The Swap

Chapter 1 Ellie

Its sunny and its summer and the three of us are sitting on the scratchy cement edge of Riverside Swim Club pool, dangling our feet into the deep end. And by the three of us, I mean me (Ellie O'Brien), Sassy Gains ( my former best friend since forever), and Aspen Bishop (who moved here from Los Angeles, California one month ago and apparently has taken my place). If you'd like to picture us, let me tell you this: Sassy and Aspen are side by side, dressed in pop-orange string bikinis with crisscross backs, "matchy-matchy' (as they like to say), long, sleek, and shiny yellow-blond hair framing their faces. They could pass for sisters-perfect features, perfectly straigh teeth, pale-pinky glossy lips glimmering in the sunshine.

In case you are wondering? My dark-red hair is wet and slicked back into a ponytail. I have a little bit of sunblock on my nose. I'm wearing my black, front-zip, short sleeve Roxy Surfer Girl half wetsuit. My mom got it for me. I love it so much.

"So, Ellie?" Sassy flutter kicks her pink toenails, spraying water in the air. "What's going on with that one-piece?" She she giggles. "Is that, like, sporty chic?"

They are both looking at me. "Are you, like, planing on riding some waves in your boy shorts?'

The two of them make the same face and burst out laughing.

I can feel my cheeks getting redder and redder.

"Oh, um, well...," I begin, then stop. I force myself to smile. I feel my heart kind of drop.

Aspen whispers something into Sassy's ear and they both instantly giggle.

"Um, no offense, but-" Sassy stares at me and shakes her head. "We're going into seventh grade! There are some basic rules. Duuuuuhhhhh! Some people seriously need to work on their style."

Aspen chimes in. "Ellie," she begins, pausing to cringe, "not to be rude or anything, but your freckles are, like, seriously out of control! Maybe you should think about using just a little bit of foundation or concealer?"

"Totally!" Sassy agrees. "Buy don't get that cheap cakey kind that clogs your pores! No. Ewww! That would br gross."

Um, Yeah.

Welcome to my life.

More?

Sure----

Sassy: "Um, no offense, but, guys, seriously, wheelie backpacks at the pool is not okay!"

Aspen: "Not to be rude or anything, but why is that girl looking at me? I mean, sorry I'm hotter than you, okay?"

It doesn't feel good to listen, even when its not about you. I am getting the worst feeling inside. I stare ahead across the pool and watch The Prince do a backflip off the diving board. The Prince is with a whole mess of other boys, but he's the only one with completely wild dark, wavy hair and tie-dye-blue eyes. He is definitely the only one with six-pack abs.

The prince (as Sassy calls him) is Jack Malloy, and Jack Malloy is one year older than we are, and Jack Malloy is in eight grade, and Jack Malloy is pretty much the most popular boy at Thatcher Middle School. He is handsome and mysteriously quiet and good at everything, including but not limited to every sport he plays and/or just looking cute and not saying a word. Yeah. He does that very well too.

Fact: Sassy is in love with Jack Malloy. Like, seriously obsessed! And she's not shy about letting everyone know about it. She went all boy crazy at the beginning of the summer. Its kind of annoying and kind of weird. When The Prince is anywhere near us, she starts acting all different and, like, litterally bats her eyelashes and acts suddenly super sweet and super fake. As soon as he's out of hearing range, she goes back to being Queen of Mean. This didn't use to bother me as much, but for some reason, ever since Aspen moved here at the beginning of the summer, the mean stuff Sassy says has started getting meaner. She usually blurts something out, then rolls her eyes and laughs really, really loud. 'We're just joking, Ellie!" She'll say afterwards. "We're just messing around."