Chapter #9The Experiment by: Seuzz  
You look down at your naked self, even though you don't have to in order to see that you've got Jason Lynch's body. Despite that, though, something tells you that you're really Will Prescott. That name just somehow feels like a more natural fit.
Thoughtfully, you pull on underwear and khaki shorts and a polo shirt, and slip your feet into the flip-flops. The moves are quick and easy, as quick and easy as the way you snap the cap onto your head and swing the backpack onto your shoulder. You're Will Prescott, but Jason Lynch's fireplug-shaped body reacts smoothly and naturally to your own prompts.
Still, you can't help glancing around sharply as you step out of the portable. If someone were to call your name, how would you react?
But there's no immediate need to find out. The area seems deserted. You stride off purposefully toward the main building.
You're halfway to the gym before you notice that sense of purpose in your walk. The strong stride and raised chin feel very natural, as natural as your more slump-shouldered walk would normally feel. You slow and stop and look around, nose in the air, sniffing as though for challenge or trouble.
No one who saw you would know it isn't Jason Lynch they're looking at. Your cock--that tiny, shameful thing--twitches a little.
If anyone looks at you funny, you'll fuck 'em up. You can do that. You take your cap off and sniff at the crown and put it back on. It smells good. You smell good. You feel good.
Only a memory of what it "felt" like to be Will Prescott reminds you that you haven't always felt this way.
You resume walking, a little grin on your face.
* * * * *
Normally you'd head into the gym and run up into the weight area, in the loft above the court, to do a workout while watching Gordon and Steve and the rest of the basketball team doing their after-school practice. Then you'd hang out with Gordon and Steve up in the fuck room for a little while, laughing and sniggering and bragging, before heading home. Today you'd have Lamont to talk about. That little fucker.
But you've got other business on your mind. It's not every day that you walk into school as one person and leave it as another. Pretty fucking freaky.
But you've got a pretty good idea about what's going on. It has to do with Roth and Tsosie and Small. Roth and Small were the last people Prescott saw before waking up as Jason Lynch, and Tsosie was the last one Lynch saw before waking up with Prescott inside his head. Neither Prescott nor Lynch has much to do with them--except for Lynch and Tsosie being on the same baseball team--and their only connection to the pair of people you're currently identifying with is through that book that Prescott--
Okay, that's you, so you've got to start thinking of yourself as him, or else you might go crazy.
Their only connection is through that book that you sold to Roth. That book of magic.
You might be shy about confronting them if you were still in lanky Will Prescott's body. Ain't none of those three--and probably not all three together, you think as you hike the pack higher onto your shoulder as can take Jason Lynch, though.
You bypass the gym for the parking lot, which is losing the last dregs of the school student body, and climb into your truck--
Lynch's truck. You notice that Prescott's truck is still off in its corner. You wonder what's happened to your own body. Well, that's something else to beat out of those three fuckers.
You take out your phone-- Lynch's phone--
Shit. All this thinking of yourself as "Prescott" is well and good, but it's Lynch's stuff, and as long as you're carrying it around with his body, it won't feel like stealing if you think of it as "yours."
You take out your phone and call Tsosie. "Yo. Where are you?" you growl in a low voice.
"Um ..."
"You with Roth and Small?"
He sighs. "I'm on my way over to Justin's now."
"Where that?" He mumbles the address. "See you in a few." You hang up. Maybe it's not a good idea to warn them that you're looking for them. But you're confident you can deal with them.
* * * * *
Roth's place is a big, rambling house out on the edge of town. The door's opened by a fat woman with a cheerful face that shows a gap between her two front teeth, and you're momentarily taken aback by the strong resemblance she has to her son. "Ma'am," you say, and doff your cap. "I'm Jason Lynch. Friend of Justin's. Is he here?"
"He's back in his room," she says, and ushers you in. "Justin!" No reply. "Oh, just go bang on his door. Can I get you anything?"
"Thank you, ma'am, that's okay." You tilt your head deferentially, which gets another smile from her, and you head past a living room and down a hall. As you go, you feel vaguely impressed at how courteous Lynch can be with his elders.
