Swapped

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Joy McCoy

I met Summer when I was in college. We had the same last name "McCoy" so people often thought we were related. There was no relation however a friendship did blossom very quickly between the two of us, although we were night and day. I was raised in a small town in Georgia called Ghent. She was from a not much bigger town in Jefferson North Carolina. I came from a very strong religious background. My mother was that mom that spent more time in church then home. We participated in every group and program there was to offer at First Zion Baptist Church. It was all I knew in truth so I never had an issue with it. Going away to college was my first time being away from home and my church family. I was not the typical teen girl; of course I didn't much realize it until I got to college. The kids did more drinking and participating in sexual activity then they did studying, but not I, Joy McCoy was about her business. I could not let my mother or my church family down. I intended on graduating at the top of my class. I was very lonely though and I tried joining groups that would keep me on track with my goals but I couldn't quite connect with other girls my age. Then I met Summer McCoy. It was early one Tuesday morning I was going to shower when I heard the sound of someone vomiting. I looked over and saw a massive amount of hair attached to a tiny frame holding on to the toilet bowl. She tried lifting her head but another wave hit her and she started puking again. Her hair was soaked in chunks of last night's meal, toilet water and whatever liquid that was left on her stomach. I eased away and found an empty stall to occupy. It was around three in the morning which is when I normally showered to avoid the eyes of the other girls. They didn't bother me in truth I was practically invisible to most of the girls and I had found comfort in that. When I came out the stall I peeked to see if the girl that was vomiting was still there. She was, sprawled out now she had one leg over the bowl while she laid on her back, one arm crossed her chest the other stretched straight out. Somehow she was lying on her other leg. It was bent behind her back. How in the world had she gotten in that position I remember thinking. It smelled awful around her. I tiptoed to the door and as I went to push the door open. I heard her mumble something. "Excuse me?" Id said looking back. She mumbled something louder but I still could not recognize her words and I certainly was not getting close enough to smell her foul breath. "I can't hear you" I found myself yelling down at her as I tiptoed closer looking around to make sure my house shoes did not come in contact with any of her bodily fluids. She tried moving her arm, but as if it weighed a ton she struggled then suddenly she swung her arm so hard her hand hit the tissue holder on the stall and she cried out "Shit"! In pain her body began to jerk uncontrollably as she started to dry heave.

"Are you okay?" I asked stepping back. Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at me with blood shot, red rimmed eyes. She wiggled her middle finger at me to come closer as she inched her body up slowly into a sitting position. I debated getting closer to her as if her drunken stupor was contagious. Very cautiously I eased a little closer. She kept wiggling her finger at me encouraging me to come closer. My face frowned up as I got a whiff of her disgusting bile. "What?" I demanded impatiently. She looked at me then suddenly reached out and grabbed the cross that was around my neck and yanked it. The chain broke and she flung the pendent across the room. My mouth dropped in shock as she pointed at me and said between gritted teeth stumbling across her words she slurred "What would Jesus do holy roller! Not leave a person in need of help on a cold floor drowning in there own....oh!" Suddenly she let out the loudest wettest fart I'd ever heard. The smell burned my eyes. She looked down and we both noticed she had a pool of milky brown poop, dripping down her leg onto the floor. "Shit!" she said dropping back down to the floor. She yelled "Get out you hypocrite!" Then she closed he eyes and continued lying in her "Shit" as she had put it. I was insulted that this heathen had the nerve to attempt to judge me. I went to church every Sunday and the only drinking I partook in was during communion. "Hmph!" was all I could manage as I straightened my body, shoulders back and nose in the air I marched out slamming the door behind me. She could die in that spot for all I cared. My mother had given me that necklace a whole two years ago and she had ruined it. I was fuming as I dropped my towel and dried myself. I threw on an oversized tea-shirt and panties and grabbed my bible off the nightstand. The passage that I came to as I flipped it open slapped me in the face. 1 John 4:7 it read. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. God has a way of showing you things sometimes. He has the funniest sense of humor if you ask me. He knocked me down a few notches very quickly. I sat there even more pissed because I knew what I had to do. I threw on my most raggedy pair of sweats and pulled my hair back in the tightest bun I could get. I found some gloves in the janitor closet along with a trash bag. I punched three whole threw it and slid it over my head making a cover. I said a quick prayer then barged in. I said nothing to her just grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her across the floor toward the shower leaving a line of poop smeared across the floor. I looked down at her. She had not put up any fight. "This is how girls get raped!" I lectured as I poured shampoo in her matted weave. She didn't respond at all until I turned the water on and it hit her hard in the face. She began to flop around on the floor like a fish out of water screaming, waving her arms in the air like she could block the water. "Hey, hey, hey" she yelled "what's the big deal!" she demanded.