The Other Side of Me – Part 1
by Limbo's Mistress

“Come on! Come on!”

Jackson dragged me down the steps toward his basement with the fervor of a man trying to escape from a blazing inferno.

“Slow down, dude,” I protested, trying to keep my feet firmly beneath me as we descended into what I mentally referred to as the ‘Lair of Doom’. “Whatever it is, this time, isn’t going anywhere.”

He put his hand on the scanner next to the heavy steel door at the bottom of the steps as he glanced back over his shoulder at me. His always wide and energetic eyes were full of uncontrolled mania. Which only happened when he managed to supersede even his own outlandish expectations.

Saying that he looked like a mad scientist would be an insult to mad scientists everywhere. Especially since what Jackson did would be considered science per se.

If anything, he was an insane inventor.

“That’s where you’re wrong Chuck,” he said, using the nickname he knew I hated. “Timing on this is totally important.”

The scanner beeped, turned green, and the slab of dark gray metal slid open on its tracks, revealing the entrance to the basement of the Donahue household.

Jackson pulled on my arm, urging me to follow him inside. I hesitated, but only for a second.

The last time my best friend was this excited about one of his amazing breakthroughs, which he claimed was a time portal, I spent five extremely long hours as a two-year-old. Luckily, Jackson was able to figure out how to reverse the polarity and re-age me back to normal before I ended up having to use the diaper his mother had put me in.

“Jack,” I said, finally following him into his sanctum sanctorum. “I’m not really in the mood to play guinea pig today. I’ve got a math exam tomorrow in Professor Michaels’ class, and not all of us have a genius-level intellect.”

He glanced back over his shoulder at me, still grinning that maniac grin.

“Nope. You are not the subject of today’s experiment,” he said proudly. “Today all I want you to do is look. Just observe and be amazed!”

“Famous last words,” I mumbled. However, I didn’t stop walking, despite knowing that I was probably going to regret it in the end.

Jackson’s basement had been converted into a rather impressive laboratory five years earlier when his parents had finally grown tired of constantly repairing his bedroom and the family kitchen. Formerly an unfinished storage area, his dad had reinforced all the walls, the floor, and the ceiling with military-grade titanium. Then a professional contractor had been brought in to install a high-tech fire suppression system and a hazardous chemical neutralizer. Just to be on the safe side.

Despite the additional safeguards, Jackson was still bound by several of his parents’ rules. Including a prohibition on alcohol and antimatter.

He wound his way around a series of failed, abandoned, or incomplete inventions. Including the Time Portal Generator. Even though the device’s control panel had been completely removed and the power supply disconnected, simply walking past the thing sent a cold shudder up my spine and produced the momentary desire to suck on my thumb.

“Jack,” I complained, giving the TPG a wide berth. “Can’t this wait until tomorrow? I mean, Thursday evening really isn’t the best time.”

He waved his hand dismissively. “I promise this won’t take that long,” he explained, stopping next to what looked to be a black metal podium. The silver panel on top was covered in several switches and dials, and a large green light at the top of the control unit blinked with a steady greenish hue. At the bottom of the thing, three thick black cables, each as big around as my bicep, emerged from the base.

Two of them snaked away in one direction, where they attached to the sides of one of the lab’s three micro-fusion reactors. The other slinked the other way, toward the nearest wall.

“Well?” he asked, gesturing at the podium. “What do you think?”

I nodded with an impressed expression on my face as I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Congratulations,” I said in my most sincere voice. “You’ve invented the lectern. Be sure to take it with you when you collect your Nobel Prize.”

A frown replaced the smile. “Very funny, Charles,” he said in a hurtful tone before sighing. “This is just the control unit.” Then he gestured behind me. “That’s the big breakthrough.”

I turned around to see what looked to be a large black curtain hanging down from a rod affixed to the nearby wall. The bottom edge of it swayed slightly about six inches from the floor and the top was just slightly higher than my own six feet.

I turned back around to look at Jackson with a single arched brow. “Let me guess,” I said in a completely deadpan tone, “It’s behind the tapestry?”

He responded with a nod of his head, then glanced down at his watch before turning his eyes to the digital clock on the wall behind him. Turning back to me, his grin widened.

“It’s almost time,” he said, pointing at the cloth. “Go ahead, Charlie, pull the rope.”

I drew in a deep breath and released it with an audible sigh as I gritted my teeth and walked over to the hanging cloth. As I walked, I went ahead and crossed studying for my Trig exam off my list of possible activities for the evening. If history was any indication, I was more likely to get zapped by whatever cockamamie invention Jackson had created. Then spend the rest of the evening while he attempted to repair the effects.

Standing in front of the swaying curtain, I noticed that the lone cable running from the podium drifted up the wall beside it before disappearing under one of the side edges. I turned around and saw Jackson had moved to stand behind the lectern-like device and was currently flipping switches in a carefully orchestrated manner. The flashing green light continued to blink steadily, giving me the hope that it indicated that the device was in some kind of stand-by mode, and not actually active.

A gold bit of nylon rope dangled next to the curtain. When I pulled lightly on it, the knot holding the cloth to the rod overhead released. The whole pile drifted down gently to pool on the concrete floor at my feet revealing … a big mirror.

It was rectangular, approximately eight feet high and five feet wide, and had a thick frame made out of some type of quartz-like mineral.

Seriously? That’s what had Jackson’s shorts all in a twist?

I stepped around the lump of fabric on the floor so that I could stare directly into the oversized looking glass. Honestly expecting to see some kind of weird distorted image. Like something you might see in a carnival fun house.

However, the person looking back at me was only my usual self. A not-unattractive face (according to my past girlfriends) with light gray eyes and a shaggy mane of reddish brown hair that was badly in need of a trimming. The area beneath my thin nose and along my cheeks and chin were covered in a light stubble that matched my hair. Until the previous week, I’d sported a full goatee. The constant teasing about it from my little sister spurred me to shave it off.

The body beneath the face was thin, but athletic. I had won a coveted track and field scholarship and was looking forward to competing on the college circuit. The lean, taut muscles of my arms and legs were visible beneath the dark gray t-shirt and workout pants I wore. All in all, I thought I was fairly good looking. Maybe not anywhere close to being a GQ cover model, but not anywhere close to Quasimodo either.

Bringing my gaze up to look behind me, I watched Jackson check his watch again, look down at the panel, and scrunch up his brow. The expression on his face was the one he did when he was trying to decipher a problem.

Stepping back from the mirror on instinct, I turned completely around to face him.

“What’s wrong?”

He reached up and scratched at the back of his head. Another of his quirky habits.

“Not sure. The dimensional attunement modulator is throwing off a weird signal. Like a fluctuating energy signal.” Then he snapped his fingers and pointed past me to the mirror, not lifting his gaze from the panel before him. “Hey, there’s a green and yellow cable at the bottom of the device. Can you check to make sure it’s completely plugged in?”

“Sure,” I said.

I turned back to the mirror, now paying more attention to the thing itself, rather than the images contained within. I saw there was a small, black box, about the size of a speaker, attached to the wall next to the mirror. The cable from the podium was attached to the left side, and a smaller cable, this one green with yellow stripes, emerged from the bottom of the box and connected to a port on the mirror’s frame.

Reaching out without thinking about what I was actually doing, I grabbed the end of the cable near where it connected with the mirror’s frame. At my touch, it wobbled quite a bit, so I did what anyone else might do in a similar situation, I shoved it back into place.

“Ow!” I yelled as the closed circuit sent a jolt of electricity shooting up my arm to my shoulder. My entire body thrummed with the aftereffect. Spinning around, I glared at Jackson.

“Sorry,” he said, a bit of a blush forming on his face. “I meant to warn you to be careful. That line is hot and I had to jury-rig the connection since I couldn’t manage to find a locking ring that was the correct size.”

I shook my hand, trying to get the tingling feeling to dissipate. “It’s things like that which make me afraid to come in here half the time.”

“Oh, stop being such a baby, Charlie” he said. Then blinked and looked at me with an extremely sheepish expression. “Uh …I’m going to just shut up now.”

“That would be most preferable,” I said, then pointed at my eyes with two fingers before pointing them at him. “I’m watching you.”

He rolled his eyes at me, then glanced down at the console. “Awesome! Everything’s in the green.” He glanced at his watch. “Fifteen seconds until synchronization.” He looked up from the console to me. “Do me a favor? Just keep looking this way. I’ll tell you when it’s okay to turn around.”

I arched a brow, but the sudden humming that appeared behind me stole my retort. I balled my hands into fists as I summoned the incredible amount of willpower not to turn around and look.

I wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen, I only hoped it didn’t happen to me.

“Three … two … one … mark!” Jackson flipped a switch on the front of the panel.

The steady hum from behind me instantly increased in pitch, turning into a loud buzzing that reminded me of a swarm of angry hornets. Then a flash, like that of a bolt of lightning, illuminated the room, causing Jackson to turn his face away for a moment. A second later, the cacophony returned to the low, steady hum from before. Barely audible in comparison to what it had just been.

My friend glanced up to look over my shoulder, grinned one of the widest grins I’d ever seen him sport, then looked down at me.

“Ta-da!” Jackson exclaimed as he pointed behind me.

I turned around to face the mirror again. I saw Jackson standing behind his podium, waving one hand at me while his mouth stretched wide in the smile of an idiot. I lifted my own to wave back when I realized that he wasn’t actually waving at me.

He was waving at himself.

I spun around to see Jackson standing there, both of his hands resting on the top of the lectern while he smiled at his own reflection. When I turned back, the mirror version had moved around and was now standing next to, rather than behind, his.

“What in the hell?” I asked, staring at the oddity before me. How could the two Jacksons be in completely different poses and positions at the exact same time?

Of course, that was when I realized something else. There was no me in the mirror anymore. Despite standing only a few feet directly in front of the polished, reflective surface, I was nowhere to be seen.

“I don’t get it.” I said, my voice trembling a bit as I pointed at where I should have been. “How can you be standing differently in there? And where the hell am I? Why am I not in the mirror?” Slowly, I rotated away from the confusion sight to stare bewilderedly at my friend.

Jackson held up one finger to his reflection, as if asking for a moment, then brought his attention over to me.

“It’s not a mirror, Charlie. I mean, it was, sort of, before I powered this baby up.” He patted the side of the console. “Now it’s a dimensional window.” He pointed at the wall behind me. “What you were looking at is a parallel universe with a parallel Jackson Donahue.”

“Wait. You mean like in Star Trek?” I asked, referencing the classic episode where Kirk and Crew crossed into another universe filled with evil counterparts of themselves.

“Let’s hope not,” he laughed. “However,” he said in a highly suspicious tone, “there are some noticeable differences.”

I spun around and stared at the other Jackson and the room around him. At first glance, I had thought it looked exactly like it was supposed to. However, the more I looked, the more I noticed some subtle differences.

For starters, the Other Jackson wore a dark blue NASA t-shirt instead of a red one, and his jeans were black, rather than blue. As for the lab, there was a little less clutter on the tables and floor. Not quite as many half-completed projects lying around willy-nilly. A comfortable-looking, black leather sofa against one wall. On this side of the window, that space was occupied by a metal worktable covered in scraps of electronics and a bunch of assorted tools.

“This is totally weird,” I said as I stepped closer to the window.

Other Jackson had moved back around to stand behind his version of the control unit, studying the information it was obviously providing with the same expression of analysis I recognized rather easily. After a few seconds, he looked up to see me watching him and lifted his left hand to give me a little jaunty two-fingered salute. Then he dropped his arm and turned around to look in the direction of his lab’s door.

He said something to whoever it was at the door, but I couldn’t hear anything. Then he glanced back to our world and began to wave his hand back and forth, his gaze focused on the world behind me.

“Hey!” I said, not turning around. “I think your doppelganger is trying to get your attention. Can’t you guys, like, communicate through a radio or something?”

He gave his double a thumbs-up gesture, then looked over at me. “Negative. The Law of Conservation gets in the way. Nothing from here can go there and vice versa.”

“What about light?” I asked. “I mean, light is travelling between our universes.”

He shrugged. “I think it’s because the same amount of light going in as is coming out. Maintains the balance. Radio waves, however, are one way. The one time we tried, it shorted out the connection.” Jackson looked past me to his counterpart and laughed. “Okay, I think you probably need to prepare yourself for this, Charlie. If it threw me for a loop the first time I saw it, I know it’s going to knock your socks off.”

He laughed again and gestured at the window.

I turned back around to see that Other Jackson now had company.

The girl, whom I assumed was the person he had been talking to, had her back to me as she stood in front of the podium and waved her arms about in an obviously agitated manner. Other Jackson had an admonished expression on his face and was responding by repeatedly opening his mouth, then closing it with a single nod.

Since the two of them were engaged in a heated conversation, I took the opportunity to appreciate what I could see of her.

She had long reddish-brown hair that was gathered up into a high ponytail that left the back of her slender neck exposed. The body below that neck was apparently used to physical activity, revealed by the lean, athletic build visible beneath the sleeveless gray nylon vest and matching yoga pants.

Though I wasn’t usually much of an “ass man”, I did notice that hers was nicely shaped without protruding too much, and looked rather firm. The pink and green sneakers on her feet brought a bit of color to her attire, contrasting with the drabness of the rest.

“She’s cute, right?” Jackson said from behind me.

I nodded. “The other you is one lucky guy.” When the girl threw both hands into the air, I amended my assessment. “Or maybe not. She looks like she might be a bit of a complaining bitch.”

“Just hold that thought,” he said laughing.

The girl shook her head, sending her ponytail swaying, then turned around to face me.

For a second, I was shocked into immobility. Then I blinked a few times, reaching up to rub at my confused eyes before resuming my stare at the person looking at me through the window.

“Hold up. Is that … Katie?” I asked as my mind whirled around at a million rpms.

At first glance, the girl sure looked a hell of a lot like my sixteen-year old sister. Only older and sportier. Like my own age. However, Katie was more of a book nerd than a jock, and had golden blonde hair like our mother.

I thought she looked more pretty than beautiful, and I suddenly got a bit nauseous thinking that I’d been eyeing my sister’s bottom. Well, maybe not my actual sister, but still more than close enough to matter.

“Nope,” Jackson said, still sounding rather pleased with himself. “That’s not Katie, my friend. That’s Charlene.”

“Charlene?” I asked, still staring at the girl staring back at me. She, too, wore a mask of utter shock and confusion.

“Yep, Charlene,” Jackson repeated. “Charlene Miller.”

My mouth dropped open and I nearly fell over. “Charlie for short.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

Jackson laughed again. “Bingo! Apparently in that universe, it was one of your dad’s swimmers who was an X-chromosome that won first prize in the fertilization race. So, instead of a boy named Charles, the first child in that Miller family was a girl they named Charlene.”

“What about Katie?” I asked, focusing on my sister so I wouldn’t have to start pondering what my life as a female would have been like.

“I don’t know. Jackson Two Point Oh and I never discussed her. When we discovered that you two were so different, we both thought it would be hilarious to watch how you two reacted to seeing each other.”

I tried to force a smile on my face, hoping to erase the expressions etched on both our faces. She replied with a shrug, then rolled her eyes at me and nodded her head back toward her Jackson. Guess her version hadn’t bothered to give her a heads up either.

It was both comforting and annoying to discover that my … our … best friend could be a dick in multiple dimensions.

Slowly, I raised my hand and gave her a little friendly wave. For a second, she just stared at my hand, blinking slowly. Then a smile formed on her face and she repeated the gesture.

“Wait,” I asked, not taking my eyes off my female self. “How did you two discuss it if you can’t talk to each other?” Charlene’s mouth also moved, though her gaze didn’t waver. I wondered if she was asking the exact same thing of her Jackson.

Despite the obvious physical differences, I couldn’t help but wonder how much alike we might be.

“We wrote messages back and forth on the rolling dry erase board,” he replied. “Turns out there are a lot of people and events over there that are identical to stuff over here. You know, with some very obvious exceptions.”

“You’re telling me,” I said. “Hey, is it possible to turn the window into a door? Because going for a visit might be pretty cool.”

“Nope,” he said, almost apologetically. “Law of Conservation, remember? Even if we could actually get enough exotic matter to force the gate open, having more matter in one universe than in the other would probably throw off the balance of the multiverse.” He paused for a second. “In theory, at least.” He laughed again. “Why? You weren’t starting to wonder what it would be like to kiss yourself, were you?”

I spun around and glared at him. “That’s not funny,” I growled. Even though that was exactly what I was wondering. After all, it wasn’t every day you got to see what you would look like as a member of the opposite gender. And, for some reason, the thought of kissing myself was a lot more appealing than the thought of kissing my sister.

Suddenly, the console behind Jackson began beeping rather loudly. The green light was flashing again, this time a scarlet red color. He ran over to stand behind it, a frown forming on his face.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Cascade failure. Must be some type of interference.”

I glanced over my shoulder to see Charlene’s Jackson was also at his own control unit. Wearing the same exact frown.

“Looks like they’re having the same problem,” I muttered.

“It’s the power flow,” Jackson said. “It’s decreasing for some reason. If it drops below fifty, we’ll lose the connection.”

I suddenly became aware of a popping and crackling sound coming from behind me. I rotated around to see random sparks shooting out of the side of the window’s frame, right next to where the green and yellow cable attached.

“I think I see the problem,” I said.

Shifting my gaze over to the images coming from the other world, I realized that Charlene was also looking at the same spot on their side of the window. She glanced up, noticed me looking at her, and shrugged her shoulder with a worried smile.

I guess she’d been the unlucky participant in these experiments as well.

I gave her a thumbs up and moved over to the sparking cable, leaning down to study it. I was closer to the window than I’d previously been, and I noticed the entire unit was vibrating at an incredible pace. The rapid-fire tremors disturbed the air around the window and caused the hair on my arms and the back of my neck to stand on end.

“The cable came loose again,” I called back to Jackson. “One sec.”

I reached down with one hand toward the sparking cable as I placed the palm of my other hand on the glass surface before me. Just touching the thing made my whole body tremble. Like I was holding onto a really quiet jackhammer. I curled my fingers around the thick rubber insulation of the power cord.

“What are you …” Jackson began. “Charlie! No! Don’t touch the …” His words were drowned out as I gritted my teeth and shoved the connecting ring more securely in its socket.

The millisecond the connection returned to its completely secure position, the gentle thrumming sensation running up the arm touching the window turned from “vibrant massage” to “direct lightning strike”.

A cacophony of explosions took place behind my open eyes as it felt like my entire body had just been dipped into the middle of a nuclear reactor. Every muscle in my body locked into place, leaving my jaw clenched so tightly that I expected molars to begin to crack and shatter. The agony spared no portion of my form. Even the tips of my hair seemed to become energized.

A field of inky blackness formed in the periphery of my vision as my gaze swiveled enough to see that Charlene was likewise being electrocuted. Our hands were nearly palm-to-palm on the surface of the window. Then, after a little more than an eternity of pain, the darkness swarmed over my awareness to drag me down into the blessedly peaceful world of total unconsciousness.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

“Charlie?”

Jackson’s voice called through the stillness of the void from a hundred million miles away. Reaching out to me from somewhere past the other side of Mars.

“Charlie?” He asked again, this time sounding a bit closer. Perhaps from somewhere in the upper stratosphere instead of interplanetary space.

I reluctantly swam up from the calm, serene nothingness. Mainly because I knew if I didn’t, Jackson would continue to say my name until I got completely annoyed and frustrated.

My eyelids parted, and immediately closed again as the harsh light from the heavy-duty bulbs overhead stabbed right through the opening to pierce my brain. The dub throb hiding in the eaves rushed on stage, leaping into the spotlight with the intensity of a full Mariachi band.

“Charlie,” Jackson said again. “Say something.”

“Something,” I croaked with a wince. The pounding in my temples made my voice sound weird and scratchy.

“Ha-ha,” Jackson replied. “Seriously, though. Open your eyes and look at me.”

I shook my head slowly from side to side. “Hurts.”

“Yeah,” he said. “That was a hell of a shock you just took.” I felt his hand on my shoulder. “Come on, Charlie. Open your eyes so I can make sure your brain didn’t get fried.”

Against my better judgement, I cautiously reopened my eyes.

I was lying on something soft. It felt like a blanket or something padded. I turned my gaze away from the lights to look at Jackson. He leaned over me, his face extremely close, and stared intently into my eyes.

“Do you know where you are?” he asked.

The heavy metal drum solo in my head continued to wow the imaginary crowd.

“In hell,” I groaned. Jesus, my ears must be seriously ringing. I didn’t even sound like my normal self.

“Well, after that jolt, I’m sure you might think that.” A small smile formed on his face, but the tenderness of it really unnerved me. “You really scared the shit out of me, babe.”

“I scared the shit out of …” I started to reply. Then his words squirmed their way through the out of control mosh pit between my ears. Well, one word in particular.

Babe.

Babe???

“What the hell?” I exclaimed, reaching up to push him away from me as I lurched up onto my feet. The change in latitude sent a tsunami of vertigo rolling though me. I swayed sideways, stumbling a bit. However, not all of it could be blamed on high voltage after-effects. The rest was totally the fault of my totally unexpected, completely different, center of gravity.

I brought my hands up simultaneously to grab at the heavy lumps of flesh dangling from the front of my chest, my fingers kneading and squeezing in a rather uncomfortable, though not unpleasant, manner.

“Tits!” I spun around to look at Jackson, who I had shoved half off the sofa. “I’ve got tits!” My voice still sounded a bit hoarse, but there was no mistaking the pitch. The baritone I was accustomed to hearing had been replaced by a rich soprano. Granted, one that was, at that moment, registering high on the scale.

Jackson’s mouth opened as one of his hands came up in supplication, but I was still in the beginning stages of the mother of all freak-outs.

“My ass!” I added, one hand releasing the globe of flesh it had been fondling to reach around, past a very noticeable curving hip, to grab one side of my butt. It felt humongous in my hand. Though, as I soon realized, not just because the surface area of my posterior had increased. It seemed the inverse was true of the area of my palm.

I let go of my butt and brought my arm back around, holding it out, palm away. The limb was a hell of a lot slenderer than I remembered it being. However, it was the thin fingers topped with manicured nails painted a surprising shade of bubblegum pink that really sent me over the edge.

“Oh shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!”

“Charlie…” Jackson said in a voice that I thought was way too damned calm for the mega-disaster I currently found myself in. “Just calm …

I whipped my head in his direction, feeling a slight tug at the back of my skull that was immediately followed by the sensation of hair tickling the back of my neck. Long hair, too? The hand that I had been gawking at curled all of its fingers in except the index one. That particular digit I jabbed at Jackson as if stabbing him from several feet away.

“You … you and your stupid, insane experiments,” I growled, taking a step toward him. “You turned me into a fucking girl!”

He blinked at me, his head snapping back as if I’d actually slapped him. Which, as things were going, might be coming in the near future. He held up both hands, angling his head so that he could look into my eyes.

“Charlie, the accident didn’t turn you into a girl.”

I dropped the pointing arm away from indicating him to turn it to indicate the front of my pants. Particularly the extremely flat front of them, where I didn’t need to look down to see that my dangling bits were no longer dangling in their proper places.

“Oh really? Then why don’t you tell me what happened to my dick then?”

“Your dick?” His brow furrowed even more.

“Jesus, Jackson! My dick is gone. I mean, I haven’t shoved my hand down there yet, but considering I can’t feel it and I’ve suddenly developed a set of boobs and a bubble butt, I think it’s a pretty safe conclusion that I’ve been changed into a girl.” I shook my head, feeling the hair brush my neck again. “Or do you have a differing opinion?”

“Uh,” he said, bringing one of his hands around to the back of his head and scratching at his scalp. “I think the problem isn’t physical. I think the quantum feedback might have caused some, uh, neurological damage.”

“I don’t have a brain problem, Jackson. I’ve got a lack of penis problem.”

“Charlie, just calm down and listen to me.” He held out both hands again, as if warding off some evil monster. “You didn’t turn into a girl because you’ve always been a girl.”

“What?” Now who was the crazy one? “I should have just gone home and studied. I swear to Christ, this is worse than when you turned me into a baby.”

“Charlene, listen to me. I think that …” He stopped, blinking wildly again. “Baby?”

At the same time, I took a half a step back and asked, “Charlene?”

My head whipped around to stare at the lab around me. I’d been so wrapped up in dealing with the alterations to my body that I hadn’t really paid attention to anything else.

Like the black leather sofa on which I’d awoken and was now directly behind Jackson.

Other Jackson.

“Charlene, when did I turn you into a baby?” he asked, staring at me with a set of very wide eyes.

“I’m over here,” I breathed. “In her.”

The strength vanished from my legs and I collapsed to the floor, landing squarely on my new, slightly larger, ass.

“Charlie!” Jackson said as he dropped all defensive preparedness and rushed over to kneel beside me. He snatched one of my hands in his and held it firmly as his fingers stroked along the back of it. “Talk to me.”

I felt my brain wanting to shut down. Either to reboot or just simply go into a blue screen of death. Turning my head, I ignored the comforting sensation of his fingers brushing against my skin and looked him in the eyes.

“I’m not Charlene,” I said in a near-whisper. “I’m Charlie. From the other side of the window.”

His fingers stopped in mid-stroke as his eyes widened even more. His head spun quickly to the left, looking over my shoulder to where I knew the window was attached to the wall. Then he looked back at me and shook his head.

“That’s … not possible.” He swallowed, using his other hand to point at the device. “That’s only a window. Nothing can …”

“Nothing can come through except light,” I finished. “Yeah, Law of Conservation.”

“So how did you …”

I stared at him incredulously. “Seriously?”

The initial surge of panic was starting to recede. I wasn’t calm and collected by any stretch of the imagination. I was, however, beginning to accept the fact that launching into a bout of screaming hysteria wasn’t going to solve the issue.

“I’m not the super-genius here, dude. If anyone can answer the ‘why’ or ‘how’, it’s the guy who got his first doctorate when he was twelve.”

“It shouldn’t be possible. I mean, the transference of matter across the dimensional gap would require more energy than the sun will ever produce and likely rip a hole in space-time.”

I shook my head. “But I didn’t transfer across. At least, not materially.” I sighed and pointed at one of my boobs. “This isn’t my body.”

Understanding of the specifics of my comment dawned upon him and he released my hand as he leapt to his feet.

“It has to be a quantum entanglement.” He began to pace back and forth inside a four-foot square. I recognized it as his ‘thinking stride’.

“Slow down,” I said, slowly climbing back up off the floor myself. My butt ached where I’d landed on it, and the way various parts of my anatomy moved contrary to my expectations was really unnerving. “Quantum entanglement?”

Jackson stopped pacing to look at me. “Charlene was touching the window at the moment of electrical induction. Were you also touching it on your side?”

I didn’t even have to try to remember. The image of my hand pressed against the cool, smooth surface was vibrantly clear. Two palms from two universes, pressed together.

“Yeah,” I said. “We were touching the same spot on our respective sides, actually.”

He just stared at me for a second, then began pacing again.

“It might be an overlay of synaptic pathways. Perhaps a matter of cross-universal duplication of the neurological mapping suppressing the original parameters. Of course, that wouldn’t account for the lack of self-awareness. However, if the subconscious still contained the base associations…”

“Okay, Jay,” I said, cutting him off as I closed my eyes for a second. The rapid explosion of techno-babble spewing from his mouth wasn’t helping my still-lingering headache. “Slow down and speak English. Like, my kind of English.”

He stared at me for a second, then reached out and took my hand in both of his. As before his thumb glided softly across the back of my hand down to the wrist.

“Be calm and quiet for a moment. Close your eyes.”

I did as he asked, trying to ignore the tingle his touch was sending up my arm.

“Now, focus on yourself. Do you hear a tiny voice, somewhere in the back of your mind? Maybe a feminine one? Trapped and trying to get out?”

My eyes snapped back open in a glare filled with daggers. “No. But I do hear a voice that says if you keep touching me like we’re on a date, I’m going to kick you in the nuts.”

He dropped my hand like it was scalding and took a step back. “Sorry. I just thought that she might still be in there.”

“In where? My head?”

He nodded.

“There’s no one in here but me, Jackson. I didn’t possess Charlene. I’m not some kind of demon.”

He wagged his finger. “Now, we both know that demons are just physical manifestations of psychics with guilt issues. However, if the accident didn’t copy your mind and memories over those of Charlene, then the only other logical explanation is that you two have swapped bodies.”

“Oh sure. That has to be the logical explanation.” I said, not unimpressed with the way the sarcasm rolled off my feminine tongue. “How does someone swap bodies across dimensions?”

Jackson shook his head. “It shouldn’t be possible. Actually, it might be practically impossible. Except for a few, uh, specific factors.”

“Which factors?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. Then I immediately uncrossed them when I felt the added padding of my new body.

“You were each in contact with a corresponding spot on the dimensional window. While that was taking place, you both, I assume, grabbed the power coupling and pushed it back into place?”

I nodded. “So that allowed us to jump into each other like some screwed up Quantum Leap?”

He shook his head. “Those two alone are necessary. However, there was one other factor that would be required. You both had the same amount of memory to transfer.”

“Explain that little bit,” I said. “Because, I can promise you that I have no memories at all of being a chick.”

Jackson sighed. “That’s not what I meant. Okay, remember conservation? You and Charlene are practically the same person.” He held up his hand to stop my response. “Gender and resulting life experiences aside, you both had the same amount of … mental energy.” Then he pointed at me. “June 1, 2000 at 6:37 pm. Right?”

I arched a brow. “That’s my birthday. What about it?”

He tapped his skull. “People accumulate mental … files … from the very moment they’re born. Think of it like adding a new folder on a disc drive each day. No matter what you did that day, what you learned, the experiences you had, the folder for that day contained the same amount of data it.” He pointed over at the mirror. “If any other two people had been touching the window at the moment they were electrocuted, they would have likely ended up being drooling vegetables. However, for you and Charlene, the files simply swapped drives.”

“That sounds a little like you’re reaching, buddy.”

He shrugged. “I am. It’s the best I can do in five minutes off the top of my head. It’ll take me at least three days to parse what data I can salvage from the computers to make a more accurate hypothesis.”

“Three days??” I pointed at my chest. “Three days? Dude, I don’t want to stay in this body for three hours. Let alone three days. Just turn the damned window back on, Charlene and I can recreate the incident, and I can be back home in time to study for Trig.”

“Professor Michaels?” he asked.

“How …”

He grinned. “You and Charlene have more in common than you might think.”

“Whatever,” I said. “Can we just try it and see if it works?”

His smile faltered. “No, Charlie. I’m afraid we can’t just try it out.”

He turned and walked over to the control podium. I followed and noticed there were still traces of smoke hovering around the top of the blackened panel. All of the lights on the unit were completely dark and the smell of scorched rubber permeated my nostrils.

“The dimensional attunement facilitator is fried. Hopefully, the data recorder is still intact.” Then he pointed toward the mirror. “The feedback from the two of you crossing the gap caused most of the circuity in the window to short out.” He sighed. “It will all need to be replaced.”

I balled my hands into fists, wincing a bit as the longer nails dug painfully into my palms. Turning around, I walked over to the window. As I got closer to the now normal reflective surface, I experienced a weird wave of vertigo. The girl walking toward me was creating a strange effect in my awareness. My eyes took in the image and my brain kept trying to process that image as both myself and someone else.

After only a couple of seconds, I forced myself to look away from my reflection. Within a few moments, the eerie feelings vanished.

I kept my eyes off the mirror and focused on the frame. The inlaid copper wires were melted in dozens of places and completely blackened in others. The wall around the power converter box was stained with burn marks. The stench was worse than it had been at the control panel.

As loathe as I was to admit it, Other Jackson was right. The unit was a total mess.

“Fine,” I sighed, turning back to look at him. “I guess I can wing it as Charlene for a couple of days. I mean, how hard can it be to pretend to be a female version of myself for three whole days?”

“Three days?” he asked, scrunching up his brow. “I think you misunderstood.” He pointed over at the double rack of computer servers against the far wall. “I said it was going to take me at least three days to parse through all the data and figure out exactly what happened that put you in Charlene’s body. As for any attempt to reverse the process …”

A cold lump formed in my stomach, and the urgent need to take a piss started to rear its head.

“That’s not going to be possible until the window and the control unit are fully repaired and the dimensional frequencies are re-synchronized.”

I felt my mouth drop open slightly as the images of the ruined podium panel and the window’s frame stood out in it.

“How … long?” I forced the words to come out of my mouth, though I barely heard them over the pounding in my chest and head. I wouldn’t have been surprised if I had simply passed out at that moment.

Jackson slowly lifted his shoulders into a contrite, rather apologetic, shrug.

“Two … months,” he said as he abashedly turned his eyes away from me. “At the minimum.”

My legs quit working again, returning me to the floor.

“Two months,” I repeated softly as my world came crumbling down around me.

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

Thankfully for my fragile sanity, Jackson didn’t do something awkward like put his arm around me to try to comfort me while I slowly pieced my mind back to a more cohesive state. Even though, I could tell he was in a fight-to-the-death battle to do just that.

Not that I could blame really him. I mean, I currently inhabited the body of what I assumed to be his girlfriend. Which in itself was a whole another set of what-the-hells. Don’t get me wrong, Jackson was my best friend and a really good guy, despite his little mad scientist idiosyncrasies. And we were as close as any two, completely heterosexual, guys could be.

I just couldn’t fathom why someone like Charlene thought he might be boyfriend material.

After about fifteen minutes or so of introspection later, I reached up and slapped my face lightly a few times, then climbed to my feet.

Jackson had stopped hovering over me several minutes earlier and had moved to lying on the on the floor, next to the podium. One of the side panels of the unit was removed, allowing my friend access to the inner workings of the device. The voltage meter he held in his hands was carefully and methodically moved from circuit board to circuit board, testing each in a logical progression.

Each time he found a dead connection, he swore softly and used a white paint marker to put a little “X” on the corner of the silicon wafer. It sounded like there were a lot more of bad ones than he’d expected.

Sighing, I crossed over to stand next to him, although I could swear if felt more like I was wobbling rather than walking. Jesus, did these freaking hips have a mind of their own?

He paused what he was doing and turned his head, peering up at me.

“Hey, you okay now?”

“Okay?” I asked, trying to keep my oddly higher pitched voice on a neutral keel. “No. I am definitely not okay.” Then I gave him a small, terse smile. “However, I do think I am over my initial freak out about things.” I shook my head, grinning slightly despite the odd feeling of my bunched hair brushing against the base of my neck. “Guess I’ve been the unfortunate victim of enough of these mishaps of yours that I’m becoming de-sensitized.”

“It’s not unexpected,” he said. Then he arched a brow at me. “Did I hear you say earlier that my other dimension’s self once turned you into a baby?”

“Yeah.” I nodded as I pointed over at the Time Portal Generator. “Apparently, you had the polarity reversed the wrong way. I think. Rather than send me backward through fifteen years of time, you send fifteen years of time backward through me.” Now it was my turn to cast an inquisitive look. “You didn’t do the same thing to Charlene?”

“Not exactly.” An amused smirk appeared on his face. “For us, the incident was the other way around. I attempted to send her forward in time fifteen years. Instead, I sent fifteen years forward through her.”

“You didn’t!” I said in a loud and surprised voice as I tried to imagine being turned into a thirty-two year old adult.

“Afraid so,” he confessed, trying to appear contrite, but failing miserably. “She was extremely unhappy about it, too.”

“No shit. I can imagine not.”

He shrugged, pulling himself into a sitting position. “If it’s any consolation, when you hit thirty-two, you’re going to be one hot ass MILF.”

The grin of amusement fell off my face in an instant.

“I’ve got a new flash for you, Jackson. I’m not going to be a hot MILF when I’m thirty-two, because I’m not going to be in here!” I thumped my palm against my chest, wincing a bit as the blow hit soft and sensitive tissue instead of hard, defined muscle. “You’re going to fix that freaking machine, link back up with my home universe, and me and your squeeze are going to both get back to where we belong.” I leaned down and gave him my hardest glare. “Right?”

He nodded emphatically as his cheeks blossomed a brilliant shade of red.

“Of course, Charlie. I promise. I just sort of … got carried away.”

I nodded, standing back up. “Okay. I understand. Just remember that I’m not her. I want to be back in my own body as soon as possible.” Then I gave him a tiny smile. “As I’m sure she does.”

I couldn’t help but wonder if this same conversation, or one remarkably similar, was taking place back home. At least Charlene didn’t have the added worry of Jackson being distracted by any romantic complications.

“Charlie,” Jackson asked from beneath me. “Are the hydro-spanners up there?”

I grabbed the silver-tinged tool and handed it down at him.

“Thanks,” he said, taking the device from my hand. His fingers brushed lightly across the skin of my thumb for a moment before being pulled away quickly. “Sorry.”

I shrugged, sitting down next to him, and crossing my legs. It wasn’t until I was in position that it occurred to me how easy it’d been. While I wasn’t out of shape by any stretch of the imagination, due to all the running I did, my male legs were thick and muscled. Sitting cross-legged usually too a bit of work. However, Charlene’s limbs were lithe, taut, and very flexible.

Definitely not a cross-country runner.

“So,” I said, pointing between him and myself. “How did this happen?”

He gave me a confused glance. “How did you end up in her body?”

I rolled my eyes. “No, dumbass. I already know that bit. I meant, you and her. How did the two of you end up in a relationship?”

He stopped working and tapped his chin lightly with the hydro-spanners in thoughtful contemplation.

“Honestly? I really don’t have a clue. It just sort of … happened.” He ran his free hand through his messy blonde hair. “Charlie and I have been friends since we were ten. I used to get bullied by this guy who lived down the street named …”

“Danny Morris?” I interjected.

He paused, giving me a slightly surprised look. Then nodded with a little smirk.

“Guess some things are a constant across the multiverse.”

I could remember that day as if it were yesterday. I’d been walking home from school, having to push my bike, rather than ride it, because the chain had snapped halfway. About three blocks from my house, I saw Danny, with his idiot followers, Dave Anderson and Ricky Smith gathered in the side yard of Old Lady Wimple’s. They’d formed a half-circle around someone and were pushing and shoving whoever it was around.

It wasn’t until I got a couple of hundred feet away that I realized it was the goofy-looking kid who had moved in across the street from me a week earlier.

Now, as a general rule, I’d always avoided Danny when I could. He was two years older than me, with a nasty temper he didn’t attempt to contain. Getting pummeled by him was really low on my list of things I wanted to happen to me. However, I absolutely did not like bullies. Which meant there was no way I was going to be able to just walk on past without doing something to try and help.

I ditched my bike at the curb and crept across the freshly cut grass toward the four of them, approaching from an angle that would let me get closer without being seen. I stopped behind an overgrown snowball bush and observed the situation.

“I’m only going to say this once, you little freak. So you better listen well, “Danny snarled into the smaller kid’s face. “I run this neighborhood, understand? If you want to walk around it, you’re going to need to pay for the privilege.”

I shook my head. Once again, Danny Morris was trying to shake down someone for their money. For a few seconds, I just stood there and debated about the correct course of action. After about thirty seconds, I decided that simple was the easiest way to go. So I stepped around the corner, walked right up to behind Danny, drew back my foot, and kicked him square in the balls.

He let out a groan and went down like a house of cards, his flabby face a sickly pale green color, with his hands clutching at his family jewels. By the time he hit the ground and started moaning, the other two recovered from my surprise arrival and turned their attention, as well as their fists, to me.

I was lucky enough to dodge Ricky’s first punch, but his second one caught me across the jaw and sent me spinning around. That gave Dave the opportunity to follow up with a hard fist to my lower back. My knees buckled, and I went down not too far from the still-prone Danny. All I could do was close my eyes and prepare for the serious ass stomping I knew was on its way.

However, before Dave and Ricky could kick me into traction, I heard what sounded like the crackle of electricity. Sort of what you’d expect from a faulty wiring job. A second later, when I realized I wasn’t getting the crap kicked out of me, I dared to lift my head and look around.

Danny was still on the ground with his balls in his hands. He’d stopped groaning, though, and stared over my shoulder with eyes the size of half-dollars. After a few seconds of wonder, I looked behind me to see exactly what he was gawking at.

Dave and Ricky were standing close to where I’d last seen them, their hands balled into tight fists. Neither one of them moved or twitched, remaining as still as if carved from stone. At first, I thought they were simply scared, but the longer I looked, the more I realized that they were completely frozen in place.

My eyes moved over to the kid I’d been trying to help. He stood a few feet away from the immobile morons with some weird looking Terminator type gun in his hands. The lights running down the side of the silvery thing blinked in an alternating red-green pattern.

He glanced over to where I lay on the ground, and a huge smile formed on his face.

“Wow,” he said with barely contained glee. “This worked better than I expected.” He held up the weapon for emphasis. “Of course, I need to increase the power coupling to decrease the charging time. It shouldn’t have taken that long to be ready.”

Realizing that the kid wasn’t going to turn his ray-gun on me next, I climbed to my feet. The pain in my jaw was starting to abate, but the throbbing in my back was still doing the mamba. I rubbed at the spot where Dave had punched me as I studied to two, completely still, punks.

“Are they dead?”

“Dead?” he parroted. “Not at all. They’re just a millisecond out of temporal synch with us.”

“Do what?” I asked, stepping closer to examine my would-be attackers.

“I pushed them out of alignment with our time stream. Right now, they are moving so slowly that it doesn’t look like they’re moving at all.” He put the weapon back into a bag slung over his shoulder and pulled out something that looked like a souped-up TV remote. He waved it in front of the two boys then studied the tiny screen on the front of the device. “Approximately one seven thousandth it seems.”

I blinked a few times, then looked back at the kid. “Are you saying that they’re moving seven thousand times slower than we are?”

He nodded. “Correct. However, the temporal restraint field isn’t entirely stable. I fear it won’t last much longer.” He glanced from the pair down to Danny before looking to me. “Perhaps we should be elsewhere when the field collapses.”

“No shit,” I said, backing up slowly. “I just avoided getting my ass kicked. Sticking around for it to actually happen is beyond stupid.”

Together, the two of us grabbed my bike and beat feet back to my house. A few days later, Danny Morris approached me at school and begged me to keep Jackson away from him. Apparently he’d been aware enough to see, and smart enough to understand, what had happened to his buddies. He must have decided that the little nerd, and by extension, me, were targets no longer on his radar.

After that day, Jackson and I became best friends.

Arching a brow, I smirked at Jackson. “Charlene came across Danny, Dave, and Ricky harassing you and distracted them by kicking Danny in the balls, right?”

He looked at me for a second, then shook his head. “Not exactly. She walked up to us and started flirting with Danny. Then, when his guard was down, she punched him in the nose. That bought me enough time for the Temporal De-Synchronizer to be fully charged.”

I frowned slightly. “That’s a little different than the way it went down in my dimension. I guess because, despite the parallels, she’s different from me.”

“I guess,” Jackson said, climbing to his feet. He put the tool down on top of the podium and turned to face me.

Now that I wasn’t in the middle of a disorienting panic attack, I noticed that Charlene was shorter than me. Back home, I stood about an inch taller than my Jackson. However, I realized that I had to look up slightly to meet his eyes.

“After that day, you two became really close?”

He nodded. “Exceptionally. Your … her … parents weren’t really keen on it at first. Eventually, though, they got to know my parents and warmed up to me. Guess they saw how much she liked my company. We’ve always made time to hang out with each other, even when her popularity started to skyrocket, she never stopped being my friend.”

“Popularity?” I asked, feeling a chill run up my spine.

In middle and high school, I’d not really been a member of the popular crowd. Even though I was technically a “jock”, the guys who played football, lacrosse, and soccer didn’t really see track as a real sport. Something that might have pissed me off more if they hadn’t also included baseball in the non-sports category.

Jackson nodded. “You’ve looked in the mirror, haven’t you?”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “What does that mean?”

He laughed. “Your appearance, Charlie. Even if I didn’t have a biased opinion, I would say that you are beautiful.”

I blinked, nearly turning around to verify his statement in the reflective surface behind me. Instead, I merely clenched my jaw for a second until the urge passed. Then I shook my head.

“So, Charlene is liked because she’s pretty?”

He shrugged, then nodded. “You could say that. It also didn’t hurt that she was captain of the varsity cheer team either.”

My jaw dropped open. Apparently Fate couldn’t just rip me from my home and stick me in the body of female alternate reality version of myself. I also had to deal with the fact that this other me had been one of those flighty pom-pom bimbos who enjoyed snogging idiot football players and looking down their noses at anyone not in their precious inner circle.

“You’re joking, right?” I asked, shaking my head slightly from side to side. “Charlene isn’t really a high school cheerleader.”

He gave me a strange look. “No, she’s not.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.

“She’s a college cheerleader,” he said. “Scholarship and everything.”

“Oh, for crying out loud,” I said, face-palming. “This is beyond a nightmare.”

He put his hand lightly on my shoulder, in a definitely more friendly, less romantic, manner. When I lowered my hand and looked at him, he flashed me that trademarked Jackson Donahue smile. The one that always accompanied his heartfelt promise that, this time, the solution was going to work.

“It’ll be okay, Charlie,” he said, patting me softly. “We’re currently between seasons, so the chances of you having to actually cheer before I can swap you back are miniscule.”

“How miniscule?”

He shrugged. “Less than twenty percent over three months.”

I face-palmed again. “I can’t pull this off, Jackson. I thought maybe, just perhaps, I could. You know, lay low for a while. Avoid anyone who wasn’t my family or you. Then no one would be the wiser.”

“I can help you,” he said. “I can, I don’t know, coach you or something.”

“Coach me?” I asked incredulously. “Coach me on how to be a girl?”

He shrugged. “Sure. I mean, I know Charlene extremely well.”

I held up one finger. “Do not go there, pal,” I said with a growl.

His face blanched and he yanked his hand off my shoulder in order to wave both of them defensively in front of him.

“No,” he exclaimed. “That’s not what I meant. I mean, we’ve been close for so long, I know almost everything about her life. Who she hangs out with, who she dislikes, what she does when she’s not hanging out here, stuff like that. I can provide that information and guidance to help you pretend to be her.”

I sighed, mulling over his offer. Not that I really had much of a choice on whether or not to accept his help. Either I agreed and did my best to learn how to be a girl I wasn’t, or I could go it alone and end up with everyone Charlene knew thinking she had gone insane.

Running away until such time as Jackson could send me back was a distant third choice. Mainly because I realized it would totally screw up Charlene’s life over here.

“I’m not completely sure it’s going to work,” I said as I bit down on my lower lip and chewed at it softly. Most of the gloss she’d put on before the Great Switcheroo had come off, but there was still the faintest taste of cherry remaining. “I’ve never been the world’s greatest actor.”

Jackson, however, didn’t immediately reply. Instead, he stared at me with a slightly inquisitive expression. Well, stared at my mouth, really.

“Charlie,” he asked, arching a brow. “Do you always do that? When you’re nervous?”

“Do what?” I asked.

“Bite your bottom lip and hold it in your teeth.”

My mouth sprang open automatically, releasing the captured bit of soft tissue I hadn’t really noticed was trapped between my teeth.

“No,” I said as I reached up to rub my fingertip lightly across the slightly tender surface of my lower lip. “At least, I don’t think I do.”

“Charlene does,” he said, in a matter of fact tone.

“What does that mean?”

He shrugged. “Most likely? It’s merely residual muscle memory. Your mind … soul … or whatever it was that passed between the dimensional gap is in charge of your body. At least from a conscious standpoint.”

“A conscious standpoint?” I said, not liking where this was going. “What about subconsciously?”

“Subconsciously? I think it’s Charlene.”

“Wait! Are you saying she’s still in here?” I tapped one finger against my temple.

“No. Well, not exactly. Think of it as more like, uh, echoes of Charlene.”

“Echoes?”

He nodded, waving a single finger around in my direction. “Which, to be honest, would go a long way to explain a few observations I’ve made.”

“What observations?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest again as I tapped one sneakered foot impatiently.

“Well, for starters, there’s the lip biting. Plus, I’ve noticed that you walk like her.” He pointed at my arms. “And stand like her. Definitely like Charlene and not Charles.”

I immediately became aware of my body’s posture and instantly straightened up, lowering my arms. An unsettling feeling passed through me as I realized I hadn’t even noticed the differences he’d pointed out. I mean, yeah, I was aware that this body jiggled and shifted differently when I moved it, but I didn’t know that was what would be considered “normal” for Charlene.

“I’m not going to lie,” he said. “It will be extremely interesting, from a scientific standpoint, to see what else is automatic. I mean, with all our accumulated knowledge, we still don’t know what makes us who we are. Is it biological? Psychological? Nature? Or nurture? Perhaps a unique combination of the four.”

I rolled my eyes. Then immediately began to question if that was something I usually did. Or if it was yet another “Charlene trait”. The sooner I was back where I belonged, the better.

“If it’s all the same, why don’t you focus that big, old brain of your on fixing the window and swapping us back. Unless you’d rather not have your girlfriend back.” I smirked at him. “You might be my best friend in two dimensions, but I sure as hell am not sleeping with you.”

His face suddenly turned the color of a ripe tomato. “Oh! Uh … well, you see …”

I blinked, then laughed reaching out to shove his shoulder with one hand. Something I knew for a fact that was completely a Charles move. “Are you telling me that you two haven’t had sex yet? How long have you been dating?”

He shrugged. “About a year.”

“A year?” I laughed again, though I flinched a little at the giggly sound of it. Then I pointed at my Lycra-encased chest. “Please tell me that the little prudish princess had let you touch these.”

The redness in his face turned from tomato to fire engine in shade. “Uh, yeah,” he said with a little stammer, looking down at his shoes. “We’ve fooled around a bit. We just haven’t, uh, gone all the way.”

“Interesting,” I said, leaning back against one of the workbenches. “Call me morbidly curious, but I really want to know what, exactly, you two have done. One, because my Jackson nearly pisses himself when he tries talking to a girl he likes. Last year, there was this smoking hot chick at the Tri-County Inventor’s Emporium who kept flirting with him. I mean, he was sweating bullets while she was practically ready to drag him off to a dark corner and …” I began to undulate my hips in a parody of a sexual act.

“Please stop,” he said, averting his eyes. “It’s hard to remember who’s in your head when you do that.”

I ceased immediately and planted my hands on my hips. “Sorry,” I said. “Too much fun with that memory.”

He waved his hand, still looking away. “What was two?”

“What was two what?” he asked. “You said ‘one’, then gave an example. Ergo, there must be two or more. Otherwise, why number them?”

I let out that giggle-chuckle again. “Right. Well, two is because I want to rub it in my Jackson’s face when I get home. I keep telling him that he could snag a hot girl if he simply tried, but he thinks I’m full of crap.”

“I see,” he said, with a tiny note of resignation. “Well, I guess Charlene wouldn’t be too upset if I revealed the details of our romantic sessions.”

“She won’t know, dude,” I said, dragging my finger across my chest in an X-fashion. “I promise.”

He sighed, then opened his mouth. Care to fill me in on what you two have done? One, because I’m morbidly curious as to what this body has experienced. Two, because you’re blushing so bad I can’t stop teasing you about it.”

He opened his mouth, but the sudden eruption of classic music blasting from somewhere behind him caused anything he was going to tell me to be put on pause. He glanced over his shoulder, then looked back at me as he pointed to a small black purse sitting on the table closest to the door.

“That’s Charlie’s phone,” he said, a note of worry leeching into his voice.

I blinked a few times, looking between him and the purse. Then I slowly walked over to the ominous-looking bag. I pulled it open slowly, as if half-expecting some mythical monster to leap out and attach itself to my face. Peering inside, I saw the ringing smartphone sitting at the top of the pile of stuff inside.

I pulled it out and looked at the caller ID. “It’s my dad,” I said. “Err, I mean, her dad.” I held the phone like it was a live grenade that might explode any second. “What do I do?”

“Answer it,” he said, giving me a shrug. “I mean, it’s not like you don’t sound like her. If he asks you any questions you don’t know the answer to, bluff.”

“Bluff? Gee, thanks a lot, Jack” I said with a snarky tone. “You are some kind of genius.”

Steeling myself, I swiped my thumb across the screen and took a deep breath before putting the device next to my ear and speaking.

“Hello … Dad?”

“Charlie?” my father said in a voice that was completely like my father’s. “Listen, Honey. I have to work late tonight. Do you think you can heat up some leftovers for dinner for you and Katie? There should still be some pizza from the other night in the fridge.”

“Uh, I guess. Sure.”

“Great,” he said with obvious relief. “Thanks a bunch. I should be home no later than ten. Just make sure your sister finishes all her homework.”

Homework? I crinkled my brow in confusion. “Okay. Uh, I will.”

There was a momentary pause. “Are you okay, Charlie? You sound a little down.”

“No,” I replied, trying to inject a bit more enthusiasm into my voice. “I’m fine. Honest.”

“You’re sure?” He sounded slightly skeptical, which made my already racing heartbeat drift into overdrive.

“I’m positive.” I insisted. “Just having a bit of a discussion with Jackson.”

“Oh? Well, tell him I said hello, and I’ll see you when I get home. Love you, kiddo.”

“Love you too,” I parroted. Wow, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d said that to my own dad. Seventh grade perhaps? I hung up the phone, then looked at Jackson.

“See?” he said, pointing at the device in my hand with a grin. “None the wiser. Now, I’m not going to try to convince you that all of your interactions will be that smooth. But I think between the two of us, we can pull it off.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know,” I said. “Not everything is exactly the same as it is on the other side.”

“Well, that’s to be expected. Mostly because, as a girl, Charlene probably made certain choices in situations that you probably never had to face. And vice-versa.”

“I guess that phone call is a prime example.”

“What do you mean?” Jackson asked, looking confused. “Sounded like a normal conversation between Charlie and her dad to me.”

“It wasn’t so much the call itself,” I explained. “More the purpose behind it. Apparently my dad is working late, so I’m supposed to heat up leftovers for me and Katie to have for dinner.”

His perplexed expression deepened. “Not following. You do know how to cook, right? Or at least use a microwave? I mean, you do have microwaves in your world, don’t you?”

I rolled my eyes again and showed him my middle finger. Pink manicured nail and all.

“Yes, dumbass, we have microwaves where I’m from. What’s got me at a bit of a loss about is why he expected me to do that. I mean, it’s not like I live at home anymore.”

“Maybe not. But Charlene does,” he said.

“She does?” I shook my head, sighing. “Okay, that kind of surprises me. I mean, I couldn’t wait to move out of my parents’ house and onto campus. Even though they repeatedly complained about how it didn’t make any sense to pay extra for me to live in a dorm that was only ten miles down the road. Guess I just expected my feminine self to be as independent as I was.”

Jackson didn’t say anything for a moment. Instead, he just stared at me with an expression that I knew all too well. It was same one he’d worn right after I’d stepped out of a chamber designed to give me superpowers, but had saddled me with a giant, bright pink beehive hairdo instead. It had been there on his face when I’d allowed him to inject me with nanobots that were supposed to allow me to control machinery with my mind. The side effect was that they’d turned my skin silver and my eyes into a pair of glowing green orbs.

It was the look he wore when he had bad news to deliver.

“What?” I asked, stepping closer. “What is it?”

“You said ‘they’ complained about you moving out.”

I nodded. “Yes. ‘They’. As in my mom and dad.”

He swallowed. “Charlie, uh, your mom is …”

I crossed the space between us in the blink of an eye. Phone clutched in one hand, I grabbed the front of his NASA shirt in the other and gave him a little shake. Which was kind of comical from an outside viewpoint, since I was now so much smaller than weaker than him.

“My mom is what, Jackson?”

He slowly met my eyes. “She’s, uh, dead, Charlie. She died a little over two years ago.”

* * * * * * * * * * *

I opened the front door of the duplicate of the house I’d grown up in and stepped inside to pause in the parquet floored foyer. The shadows of the late evening cast most of the interior before me in semi-darkness, and the eerie quietness of the place sent a shiver up my spine.

“Katie?” I called out as I closed the door behind me. The way it thunked into the frame nearly made me yelp.

Calm down, Chuck, I told myself. Stop acting like such a … girl. Well, shit.

I crossed into the living room, noticing the pink and purple backpack tossed unceremoniously on the sofa near the steps. Craning my neck, I peered up the twisting staircase to see the faint illumination coming from the room at the end of the hall. Katie’s room, to be precise.

I climbed the steps and headed in the direction of the barely-there glimmer. At the top of the steps, faint music drifted along with the light from a small gap in my sister’s doorway. As I neared, I recognized the beat as belonging to some kitschy pop song that was currently getting far too much airplay in my own dimension. Accompanying the bubblegum-sounding vocals was a steady bass beat that I soon recognized as being feet slamming against a thick carpeted floor.

“Katie?” I asked again as I pushed open the door.

The intensity of both the light and the music increased tenfold, and I stared in shocked wonder as my sixteen-year-old sister bounced up and down in a gyrating dance that seemed to be the stylings of a cocaine-fueled striptease mixed with the crowd-pleasing motions of a professional cheerleader.

However, it wasn’t what my sister was doing that caused me to stand in the doorway to her bedroom, gaping like a complete idiot. It was what she was wearing.

Or rather, what she wasn’t wearing. Like, you know, clothing.

I couldn’t get my mind to wrap around the realization that my kid sister, the most lovable pain in my ass there could be, was dancing around her bedroom in only a flimsy-looking pair of blue lace panties with a matching bra.

She continued to bop around, bouncing, and shimmying in a patently lewd manner for another fifteen or twenty seconds before her rotation brought her around to face me.

Her eyes widened to comical proportions as her mouth dropped open and released a shriek worthy of any horror movie victim.

I responded by nearly leaping completely back across the dimensional gap and utter my own ear-piercing wail.

Katie immediately hopped over to the phone on the dresser and pressed the stop button, killing the warbling pop singer in mid croon. She whirled back around, putting one hand over her heart as her breathing came in deep, rapid gasps.

“What the hell, Charlie?” she breathed, apparently trying to get her pulse down out of low earth orbit. “I didn’t think you’d be home for another hour.”

I leaned against the doorframe, my own hand clutching at my chest. I hadn’t expected to see come in and see her prancing around in her underwear. And I really hadn’t expected her to scream like a banshee.

“I … Dad called …” I spoke between my own halting gasps.

She nodded. “Working late again.” Then she dropped her hand and planted her hands on her hips as she rolled her eyes. “Let me guess, he wanted you to rush right home and make sure I was okay. And that I ate some dinner that wasn’t just a cup of yogurt?”

I shrugged as my eyes swept away from my barely-clothed sibling to the wall on the opposite side of the room. A blonde, teenaged boy in a leather jacket cast a smoldering look of desire from the print tacked to the wall. The script beneath identified him as Mike Salinger. Whoever that was.

“He suggested I heat up the leftover pizza.”

“Ugh!” She groaned, stomping around the bed toward me. “I don’t need a babysitter! I’m sixteen, dammit. I should be provided the courtesy of being treated like an adult.”

I shrugged again. “All I know is what Dad said.”

“What the hell crawled up your butt?” She snapped, stopping right in front of me. I continued to look anywhere but at her.

“Nothing,” I replied. “Just doing what Dad said to do.”

She snorted in a completely derisive tone. “Well, that’d be a first.”

Her words brought my gaze around. Unfortunately, what my eyes landed on first was a larger-than-expected expanse of creamy cleavage pushed higher by a bra that was obviously a tad on the small size.

I quickly turned my gaze away again. “Would you mind putting on some clothes?”

“What? Why?” Out of the corner of my periphery, I saw Katie rush over to the half-open door and plant herself behind it. “Is Jackson here, too?”

“No, he’s at his house,” I grumbled.

“Then why are you being such a granny about me putting on clothes?”

I reached up and pinched the bridge of my nose, closing my eyes. As I did, I began to mentally kick myself over and over. Back home, Katie would never have been so callous with her nudity. At first, I thought maybe it was a cultural thing native to this universe that wasn’t shared in my dimension. Then I realized it was something far more eye-opening.

Katie didn’t care that she was mostly naked because we were both girls. Hell, I’m sure Charlene and her sister had seen each other completely disrobed thousands of times. Nothing the least bit taboo or beyond the pale about two teenage sisters hanging out in their underwear. Probably happens a million times a day.

Act natural, Charlie. Just do your best not to ogle your little sister’s bigger than you knew boobs.

I brought my eyes back around to Katie, though I kept them focused squarely on hers.

“I’m not being a granny, you brat. I just think maybe dancing around the house in your panties is a bit much. I don’t want to have to see that while I’m eating.”

She rolled her eyes again. “I wasn’t dancing around the house, Charlene. I was dancing around my bedroom. Big difference.”

“Fine,” I said. “Anyway, I’m going to heat up the pizza. Eat if you want. Doesn’t matter to me.”

Turning around, I marched out of her room, pulling the door closed forcefully behind me. It slammed with an echo that reverberated down the hall. However, I distinctly heard my sister call me an “overbearing bitch” through the heavy wood.

Sighing, I walked back downstairs and through the living room toward the kitchen. Just as I was about to pass through the curved archway, my gaze fell onto the fireplace and the row of framed photos arranged on the wooden mantle above it.

Almost on instinct, I was drawn off course toward them.

I stared, mouth slightly open at the images. Nearly all of them were identical to ones my parents had on their own mantle. With the exception of the family consisting of two girls, that is. However, it was the last two photos that really got my attention.

One of them was from Charlene’s senior prom. She had worn a light blue gown with a deeply plunging neckline and a daringly risqué slit up the side. The boy standing next to her, his blonde hair uncharacteristically combed, looked like he was about to pass out from nervousness. As much as I would never admit it aloud, it added a level of attractiveness to Jackson that, as his guy friend, I never would have considered.

