Chapter 2

Enid watched the college people partying with awe-struck curiosity. They danced, drank, flirted, and made fools of themselves inside the crowded, oppressively-loud house. Some had normal costumes, like Kyle, while some were practically naked. It didn’t seem to matter whether they were attractive or not.

Kyle had fetched her a drink: a brown liquid in a tall glass with lots of ice and a straw. He had called it some kind of iced tea, but it definitely wasn’t iced tea. It tasted good, though, and it filled her body with a strange warmth that, she felt, somehow protected her from the blaring noise. The straw was convenient: it let her drink without removing her mask.

The mask, she had concluded, was important. None of the explanations she had come up with for why Kyle had taken her out made any sense: an honestly mistaken identity, a trap that had yet to be sprung, or some fabulous boon given by her sister. But if not any of those, what was left? Had she stumbled into some Freaky Friday situation? Was her mind inhabiting her sister’s body? Or maybe it was still her body, but magic made everyone see her as her sister? Had the black cat done this to her? Had it been some witch’s familiar, or a shape-changing trickster? Or maybe the wonderful things happening to her were just a symptom of Eloise’s bad luck from the cat crossing her path? Eloise had been standing still, though. Do you need to be moving to have a path? Whatever was going on, though, the mask was the key to it all. As soon as she took it off, she knew, she would go back to being high school nobody Enid.

She shook her head. She was being silly. She stretched, arching her back and lifting her arms, and that was enough to let the music invade her. Her hips started moving to the beat, shaking the fringes of her skirt, and the rest of her body gradually joined in.

Hands appeared in front of her eyes. “Guess who, cowgirl!” She turned around. It was Sammie, Eloise’s best friend until college had taken her away out of state.

“Sammie!” Enid cried, and hugged her sister’s friend. She had always loved Sammie. They got along well even when Eloise hated her.

“Uh-uh!” Sammie chastised. She struck a pose showing off her blue 1960s Star Trek mini dress. “You will refer to me as Lieutenant!” She tilted her head at another woman dressed, as best Enid could guess, as a ninja. That is, she was wearing a leotard with a bandolier full of throwing stars, and one of those three-pronged martial arts daggers tucked in a sash around her waist. “This is Carmen, my roommate, but you can call her Sensai.”

Sammie put her arm around Enid. “Come on - finish your drink! We’ve got to go!”

She looked at Kyle for guidance. He shrugged. “I told you it would be an evening of surprises!” While she slurped down the rest of her drink, he fixed his gaze on Sammie and added, “Make sure she stays sober enough to fuck, okay?”

He’s teasing, right? Enid pondered hopefully. Is he really going to fuck me?

Enid piled into the Jeep with Sammie and Carmen and they drove through the college part of town. Even at night time, the place was so alive! Stores were open, and people were walking in costume down the sidewalks between them. Everywhere she looked seemed to pulse with fun.

As much as she was enjoying partying with the older girls, her conscience was nagging her. It wasn’t exactly a lie, but, depending on what Kyle and now Sammie believed, she wasn’t being truthful, either. It didn’t seem possible that two of her sister’s friends actually thought she was Eloise, but none of the other explanations made sense either. With equal parts curiosity and guilt, she decided to try to set things straight. “Um, you guys know who I am, right?”

“Well, she called you cowgirl,” Carmen answered. “I figured that was because of your outfit, but hey, I don’t know you! It could be the other thing.” Both older girls were still laughing when the Jeep parked in front of a shop.

“Piercings?” Enid asked, reading the sign.

“That’s right, cowgirl! We’re going to put a couple more holes in you!”

“Well, I’ve already got two in each ear,” she explained.

Sammie shook her head, running her tongue over her teeth devilishly. Her gaze settled on Enid’s chest.

This IS a trap! Enid realized. This whole thing was planned so they could torture and disfigure me! They were all in on it! Even as she began to shake with fear and betrayal, she second-guessed herself. That moment with Kyle next to the party house when he fingered her hadn’t felt like a deception. But what else...? It was the cat, right? The alcohol had muddled her mind. Damn it, why can’t I think? I need to think!

Sammie must have seen her distress. She put her arm around her. “Trust me - you’re going to love it,” she said disarmingly. “I haven’t regretted mine for a second.” The older girl pulled the fabric of her dress tight over her breast, revealing the shape of a small metal ring. “And Kyle is going to absolutely flip! I didn’t tell him what we had planned - just that it was a surprise.”

“You think Kyle would like it?” She asked tentatively.

Carmen answered. “You know those cartoons where a guy turns into a wolf, his eyes pop out in heart shapes, and his tongue unrolls down to the ground? He’s going to do that.”

“For sure,” Sammie added.

Enid’s kidnappers gave her a moment to think about it. Eloise didn’t already have pierced nipples - that had been clear to anyone who cared to look when she had descended the stairs in her costume. If this was a Freaky Friday body swap, then it was her sister’s nipples that would end up pierced, which was what Sammie had planned from the beginning. Of course, she was the one who’d have to suffer the pain. But what if this was really her own body? Was she ready to make permanent modifications to it like that?

But Kyle would like it. They’d be like new toys to him. He might not have ever even had a girlfriend with pierced nipples. She liked the idea of offering Kyle something her sister couldn’t. But then, would he even know it was her? Would he remember? What would he think if the girl he went to bed with tonight had piercings, but not tomorrow? Would it be some intimate secret between them, or would he freak out? What the hell was going on, anyway? That was assuming he actually took her to bed - which was silly, right? She tried to think her way through it - to solve the riddle - but her mind just wouldn’t work right.

Kyle would like it. That was all she could come up with. Enid nodded and her sister’s friends led her into the shop.

It did hurt, but only briefly. The technician installed a pair of cute little barbells at the tips of Enid’s breasts. She instructed her on how to take care of herself during her recovery, but those words were too slippery for her clumsy mind. There was a pamphlet, too, though, so she absorbed a little on the drive back to the party. The big one was no touching by hand or mouth - for weeks or months. Bacteria mustn’t be allowed near the piercings. Kyle wouldn’t be able to touch her breasts.

Back at the party, the girls were met again by Kyle. “So? What was the big adventure all about?”

Enid looked to Sammie. “Should I tell him?”

“Let him sweat it for a while,” she grinned.

“All right, then.” He pointed to each of the women. “Long Island Iced Teas all around?” After a few nods, Kyle disappeared, reappearing soon after with his hands full of tall glasses full of ice and amber liquid.

As before, warmth spread through Enid while she sipped. And as before, the music seeped into her body and moved it on its own. It was a forgotten joy: as a child, her parents had been hard-pressed to stop her from dancing all the time. Since adolescence, though, only her stuffed animals had witnessed anything of the sort.

As she sipped more, the alcohol and the music combined inside her into a hazy warm cloud of rhythm. It was alive, and it wanted to move. She looked at Kyle hopefully. “Wanna dance?”

“I better not,” he said. “My knee’s still not at one hundred percent. You go ahead.”

“I’m with you,” Carmen told her. The older girl took her hand and led her to where the dancing was most active. They moved together - their own private bubble of space. Every once in a while a man or woman would skirt the bubble, expanding it and dancing with them for a time. Usually, they would move on after a few measures and some showy moves. The man in a mummy costume, though, had some sort of power over Carmen. They moved together scandalously closely. It quickly became apparent that Enid had lost her partner.

A very tall minotaur approached Enid. His face was covered, but his body language was clear: he was hungry for her. He made a show: dancing and strutting for her. Every move drew her attention to his magnificent abs. She couldn’t help but smile, and that only made him fiercer.