The Other Side of Me – Part 11
by Limbo’s Mistress

I discovered rather quickly that cheerleading was exactly like cross-country running. Just like performing complex neurosurgery was exactly like applying a bandage to a paper cut.

Shelly and I departed from the library and made our way across campus, past the throngs of other students heading to classes. Heading toward the currently unused soccer fields on the far side of the university. It was her suggestion, one I completely agreed with, that we practice somewhere we would be likely to be unnoticed.

“Someone might think we’re just goofing off,” she explained. “But it’s better if we do this in secret.”

Along the way, she began teaching me the various gymnastic moves she was going to help me practice, as well as their names.

Round Off. Back Handspring. Toe Touch. High V. Pike.

I tried to commit the moves to memory, but images of me lying on the ground with multiple broken bones kept intruding on the process. I bit down on my lower lip, nodding automatically as she explained what each move was supposed to look like and when it was normally used.

“You’re lucky Charlie is a base,” she said, looking over at me with an amused grin as we descended the slight incline leading down to the manicured grass. “I’m not sure I could teach you how to be a flyer in a couple of hours.”

“Base? Like, I’m going to be on the bottom? Holding another girl up?”

She nodded. “Flyers tend to be lighter and more flexible. Like Josie.”

I thought about the other girl who was supposed to be my friend. Technically, the only contact I’d ever had with her was over the phone. Where she thanked me for having a conversation with her boyfriend. The one that Charlene decided to do the horizontal mambo with. From the pictures on my phone, I already knew the little blonde was very petite.

When we reached the edge of the furthermost soccer field, Shelly unslung her bags and dropped them to her feet.

“I thought all you guys did was a couple of cartwheels, some backflips, and showed a lot of leg,” I said as we cut through the gate and descended the steps toward the deserted field. “I think I owe the girls back home a huge apology.”

Shelly laughed. “Have you never watched the cheerleaders at a game? Not like an NFL or NBA game. Those ladies are less about gymnastics and more about choreographed dance.”

I shook my head. “I really wasn’t into sports. The only reason why I chose to join the track team was because I never thought of it as an actual sport. I mean, yeah, I competed against other runners, but there was never that team dynamic.”

“What about just watching other sports?” she asked.

I shrugged. “Football, baseball, and basketball never appealed to me. If I attended any games in high school, it was just to hang out with friends. Never watched the game itself.”

Shelly arched a curious brow at me. “Never paid any attention to the cheerleaders when you were there?”

I shook my head. “Nope.”

“You’re not, uh, gay are you?”

I blinked, staring at her. “No, I’m not. I mean, I don’t have anything against same-sex relationships. I just happen to be completely hetero.”

She nodded, but her look seemed to convey her doubts.

I started to think about the guy I’d run into on my way to class yesterday. The way my heartbeat had sped up a little around him. Then I grabbed that memory and the feelings associated with it, balled them up, then shoved them into a deep dark corner of my mind.

“I just didn’t care for the cheerleaders at my high school,” I said, sounding far angrier than I should have. “They were all stuck up bitches who thought the sun rose and set on their short-skirted asses.”

Shelly took a step back, her grin fading as her hands rose in a defensive pose.

“Whoa! Cowgirl!” she said, waving her hands. “I was just trying to learn more about what the guy in my friend’s head knew about cheering. Forget I brought up anything else.”

I turned my face away from her, mentally kicking myself over and over. Why had I just jumped down her throat? It wasn’t like she had gone on some sort of tirade about my sexual orientation. She’d merely asked an innocent enough question. Jesus, Chuck, get your head in the game. Otherwise, you might as well go home and hide until Jackson fixes the machine.

I sighed and turned back around. She was typing on her phone, thumbs flying over the digital keyboard. I waited until she paused to clear my throat.

“I’m sorry,” I said, putting as much apology into the words as I could. “I’m just really nervous about this. I mean, passing Charlene’s classes isn’t worrying me. I can always study harder and make up for the stuff I don’t already know. The social contacts are a bit harder, but still manageable with a little help.” I pointed at the field. “But I don’t want Charlene to return to her body and find it in the hospital … or a cast … because of me.”

