Read Online The Swap by Megan Shull - Free Book Online Page A

killing me!” she says, snorting back sobs. “What did you even do to your face?”
    I look back at her, I mean—
    I look back at me . I look pretty banged up. “This is unreal,” I say, staring back into the mirror. “It’s like I’m living in a movie!”
    â€œWe should get someone, right?” Freckles manages to stop the tears long enough to blurt this out. She’s looking right at me. “We should, like, go get Ms. Dean, or—”
    â€œNo way!” I cut her off. “They’ll think we’re totally nuts! Who is going to believe this? What would we even tell them?”
    â€œWe’ll just tell them what happened!” Freckles answers, as if it’s all as simple as that.
    â€œYeah, great.” I almost laugh. “We can tell them we fell asleep, and we woke up in each other’s bodies?”
    Freckles looks mad. “Well? Do you have any better ideas?”
    She plops down on the cot. “Oh, my head,” she whines.
    I hand Freckles my old ice pack and sit down next to her. Honestly? For the first time in my life, I really don’t know what to do.
    Think, Jack. Think.
    When was the last time I remember actually being in my own body?
    â€œThat wacky nurse!” I look at her empty desk across the room. “She must have, like—”
    â€œPut some sort of spell on us?” finishes Freckles. She looks as freaked as I feel. “What are we going to do?” She’s crying again. “We have to find the nurse, right?”
    â€œHey, whoa, whoa, whoa, just breathe, okay? Calm down,” I say. Every time I talk, I nearly die. My voice sounds so soft and— girly !
    I feel dizzy. I flop back on the flimsy mattress. And yeah, if you’re thinking this must be weird, it is! I glance down at my—I mean, Freckles’s—tight blue gym shorts and puny girlie legs, and look, I’m not going to even say it, like, out loud, but I am in a body that is 100 percent female. Including the upper half and the lower half, and the everything-in-between half!
    Oh, god.
    I shut my eyes, but only for a second, because the door suddenly opens and in walks the guidance counselor, Ms. Buchanan.
    â€œYou kids doing okay? Feeling any better?”
    I bolt upright. I say nothing.
    â€œThank goodness it’s Friday, right?” She grins at the two of us sitting next to each other. “Y’all can go now and get your stuff. The bell’s going to ring in ten minutes or so, and—” Ms. Buchanan stops. “Ellie, are you okay?”
    â€œEllie?” Ms. Buchanan repeats, staring at me, which is weird because she’s talking to—
    Oh.
    Freckles elbows me in the gut.
    â€œOh, um—” I start, my first official conversation as Ellie. “I guess?”
    â€œYou guess, huh?” Ms. Buchanan stands in front of us. She crosses her arms and looks down at us both. “ What exactly was going on in here before I walked in?” she asks, suddenly suspicious.
    Ellie jumps up. “Nothing!” she says, sounding totally mortified, except it’s my voice and my body that moves across the room and straps on my backpack and looks back at me. I feel a little bit panicked. Where is she going?
    â€œWait!” I call after Freckles in my new squeaky girl voice, and jump up too.
    Ms. Buchanan walks toward the door. “You two get yourselves together. As I said, the bell is about to ring. And leave the door open . No funny business. Understood?”
    â€œYes, ma’am,” I answer. “We understand, ma’am.”
    â€œWell, thank you, Ellie, I appreciate the respectful tone.”
    I glance over at Ellie—I mean, me—and notice how much my own eyes look completely relieved when Ms. Buchanan finally leaves.

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