Why did I know that? Don't panic. I had to figure this out. I had never been the same person twice and certainly not two days in a row.

My mind darted to her locker code. 14,22,7. I didn't just remember it from yesterday, I remembered it from the start of the school year.

My mind darted from one memory to another before being pulled to focus on the heavy footsteps rapidly approaching my door. A moment later, the door opened with her father peaking through. He looked worried for a moment but his expression slowly dissipated into a neutral one.

"Sorry dad, just a nightmare" I said apologetically. He grumbled.

"Get ready for school" he told me simply before closing the door behind him.

Peter Hill was a Caster for some local news channel. One of those channels that uploaded clips to social media for some extra engagement. That must be how I knew him.

Peter Hill was also cheating on his wife. Or atleast he had been four months ago. Laura had overheard him talking to his mistress.

Laura never told her mother, or anyone else for that matter. She didn't want to tear her family apart. As more of her memories flowed in bombarding me with one emotion after another, I started to realise that she was having a really hard time.

Could that be why? Did she not want to come back? Was that even possible? Was something else keeping me here?

Over the 2 months that this had been happening, I'd really tried to figure out why it was happening. Nothing made sense. Was it God trying to teach me a lesson? Did all dead people experience this?

I can't say I particularly enjoyed jumping from one life to another but I certainly preferred that to being trapped as Laura Hill.

I had to find a way out. If she intact didn't want to come back, I had to make her want to. 6:30am. That gave me about 15 hours to figure out how. In the meantime, I figured I had no choice but to live her life and try not to damage it any further.

=^..^=

I pondered about all her problems while talking a shower. Partly because I needed to figure things out but also to keep my mind off her body.

I didn't feel this way about any of my other hosts. Their bodies felt like mine. In fact, I even rubbed one out a few times. But this, felt wrong. It didn't feel like my body. I felt like an alien in it.

It wasn't nearly as bad with clothes on but whenever I could actually see it, her skin, curves and breasts, it felt particularly bad in those moments. I wanted to be a man again.

I quickly got out of the shower and got dressed. The panties were relatively easy to put on. They were comfortable and made me feel really good if I was being honest.

The bra was more difficult but necessary after the encounter with Gino yesterday. The thought of walking around with everyone seeing my.. her nipples made me physically ill. After fumbling with the soft fabric for a while, I decided to just clasp it then step into it. That worked well enough.

I had briefly considered a skirt which surprised me but thankfully sense prevailed and I settled on jeans and a top. When I was satisfied with my look, I made my way downstairs but only after remembering to stuff my PE clothes in my bag.

=^..^=

The whole family was already sitting at the table when I arrived. I greeted mum and dad then made a face at Lucas.

"Hi honey, how are you feeling?" Mum asked cheerfully.

I smiled, "Better, thank you". Did she know she was getting cheated on? Probably not. I watched her interaction with my father. The hand touching and the genuine smiles. You could almost see her eyes sparkle when she spoke to him.

She had no fucking clue.

"Sorry I couldn't make your game yesterday buddy. Between work at the office and your sister's problems at school, we just couldn't make it". Dad said to Lucas.

"Yeah dad" he mumbled with obvious disappointment in his voice.

'Hey don't put this on me' is what I wanted to say but I thought better of it.

"Yeah sorry Luke" I reached across the table and touched his hand. She calls him Luke. They have an okay relationship when he's not throwing jab comments at her.

"I'm working late again today but how about we go out tomorrow as a family" Dad suggested. Mum and Lucas both perked up.

"That's a great idea" Mum added. Luke followed and it seemed it was my turn to approve which I did but fully planning to be gone by then.

=^..^=

"What do you think about joining me for a mother daughter outing after school today?" Mum asked.

"I have plans" I replied.

Mum seemed hurt but quickly recovered. "Is it Murphy?" She asked with a smile.

"Mum" I said embarrassed. My eyes glanced to Dad who seemed to be trying to ignore the conversation. "Invite him over, we haven't seen him in a while".

"Okay" I needed this conversation to be over. If I had to endure more of these mornings, I probably would go crazy.

=^..^=

I stepped into the bus and scanned for Murphy. I found him quickly in our usual seat. I smiled then made my way to the empty seat beside him.

"Hiya" I said. I was happy to see him.

"Hey" he was upset with me.

"I'm sorry about yesterday" I told him. Most of my good memories, well her good memories had him in it and looking at him now made me smile.

I playfully nudged him. "Don't be mad at me"

"I called you after school yesterday. You didn't answer. Figured you just didn't want to talk to me"

"That's not true" I exclaimed surprising myself "I just fell asleep. I was really tired".