The second photo, though, only caused a shard of ice to pierce my heart. This one was taken at Charlene’s high school graduation. She stood there, smiling in her dark red cap and gown. Her dad was on her left, beaming at the camera. Katie was on her right, looking like she was bored out of her skull.

My parents had a similar picture from my own graduation. Same cap, same gown. Only where Katie stood in this one, there was a smiling, extremely proud-looking woman with silky auburn hair that hung down to frame her pretty face.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered to Charlene. As if she could hear me across the dimensional gap. “I can’t imagine how hard it was on you to lose her.” I swallowed, fighting tears that threatened to form. “Or how tough it was to believe that it was your fault she died.”

When Jackson had dropped the bomb on me that Charlene’s mother had passed, I nearly knocked him to the floor demanding to know the details. For a few moments, he refused. He kept repeating that the incident had nearly broken Charlene and he didn’t want me distracted by the knowledge.

“No one is going to ask you about it,” he insisted. “Those that know already know and those that don’t aren’t going to matter. No reason to reopen old wounds.”

“Tell me, Jackson,” I said, balling a fist. I wasn’t sure if I was actually going to hit him or not. My mind was still trying to process everything.

He stared at me for another twenty seconds or so, then sighed with a nod.

“Fine.” He pointed at the sofa as he walked in that direction.

I followed and we both sat down at opposite ends of the furniture.

“Charlie had cheer tryouts,” he said in a flat tone. “She was supposed to pick Katie up from middle school afterward and take her home. However, she got so excited about making the squad that she wanted to go to the Shake Shack with the other girls and celebrate. So she called her mom and asked if she could pick up Katie instead.”

I nodded, feeling a knot form in my stomach. I suddenly wondered if I really wanted to hear this tale through to the end. Mainly because I knew what the end result had been, but also because the tone of Jackson’s voice was one I’d never heard him use before. Like a sad reverence.

“Her mom normally took Highway 68 home from work.” Jackson continued. “To get Katie, though, she had to take I-40. At rush hour.” He swallowed loudly. “A tractor-trailer driver who had been driving about ten hours longer than he was legally allowed changed lanes without looking. His rig slammed into the side of the car and sent it skidding down a fifty foot embankment.”

“Oh … oh no.” I covered my mouth with my hands as the churning in my stomach began to increase.

Jackson frowned. “The M.E.’s report said she died instantly.”

I bit down on the thick part of my palm, willing myself not to vomit. Even though, technically, it wasn’t my mother to whom this had happened, the fact that it sort of was, made me incredibly nauseous.

Jackson sighed. “For weeks, Charlie wouldn’t eat. Couldn’t sleep. Every time, she would show up at my door, eyes bloodshot from tears and fatigue, she would make her way to this sofa and curl up on it. Staring at the ceiling for hours on end.”

“What did you do?”

“Nothing. I mean, other than sit on the floor next to her and make sure she knew she wasn’t alone. For a long time, I thought about trying to help. You know, scientifically.”

“How?”

“The human brain is like a computer in a lot of ways. Data is stored, waiting to be recalled when needed. Or even when not needed. I started working on a device that I thought might help lessen the impact of the guilt she was feeling.”

“Erase her memories of her mother?” I asked, horrified beyond belief.

“No! Nothing like that.” I thought maybe I could use the logic of the system to help her see that it was just a tragic accident. That it wasn’t her fault.”

“Did it work?”

He shook his head. “Her dad ended up making her go talk to a licensed psychiatrist before I could get the prototype completed. After about five months or so, she started to recover. When I saw she was getting better without my machinations, I put the device on the shelf and promptly moved on to something else.”

“She still carries that guilt, though,” I said, looking at him. “Right?”

He hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah. Which is why she didn’t move on campus. I think, on some level, she’s scared to not be close to her dad and sister.”

“Understandable,” I said, feeling a little bit more connected to the girl whose body I currently inhabited.

I sighed, then turned away from the fireplace to go into the kitchen. Flipping on the overhead lights, I found the leftover pizza, pepperoni with pineapple, in a large plastic container at the back of the fridge. I put the container on the table before reaching back in for a couple of cans of soda. As soon as I stood up, I felt a wave of disorientation roll through me. For a heartbeat, I was plunged into total darkness. As if the power had just gone out. A millisecond later, everything returned to normal.

I turned back around, letting the door of the fridge close behind me and realized my mother was standing on the opposite side of the island. She stared at me as if she were utterly confused about who I was or why I was in the room.

“Mom?” I asked, feeling my voice, my male voice, crack slightly.

“Charlie, what in the world is wrong with you this evening?” she asked, shaking her head.

I began to ask her if I was dreaming when I became aware of the fact that I was no longer holding a chilled metal can in each hand. In fact, my hands were currently empty. Glancing down, I saw that it wasn’t just the sodas that was missing. All traces of nail polish were gone from my larger, more masculine fingers. There were strands of dark hair poking out from the sleeve of my black nylon track jacket. Reaching up, I felt along the back of my head, discovering that the ponytail I had grown accustomed to unnervingly quickly was absent.

I was a guy again.

“Mom!” I said, blinking wildly. “I’m back!”

Another wave rolled across me, causing my temples to throb and my eyes to water completely out of focus. I shook my head rapidly, fighting against the dull ache. When I looked back up, vision once again clear, I found I was alone in the kitchen.

“Mom?” I asked weakly, turning my head back and forth in what I knew was a vain attempt to locate her.

The cans tumbled out of my grip and landed on the floor as my legs gave out and I dropped down with them.

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

By the time Katie had put on some clothes and made her way downstairs to the kitchen, I’d managed to recompose myself enough to have a couple of hot slices of reheated pizza plated up and sitting on the table waiting for consumption. The cans that had dropped to the floor were replaced with a couple of unshaken ones, each resting beside a plate.

My sister, now clad in a pair of yoga pants not too dissimilar from my own, bounced into the room and headed toward the table. Halfway there, she stopped and stared at me.

“Whoa,” she said, her grin falling off her face rapidly. “Are you okay? You look like you did the time you volunteered to try that anti-vertigo helmet and ended up tossing your cookies for almost two straight days.”

I made a face at the image her words formed in my mind. Luckily, my Jackson hadn’t ever subjected me to that particular experiment. The only time I’d been violently ill from being a Guinea pig was the time he thought he’d developed a healthier alternative to Yellow Dye Number 5. Unfortunately, once I’d ingested it, it made everything I ate or drank taste like a moldy tennis shoe freshly plucked from a sewer.

“I’m fine,” I mumbled, moving over to sit at one of the spots at the table. “It’s just been a really long day.”

My younger sister took the seat across from me, poking at a chunk of pineapple with one pinky. “I didn’t expect you to be home this early. Weren’t you supposed to hang out with Michelle and Josie this evening?”

“I’ve got an exam to study for,” I answered quickly, picking up one of my own slices.

Not to mention, I had no idea who the hell Michelle and Josie even was. If I was going to have any hope of bluffing my way through Charlene’s life for the new little while, I was going to have to do some serious social media research after dinner. Even still, I had the sinking suspicion I could do it effectively.

“Especially if I keep hallucinating at odd moments,” I mumbled around a rather greasy bite.

“What?” Katie asked, looking up at me and arching a brow.

“Nothing,” I replied after swallowing. I set down the half-eaten slice. “So, what sort of trouble are you getting into tonight?”

She shrugged, plucking a chunk of fruit off the pie to pop into her mouth. “I really need to get started on my English paper, but I really, really don’t feel like torturing myself. So, I’ll probably just hang out online for a while and go to bed. Good grades don’t just jump in everyone’s lap, you know?”

I nodded, ignoring the subtle barb. Mainly because I couldn’t stop thinking about the incident that had taken place only ten minutes before. It was all too easy to say that the stress of being ripped across dimensions had joined forces with the shock of finding myself in my alternate universe’s female body and then teamed up with finding out my not-Mom had died years earlier to produce one hell of a vivid hallucination.

But it had felt so real. It felt like I was back in my own home. With my own mother. In my own body.

Unless Jackson had worked some kind of miracle to repair the broken machine about three months ahead of schedule, I couldn’t put much stock in the idea that I’d momentarily returned home for a second or two. Considering the amount of power and coincidence it had taken to achieve a cross-over the first time, the odd of spontaneously leaping between parallel worlds should have been practically nil.

Of course, when it came to Jackson’s experiments, all bets were off.

“Earth to Charlie,” Katie chirped, yanking my attention back to the present.

“Huh?”

She rolled her eyes and leaned back in her chair. “Are you sure you’re okay? You’re really spacing this evening.”

I nodded. “I’m perfectly fine,” I said, hoping I sounded more convinced than I felt.

Katie’s mouth twisted into a mask of skepticism. “Right. Well, I asked if I could borrow your new green cardigan to wear to school tomorrow?”

I shrugged. “I guess so. Sure.”

She immediately jumped to her feet, pointing one finger at me.

“I knew it!” She cried, waving that finger around like a fencing foil. “I knew it.” She looked me over slowly before bringing her gaze back to mine, narrowing her eyes. “What did he do this time?”

I stared up at her, feeling like I must have missed something important and not really liking the direction this conversation seemed to be going. Though I was fairly sure to whom she was referring, I decided that I would play dumb.

“What did who do when?”

“Your boyfriend,” she replied in a matter of fact tone. “The great inventor.” She tapped the finger against her lips. “Let’s see. Raise your left arm.”

Not sure of her train of thought, I played along. Hell, for all I knew, this could be a standard game played in the Other-Miller household. Slowly, I lifted my left arm until my fingers were pointing at the ceiling.

“A-ha!” Katie yelled, practically dancing around her chair with glee. “I have been waiting forever for something like this! This is going to be totally awesome!” She planted her hands on her hips and gave me a rather sassy, superior grin. “Charlie, go to your room and pull out all the outfits you refuse to let me borrow. Take them to my closet and hang them up neatly.”

I frowned as I lowered my arm. “I’m sorry?”

The smile on her face faltered just a bit. “Too much at once? Okay, let’s start simple. Stand up.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Stand up,” she commanded again.

“Again, why?”

She blinked, confusion swimming across her face. She walked around the table and leaned in closer, staring right into my eyes. “You aren’t, like, hypnotized or something?”

I leaned in myself, looking right back at her. Then I reached up and bopped the tip of her nose with my finger. She yelped and hopped back a step.

“No, I’m not hypnotized, you goof.” I snorted in amusement. “Why the hell would you think that?”

She sighed, plopping down in her chair with a defeated slump in her shoulders. “Because you’ve been acting a little out of it since you came home. Then you simply agree to let me borrow your new sweater without so much as a warning to not ruin it.”

I arched a brow. “So, I don’t normally let you borrow my things?” As far as I was concerned, it shouldn’t have been an issue. Didn’t sisters normally share clothes and other stuff like that? I mean, if my Katie had asked to borrow a shirt or a hat, I wouldn’t have refused. I would have given her a weird look, probably, but not made a deal about it.

She shook her head, rolling her eyes again. “Seriously? No, Charlie, you do not ‘normally’ let me borrow any of your clothes. I consider myself lucky if you give them to me after you’re tired of wearing them. Nine times out of ten, you hand them off to one of your friends instead.” She sighed, flopping down in her chair.

“Oh,” I said, trying to wrap my mind around the purpose in my alternate self’s motivation for being so stingy about something as base as clothing. “I guess I forgot.”

She nodded, giving me an inquisitive glance. “Jackson Swiss Cheesed your brain again, huh?” Her smirk was identical to that of my own version of Katie.

“What are you talking about?”

“Remember last summer? When your boyfriend tried to boost your memory so you could ace that hellacious Trig final? Afterwards, you could perfectly recall every math fact and formula you’d ever seen. It was the other stuff you couldn’t remember.”

I stared at her, almost afraid to ask. “What other stuff?”

“Let’s see. How to tie your shoes, the months of the year, or Dad’s middle name.”

“Oh. Well, that’s not all that bad.”

“You also couldn’t remember your entire freshman year of high school.” She giggled. “It was hilarious.”

I groaned, reaching up to rub my temples as I closed my eyes. “Dear God, I don’t know which of us has it worse,” I grumbled.

“So,” Katie asked, continuing to stare at me. “Did Jackson do something to you? Is that why you’re being all nice and weird?”

I opened my mouth, then closed it, contemplating my answer. How close was Charlene with her sister? Back in my universe, Katie and I were sort of close. However, there was still a huge divide between us due to our opposite genders. If we’d grown up as sisters, though, perhaps that divide wouldn’t have existed.

For a second, I debated pretending that everything was fine. That there had been no mishap, and I hadn’t been an unlucky contestant winning yet another insane, reality-bending prize. We could just eat out dinner in peace and act like everything was completely normal.

Except …

The rational part of my brain, already working overtime to keep me from totally losing it over suddenly finding myself stuck in the completely wrong body, politely informed me that any hope of success in living my life as Charlene was going to require more help than her crazy genius of a boyfriend would be able to offer.

Jackson might know a ton of details about his girlfriend’s life, such as my … her class schedule, interests, and obvious habits. However, I somehow doubted he was as adept at the more … feminine aspects of her life. Aspects I needed to know in order to present a semi-convincing facsimile of the girl I currently appeared to be.

I was going to need an ally I could trust. One who would also believe my story and not immediately call in the guys with the straightjackets and padded cuffs. Someone who would be more than willing to show off being the smarter than me for once. A partner willing to walk me through how to be a proper big sister.

I looked at her without speaking for several long seconds, studying her anxious face. Finally, I gave my head a single nod. “There was an …incident in Jackson’s lab earlier this afternoon.”

She slapped her hands together and laughed. “I knew it! I just knew it! When you came into my room and stared at me, I knew something was up. So, Lover Boy screwed something up again. What happened?” Her eyes sparkled with a gleam that was pure joy. Apparently the Katie in this universe took great and perverse pleasure in the many accidents that happened in Jackson’s lab.

Just like mine did.

I sighed. “Okay. What I’m about to tell you is pretty, uh, fantastical. I’m sure your first instinct is to think I’ve gone bonkers or whatever is wrong is mental. So, let me assure you that nothing is wrong with my mind. No Swiss Cheese memories or anything of the sort. Got it?”

After a moment, she nodded once in agreement. “Got it. Of course, if your brain did have big gaping holes, you wouldn’t know it.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Katie, there are no holes in my head.”

“Given the company you keep, that remains to be seen.” Then she held up her hands defensively. “Sorry. Sorry. Please, continue.”

I leaned back in my chair and crossed my legs at the knee. I didn’t even realized I’d done it until I had. Kind of scary, actually. For a moment, I wondered if the subconscious actions would fade over time. Or would they simply increase? That, however, was a storm for another day.

“Do you remember that old sci-fi show ‘Sliders’?” I asked, hoping that the program was another constant between our worlds.

She gave me a quizzical look. “Not that I am aware. What does it have to do with what’s going on with you?”

Frowning, I held up my hand. “That would have made this so much easier to explain.”

However, before I could begin to explain the wacky story of how I actually belonged in a parallel dimension, that same impatience led her to leap back to her feet, covering her mouth with both hands. Then she lowered one to point at me. Or, more precisely, my mid-section.

“You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”

I blinked, mouth dropping open for a second before I snapped it shut. I narrowed my eyes and gave her the most disgusted glare I could summon.

“What? No. Absolutely not! Plus, totally eww!” I waved my hand in the air as a shudder passed through me at the, thankfully momentary, image of how such a situation might come about. Dis-gust-ing! “I can’t be pregnant, dummy. Jackson and Charlie have never had sex.”

She lowered her pointing arm and a frown danced across her face. Sighing she began to lower herself back into the seat, pausing a couple of inches before her bottom touched wood. A double-arched brow expression of utterly stunned confusion instantly replaced the frown.

“Hold up,” she said. “Why did you just refer to yourself in the third person?”

“I wasn’t referring to myself,” I said as deadpanningly serious as I could. “I was referring to Charlene.”

Her brow furrowed. “You were referring to Charlene. So, you’re saying that you’re not Charlie?”

I shook my head. “No. I am Charlie. Just not your Charlie.”

“Not my Charlie.”

“Exactly. I’m a Charlie from another dimension. A dimension that is a lot like this one, with some really big differences.”

“You’re an alien?” She shook her head. “Wow, Jackson really did a number on you.”

“I’m not an alien, Katie. I’m Charlie. Just not the Charlie that belongs in this universe.” Before she could parrot back my statement as a question, I stuck out my hand in her direction. “Perhaps I should clarify. Nice to meet you, Katie. My name is Charles.”

The teen stared at my offered hand. Then she looked from it to my face, her own lips partly hanging open in a mask of complete confusion. Which was understandable, actually. I had a lot more information about the situation and even I was still wrapping my mind around it.

“Charles?” She blinked, then ducked her head under the table for a second. When she came back up, she narrowed her eyes at me. “Are you saying you have a penis now? Jackson’s experiment turned you into a … guy?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Was Charlene going through the same thing with my Katie? Or was she still freaking out about her mom being alive? There was no way to tell.

“Well, to be exact, the experiment turned Charlene into a guy. As for me, I now have to deal with this.” I gestured at my larger than comfortable chest.

“Okay, so you’re saying that you were a guy named Charles and now you’re my sister, Charlene?”

I nodded.

“So … where is she?” Katie craned her head to peer around the room. “If she’s now a guy, where is she?”

“At my house,” I said. “In another dimension.”

She shook her head. “This is giving me a headache.”

I could see from the look on her face, I was losing her. Katie had a plethora of good qualities. Patience, though, wasn’t one of them.

“I’m sorry, Katie. You’re right, perhaps I was being deliberately obtuse because I didn’t want you to think I was completely crazy. However, I can tell you’re getting ready to get up and leave the room. Which means you’re probably going to avoid speaking to me for the rest of the night.” I leaned forward and put both hands on the table, palms down. “And I really cannot afford for you to do that.”

“Then tell me the whole story,” she said, glaring. “Start at the beginning and go through what happened over at Jackson’s. Or else I will leave.”

“Fine. But I need you to keep an open mind. What I’m going to tell you is going to seem way beyond belief.”

She snorted. “More beyond belief than the time your paramour aged you nearly two decades and you had to dig around in the back of our parents’ closet to find some ‘mom jeans’ that would fit your big ass?”

God, I really wanted to thump her on the head for that. However, I simply nodded.

“Yes, more fantastical than that.” I locked my eyes squarely on hers. “Earlier this evening, Jackson was showing me a device he’d built. It was a window that would allow you to look into a parallel universe. When he booted it up, it connected to a similar device in the lab of a Jackson from another dimension.”

“Two Jacksons?” A visible shudder swam through my little sister. “Color me terrified.”

I nodded, unable to disagree. My best friend he might be, but the thought of two of him, working together, was enough to give Chuck Norris nightmares.

To her credit, Katie remained in her seat, listening intently as I recounted the events that led to her sister and I swapping bodies and universes. I fully expected her to interrupt me several times, but she merely nodded along when she understood and gave me a confused look when she didn’t. Fortunately, those times were few and far between.

“Wait, so, just for the record, when you were standing in my doorway earlier bitching about me prancing around in my underwear …” Her eyes widened and a look of complete revulsion instantly appeared on her face. “Oh my god. This is totally gross.” She leaned forward, letting her forehead slam down on the top of the table as a shudder shook her small frame. “I can’t believe I was practically doing a striptease for my … brother? Do you peep on your little sister back home, you perv?”

I rolled my eyes. “First of all, I wasn’t peeping on you, dork. I heard the music and came to talk to you. The last thing I expected was to find you bouncing around like you were on the main stage at the Sin Den. My Katie doesn’t parade around in her panties.”

She lifted her head, glaring at me from beneath her golden bangs. “Still, you could have, I dunno, left the room or something.”

“I was trying to seem normal. Sorry.”

She let her head drop back down. “I should have just started my paper on Pride and Prejudice instead of being nosy about what you and Jackson had been up to. I mean, not even June Austen could produce this level of misery.”

“Jane,” I said quietly.

“Huh?” She lifted her head again. “Jane Who?”

“Jane Austen. The author of Pride and Prejudice? It’s Jane Austen.”

She stared at me for a second, then stuck out her tongue. “Not in this universe.”

I sighed. “Katie, please. I need your help. Like, really badly.”

“If Mister IQ Ten Thousand can’t help you get home,” she mumbled. “What makes you think I can do anything?”

“Jackson is working on swapping Charlene and I back to where we belong. However, he thinks it’s going to take a while before he can try it.”

That got her attention. “Define ‘a while’.”

“Months,” I said, frowning. “Two … at a minimum.”

“Wow. Two months of being a female version of yourself.” She sat up again. “How are you going to pull that off?”

“I need you to teach me how to be your sister. How to convincingly be Charlene.” I put on what I hoped was my most sincere and pleading face. Not that I could tell. Pouting and I really weren’t that well acquainted. “I need to be able to get by enough so that when Jackson does fix things, her life isn’t totally screwed up.”

“I see.” She slowly sat back up. As she did, I recognized the smirk that slowly spread across her youthful features. “Sure, I think I could definitely be of assistance with that.”

I sighed. “How much is this going to cost me? And don’t bother with pretending to be offended or shocked. I know that look, my own Katie wears it when she’s trying to either guilt me or blackmail me.”

She ignored my warning, placing one hand over her heart as her eyes widened in feigned indignation that I would dare suggest her help wouldn’t come free of charge. Then she simply smiled and held out her hand, lifting one finger.

“First, I want complete and unfettered access to your closet. Anything I want to be able to borrow anything at any time with no complaints.”

I’d already felt like this clothing thing was a non-issue. But, if it got me what I wanted, I was more than eager to agree.

“Done.” I started to rise.

A second finger joined the first.

“Secondly, you are going to be my personal chauffer. You can take me to school in the morning and pick me up in the afternoons. Plus, haul me and my friends around when we need it.”

“Don’t you drive?” I remember Katie forcing Dad to take her to the DMV super early on the morning of her sixteenth birthday. She had her brand new license in hand before breakfast time was over.

A dark cloud drifted across her face. “No. I … I just don’t, okay?”

I nodded, holding up my hands in supplication. “Fair enough. Is that all, or is there more to the extortion?”

She nodded. “Thirdly, you’re going to help me get on the cheer team.”

I snorted. “Just because this body is used to doing tumbles and splits, doesn’t mean I know how to. I was a cross-country runner in my more masculine life. I’m praying Jackson gets the machine repaired before basketball season starts.”

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t need you to show me any moves, Einstein. I already know the squad’s routines by heart. But Maryanne Johnson is the captain and she’s the one who decides who gets a shot at trying out and who doesn’t. Problem is, she’s not exactly my greatest fan. Not since the Brad Smith incident.”

“Okay, then how exactly am I supposed to …”

“Maryanne’s big sister is named Tabitha.”

I shrugged. “That means absolutely nothing to me. I don’t even know anyone named …” I blinked. “Wait. Tabitha Johnson? As in Tabby Johnson?”

“That’s the one.”

Tabitha Johnson had been the head cheerleader when I was in high school. Beautiful would have been too blasé a word to describe the golden-haired vision goddess who ran through the fevered, adolescent dreams of practically the entire male student body. Probably most of the female students, too. In addition to being supermodel gorgeous, she had also been one of the nicest, sweetest girls. A complete opposite of the typical head cheerleader stereotype.

“I suppose Tabby and Charlene are friends? Despite being two years different in ages?”

Katie nodded. “When Charlie was trying out …” She paused, staring at me. “Oh, wait … about that …”

“Yeah. Jackson gave me the rundown about what happened to your mom. I’m sorry.”

She held up her hand. “Look, I know you’re not her. And that you’re that just expressing condolences or something. But please don’t apologize in regards to that. Charlie said it, like, a zillion times. So much that it nearly drove me insane.”

I nodded. “Sorr … uh, about Tabby?”

“Right. Well, after that thing happened, Charlie attempted to give up on being on the squad. Out of all the guilt she was feeling. Tabby was the one who talked her into accepting a position on the squad. She actually became sort of a surrogate big sister to my big sister.” She shrugged. “If you ask me, it was as much Charlie’s friendship with Tabby that helped her as anything else. Even Jackson thought so.”

“Funny, he didn’t mention Tabby earlier when I was grilling him about Charlene’s life.”

Another shrug. “Well, considering she’s in college on the other side of the country, I guess he figured she wasn’t going to be an issue.”

“I see. So you want Charlene to call Tabby and get her to convince her little sister to give you a spot on the cheer squad?”

“No,” Katie snapped, shaking her head. “I just want Tabby to talk Maryanne into agreeing to let me try out.” A smirk dripping with arrogance appeared. “Once I show the rest of the girls my skills, they’re sure to vote me onto the team. Even if Miss High-and-Mighty disagrees.”

I pondered her requests for a moment. None of them seemed to be too much. Sure, Charlene might be angry when she returned to her own life to find she’d been giving Katie total access to her wardrobe. Probably even angrier about the whole “chauffer” thing. However, hopefully she’d be smart enough to think of it as an acceptable trade-off for keeping her life mostly intact.

As for convincing Tabby to lean on her little sister. That was going to take some planning. If Charlene and Tabby hadn’t spoken in quite a while, the other girl might want to catch up. Of course, I couldn’t reminisce about things I hadn’t experienced. Still, I was pretty confident I’d be able to figure something out before then.

“Deal,” I said. “Your terms are acceptable.”

A grin broke out across her face. “Awesome!”

“Now,” I said, interrupting her excited celebration. “Where do we begin?”

She froze in mid-fist pump. “Huh?”

“I asked where you wanted to begin?”

“Oh. Well … I really don’t know.”

I gaped at her. “You really don’t know?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know where to begin. I mean, you asked me to help you be Charlie, but I didn’t bother to actually think about what that would entail.” She shrugged. “I was kind of hoping you’d, you know, ask me how Charlie did this. Or did that. You’d ask and I’d tell you.”

I sighed, slumping in my seat. “That might be great. If I was another girl who simply wanted to pretend to be Charlie. I don’t even know what to ask you.”

For a moment, we did nothing but stare at each other. Then, like a flash of inspiration, I hit upon a possible solution.

“Katie?”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s pretend that one of your guy friends got, I don’t know, zapped by a ray that turned him into a girl. And he came to you to ask you how to blend in so that people would think that he’d always been a girl. Where would you start with him?”

She didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she turned around and walked across the room to the doorway. Then, before she passed through, she turned around and paced back.

“Okay, I think I get where you’re going with this. This hypothetical friend needs me to coach him on how to be a girl, right?”

“Right,” I said. I almost threw in the fact that I didn’t need to learn how to be just any girl. I needed to learn how to be Charlene.

She paced back and forth again. “So, here’s a guy. He’s been a guy his whole life. Now, he’s suddenly a member of the superior gender, and doesn’t know anything about living like that. Plus, he doesn’t have the decades required to learn like a normal person.”

“Misandry aside, pretty much.”

She stopped and looked at me, a single brow arching.

“Charles, what have you done since waking up as my sister? Have you done more than just glance in a mirror to confirm you weren’t in Nebraska anymore?”

“Nebraska?”

She shot me an annoyed look. “The Wizard of Oz? You’re not in Nebraska anymore, Toto.”

“It’s Kansas back on the other side.”

“Whatever. What I’m asking is, have you check out the goods since then.” She pointed her finger at me, moving it up and down as she pointed at the area of my body from my neck down to my feet.

“Check out the goods?” I shook my head vehemently. “No, Katie, I have most certainly not ‘checked out the goods’.”

She nodded. “Well, unless you’re planning on wearing those workout clothes until you finally go home, which I don’t recommend because they’re already starting to get ripe, you’re going to have to get to know the ins and outs of your new exterior.”

I felt my stomach drop. “No. Surely you don’t mean …”

Katie giggled as she bounced over and grabbed my hands, pulling me to my feet.

“Upstairs!” She barked. “There’s no way you’re going to be able to pull off being a girl if you don’t get over your hang-ups.”

“My hang-ups?”

“Yes. As long as you keep thinking about that being Charlene’s body, you’re never going to be comfortable in it. If you can’t be comfortable, you can’t move forward.”

“What, exactly, are you suggesting?”

She swooped around behind me and placed her hands on my back, pushing me toward the doorway.

“Buckle up, Chuck,” she tittered. “You’re about to get nekkid!”

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

Katie threw her hands in the air in disgust and sighed.

“Jesus Christ! Come on, Chuck. Stop being such a whiny little priss.”

“I’m not being a priss,” I replied, knowing I sounded exactly like the whiny priss she was accusing me of being. “I’m … taking my time. No need to rush into it, you know?”

Another toss of the hands, this time followed by a super-exaggerated eye roll.

“Rush into it? It’s called undressing, doofus. I understand wanting to take it slow and sensual when the timing’s right. But unless you’re planning on seducing yourself, you’re not being romantic, you’re being a priss.”

After informing me, which a smile larger than I could have ever believed possible, that I needed to get naked as the first step in learning how to be a girl, Katie had practically shoved me through the living room and up the stairs to my bedroom. I was honestly surprised her eagerness to get started didn’t cause me to stumble over any of the furniture.

When we crossed into my room, however, I stopped dead in my tracks.

Back in my own dimension, I lived in a dorm suite on campus with three other guys. So the room I’d occupied until I graduated high school had been turned into my mother’s sewing and exercise room. The last time I’d seen it, two days ago, it had been cluttered with a stair climber, a stationary bike, and a table littered with scraps of cloth.

But on this side of the multiverse, Charlene never moved out. As such, the room before me was exactly how it’d been that morning when she’d left for class.

The hardwood floors were exactly the same. So was the bay window opposite the door. Everything else, though, was completely different.

The bed was a four-poster queen with a white wood frame and headboard. The thick comforter, a patchwork of pinks and purples, was in a bit of disarray. There was a dresser against the wall across from the bed, a three-drawer piece that matched the bed and the small nightstand next to it.

The closet on the far side of the room was closed, but the angle of it was wrong. Almost as if the original door had been moved at some point in the past so that the narrow space which I was accustomed to had been enlarged. The door itself was open just a crack, but the overhead light didn’t cast enough illumination to see into the darkness.

There were several framed posters adorning the walls. The one over the bed was a Monet. Waterlilies, I think. There was also a movie poster for a film called “Days of Love”. The image was of the front of a farmhouse with three women sitting on a porch, relaxed and laughing. The only one I recognized was Anna Kendrick.

“Weird, huh?” Katie asked, glancing up at my obviously shocked expression. “Guess I don’t need to ask if your room looks like this.”

I shook my head. “Not even close.”

“Well, you’ll have plenty of time to get acclimated to the décor. Move it.”

She pushed me into the room, marched past me, and opened the closet door. There was a full-length mirror hanging on the inside. Now that more light could get through the opening, I could tell, even from across the room, the inside of the closet was close to maximum capacity.

Katie placed her hands on her hips. “Well, let’s get this over with. The sooner you get over the hump…” she snickered. “Or, in your case, humps, the sooner we can move on to more interesting topics.”

I walked slowly toward her, and the mirror. The closer I got to my new reflection, the more apprehensive I became. Back in Jackson’s lab, I’d given Charlene a cursory examination through the dimensional window. But it had been more of a response to actually seeing what I would have looked like had I been born a girl.

As before, the weird sort of vertigo of watching my not-reflection get closer settled in. Only this time, it was far less jarring. Hopefully, it would eventually vanish altogether, but for right now, I focused simply on my new face.

There was a smattering of blue shadow across my upper eyelids, accentuating my eyes. As I stared at myself, I noticed for the first time that that the gray of them was like that of storm clouds. The nose parked between those eyes was slightly slenderer than I was used to, with the tip just barely upturned. My lips were full, and thankfully devoid of any sort of lipstick. Save the nearly vanished remains of the cherry gloss I’d tasted earlier.

“Have you seen yourself yet?” Katie asked softly, watching me study the girl in the mirror.

“Yeah. I little. But not like this.”

“Ogle away, girl. It’s your body now.”

I shot her a glance. “Temporarily.”

She sighed. “You know what I meant.”

Turning back to the mirror, I slowly lifted my arms to reach behind me to the band holding my long auburn hair up. As I did, I both noticed and felt my chest shift with the motion. The mounds actually seemed to inflate even more. Snapping my attention back to my new face, I yanked the cloth-covered elastic free. When I did, the whole silky mess came down to drift over my shoulders and frame my face.

The effect, to put it mildly, was stunning.

Katie laughed. “Yeah, yeah, you’re hot. The only consolation is that you don’t really know it yet.”

I glanced over at her. “Sounds like someone’s jealous.”

“Duh. I mean, look at you. Her. Whatever. And on top of that hotness is a set of brains. Sure, maybe not in the same league as her boyfriend, but enough to ace most of her classes. Totally not fair.”

I turned back to my reflection. The more I stared, the more I saw just how pretty Charlene truly was. Katie was right, it wasn’t fair. Because, let me tell you, Charlie was not anyone’s idea of a hunk. Samantha Thomas being the lone exception.

“Okay, that’s enough staring at your face. It’s the areas below your neck you’ve got to come to terms with first.” She pinched the front of my vest with her finger and thumb. “Strip.”

“Give me a second,” I said, feeling my pulse quicken. “No need to rush into it.”

Which had led to her labeling me a “priss”.

“It’s like a band-aid,” she said, gesturing in the air. “Just rip the thing off and be done with it.”

I drew in a breath, bit down on my lower lip, then reached up with a mildly trembling hand to grab the zipper on the front of the garment. Slowly, I pulled it down, revealing a dark blue sports bra beneath. As the confining factor of the vest loosened, the buoyant globes held in check by the bra expanded.

“Holy …” I tried to not stare at the deep cleft of cleavage, but that would have been like asking me not to stare at a unicorn or something. “They’re … huge.”

Katie giggled. “Not really. I mean, yeah, they’re bigger than mine. But I’m only sixteen.” She paused for a second, then shrugged. “Then again, I guess they’re humongous when compared to what you’re accustomed.”

“That’s putting it softly,” I grumbled.

I slipped my arms out of the vest and tossed the jacket over onto the bed. Turning back to the mirror, I was finally able to remove my eyes from my new bosom to gawk at the ripple of muscle located beneath the bottom edge of the sports bra.

Long-distance running will keep you lean, with the only part of your anatomy getting rock-hard being your calves and quads. A six-pack was not the standard fare of a cross-country athlete.

Apparently that was so not the case with cheerleading.

I reached down and ran my fingers over the taut muscle, shuddering a bit at the feeling of the smooth, hairless, super-soft skin of Charlene’s abdomen. With my index finger, I traced the outlines of the muscles beneath, my eyes focused squarely on the mirror.

“Wow,” I breathed in awe. “I always wanted to have six-pack abs. Just never thought it would take travelling to another dimension, and another body, to get them.”

Katie laughed. “Yeah. Well, that’s the results of almost an hour of exercise in the morning. Every morning.”

Her statement drifted past my awareness as I nodded in agreement. My fingers slid over a small scar on the lower right side, just above the curve of my hip bone. I glanced over at Katie.

“Appendectomy,” she said.

I blinked, staring at her for several long seconds. “Like, three weeks after her fifteenth birthday? I asked.

Her eyes widened. “Really? You too?”

I shook my head. “I had tonsillitis. Weird, huh? So much is exactly the same and then there are things that are really close.”

Katie grinned and reached out to poke one of her fingers into the side of my boob.

“And some things that are way Hella different.”

I nodded. “Tell me about it.” I turned back to the mirror and worked on building my resolve to continue the undressing and inspection.

“Keep going, Chuck,” Katie said, reaching out to tug on the waistband of the yoga pants. “No need to press pause now.”

I nodded in agreement. It was better to just go ahead and get this over with. If I chickened out now, I would never be able to move forward. “Okay,” I said in a slightly trembling voice. “Here goes nothing.”

Using the toe of my right shoe, I pressed against the heel of my left and slipped my foot free. The sock that appeared was white and pink with little red hearts all over the top. Seriously? I shook my head in a passing moment of dread about the clothing I was going to be stuck with during my hopefully brief stay. I was starting to get the feeling Charlene was quite the girly-girl.

Grabbing the waistband of the pants, I pushed them down a pair of very toned, shapely legs. I pulled one foot free, then the other, kicked the bunched up material aside, and stood back up.

“Oh,” Katie said, covering her mouth with one hand as her eyes drifted down to my posterior. “I think someone was planning on a little private time with Jackson when she got dressed this morning.”

I didn’t bother to answer. Instead, I gaped at the satiny, dark red material that covered my more intimate bits. Though the front of the garment was obviously more than enough to keep everything hidden from view, to me it felt like less cloth than one would find in a hanky.

A second later, I realized that what I thought was a minor wedgie that had been bothering me since I woke up in Jackson’s lab, was in fact, a thong.

I let out a little squeak of surprise, and covered my crotch with both hands. My cheeks, not the ones with the high end lingerie nestled between them, ignited with shame.

“Oh lord,” I groaned, feeling like I was completely naked and standing in the center spot on a platform stage during a Nationals Meet awards ceremony. “Just shoot me now.”

The smile behind Katie’s fingers widened. Quickly followed by a giggle that soon devolved into a round of uncontrollable guffaws. Not even my most potent death stare could rouse her from her chortling.

“This is absolutely precious! I …” More laughter. “I can’t …” Now she was stumbling backwards to the bed, where she collapsed on her side and curled up as the humor of the situation, which I found not the least bit funny, overwhelmed her rational processes.

Grumbling, decided against putting the yoga pants back on. Instead, I marched over to the bed and leaned over her.

“I don’t find this funny in the least, Katherine!”

Her eyes opened, looked up to see me there with what I knew was a furious expression plastered on my face, then closed again as another fit of giggling ensued.

I balled my hands into fists, nails digging into the palms. I was dealing with an existential crisis of galactic measure and one of the few people I thought I could count on for help was currently chuckling herself into an early grave. Was my own Katie so … flighty? I was ashamed to realize that I really didn’t know.

“You’re supposed to be helping me,” I said, stomping my foot. Which led to a wince when I realized that was totally not something I normally did. Damn this body’s unconscious muscle memory.

Katie continued to laugh, attempting to speak actual words through the giggling.

“You … hahahaha … boy in … hahahahaha … thong.” Another round of high-pitched laughter. “Your face. Hahahahaha! Your face.”

I gritted my teeth together, the heat from before surging up my neck and onto my cheeks. I had patience with a lot of things. Some of them, like remaining friends with Jackson despite the effect of his wacky experiments, required a near infinite amount. However, one thing I couldn’t stand was being laughed at.

At least, when I wasn’t trying to be funny.

I glared at the giggling girl on my bed.

“If all you’re going to do is laugh and mock me, then consider our deal off. I’ll just stumble around like the clueless guy I am and do the best I can to keep Charlene’s life on track by my lonesome.” I waited a dramatic three seconds before lowering my voice to what I hoped was a threatening level. “And I’ll make sure that Jackson knows how much help you weren’t. That way he can give her a full report the moment she’s back on this side of the multiverse.”

The laughter cut off as abruptly as if I’d pulled a plug. She leapt up to a sitting position on the edge of the bed, looking up at me with wide-eyed concern as the color drained from her formerly blushed face.

“You … you wouldn’t,” she said in a near-whisper. “She would kill me.”

I nodded. “Not to mention, I might even be so inclined to call Tabby Johnson and argue against her sister giving you a shot to be on the squad.”

Now, I couldn’t be completely sure what kind of a person Charlene was. Our lives had a lot of similarity, but that didn’t mean that we had matching personalities. For all I knew, she was the type of big sister to constantly lord her age and connections over her younger sibling like some sadistic drill sergeant toying with a fresh-off-the-bus recruit.

Though, considering everything I’d managed to learn about her in the short few hours I’d been trapped in her skin, I doubted my doppelgänger was anywhere close to being such a horrible person. Katie, of course, would know that about her sister. So it was likely that such a threat coming from Charlene might have been brushed off as idle.

However, Katie was well aware that her sister wasn’t currently in this body’s driver’s seat, and had no earthly clue what type of a person this strange boy from another universe might be. For all she knew, I might actually follow threw on my threats.

After a second, she nodded.

“I’m sorry,” she said, actually sounding contrite. “Since you dropped the news on me in the kitchen about what happened to you, I couldn’t get the picture out of my head of my sister over in your world. Trapped as a boy. Having to go through the things that you were over here.” She swallowed, wiping at the tears straining to leak over her eyelids. “And the more I thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed.”

“Okay …” I said, wondering if she was going to get to her point anytime this evening.

“Well, when you started acting all weird while you were looking at yourself in the mirror, it made me think about Charlie looking at her new self. Then n you saw yourself in her panties … I sort of just lost it. All I could think of was the fact that my holier-than-thou big sister was probably sporting wood.” She frowned, looking up at me with still-damp eyes. “I really am sorry for laughing at you.”

I felt my heart soften as my icy rage simply melted away to steam. I sat down next to her, cognizant of the cool surface of the comforter against my naked butt.

“Okay,” I said softly. “I understand. It’s a lot to process. I’ve at least had a couple of hours’ head start.” A small grin formed on my face as I leaned over and bumped my shoulder lightly against hers. “I guess my reaction was pretty funny, wasn’t it?”

She waited a second and nodded. “A little. Which makes me a little jealous that your Katie is probably enjoying my sister’s predicament.”

I shrugged. “She might not even tell her. My Katie is a lot of things, but knowledgeable in how to be a guy isn’t one of them. More likely, Charlene will ask my Jackson for help.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Wait, you’re not, uh, gay, are you?”

I shook my head “Not in the least. Why?”

She sighed. “Because Charlene really loves Jackson. Like, seriously in love. I think it’s going to be hard on her to be around him.”

I put my hand on her knee. “I’m sure she’ll be okay. Jackson is my best friend. I’m positive he’ll look out for her while she’s over there.” I smiled at her, then gestured at the mirror. “So … shall we continue?”

She shook her head and stood up. “No. I think I should step out for a bit.”

I rose from the bed as well, my pulse quickening as my stomach did one of those rollercoaster level drops.

“I thought you were going to help me.”

“I am helping you, Charles.” She pointed at the mirror. “I’m leaving the room so you can do this at a pace that’s comfortable for you. Take an hour. Hell, take all night, if that’s what you need. My standing here staring at you, or laughing, isn’t going to make the process any easier.”

She smiled up at me. A genuine, warm smile that was just like my Katie.

I nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”

“Just remember,” she said as she reached out and put her hand on my bare shoulder. Her fingers were warm against my chilly flesh. “This is your body now, not hers. Maybe it’s only a temporary situation. Maybe it lasts longer than anyone expects. However, you’re not going to be able to make other people believe you’re Charlene unless you’re comfortable being Charlene.”

I stared at her for a moment, then flashed a tiny smile of my own.

“You’re awful wise for a sixteen-year-old, you know that?”

She laughed and walked toward the bedroom door.

“I have to be, Chuck. My older sister is a gorgeous, popular, smarty-pants who farts unicorn kisses and is head over heels for a lunatic who might very well be one of the most brilliant minds of the century.” She shrugged. “I’m sure your Katie is just as wise.”

I shrugged. “Maybe. But I know she’s just as caring.”

Katie opened the door and stepped into the hallway. Before she closed it behind her, she turned back to look at me through the opening.

“When you’re ready for Stage Two, you know where my room is.” Then she closed the door, leaving me alone with my not-reflection.

For a few moments, I didn’t move. Partially because of the nagging voice in the recesses of my brain that focused on the finally spoken possibility that my time as a hot college cheerleader might not be as brief as I’d originally hoped.

I cut my eyes upward to the ceiling, as if I could peer through the plaster and wood over my head and gaze across the boundary that separated our universes.

“I really hope you’re having an easier time learning to be me,” I whispered, “Because I’m going to need all the luck I can get learning to be you.”

Slowly, I turned an approached the mirror. Even though the sight of myself in ladies’ underwear still struck me as completely unnatural, I had to admit one undeniable fact.

Charlene looked good in it.

Drawing in a breath, I turned to look at my profile. The butt I had originally envisioned as being larger than humanly possible, wasn’t really all that big. Sure, there was a noticeable curve, but it was obvious that all the exercise and such kept its size well under control. Hesitantly, I reached around and stabbed one of my fingers into the flesh.

“Firm,” I said as I turned even more around so that my chin was resting on my shoulder and nearly my entire rear was visible in the mirror. “But that butt-floss has got to go. I don’t care how good it looks.”

Turning back to face forward again, I bit down on my lower lip, then grabbed the bottom edge of the sports bra. Before I could start to second-guess myself, I pulled the stretchy fabric up over my head and let it drop to the floor next to the pants. My hands were securely pressed against my hips as I studied my naked torso.

Charlene’s breasts were a little larger than the constricting nature of the athletic top led me to believe. To a guy who’d never so much as had an ounce of flab across his chest, they seemed gigantic. However, the more I forced myself to be objective in my observation, the more I began to deduce that perhaps they were not the titanic stripper globes I feared. In fact, I dared think that perhaps they were about the same size as my mom’s. Guess Charlene inherited some of her physical characteristics from her.

Carefully, I pulled one hand off my hip and brought it up to gently cup one. Watching the action made me laugh at myself.

“I can’t remember how many times I’d answered the question ‘if you were a girl, what is the first thing you would do’ with ‘fondle my own boobs’.” I shook my head. “Now when the unthinkable has actually happened, I keep expecting to get my hand slapped.

The lump of fat and skin was semi-solid, with just enough squish and heft to warn me that it would be unwise to forgo support if I were going to do anything crazy, like gymnastics. Or walk at more than a brisk pace.

The areolas were darker than my male ones had been, and easily three times the size. Where my boy nipples barely extended an eight of an inch, the ones I currently sported were almost a full inch in length.

“All the better to suckle a child with,” I mumbled, then instantly regretted it.

Having achieved satisfaction that my new chest assets weren’t the horrible curse I’d feared, I went for the last hold out in my bodily exploration.

“Here goes nothing,” I said as I hooked my thumbs through the waistband of the panties and pushed them down to my knees. Still bent over, I let them drop to my ankles and carefully stepped out of them. When I stood upright again, I realized that my new pubic area perfectly resembled the pubic area of any of the few girls I’d actually seen naked.

From the way I was standing, the vaginal opening was almost invisible. Just a small line surrounded by a neatly trimmed patch of reddish-brown curls that informed me that the carpet did indeed match the drapes. The hair was shaved into a little patch about small triangular shape approximately an inch or so in length and around two inches wide at the top.

I felt no need to touch myself down there just yet. Not from any sort of fear or anxiety, but more from the fact that I was working on accepting my new body as mine. There would be plenty of time to touch and explore the plumbing when I got around to taking a shower.

“There,” I said to the girl looking back at me. “Not so bad, right? Before long, it won’t give me déjà vu to look at you.” I smiled at myself, actually liking the way the expression seemed to light up my face. As a guy, I generally leaned more toward smirking when I was amused, due to possessing a couple of crooked teeth. My parents had left the decision to get orthodontics up to me, and I’d declined the corrective measure.

Charlene, however, had obviously accepted and the result was a smile I had no doubt had put many a high school boy to swooning.

Running my fingers through my hair, I grimaced at the feeling of dried sweat and product. Turning around, I stepped into the closet and paused at the incredible amount of clothing options that lay before me.

Pants. Dresses. Skirts. Blouses. Sweaters. T-shirts. All meticulously organized by type, then by color. The fear that I would have to choose between gym attire and pretty pink princess evaporated like an ice cube in an oven. I had the feeling that I could avoid anything that showed my legs for the entire time I was stuck here, and no one would so much as bat an eye.

However, my main purpose for venturing into the walk-in closet waited for me on a hook next to the door. A large and fluffy white terrycloth robe. I’d spotted it earlier when Katie had opened the door. Just the perfect thing to put on for my trek to the bathroom.

I slipped my arms into the sleeves, sighing as the ultra-soft material caressed my sensitive new skin. Closing the folds over each other, I secured them with the belt, and turned back to the mirror. The robe fell to mid-thigh and the opening at the top was loose enough to reveal the deep cleft of my cleavage.

Reversing direction, I drifted across the room to the dresser and took inventory of the items within. The top drawer was full of underwear. Bras and panties in nearly every color and pattern. There was easily three dozen or more matched sets and another dozen of separates. However, as I lightly rummaged through them, I came to a horrifying realization: the number of panties that contained a full bottom numbered only five.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” I grumbled. “You have got to be kidding me.”

Guess I was going to have to go shopping. Either that or get used to having a strip of fabric jammed in my crack.

The second drawer contained about a bajillion pairs of socks. As well as assorted stockings and hose. Despite my adamant stance that the more sheer items were going to collect dust while I was around, I couldn’t stop myself from reaching into the drawer and brushing my fingertips along the material.

As a guy, one of my greatest weaknesses when it came to women’s clothing was stockings. Even the most ordinary looking girl jumped several notches of hotness in my book if she was wearing hosiery. Something about nylon-clad legs always managed to trip my triggers and catch my attention.

Too bad for the guys in this universe, they wouldn’t be seeing Miss Charlene Miller’s hosed legs anytime in the foreseeable future.

The bottommost drawer held an assorted array of athletic apparel. Sweatpants, yoga pants, tights, shorts, sports bras, and tank tops. All of it serving to remind me that my normal exercise routine, which generally consisted of heavy duty stretching followed by a run, was going to have to be taken up a notch. Katie had mentioned an hour of exercise each morning. For starters.

If that was the case, I was sure me and the contents of the third drawer were going to be well acquainted.

I returned to the underwear storage and pulled out a matching set that didn’t seem to be too bad. The panties, despite being yet another thong, were a light peach color with a barely-there pattern of intricate swirls and loops in white. The accompanying bra was simplistic. With two cups, two shoulder straps, and a single back strap with a triple-eye hook fastener.

I’d removed one remarkably similar from Samantha a couple of times, but the best part was the fact that I could remember watching her put it back on afterwards. All I had to do was duplicate her and I’d be golden.

I turned the bra over in my hand, pulling on the small tag attached to one side of the back strap. 36-C. Okay, well at least I knew how big I was. Not that I had anything to compare it to. As a guy, the only measurement of boobs to which I subscribed was “flat”, “nice”, “big”, “wow”, and “dear god”.

One thing for sure, I was going to come out of this experience a lot less chauvinistic than I started.

Tossing the undergarments on the bed, I opened the door and stepped out into the hall. Turning left would take me to the bathroom Charlene likely shared with Katie. Turning right would bring me to Katie’s room. As much as I felt like I really needed to get cleaned up, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to pop in and let my confidante know that I was making fairly good progress.

As far as I was concerned.

I stopped outside her partially-closed door. Considering the state of undress she’d been in the last time I just barged inside, I thought knocking might be required. Lifting my hand, I rapped lightly on the frame with my knuckles.

“Come in.” Her voice was barely audible.

I pushed open the door and stepped inside. Katie sat on the bed, with a thin book open on her lap and a red ballpoint pen in her hand. She glanced up at me, her eyes swooping up and down over my towel-clad form.

“I guess you finally got down to your birthday suit, huh?”

I nodded, but didn’t say anything. There was a strangeness to her voice. A softness that had an undertone of worry in it. Did she think my idea too far-fetched? Had she retreated, not to give me space as she’d claimed, but to get away because what I was asking her was impossible? Was the plan of living as her sister doomed from the start?

“What’s wrong?” I asked, taking a step closer.

She sighed. “I was sitting here, you know, while you were exploring yourself. Trying to make a list of the things we should focus on first. The things that all us girls already know that any boy, not just one trying to be Charlene, should know.”

I nodded. Her plan made sense. “Like putting on makeup? Coordinating outfits? Sitting properly?”

Her blonde head bobbed once in agreement.

“So, again, what’s wrong?”

“I started the list, but then got sidetracked with the more, uh, biological aspects of being female. Things that guys have zero experience with.”

“Like, sitting down to pee?”

She shook her head as her fingers curled around the edges of the book on her laps. Now that I was closer, I realized that it wasn’t a book, actually. It was a monthly planner. Five consecutive days were denoted with big red “X” s.

“No,” she said, looking down at the calendar. “It was the other biological process that sprang to mind.”

My blood turned to ice water. I had refused to let myself think of that particular function of being in a young, fertile, feminine body. Perhaps on some level, I clung to the hope that Jackson would find a way to send me back home before that day came. Now, looking at the expression on Katie’s face, I knew without question that wasn’t going to happen.

“How …” my voice caught in my throat. “How long do I have?”

Yes, it sounded ridiculous. As if I were asking my oncologist when I was going to die. Rather than simply inquiring as to when Charlene’s monthly visitor was due to arrive.

Katie’s gaze practically dripped with sympathy.

“Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your view, Charlene’s cycle is fairly regular. Not all of us are that lucky.”

I drew in a deep breath and held it for a second, fighting against the urge to scream.

“How long?” I asked again.

“Three days.”

The Other Side of Me – Part 5
by Limbo’s Mistress

As a guy, I hated taking a bath. Not the act of bathing, mind you, but the practice of sitting in a too-shallow basin of water wasting time that could be better spent doing something else. I preferred to jump into a scalding hot spray, scrub the grime from all my nooks and crannies, then get out and on with my life. Easy, simple, done.

However, as I lounged in the steaming garden tub, the water slowly lapping at my upper chest, I couldn’t deny that the sensation was rather pleasurable. Calming, even. I couldn’t be sure if my change in opinion was due to Charlene’s more sensitive skin or from the fact that lying there soaking provided me with a chance to just … absorb.

Reflect.

The bath had been Katie’s idea. After dropping the news that in a few days’ time I’d be bleeding profusely from an area that, for guys, just wasn’t supposed to bleed, she suggested I retreat to the sanctuary embrace of the tub.

“Charlene has a habit of taking really long baths when she’s stressed. Especially in the evening.” She shrugged. “She says it helps slow her mind and allows her to get to sleep easier.”

I continued to stare dumbly at my little sister’s duplicate, neurons still processing the information she’d just unhappily imparted to me. A bath? Hell, I sort of doubted a round of elephant tranquilizers would be able to put a dent in the speed of my racing thoughts.

Did Charlene use pads? Or tampons? Those were the only two choices, right? Was there a third option available? I barely knew how to sit and walk like a girl, now I was expected to just … menstruate? Did it just flow out on its own? Or did it collect to be released in timely intervals? Like a bladder? Would I be able to tell when it was time to let go and let it loose?

My legs decided a repeat of the lab incident was in order. Thankfully, this time my bottom landed on Katie’s bed, rather than on a concrete floor.

“I’m completely unprepared for this,” I moaned. Every ounce of confidence I’d gathered over the past two hours, every molecule of assurance, simply vaporized. Before I even knew what was happening, I could feel hot, wet drop sliding down my cheeks as my vision blurred.

“Oh, Chuck,” Katie said softly, leaning over to wrap her arms around me. “It’s okay. Really. Every girl goes through her first cycle. You’re just doing it at nineteen, rather than thirteen.”

I wiped one cheek with the back of my hand, turning my face toward her.

“Thirteen?”

She shrugged a shoulder. “That’s when Charlene started. She was actually ahead of most of her friends. They were jealous.” She laughed a little. “Charlene wanted to curl into a hole and die.”

I sniffled. “I can sympathize.”

Katie squeezed me again. “I know the idea probably scares you. Or grosses you out. Or both. But you’ll pull through it. I promise.”

I nodded, sniffling again. Jesus, what was with the tears? I hadn’t cried in years. Not since I took a bad tumble at a regional meet, twisted my knee, and was sure my running days were totally over.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled, wiping at my eyes again. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“Well, I think the beginning of your problem was getting trapped in my sister’s body. If this is the first time you’ve broken down since the incident, I’m pretty impressed. If I suddenly woke up in another universe with a boy’s body, I think I’d scream bloody murder for hours.”

I shook my head, unable to refrain from smiling. “I doubt it. If you’re like my Katie, you’re tougher than that.”

She grinned and leaned her forehead against mine.

“So are you, Chuck. So are you.”

After she’d convinced me that a long, luxurious bath would work wonders, I stood up and walked toward the door. Right before I left the room, however, the brat in her had to have one last dig at my expense.

“Look on the bright side, Charlie.”

I turned around and gave her an incredulous stare. “What bright side?”

“As much as I know you’re dreading what’s coming, it could be worse.”

“How?”

She winked. “You could be pregnant.”

I didn’t bother to respond, though for a second I was sure I was going to throw up right there in the doorway.

“You’re evil,” I said. “Pure evil.”

“I know,” she said with a little giggle. Then she pointed toward the hallway. “Go. Enjoy your bath.”

I remained reclined in the water as it went from scalding, to hot, to warm, then to lukewarm. Then I drained most of it and filled it up again back to scalding. I’d already washed when I’d first gotten in, squirting a generous amount of lavender-scented body wash on a bright purple loofa that had a plastic “C” attached to it.

The washing itself had been a unique experience. The slightly rough surface of the loofa felt great along my arms and legs and abdomen. Not so great, though, across my new, larger nipples.

“Guess we’ll be hand-washing those puppies,” I said to the steamy air around me.

I even managed to wash my lady bits with my hands without getting too wigged out about it. Or turned on, which was another thing I was not quite ready to face. Being in Charlene’s body, would I have her sex drive? Or would my old male one still be calling the shots? I really hoped it was the former. While not a horndog in the classical sense, I couldn’t come close to calling myself a prude.

My plan was to be back where I belonged long before the concept of sex or sexual desire reared its ugly head. However, there was still that possibility that I might never get home. What then? I couldn’t just run off to a nunnery and take a vow of chastity.

If that were the case, would I start finding guys attractive? I closed my eyes and pictured Jackson. Sure, he was a complete dork, but he wasn’t bad looking. Through the portal of knowing him for such a long time, I could see how Charlene might have eventually decided he was a great catch.

For Charles, though, the thoughts did nothing. Other than a bit of annoyance at the predicament his little experiment had put me in. No spark whatsoever.

My mind turned to Samantha Thomas.

Back in my universe, we weren’t officially dating. Instead, what me and the captain of the girl’s soccer team had was mutual respect and bodies that fit well together when naked. We’d had sex just a few times, but I felt like there might be something more developing between us. Something beyond just the physical.

Memories flooded my brain. The way her body felt against mine. The way she liked to lick seductively along the side of my neck, and nibble on my ear, while gyrating up and down slowly on top of me. The little gasping squeal she made right at the moment of orgasm. The feel of her lips and tongue as she went down on me.

My eyes flipped open like window shades, and I sat bolt upright in the tub. The tiny nubs on the tops of my breasts were rock hard and pointed. My face felt flush and, despite my lower half being submerged beneath the semi-soapy water, I could feel a slick wetness between my legs.

“Okay, that’s enough of that,” I said, standing up to flip the drain with one foot while I turned on the shower to rinse the last vestiges of soap from my body. “No need to get all hot and bothered over a girl who may not even exist in this universe.”

Although, a little voice in the back of my head whispered, the Samantha back home is bi. Which would work out well for we’re stuck here.

I shook my head back and forth to quiet silence it, and turned the spray all the way to cold. Within seconds, I was a shivering, trembling mess.

But at least I was no longer aroused.

When I got back to my room, I changed into the peach underwear set, slipped back into the robe, and went downstairs to grab something to drink.

Katie’s door was closed, but light peeked out from beneath. The sound of music, playing at a far lower volume than before, emanated from within. I continued past, descending the steps two at a time.

In the kitchen, I pulled open the fridge, and grabbed a bottle of water from within. As I let the door swing closed, I heard the sound of the front door opening and closing. My eyes drifted up to the clock on the wall. 10:13.

“Charlie! Katie!” my dad, Charlene’s dad, called from the living room. “I’m home.”

I drew in a breath, released it slowly, then pushed a smile on my face as I padded out to greet my father’s alternate universe duplicate.

“Hey, Daddy,” I started, trying to sound like I expected Charlene might. “How was your …”

My voice died instantly in my throat as I prayed to any god that would listen to keep the shock in my soul from registering on my face.

My dad was a financial analyst for a large investment firm. However, despite the fact that he sat behind a desk for ten or more hours a day, he kept himself in pretty decent shape for a man in his late-forties. He and mom went for a walk nearly every evening after dinner and played tennis on the weekends with some of their friends. During the colder months, the two of them would get temporary memberships at the local gym, just to keep the holiday gains to a minimum.

The man standing in the living room smiling at me was not the same man I’d seen in person three days earlier. This man was around fifty pounds heavier, with extremely noticeable darkened circles beneath both of his eyes. His shirt bulged over the spare tire of a belly, the buttons looking as if they were holding together with everything they had.

“Hey, Charlie,” he said, crossing the room in my direction. “Thanks for coming home to look after Katie. I know you’d rather have been spending time with Jackson. So I really appreciate you helping out.”

“Uh,” I said, still trying to reconcile what I was looking at with what I’d fully expected to see. I dared to say is was even more jarring than looking at girl me in the mirror. “Yeah, uh, no problem.”

“Daddy!” Katie said from above us. She bounded down the steps and wrapped her arms around our father’s robust middle. “You’re home!”

When he grinned down at her, she turned her face in my direction and fixed me with a hard stare that conveyed her thoughts as clearly as if she’d shouted them aloud.

Stop acting like Charlie and act like Charlene.

I gave her a nod and walked over to give the man that looked enough like my own dad to be related a quick hug.

“Well,” he said, still smiling widely as he looked between the two of us. “I have to say it’s nice to come home and find you two getting along.”

“Daddy, we always get along.” Katie chided playfully.

“Right,” he said to her before turning to me. “Thanks again for coming home.”

I nodded and took a step back, appraising the man before me.

This was my father in a world without my mother. A man who’d lost the love of his life and was coping the best way he could. It was all too easy to imagine the decline. Without her, the evening walks would be lonely and painful. The tennis sessions would stop as the thought of being around happy couples became more than he could bear. Eventually, he would find his life revolving around eating, sleeping, and working.