She lowered the phone, studied me for a moment, then walked over and wrapped me in her arms.

“I’m sorry if it seems like I was prying. I just never met a guy who was straight who didn’t pay as much attention as possible to his school’s cheerleaders.”

She might have said a few other things, but the sudden pulse of my heartbeat in my ears drowned out everything else. A light sweat formed on my forehead and somewhere lower down. It took me a couple of seconds to recognize the familiarity of the sensations and their source.

Being pressed up against the pretty girl holding me was turning me on.

I put my arms around her, gave her a quick, sisterly squeeze, then pulled away. I could feel the heat from my arousal in my face, and hoped Shelly would just think I was embarrassed about my outburst.

She smiled. “Well, Chuck, now you’re going to see what cheerleading is all about, up close and personal.”

“I’m ready,” I replied. I didn’t tell her that up close and personal was making me feel things I probably shouldn’t. I decided to focus on not killing myself and save my confusing feelings for a more appropriate time.

Shelly turned out to be a surprisingly good teacher. She would tell me what she was going to do, explain the logistical basics, then demonstrate. I watched her perform a couple of times in a row, concentrating on how her arms and legs moved for each motion.

“Keep your core tight,” she said, reaching out to pat the firm muscles of Charlene’s belly.

Her touch threatened to break my focus. It took a few seconds for me to stop the subconscious appreciation of my friend’s body. A tiny voice in the back of my head whispered that I would be stupid to not look up my universe’s Michelle and see if there was that same type of spark.

I nodded, walking away to stand a few yards from her. I closed my eyes and pictured the way Shelly had just thrown herself backwards into a handspring that looked like something magical. Something I would normally consider impossible for me to duplicate.

Charles would break his neck. But Charlene …

I thought about the fact that Jackson, Katie, and Shelly had mentioned the way I’d so easily adopted my duplicate’s manner of walking, talking, and standing. Parts of her … personality … her essence … becoming a part of me. Those aspects kept providing me with Charlene’s motor skills, but not all of them were fully automatic.

When I’d picked up the makeup brush that morning, in preparation to navigate the stormy waters of the cosmetics case, I relied on Charles’ memories of Katie’s technique to keep myself from looking like a gigantic clown disaster. However, just holding the brush in my hand had felt completely natural. As if I’d been doing it forever. I might not be blessed with the knowledge of how to best use it, but I could certainly learn.

I just had to apply that same technique to cheerleading.

As if reading my mind, Shelly flashed me an encouraging smile.

“You can do this,” she said. “Charlene is one of the best performers on the squad. Which means that you are too. Just believe it.”

“Keep your phone handy to call an ambulance,” I said, making sure to sound more jovial than worried.

“Start off easy,” she said. “A single back handspring.” Then she followed the suggestion with a double pair of upwardly-turned thumbs.

“Easy, right.”

I rubbed my hands together, imaging the way I would copy what she’d showed me. Just leap into the air, kick my feet forward as I bent backwards, plant my hands, and finish the rotation. Easy as calculus.

“Today, Charles.”

I shot her an annoyed glance. Then I swung my arms back and forth once, twice, and on the third go … jumped.

Honestly, I half expected to land on my head and spend the rest of my days in this universe in a wheelchair. What did occur, instead, was a shaky backflip, my hands on the soft grass, and a return to my feet. I was actually so surprised that I’d pulled it off that I didn’t think to stop my momentum and finished the handspring on my denim-covered ass.

Shelly started clapping. “Awesome! I knew you could do it!”

“That wasn’t awesome,” I said, climbing back to my feet. My exhilaration at actually doing the move was clouded by my irritation that it wasn’t perfect. “I don’t recall you busting your butt at the end.”

Her grin fell some as she marched from her spot to stand in front of me.

“So, Charles. As a guy, have you ever tried to do a back handspring?”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “No.”

