Your girlfriend’s sudden change of thought catches you unaware. You were there when she took off Katie – she was utterly disgusted by the idea. But she wants to use them now? And for good?
A quick thought tells you there’s very little you can do that could be considered “good”. You’ve only used them to fool around, jerking to your brother’s and sister’s skins. What could require disguising yourself to prevent whoever you’re helping from knowing?
“I thought you were too disgusted by it,” you point out at her.
“It won’t be for long!” she responds. “Just enough to do something good and then we’re out.”
“Can’t you do it without having to use them?” That answer startles her. “What’s so important that you need to disguise yourself as someone else to do it?”
“It’s a favor for someone – a kid studying at the same class the girls and I do.” (She must be referring to her best friends Brittany, Kelly and Tonya.) “He’s got his eyes on one of the cheerleaders.”
You deduce the plan – playing matchmaker without them knowing – but can’t understand why she needs the pens for them. “So you want to get them together. And the guy’s probably out of that cheerleader’s league.”
“More like she doesn’t want to because of appearances.”
“And because you know the kid won’t be successful, you’re planning to have someone disguise as her to give him hopes, right?”
“More like gauge if she has interest in him, so someone has to disguise as him. Speaking of him,” she says as she points at a jittery tan kid with an undercut, slim jeans and a hoodie. “That’s Mikey.”
You snort. “Yeah, he’s way outta any cheerleader’s league.”
“Well, he’s friends with one.” (Jessica’s probably talking about Kelly.) “And she says Lindsey White’s interested in him.”
“Lindsey White?” The name doesn’t ring a bell – could she be related to Ashley? You know of someone else, though. “You mean Lindsey Young.”
“Whatever - Kelly told me it was White, not Young, but it’s probably the same Lindsey.”
You immediately see the situation. “You wanna see if someone can pass off as him and propose to her, right?”
“Exactly!”
“And if she doesn’t want to? You said it – she's not interested because of appearances.”
“C’mon, David! He’s got a bright future – he's going straight to Tynemouth!”
You notice how Mikey shudders as Jackson Myers makes a pass to Jacob Rowynczky, and you realize the plan’s doomed to failure from the get-go. “Babe, Lindsey’s from the Blonde Squad. You think they have their futures in mind?”
Jessica pouts angrily. “Kelly does.”
“Yeah, but the average Blonde Squad girl doesn’t. I know from my editor Ashley that she’s aiming to be next head cheerleader. You think she’d like to be seen with someone who’s got no impressive looks?”
“Babe, you haven’t seen him. He’s cute.”
“You said it, Babe. Cute. Not a hunk. If he doesn’t look like Jacob over there, he’s got no hopes.”
“But we can still try! That’s why I want you to help me – you can pass off as Mikey, and if she rejects him, we can console him!”
“And then what? Listen – you and I are together because I had the guts to ask you. If someone else did, maybe we wouldn’t be together.”
“And just because you got lucky,” she says, dripping scorn, “that means he has to as well?”
“What’s the worst that could happen?” you retort. “He’s got good friends, Babe. Maybe later he could find someone who really understands him. I honestly don’t think Lindsey’s the one for him.”
“Babe, what if she’s playing hard to get?”
“Well,” you counter with your own proposal. “How about asking Kelly who’s good friends with her? I swap with them if it’s a guy, you swap if it’s a girl, and either of us can ask her if she’s interested in Mikey. If she doesn’t, you’ll get the answer you want.”
She sighs. “Yeah, you’re right. I just wanted to see if it’d work, though – maybe if you asked her, she’d probably accept because she’d see he’s bold.”
“No, Babe. She’d think he’s bold – and when he tells her he hasn’t seen her or asked her, what will she think?”
Her grunt tells you everything. “Yeah. You’re right.” She stands, clearing up her jeans. “I’ll go talk to Kel.”
“Why?”
“I promised I’d get Mikey to Mackenzie’s party. I gotta tell her that won’t be the case.” She kisses you on the cheek – not on your lips – and smiles. “Thanks for preventing me from screwing up.”
“That’s what boyfriends are for, no?”
“Yeah. Talk to you later, David.”
You stay behind as she leaves, knowing that those words hid a lot of disappointment. She fully expected you to accept, and you rejected her. She’ll probably not speak for a couple days – maybe for a week if whatever she’s planning doesn’t work – but you feel she’ll get over it eventually.