A driven, strong man, one who’d been my inspiration for years, reduced to mere existence. A cold chill drifted up my spine as I realized the all-too-likely scenario of him waiting until Charlene and Katie were both off on their own, then taking his own life. The though made my heart ache.

Charlene’s father extracted himself from Katie and headed toward the kitchen.

“I hope you two girls left me some pizza. The drive-thru at Burger Warfare was a mile long, so I just kept driving. I’m starving.”

“Yeah, there’s still some left,” I said. Then I glanced over at Katie. To her credit, she waited until he was out of the room before moving closer to me.

“What is up with you?” she said in a low voice. “I thought you were going to freak out.”

“I nearly did. My dad is … thinner.”

She tilted her head to the side. “Thinner?”

“Yeah, he’s fit. Not like a gym rat or anything. But in surprisingly good shape for his age.” I shrugged. “If he started getting anywhere near that size, mom would give him an earful.”

She stared at me for a second. “Oh, yeah. Your mom is still alive.” She sounded like I’d just kicked her in the stomach.

I don’t know why, but I reacted by grabbing her into a tight hug, crushing her against my chest. We stood there for a few seconds, holding each other as if we’d been sisters forever.

“Two slices??” the man in the kitchen called out sarcastically, breaking the moment of bonding. “You girls left me two measly slices?”

I let out a laugh, despite myself. The man might not look exactly like the dad I remembered, but he sure did sound like him. Katie giggled softly as well.

“Thank you,” she said, slipping out of my arms. “It’s been a while since, uh, Charlene has hugged me.”

I nodded. “Well, anytime you want one, just take it. I’m happy to oblige.”

“Do you often hug your little sister?”

I gave my head a shake. “I used to. But then, uh, she grew up. And out. So it seemed a little pervy to do it anymore. I mean, other than an over the shoulder, friendly-like, hug.

She smiled. “But it didn’t feel pervy just now?”

I thought about it for a second, then shrugged. “I guess not.”

“Good. It means you’re starting to think of yourself as a girl. We’re making progress.”

She turned around and drifted back up the steps, leaving me there to ponder her words. When I’d put my arms around her, I hadn’t felt the least bit weird about it. Almost as if it were the most natural thing in the world. What did that mean, exactly? Was my new body having more of an influence over my thoughts and emotions than Jackson had anticipated? He’d said there was likely some type of “echo” of Charlene in my brain. It was possible that little bit was overriding a few of my more normal masculine reactions.

Hopefully, those echoes would fade. Or, at least, not grow any stronger. Otherwise, the line between Charles and Charlene might start to blur even more. Which would not be a good thing at all.

I popped my head into the kitchen, my eyes settling on the man at the table with a slice of reheated pizza in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other. He quickly swallowed the mouthful of food and set the half-eaten slice on his plate.

“You going out?” he asked, sounding a little sad.

I almost pointed at my lack of clothing as a response. Then I realized that he knew damned well how I was dressed. Which meant there was a real possibility that Charlene might throw on some clothes and take off for a while. As for me, the day had been way too exhausting for that.

Shaking my head, I flashed him a smile. “Not tonight. Thought I might turn in early. Get a good night’s rest.”

He returned my grin. “Sounds like a winning plan to me, Charlie. Good night.”

“Night … Daddy.”

Back up in my room, I closed the door and made my way over to the bed. While pulling back the thick comforter, I noticed the message light on my phone, sitting on the nightstand, was blinking. When I picked it up and touched my thumb to the scanner, the screen flared to life showing that I’d missed six messages.

The first was from Jackson, wanting to let me know that he was willing to do whatever I needed to be comfortable until he could get me back home. He apologized for not warning Charlene to not touch the screen while it was active.

The next three were from a girl listed in the contacts as “Shelly.” I wondered if this was the mysterious “Michelle” Katie had mentioned earlier. The first text asked if I was up for going to DJ’s party this evening. The second was a snide comment that I was ignoring her first text because I was busy “playing doctor” with Jackson. The last was a photo of a back yard filled with dozens of people, all of whom seemed to have an alcoholic beverage in their hands. The text beneath the photo told me I was lame and that she’d see me tomorrow.

It was the last two that nearly made me drop my phone. They had both come in while I was downstairs with Katie and Charlene’s dad. There was no name listed. Just a number. The first asked if I was busy at the moment. However, the last message, dated about a minute before I’d come into the room, was a lot more eye-opening.

“Really had a good time the other night,” it said in dark red letters in a light blue word bubble. “We need to do it again soon.”

Do what???

* * * * * * * * *

My sleep was fitful and tenuous. At first, I couldn’t get that mysterious text message out of my mind. Sure, it might have been something completely innocuous. It didn’t necessarily indicate that something illicit was taking place in Charlene’s private life. Maybe she had gone out with a friend from the cheer team. That was possible, right?

Only, why not put the sender’s contact info into the phone?

The nagging of the unknown identity of the person on the other end of the text kept me awake for at least an hour. After I finally did drift off, I woke up a short time later feeling like I was being constricted around the upper chest. Half-asleep, I pawed at myself, trying to fend of the python curling around me. It took couple of seconds before my brain actually engaged enough to realize that it was the bra.

“Jesus,” I snarled, throwing back the covers to climb out of bed. “How am I expected to get comfortable with this thing trying to choke the life out of me?” I grappled with the back catch, finally managing to unhook the tabs. I yanked the offensive undergarment off, threw it on the floor, and flopped back into the bed.

I was asleep less than thirty seconds later.

If I dreamed, it was fleeting and ethereal. The next sensation of awareness was the soulless blaring of the phone’s alarm. Head still under the comforter, I fumbled around on the nightstand until my fingers brushed against the side of the offending device and mercifully silenced it.

It felt like the middle of the night, and when I reluctantly pulled the covers from my face, I noticed the room was completely pitch dark. I couldn’t begin to imagine why anyone would set a wake-up alarm for such a ridiculous hour.

I sat up, brushing my hair out of my face, and picking a few strands out of my mouth. Interestingly enough, I didn’t experience a moment of bewilderment at the unfamiliar surroundings and unusual bodily sensations. Despite being half-awake, I completely recalled where, and who, I was.

I retrieved the phone from its resting place and held it up to my light-blinded eyes, squinting at the digital numbers in the upper left corner. 4:30 AM.

“Ugh,” I groaned, dropping the phone in my lap before flopping my head back on the pillow. “What kind of a masochist gets up at 4:30?”

It wasn’t to get ready for class, of that much I was positive. Thanks to the schedule Jackson had provided me before I left the lab, I knew that on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Charlene had Intro to Psych at nine and Biology at eleven. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she had Trig at ten and Sociology at one.

Sure, she was supposed to have an exam in Trig, but even that wouldn’t explain the before dawn alarm.

My confusion was settled a few minutes later when the door of my bedroom opened, revealing the silhouette of Katie backlit by the hallway light. She stood there, unmoving, for a few seconds, then stepped inside.

“Chuck,” she hissed in a loud whisper. “Chuck, get up.”

“Why?” I asked, already swinging my legs off the bed.

“Exercise, remember?”

Exercise? Holy crap, she was serious about that? I thought Charlene’s morning routine would be much later. Like, after the sun came up. No one said anything about working out in what I considered to be the middle of the night.

“You’re joking,” I said, standing up and stretching. “It’s four-thirty.”

I heard an annoyed sigh as the door closed, plunging the room back into darkness. A heartbeat later, the overhead light flipped on. It was like looking at a supernova. I threw one arm up over my face, shielding my eyes from the glaring light.

“Wow,” Katie said from the other side of the room. Her long, blonde hair was pulled into a tight ponytail and she was dressed in a pair of pink Lycra pants and a white sports bra. “Decided to sleep au natural, did you? Embracing your feminist side?”

It took me a second to realize that she was referring to the fact that my upper body was completely devoid of any type of clothing. Quickly, I pulled my arm down and wrapped both around my chest. Though, I felt a little stupid for doing it. Not like Katie hadn’t seen her sister’s nude torso before.

“I tried sleeping in that damned bra,” I growled, making sure to keep my voice only loud enough to reach her. “Felt like I was being bound by a sadist.”

She giggled. “Well, yeah. That’s not a sleep bra. No way to get comfortable with the wiring in it.”

“Oh. Well, excuse me for not knowing the difference between a regular bra and a sleep bra. Believe it or not, I never had to consider that there might be multiple kinds available. I’ll be sure to pick up a brochure so I can be better informed next time.”

Another giggle. “For someone of a different gender from another universe, you sure can do a really good impression of Morning Charlie. Oh, and for the record? She doesn’t wear a sleep bra to bed, either. She normally just puts on a t-shirt.”

I responded to the snide remark as I feel any loving sister would. I gave her the finger.

“Come on, we need to get started so you’re not late.”

“For?”

“Class, dummy.”

Now I did give her a confused look. “Class isn’t for another five hours. Not sure what the rush is all about.”

Katie rolled her eyes.

“Guys,” she snorted, giving her head a shake. “I’m sure you’re used to rolling out of bed, throwing on some not-too-smelly clothes, fingering your hair, then jogging to class to walk in right before the teacher starts the lesson. For girls, Chuck, it’s a more involved process. Just getting ready to walk out the door takes a crazy amount of time.”

I shook my head. “I can deal with the body, the hair, and the wardrobe. But I think Charlene could stand a break from the make-up and stuff. At least for a little while.”

The humor drained from her face.

“You were practically begging me last night to help you. You even threatened me, by saying that my refusal would screw up Charlene’s normal life. Well, news flash, my dude. You have to do your part, too. Which means not only acting like Charlene, but looking like her as well.” She pointed her finger at me. “So, you’re going to have to learn how to do your face and your hair. Just like she would.”

I took a step backward. As if her verbal assault had hit me physically. After a few seconds of standing there with my face aflame, I nodded.

“You’re right,” I said softly. “I roped you into this. It’s not fair to either you or Charlene for me to quit the first day.”

She nodded, her smile returning. Though it was less “friendly kid sister” and more “vile prison warden” in nature. “Good. Now that we’ve cleared that up, get dressed and meet me in the exercise room. Time to sweat.”

“Exercise room?” I asked, trying to think of the house’s layout and where such a place might be. Unless the contractors had used a different floorplan than the ones in my universe, the house didn’t have a basement. From what I’d seen so far, the layouts were identical. Three bedrooms, two and a half baths, living room, dining room, kitchen, and … a bonus room over the garage.

“The bonus room?” I asked, trying not to sound completely stunned.

Back home, the bonus room had served as a playroom when Katie and I were younger. Legos, a toy kitchen, and small drawing desks were near permanent fixtures. Hell, we even slept in there more than a few nights. It was our Fortress of Solitude. Our escape from our parents’ watchful eyes.

However, once I’d hit my teens and lost interest in spending my time playing with my kid sister, Dad decided to convert it into a Man Cave. Well, a Man/Boy Cave. He’d added a large high-def television, two recliners, a mini-fridge, and an entertainment center which included the latest gaming console. He and I were responsible for the complete annihilation of many a weekend in that room.

She nodded. “Come on, let’s get to it.” A quick wink of superiority was thrown my way, then Katie bounced out the door and down the hall.

I walked over to the dresser and began pulling out clothes. Grabbing a pair of dark red tights and a matching top, I thought about all the times Mom complained to Dad that he and I were being too loud in our “hole”. Even with the door closed, she claimed she could hear the explosions, machine guns, and starships all the way down in the living room. As I pulled the super-stretchy, super-snug material up over my more curvaceous hips, I wondered how Charlene’s dad handled sleeping while his girls jammed out to high-energy calisthenics.

“Maybe he wears earplugs,” I mused aloud. “Industrial strength ones.”

After tying my own hair up off my neck, I slipped my feet into my Nikes and headed down the hall to the bonus room. The door stood open, with the light on inside. However, it wasn’t until I passed through the opening that I realized just how different the room was from its duplicate back home.

Instead of a sanctuary devoted to the hedonistic pursuits of binge watching and gaming, the room was a literal mini-gym. The twin recliners were gone. As was the gigantic entertainment center and refrigerator. In their place was a total workout machine that used multiple resistance arms to provide complete circuit training. There was also a rack against the far wall that held kettlebells and dumbbells in assorted sizes.

The wall-mounted television was still there, though it was a lot bigger than what I expected. The image on the screen was a rather attractive redhead in clothes similar to ours. She had one leg extended in front of her, one stretched backwards, and her back bent at a sharp enough angle that her barely contained boobs were extremely noticeable. The brand name, scrolled across the bottom in silver lettering read, “Soni”. I grinned when I read it.

“Something funny?” Katie asked as she picked up a couple of rolled mats from a stand and carried them over to me. Something in her tone of voice caused me to think she thought I was grinning at the top-heavy trainer.

I pointed at the bottom of the TV. “Soni,” I said. “It’s just spelled differently where I’m from. With a ‘y’ instead of an ‘i’.”

She eyed for a second before nodding, then handed me the green mat. It was made of some type of foam and textured with little ridges. Turning around, she unrolled her own mat, a blue one, and positioned it about a yard or so away, running parallel with the television.

“Charlie usually mixes up her routines. You know, to keep from getting bored. But, since I sort of doubt you want to jump right into Ultimate Insanity, I thought maybe starting with yoga might be the best idea.”

I shrugged, unrolled my own mat, and positioned it similar to hers. Then I nodded my head at the open door.

“What about Dad?” I asked. “Won’t this bother him?”

She gave me an amused look, then walked over to close the door. When I started to say that wouldn’t really do much, she held up a finger. Making sure my focus was on her extended digit, she reached over and stabbed a large square button next to the frame. The panel surrounding the button began to glow with a greenish light.

“Soundproofing,” she said, gesturing at the room. “We could probably set off a grenade in here and Daddy wouldn’t even stir.”

“How?” I asked. Then I smacked myself in the forehead. “Of course. Jackson.”

“Despite all the humorous accidents, there are some really useful things that come out of that lab.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Sometime Jack actually gets it right.” Clapping my hands together, I pointed at the television. “Well, now that I’m here, let’s get started.”

As a guy, I’d admired girls who did yoga. I didn’t know much about the exercise other than it was slow paced, involved a lot of stretching, and required the coeds to wear incredible form-fitting attire. However, the appeal of it never struck me.

At first, I was a little more concerned with matching the woman on the screen than focusing on my breathing and posture. More than once, Katie made a comment that brought my attention back to what I was doing.

“Straighten your left leg.”

“Palms flat under your feet.”

“Ass higher in the air.”

Not surprising, though, was the utter limberness of Charlene’s body. From the moment I’d awoken in this dimension, I’d noticed how graceful and flexible I’d become. None of that matched the way I was able to twist my hips and spine around, feeling the muscles loosen as I started to enjoy the routine. I quickly turned it into a game. Attempting to mirror the pretty instructor. Could I really arch my back that far without injury? Absolutely! Could I balance on one foot while raising my opposite leg backward at a right angle? Damn skippy! The sheer power and endurance of my old male body couldn’t hold a candle to the flexibility and stamina of Charlene’s. Before I knew it, the video was over and Katie and I were both dripping with sweat.

“Wow,” I said, reaching up to tighten my ponytail. “That was … intense.”

She grinned. “It’s Yoga Extreme. Really advanced stuff. All of the cheerleaders do it.”

I planted my hands on my hips. “Did I do as well as her?”

Katie seemed to consider my question for a moment, then nodded. “For the most part. Usually Charlie’s the one give me pose pointers. But you did really freaking well for a guy in a girl’s body.”

I laughed and gave her a thumbs up. “What’s next?”

She picked up the remote and dialed to a different video. “Aerobics.”

Luckily, she selected a moderate level workout. Which generally meant the handsome man in the tank top and rippling muscles demonstrated the moves a few times before kicking up the intensity level. Sure, by the time the forty-five minutes was over, I was completely drenched and the muscles in my arms and legs were beset with hundreds of miniature quakes. However, I wasn’t even close to being out of breath. Long-distance runners learn to pace themselves, focusing more on reaching a consistent, steady rhythm that they can maintain for extended periods of time.

I had the feeling that Charlene’s endurance might actually be better than Charles’.

“Okay,” I said, grabbing the towel Katie offered me to blot the perspiration off my face and neck. “What’s next? Five mile run? Cardio Kickboxing?”

She shook her head. “Smoothie and a shower. You go ahead and get cleaned off while I pop downstairs and blend us up a couple of recharging beverages. Then we’ll go through and pick out some clothes, and I’ll help with your makeup and hair. At least until you learn how to do it yourself.” She stuck out her tongue at me, bounded over to turn off the noise-cancelling device, and departed the room.

I stuck around a few more minutes, twisting and turning my body while still in marvel at how easily it moved. Charlene really did take excellent care of herself. I just hoped she was taking it a little easier on my male form.

Stepping out into the hallway, I grabbed a pair of clean towels from the closet beside the bathroom, and went to scrub the grime from my body. By the time I’d rinsed the flowery body wash off and rinsed my hair for the third time, Katie came into the room and let me know she’d put my smoothie on the counter.

“Be sure to drink it all. You burned a gazillion calories just now. Got to replace those with protein and nutrients. I’ll be waiting in your room.”

I stepped out of the shower, wrapping one towel around my mid-section and the other around my soaked hair. Like I’d seen women do in person and on television my whole life. Then I picked up the tall plastic cup and took a long pull through the straw. The taste of bananas, mango, and strawberry assaulted my palate in an orgasmic burst of flavor. Before I knew it, I’d sucked half the concoction down.

Back in my room, Katie was standing just inside the closet. She had several articles of clothing draped over her left arm and was filing through the rack with her right. She glanced over as I came into the room and nodded at the dresser.

“I figured I’d let you pick your own underwear.”

“Gee, thanks,” I said with playful sarcasm before taking another long sip of the drink in my hand. “Think Charlene’s reputation will remain intact if I choose to wear panties that actually have an ass?”

“Her reputation will be fine, Chuck. However, you’re probably going to want to save those for when your period arrives. They hold a pad in place better than a thong.”

Grumbling as I made a vow to buy myself more modest underwear in the future, I dug around in the drawer until I settled on a dark green set that I felt I could live with. Katie eyed my selection, then deliberately turned around so I could get dressed without an audience.

I wasn’t sure if she did that for her sake, or mine.

After all my naughty bits were contained in lingerie, she walked over and handed me two pieces of clothing. A short-sleeved, V-neck sweater and a black pleated skirt.

“Here,” she said. “This would look great. Charlene loves this combination.”

I shook my head and pushed the garments back at her. “Maybe so. But Charles would prefer jeans and a sweatshirt.”

“Well,” she said snappily, “Perhaps that is what Charles is wearing to school today. But Charlene only wears jeans when it’s cold outside. Like, near freezing cold. Otherwise, she’s in a skirt or shorts.”

“Seriously?” I groaned. “Am I really going to have to wear skirts all the time? Doesn’t your sister believe in comfort?”

Katie nodded. “She does. She finds skirts to be comfortable.” Her brow furrowed as her gaze slid down my body. “You didn’t shave your legs.”

I snorted. “I didn’t think I’d be showing them off.” Then I grinned from ear to hear as I attempted to pass the skirt back to her again. “Looks like it’s a jeans day after all.”

She rolled her eyes and marched over to the dresser. I knew exactly what she was going to do before she did it, but remained rooted to the spot. Without so much as a backwards glance, she rummaged around and came out with a scrap of sheer, tan material. She spun around, using her hip to bang the drawer closed, and tossed the gossamer object at me.

I caught it with one hand, fingertips tingling at the sensation of silkiness that brushed against my nerve endings.

“Looks like it’s a skirt and hose day, Chuck.” She pointed at the bed. “Since I’m fairly sure you’ve never worn them before, I suggest you sit down and take you time. Otherwise, you’ll get a run and we’ll have to grab another pair.”

Glaring at her, I plopped down on the edge of the bed. I put the skirt and sweater next to me in a heap. Katie sighed and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Do you have any idea how to put them on?”

“Oh yeah. I secretly wear my Katie’s stockings all the time. I just love the way the hair on my legs sticks through the holes.”

“Figures.” She sat down beside me and extended one leg. “First you need to bunch them up so that the legs are closer to the feet. Then put your foot in slowly, gently pulling on the hose until your toes are in the seam. After that, it’s just a matter of working them up your legs, keeping the material taut and smooth. Watch your nails, though. They can make a hole faster than you can believe.”

I took my time, knowing that Katie wasn’t going to be satisfied until I looked like Charlene would look. Of course, I had been the one to ask for her assistance. Could I really get angry, legitimately angry, for her doing exactly what I asked her to do? If she said that her sister wore skirts and dresses nearly every day, who was I to say she was wrong?

“Now,” she said, putting her hand on my arm when I’d managed to encase the foot, calf, and knee of both legs in the taupe-colored material. “Stand up and pulled them the rest of the way on.”

I did as she instructed, shuddering a bit as the nylon material glided up my thighs and over my hips. I shimmied a bit to get them over the widest part, and then let the top rest snugly just beneath my belly button.

“Not bad,” Katie said with a grin. “You’ll be a pro at this before you know it.”

I opened my mouth to tell her that I’d be happy never being a pro at wearing women’s clothing. However, before I could utter the first syllable, I spotted my reflection in the mirror on the closet door.

Even though Charlene’s legs and butt were near perfect as they were, the clingy, sheer hosiery amped their appearance up to eleven. I couldn’t resist turning left and right, admiring the view. It took a few seconds for me to realize that my heartbeat had increased and a nervous flutter bounced around in my tummy.

Holy shit! I was getting turned on just by looking at myself in stockings.

Quickly I turned around and grabbed the skirt off the bed. It zipped up the side and only when I had it pulled up and fastened did I dare look at myself again. The brevity of the skirt, which only came down halfway to my knees, enhanced the looks of my legs. But the fact that it was there dampened my arousal.

I started to pull on the sweater before I remembered I had my hair up in a towel.

“How are we going to manage this?” I asked Katie as I pointed at the lump of damp cloth balanced on my noggin.

She grinned and pointed the desk. “Have a seat and learn, my apprentice.”

This time, it was me who rolled my eyes. However, I did as she asked. Once my bottom was in the seat, I waited as she reached under my bed and came out with what appeared to be a large toolbox. Trepidation ran through me as she lugged it over to the desk and set it down.

“Are you planning on doing some remodeling?” I asked her.

Katie laughed, flipped the latches, and opened the top to reveal enough styling material and makeup to start a private beauty clinic.

“Don’t freak out on me, Chuck,” she said, noticing how wide my eyes were. “Charlene only uses about ten percent of this stuff regularly.”

“What about the other ninety?”

“Special occasions.”

I shook my head with a laugh. “I hope I’m gone before any of those come around.”

Katie dove into the container and began to hunt around. The chime of my phone dragged my attention away. I looked at the screen, noticing that Michelle had sent another text.

“You missed an awesome party, C. Tres awesome.”

I quickly typed back. “I know. Next time.”

“Definitely. See you in class.”

“Already getting in good with your new BFFs, huh?” Katie said from over my shoulder.

I shrugged. “I didn’t respond to her last night. I figured if I ignored her this morning, she might think Charlie was mad at her.”

I closed the messaging app and opened the photo gallery. The first picture I came across was a selfie with Charlene and two other girls, both of whom were blonde. All three were smiling at the camera, but Charlie was the only one winking playfully at the lens.

“Would I be off the mark to say that this is Josie and Michelle?” I asked Katie, showing her the photo.

“That’s them. The Three Senoritas.” She sounded annoyed. “Josie and Shelly are from Brownsville. They went to high school together.”

“They’re cheerleaders, too?”

She nodded. “Charlene met them at orientation. Inside of a month, the three of them were hanging out all the time. At least, whenever she wasn’t with Jackson.”

“Which is which?”

“Josie is the one on the left,” she said. The girl she indicated looked a little less happy than the other two. “She’s alright, but has a tendency to be really snarky.”

“Gotcha. I’ll keep that in mind.”

I swiped my thumb across the screen, scrolling through the images.

Charlene and Jackson by the pool. Charlene and Michelle in their black and red cheer uniforms. Josie, Michelle, and Charlene in a backyard during a party. Seems my double had quite the social life. Much more than Charles had. Probably due to the nature of her activities. Cheerleading was no place for the socially awkward.

Long distance running, on the other hand, isn’t really a team sport, so you learn to rely on your own abilities to win.

Katie had just grabbed a curling iron and a brush from the box when my thumb swiped across to a photo that made my nearly jump out of my chair.

“What the hell?” I said aloud, momentarily forgetting I had an audience.

The image was of Josie and a guy. A guy I immediately recognized.

Katie, brow raised in inquiry, leaned over to look at the picture.

“Oh, that’s Josie and her boyfriend. His name’s …”

“Danny,” I breathed, unable to stop looking at the image. “Danny Morris.”

The Other Side of Me – Part 6
by Limbo’s Mistress

I grilled Katie about Danny while she styled my hair with a bit of a wave and showed me the trick to applying makeup. Spoiler alert! Less is more.

“I’ve only met him a few times,” she said, stepping back to admire her handiwork. “He came over a couple of times with Josie. Seemed like an okay guy.”

An okay guy? He was a bully and a terror. Even after he and his underlings decided that Jackson and I weren’t worth the trouble, he still made other kids’ lives a living hell. A couple of times, I managed to intervene. Such as when he had Marcus Kowalski’s arm twisted up like a pretzel for the imagined crime of looking at Rebecca Byers for longer than two seconds.

I had merely made my way to the front of the circle of cheering onlookers and waited until Danny saw me. Then I flashed him a smile that carried a metric ton of threat. He immediately released the smaller kid’s arm and made a big show of “letting him off easy”.

Now he was dating one of Charlene’s closest friends. And she was okay with that?

“He doesn’t go to school with them, does he?” I asked. Back home, Danny Morris was, according to rumor, struggling to get through community college.

Katie nodded. “Yeah, he’s on the football team.” Apparently satisfied that I finally resembled Charlene’s normal look, she closed up the Primp Master 3000. “Why all the questions about Danny? Shouldn’t you be concentrating more on people other than Josie’s boyfriend?”

I paused my response long enough to examine myself in the desk’s small mirror. At first, I really hadn’t been paying attention to her actions, being more focused on Danny and why he was featured to prominently in Charlene’s life. However, now that I stared in the mirror at myself, the more I realized that my face now seemed to pop. The foundation, blush, mascara, eye shadow, and lip gloss I knew Katie had applied faded into the background. Only noticeable because of the way they worked together to enhance Charlene’s already natural beauty.

“Wow,” I said, turning slightly to the left and right. “That looks … amazing. I look amazing.”

Katie laughed and shrugged. “The funniest part is the fact Charlene was the one who taught me how to put on makeup properly. How to get maximum results from minimal application. Now, I get to teach you. The circle is complete.”

“I sincerely doubt I’ll be able to do it as well as you,” I said, meaning every word.

She grinned and bumped me with her hip. “True. But you’re going to have to learn. I can’t spend every morning being your personal valet.” She waved one hand at herself. “After all, I still have to get myself ready for school, too.”

I lifted one foot, pointing my stocking-clad toes at her. “Any suggestions for footwear? And please don’t say high heels.”

Tapping on finger against her lips in contemplation, she turned around and looked at the closet. “Charlene would not wear high heels to class, Chuck. Too much walking across campus. I recommend her black ankle boots. The heel is only an inch high and wedged. Should make it easier for you to avoid busting your butt.”

“Gotcha.” I walked over to the closet. “Anything else I need? I’ve already prepped her backpack, but didn’t touch anything in the purse.”

“Did you pack your workout gear?” she asked. “You know, for cheer practice.”

I shook my head. “Jackson said we were between seasons. He promised me I wasn’t going to have to shake my pom poms while I was stuck here.”

“Sure. There are no games for the next month. Which saves you from actually having to perform for a crowd of spectators. However, you are on a scholarship. The cheer squad practices five days a week. Even in the off-season.”

“Dear god,” I moaned, closing my eyes. “This deal continues to get worse and worse.”

Katie laughed. “It won’t be that bad. Just do what the other girls do. It doesn’t matter if Charles has never done that stuff before because Charlene has. Which means you can, too.”

“You seem rather optimistic about that.” I said.

She grinned. “I’ve noticed the way you walk and sit and generally move. There’s more girl than boy to all that. I think if you just let your body lead instead of your mind, you can pull it off.” She gave me a wink and walked toward the door. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to hop in the shower.”

After she was gone, I grabbed a black and pink duffle bag and shoved the Nikes and a sensible set of athletic wear inside it. Then I located the little black boots, deciding that I could probably maneuver around in them without dying. Just like Katie said.

Once my feet were contained, I grabbed both bags and Charlene’s purse, dropped her phone into the outer pocket, and headed downstairs.

In the kitchen, I grabbed a couple of protein bars from the pantry and tossed a banana and two small oranges into my purse. The clock informed me that I had just a little under two hours before my exam started. Plopping down in a chair, I pulled the math book from the backpack, opened it to the appropriate chapter, and began to review the material while I nibbled away at the banana.

I was so engrossed by the figures and committing them to memory that I didn’t realize I had company until I heard the beep of the coffee maker. Dropping the empty peel, which I’d been holding absentmindedly for a while, I turned to see Charlene’s dad leaning against the counter, staring at the machine. As if he could speed up the creation of the hot bean juice by the force of a stern gaze.

A giggle escaped my throat, catching both of us by surprise.

“Morning, Charlie,” the man who was not my father said. “Thanks again for agreeing to come home last night and keep an eye on Katie. I really do appreciate it.”

I didn’t immediately respond. That was like the third or fourth time he’d mentioned how grateful he was about my agreeing to check on Charlene’s sister. As if it was normally a big deal.

Flashing a smile, I waved my hand dismissively in the air.

“Seriously, Dad …dy. It wasn’t any big whoop.” Then I widened my grin. “Plus, it gave Katie and I a chance to hang out and talk.”

“Right,” he said, returning my smile. “The two of you simply hung out and talked? Either you need something from her or she’s got blackmail on you.” He grabbed the pot’s handle and pulled it out of the machine, quickly filling his mug before sliding it back home to finish brewing. “And I don’t care which it is as long as no one gets hurt or goes to jail.”

I didn’t know how to react. From the way he was talking, it would seem that Charlene and Katie in this universe were not as close as I’d originally thought. Of course, I only interacted with her for a bit before letting her know that I really wasn’t her sister. Though, she had been a bit of a bitch before that.

“No pain, humiliation, or prison. Got it.” I snapped off a salute, hoping to bluff my way out of the suddenly tense situation.

“Good,” he replied, then took a long sip of the steaming beverage. “Well, I’m off to work, sweetie. Have a good day, and good luck on your test.”

“Thanks. Do you need me to come home again this afternoon?”

He blinked at me a couple of times, then shook his head. “Nah. I’m hoping that I can get the Davidson account completely wrapped up by this afternoon. I shouldn’t be any home later than seven.”

I stood up from the table, grabbing my empty plate. “Really, it’s not a problem. Honest.”

Again with the slightly suspicious stare.

“You’re voluntarily giving up your evening cavorting with your friends, or boyfriend, in exchange for coming home to be with your family?” He shook his head. “I should send you back to bed, Charlie. I think you might be running a fever.”

I put the plate in the sink and walked over to him, placing my hand lightly on his arm.

“I’m not sick. Just trying to be helpful.”

Plus, I need a little bit of time to prep before trying to pretend to be Charlene to her friends. Until I get being a girl down, there’s no way I’ll fool them into thinking nothing is amiss.

He studied me for another couple of seconds, then nodded.

“Okay, tell you what. You come home after practice and keep an eye on your sister. In return, I’ll stop by Mikoto’s and pick up sushi for dinner. The big platter.”

My mouth dropped open and nearly started to water. Thankfully, I caught myself before asking when the best sushi place in town had reopened. A fire had gutted the entire restaurant a couple of months ago. At least, in my world. Here, though, it seemed that Mr. Mikoto’s livelihood was still intact.

“Sounds delish,” I said, nodding. “You, sir, have yourself a deal.”

He laughed and then moved in before I knew it was happening and wrapped me in a tight one-armed hug, kissing the top of my head.

“I love you.”

The lump in my throat nearly caused me to choke, however, I managed to respond in kind.

“Love you, too, Daddy.”

Outside, I discovered three new things. Two of them eerily familiar, one not so much.

Like myself, Charlene had left her car parked in front of Jackson’s house overnight. Sometimes it just wasn’t worth the effort of getting in and starting the motor just to simply drive across the street. Also, Charlene had chosen a Jeep Wrangler for her first vehicle, same as me.

Sort of.

Instead of a being a really cool cherry red, hers was canary yellow.

“Figures,” I said.

I climbed into the driver’s seat, dropped my purse and back on the passenger side, and drove off toward the school and my first real foray into the world as Charlene. May the multiverse have mercy on my soul.

Traffic was light and I managed to get across town in a little over fifteen minutes. As I turned off the main road onto campus, I drove past the house I roomed in back home. The two-story structure looked the same. Even the color. The only difference was the cars in the double driveway. None of them matched what my roommates drove.

Did George, Jeff, and Tony live someplace else? After all, I’d been the one to spot the ad announcing the rental first, managing to secure a lease less than a half a day later. Perhaps none of them had been a quick to call the owner. Hell, for all I knew, none of the three even went to this school.

Or even existed. At least, as guys.

The thought of Georgina, Jennifer, and Toni rooming in the house with a fourth girl made me laugh. Mostly because it would more than prove that Fate really had a fucked up sense of humor.

The rear-view mirror of Charlene’s Jeep had a bright white parking placard dangling from it with her designated spot listed in huge black letters. FNDS:C-12. Founder’s Lot. Completely on the other side of the campus from the Math and Science building.

Perhaps the heeled boots weren’t such a good idea after all.

I pulled the Jeep into the assigned slot, jumped out, and began to walk as quickly as my unsteady footwear would allow down the sidewalk toward the Quad. Dozens of other commuter students made the same arduous trek. Some of them moving at a leisurely pace. Others at a trot.

I ticked off the time in my head. Thirty minutes before class started. Which meant any additional review time was non-existent. I picked up the pace, trying to shave time off my trip. However, when I nearly twisted my angle and had to grab the shoulder of a really beefy guy in a dark blue polo, I figured skipping the last minute cram preferable to breaking my leg.

“Sorry,” I said to the boy as he held onto my arm a second longer than necessary. “Still breaking in these shoes.”

He nodded, looking down at my feet. Then his gaze slid up my sheer legs before returning to my face.

“No prob,” he said, flashing me a dazzling smile. “I’m Mike.”

I opened my mouth to tell him that I didn’t care what his name was. However, I froze. Not so much because of that way-too-white smile, but because his hand on my arm was sending electric tingles up my flesh and sending my heart into double-time. What the hell?

“Uh,” I said, trying to discern what was happening inside me while attempting to mitigate the events taking place on the outside. “Uh … Charlie.”

He nodded his head, finally releasing his hold on me. “I know.”

Well, that caught me off guard. “Huh?”

“Charlie Miller. You’re a cheerleader.”

I was still having trouble trying to follow the flow of the conversation. The good news was that my heart rate decreased once he let go of me. The bad news was that I kind of, sort of, missed it. Not good, Chuck. Not good at all.

“Y-y-yeah. That’s me.”

He nodded again. “I’m on the basketball team. So, I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other in a couple of weeks.”

“We will?” I asked, crinkling up my nose.

I couldn’t even begin to imagine why I would be seeing him. I wasn’t planning on spending time with any guys as Charlene. Well, except Jackson. But that was only so I could make sure he stayed focused on getting me back home. My version tended to get distracted. A lot.

Mike the Basketball Player laughed. It wasn’t a horrible sound.

“Yeah. When the season starts. You know, at the games?”

The games! Right! Where he would be playing and I’d be on the sidelines jumping around and waving my pom-poms.

“Gotcha!” I said. Then a loud gasp jumped out of my throat. “Shit! Sorry, I gotta run! Trig exam this morning!” I spun around and took off down the path as quickly as I dared in the boots. I hoped residual muscle memory would keep me upright this time. The last thing I needed was to be rescued from busting my ass by another handsome guy.

When I reached McIver Hall, I saw Michelle standing by the entrance. She shook her head as I hurried up the stone steps toward her, pointing at the non-existent watch on her left wrist.

“Jesus, Charlie. Nothing like cutting it close.” A frown swam across her face. “So much for helping me review before my execution. Thanks a lot.”

I started to snap back at her. Inform her that making sure she was prepared for the test was not my responsibility. Especially since she was the one who decided to attend a kegger rather than hit the books. Instead, I pressed pause on my retort. Perhaps Charlene and Michelle studied together quite a bit. For all I knew, their getting together to go over some last minute notes was a common recurrence. No need biting off the poor girl’s head because Charlene wasn’t here to make sure the normal stuff happened.

“Sorry, Shelly,” I said, hoping I sounded appropriately contrite. “My dad had some stuff he wanted to talk to me about. Then I nearly broke my neck running across campus in these stupid boots.”

The pretty girl blinked, mouth falling open as she glanced down at my footwear.

“I thought those were your favorites.”

“Not today,” I said. Charlene might love them, but I’d have traded them, and a random stranger’s soul, for some sneakers. “Come on, let’s get in and see how much we can review before Professor Michaels hands out the tests.”

We headed into the building and hurried down the polished tile corridor and up the steps to the second floor. Two turns later, we entered a large auditorium already populated by thirty or so students. Many of them were staring at open textbooks before them. I even think I saw one or two praying.

My normal seat in this room was at the very back, in the corner. That way, I could check my phone without being too obvious and it made getting up and going to the bathroom so much less noticeable. However, it seemed that Charlene had a different approach. Michelle descended the steps to the second row of seats, then travelled eight or night chairs in from the aisle. Having no other choice, since I assumed she and Charlie sat near each other, I followed her along the row and took the seat next to hers.

I glanced around the room while Michelle dug around in her backpack. Several of the faces I could see were familiar to me. Their duplicates were in my own version of this course. However, there were a few striking differences.

For example, I was fairly sure the guy in the sixth row was supposed to have blonde hair, not red. I didn’t know his name, but I recognized the tribal tattoos running up his forearms and the huge gages sitting in his earlobes. Then there was the girl popping her gum while twirling strands of jet black hair around one finger. She was sitting in the seat where Greg Penderleaf normally sat. And while she might have been someone else entirely, the features on her face made her resemblance to Greg downright uncanny.

Not all that differently than the way Charlene and I looked related.

The door at the far side of the room opened and Professor Michaels, math scourge for underclassmen everywhere, entered the room. There was a huge stack of papers tucked under one arm.

“Good morning, class. I trust everyone is ready to begin?” A wry smirk formed on his face. “If not, that’s just too bad. Books closed. Everyone with a seat mate please put at least one space between you. Remember, people, we adhere to the honor system here.”

I rolled my eyes. My Professor Michaels gave that exact same speech right before every test. I glanced over at Michelle, who was running her finger down the page of her book as if racing to commit everything she could see to memory. Her posture and the anxious way she was gnawing on her lower lip told me that it was extremely likely she was going to fail.

I rose to my feet and slid into the next seat. My own book remained tucked away in my bag. I’d shoved enough of the material into my brain before going on my tour of the multiverse. Unless Trigonometric functions were totally different over here, I didn’t think I had too much to worry about.

“Miss Carter,” Michaels said as he stopped at the end of our row and handed me two stapled stacks of paper. “Book away.”

Michelle sighed loud enough to be hear across the room and snapped the text closed. She made a big show of dropping it into her bag, then smiled as sweetly as possible to the older man. I shook my head and handed her one of the exams.

“Good luck, Miss Miller,” the man said, giving me a small grin. “Not that you’ll need it.” Then he turned and moved up a couple of steps to continue handing out the test.

I watched him for a second, wondering what the hell that meant. Was Charlene just so good at math that her teacher expected her to do well? I wasn’t a slouch when it came to calculating cosines and tangents myself, but not once did my Professor Michaels say anything encouraging to me before an exam.

Perhaps it due to the fact that, by the time he got to the spot where I normally sat, he was already out of patience and was eager to get back to his desk in the center of the room. However, I guessed the truth was a bit more blasé. He was a guy and I was now a pretty, young student. Ergo, more pleasantries than would be bestowed upon an unremarkable young man.

At least, I hoped that’s all it was. It would be just my luck to find out my double was looking for more physical ways to raise her grade.

The test itself wasn’t that difficult. The material presented was nearly identical to that which I’d spent the past three days studying. There were a couple of problems that I had to recheck my work on, due to being distracted by the nearly imperceptible groans and moans coming from a few feet away.

Looks like the decision to party, rather than study, was coming back to haunt Michelle.

As students finished, they rose from their seats, traveled down the stairs to where Michaels sat on the edge of his desk, and turned in their papers. I was the sixth one done, and when I stood up, I caught a really annoyed look from my friend. From what I could tell, she was only about halfway done with less than twenty minutes to go.

I gathered up my things, turned in my exam, and headed out into the hallway to wait on her. I wasn’t sure what Charlene would normally do afterwards, but I had the sneaking suspicion that the other girl was expecting me to hang around until she was done herself.

As I waited on one of the benches lining the halls, I felt my phone vibrate in my purse. When I pulled it out, I saw that it was from the individual who’d texted me the prior evening. The one with no name in the contact area. I tapped on the bubble and read the latest message.

“I don’t think I can wait until after practice to see you. Want to meet for lunch?”

I stared at the screen. Okay, I was getting some major thirst vibes from whoever it was. It seemed to be more than just a casual acquaintance. The person at the other end was definitely interested in more than just having a dining partner.

Holy shit. Did that mean that Charlene was cheating on Jackson? Surely not, right? I mean, I didn’t have anyone back home I was seeing exclusively. However, Charlene and Jackson were supposed to be a couple. Boyfriend and girlfriend. I read both messages again, shaking my head. I really didn’t want to believe that a version of me could be that kind of person.

“God, I really hate that man,” Michelle said out of nowhere as she plopped down next to me and exhaled angrily.

I nearly dropped my phone as I hurriedly darkened the screen and dropped it back in the purse. “He’s not that bad,” I said, noticing the slight stammer in my voice. “I thought the test was pretty straightforward.”

Michelle rolled her eyes. “Of course you would. Not all of us are natural math wizards, Cee.”

“I’m sure you did fine,” I replied, putting my hand on her arm. “Next time, though, maybe we should study the night before. Rather than party.”

Michelle gave me an odd look, something between confused and annoyed.

“Like that’s going to be possible. Unless you’ve changed your mind already.”

I tilted my head to the side, peering at her. “Changed it about what?”

“Seriously? What is with you lately? First you say you’re only going to run home so you can see Jackson for a few minutes and change clothes. Then you don’t bother to let Josie or I know that you’re not going to come back for the party. You show up late for our pre-test cram, complaining about a pair of shoes I know for a fact you love. Now you’re acting like you might not rush Kappa after all. Did you fall and hit your head this morning or something?”

My mouth dropped open as the litany of things I’d done, or not done, slammed into me. Each with their own dire implications.

It would seem that my doppelgänger’s visit to Jackson’s lab was intended to be a brief affair. Which would definitely explain why she seemed so annoyed when I observed their interaction. Having to wait on Katie to help me with my makeup and clothes had put me behind schedule, leading to a tardy rendezvous with the other girl. Additionally, considering the response it had received, my statement about disliking the boots must have been completely out of character. Hell, Charlene probably pranced around gracefully in the damned things like a pro. I felt like I was constantly about to stumble and fall on my face.

The capper, though, was the previously unknown information about Charlene’s desire to rush a sorority. Not just any sorority, either. Kappa Omega. The most elite, restrictive, sorority at the university.

My first week at school ended with a not pleasant run in with several members of KO. I made the mistake of trying to get into the cafeteria ahead of their group. My reasoning, spurred on by my grumbling belly, was that since there was only one of me and ten of them, I could get through the line and be chowing down long before the vapid-looking debutantes even decided which low calorie meal they weren’t going to eat.

I was lucky to escape the incident with only my dignity shredded. The threats they made toward my more private of areas should I be so crass in the future would have given a drill sergeant nightmares.

Charlene actually wanted to be a part of that clique? I could understand the possible motivation for interest in joining a sisterly group. Especially if my counterpart was as outwardly social as I was discovering. But to specifically decide to be a part of the Terror Brigade? It boggled my already addled mind.

“Charlie?”

I shook my head, trying to clear away the stunned feeling slowing my thoughts. Then I looked at the girl staring at me and frowned, shrugging my shoulders.

“Sorry, Shelly. I …”

I what? Wasn’t really her friend? Was actually shocked that a female version of me didn’t share my own tastes and idiosyncrasies? That I was finding out more and more that I was even more a stranger in a strange land than I originally surmised? Yes, to all. However, actually saying anything along those lines would definitely be a bad idea. So I went for the heartstrings and crossed my fingers, mentally, that Michelle really was as close to Charlene as she seemed.

“I miss my mom,” I whispered. Not exactly a lie, per se. I did miss my own mother, who probably had no idea her son wasn’t her son at the moment.

“Oh, Cee,” Michelle said in a consolidating voice. Then she leaned over and wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. “Why didn’t you say something? I would have come over and kept you company.”

I shrugged again, trying to remember that I was supposed to just be playing a part to deflect suspicion for my behavior. However, everything that I had endured for the past twenty or so hours was finally catching up to me. Before I knew it, my vision was blurry and my nose starting to run.

“Fucking tears,” I sniffled, pulling back to dig around in my purse for a tissue. When I finally located one, the droplets crowing along the ridge of my lower eyelid were preparing to repel down my cheeks commando style.

I reached up and almost wiped at my eyes. At the last second, it occurred to me that, if I did that, I would have to try to reapply my makeup. Instead, I folded the tissue in half and lightly dabbed, doing my best to capture the tears and not the cosmetics.

“It’s okay,” Michelle said, leaning back to allow me the room to do what I needed to do. One of her hands pressed against my back and rubbed lightly. “I know how much you really miss her. You put on a brave face most of the time, but you got to let it out every now and then. Otherwise, you’ll go crazy.”

I nodded and wiped my runny nose. “Recently, really recently actually, I’ve been wondering if maybe I already have.”

Michelle laughed and shook her head. “No more than normal, girl. Trust me, if you’d lost your mind, I’d be the first to notice.”

I kind of doubt that.

A short melody played from the area of Michelle’s backside. Leaning over, she pulled out her phone and looked at the screen. A second later, she sighed as she put the device back into her pocket and glanced over at me.

“A super friend’s work is never done. Guess who just got stood up by Mr. Wonderful again?”

It took me a second to shift gears to follow what she was saying.

“Josie? Ugh, did Danny blow her off … uh, again?”

“Bingo!” Michelle said, climbing to her feet. “She told me last night that she’d asked him to take her to that French café over on Tate Street. You know, the new one that just opened up. Guess he decided he wasn’t in the mood.” She sighed again, giving me a slightly admonishing look. “I know he’s your friend and all, Cee. But he’s really not good for Josie. Not if he can’t get his act together.”

Wait. Danny Morris was Charlene’s … friend? This wasn’t just a parallel universe, this was freaking Bizzaro World.

“I know,” I said, trying to fathom how Charlene could have ended up being friends with the very same asshole she and Jackson had faced years ago.

“Well, if you see the jerk, would you tell him that you don’t appreciate the way he’s treating your fellow Raiderette?”

I nodded, promising myself that I’d do a whole lot more than that. “Tell Josie I’m sorry that he’s being a dipshit.”

Michelle threw her bag over her shoulder and smiled. “I will. See you at practice?”

Ugh. Cheer practice. The only thing I was looking less forward to than having to talk to Danny Morris.

“You bet,” I said, putting on a smile that I didn’t come anywhere close to feeling. “Go. Take care of Josie.”

She nodded and tossed me a playful wink before walking off with a quickened stride. Just as she started to descend the steps, she stopped and looked back over her shoulder at me.

“You’re sure you’re okay?”

I rolled my eyes and waved my hand at her. “Yes, I’m sure. Go. Be a hero.”

She gave me a slightly skeptical look, then turned around and bounced down the steps. I waited until I knew she was out of the building before pulling out my phone to text Katie.

“Why didn’t you mention that Danny and Charlene were friends this morning?”

A few seconds later, I got her reply.

“Because I didn’t know.”

I stared at the words, chewing on my lower lip as my mind whirled like a blender missing a few ball bearings. Was there a reason why Katie didn’t know that her sister and Danny were more than just high school acquaintances? Was it because they didn’t get that way until the moron started dating her squad-mate?

“Mysteries abound,” I said under my breath.

I eventually got to my feet and decided to put some food in my belly. Not that I was ravenous or anything, but common sense told me that trying to spend two hours doing cartwheels and flips on an empty stomach might not be the wisest of plans.

Outside, I decided to avoid visiting the cafeteria. The chances of running into someone who might want to hang out with Charlie were steep. Particularly if any of the Kappas were there. Instead, I turned right at the path’s fork and headed toward the Columbia Student Center.

The building was one of the older ones on campus and hosted a game room, a small movie theatre, and a couple of fast-food style eateries. As Charles, I always made it a point to grab a slice or two of pepperoni pizza at least once a week from the Center. While not the healthiest of food choices, I knew all the running I did gave the fat and carbs a limited lifespan. I wasn’t sure what sort of diet Charlene was used to, but I figured a single piece of veggie deep dish wasn’t going to kill her. Or me.

I had put my hand on the handle of the door when a pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around my waist. Before I could blink, I was lifted off the ground, spun around twice, then pulled away from the building’s entrance into the darkened alley running between the Student Center and the campus Communications Hall.

Twisting my hips, I broke free from my attacker and spun around, opening my mouth to scream. A mouth clamped over my own, and a thick, hot tongue rammed itself down my throat. Stunned beyond measure, I froze as the meaty arms of Danny Morris engulfed me again, holding me tightly against him. For several long seconds, I simply stood there as his mouth assaulted mine.

Finally, he stopped trying to eat my face and released me, stepping backward with a huge grin.

“Hey, baby,” he purred like a content cat. “Miss me?”

The Other Side of Me – Part 7
by Limbo’s Mistress

It took me longer to recover my wits than I would have preferred. I wasn’t sure which was the more distressing. The fact that Charlene was cheating on Jackson with her friend’s boyfriend. Or the fact that said boyfriend was none other than Danny Morris, the asshole bully from high school.

“What?” I spat, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand to get the taste of Danny out of it. “What the hell?”

“Is that cherry I taste?” he asked playfully, seemingly oblivious to the rage coursing through me. “My favorite.”

That easy smile I’d spent four years seeing slid across his face in a practiced motion. It was the same disarming grin he’d used to convince teachers that the kid from the AV club had tripped all on his own. Or coerce brain-addled girls that he was really a tough guy with a soft side. Charlene might have been swayed by it, but I sure as hell was not.

“Want to tell me what made you think manhandling me in a dark alley was a good idea?” I balled up my fists and began calculating the possible trajectory of my foot so that the upward arc would put my booted toes squarely in his balls.

For a second, that smarmy smile faltered, a hint of confusion drifting across his face. Then he shook his head and chuckled.

“Sorry, Charlie,” he said, sounding the barest bit apologetic. “I really didn’t mean to scare you or anything. I saw you walking this way and thought I’d surprise you.”

I was still debating the pros (which were a lot) and the cons (of which there were few) of high-kicking his nuts into the lower atmosphere. Then I simply sighed and relaxed a bit. Not that I actually trusted the jerk, but his body posture seemed to indicate that he wasn’t considering moving closer to me again. At least not immediately.

“Surprise me?” I fought to keep from screaming. Mostly because I didn’t want to attract attention until I felt I needed to. “By grabbing me from behind without any warning and then … kissing me?”

A bit of color crept onto his face. Wait a second. Was he blushing? Was Mr. Most Likely to Go to Prison actually embarrassed?

“I know. I know.” He said, shrugging. “It was stupid. Call it momentary insanity. I saw you, was overcome with desire, and just had to kiss you.” Then that Cheshire grin reappeared. “Forgive me? I promise to make it up to you.”

I shook my head, feeling a wave of nausea roll through me. Mostly because I couldn’t believe that Charlene was a far shittier friend than I expected. Okay, maybe not mostly. More like equal parts disgusted with my double’s behavior and the fact that Danny Morris had kissed me.

“Josie …” I started to say. However, Danny stepped forward and took my hand gently into his, silencing my protest.

“Don’t worry about her. She’s with Shelly over on the other side of campus. No way for her to know we’re together.”

Now I was going to be sick.

“That’s not the point, Danny,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Danny?” He tossed me another slightly puzzled expression, then threw his hands in the air. “Then what is the point?”

“The point is that we should be doing … whatever this is.”

I didn’t know exactly the nature or duration of this tryst between Charlene and Danny. Without those details, keeping my protest vague seemed the wisest course of action. Of course, the vagueness didn’t stop my imagination from trying to fill in all the disgusting gaps. Which only made me the more nauseated.

“Are you serious?” he asked, his tone moving from one of wonder and bewilderment to anger. It was one I recognized immediately.

I nodded, holding his furious gaze with my own.

“It’s not fair to Jackson. Or Josie.” I ran my fingers through my hair, pressing the tips into my temples. “I really don’t know how I let you convince me otherwise.”

“Me?” He raised his arm and pointed his finger at me. “You were the one who started with the whole ‘you’re too good for Josie, you deserve someone better’ shit.” He shook his head, jaw visibly clenched. “This is fucking Homecoming all over again. You’d think I’d know better.”

Do … huh? My tirade died as my brain pulled the emergency brakes and everything came to a screeching halt. This little clandestine affair was Charlene’s idea?? Danny didn’t woo her from Jackson, she wooed him from Josie? That couldn’t possibly be right. I shook my head, staring at the familiar stranger standing a few feet away.

After the incident in Mrs. Wimple’s yard, Danny Morris and I avoided each other as much as possible. I didn’t have any desire to get my ass kicked and I assumed he didn’t care to run afoul of anymore of Jackson’s crazy inventions. Anytime we did have to interact, the exchanges were brief, rare, and seething with thinly veiled hostility. After graduation, I was fairly certain we might never cross paths again.

What if, over here, the years had unfolded differently? Back home, Danny was constantly in too much trouble to participate in organized sports. This version, however, had apparently not only joined the football team, he’d been good enough at the game to transition to playing for the university. Throw in the disturbing fact that Charlene had been a cheerleader, and it was all too easy to assume they’d gravitated to the same social circles.

They’d obviously never dated. Otherwise, either Katie or Jackson would have mentioned it. But that didn’t mean that something intimate hadn’t taken place between them. Maybe some short-lived fling that set them on a course leading to what they were doing now?

“This is not like Homecoming, Danny” I said, trying to sound confident rather than confused. “Not like it at all.”

He snorted in response, shaking his head. “Other than the fact that we’re seeing different people than we did in high school, it is exactly like Homecoming. And what’s with the ‘Danny’ crap, Charlene?”

Oh … well, shit. I guess Danny was a moniker more suited to a child than a young man of almost twenty. I never bothered to find out how he liked to be addressed as we both got older. To me, he would always be that bully named Danny. What did Charlene call him? Dan? Daniel? Stud-Muffin?”

“Look,” I said, holding up one hand. “Let’s just take a breather, okay? I’m having a really unusual day.”

This situation wasn’t going to work out well for either of us if it continued along its current trajectory. I just needed to disengage and go somewhere to think. Figure out how best to fix the issue.

Plus, I needed time to deal with the shit-ton of guilt pressing down on me. Which was completely messed up if you thought about it. Why was I feeling guilty about what my duplicate from a parallel universe had done. It wasn’t like I’d done, or would even think of doing, the stuff she had.

Right now, based on what I’d learned so far today, I would rate my double: Zero stars. Would not recommend.

“Whatever,” he said, still brimming with anger and hurt. “I guess I’ll see you later.”

He stared at me for another couple of seconds, momentarily making me panic. I wouldn’t know what I would do if he suddenly accused me of being an imposter. Of not being the Real Charlene. However, he merely shook his head again and marched out of the alley and across the grassy courtyard toward the athletic complex.

When he was gone, I slumped against the cool brick wall behind me, fighting to take control of the whirlwind of conflicting thoughts and emotions. Of course, that was when my phone began to ring. I pulled it out of my purse, already deciding that if it was Danny, Josie, or Shelly, I was going to send the call to voicemail.

It was Jackson.

Balling my free hand into a fist, I drew in a deep breath, released it, then swiped my thumb across the green circle.

“Hey,” I said in a voice that was shakier than I wanted. “What’s up?”

“Hey,” he replied. “I just thought I’d check in and see how it was going. I know Charlie has lunch right now, so I figured I wouldn’t be interrupting anything.”

Nope. Not interrupting anything. Except your girlfriend’s infidelity with your former nemesis. Other than that, nothing at all.

“It’s been eye-opening,” I said, forcing a little chuckle into my tone. “To say the least.”

He laughed as well. Only his sounded genuine. “I’m sure it has been. I have to admit I’m a bit envious. You’re not only getting the chance to explore a different reality; you get to do it as a different person. Truly groundbreaking.”

“Next time, you can be the one stuck in the skirt.”

“You’re in a skirt?” He laughed again. “You let Katie dress you, didn’t you?”

“She, uh, made some suggestions.” The implication of his question finally resounded in my brain. “Charlie doesn’t wear skirts to school, does she?”

“She does sometimes. Most days, though, she just wears jeans.”

“I’m going to kill her sister when I get home,” I growled.

“I’m sure you look adorable in it,” he said. “Anyway, I just thought I’d see how your first day as Charlene was going. After practice is over, can you swing by here? I want to run a few more scans. They’ll be useful in recalibrating the machine when I get it back up and running.”

“Sure. Just make sure you keep working on that one and don’t transition to a new project. I know how my Jackson is prone to doing that.”

“I promise, Charles. Getting the two of you back where you belong is my main priority.”

“Good. I’ll see you around five.”

I hung up the phone and dropped it in the purse. I had used every ounce of willpower not to tell him that the girl he thought the universe revolved around was a two-timing bitch. While I tried to convince myself that it was because I didn’t have all the details, and not being able to tell him everything would only make it worse, that wasn’t the truth.

The truth was … I was afraid. I feared that he might be so angry at her that he might decide leaving her in a different body in an alternate dimension to be a fitting punishment. Leaving me trapped here. In her.

An hour ago, I would have said that Jackson would never do something like that. But now I realized that just because mine wouldn’t, didn’t mean the one here wouldn’t. I’d already seen, firsthand, how different mine and Charlene’s moralities were.

I pressed my fingers into my temples. This whole thing was starting to give me a migraine. My appetite, tenuous to start with, had vanished completely. In fact, as I stepped out of the alley, the aroma of the food being prepared nearby made my stomach roil. I covered my mouth with one hand and hurried away from the student center as quickly as my booted feet would carry me.

Charlene’s one o’clock class was Sociology. Despite my overwhelming desire to just find a corner to sit in and think, I decided to attend. Mostly because I couldn’t think of anyplace better to go.

According to the school’s website, Pratt Hall was where I needed to be. I thought it might be somewhere near McIver, which meant hiking all the way back across campus. When I came into sight of the structure, I sensed someone walking up behind me. As I started to turn around, preparing myself for another round of arguing with Danny, a familiar, more feminine voice called out.

“Hey, Charlie. Wait up.”

I froze in mid-step, slowly turning around to look at the person who’d called my name.

Samantha Thomas.

She looked exactly the same as my maybe-girlfriend back home, with the exception that her long red hair hung down past her shoulders, rather than stopping at chin length. She wore a dark denim skirt that came down to just above her knees, revealing the taut, muscular calves of someone who’s main source of physical activity was running up and down a field for ninety minutes, and a light purple blouse with mid-length sleeves. The cut of the top was loose enough to look comfortable, but tight enough to emphasize the generous swell of her breasts.

I’d once thought her bosom to be average in size. However, compared to Charlene, she was very well-endowed. Which immediately made me wonder how she dealt with them while playing.

“Uh, hey … Samantha,” I said, blinking rapidly and wondering what sort of screwed up humor the universe possessed. “How’re you?”

She laughed and continued walked, causing me to resume my pace to keep up.

“Not bad. Had a chem exam at eight this morning. Probably failed. Then I got assigned a ten page paper in Brit Lit. Now I get to go sit in a freezing lecture room for an hour and a half while Professor Reardon drones on and on about social deviance and group demographics.” Then she smiled a gigantic grin at me. “At least the company won’t be so bad.”

Company? Wait, did that mean that her and Charlene were in the same class? Seriously??

I returned her smile, despite the nervous pit forming in my stomach, and shrugged. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to keep each other awake.” Mentally, I crossed my fingers. If I’d misinterpreted her comment, if we weren’t currently heading to the same class, I was going to look like a total idiot.

“If not,” she said, laughing. “One of us will need to sneak out and grab a couple of lattes.”

I nodded, feeling my coiled anxiety relax a bit. My original plan for class was to wait outside until just before the lecture began, then go inside and look around to see if anyone waved at me. Then I would sit down next to that person and do my best to appear extremely interested in the teacher’s words.

Now, at least, I knew who I was expected to share the class experience with. Even if the relationship on this side of the mirror was different.

“Did you finish the reading?” Samantha asked as we climbed the steps to the entrance to Pratt Hall.

I shook my head. “Had to, uh, keep an eye on my little sister last night because my dad worked late. Totally took up all of my evening.”

She nodded. “Yeah, I hear you. I started to read, got as far as three pages in, then decided to go to a movie. Definitely the better choice.”

“What did you see?”

“That new ScarJo movie that just came out. Black Widow.”

I nodded. “I’ve been wanting to see it myself. Any good?”

“Oh yeah.” She pulled open the door, holding it for me. “Maybe next time I’ll shoot you a text. We can go together.”

In the lecture hall, I followed Samantha to a pair of seats near the back. We plopped down our stuff, pulled out our books, and waited for knowledge to be imparted.