Have you ever, as a guy, done a backflip?”

“No.”

“But, as Charlene, you just did. Maybe not as well as she can, but you did it. Which means all you need is a little practice.” She reached over and poked me in the shoulder. “Now, again. This time, stop rotating when you’re back on your feet.”

“Ha-ha,” I said, unable to not grin as my annoyance faded.

Amazingly, the next time I managed to stay on my feet. Ten minutes later, I was doing the move as if I’d been cheering for years. My elation was short lived, though, because Shelly took my rapid acclimation as an excuse to move me into more complicated maneuvers. I opened my mouth to complain only once, quickly shutting it without protest when she held up a single finger in warning.

I momentarily wondered what it would be like to kiss the tip of that digit as well, causing me to flub the first round-off attempt. However, once I managed to shove my strangely elevated libido aside, the routine seemed to simply flow from somewhere inside me. By the time I was putting multiple moves together in one, mostly flawless, motion, I knew I had a gigantic smile on my face.

I was learning to be Charlie the Cheerleader. And I was enjoying it.

The instant that occurred to me, I froze. Since I was just coming to the end of a round-off to a back handspring to a toe touch at the time, I didn’t stick the landing. My feet came down unevenly and I let out a loud yelp as my ankle threatened to collapse beneath me. Luckily, Shelly was there to catch me before I fell over.

“Easy!” She said as she held onto me. “I think that’s probably enough for now.”

I shook my head. I didn’t want to stop. The reasons why were beyond my conscious awareness, but I knew that they weren’t all due to the connection Charlene and I shared. I’d actually been having fun, despite the occasional flash of fear. I wondered if it was the same feeling skydivers felt? I’d heard stories that once they’d completed their first jump, the desire to go again and again was nearly addictive.

“Charlie,” Shelly said, fixing me with a stern look. “We’ve been doing this for almost an hour. I think we’ve covered enough that you can fake your way through practice today. I promise we’ll work on more this weekend.”

“I was …” I couldn’t voice my joy. Or explain why I was so jazzed about practicing. Not without sounding like being in the wrong body was making me crazy.

And I really didn’t want Shelly to think I was crazy.

“I know,” she said, perhaps a little too condescendingly. “But Jo-Jo’s been blowing up my phone for the past ten minutes about meeting us for lunch. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”

In response, we both heard my belly rumble. I put my hands over my grumbling midsection, looked from it to Shelly, then started laughing. She joined in and shook her head.

“Come on,” she said, tugging on my sleeve. “Let’s go before she sends out a search posse.”

I gathered my things while Shelly shot Josie a text telling her we were on our way. When I slung my bags onto my shoulder and turned around, Shelly was bent over picking up her own backpack. My heart skipped a quick beat as I admired her nicely rounded bottom. Fortunately, I recovered my wits and looked away before she noticed.

As we walked to the cafeteria, I asked Shelly about her friendship with Charlene. Particularly, what she liked best about the girl whose life I had assumed.

“I would have said that she’s so honest and trustworthy,” she replied, looking a little down. “Until yesterday, I would have probably slapped anyone who said she was otherwise.”

I frowned. “Until you found out about her and Danny?”

She nodded. “I mean, she’d been acting a little strange even before you two swapped places. She was spending more time with Rachel, always talking about how awesome it was going to be for a cheerleader to be a Kappa. Cheerleader. Singular.”

I gave her a confused look. “Aren’t KO’s a social sorority?” I asked. “You would think it would be mostly composed of cheerleaders.”

She gave me an annoyed look. “Kappas are very selective about their pledges. It’s not enough to be pretty, or even socially charming. Members are expected to adhere to a certain … ideal. Most of the cheerleaders at this school are serious about their sport. Everything else is just something to pass the time.”

“Then why is Charlene so determined to be a member? Why did you rush them?”

She didn’t answer immediately. It was actually a good minute or two before she stopped and looked at me. “Speaking for myself, I rushed Kappa because Charlie asked me to. She was nervous about pledging by herself.”

