Piper’s friend Ashley examines her reflection in the mirror, while Piper lays on her bed scrolling on her phone.
“Are you, like, sure I’m not getting fat?” Ashley inquires, pinching her thigh.
Piper looks up at her and rolls her eyes behind her friend’s back. Classic Ashley. Guys ask her out every day and she wonders if she’s ‘getting fat’.
True to form, her friend was wearing one of her classic, tight pairs of leggings and body-hugging t-shirt, showing off her slender body.
“I’m sure” Piper replies sweetly. “I would tell you if you were.”
Apparently satisfied, Ashley nods her head and smiles, brushing a strand of blonde hair back behind her ear.
“Good!” She chirps, before turning to sit next to Piper on the bed.
The two chat mindlessly for a few minutes until Ashley, in her typical, mildly air-headed tone, says “Sooo…tell me about you and Nick!”
Piper looks up from her phone, brow furrowed. She blushes slightly and says “What do you mean?”
Now it’s Ashley’s turn to roll her eyes. “Oh, come on, I’ve seen the way you look at him. You like him, don’t you?” She questions with a playful smile.
She twirls her hair, and her trendy bracelets jingle on her wrist.
Piper glances away, looking slightly embarrassed. “Um, well, I guess so. I have been hoping he’ll ask me out. I mean, he’s super cute, right?”
A triumphant look passes over Ashley’s face. “I knew it! I knew you had a crush on him!”
“Shh!” Piper whispers. “Don’t announce it to the whole world, Ashley! Promise me you won’t tell anyone?”
The blonde nods her head, but then, unexpectedly, she bursts out into evil laughter. “I got you again! I can’t believe you keep falling for it!”
Piper’s eyes narrow. “W-what?” She stammers.
“Come on in here, buddy!” Her friend calls out.
Seconds later, Piper’s bedroom door opens and a young man enters the room.
“N-nick?!” Piper squeaks. “You were here the whole time?”
Ashley, still giggling, explains “I invited him over, duh. Got you again, sis!”
With wide eyes, Piper watches her friend pinch her cheek between two fingers. She pulls, and it stretches unnaturally, pulling away from the real skin beneath. She spots a familiar freckle beneath the imposter’s left eye before she releases her fingers, and the “face” snaps back into place.
“DAMN IT, MAX!” Piper rages, referring to her younger brother. “You said you would stop making those fucking masks!”
The disguised Max and his friend Nick start laughing uncontrollably, while Piper fumes with her arms crossed.
Ever since Max had started working at that costume shop, he’d been tormenting her mercilessly. Apparently, the owner didn’t just have a fondness for Halloween and parties, but had the rather unusual hobby of making lifelike masks and disguises. Max had stumbled onto the complicated equipment kept in a back room, and the owner had been sharing the intricacies of the art with the young man. Piper assumed the man thought of Max as some kind of a protégé.
Now, as she glares at the imposter, she can see how far he’s started to go with his impersonations. He’d copied Ashley’s pink lip gloss and eyeshadow perfectly, and he’d even drawn her heart-shaped tattoo on the inside of his wrist. Looking more closely, she can see a strip of pink, lacy fabric poking above the waistline of the imposter’s leggings, appearing to be the exact same kind of thong the real Ashley wears.
“Very fucking funny” Piper scowls. “Wait until I tell the real Ashley that you wore a copy of her face. And, what is that, a fake tattoo?”
The imposter just shrugs. “Uh, like, whatever” Max taunts. “And of course it’s fake, this isn’t even my real skin. Check it out…”
Piper watches as her brother pinches one of his fingers just underneath its sparkling pink-tipped nail. He tugs, and the “skin” stretches abnormally, causing the wrist tattoo to shift as well.
Ugh, Piper thinks. He’s wearing some kind of Ashley suit this time. He’s such a freak.
The fake Ashley releases her finger and it snaps perfectly back into place. “See?” She giggles. “No one could ever tell.” The imposter bounces lightly on her toes, causing her chest to jiggle provocatively.
Nick chuckles “You’re really good at doing her voice, man.”
“I practised a lot!” The fake girl bubbles. “I even used her shampoo. Here sis, come and smell it…”
The imposter leans forward, holding her hair out while Piper recoils.
