When the school day ends, I don't head home like normally. Instead, I head to the library, which I haven't done since the first week or so of being swapped. I meet up with Evan before doing so, and we claim a table in the corner.
"What did you want to talk about?" he asks me.
"If I tell you we have to wait for Allison and Megan, what do you think?"
He chuckles, before thinking it over.
"Are you really back to normal?"
Before I can reply, Allison and Megan walk through the library doors. The way they walk, the way Megan talks to Allison and the way Allison is quiet makes it seem like nothing had ever happened, although I know Allison's silence is caused by something that very much has happened. This meeting has two goals.
Evan and I greet Allison and Megan as they sit down. It finally feels like a proper greeting, as if we were previously just trying to get by on a worked canvas. Me and my best friend with Allison and hers.
"Okay, I'm sure you two know why we called you here," I start. I don't really know what to say, since it's such a short and simple statement.
"You two swapped back, right?" Megan answers.
"You've accepted it that fast?" Evan asks.
"Well, Allison told me she wasn't Zach anymore. That's a weird sentence, I don't know if I can phrase it more clearly," she chuckles to herself.
"How do you know they're not lying?"
"Why would they?"
"Because I was so comfortable and convinced I was the real Zach..." Allison mumbles.
For a moment, everyone stays silent.
"B-But you two are back to normal, right?" Megan asks hesitantly.
"Yes, I promise you the person inside that body..." I point to Allison, "Is indeed Allison Par. The same consciousness you're friends with," I assure Megan.
"I'm also friends with you," she smiles at me, "But I get what you mean."
"That's all well and good," Evan pipes in, "But I don't get it. I can't internalise this. How do you say this? You can tell me anything, but to me it doesn't seem like you two have swapped back."
"That's actually the other thing I wanted to address," I continue, "You might not believe us, Evan, and I get that you don't, since we don't behave like 'the real Allison and Zachary', the same people as over a month ago. We can't really prove to you we're the 'originals' anymore, because we aren't. All I can do to try and convince you is recall something only 'the real Zachary' would know, but that 'the real Allison' wouldn't know."
"So you're just telling me to believe it?" Evan asks.
"Sort of, but more importantly - I think - we hope that you two will stay our friends, despite the changes."
"Of course!" Megan exclaims, "Don't you know how happy I am that I've gotten Allison back!?"
Allison's blank stare lightens up for a moment.
"And like I said, I don't want to discard you either, Zach."
"T-Thanks." I look off to the side, "What about you, Evan?"
"S-Sure..." he sighs, at first hesitantly.
"What do you mean by that?" I ask him.
"I guess I haven't been bothered by your change in character today, so why worry about that. And if you two - no, since you two have swapped back, it's essentially like two Zach's are running around, right?"
YOU ARE READING
The Swap
Teen Fiction"Where am I? This isn't my room. Wait, this isn't my voice, either! This isn't my body!" Allison Par is a timid girl. She just moved to a new town and her mom started dating a new man. Allison just wants him gone, but she's too terrified to speak up...