Except, as you feel the pen in your pocket, you chill. She intended you to agree to use the pens, when she’s usually the more mature one. What if her plans included something else, and you just ruined those as well?
You stand up, tapping off stray blades of grass on your jeans, as you call for Claire. You usually accompany her back home – at your parents’ expense - but she usually goes ahead when you’re held back by newspaper duties. You walk around, checking if you see her on the way. “Claire?”
“Davey? Something’s wrong?”
“Why d’you think I’m calling because something’s wrong? I’m just calling to see if you’re home.”
“Uh...” You hear a very brief but pregnant silence on the other side. “I might be a little late. Why?”
“I was gonna go home now; wanted to see if you were coming.”
“It’s alright. You can go ahead if you want to – I’ll be with Katie, y’know, checking her out.”
“Jess told me she’s a little depressed. Is that true?”
“You talked to Jess? What did she tell you?”
“She wanted some help with a plan she had, but I talked her out of it.”
“Why?” That puts you on alert. “Uh, I mean, was it a bad plan or something?”
“Claire, what’s going on?”
“Nothing! Say, you still got the pen, right?”
That alerts you even more. “Why should I tell you?”
“In case someone took it from you, Davey! You know how important that can be!”
“Why do you need to know? You know that, if I wanna keep it safe, I’ll hide it on my room – where it is now. So why ask if I have it?” You hum, showing your discontent. “You were planning on using it, no?”
“Uh, not really. Just making sure you still had it. Anyways, I’ll be at Katie’s - I’ll be home by dinner, alright? Tell Mom that when you arrive, okay? Bye!”
She hangs, and when you try calling her again, she refuses the call. You know she must be planning something, but she told you where they’d be. You feel tempted to look for them there, probably after leaving the pen at home – you're now curious as to why Claire needs the pen.
You also feel that you need to keep an eye on kids, and that feeling only intensifies as you see Jimmy talking to someone inside a car. You notice he has a hoodie, and as you draw closer, you don’t recognize the other. He looks like an out-of-towner, which is strange as Jimmy doesn’t know many people from Tyneside other than his aunt’s family.
You notice he’s about to step in when you interrupt him. “Hey, Jimmy!”
“David?” He steps back, curious to see you. “What’s up?”
“Who’s that guy?” you ask as he’s close enough to hear you, but far away from the driver to notice you.
“Oh, right, you don’t know him. You know Tommy Mallory, right?”
“Uh-huh.” Tommy’s one of the guys in Jimmy’s circle of friends, but not one you know personally. You barely know his friends, other than Eric Nguyen because he hangs with John Fletcher and Sam Brown, and Drew Collins because he’s tried to hit on Jessica a couple times.
“That’s his cousin Brett. He’s gonna help us with the prank at Mackenzie’s.”
You notice the driver steps out. His thick glasses ruin a little his bad guy persona, with his spiky hair and his clean face with cool eyes squinting fiercely. He’s wearing a tight T-shirt showing his chiseled abs and matching denim jacket and jeans, complete with some Converse sneakers. He jerks his chin at you, shouting. “Hey, Jimmy! Who’s the guy?”
“He’s another of my friends,” he tells him. “The one I told you chickened out!”
“I didn’t chicken out,” you tell him. “I didn’t say a thing, and you didn’t bother me – Trish was the one that did.”
“I thought you were more interested in seeing someone else,” he tells you. “Jessica knows?”
“She does – she went to her house too. What’s the deal with him?”
“He’s going with me to Mackenzie’s party. I’d ask you to come, but I don’t think you can help us.”
“Help you on what?”
“You wouldn’t get it. Plus, people might recognize you. Listen – next time we pull a prank, I’m gonna bother you, but I bet you’re gonna chicken out again.”
“Drop the guy,” the driver tells Jimmy in a coarse voice. “We’re gonna be late.”
“You heard him. Hey – maybe if you go to Mackenzie’s as yourself, you’ll see us in action! Just don’t say anything. Or – hell, don’t go! I’ll see if I can tell you later. Gotta go.”
“You think they’re not gonna notice you putting the fireworks?”
“They won’t. It’s gonna be a different prank.”
Jimmy rarely changes a prank once he’s set his mind into it. This is strange behavior from him – and you suspect the guy must be involved in it.
He’s giving you really bad vibes. What if he’s planning to use them for a crime? You need to stop him. But there’s only one way to do so.
You’ll have to slip in as Jimmy himself.
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