Suddenly, the three of them hear footsteps coming down the hall. Max and Nick share a look of panic as the door opens all the way and a woman steps into the room.
“Oh, hello Ashley” she says. Looking at Nick with a look of mild confusion she continues “Nick? I didn’t realize you were coming over. Max isn’t home right now.”
“That’s not Ashley, mom!” Piper seethes. “Max made another one of his stupid masks and is wearing it to impersonate her!”
The woman’s eyes narrow and she inspects the blonde carefully. “Is this true? Is that you, Max?” She challenges.
“What? Of course not!” The girl denies in her high-pitched voice. “I don’t know what she’s talking about!”
The woman, unconvinced, looks at Nick. “Well? What do you have to say?”
Nick gulps and looks down at the floor. “Yeah, okay. That’s Nick wearing an Ashley mask.”
“Dude!” The imposter explodes in his real voice, while Piper laughs gleefully. “What the hell?”
His friend shrugs. “You were busted, man. I don’t want to get in trouble.”
“Maxwell Price!” The woman scolds. “You take that off right now! You cannot just keep dressing up in disguise to fool people. You’re grounded for three weeks!”
She shakes her finger and her face contorts in anger.
“But mom!” The disguised Max whines, his voice sounding absurd coming from the pretty blonde’s mouth. “That’s not fair! It was just a prank!”
His mother folds her arms. “Oh no, you’re not using that excuse this time” she retorts. “I said it was your last chance after you dressed up as Mrs. Brooks!”
Max blushes underneath the mask as his mother references his recent impersonation of their elderly neighbour. He’d asked the generous Piper to spend hours doing chores at her house, while the real Mrs. Brooks was on vacation.
“And that wasn’t even the worst one!” Piper affirms. “I didn’t tell you, but he also made a mask of me and confessed to Lacie that I made out with her boyfriend.”
The mother’s eyes narrow. “That was a very cruel thing to do!” She scolds. “Take off that mask right now and we will discuss your additional punishment.”
The fake girl hangs her head in shame. “Fine” she mumbles. She pushes her long hair aside and fumbles underneath her collarbone, scratching at the fake skin. She finds a barely-noticeable seam and lifts it, sliding her fingers underneath. Suddenly, her fingers stop.
“What are you waiting for? Take off Ashley’s face!” Piper snaps.
With a look of concern, the imposter replies “I…I can’t. There’s something caught.”
She starts tugging on the lifted seam, to no avail. “What the hell? It won’t come off! Nick, you gave me the right adhesive to seal the seam, didn’t you?”
His friend reaches into his pocket and pulls out a tube. “Uh oh…” he begins “I think I might have goofed.”
He holds out the tube and Max’s fake blue eyes widen in horror. “High-strength bond?” He groans. “Nick, what did you do?!”
Suddenly, his friend breaks out into a wicked laugh. “Oops” he chuckles. “My bad.”
“Don’t worry, Nick. Mistakes happen!” Piper unexpectedly adds, chuckling.
“Why would you do this, Nick?” Max pleads with Ashley’s borrowed face.
He just smirks. “Gotcha.”
Max watches as his friend grasps his chin and pulls it down. “N-no…it’s not…” Max stammers. But, sure enough, he can see tanned skin underneath as his friend’s - now obviously prosthetic - face stretches abnormally.
While Piper laughs, his “friend” jeers “It doesn’t feel so good, does it?” In a much more feminine tone.
Max’s eyes widen as he recognizes the voice. “Ashley?! How did you get a mask of Nick?”
The imposter rolls her eyes. “We befriended the shop owner, obviously. He was happy to get the attention, and he was also very upset when we told him how you’ve been using your new talents.”
Max turns to his mother. “Mom! It’s not fair if I get in trouble while she and Piper go around impersonating Nick!”
To his surprise, his mother just sneers at him. She pouts and taunts “Aw, what’s the matter Ashley? You don’t like it when someone wears a mask to fool you?”
He sputters, speechless at her sudden change in demeanour. His mother looks over at Piper and says “Now that we got him, can I take this off now? It’s so weird to be wearing your mom’s face.”
Max’s stomach plummets. This isn’t my mom? He panics.
Piper giggles and nods.