“Charlie was scared of something? That’s new.”

She shook her head. “Not really. She puts up a brave face for everyone. But if you’re around her long enough, you can see past it. Little cracks in that facade. She was sure they would tell her not to bother, so she wanted a wing-girl.”

I laughed. “A wing-girl? Do you help with her hook-ups? Danny Morris not included.”

“She doesn’t need any help in that department.” She shook her head. “I honestly don’t know how she does it, Chuck. Like, we’ll be going to a rager and she’s all wigging out. Is her hair okay? Is her shirt too tight? Maybe we should just stay home.”

“Then?”

“Then we walk in the door and it’s like someone flipped a switch. She starts chatting and hanging and flirting. Before I even know it, she’s dancing with some guy, or telling a funny story to a bunch of drunks, and everyone loves her.” She shrugged. “I think that’s why Rachel immediately okayed her pledge. She’d seen Charlie in action and decided she would make a great Kappa.”

“What about you?”

“I was allowed because of Charlie. Rachel Bostwick is a spoiled princess bitch, but she’s not an idiot. She was more than aware that Charlie wouldn’t rush if I couldn’t.”

“So you don’t want to be a Kappa?”

“I wasn’t sure, really. Until this morning.”

“What happened this morning?”

“I realized that Charlene has issues, deeper than I realized. You’re not going to be in there forever, so it’s up to me to keep an eye on her until she can get her head screwed on right. If I left her completely to Rachel’s machinations, the girl I’ve come to love … like a sister … would be gone.”

I opened my mouth to tell her that I doubted it was quite that dire when I heard someone yell our names.

“Charlie! Shells!”

I turned away from Shelly and saw Josie sitting at a table in the courtyard outside the cafeteria building. She waved her arm around wildly in her attempt to get our attention, making me wonder if she was imitating a helicopter.

Returning the wave, Shelly turned to me. “Go on over and have a seat. I’ll zip through the line and grab us some lunch.”

I nodded and started to walk away, then looked back over my shoulder at her.

“Shouldn’t you ask what I want for lunch.”

The smirk on her face would have been visible from orbit. “I’m sure whatever I get will be delicious. Remember, I know what Charlie likes.”

I wasn’t sure how to take that, though it was probably not as I imagined. With a little shooing motion, she waved me in Josie’s direction while she sauntered away and vanished inside the cafeteria’s doors. I sighed softly as she disappeared, but turned back around and went to the table where Josie sat.

The lithe blonde jumped up and gave me a gigantic hug. Until that moment, I hadn’t known just how petite she was. Charlene wasn’t tall for a girl, probably around five-six. Josie, on the other hand, was tiny. As she pressed herself against me, I realized that the top of her honey golden head only came to around my chin, and if she weighed more than a hundred pounds, I would be stunned.

However, there was no mistaking the powerful muscles coiled within that little frame. The girl might have had the stature and appearance of a younger girl, but the strength of an Olympic athlete.

“Hey, Jo-Jo,” I said with a laugh, hoping that the nickname Shelly had used was one that was common between the three friends. “You can let go now. Sheesh, you act like you haven’t seen me in a week.”

She reluctantly released me before sitting back down in her chair. I took the one opposite her and set my things down at my feet. My euphoria at discovering that I could actually do real gymnastics still left my brain in a sort of glowy fuzz. I nodded at her plate.

“Chicken sandwiches again?” I asked, recognizing the ridiculously thin slice of meat surrounded by the too-large bun. The meal was a regular of the cafeteria back in my universe as well.

Josie nodded with a laugh. “Yeah. It was either this, meatloaf, or that vegetarian lasagna that makes us all super gassy. I’m sure that no one wants a repeat of last time, right?”

I nodded, wondering with a morbid sense of curiosity what happened ‘last time’. From the smirk on her face and the amused tone in her voice, I could only assume it was something hilarious. It was like being on the outside of a joke. Only problem was, most everyone thought I was on the inside of it with them.