Professor Reardon was a tiny lady. She looked like she might be in her mid-forties, with short jet black hair streaked with shocking bands of white. She wandered around the front of the room while she talked, occasionally calling on one of the other sixty students spread out around the auditorium. I followed along with her lecture, all the while praying that she didn’t call on me.

For once, fate decided to cut me a break.

My phone buzzed several times during the class. Thankfully, the amount of junk in my purse muffled the sound so that only Samantha and I could hear it. The first time, she glanced down at my bag, then back up to me. When I responded with a shrug and left the device where it was, a smirk appeared on her face. By the time the diminutive professor dismissed us, the phone had buzzed another half dozen times.

“Extra popular today,” Samantha said with a grin as we walked out of the lecture hall. “Either one of your teammates is having a fashion emergency or else some guy is really desperate to talk to you.”

I rolled my eyes. The only guy who struck me as desperate enough to repeatedly text me without waiting for a response was Danny. Jackson would have been more considerate of the fact that I was supposed to be paying attention in class. As we stepped out into the sunlight, Samantha released a sigh of disgust.

“Oh, I forgot Option Number Three,” she said, nodding her head toward the bottom of the steps. “Miss Wanna-Be Regina.”

I followed her gaze, looking past the rest of the students filling down out of the building to the pretty blonde girl with her arms crossed over her chest and the sour expression on her face. When our eyes met, the frown deepened and her stance became more impatient. It was more than apparent the smartly dressed girl was waiting for me.

And not too happy about it.

“She doesn’t look happy,” I murmured softly to Samantha while smiling at the stern-faced female.

Samantha snickered. “When does Rachel Bostwick ever look happy? If you had a permanent gold brick shoved up your twat, you’d frown all the time too.”

Rachel? I thought Samantha said her name was Regina? Regardless, the icy blonde barely gave my companion a glance as we descended the last few steps to where she was.

“Ghosting my messages, Miller?” she asked in a snotty tone. “Not exactly the brightest idea, sweetie.”

“I was in class,” I retorted, crossing my arms over my chest to mimic her. “I was trying to learn. You know, the whole reason why we go to college.”

Samantha snickered softly again, causing Rachel’s baby blue eyes to turn into sharpened daggers pointed in her direction.

“Do you mind, Lesbo?” she sneered. “This is a private conversation.”

Samantha shrugged. “By all means, carry on.” Then she looked at me. “Catch you later, Charlie.” She strolled off at a leisurely pace toward the Quad without a single backward glance.

I watched her depart, then turned back around to find Rachel had narrowed the space between us to mere inches. However, since I was the taller, made even more so by the boots, she had to look up at me.

“I do not understand why you continue to maintain a friendship with that rug muncher,” Rachel growled. “Not exactly the sort of image we like to present.”

“We?” I asked, tilting my head. “Who is we?”

The blonde stared at me as if I’d just asked if she liked lube-less anal.

“Kappa Omega, Charlene. Or have you decided to renounce your pledge?”

I almost reached up to smack myself in the forehead. Luckily, I managed to refrain and put on a disarming smile.

“I have not. I’m just messing with you.” I shook my head. “You really need to relax, Rachel.”

“Your humor leaves a lot to be desired,” she said dryly. “A lot. Very well, then. I suppose you have a worthwhile explanation?”

No, actually, I didn’t. Because I didn’t have the slightest damn clue what I did, or didn’t do, that required me to explain anything to someone like this Rachel. There had been cliques at my high school, but none of the so-called Queen Bees ever gave off this much attitude.

“Explanation for what?” I asked.

“Your absence from last night’s soiree, of course. I thought I’d made it clear that attendance was not optional.”

I wanted to tell this smug, stuck-up bimbo that I was a grown woman who could go where she liked, when she pleased. However, it wouldn’t be Charles telling her where to get off. It would be Charlene. I doubt my doppelgänger would be pleased to return to her life to find she’d been blackballed from the very sorority she had originally pledged. As much as I felt she was not as nice a person as I’d thought, I couldn’t do that. Not on purpose.

“I’m sorry, Rachel. My dad called and got stuck at work. He asked me to keep an eye on my little sister. I really meant to call you and let you know, but one thing led to another …”

I did my best to sound and look contrite. For people like Rachel, showing the proper amount of deferment went a long way. After all, they already thought they were better than anyone else. What was the harm in using that inflated ego against them?

After staring at me for a few more seconds, she finally sighed in an overdramatic fashion.

“Very well. I suppose abandoning your family when needed goes against the Kappa way of life. Just as long as you remember that once the induction ceremony is over, your new sisters will also be your family. We will expect you to show us the same level of care and concern that you do your first family.”

Jesus, was this bitch a blow hard or what?

I nodded, switching my demeanor from one of supplication to joyous glee. As if I’d just been pardoned. “I will!” Then I dragged my finger across my left breast. “Cross my heart.”

“Excellent!” The blonde said. “I knew I chose correctly when I picked you to join the Kappas.”

“I won’t make you regret it.”

“See that you don’t, Charlene.”

I needed to get away from her before I ran out of steam from all the ass kissing. Luckily, I had a pre-ordained out. Lifting my arm, I pointed in the direction of the athletic complex.

“I really need to take off, Rachel. Cheer practice.”

She nodded, then made a little shooing gesture with her right hand, effectively dismissing me.

Really? These were the types of people Charlene wanted to associate with? Arrogant floozies with the upbringing of a spoiled debutante? Man, my double really didn’t know what she was doing with her life, did she?

“Thanks,” I said, since that seemed to be the best approach. “Bye.” I turned and began to walk rather hurriedly away, both hands balled into tiny fists. Would it be inappropriate if I punched her at some point? I mean, it would technically be a girl hitting a girl. That didn’t break any codes of chivalry, did it?

However, it would seem that my getaway wasn’t going to be as clean as I would have liked. When I was ten feet into my departure, Rachel called after me.

“Remember that we have a mixer tomorrow night with the Delta Chi boys. I expect you there with bells on.”

I lifted my hand and waved it to indicate I’d heard her. I probably would have made my feelings on the matter clearer if I’d chosen to wave only a single digit at her.

I was almost to the sports building when the world went sideways. My thoughts had been occupied with on all the shit between Charlie and Danny, so at first I didn’t notice anything weird. However, when all of the sound around me just ceased instantly, I yanked my attention away from Charlene’s twisted love life and back to my surroundings.

From what I could see, people were still walking and running and talking. Cars were still driving by on the narrow streets nearby. There was just no ambient sound. Other than the pounding cascade of my heart, which tripled its pace and slammed painfully in my chest.

What the hell? I began to wonder if I’d suddenly gone deaf.

Then, about three seconds after the sounds of the world disappeared, the world followed suit. Darkness, complete and total, engulfed me. Drowning me in its inky depths. I opened my mouth to scream, but I could no longer feel my throat. Or my mouth. Or my lungs.

I had totally ceased to be.

The sensation of non-existence lasted less than a second. Two, at most. Then the world, with all its images and noises, crashed back around me. The sudden re-emergence threw my brain for a loop, and I reached out instinctively to grab something before I fell flat on my face.

Instead of the empty air that should have been around me, my fingers and palm impacted on the cool metal surface of a table.

In Jackson’s lab.

What the fuck?

The resident inventor himself was standing a few feet away, staring at me with an expression that made me think I’d just taken a leak on his favorite power resistor.

He sighed. “You’re acting completely irresponsible and absolutely selfish.”

“I am?” I asked. Then I grabbed my throat. It wasn’t the voice of a young lady that had emerged. It was the voice of a young man.

My voice.

“Holy shit,” I said, marveling at the deeper tone. It sounded a little weird and alien, but I figured that was because I hadn’t heard it in almost twenty-four hours.

“Yes,” Jackson said. “I guess it does come as a shock to have someone pointing out your character flaws.”

“What?” I said, moving my hands from my throat down my body. There were no unnatural mounds of flesh beneath my shirt, and the area between my legs had more substance than it did seconds earlier.

“Charlie,” Jackson said, arching a brow as moved closer to me. “Are you listening to me?”

“I’m back!” I yelled, throwing my arm in the air in a fist pump. Then I lowered it to point at the bewildered genius. “I don’t know how you did it, but you are a goddamned miracle worker!” I leapt across the space between us and grabbed him in a tight hug, lifting him slightly off the floor in celebration.

Jackson’s eyes widened as he stared down at me. “Charles?”

I released him and nodded, taking a step back. “Who else? God, man, I didn’t think you were going to be able to pull me back so quickly. Guess you’re smarter than your other version.”

Jackson continued to stare at me silently. Then he slowly shook his head.

“I … I didn’t do anything.” He pointed to a spot behind me.

When I turned around, I could see the control panel for the dimensional window. The unit was in complete disrepair. There were wires and circuit boards littering the floor around it. It looked like a half-completed science project. I turned back to him.

“Then how do you explain this?” I gestured at myself. “If you didn’t zap me back, it must have been the other Jackson.” I smirked. “Guess you’re not the brightest of the pair, after all.”

Instead of joining in with my good mirth, Jackson frowned and began to mutter to himself.

“It’s not possible. Even if he’d managed to get his unit repaired so quickly, it takes two to open the window. Plus, she wasn’t anywhere near the device. Spontaneous transference isn’t possible.”

I clapped my hand on his shoulder, giving it an enthusiastic squeeze.

“Look, I’m sure you’ll figure out all the math in due time. How about we just enjoy the fact that, once again, I’ve managed to survive one of your insane creations.” I laughed and clapped him twice, probably a bit harder than I intended. “Next time you have some out of this world device you want to show me, how about video chat?”

I turned around and started moving toward the stairs. The only thing I wanted to do was go home, hug my mom, and then go back to house on campus and enjoy being male again.

“Charlie, wait.” Jackson moved to block me from the exit. “You can’t leave. Not yet. We have to figure out why you came back. It’s not possible.”

I waved my hand. “Look, I’m sure you’ll figure it out later. You always do.”

“No, you don’t understand. I’m not saying that I haven’t determined how you and Charlene switched back without the dimensional window being active. I’m saying that it is impossible. Not just unlikely. Completely and utterly impossible.”

I pointed at my chest, trying to keep my good mood going. However, Jackson’s attitude was starting to chip away at that euphoria.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Jack. I’m back here and she’s hopefully back there in her own life. As messed up as it is. Everything’s finally normal again.”

“Charlie …”

I held up my hand and spun around, heading for the door.

“No. Absolutely not. You do your brainstorming thing. I’m going home. Later.”

Before he could protest any further, I pulled open the laboratory door, crossed the threshold, and closed it behind me. If I didn’t step foot in that room for a year, it would be too soon.

I ascended the steps and left Jackson’s house, emerging into the mid-afternoon sun. My Jeep, the red one, was still parked in the same spot I’d left it before my impromptu trip. Climbing behind the wheel, I drove it the fifty feet from the curb to my driveway.

“Mom?” I called out the moment I stepped into the house. “Mom??”

Even though I’d seen her in person two days ago, and talked to her on the phone a couple of hours before Jackson’s messed up experiment, it felt like she’d been absent for years. Part of me began to panic, imagining that I hadn’t really returned to my original dimension. That, somehow, my male body had crossed over to join my soul, leaving me whole in a world that wasn’t really mine.

She appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, wringing her hands on a dishtowel. A distressed expression sat on her face as she looked at me.

“Charlie, I thought you were over at Jackson’s.”

“I was. Now I’m home.” I smiled as I immediately went over and wrapped her in a tight embrace, hugging her with every ounce of my love.

“Oh, Charlie! What in the world has gotten into you?” She laughed and pried herself free from my arms, shaking her head. “You’ve been extremely affectionate the past two days. Makes me wonder if you’re in trouble and trying to butter me up before your father and I found out what.”

I shook my head, knowing she wouldn’t believe me if I told her.

“No, I’m fine. Can’t a guy just want to tell his mother how much he loves her?”

“Yes, he can,” she replied. “However, I think you’ve said it about three or four hundred times since yesterday.” She tilted her head slightly to the side, as if studying me. “Are you sure there isn’t something wrong? Trouble with a girl, maybe? I know you prefer your privacy when it comes to your relationships, but if you want to talk, I’m here.”

I nodded. “I know you are. There’s no trouble with a girl.” At least, not anymore.

“Okay. Just remember that I’ll always be here for you if you want to talk.”

I froze, her words stabbing me in the heart. Because I’d just realized that Charlene didn’t have that. Her own mother was gone, snatched away when she was in those screwy, messed-up years of her youth. That turbulent time when you never knew what way was up and needed a bit of guidance from someone who’d been through it before.

I’d missed my mom while on a temporary trip to the other side of me. But only because I knew she was beyond my reach until the Jacksons figured out how to reverse the experiment. However, I had the knowledge, deep down, that she would be there waiting for me when I returned.

How badly had this situation affected Charlie? After two years of learning to get along without her mother, she suddenly found herself in her company again? Even if it wasn’t exactly her original mother. Then, just as suddenly, she was pulled back to that world where a single decision had cost her dearly. What would that be like?

I shook my head. My annoyance at her and the choices she’d made, choices which only affected me due to a lab accident, faded away. I couldn’t continue to be upset with her, now could I?

Well, the cheating on Jackson with her friend’s boyfriend still stuck in my craw. Though, I did have to remind myself that the people on the other side weren’t completely identical to those here. For all I knew, Other Jackson was a crappy boyfriend who never paid her any real attention. Not that it was an excuse, mind you. It was simply a matter of understanding.

“Penny for your thoughts,” mom said, pulling me out of my musings.

I smirked. “That depends,” I said. “Is she cute?”

She arched a brow in inquiry. “Is who cute?”

“Penny. If you’re trading her for my thoughts, I just want to make sure it’s a good deal.”

My mother rolled her eyes, but laughed all the same. “I’m sure with a name like Penny, she’s adorable. Are you leaving or sticking around again?”

“Sticking around for a little while. At least until this evening.”

“Good. Then you can help me make dinner.”

For the next two hours, I happily assisted my mother in cutting vegetables and layering pasta. Apparently Charlene had been missing mom’s special lasagna and had begged her to make it this evening. I didn’t mind. It had been a while since I’d enjoyed that particular dish as well.

While we worked, we chatted. Mom had detected yesterday that “I” was upset about something, but decided to let “me” come to her about it in due time. The revelation made me laugh. Charlene’s dad barely had any clue his daughter was acting out of character. He just thought it was a matter of a girl being a girl.

If Charlene’s mom had still been alive, I have no doubt she would have easily seen through my ruse.

Jackson called twice while we were making dinner. Both times I ignored it, letting him go to voicemail. Mom arched an inquisitive brow at my decision not to talk to my best friend, but said nothing.

When the lasagna was in the oven, the garlic bread in the toaster, and the salad sitting in a large wooden bowl on the table, mom went to the fridge and pulled out a half-full bottle of wine. She took two small, plastic glasses from the cabinet and filled each about a third of the way. She put the bottle back in the fridge and walked to the table, handing me one of the glasses as she passed.

When I opened my mouth to reminder her that I was not twenty-one, she gave me her No-Nonsense look.

“If you think I believe that you’ve never had alcohol in your life, you are sorely mistaken.” She sat down at the table and pointed at her own glass. “I feel like having some wine and I’m not having it alone.”

“If you insist,” I said, grinning. Though I was an athlete, I didn’t treat my body as some temple that required dedication to near-impossible ideals. I might not make a habit of sucking down a six-pack every night, but my roommates and I did keep booze around for when the urge struck.

I took a sip of the sweet Riesling and made a face. I’ve never been much of a wine person.

“It’s an acquired taste,” Mom said, taking a sip of her own.

“I can imagine,” I said, shaking my head.

I started to bring the glass to my lips again. If mom wanted someone to drink wine with, then I was more than happy to indulge her.

However, when the glass was halfway to my lips, all of the sound around me disappeared. Like someone switching off a speaker.

No! No! Shit!

I glanced over at my mom, desperate to tell her that I loved her. Before I could do more than turn her way, that darkness fell over me again, tearing me away from everything.

A second later, the world snapped back into focus. Bringing with it complete confusion.

Rather than sitting in a chair in my parent’s kitchen, I was on a bed, on my hands and knees, and being jerked back and forth rapidly. My hair was damp and wet, hanging down over my face and clinging to my neck. My breathing was blasting from my lungs in ragged, torrential gasps. My brain, slightly scrambled and disordered, was unable to piece anything together.

Then a blast of pleasure rocketed out from both my groin and my mind, tearing through me like a firestorm. Unable to control myself, I screamed something loud and primal as the wave bathed me in such euphoria that I was sure every neuron in my skull was exploding at the speed of light. My fingers twisted themselves around the satiny cloth beneath my grip, grasping for purchase against the flood of endorphins saturating my being.

The rapid rocking instantly stopped. Through the haze slowly lifting, I realized two things which sent a cold chill running through me. The fingers of someone’s hands were curled around my hips, holding me tightly, while something else, bigger than a hand, filled me from behind.

As I quickly came down from my orgasmic high, I plopped forward to crash face-down in the damp sheets of the bed. The motion caused the object stuffing me to vanish with an audible, and extremely nauseating, pop. A second later, the weight of the second person landed next to me, sending a ripple rolling through the mattress.

I stared down at the semi-darkness created by the sweat-drenched sheets, panting wildly as micro-earthquakes sent involuntary trembles through my arms and legs. There was absolutely no naiveté on my part about what Charlene had been doing when we swapped back. The only question running through my mind was … who?

“Holy shit,” Danny Morris said from beside me, a light laugh flavoring his voice. “That was incredible.”

The Other Side of Me – Part 8
by Limbo’s Mistress

I lay there in the soaked sheets, panting and trying to get my voluntary muscles back into some semblance of working order. As I did, I fought against acknowledging the situation, the moment, I’d landed in when I flipped back over to the other side. No, negative, no way, not going to happen. However, my rebellious thoughts were as beholden to my desires as a bird is to the ground.

I had leapt back into Charlene while she was having sex with Danny Morris.

Not just having sex, either. Raw, animal, taking it from behind carnal lust. And to top it all off, I’d returned just as her climax arrived. Bad for me, yes. But even worse for her. Call it coitus interruptus. I balled my hands into fists and hoped her abrupt return to my body before finding release meant she had a killer case of blue balls.

It would serve her right.

Danny placed his hand on my bare shoulder, thumb stroking the sensitive flesh.

“That was incredible,” he said, sounding about as out of breath as I felt. Gah! I felt like I needed to get away and shower. With lava.

I shifted on the bed, moving my shoulder out of his touch. “I have to go,” I announced, sliding up into a sitting position. As if on instinct, I held the dark silk sheets against me, preventing him from seeing anything more risqué than my bare back. When I rose, I pulled the rest of the sheet around to cover my naked ass as I searched the room for my clothes.

The garments were in a pile near the door. Discarded, as if Charlene had entered with a singular purpose and had been determined to relieve herself of anything that might get in the way of that goal as quickly as humanly possible. My bra dangled from the banker’s lamp sitting on Danny’s desk.

“Seriously?” he said in a tone of utter disbelief as he stood up. In all his naked glory.

Hello! Dong on the loose!

A wave of disgust rolled through me as I realized his dick was still wrapped in a wet-slick condom. The tip bulging with his … secretions. Gah! Make that a double lava shower.

“Seriously,” I retorted, being down to grab my skirt and top. “I’ve got … stuff to do.”

Panties. Panties. Where the ever-loving fuck were my panties?

Danny walked over and put his fingers around my upper arm. Not exactly holding me tightly, but enough to broadcast his desire to delay my departure.

“You got stuff to do?” He snorted and shook his head. “First, you act like you’re all upset about what you and I are doing behind Josie’s back. Then you burst in here, unannounced, and practically jump me like some animal in heat.”

I looked down at the hand on my bicep, then glared up at him.

“I did not jump you like some … animal.” Of course, that might be exactly what happened. I didn’t have the slightest clue about Charlene’s sexual escapades. I’d assumed that since she and Jackson had never done the deed, she might actually still be a virgin.

Danny snorted again and pointed at the desk. An open textbook sat in the middle of it in front of a small laptop. My wayward thong sat squarely in the middle of the book.

“You came in here like a horny whirlwind, stripped down to your birthday suit, and told me that you ‘needed my dick immediately’. That’s a direct quote by the way. I tried to get you to slow down and talk to me. Because, frankly, you were scaring me a little.”

I rolled my eyes, trying to imagine Danny Morris trying to talk a girl out of having sex with him. It was like a heroin junkie throwing out Grade-A smack.

“You tried to get me to slow down, huh?” I gestured at my sheet-covered body then glared my hardest at him. “How’d that work out?”

He released me and held up both hands, apparently concerned by whatever he saw in my eyes.

“Hey, don’t blame me. I don’t know any guys alive who would pump the brakes once a hot chick started giving them head.”

“Started giving …” My stomach churned and a felt a bit of vomit creep up into my upper throat for a second before sliding back down. It left a truly disgusting taste in my mouth. A taste that immediately erased the other strange taste that had been there.

Gah! Now I was going to gargle with the damned lava!

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Danny asked. “I knew you were batshit crazy when we were in high school. I just didn’t realize that you still were.”

I stared at him for the length of several heartbeats, then marched over to grab my underwear from their resting place.

“You’re right,” I snapped, shaking the lacy thing at him. “I’m fucking crazy. Why don’t you do yourself a favor and forget all about me? Leave me and my crazy, hypersexual self alone?”

I turned around and looked at the closed bedroom door. From what I could tell, I was in a house. Probably the Frat house of whatever misogynistic organization would have Danny Morris as a card-carrying member. The last thing I wanted to do was perform the Walk of Shame wrapped up in those nasty sheets.

I sighed and looked back at Danny, reminding myself to not look at his latex-covered member. “Turn around.”

“Why?”

I bared my teeth at him. “Because I need to get dressed and I don’t want you ogling my naked body while I’m doing it.”

“Ogling your naked …” He threw his hands in the air. “You really are a fucking basket case, Charlie.”

However, he did as I asked, turning his back to me, and planting his hands on his hips.

I dropped the sheet and stepped into the panties so fast it was practically magic. Then I pulled on the skirt and strapped myself into the bra. The sweater was inside out, so I had to turn it around right before slipping it over my head. The hose got shoved into the purse sitting on the recliner in the corner of the large room. Once I had my boots on, I turned back to Charlene’s covert paramour.

“Done,” I said.

Danny turned back around. Before I could avert my eyes, I confirmed that the physical evidence of our tryst had been removed. He was still completely naked, though.

“Now that you’ve gotten dressed, can we talk like adults?”

I shook my head. “No, we can’t. This…” I pointed at the disheveled bed. “…was a big mistake. One I’m not ever going to repeat again.”

Of course, those were pretty bold words I might not be able to back up. If I jumped back home again, I didn’t think Charlene would follow through on them in the least.

He shook his head, then narrowed his eyes at me.

“You want to be done with me? Fine. But let me tell you this, Charlie. If you confess what we’ve been doing to Josie, I will make sure she knows that you were the one who came onto me. That this little affair was your idea.”

The sad part was, he had a point. From what I’d been able to piece together, between the lines, was that Charlene had initiated the relationship. She’d probably done the same at that mysterious Homecoming event. Regardless, the years of dislike I had for Danny Morris shone through. I crossed my arms over my chest and gave him a withering look.

“Maybe she’ll believe that. Maybe she won’t. But it’s a safe bet that, afterwards, she won’t have anything to do with either of us.”

“We’ll see,” he said, pointing at the door. “Take your psycho ass out of here.”

I pondered kicking him in the balls for a second, then decided to simply leave. The door opened onto a plush carpeted hallway that dead-ended to the left, but revealed a staircase to the right. I headed in that direction, descended to the main floor, and stepped out into the twilight evening. Turning around, I looked up at the Greek letters attached to the front of the two-story Colonial: Sigma Chi.

Luckily, I recognized where on campus I was, and began to make my way toward the small lot down the street. As expected, Charlene’s Jeep was parked, slightly crooked, in one of the fraternity’s guest spots. I climbed in, tossed my purse on the seat, and started the engine.

Before pulling out, though, I put on the overhead light and looked at myself in the visor’s mirror. My makeup was practically gone, obviously the victim of the bout of bedroom gymnastics. My hair was still damp in places, and looked to be a complete wreck. In short, I was a really hot mess who needed to go home, take a dozen showers, then get in bed and pretend the day hadn’t happened.

Home! The thought yanked me upright in the seat. I shoved my hand into my purse, pulling out my phone. The digital display informed me that it was almost six-thirty. I had told Charlene’s dad I would be home long before now.

I dropped the Jeep into Drive and sped off, trying to get home as quickly as I could without breaking any major traffic laws. Unfortunately, there was a patch of roadwork taking place on Elm Street, which narrowed the two-lane road down to a single file line of cars the crept agonizingly slow. By the time I pulled to a stop in the driveway, it was ten after seven.

The silver Mercedes parked in the driveway informed me that, not only was I late, Charlene’s dad had beaten me home. I killed the engine and climbed out of the Jeep, walking slowly up the pathway to the front door like a condemned prisoner being delivered to the execution chamber.

When I stepped inside, I heard voices coming from the kitchen. I dropped my backpack and purse near the stairs and went to face the music.

The two of them were at the table, chopsticks in hand. The platter of sushi and sashimi between them was almost half-gone, telling me that Mr. Miller had gotten off work earlier than his original estimate. A lot earlier, it seemed.

Katie noticed me in the doorway first. She swallowed the morsel in her mouth and gave me a weirdly confused look.

“Hey, Charlie,” she said. The expression in her eyes made me think she was trying to ascertain if she was addressing Boy-Charlie or Girl-Charlie.

“Hey, Katie-Kat,” I said, quickly winking at her. “How was your day?”

Dad set his chopsticks down and turned in his seat to look at me. There was zero anger in his gaze. What there was, however, was a freaking crapload of disappointment. Which I completely understood. I’d promised him I would come right home after cheer practice and keep an eye on Charlene’s little sister. A promise that had gone unfulfilled.

In my defense, though, when I made that promise, I hadn’t planned on an accidental visit to my dimension of origin.

“Hello, Charlene,” he said, using my full name. Which, if things across the multiverse were constant, meant that he was really unhappy with me. “Welcome home.”

I froze as I tried to come up with some explanation that would seem believable. Because the truth totally was not. I grasped at the first thing that came into my mind.

“I’m sorry I’m late. Josie was all upset today and I was trying to console her. The time just got away with me.”

“What had her so upset?”

Think, Charlie. Think!

“She thinks her boyfriend is cheating on her.”

He nodded, still giving me the skeptical eye. “Isn’t she seeing that Morris boy?”

I nearly did a double-take. I was fairly certain my own father had no clue who the hell Danny Morris was. Biting down on my lower lip, I nodded.

“Yeah. She is. So, uh, I went to his place to talk to him. You know, make sure he wasn’t. Cheating on her, I mean.”

Holy shit, I sounded like I’d just lost about fifty IQ points. If Dad didn’t call me out for such a blatant lie, I would be totally shocked.

Instead, he turned back to the meal.

“I see,” he said in a non-committal tone as he gestured at the platter with his utensils. “Well, sit down and eat. Sounds like you’ve had quite the afternoon.”

I joined the two of them at the table, where Katie resumed the story she had been telling Dad when I walked in. Something about how some guy in her biology class had actually fainted while preparing to dissect a frog. I really didn’t pay as much attention to it as I could have. My mind was too busy spinning around other questions.

Why had I popped back and forth between universes? Especially when the machine responsible for the first trip was still in pieces in Jackson’s lab? What did my Jackson mean when he said I was being “irresponsible”? It was clear he had been talking to Charlene at the time. What was she doing that he disagreed with?

“Charlene.” Dad’s voice cut through my mental woolgathering.

I blinked, nearly dropping the slice of tuna pinched between the thin wooden rods in my hand. “Huh?”

Katie giggled and winked at me as I turned my attention away from her.

Dad sighed. “I asked if you would be willing to take Katie to the mall tomorrow?”

I glanced over at the younger girl, who seemed about ready to break out into uncontrollable laughter. Then I looked back at him. “Why?”

A tinge of annoyance crossed his face. Then he ran his hand through his hair before answering.

“Because, she says she needs to shop for a dress for the Winter Dance taking place in a couple of weeks. I offered to go, mostly to make sure my credit card doesn’t catch fire. However, she seems to really want you to take her. I guess to help her pick out a good one.”

I felt my mouth drop open, and glanced back at Katie. Now I understood what had tickled her so much. She was looking forward to dragging Charles through the rigors of a Female Shopping Adventure. I was positive her request for my company was less due to my fashion sense and more for her own perverted entertainment.

“Please, Charlie?” The manipulative teen said, batting her eyes pleadingly at me. Personally, I thought she was laying it on a bit thick. However, the trick seemed to work perfectly on the clueless man sitting next to me.

“Would you?” he asked. It came out as a question, but I could tell it was more than that.

After a few seconds, I shrugged my shoulders. “Fine. We’ll go after practice.”

Her mischievous smile widened. “Awesome! You, Big Sis, are the coolest girl around.

There was a bit of extra emphasis on the word “girl”.

However, the sprite wasn’t quite done weaving her web just yet. She turned to look at her father. “Daddy, do you think I could get an Uber to pick me up from school and take me to the university? That way I can hang out and watch Charlie practice before we go shopping.”

I nearly choked on my sashimi.

“I, uh, don’t think that’s necessary,” I said after I managed to stop coughing and wash the lump of seafood down with a sip of water. “I’ll just swing by and pick you up.”

Katie had obviously planned for such an offer.

“But the Galleria is only a couple of blocks from campus. Doesn’t make much sense for you to drive in rush-hour traffic all the way back over here to pick me up, drive all the way past school to the mall, then drive back home.” She nodded at her own infallible logic. “It just makes better sense. Plus, an Uber will only cost five bucks.”

“Good point,” he said, practically ending any argument from me.

When dinner was over, Katie and I cleaned up the kitchen while Dad went to take a shower. As soon as he was out of earshot, she walked up to me and gave me the serious stink eye.

“What?” I asked as I loaded our glasses into the dishwasher. “I agreed to take you shopping. Or, more accurately, agreed to let you take me shopping.”

“I thought you wanted to blend in as Charlene,” she said, anger prevalent in her soft voice. “What’s the use of trying to help you if you’re just going to do whatever you want?”

I wiped my hands on a dishtowel. “What are you talking about?”

She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Duh! You ditched Charlene’s cheer practice.”

“What?”

“Don’t deny it,” she said, her voice momentarily rising to a louder pitch. Then she glanced over her shoulder to make sure we were still alone before turning back to me. “I saw your car over at Jackson’s this afternoon when you should have been at practice. Then you took off from his place like a shooting star around 4:30. I kept expecting you to come back before Dad got home.” She sighed in annoyance. “What’s the matter? Found out being a girl was too tough, so you went over to Egghead’s place to try and get him to send you home? Then, when he couldn’t, you went some place to pout and cry?”

I stared speechless at her tempestuous tirade. No wonder she’d been so keen to inject herself into my day tomorrow. She wanted to make sure I was living up to my half of the deal.

Reaching out, I grabbed her arm and dragged her closer to me. I bent down a little, looking right into her eyes.

“The Charlie you saw this afternoon? That wasn’t me. That was Charlene. The real Charlene.” I made sure not to blink or avert my eyes. “I don’t know why, or how, but for a little while, she and I were back where we belonged. I only returned to this body about an hour ago.”

“When did that happen?” Her demeanor shifted instantly from one of fury to morbid inquisitiveness.

“While I was walking to practice. Right outside the sports complex, actually.”

She nodded, then glanced up at the clock.

“That would have been, what, almost three? Which would explain why she skipped it to go see Jackson.” Her brow crinkled in confusion. “Then, where did she go after that? Where was she when you returned?”

I bit down on my lip, trying to decide if I should just make something up or tell her the truth. After a couple of really long heartbeats, I chose the truth.

“At Danny Morris’ frat house.”

Her confused look intensified. “What was she doing there?”

I sighed, feeling a warmth creep onto my cheeks. “Uh, Danny?”

Now it was her turn to look shocked beyond words. “So, you … uh …” She held up her hands. One had the middle finger extended straight, the other made an O with the thumb and pointer. She put one inside the other, still staring at me.

The heat in my face became a bonfire, and the memory of the instant I resumed control of Charlene’s body made my dinner contemplate an involuntary return. Swallowing hard, I nodded.

“Oh Em Gee,” she said, covering her mouth with both hands. “How … how was it?”

I sighed, unable to meet those inquiring eyes. “I came in at the end of it. Like, right at the big moment.”

The cackle that followed would have done an evil villain proud. Despite her best attempts to quell it with her hands, her giggling threatened to rival her laughing spell from the previous evening.

“I didn’t find it funny at all,” I said, glaring at her.

She waved her hands, clenching her jaw to stifle her chuckles.

“No,” she said, taking a breath, tittering a bit, then continuing. “I’m picturing Charlie, getting ready to pop, then poof! She’s back in your body.” Another short burst of giggles. “I bet she was so pissed.”

I was unable to prevent myself from smiling a bit. Especially since I’d already considered the same thing.

Then her humor evaporated as the larger issue of what I’d confessed occurred to her.

“Wait! So, Charlie is cheating on Jackson with Josie’s boyfriend?”

I nodded. “Looks like. From what I can tell, it’s been an under-the-table thing for a bit now.”

“That bitch,” she snarled. “You would think after senior year, she would have more class than to boff a friend’s boyfriend.”

“She did the same thing last year?” I asked.

Katie shook her head. “No. She was the one in the dark. The guy she dated before Jackson was a total hottie pretty boy. Charlie fell really hard for him, even though I know for a fact some of his pals tried to warn her he was kind of a player. Right before Homecoming, she swung by his place to surprise him. What she found was two of her fellow squad mates and Jason enjoying a little ménage a trois.”

I arched a brow. “Jason … Reynolds?”

She blinked, then nodded. “Yeah. That’s the dirtbag. I keep forgetting that you probably know all the people she went to school with. Anyways, a couple of weeks after that was when her and Jackson started going out.” She shook her head, balling her hands into fists. “To think she’s doing that …”

I put my hand on her shoulder. “Well, I think I managed to kill any future rendezvous with Danny. He thinks she’s a schizophrenic nut.”

Katie chuckled softly. “Well, I guess she might be. With the way you two keep taking over each other’s bodies.”

I nodded. “Speaking of, I should probably go over to Jackson’s and see if he has any idea what is going on. I mean, mine didn’t have any clue. Perhaps hers is a bit more on the uptake.”

She nodded. “Go ahead. I’ll finish up here. Just try to get home before too late. Morning exercise comes early.”

I groaned. “Don’t remind me.” I reached out and gave the smaller girl a hug, then stepped back. “You’re a good sister. No matter which dimension I’m in.”

She laughed and struck a pose. “I’m pretty sure every version of me is awesome.”

I walked out of the kitchen toward the front door. When I put my hand on the knob, Katie called out to me.

“Chuck? Are you going to tell him?”

When I turned to look at her, she inclined her head in the direction of the house across the street.

“About what his girlfriend has been doing behind his back?”

She nodded.

“I should. I would want to know if I were in his shoes.”

“But you’re not?”

I shrugged. “I’m sort of afraid that he might get so mad he decides not to repair the machine. That he might prefer her cheating ass to stay over there.”

She gave me a skeptical frown. “Would your Jackson do that? I mean if you guys were a couple? Or would he be mature enough to make things right regardless of personal feelings?”

I thought about it for a second. While I couldn’t say with utter and complete certainty what Other Jackson would or wouldn’t do, I knew my Jackson would shove his emotions aside and work to get the dimensional window operating again. It was just the kind of guy he was.

I gave her a slight smile. “Let’s hope that this Jackson has the same dedication to fixing his mistakes as mine. I’ll be back soon.”

Heading outside, I discovered that the sun had drifted below the horizon, turning the sky into a mixture of deep orange and purple. The oncoming night threatened to be a cold one, and already the chilly breeze fluttering the hem of my skirt sent gooseflesh rising along my bare legs.

I wished I’d bothered to change, but I had the feeling that going back inside now would result in me postponing what I had to do. So, I crossed my arms over me to conserve body heat, and minced across the street. It wasn’t until I reached the porch that I realized I did it without stumbling in the slightest.

When had I become accustomed to the heels? Just now? During the day at school?

I didn’t care for the subtle inference the knowledge brought with it. Pushing those worries aside, since I only wanted to deal with one disaster at a time, I reached up and pressed the lighted button beside the door.

A few seconds later, Jackson appeared. He looked at me strangely. As if actually surprised to see me standing on his porch. Then, apparently noticing that I seemed to be uncomfortably cold, opened the door and ushered me inside.

“Come back to yell at me some more?” he asked as we descended the stairs to the lab.

“Yell at you?” I asked, moving past him into the room. With all the equipment constantly running, the lab was always ten degrees warmer than the rest of the house. Another shudder, this one born of my form reacting to the wonderful heat, ran through me. “Why would I yell at you?”

Jackson closed the lab door and turned around. His mouth opened, but hung there for a second before snapping closed. His eyes slid up and down my body, but the gaze was completely devoid of any sexuality. It was a scientific examination. When his eyes came back up to mine, he arched a brow.

“Charles?”

I nodded. “In the flesh. In her flesh actually. Again.”

“You two swapped back. I mean, you swapped back to your proper bodies earlier today, and now you’ve swapped back. Yes?”

“Correct,” I said. I strolled over to couch and sat down, smoothing the back of the skirt beneath my butt. “Why?”

He wagged his finger at me, then rushed over to the whiteboard. The front of it was covered with mathematical symbols and equations that made my head throb just trying to decipher what they were supposed to be calculating.

“So, the initial … leap, to borrow the phrase, occurred when the two of you touched the dimensional window at the same place, at the same time, while having about thirty joules of dark energy flowing through you.” He picked up a red marker and drew a circle around one of the longer formulas. “It was the exact amount needed to push each of your consciousnesses across the barrier and into the other’s body.”

I nodded, ignoring the math for the practical. Being trapped in my current feminine form was all the empirical evidence I needed.

“However, it didn’t just cause you two to ‘leap’ into the other. It bound your consciousnesses on the subatomic level.” He then circled an even longer, more complex equation. “Quantum entangling them.”

I threw my hands in the air. “What the hell does that mean? Is it the reason instead of cheer practice here this afternoon, I ended up helping my mom make lasagna?”

He stared at me, blinking a few times. Then shook his head, a blush forming on his face.

“Sorry,” he said. “The memory of your mom’s cooking just hit me all of a sudden.” Then he nodded, drawing two more circles around the second formula. “Yes, I think so. When you … Charlene showed up this afternoon and informed me that she was back, I told her it was impossible. That without the power of the window and identical conditions to the initial incident, she couldn’t have come across the dimensional barrier.”

“Yeah, my Jackson tried to tell me the same thing. I sort of blew him off to go home and see my mom.”

“I completely understand. Charlene was less … pleased. To be honest. I think she had already made peace with being stuck over there for a while and didn’t handle suddenly popping back without warning.”

“Is it going to happen again?” I asked, pointing at the whiteboard.

His mouth curled down into a deep frown as he nodded. “Most likely.”

“So, I can expect that, a couple of times a day, I’m going to leap back into my male self and return to this. At least until you find a way to get me back permanently?”

The frown grew more morose. “Not exactly.” He sighed. “You went back last night, right? Just for a second or two?”

I thought about the incident in the kitchen.

“I was in the kitchen. I grabbed some sodas for Katie and me from the fridge, then turned around to see my mom standing in front of me. Plain as day. I’d thought it was a hallucination. My mind playing tricks on me as it tried to wrap itself around the fact that she was gone over here. Then I blinked and she was gone.”

“A leap.” He grabbed the top of the board and pulled, spinning it along its horizontal axis. The other side was also filled with equations I couldn’t easily follow. “It occurred around an hour and a half after the swap. Lasting for only a second or two. The one today took place approximately nineteen hours after the first. That one lasted for about three hours.” He tapped on the board. “The entanglement isn’t following a discernible pattern. At least, not one I can follow yet.”

“So you’ve got no idea how often this is going to happen? Or how long it will last?”

“Sorry, Chuck. I don’t. I don’t have enough data to predict it.”

I tilted my head, staring at him. I’d been friends with the other universe’s version long enough to know when there was more to the story than what he was saying.

“What aren’t you telling me, Jackson? I can hear the bad news in your voice.”

He sighed. Quantum entanglement is supposed to be limited to a single pair of particles. However, since no one really knows what constitutes consciousness, it’s possible that everything that makes up who we are is contained in a single electron.”

“Everything we are, in a single sub-atomic particle?”

He nodded. “The whole multiverse was once a super-dense singularity. It contained the entirety of everything that’s ever been, or will be. Not that hard of a stretch to think that same principle could be applied to a person.”

“Okay. So, what else is this entanglement doing? Other than keeping Charlene and I from our rightful bodies?”

“When two particles are entangled, they share a similar quantum state. What affects one, instantly affects the other. Spins, charges, and polarities. All can be influenced from one to another. Measure the charge on one, you alter the spin on the other. And vice-versa.”

“In Charlie-English if you don’t mind. I’ve already got a headache.”

He put his hands together behind his back and drew in a deep breath before answering.

“Information is flowing between your two consciousness. Well, information isn’t really the right word. It’s not like you know what she’s doing in your body when you’re over here. Or what she’s doing in her own when you’re back in yours.”

“You’d be surprised,” I mumbled.

He ignored me and continued. “But the quantum states, the ones I mentioned and dozens of others are sliding back and forth along the cross-dimensional connection you two share.” He pulled his hands back out and pointed at me. “Remember when I mentioned that you were standing like Charlene? And had adopted some of her more unconscious mannerisms?”

I nodded, my nausea from finding myself getting reamed by Danny starting to return.

“I thought it was just some type of residue. Something that might fade in time. Unfortunately, I was wrong. The longer you two are where you are now, the more those … quirks … are going to get passed along. Not actual memories, mind you. But other, more primal, personality characteristics. Emotions and other things.”

I jumped to my feet, tugging down the hem of the sweater.

“Hold up! Are you telling me that the longer I’m over here as Charlene the more … girly I’m going to become?”

“Basically.” He pointed at me again. “Your gait, your stance, your actions. Heck, Chuck, even the inflections in your speech patterns. All of it is more her than you. It’s going to continue, as well. That much I’m certain. The only question is, will it slow down, speed up, or remain constant?”

I could barely hear him over the pounding of my heartbeat. I wasn’t just living in Charlene. I was becoming Charlene. Taking on her aspects. I felt uncontrollable tears start to form in my vision. I blinked several times, fighting against their release.

“Then you have to get me back, and her back, as soon as possible.”

“I’m trying, Charles. I can’t make the parts manufacturer fabricate the necessary pieces any faster. Their extremely complicated and delicate. However, even if I could promise to get you back home the second they arrived, it might be too late.”

“Too late?”

“Once you and Charlene re-enact the situation that started this, you will both be back in your own bodies, de-entangled. But you’ll still possess whatever alterations to your consciousness that have already occurred. It will become a permanent part of who you are.”

I dropped back down to the sofa, feeling my world slip out from under me. I really didn’t know which would have been worse. The news Jackson had just shared, or if he’d just told me that I was never going to go home.

I put my head in my hands, feeling the battle to not cry moving in the wrong direction. A moment later, I felt him settle down next to me, his hand lightly stroking my back.

“I’m really sorry, Charlie. I really am.”

I nodded, sniffling. I wiped at the first drop that slid down my cheek and lamented that this horrible day couldn’t possibly get any worse.

Which, of course, was when the lab door busted open and Michelle stepped into the room. Her eyes, slightly puffy and full of rage, locked onto me.

“You fucking slut,” she shouted. “How the hell could you do that to Josie?”

The Other Side of Me – Part 9
by Limbo’s Mistress

Jackson and I both leapt up from the leather sofa so fast it probably looked like the errant inventor had made an ejector seat upgrade.

“Michelle!” I said, trying to figure out how the hell she’d known to come here. What she wanted, though, wasn’t any sort of mystery.

She wanted my ass.

Jackson glanced over at me; surprise written all over his face. Then he turned to the new arrival.

“Hey, Shells. What’s the matter?”

Shells? Did he know the furious young woman standing fifteen feet away glaring at me with the fires of Perdition roaring in her eyes?

“The matter? The matter, Jackson, is I’m going to kick the ever-living shit out of your tramp of a girlfriend.”

Okay. So he and the Terminator did know each other. Duh! Think about it, you doofus. It would only be logical that Charlene’s boyfriend would be well acquainted with her best friend. Well, probably ex-best friend if I was reading the room right.

Jackson nodded, then leaned over to me, his voice not much more than a whisper.

“What did you do?”

I whipped my head around, staring up at him with what I was sure was an expression of utter disbelief. Having to stare up at a guy I’d been taller than for all of my life would never feel right to me. No matter how much stuff drifted between my consciousness and Charlene’s. It just wasn’t natural.

Even more than having extra-wide hips and boobs.

I shook my head, then reached up and tapped myself on the temple.

“I,” I said, putting a ton of emphasis on the selected pronoun, “didn’t do anything.”

My voice had obviously carried further than Jackson’s because Shelly barked with a cry of sarcastic laughter.

“You didn’t do anything?” She stopped laughing and began to stalk toward me. “Caught in the fucking act, and you’re going to have the gall to say you didn’t do anything.” She glanced over at Jackson. “I’m sorry, dude. I really am. No one should have to find out their girlfriend is a scuzzy whore like this.”

Jackson’s mouth dropped open, though whether it was from Shelly’s reveal or the manner in which it was being delivered. Regardless, he turned to look at me again.

“What did she do?”

Looking up into his eyes, I felt my stomach do a flip-flop. Jackson, no matter the universe, was my oldest friend. I thought of him like the brother I never had. Most times, that is. You know, when he wasn’t zapping me back to infanthood or causing me to have “fly-vision” for a week. The thought of causing him pain, on purpose, seemed a completely unbelievable concept.

Especially the way things were now.

“Charlene’s been cheating on you,” I said, feeling like just saying the words aloud made my chest hurt.

He looked surprised, but only for a moment. Then he nodded solemnly. Like he had been expecting something along those lines.

“I see.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, turning my attention away from the image of my best friend’s pain.

Unfortunately, Shelly had finished her trip across the room and already had her hand on the move when I came back around to face her. The impact sounded like a shotgun blast, echoing around the lab.

My right cheek instantly caught fire, and my head snapped back from the blow. I staggered backward a couple of shaky steps. My legs collided with the sofa and folded, sending me landing on my ass on the floor with a teeth-rattling thud.

“Michelle!” Jackson yelled, spinning around to grab the other girl by the arms before she could lean in for a second slap. “Stop it!”

“You should be just as pissed as me, Jackson. I know you won’t hit her, but at least let me do it for you!”

I rubbed at my stinging cheek, trying to figure out what I could say to defuse the situation. How had she found out about Charlene and Danny? It had to have been sometime this evening since I don’t think she would have been as friendly to me in class this morning. Did Danny call and tell her? Hoping that the blame would get put on Charlene and not him? Of was it one of Danny’s frat brothers that spilled the beans. I’d already learned that people Charlene didn’t know herself knew about her. It wasn’t hard to guess Danny bragging to his buddies about his sexcapades with the pretty cheerleader.

“Shelly, listen to me,” Jackson said, still fighting to restrain the wildcat looking to rip me to shreds. “She didn’t do anything. It’s not her fault.”

The angry girl stopped struggling and turned her head to stare at him as if he’d just morphed into a lizardman.

“Not her fault? How could it not be her fault? Did you invent some type of … of … Slut Ray and accidentally turn her into a nympho?”

Well, that certainly got my attention. It would seem that Charlene wasn’t as secretive about Jackson’s whacky experiments as Charles. Sure, my family knew that sometimes weird things happened when I was with Jackson, but I didn’t share that information with anyone else.

“No, Shelly, no Slut Rays were used.”

“Then what? Am I supposed to believe that the tramp just slipped on a banana peel and impaled herself on Dan’s dick by accident?”

Jackson’s mouth dropped open again, something that was becoming a regular occurrence this evening. His attention wavered long enough that Shelly was able to break free and come at me, claw extended. Though they were really more like French-tips.

I reached up and grabbed both her wrists, keeping those pearly white razors away from my eyes.

“Shelly,” I said in what I hoped was a soothing voice. “Just calm down and let me explain.” Not that I expected her to believe me. Though, her questioning Jackson about using a ray-gun on me led me to think she just might.

You know, if I could keep her from tearing my face off.

“Dan?” Jackson said, now more preoccupied with the identity of the Other Man than keeping me intact. “Dan…ny Morris?”

“Focus!” I yelled at him over Michelle’s shoulder. “Dismay later. Help now!”

I might have actually had the advantage over my attacker if we’d been standing up. Charlene was a little taller and seemed slightly stronger. However, being down on my ass at a messed up angle was working against me.

“Dan for sure,” Shelly spat, glaring at me. “Probably others as well.”

Jackson looked at me, a pained expression on his face. Fortunately for me, he decided that mine was the more immediate need. He grabbed Shelly’s arms again, pulling her away from me. I let go of her wrists and took the momentary respite to scramble onto my feet and put the leather sofa between me and her.

“Shelly, listen. I swear it wasn’t.” I held up one hand. “I mean, it was me if you strictly count the body. But it wasn’t me doing the deed.”

She pushed hard against Jackson’s chest, sending him reeling backward and succeeding in breaking free again. Her eyes darted left, then right, then settled squarely on me. I think she was trying to decide if she was going to chase me around the furniture. Or just rely on her cheerleading acrobatics and fly over it.

Before she could decide, a beam of green energy hit her square in the back, enveloping her lithe form. I recognized it for what it was immediately.

The Time-Dilation Device.

Shelly stood there frozen, staring at me in preparation of launching herself over the sofa. I sighed loudly and walked around to stand next Jackson. He still had the unit aimed at the other girl. Prepared to blast her again the second she started moving.

“You know we can’t keep her out of synch forever,” I said, putting my hand on top of his to push the barrel of the invention toward the floor. “Even if I used it to get a head start, I’d still have to deal with her at school. Or practice.” I shrugged. “We should probably just go ahead and tell her everything.”

He turned to look at me. “Everything? As in what you … I mean Charlene was doing with Danny Morris?”

I shook my head, leaning back against the disassembled controller for the dimensional window. “No. Mostly because I showed up at the end of it.”

His brow furrowed. “At the end? Oh! Are you saying you swapped back after they were done?”

“More like right at the very end of the activity,” I said, reaching up to stick a finger into my mouth and make a gagging sound. “I’m m probably going to have nightmares about that for weeks.”

He nodded, still frowning. “So, Charlene and Danny? For a genius, I can be really stupid.”

I shook my head, reaching out to put my hand on his shoulder. “No, you’re not. Yes, from what I experienced, it seems that she and Danny have been, uh, hooking up for a little while now. How long? I don’t know.”

“And the others?”

“I don’t know if there are any others. Honestly, between cheering, exercise, and rushing a sorority, I can’t figure out when she had to time to have even one affair.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, glancing down at the device in his hands. There was a strange expression on his face. Something that seemed to be a mix of humor and anguish. “I’m standing here, trying to think about how much it hurts to know she never really loved me. And all I can think about is you leaping back into her body while she’s with Danny.”

I gasped, then punched him in the upper arm. “It was horrible. One second, I’m in the kitchen with my mom. Then I’m on all fours in Danny’s bed ….” I stopped, realizing that he probably didn’t want to have to hear the sordid details of what his girlfriend and his childhood enemy were doing.

A tiny bit of motion out of the corner of my eye drew my attention. Shelly’s arms were lowering slowly, dropping down in preparation of her springing over the back of the sofa to tackle me. I watched her for a second, then looked up at Jackson.

“Can she tell that I’m no longer standing there?”

He shrugged. “Not entirely sure. If I had to guess, I’d say no. She’s de-synchronized with our timestream. To us, she’s moving incredibly slow. From her point of view, however, she’s moving at normal pace. Though, it seems that she’s starting to catch up.” He nodded at the other girl.

Shelly’s legs were lowering as well, pushing a not unimpressive bottom outward. Granted, it wasn’t as great an ass as mine, but sort of attractive in its own right. Her arms were now angle down, moving a tiny bit faster than before. From what I could tell, she would be up to maybe one-tenth speed by the time she left the floor.

“Hey,” I said. “What happens if she’s still under the effect when she jumps?”

He reached up and scratched at the back of his head. “I have no idea. I mean, she’s still being affected by local gravity. Otherwise, she would have started sliding across the room as she tried to catch up to the Earth’s rotation.”

“So, once she jumps, she’s going to fall?”

He nodded. “Probably.”

I sighed and took the device from his hand. Turning it over, I saw the dial responsible for determining the degree of time lapse produced. It was currently set on 1000:1. I used my thumb to slide it up until the lever was in the center of the topmost setting. 1:1.

“Hopefully, we can get her to calm down long enough for me to tell her about the dimensional window,” I said to Jackson. Then I pulled the trigger.

A second stream of green energy slammed into Michelle, bringing her back into synch with the normal flow of time. She completed her pre-jump flight plan, then stopped when she noticed I wasn’t where she’d last seen me. She whirled around, eyes widening at the two of us.

And the device in my hand.

“What … how?”

I held up the machine. “Time Displacement Ray,” I said, still aiming the thing in her direction. “It slowed you down long enough for me to get away. Now, do you think you can chill for just a second while Jackson and I explain why what Charlene did is not my fault?”

Shelly narrowed her eyes at me, then glanced over at Jackson. After a few seconds, she huffed and threw her hands into the air.

“Fine! I’ll listen. But only because Jackson doesn’t seem as upset at you as he should be. Well, that, and the fact you just referred to yourself in the third person.”

Oops. Spoiler alert!

I waited a few seconds, just to make sure she wasn’t going to change her mind and attack me. When she sat down on the sofa, I relaxed enough to put the device in my hand down on the worktable.

“So, spill.”

I looked over at Jackson. He gave a wave of his hand, indicating that he decided this would be my show. Thanks for nothing.

“Okay, first of all, I’m not Charlene.”

Shelly nodded. “Okay. Why not? If you’re not Charlene, which is really freaky since you look just like her, who are you?”

“Charles,” I flashed what I hoped was a sincere smile. “I’m the male version of Charlene from a parallel universe.”

“You’re a guy from another universe? Do men have tits where you’re from?”

“What?!” I shook my head. “No, we don’t. We have … male parts.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes. “Look, Jackson created a device that allows you to look into other universes. Parallel ones, where things are mostly the same, but other things are different. In my world, my parents have two kids. A sixteen year old girl named Katie and a nineteen year old boy named Charles.”

Shelly remained quiet, but the look on her face said she wasn’t completely buying my spiel.

“It’s true,” Jackson chimed in. Finally. “I found out that the other dimension had a male Charlie. I thought it would be funny to have my Charlene see her parallel double.”

“So that’s why you rushed off after practice yesterday? To come here?”

I shook my head. “That’s why Charlene rushed off.”

She twirled her finger around in the air. “Yeah, right. Continue.”

“There was an accident …”

Shelly interrupted with a snicker. “Isn’t there always?”

I glanced over at Jackson, noticing that his face had turned a bright shade of crimson. I suddenly got the feeling that part of the Shelly-Charlene friendship was a shared experience of the mishaps that often took place in this very room.

“Well, in this one, I was pulled over here. Into Charlene’s body. She got pulled back to my world in my body.”

Shelly blinked. Then started to grin. “Are you saying that Charlie is trapped in a guy’s body? Like, right now?”

I nodded. “Yes. Exactly.”

Then she made a face, looking at me like I was some kind of pervert.

“So … you’re gay? Guy you, I mean.”

“Huh? No! I’m totally straight.” I said, completely pushing away the odd feeling I got around the guy I’d nearly collided with that morning.

“But you had sex with Dan,” Shelly countered.

“Charlene had sex with Dan,” Jackson added in a monotone voice.

Shelly stood up. “Jesus, hold up. First you tell me that she,” she pointed at me, “is actually a guy trapped in a girl’s body. Then you tell me that he wasn’t the one who I saw getting drilled from behind through the frat house’s window?”

Yikes! I had wondered how Shelly knew about Dan and Charlene’s tryst. I just thought she might have more decorum than to blatantly blurt out the particulars. Right in front of Jackson.

“That wasn’t Charles,” Jackson said. “It was Charlene. Apparently the two of them spontaneously switch back due to being entangled on a quantum level.”

Shelly arched a brow and looked from him to me.

“The same process that caused us to swap bodies has some glitches. We keep swapping back and forth without warning.”

“And it was during the swap, when Charlene was back in her own body, that she went to, uh, Dan’s?”

I nodded.

“She came here first,” Jackson said. “She was angry. Started yelling at me about playing with people’s lives.”

I looked at Shelly, who responded with a shrug, then turned back to Jackson.

“Angry that she’d gotten stuck in my body? Or angry that she was back?”

“The latter, I think. When she came in, I thought she was you at first. Mostly because the first thing she started ranting about was the machine being in pieces.” He sighed. “I think … I think she prefers it, you know, over there.” He nodded his head at the mirror on the wall.

“What?” Shelly and I said in unison.

“Are you saying that she prefers being me?” I waved my hands around in the air in circles. “That she’d rather be a guy, in a world that’s not hers, than here in her own life?”

Jackson rubbed at his face. “I think it’s because of your mom, Charlie. On the other side, your mom is still alive.”

Shelly sighed. “Yeah, I can believe that.” She gave me a sympathetic look. “Josie and I met Charlie at an orientation retreat. The cheer coaches invited all the incoming freshmen to a long weekend social. You know, so we could all get to know each other before the craziness that comes with the first semester.”

I laughed. “The track team didn’t do anything like that. Not that I would have gone, if they had. Long distance running isn’t a team sport.”

Shelly nodded. “But cheerleading is. When you’re getting tossed ten or twelve feet into the air, you better trust the person who’s going to be catching you. Anyway, Josie and I thought Charlie was pretty cool, so we sort of all hung around together for most of the weekend. We started sharing things about ourselves, and when Josie asked about her folks, Charlie got really quiet.”

“That’s a touchy subject with her,” Jackson said. “I know she went through a ton of counseling and she’ll tell you that she’s gotten past it …”

“She hasn’t,” Shelly said. “She just keeps it hidden really well. I think she’s afraid her sister or her dad might worry if they knew.”

I sighed. “When she and I swapped lives, she got the one thing she misses more than anything.”

Shelly nodded. “Yes. If you were to ask me if Charlene could walk away from everything else in her life just to be with her mom again, I’d answer ‘yes’ without hesitation.”

I frowned. “All she’s really walking away from is her body. I mean if my Katie were dead. Or my dad. Then I’d say she was just trading one loss for another.”

“Now, she gets to have it all. The only cost was her gender.”

I turned back to Jackson. “When you told her that you hadn’t been the reason we swapped back, and you couldn’t send her back, she left?”

He nodded. “She wasn’t just angry, Chuck. She was absolutely furious. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her that angry. She stormed off and left in her Jeep.”

“To go to see Danny,” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I think she’s been seeing him on the side for a while. It may have been innocent flirting or something at first. Tonight, though, she went there and … did what she did out of spite. You couldn’t give her what she wanted, so she gave what you want to someone else.”

Jackson’s eyes widened and he glanced from me to Shelly and back.

“I don’t know what …”

I fixed him with a look. “You’ve been dating her for a year and not had sex. You know she’s not a virgin.”

“There’s more to a relationship than sex, Chuck. I never wanted to push her into something she didn’t seem ready for.” He turned around and started picking up various parts from the table, flipping them over in his hands, then setting them back down to grab another. “I know she’s been with other guys. I’m not naïve. It just seemed like she was … waiting before going all the way with me.”

Shelly walked over and put her arm around Jackson’s shoulders. “Some of us on the squad used to tease her a little about you. Nothing vicious, though. Just playful. She always just sort of smiled and made really non-committal responses.”

“Because she didn’t want to go into too great a detail about a guy she wasn’t planning on sticking with,” he said.

I shook my head. “Actually, if I had to guess, I would say she didn’t want to share you with any of the other girls. I mean, who else has been here besides Shelly?”

“No one,” he replied. “Charlie talks about the other girls on the squad, and some of her friends from class. But Michelle is the only one she’s brought around.”

“Exactly,” I said. “No girl would bother introducing her best friend to her boyfriend if she weren’t planning on sticking with him. She wanted to get a trusted opinion about your relationship. Something you can only get from a best friend.”

Shelly blinked and looked at me, arching a brow. “Are you sure you’re not really Charlene? Because that was an amazing bit of insight into the female psyche.”

I laughed and shrugged. “Believe it or not, being Charlene has had a bit of an … impact on the way I see things.”

Jackson sighed. “Even if you two are right, that doesn’t change the fact that she wants to stay over there.”

“Not up to her,” I said. “We’re already bouncing back and forth, right? So the next time she’s here, how about you two talk about it. About dealing with her loss.” I glanced over at Shelly. “And her destructive behavior.”

Michelle’s butt began to ring. She jumped, then reached back and pulled out the phone tucked away in her back pocket. She glanced at the screen and her mouth dropped open. She looked back up at me.

“It’s Josie.”

My hear began to race. “Did … did you tell her? You know, what Dan and Charlene …”

She shook her head. “No. I wanted to confront you first. Charlene first, I mean. I was going to tell her after, depending on what sort of excused she tried to sell me.”

“Bet you never would have guessed inter-dimensional body swap.”

“No, but I should have.” She looked at the still-ringing phone. “Should I answer it?”

I looked at Jackson, who shrugged. Hell, he looked more worried than I felt. Did he think Josie might blame him as well? For not giving Charlene the “D”, leading her to look elsewhere.”

