>
<br/>
"Well, <i>I</i> don't know him." Caleb tosses the phone back at you, and you catch it awkwardly in your chest. "And unless you're planning on becoming a paparazzi, and this is your first celebrity, I don't get what the fascination is."<br/>
<br/>
"So how does he rate having so many friends, and I don't?" You thrust your hands out, as though they are full of the questions you want him to ponder. <br/>
<br/>
"It's the hat that makes the difference," Caleb says.<br/>
<br/>
You open your mouth to remind him that <i>the fucking hats are exactly the same.</i> Then, by the gleam in his eye, you realize that he's playing you the way a virtuoso piccolo player tootles <i>Stars and Stripes Forever.</i> "Oh, fuck it," you snarl, and clamber off the bed. "If you're not going to be serious -- "<br/>
<br/>
"And you are?"<br/>
<br/>
"I <i>could</i> be! I could be <i>very</i> serious about finding out what -- what -- Oh, <i>fuck you!</i>" You had to curse him out because, rocking silently with laughter, he was about to fall out of his chair.<br/>
<br/>
And that's when Philip Fairfax's dumb "sociological experiment" suddenly seemed like the best idea anyone ever had.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
"I must confess, Will," says Fairfax when you meet him that evening up at the municipal library, "that this is not the kind of, ah, investigation I had in mind."<br/>
<br/>
"Why not? It's perfect!"<br/>
<br/>
His brow furrows and his lips whiten as he compresses them. "Well, he's not a cheerleader for a start."<br/>
<br/>
"Does it have to be cheerleaders?" If you were paying attention to yourself, you'd realize how bizarre it is that you're fighting his plan to turn you into a busty babe. "I thought this was about, like, mapping out the social connections at school!"<br/>
<br/>
"The social connections between the cheerleaders and the rest of the school body," he says in the correcting tone of a patient teacher. "Eric, though he is -- " Fairfax breaks off.<br/>
<br/>
"Though he's what?" you ask after Fairfax has been silent a bit. He's cocked his head and is staring intently at the sketchpad. It's open to the sheet that shows how all the boys are connected to each other. He doesn't answer you, though, but flips to the third page, the one that shows both guys and girls and lots of arrows connecting them.<br/>
<br/>
"I was going to say," Fairfax resumes, "that even though he <i>is</i> quite socially plugged in, and now that I think more about it, I <i>will</i> say that. He is quite socially plugged in."<br/>
<br/>
"Right. So?"<br/>
<br/>
"So what?" Fairfax raises a blank, questioning face to yours.<br/>
<br/>
"So what are you saying?"<br/>
<br/>
He blinks. "I'm saying that I think I see your point. He is in a position to track exactly what we want to track." He leans back to tug thoughtfully at his lip. "I'm a little upset I didn't see it myself. From the vantage of the cheerleader squad we will be able see one end of the chain, but it takes another perspective to see how the various, uh, <i>waves,</i> I suppose you'd call them, propagate through the mass of the school."<br/>
<br/>
You tense a little, hating that you're not sure what he's talking about. "And, uh, that's going to be my job?"<br/>
<br/>
He looks at you. "Isn't that what you're volunteering to do?"<br/>
<br/>
"Sure," you reply, though you're not at all sure what you're agreeing to. "So when can we get him?"<br/>
<br/>
"Let's talk to Carlos and Mike when they get here." </span></div></div>


path: 11331211121121111111321211111322321
author_id: seuzz
title: Betas That Don't Miss a Beat
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>"Can't we talk about it tomorrow?" you ask Fairfax. "My dad told me to stop by the store while I was out, and he's gonna be pissed if I don't get back soon."<br/>
<br/>
"Why's that?"<br/>
<br/>
"We're out of toilet paper."<br/>
<br/>
Fairfax freezes. "Uh huh," he says. "Well, it might be a little weird -- " He stops, and leans back to stare at the ceiling. "No, on second thought, we can work it out," he says when he resumes. "You'll just have to go find Carlos and Mike at school. They can set it up, probably, for you to get to him and, uh, replace him. But you need to talk to them early, so they can talk to him." He fixes you with a stare. "I have the impression you kind of have to make <i>appointments</i> with Eric."<br/>
<br/>
"That's the impression I got too," you reply, and swing your pack onto your shoulder.<br/>
<br/>
"Oh," Fairfax adds as you turn to go. "And when I say you need to talk to Carlos and Mike, I mean the guys who look like them."<br/>
<br/>
"Right," you nod. And then you're off.<br/>
<br/>
Not until you're a couple of blocks from the library does the penny drop. Fairfax was telling you that Mike and Carlos have already replaced Eva and Jessica, and that means you'll be talking to their betas tomorrow.<br/>
<br/>
It also means you'll be missing out on seeing the new Garner girls at the library.<br/>
<br/>
You almost turn around. But you don't want your dad shitting bricks over an empty toilet paper dispenser, so you just go on to the supermarket and then home.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
You get a couple of texts from Carlos later than night, telling you that he's set things up for you with his and Mike's betas -- they know what you need to do and will help you do it. The texts come from Jessica Garner's account, but there's nothing in the messages that would be specific to either Jessica or Carlos. They could have come from anyone, they're so bland. You go to bed more anxious than expectant over the next day's plans, for there's nothing to get tingly over. You've chosen as your first impersonation a guy, not a girl with parts you can play with, and it's a guy not so different from you. When you get right down to it, you really are only interested in his mind.<br/>
<br/>
The next morning, before setting out to class, you shoot Carlos -- Beta-Carlos, that is -- a text asking when and where he'll be at school. <i>cafeteria,</i> he replies. <i>7:45.</i> That's pretty goddamn early. In fact, it's only about five minutes from the time you get his reply. You hurriedly finish shaving -- it's been two weeks since you've sliced off the chin hairs, and they're starting to show -- and pull on your jacket while grabbing a bagel on your way out the door. "See you this afternoon," you call out to your mom.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Well, maybe,</i> you reflect as you hit the driveway. It comes all over you more powerfully than it did yesterday. <i>She'll see someone who looks like her son this afternoon and this evening. But will it be him? Or just a beta?</i> You have to sit in the truck cab for a minute until the numb tingling in your hands and forearms subsides.<br/>