Murphy turned to look out the window.

"I thought we told each other everything. Lately it feels like I don't know what's going on with you"

I didn't respond. I wanted to comfort him but I didn't know how.

"Whats going on with you and Gino?"

Laura had met a guy online. They flirted back and forth for a while and eventually agreed to meet. Shady motel, older guy, all of it a recipe for disaster. Laura in her vulnerable state drank his Kool aid thinking they were meant to be together.

They had sex, he recorded it and shared it on a porn site. Gino though just happened upon it while exploring those sites, atleast that's what Laura thought and made the most sense. Gino had the brilliant idea to use it to get what he's always wanted. Her.

"Nothing" I replied.

"Don't." He looked so done. I couldn't blame him. I had to tell him something. The truth? I was worried about how he'd see me if I did. See her.

If I did tell him the truth, he might help, or it could destroy their relationship. I could also lie or even tell him some version of the truth.

'Gino had a nude video of me and was threatening to share it' I mused.

It was technically true and it would reduce the blow to Murphy but if the actual truth ever came out, it would probably destroy their relationship. And it's not like Laura would know what I'd told him so she wouldn't be able to countinue the lie or half truth anyway.

In the moment, it felt like the right decision to tell him and it's strange but I felt like Laura wanted me to. And so I did. I showed him the video.

The noise of the school bus faded away and for those few seconds, all I could hear was the sound of my own heartbeat.

My eyes stayed glued to the white sneakers I had thrown on earlier. The hissing of the bus' breaks pulled me out of my trance.

Valerie. I watched her out of the corner of my eyes as she made her way to the empty seat I had initially sat in yesterday.

"Gino has this?" Murphy's voice snapped me to attention.

I nodded.

"Who is this?

"Some guy"

"Does he go to our school?"

I shook my head.

"How old is he?"

Fuck why did I feel like this? I didn't even do anything. I searched Murphy's face for any sign of emotion. Nothing discernable.

"I don't know"

"Laura, come on, what do you mean you don't know" He looked fed up but there was obvious care there "you're fucking pedos" he said incredulously but in a shushed voice.

"I didn't know" I told him half pleading.

"Hold on" He said looking around the bus, "we'll talk about this when we get off" .

And so that was that. The worst was over.

=^..^=

We found a quiet perch away from all the students and I told him everything. I told him how I was talking to some guy who told me he was 17 and everything that followed.

"Laura we have to tell your parents. The cops even"

"No!" I exclaimed "Nobody can find out" I stressed. I took his hand. They were warm. "Promise me you won't tell anyone".

He didn't try to hide his reluctance but eventually he agreed. "What are you going to do?"

"I have a plan"

"About Gino?" He asked finally.

"I have a plan about that too".

I did have a plan. Sometime between the enlightening shower, breakfast and the bus ride, I had figured out exactly what I wanted to do about all of it. However I would need some help from my old life.

=^..^=

Eddie Russo had contacts that 16 year old Laura Hill didn't. One of them was an insane conspiracy theorist that went by the moniker "Net Knight". Those of us part of a close knit circle of friends referred to him by his less impressive actual name, Willie.

Willie was a purveyor of information through less than legal means and thankfully, I remembered his Signal ID. When you're that paranoid, only the most secure messaging platforms are worth your time.

As I sat down for the first class of the day, I downloaded the app, created a new account and sent him the first message.

"Eddie Russo told me I could contact you if I needed help" SEND.

I didn't know when he'd respond or if at all but i had no choice. I put the phone down and prepared for my second day of school.

Sometime during Math, my phone buzzed.

"EDDIE RUSSO IS DEAD"

"I know" I typed. "A while ago, he told me you owed him. Something about the Beluga incident"

Of course I considered telling him the truth about me but decided I didn't want to spook him. This was a safer path.

In truth, the 'Beluga Incident' wasn't as intense as it maybe sounded. It wasn't even impressive when I thought about it. It was mean and cruel.

You see Willie and I went to college together. One fine evening at the club, Willie spotted an absolute babe. Easy 10. Only problem was she had a friend. Let's just say there was a lot larger than life. I had the unfortunate job of 'distracting' her all evening. Thus the name of the incident.

Mean and cruel.

"WHAT WAS EDDIE DOING TALKING TO A 16 YEAR OLD GIRL ACROSS THE COUNTRY ANYWAY?"

He was good. That message came almost immediately. I had his attention.

"It's not like that. Are you going to help me or not?"

"ONE TIME THING. WHAT DO YOU NEED?"

"I need dirt on this number" I sent him the number associated with the telegram account.

