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

BUCHANAN TOLD us not to close the door, I jump up and shut it, turning the lock just to be safe.
    â€œThat was nuts,” I say. I don’t really know if I’m talking to Jack or talking to myself, but either way, I’m starting to freak out again, and it shows.
    â€œEllie?” says Jack. “That’s your name, right?”
    I nod.
    â€œLook,” he tells me, “we don’t have a lot of time. Pretty soon the bell is going to ring and nothing is going to change here, so let’s face it—”
    â€œI’m you,” I say, interrupting him.
    â€œExactly, I’m you and you are me,” he says, smiling for the first time. I know this sounds nuts, but I actually feel a little bit more calm when I see myself smiling.
    He grins again. “We just have to make it through the weekend, right? Then we’ll get back here and find that wacky nurse and—”
    â€œThe weekend!” I cut him off. “Are you crazy!?”
    Jack looks up at the clock. “Dude, come on, do you want to waste time arguing?”
    â€œFine,” I answer. “Go ahead, tell me your great, awesome plan,” I say, sounding kind of meaner than I wanted to.
    â€œOkay, first, go home with my dad. He’ll be right outside by the gym door in a big pickup truck, and—”
    â€œWhat color?” I ask.
    â€œWhat color what?” says Jack.
    â€œThe truck?”
    â€œBlack,” he answers. “Dude, you are asking too many questions. Look, just go with my dad and keep your mouth shut, don’t get into it with my brothers, and whatever you do, don’t tell my dad about the fight, okay?”
    â€œYeah, okay, whatever,” I answer. “I won’t tell him.”
    â€œNo, seriously, Ellie, for real. Please! Promise, okay?” Jack looks really worried. Which means I’m looking at me looking really freaked out.
    â€œOkay, okay, I promise,” I tell him. “But isn’t he going to wonder what happened to your face?”
    â€œJust say it was from Stryker last night in The Cage,” answers Jack.
    â€œYou were in a cage with someone named Stryker?” Oh god.
    â€œStryker’s my brother. I have three.”
    My mouth drops open. “Three brothers!”
    â€œLook, you’ll be fine, okay? Just stay in my room. Even if Owen calls, or anyone, just stay home, okay?”
    â€œOkay.” I nod.
    â€œMy dad, he has, like . . .” He pauses for a moment, then goes on. “He has a certain way about him, so just . . .”
    â€œYeah?”
    â€œJust say as little as possible.”
    â€œOkay,” I tell him.
    â€œWell?” he asks.
    â€œWell what?”
    â€œWhat about me?” he asks. “How am I, or, like—” He stops and looks at me anxiously. “What am I supposed to do?”
    I picture my mom waiting in her car by the back of the school. She’s probably already even there, waiting with a snack and my soccer gear.
    Oh my god, soccer !
    Sassy!
    Everything comes flooding back. I start to panic, and okay, yeah, I can feel the tears gathering in my eyes.
    â€œLook, dude, you seriously have to stop crying!” Jack tells me. “If you’re going to be me, you can’t be such a GIRL!”
    This is so crazy.
    â€œI know this seems unreal,” says Jack. He reaches out and grabs my hand. Which is so weird, because I never imagined I’d be holding hands with The Prince of Thatcher on the first day of seventh grade.
    Or, I’d be The Prince of Thatcher on the first day of seventh grade.
    He lets go of my hand and I’m sort of flustered.
    â€œWell? What do I do?” he asks again.
    â€œUhhh, my mom’s picking me up in the back by the gym, and look, number one: do not go to soccer, no matter how much my mom says you have to go. Make something up. Just go directly to my room and stay there for the entire weekend!”
    â€œOkay, no