<br/>
So you're early to school, but you're far from the first. Keith -- loping through the parking lot -- jumps to one side as you beep at and pass him on your way to a prime spot up close to the theater wing. "Yo!" you holler back at him after you dismount, and he hustles over with hunched shoulders. "What are you doing up here at the crack of dawn?"<br/>
<br/>
"Avoiding the rush. The basketball guys are never this early, so this way -- " He shrugs. "I make sure to miss them."<br/>
<br/>
"I didn't know you did that."<br/>
<br/>
"I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before, Prescott," he snaps. Mention of the basketball guys seems to have unnerved him, for he glances around with darting eyes.<br/>
<br/>
"Get your dick caught in your zipper this morning, dude? What's with the bad attitude?"<br/>
<br/>
He favors you with a brief, sour glower, then does a double-take back at you. "Is that <i>you,</i> Will?"<br/>
<br/>
"Sure. Who does it look like? Oh. Right."<br/>
<br/>
"Right." Keith squints at you. "Well?"<br/>
<br/>
"Nah, it's still me. I hear Carlos and Mike aren't themselves this morning. Eva and Jessica, neither," you add in a chortle. Having missed seeing them last night, you're very curious to see them now. "Is that what's biting you? You can't wait your turn?"<br/>
<br/>
"Something like that," he mutters. He jumps at the gunning of a nearby motor, and hurries off toward the breezeway leading into the school. "You know, I was up there at the storage complex yesterday, helping them out with Eva and Jessica," he whines. "I did all the work getting them out there, you know. Oh, and thank you so very much for volunteering my services. Asshole."<br/>
<br/>
"You got the job done."<br/>
<br/>
"Sure, and got called a bunch of names for my trouble. They don't like me, Will."<br/>
<br/>
"Who?"<br/>
<br/>
"Those cheerleaders."<br/>
<br/>
"Which ones? The real ones or -- "<br/>
<br/>
"Both. Both-both. Both sets of them, I mean." He hunches his shoulders further. "There's a real downside to this business, I'm starting to figure out."<br/>
<br/>
You stop short at his words, but he doesn't, and you have to sprint after, catching up to him at the doors leading into the main building. "What are you talking about?" You catch at his elbow. "What downside?"<br/>
<br/>
"Are you sure that's you?"<br/>
<br/>
"Cross my heart. I'm going in to talk to Carlos now, about switching out with -- Never mind. Aren't you all set up for Cindy?"<br/>
<br/>
"Sure," he says morosely. "That's all set."<br/>
<br/>
"Dude! Keith!" You push him against the plate-glass window looking into the tutorial staff office. "Then what are you so donkey-faced about?" Then it hits you, and you can't suppress a grin. "You thinking some more about Javits and his hairy cock and your sweet, tender parts, aren't you?"<br/>
<br/>
Keith stares at you, and he goes bug-eyed for a moment. Then he laughs out loud. It's a laugh of relief and pleasure, though there's a nasty edge inside it. "Actually, I wasn't," he says. "I'd forgotten about that. Thanks for reminding me, that puts it all in perspective." He claps you on the arm, then wrestles free of your grasp. "See you around, and, uh, good luck on wherever <i>you</i> wind up."<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
The end of your talk with Keith is as baffling as its beginning, but you let him go, and trudge off to the cafeteria. It's a lot more crowded than you thought it would be, but the explanation is as obvious as the food trays sitting in front of most of the students. You'd forgotten that Westside serves a breakfast as well as a lunch.<br/>
<br/>
You don't much like the looks of the students taking the breakfast. They all have a decided wrong-side-of-the-tracks vibe to them. Carlos is sitting with a couple of other Hispanic guys in denim jackets and bandanas, but he murmurs something to them and rises when he sees you approaching. He pulls you over to the side of the room. "What's up?" he says, and he looks a lot more serious than you've seen him yet.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Oh, but this isn't him. This is his beta.</i> You wonder if it's unhappy -- jealous, even -- of the original getting to go off to be Jessica Garner while leaving it, the beta, to keep plugging along in Montoya's life. Do betas even have thoughts and feelings, you suddenly wonder, as one thought chases another? Or is it just pretended behavior, like when Siri or Alexa yell at you?<br/>
<br/>
<i>And dude!</i> You shiver hard when you remember, as it now flashes across your mind, that this isn't just a "beta." Jessica Garner is somewhere under that brown, broad face.<br/>
<br/>
"Will." Carlos snaps his fingers at you. "Don't space out on me, man."<br/>
<br/>
"Huh? Sorry, just, uh, thinking."<br/>
<br/>
"About what you need from me? 'Cos all I heard is that you got a hard-on for Eric Murphy, which, uh, kinda surprises me."<br/>
<br/>
"I don't have a -- !" Luckily, you catch yourself before you can deny to the whole cafeteria that you are stimulated sexually by the thought of Eric Murphy. "But yeah, he's the one I picked out," you continue in a much lower voice. (But Carlos still looks amused by what you almost said.) "You know him, can you help me get to him?"<br/>
<br/>
"Sure, he's like flies, always buzzing around." Carlos turns to run his eyes over the cafeteria. "A lot of times he's here in the morning. But -- " He turns back to you. "If me and Mike catch him early enough, we'll set it up to get him out to the complex, same as we did with those girls yesterday."<br/>
<br/>
"That went off okay?"<br/>
<br/>
"Sure." He stares at you. There's nothing vacant in his expression, but he doesn't look very interested or excited by it, not like he and Hollister were on Monday, when they were falling all over themselves in anticipation. His brow crinkles. "Something wrong?"<br/>
<br/>
"No. Just wondering how you're doing."<br/>
<br/>
He shrugs. "Doin' fine."<br/>
<br/>
"No ill aftereffects?"<br/>
<br/>
His eyes narrow. "No. Why? You think there would be?"<br/>
<br/>
"I don't know. I guess I'm just wondering what it's like for you."<br/>
<br/>
Carlos -- Beta-Carlos, that is -- holds your eye. "Life goes on, Will. For some of us it's not a big change. But thanks for asking." He doesn't sound upset, but he doesn't sound very sincere, either. After extracting from him a promise to text you once he knows for sure that Murphy will be on tap for the afternoon, you leave him for the library.<br/>
<br/>
But Tilley is in there, and after that weird talk you had with him on the way in, you turn around before he catches sight of you, and go to Mr. Walberg's classroom, there to await the start of what might be the last day of your present life. <br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 113312111211211111113212111113223211