“Answer it,” I told Shelly.

She nodded, then swiped her thumb across the front of the phone as she put it to her ear.

“Hey, Jo-Jo. What’s up?” She listened to the girl on the other end of the connection for a moment, her eyes remaining locked onto me. “Uh, yeah. I’m with her now.”

Uh oh.

“Okay, yeah. Hold on.” Shelly looked like she’d just swallowed a lemon as she handed her phone to me. “She wants to talk to you.”

I took it from her and held it against my chest, steadying myself for the verbal assault I knew was coming.

Would she simply hate me, meaning Charlene, for the rest of our college existence? What if she got the rest of the squad to take her side and they all voted me off the island? Or maybe word would get out about my habit of screwing my friend’s boyfriend. Then Charlene could not only probably kiss her chances with the Kappas goodbye, but she’s probably become some kind of social pariah.

Charles really wouldn’t give a damn, but Charlene was a completely different person.

I brought the phone to my ear.

“Hey, Jo.”

“Oh Charlie,” the voice practically squealed into my ear. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

Okay … what?

“Uh, for what?”

There was a momentary pause. “For talking to Dan for me. Thank you!”

I looked at Jackson and Shelly, both of whom seemed to be so engrossed in the unfolding drama they couldn’t hear. All they needed was a bucket of popcorn and they’d be a meme. When Shelly and I made contact, she lifted her hands and waved them in a “keep talking” gesture.

“I … talked to Dan?”

“Yeah. I mean, he said you did. That you went to his house and told him that I was worried he was seeing someone else.”

“Oh. What else did I tell him? I mean, what else did he say?”

She laughed. “He claims you flipped out on him, wouldn’t give him a chance to talk. That you told him if you ever found out he was fucking some other girl behind my back; you’d kick both his and her ass.” She laughed again. “He promised me that there was no one else.”

Now, I know I said a lot of stuff to Danny while I was getting dressed and trying to get the hell out of his room, but I’m fairly certain it wasn’t what Josie was claiming.

“Yeah,” I said. “I wanted him to know that I wasn’t, uh, going to stand for it. For, uh, him sleeping with anyone else.”

Now Jackson’s and Shelly’s eyes really did widen. They looked like they were doing their best anime expressions. Shelly’s mouth was hanging open.

“You’re the best friend I ever had,” Josie said. I could hear the tears in her voice. It drove a rusty spike right through my chest. “I love you, Charlie.”

“Uh, yeah,” I said, feeling like the floor of a movie theater. I couldn’t believe I was standing there, taking credit for something I hadn’t done. Worse than that, Charlene had done the very thing that Josie was thankful she had supposedly stopped. “Love you, too … girlfriend.”

“Hey, I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? I got to go show Dan why he doesn’t need any other girls. Thanks again! Bye!”

The line went dead and I stared at the phone in my hand for a while before Shelly reached over and retrieved it from me.

“What was that?” she asked, slipping the phone back into her pocket. “I didn’t hear Jo-Jo’s side of the conversation, but it didn’t sound like she was threatening to rip your tits off.”

“That’s a thing?” Jackson asked aloud, drawing a sarcastic glance from both Shelly and me.

I ignored him. “Apparently Danny went to see her after I left the frat house. He told her that I’d come to him and told him that he better not cheat on Josie or I’d kick his ass. Oh, and the ass of the girl he was screwing.”

“He did what?”

Jackson shook his head. “That guy. Always a jerk of the highest order. I really don’t know why Charlene felt the need to friend him in high school.” Then he looked at me quizzically. “You didn’t eventually become friends with him, did you?”

“Hell no!” I said, shaking my head. “Danny Morris and I avoided each other all the way to graduation.”

Shelly shook her head. “I don’t like it.”

“Me either. Josie was suspicious enough of him that she practically devoured his lie about me warning him to fly right. He didn’t need to say anything to her.”

“Maybe he thought you were going to tell her.”

I started to agree, then looked at her with a serious expression. “Would Charlene?”

“Maybe? Before I caught her and him this evening, I would have said there was no way she would do that to a friend.”

“Well, you two know her better than I do,” I said.

“For now,” Jackson mumbled under his breath.

I gave him a pointed look, then turned to Shelly.

“Okay, Shells. Now that you’re in on the secret, you’re responsible for helping me live Charlene’s life. Perhaps she’s not the person inside you all thought she was. Maybe she’s just still hurting about her mom. But, regardless, I’m not going to add more fuel to her dumpster fire. When she finally gets back for good, I want her to find her life exactly as she left it.” I held up a finger. “Minus the screwing Danny Morris part.”

Shelly nodded. “I can do that. Not just for her, but because I can see that there is a really damned decent guy in there. I’d have to be a total bitch to refuse to help him.”

I reached out and gave her a hug. “Thank you.”

“What are you going to do about Danny?” Jackson asked me. “As you said, he might be working some kind of trick.”

“We’ll keep an eye on him. It’s not like I’m going to sleep with him.”

“Definitely,” Shelly added. “Plus, now that I know what the deal is, I can keep an eye out for Charlene’s return. Make sure she doesn’t do anything.”

Shelly asked me to meet her at the campus café in the morning, then left. I told Jackson that I needed to go home and wash Jerky McJerkface off myself. He asked me to come back the next day after practice so he could run some scans to get more data on the entanglement. I told him that I was supposed to take Katie shopping after practice and then go to a stupid Kappa mixer after.

"Then we'll do it Saturday."

I offered to stay a little longer right then, but he waved me off.

“Go. Shower. Get some rest.” He laughed. “Besides, I can’t scan your quantum signature right now. I haven’t built the damned thing yet.”

When I stepped back into my own house, the place was eerily silent and dark. I grabbed my purse as I made my way through the living room to the stairs. I climbed them, already looking forward to the scaling spray that would blast off the remnants of a moment I’d just as soon forget ever happened.

Light peered out from under Katie’s door, so I knocked softly and waited for her to answer. After a few seconds, she poked her head out and looked at me.

“I told Dad you went over to Jackson’s. He said to tell you goodnight because he was going to bed. How’d it go?”

“Better than expected. Worse in some areas.” I nodded my head in the direction of the bathroom. “I’ll tell you all about it in the morning. I need to take a shower and go to bed myself.”

She giggled and rolled her eyes. “Two days and you’re already a natural at being my sister. Won’t be long before you’re matching your clothing to your mood and telling me how immature I am.”

I smiled, almost telling her that I was likely to become more and more like Charlene than I planned. However, I decided to just reach out and lightly pinch one of her rosy cheeks. It was something I did from time to time with my own Katie.

“Don’t get your hopes up, Katie-Kat. Night.”

I went down the hall and into the bathroom as the sound of Katie closing her door came from behind me. The hot water was a godsend, and I remained under the stream until I felt the temperature start to decline. Once I was out, with a towel wrapped around my middle, I brushed my teeth and ran a comb several times through my mostly-damp hair.

Back in Charlene’s room, I went to the closet and examined the plethora of clothing. After a few minutes of just standing there, I hazarded a guess that whatever traits or quirks were flowing from my duplicate to me didn’t include a keen fashion sense. Either that, or those particular skills still resided on the other side of the multiverse.

Sighing, I decided to go casual for my first girl Friday. Even though I knew Katie would probably have something to say about it. I found a pair of jeans that were slightly faded with factory-made rips in strategic spots. Along with that I paired a teal and gray jersey blouse with a U-shaped neckline and three-quarter length sleeves.

I carried the outfit to the chair at the desk, draping them over the back of it. Then I unwrapped myself from the towel, grabbed a pair of purple panties and an oversized Chicago Cubs t-shirt, and climbed into bed.

Just as I was reaching over to turn off the light, I heard my phone buzz. Grumbling about people and their complete lack of regard for a girl’s necessary beauty sleep, I threw back the covers and stomped over to my purse.

When I pulled out the phone and looked at the screen, I recognized the number. It was Danny.

“What the fuck now, asshole?” I mumbled as I unlocked the device and clicked on the message.

“I don’t know if you’re just crazy or playing games,” he’d written. “But before you even think about telling J about us, you might want to take a look.”

There was a file attached to the message. Despite every molecule in my body telling me to not click on it, I did anyway.

It was a short video file, only about two minutes long. From the angle of the camera, I could only assume it had been placed on the table beside his bed. The second it began playing, I was rewarded with a completely unobstructed view of my face, eyes closed and mouth open as cries of pleasure shot out from between my lips. The face of the person behind me, providing the stimulation driving the orgasmic pleas, wasn’t visible. Just a muscled torso and a pair of large hands holding onto my hip as they slammed back and forth into me. It wasn’t just moans and gasps that came out of my mouth, there were also very clearly defined words, too. Words that begged the person fucking me to do it harder. To make me come.

It was totally, and completely, pornographic.

After the way I’d behaved outside the Student Center, I guess Danny felt he needed to cover his ass by getting leverage on me.

I clenched the hand not holding the phone into a fist so tight it began to ache. Then I brought the message back up and sent my reply.

“You’re a fucking asshole, you know that?”

“It was your asshole that got fucked,” came the response.

“What do you want?”

“I haven’t decided. Right now, I want you to keep your fucking whore mouth shut. If you tell Josie or Shelly about us, this video is going to get out.”

I paused, thinking about the ramifications of that happening. Shelly, already aware of the situation, probably wouldn’t give a shit. Josie would most likely recognize Danny, no matter the fact that his face wasn’t visible in the video. My chances with the Kappas would be over. Rachel struck me as the kind of girl who didn’t care who fucked whom, so long as it didn’t make the sorority look bad.

However, what if Katie saw it? Or even Charlene’s dad?

My whole body trembled with barely-constrained fury. I wanted to throw the phone across the room and watch it shatter into a million pieces. Scratch that, I wanted to throw Danny Morris across the room and watch him shatter. While I was standing there, trying to get myself under control, the phone buzzed again.

“Deal? Or do I just hit Send?”

I think I actually snarled a bit as my thumbs tapped on the screen.

“I’ll keep our secret. But if you send that video out, I promise you that you’ll regret it.” Then I felt a malicious thought run through my brain and added, “Remember who I’m dating and all the wonderful toys he can build.”

I hoped the memory of this Danny’s experience at the danger that Jackson’s genius could bring would be enough to keep him mostly in line. At least until I could get rid of that video.

I turned the phone to silent and plugged it in. When I got back in bed and turned off the light, I expected that I would lay there all night due to the cacophony of thoughts running through my head.

Instead, I found myself quickly falling to sleep and dreamt of all the different ways I was going to make Danny Morris pay.

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

When the alarm went off the next morning, I forced myself to get up, rather than lie there until Katie came in to yell at me.

I threw back the covers and padded over to the dresser to trade the nightshirt for a sports bra and pulled on a pair of pink leggings with the word “Princess” running up one leg in white lettering. Because, why wouldn’t Charlene consider herself a princess? Especially as I learned more and more about the life I’d been thrust into living.

Katie knocked on the door as I was tying my hair back into a ponytail. When she poked her head in to see I was up and mostly dressed, a really smug grin appeared on her face.

“Nice to see I didn’t have to come in and shake you out of bed this morning,” she said in a smug tone.

I decided that I’d have a little fun. I planted my hands on my hips and glared at her.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean? Since when have I needed prodding to get up and work out?” I shook my head. “What are you even doing in my room anyway?”

The smile dropped from her face and she looked like she wanted to scurry away.

“I just thought … I mean yesterday … I …”

Then I laughed and winked at her, sitting down on the bed to pull on my sneakers.

“Just messing with you, Katie-Kat. It’s still Charles in here.”

Relief swept across her youthful features before being replaced by well-deserved anger. She stepped fully into the room and stalked over to me. She stood there for a second while I finished tying my remaining shoe. Then she slapped me hard on my bare shoulder.

“That shit isn’t funny, Chuck,” she hissed. “I don’t want to have to remember some stupid code word to know if it’s you in the driver’s seat or Charlene.”

I rubbed at my stinging flesh, but couldn’t stop grinning. Pulling pranks on Katie had been one of my chief sources of entertainment since we were little.

“I figured it would give you a little energy boost, sis. You know, like a shot of adrenaline to get all your neurons firing.”

She shook her head again. However, I could see that she wanted to smile. The joke had caught her off-guard, but now it seemed as if she were starting to appreciate it. The sudden change made me wonder if perhaps her and Charlene used to tease each other. Had their mother’s death snuffed the life out of that particular sibling bond?

“Ha-ha,” she said. Then a smile did appear, but one of retribution. “We’ll see how funny you are in a couple of days.” She made a tick-tocking noise with her tongue, and turned around to stroll casually back to the door. “I suggest you Google ‘how to use a tampon’.”

My mouth dropped open just as she looked back over her shoulder at me.

“You wouldn’t,” I said, rising to my feet. With everything that had happened over the past twenty-four hours, I had completely forgotten Charlene’s oncoming cycle. “Would you?”

She winked at me and shrugged. “Keep pulling pranks that nearly give me a heart attack and you’ll find out.”

By the time I got into the workout room, Katie had cued up a Pilates video and put out two mats.

“It’s similar to yoga,” she explained, doing a series of warmup stretches. “Charlene likes to mix up the activities, usually based on her moods, but she always does Pilates on Friday.”

I shrugged and began warming up as well. Even though I’d been trapped in Charlene’s body for going on a second day, I still marveled at her flexibility. Her torso, shoulders, and hips had a limberness my old form couldn’t hope to match.

Katie started the video and a rather well-defined guy with a day’s worth of scruff on his face began with a short introduction to the exercises he was to be covering. Behind him were six other people, two male and four female. All seven of them were in great shape.

We began slowly, flexing and stretching in various poses that we held until our muscles trembled and sweat broke out all over our skin. Katie was correct in her comment that the activity was similar to yoga. Only the poses incorporated motions, rather than remaining still. When the forty-five minutes was up, I felt like every bit of my body had been put through a wringer.

Rising back onto shaky legs, I dabbed at my forehead with a towel and looked over at my equally perspiring sibling.

“I’m sorry,” I said, shaking my head. “But there is no way I can do an aerobics set right now.”

She laughed softly. “Not to worry. Pilates is all we do on Friday’s.”

I rolled up my mat and went back to my room. Katie asked if she could shower first, since she needed to get to school early to work with a friend on a group project they were assigned.

“What subject?” I asked.

“American History,” she said, draping her towel around her sweaty neck and walked down the hallway with me. “We have to make a mock radio newscast that discusses an important event. I wanted to do the Challenger explosion. But Meghan thought that was stupid. So we’re going to do it on attack on San Francisco Harbor in World War Two.”

I stopped in mid-stride and looked at her. “What attack?”

She tilted her head. “Uh, December 10th, 1941? You know when the Japanese navy attacked the American Fleet stationed in San Fran?”

I shook my head, feeling a round of vertigo pass through me. It had been all too easy to simply think of myself as being trapped in Charlene’s body. The fact that I was also stuck in her universe, a different universe, seemed to get lost in the shuffle.

“Pearl Harbor, Hawaii,” I said. “On December 7th.”

She crinkled up her nose. “Why would the Japanese attack Hawaii?”

“Because, in my world, that’s where the fleet was.”

Back in my room, I grabbed Charlene’s laptop from the nightstand, planted my butt on the bed, and used the time before my turn in the bathroom to do a little snooping. I avoided the various social media sites. And those focused on current events. Instead, I typed “key events in American history” into the browser. Then I settled in and looked down the list of items that appeared.

When Katie tapped on the door and told me that the shower, and whatever hot water might still be available, was all mine, I had seen enough. If I had to make a guess, I would say that it seemed that this dimension was about ninety-five percent similar to mine. Of the five percent that was different, only a few were major differences.

The Pearl Harbor thing was only one. Same reasonings for the Japanese to attack the Americans. Same time frame. The fact that President Roosevelt pulled the fleet back to the west coast seemed to be the only factor that initiated the change. If he hadn’t made that choice, the ships would have been in Hawaii.

The others were of a similar bent. A single choice was all that it took for something to go down a path that was different than it would have been if another decision had been made.

The thought stuck with me as I washed the dried sweat away. Since crossing over into Charlene’s life, I’d made a bunch of decisions. Many of which were probably vastly different than the ones she would have made. Telling Danny to go to hell. Ditching Rachel and the Kappas for staying at home. Even if I didn’t know there were choices, they still had an effect on the course of this life.

The water turned cold, but the chill didn’t match that which crept up my spine and turned my blood to ice.

If I was over here making choices based on how I thought things should be, was she doing the same thing in my world? What if she didn’t feel the need to rely on my Katie, if she’d even bothered to inform her of the switch, to keep my previous trajectory on track? What if I finally returned home to learn she’d quit the track team. Or had decided to start a relationship with someone I’d normally not be attracted to?

I mean, despite the occasional flash of attraction to a ruggedly handsome male, I would never deliberately fuck Danny Morris.

“You have to put that shit out of your head,” I said to my reflection as I combed my wet hair. “Otherwise, you’re going to drive yourself crazy.”

However, I couldn’t just shove those thoughts into a box and lock them up. Because I was starting to realize that I could ask people what they thought Charlene might do, or say, in a situation, but the only person who could answer with anything close to certainty wasn’t around. Which meant trying to second-guess her was a fools errand.

I wasn’t going to be able to live Charlene’s life as she would have. All I could do was try to live it the best way I could, so it wouldn’t be a complete mess when she took back over.

I got dressed and sat down at the desk. While I’d been in the shower, Katie had come into the room, pulled out the same cosmetics she’d used last time, and left behind a note.

“Thought this might help you become self-sufficient,” it read in a flowery script. “Remember: less is more. Love, K. PS. I borrowed your green sweater.”

I laughed and set the note aside. I spent a few minutes staring into the mirror, trying to recall the steps Katie had used to apply the makeup on me the previous day. Due to the shortened exercise period, I felt like I had enough time to give it a couple of tries.

Thirty minutes later, I looked at my reflection, feeling as if I’d managed to get it mostly right. A pile of stained facial wipes littered the floor around the wastebasket next to the desk. The discarded casualties of my two previous attempts.

I sighed and rose from the desk. If anyone made any sort of comments about how I looked, I resolved to head to the closest bathroom and scrub my face completely clean. Until that time, I was determined to carry myself with the confidence I really didn’t feel.

The house was eerily quiet when I got downstairs. I’d heard Katie leaving while I was trying to wipe off the way-too-dark lip liner I’d applied. However, I didn’t recall hearing Dad’s departure. It was almost eight-thirty, though, so I wasn’t surprised to find myself alone in the house.

I grabbed a pack of whole-bran muffins from the pantry, filled a mug with much needed coffee, and headed off to class.

Charlene’s first class was Psychology, a class I was no enrolled in back in my world. My nine o’clock on Friday’s was Chemistry.

“This should be interesting,” I said to myself as I pulled into my assigned parking spot and climbed out of the Jeep. I slung my purse over one shoulder and grabbed my backpack from the rear seat. I’d never even considered taking a psych course. “I wonder if I could get the prof to start a discussion on the mental stress of having to cope with living in two different dimensions?”

The class was in the same hall where my sociology class was held. Only, according to the campus map I’d found on Charlene’s phone, it was on the other side of the building. As I walked down the path, I hoped I could skate through the lecture without getting blindsided by an unannounced quiz. Otherwise, Charlene was going to earn a big, fat zero.

It wasn’t until I was almost to the steps where I’d had the unhappy introduction to Rachel that I saw Shelly. She was staring at me as I walked up to her. At least I thought she was staring at me. Her eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses, but there was a little smirk on her face.

“Hey,” I said, stopping next to her. “Are we in psych together, too?”

She laughed and shook her head. “No. I actually don’t have any classes today until eleven.”

“Then why are you hanging around. Were you waiting on me?”

She nodded. “I barely got any sleep last night. Everything going on with you, with her, just kept running around in my mind.” She tilted her head to peer at me over the tops of the shades. “You’re going to need a lot of help if you plan on pulling this off.”

I forced myself to look angry for a second, as if insulted that she would dare claim that I couldn’t fool people into thinking I was Charlene without assistance. Then I stuck my tongue out at her and grinned.

“Don’t I know it. Katie’s been a real asset on the home front. But her advanced knowledge of Charlene’s life outside of that is seriously lacking. I don’t think she even knew that her sister and Danny were acquainted.”

“Acquainted isn’t exactly the right term,” she said, her jovial mood darkening some as she was reminded of her friend’s indiscretions. “However, I think you’re a pretty decent guy, Charles. So that’s why I’m going to do everything I can to help you.”

For a second, I just stood there and looked at her. Then I leaned in and gave her a huge hug. A second later, she returned it.

“Thank you,” I said softly. “I really mean it.” I pulled out of the sisterly embrace of Charlene’s best friend and shrugged. “I know I won’t be able to do everything the way she would have done it. Mainly because it turns out we don’t think exactly the same. But I want to do my utmost to live her life the way I guess she would.”

“That’s all you can do, Charlie,” Shelly said, giving me a warm, sympathetic grin.

I felt a tiny bit of the burden I’d been carrying since waking up in Jackson’s lab fall away. Not a huge amount, though, I had to admit that some was better than none. I’d made the decision to make Charlene’s life the best I could to my abilities. Perhaps when we finally resumed our proper places, she might be mad, or disappointed, that I made choices she wouldn’t have.

However, I couldn’t drift through the next couple of months second-guessing myself.

“So, where do we start?” I asked her.

She nodded her head up the steps to the entrance of the building.

“You go to class. I’m going to head to the library and start compiling a list of things that I think we should try to work on first. Things I knew she already had on her agendas. Meet me there and we’ll go over it together.” She looked at me for a long moment, then put her hand on my arm. “We can do this, Charlie.”

I nodded, feeling something inside me pulse, making my chest ache and my vision grow watery. I reached up and started to wipe at my damp eyes with the heel of my hand. Before I made contact, though, I felt Shelly grab my wrist.

“Here,” she said, reaching into her purse to pull out a tissue. “I mean, you went a little heavy on the eye shadow, but if you start rubbing, you’re going to look like a bandit wearing a mask.” She put the tissue in my hand. “Blot lightly.”

I did as she instructed, happy that the initial wave was a solo act. I didn’t know what had sparked that reaction, but the last thing I wanted to do was sit in class and weep makeup streaks down my cheeks.

“Thanks again,” I said, sniffling.

She nodded. “I’ll be sure to add makeup tips to the list. Now, get to class before you’re late. Charlene says that Professor Mueller is a real asshole to anyone coming in after he’s started teaching. See you in an hour.”

I watched her walk off, then turned around and bolted up the steps into the building. The door of the auditorium was just staring to close as I pushed through it and stopped just inside. The student on the other side, who had obviously been in the process of closing it looked at me as I stood there.

“In the proverbial nick of time,” he said quietly, flashing me a rather flirtatious smile.

“Thanks,” I whispered back, then swung my gaze around for an empty seat. Or, more specifically, an empty seat next to anyone who might look like someone Charlene already knew.

Unfortunately, everyone was turned to look in my direction, even the man standing at the front of the room.

“Is there some grand announcement you wish to make to the class, Miss Miller?”

I shook my head, feeling my face grow warm. “No, Professor.”

He nodded. “Then how about taking a seat and allow me the opportunity to impart substantial wisdom to you and your classmates without further interruptions.”

I quickly minced over to the nearest unoccupied seat and planted my butt in it. I didn’t even bother pulling anything out of my backpack. I was too scared that any motion on my part would only serve to draw more of the teacher’s ire.

The lecture seemed to just drone on and on. Professor Mueller’s cadence and style more than conveyed a sense of superiority that he believed he had over the rest of us. As well as a couple of famous psychiatrists that I had heard of. I mean, it takes one hell of an ego to announce to a classroom full of freshmen that “Freud would have been better off working a butcher’s shop and jerking off to pictures of his mother” than imparting his theories on the world.

When the hour finally ended, I jumped up from my seat and headed for the door. My eagerness to meet with Shelly and actually do something productive was overpowering. Not that I didn’t accept that, like him or not, I was going to have to accept being in Mueller’s class. If I wanted Charlene to pass it.

I had just put my hands on the bar to open the glass door leading outside when I heard someone yelling for me.

“Charlie! Wait up!”

I turned to see a pair of girls walking toward me at a brisk pace. Both of them were smiling at me as they closed the distance between us. Both were also complete strangers. As far as I could recall, I’d not seen either one of their pictures in the ridiculous number of images stored on Charlene’s phone.

“Hey,” the girl with the shoulder-length brown hair curled into tight spirals said. “What’s the rush?”

I shrugged. “Meeting Shelly at the library to, uh, do some research.”

The other girl, a short redhead with bright blue eyes and freckles scattered across her cheeks gave me a confused look. “Shelly?” Then her expression changed as it seemed that her brain had managed to find the answer all on its own. “Michelle. Of course.”

I smiled and nodded, wondering what the two of them wanted. Hopefully not to join in on my plans. Turning around, I pushed out the door and held it as they followed.

“What are you wearing tonight?” The brunette asked, gliding down the steps next to me.

“Tonight?” I asked, flipping open my mental calendar to see if there were any entries in there of which I was aware.

Before I could do that, however, the redhead snickered maliciously. The sound made me feel like slapping her.

Across the face.

Hard.

Multiple times.

The other girl shot a look to her amused companion that told her to shut up. Then she looked at me, smiling as sweetly as before.

“To the mixer.”

Right. The Mixer. With the … some frat. I vaguely remembered Rachel’s comment about it the day before. It had slipped my mind until just then.

“I haven’t decided,” I said, smiling back at the chocolate-tressed girl. “I figured I’d just stand in front of my wardrobe and wait to be inspired.”

The grin faltered a bit. “Oh …” she said in a tone of voice that hinted at hardship and woe. Then that overly-friendly smile returned. “That’s okay.”

Alright. Something weird was taking place here, and it wasn’t all female related. I mean, yeah, even though my life up until recently has been all about being a guy, that didn’t meant that I was completely stupid. One thing I’d learned in my years of dealing with the fairer sex was that what someone wore to an important social event was a big deal.

However, I’d also learned that there was no set rules to the issue either. Girls would coordinate, matching each other almost perfectly, for one occasion. On others, they would be ready to claw out the eyes of someone who dared show up in an outfit that appeared even grudgingly similar.

I figured it was best to get ahead of the curve in a situation like that.

“What are you two going to wear?” I asked, flashing my own saccharine saturated smile.

I kept my eyes on the brunette’s face, but clearly noticed her shorter friend’s look of panic. The girl walking down the steps beside me didn’t even flinch.

“Something hot,” she said. “But classy.”

Okay, not exactly helpful.

“I was thinking the same,” I answered, knowing I sounded completely superficial and petty.

The vibe I was getting from these two was causing my Masculine-Sense to tingle. If there was such a thing. I didn’t know who they were, but one thing I was sure of was that these girls were not Charlene’s friends. Not by a long shot.

We reached the bottom and stopped. I looked from the pair to the six-story structure of the Wilson Library and back. The more brunette followed my gaze, then looked back at me. “Have fun in the library, Charlie,” she said, reaching out to lock her arm in with her associate’s. “See you tonight.”

The two of them strolled off across the manicured grass, heading in the opposite direction of the one I needed to go. Their heads were bent together, obviously in rapt communication, but neither one of them bothered to look back at me. I watched them for a few minutes, then shook my head.

“That was really fucking weird,” I said to no one. “Really fucking weird.”

Shelly was at one of the tables sitting near the door. When I walked inside, she lifted her arm and waved it at me. I cut across the carpeted floor and sat down across from her.

“Hey,” she said, smiling at me and lowering her voice. “I actually started wondering if you were going to show up. I mean, if you and Charlene had changed again, she wouldn’t know about our plan.”

I shook my head. “Nope. As much as I would have enjoyed skipping Professor Mueller’s ramblings and the after class grilling by some of my classmates, I’m afraid that I’ve remained in place since we last saw each other.

She nodded and pointed at her phone. “I’ve been making a list of things that I think we should focus on first.”

“Such as?”

She made an extremely apologetic face. “Cheering.”

“Seriously?” I huffed. Of all the things in Charlene’s life, why did Shelly think jumping up and down while rhyming took the top spot?

Her condolence-filled expression shifted to a more perturbed one. “Yes, seriously. Did you think you could get by without having to do it? You are aware that she’s on athletic scholarship, right?”

I held up one hand defensively. “Whoa. Yeah, I know. I just wasn’t expecting that to be the number one thing. I thought memorizing who her friends were would be the most important one.”

“Well, yeah,” she said, softening a bit. “That’s up there as well. It’s just … learning who Charlene hangs out with and who she doesn’t is something we can work on this weekend.”

“But we need to work on cheering now? Can’t I just miss today’s practice and then you can put me through the paces on Saturday and Sunday?”

“You already skipped practice yesterday. And let me tell you, Coach was completely pissed. Especially since she saw you walking toward the complex right before time to start.”

I felt a flare of defensiveness surge within me.

“Correction. Charlene skipped practice. I was actually on my way to suffer through it when she hopped back in and took over. She was the one who decided bouncing up and down on Danny Morris’ dick was a more valid use of her time.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Well, how about we just let Coach know that? I’m sure she’ll understand that Charles didn’t deliberately skip practice. It was all Charlene’s fault and she should yell at her as soon as she comes back.”

I made a face at her. “Now you’re just being argumentative.”

“True. But that doesn’t change the fact that you need to learn some of the basic moves before this afternoon.”

“How the hell am I going to do that?” I asked, making sure my voice didn’t go up to a level that would attract attention. “There isn’t enough time between now and then. I have Bio at one.”

“Funny enough, Josie’s in that class. She can take notes for you.”

I sighed. “Still, I can’t learn a whole lifetime of doing something in a couple of hours Shelly.”

“You don’t have to learn everything, Charlie. Just a couple of the moves. Plus, didn’t you say tell me last night that some of Charlene’s motor skills came with the body?”

“Walking and a few unconscious mannerisms is not the same as backflips and twirls.”

“Maybe,” she said leaning back in her chair. “But I’ve also noticed that you sit like Charlene, add the same inflections in your words that she uses, and exhibit a lot of similar gestures. Like the way you keep pointing around with your left hand in random directions when you’re getting passionate about something.”

I blinked and looked down to see that my left hand was angled at a way that my index finger was slightly extended, aimed at the counter on the other side of the room.

“I …” I looked from the hand to Michelle. “I didn’t notice.”

She shrugged. “Maybe guy you does it as well. I don’t think Charlene really notices when she’s doing it either.”

I sighed, lowering my traitorous limb. “I don’t know …”

“Trust me, Charlie. I really believe we can get you through practice without anyone being the wiser.”

“Fine. But we need to find some time to go through Charlie’s photos. I need to be able to start putting names with faces. Not that it would have helped a little while ago.”

She arched a brow, looking at me. “What happened a little while ago?”

I told her about the two girls from my psychology class who’d escorted me down the stairs, and their very strange behavior. As soon as I described them, Shelly rolled her eyes.

“Oh, yeah. That would be Katrina ‘Trina’ McAvoy and Cindy Spencer. They’re a couple of seriously snooty bitches.”

“Why were they concerned with what I was going to wear to the mixer?”

She gave me a short-lived stare, then shrugged. “Probably because they want to one up you in front of Rachel. They are Kappa pledges, too.”

“So, I’m rushing Kappa Omega with them?”

“We,” she said. “Charlene and I were both rushing the Kappas.”

“What about Josie?” I asked. After all, if the three of them were as close as it seemed, it only stood to reason they would want to join the same organization.

“She’s going with Lambda Sig due to being a legacy.”

I arched an eyebrow at Shelly. “So, I guess Charlie doesn’t get along with Trina or Cindy?”

An amused smirk appeared on her face. “That’s sort of an understatement.”

Leaning forward, I put my arms on the table, looking at her.

“Okay, just remember that I’m a semi-clueless guy in here and tell me the deal in terms you think would make sense to a male who isn’t exactly hip on competition between females.”

She laughed softly. “Alright then. Trina and Cindy are Kappa legacies, so they’re automatically going to be inducted. They like to look down their noses at the other pledges, and make little snide comments about them not having what it takes to be members. Well, during the first pledge meeting, Trina was giving me crap and Charlie really jumped her shit.”

“She beat her up?”

Shelly blinked in surprise, then shook her head. “This isn’t a bunch of angry frat boys, Charlie. Girls are much more subtle. I honestly can’t remember everything that she said to her, but by the time the sarcasm and insults stopped flying, Trina’s face was beet red and tear-streaked.”

“Oh. Well that certainly explains the thinly-veiled hostility I encountered.”

She shook her head. “No. That was just the main event. The delicious dessert was the fact that Rachel found it hilarious. She walked over and threw her arm around Charlie’s neck and announced to the rest of us that any pledge who could sling words like a samurai was definitely Kappa material.”

I nodded. “They’re mad because Rachel thought Charlie’s actions were noble?”

She shrugged. “Well, that is part of it. The rest is because that’s when Rachel took Charlie as her little.”

“Little what?”

“Little sister. I think Trina was sure it was going to be her. And it might have been, since the two of them are remarkably similar in personalities.”

The metaphorical lightbulb went off in my head. “So, when Rachel decided to take Charlie under her wing instead of her …”

She nodded. “Trina didn’t appreciate it. Since then, she’s been trying to tear Charlie down to the other pledges, and some of the sisters. She’s got to be cool about it though.”

I smirked. “No dissension allowed in the Kappa ranks?”

“That and deliberately crossing Rachel Bostwick is tantamount to social suicide for a Kappa. Everyone knows that she’s going to end up being the chapter president.”

I sighed, dropping my head down onto my arms. Just when I thought trying to live Charlene’s life couldn’t get any more complicated, another wrinkle appeared. No wonder she had been so pissed to find herself back here. My life on the other side of the multiverse was pretty much devoid of these complex social interactions and chess maneuvers. The most complexing thing in my life was occasionally getting a random hard-on in public and trying to not have it noticed by anyone.

“So, in summary,” I said, lifting my head up just enough to look at Shelly. “I’ve got a one sorority sister who wants to groom me in her image, one who wants to put a knife in my back, classes that are not what I planned on taking, a boy I’m fucking who happens to be in a relationship with a good friend, and boyfriend who is too nice to mention that being around a guy in a girl’s body actually arouses him. Does that about cover it?”

Shelly nodded, then shot me an apologetic grimace as she held up one finger.

“You forgot the fact that you’re supposed to be really awesome at a sport you have no real knowledge about.”

I groaned, feeling like I just wanted to go home and cry. “Oh yes, how could I forget that one?”

She shrugged and rose to her feet, shoving her phone into her back pocket. Then she walked around the table and held her hand out to me.

“Well, Charlie, let’s go somewhere and work on that last one. Because something tells me that Charlene getting kicked off the squad is going to make the rest of your problems seem like a Sunday picnic.”

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.

The Other Side of Me – Part 12
by Limbo’s Mistress

It turned out that shopping with Katie was as much an eye-opening experience as cheer practice.

When we arrived at the mall, a two-story monolith to consumerism I instantly recognized from my own dimension, I parked the Jeep near the entrance to one of the end anchoring department stores. My original thought was that we would run into the galleria, pick out a dress for Katie to wear to her dance, and then zoom back home. According to Shelly, we weren’t expected to be at the Kappa mixer before ten o’clock, which would give me a couple of hours to prepare myself, mentally and physically, for the party.

However, I quickly learned that simply “popping in and out” wasn’t what happened when sisters went shopping. Particularly when one of the siblings was Katie.

I stopped a few feet inside the store’s entrance and turned to her. “So, uh, where do we start? Where would the formal dresses be?”

“Juniors and Misses,” she said, continuing to walk along the polished tile floor. She didn’t bother to look back at me.

“Alright,” I said, hurrying to catch up.

We detoured around a humongous cosmetics counter staffed with five women of indeterminate ages. Given the amount of makeup each sported, I would say they were somewhere between nineteen and fifty. One member of the quintet was answering the questions of a couple of girls a little younger than Katie, with the remaining four seeming completely bored. All painted up and nowhere to go.

As we continued on past, I realized that Katie was almost marching. Like she was in a hurry for some reason.

“Katie-Kat,” I said. “What is …” The words died on my lips as my eyes latched onto a couple of signs belonging to a couple of famous brands. “Edna Bower? Tammy Hilfiger?”

Katie stopped as well, and followed my amused gaze. She looked back to me with a disinterested shrug. “You don’t have those companies back in your world?” The emphasis she put on the last two words was not unnoticed.

I shook my head with a frown. “Not exactly. It’s just … they’re women in this universe. The ones I know were founded by men.”

She simply nodded and started walking again.

Sighing, I put my hand on her arm and guided us out of the pathway of the other shoppers. When we were far enough away from any overhearing ears, I looked into her face.

“What’s wrong? You’ve been sullen since we got in the car.” I shook my head. “You were the one who wanted to go shopping with me.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from me, staring at the dark orange carpet beneath our feet.

“Would it be the end of the world if you stayed here?” she asked in a quiet voice. “Permanently.”

My heart began to ache in response to my understanding of what had her upset. “I can’t. This isn’t my home.”

Her small shoulders lifted and dropped. “It could be. You seem to be adjusting to living as Charlene pretty well. Sometimes I have to remind myself that you were a guy until recently.”

I reached out and put my hand lightly on her shoulder. Having grown up with her dimensional counterpart, I knew there was more she wanted to say. Something bursting to get off her chest that was being held back by sheer force of will. My own Katie was notorious for doing that exact same thing. I moved around to stand in front of her and used the hand not on her shoulder to tilt her chin up so we could look at each other.

“But?” I asked, arching a brow at her. “I know there’s a ‘but’ in there somewhere.”

She shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

“You might as well tell me what’s on your mind, Katie-Kat. I know you far too well to simply accept you have nothing else you want to say.”

Her eyes widened for a moment, allowing me to see tears were attempting to form. Then she quickly faced away from me, looking across the racks of clothing to the entrance of the mall.

“She doesn’t.”

“She doesn’t what?” I didn’t think I needed to ask who “she” was.

“Know me that well.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to that comment. Granted, I detected a slightly confrontational vibe that first evening before I told her who I really was. It wasn’t until I informed her of what was going on that her attitude toward me shifted. Much like that first night, she now acted standoffish, though the tone in her voice was one of sadness, rather than of anger.

“I’m sure she does,” I said, trying to make my words carry the belief I didn’t really feel. The longer I navigated through Charlene’s life, the more my opinion of other-universal duplicate slid toward the unfavorable. She’d already proven that her loyalty to friends and lovers was mutable. To think she might not care about her sister as much as I cared about mine wasn’t that hard to fathom.

Katie sighed, finally turning back to face me. The wetness in her eyes remained, but it seemed as if she’d overcome the urge to cry.

“No, she doesn’t. She lives at home, Chuck, but she’s never really there. Not like you’ve been. She’s always on her phone with her friends. Or over at Jackson’s. When we do get a chance to talk, it’s always about her. What’s going on in her life. Anytime I try to tell her about things related to my stuff, she just … shuts down.” She sighed loudly. “She doesn’t care at all.”

I opened my mouth, nearly saying the one thing I realized at the last second would probably be the opposite of what Katie needed to hear. After all, how many times had Charlene’s actions or behavior been pardoned with what had happened to her mom? Even if Shelly was right that she wasn’t truly over it, it was plain to see the accident, and her associated guilt, was serving as some sort of … crutch.

I took a moment to gather my thoughts, then gave her arm a light squeeze. She sniffled again, turning to look at me.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Look, I shouldn’t speak for Charlene because I can’t. Not with complete and total honesty. However, I am positive that she loves you. I tried to put a tiny smile on my face to show her how much I wanted to believe my words. “I mean, who wouldn’t. Being in this insanely different world is confusing enough, and you have been a lifesaver in helping me survive it. Being around you the past two days has made me recognize how much I’ve stopped being close with my own Katie.”

She gave me a slightly dubious look, but remained silent.

“I haven’t always been the best big brother to her. I mean, we get along fine most of the time. Since I moved out, though, it might be a week or two between us seeing each other. Or even talking to each other. Most of those times are during family dinners, so there’s not a lot of bonding going on there.”

She nodded, then narrowed her eyes slightly at me. “Does that mean you are going to spend more time with her? When you, uh get back home?”

“Yes. Without question.” I couldn’t help but grin a little as I tilted my head in the direction of the mall opening. “Of course, I probably won’t let her take me shopping. That will be something shared only between you and me.”

Her mouth curled into a smile, despite her best attempt to fight it. Finally, the grin that appeared remained fixed in place.

“I don’t know, Chuck. You might ought to rethink that. If your sense of fashion is as bad over there as it is here, you definitely need all the help you can get.”

I stuck my tongue out at her, but then followed it with a horribly loud giggle.

“Just for that, I should just drive us back home.”

Her eyes widened slightly with a sense of panic. “You wouldn’t dare. You promised Daddy you’d buy me a dress.”

“Fine, then. Let’s get started.”

She nodded and turned around. Then, without warning, she spun back and threw her arms around me, hugging me tightly for several long seconds. When she finally released me so I could breathe again, she looked up at me. The dampness in her eyes was back.

“Thank you, Charles.”

My own vision blurred slightly. “You’re welcome, Katie-Kat.”

We scoured the department stores racks for a suitable ensemble for Katie, but the store’s paltry offerings offered zero appeal, and we abandoned the national chain to head out into the mall. The din of the multitude of conversations taking place echoed around the cavernous opening, seeming the amplify the longer we stood in one place.

“Where to?” I asked.

She tapped on her lower lip with one finger, then looked over at me with a concerned expression.

“What did Daddy say our limit was?”

I grinned. “At first, he said we couldn’t spend more than two hundred. However, I thought that might not be enough, so I cajoled him to increase it to four. Given his mumbled comments at the time, I think whatever we spend will be worth it to him as long as he doesn’t have to be the one taking you shopping.”

She nodded, then pulled on my arm. “Let’s try Darling Divas first. Joelle Daniels said they have a totally hot selection.”

“Darling Divas?” I mimicked, allowing Katie to lead me away by the hand. From the name, it wasn’t hard to figure it was a female-only type of establishment. Which meant I had never heard of it. Of course, for all I knew, it didn’t exist back home.

Katie dragged me to a nearby set of escalators that carried us up to the second floor, and then down along a parade of neon-signed storefronts until we stood at the entrance of our destination. The bright, hot pink sign hanging in one of the windows was garishly cute, each ornately scripted “D” intertwined with the other. Glancing in through the gigantic plate glass front of the establishment, I spotted a dozen or so shoppers perusing the wares inside. The majority of them looked around Katie’s age, although I did see a set of blonde-haired twins who could have been my classmates at the university.

Just as I managed to finish my initial assessment of the place, Katie pulled open one of the frosted doors, and ushered me inside.

As a guy, I almost never bought my clothes at the mall. I did most of my shopping online, selecting items of various sizes and just sending back whatever didn’t fit. The dozen or so times I’d actually been to the galleria back home was only because whatever girl I was currently dating wanted to go. Despite my opinion that shopping was just a way for women to waste time, I grudgingly accepted it as a necessary evil.

So, once Katie and I were inside, I disengaged my hand from hers so that I could drop into the standard male reaction of being in a store full of women’s clothing. I found a rack near the first one Katie began searching and leaned on it disinterestedly. Pulling my phone out of my purse, I saw three missed texts from Rachel reminding me of the mixer, one from Shelly informing me that she would be swinging by the house to pick me up at nine-thirty, and one from Jackson that said he had completed the quantum flow scanner.

I quickly responded to all three. I told Shelly that nine-thirty would be fine, Jackson that I would see him after breakfast on Saturday, and informed Rachel that I was super looking forward to the party and that I would make sure I didn’t do anything to embarrass her.

While I was keeping the plates of Charlene’s social life in the air, Katie had scoured the row of emerald green dresses until she found one in her size. She pulled it away from the others, held it up to her front, and spun around to look at me.

“What do you think about …” She stopped in mid-sentence, eyes widening at me. “What are you doing?”

I stood up straight, quickly shoving my phone back into my bag as I glanced around to make sure that none of the other patrons were paying us any attention. I felt my face warm at the sensation that I’d been caught doing something I shouldn’t.

“Uh, nothing. I mean, just hanging out.” Then I noticed the uber annoyed face she was making. “I mean, what should I be doing?”

The eye roll I received made me fear that both of her were going to dislodge from their sockets, drop to the floor, and scurry away under a nearby sales counter.

“Shopping, Chuck” she said in a low voice full of pity. “When girls go out shopping together, they don’t just lean against a rack with a bored look on their faces while the others hunt down prizes. That’s a total guy move.”

“Fine,” I said with a sigh, taking a couple of steps toward her. I eyed the green gown for a few seconds before shaking my head. “I don’t know about that one, Katie-Kat. Just not feeling it.” I glanced at the rest of the choices nearby, nodding my head at the next rack over. “Why don’t you try the blue one? Something tells me it would look better on you than the green.”

She crinkled up her nose at me, but handed me the emerald dress while she searched through the blue ones for her size. As with the first one, she turned to face me and held the dress up before her.

“Well?”

I took a minute to think about the selection before finally nodding. “Yeah, I like that. It goes really well with your skin tone and better compliments your eyes.”

“Goes well with my skin tone? Seriously?” She laughed and shook her head. “You’re hilarious.” Spotting a wall mirror about ten feet away, she strolled over and admired herself for a few moments.

As the seconds ticked by, I watched as her expression went from amused, to surprised, before settling on absolutely shocked. She blinked a couple of times, then whirled around to stare dumbfoundedly at me.

“You’re right. About this color. How the hell are you right?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just told you what I thought looked good. I mean, both of them compliment your eyes, but the green not so much with your skin. The blue, though, because it’s a dark blue …”

“Royal,” she said, turning to admire herself again. “It’s called royal blue.”

“Whatever,” I replied, walking over to stand next to her. “The point is, when I actually focused on it, I could tell there were subtle differences. Differences that made the choice easier.” I frowned, remembering the fleeting impressions I’d gotten when noticing other students. Like a momentary blip of surprise or appreciation at what they were wearing. “Come to think of it, I think I’ve been doing it all day.”

It was like the rest of Charlene’s aspects I’d begun to absorb. Only not quite as obvious or in my face as walking, standing, or cheering. Or that other thing I was currently refusing to acknowledge.

“So, now you’re as good at clothing coordination as Charlene?”

I held my hands out to the side and shrugged. “Think of it like a bonus package. Came with these extra-wide hips and big ass.”

“It’s called being curvy, Chuck. Women are curvy.” She stuck her tongue out at me and turned back to the mirror, studying her reflection. “You don’t think Daddy will say it’s too short, do you?” Katie asked, looking up at me in the reflective surface. “You know how he can be.”

“Actually, not so much. However, if you needed a counter argument, you could always point out that the hem is just barely above your knees, and the neckline doesn’t seem to be that deep. I think you’ll be okay.”

She nodded, looking at herself again. “Good point. Plus, you’ll help me out if he starts complaining, right?”

I laughed. “Yes, I promise.”

Katie pulled the dress away from her and walked toward the dressing rooms. I followed, but stopped her right before she vanished through the curtains.

“Uh, I’m not supposed to go back there with you, am I?”

“Well, normally Charlie would. Just to save time. Though, if it’s going to make you all weird, then you can wait out here.”

Even though I had seen her in her underwear recently, and she’d seen my new body in far less, it still gave me a bit of the willies to think about being in the tiny cubicle while she was practically naked. We might both be girls on the outside, but the majority of what was still on my inside was still male.

“I’ll wait.”

After she passed through the curtain, I milled around the racks closest to the dressing rooms. The selections here were marked as being “Clearance”, but the prices attached to them caused me a bit of alarm.

However, I did find this adorable dark peach cardigan that practically siren called to me. I had it draped over my arm when Katie returned in the royal blue dress.

“Well?” she asked, turning a slow circle before me.

I had been correct in my assessment of the length of the hem and the neckline. What I hadn’t been able to tell when she was merely holding it before her was just how well it clung to her still-developing form. For a second or two, I would have said she could pass for eighteen, rather than sixteen. By the time she did her hair and makeup, she would go from “really cute” to “fucking gorgeous”.

The small spike of jealousy that pierced my heart made me frown.

“What?” she asked in a panicked voice. She put her hands on the sides of the dress and looked down at herself for several seconds before looking back up at me. “What’s wrong with it?”

I blinked, then shook my head. “Nothing’s wrong with it, Katie-Kat,” I said, looking for an explanation that didn’t involve my sudden and disturbing flash of envy. “I was just thinking that, uh, it makes you look more mature. Which, kind of made me think of my Katie.”

She stared at me, confused, for a moment. Then she nodded solemnly. “If you can’t get home, you won’t see her grow up.”

I crossed over to her and put my hands on both her bare arms. “No. But if that happens, I promise that I will never regret having you instead of her. This universe, or that one, you are my sister. Okay?”

She chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment, then nodded. “Okay.” She looked down at the tag hanging off the right side of the dress. “Two fifty-nine.” When she glanced back up, she spotted the cardigan. “For you?”

My cheeks warmed as I forced a smile onto my face. “Uh, it called to me?”

Katie’s eyes widened comically. Right behind that was a short burst of laughter that caught the attention of everyone around us.

“Oh, that is such a Charlie thing to say.”

We paid for the dress and the sweater, before leaving Darling Divas to journey to three different shoe stores in search of the perfect pair of matching pumps. The first one had a pair with a two-inch heel and a finish that was a perfect match for Katie’s new purchase. However, they didn’t have them in her size. The second store had her size, but not the right color. The third, though, was where we hit the jackpot.

Eighty more of Daddy’s dollars later, we were back in the corridor with another bag in my hand.

“We should probably get something to eat,” I said, nodding my head at the food court. “It’s nearly six-thirty.”

She agreed and we walked down to see what choices we had. After a short debate, we settled on a Hawaiian burger place. Katie ordered a Luau Burger with Swiss. I choice a pineapple and chicken breast sandwich. We also decided to split an order of fries.

Once we had our food and found a table to sit at, I decided that Charlene’s lack of interest in her sister’s social life required me to take the reins.

“So, your first winter formal.” I said, grinning at her over the sandwich in my hands. “Who’s the lucky guy?”

She opened her mouth, and from the look on her face, it seemed as if she was going to inform me that I already knew the answer. Before she remembered it wasn’t her sister inside my skull.

“Oh,” she said as a bit of color crept onto her cheeks. “Henry Baker. I hope.”

When I arched a brow, the crimson hue of her face deepened.

“Okay, so Jana Lewis’s brother, Roger, told her that Henry asked him to ask her to ask me if anyone had asked me yet.”

I blinked, nearly choking on my soda. When I managed to recover my breath, I shook my head and grinned. “There were a lot of ‘asks’ in that statement, girl.” I wiped my mouth with my napkin. “So, according to a really long series of he-said, she-said, you may or may not be going with Henry Baker?”

She nodded, her face now a glowing scarlet.

“When is the dance?”

“Three weeks from tomorrow.” A slight look of panic appeared on her flushed face. “Oh-Em-Gee, should I be worried Henry’s comment to Roger was almost two weeks ago? What if he’s changed his mind and wants to take someone else?”

I laughed. “First of all, he’d have to be completely stupid to want to go with another girl.”

Her eyes widened. “You really think so?”

“I do,” I said as I smirked. “After all, you’re Charlie Miller’s sister. Who wouldn’t want to go out with you?”

Her jaw dropped open in apparent surprise, then she shook her head, glowering at me.

“For a second, I thought she’d come back,” she said, still seething. “That would be totally something she would say.”

I let my grin drop and gave her my most sincere look. “Sorry, Katie-Kat. I just couldn’t resist. But, on the plus side, that means I’m getting better at pretending to be her.”

“No need to overdo it, though.”

I nodded, reaching out to put my hand on top of hers. “I am really sorry. It was a mean trick, and after what we talked about earlier, I should have known better. Forgive me?”

She looked at my face, studying it as if to make sure I was being honest and not trying to fool her again. Then she nodded. “Forgiven.”

“Great,” I said, leaning back in my own seat. “And as for Henry? Don’t sweat it. If he’s anything like the rest of us guys, he will put it off actually asking you until about a week out from the event.”

“Really?”

I nodded. “Trust me. I have sort of an inside track into how guys usually think.”

“True.”

As we continued eating, we talked like a couple of … sisters. I made sure to keep the conversation’s focus mainly on Katie. The more I learned about what her life was like, what she enjoyed, and who she hung around with, the more I began to understand just how much I didn’t know about my Katie. Last time we had family dinner; she mentioned some cute boy who kept staring at her in English class.

Of course, I’d been too busy trying to shovel pasta in my mouth so I could head back to campus. Thinking on it now, I realized that I couldn’t even recall his name, despite her mentioning it more than a dozen times over the course of the meal.

Which only served to remind me that I was a pretty shitty brother.

After dinner, Katie convinced me to hit up a couple more shops. I tried at first to remind her that we were only supposed to be buying stuff for her upcoming social event, but she simply pointed at the smaller of the two bags bearing the Double-D logo.

“I don’t think that sweater was on the approved list,” she said with a smirk.

I shrugged. “It was cute, on sale, and we both know you’re going to borrow it the first chance you get. Winning all the way around as far as I can tell.”

Over the course of the next hour, we shopped and talked and made mental notes of what we were going to buy next time. Finally, we called it quits on the adventure and stopped at a Starbuck’s kiosk located on the malls’ first floor. We each got an iced macchiato and eventually found an empty bench to sit on.

I placed our bags beside the bench and stretched out my legs, wiggling my toes in my sneakers.

“We’re going to have to go soon,” I said, glancing down at my phone. “I still need to get ready for tonight.”

“Are you really going to the mixer?” she asked, taking a sip of her beverage.

I nodded reluctantly. “Against my better judgement. I thought it was bad enough when I just had to juggle Charlie’s schoolwork and cheer practice. Never figured pledging a snobby sorority to be a part of my life.”

“Charlene’s been talking about joining the Kappas ever since the first week of school. I thought she was joking at first, but then Shelly decided to join her in the madness.”

“Madness is right. Charlene and Shelly seem to be the complete opposite of that chick in charge.” I shook my head. “She’s a seriously stuck-up bitch.”

Katie’s eyes expanded and she began to cough loudly as the coffee in her mouth shot down the wrong pipe. I reached over and pounded lightly on her back until she managed to get the sharp barks under control.

“Sorry,” she said in a croaking voice. “I just didn’t expect to ever hear that statement come out of that face.” She coughed a few more times, then wiped her mouth with one of the napkins in her hand. “Charlene would shit kittens if she heard you talk about Rachel Bostwick like that. She practically idolizes that ice queen.”

“Why?” I asked, tilting my head to the side in inquiry. “I would have thought their personalities would totally clash.” Then I shrugged. “Though, I’m finding out that Charlene isn’t as much like me as I thought on a daily basis.”

That morose look reappeared on Katie’s face. “No, she’s really not.” She took another swig from her straw, careful to swallow properly this time. “So, tell the truth, Chuck. Do you like being her?”

As fate would have it, it was my turn to choke on a mouthful of coffee. In repayment for my assistance, Katie pounded on my back a few times, though she was simultaneously giggling as she did so.

“Sorry,” she said between snickers. “I probably should have made sure you weren’t trying to drink when I asked that.”

I shook my head, coughed a few more times, then set my drink down next to me. I looked at her for a few seconds before turning my gaze out to the people walking back and forth before us. Most of them seemed to be focused on other things, many with a phone next to their ears. A few, however, glanced our way.

The majority of those were male.

“That’s not an easy question to answer, Katie-Kat.”

“Actually, it is. The answer is either ‘yes’ or ‘no’.”

I opened my mouth to inform her that the simple answer would be “no”. But … I couldn’t. I mean, yeah, I kind of missed being Charles. Although, through the lens that was Charlene’s life, mine was extremely dull.

If I took stock of what I missed, really missed, the only thing I could come up with was my mom. Charlene’s dad wasn’t exactly like my own father, but a close enough approximation that it was negligible. Katie acted a lot like the version in my dimension. Of course, I also had to admit that the distance that had grown between us over the past couple of years kind of muted the accuracy of my memories.

Friends? Other than Jackson, Charles didn’t have “friends”. He had “acquaintances”. I lived with three other guys, but I rarely spent any time hanging out with them. I was a member of a collegiate athletic team, though I would be hard-pressed to tell you anything meaningful about any of them.

I didn’t even spend that much time with my own family.

A loner. That would be the perfect way to describe Charles Miller.

Only, that wasn’t Charlene at all. She was popular, had close friends (even if some of them were questionable), and was everything I wasn’t.

“Uh-oh,” Katie said softly, breaking my internal existential crisis. “Hottie alert.”

I turned to look at her, then followed her gaze to see if I could locate whomever had managed to capture her attention. It took a second or two, but eventually I succeeded.

The boy was about her age, with dark brown hair styled into a messy surfer’s cut and a symmetrical face that I realized was not unattractive. His eyes, slightly wider than normal, were an incredible shade of dazzling blue and seemed to be looking right at me.

Or rather, at Katie.

I glanced back at my sister, wondering if I was going to need to use the napkin in my hand to wipe the drool that was likely to start dribbling out of her partially open mouth at any second. I’d heard the word “smitten” used in conjunction with amorous adoration, but I never actually expected to see it in the flesh.

Especially not on my little sister.

“You know him?” I asked, keeping my face turned away from the approaching boy.

“Sebastian North,” she said in a quiet voice that was completely detached from reality, barely moving her lips. “He’s a junior and so freaking yummy.”

I smirked at her stunned behavior and turned back to the object of her infatuation. A smart-ass comment began to form on my lips as my eyes slid back to the boy before continuing on to the larger male walking beside him.

Sebastian’s companion’s eyes met mine at the same time, and a large smile formed on his face.

“Hey, Charlie,” Mike the Basketball Player said as he and Sebastian stopped a few feet from where Katie and I sat. Then his smile faltered a bit, probably because I wasn’t returning it. “Oh, sorry. I’m Mike. We met yesterday.”

I nodded slowly, though I really couldn’t respond aloud. I was a bit too busy drinking in the view. When I’d encountered him the previous morning, I’d been way too concerned with getting to class on time. Oh, and with trying to figure out how to convince people I was who they thought I was. Which meant I really hadn’t had the opportunity to really see him.

He had the same shade of dark brown hair as his younger brother, though his was shorter and styled in a more mature fashion. The polo shirt from the previous day had been replaced with a dark gray tee that seemed like it might be a size, or two, too small and which clung to his well-defined torso like a second skin.

In a momentary flash of comparison, where Danny Morris was bigger and larger, Mike had the build of a someone who required both strength and speed. He was also taller than the other boy, probably well over six feet.

“Charlie?” Katie hissed softly, making me snap back to the present.

“Oh, yeah. Uh, hey!” I lifted my hand and waved. “Of course. I totally remember.”

Oh … my … god. Please tell me I wasn’t babbling.

“I’m Katie,” Katie said, smiling at Mike and Sebastian. “Charlie’s sister.”

“Nice to meet you,” Mike replied as he tore his gaze from me to acknowledge the girl seated next to me.

“I’m Sebastian,” said the other boy, more to Katie than to me.

“I know. We both go to Emerson High.”

“We do?” The boy narrowed his eyes a bit at her, as if trying to determine if he’d seen her before now that he knew it was a possibility. “Wait, don’t you have Mr. Drummond for French? Second period?”

Katie nodded enthusiastically. “Yes. You have him for third. I’ve seen you walking into the class as I’m trying to get out the door.”

Sebastian smiled, and I thought my kid sister was going to erupt into flames.

“I’ll be sure to say hello next time.”

Katie giggled, causing me to nearly roll my eyes. That was, until I turned my attention back to the taller brother and realized that his attention was completely focused on me.

“Did you pass?”

I blinked up at him. “Excuse me?”

“Your Trig exam? The one you were running late for yesterday.”

“Oh!” my face ignited into a flambé of embarrassment. “Uh, yeah. I’m pretty sure I did.”

“She’s more than pretty sure,” Katie added reaching out to pat me lightly on the shoulder. “Charlie’s a whiz at math. She probably aced the dang thing.”

Mike’s smile widened. Not in a creepy-like way, but in actual interest and amusement. Flirtatious, actually.

“Is that so? Maybe you can tutor me sometime. I’m struggling a little with Geometry.”

I stared up at him, unable to tear my eyes away, as a haphazard whirlwind of thoughts spun around inside my head. Did his smile just get bigger? Is he hitting on me? Why is he hitting on me? Oh my god, I’m a hot mess! Jesus, is he cuter than he was yesterday? I’m still in my practice clothes and probably smell like a skunk. I wonder what his lips taste like.

Recoiling backward against the bench, I threw up both hands, palms toward Mike.

“I have a boyfriend!”

The words just leapt out of my throat. Way too fast and definitely way too loud. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Katie jump slightly and finally turn her attention away from the brothers to goggle at me.

“Oh,” Mike said, his smile falling into a neutral expression. “I see.”

My already burning face suddenly turned into a nuclear meltdown. Why had I blurted that out? What the hell was wrong with me? I tried to rationalize my behavior, but all I could come up with was that Charlene was obviously mentally unstable and that instability was being transferred to me.

“Uh, I mean …” I bit down on my lip so hard I thought I was going to draw blood.

“No,” Mike said, his smile returning but stopping at just being friendly. “I might have been a little too forward.” He tilted his head slightly to the side, looking down at me. “But I am serious about getting help with math. I just should have been a little less … you know.”

I nodded my head rapidly, still trying to get my blood pressure to come down out of low-earth orbit. I was sure the three of them could hear my heart slamming against my chest. Any second now, it would tear through my ribcage and leap out like that thing from Alien.

