Authors: Adrian Stephens
Tags: #fiction, #girl, #love, #friendship, #life, #dating, #relationships, #friends, #fantasy, #funny, #contemporary, #nicole, #switch, #lessons, #boy, #bodies, #teen fiction, #freaky friday, #body swap, #gender, #jake, #its a boy girl thing, #18 again, #adrian stephens, #no vampires, #29, #gender swap, #trade places
The detail has been so tedious, I feel like
I’ve had the life of a girl crammed into my brain for some sort of
twisted mid-term. I mean, Nicole had seventeen years to learn how
to be who she is. This is my fourth day. And she doesn’t miss a
detail. Step by step by step. Ugh.
My thoughts strayed for a moment and I
couldn’t help thinking about my mom. It’s strange how I have been
totally engrossed with everything I needed to know and do, that it
would seem my mom would be a lesser thought in the grand spectrum.
The thing was, she wasn’t. I’ve thought about her a lot over the
last few days. It was so nice to see her last night. To see that,
at least from her perspective, everything was completely normal.
She’s not missing me because, as far as she knows, I’m there as
much as I usually am. I miss her. I miss our talks. She’s been
there for me through everything in my life.
Part of me wishes I could tell her about
this, to let her in to this strange life I’ve taken on. As much as
I want to, I’d never do it. First, as hard as it was to convince
Mike, I was pretty sure it would be possible to convince him. I
don’t think there’s a possibility of convincing my mother. She’s a
very simple, practical person and I can’t see her buying this.
Second, if there were a way to convince her, I’d hate for her to
have to carry this burden. There would be nothing she could do, and
that would destroy her. So, for now I play this game, trying to
figure out the rules as I move along. I couldn’t help but wonder if
Nicole was missing her parents the same. They seem really great.
I’m sure she is missing them.
It seemed like just minutes had passed since
I left Nicole’s house, and I was already pulling into the school
parking lot. I had eaten my breakfast on auto-pilot. I grabbed
Nicole’s purse and her backpack and headed into the school.
It looked as though I was about thirty
minutes early. I headed toward the girls’ locker room to try and
get acquainted before others arrived. It seemed like a good idea to
look like I knew my way around, and not like I just walked in here
for the first time.
As I opened the door, my heart started
racing. I could feel it pounding against my chest. I was like a kid
in a candy store. I kept waiting for someone to yell at me to get
out of here. I knew this was wrong, but I could barely wait for
P.E. to start.
I walked around, familiarizing myself with
where the showers were, the lockers, the office and the restrooms.
Maybe it was the exhilaration of the moment, but as I passed the
restroom, I realized I had to go. I put my stuff on the counter and
went into a stall. Hmmm…I wasn’t sure how to maneuver the dress
without getting it on the floor. I decided to ask Nicole after
P.E., and to just take the whole thing off for now. I hung it on
the hook, went to the bathroom…still not used to that…finished up
and got dressed.
After washing up, I grabbed my things and
headed back toward the lockers. I wasn’t sure which one was
Nicole’s. Since she wasn’t in a very good mood earlier, I decided I
would text her to find out where her locker was.
A few minutes later, she texted back. ‘Third
row from the front, fifth from the right. Combo: 32-18-14. What
about you?’
It hadn’t even occurred to me to tell her
mine. ‘Mike will show you where it’s at. Combo: 21-17-36.’
I found her locker and opened the padlock.
She had several pairs of gym clothes, neatly folded, and an extra
set of clothes. Pants, a shirt, underwear, bra, socks…all hanging
or folded neatly. Why would she have extra clothes in her locker?
Is that a girl thing, or a Nicole thing? Just in case she didn’t
like her outfit once she got to school? Girls.
Anyway, I felt like I was prepared to start
the day, so I sat down on a bench to relax. Couldn’t hurt to run
some things by in my head either.
About fifteen minutes later, girls started
coming into the locker room and heading toward their lockers. A few
of them gave me a funny glance. What was that about? Did they not
like Nicole? Moments later, Jessica came into the locker room and
walked up to me. There must have been something wrong with me,
because she gave me a look like ‘what are you wearing?’
“Hey Jessica, is there something wrong with
my dress? People are looking at me funny.”