author_id: seuzz
title: A Lunch with a Real Fake
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>Caleb is late getting to first period, and Tilley is being a moody lump again during second, and third period has no one in it worth talking to, so it's not until fourth-period English that something like socialization occurs. Caleb frowns when you come in, because instead of beelining to your desk you detour over to where Carlos and Mike (or their betas) are sitting. Josiah is there too, watching brightly and drumming his small, skinny hands on the desk. "You excited about something?" you ask him.<br/>
<br/>
"This afternoon," he says. "Happening this afternoon." He beats another tattoo on the desktop. "You look bummed out, like these guys."<br/>
<br/>
You catch Carlos and Mike exchanging a hooded glance, and you deduce there must be some tension between the alpha-Josiah and the beta-boys. "No, not yet," you tell Josiah. To Carlos: "Having trouble setting things up with Murphy?"<br/>
<br/>
"No, we got it set up last period," Carlos says. "Thought we'd wait till we saw you in here. Come out to the complex around four. You and, uh, Eric are going to audition for a video thing for us. Well, that's what we told him."<br/>
<br/>
You notice Mike's mouth twisting up at Eric's name, but you ignore him. "Cool. Kind of like I was supposed to do with that long-ass desert movie?"<br/>
<br/>
"Kind of. Oh, and we're uploading your video this afternoon."<br/>
<br/>
"Cool. I'll take a look. Or someone will."<br/>
<br/>
"Lots of someone's will," Mike interrupts. "We got a couple of hundred subscribers."<br/>
<br/>
Well, maybe you will and maybe you won't take a look. Maybe you'll leave that to your beta, along with all the other mortifying things you'll be leaving behind.<br/>
<br/>
"What was that about?" Caleb asks as you fall into your desk.<br/>
<br/>
"Oh, just checking up on the video," you reply. "They want me back out there again this afternoon."<br/>
<br/>
"So I guess you didn't totally fuck yourself up," he says, and he only sounds a little surprised.<br/>
<br/>
You don't reply.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
Keith is waiting outside the classroom when you and Caleb get out, but he recoils when you announce that you want to eat lunch with Carson and James and Jenny. "I'm trying to avoid certain people," he says, and goes off with Carlos and Mike instead. <i>Well, good for him,</i> you think. <i>The betas could probably stand to have someone being nice to them.</i><br/>
<br/>
"Why aren't you going with them?" Caleb asks. "Aren't they your new friends?"<br/>
<br/>
"Are you jealous, man?" you retort as you push your way into a hallway crammed with teenagers. "You got a feather up your cunny or something else that's bothering you?"<br/>
<br/>
"No." It feels like his reply is sliding down the back of your neck as he presses after you. "I guess I'm just wondering how long this infatuation is going to last."<br/>
<br/>
"Whatever," you reply over your shoulder. "Anyway, I want to eat with Jenny and them 'cos I suspect -- only suspect, mind you -- that Eva will be with them."<br/>
<br/>
"She often is. But why do you suspect?"<br/>
<br/>
"Just a feeling."<br/>
<br/>
For the first few minutes of lunch Caleb gets to look smugly down his nose at you, as it's just the regulars on the front quad. Then you get to give him a sly grin when Eva approaches.<br/>
<br/>
Then your jaw falls slack when you see who's with her.<br/>
<br/>
It's Cindy. And she's dressed out in a sleeveless blouse and a mini-skirt and sandals. You can't help boggling at her, for she is giving you acres and acres of flesh to soak up for weeks and weeks of wet dreams. "Hey guys," she says lazily as she drops cross-legged onto the grass next to you.<br/>
<br/>
None of the boys speak, but Jenny -- who as one of Cindy's more casual friends, and a girl to boot, is unaffected by her sexual glow -- chirps back a puzzled greeting. "What are you doing out here?" she asks. "This isn't your lunch."<br/>
<br/>
"I had it last period with Jessica. I'm taking this lunch with Eva." She slides her arm through her friend's. Eva closes her eyes and a little smile flashes briefly across her face. "It's just Yearbook this period, I can skip."<br/>
<br/>
"How about you skip Calculus with me," Carson honks at her. "Prescott, you can take notes for us, right?"<br/>
<br/>
"I'd rather skip it with Will and you take notes for us," Cindy replies. She turns those pale blue eyes on you. They twinkle hard. "How are doing, Will? It seems like I never get to talk to you."<br/>
<br/>
You seem to have swallowed your larynx, so you can only stare back at Cindy as she giggles and turns to the rest of the company. "Will and I were in the same third grade class, did you now that? He sat across from me and was always borrowing my green bunny rabbit eraser. Weren't you, Will?" She turns those shining eyes back on you.<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah," you finally gasp out. "I guess I kind of always was, now that you remind me."<br/>
<br/>
"Cindy's feeling like a new girl," Eva says, and there's a waspish note in her voice. "Feeling like a new boyfriend too, apparently. Jenny," she says, and clutches Cindy's smooth arm, "tell Cindy she doesn't want to break up with Seth."<br/>
<br/>
Jenny starts to say something, but you drown it out with a shout. "A-<i>ha!</i>" You jab a finger at Cindy, who like everyone else turns on you with surprise on her face. But you can't find anything to follow that explosive remark up with.<br/>
<br/>
So Carson does. "A-ha what the hell is your problem, Will?"<br/>
<br/>
"He is!" you shout. "I mean -- !" You scramble to your feet, forgetting your lunch and everything else, and on trembling legs go sprinting off toward the school. <i>Fucking Keith!</i><br/>
<br/>
You run the long way around the school twice -- a circuit of almost a mile, at least -- before spotting Tilley in the corner between the main school building and one of the wings. He's squatting there with Carlos and Mike -- the betas -- and he looks up with a jaw hanging stupidly open as you pant up to him. "Dude, where's the fire?" he asks.<br/>
<br/>
"Don't 'dude' me, you -- you <i>beta!</i>"<br/>
<br/>
You see it in the flicker of his eyes: <i>Busted!</i> But he's a perfect duplicate of Tilley, for he gamely tries to bluff on through. "I'm not a beta, Will. Dunno why you're saying I am. Maybe you're a beta?"<br/>
<br/>
"Ha!" Again you thrust out a finger at a person who can plausibly pass as Keith Tilley. "You just keep playing it that way, asshole! Keep playing it like you're, you know, <i>you!</i>"<br/>
<br/>
Carlos interrupts your tirade. "Jesus, Will, stop shouting," he says. "Your fuck buddy Johansson's coming this way."<br/>