“Yeah,” I said, finally finding my voice. “No, I was just … misunderstanding.” I shrugged and forced a smile on my face, though I was quite sure it came out as a grimace. “Maybe we could look at your stuff … I mean your math … sometime. See where you’re, uh, you know, struggling.”

Wasn’t Charlene supposed to be this professional flirt? According to Shelly, she was like the perfect social butterfly. I felt like a baby giraffe on ice skates in a hurricane. My romance game was totally falling flat.

Though, I wasn’t sure if the disappointment I felt was due to having made myself look like a fool in front of a really cute guy, or if it was because I was thinking of another male as a really cute guys.

“Come, dude,” Sebastian said as he pulled on Mike’s arm. “We’re going to miss the previews.” Then he looked at Katie, flashing a smile that was as flirty as his brother’s had been. “We’re going to see the new Schwarzenegger movie. You guys should join us.”

Mike frowned, finally looking away from me to his sibling. “Seb, I’m sure they’ve already got plans.”

“Yeah,” Katie said with a voice full of teen angst and despair. “Charlie’s got a thing to go to tonight with her sorority.”

Mike glanced back to me; eyebrow arched. “Which one?”

“Kappa Omega,” I said with a small feeling of relief. If I didn’t have a prior engagement to attend on Charlene’s behalf, I might have suggested we take Sebastian up on the offer.

“Cool.” His grin never changed. “Maybe next time.”

“Definitely,” his brother added, directing his comment at Katie.

The two of them sauntered off, making their way to the red, yellow, and white neon of the mall’s six screen movie house. As soon as they were out of earshot, Katie twisted around to look at me with ridiculously large eyes.

“Oh …oh, shit.” Katie breathed, looking from me to the departing duo and back a couple of times. “Oh … wow.”

“What?” I snapped, sounding a lot angrier than I actually felt. My face was still rather warm and the whooshing of my pulse was doing absolutely nothing to improve the state of my fluttering tummy.

“You totally like him, don’t you? As in ‘like’ like?”

I blinked, whipping my head away from receding Mike’s jean-clad butt to stare at her.

“What? No.” I gritted my teeth and tapped my temple. “I’m a guy in here, remember?”

The grin on her face would not be dissuaded. If anything, it widened.

“Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that you’re ‘mostly’ a guy in there? After all, aren’t you and Charlene trading personality traits?”

“That doesn’t mean anything, Katie. It’s one thing to adopt her walk. Or her athletic skills.”

She nodded, still smiling. “Oh. But you don’t think that might include her attraction to handsome guys with equally hot younger brothers?”

“I …” Jesus, my heartrate was still spiking, though it was noticeably less rapid than a minute before. “No … I …” My hands rose and pressed against my temples as the whole interaction with Mike replayed in my head, this time from the perspective of an outside observer.

He had been flirting with me, and I had enjoyed it. Immensely. Though, I couldn’t exactly figure out why. It was almost the same way I’d felt toward Shelly when we were doing our secret practice session.

Was I now attracted to both men and women? Or was my attraction to Mike a part of a process leading down a path that would end with me being a straight female?

I needed time to sit and think and try to figure myself out. I also needed to do it before Shelly came to pick me up.

Standing, I grabbed our bags and looked at Katie.

“Come on,” I said, tossing the rest of my coffee into the nearest trash bin. “We’re leaving.”

The Other Side of Me – Chapter 13
by Limbo’s Mistress

On the ride home from the mall, Katie repeatedly attempted to talk to me about my sudden foul mood. Each time, I refused to even look in her direction. Instead, I merely stared straight ahead at the road and mumbled, “I don’t want to discuss it.”

What was there to discuss really? Apparently, my sexual attraction to members of the male persuasion continued to increase the longer I remained trapped in this feminine body. Which might not be a complete and total disaster if I didn’t have to keep hearing that little voice in the back of my head whispering that it was rather likely I would return to my own universe as an ultra-feminine homosexual.

Maybe it would just be better to stay here. At the rate things were progressing, it wouldn’t be that much longer until I actually was more Charlene than Charles. All that I’d be missing was her memories.

As soon as I pulled the Jeep to a stop in the driveway, Katie sighed loudly.

“Please tell me why you’re so mad,” she said looking over at me. Her eyes were brimming with tears. “Is it because you suddenly realized you liked guys? Or because I pointed it out?”

As I’d done on the ride, I refused to look at her. Or even speak to her. Mostly because I knew I was a giant ball of vibrant emotions, and I couldn’t be sure what would come out of my mouth if I started speaking. Would it be a furious tirade? A depressing introspective monologue? Or merely a maniacal rambling indicative of a fractured psyche?

Probably all of the above.

So, keeping my trap shut, I shook my head, climbed out of the Jeep, and grabbed the bags from the back seat. Before Katie could even open her door to follow me, I stomped my way up the front walk to the house, threw open the door, and disappeared inside, using my foot to shut the door behind me.

It slammed closed a bit harder than I intended, drawing the attention of the man sitting in the living room from the phone in his hand.

“Charlie?” he asked, the concerned expression on his face intensifying when he realized I’d entered alone. “Where’s Katie? Wasn’t she with you?”

“Of course she was,” I said in a huff.

A second later, the front door behind me opened, and a bewildered sixteen-year-old, still looking put out, stepped inside.

“Charlie,” she said, cutting her eyes over at our father for a moment before looking back at me. “I’m sorry, okay? I just wasn’t thinking clearly when I said those things.”

I waved my hand dismissively at her before pulling my new cardigan out of the Darling Diva’s bag. Then I thrust it, and the other two bags, at her.

“Here you go. Enjoy!”

“Charlene,” the man behind me said with a note of disappointment in his voice.

Katie’s eyes, still wide and wet, stared up at me. As if I had slapped her.

Balling my hands into fists, I clutched the garment to my chest and fled the living room, ascending the steps two at a time. I practically ran down the hall, into my bedroom, where I slammed that door shut as well.

What in the hell was wrong with me? My emotions had flipped around back and forth from one end of the goddamned spectrum to the other all day long with absolutely no rhyme or reason. However, I thought I’d done fairly well weathering the storm. Until I interacted with Mr. Mike “I’m So Hot” North.

I dropped my purse on the desk, put the cardigan on top of it, and threw myself face down on the bed.

I didn’t want to go to this stupid mixer. I really didn’t want to have to take a bath and get all dolled up to attend as a prospective member of Kappa Omega. I had absolutely no desire to prance around the Sigma Chi House as I smiled and pretended that I had any feelings whatsoever for a bunch of shallow-ass people I hadn’t known existed forty-eight hours ago.

And I really, really, really did not want to have to deal with an intoxicated Danny Morris. Whose comments at lunch really set of warning bells in my head.

Of course, that’s exactly when the phone in my purse started buzzing.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I groaned, forcing myself to get up and see which disaster needed my urgent attention now.

As I crossed the room, I began to wonder if perhaps I shouldn’t have eaten more than my share of the fries. The damned things seemed as if they were just sitting there on my stomach like a glob of potato hell. Just my luck it was the beginning stages of food poisoning or something, and I’d end this evening in the Sigma’s backyard puking my head off.

Simply Lovely.

I pulled the phone out of the purse and looked at the screen. I rolled my eyes, sighed, then strong-armed a smile on to my face. One that hopefully would seep into my voice and provide enthusiasm I sure as hell didn’t feel. I swiped my thumb across the front of the device and tapped on the speaker button.

“Hey, Rachel. What’s up?”

Okay, did that sound cheerful? Upbeat? Maybe a little?

“What’s up, Charlene” the Queen of Kappa Omega said, “Is that Trina seems to have inferred, from a conversation the two of you apparently had earlier today, that you are not particularly excited about tonight festivities.”

The forced smile disappeared faster than a hooker seeing flashing blue lights.

“Oh, is that what she inferred?” I asked, unable and unwilling to prevent the gallons of venom that automatically drained into my voice. I wasn’t sure if the hatred I felt belonged solely to me or Charlene. “I would conversely infer, Rachel, that Trina doesn’t know me anywhere well enough to guess what does or does not make me excited.”

“That is what I attempted to explain to her,” Rachel replied. I could hear the proudness in her tone. “I informed her that I didn’t know anyone more determined to be a Kappa than Charlene Miller.”

“I want to be a Kappa more than anything,” I said. “I will prove it to you and to Miss Thing.”

Oh well, in for a penny and all that. Looks like my planned evening of moping and brooding had just been put on hold.

“Excellent. I will see you at ten sharp.”

“With bells on,” I said.

The connection ended without either of us saying goodbye.

“Well … shit,” I mumbled, tossing the phone on the bed. “Guess I have to go to the damned thing now.” Then I made a face that might have been terrifying if I’d been looking into a mirror. “Besides, I need to show that Trina bitch a thing or two. For Charlene’s benefit.”

I departed my room, hearing Katie and Dad talking downstairs though I couldn’t exactly make out what they were saying. Given the way I’d behaved on the ride home from the mall and the manner in which I’d returned to the house, I would lay even money the topic of the conversation was moi.

While I would have preferred the luxury of floating in a nice, hot bath, I knew I didn’t have time for it. Instead, I climbed into a scalding shower and proceeded to loofa every bit of dirt, sweat, and grime from my body. Then I washed my hair with a delicious-smelling strawberry shampoo, rinsed, and applied a thick layer of conditioner. As I let it go to work on my frizzed hair, I lathered up my legs and quickly removed the stubble that was beginning to accumulate.

It wasn’t until I was rinsing the conditioner out that I realized that I’d not nicked myself a single time, despite the speed at which I’d tackled my legs. Climbing out of the shower, I wrapped my body and head in a pair of fluffy towels and returned to my room.

Along the way, I didn’t hear any voices coming up the stairs from the living room, and I noticed Katie’s bedroom door was closed. I almost knocked, but knew I simply did not have the time right then to talk to her properly. Not with the maddening time crunch I was under.

I made a quick mental note to apologize properly tomorrow.

Back in my own room, the first thing I did was make a bee-line to the closet. Standing there slowly surveying its contents, I tried to let my mind go blank in the hopes that the perfect outfit would somehow materialize out of thin air. When that didn’t happen, I sighed and tried again. This time putting a little of my own effort into it.

The party would probably be mostly held inside, but the Sigma house had a back yard big enough to serve as an overflow. Which meant I’d need to make sure the chilly air wouldn’t be an issue. It was not as cold as it usually was this time of year, but anything without sleeves was immediately discounted.

After a few minutes, I stood in front of the bed, tapping my lips with one finger as I attempted to decide between the two potential finalists.

The first was a black skater skirt paired with a light gray turtleneck sweater, with matching gray tights and the black leather calf-length boots. The second was a houndstooth miniskirt and an ivory turtleneck with thigh-high suede boots with a two-inch heel. Both of which I was positive would totally look boss on me.

I paced back and forth before the bed a few times before finally deciding on the houndstooth.

Wardrobe selected, I went over to the desk and sat down to put on my makeup. My skill with the brushes and creams seemed to have improved since that morning, leading me to be able to achieve the sultry look I was going for in only two attempts. I turned to the left and right a couple of times, making sure everything was applied evenly, then I blew my reflection a kiss and stood up.

From the dresser, I dug around until I found the thickly padded peach bra I’d noticed the other day and a matching thong. I tossed the body towel onto the floor and slipped into the underwear, immediately noticing the way the extra support exaggerated my bust line. I felt like I had a couple of balloons strapped to my chest.

I pulled on the skirt and zipped up the side. The hem of the garment fell to halfway down my thighs and clung to my ass like a second skin. The waistband seemed a little tighter than I expected. Though, I chalked that up to having gorged myself at dinner.

The sweater was a bit trickier to get into. Mostly because I needed to make sure the neck opening was wide enough to keep from brushing up against my face. Once I had it safely around my neck, I slipped my arms into the sleeves and pulled it down over my tummy and tucked it into the top of the skirt.

“Ugh, that’s tight,” I groaned, patting my belly. “Tomorrow, extra crunches for you.”

I walked over to the mirror and admired myself. The skirt really showcased my rear, but it was the tightness of the sweater, combined with the extra lift of the bra, that made my chest really noticeable. While Charlene wasn’t flat-chested in any sense of the word, the effect made it seem like I’d jumped up a whole cup size.

I was just finishing doing my hair when someone knocked on the door, and Shells came into the room.

“Hey,” she said, closing the door behind her. “Your dad said it was okay if I just came on … holy shit!”

I unwound a chunk of my hair from the curling iron to look at her in the mirror, arching a brow.

“What? Did I do it wrong?”

Her expression shifted from shock to curiously relieved. “Just making sure Charles was still in there.”

I nodded with a shrug before turning my attention back to the mirror so I could put a bit of wave into another section. “Yeah. Charlene’s still AWOL in another universe.”

“You look … I mean … wow.” She shook her head as she walked over to sit on the edge of the bed, still staring at me. “Did Katie do that? I mean your makeup. Or was it all you?”

“All me. Consider it just more dimensional leakage,” I said with a bit of snark. “This morning, I struggled to tame this mess into a simple ponytail. Now I have a feeling I could throw it into a French twist without too much trouble. I also didn’t know the difference between eyeliner and eye shadow, but now …” I pointed at my cosmetic-enhanced features.

“That’s … amazing.” Then a bit of blush appeared on her cheeks. “Although, probably not from your point of view, I guess.”

I shrugged. “True. But it sure beats having to constantly bother Katie to help me get ready to leave the house.”

Shelly tilted her head to the side, looking at me.

“What now?” I asked, putting the curling iron down again.

She gave me a pained, worried expression. “Uh, didn’t Jackson say this, uh, whole leakage thing might be permanent?”

I nodded. “Yeah … and?”

She pointed at me, then at the makeup box. “So, what does that mean for Charlie when you guys swap back for good? Is she going to have to relearn it all?”

“I don’t know.” I answered, turning around to face her. “I don’t think it’s a zero-sum event. I mean, I’m getting these skills at the expense of her losing them.”

“How can you be sure?”

I shrugged again. “Because I still know how to do all the things I could back in my own universe.” I turned back to the mirror and sectioned off another clump of hair, winding it slowly around the rod of the curling iron. “It’s the subconscious quirks that I think we’re both going to have to deal with when we’re back where we belong.”

“Subconscious? Like how you walk and stand. And the way you’ve taken to gesturing with your hands every time you start talking?”

I sighed. “Yeah. That and other … stuff.”

“What ‘other stuff’?” She moved to perch on the edge of my mattress. “Talk to me, Chuck.”

I unwound my hair, examined the curling iron’s work, then put the tool down on the desk before turning back around to look at her.
“It seems I’ve adopted Charlene’s, uh, sexual orientation.”

“You’re saying you’ve become attracted to guys?” She asked with a bit of wry amusement in her voice.

I nodded. “So it would seem.”

I recounted the incident at the mall with the North brothers. I also told her about running into Mike the day before and getting a weirdly pleasant tingle all over the interaction gave me.

“Just staring at him was making me so fucking horny,” I said, shaking my head. “I couldn’t even think straight.”

Shelly giggled and mumbled under her breath. “Straight.”

“What’s so funny?” I asked crossing my arms over my chest. “You know this is going to be a serious issue back home, right?”

She gave me a shake of her head. “I don’t think you understand as much as you think you do, Charles. Let me ask you this, were you, or were you not, ogling my ass while we were practicing cheer routines today?”

I swallowed the lump that appeared in my throat. I would have sworn I was more discreet about my visual appreciation. “Well, uh … I mean …”

While I stammered for an excuse, Shelly stood up to walk slowly over to me, swinging her hips from side to side in an extremely provocatively. I tried to not notice the way her bottom swayed or the expanse of cleavage peeking up through the deep “V” of her top bounced up and down with her motions. Bringing my gaze up to her eyes, I saw they were smoldering with desire.

My heartrate seemed to double with each step that brought her closer to me.

“Did you think I couldn’t see the way you were looking at me when we were practicing alone,” she said in a saucy purr that made my skin tingle. “That same look I get from guys when they want to get into my pants.” She stopped right in front of me and lowered herself to her knees, peering up at me while showcasing the exposed parts of her breasts.

“Oh, uh … I didn’t think you, uh, saw that.” Jesus, I was behaving exactly as I’d done when drooling over that stupidly gorgeous basketball player. Was my doppelgänger really just an over-sexed slut?

For that matter, was I?

“Oh, I saw it alright,” she said reaching out to put both of her hands on my bare knees, right below the hem of the skirt, her thumbnails stroking the tender flesh on the insides. “Do you want to get into my pants, Charles?”

Now my pulse was really racing. There was the new sensation forming in my panties, the warm dampness of arousal.

“I don’t think, uh, I mean … Charlene …”

Shelly looked down at my lap, then back up to my face, lightly licking her lips. Then the seductress kneeling before me vanished, replaced by a highly amused best friend. She laughed, stood up, and planted her hands on her hips.

“I’m sorry about that, Chuck,” she said, reaching out to pat me on the head. “That was just plain mean. However, I think it proved my theory.”
I stared, slack-jawed, as she returned to the bed.

“What theory is that?” I asked, swallowing a few times to soothe the dryness of my throat. “That you can fuck around with my confused, half-hetero, brain?”

She shook her head. “No, to test your ‘zero sum’ idea. When you were ogling me earlier, I almost told you to cut it out. Then I reminded myself it was Charles, not Charlene, who was doing that.”

I rolled my eyes and snorted. “Right. Because Charlene leers at your boobs on a regular basis?”

She shrugged, head bobbing up and down. “Not as much anymore.”

“Huh?”

Her eyes widened and her jaw slackened. “Oh, shit. You didn’t know, did you? Because that’s something that’s different between you.”

I grabbed one of my boots and pulled it up over my knee. “Know what?”

“Chuck, Charlie’s bisexual. I mean, she doesn’t go around announcing it from the rooftops, and she’s way more into guys than chicks. But the sexual attraction is there.”

I froze in the process of picking up the other boot. “Wait. Does that mean you two …?”

She shook her head. “Negative. She and I had this discussion a couple of months ago. While I do think some other girls are total hotties, the only va-jay-jay I have any interest in playing with is my own.”

“Oh. Well, I guess that sort of explains things.”

Shelly laughed, putting one hand on my shoulder. “Charles, this attraction to guys you seem to have, uh, discovered? I don’t think it’s because you’re in a girl’s body. I think it’s possible that being in Charlene’s body has merely made it more … noticeable.”

I stared up at her, the wheels in my mind spinning at a rate that would have started a fire. I shook my head, freshly formed curls waving.

“Are you saying that Charlene and I are both bi? Like, we’ve both always been this way. Even before the swap?”

She shrugged again.

“I can’t answer that, Chuck. I mean, I didn’t know you before you ended up inside my best friend.” She winced at her phrasing, but continued on. “However, considering everything I’ve seen and heard recently, I bet even money it’s likely. You just didn’t want to acknowledge it before.”
“Oh, but now I do?” I tried to sound bold, but knew I failed miserably.

“I think being in a female body has allowed you to let that anti-homo guard down. Now that it’s down, you can’t unsee what you’ve discovered.”

I slumped down in the chair and shook my head.

“I really didn’t need this tonight, Shelly. Not tonight.”

She put her arm around my shoulder. “I know, Chuck. I’m sure you think this whole deal just got a lot more complicated.”

The Other Side of Me – Chapter 14
by Limbo’s Mistress

Thankfully, the conversation during the ride to the party steered clear of any talk of my newly realized sexual orientation. The disturbing revelation was something that would need a more in-depth examination when, not if, I was permanently back in my own body. Until such time, my main priority was keeping up the Charlene pretense. So that’s what Shelly and I focused on.

As she drove, she gave me a more detailed run down of the people I could expect to encounter at the party. As well as her assessment of Charlene’s general attitude toward said individuals. Who she liked, who she didn’t like, and who she didn’t seem to care about.

She also provided me with a list of guys I could expect to try to make a move on me at some point in the evening.

“Seriously? Don’t they know she has a boyfriend who is basically a mad scientist?”

She shrugged. “Charlie doesn’t usually talk to people at school about Jackson. She mentions that she’s seeing someone without ever really giving them any details. I always thought it was because she was either embarrassed that they were dating or she was trying to keep some meathead from deciding to beat up said boyfriend. Now though, considering what I’ve learned since she went bye-bye, I think she just wanted to play coy.”

“She played coy enough with Danny Morris,” I said as a shudder passed through me.

“Yeah, she did,” Shelly agreed. “Just forget about Danny, Chuck. At least for the tonight. Tonight is about showing Rachel, and the Kappas who aren’t completely sold on us, that we’re prime pledge material.”

“Yay,” I replied with nearly zero enthusiasm. “Just what I always wanted.”

Shelly shot me a look. “You’re going to have to be a better actor than that, Chuck. Or we might as well just turn around and go home. Remember, many of these girls know you by reputation alone. However, Rachel and Charlene have gotten tight over the past month. If you start acting more Boy-Charlie than Girl-Charlie, she’s going to know something’s up. So, dig deep and find your inner-theatre kid.”

I sighed and then put on a smile that felt extremely fake to me. However, Shelly gave me a thumb’s up of approval.

“I’ll do my best impression of her once we’re there,” I promised.

The streets all around the Sigma House neighborhood were packed with cars, but Shelly managed to find a spot a couple of blocks from the center of the action. She killed the engine and looked at me.

“You got this, Chuck. We’ll schmooze, mingle, and do whatever Rachel asks. It’ll be over before you know it.”

“Let’s hope.”

I climbed out of the car, smoothed down my skirt, and looked over the top of the roof at her as she exited on her side. When she saw me staring at her, she arched a brow and nodded her head in the direction of the music.

“You sure you’re okay with this?” she asked. “I mean, considering what you, uh, slipped into the last time you were here.”

I glanced over my shoulder at the party’s location. From this distance, I could only make out the roof of the structure, but I had the feeling that once we were closer, I’d be able to instantly pinpoint which window on the second floor was Danny’s.

“I’m good,” I said, closing the car door. “Hopefully, he’ll have more tact than to try hitting on me in front of a bunch of witnesses. Otherwise, his little fling with Charlene is going to come out.”

“Let’s hope that’s enough to deter him.”

“Besides,” I added. “If I turned tail and ran, that would be more than enough opportunity for Trina to tear me down even more before Rachel and the rest. No matter how much the memory of what Danny and Charlene were doing in that house disgusts me, I’m not letting the plastic bitch have the satisfaction.”

She blinked a few times, then flashed me a wide grin. “I don’t think Charlene could have said it better. Let’s go.”

We walked up the street and then along the cement sidewalk running right in front of Frat Row. The Sigma’s were the only ones that seemed to be partying, though it’s just as likely theirs was simply the loudest.

When we reached the front door, we found a pair of guys standing at the entrance, wearing too-small t-shirts that read “Security” across the chest. However, since I recognized one of them from Trig class, I assumed they were most likely Sigma pledges rather than actual, trained security.

“Good evening, ladies,” the one on the right said. He had a smile on his face, but the look in his eyes was completely predatory. Thankfully, he seemed to be more interested in Shelly than in me, practically undressing her with his gaze.

Ugh. Watching the way his eyes roamed over my best friend’s body caused me to feel extremely guilty about every time I ever looked at a woman in likewise a manner.

“So,” I said with more than the necessary snark in my voice. “So, is there some password or a riddle we have to answer to get in? Or do you expect us to open the door ourselves?”

The second bruiser laughed, punched his friend in the arm, then grabbed the handle of the front door and pulled it open. With a sweep of his other arm, he bid us enter.

“Have fun, ladies” he said, his eyes drinking me in the way his buddy’s had Shelly. “I’m sure we’ll see you two again real soon.”

“God, I hope not,” Shelly grumbled as she grabbed my arm and pulled me across the threshold.

Once inside, I noticed the front foyer had been cleared of all furnishings. The living room, visible through the large doorway next to the staircase, was also completely devoid of furniture.

But not of people.

On the other side of the living room, a heavily tattooed girl in a pink baseball cap and sunglass, stood on a small stage behind a pair of turntables, holding a set of headphones against one ear. The pounding bass of the speakers on either side of her rolled out across the throngs of partiers crowded in front of her who jumped and bounced and gyrated to the techno beat.

Motion out of the corner of my eye caused me to turn my head. Coming down the very same steps I’d fled the other evening, was none other Rachel, Trina, and a half-dozen other girls I recognized from Shelly’s crash course in All Things Kappa.

The leader of the group smiled broadly as she approached, while the girl beside her looked as if she’d just swallowed a lemon whole.

“Charlene,” Rachel said in a voice dripping with saccharine sweetness that seemed undeterred by the hardcore beats coming from less than a thirty feet away. “So glad you could join us. Even if a bit late.”

I immediately gestured at myself, hoping my trans-dimensional instincts were on point.

“Not that late, Rachel. Besides, you know as well as I do that when you simply must have the perfect outfit for the perfect occasion,” I said with an equally diabetes-inducing tone. Then I flicked my gaze over at Trina for just long enough for it to register with the rest of the girls before settling back onto the leader of the Kappas. “You really can’t just throw on any old thing, right?”

Rachel laughed. As did all of the other girls. Except one. The daggers Trina glared at me would have taken down The Hulk. However, she managed to wrestle a smile on her face before anyone noticed.

“My sentiments exactly. Pay attention, girls, Charlene is on fire tonight.”

I glanced around the party, then turned back to the Alpha of K.O.

“So, is there a plan for the evening? Or are we just hanging out and mingling?” I asked.

Rachel arched a brow at me.

“We will mingle with the plebeians soon enough. However, first we have a game to play. Consider it another demonstration of your desire to become a full Kappa.” She turned to look at all the pledges as she pointed at a closed door on the other side of the hallway. “Follow me.”

We walked past the festive partiers, trailing behind Rachel like good little pledges. The one time I thought to look at Trina, she was still glaring hard at me. I returned her stare with a wink and a smile.

Rachel stopped right at the door and pushed it open, ushering us all inside. The room was a study, or maybe a library. There was a fireplace in one corner, a couple of leather sofas, and bookshelves lining three of the walls. A single window, looking out over the backyard of the house, revealed a dozen or so partiers engaging in small groups. Everyone held a cup in their hands.

“Okay, ladies,” Rachel said, closing the door and drawing my attention back from the window. “Make yourselves comfortable.” She gestured at the furniture. “Allow me to explain tonight’s challenge. Every pledge’s name was placed into a fishbowl and drawn earlier by a wonderful Sigma volunteer. One by one, those volunteers will come here and request the company of the girl whose name they drew.”

I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat and glanced over at Shelly. She looked equally distraught as I felt.

Rachel continued. “Each of you will accompany your Sigma to a more private location to talk. The purpose of this talk is for each of you to learn three secrets about the other. Embarrassing secrets, might I add. Stuff you wouldn’t tell a priest.”

“Why?” One girl, a redhead I believe named Jennifer, asked.

Rachel shot her a scathing look. “One, because it will show that your desire to be a Kappa is greater than your shame. And two, because it will amuse me. However, I am not without some sympathy. Whoever has the juiciest secret will win.”

“Win what?” I asked, not surprised in the least when Rachel didn’t glare at me. Instead, she smiled and held up a golden pin in the shape of a rose. Before I could ask what the big deal was about some jewelry, Trina spoke up.

“The Kappa Rose,” she said with a note of awe. “Wait, so only the girl with the best revealed secrets gets to become an Active?”

Rachel sighed. As much as the Ice Bitch ruffled my feathers, the fact that she seemed to be running out of patience with my enemy … with Charlene’s enemy … warmed my heart.

“No,” she said in a voice that all but screamed ‘duh!’. “The winner of tonight’s game gets to skip ahead of the rest of you to the grand prize. She will end this night as a full member of the Kappa Omega sorority. Her trials and tribulations as a lowly pledge over. However, fret not, those of you who complete the task successfully will still be on your way. Now, let’s get started.”

She walked over to the closed door, gave us all one last glance, and knocked on the door three times. A second later, a tall, lanky young man with curly blonde hair opened the door and stepped inside. There was a folded index card in his right hand.

“The name?” Rachel asked him.

“Jennifer Talbot,” he replied, handing Rachel the card.

The redhead from before stood up, a nervous expression etched onto her face. She walked over to the boy and the pair of them left the room.
One by one, Rachel would knock and a boy would step in, call out the name of a girl, and the two of them would depart. Shelly’s partner turning out to be a guy I recognized from one of my classes. Meaning one of Charles’ classes. Dominic Gerald.

When the muscular guy with cocoa-colored skin and a wide smile called her name, Shelly glanced at me. I gave her a reassuring nod, hoping that this Dom was a lot like the one in my universe. If so, she would be in good hands.

Eventually, there were only two girls left in the room with Rachel: me and Trina.

“Okay,” the Head Kappa said as she looked between us. “You’re both what I consider prime pledge material, and one of you will likely become the Alpha when I graduate. And while I appreciate competition among my underlings, I believe this spat between the two of you has gone on quite long enough. Your constant sniping and bickering isn’t healthy for the organization as a whole.”

Trina and I glanced at each other. The look on her face practically screamed her desire to have that coveted position. Me? I only wanted it because Charlene wanted it.

“Therefore, I have decided that the stakes for the pair of you are higher than those of your pledge sisters.”

“Higher?” Trina asked, with a noticeable tone of worry in her voice.

Rachel nodded.

I rolled my eyes, as I glanced over at my nemesis, obviously grasping what Rachel was saying faster than she did.

“Only one of us is going to be a full member by the time this night is over. The other is out on her ass. For the good of the sorority.”

I looked back at Rachel and she gave me a nod to indicate that I was spot on with my deduction.

“Charlene is correct. One of you will become my Right Hand Gal. The other … well, I hear Beta Epsilon is still taking pledges.” She smiled in a manner that would give a Bond villain chills.

I was about to proclaim that I didn’t intend to be the one going home empty handed when someone knocked on the door.

“Ah, that must be the lucky boy who drew Charlene’s name.” Rachel smiled at me as she pulled it open.

My heart sank when I saw the smarmy smirk on his face as he stepped into the room. Of course it would have to be him. Because the universe just couldn’t stop fucking with me.

“Hey, Charlie,” Danny Morris said as he ran his hand through his hair and his eyes roamed over my body like he was eyeing the menu at an all you can eat buffet. “Shall we go someplace private and spill our secrets?”

I hesitated standing for a moment. Just long enough for Rachel to raise an eyebrow at me.

“Of course.” I replied quickly, throwing a smile on my face as I rose and walked over to the grinning creep. For a moment, I was sure I was going to abandon the whole plan just for the opportunity to kick the smug bastard right in the balls.

Thankfully, Danny didn’t try to touch me as we left the room. When the door closed behind us, however, he did cut his eyes over toward the stairs.

“We’ll have more privacy in my room. Less noise.”

“No thanks,” I said in my iciest voice. “It will be a cold day in hell before I ever step foot into anyplace with you that has a bed.”

He shook his head and nodded at the stairs again.

“Fine. How about we just go up to the second floor away from the music? We won’t go within fifty feet of my room. Or any beds.”

I shot him a withering, skeptical glare.

“Outside,” I spat, turning toward the back door. “Where there are other people.”

Before he could respond, I marched down the hallway, through the crowded kitchen, and out into the still semi-occupied yard I’d observed from the library window. A couple of people greeted me by name, but I couldn’t manage more than a nod and a half-hearted wave.

Danny emerged as second behind me. His hand landed lightly on my shoulder, and he guided me to the other side of the fenced in property to a small brick retaining wall. He released me as soon as we stopped, turning around so that he was between me and the rest of the partiers.

“Look, Charlie …”

I rolled my eyes and turned my face away from him. Finding the construction of the wooden barrier nearby to be a preferable focal point to him.

“For fuck’s sake, Charlie,” Danny said in an exasperated tone. “You’ve made it perfectly clear that you don’t want to continue our little sexual rendezvous. But you could at least talk to me.”

My eyes narrowed. “Talk to you? I wasn’t the one who videoed us having sex and then threatened to release it to your best friend. You don’t get the high road here, Daniel.” I shook my head. “And neither does Charlene.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” he asked, staring at me. “We decided to start messing around behind Josie’s back together. Hell, the whole damned thing was your idea. Or have you conveniently forgotten that as well?”

I raised my hand, a single finger extended accusingly at him. However, before I could say anything, the phone in my pocket buzzed.

“Seriously? You’re going to take that now?”

“Fuck you, Danny.” I snapped as I pulled out the device and looked at the screen. The name “Jackson” instantly caused me to feel a pang of guilt. It wasn’t just Josie getting dicked over by Charlene, it was also my best friend.

Danny’s jaw clenched as I swiped my thumb over the screen and put the phone to my ear.

“Charlie?” an exasperated Jackson asked? I could hear a loud, constant beeping sound in the background. “Where are you?”

“Uh, at the Sigma party. You know, with the Kappas.”

“Shit. You need to get out of there right now.”

I stood up so fast that Danny flinched. Guess he thought that ball kick he deserved was finally on its way.

“Why?”

“It’s happening. Right now.”

“What’s happening right now?” Then realization dawned on me before he could answer. “The dimensional crossing thing?”

“Yes. The dimensional shift.” The beeping volume increased, becoming a warning siren. “Oh shit. Oh shit.”

“Oh shit,” I echoed and turned away from Danny to run across the grass toward the house as fast as I dared in the heeled boots. The surprised jock called out to me as he gave chase.

“Charlie. Wait up. What’s going on?”

“Jackson, I’m at this party with a ton of people. Are they going to see something they shouldn’t.”

“You mean, like a flash of light or something? No. At least, I didn’t see anything happen the last time.”

I nearly slipped and fell when I tried to joggle around a couple who were busy giving each other tonsil examinations.

“Then what’s the big …”

“Do you want to be at a party with Danny when Charlene comes back?”

“Good point,” I said, pulling open the door and rushing inside. A few of the Kappas were in the kitchen, obviously waiting for the time to regather and hear the saucy secrets. I ignored them all and continued on toward the front door at a fast walking pace.

As much as I dreaded ditching Shelly at the party, I thought it best if I were as far away from Rachel Bostwick and Danny Morris as I could be before it was too late.

“I’m coming to you,” I said as I bumped into a couple of dancers, my eyes locking on the nearby exit. “Maybe you can keep her out of trouble. Or at least talk some sense into her.”

“No!” he shouted, though the increasing wail of the siren nearly drowned him out. “It’s too dangerous for you to drive right now. Charlie popping back while you’re behind the wheel is not a safe situation.”

“I rode with Shelly, Jackson,” I yelled back. “I was thinking about an Uber or something.”

I could hear Danny calling my name as he pushed through the crowd toward me. My hand had just landed on the handle of the front door when two things happened at the same time.

First, the siren blaring at me through the phone when silent. Simultaneously, a wave of intense nausea and vertigo slammed into my brain and belly.

“Time’s up,” Jackson said in a disturbingly calm voice.

My vision turned to blackness as the hamburger and coffee threatened to come back up my throat. I gagged as a heavy hand landed on my shoulder and light returned to the world around me.

I spun around, ready to slap the ever-loving shit out of Danny Morris for daring to put his paws on me. Instead, I found myself looking up into the face of my father. A face that was brimming with barely-contained rage.

My addled brain was barely able to recognize the fact that I was in my living room before the hand on my shoulder squeezed and my father’s eyes narrowed at me.

“If you think you can just walk out that door all willy-nilly, after what you just did to your sister, then you’re in for some serious fucking disappointment, boy.”

The Other Side of Me – Chapter 15
by Limbo’s Mistress

I stared at my father, feeling even more confused than I was when I bounced across the dimensional divide to find myself in mid-coitus with Danny Morris. Not to mention twice as concerned.

My father’s hand remained firmly planted on my shoulder, and the look in his eyes seemed to suggest he was seriously contemplating physical violence. Which was as much a shock as anything else. I couldn’t remember a single time he’d ever lifted a hand against me.

Did the jump send me to another parallel universe? Rather than back home.

I shook my head, glancing over at the kitchen doorway where my mother stood, wearing an expression that was much more on the disappointed end of the spectrum. Rather than the fury being broadcast by her husband.

“I … well …” I stammered, scrambling to put together something that might be a flimsy, but believable, excuse. But how did I explain doing something I wasn’t even around to do? Just trying to come to terms with that question was enough to give someone a headache.

“I really don’t know what has gotten into you the past few days, Charles,” my father said, shaking his head. “However, your behavior tonight went beyond the pale.”

Fucking Christ on a cracker! What the hell had Charlene done now?

“I’m sorry,” I said, putting as much conviction into the two words as I could. Which wasn’t all that impossible. I did feel bad about whatever shit Charlene had done. You know, since I had a partial share in the blame that led to our swapping lives.

“You’re sorry?” Dad asked, still looking like he was a pissed-off dragon trying to decide if he was going to breathe fire on me or not. “Your sister is up in her room, probably bawling her eyes out thanks to you. And you’re just sorry?”

In a flash, I thought about Other-Katie and how desperate she seemed for me to stay her sister. Her asking me if being trapped as Charlene would really be that bad. Now, hearing my dad’s words, I feared all that would do is move whatever problem my doppelgänger had with her sister onto mine.

“We know that the two of you haven’t been as close since you moved out,” Mom said from her spot near the kitchen. “Since you both became teenagers, actually. But really, Charlie? Making fun of the dress she picked out for her first winter formal? Commenting on her weight? We expect better of you.” The disappointment in her voice affected me more than the anger in my father’s.

I blinked a few times, looking between the two of them. “I … did what?”

“Don’t give me that,” Dad said, finally choosing to release my shoulder. He crossed his arms over his chest. “You know damned well what you said. I don’t want to hear about how you didn’t mean it. It was deliberate and cruel.”

I didn’t have the slightest clue what sort of poisonous barb Charlene had launched at my little sister. All while I was off, busting my ass to keep her life from falling apart under her own self-sabotage. I should have known she was over here fucking up mine.

However, I had plenty of time to be mad at her later. Right now, I needed to fix the damage wrought in this universe, and try to heal whatever wound she’d inflicted on Katie.

“I’m sorry,” I said again, looking between the two of them. “It’s been a rough couple of days. With school and, uh, this one girl who’s driving me absolutely crazy.” They had no idea just how much. “I didn’t mean to take it out on Katie.” I sighed and shrugged my shoulders. “I’ll go apologize for what I said.”

Dad frowned. “I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want to talk to you right now.”

I nodded. “I wouldn’t blame her. But I don’t want to go back to campus with her upset at me. I need to … make this right.”

Jackson really needed to get the dimensional window fixed. Before my female duplicate screwed up both our lives beyond recovery. Although I started to get the impression that someone would be required to make Charlene touch it.

“You can go up and see if she’s willing to talk to you, Charles,” Mom said. “However, if she doesn’t answer the door, or if she says no, then you just leave her alone for now. Understand?”

I nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Completely.”

Turning around, I walked up the steps and down the hall to Katie’s room. I could hear music coming from inside, but there was no light peeking out from under the closed door. Which meant she was sitting in the dark, probably listening to depressing songs. I knocked softly, hoping it would be loud enough to be heard.

“Katie-Kat. It’s me. Can I come in?”

Silence.

I knocked again, a little harder this time. It didn’t take a lot of deductive skill to figure that my parents were probably at the bottom of the stairs, monitoring the events.

“I want to apologize,” I said a little louder, placing my mouth right next to the door. “Can I please come in and talk to you?”

Nothing.

I sighed and turned around to leave. After only a couple of steps from the door, however, I heard it open behind me. When I turned around, Katie stood just inside the threshold, mostly shadowed by the darkness behind her. There were streaks on her cheeks where her tears had dissolved her makeup, causing her to look as miserable as I felt.

“Why?” The word was barely a whisper.

“Why do I want to apologize?” I asked as I walked back toward her.

She shook her head. “Why were you so mean to me? Did I do something to make you hate me?”

My heart broke. It simply shattered right then and there. Charlene had been a complete and utter bitch to her, and she was concerned she’d brought it upon herself. Neither one of us deserved Katie as a sister.

Before I realized I was even doing it, I opened my arms and pulled her into a tight hug, squishing her against me.

“I’m sorry, Katie-Kat. If I’ve been a … bitch to you recently, I’m really sorry. You didn’t do anything. I promise. It’s all me. I’m, uh, going through some stuff.”

She hugged me back for a moment, then peeled herself away. There were fresh tears in her eyes but the hurt expression on her face hadn’t changed. I could tell that she might believe I was sorry right then, since it was me professing the apology and not Charlene. I could also tell she wasn’t going to be immediate with the forgiveness.

Which meant I was going to have to take a chance and bite the bullet. Other-Katie hadn’t had too hard a time believing in the body swap. Hopefully, my version was as equally open-minded.

“Can we talk. In your room?” I nodded my head back toward the stairs. “I’ll try to explain everything.”

She hesitated, then nodded. I stepped inside the door and flipped on the light.

I hadn’t been in her room in more than two years. Since long before I moved out. The similarity of it to her counterpart’s was eerily uncanny. Though some of the posters on the wall were different, the general layout and furniture seemed practically the same. The largest difference I noticed was that the vanity over in the corner resembled the one in Charlene’s room.

She closed the door and went over to the messy bed which was littered with a half-dozen articles of clothing. I stiffened inside as the first thought that went through my head was the fact none of those items seemed to belong together.

“So, spill,” she said, arching a brow at me. “Care to enlighten me as to why you practically avoided me the past three days? Or why you felt the need to dump all over me and my dress?”

I opened my mouth, but before I could respond, she continued.

“Don’t play stupid, bro,” she said, shaking her head. “I know I’m not as skinny as some of my friends. But that doesn’t mean that I’ll look like a ‘pale whale wrapped in dirty seaweed’ at the formal.” She used her hands to form finger quotes around the insult.

My brain reeled. Are you fucking kidding me?? Sure, my Katie might be a little bit bigger, a tiny bit softer, than Charlene’s sister. But she was nowhere near what would be considered fat. Or even ‘heavy’ for that matter. Of course, my sister also didn’t live with an overbearing sibling who insisted on getting up for an hour of exercise ever damned morning.

I was all to easy to imagine the horrid things Charlene had said to her sister over the years.

I closed my mouth, clenching my jaw tightly as a red wave of anger rolled through me. I guess the fury bled out through my eyes because Katie’s face went from pained to fearful. Which only served to fan the flames.

I’d never said anything deliberately hurtful to Katie my entire life. Now, in the span of three days, Charlene had breezed in and attempted to destroy her self-esteem. If she called her a whale in front of our parents, then what might she have possibly said to her in private?

My shoulders slumped as I walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge next to her.

“I’m sorry for what you’ve had to deal with lately. It’s not fair because you don’t know the reasons behind it.”

“Then tell me. I know you were seeing that one girl … Samantha?”

I nodded. “Yeah. She’s not the reason. It’s actually another girl that’s causing all these problems.”

“Oh.”

I sighed. “Katie, I’m going to tell you the truth, but you’re going to have to keep an open mind. Because it’s going to sound like I’ve gone bonkers otherwise. See, the me that’s been here the past couple of days isn’t really me. It’s actually a girl from another universe in my body.”
Katie leaned back, stared at me for a moment, then rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Jackson fucked something up again, didn’t he?”

My eyes widened, then a hearty laugh escaped from deep inside my chest. Why did I constantly forget that my family knew about my best friend’s insane experiments. The majority of the world at large might be ignorant, but my sister and parents had had to deal with some of the more interesting incidents.

“Yes. You could say that.”

“So, the brother that’s been around more in the past seventy-two hours than he has in the past seventy-two days is really a girl on the inside? Jackson swapped your mind with some random girl’s?”

I shook my head. “No. Not random. She’s me. From a different universe. One where I was born female, rather than male.”

I spent the next thirty minutes bringing my Katie up to speed on everything that transpired from the moment I touched the window and woke up as Charlene. I was tactful enough, though, to leave out how much Other-Katie wanted me to stay, or how close we were becoming. No need to rub salt into the wound.

“So, are you back permanently?” she asked, patting my leg. “Or is this another quick visit?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Jackson … uh, Other-Jackson that is, seems to think that we won’t be able to swap back for good until both versions of him get the machine back up and running. We’ll need to redo the events that caused me and Charlene to jump into each other in the first place.”

“Did our Jackson build one of those warning devices, too? Then at least we could get some kind of a warning. I don’t want to try talking to you and find out it’s actually Super Bitch.”

I sighed. “Katie … she’s not a Super Bitch. I think she’s just having trouble dealing with her loss. It’s causing her to act out of sorts.”

My little sister shook her head. “It’s not just that, Charlie. You said she’s been sleeping with her best friend’s boyfriend. Who happens to be your arch-enemy from childhood? That seems pretty deliberate to me.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Katie continued. “I can understand her being upset. I mean, I’d be a wreck if Mom died. Or Dad. Or you. But I would think that after a few years, I’d learn to move on.”

“So, you don’t think she’s moved on?”

“Yes and no. I think she’s still hurting inside. I mean, if I were her, I don’t think I would ever completely most past the feeling that the accident was my fault. That being said, I have to say I think she’s actually enjoying behaving irresponsibly, and she find using the fact that her mom died as a handy excuse for her behavior.”

“What do I do?” I asked, shrugging my shoulders.

“Well, if you don’t go back, it’s not your problem.” Katie said, waving her hand around in the air. “I mean, she’s the one digging her own hole.”

“But …”

Katie pointed at me. “You’re too damned nice to people, bro.”

“I’m not,” I protested.

“Have you not juggled a ton of shit you know nothing about, just to make sure this stupid girl doesn’t screw up her life?”

“Well, to be fair, the only thing she’s really screwing up is her friendship with Josie.”

“And her relationship with her family,” Katie added.

I sighed. “So, back to the question of what do I do? Do I keep busting my ass trying to keep things on track for her? Hope that once she’s back in her world for good she’ll appreciate what I’ve done to keep her life from crashing and burning?”

“I don’t think she’s in an appreciative mood right now. You’ve been really pissy lately.”

“Me and the Jacksons think she doesn’t want to go back, actually.”

Katie’s eyes widened. “Do you think she prefers being a guy?”

I shrugged. “I think she likes being around Mom again. Just not sure if that’s enough of a reason to abandon her whole life.”

“Well, from what you’ve told me, it sounds like her life is busy and complicated. Maybe that’s what she’s trying to get away from.”

I gave her a skeptical look. “She didn’t need to jump across universes for that. She could have just quit.”

Katie stared at me for a moment, then burst out laughing.

“I guess three days wasn’t quite enough for you to really understand what it’s like to be a girl, Chuck. It’s not as easy for us to just walk away from things as it is for a guy.”

I opened my mouth, but some part of my brain suggested that my little sister might be right. Granted, I’d learned a lot about navigating through the day as a member of the fairer sex. However, that didn’t mean that I knew what it was like as well as someone who’d been a girl her whole life.

“So,” she continued. “She not only gets to have her mom back, alleviating some of the guilt she no doubt feels, but she also gets to do whatever she wants with almost zero pressure.”

I pouted, then sucked my lip back in when I realized that it was a very Charlene thing to do. “Zero pressure? I have a ton of pressure on me.”

Katie rolled her eyes. “Like what? You’re a jock who doesn’t fraternize with the rest of his team. The sport you chose deliberately allows you to avoid relying on anyone other than yourself. You have one friend, and that’s because you’re both a bit weird. Mom and Dad don’t come down on you for anything. Remember a couple of years ago? When you came home with that D on your math test?”

I shrugged. “Yeah?”

“Do you remember they just told you to, ‘do better next time.’? Well, I got a C-minus in that very same class and I got a two hour lecture about how I should spend less time at the mall with my friends and more time hitting the books. That’s just one example.” She patted my leg. “Face it, bro. Charles has it a lot easier than Charlene.”

We talked for another thirty minutes or so, until my young-but-wise sister started yawning. When I left her room, I spotted Mom coming up the stairs. She stopped and nodded her head at Katie’s door.

“I trust you made amends to your sister?”

I nodded. “I apologized and we talked about stuff. I think we’re okay now.”

For how long, though, I didn’t have the slightest clue. I could only hope that if Charlene came back, she would treat Katie better. Not that I expected such a miracle.

“Good. You know she idolizes you. She always has.”

I thought about Other-Katie and her sibling situation. “I know.”

“Heading back to campus?” She asked. “Or are you staying in the guest room again?”

“Heading back. I need to pop over to Jackson’s for a bit first.”

She walked over and put her hand on my shoulder, smiling up at me.

“Charlie, if you need to talk about whatever is bothering you, you know I am always here, right? No matter how big you get, I’ll always be around to help you when you need it.”

Maybe in this universe.

I gave her a hug, worried that it might be for the last time. Then I forced a smile on my face.

“I know. Maybe we can talk about it tomorrow.”

She nodded, stifling a yawn. “Okay. Good-night, sweetie.”

I went downstairs, out the front door, and walked across the street to Jackson’s house. He answered the door after I knocked a couple of times.

“What?” He asked sharply, his eyes narrowing. “It’s late and I really don’t feel like …”

“Dude, it’s me.”

He paused, tilted his head to look at me for a moment, then sighed. He stepped back to allow me inside, then turned around to go downstairs. I followed along.

“I guess my other half has been a bitch to you, too?”

He shoved open the lab door and headed inside. I stepped in as well, closed the door behind me, and then turned around to see the dimensional window device lying in pieces around the room.

The control unit was stripped down to bare components, the metal struts bent at weird angles. The mirror on the wall had a huge crack running up the middle and several glimmering shards littered the floor beneath it. The power box, where the lose cable that started this whole nightmare resided, was bashed in, and barely attached to the brick façade.

I felt as if my soul had just fallen through a patch of thin ice and into a deep, freezing-cold lake.

“What happened?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.

“Your highly emotional, slightly insane, counterpart has absolutely no intention of going home, Charles. She came in earlier today, supposedly to hang. Then, while I was in a virtual brainstorming session with some European friends, decided to do her best impression of Ty Cobb.”

My knees turned to jelly, and I grabbed the side of the worktable before I could fall to the floor.

“Can you …”

“Fix it?” he concluded. “Yes. But now we’re talking six months or so. Rather than three. That’s if the psychotic she-devil doesn’t come back to finish the job.”

“Don’t let her in,” I said, shaking my head.

“You think? I knew she wanted to stay, but I didn’t think she would go nuclear on the device. I guess I was lucky the VR booth is heavily armored. Or she might have beat on me a little, too. Just for insurance.”

I blinked a few times, pondering his statement. I didn't think Charlene was so far gone she'd actually injure anyone. Looking over at the cylindrical chamber in the far corner, I arched a brow.

“Why is it armored?”

“Titanium is the best conductor for photonic transmission. Keeps the signal from getting glitchy at, er, inopportune times.”

I shook my head, unable to not grin. “You’re using that thing for virtual sex, aren’t you?”

“How are things on the other side?” he asked, changing the subject as a bit of color crept on to his face. “I suppose the other me still trying to repair the window?”

I nodded. “He built an early warning device that can detect when Charlene and I are about to swap. He was able to give me about thirty seconds notice before it happened.”

“I thought about building something like that. However, considering the way she gets anytime I mention her universe, I figured she wouldn’t appreciate it.”

“Yeah, I doubt she would.”

He put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, dude. I promise that I’ll get you back to where you belong permanently. It just might take longer than we originally thought.”

“Thanks,” I said, hoping I sounded sufficiently grateful.

In my mind, though, I tried to ignore that little voice that wondered aloud about which side of the dimensional barrier I truly belonged.

The Other Side of Me – Part 16
by Limbo’s Mistress

After I left Jackson’s house and managed to drive across town to my own residence, it was nearly midnight. During the trip, I found my thoughts being pulled a hundred different directions, none of which did anything to ease the anxiety threatening to overtake me.

I tried to figure out exactly what was Charlene thinking. Behaving as she had in my life? I mean, if she really wanted to stay, pissing off my folks wouldn’t make things easier on her. Nor would antagonizing Jackson like she’d done. The way she seemed to sabotage herself on both sides of the dimensional barrier just reeked of stupidity.

I doubted my counterpart could actually be that stupid.

I also couldn’t help worrying what she might be doing right then, back in her own world. Was she strutting around the Sigma house, the much-coveted Kappa rose pin clipped to her chest? Laughing at Trina as she’s drummed out of the sorority? Maybe a post-celebratory sex session with Danny?

Gag.

What would Shelly do when she found out her friend was back in her own body? If she found out, that is.

However, as I pulled the Jeep down the street toward the two-story house I shared with my roommates, I had the most disconcerting thought of them all. I was more worried about Charlene screwing up over there than I was her antics over here.

Jesus, was Katie right? Was I actually more vested in Charlene’s life than Charles’?

I shut off the engine and climbed out, rubbing the back of my head as I let myself in the quiet abode. The entryway was dark, but there was light coming from the room to the left. Closing the front door, I stepped into the living room to find Jeff sitting on the sofa watching TV with his girlfriend, Stacy. Illuminated only by the glow of the screen hanging on the wall.

They both turned their heads to look at me as I stopped in the doorway.

“You’re home?” Jeff asked, picking up the remote and pausing the sitcom.

“For the moment,” I muttered, knowing the irony of my comment would go right over their heads.

“Oh,” he said, his expression shifting from surprise to something hinting at annoyance. “I thought you were going to be staying at your folks’ house again tonight. Uh, George and Tony are down at McGill’s,” he said dully. “Blind Tiger is playing there tonight.”

I nodded. “Cool.”

The two of them continued to stare at me. As I stared back, I began to notice some things I hadn’t when I first came into the room.

The two of them were watching TV in the dark. The top two buttons of Stacy’s shirt were undone. Jeff’s hair was slightly more mussed than normal and his upper body was completely unclothed. Shifting my gaze, I noticed several empty bottles of beer on the table in front of the sofa.

Oh shit. I was cockblocking my roommate.

“I, uh, just came home to get some stuff. I was, you know, kind of, uh, going back home to crash.”

They both nodded. Jeff’s face fell back into a less anxious, more pleased, expression. It wasn’t until a second after that I realized how cute it made him look. On the heels of that was the appreciation for the naked portions of him that were in view.

“Sure, dude. Whatever floats your boat.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, shifting my eyes back to his as I pointed up at the ceiling. “I won’t be all that long. I’ll be gone before you know it.”

Turning around, I went up the stairs two at a time and burst through my bedroom door, slamming it closed behind me. Leaning back against it, I shook my head. I’d been living with Jeff for quite a while, and I was fairly sure that was the first time I ever had the thought of running my hands over his well-defined pecs.

“I guess that answers that question,” I said to myself as I rubbed my face, the forgotten sensation of stubble prickling my palms. “Looks like I am just as bi as Charlene.”

Sighing, I started to gather up some clothes and place them in a bag. My previous jaunts back had been brief, and though it was going on three hours, I didn’t expect to be here very much longer. Maybe it would do Charlene good to wake up at my parents’ house.

I bit down on my lower lip, then ceased packing in favor of sitting on the bed and pulling out my phone. After a few minutes of contemplation, I opened the video app, reversed the camera so that it captured my face, and pressed the record button and stared at the little red light that flared to life.

“Uh, hey Charlene. It’s me, Charles. Okay. Dumb thing to say. It just feels kind of weird, making a message for someone who’s going to be in my back body when she sees this. Though, I guess it would be weird to be the one watching said message, too. Sorry, getting off track there. Anyway, I guess this is the closest we’re ever going to come to actually meeting, so it seemed like the best way to talk to you. I guess.”

I sighed, looking away from the all-seeing lens to glance at the room around me. It was exactly the way I remembered it from days earlier when I’d left with the intention of being gone for just a couple of hours. Now, however, it felt slightly unfamiliar. As if I were intruding on the room of a stranger.

“Right now, I think we’re both having difficulties dealing with what has happened to us. Being thrust into the middle of a life you haven’t lived has been jarring. To say the least. We’ve both had to adapt quickly, given the situation. However, that being said, I am really disappointed in you. I’m not happy with the way you’re handling things over here. The things you’ve said to my Katie were horrible, and your behavior with Jackson is inexcusable.”

I fell silent for several long seconds, just staring into the camera, before continuing.

“I’m also not a big fan of how you’ve been living your own life recently. Look, I’m not going to pretend I know about the pain you must still be feeling. I’ve only been in your shoes for a few days, and I miss my mom something fierce. But that doesn’t mean you get to just walk all over people, hoping to make them feel as bad as you do. What you’re doing to Josie and to your Jackson. These people are supposed to be your friends. People you supposedly care for.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Of course, you probably are sitting here, watching this, and thinking that how you live your life, in either universe, is your business. Normally you might be right. Unfortunately for both of us, we are in this together. Whether you stay there permanently, or come back here, we’re going to have to deal with what the other has done. Why not plan to have the best possible life wherever fate sticks us?”

I sighed again.

“I know you’re a better person than what I’ve seen, Charlie. You have to be. I refuse to believe that we are truly that different, no matter our chromosomes or events in our lives. I think you’re a good person deep down inside. You just need to start showing it.”

I stopped the recording and watched the playback twice. A few more thoughts popped into my head, things I thought about mentioning. However, I feared that the raw truth of my first pass, when I’d let my emotions direct my words, would be undone by any attempts at editing. I brought up my email program, attached the video file, and sent it to myself with a daily reminder to watch it.

I wanted to be sure that Charlene at least knew it existed. If she chose not to bother viewing, then that was on her.

After slipping my phone back into my jeans pocket, which was actually large enough to hold more than my pinky finger, I finished packing my bag and went to leave the room. As soon as I opened the door, however, I was faced with someone in the midst of knocking on it.

“Hey, Chuck,” Samantha said, a wry smirk on her face. Her eyes drifted down at the bag in my hand. “Going somewhere?”

I took a step back, my mind whirling at her sudden appearance. She stepped into the room behind me and closed the door.

“I guess I should have called, huh?” She asked, her smile fading a bit.

“What, uh, are you doing here?”

“You stood me up. So I came by to ask why.”

“Stood you up?” I felt like I was missing something. Had Charlene scheduled a date with my on-off girlfriend? One that had been swept aside by our swapping bodies?

Samantha rolled her eyes and brushed some of her hair back over her shoulder. The action, deliberately slow and seductive, caused a slight stirring in my pants.

“We were supposed to meet at McGill’s, remember?”

I nodded, putting on my most apologetic face. “Yes. Sorry. Something came up at home and I needed to help my sister with a problem she’s been having.”

She nodded, taking another step toward me. Holy crap, this girl was aggressive. Had she always been that forward? Had I just been too man-blind to notice? The way she smiled at me, the little motions of her hands, the way she leaned in closer to me when she spoke. All recognizable as spotlights showcasing her intent.

When it comes to women, guys really are stupid.

“Did you get everything taken care of? Or do you need to go back home?”

“I, uh, I mean … I should …”

“I promised Jeff and Stacy we’d give them some privacy. So I guess that means we’re going to have to stay in here for a while.” The soccer star smiled and narrowed the distance between us to mere inches. “Stop toying with me, Charlie.”

I blinked, nearly falling over as the back of my legs hit the edge of my bed and the handles of the bag in my hand slipped through my fingers.
“I’m not toying with you, Sam.”

She smiled and pressed herself against me, tilting her face up to look into mine.

“Good. Because I really want you to do that thing you did to me last night. That was so hot.”

Do what? Last night?

She nodded, her seductive smile widening.

Great, so while I was dealing with Danny Morris sending me compromising video and threatening to leak it to the web, Charlene was over her curling the toes of my semi-girlfriend. This deal continued to get worse by the hour.

“I mean,” Samantha said, rubbing herself against me in a very distracting manner. “You’ve always been an attentive lover, Charlie. But what you did with your tongue last night? It was like you knew exactly what areas to hit for maximum effect.”

I guess owning a vagina provided additional know-how about making it purr properly.

“Uh, you’re welcome?”

Samantha laughed and leaned in to nibble on my ear before placing a teasing lick on the side of my neck.

“I thought it might be nice,” she breathed into my ear, “if I showed you just how talented my mouth could be.”

The sensation of her hand pressing against the tented front of my jeans sent fireworks exploding behind my eyes. The past three days had been a rollercoaster of surprises, emotions, and revelations. Sex was the furthest thing from my mind.

Or it should have been.

The pressure turned to a single point of erotic contact as Samantha pressed one of her fingernails directly against my erection and stroked upward. The scratching along the denim barrier seemed incredibly loud in the otherwise still room.

“Sam …”

My words were cut off as her lips pressed against mine, her tongue pushing its way into my mouth where it proceeded to sample every centimeter of surface area. Simultaneously, the hand teasing my ego reached the top of my pants. A second hand joined the first, and by the time the demanding girl amorously assaulting my mouth pulled away, the button had been unfastened and the zipper pulled down.

“Shhh,” she cooed, smiling up at me. “Just relax and enjoy. I know you will.” She winked and lowered herself to her knees, her hands peeling my jeans and underwear down to around my ankles.

The cool air of the room sent a small chill running through me, though it did nothing to deter Little Chuck in the least. If anything, suddenly being freed from its prison only seemed to make it more rigid. Almost painfully so.

Samantha pushed on my stomach, causing my legs to fold beneath me, dumping me on the edge of the bed. She wiggled her body closer, pushing her way into striking distance.

“Sam, you don’t have to do this,” I said, trying to override the subconscious desire to grab her head and make her get started. I’d never done that to any of my lovers in my life, but the sudden overwhelming need, likely born out of my recent experiences, whispered decadent thoughts into my addled brain.

“Sweetie, you’ve only had a sample of my basic skills. To repay you for going down on me to the tune of four big O’s, you’re getting the deluxe treatment.”

The next thing I knew, hot wetness encircled my manhood, followed by the sensation of light pressure that slowly slid down to the base before coming back up at an even more leisurely pace. I groaned in reflex and leaned back onto my hands, propping myself up as my eyes rolled up to the ceiling.

