Switcharoo

Chapter Five

Mark

Jack walked back into his room, where I had been for the last ten minutes trying to sort through all this shit in my head. I lay on the floor with my limbs all spread out, defenseless. Jack rolled his eyes at me.

"Jesus, this is trippy." I remarked, exhausted. Luckily for us, it was the final day of classes for the week. We each only had one or two classes to attend, it required nothing but the basic knowledge that everyone had. Today should be hard enough to pull off, right?

I still couldn't ignore how incredibly strange it is to open my mouth and have Irish come out of it, or to watch someone else speak from my body. Jack put his hands behind his neck, biting his lip.

"Where did you get the charm?" He asked. I looked at him, confused.

"I already told ya', remember?" I spoke. "I got it from this Chinese restaurant."

He shook his head. "I know, I mean, who gave it to you?"

I simply stared at him, confused.

"I don't know! The waitress!" I flung my arms up in exasperation, lowering my eyebrows at him in frustration. "Why are you being an arse?"

"Me? You're the one who doesn't seem to see how bad this situation is!" his voice- low, deep- fluctuated with anger. He's practically roaring- is that really how I sound when I'm angry? And what does he mean I don't understand this situation?!

Gesturing to the body I'm in, I spoke. "Does this look like me? How could I be calm about this?" I started. "Just because I'm actually takin' a moment to keep myself from freaking out- like you didn't- doesn't mean I don't understand the situation!"

Jack rolled his eyes at me and pat down his jeans, looking for something. I tilted my head at him.

"Looking for something?"

"Do you drive?" he continued to dig in the front pockets before pulling my keys out of one. Nodding his head at me to get up, he spoke again. "Come on, we're going to find the guy I think made this happened."

...

Jack

I lowered my head walking out of the room, trying to avoid eye contact with people. Everyone was out and about now, getting ready for their day. Friday is the day no one has classes, so I assume they all either go out and partied or sit in their room and study. Sadly enough for me, I don't think I'm getting either of those luxuries.

My grip on Mark's wrist was merely out of anxiety. That's what I would tell myself and anyone who asks.

No, no, I can't tell that to people. He's my partner, I thought, for school, of course. We totally didn't switch bodies for no reason and now might be stuck like this forever.

It was hard to keep Bao-Zhi from entering my thoughts as we made our way past everyone, Mark is trying to get my attention but I ignore him. I can't look at him right now, at myself. Something just itched at me. This situation... it, it shouldn't be possible, right? Pretty soon I'll wake up and everything will be back to normal.

Right?

I my head was jerked up by Mark, pulling at my hair. Jumping, I turned to him and-

Julian was standing in front of me, arms crossed and hips jutted out to one side, making him even shorter than he already is. His nearly invisible blond eyebrows raised at me, lips pursed. He tilted his head, slowly for effect, to get a better look at my grip on Mark's hand. I dropped it.