<br/>
You look back. Sure enough, Caleb -- looking very thunderstruck -- is jogging toward you. You whip around to give Beta-Keith one last warning. "Remember what I said."<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah yeah, Prescott," he sneers in a very tired voice. "Like I gotta listen to <i>you.</i>"<br/>
<br/>
"The fuck's with you?" Caleb asks as you hurry back toward him. "You got cheerleaders back there, one of them ready to suck you off, it seems like, and you go running off to find Keith?"<br/>
<br/>
You grab him by the arm, spin him around. "Tilley just won some money off me, that's all," you mutter as you lead him away.<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah?"<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah, and I'll suck you off if you never mention it again."<br/>
<br/>
"That a promise?" It's like there's real hope in his voice.<br/>
<br/>
"No, it's a threat. I feel like biting something."<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
Naturally you don't explain things to Caleb, and you can't even explain to yourself why you got so upset with Keith. With both of him. The only thing you can figure is that it feels like you got pranked.<br/>
<br/>
It's your own fault, of course, for not helping out at the complex yesterday, or for sticking around with Fairfax and his friends at the library last night. Still, you wait until the coast is clear before returning to the front quad to retrieve your stuff, and you give Cindy a very sour look when you see her primping in the back of the room when you go into your math class. She catches your look, and titters in a very exaggerated way. "Whadja run off for at lunch?" Carson asks when you plop down in the desk in front of him. "There was news."<br/>
<br/>
"I bet," you retort. Then you add, "What was it?"<br/>
<br/>
"Nah, you don't hang out to listen, you don't get to hear."<br/>
<br/>
"Is it that Cindy's breaking up with Seth?"<br/>
<br/>
"Right, I guess you heard that much, then. She's thinking about it, anyway. Someone should warn Keith," he adds in a thoughtful tone. "Javits is going to be extra pissy."<br/>
<br/>
"I have a feeling Keith already knows," you say, and slump in your desk. That's the end of the conversation.<br/>
<br/>
You're done with cheerleaders, but cheerleaders aren't done with you. During your seventh period study hall, in the library, you almost yelp when Maria Vasquez sweeps in and makes straight for your table. She is looking very earnest, very intense. "Will," she says. "I hear you made kind of an ass of yourself at lunch today."<br/>
<br/>
"Me?" you exclaim. "What did I do?"<br/>
<br/>
"You almost let slip what's going on."<br/>
<br/>
You make a face back at her -- something you'd normally never do, but you doubt this is a normal conversation. "Is this a message from Philip Fairfax?"<br/>
<br/>
"Of course. Don't get so excited. That's the message."<br/>
<br/>
"Don't yell at me, yell at -- " You glance around, and lower your voice. "Cindy. She's the one prattling about breaking up with Seth for no good reason."<br/>
<br/>
"I know, but she gets to do that. Part of a girlfriend's prerogative, breaking up with her boyfriend for no good reason." Her brow lowers. "I heard you've had experience with that kind of thing."<br/>
<br/>
For a moment you have no idea what Fairfax means, then realize he's talking about the shit way Lisa broke up with you. "Whatever, Maria. I didn't know people gossip about me on the cheerleader squad."<br/>
<br/>
"Some of them do. Now." Her manner remains unflinchingly grave. "So keep your shit together."<br/>
</span></div></div>


path: 1133121112112111111132121111132232111
author_id: seuzz
title: Eric Murphy Arrives
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>You've been keeping an alert eye in the hallways for Eric Murphy -- for anyone in a white ball cap that looks like yours -- but eighth period comes and you haven't so much as glimpsed such a person. You slide into your seat in Astronomy class, shoot Stephanie a quick glance, as has been your recent habit, and slump. Little needles of anticipation prickle all over your skin and inside your guts. <i>This is going to be happening,</i> you think. <i>Before suppertime. I just have to get through this period.</i><br/>
<br/>
Naturally, the time drags.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
You get to the storage complex early, but the betas are waiting outside for you. "So you missed all the fun yesterday," Beta-Carlos says he leads you into the climate-controlled unit. Both he and his friend are subdued, and they don't like to meet your eye, you notice. "It was like an airport terminal with all the people coming and going. Hope it won't be the same today, it's just Eric we're taking care of, right?"<br/>
<br/>
"Fuck," Mike says. "What if he brings Tim or one of his other guys along?" A vivid white spot shows in his otherwise flushed forehead.<br/>
<br/>
"He won't."<br/>
<br/>
"But what if he does?"<br/>
<br/>
"Then you can shit a couple of bricks and heave 'em at 'em," snaps Carlos. "We'll figure something out. But you -- " He points at your chest. "You wait for him outside, then bring him here to the weight room." Carlos pauses to unlock and raise the rattling metal door. "Keep behind him, grab him once he's in here, so's you pin his arms. Like this." Carlos demonstrates, grabbing you in a meaty grasp. "We'll slap a mask on him. And don't let him break his head when he falls. People are heavier than you think."<br/>
<br/>
"He's pretty skinny," you say.<br/>
<br/>
"They're heavier than you think," he repeats. "Then we need -- Shit." He blinks at you. "Anything important happen to you today? Like, that you need to remember?"<br/>
<br/>
"For what?"<br/>
<br/>
"Because if something happened today, your beta might need to remember it."<br/>
<br/>
"How do we make sure he does?"<br/>
<br/>
The betas exchange a sour glance. "Like this." Mike pulls a mask from the foot locker. "This is your beta," he says, as though you're an exceptionally slow student. "Just put it on, it'll pick up all your memories, including today's. It'll knock you out for a couple of minutes -- "<br/>
<br/>
"We got time," Carlos says. He's studying the screen of his phone. "Eric's not due for another twenty minutes, and he always runs late."<br/>
<br/>
"Right. And after that we gotta set up the inside of the mask."<br/>
<br/>
"Shit." Carlos makes a face. "You think those dumb cheerleaders remembered about that?" Mike cocks an eyebrow.<br/>
<br/>
"Remembered about what?" you ask.<br/>
<br/>
"We gotta to put some stuff inside your mask to seal it up, so when we put it on Eric it'll turn him into a beta. In fact, let's start doing that now." Carlos flicks out a penknife.<br/>
<br/>