Nothing. I turned my attention to the class where a middle aged African American woman droned on about Algebra.

Eddie had no idea about all this stuff. Maybe he did once but not anymore. Laura though easily made sense of everything on the whiteboard. After all, she remembered last week's math class and all math classes before this one.

My heart skipped a beat when my phone vibrated again.

"BURNER. LAST USE PINGED A CELL TOWER IN YOUR CURRENT LOCATION. LOGGED IP ADDRESS FOR THIS TELEGRAM ACCOUNT MATCHES FACEBOOK AND SNAPCHAT ACCOUNTS OF A GIOVANNI 'GINO' DE LUCA. HANDSOME KID. SERIOUS T-GIRL FETISH."

Why didn't any of that surprise me.

-- File Received --

"I'M SENT YOU THE ZIPPED CONTENTS OF HIS DROPBOX. OTHER THAN HEAPS OF PORN, I CAN SEE SEVERAL PHOTOS AND VIDEOS OF YOU. I'M SURE YOU CAN FIND SOMETHING INCRIMINATING IN THERE. ARE WE DONE?"

Holy shit that Gino was stalking Laura and who knows for how long. There might have been cause to doubt her own rationalization that Gino had just stumbled on the video but I had more important fish to fry right now.

"I'm sending you a video, can you find and take it off the internet?"

"EVERYWHERE?"

-- File Sent --

"HOLY FUCK, THAT'S HOT. WHO'S THE FOX?"

"Can you do it?"

"SURE, BUT IT'LL TAKE SOME TIME. AFTER THIS THOUGH, DEBT IS PAID"

"Thanks. What was the Beluga Incident?" I typed with a smile on my face.

"TOP SECRET".

I chuckled to myself as I put my phone away and prepared to face the rest of Math class.

=^..^=

I was dreading lunch. Thankfully I didn't have any classes with Noah but as the entire grade had lunch together, I knew I would see him then.

No one had said anything to me all day which as memory served wasn't normal. The past few weeks had been particularly bad since Jeffrey's suspension.

See what had happened was Jeffrey had grabbed Laura's butt and gave it a firm squeeze thinking she was his girlfriend Fanny. Honest mistake due to both girls having long blonde hair in almost identical shades and Laura had been standing close to Fanny's locker.

Honest mistake. Jeffrey however had launched straight into a tirade of terrible name calling. Someone apparently hadn't liked that and reported the incident to the school.

What our anonymous do-gooder failed to realise is they had painted a very large target on Laura's back by taking out the first string QB at such a crucial point in the season.

I had... well Laura had been hoping they would let up when Jeffrey returned the coming Monday especially if the wolverines managed to win Saturday's home game against the much lower ranked Preston High School. If the Wolverines managed to keep their unbeaten record this weekend, it'd be no harm, no foul right?

Either way, it seemed the bullying had stopped early. Everyone had mostly avoided me today. Not even so much as an off handed comment. Maybe yesterday's theatrics had been more effective than I thought.

I scanned the room and quickly spotted Murphy sitting with a mixed group of boys and girls. I took my tray and before long, I was filling the empty seat beside him.

I studied the other kids at the table. Unathletic boys and plain girls. Kids I wouldn't have been caught dead sitting with in High School. A stark contrast to Murphy who wouldn't have been out of place at the football table.

Speaking of the football table, I spotted Gino sitting there and laughing without a care in the world. My stalker.

Almost like I'd summoned him, his eyes turned to meet mine. I quickly fixed my gaze on the chicken nuggets in my tray as if they were the most interesting thing in the world.

Murphy must have seen the exchange because he covered my hand with his. My heart threatened to beat through my chest. Why was he so nice to me... to her?

"So are you guys like dating?" One of the girls on the table asked.

I blushed. Were we? I mean, were they? Laura and Murphy.

Honestly he was way to good for her. Not even because she was transgender or anything. She just had way too much baggage. And he was perfect.

I looked into his eyes and felt myself drowning. His chiseled jaw... muscles that teased you just the right amount through his shirt...and his smile. Oh God his smile.

"It's complicated" Murphy replied.

"Honestly I don't think we should be sitting with her. She's crazy" Dean voiced. Dean, a red head with way too many freckles and I had a few classes together "It's only a matter of time before she blows up again and takes our social lives with her"

"I'm right here" I say rolling my eyes.

"I know, that's the problem" he retorts.

I didn't have time to defend myself however because out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Noah walking this way. Maybe Dean was right after all.

=^..^=
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Apologies for the absolute dick head of a protagonist. Thank you for reading this far. I'd love to hear what you think. Please leave a comment. Good or bad, constructive or otherwise. See you down there.