“Thanks again,” the little blonde said, peeling a chunk of bread off the top of her bun. “You’re the best friend a girl could have.”

Not really, Jo-Jo. The girl of whom you are singing praises is quite the relationship wrecker.

I pulled out my phone and scrolled through the messages. There was a new one from Katie, reminding me that she was going to show up at practice so we could go to the mall afterward. Shit, I’d completely forgotten about that. Between having Shelly nearly claw my eyes out and learning how to do tumbles and splits, I’d conveniently let it slip from my thoughts.

I texted her back and said that I would see her then but to not get any crazy ideas about making me pay for someone else’s deeds.

Josie began talking about some girl in her class that morning who wouldn’t stop making snide comments about the lecture to her seatmate every five seconds. It had gotten to the point where she was about ready to turn around and tell her to take her negativity outside. Fortunately, the ‘snitty bitch’ was a little louder than she planned and the teacher heard her.

“I thought Professor Jackson was going to blow a gasket. She told the girl to remain after class for a discussion in proper lecture hall decorum.”

I nodded, putting a smile on my face. I wasn’t sure the point Josie was attempting to make by telling me the story. However, she seemed to think it was funny, so I played along. Luckily, any further attempts to pass the time ended when Shelly plopped a tray down next to me and her butt in the chair between me and Josie.

“I swear, I am going to burn my meal card and tell my parents to start sending me cash. If I keep having to choose between a trio of inedible choices, I think I’m going to develop an eating disorder on purpose.”

The tray held two chicken sandwiches similar to that on Josie’s plate, a double portion of what may or may not have been pasta salad, and a bunch of grapes. Shelly slid one of the plates in my direction, helping herself to a couple of my share of the grapes.

I shook my head and stared at the sandwich. I really would have preferred the meatloaf. As Charles, I had thought it not all that different than what mom made sometimes. However, it seemed that Charlene either had an alternate opinion. Either that, or Shelly had simply gone with the least dangerous choice since she didn’t know what I might like.

“Thanks,” I said, trying to sound like I meant it.

We sat and ate our lunches. I let the two of them control the conversation, nodding silently when I thought it appropriate and limiting myself to single phrase responses other times. It was fortunate that Shelly knew my secret, which allowed to make sure I didn’t have to field any answers I couldn’t possibly know.

Just as the meal was ending, I saw Shelly stiffen out of the corner of my eye. At the same time Josie’s face lit up like a sunrise and she waved her arm at someone approaching from behind me.

“Hey, Baby,” she said.

I turned in my chair and found myself looking up at Danny Morris. His eyes flickered down to my own for only a moment as he continued past me to Josie. He slipped his arms around her waist and proceeded to kiss the happy blonde for several long seconds. With tongue.

I was sure I was going to puke.

After a nauseating eternity, the couple finally came up for air, and Danny plopped down in the empty chair, running his hand through his hair.

“How are you three lovely ladies doing today?” His eyes drifted over to Shelly for a half a second before sweeping over to me. His look only lasted a few moments longer, but the threat in them was unmistakable.

I could take him down, but I would go down with him. And considering the video he’d shared the night before; Charlene’s reputation would take the most damage.

Then his mouth turned up into a slight smirk as he turned back to Josie.

“I’m going to miss you tonight,” he said, sounding morose. “But I promise that Saturday, I am all yours. Day and night.”

Josie giggled and leaned over to kiss him again.

“That’s okay,” she said. “I know you have unbreakable obligations.”

He nodded, still grinning like the cat that ate a whole pet shop of canaries. “Can’t be helped, beautiful. The frat speaks and the brothers have to obey.”

I was totally unable to not snort a little at his words. My reward was a not completely painless kick beneath the table by Shelly.

“Well,” Josie said, a playful pout on her pretty face. “I guess it’s okay. Normally I would be worried about you being without me around all those other girls, but I’m sure Shells and Charlie will keep the harpies away.”

“From where?” I asked, not liking the direction this conversation was going.

