In My Shoes (4 page)

When I was younger, I used to run everywhere.
I was a pretty good runner. The problem was, once I stopped
running, the sweat glands seemed to just flood open. It wasn’t any
different in Nicole’s body. I was sweating profusely, and my bra
was itchy. Probably a result of the sweat. I needed to get to a
bathroom to take it off.

I entered through the front of the school and
headed for the bathrooms in the science corridor. They seemed to
have the least amount of traffic at any given time of day. School
wouldn’t start for a while, so there was a really good chance I
wouldn’t run into anyone there.

I walked up to the entrance of the boys’
bathroom and stopped. I couldn’t go in there. If someone came in,
I’d wind up in the dean’s office. I took a deep breath and walked
into the girls’ bathroom. Nobody was inside. I walked into one of
the stalls, closed the door and put Nicole’s backpack and purse on
the door coat hook. I pulled the shirt off and wrapped it over the
hook. I pulled the bra straps over my arms, pulled it down to my
waist, turned it around and unfastened it. I waved the shirt around
like a flag, trying to air it out and dry it off. Once it was
passable, I put it back on. I opened the door and headed to the
sink. I got a few paper towels wet and used them to wipe my face,
arms and pits down. Well, that would have to do for now. Time to
find Nicole…well, time to find my body.

I headed out of the restroom and started
toward Nicole’s locker. It was easy to tell she wasn’t there
because there was nobody in sight. I waited at her locker for a few
minutes and headed toward mine. Again, nobody around. I dialed my
combination and opened my locker, realized I had all of Nicole’s
stuff and shut the locker. That’s when I heard my voice call from a
short distance away.

“You!” she cried. It was weird seeing my body
coming toward me, hearing my voice yelling at me. “I don’t know
what you did or how you did it, but you need to undo it now!” The
good news was that the best possible, miserable scenario appeared
to have come true…Nicole seemed to be in my body. The bad news
was…she seemed angry with me. Again!

“Wait, you think I did this?” I said
incredulously. “Now, just how do you think I managed to pull
something like this off?” I said, throwing my hands in the air.

“Well, I know that
I
didn’t do it!”
she snapped.

“Well, you figured me out! It was all part of
my master plan. I thought, hey, I haven’t been humiliated enough by
this girl, so I’m going to put some…voodoo spell on the both of us
so we…” I lowered my voice to a forceful whisper, “switched
bodies!”

“Well, I don’t know how it happened, but
I
certainly didn’t wish this to happen,” she hissed.

I laughed sardonically. “After how you
treated me yesterday, if I were going to wish for something to
happen to you, this wouldn’t be it!”

A few people were starting to fill the
hallways now. We weren’t exactly yelling, but it was probably
evident that we were having an argument. Most people were making a
point to look away. Mike saw us and walked up next to Nicole,
obviously thinking she was me.

“Hey Jake! Is everything okay?” He turned and
looked in my direction, glaring at me as if he were trying to tell
me not to mess with his friend.

Nicole turned on Mike. “I’m sorry. You must
be lost. I don’t remember anyone sending you an invitation to this
party, so why don’t you butt out!”

Normally, if this were anyone else, Mike
would have had a snappy comeback and defended himself just fine.
He’s usually good with the quick wit. But Mike thought this was me
talking, and he must have thought I was still angry with him about
yesterday. He stared at Nicole for the slightest second, and began
walking away.

“Hey,” I snapped back, again with the
forceful whisper. I was trying real hard not to draw attention to
us. “Who do you think you are talking to my friend like that? He
doesn’t know what’s going on here and he thinks his best friend
just chewed him out for no good reason!”

Mike turned around. I don’t think he entirely
heard what we were saying, but something caught his attention. He
stood and stared at us squabbling, and he was standing about 15 or
so feet away from us.

“I don’t really care what he thinks,” she
said. “I’m still not done with you, and I don’t have time to deal
with him!”

“I’m not going to have you ruin my life in
the process of trying to figure out what happened,” I said.

She smirked. “I’m not sure how you think
you
can stop me!”