You leap back with a shout. "Hang on! What're you -- ?"<br/>
<br/>
"Relax, dumbass, we just need some of your hair." You tense as he slices a hank from over your ear. "You take care of the rest of him while I get started on this stuff," he tells Mike.<br/>
<br/>
Hollister advances on you with the mask. "You're not going to freak out on me, too, are you?"<br/>
<br/>
The idea of freaking out probably wouldn't have even occurred to you if he hadn't mentioned it. But now it does occur to you, and you're suddenly very conscious of the fact that he's not a real person, but a kind of magical ventriloquist's dummy, and that he's proposing to knock you out by magical means, and that his friend -- who's also a fake -- has got some of your hair and is preparing to use it in some other magical ceremony.<br/>
<br/>
So you take a step back. "What's the matter now?" Hollister asks.<br/>
<br/>
"You sure that, uh, your real guys can't come out to help?"<br/>
<br/>
"That's not very nice," Beta-Mike says. "Calling <i>them</i> real. I got feelings, you know."<br/>
<br/>
"No, I don't know. You do?"<br/>
<br/>
"Well, fuck it, and fuck you too," he snarls, and he flushes more deeply still. "I was told to help you out, I wasn't told to sit on you and make you do this, so if you don't want to -- "<br/>
<br/>
"Alright, alright!" You can't believe you're letting this glorified Pinocchio bully you, but you submit. "What do you need me to -- ?"<br/>
<br/>
"Just lay out on the bench. Or the floor, or where I don't give a shit. Unless you want to bust your head open when you pass out."<br/>
<br/>
You drop onto your ass, then spread out on the floor. You wonder if this is what the real Michael Hollister thinks of you, or if it's just the beta's own bad temper at being stuck with Hollister's life while the real guy goes off to squeeze some hooters.<br/>
<br/>
He doesn't give you time to really ponder it, though, and pounces on you with the mask.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
You pace the parking lot in front of the climate-unit, between the door and your truck. By your phone, it's been fifteen minutes since you woke up, and you were unconscious for about ten. That means that Eric Murphy is now officially five minutes late.<br/>
<br/>
Well, the betas said he usually ran late to appointments.<br/>
<br/>
A wind is scraping across the asphalt, and its voiceless gasp mixes with the grumble of nearby street traffic to fill the air with a low-level throb. It's like the sound of boredom.<br/>
<br/>
But there's nothing else to do. The betas were busy in the other unit when you woke and stumbled in with the mask. They told you to set it down, then went back to staring at the stuff they'd spread out over the desk. "Help you with anything else?" you'd asked. "You know how to do the spell?" Carlos shot back.<br/>
<br/>
So you'd gone outside to wait for Murphy. You've got your cell out, so you can flash the betas a warning when he arrives.<br/>
<br/>
You wonder if you've made a mistake, now that the moment is upon you. You've never even set eyes on this guy, and you're proposing to take over his life? Based on what, the fact that he photobombs a lot of guys and girls? Maybe he's a giant jerk that no one likes. Certainly the betas in there didn't speak of him with a lot of respect. You yourself told Caleb that Eric Murphy seems a lot like you, which doesn't make him sound at all special. <br/>
<br/>
And you've actually got it pretty good. Sure, your dad's a hard-ass, and you've got a kid brother riding your shirttails. But what if this Murphy dude's got a shitty home life -- like, broken home and drunken dad?<br/>
<br/>
You pale. What if he's got a girl with a paternity test chasing him?<br/>
<br/>
But before you can act on these trepidations and second thoughts, the front gate groans and squeals and starts to slide back. A car motor guns impatiently. You hold your breath awaiting the arrival of whoever it is.<br/>
<br/>
With a roar, a weather-beaten red Jeep -- the kind that hasn't got any doors -- leaps around a corner. It swerves and jumps for the space where you're standing, and you dive out of the way. The driver kills the engine before the Jeep even stops moving, and it jerks noiselessly to a stop only inches from your shins.<br/>
<br/>
The driver is muffled by the shadows inside the Jeep, so you can only make out one thing about him -- he wears a shapeless white ball cap like yours. Then, by the glint off some sunglasses, you realize he's turned facing you. "You Will Prescott?" he hollers. He leaps out, like an acrobat coming out of a tumble. "Hope you like the shade, 'cos that's where I'm gonna putcha!" he says.<br/>
<br/>
Then he takes it back with a grin. "Sorry, I shouldn't throw shit atcha 'fore we meet. I'm Eric." He raises his hand for a high-five. You slap at his hand, but he dodges it and catches the back of yours with the back of his. "So where's Carlos 'n Mikey?"<br/>
<br/>
"Uh, inside." You gesture at the door to the climate unit, and lead him over.<br/>
<br/>
"Cool. AC. I should rent space here." He jumps in front and precedes you through the door. "You done anything with these guys yet?"<br/>
<br/>
"Uh, one video. You?"<br/>
<br/>
"Sure, lots, just not with them." He looks around without taking off his shades -- giant things, as big around as oranges, with white plastic frames. They hide half his face. "Gonna get my own channel. Is it this way?" He lopes off down the hall.<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah." You hustle after. "Uh, What are you gonna put on your channel? Movie reviews?"<br/>
<br/>
"Reviews, music, whatever. Hey, where you go to school?"<br/>
<br/>
"Westside."<br/>
<br/>
"Huh." He looks you up and down over his shoulder. "Don't remember seeing you around, must keep to yourself. What games you like?" he asks before you can make a retort. "Shooters, I mean. Maybe if we click in this video we can do some Let's Plays or walkthroughs for my channel."<br/>
<br/>
Your phone dings with a text. <br/>
<br/>
It's from Carlos. <i>get rid him we got problem</i><br/>
<br/>
But Eric is already at the door to the weight room. "Hey guys," he says as he slides off his sunglasses. Then he frowns. "Where are you?" He looses a teeth-rattling whistle.<br/>
<br/>
Mike appears in the doorway of the other unit. "Hey Eric, we got some technical issues." He catches your eye. You squeeze past and hop into the studio unit.<br/>
<br/>
Carlos, hands on his hips, is staring at the desk. He looks back over his shoulder at you. "Didn't get my text in time, huh?"<br/>
<br/>
You ignore the gibe. "What's wrong?"<br/>
<br/>
"The stuff isn't setting up." He points to a bowl filled with blackened goop. An acrid odor -- burnt hair, it takes you a moment to register -- wafts out of it. "Don't know what we're doing wrong, it's never been a problem before. Third time wasn't a charm anymore than the first two."<br/>