Shelly kicked me again. “Don’t worry, Jo-Jo,” she said. “Charlie and I will make sure that all of the other Kappas stay away from him tonight. We won’t let him out of our sight.”

Wait. Danny was going to the mixer? His was the frat Kappa Omega were socializing with?

Danny smiled, turning his eyes directly onto me. “I think you don’t have anything to worry about, babe. Charlie will make sure I stay out of trouble.”

Was he … calling me out? Did he think I would stand up and denounce him for the scumbag he was? Tell Josie what he and Ms. Miller were doing the previous evening? What they had been doing for some time now? Or was he merely stabbing at me, testing the waters to see if I was going rise to the bait. Instead, I did neither. I merely leaned back in my seat, crossed my arms over my chest and shrugged.

“I’m sure Shells and I can find a closet to stick you in. Lock the door and leave you until time to go home.”

I flashed him a big, jolly smile. Josie laughed. Shelly pretended to laugh.

Danny did not laugh. His eyes narrowed at me for a moment before he stood up.

“Well, I have to get to class.” He leaned in and gave Josie another of those porn-worthy kisses. Then he sauntered off without as much as a goodbye to me.

Was it something I said?

Lunchtime was over and it wasn’t until we were walking toward the McLaughlin Science Building that I noticed Josie tagging along with us. At first, I couldn’t understand why she hadn’t gone off in another direction. Then realized what it meant, so I got Shelly’s attention, nodded my head at the other girl and mouthed ‘we all have class?’

She nodded with a shrug while giving me a look that said any discussion about what was on both of our minds would have to wait until later. No way could we talk about Danny, and his blackmailing ass, freely as long as his love-struck girlfriend was around.

Biology actually turned out to be pretty interesting. The Professor was a small woman, who looked to be between the ages of fifty and ninety. If not for the way in which she nimbly moved around the front of the lecture hall, and the pace of her sentences, I would have definitely assumed the latter. Josie and Shelly didn’t seem quite as taken with the class as myself, but at least I could focus on something other than what I was going to do about Danny.

It was clear to me that he intended to talk to me that evening. He probably planned to find a way to get me alone somewhere to see if I was any saner than the last time we were together. If so, he would learn I was still bat-shit crazy. At least, that was what I intended for him to discover.

One day, one that was hopefully sooner rather than later, Charlene would be back, and I wanted to make damned sure that Danny gave her the widest possible berth for the rest of their lives.

After class, the three of us walked toward the athletic building. I originally thought there would be time for Shelly to give me all the little details about the rest of the squad. Granted, I at least knew all their names from going through Charlene’s phone and social media accounts. However, that wasn’t quite enough information to pretend to have known them for months. I just kept my fingers crossed that no one asked me a question I couldn’t answer.

When we entered the locker room, Josie was in the middle of regaling Shelly and me with a story about something that happened to her mother at her job the other evening. To be honest, I really couldn’t follow the plot due to not having the proper frame of reference. I’m sure Charlene would have understood her ceaseless rambling better.

However, I was trying to be a good friend. Which meant my attention focused more on the on the blonde-haired girl than my surroundings. It was when one of the other cheerleaders, a girl named Cindy Broomhill, passed between us that my awareness snapped from Josie’s tale to the myriad of undressed and half-dressed female forms around me.

Yeah, so I’d already seen and touched a naked girl multiple times over the course of my life. None more so intimately as that of my inter-dimensional duplicate. I’d also seen Katie be-bopping around in her underwear. However, to be honest, that was about as risqué as a bathing suit.

She was also my kid sister and underage, so her being nearly disrobed hadn’t affected me in the slightest.

The girls around me in the locker room, on the other hand, were over the legal age, not related to me, and practically on display as they changed out of street clothes into skin-tight athletic apparel.

Just as I felt my eyes start to widen and my jaw come unhinged, the painful grip of a strong hand wrapping itself around my bicep yanked my brain out of American Male Heaven and back to the here and now. I turned my head to see Shelly’s eyes boring into mine, filled with a look of anger and disgust.

