The Swap

Allison 4.1

People say life isn't fair, and apparently that stays true even when living another life. The consequences of someone else's actions are affecting me, and I just want to set the record straight already.

The bell rings for the third time today, and when I realise that, the dark clouds above my head dissipate and my eyes widen. This is it, I've got about half an hour to get everything sorted out before I have to attend this boy's meeting with the principal. I'm not letting that happen!

As I rush outside the classroom, I ponder where to look first. Where would I normally be? Where should Zachary be right now if we did indeed swap places?

I start my mad dash towards the biology classroom.

People make way when I approach, which feels like something of a perk of being a outcast. Nobody moved aside when I asked them politely as a girl. I make it up to the third floor in a pinch, and look down the hallway, scanning all the faces.

Then I see her: myself.

I run over, grab her by the shoulders and-

Wait, what was I going to say to her? I stand there, restraining 'myself' in the middle of the hallway, as all heads turn and people gasp. This is bad. I look at 'myself'. A frightened expression looks back at me. Don't tell me this is genuinely 'me', and not Zachary in my body. My hands let go of her shoulders. I hear someone murmur that Zachary Marlowe has found a new victim.

For a split second, overwhelming fear and hopelessness crashes down on me, but then the Allison Par tugs on my arm and pulls me aside. I follow her meekly. My mind has gone blank from my terrible flop. For a while - almost a minute long - we walk in silence.

This Allison has this responsible aura around her, and I can't bring myself to speak until she does.

Eventually, she stops at the back of the school. She lets go of me.

"Allison Par?" she asks. Hearing my voice without me talking sounds so strange.

I nod, "A-And you're Zachary Marlowe, r-right?"

He nods, cautiously.

We stare at each other in silence.

Then suddenly: "Did you do this?"

"Do what?" I ask.

"This!" He gestures to Allison Par's body, "Switching our bodies or something!"

That sudden outburst reminded me that behind Allison Par's appearance was a jerk.

"N-No, I didn't do that," I reply, "I just woke up like this, and I hate it!" I shudder.

"How do you think I felt waking up as some random girl?" he complains.

Then everything I wanted to say flows back into my brain. I abruptly grab a hold of his shoulders and look him dead in the eye.

"What have you done with my body?"

He flinches.

"C-Come on, your hair doesn't look that bad-"

My grip tightens.

"What have you done with my body?" I repeat.

"N-Nothing," he groans, trying to push away one of my arms.

"You're lying," I assure him, but mostly myself.

"Fine," he sighs, "But all I did was cop a feel for a few seconds."

"Pervert!" I scream, pushing him away from me. He stumbles over.

"Hey, calm the fuck down!"

"Don't tell me to calm down when you, some horny highschool boy, have full control of my body and identity!" I retort.

"Well then, if you don't want to work along with me then I guess I'll go ahead and live up to that title you gave me! Let me go find my friends real quick to give them a nice show!" he shouts.

We both don't move though.

"Y-You're not going to do that, right?" I ask naively.

"Not if you shut up and help me figure out this mess we're in," he sighs, "You don't know why this happened, right?"

I shake my head.

"Fuck, I was hoping you did so we could undo it right away."

"We're not stuck like this forever, are we?" I blurt out. Both of us get uneasy.

"Let's not think about that yet..." he mumbles. That's the Allison Par I know: mumbling.

"B-But..." I stammer. He looks up, "But YOU have a meeting with the principal about the stunt you pulled yesterday! I don't want to go to that!"

"What? A meeting with the principal? For that thing with Damian? Urgh."

"What do we do!?"

"Isn't it obvious?" My voice sounds so contemptuous, "We're not figuring this whole body swapping thing out soon. You're going to have to take my place in that conversation!"

Those words shatter me.

"Take your place?"

"Yeah, what else? Were you planning on skipping it?"

"That'd get me into more trouble... No wait, that'd get you into trouble!"

"But you'll still get punished for it, idiot."

"Right... Argh! I can't believe I'm going to take the punishment for you! Unlike you, I'm a responsible student who doesn't get into pointless fights over pointless things!"

Allison Par's face twitches a bit, but he sighs and continues.

"When is this meeting?" he asks.

I pull out his phone and check the time on the home screen.

"In ten minutes."

"Ten minutes!? Ok, we need to hurry. You better not fuck this up big time, so pay attention! This is what you're going to do when you walk into the principal's office..."

He then goes on about what to say to Damian and what not to say, but through it all, only one thing really sticks with me. A singular thought that hovers above it all.

This boy is a perverted jerk, and I'm stuck in his body.