<br/>
"So what do we do?"<br/>
<br/>
"I told you, get rid of him. Unless you want to take a crack at it."</span></div></div>


path: 11331211121121111111321211111322321112
author_id: seuzz
title: The Newest Conspirator
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>"Can't you guys try it again?" you ask, and even to you it sounds like you're whining. "That guy's here, what are we gonna -- ?"<br/>
<br/>
"There's no point, Will," says Beta-Carlos. "We already -- "<br/>
<br/>
"Yo! Where you guys keep the cameras?" Eric hollers. It sounds like he's right behind you, and you spin about. He's in the doorway, wrinkling his nose. "Jesus, what died? That you, Carlos?" he hoots. "You shit yourself or something?"<br/>
<br/>
You leap into the frozen silence, and across the unit to Eric. "Yeah, they gotta clean something up in here, Carlos says." You grasp him by his bony elbow. "We can wait in the other unit until they're done."<br/>
<br/>
"Two units." Eric shakes his head as you pull him back out into the hall. "How does this guy rate being able to rent two units?"<br/>
<br/>
"I think his uncle owns the complex, gives them to him for free."<br/>
<br/>
"Huh. I gotta get an uncle like that."<br/>
<br/>
You've not really gotten a good look at this guy, but once you have him to yourself in the weight room, you give him a quick once-over. He's not your twin, not by a near mile, but he could be your cousin, you suppose. (Well, not your sexy Japanese-American cousin.) His hair -- a light brown -- sticks out from under the cap in loose brown curls, and his eyes dance with an impudent light. His grin, as you'd noticed in the photos, is wide and easy and doesn't tangled in his teeth the way yours does. His nose turns up a little, but his face is free of acne and his features are conventionally regular, though not especially memorable.<br/>
<br/>
But it's the frame and clothes and attitude that remind you of yourself -- or, at least, of how you imagine yourself. He's lanky and sloppy, with big hands and elbows and --- judging by the size of his shoes, which are torn and dirty, like they've been chewed at by large dogs -- he's got big feet, too. He's dressed in red athletic shorts -- short for shorts, too, with the hems dropping only halfway down his thighs. His gray t-shirt looks about five sizes too large for him and hangs halfway off one shoulder.<br/>
<br/>
He catches the way you're studying him, and his smile widens. "What?"<br/>
<br/>
"Nothing. Uh, I just had a friend, I told him we were gonna be doing this video thing," you stammer. "I asked who you were, and he told me that we, uh, kind of look like each other."<br/>
<br/>
"Really?" He steps back and looks you up and down. His expression is skeptical until he does a double-take at your ball cap. "Hey, where'dja get this?" He grabs it off your head, and sweeps off his own. He balances them in his hands. "Huh. Wonder how I look in yours." He slaps it onto his head and turns toward the mirror that Carlos has standing in the corner.<br/>
<br/>
That seems like your chance. If you can get that blank mask on him, it will knock him out for, like, ten minutes or so, and in that time you can maybe get the dumb betas straightened out. Get them to do that spell again while you watch and make them slowly walk through it without fucking it up. <br/>
<br/>
And the blank is nearby, on the corner of the footlocker.<br/>
<br/>
You kneel to sweep it up.<br/>
<br/>
"Hey," Eric exclaims. "Your bro's not wrong, we <i>do</i> look a lot a -- Mmph!"<br/>
<br/>
You smother him with the mask. He falls back into your chest --<br/>
<br/>
And damn if Beta-Carlos wasn't right that people are a lot heavier than they look, for it's like catching a truck. The concrete floor bangs you hard in the hips and hands, and Eric's fall knocks all the air from your lungs. You catch a glimpse of his shin -- that's all -- as you scramble out from under him, kicking away your ball cap, which has fallen from his head. You snatch it up and hurry from the unit.<br/>
<br/>
The betas are still at the desk when you run back in. "You get rid of him?" Mike asks.<br/>
<br/>
"Sort of. I got the blank mask on him. It's copying him now."<br/>
<br/>
"You <i>what?"</i> Mike yells. Carlos follows up with, "That's not what I told you to do!"<br/>
<br/>
"Listen, I'm the only real little boy in this room," you yell back, and feel your face growing hot. "I think you need to do what I say!"<br/>
<br/>
"That's not the way it works, asshole!" Mike yells back. "We're the ones with the book! I mean -- " His face almost glows, it turns so red. "Our original guys," he stammers. "It's their book, so <i>we're</i> in charge when they're not around!"<br/>
<br/>
"Well, we gotta make it work now! Look, just try the spell again. I'll supervise -- "<br/>
<br/>
<i>"You don't know how to do it!"</i><br/>
<br/>
"Christ, just fucking humor him," Carlos says. "The real guys can kick his ass later." He takes out the knife again. "Though maybe this time we should try using some of his blood!" He advances on you.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
But he only uses another hank of hair. Grimly, slowly, checking and rechecking the list of ingredients and procedures, they try again with a new batch of powders and fuels and a new bowl. Carlos runs his finger around the sigil while slowly and carefully enunciating the weird chant. You all three hold your breath when he jams a flame into the mess.<br/>
<br/>
It briefly catches fire, filling the unit with a stench of burnt fuel and hair. But it turns out the same blackened mess of goop as the other attempts.<br/>
<br/>
"We're just gonna have to figure out a story to tell Eric about why he passed out," Carlos grumpily concludes as he leads your trio over to the other unit. <br/>
<br/>
"How about we move him to his car?" Mike says. "We can pretend he just got here, pretend we haven't even seen him yet."<br/>
<br/>
"What good'll that do?" Carlos asks.<br/>
<br/>
"It worked on Ingrid Bergman in <i>Gaslight.</i>"<br/>
<br/>
You're about ask him what the hell he's talking about, but slam into Carlos when the latter stops cold in the doorway of the other unit. You open your mouth to yell at him, but your voice dies when you see, over his shoulder, what stopped him.<br/>
<br/>
It's you. You're standing in the other unit, half-crouched in the corner of the room, with a ghastly, open-mouthed grin on your face and terror in your eyes. "Uh," the other you croaks. <br/>
<br/>
Then his eyes lock onto yours, and widen even more.<br/>
<br/>
For a moment, it's like time has stopped. Then Carlos spins on you. "You fucking dope, I thought you said you put the blank on him!"<br/>
<br/>
