swxtched. | jhs

IX : AWKWARD EDUCATION

BEFORE EITHER OF them realises it, three months have passed. The soul-switching still continues to be a supernatural nuisance and they still have no clue how it works.

And this time, they've switched into an untimely moment. Both of them are showering.

When Hoseok opens his eyes, he finds himself still in the shower. His hands are in his hair, just like before. He turns around and his heart shoots up to his throat, however, because the entire bathroom isn't familiar.

Green thinks the same thing, except she doesn't dare to look down.

Hoseok doesn't mean to. He swears. But instinctively, he does, and sees slight lumps on his breasts and nothing to pee with— and he screams.

Shampoo glides off his hair, the water beating warmly on his body. Shit. He's never felt so uncomfortable in his life.

All of a sudden, he notices that Green's prosthetic arm is off. He lifts what's remaining up to his eye level and examines it. It's just kind of... skin and some kind of plastic-metal at the end of it. Where the elbow lies is simply a place for an artificial replacement to attach to.

It's kind of harder to look at a missing limb than a prosthetic one. He doesn't like looking at it. It twists something painfully inside of him. He'll have to call Green later to figure out how to put the arm back on.

He really wishes they can just switch back. Green must be throwing a fit.

Speaking of Green, she's examining Hoseok's abdomen and penis.

She has no doubt in her mind that Hoseok is looking at her body too, so might as well. It's not that crazy to her, strangely enough. She always secretly wondered what it's like to have a penis, and even pee with one, but it seems that she doesn't feel like peeing at the moment.

After coming to terms with her boy body, she soaps Hoseok's body, trying not to scream at every smooth, hard muscle she touches. She then wraps her body in a towel, laughs at how she habitually wrapped it over her chest just now, and slides it down to her waist. She admits it's kind of nice to free her chest without feeling weird about it. She's a guy now.

But in all seriousness, they need to set things straight if this kind of terror will happen again, which is sadly very possible.

//

RULES :

#1: Keep our phones with us wherever we go at all times, as much as possible. We must be able to contact each other and respond.

#2: If IT'S at an awkward time, we must respect each other. Respect, Hoseok.

#3: Do not be seen with each other too often at school or in any public area where students often hang around. We're not changing our reputation if we can help it.

#4: Do not tell friends or family about IT. Or anyone.

#5: Do not use each other's money without permission unless it's an emergency.

#6: Do not act completely out of character. Act like each other as best as possible when IT happens.

#7: Do not get into romantic relationships with other people if it can be helped. We don't want them to find out, or accidentally like the wrong person in the wrong THING. Don't even date in high school, Hoseok.

#8: If someone were to find out about IT, use any means to convince them otherwise (it shouldn't be that hard if they're rational enough). Also, we should both be aware of who is suspecting us and who actually knows, if anyone happens to.

#9: Try to stay on top of homework and after-school activities to maintain good grades. Let's do each other a favour.

#10: Please REMEMBER all of these rules because dammit Hoseok, I swear you'll forget #1.

//

Green honestly thought that the worst thing about switching with a boy is the sensation of having a penis.

But honestly, it stops getting weird after a while. Hoseok's body, in particular, is healthy and strong, and she isn't catching her breath every time she goes home in his body, so she doesn't have much to complain about there.

She'd rather not even think of Hoseok's thoughts on her body.

It's on the thin, frail side, weak, with low stamina and low tolerance to the sun. She's practically a vampire, constantly anaemic and lightheaded. Her chest is small— literally just nipples to her— her neck juts out a bit more than what's normal, and her aegyo-sal game is more like the ultimate dark circles of sleep deprivation.

What does Hoseok think of having a vagina though? she can't help but wonder, tapping her pencil on her chin in class. She's spacing out badly, but at least she's in her own respective body. He's actually behaving as far as I'm aware, so I'm more curious than mad. There's no point in being mad. I looked at his private parts anyway.

Why did we ever switch in the first place? Is this like, secretly normal for everyone, but we're all scared to be probed by scientists and possibly die on the experimental table? Because there's my ex-neighbour. He told me something about switching bodies with my father before I was born, back when he was a teenager. He was scared of being found out too... wait, why am I thinking about that?

Do I actually believe that?

She sighs. Her English class is so dry that she's starting to think of her crazy ex-neighbour.

But that's exactly why she's starting to fail in this class. Her last exam in English dragged her overall grade to a 78. She's panicking. English is too boring and too difficult.

But wait!

Green has the genius idea to get to know Kim Namjoon for the sake of raising her English grade average!

It'll help Hoseok as well, so he's all for it. (Hoseok also wants her to make friends anyway without asking for his permission because really, it's pitiful.)

Green gets a little ecstatic, heart relieved that there's a way to raise her grade. Senior year may have been calling for college and a more solidified sense of the future (which she has positively none of), but she still doesn't want to fail, so Namjoon the English genius can totally help her. Totally.

Long story short, Namjoon is not expecting his crush to approach him after all this time.

//