She grabbed at my midsection and gave a short
laugh. “Okay, first since when do you not know the difference
between a dress and a skirt? And second, that skirt totally does
not go with that top. You
must
be sick.”
She wasn’t really being mean, just honest,
and playful. I figured the best thing to do was to play it off.
“Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking. I should have gone with my
instinct on this.” It’s a good thing Nicole has backup clothes.
Maybe girls really did change their minds about outfits.
I was thinking about Nicole’s backup clothes
when Jessica started undressing in front of me. I think my mouth
fell open because all of a sudden she asked, “What’s wrong with
you?”
I shook my head. “Uhh…sorry. I thought I had
left my calculus homework at home, but I’m pretty sure I have
it.”
I started undressing too, but I figured if I
was talking to her I could keep looking at her. So, I did.
“So…how was your weekend?” I asked.
“Better than yours, it sounds like,” she
answered. She had no idea.
“So, what’d you do?” I asked.
All of a sudden, the flood gates opened.
“Well, you know what we did Friday. That was fun, as always, but we
really missed you. Saturday, Mer and I went to the mall, and I
found a really cute dress that scooped down to about here,” she
said, holding her hand flat just above her…chest, “and I found the
best pair of shoes to go with it, which is perfect because…oh, I
didn’t even get to mention to you that Jeremy Courtfield asked me
out on Friday, ‘cause you weren’t here and I haven’t seen you…so
anyway, the outfit was perfect for our date Saturday night.”
I swear, I don’t think she even breathed once
that whole time.
Jessica and I were both changed into our P.E.
clothes by now, but it still wasn’t time for class. So, we sat down
and I asked her more questions while I scoped out the rest of the
changing girls. This is so awesome!
“So, where did he take you?”
“Well, first we went to dinner, but I drove,
because you know how I like to drive,” I nodded as if I knew, “so
we went to Carrington’s for dinner, and I had Fettuccine Alfredo,
which was amazing, and he had steak and lobster.”
I knew Jeremy a little bit. He seemed nice
enough, but not a whole lot going on in the bell tower. I can’t
imagine there was much substance to the conversation.
“What’d you guys talk about?” I asked, trying
to seem interested in what she was saying.
“We talked about school and friends and
classes…”
“What classes does he have?” I interrupted.
Honestly, I didn’t care, but I was hoping to keep her doing most of
the talking.
“I don’t think he said what classes he
had.”
“Well, what does he like to do for fun?”
“I…don’t know.”
At this point, I had stopped checking out the
room and was focused on our conversation. “Did you let him talk at
all?” I asked as politely as I could, considering what I said was
blunt. She seemed offended, but she was considering what I
said.
“Well, I
thought
I did. But…now I’m
not so sure.”
“Jess, if you want a guy to like you, you’ve
got to give him a chance to show you who he is, and tell you what
he likes. I mean, it is supposed to be about you both getting to
know each other.”
She thought about this. “Do I always do
that?”
“Do what?” I asked.
“Talk the whole time,” she said.
I had no way of knowing for sure, but I had a
feeling she did. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, because she
seemed to be taking our conversation to heart.
“Well, not always, but you have your
moments.”
“I didn’t realize. Why didn’t you say
anything before?”
Good question. “I don’t know. It never seemed
necessary to say until now, but I thought you’d want to know.”
“I do,” Jessica confirmed. “Thanks, Nikki.”
She hugged me and turned to leave. “We should go.”
“Right,” I said following her. Maybe
Jessica’s not so bad. Hey, this girl talk thing is easy.
P.E. seemed to go fast. We played softball,
which I always enjoy. Apparently, softball isn’t Nicole’s strong
suit because I got some funny looks after I hit a double and caught
two balls in the outfield. As we were leaving the field to head to
the locker room, Jessica caught up with me.
“So, have I been oblivious to that too, or
are you all of a sudden good at softball?” she said, leaning in to
give me a friendly bump.
“I just got lucky today. Everything was going
my way.”
“I guess,” she said as we walked inside. She
continued as we picked up clean towels and headed to our
lockers.
“So, what did
you
do this weekend?”
she asked. “I know you were sick, but did you do anything?”
“I studied a lot. Watched a movie with my
parents on Saturday. That’s pretty much it.”
