Chapter #38The Boy Who Would Be Hipster Queen by: rugal b.   Garage bands.
That causes Sydney to raise an eyebrow. "I just said we wouldn't have enough to draw from to make a coven," she says firmly, "much as it might be fun to strum a guitar or bang on some drums."
Her gaze is steady. You gulp. Is this some game of mental chicken and she's expecting you to jump out of the way as she charges forward with her own ideas and preferences? Well after today you're in a mood to not be pushed around. "I know that but if we're going to do it we should have a little fun right? That and there's probably plenty of bands around here we don't know about," you state with a bit of defiance.
Sydney's gaze remains unyielding. "Like groups of out of Eastman," she states.
"Well sure," you shrug, "Probably out of the college too. But I was thinking, you know, that even if there's not enough girls who are in bands, those girls probably have large social circles."
Just the tiniest bit you notice Sydney cock her head in curiosity. "So the bands are a stepping stone, is that what you're saying?" she asks.
"They can be if we can't find enough people or if we just want to go in that direction," you answer. "But if we're going to have this cult--"
"Order," Sydney cuts in.
"Uh huh. Okay, then if we're going to have this order," you start over making sure to stress that particular word, "then we probably want to make sure we've got influence right? Start with the bands, add the right people outside of them if we need to..."
"Or the right people outside of school," she adds and her piercing gaze has turned much softer and brighter. "Oh jeez, Will, this is exciting! A few key replacements and we have the underground under our control," she states, "and we can use them to really push the propaganda. This time the music actually will have hidden Satanic messages."
You're actually taken aback by that. "I wasn't really, uh, thinking of it like that," you reply nervously. But I guess we could--"
"Will, come on, I'm kidding," she titters, "but I agree that it would be a good idea nonetheless. So who gets to be patient zero?"
"It'd need to be someone popular in that group. The type of person with a lot of credibility so we could use her to get to whoever we needed with little issue," you state.
You think for a moment and it's not long before you, and Sydney as well apparently, arrive at the same conclusion. A girl popular in the underground scene? Someone with lots of credibility who could get you close to anyone? Even if you don't know her, you know of her, and that's more than enough because when thinking in those terms there's really only one girl.
"Jelena!" the both of you exclaim simultaneously which causes the both of you to crack up.
There really is nobody else it could be. You're not the most socially clued in person around but even you know enough to know that Jelena Petrovic would be like playing the hipster level with cheat codes. But the problem of this immediately shows itself.
"I don't know her," you admit. "I don't think I've ever talked to her."
"I can't say that I have either," Sydney is also forced to admit.
"Because you're new?" you ask.
"It's not that," Sydney replies with a shake of her head, "everyone knows who she is, even the new girl. We just don't run in the same circles."
"You're not worried that it might cause problems with the two of us hanging out? If one of us is wearing her mask, I mean?" You ask; that only earns a small shrug. "She always seems really unapproachable. Like she's got that same sort of vibe that Andrea has but, like, cranked up to eleven."
"That's probably overstating it," Sydney says, "but I do see where you're coming from. Still though, it's not like sitting around and fretting over her approachability is going to get us a mask of her. We have to take action which means we need to start by going to the right places. So where would someone like her hang out on a Friday night?"
* * * * *
"The fuck do you think you're going?"
The words stop you about as hard as the hand on your chest of the guy manning the front door. You don't know who he is beyond a nametag that says "Jeremy" but you'd guess he's a football player. He's not quite as tall as most of the other players, though certainly taller than you, but he's brawny. The kind of guy who looks like he'd be at home crashing into and tossing players opposite of whatever line he's probably on.
"It's fine. He's with me," Sydney says as she turns around from just past the doorway.
Jeremy, whoever he is, looks from you to her and back to you and shakes his head. "Look bro, I don't care if this chick feels bad for you, you ain't gettin' past. That simple," he says.
Before you have time to dwell on the fact you're at an impasse Sydney makes sure to step in. "I don't feel sorry for him," she says before grabbing you by the arm. "If I want him in here with me he's coming in here with me. You can look the other way can't you? I'd really appreciate it."
She flashes a smile that's as dripping in venom as it is honey. You don't even get a chance to see whether or not this guy will blink because Sydney's taken advantage of the situation to pull you right by him before he even has a chance to react.
"Meatheaded cock sucker," she mutters as the two of you melt into the crowd. "I can't believe they actually pay high school students to pretend to be bouncers. That's so ridiculous."
"Did you know they did that? I've never been out here myself."
"Yeah, I've been here once or twice so I was aware," she answers. "I didn't think they'd actually be serious about it though. It's a fucking warehouse, not some ritzy club."
Yet though it may not look like much it's definitely the weekend hangout spot of choice for students from both high schools. More specifically, it's the haunt for a certain segment of those students.
It's the type of place where Jelena Petrovic is sure to hang out. In fact you don't even have to look all that hard for her. Sydney's the one who directs your attention to the stage where you see her performing with others who definitely a look like they're out of high school at this point. You'd heard that she played in a band but you didn't know it was with college students. Briefly you wonder if any of them might know your cousin Umeko.
"You have what we need?" Sydney asks as she pulls you over close to the bar.
You hold up the bag of stuff you'd made in the intervening time between getting out of school and when things would start picking up at the Warehouse: two masks, one blank and one with your image copied into it and treated with the stuff from the new spell.
Because Sydney had suggested treating that mask and using her as a scout for some others for the rituals. Jelena's open about her sexual orientation after all and she's not quite sure yet what role same-sex relations would play in them. But you'd offered to put the mask on yourself, saying that it might be better to scout things out with your own eyes.
You'd left out the stuff about everyone else being pissed at you because of your relationship with her.
So you have the motive (real and mostly real ones both), you have the means. All you'd need to wait for is the opportunity.
* * * * *
With a groan you pull yourself up to a sitting position.
Naked and on one of those grimy mattresses in one of the upstairs rooms. The ones you pay for like a scuzzier version of those Japanese love hotels. But why are you naked? You didn't... did you? You hadn't even really drank so blacking out because of that doesn't make sense.
What's the last thing you remember? That new girl, Sydney Somethingorother approaching you after your set. She'd gushed about how cool you were up there and how she wanted to get to know someone like you a little better. A little more privately. But you'd dismissed the idea. She was the type of girl you'd expect to see in Miss America or something, a generic blonde in a sea of generic blondes. Attractive to be sure but she wasn't the type you went for.
Yet when she'd stroked your arm and gently wrapped her hand around your's. Well, you didn't melt but you couldn't say "no" all the same. So you followed her upstairs right to the room you're in right now. You saw a boy in there, someone you may have seen around school a few times. He thrust something at you. Then you saw nothing.
Now that boy that you didn't know is in here with you, or rather you're in here with him. Your mind, your very body, encasing his own and doing such a good job of it that he's thinking as you, his own thoughts filtered through your mental lens. Maybe that's why you're thinking so differently about Sydney now. He's head over heels for her after all. The shared interest in the occult and magic, being in a relationship with someone like him.
You'd written her off as another Cindy. A vapid, plastic Barbie doll pretending to be a real girl. She wasn't like Sienna or Fatima or Chris or some of the other amazing, admirable girls you know who challenge norms, challenge the social order and are true to themselves however that may clash with what's expected of them from every other corner. Those are the types of girls who really do things for you.
Sydney McGlynn, much to your surprise, is one of those girls and the realization of that is really starting to turn you on.  You have the following choice: 1. Continue |
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