"I did!" you gasp back. "It was on the footlocker and I -- "<br/>
<br/>
Then Mike jumps in. "Christ, you're incompetent!" You lurch as he holds up a bluish oval and brandishes it in your face. "<i>This</i> is the blank, you moron! You put <i>your</i> mask on him!"<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
"Well, what's done is done," Maria sighs. She's standing in the studio unit with her hands on her hips, as Beta-Carlos had been doing, and gazing down at the bowl on the desk, as he had been doing. Only this time it's full of an off-white paste. "Eric isn't exactly my idea of a trustworthy colleague," she continues in that Vulcan-like monotone, "and the more people know about this, the less safe we're going to be. But there's nothing else we can do but hope for the best."<br/>
<br/>
"Dude, I am <i>so sorry,</i>" you gasp for about the ten-thousandth time that day. It's a little after six, and you've had an hour during which to break your own personal land-speed record for apologizing. Fairfax and the others had rushed back to the complex immediately after getting the call from the betas. Once they had the mask off him, Eric had proved very quick to pick up on the explanations he'd been given, and had shown remarkably little ill will about almost getting bodyjacked, and lots of enthusiasm when the others (rather unenthusiastically, you thought) invited him to join the club.<br/>
<br/>
"What I don't understand is why you didn't <i>notice</i> it was, uh, <i>you</i> when you laid him out," Maria says.<br/>
<br/>
"I was rushing to get back to the guys. The betas. And, well, he does kind of look like me."<br/>
<br/>
"That's your imagination," she retorts. "As far as I can tell, you and him just look like every other dumb kid at school. Though maybe that's exactly the resemblance you're alluding to."<br/>
<br/>
"And I was looking at him upside down."<br/>
<br/>
"Whatever." Then she sighs. "And at least we got this paste made up for your mask. I have no idea why the betas couldn't do it. Though now that I think of it -- " She pulls at her lower lip. "I'm kind of glad they couldn't. Or that they can't." She cocks her head. "Should run some experiments," she mutters.<br/>
<br/>
"What are we going to do with it?"<br/>
<br/>
"Well, we can put it in your mask," she says, "but there's no one to put your mask on. You and Eric are just going to have to go home and each of you figure out an imposture." She snorts. "We've already got half of them, with you two we can get practically the whole cheerleader squad."<br/>
<br/>
You bet Eric would like that.<br/>
<br/>
"Well," Maria says, "let's go back in and see what they've all decided."<br/>
<br/>
The betas have fetched food for everyone -- burgers and fries tonight -- and Eric is scarfing his portion down with everyone in the other unit. You wince a little as he looks at you, but he grins and pats the floor next to him. "So you wanted to be me," he chortles as you settle onto the floor.<br/>
<br/>
"I wanted to see what it was like," you mumble.<br/>
<br/>
"You'd love it. What's it like being you?"<br/>
<br/>
You shrug.<br/>
<br/>
"We should go home as each other tonight, prank each other's folks. Or, who do you hang out with? We could prank them."<br/>
<br/>
Before you can reply, Maria says, "You should talk about long-term impostures."<br/>
<br/>
"That's right!" Eric exclaims. "You and me are the newbies, so we should totally buddy up!"</span></div></div>


path: 113312111211211111113212111113223211122
author_id: rugal
title: The Free-Wheeling Eric Murphy
chapter_content:
<div><div> <span>"Buddy up? You and me?" you ask in astonishment. "But why?"<br/>
<br/>
"Like I said," Eric grins, "we're the newbies so that means we'll have to have each other's backs right?"<br/>
<br/>
"Having one another's backs is good," interjects Maria, "because the two of you are going to be in charge of getting your own impostures."<br/>
<br/>
"What?!" you exclaim wild-eyed as you turn to look at her. However she doesn't react and continues giving you the same sort of lightly admonishing look she's been giving you since she's arrived. "You guys are the ones who know what you're doing, not me, so how am I supposed to just get someone out here?" you ask incredulously.<br/>
<br/>
"Well you're the one who got both of you into this mess so it's only fair that you play some part in getting out of it, no?" she calmly asks. "We <i>will</i> help you make the actual changes of course but it is up to you to get your choices out here."<br/>
<br/>
You throw your hands up in frustration. Fairfax on his own has been a bit frustrating but something about it is worse when it's the bubble-brained Maria Vasquez, of all people, giving you the Vulcan act. The tanned, dark-haired, ultra-sexy Vulcan act. You have to mentally slap yourself in order to keep focused on the fact that it's still Fairfax behind those gorgeous mestizo features.<br/>
<br/>
"See, man, they're just gonna haze us 'cause we're the new guys," Eric states and gives you a friendly pat on the back. "So you and me, we have to stick together." He then turns that foxish smile onto Maria who calmly holds his eye. "We can stick together too, right?" he asks.<br/>
<br/>
"Even knowing that I'm a guy underneath this mask?" she asks in a tone that's more amused than anything else. "But no, we're partners on a project and nothing else."<br/>
<br/>
"Too bad," he responds, "because usually my lab buddies like partnering up real close with me." He then playfully jabs you lightly in the ribs. "Right Prescott? Bet you know that feeling too."<br/>
<br/>
You remember the last time anything like that happened, in Carr's class late last year when you had to partner with Vanessa Bailey for an in-class lab project because her usual partner was absent. You'd been excited because you'd sat a few desks over from Vanessa and always caught yourself glancing at her. In the end, though, you'd been disabused of any thoughts of getting to know her when you realized that oil and water would've been a better partnership than the two of you.<br/>
<br/>
You don't tell Eric this, of course, instead giving a simple laugh and hoping he moves on which, thankfully, he does.<br/>
<br/>
"Look we'll get out of your hair for a bit then because if the two of us are gonna be pals," he says with another slap on the back, "then we're gonna have to get to know each other right?"<br/>
<br/>
"Huh?" you ask. "Oh, yeah, sure. I guess."<br/>
<br/>
"Well you do have each others' masks," Maria states. "You can go home as one another --"<br/>
<br/>
"But we're not," you jump in to the surprise of all three of you. You're not too thrilled now at the prospect of going home as Eric now that he knows what's what. You need to work out where you're going to go and besides he seems like a friendly enough guy such that maybe talking to him a bit will help you realize what that certain something is that he has and you might be missing. "I figure it's better to just hang out instead. Plus, you know, we need to talk about the replacements."<br/>