The first time Samantha and I had sex, it had been on the sofa in her dorm suite. It had been a quick, unplanned tryst, formed from a mutual physical attraction and a few too many beers. It had been fast, dirty, and probably more satisfying for me than for her. However, she’d obviously enjoyed herself enough to agree to do it again.

Had Charlene really rocked her world that much? Enough that the occasionally aloof star forward showed up here, after being stood up, just so she could start off the evening with a top-notch blow job?

As Samantha showed me proof that she wasn’t just bragging about her skills, I couldn’t stop myself from imagining it was Shelly kneeling before me, bringing me ecstasy with her mouth and lips. Shelly had gone well out of her way to help me when I needed it. To treat me fairly, despite the fact that the girl whose body I inhabited was a hot mess.

Soon, it wasn’t Shelly sucking me off that filled my thoughts. It was her licking me, kneeling between my legs, pleasuring my womanhood. That thought pushed me even closer to the brink of release. Lifting one hand, I tapped the girl working me like a professional on the shoulder.

“Saaammm….” I said in a half-gasping, half-moaning voice. “I’m gonna … gonna …” I was already starting to feel the pressure inside me building exponentially. The last thing I wanted to do was go off without giving some type of warning.

She responded by doubling her efforts, throwing in some sort of stroking, groping action with her hand. Apparently my lover had seen the finish line and was doing her best to get the checkered flag.

“I’m … I’m …”

I threw my head back, every muscle in my body tensing as I felt myself tip over the edge and the doors of that wonderful release sprung open. Then, at the exact moment I felt the first spasm in my groin, a wave of vertigo punched me in the gut and the world went black.

I stumbled forward, disorientation sending me crashing to the ground face-first. Thankfully, I landed on soft, if slightly damp, grass. Rather than the cold, hard concrete sidewalk I had been walking along.

I didn’t even need to look at myself to know I was back in Charlene’s universe ... and Charlene’s body.

I groaned, rolling over onto my back to look up at the impassive, starry sky above.

“Well … I guess that’s only fair. I stole her orgasm the last time we swapped.”

Climbing to my feet, I brushed myself off, wincing at the ugly dark green stain on the front of the skirt and the scuffed toe of one of my boots. I think I was madder about my clothing than I was getting denied my happy moment.

I glanced around me, expecting to see someone nearby. I discovered I was all alone, but recognized the nearest building as being the Newman Science Center. Which meant I was on campus. Although, if my memory of the school’s layout was accurate, I was practically on the other side. Nearly a half a mile from the Sigma house.

Why was Charlene walking all the way over here by herself? After midnight? In these shoes?

I patted my hips and butt, searching for my phone. Nada.

Had I left it at the party? Dropped it during the swap? I went back to where I’d landed and searched for at least ten minutes. There was no sign of the device anywhere.

“What happened to you?” I asked the empty night.

The last memory I had from this world was trying to rush out of the Sigma house, and only making it as far as the front door before Danny caught up to me. Something had happened over the intervening two plus hours. Something that resulted in Charlene walking away by herself into the night.

I shook my head, wrapping my arms around myself. I’d dressed with the expectation that the majority of my evening would be spent indoors. Now, the cool air chipped away at my body’s heat. It wasn’t cold enough for me to get frostbite, or even hypothermia, but definitely enough to be uncomfortable.

Turning around, I began to walk back toward the party. The noise ordinance on campus required quiet times to start at midnight during the week, and one am on Friday and Saturday. Knowing the Sigma reputation from my own world, the mere thought of ending the festivities wouldn’t materialize before two.

By the time I got to within visual distance of the Sigma house, my teeth were clacking together like jackhammers, shivers ran up and down my spine, and I was fairly sure I’d lost all feeling in the tip of my nose. The only thought that provided me any measure of comfort was the knowledge that Charlene hadn’t dragged Danny up to his room for a little rough and tumble the moment she hopped back into her own body.
If that’d been the case, I would have likely come to there … again.

The music, while not quite as loud as when Shelly and I arrived earlier that evening, was still going strong when I made my way across the manicured lawn toward the front door. The two burly boys from before were long gone. Probably busy trying to get into an inebriated coed’s pants.

Reaching the door, I took a deep breath, and stepped inside. I needed to see if I could find my phone. Or Shelly. Preferably both. Without running into Mr. Asshole again.

“Oh my god, Charlie!” someone yelled over the thumping bass beat the moment I closed the door behind me.

A second later, Shelly tackled me and nearly drove both of us through the wooden barrier.

“Where the hell have you been?” she asked, looking me over with a concerned expression. “Do you have any idea how freaked out I’ve been. I’ve been calling you, like, every two minutes and texting you every other minute. What the hell were you doing that you were too busy to respond?”

I shook my head, then pointed to the door behind me. I waited until we were on the porch, with the music muffled to a dull roar, before attempting to talk.

“Shells, it’s me,” I said, putting my hand on her shoulder. “It’s Chuck.”

She gave me a look that seemed in indicate she felt I was due for a major psychiatric evaluation.

“Yeah, I know it’s you, Chuck. We came to the party together, remember?” She started to laugh, possibly at whatever lame joke I was pulling. Then the look on my face must have registered and the cackle died at the first syllable. “Oh… oh shit.”

I nodded. “Yeah, oh shit is right. I just got back. Well, I got back about thirty minutes ago. I was all the way over at Newman Building.”

“What the hell were you doing all the way over there? That’s the other side of campus.”

“Yes. Me and my aching feet are well aware of that. As to the answer to your question, I don’t have the slightest clue. That’s where she was when we switched back.”

She nodded. “But why didn’t you answer your phone? Or call me to come get you?”

I held up my empty hands. “I had it in my hand when I leapt out. I was talking to Jackson on it.”

“Jackson?”

I nodded. “He called because the warning system he built told him a switch was coming. He wanted me to get away from the party before Charlene returned.”

“I guess you didn’t make it?”

I shook my head. “No, afraid not.”

She sighed and leaned back against the front of the house next to the door.

“Shells, do you know what Charlie’s been doing for the past two hours or so? The walk from here to Newman took about twenty minutes. But that still leaves a lot of time for her to have done a lot of stupid shit.”

“She didn’t have sex with Danny,” she replied instantly. “That much I know.” She nodded her head backward toward the house. “He’s been playing beer pong with his brothers for at least the last hour. Maybe longer.”

“Then what has she been doing?” I asked. Then a dashing, frigid thought came over me. “What happened with the Kappas?”

She frowned, then shrugged. “We all came back to share our embarrassing secrets. Well, everyone but you and Trina. A couple of the girls refused to play along, so they’re out. I had to reveal to the audience that when I was eight, I paraded down the street in my neighborhood completely naked because my older sisters had convinced me I was dressed in invisible clothes.”

“Ouch. That must have been a tough moment.”

She shrugged again. “Rachel seemed to think it was funny enough for me to make the grade. I wonder why neither you nor Trina were there.”

I told her about the challenge the Kappa leader had thrown at me and my rival.

“Okay. So, even if something happened and Charlene forfeited the competition, which I find extremely hard to believe, there’s no way Miss Bitchypants would decline to participate. Hell, not having Charlie show up would have been like an automatic win for her.”

I had to agree. “Is she still here?”

“Rachel? Nope. She left with one of the Sigmas about an hour ago.”

I sighed, shaking my head. “What about Trina?”

“Haven’t seen her since Dom took me out of the room.” She stepped forward and put her hand on my arm. “Are you okay, Charles? I’m dying to hear what happened while you were back in your world, but I can tell your head isn’t really all here right now. Want me to take you home?”

I nodded. “I wish I knew where my phone was, though. It’s got all of my Charlie Cheat notes on it.”

“We’ll look for it online when we get to your house. Chances are, it’s somewhere in there.” She pointed at the partying palace behind her.

We walked to Shelly’s car and climbed inside. Like a good friend, she immediately cranked up the heat as soon as she started the engine, pushing all the vents to blow in my near-frozen direction.

Along the way, I told her a little about what Charlene had been doing with my life. I didn’t go into a lot of detail, but I did let her know that her friend’s desire to remain where she currently was had ventured into dangerous territory.

“So you’re going to be swapping back and forth for another six months?” She asked.

I nodded. “Looks like.”

Back at my house, we crept in as quietly as we could. Fortunately, the same noisy boards existed in the same location in both universes, which allowed us to get through the darkened interior and into my room with a minimum of noise.

Once inside, I booted up my laptop and pulled up the website that could trace a cellphone’s location.

“What worries me the most,” Shelly said while the program narrowed the search pattern. “Is what led Charlene to walk across campus by herself at night? I mean, security constantly patrols, and there are emergency beacons all over the place. Still, it’s dangerous for a pretty girl like you to wander around alone.”

I felt my cheeks warm at the compliment as a momentary flash of the imaginary Shelly kneeling before me returned.

“I guess we’ll just have to find out.”

The computer made a little noise and a blinking red circle hovered over a spot on the digitally-rendered map. I scrolled in, bringing the detail into greater focus.

“That’s weird,” I said, staring at the screen. “It’s not at the Sigma house. In fact, it’s not anywhere on Fraternity Row.”

“Where is it?” Shelly asked, coming to sit down next to me.

I zoomed in until the circle zeroed in on a large house approximately four streets over from the Newman Building.

“1653 Willoughby,” I said, reading the text at the bottom of the screen.

“Oh … shit.” Shelly said, looking from the screen to me.

“What?” I asked. “Do you know who lives there?”

Shelly nodded her head, her eyes wide and full of worry.

“That’s the Kappa House.”

The Other Side of Me – Part 17
by Limbo’s Mistress

As ridiculous as it might sound, I had hoped that Shelly would offer to spend the night with me. After the evening I’d gone through, I wanted the comforting touch of someone who knew the truth about my situation and gave a shit about me.

Unfortunately, soon after our discovery that my absentee phone was currently hanging out at de Casa la Kappa, Shelly yawned and stood up to raise her arms high over her head and bend her back as she performed one of those full-body stretches that indicate exhaustion.

I immediately averted my eyes from the way her motions pushed her breasts forward and made her bottom look insanely hot.

“I’m sorry, Chuck, but I really need to get home,” she said, grabbing her own phone and car keys. “Morning is going to get her sooner than I’d like and I have to open tomorrow.”

“Open?” I asked. “Open what?”

She stared at me for a moment, as if trying to decide if I was joking, then she laughed and shook her head.

“Oh, right. I sometimes forget that you might have Charlene’s body and mannerisms, but you don’t have her memories. I work at the Galleria. In a store called Eternal Style. It sucks, but the money’s okay, the hours are decent, and my boss is pretty cool.”

I nodded. “What time do you get off?”

“My shift is from nine to six.”

“Wow. That late, huh?”

She nodded her head. “You were hoping I could go with you to get your phone, weren’t you?”

“Yeah. I’m a bit concerned about the why and how of it being there. Especially since Charlie wasn’t anywhere near the Kappa house when we swapped back.”

“Well, if you want to wait until I get off, I’d be happy to go over there with you.”

I shrugged. “I’ll let you know, okay?”

Shelly tilted her head, looking at me curiously.

“I can’t explain it,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. “But something that’s gnawing at the back of my mind tells me that the longer I don’t have it in my possession, the more trouble I’m going to be in.”

“You think there’s something on it that would be bad for you if someone saw it? Or maybe bad for Charlene?”

I looked up at her, frowning. “I’m starting to feel that there really isn’t a difference anymore.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it. Rather than offer any words, which might have come across as hollow, she leaned in and gave me a big hug. When she stood back up, she smiled.

“I’m here for you, Chuck. Just as I would be for Charlene.”

“Thanks,” I said, smiling up at her. “You’re the best.”

After she had left, I thought about the fact that Charlene had no one to talk to in my world about what she might be feeling. The only people who might understand and give her decent advice she’d attacked and alienated. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that my Jackson was probably working harder on getting the window repaired than Other-Jackson.

If for no other reason than to be rid of my lunatic double.

I stripped out of the boots and clothes, pulling on a slightly too big, dark blue t-shirt with the words “Cheer Extreme” scrawled across the chest in hot pink. Then I headed down to the bathroom to wash my face and brush out my hair. By the time I got back to my room, my mind was on the verge of exhaustion. As was my body.

I turned out the light and crawled into bed, falling asleep in less than thirty seconds.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was brilliant sunshine that streamed through the gap in the window curtains. It illuminated the entire room and seemed completely wonderful. I guess getting up at an ungodly hour, like well before dawn, over the past few days made me appreciate the fact that I could sleep in even more.

I climbed out of bed, pulled my hair back out of my face in a loose ponytail, threw on a pair of powder pink sweatpants, then went in search of some much needed caffeine.

Downstairs, I found Katie sitting at the kitchen table. A bowl of cereal was slowly divested of its contents while my kid sister scrolled through her phone. She looked at me as I entered, and I noticed the way her shoulders seemed to flex with tension.

“It’s me,” I said as I moved past her watchful gaze to the coffee pot. The lights on the front of it were dark, but there still seemed to be about half a carafe of liquid goodness inside.

Her sigh was audible. “Thanks for letting me know.”

I grabbed a mug from the cabinet and poured a cupful of the java. Then I popped it into the microwave before turning around to look at her. I cut my eyes over at the doorway and lowered my voice.

“Where’s dad?”

She took another bite of cereal before answering. “Work.”

“On a Saturday? My dad doesn’t work Saturdays.”

A single brow rose over one of her eyes. “Well, ours does half-days on Saturdays, Chuck. I think he just wants to avoid being at home alone.”

I nodded. “Fair point. So, I guess you should know Miss Wonderful put in a brief appearance on this side of the dimensional wall last night.”

She frowned and nodded.

“Jackson called me. I guess after you bounced out and she bounced in. Told me about the early warning system thingy. I spent most of the evening waiting for her to come back and raise hell.” She took another bite of cereal and swallowed before continuing. “Since I didn’t hear you come home, I guess she was gone by then?”

“Yeah. She was only here for about two hours.”

“How was it? Being back in your world, I mean.” There was an obvious note of worry in her voice.

The microwave beeped, and I held up one finger at her before pulling the steaming mug out. After adding a dash of hazelnut-flavored creamer to the hot, black liquid, I walked over to sit across from her at the table. Blowing on the surface of the beverage, I took a sip, savored the delicious caffeine goodness, then put the mug down as I looked at her.

“It was okay. I got to hang out with my Katie a bit.”

I guess I hoped she would be happy to hear that I reconnected a bit with her counterpart. However, the expression on her face was anything but joyful.

“Oh … cool. How was that?” There was a flatness to her voice.

I tried to keep a smile on my face as I mentally kicked myself in the shin. Way to go, dumbass. As if she wasn’t already feeling guilty about her practically begging you to stay. Now she’s probably sure that this means you’ve actually decided not to.

“It was good,” I said after another sip of coffee. “Though it started off as just damage control. At first.”

“Damage control?”

I nodded. “Apparently Charlene was verbally abusive to her right before I stepped in. I had to try to smooth things out with her.”

She shrugged, the frown on her face deepening. “That doesn’t surprise me one bit.”

“What doesn’t? Me trying to be a nice guy?”

“No. I’m not surprised Charlene was verbally abusive to her. God knows she’s lashed out at me enough times over the past few years.” She used her spoon to tap on the side of the bowl. “I guarantee you, if she were sitting there right now, she’d comment that I’m putting a ton of empty calories in my body, and that it would be my own fault if someone mistook me for a hippo in a skirt.”

My hand curled into a fist before I even realized it happened. What the ever-loving fuck was Charlene’s problem? Originally, when Jackson told me that she didn’t move onto campus, I assumed she remained home to be closer to her remaining family. Now, having seen firsthand the results of her attitude on both versions of Katie, I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe she only counted her father as being worthy of her time.

As I stared at the frowning girl before me, I began to suspect that it wasn’t just herself she blamed for her mother’s death. Perhaps she felt Katie was, on some level, also at fault.

I uncurled my fist and took a deep breath.

“First of all, Katie-Kat, you are not a hippo. Nowhere close. You’re a very pretty girl, and no matter how many sugary bowls of …” I looked at the bowl, but didn’t recognize the cereal. “… whatever that is you ate, there is no reason to berate you.”

She arched a brow, looking from me to the bowl and back. “It’s Frosted Flakes.”

I looked at the bowl again. True, there were sugar-coated, flake-shaped bits in the milk, but they were chocolate rather than bran. They also shared the container with what seemed to be tiny cocoa marshmallows.

“That is so not Frosted Flakes,” I said, shaking my head. “Frosted Flakes are not chocolate.”

Katie laughed, shaking her head. “They are in this world. They are also really delicious, so just deal.”

I chuckled a bit at her feigned indignation at my questioning her cereal choices.

“I guess I just don’t get the obsession with chocolate. It doesn’t really appeal all that much to me.”

Katie pointed her spoon in my direction. “You don’t understand the allure of the wonder that is chocolate, Chuck, because you’re a guy.”

“Am I?” I asked on reflex.

Just like that, the jovial mood immediately ended. Katie frowned, putting down the spoon in the bowl.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked.

I shrugged.

“What happened last night? Other than Charlene being a total bitch to my other-self?”

I didn’t answer immediately. Instead, I twisted several strands of hair around one finger and began to wind it around slowly as I attempted to put into words the feelings which had been assaulting me over the past twelve hours.

“I really liked seeing my parents, particularly my mom. And hanging out with Katie for a while had a whole new dynamic. Especially since I brought her into the knowing club.”

“But?” She leaned forward, staring at me with wide, curious eyes. “Because I totally sense a ‘but’ in your voice.”

“It just didn’t feel like … home. Not completely. Yeah, I was angry when I found out what she’d done over there. In addition to being a general bitch to my Katie, and giving my folks major attitude, she also tried to destroy the dimensional machine.”

“What a skank,” Katie said, her jaw clenching tight for a moment.

I shrugged. “However, even though I was dealing with the messes she was making in my life, I couldn’t stop worrying about what she might be doing here. In this life.” I sighed. “I think I was more concerned about latter than the former.”

I half-expected Katie to actually throw her fist into the air in premature celebration. After all, she’d come right out and begged me to stay, and now I admitted that I felt more of a connection with Charlene’s life than Charles’.

Instead, her frown deepened and she leaned back in her chair.

“Do you think she’s really determined to destroy both of your lives?”

“I don’t know. I recorded a message for her to watch when she got back in my body.”

“Did you tell her to stop being an idiot?”

I shook my head. “Not exactly. I told her how disappointed I was in the way she was acting. I told her that I believed she was a better person than that.”

Her eyes widened slightly. “Really? Well, I hope she listens to you. God knows, she sure doesn’t listen to anyone else.”

“Yeah, I hope she gives at least a little consideration to my comments.”

Katie finished her chocolate apocalypse and announced that she needed to run upstairs to change. Apparently a few of her friends were coming by to pick her up for a day of hanging out at the skate park to boy watch. I offhandedly teased that maybe the younger North brother would be there, causing a crimson blush to explode across her face.

“Don’t say that!” She yelled, waving her hand at me. “If Sebastian was to show up, I’d have to find a hole to hide in!”

“No you would not,” I said, putting my hand on her shoulder. “You will smile, allow him to flirt with you. Respectfully,” I added. “And then you will ask him if he wants to go see a movie sometime.”

She blinked. “You want me to ask him out?”

I nodded. “Trust me, Katie-Kat, guys are impressed by a girl who takes the initiative sometimes. Plus, I saw the way he was looking at you last night.”

A smirk formed on her face. “You mean like the way his brother was looking at you?”

Now it was my turn to blush as the flames of perdition seemed to dance across my cheeks.

“Uh, sure. Let’s go with that.”

After she agreed to take my advice under consideration and bounced up the steps, I grabbed another cup of coffee and returned to my room. While I would like to wait until Shelly got off work to go over to the Kappa house to get my phone, I knew I couldn’t wait that long. However, it was still mid-morning, and the thought of dealing with a possibly hung-over Rachel Bostwick seemed extremely unappealing.

So, I did my homework. Well, Charlene’s homework.

Fortunately, a couple of her classes were similar to mine and the assignments were not completely confusing. A few, though, were totally different. I found myself having to review recent past assignments to figure out what I was supposed to be studying.

I finished all the math problems and made rather good progress through her literature assignment. Glancing at some of the documents on the laptop, as well as a review of her syllabi, gave me an extra jolt of confidence that any extended stay on my part wouldn’t seriously disrupt Charlene’s academic trajectory.

Which was nice to know. Particularly since there was a more than decent chance it would turn out to be my trajectory in the end.

My tummy released a long, low rumble, informing me that I had only had coffee for breakfast. Standing up, I closed the lid of the computer, then journeyed downstairs in search of sustenance.

I spotted the box of Frosted Flakes on top of the fridge, but decided that putting a ton of chocolate on an empty stomach was only asking for trouble. Rummaging around inside the appliance yielded a bounty of sliced turkey, wheat bread, Irish cheddar slices, a half a head of romaine lettuce, and an almost overripe tomato.

Popping a couple of slices of bread into the toaster, I grabbed a plate from the cabinet, a cutting board from under the sink, and went about getting the middle section of my future sandwich together.

“Bye, Charlie,” Katie called as she headed out the door. “See you later.”

The door slammed simultaneously with the bread, now a golden brown, leaping up from their slots.

I had just finished adding a touch of mayo to my creation, and taken a bite when the phone in the living room, the house phone, began to ring. I started to put my food down and answer it, but I figured anyone calling the main line would either be a wrong number, a telemarketer, or looking for my dad.

“That’s why they made answering machines,” I said in a little sing-song voice as I took another delicious mouthful.

As soon as the device in the other room beeped, Shelly’s voice rang out from the speaker in the phone’s base.

“Chuc .. Charlie. If you’re there please, please, please pick up.” There was obvious panic in her voice. “If you’re not, call me the very second you get this.”

I dropped the sandwich on the plate and sprang across the room. Luckily, my own parents kept the living room phone on the same end table, so I didn’t have to waste precious seconds hunting it. Before the sound of the line getting disconnected could sound, my fingers curled around the cordless handset, thumbed the talk button, and I brought the whole thing to my ear.

“Shelly?” I said, hoping I hadn’t missed her. I couldn’t call her back, since I didn’t have her number memorized and my phone was MIA.

“Oh thank god,” she breathed. “I’m so glad you answered.”

“What’s wrong? You sound like you’re about to freak out.”

She paused for a second, and I could swear I heard her swallowing.

“Rachel has been blowing up my phone all morning. Tell me to have you call her.”

“All morning?” I glanced over at the clock on the wall over the fireplace. “Shelly, it’s almost one-thirty.”

“I know. I’m not allowed to have my phone when I’m working. I didn’t see the messages until I went on my lunch break.”

“Did she say what she wanted?”

“No. Just five texts that all say some variation of ‘Tell Charlene to contact me’.”

“How? I don’t have my phone. It’s at the Kappa house. Surely she knows that.” I sighed. “Fine. Text her and tell her that I don’t have my phone but that I will be over at there inside of an hour.”

There was another long pause.

“Rachel’s not the only one who’s been trying to reach you.” The panic had settled down into something far more ominous.

“Who else?”

“Josie,” she said in a quiet voice.

“Josie?” I asked, crinkling my brow. “Why is Josie trying to reach me?”

“There were two texts, Chuck. The first one asked if you were at home. I sent a response that said you were, as far as I knew.”

“Okay,” I said slowly, still feeling like I was running a couple of meters behind. “What was the second message?”

“I’m going to kick her ass.”

I closed my eyes, tightening my grip on the phone. “That’s what she said?”

“Yeah. Do you think she knows? About you and Danny?”

“I have no idea,” I said, dropping down into the floral print chair next to the phone. “Danny has that video of us. What if he and Charlene got into an argument at the party, when she was back in her own body, and he sent it to Josie like he threatened?”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Shelly countered. “Then he would be in as much trouble with her as you.”

“Still, she’s obviously mad at me about something. Sleeping with her boyfriend is the only thing I can think of that Charlene’s done.”

“No clue. I didn’t even know about her and Danny until the other night. If I were you, I’d go take care of the Rachel thing and get your phone back. Maybe there’s a clue or two on it.”

“Good advice. Thanks.”

“Call me after you get your phone back. I’m going to put mine on vibrate and hope my manager doesn’t notice it’s in my pocket.”

I hung up the phone and bolted upstairs. I threw on a pair of low-waisted jeans and a dark green cardigan. I pulled my hair down and redid the ponytail, covering the black rubber band with a scrunchie that matched the sweater. I slipped my feet into a pair of pink and black Nikes before giving myself a onceover in the mirror. The casual outfit was a far cry from the awesome ensemble I’d sported the previous evening, but I was going for comfort and speed, not style.

However, I also knew I couldn’t show up at the Kappas without any makeup on, no matter how rushed I might feel.

I dabbed on a little foundation, then applied a touch of midnight blue eyeshadow. Whipping out the mascara wand, I brushed three slow strokes over each set of lashes and then painted my lips with a caramel nude gloss.

Grabbing my purse and keys, I hopped down the steps two at a time, grabbed the doorknob, and yanked the front door open.

Much like the previous evening, there was a girl standing on the other side of the threshold. Unlike the previous evening, however, this girl had not come with the anticipation of getting laid.

“Josie!” Her name leapt out of my throat before her presence finished fully registering in my brain.

“You fucking whore,” the blonde said in a snarl as she narrowed her eyes at me. “How could you do that to me?”

The Other Side of Me – Part 18
by Limbo’s Mistress

“Josie,” I said again, taking a step backward from the fuming blonde in the doorway. Despite her petite stature, she looked ready to tear one of my arms off so she could beat me to death with it.

Still glaring at me, she stepped across the threshold into my house, and immediately slammed the door closed behind her. For a few seconds, she just stood there, the fires of perdition burning in those big blue eyes.

“I thought we were friends,” she finally said in a voice that was much quieter, but no less angry, than her initial outburst at seeing me. “I thought of you as a sister. How could you do that to me?”

Oh boy. This was starting to look worse by the second. Yeah, there was a part of me that chastised myself for not coming clean the moment I realized what Charlene and Danny were doing. In my defense, though, I had been a bit more focused on maintaining the status quo in my doppelgänger’s life, instead of doing the right thing.

I held my hands up in defensive supplication. Sure, I had a couple of inches in height and about ten pounds more muscle on the smaller girl. Though, her fury might more than make up for that slight advantage. Plus, regardless of the fact I was currently inhabiting Charlene’s body, I had the sneaking suspicion years of chivalric male upbringing wouldn’t allow me to physically strike a girl.

“I … I can explain,” I said as I racked my brain for anything that might actually pass for a legitimate reason for what Charlene had done. Unfortunately, I was coming up empty.

Her blue eyes widened as a mirthless smirk appeared on her face.

“Can you? Can you really explain why you stabbed me in the back like a common bitch, Charlene?” She practically spat my name out of her mouth. As if it were something totally distasteful.

I closed my eyes, drew in a breath, preparing myself to spill the truth to her about everything. The dimensional transfer between me and my feminine self, spending the past few days pretending to be the girl I wasn’t, but, more importantly, the fact that I hadn’t been the one actually doing the erotic pogo on Danny Morris’ meatstick.

Of course, I had to guess that without Shelly or Jackson around to back up my claim, and provide required evidence, my story was just going to sound like some bizarre lie. Just a heartless betrayal by the girl she thought was her friend.

Steeling my spine, I opened my eyes and looked at her with the sincerest expression I could summon. “Josie, you have to believe me when I say that I would never intentionally …”

I never saw the slap coming.

One second, the furious blonde was glaring up at me. The next, she was lowering her hand back down to her side as a blossom of fire radiated out of my left cheek. Tears of pain formed in my eyes and my mouth hung open as I gawked down at her.

“You’re something else,” she said, shaking her head and shooting me a disgusted look. “Were you really going to stand there and try to convince me that it was some kind of accident? You didn’t do it on purpose?” The hand that struck me came up again, causing me to flinch and take a half a step backward. However, rather than another slap, she merely pointed her finger at me. “You were my best friend, Charlene. Sure, I know that Shells is your bestie. But you were mine. I would have done anything for you.”

“Josie …” I said, holding my throbbing cheek as I tried to figure out if there was any way to defuse this situation before the smaller girl decided to yank every bit of my hair out in a rage.

The blonde snorted and shook her head again. “I even asked you, before Danny and I got together, if you were okay with it. I knew there was something that happened between you two in high school, and I didn’t want to overstep. But you told me that it was all in the past and you were with Jackson now.” Then she glanced over her shoulder in the direction of the house across the street before looking back at me. “He seems so sweet. Definitely nicer than you deserve.”

I sighed. She wasn’t wrong on that point. I … I mean, Charlene, definitely didn’t deserve a guy like Jack. “Josie, I …” Reaching up, I ran my fingers through my hair. My cheek had stopped stinging, but I could still feel the heat lingering a bit longer.

She shrugged one shoulder, looking down. “Danny ignored my calls all night long. I knew he’d be busy, what with the mixer and all. But I really thought for sure he’d call me back before the night was over. When he didn’t, I assumed he just got too drunk and passed out.” She let out a defeated breath, the fire of her righteous anger now just smoldering embers.

Danny. The last image I had of the cheating asshole was him managing to catch up to me at the front door of Sigma House. Before the swap actually happened. Michelle said that he and Charlene couldn’t have boned, because she saw him playing beer pong for quite a while. However, she was in control of her body for at least a couple of hours. Had that been enough time for a sloppy quickie before going to Kappa House and then walk halfway across campus, in the cold, before getting yanked away? The time was far too short, in my opinion. Plus, it hadn’t felt like she’d gotten into any sexual shenanigans when I returned.

“We didn’t do anything last night, Josie. I swear.” I hoped my own conviction resonated in my voice. “I … I told him that it was over. That I couldn’t do that to you anymore.” I forced myself to keep my gaze on her, though she continued to stare at her shoes. Someone had to face the music for Charlene’s actions, and it didn’t look like it was going to be her.

“Yeah, so I heard.”

I blinked. “Danny told you I said that?” Who would have thought the shithead had that much of a spine?

Josie shook her head. “No. Mary Williams saw the two of you at the party. Arguing in the back yard. She said that you shoved him before storming off and he came back inside. She heard him say to one of his brothers that he was done with your crazy ass.” She swallowed, finally bringing her face up to mine. “That … no matter how good a fuck you were, he didn’t feel it was worth putting up with your insane bullshit.”

The comment slugged me in the tummy like the business end of a baseball bat. Did Charlene tell Danny what was going on with her and I? That would explain why he spent the evening drinking and playing games while Charlie was somewhere else. He probably thought she made up the whole “switching bodies” story to explain why she flipped out on him.

Which brought me back to my original dilemma. Should I tell Josie the complete truth? Or would she too think I was just lying to cover my own ass?

“Josie, I really am sorry that this happened.” I dared take a step closer to her. “Believe me, I would never mean to cause you this kind of hurt.”

She shook her head and held up her hand, indicating that she didn’t want me anywhere closer. “Look, I understand that we’re going to have to get along at practice and at games, for the sake of the squad. I’m going to request that I switch with Toni Anders, so you aren’t my base anymore.” Then her eyes hardened into spheres of blue ice. “But other than cheer stuff, I don’t want you to ever speak to me again. Understand?”

My eyes widened and I felt my heart being to hammer in my chest with a painful throb. How could it hurt so bad to lose a friendship I didn’t have a few days ago? Sure, the guilt over what Charlene had done to the innocent blonde dug at my conscience, but hearing the finality in Josie’s statement made tears form in my eyes and my stomach to lurch horribly. I wanted to tell her that she had the wrong idea. That she should be angry with Charlene, not Charles. The words, though, escaped me and I merely nodded in acquiescence to her demand.

“Yeah,” I said with a heavy lump in my throat. “I understand.”

For a second, she stared at me. As if expecting more of a fight. Or some sort of counter-argument. Probably because Charlene would have given her one. Then, before she could change her mind, she turned on her heel and marched over to the door. Part of me hung onto the thin hope that she might pause, maybe look back one last time.

Instead, she pulled it open and walked outside, slamming it closed behind her.

I stumbled backward as the sound reverberated around the empty living room, my legs connecting with the sofa in a way which led to me ending up half-sitting, half-leaning on the furniture. I drew in a shuddering breath and released it as I wrapped my arms around myself and let the tears, which had been hovering in my vision for the past few minutes, flow freely down my cheeks. My breathing came in shuddering hitches and my nose began to run. It felt like everything I’d been struggling to handle since that fateful evening in Jackson’s lab was coming down around my pierced ears.

How much longer could I keep up this charade? Pretending to be Charlene was getting tougher each time I stepped foot out of the house. Could I continue to put this much effort into maintaining a life that, from all the hints I’d seen recently, the original owner didn’t give a damn about? Was there really any bright spot to be had?

I’m not sure exactly how long I sat there weeping and feeling miserable. The pain in my chest did lessen after a bit, but the uneasy feeling in my stomach continued to linger.

Eventually, though, I managed to pull myself out of the pity party and got off the couch. Of course, now I needed to redo my makeup to erase the traces the destruction of my friendship with Josie had left on my face.

It might have been Charlene’s friendship once upon a time, but lately I think I’d been more of a friend to the blonde than my doppelgänger.
Once I decided I was Kappa Presentable once more, I grabbed my purse and keys and headed off to get back my phone and find out what fresh hell was waiting for me with Rachel. Along the way, I kept thinking about the moments before Charlene and I swapped places. I was supposed to have given Danny three embarrassing secrets to be shared among the sisterhood in order to cement my place in the sorority and avoid elimination.

I hadn’t even managed to conjure up one before Jackson called to warn me about the oncoming switch.

Was that why my phone was at Kappa House? Had Charlene skipped out on the challenge and had gone there to accept her failure to get accepted into the prestigious sisterhood of Kappa Omega?

The GPS eventually led me to pulling to a stop at the curb in front of a beautiful ivory and brick, three-story building in an old colonial style. There were vines of ivy crawling up the four thick columns framing the wrap-around porch and the Kappa Omega letters in bright pink hanging from the bottom of the second-floor balcony.

For a few seconds, I sat there gawking at the structure. In my universe, I must have jogged down this street a hundred times. Not once did I ever bother to stop and admire how gorgeous the house was. Some part of me wondered what it would be like to live there with a bunch of other girls. Just hanging out, doing sisterly stuff.

No. No. No. I closed my eyes and shook my head.

“You are not staying here, Chuck,” I said as I reopened them to look at my anxious reflection in the rearview mirror. “You are going back to your own universe. Your own life. Where you belong.”

The words sounded completely hollow in the quiet interior of the Jeep. If I couldn’t convince myself after a couple of days, how would I ever summon up the willpower to permanently switch back after a couple of months?

I sighed, screwed my head on as best as I could, and climbed out of the Jeep. The walk to the front door felt like I was heading into a situation that was not likely to make my day any better than it’d gone so far. Something had happened in this house last night. Something that ended with Charlene leaving and walking back toward the Sigma party alone.

My finger was millimeters from the bell when the door opened to reveal Rachel standing there, looking every bit as coiffed and primped as I expected. Her blonde hair had been styled into waves of soft ringlets that seemed almost to float against the force of gravity. The sweater and skirt combination, which I couldn’t help but find completely adorable, added a level of dangerous innocence to her appearance. Those blue eyes, however, were hard and guarded, putting just enough ice into the wholesome girl-next-door look to make me consider abandoning in my phone and running back to the car.

If I was still a guy, I would have sworn there was a ball-kicking on its way.

“Uh, hey Rachel,” I said with a bit of a hesitant stammer. “Michelle said you were trying to reach me?”

“Yes,” she replied in an even, almost patient, tone. “I have been for some time.”

I nodded, feeling my cheeks warm. “Oh. Sorry about that. I, uh, I think I left my phone here last night.”

“You did.”

What the hell was going on? Had Charlene screwed up that badly that she’d become a complete non-person to the Kappa’s leader now? I’d only been gone a few hours. How could she have fucked everything in such a short period of time.

“Won’t you come in?” Rachel offered, moving back to allow me entrance.

I stepped across the threshold, and she closed the door behind me. The click of the latch signaled that my opportunity to cut and run had just passed. Whatever was going to happen next was going to happen.

“Let’s talk in the library,” she said, turning without preamble and making her way across the extravagant foyer to a door on the right.

I followed her into a large room with an ornate desk, three walls of expensive-looking books, and a small fireplace with the Kappa Omega crest hanging on the wall just above the mantle. Rachel closed this door as well and walked around to sit behind the desk, casually gesturing at one of the two high-backed burgundy leather chairs across from it.

“So, uh, about last night …” I said, lowering myself into the seat.

Rachel laced her fingers together and placed her hands on top of the desk. She looked rather regal seated there. Or executively. There was no doubt which of us would be doing most of the talking for the immediate future.

“Yes, last night.” She said with a little terse smile that didn’t come anywhere near her eyes. “Interesting, wouldn’t you agree? Funny how you think you know someone so well, only to discover that they aren’t who you thought they were.”

I swallowed, my head jittering in a tiny nod of agreement. “She knows”, a voice in my head screamed as I sat there nearly motionless. “She knows you aren’t Charlene!”

“I assumed it would be a worthwhile game. Though I was fairly certain I knew how it would end. We picked up three new sisters last night. Brand new Kappas who will be inducted tomorrow evening.”

My mind whirled. Shelly was one of those who came back with an embarrassing story worthy of surpassing her pledge status. But according to her, neither Trina nor I returned to share our own tales of shame. I knew what my reason was, but I couldn't imagine anything being more important than my nemesis winning the prize we both coveted.

That she and Charlene coveted.

“Shelly told me that she made the grade,” I said, keeping my hands planted firmly on the arms of the chair. “Who were the others?”

“Jenny Talbot,” Rachel said, smirking. “Did you know that she once got caught practicing her oral skills in church? By the organist? By the time she was done with the story, I think her face was as red as her hair.”

I nodded again. “Who was the third?”

There was a moment of silence where she just stared at me. Examining me the way one might study an interesting organism under a microscope. Leaning back, she opened the desk drawer, reached inside, and pulled out a gold rose pin.

“You, of course.”

I just sat there, looking between Rachel and the gleaming jewelry held between her thumb and index finger. Surely this was a joke, right? How the hell had I managed to win. Especially since I didn’t know how I could have won. Charlene didn’t know what the game was going to be. How did she come up with an embarrassing story worthy of Rachel’s entertainment?

When did she?

Swallowing again, I leaned forward to take the pin. Before my fingers could barely brush against it, however, the blonde pulled it back closer to her and smiled.

“What did I tell you last night?”

Oh, crap! “Uh, you said that …” I paused, shifting to point toward the window. “You mean, when you were explaining the contest?”

That predatory smile returned, and she gave a little shake of her head, sending those curls swaying. “No. Not at the Sigma party, Charlene. What did I say here? In this room?”

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I was so screwed.

“You don’t know, do you?” The tone of her voice told me that she already knew the answer to her question.

“Uh, it’s all sort of fuzzy, Rachel.” I said, grasping at any straw I could. “I don’t recall how much I had to drink so my memory’s…”

She held up her other hand, indicating that I should just stop right there.

“You weren’t drunk last night, Charlene. So don’t try to play me with that.” She laughed and reached back into the desk drawer again. This time, her hand emerged holding my cellphone. “Would you like another chance to explain why you don’t remember what happened last night?”

I looked from her to the phone and back before sighing. “No. I don’t.”

She gave a single nod and placed the phone down on the desk. I resisted the urge to grab it up and flee. Bringing the rose pin up, she twirled it between her fingers as she stared at it.

“Trina didn’t return to the game because she felt that her most embarrassing secret wasn’t fit for the ears of girls who might not end up being her sisters. I applauded her on her stance and allowed her to tell it to me alone.” She chuckled. “It wasn’t worth the time it took her to tell it. The moment she started speaking, I knew she was just making something up in the hopes of winning.”

“I see,” I said, though I really didn’t. So, Trina had attempted to bullshit the Kappa ice queen and was now an ex-pledge. Did that mean I’d won my spot by default? Something hinted at a deeper meaning behind the reason for Rachel’s aloofness and her quiet amusement.

“So, imagine my surprise when you showed up not an hour later and demanded to be given the same consideration.” She placed the pin down next to the phone. “I thought maybe you’d have a story about some major social faux pas. Or perhaps something from your high school days. A wardrobe malfunction while cheerleading perhaps.”

I forced myself to remain where I was, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Rachel laughed and stared right into my eyes.

“I have to admit, I honestly wasn’t at all prepared for you to sit right there, where you are right now, look me dead in the eyes, and sincerely tell me that your most embarrassing secret was that you are swapping bodies with a male version of yourself from another dimension.”

Uh … what!?!?

Author’s Note: First of all, I would like to apologize for the extremely long length of time for this chapter to come out. 2021 was a horrible year for me, and I just didn’t have the spoons available to string together words, much less get into Charlie’s head. Thank you for all who waited patiently for the next installment. Secondly, I promise that there will be new chapters at least once a week (more often, if I can keep the muse on the hamster wheel) and I will not abandon this story until it is complete.

As always, feedback is welcome and encouraged. Either here or at [email protected].

The Other Side of Me – Part 19
by Limbo’s Mistress

I was completely, utterly, and totally speechless.

Of all the things I expected to be revealed when I sat down across from the Kappa Omega head girl, the very last thing on that list would have been the announcement that she knew about the dimensional shift. To say that a whole new twist had been added would be the understatement of the year.

Luckily, I recovered my wits after a few seconds and put on my most confused expression, hoping it seemed sincere.

“Do what?”

Rachel, for her part, seemed to be more amused, and less convinced, by the attempt. With a little laugh, she leaned back in her seat and silently regarded me for a few moments before speaking.

“You don’t need to play innocent with me. I know you, remember?”

Rooted in my own seat, I glanced from the smirking girl over to the door, half expecting to see an entire entourage of Kappas lurking in the wings, all ready to pounce on the naïve young man who’d dared attempt to trick his way into their secret, females only, society.

However, the room still only contained Rachel and myself, so I looked back and held up one hand.

“Do you mind, like, telling me about what happened here last night?” I sighed, putting as much ‘Annoyed Charlene’ into my tone as I could. I might not be her, but from what I’d learned during my short tenure in her life, she wasn’t the kind of girl to hem and haw about something. “Since it’s totally obvious to both of us that I have zero knowledge about what took place.”

Without more information, I wasn’t going to confirm Rachel’s accusation.

“Fiiiiine,” the redhead said in an extremely placating tone. “I’ll play along with your little game. For now.”

I forced myself to sit back and crossed my legs, adopting a rather casual pose despite the fact that my heart was still hammering wildly in my chest. Taking control of the situation would be nothing short of a miracle. However, I hoped I to least mitigate the damage Charlene had done.
Once again, I found myself responsible for putting out her fires.

Rachel flashed me a smile. “Last night, you left Sigma House not long after you walked out of the room with Danny Morris. A few people said that he followed you from the back yard into the house, repeatedly asking you to stop and talk. Then, at the front door, you finally relented.”
I acknowledged her tale with a single nod, that part of the evening still fresh in my memory.

“He was being a complete ass,” I said. “And I didn’t feel like dealing with him right then.”

Rachel’s grin widened. “But you did deal with him right then, didn’t you? The you two went outside and had a rather heated discussion before you stormed off and he came back inside.” One of her shoulders rose and fell nonchalantly. “Not that you would remember that bit, since you swapped places before then.”

I remained silent, waiting for her to continue.

“Of course, I was less than pleased about you blowing off my game over what was clearly just a lovers’ spat.”

I wasn’t fast enough to keep my eyes from widening in response. Lovers’ spat? Me and Danny? Her casual mentioning of it revealed that she knew about Charlene and Danny’s little trysts.

“I …”

She gave me a slightly sympathetic look. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch, Miller. I’m sure things will work out between you two. Eventually.”

I didn’t know exactly what Rachele was getting at, but I silently urged for her to finish the damned story so I could get my phone, get out of there, and start doing some serious damage control. I wondered if the Jackson of this universe ever bothered to finish calibrating his memory modifier.

“So, here I am, relaxing after a delightful time with Matthew Doland and his incredibly talented tongue,” she continued with a smirk. “When you show up. If not for the fact that I was curious about what you had to say for yourself, I would have left you outside.”

“But you didn’t.”

She shook her head. “No, I didn’t. You asked for a chance to explain so we came in here. I told you that I can tolerate some level of nonconformity from my favorite pledge, but just ditching the party, and my game, was a bit too rebellious for someone wanting to be a Kappa.”

I nodded. As much as I had wanted to tell her to take her game and stick it up her ass, I’d kept my thoughts and opinions to myself and decided to play along. Of course, Charlene’s arrival had thrown all that out the window.

Or maybe not. Considering she’d managed to earn that damned pin.

I sighed. “That’s when you found out about the universe swap?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“And you believed? Just like that?”

Rachel gave me a small smile. “You shouldn’t act so surprised. After all, I’ve seen some of your … boyfriend’s … other incredible toys in action. If he can make things invisible or slow down time, why wouldn’t I accept that an accident in his lab resulted in your male counterpart from a parallel universe inhabiting your body?”

I almost corrected her gender assumption error. If I hadn’t been so focused on her words, looking for a way to refute them, I might have. Instead, I sat there, thoughts spinning in place as I realized what Rachel was assuming.

She thinks she’s talking to Charlene. She thinks that it was Charlie that leapt in at the party, and who came here last night to confess. Which means that Charlene sat here and implicitly told Rachel that she was Charles. But why?

Then the reason hit me like a sledgehammer. Charlene already knew I had been working overtime to keep her life on track while she’s been sabotaging mine. She’d taken this extra step not to help me, but because she wasn’t convinced she would remain in my universe. If she found herself back here for good, she could blame everything on Charles.

She was hedging her bets.

“I was worried he was going to mess things up over here,” I said, forcing myself to visibly relax. “At the party, Jackson called to warn me that a swap was about to happen, which is why I was trying to get away from Danny. I didn’t want to be around him when Charlie’s arrived.” I sighed in what I hoped was a sufficiently Charlene-like way. “Apparently, he doesn’t get along with his universe’s version of Danny.

She nodded. “He told me.”

“What else did he have to say?” As long as she was providing me information, I should get as much out of her as I could.

She shrugged. “Something about residual brain pattern overlays creating a disconnection in motor neurons or something. Said it created an instability in mannerisms and personality. Honestly, I didn’t really pay much attention. Boy You is a bit of a dull dork.”

I gave a derisive snort. “You should try being stuck in his life sometime. He’s an anti-social loser with almost no friends and no purpose. Get this, he’s on the track team, but he runs long-distance solos so he can be by himself.”

Sure, tearing myself down like that might be a sign of some deeper personality issues, but as soon as the words came out of my mouth, I realized they were more than just a cover story to placate Rachel. On some level, I actually felt them. In comparison to Charlene’s life, mine was practically boring.

However, that was a quandary for another time.

“That instability thing makes sense. Ever since the first swap, I’ve had problems with coordination and memory. Probably got a case of Dork Cooties or something.” I laughed as maliciously as I could.

Rachel laughed. “Hopefully it’s not permanent.”

“No shit,” I said, rolling my eyes. “What else did he have to say?”

She gestured at my phone. “He said he left you a message. Telling you what he’s been doing over here, I guess. Anyway, that’s when Jackson called to say another swap was about to take place.”

I chewed on my lower lip. Why would Jackson warn Charlene?

“And that’s when he took off?” I asked.

“Yep. Handed me the phone and told me to hang onto it until I saw you. Then he ran out the door. I guess he was worried that if you bounced back and found yourself in here, you’d freak out.” She shrugged. “I guess he’s not a tough as you are.”

“Not even remotely,” I agreed.

I picked up the phone and powered it on. When the screen flared to life, I saw that there was only about eight percent battery life left and that I had several texts.

Two of them were from Shelly asking where I was. The time stamp logged them as being sent while Charlene was in control. Five were from Josie demanding that I call her ASAP. Well, so much for that.

The last was from Katie and simply read, “Pls don’t b mad.” That one had arrived while I was sitting here talking with Rachel.
My brow furrowed as I wondered what had happened that she expected me to be mad over.

“Everything okay?” The Kappa leader was eyeing me curiously.

I nodded. “Just a text from my sister.”

Rachel laughed. “The little brat is never going to learn, is she? Is she still begging to borrow your peach sweater?”

I sighed and nodded with a smile I didn’t enjoy wearing. Not only was Charlene mean to her Katie, but she also apparently boasted about it with this shallow bitch. My stomach clenched painfully.

“She is. Along with some of my other stuff.” Then I made it a point to gesture at myself. “I swear, if that jerk starts treating her differently while he’s here, I’m going to make him regret it.”

She nodded. “Totes.” For a second, she just stared at me as if about to say something. Then she stood up and held the rose pin out to me. “Anyway, congratulations on becoming a Sister, girl. The induction ceremony is at six, so be here by five.”

I nodded. “I will.” Then I decided to sweeten the pot. “Do I need to come help set anything up beforehand?”

Rachel shook her head. “No. We’ve got it covered. Would hate to ruin the surprise.”

She flashed me a wide smile, but the expression made me concerned for a second that she was going to leap over the desk and sink her teeth into my neck. Rachel Bostwick might act like she wanted Charlene for a Little Sister, but I couldn’t help but think there was something else at play. My gut painfully warned me to keep extra careful around the pretentious redhead.

“See you tomorrow night.”

I waited until I got in the Jeep and drove across campus to the library parking lot before pulling out my phone to see what Charlene had to say to me. As I found the saved video file, I couldn’t help but laugh a bit that we’d both had the same idea.

When I clicked play, the screen showed Charlene’s face, moving back and forth as she walked. The buildings behind her were recognizable as being houses on the same street as Sigma, which indicated she’d recorded this right after leaving the party.

“Hello, Chuck,” she said in a rather amused tone. “Having fun? I certainly am. I would say that you have no idea how wonderful it is to have an easy, stress-free life. However, I suppose you do know, because that’s the life you actually got to have.” She stops talking long enough to look around before continuing walking. “I’m sorry about the sex with Danny thing. I’m sure us switching back in the middle of getting thoroughly railed probably wasn’t as much fun for you as it would have been for me.”

She shrugged one shoulder in a half-hearted apology. “Anyways, if the conversation I just had is any indication, you nuked that bit of side fluff. Not that I really care. I was just about done with him anyways. And it’s not like it is really going to matter in the long run.”

“You really are a total bitch,” I hissed at the girl on the screen.

“Anyway, I’m on my way to Kappa House to talk to Rachel and do some damage control. Just in case you haven’t been completely convincing pretending to be me, and my plan ends up failing. If I end up having to stay here, I’d rather have some semblance of this life still intact.” She pulled the phone closer to her face. “But I don’t plan on that happening, Chuck. I’ve finally found a way out of this bullshit universe where my mom is dead, my dad is a depressed loser, and my so-called boyfriend is too lame to do much more than grope at my tits.”

Charlene stopped walking, turning around so that I could see the Kappa House behind her. “So, I’m going to go in and tell Rachel some of the truth. If I’m successful, then the choice to remain a Kappa afterwards will be all yours. I would say the same with the cheerleading, but if you quit the squad, you’ll lose your scholarship. Dad doesn’t have the money for tuition, so you’d get kicked out of school.” She shrugged again and nodded her head at the house. “Well, wish me luck!” Then she made a kissy face at the camera before the recording ceased.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I said to the darkened screen.

Sighing, I put the Jeep back into gear and drove away from the university and headed in the direction of the mall. Maybe Shelly could get some insight from Charlene’s bizarre message. After all, she was the psycho’s best friend.

Being a Saturday afternoon, the shopping mecca was abundantly crowded. It took me a few seconds to find a parking space that wasn’t out in the middle of Bumfuck, Egypt. Inside the Galleria, I headed immediately to the nearest directory, looking for the location of Eternal Style.

“Third floor, West wing.”

I headed to the nearest escalator and rose to the top floor. At the directory there, I looked at the map, then at the closest stores before determining that I needed to go halfway down the left branch. As I walked, I noticed more than a few wandering eyes shifting my way. The majority of them belonged to guys my age. A few of them were men old enough to be my father.

The attention rubbed at my brain. I should have been annoyed at the fact that I was drawing the notice of others. But I also couldn’t deny the fact that it felt nice in a way. No one really noticed Charles when he was out in public. Or, at least, I’d never noticed anyone noticing me. Now, though, it seemed as if I was shining a spotlight on myself.

I didn’t dislike it. Even though I felt, on some level, that I should.

The pink and blue neon sign for Eternal Style loomed ahead. When I got within fifty feet of the entrance, I spotted Shelly. She stood behind a table in the middle of the store, folding a stack of shirts into piles of various sizes and colors. She glanced up and saw me right as I entered, flashing me a sad, extremely unhappy face.

Looks like someone has talked to Josie recently.

I paused in mid-step, locked eyes with her and sighed before drawing closer. When I opened my mouth to start filling her in on the fun-filled and totally disorienting day I’d been having, she held up a finger before glancing over her shoulder at another woman, one who looked to be about a decade older than us.

“Charity? I’m going to take my lunch break now if that’s okay. Suzy is supposed to be here in about ten minutes.” She gestured at the practically empty store. “And we’re totally dead.”

The other woman looked from Shelly to me and back. “Fine. Thirty minutes.”

“Wait here,” my friend said as she bounded away from the display table to the counter running along the far wall. Less than a minute later, she was back with her phone gripped tightly in her hand. “Where to?”

“Someplace with a bit of privacy,” I murmured, linking my arm through hers to escort her out into the Galleria’s promenade. “I’ve got a ton of shit to unpack.”

“I can imagine,” Shelly said as she directed us down the walkway and around the corner to a small food court located at the end of the wing.
It was a great deal smaller than the food palace on the first floor. In addition to the place selling soft pretzels and donuts, there was a frozen yogurt stand, and a miniature cantina advertising a three-for-one special on soft tacos. The wafting smell of sautéed meat made my stomach clench painfully and turn over in protest.

Shelly sat down at one of the tables furthest from the food and I dropped into the seat across from her.

“Josie called me after she left your house,” she said without any preamble. “Charity was in the bathroom, so I was able to talk to her for a quick minute. She’s really angry.”

I nodded. “And she’s got every right to be. Her best friend fucked her boyfriend behind her back.”

Shelly winced a bit when I mentioned that I … err, Charlene, was Josie’s best friend. However, she let the comment pass. “Yeah, I got an earful of it. Most of which was asking if I knew and didn’t tell her. I said it was just as big a surprise to me as it was to her.” An apologetic look crossed her face. “Sorry to leave you hanging like that, Chuck, but we’ll never get this sorted out if she’s angry at both of us.”

I nodded. “I totally understand. Speaking of straightening it out, I think we should tell her the truth about what’s going on. She obviously knows we’ve been keeping something from her. Right now, she thinks it’s about Danny. But if she gets the idea that we’re keeping other secrets, then she won’t have anything to do with either of us ever again.”

Shelly seemed to consider my suggestion for a few moments before giving me a dubious look.

“I’m not completely sure that’s going to work out for the best in the end. Especially if you go back home permanently. Josie is sweet and all, but she can hold a serious grudge when the notion strikes her. We tell her about the swap and that it wasn’t you doing that, and she’s probably going forgive you. Because there’s really no reason to be mad at Charles for something Charlene did.”

I nodded. “But when Charlene’s back, either temporarily or permanently …”

“There will be hell to pay in the form of an angry, petite blonde.”

“I still think it’s the smart thing to do,” I said. “She’s going to be mad at Charlene regardless. Might make things easier in the immediate if she understands that I’m not her.”

Shelly nodded. “Yep.” Then she leaned forward. “What happened at Kappa House? I see you got your phone back. Was Rachel there? Are you still a pledge or did you get eliminated?”

“Yeah, she was there. Expecting me, as a matter of fact.” I reached into my pocket and retrieved the rose-shaped pin, holding it up in front of me. “I’m not a pledge anymore. I’m a full-fledged Kappa.”

Shelly’s eyes widened. “What the hell? How did Charlene pull that off?”

“She told Rachel about what happened in Jackson’s lab and what’s been going on for the past few days.” Then I proceeded to recount the weird conversation between the sorority leader and myself. When I was done, Shelly shook her head.”

“I can’t believe Charlene told her the truth about the swaps, but neglected to be honest about which of you she was.” She sighed. “What the hell is that girl thinking?”

I swiped my thumb across the screen of my phone and called up Charlene’s video. Then I passed the device to her. “I think she’s planning on leaving this life behind for good, but wants to make sure she’s got a bit of a safety net first.”

Shelly pulled my phone close to her face and watched the recorded rant while I leaned back in my seat and stared up at the skylighted ceiling while conflicting thoughts danced through my head.

Charlene was determined to take over my life and let me have hers. Apparently, she felt I had the better existence and wanted it for herself. Which, if she succeeded, would leave me here in hers. I really should be a lot angrier about it than I felt. Problem was, the boring, non-pressure nature of my life that she so envied, was starting to look unappealing to me.

I’d told Rachel that I was a dullard with no friends and no social life. Until a few days ago, I’d preferred it that way. Now, whenever I stopped to think about leaving and going back home, a sense of dread attempted to wash over me. Could I go back to Charles’ life? Just sitting here contemplating the possibility made me queasy.

“Holy shit,” Shelly hissed as she passed the phone back to me, yanking my thoughts back to the present. “She’s fucking nuts.”

I nodded. “No question about it. I can’t believe she told Rachel about the dimension swap.”

“Yeah, didn’t expect that. Or that the Ice Queen would be so casual about it.” She frowned. “Still, I wouldn’t suggest trusting Rachel any further than you absolutely have to. The only side she’s on is her own. Anything you tell her might come back to bite you in the ass.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said as I went to put my phone away. Before I could, though, it buzzed in my hand. Looking down, I saw it was incoming call from Katie.

“It’s Katie,” I said to Shelly as I thumbed the green circle and brought the phone to my ear. The memory of her last text popped into my brain. Asking me to not be mad. “Hey, Katie-Kat. I just now picked up my phone from where Charlene left it last night. That’s why I didn’t text you back. What’s up?”

“Oh, I thought it was because she had come back,” Katie said in a voice that reeked of barely constrained panic.

“Nope. Not since last night.”

“That’s a relief,” she said softly.

I felt my brow furrow a bit. “What’s going on? What do you think I would be angry?”

There was a lengthy pause before she answered in a quiet, concerned voice. “I did something that I probably shouldn’t have. I just wasn’t thinking.”

I sat up in my seat. “What did you do?” Shelly looked up from her own phone to shoot me a worried glance. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m okay. I just …” Another three second pause. “Look, you’re going to get a phone call in a moment. Please, please, please just say yes. I promise that I won’t ask anything else of you for the rest of the time that you’re here. Just say yes this one time. For me?”

“Say yes to what?” I asked, my own worry starting to build. “Who is going to be calling me?”

As if the universe was waiting patiently for those words to come out of my mouth, my phone immediately began to buzz again. The Caller ID identified it as an Unknown Caller.

“Son of a bitch,” I breathed.

“Please, Charlie,” Katie said, practically begging aloud now. “Please.”

I glanced at Shelly, who was giving me a strange look, as I put Katie on hold to answer the mystery call.

“Uh, hello?”

“Charlie?” The guy’s voice was sort of familiar, but I didn’t recognize it right before he spoke again. “It’s Mike. Uh, Mike North. From school.”
“Uh, hi,” I said, trying to figure out why Mike North was calling me, and how Katie knew he would be.

“Hi,” he repeated, followed by a little laugh. “Anyway, sorry to call you up last minute, but Seb, my brother, wants to take your sister out on a date tonight and …”

“Sure!” I said, cutting him off. I guess Katie wanted me to give the okay for her to go out with this boy, rather than risking a chance of Dad saying no. “Tell him she has to be home by ten.”

There was a moment of silence before Mike’s soft chuckle drifted into my ear again. It wasn’t an unpleasant sound, but I really didn’t care for the way it made certain parts of me tingle.

“Oh, uh, that’s not exactly the purpose of this call. See, Seb doesn’t have his license yet. So, I’ll have to drive them around.” A slight pause followed. “I was calling to see if you wanted to help me chaperone them. Otherwise, I’m going to feel like a big old fifth wheel, you know?”

My mouth dropped open, and Shelly put her phone down to lean forward and stare expectantly at me. I wasn’t sure if she’d heard what Mike said or if she was merely reacting to my stunned reaction. I swallowed the lump in my throat and hunted around until I managed to find my voice again.

“Are you … asking me out … on a date?”

Shelly’s eyes widened as her jaw dropped open.

That stupid, delicious laugh rang in my ear again. In an instant, my mind perfectly visualized the smile I knew was plastered widely across his handsome face. Which only made the tingling increase.

“Yeah,” he said. “Looks like I am.”

The Other Side of Me – Part 20
by Limbo’s Mistress

After Mike and I had agreed upon a time for them to pick us up, I ended the call. Which was immediately followed up with a barrage of asinine questions from Shelly.

“You have a date? With who?” Her tone was a mixture of concern and surprise.

“Mike North.” I answered, trying to sound far more casual about the subject than I felt. “Well, technically his little brother asked Katie out. Mike has to chauffeur them around so he asked if I wanted to tag along.”

“Mike North?” She scrunched up her brow as if trying to solve a complex algorithm. “The hot basketball player?”

“Yeah.” I wanted to counter that the boy wasn’t that hot, but the memory of the way talking to him the previous evening had affected me stood up and filed a formal protest. “That’s him.”

Shelly held up one finger, still staring at me with an incredulous look. “The totally hot basketball player that we go to school with? That Mike North?”

I sighed loudly and nodded. “Yes. That Mike North.”

“The hot basketball player with the perfect hair, gorgeous smile, and totally cute butt? That’s the Mike North you have a date with?”

I balled my hands into fists and brought them up to press against my temples. “Yes, Michelle. Can we just drop it now?”