“Hmmm…A little birdie said they saw you at
Target on Saturday with a guy.”
“Uhh...yeah, that was Jake Matthews.”
“From our physics class?”
I didn’t even realize she knew I existed.
“Yeah, you know him?”
“Well, not personally. I didn’t know you
liked him. I mean, he’s cute, but he doesn’t seem like your
type.”
“It’s not really like that. We were just
studying together.”
“At Target?” she questioned.
Think fast Jake. “We took a break, and he
needed to get a new phone.”
“So, you’re not attracted to him?”
What a strange question. “No, I’m not
attracted to Jake.”
We were mostly turned away from each other
while we undressed and wrapped our towels around us, so I was able
to keep my composure okay. We headed to the shower together.
“So, what exactly is my type, anyway?” I
asked curiously.
“I don’t really know. You seem to like guys
that are a little less…silly. Wasn’t he the one goofing off in
class last week?”
“He wasn’t goofing off!” I said with
exasperation.
I think I said that louder than necessary.
“That was a little defensive. Besides, I thought those were your
words,” she said.
“Sorry. Yeah, I was wrong about that,” I
said.
That kind of killed the conversation as we
entered the showers.
I thought my heart was going to pound out of
my chest. The shower stall is a large, rectangular, tiled room with
lots of shower heads sticking out along the walls. Seventeen naked
girls…yes I counted…fourteen of them were real easy to look at. I
found my place at one of the stalls and started washing up.
I tried my very best to be discreet, but it
wasn’t an easy task. I tried to make sure my eyes weren’t bugging
out, and I didn’t look around at any one place for very long. It
felt a little like going to a buffet of all of your favorite foods
and not having enough money for a plate. All I know is this is one
moment where it was nice to be a girl. There was nothing to give
away my excitement.
As soon as I had that thought, it occurred to
me that Nicole was in my body on the opposite side of this wall,
and she did have something to give away her excitement. I really
hope she’s having an easy time controlling herself, because
sometimes they’re pretty hard to control. No pun intended.
I noticed that none of the girls got their
hair wet. I guess that’s so they don’t have to spend all of the
time redoing their hair. Nicole hadn’t mentioned that. Thankfully,
I noticed before it was too late. I finished washing up, turned the
water off, dried off and headed back to Nicole’s locker. Jessica
was already getting dressed. I quickly put on the spare outfit that
Nicole had in her locker.
“Good idea,” Jessica said smiling. “That
other outfit wasn’t working for you.”
“Thanks,” I said, pretending to sound
offended.
“Just sayin’,” she said, holding her hands up
as if to tell me not to blame her.
Most of Nicole’s friends are very pretty. I’m
sure that’s not how she chooses her friends, but nonetheless,
they’re pretty. Most of them have at least shoulder length hair.
Some blonde, some brunette and one has auburn hair. They look like
they could be cheerleaders, yet most of them aren’t.
Jessica is not much different from the
others, except that her hair is a short, blonde color. Thin, but
not boney. She has some freckles and her nose has a little crook to
it. It’s very cute, actually. She has a mole on her upper back and
the rest of her is pretty flawless. I’ve never really paid much
thought to her before. She’s starting to grow on me now.
“I’m going to head to class. I’ll see you in
a little bit, okay?” I said.
“Sure. See you in physics.”
I grabbed the clothes I was wearing this
morning and shoved them into Nicole’s backpack. After closing and
locking her locker, I grabbed the backpack and Nicole’s purse and
walked out of the locker room.
Nicole was waiting at her locker when I
arrived. She didn’t look very pleased before she saw me, but once
she did see me, her expression was even less happy.
“What are you wearing?” she asked.
“I’m wearing the extra clothes you had in
your locker.”
“Okay…I know
what
you’re wearing. What
I mean is, why are you wearing that and not the outfit I prepared
for you?”
“Well, I started out in the outfit you laid
out for me, but it didn’t look right. Then, when Jessica saw me in
it, she made fun of it. I thought I should change.
“By the way,” I added, “what’s the difference
between a dress and a skirt?”
She looked at me, a little puzzled. “A dress
is one piece with both top and bottom connected. A skirt is just
the bottom part. Why?”