Josie had stopped talking to dig around in her bag for her clothes, so she missed the little exchange that took place between her two friends.

“What are you doing?” Shelly mouthed, nodding her head in the direction of Monica Jacobs. The mocha-skinned girl was completely bare from the waist up.

I shook my head, snapping out of my hormonal haze. Mentally, I slapped myself for my response to all the exposed flesh. Physically, I worried that Shelly was going to do it for me.

“Sorry,” I mouthed back, feeling my cheeks turn a burning crimson. “I just ….” I shrugged.

Just … what? Just couldn’t help it? Was just being your typical horny guy?

Only, I wasn’t. While I prided myself on my ability to appreciate and pleasure the female form, I had never been the kind of person who scrolled the internet for nudes or porn. And I certainly was not the kind of girl-crazy male that would try to sneak a peek into the girls’ locker room.

Something was seriously crossing my wires. The only thing I could think to blame was the quantum entanglement I had with Charlene. Maybe subconsciously, she was the kind of girl who liked looking at other girls’ naked bodies.

Shelly released my arm before anyone noticed and resumed changing her own clothing. I did likewise, though I made sure my gaze never wandered away from the bank of painted metal cages directly in front of me.

I followed the two of them out a second door that led from the locker room down a corridor where another set of doors opened to the outside. The sports complex was a large, rectangular building, the center of which was an open area with a quarter-mile long running track surrounding a lush field of artificial grass. On one side of the oblong green oval was a practice pit for long-jump training and a large, square slab of concrete where the pole-vault bag would normally sit.

The other side, the one closest to the doors we’d used, was empty. A couple of the girls in that area chatted and laughed as they stretched their muscles in preparation of what they were about to do. I followed Shelly and Josie to the rest of the squad. Along the way, I looked at the face of each of the girls, mentally reciting their names and associated monikers under my breath.

“Rachel is Rach, Monica is Moni, Kimberly is Kimmi, Carolyn is Carrie, Jennifer is Jenny, Samantha is Sammy, Lucinda is Luci, Susan is Suzi, and Erin is … Erin.”

Throwing Charlie, Jo-Jo, and Shelly into the mix only made my long-standing opinion that cheerleaders were a bunch of bubbleheads who christened each other with cutesy nicknames to sound even more cliché.

“Hey, Charlie,” Kimberly said as the three of us walked over. “Missed a totally awesome party the other night. Doug Ramsey did a three-minute long keg stand.”

I put on a smile and shrugged my shoulders. “You know how it is, Kimmi, sometimes family responsibilities get in the way of fun.”

The brunette nodded emphatically. “Don’t I know it.”

A whistle cut through the soft din of our conversations, and we all turned in unison to see an older woman, still in great shape despite pushing fortyish, stride across the fake grass to stop before us. A pair of dark-tinted glasses hid her eyes from view, but I intuitively knew the moment her sweeping gaze fell onto me.

“Miller,” she said in a gruff tone that belied her petite stature. “Nice to see you managed to find your way here today.”

I swallowed and felt eleven other pairs of eyes turn in my direction.

“I’m sorry, Coach,” I said, my voice cracking slightly as a wave of embarrassment washed over me. “It won’t …h-h-happen again.” My vision blurred a little as tears sprang up from somewhere and hovered around the edge of my lower eyelids.

What in the hell? It wasn’t as if Coach was dressing me down. I’d had sterner lectures from my track and field coach back home.

I turned my head and used the tops of my fingers to blot at the tears, sniffling once or twice. When I turned back, my vision was much clearer and the rest of the squad was looking everywhere but at me, making my face warm up again.

“Okay, let’s start off with some simple moves. Warm up those muscles!”

The first ten minutes or so was spent doing calisthenics that weren’t all that different than Katie and I had done the other morning. After that, we worked on step and arm movements and a few basic tricks. My fear from earlier that I would have to hold up one of the other girls and wouldn’t be able to succeed disappeared.