Okay, maybe this wasn’t the best idea. Maybe
it wasn’t the classiest thing to do, but it was all I could think
of. I turned toward Mike, and I lifted my shirt revealing Nicole’s
chest to him.

Several things happened at almost the same
instant. Mike’s eyes bugged out and he passed out on the floor. I
heard the most hideous, blood-curdling scream come from my mouth. I
didn’t think it was even possible for me to scream like that. But
there was Nicole, with my mouth wide open, screaming a scream that
no guy should ever be able to scream. She definitely took some
estrogen with her into my body. I quickly pulled my shirt down and
tried to calm Nicole down.

“Okay, okay,” I whispered. “I’m sorry. Now
will you please calm down so we can try and sort this whole thing
out?”

“Sorry? You just flashed my breasts to your
best friend and you’re sorry? And…couldn’t you have at least left
my house wearing a bra?”

“I did leave your house wearing a bra, but by
the time I got here I was itchy and sweaty from running. I had to
take it off.”

“I can’t believe you just did that,” she said
stunned.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know what else to do.
You were getting belligerent.”

We both stood there silent for a moment
gathering our thoughts.

“Look,” I said, “I don’t know how this
happened any more than you do. All I know is if we don’t work
together, this could turn out very bad. We can’t exactly tell all
of our friends and family that we’ve switched bodies. We’d be
committed.”

She stared at me for a moment, contemplating
what I had said. Then she said in an almost defeated tone, “Look at
you. I can’t believe you left the house letting me look like that.
I have no makeup on.”

“I don’t know how to put makeup on. You don’t
like the way you look now, you would have been really upset if I
had tried to put on makeup. I woke up this morning screaming. Your
mom came in to see what was wrong, and then she helped me pick this
out. I was trying really hard not to make you look stupid in front
of your mother, and I was trying really hard to get out of there
before I said something that would make her suspicious.”

She paused at this and her features, well
actually they were my features, seemed to soften just a bit. “Okay,
look,” she said. “You’re right about us needing to work together.
This may all go back the way it is supposed to be tomorrow, but it
may not. Either way, we need to work out a plan. We need to get to
know each other well enough to pass as each other…at least for the
short term.

“I will make you a deal,” she continued. “I
will do my best to be you…carry out your responsibilities and do
things the way you would while I’m in your body, if you do the same
for me. Working together will also allow me…us,” she corrected, “to
keep an eye on each other.”

“I don’t know. I’m not sure that I could be a
girl even if I wanted to.”

“The other option is we could destroy each
other’s lives in a very short time. And trust me, I would destroy
you.”

I considered that. “Okay. We need a plan
then.”

She motioned me to follow her and we walked
away, not even realizing that Mike was passed out on the floor
still. She was leading me out toward the parking lot.

“We can’t work out a plan here. We are going
to have to ditch today. I don’t have any classes that I
have
to be at today, do you?”

“No,” I said.

“Good. We will go to my house. My mother is
usually gone on Fridays, shopping and running other errands with
her friend Julia. We should be safe there, and then I can get you
looking decent. So, where did you park my car?”

I looked at her blankly. “You have a
car?”

“Wait. You mean you ran from my house all of
the way here?”

“Well, yeah. I didn’t know you had a car, and
I wanted to make sure I got out of there. Your mother kept saying
that I was acting funny, and I was telling her that I wasn’t
feeling right because I hadn’t slept well.”

“Well, hopefully she didn’t notice that you
left my car in the garage. That would make her
really
wonder. Hopefully Julia is driving this week.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“They take turns driving. My mom and dad get
together with John and Julia Henderson just about every Friday.
Whoever’s house they are getting together at that week decides the
person who drives.”

“Your mom mentioned they would be home late
tonight because they were getting together with the Hendersons,” I
offered.

“Good,” she said. “Then, Julia will drive
them both around to run their errands. My mom will keep everything
in Julia’s fridge until they leave tonight. My father meets them at
their house and drives my mom home. So, she likely won’t have
noticed my car in the garage and we will have more time alone at my
house to get to know each other.”