His “mother” scratches at her own collarbone and finds a similar seam. But instead of getting caught, her fingers work their way underneath her neck, up to her chin. Max watches, horrified, as his mother’s lips snap away, becoming floppy and loose. Her pink, blush-covered cheeks stretch and crumple upwards, before her entire head finally separates completely - long brown hair and all - with a noisy, rubbery sound.
“Lacie!?” Max exclaims, upon seeing the revealed imposter.
The girl cackles triumphantly, holding up his mother’s empty, flapping face. “Gotcha!”
She places a finger on the mask’s lower lip and, working it like a puppet, says in her perfect imitation “Maxwell Price! Go to your room!”
His cheeks redden underneath the mask. He hears another loud, sucking sound and turns back to his friend. In the shock of realizing his mother was a fraud, he hadn’t noticed the other imposter start to unmask. His friend’s hollow face snaps off loudly, revealing the smiling face of the real Ashley.
She tosses the mask onto the bed next to Piper, who picks it up gingerly. Stroking its light blonde hair she jeers “By the way, I don’t actually have a crush on this loser. Obviously.” She jiggles the mask at the still-disguised Max.
Lacie tosses the mask of his mom next to Piper, and Max stares open-mouthed at the two deflated faces of his mother and best friend.
Ashley folds her arms across her sturdier, more masculine chest. “It’s kinda creepy seeing him wear me like that. But at least he’s getting what he deserves” she smirks.
Max just opens and closes his mouth, unable to form a reply.
“I know” Piper agrees. “But since you glued him in there, he’s going to be you for a little while longer, at least.”
“W-what do you mean?!” Max stutters.
His sister gets off the bed and approaches him. “What I mean is that you’re going to play Ashley until we decide to let you out. We are all going to go shopping at the mall, and then we’re getting a manicure. Then maybe we’ll let you take that mask off. But if you break character - even for only a second - that mask is staying on.”
“You can’t do this!” Max shouts.
She scoffs. “Then have fun being Ashley. But I think you’ll play ball. And the next time you open your mouth, it had better be with the proper voice. The clock starts now.”
Max fumes, but he knows she’s beaten him. He looks up and meets her eyes. In a much lighter, girlier tone he relents. “Okay, fine…”
The real Ashley clasps her hands together. “We’re twins! You should be so lucky!” She giggles.
Lacie smiles. “I’ll go take the rest of this off and then we can go?” She asks, gesturing to her altered body. She was wearing a baggy, navy sweater and a pair of the mom’s faded denim jeans.
Piper nods. “Okay, we’ll meet you downstairs.”
“What about her? There can’t be two of us at the mall.” The disguised Max inquires, gesturing to his doppelgänger.
His sister grins. “That’s the best part! She’ll be joining us, but not as her. After all, you and Nick are about the same size, right?”
“W…what?” The imposter stammers. He watches as Ashley pulls out an item from a small bag. Familiar-looking, medium-length brown hair spills between her fingers. Then, she turns the object towards him and his stomach drops again as he stares at a perfect, empty copy of his own face.
Sensing his building reaction, Piper quickly orders “Remember what I said about staying in character!”
The fake Ashley’s mouth closes. Then, very reluctantly, she adopts her carefree demeanour once again. “Oh my gosh, is that a mask of Max?” She gasps. “That’s, like, so creepy.”
Piper and Ashley both grin proudly.
“Uh huh” Piper confirms. “She’s going to disguise herself as him when we go out. Super fun, right? We’ll make him try on some dresses, get his nails painted, it’ll be great! We’ll be sure to take lots of photos, too.”
“Yeah!” Ashley agrees. Then, she coughs and clears her throat. “And I’ve been practising his voice a lot, too!” She says, in a nearly exact copy of Max's own tone.
Behind Ashley’s lovely, tanned face, Max fumes. But, for his own sake, he doesn’t let it show.
“Oh-em-gee, that will be so funny” he chirps. He glances down at Ashley’s swollen chest, suddenly not finding it very fun to be wearing it as his own.
Piper smiles victoriously, knowing that after all of her brother’s pranks, she’s finally won. “Come on, Ashley” she says “let’s go meet Lacie downstairs. Max will be along soon.”
The fake Ashley can only nod in agreement. As the two of them leave the room, she sees the real Ashley lift the mask and start to tug it down over her own face.