I let my body just move mostly on its own, and bent my leg so that Kimmi could use my quad as a steppingstone. Then I grabbed her left foot, Erin grabbed her right, and together we hoisted her into the air and kept her aloft while she raised both arms in a victory pose. Then the two of us on the ground locked eyes, nodded as one, and threw the tiny girl upward. She twisted in the air, bringing her arms in to increase her spin.

Erin and I both took a step back and locked hands a second before Kimmi came down into our cradling arms.

My heart pounded with excitement, and a small part of me wished Charlene were a smaller girl. The way Kimmi’s face had lit up as she was flying in the air seemed like she was having the time of her life.

As was I.

I’d awoken that morning worried about being able to convincingly pull off cheer practice. Turns out, I … or rather Charlene … really was a talented gymnast. Before I knew it, the two hours were over, and we all sucked greedily from water bottles while mopping our necks and brows with towels. Sammi made a reference to something that happened the prior week, and everyone laughed. Even me, though I didn’t have a clue. When I turned around, I spotted Katie sitting on the ground near the doors to the locker room, texting on her phone.

“Let me guess,” Josie said, bumping me with her hip as she nodded her head toward my sister. “Someone’s dragging you to the mall?”

I nodded as I swallowed a mouthful of cold water. “She claims to need a dress for the Winter formal. I think she just wants to spend Dad’s money.”

Josie laughed. “You’re probably right. Though, she’s also smart enough to know who to get to help with fashion advice.”

“Who me?”

Shelly walked over, seeming to catch the last snippets of conversation. She gave me a slightly knowing look, then rolled her eyes dramatically as she looked at Josie.

“Since when is Charlie modest about her sense of style? If not for her, we’d all probably dress like peasants.”

Josie snickered, choking on her own swallow. Shelly pounded her lightly on the back and flashed me a smarmy smile that made my heart skip a beat.

I bit down on my lip and sighed. “Might as well get this over with. See you later.”

As I started to walk off, Shelly called after me. “I’ll be by to pick you up for the party.”

My hand raised in a wave of acknowledgement as I strolled over to my stuff and slung it all on my shoulders. A couple of the girls said goodbye, though most were too busy with their own packing up to engage in any real conversation.

I walked over to where Katie was standing and held my backpack out to her.

“What?” she asked, looking at it as if I were handing her a live snake.

“If you want a ride to the mall, you’re going to have to help carry my stuff. In case you didn’t notice, I just had an extreme workout.”

She sniffed sarcastically, but took the bag, putting it on her shoulder.

“That was actually a pretty light session. Compared to the drills you … Charlie … has to do during sports season.”

I sighed, my twitching muscles protesting at the thought of harder practices. “Let’s hope your sister is back by then. Or at least finds a way to swap back right before and right after every practice.”

She cut her eyes over at me, a strange expression on her face.

“What?” I asked, stopping to look at her.

“Nothing,” she replied, beginning to walk again.

“Katie, tell me. There was a … look. What did I say?”

She shrugged. “I’m sure it was just a slip, Chuck.”

“A slip? What slip?”

She didn’t answer immediately. When we were halfway to the parking lot, she finally turned to glance at me.

“You said that you hoped Charlene was back before cheer season restarted.”

I nodded. “Yeah, and?”

“If that doesn’t happen, then you said you would be okay with her taking back her body just for practices.”

I nodded again. “Still missing the ….”

“So you sounded … uh … okay with being Charlene the rest of the time.”

My feet stopped in mid-stride, as if I’d been hit by Jackson’s time displacement gun. A cold sweat broke out on my brow and a wave of uneasiness bounced around in my belly.

Katie was right. At that moment, still full of the thrill and endorphins from the practice, I’d made a statement that could have easily been dismissed as a slip of the tongue. Only, it hadn’t sounded like an accident to Katie. Hadn’t come across as just a throwaway comment said in jest.

Because … when I’d said it … I’d meant every word.