If she had said that to me yesterday, I would
have been bouncing off the walls. Today, it doesn’t have quite the
same feel.

We both were a little worn down from the
morning drama, so we walked the distance back to her house, mainly
in our own thoughts. I couldn’t tell what was going on in her mind,
but for my part I was thinking about my mom. I hoped this would all
go back to normal soon. I didn’t want to think about what would
happen if I didn’t get to see my mother anymore. And my friends.
Okay, so I wasn’t the wealthiest or most popular person in the
world, but it was my life, and I liked it. I could make the best
out of living in someone else’s shoes for a while, but I don’t
think I could do this long-term.

As we neared her house, I started wondering,
“How did it go at my house this morning?”

“Not too different from yours, it seems. I
woke up screaming, and your mom came in to see if you were okay.
It’s funny, but I had told her I had a bad dream, too. I guess
there’s not much else you can say when you wake up screaming in the
morning.”

“Did she seem okay?” I asked.

“Yes, she asked if I needed anything, and I
said no. I rushed to get dressed, and high-tailed it out of there.
I yelled that I had to get to school and said bye as I headed out
the door. I hope she didn’t think I was being rude.”

“Yeah,” I said, “I don’t usually do that, but
I’m sure she will be okay. She doesn’t get offended easily.”

She stopped two houses down from her house.
“Okay, here’s the plan.” She started rummaging through her purse,
which happened to be on my shoulder, and pulled out a set of keys.
“You will go in through the front door and call out to see if
anyone is home. If my mom is still there, tell her you aren’t
feeling well and decided to come home. Then just go to my room and
wait. If she’s gone, come out and get me. I will wait for about ten
minutes. If you don’t come out by then, I’ll start walking around
so I don’t look suspicious. Once she leaves, come outside so I know
it’s safe.”

I headed up to the front door, unlocked it
and headed into the house. “Hello?” I called. “Is anyone home?” No
answer. I walked around the whole house, calling out, and didn’t
get a response. I went back to the front door and signaled to
Nicole that it was safe.

She came into the house and went straight to
the garage. Two cars were in the garage. “Good, just like I
thought. She’s in Julia’s car. Now let’s check the kitchen. If she
were going to leave a note, it would be there.” We headed into the
kitchen. There was a note on the counter. She picked it up and read
it.

Nikki,

I hope you are feeling better. You didn’t
look so good

this morning. Remember, we will be at the
Henderson’s

late. There’s food in the fridge. Call my
cell if you want

to stay at one of the girls’ houses
tonight.

Love,

Mom

“Good. It doesn’t look like she noticed the
car. Okay. First, I need to get you familiar with my house. You
need to look like you know where you are going when you are walking
around. You already saw the garage. My car, which you will be
driving, is the silver Toyota Camry at the far end of the garage.”
She stopped and turned toward me. “You do know how to drive don’t
you?”

“Yes, I know how to drive.”

“Do you have a license?”

“Yes, I have yours…right…here.” I smiled at
her as I patted her purse.

“You know what I mean. Have you passed your
driving test?”

“Yes,” I answered. “If you look in my wallet,
you will see I have a driver’s license. I’ve never had a
ticket.”

“Well, that’s better than me. I got a
speeding ticket about a year ago, and I lost the car for two weeks.
Wait, do you have a car? I only saw one at your house, and I
figured it was probably your mom’s.”

“It is hers. No, sorry, I don’t have a car.
Mike picks me up for school most of the time and sometimes I walk.
It’s only about four miles from the school. It takes forty-five
minutes to an hour if I walk somewhat fast. If you want I can pick
you up and drop you off so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Thanks, but I’m hoping this won’t last very
long. Let’s worry about that later.

“So,” Nicole continued, “as you can see, the
house is two stories. This, obviously, is the kitchen. Over there
is the living room. We only use that room when we have certain
company over. I almost never go in there. Through here, we have the
formal dining room. The family room is through this archway,” she
said, walking through an opening into the next room.