Chapter 12

The air was cool and quiet. It gave me a moment to think. The girls were all focused on me but I was just listening. We had never heard ventilation or water pipes. I stood tall. Pat stepped back. Everyone was watching me. I walked first to Xiomara. Kia stepped closer. Pat rushed to take her place at the table.

“Zoë is... What’s going on? Where’s Zoë?” Xiomara’s confidence was shot. Her lower lip was shaking. I took her hands; she almost pulled away. She rushed closer, standing with the tips of her toes between my feet. She was crushing my index and ring fingers.

“Yeah, there are other rooms. Pretty much the same but with different people.” I started walking, going to my stool. Xiomara let me bring her. I perched her on my knee. Kia walked over and hovered next to Andrea. Andrea gripped under her stool with both hands and looked straight ahead. Kia sighed.

“C’mon cutie,” Connie volunteered Renée and lifted up her arm. The blonde left her stool with a light sigh before she sat across the lap of the black cheerleader. Kia, frustratedly, walked away from the seat next to mine to sit across the table from me.

“Zoë is in another box, like this one. She wants to get out,” I worried. What was going on right now? Was she OK? It was strange worrying about her. She was indestructible.

“I can imagine. What pervert has her hands all over her?” Marin giggled. She was happy to poke fun at me. I was her pervert. I blanched. She managed to look apologetic.

“You know him, don’t you?” Pat frowned, “You look like someone killed your puppy.”

“I--” looked right into Xiomara’s eyes. I smiled, frowned and lowered my forehead against hers. She locked her soft golden eyes on mine. She cocked her frown. I nodded.

“It’s Reggie. It’s gotta be Reggie.” Xiomara’s voice shivered.

“Yeah, actually, but--”

“Is she OK? Is she nearby? Is she--”

“I don’t know X,” I needed to interrupt, “I don’t know. It’s not like it is here. She’s not--It’s not Reggie and his nine babes.”

“Babes?” Pat sneered. I guess I deserved that. I blushed.

“Well, eight babes and a Pat,” Renée saved me. I beamed at that. She blushed. Pat looked unperturbed.

“Keep going!” Xiomara was hoarse. I bumped my knee, bouncing her and settled my hand on her butt and on her knee. She held the neck of my shirt. She was crushing my elbow. She bored her eyes into me.

“There’s five boys and five girls in her room.” I remembered, “Zoë said that it was just hormones ratcheted up to eleven right out of the gate. Bradley apparently had decided that each guy and each girl would have to pair up.”

“Wait? No he wouldn’t. That doesn’t make any sense. Bradley let Reggie pick Zoë? Who else was there?” Connie demanded. She was totally offended. I had never seen her so off her balance. Renée reached down and squeezed Connie’s knee. I tried to comprehend but I just couldn’t fit my mental image of Connie into this box. Was it because I didn’t know Bradley? Not really. He was just popular classmate number 2 in my mind.

“Reggie, Bradley, Jesse, Tre and Noah,” I recalled. It was so easy, going back to the kitchen table. Zoe’s eyes getting puffier. I could feel the cold ice cream on my tongue. I could taste it, if I let myself. I could perfectly picture that conversation with Zoë. I closed my eyes. Not picture, but practically replay. I couldn’t do that back home; I didn’t remember the box nearly as well. Xiomara reached up and shook my face.

“Connie asked a question!” Xiomara hissed. I had never seen her this out of sorts before. I lifted her hand and put it around my neck. I settled my hand back onto her knee.

“I’m sorry, I zoned out for a second,” I looked up to Connie. She had her jaw set, like she was about to start grinding her teeth away. The whole table was hyper focused. Our world was bigger than our four walls. I had known that, waking up between bodies, but they all were locked in the room. This was our universe. Maybe for now. Maybe forever. None of us had any idea.

“I asked, what girls are there?” Connie enunciated angrily.

“Oh, sorry,” I apologized again. I looked around. Everyone’s eyes were on me. I felt smaller immediately. Andrea was darting her eyes around. Curious or getting cues I couldn’t see from the other girls before looking back at me. Hannah leaned forward with her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands. She didn’t care. She was putting up with this. Marin scratched nervously under her tit. She tried to smile for me. I returned about the same. Renée brushed her hair back. Connie was holding the blonde tighter and tighter. Renée frowned. Connie wanted me to hurry up. Kia was angry. She was impatient. Suzi tried to appear academic and detached. She was succeeding. Her nipples were poking through her black t-shirt. Pat kicked me. She was sitting at the corner on my left. She kicked me again. Xiomara leaned her head on my shoulder.

“Zoë told me it was her, Elizabeth, Laurie,” I nodded to Kia to clarify which Laurie, “Vanessa and Mrs Leifson.”

“Wait? Ew.” Hannah grimaced. Her reaction caused a ripple of laughter like a vibration through a tense wire.

“No. We’re all different, aren’t we? She has an 18 year old’s body or something, I--”

“Bradley? Let your doughy sidekick pick your sister out of that line up?” Connie narrowed her eyes in disbelief. Renée frowned, but nodded her agreement.

“It’s not that simple,” I worried, “There’s other the other guys too and--”

“Yeah, and what if Reggie wasn’t Staypuft Marshmallow Man anymore?,” Marin gestured at Hannah, “The box makes an incredible difference.”

“Hey now!” Hannah giggled but preened showing herself off. Was her body that much of benefit to her self esteem? Was life was good in here for her? Or was she just unflappable? I realized I didn’t comprehend her. She was practically a different human altogether. I wanted her to put on her black eyeliner. Maybe relate herself to the girl back home.

“OK, sure, but just fixing some things doesn’t change everything. Even if we’ve all got less fat and clearer skin, Xiomara’s still the hottest, Renée’s still the prettiest,” Connie squeezed her friend, “And Pat’s still the cutest.”

Actually, Suzi was the cutest. I kicked that idea in the breadbasket. And Marin was assuredly the prettiest with Andrea as a contender. I bounced Xiomara. She was the hottest.

“Yeah,” Kia grumbled, “So if Bradley is still Bradley, he’s probably telling everybody what to do and if he was only taking one girl, it’d be Zoë. Unless Mrs Leifson is just someone else entirely as an 18 year old. But then why would Reggie get Zoë? Bradley must have had Jesse backing him up.”

I didn’t know shit about these people. I, Reggie and Dashawn had always flowed around the high school politics. Who the fuck was Jesse? All I knew was that he had never taken an AP class in his life.

“I don’t care about any of that. What happened Dean?” Xiomara whispered into my neck, “Why’s our girl need our help?”

Our girl? That was uh, an odd turn of phrase from Xiomara. I liked it. These were my girls. Andrea was clapping her feet together directly under her stool. Hannah was digging something out of her teeth with her tongue. Marin was playing with her hair. Renée was trying to sit still. Connie was holding onto Renée like a security blanket. Kia was showing more interest in Xiomara than my story. Suzi was waiting to jump in with something clever. Pat had stopped kicking me, sometimes her toes would run over the bump of my ankle. Xiomara was my girl, my woman; she had cemented her place yesterday. That made me tingle. Zoë had always been her own girl. And now was she my girl too? Yes. If only I could help her. I was confused to discover my friend, my best friend, fucking Reggie, was bully. He picked on people, sure, but they were just jokes. Some jokes are mean. Was he only as nice a guy as he seemed because no one gave him the time of day? Because no one let him have authority?