With his peers, on the other hand--
You bang twice at a door, then push it open and step in without waiting for a reply. Tsosie is leaning against a window sill, arms folded, head down. Small sits cross-legged on a bed, his mouth open as he stares at you. Roth is leaning back in a chair at a cluttered desk, legs crossed. His mouth splits into a huge grin. "Hey Jason," he says.
You nod, then whip off your cap and hurl it at Small. He ducks to the side. You then step over to Tsosie. He looks up at you from behind loosely hanging hair. "Maize," you say. Then you punch him hard in the stomach.
He keels over with an "Oof!" and you grab him and hurl him head first into a closet door. Small bounds clumsily off the bed, head forward, which makes it easy for you clip him hard on the chin, which sends him flying back. You grab the reeling Tsosie and throw him onto Small. The two collapse in a tangle of limbs.
Justin doesn't so much as flinch. His eyes just go wide and bright. "Whoa," he gasps admiringly. "Dude, that's like hardcore."
"You want some?"
"That's okay," he says, and leans to the side to laugh and cough. "What's gotten into you?"
"Thought maybe you could tell me."
His eyes glint. "Whaddaya mean?"
You point to your temple. "I got a little fucker inside me, keeps sayin' his name is Will Prescott. Any ideas how he got there? I know he knows you fuckers--" You glance over at Shep and Perry, who have sorted themselves out, but show no obvious intention of rushing you. "And he sold you guys this book that--" You run a tongue along the back of your lower lip. "Tell me about that thing."
"Well, you tell me who I'm talking to. Prescott or Jason Lynch?"
"I can answer to either name."
"Interesting." Justin rubs his chin. "Not really a surprise, but I'd really like to know which you really answer to."
"You answer me, or you're gonna answer to--" You raise a hard fist and take a step toward him.
"Okay, okay!" He laughs again, but it turns into a sigh. "It was just a little experiment to, um--" He peers at you quizzically. "Which name do you prefer?"
"Lemme beat it into your ass, then you can check a mirror."
"Sounds like Lynch to me," Tsosie grumbles from the floor.
"I dunno," Justin says. "I think he went kind of light on you guys. I'm pretty sure it's Prescott. Whaddaya think, Will?" He jerks his chin. "You like havin' that body?"
"I told you, I like havin' answers." That's the last chance you're going to give him.
Maybe he's read it in your eyes.
"Okay," he sighs. "So that book you sold me? It's, like, magic. I mean, look at yourself. It's gotta be magic, right?"
"Yeah. You sayin' you merged me and Lynch somehow?"
"Somehow. 'Cept it was more like a bodyswap. Or more like a disguise." He points at you. "You're wearing a mask. Like a full-on body mask. No one can tell the difference between you and Lynch, not unless you want them to see the difference."
A mask, huh? That sounds crazy, but you can ask him for details later. "So where's Lynch?"
"He's walking around in a Will Prescott mask. Beats me where he is."
Something clicks in the back of your throat. "You mean he's--? Off being me?" Roth nods. "The fuck are you guys doin'?"
"Like I said, running an experiment. We swapped you guys. We wanted to see how you'd act. Like a psychology experiment."
"The fuck you say. Whyncha try it on yourselves?"
"We did." He grins. "My name's Perry Small. That's Justin over there, pretending to be me." He laughs. "Maize called us after you called him. So we did a little switch of our own."
You blink and look over at Small. He shrugs. You peer more closely at him. Yeah, the expression in his eyes is mellower than usual.
You look back at ... the guy who looks like Roth. "Okay, what now? You ran your little experiment."
"Well, we haven't heard from, er, Jason yet, have we?"
"So call him. Jesus, I don't want him fucking up my life."
"So what if he does? You got his life."
"You sayin' I gotta stay like this?"
"Your choice, I guess."
There's nothing to fear here. So why did you just take a step back? Is it because you're scared of continuing to be Jason Lynch? Or are you scared of giving this new thing up?  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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