<br/>
"Impostures," Maria insistently corrects you.<br/>
<br/>
"Right on!" Eric says excitedly. "We can get some grub or something, you know?" He then looks at you with a devilish grin. "You good for that?"<br/>
<br/>
"Grub?! But we --" you begin but are met by that same devilish grin. You immediately wilt and let out a sigh.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
That's how you end up with Eric at McDonald's ordering some chicken nuggets that you hand over to Eric; you're not feeling hungry yourself for the obvious reason that you've already just ate but Eric begins scarfing them down. You sit in awkward silence for a bit while he eats. It's not for a couple of minutes until he's finally finished that he's the one who initiates conversation. "So, man, how long you been part this thing?" he asks as he balls up a napkin and tosses it on the tray. "I don't think we ever went over any of that."<br/>
<br/>
"Huh? Oh, well, only since Monday," you confess. "I actually blew off helping Stephanie Wyatt with something to hang out with them.<br/>
<br/>
Eric laughs a little at that. "Oh man, wow! Like I knew you were new but I didn't expect you to be <i>that</i> new! And blowing off someone like her? Wow!" he exclaims. "So how'd they get you anyway? You're buddies with 'em right? And they didn't let you in on it at the beginning?"<br/>
<br/>
"Uh, well, I'm not buddies with them per se," you say. "Well not all of them at least. I'm friends with Keith, uh, that is the guy who's Cindy right now, but I only really knew the others in passing before this."<br/>
<br/>
"Even with your pal in there they didn't try to get you in early?" he asks.<br/>
<br/>
"Nuh uh although..." You think back on all the times Keith tried getting you to hang out with him, Mike and Carlos and now you're wondering if those were recruitment attempts. Especially given how quickly Carlos tried getting you into the group. Of course with how quickly they let in Eric it might be that they're just kind of pushovers once someone finds out. "It's nothing," you finally say. "Basically they did kind of the same thing to me that they did to you only without trying to outright replace me."<br/>
<br/>
"Without trying to...?" Eric eyes you.<br/>
<br/>
You nod. "Yeah, on Sunday I hung out with Keith and Carlos and Mike and watched some old movie while Fairfax ran around the mall in a mask of me and hung out with some of my friends there," you explain.<br/>
<br/>
Eric starts laughing again at this. "Oh jeez! Yeah that's great!" he says once he's composed himself. "Oh man and he didn't get you in trouble or anything? You didn't get shit from your friends all like 'hey why were you being such a douche on Sunday' or anything?"<br/>
<br/>
"I mean as far as I know nothing happened," you tell him. You conveniently leave out the bit about Fairfax's attempts to flirt with Bethany. "But what about you? You don't seem all that upset that I tried to steal your life."<br/>
<br/>
"Man, why would I be?" he asks with a confident smirk. "I mean I'm great. My life's great. I'd be surprised if someone didn't want it, you know?"<br/>
<br/>
"So you're fine with being part of this thing then? With, uh, being a girl?"<br/>
<br/>
"Who said anything about girls?" he asks with a bit more suspicion.<br/>
<br/>
"Well, Fairfax wanted us to go after cheerleaders originally," you state. "It took some convincing to let me go with you."<br/>
<br/>
"Right, right yeah... Fairfax. That's the dude running around in Maria's clothes right?" he asks not expecting an answer. Instead he just closes his eyes and grins. "Oh yeah, even if it's him under there I'm still seeing sexy-ass Maria. Yeah, no way would I have a problem with that." He then opens his eyes and leans forward with that same grin. "Not that I have a problem getting girls and all but you know it's a different thing. Play with a nice set of tits, fool some people... sounds fun right?"<br/>
<br/>
Well Fairfax was adamant that this was for academic purposes only but then he was also adamant on getting Maria Vasquez so he probably was thinking the same thing. "When you put it like that, yeah it does I guess," you tell him and you return his smile as you're starting to feel more comfortable. Maybe this is what you're lacking? Is it a lackadaisical charisma that he possesses? "So do you have anyone in mind?"<br/>
<br/>
"Pssh, nah," he answers bluntly. "At least not narrowed down you know? But I mean we don't <i>have</i> to be cheerleaders right?"<br/>
<br/>
Now with rapt interest, you lean forward as Eric discusses with you some of the possibilities running through his head as you try to brainstorm something. You have ideas narrowed down to a couple of broad ideas. Eric tells you to get back to him in the morning before you talk to Fairfax. He feels you should both go in with a similar objective and thinks it'd be wild if you each selected the others' imposture. You should be reluctant but Eric doesn't seem like the kind of guy who'd put you somewhere bad so with only a bit of reluctance you agree.<br/>
<br/>
<div align="center">* * * * *</div><br/>
You spend most of the rest of the night going over the possibilities you'd tried hammering out with Eric. Your mention of Stephanie had gotten the two of you discussing athletes and just how many sexy ones there are around school. You'd tossed names back and forth without coming up with a specific choice though now that you have time to think about it more you realize that Stephanie is probably the best choice if only because you potentially have a way of getting her out to Top Shelf. So you put her name down as a possibility for Eric.<br/>
<br/>
The other choice is a bit harder. While brainstorming and hanging out with him. he'd asked if you had a girlfriend and you'd been forced to sheepishly relay the entire situation with Lisa, especially her insistence that you weren't ever actually dating. Eric, for his part, was sympathetic and offered a surprising gesture: choose a girl and he'll set you up with them, at the very least he'll let your beta be seen in public with them. He'll get you a good imposture too but he said that he owes you a solid for bringing him into all of this.<br/>
<br/>
You think of possibilities of girls you know or who are in your classes. You use Facebook to see other ones he'd mentioned and to see which girls at school do and do not have boyfriends. By the time you'd gone to bed you'd still hadn't made a decision on who to put forward. It's a nice gesture Eric's proposing but maybe it's a bit too much as well.</span></div></div>


