“One of the boarders is the best bet,” you say, delving through Roxanne’s memories as you categorize a likely person to make a switch with. “They all stay up in something called Founders Hall, like the goddamn X-Men. It’ll let me keep an eye on things 24 hours a day, while you two get masks ready. Then we can jump them all at once.” Roxanne's thoughts bristle at the mutant comparison... but admits it's accurate.
“Sounds like a plan,” Caleb acknowledges. “Living in the lap of luxury up there?”
You shake your head. “Nah, it’s a boarding school but there are still rules. Strict no-tolerance policy for alcohol or contraband, although everyone ignores it. Set meal times, dress codes, all that shit. Roxanne’s never been up to the dorms, but unless you’re a prefect, everyone has a room mate.”
“You said prefect earlier," Dylan interjects. "What, exactly, are they? Like a hall monitor?"
“Urgh, yeah, like a hall monitor on steroids,” you say, eyes almost glazing over as Roxanne’s did when she had to learn the history of the place. “I told you, they operate some dumb student honor system. It’s the prefects that are in charge of running it, two for each ‘house’ – a kind of inter-school competition deal. Two of them, Lucas and Kate, Roxanne likes. Marius she doesn’t deal with. The other three are bad news. One’s some kind of military-grade martinet, and the other two, Abi and Todd, are Gary Chen levels of bad news.” You blanche a little at the thought of either of them. “The fifth and sixth forms, uh, the juniors and seniors, they are dormed in the main building, Founder’s Hall. Then you’ve got New Hall, the school itself, a fucking boathouse…”
“OK, we didn’t ask for a tour,” Caleb says. “The uber-rich are rich. Who’d make a good swap? And how, exactly, are you going to get your ass up there?”
You nod, and concentrate. “OK, OK. Hmm. So, we don’t actually need to get up there. A bunch of the students spend their weekends in town on day passes – something called an exeat. Plus, being a Catholic school, they also bus down the choir to the cathedral for services. Might be able to swap with one of them there.”
“All right, so what’s the plan, Will?”
You furrow your brow. “Well, with the choir, it’s cut across the entire school. It’d be pretty easy to switch with a student from a lower grade – uh, form. That might be a good option, as they’d never expect it. It’s also the best chance to get one of the prefects, who are in the choir or helping supervise. The risk… is they’re also likely to be the people those three assholes have replaced.”
“Best avoid them, then,” Caleb says. “Who else is an option?”
“Uh… some kid called Scott Ricci. He’s kind of a prankster, always goofing around. He and his group – plus their girlfriends – are always wasting time in town on Sundays. Should be easy to switch with one of them. We’re not going to be able to plan exactly who, though; it kind of depends who’s hanging around.”
“Whoever it is, they’ll all be in the same social circle, though,” Caleb opines. “Doesn’t really matter, given we’re just using their face temporarily.”
“Well, it’s the difference between wearing boxers or a bra,” Dylan laughs. “Might as well be in a body you’ll like if you’re going full undercover.”
“Thanks for that helpful observation,” you say sarcastically. Although, having been Eva Garner, you’re curious what a week as a girl might be like. You close your eyes, and scour Roxanne’s mind. “There’s two other options. The first is…” you pinch your nose, a vague memory of Roxanne’s tickling the edge of your consciousness. “There’s a bunch of sixth formers… seniors… who do hospital visits sometimes. Kind of an extra credit thing, add it to their resume to look good for college applications? It’s for the kids who want to go pre-med. I don’t know if it’s happening tomorrow, though, or even what time. Roxanne doesn’t do it, and it’s only this… kind of vague memory.”
“It’d make a switch easy, though,” Caleb says. “Someone unconscious at a hospital? Nobody’s going to think twice. We’d need to figure out when, exactly, the Xavier’s students’d be there, though.”
“Too vague,” Dylan counters. “What’s the other option?”
“That’d mean heading out tonight,” you say. “A couple of the kids do this ‘local boarding’ thing, where they go home at the weekends, stay at school for the rest of the week. Chances are, we could find one of them at the Warehouse. If we make a switch with one of them, we get the best of both worlds. I can stay at the school Monday to Saturday, meet up with you guys on the weekends.”
“You mean Monday to Friday,” Caleb says.
“Nah-uh,” you say. “They have Saturday school. Kind of personal development shit.”
Caleb doesn’t respond, simply blows out his cheeks at the idea. “Well, that’s definitely an option, then. It's getting late, though, we'd need to do it quick. What do you think we should do? You’re the one going undercover.”
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