You would have thought I just asked her to stop breathing. She shook her head as she got to her feet and held out her hand in my direction.

“No, we cannot drop it.” She looked down at her phone. “I have to get back to work. But I’m here to help. I want you to go home, chill out a bit, take a bath and get ready. I’ll be over to your house the second I get off, okay?”

I shrugged, unable to focus on anything other than the sound of Mike’s voice.

“It’s really not fair, Charlie,” Shelly said wistfully as she began to walk in the direction of Eternal Style. “You’ve been in that body for less than a week and still have better luck with guys than me. I thought you were maybe exaggerating last night when you said some of Charlene’s skills had transferred to you. At this rate, you’ll be a perfect copy of her before you know it.”

The comment slapped me sober.

I stopped walking and stared at her. “Do you think that’s what I want?” I gestured at myself. “The first few hours, I fought against the way this body moved and posed because it was completely alien from what I was used to. Now, I don’t even notice it unless I consciously think about it.” I glanced around to make sure no one was within earshot. “I can do my makeup almost on autopilot and I’m instinctively pairing clothing styles and hues like I’ve been doing it all my life.” I clenched my jaw. “And now I’m getting all weak-kneed over some really cute guy I don’t even know.” I shook my head and sighed. “At what point is the only difference between me and Charlene the fact that I remember how things used to be when I was a guy?”

Shelly stopped and looked at me, her mouth turned down into a frown. She crossed her arms over her belly and sighed. “I’m sorry, okay? I … I keep forgetting at times that pretending to be her is hard on you. The struggle you had the first couple of days, when I thought this wasn’t going to work, has lessened so much it’s easy to lose track of how disturbing it has to be for you.” She drew in a deep breath, released it, and then unfurled her arms to pull me into a hug. “I’m really sorry.”

My arms hung limply at my side for a moment before I finally hugged her back. During the embrace, I could feel her breasts pressing against mine, the heat of her breathing so close to my ear, and the faint aroma of strawberry scent of the conditioner in her hair. If I was still Charles, I would have immediately sprung an erection so hard that would have put my pants in mortal peril.

As another woman, though, all of those sensations provided comfort, in addition to arousal. I should have been ecstatic that I still found females as sexually desirable as before. Instead, I couldn’t help wondering if I would feel the same way if Mike was to hold me in such a manner.

Shelly finally pulled away and smiled at me. “I have to get back to work. I’ll be over to your place right after so I can help you get ready, okay?”

I nodded, taking a step back. “They’re picking us up around seven.”

“Okay. Plenty of time.” Then she moved closer again, this time placing her hand on my upper arm, rather than giving me another hug. “Just breathe, Charlie. You can do this.”

_____________________________________________________________________

“I can’t do this!”

I pulled the towel wrapped around my torso higher as I looked from the open closet door to the girl lounging nonchalantly on my bed. After taking a quick shower, I’d styled my hair into gentle waves and applied a light layer of makeup before moving on to choosing an outfit. Problem was, I had nothing to wear.

“I want to just go with something casual,” I complained as I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. “But everything I pick is either ‘flirty’, ‘sexy’, or ‘boring’. Why doesn’t Charlene have anything that’s just normal and won’t make me look like I’m on the prowl?”

Shelly looked up from the magazine she was flipping through. It was one of those entertainment tabloids full of paparazzi pictures of celebrities. The cover photo showed Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston walking hand in hand with their three kids. Looks like on this side, he never dumped her for Angelina.

“You’re joking, right?” Shelly asked, tossing the magazine on the bed as she turned to sit sideways on the edge of the bed. “First of all, you are not going to look like you’re on the prowl, okay? The whole closet full of ‘normal’, non-sexy clothes. I think your problem is that you might be able to coordinate like a modern young woman, but you’re preoccupied with thinking about how they are going to look from a guy’s point of view.”

“I am not!”

Shelly laughed. “The fact that you referred to everything as either flirty, sexy, or boring just goes to show that I’m right. Did you think about anything you’ve worn before now in those categories? What about last night? You looked completely hot and the idea that you might look hot, especially to guys, never even entered your mind.” Her mouth twisted into an amused smirk.

“What?”

“Charlie, you wondering if some guy is going to find what you’re wearing attractive isn’t new territory. We all think along those lines. All the time. Normally, us women have to guess, but you get the luxury of being able to put yourself into the guy’s shoes and have a fairly good idea the reaction is going to be. But now you’re not thinking along the lines of what Charles might like, but what Mike is going to fancy. It’s making you act like a girl.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but realized I had no logical counterargument. Shelly was right. Every outfit I considered wearing instantly brought up the question of what Mike might think of it.

Sighing, I leaned against the open doorframe of the closet. “I should cancel. This isn’t … what if Charlene comes back while we’re together?”

Shelly shrugged. “She could. She could also come back in the next five minutes, Charlie. But you can’t avoid doing things here because you’re worried she is going to pop in.” She held up a finger. “Besides, Jackson has the early warning device, right? He can call you before the swap.”

“That didn’t exactly work out last night, now did it?”

“Didn’t it? You knew it was coming. If we hadn’t been separated by that damned game, I could have helped.”

“Maybe,” I said, unconvinced. “But you won’t be there again tonight.”

“No,” she smiled. “But Katie will be. You two could work out some kind of, I dunno, signal. If Jackson contacts you about an upcoming swap, you can give her the signal and she can do something to get you away from Mike.” She wagged her finger at me. “Because I’m not sure what she would do if she popped in to find you on a date with a boy she doesn’t know.”

“Probably just fuck him,” I said. Maybe a bit too harshly.

Shelly frowned. “Charlene’s not a slut, Charlie. I disagree with what she did with Danny, but it’s not like she sleeps around.”

“You called me … her … that when you busted into Jackson’s lab. Before you found out about the swap. I think the words ‘scuzzy whore’ were also banded about.”

“I was mad as hell,” Shelly said. “I didn’t mean to imply that Charlene was an actual whore.”

“You wouldn’t know, though, would you? Hell, you didn’t even know about Danny until she and I started bouncing around. For all you know, she’s got a plethora of bedmates you don’t even suspect.” I turned and slapped the side of the closet door. “I should probably get tested for an STD.”

Shelly’s eyes narrowed. “You’re being ridiculous, Charlie. You’re letting your anxiety about this date get to you.” She stood up and walked over to me, putting her arm across my shoulders. “Just try to relax, okay? I know you’re confused about these feelings, but you don’t have to act on them. Not tonight.”

“I’m sorry,” I said as a wave of regret rolled over me. “I know it’s mostly the stress and frustration talking. I keep trying to maintain Charlene’s life, even though I don’t have clue one of what I’m doing, and she really doesn’t care.”

“I’m sure she cares a bit,” Shelly countered. “When you guys get back to where you belong permanently, she’s going to have to deal with whatever choices you made while you were here.”

“Just like I have to deal with the choices she’s making over there.”

Shelly opened her mouth, then closed it as she took a step toward me and planted her hands on her hips. “I want to ask you a question and I want a completely honest answer from you, okay?”

I didn’t answer her right away. Mainly because I spent several seconds trying to pre-guess what she was going to ask. However, when she arched a brow and began tapping her foot, I decided that I should at least entertain her.

“Okay. Complete honesty.”

She nodded. “You swapped into Charlene’s life about four days ago.”

“That’s not a question,” I said.

“I’m not done. Since that time, you’ve been back to your universe for, what, four hours total? Maybe five?”

I nodded. “Something like that.”

“The rest of the time, you’ve been here,” she gestured at the room around us. “Living this life.”

“You know I have, Shelly. What’s your point?”

“How much fun have you had while you’ve been here?”

I just blinked at her. Was she joking? Fun? My whole life had been turned upside down. Hell, it’d been completely replaced for the most part. With a life that I didn’t completely understand and possibly didn’t want. What about this would be considered fun?

Shelly didn’t wait for me to formulate an answer. “Yes, you’ve had to put out fires left and right. You’ve busted your ass to make sure that you live Charlene’s life to the best of your ability. You’ve had to deal with the knowledge that she’s not a completely nice person, which means that your family is being subjected to having put up with her. You’ve been doing all of this non-stop pretty much for almost ninety-six hours.” She frowned and looked at me. “When are you going to allow yourself some fun?”

“What?”

“Have you done anything since your arrival that’s been enjoyable?” She smirked a bit and placed her hand on her chest. “I mean, other than spend time in my wonderful presence?”

I couldn’t speak. Instead, my mine whirled back to the moment I woke up on Other Jackson’s lab sofa to find that I was inhabiting the body of my universal counterpart. Then there was dealing with the fact that my mom was dead over here. Bringing Katie into the knowledge and doing what I could to maintain Charlene’s life. School with classes I didn’t expect. Relationships and friendships that Charles didn’t have.

All of it felt like I’d been trying to keep a dozen plates spinning in the air, knowing that they would all come crashing down at some point.
Then I thought about the snippets here and there where I’d been able to just let go. Be in the moment. Times when being Charlene wasn’t a complete chore.

“Well,” I said as my face warmed slightly. “I did sort of enjoy cheer practice. And shopping with Katie yesterday.”

“Shopping?” Shelly sounded incredulous.

“Well, the shopping wasn’t the part I liked the most. It was, uh, spending time with Katie. I’m not as close with my sister anymore, and it was nice to actually hang out with her for a bit.” Then I smiled. “Plus, there’s you.”

“Me? Are you saying you have fun with me?”

I nodded. “Sure, it seems like we spend all of our time fixing things. Or planning for how we’re going to handle possible situations. But it’s nice to have a friend.”

She laughed, but then gave me a serious look. “You don’t have any friends back home? Really?”

I shrugged. “Just Jackson. Everyone else is an acquaintance. Or a roommate. Or a teammate. I mean, if you’d asked me a week ago, I would have said I had plenty of friends. But the truth is, I really don’t.” Pointing at the phone on the nightstand, I let out a defeated sigh. “I wasn’t lying when I told Rachel that Charles was a boring loser.”

“That sounds really sad.”

I nodded. “Yeah, it does. But I guess that also means there are less people to notice Charles is acting funny. Makes things easier on Charlene, right?”

“Not that she deserves things to be easy for her. Here or over there.”

“It is what it is, I guess.” Turning back to the closet, I chewed on my lower lip. “So, do you think maybe a skirt with a cardigan would be cute without sending the wrong signal?”

Shelly smirked at me. “What would be the right signal? That you find Mike North to be totally yummy and you want him to think you are too?”

I swatted at her with one hand while the other grabbed the top of the towel. “Are you really sure you’re my friend?”

She laughed again and nodded. “I am. Just trying to get you to loosen up. Yes, I think a skirt and sweater combo would be perfect. It’ll be cute, let Mike at least enjoy seeing your enviable legs, and come off as completely casual.”

She seemed as if she were going to add onto her statement, but at that moment, her phone rang. Looking down at the Caller ID made her frown slightly.

“Josie?” I guessed.

Shelly nodded. “She called me right when I was leaving work and asked if I would be willing to hang out with her tonight and comfort her broken heart. I told her that I needed to run home and help my dad with something first, but that I’d definitely be down to bring over a pint of Rocky Road and listen while she laments about Danny and you.”

I shook my head. “We need to tell her the truth.”

“We will. Tomorrow. I’ll tell her that I think there’s more to the story than we know and tomorrow the three of us will go to Jackson’s and get him to explain it.”

“It should be tonight,” I said softly. “She shouldn’t need to suffer all night because I’ve got a not-date.”

“She won’t be open to hearing your side of the story tonight, Charlie. She needs to get some of that pain out of her system first.” She placed a hand on my shoulder. “Trust me on this, okay? It’s a total Girl Thing.”

“I trust you,” I said. “Though it won’t be long before there is more girl than boy in my head.”

“Then I’ll bring over a pint of Rocky Road to commiserate your new womanhood with you.” She shoved her phone into her back pocket and flashed me a smile. “So, I’m gonna jet. Relax. Have fun. Enjoy being Charlene for once.” Crossing to the bedroom door, she turned to look back at me over her shoulder. “I expect a phone call this evening with all the details.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’ll be a short report, Shells.”

She winked and departed the room. A few seconds later, I heard the front door slam.

Turning back to the closet, I pulled out a faded denim skirt and a lavender cardigan. The V-neck was a bit deeper than I would have preferred, but I figured it would be okay. Thinking about what Shelly had said about giving Mike a nice view of my legs, I laughed.

“Looks like you’re going to get a bit of cleavage to ogle as well, Mr. North.”

From the dresser, I pulled out a peach-colored thong and an off-white, lace-trimmed bra. Tossing the towel on the back of my chair, I pulled the panties up onto my hips and fought with getting the bra on. The clasp was on the front, rather than the back, but it felt a bit on the smallish side.
Almost as if my boobs had gotten a slight bit bigger.

When I pulled the skirt up my legs to my hips, I had to shimmy a bit to get it all the way on. Then I struggled with getting the button at the top of the zipper to fasten. Eventually, I managed to get it closed, but immediately shook my head as I looked at myself in the mirror.

“Better watch the carbs, Miller. If Charlene pops back into a body that’s gained a few pounds, she’s really going to be pissed.”

Once I had the sweater on, I grabbed a pair of ballet flats from the shoe tree and slipped them on. I grabbed my phone and a small purse that held a few essentials before heading downstairs

Katie was already waiting, sitting on the edge of the sofa like she was awaiting the order to launch herself at the door. I could hear Dad in the kitchen banging around, pretending like he was busy doing something. It was more than obvious he was merely lurking in order to meet the brothers who were coming to collect his daughters for the evening.

“You look really pretty,” I said to the anxious teen. She was wearing a black skater skirt with a dark green crewneck jersey with white stripes across the sleeves. Her hair had been parted down the middle and braided into a pair of pigtails. The style looked completely adorable and really showcased her face.

I made a note to have her teach me how to do that to my own hair.

“Thanks,” she said, beaming up at me. “You, too.” Then she chewed on the inside of her cheek for a second before adding. “Thanks for doing this for me.”

“It’s okay, Katie-Kat. I don’t mind at all.”

She shrugged, cutting her eyes over at the kitchen doorway for a second. “Charlene wouldn’t have.”

I sighed but had to nod in agreement. “I know.”

“I just want you to know I really appreciate it.”

Reaching out, I took one of her hands into mine and squeezed it lightly. “I know you do, sweetie. And I’m really happy I could help you out.”
We both jumped when the doorbell rang. I released Katie’s hand and turned to the door, but before I could manage more than a couple of steps, Dad zoomed out of the kitchen. His dark blue apron had what appeared to be a fresh tomato sauce stain on the front.

When he opened the door, I could see Mike and Sebastian standing on the porch. Both boys were in jeans and wore t-shirts beneath an unbuttoned casual shirt. Though the colors were different, there was no mistaking the fact that two were brothers.

“Mr. Miller?” Mike said as he stuck out his hand. “I’m Mike North and this is my little brother Sebastian. Are Charlie and Katie available?”

He delivered his lines with the utmost sincerity in voice and expression. I had to cover my mouth because I knew he could see Katie and I standing there plain as day. However, the young man continued to maintain eye contact with my father, rather than risk looking our way.

Dad took a moment to size up both boys before shaking Mike’s hand and stepping back to allow them to come inside. Turning his head, he looked at the two of us.

“Charlie, Katie, your dates are here.”

I rolled my eyes at him as I walked across to the door. For a flash of an instant, I wondered how Dad would react if I just planted a long, slow kiss on Mike. Unfortunately, the image that popped into my head was so vivid, and so intriguing, that I felt my face ignite into an inferno.

“Uh, hi.” I said to them as Katie bounced up next to me and waved.

“I expect them home by eleven. Understood?”

For a second, I felt like reminding him that I was beyond curfew age. Then I remembered that it wasn’t just me going out. Luckily, Mike was there to keep greasing the wheels.

“Yes, sir. Charlie made that abundantly clear earlier. Eleven o’clock sharp. I promise.”

I sighed and lightly bopped my father on his shoulder. “Daddy, behave.” Then I looked at Mike. “Don’t mind him. He’s upset he forgot where he put the chastity belts.”

Katie gasped, then giggled while Seb just looked confused. Mike merely smirked. My father turned to give me a look like he was completely shocked I’d said something of that nature. Of course, it’s possibility that Charlene was never that forwardly bold. I’m sure she would have never let Mike pick her up and risk him meeting her dad or sister.

But I decided ‘to hell with it’. Shelly said I should try to have some fun in this life. So, dammit, I’m going to have some fun.

What’s the worst that could happen?

The Other Side of Me – Part 21
by Limbo’s Mistress

Mike’s ride turned out to be a glossy black, current model pickup truck featuring a large extended cab as well as a lift kit that I knew right off was going to present an interesting challenge for those of us in skirts. As we walked to where it was parked behind my Jeep, I glanced across the street to Jackson’s house.

I hadn’t spoken to him since he called to warn me about the switch during the party. Part of me felt guilty about not spending much time with him. After all, he and I were really tight in my universe. However, I also felt a similar pang of regret thinking about being around him, in this body, after what Charlene had done to him.

Damned if she did, and damned if I didn’t.

I had hoped Katie and I would ride together in the back. So, I could rely on her to help me bluff through any unknown Charlene stuff. However, as soon as Seb opened the rear door, he hopped up into the seat, then leaned out, arm extended to offer Katie the necessary boost to get inside. She ascended gracefully enough not to flash anyone her panties and grinned mirthfully down at me before closing the door.

Which left me up front with the older of the North brothers.

The original plan had been to grab something to eat and maybe catch a movie. Even if it was the epitome of cliché.

However, once we were all in the truck, Katie mentioned that it was the last weekend of the lake carnival. The deliberation took less than a minute, then we were off on a thirty-minute trip to Lake Marshall.

By the time we arrived at the lake, it was already nearly dark, and the parking lot was full. Mike pulled down the road, stopping in an open field beside the road. In addition to helping us down onto the thick grass, both boys decided that it would be the height of chivalry for them to hold our hands until we made it to the paved areas.

Just so no one tripped and injured themselves.

Mike’s hand in mine made my heart hammer wildly in my chest and felt so nice that it terrified me. The moment we reached the cracked black asphalt of the parking lot, I let go and stepped a foot away from him. If the action offended him, it didn’t show anywhere on his face. He merely gave me an easy smile as if he understood my reaction.

Though I was pretty sure he absolutely did not.

“Let’s get something to eat,” Katie said, pointing at one of the food trucks parked near the carnival entrance. “I’m starving.”

The three of them ate while I merely snacked on some of Katie’s fries. My stomach had been clenching at random intervals throughout the evening, making me worry that actually putting more than a few morsels in it would result in a bad time for everyone.

I chalked it up to the stress of the day. And the date. Otherwise, it was likely I was coming down with a bug or something.

After eating, we went through one of the attractions called The Mirror Maze. Inside we were greeted with dozens of altered reflections of ourselves. I gawked at Super Tall & Skinny Charlene, Short & Fat Charlene, Bendy Charlene, and Inverse Charlene. Katie and the boys laughed and pointed out how funny their bodies looked.

I was too busy looking at the duplicates and remembering that had all started with what I had thought was a mirror. Despite all the altered forms that faced me, they all had one thing in common.

There wasn’t a trace of Charles anywhere.

We moved on to playing some of the obviously rigged games, though Seb did manage to win a stuffed tiger that he immediately gave to Katie. She squealed, then laughed as she bopped him on the arm with it. The grinning boy responded by rubbing at his arm and adopting a pained expression. As if she’d hit him with a two by four instead of a plushy smaller than a housecat.

After that, Katie announced that she felt enough time had elapsed since putting food in her belly that she was ready to ride some rides. I, however, still didn’t trust my aching stomach, so I begged off to wander to the boardwalk running beside the water. I paused and leaned on the railing, gazing out over the placid, dark surface of Lake Marshall.

A few moments later, Mike appeared at my side, leaning on the aged wood next to me.

“Not riding with them?” I asked, not taking my eye off the lake.

“Nah. I figure they could use some time alone. It is their date, after all.”

There was a moment or two of silence around us. Then Mike moved a half step closer. “Are you okay, Charlie? You’re not getting cold, are you?”

I slowly cut my eyes over at the handsome young man and smirked. “If I say yes, are you going to put your arms around me? Attempt to warm me up with your body heat?”

He let out a little laugh, cheeks flushing a bit, and shook his head. “Actually, I’ve got a jacket in the truck I can run get for you. Unless … you would prefer I did warm you up myself.”

Ignoring the enticing offer, not exactly an easy task, I turned my face to his. “I’m fine, Mike. If I do get too chilly, I’ll be sure to let you know which method I prefer for getting my temperature to rise.”

He grinned wider and gave me an small salute. “Yes, ma’am.”

His gaze remained on me for a few more seconds before he turned around to look over to where our younger siblings were waiting in line for one of the rides. I turned and followed his gaze, watching the animated way Katie and Seb were conversing. They seemed to be having a wonderful time.

I couldn’t help but grin when Katie’s eyes widened at something Sebastian said before my sister devolved into a series of high-pitched giggles I could almost hear over the gentle lapping of the water on the bank behind me.

“Thanks for coming along with us,” Mike said, nodding his head at the pair. “Seb was worried that having his older brother tagging along would harsh his style.”

“They seem to be enjoying themselves,” I commented. “I figured it would be a lot of strange looks and awkward silences.”

“Oh, you mean like what’s going on between us?”

My gaze snapped back to him for a moment before I turned back around to look at the lake.

“It’s not … I mean … I’m just …” The flustered stammer in my voice made me want to kick myself.

Or possibly kick Mike.

“It’s okay, Charlie,” he said quietly. “Sometimes I don’t exactly think before I speak. If I made you uncomfortable, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.”

I tried to think of an acceptable excuse for my response to his comment. I couldn’t tell him the truth. That I was really a guy trapped in a female version of myself and that, while I was attracted to him, I didn’t have the slightest clue how to handle it. I also had no experience with fliting like a girl. Like Charlene.

“It’s okay,” I said, forcing a smile on my face. “You don’t make me uncomfortable.” Yeah, it was a bold-faced lie. But my level of comfort was something that was my problem, not his.

Mike nodded. “I know that you agreed to this outing because Katie begged you to. Not because I asked. I’m not trying to make a move on you.”

“You’re not?” I made my question one of high skepticism.

He looked into my eyes for a moment. The blueness of them reminded me of a summer sky, just before a storm. My pulse quickened and the knots my stomach had been in all day tightened. As a guy, I’d seen girls with pretty eyes. Even enjoyed looking at them, too. Honestly though, that wasn’t the part of their anatomy that usually got the majority of my focus.

But looking into Mike’s eyes was different. The more I looked into them, the more I wanted them to continue to stare back at me. There seemed to be a flurry of different emotions swirling in those dangerously blue-tinted orbs. One of which was responsible for my increased heart rate.

Desire.

“Would I normally?” He asked as he moved an inch or two closer. It wasn’t enough to actually invade my space, not that I think I would have actually protested if it had, but close enough that I could smell the faint trace of the cologne he was wearing. It reminded me of the smell of a campfire on a cool fall evening. “Yes, I totally would.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.” He flashed me a wide, slightly embarrassed smile. “So, confession time. I’m not a big fan of football as a whole, Charlie. However, some friends convinced me to go to the game against Medford. After about twenty minutes, I was completely done and ready to leave. Then I saw you on the sidelines.” One shoulder rose and fell. “I couldn’t take my eyes off of you.”

I gave him a slightly amused look. “Because of the short skirt? Or was it the tight top?”

Mike shook his head. “It wasn’t either of those, though I’d be lying if I didn’t appreciate the way the uniform looks on you. No, it was you. There was something about you just …” He laughed and held up his hand. “Please don’t think I’m insane, but I saw you and thought to myself, ‘That girl does not want to be here. Sure, she’s smiling and waving to the crowd, but she doesn’t look like she’s having fun’.”

The comment caught me off guard, and I drew in a quick breath, blinking up at him. Why would Mike get the impression Charlie wasn’t having a good time at the game? Granted, I had only been to one practice and zero games, so I didn’t know firsthand what sort of stress a cheerleader might be under when actually on the field. Could it be that he saw her when she was dealing with something not sports-related? Rather than actually seeing through some façade she’s erected.

Then I thought about Shelly’s comment earlier in my bedroom. About the idea that I really hadn’t enjoyed my life as Charles. I didn’t have any fun. That I assumed I was happy, when in fact, I was not. What if … just what if … Charlene was the same way?

Just really good at hiding it from the people closest to her.

“I had a lot on my mind that night,” I said, finally finding my voice and conjuring the most basic explanation I could. “Bunch of personal stuff.”

He nodded. “That’s fair. Of course, after that I noticed you all the time. At other games and around the campus. You were always with Michelle and Josie. Or some of the Kappa girls. So, I never felt comfortable enough to walk up and introduce myself out of the blue.” He sighed and looked at me for a moment before returning to studying the lake. “I always got the feeling you were unhappy those times, as well.”

“Always?”

I tried to wrap my mind around what he was telling me. Either Mike was the world’s worst at judging someone’s mood, or Charlene was the world’s greatest at hiding her true feelings. After all, if she was as constantly miserable as Mike claimed, then surely someone else would have noticed it, right? Katie. Or Jackson. Definitely Shelly.

He shook his head. “Not all the time. Just mostly. Granted, I never actually interacted with you, so I could be way off base. It’s just … back then you seemed like you were just going through the motions.”

“Back then?” I tilted my head to the side to stare at him. “When did she … uh, I … change?”

“I don’t know. The first time I noticed it was the other day when you nearly fell running to your Trig exam. There was just something in your eyes that struck me as different. Even though you were obviously in a hurry, and a bit stressed, you didn’t have that look.” Mike let out one of those annoying adorable laughs. “You didn’t have it at the mall yesterday either.”

“What look is that?” I asked, genuinely curious about his insight.

“Hopelessness,” he said softly, cutting his gaze over to me.

“Hopelessness?” I repeated. “Seriously?”

He shrugged. “Like I said, I don’t know you well enough to say with complete certainty. I just know what it seemed like to me.”

Could he be right? Maybe Charlene wasn’t the upbeat, social butterfly everyone assumed she way. Is that why she wanted to stay in my life? A semi-fresh start?

I started to inquire further into Mike’s theory, but that’s when my phone rang. Pulling it out of my pocket, I looked at the Caller ID and froze. Jackson. Jackson was calling me.

“No, no, no. Not now,” I murmured softly as my thumb swiped across the screen. Looking at Mike, I pointed at the phone. “I really need to take this.”

He nodded and turned back to look at the carnival while I stepped several yards away and put the phone to my ear. “Please don’t tell me there’s a swap coming.”

“Huh?” Jackson’s confusion resounded clearly in his voice. “What? Oh, no. The warning system isn’t going off. Sorry.”

I breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the railing, my free hand rubbing at my temple. “Okay. Good. That’s good.”

“Are you okay, Chuck?” he asked. “You sound a bit out of it.”

That’s because I’m on a date with a guy who makes my heart go pitter patter and I think I’ve discovered what your former girlfriend’s problem is.

“Yeah,” I said, trying to force the timbre of my voice back to something akin to normal. “I’m okay. Uh, what’s up?”

“You didn’t call me when you returned last night. I just wanted to find out what happened over in your universe.”

I thought about what happened between Charlene and my Katie. Then about Samantha and what we were doing when I returned to my female counterpart. “Why did you call Charlene and warn her about the switch?”

“Because I wanted to make sure she wasn’t doing anything that would be dangerous for you to suddenly find yourself in. What if you were sitting in your dimension and instantly found yourself walking down a flight of stairs? That would be bad.”

I blinked a few times as the seriousness of what he was saying hit me. Each time Charlene and I changed places, there was a few seconds of disorientation. Not all that dangerous when someone was, say, in the middle of getting a blow job. But possibly deadly in certain situations.

“Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. Thanks, I guess, on her behalf.”

“Believe it or not, she actually thanked me herself.”
I felt my mouth drop open. Charlene had actually been courteous? To the very person whose feelings she hadn’t given a damn about while in Danny Morris’ bed? The lame boyfriend who she obviously didn’t miss? I was rendered momentarily speechless by the information.

“Charlie? Are you there?”

I nodded, then realized that Jackson couldn’t see it over the phone. “Yeah, I’m here. Listen, can I come over tomorrow so we can talk. I want to, uh, touch base on some things.” Almost on reflex, my gaze swung back over to Mike, who was trying to not act curious about the phone call. “There’s a bit to unpack.”

“Sure,” he replied. The eagerness in his voice made my tummy knot even more. “If you want, you can come over now if you’re not too busy.”

“Oh, I can’t,” I said. “I’m not home at the moment. Katie and I are out.”

There was a bit of a pause before Jackson spoke again. “I thought I saw your Jeep in front of your house just a few minutes ago when I was upstairs.”

I winced, feeling like there was no way to avoid hurting his feelings. “I didn’t drive. We’re out with some friends.”

“Friends?” There was a note of disbelief in that single word. “I wasn’t aware Charlene and Katie had friends in common.”

Now it was my turn to pause. I considered making up something, anything, to avoid telling him the truth. Then I realized that would be the sort of thing Charlene would do. Had done, actually. I was trying to be better than her. Even if it meant dealing with some unpleasantness from time to time.

Like with Josie.

“Uh, well, there is this guy that is in Katie’s class. Sebastian. We ran into him and his brother at the Galleria last night and today he asked her out on a date.”

“So ... you’re on a date with Katie and this Sebastian? Sorry, that sounded really weird out loud. What I mean is, you’re accompanying them while they are out together? That’s got to be a bit awkward. I could have gone with you.” Almost immediately, he did a little throat cough. “I mean, as someone to keep you company. You know, so you wouldn’t be bored or anything.”

I sighed, the knife in my guts twisting even more. “Uh, Sebastian’s brother is with us. He had offered to drive them around, since Seb doesn’t have a license. He invited me along so that he wouldn’t feel like a chaperone.”

This time the pause was longer than before. “Oh. So, it’s like a … double date.”

“Jack …”

“It’s okay,” he said in a tone that indicated it was anything but. “Enjoy the rest of your evening and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Jack …”

The line went dead.

I sighed and slumped against the railing, feeling like the biggest heel in both universes. Hell, in all possible universes. Why hadn’t I just lied about where I was. I could have said Shelly had picked me up. Or that I was getting ready to take a bath and shave my legs. Anything would have been better than further rubbing Jackson’s nose in the fact that his girlfriend wasn’t really his girlfriend anymore. Regardless of who was in the driver’s seat.

“You okay?”

I jumped and glanced up from the darkened screen of the phone to see that Mike had moved over next to me while I was lamenting my predicament. The hot tears that had formed in my eyes made him appear slightly blurry, though no less handsome.

“Yeah,” I said, using two fingers to wipe them away before they could slide too far down my cheeks. “I’m okay.”

“Bad phone call?”

I shrugged and looked back down at the phone before slipping it back into my pocket. “It could have gone better.” When my gaze came back up, I could see concern, as well as curiosity, in those rich blue eyes. “It was my … my boyfriend. Sort of.”

“Sort of boyfriend? The one you mentioned last night when I asked you to tutor me?” He nodded his head slowly. “I guess he wasn’t too happy? Not that I can blame him.” His serious expression became even more dour. “I’m sorry that I put any pressure on you to come along tonight, Charlie. Yes, I would be thrilled to go out on a date with you. But I’m not the guy who tries to woo away another guy’s girl.”

“I know you’re not, Mike.” I closed my eyes and took a breath, fighting against another round of tears. I wasn’t sure what had made me so damned weepy today, but if it didn’t stop soon, I was going to have to start carrying tissues around with me everywhere I went. “It’s a complicated relationship.”

Even though he was trying to be comforting, the corner of his mouth twitched up slightly. “All relationships are complicated, Charlie. That’s just the truth of it.”

I shook my head. “This is a bit more complicated.” I chewed on my lower lip for a moment before formulating an acceptable method of explaining things. “We were best friends when we were younger. Then a little over a year ago, we started dating. Now, things are different between us. Now we’re, uh, we’re not the same people we used to be and I don’t think things are ever going to completely go back to how they were.”

Holy shit. Talk about dancing across a really thin line. If there was a deity in charge of bullshit, I was definitely going to need to make a tithe of worship.

He nodded. “So, you’re not together, but you’re also not completely broken up?”

I thought about that for a moment. Was Jackson and Charlene’s relationship, the romantic one, completely over? We hadn’t discussed it in detail, but given what had transpired, it was pretty much a sure thing. Even if Charlene and I swapped back permanently, something that I was starting to fear wasn’t going to happen, the Danny Morris incident would always be there. The elephant in the room.

True, they could possibly repair that damage if Charlene really wanted to. However, from the statements she made on the video she left me, it sounded like she was done with Jackson regardless of which universe she was in.

“No, I think we are. We just need to talk about a few remaining details.”

He nodded. “I understand. Sorry that this seems to have upset you.”

“Thanks.”

We milled around the carnival for another hour. Eventually, Mike cajoled me into riding the Ferris Wheel with the promise that he would remain on his side of the car. When the wheel stopped right before we reached the apex, I shot him a dirty look.

He laughed and held up his hands. “I swear, Charlie, I didn’t do it. I know it’s a total cliché thing for a guy to do, but I promise this wasn’t me.”

I continued to give him a stern glare for another second or two, then pushed myself across the seat to his side. “I’m chilly now,” I said quietly before pointing at the parking lot far below. “And your jacket is all the way over there.”

He gave me a confused glance, then smiled and lifted his arm. I leaned against his side with my cheek pressed against his chest. When his arm came down over my shoulders, I couldn’t help the little sigh of happiness that bubbled out from between my lips.

We remained that way, not speaking a word, until the ride brought us back down to the ground. Mike took my hand to help me out of the car, then didn’t release it for the rest of the evening. Katie gave me a couple of confused looks when she noticed, but it took a moment to realize that she was wondering if Charlene was back.

To put her mind at ease, I smiled and winked at her. “Still good, Katie-Kat.”

Mike’s truck rumbled to a stop in front of our house at exactly four minutes before eleven. The boys helped us down and then escorted us to the door. Katie and Seb stopped on the front porch and did that awkward thing where you’re not sure if you should kiss the other person or not. Finally, they coordinated their movements and were soon locked together at the lips.

I let out a little snort of a laugh and looked up at Mike, arching a brow. “I hope you weren’t getting any ideas of that nature, Mr. North.”

He glanced at the high schoolers and then back to me, shaking his head. “I refuse to answer that, Miss Miller. On the grounds that it will incriminate me.”

I nodded. “Good. You just keep those ideas to yourself.” Then I released his hand and turned to face him, looking up into those wonderful eyes. The smile that spread across my face felt huge and my cheeks burned like the noonday sun.

Mike tilted his head. “Are you getting ideas of that nature, Miss Miller?”

I reached up and slipped my hands around his neck, tugging lightly to encourage him to bend down a bit. When he complied, I rose up on my toes and closed the distance between our faces until they were only an inch or two apart. Part of me tried to issue an urgent reminder that I was really a guy in my head. However, a larger part of me reminded the rest that it really didn’t matter.

Guy or girl, I thought Mike North was incredibly attractive. Too attractive to send home empty handed after being a damned near perfect gentleman the entire evening.

“I have lots of ideas of various natures, Mr. North,” I replied softly before I leaned in and kissed him as deeply as I could.

The Other Side of Me – Part 22
by Limbo’s Mistress

The Sunday morning sunshine stirred me into wakefulness and for a few, terribly short minutes, I lay there with my eyes closed, a little smile playing on my face as I thought about the events of the previous evening.

The urge to kiss Mike really had been a spur of the moment thing. I thought about it a few times while we’d walked around the carnival, and on the ride home. But when I climbed down out of the truck, I thought perhaps it would be best to not rush into anything. Taking it slow, especially when I wasn’t completely sure of my own feelings about the situation, seemed like the best course of action.

Then I’d seen Katie and Sebastian practically swallowing each other’s tongues on the front porch and decided that I wanted to know how that particular activity felt from a female point of view.

With Mr. Michael North.

Spoiler alert! It was wonderful!

I uncoiled myself into a large stretch beneath the thick comforter and was instantly hit with what I was sure was the worst gas pain in my entire life. I let out a low moan and curled back up into a ball, breathing shallow breaths until the waves of pain radiating through my midsection subsided.

Once I was able to not feel like I’d swallowed a dozen razor blades, I threw back the covers and quickly climbed out of bed. However, as soon as I stood up, another bout punched me in the gut, feeling like someone was squeezing me from the inside. Without another thought, I rushed from the room, hands pressed over my belly, and headed toward the bathroom.

I wasn’t sure what I’d eaten to give me such pain, but I figured the toilet was the safest place to be until things calmed down.

Inside, I flipped on the light and practically teleported from the doorway to the commode. I had worn an oversized gray tee to bed. The logo across the front was mostly faded, but it was still possible to read the phrase “Cheer Extreme Bootcamp” in red, white, and blue across the front. I hiked up the gigantic shirt and pushed down the peach panties I’d worn on the date and dropped my bottom onto the seat.

As if on reflex to assuming the familiar position, my bladder gave a tiny protest and I granted it permission to empty. Just as I leaned over to get some toilet paper, I glanced down. There was something inside the front of the panties wrapped around my ankle. I wiped and then grabbed the waistband of the thong, pulling it taut so the light could shine into the underwear.

My eyes widened at what I saw, my heartrate going from slightly elevated to upper stratosphere in the tick of a second.

Blood. There was blood in my panties. I’m bleeding.

It took me a second to realize that the screaming that immediately followed the discovery belonged to me. Then I released my grip on the ruined underwear to clamp both trembling hands over my mouth.

Bleeding. My period. Shit, I totally forgot.

The bathroom door burst open, and Katie rushed in. She took one look at me before slamming the door closed just as our dad appeared.

“Katie! Charlie! What the hell’s going on?” a tired, muffled voice asked through the slab of wood. “It’s not even eight in the morning and you two are causing a ruckus!”

“Sorry, Daddy,” Katie said shooting me a look that told me to keep my mouth shut. “Girl emergency.”

“I don’t get paid enough for this,” the man on the other side of the door said. A moment later, the sound of his footsteps retreating down the hall was followed by the slamming of his own bedroom door.

“What am I going to do?” I asked her, still perched on the toilet and pointing down at the crimson stains marring the soft peach fabric.

She sighed, shook her head, and pulled open one of the drawers under the sink. Her hand remerged with a paper-wrapped cylinder that she held out to me. “Well, Chuck, you can start by cleaning yourself up with a wet wipe. Then use this.”

I already knew what the object was before my fingers curled around the item. I’d seen plenty of them in the bathroom back home, in the drawer designated solely for my Katie’s things. I turned the tube over in my hand, looking at the purple and pink floral design adorning the wrapper. Sighing, I looked back up to her.

“Uh, so this just … goes up … up there?” I pointed at my lady bits. “Just unwrap and shove it home?”

Katie’s eyes widened in abject horror. “What? Oh God, no! Jesus, Chuck. Didn’t they teach you anything in high school health class?”

A wave of extreme annoyance flooded my entire being. It was like the panic and fear that had been rolling through me since spotting the blood stains had been instantly transformed into a mushroom cloud of anger. With Katie squarely in the blast zone.

Gripping the cylinder, I glared up at her as I shook my head. “This might surprise you, Katherine, but when I had health class in the tenth grade, they didn’t cover the ins and outs of a menstrual cycle. I guess the teachers didn’t think it likely that any of the boys would ever get stuck in the body of a female version of themselves while on the rag.” I shook the tampon at her. “So proper protocols and instructions were sorely lacking!”

Katie’s mouth dropped open in shock and hurt. However, before I could even begin to apologize for the uncontrolled outburst, she turned and walked out of the bathroom. Within a few seconds, I felt the wetness of the tears sliding down my face at the shame for my behavior and the anxiety for the current situation.

I grabbed a wipe from the package on the shelf next to the toilet and carefully cleaned myself up. Tensing as I expected to feel a jolt of pain, due to whatever was making me bleed, I was instead surprised to realize that I could only feel the cool wetness of the wipe, which came away a lot less red than I expected.

Kicking off the panties, I stood up just as the door reopened and Katie returned with my phone in her hand. She put the device on the counter and then looked at me. The hurt of my words still shone in her eyes.

“Katie, I’m sorry. I …”

She waved her hand dismissively. “It’s okay. This being your first visit from Aunt Flo, your reaction is not out of line. Charlene is a real mega-bitch on Day One and you sounded so much like her just now that it caught me off-guard.” She shrugged. “Just don’t make it a habit and we’ll be okay.”

“I won’t,” I said, though I knew it was likely a promise I might not be able to keep. “So, about this.” I held up the tampon.

Katie shook her head. “Sorry. Assisting you with your hair, makeup, clothing, and everything else Charlene-related does not include teaching you how to use a tampon. The line has to be drawn somewhere and showing the guy inhabiting my older sisters’ body how an applicator works is where it’s drawn.”

She pointed at the phone on the counter. “Google it. I’m more than positive there are numerous, high-quality videos that will walk you through the whole process.” Then she reopened the cabinet that held the sanitary products and pulled out a small bottle of pills. “Also, you might want to keep these handy for the next two days or so. Charlene gets really horrible cramps.”

I left the bathroom a few moments later, the peach panties cold soaking in the sink per Katie’s suggestion. Despite the fact that the shirt hung down far enough to hide the fact that I was bare assed beneath it, I was thankful that the door of my dad’s bedroom was still closed.

Back in my own room, I watched multiple videos on the proper insertion techniques for tampon use. Since they were geared toward much younger girls, they also included some dos and don’ts, as well as a couple of links to information on when and how to use pads and rather intimate details of what was taking place. Biologically speaking.

By the time I was done, I had a much healthier respect for the hell women had to go through each month. I felt like I had something much larger shoved up inside of me than a little bit of cotton. Like, say, a queen-sized comforter. However, the pain medicine did do its job, and the agony of my randomly clenching abdominals retreated to a dull ache.

I put on a pair of ivory-colored panties, some black and pink sweatpants, and a gray zippered hoodie that had the university logo on the left breast pocket. Then I threw my hair in a ponytail and ventured downstairs for some food and coffee. Since the tummy issues I thought was indigestion had turned out to be just Mother Nature, I figured I should try to actually put some food in my belly.

The cinnamon and raisin bagel in the toaster was just about done when my dad walked into the kitchen, pausing in the doorway. He looked at me for a moment or two, as if trying to decide if I was going to come at him with the case knife sticking out of a nearby open tub of hazelnut and honey cream cheese.
Then, obviously satisfied that my more murderous impulses seemed to be under control, he made his way over to the cabinet and grabbed a coffee mug. As he filled it, he glanced back over at me with a cautious expression on his face.

“So, about last night. Was that an actual double date?” Turning around, he took a sip of the steaming beverage before continuing. “When Katie told me about your plans, it seemed like you were only going along to keep the party balanced. Two guys and two girls.”

I nodded as opened the toaster over door and retrieved the two halves of my bagel, dropping them on the plate with a hiss of slightly burned fingers. “Uh, yeah. That was the original plan.”

His mug stopped halfway to his lips, one bushy brow arching slightly. “The original plan? Does that mean said plan changed at some point during the evening?”

Shrugging, I began to smear a generous heaping of cream cheese onto the flat surfaces of the bagel. The aroma wafting up from the plate made my stomach growl loudly. “Sort of.”

When I glanced up, he was still standing there, cup halfway to his mouth and an expectant look on his face. Apparently, he required more of a detailed explanation than just ‘sort of’.

I put the knife down on the edge of the plate and turned around to lean my back against the edge of the counter. “The more Mike and I talked, the more I realized that I liked him.”

He gave a single nod. “So, does that mean you and Jackson are no longer dating?”

Another shrug on my part. “It’s … complicated.” Which was the same excuse I’d given Mike at the lake. “There have been some changes recently, which have sort of redefined our relationship.” I sighed. “But yeah, I think it’s safe to say we’re not going to be dating anymore. We’re still going to be friends, though.”

At least, I hoped we were. If not, I doubted he was going to help me get back home.

Would that be so bad? a voice in my head immediately whispered.

He took another sip of his coffee. “While it is really not my place to comment, I can’t say that I’m not relieved. You know that I didn’t care for Jackson at first. I thought he was an extremely strange young man whose intelligence might actually be a danger to my daughter. An opinion that wasn’t exactly improved when he accidentally made it so that you couldn’t speak or understand anything but Japanese for two whole weeks.”

I couldn’t stop a look of shocked surprise from flashing across my face. My own Jackson had built a prototype universal translator that would make anyone instantly fluent in any language. He’d managed to overcome my initial hesitation by offering to make it so that I could watch anime without needing the subtitles.

On the day of the experiment, however, an unexpected thunderstorm knocked out power to the whole neighborhood. Rather than proceed without a backup source of power, he decided to postpone. A few days later, upon further review of his calculations, he deduced there would have been a forty percent chance the device might have completely replaced my native language with Japanese. Looks like the weather was more favorable in this universe on that particular day.

Fortunately, my father was too busy looking into his half-finished cup of coffee to see my expression. By the time he did look up, I was busy chewing nonchalantly on the bagel.

“Your mom, though, she always thought he was a good boy. Not sure what she might have made about you two getting romantically acquainted. I suppose she would likely approve. She always did think the best of people.” The sadness in his voice at mentioning mom was also prevalent in his features. “Regardless of my feelings about it, Charlie, you need to be completely honest with him. You two have been more than just neighbors for years.”

I don’t know what spurred me, but I put down the bagel to walk over to where he stood and hug him tightly. Here was a man who had lost his own love thanks to a tragic accident and was doing his best to raise two teenaged daughters without any feminine support. Not to mention one of them wasn’t doing anything to make the job any easier.

Sure, Charlene was affected by her mom’s death. But so was her father and sister. She was just too blinded by her own pain to notice theirs.

One of his large arms slipped around my shoulder to give me a long, loving squeeze. After a few moments, I stepped back and dabbed at my damp eyes as I nodded.

“I know,” I said quietly. “I’m going to go over there after I eat and talk with him. Jackson has been too good of a friend, and a boyfriend, to just stomp all over his heart. I need to clear the air and make sure there are no hard feelings.”

He laughed a little, mirthless laugh. “Oh, there are going to be some hard feelings, Charlie. That boy has pined for you pretty much since the day you two met. Losing you isn’t going to be an easy thing to take.” He sighed. “I’m sorry I don’t have better advice. Your mom would know what to tell you to say. She was always better at communicating than me.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, wiped away another few stray tears and looked at him. The ache I felt in my chest was from a combination of sympathy for this family’s loss and my missing of my own mother. Who, if I continued along my current path, would be as lost to me as she had been to Charlene.

“I miss her, too, Daddy. But we … we have to let her go. At least a little.” I pointed to him and then to myself. “We’re both holding on too tightly and it’s not good for either of us.”

“I know. Maybe we can help each other with that.” His mug got a refill, and then he left the kitchen to head back upstairs. The discussion obviously tabled for now.

After finishing my bagel, I slipped my feet into a pair of sneakers and headed across the street to face the music. As much as I dreaded what was coming, I knew I had to see it through. After the terse, tense conversation we’d had the previous evening, I fully expected the news I had to crush the last of Jackson’s feelings for Charlene.

What I didn’t expect, after knocking on the door, was for Jackson’s mom to answer it. The huge smile I turned her way quickly evaporated when I noticed the extremely disapproving expression staring down at me.

“Charlene,” she said with the same tone of voice one might use upon finding a door-to-door salesman on their front porch. “Can I help you?”

I swallowed and turned the smile back on, albeit with a bit of difficulty. Back in my dimension, Jackson’s mother alternated between treating me like another son and treating me like the whole reason why her super-genius spawn hadn’t already made millions from his incredible inventions.

“Uh, hi, Mrs. Donahue,” I said, trying to act as I believed Charlene would act. “Is Jackson available? I need to talk to him.”

The woman standing before me looked like she would prefer to have zapped me with a cattle prod, rather than step aside to let me in. However, after five or six seconds of angry glaring, she gestured at the foyer.

“He said you might be coming over. He’s in his lab.” When I stepped inside and began to move toward the basement stairs, she grabbed my upper arm. “I’m not really sure what this game is you’re playing with him, Charlene.” She practically spat my name out. “But you need to either fix whatever it is you’ve done, or don’t ever come back here again.”

I blinked, my face instantly igniting with a wave a shame over a situation that I didn’t create. I nodded my head rapidly as I pulled my arm free. “That’s why I’m here, Mrs. Donahue. To fix things. Again.”

She gave me another threatening look, then turned and marched off toward the kitchen. I went down the steps and entered the lab to find Jackson underneath the dimensional control unit podium. His upper body was hidden, with only his waist and legs sticking out. From inside the unit, I could hear him muttering to himself.

Apparently, he hadn’t heard me come in, because when I cleared my throat, his lower body jerked, followed by the thudding sound of meat on metal.

“Ow!”

The whole situation struck my hormone-laden brain as hilarious, and a nervous giggle came out before I could stop it. The number of times something similar had happened back in my universe was in the dozens, and each time I thought it was hilarious.

He slid out from under the machine and looked up at me with an unamused frown.

I waved my hand in a circle at myself as I got the snickers under control. “Jack, it’s me. Charles.”

His expression turned sarcastic. “Naturally. Considering that the D.I.A.S. hasn’t activated since Friday night, it’s more than obvious which one you are.”

“D.I.A.S?”

He pointed to a red light and siren hung on the wall next to dimensional window. “Dimensional Incursion Alert System.”

“Is that the early warning unit you built?” I asked.

He nodded as he climbed to his feet. “Exactly.” Then he actually looked at me, frowning even more. “Is there any particular reason why you look, uh, less put together than normal?” He held up a finger. “Less than Charlene’s normal, I mean.”

I sighed, walking to the sofa and plopping down. “Well, your mom seemed to indicate that it would be nice if I just dropped over dead. And considering how I feel, I’m not exactly in disagreement with her sentiment.”

“Hangover?” he asked with a bit of uncharacteristic snark. “Did you have a little too much fun on your date?”

I blinked at his comment. Seems that this conversation wasn’t going to be as easy as I hoped. He was obviously angry with me for some reason. I just really couldn’t figure out what.

Shaking my head, I pointed at my crotch. “Charlene’s period started today,” I replied.

His hard expression slipped into a wince, as one would expect a guy to do if another of his male friends announced the start of their menstrual cycle. Hell, if the roles had been reversed, I know I would have experienced a burst of testosterone sympathy for his situation.

“Yeah, that can’t be fun.” He walked over and sat down next to me, making sure to put as much distance between us as the small piece of furniture would allow. “Charlene has it rough, and she’s got years of experience behind her. I can’t imagine what you’re going through.”

I shot him a serious look. “Honestly? I feel like I’m not excited about going through this at least five more times.” Before he could ask, I pointed at the universe’s control unit. “Charlene practically destroyed it over there. And cracked the mirror to boot. Other Jackson said it might be up to six months before he can get it fixed now.”

“Are you joking?”

“Not in the least,” I replied and tilted my head back to stare at the ceiling. “And that’s not all.”

I proceeded to tell him about all the recent exploits of his ex-girlfriend. In both universes. I also provided a short summary of the video she’d left me, leaving out her opinion of his lack of sexual prowess. When he asked if he could see it for himself, I lied and said I’d deleted it out of anger.

He nodded. “I can’t really say I’m surprised at her actions. All things considered.”

“You mean the fact that Charlene is determined to stay in my world?”

“Yes. Though her lying to Rachel Bostwick about which version she was is curious.”

“I’m not sure if Rachel completely believes her. But she did mention some of your other inventions as a way of adding legitimacy to her acceptance of the situation.”

“Don’t trust her,” he warned, rising from the sofa. “Charlene might like her. She may even really idolize her. But she definitely didn’t really trust her. Rachel was a means to an end. Much like the rest of the people in her life.”

I stood up as well and walked over to put a hand on his arm. “Jack, listen. I’m sorry she did this to you. All of it. I don’t think she deliberately meant to hurt you. She just …”

“Please don’t try to make any excuses for her, Charles. She did what she did because that’s what she wanted to do.” He let out a little defeated laugh. “You know, I wanted to show her the dimensional window because I thought it might rekindle something between us. She used to enjoy my experiments, even when they affected her.” He shakes his head. “Turns out it just ended thing quicker than anticipated and ruined your life.”

“My life’s not ruined, Jack. Just a bit … different.”

“Well, that’s one way to put it.”

Part of me wanted to give him a comforting hug, as I’d done for my father. But I feared that might send a seriously mixed signal. So, I settled for nudging him with my shoulder. “Actually, I think I’m coping pretty well. Truth be told.” I crossed my arms over my chest, wincing a bit at the tenderness of my swollen bosom. “I think I’m … adapting.”

No, that didn’t seem like the correct word for what I was experiencing.

“I’m accepting,” I corrected. “The more I’m here, in this world, in this body, the more I am starting to accept things that go with it. Enjoy them, even.”

“You’re not just talking about makeup or walking or things of that nature, are you?”

I shook my head. “I went out on a date last night with a guy that I found attractive. It started off as just being another semi-adult chaperone, but the longer we were together, the more … right … it felt.”

He gave me a raised eyebrow of surprise. “I wonder if the quantum entanglement is messing with your sexual orientation.”

“It’s not,” I said almost immediately. Then I realized that I hadn’t really accepted the complete truth until that moment. “Turns out, I’m bi in both universes. I guess I just didn’t notice it, or probably deliberately ignored it, as Charles.”

“I guess that shouldn’t have been a surprise. I mean, it’s pretty much a conclusion that sexual preference is genetic. Despite the chromosomal differences between you and Charlene, you share a lot of the same markers. Hair color, eye color, et cetera.”

He laughed ruefully. “I guess I’m just a bit upset that my girlfriend doesn’t want to be with me, regardless of who’s in her head.”

My face warmed and I looked away for a few seconds before finally turning back to face him. “Jackson, listen. It’s not fair what Charlene did to you at all. But you’re my best friend. At least, the other version of you is. When I think about you, that’s what I feel. That friendship. Nothing more.” I sighed and looked down at my feet. “I’m sorry.”

There were a few moments of awkward silence before Jackson reached out and put his fingers on my chin, tilting my face back up to his. For one panic-inducing second, I feared he was going to try some romantic movie shit and kiss me in the hopes of igniting some passion I was obviously fighting.

Instead, he smiled at me. “Charlie, I’m mad at her. You’re right, what she did was totally not cool. You don’t need to apologize for not having any more feelings for me than you already do. I shouldn’t have said anything to make you think that I blamed you.”

There were a couple of hugs that followed. Strictly platonic hugs. Then Jackson asked if I wanted to help him with installing one of the new circuit panels on the control device. Since I really didn’t have any other plans at the moment, I agreed. Helping Jackson in the lab was something familiar to me, and it didn’t take long for us to fall into a rhythm that I knew all too well.

An hour after starting, just as he was testing the power couplings, Shelly called.

“Hey, Shells,” I said as I put the phone on speaker and handed Jackson the insulated gloves. “What’s up?”

“Where are you?” She asked. “Home, at Jackson’s, or out with Studly Do-Right?”

Jackson arched a brow and smirked at me.

“We are so not calling him that, Michelle. And I’m at Jack’s. Say hi, Jackson.”

“Hi, Jackson,” my friend echoed.

“Okay, I have Josie with me and we’re on our way there. She has agreed to listen to what you have to say. I haven’t told her anything except that there is a very good reason why she should not be mad at you. I don’t think she’s completely convinced, but I at least bought you some floor time.”

“You have five minutes, Miller,” the angry blonde snared through the phone’s speaker. “Not a minute longer.”

“I can explain in five minutes, Josie. It just might take longer for you to actually believe me.”

“Five minutes.” Then the line went dead.

I sighed and looked at Jackson. “Josie found out about Charlene and Danny. She almost clawed my face off yesterday.”

He nodded. “Now you’re going to inform her that it was Charlene that fucked her over, but that it wasn’t you. Who currently looks and sounds like Charlene?”

“Yeah.” I wracked my brain trying to think of a plan. “Michelle was easy to convince, because she knew you and believed you long enough to calm down and listen. I don’t think Josie is going to be so easy to convert to the truth.”

Jackson pulled the gloves back off and tossed them on the control panel. He walked over to a metal cabinet surrounded by what looked like a copper wire cage. Opening it, he pulled out a clear plastic jewel case with a silver disc inside.

“Then we show her the truth.”

The Other Side of Me - Part 23
by Limbo's Mistress

“I can’t believe you have cameras recording everything in here.”

Jackson looked over at me and shrugged. “It started off just as a safety precaution. I mean, what if I accidentally turned Charlie into a cat or something and then dropped over dead? At least that way there would be a record of the incident. Someone might be able to undo the changes.”

I gave him a curious, slightly concerned look. “Did actually you turn her into a cat?”

“Well, no,” he said with a bit of a huff as he walked over and unlocked the lab door. “But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen.”

I had to concede the point. Jackson’s experiments didn’t always go wrong. But when they did, they always went very wrong. And it seems Charlene and I were always the ones caught in the mess.

About ten minutes later, I heard the doorbell ring. Less than a minute after that, the two cheerleaders walked into the lab.

Josie was dressed in a pair of tan capris with a light blue sweater. The outfit paired well with her blonde tresses and made her look even cuter than normal. The expression sitting on her face, however, was anything but adorable.

“Hey, Josie,” I said, trying to smile. “Thanks for coming by.”

“Not like I had much of a choice, right? I mean, Shelly was driving and she insisted that you could explain a lot of things if I would just give you a chance.” She snorted and shook her head. “Though I’m not sure how you intend to explain away fucking my boyfriend.”

The venom in her voice was as bad as it had been the previous day. Seeing how angry she was, I began to doubt if the truth really would repair the rift between us. I mean, even if it had been Charlene, and not Charles, who had been intimate with Danny, the fact was that Charles still kept it a secret.

Which, to be honest, made me sort of guilty by omission.

Michelle sighed and looked at Josie. “You agreed to have and open mind. As well as promised to not be a total bitch until Charlie had a chance to talk.”

“Fine,” the blonde said with an exasperated sigh. Then she looked at me. “Well, start talking, slut.”

I balled one hand into a fist, silently counted to ten, then looked Josie directly into the eyes without flinching.

“I am not Charlene. At least, not the Charlene you know. My name is actually Charles and I’m from a parallel universe.”

Josie blinked slowly a few times, then looked at Shelly. “This was the big reveal that was supposed to earn my forgiveness. That the tramp isn’t responsible because she’s insane?”

“She’s not insane,” Jackson said, pointing at me from over near the large display screen where he was busy fighting with getting the jewel case open. “At least, no more than you would expect from someone quantumly entangled with their cross-dimension doppelgänger.”

Josie gave him a look only slightly less hateful than the one she kept beaming in my direction. “How can you be okay with what she did? I mean, I never thought you as the kind of guy who would like having his girlfriend cheating on him.”

“I’m not, honestly,” he said as the case finally snapped open and the disc threatened to drop to the floor. “But as she said, she’s not our Charlene.”

Josie opened her mouth, but Shelly put a hand on her arm. “Look, just trust me on this, okay? I’ve known you since sixth grade. At least give me the benefit of the doubt for fifteen minutes.”

The petite blonde narrowed her eyes at her friend. “Okay. But if I’m not convinced that Charlene deserves forgiveness, then you will have to choose which of us you are going to remain friends with. Because I won’t be associated with someone who wants to hang out with street trash.”

I was starting to get a bit pissy at all the name calling. Granted, Charlene deserved every snipe. And then some. But I didn’t.

“Look, give us the fifteen minutes you agreed to. If you’re not going to do that much, then you might as well leave.”

“Charlie!” Shelly gasped.

“No,” I said. “We’ve offered to bring Josie into the circle of knowledge about what is going on. Maybe we should have done it earlier, but we’re all here now. If she’s not going to even entertain the thought that we’re being square with her, then she might as well leave.”

For the next sixty seconds, Josie glared at me and I glared right back. Then Jackson broke the tension by announcing that he was ready to play the surveillance footage.

We all moved to form a semi-circle in front of the large screen. It didn’t slip my notice that I was on one end of the line and Josie was on the other. She didn’t look my way, but stared angrily at the monitor and chewed on the inside of her cheek.

If whatever Jackson showed us didn’t get through the shield of fury surrounding her, Josie was going to leave no closer to believing than she currently was.

The screen showed a bit of static before the image of the lab appeared. In a quality of definition that would have put most modern filmmakers to shame. A time and date stamp at the lower right corner indicated that the video was from the evening of the dimensional swap.

Jackson, the one on the screen, was busy moving back and forth between the control podium and the window, apparently performing a last series of checks before starting the experiment. I did notice, with a bit of annoyance, that the one thing he didn’t seem to examine was the power coupling connection.

A few minutes later, the sound of the lab door opening was followed by the image of Charlene walking inside. She set her purse down on the table and moved over to give the guy behind the podium a kiss.

It looked affectionate enough. Or would have, if not for the fact that I could tell that she was simply going through the motions. After all, I had kissed someone I was attracted to the previous evening and had a pretty good idea on how this body reacted in that situation.

“I know you wanted to show me something, Jack,” Charlene said. “But I really don’t have the time this evening. I’ve got a math test to study for and I’m supposed to meet Josie and Shells to hang out and do cheer stuff.”

I snorted and looked at Michelle. “Wasn’t she planning on meeting you two at a party that evening?”

Jackson frowned, but Josie nodded. “Just another of your many lies.”

Ignoring her, I turned back to the footage.

“This won’t take but a few minutes,” Jackson on the screen said. “I promise you will love it.”

He began to flip switches and the hum of the device brought back uncomfortable memories. A moment later, the mirror shimmered and changed. The angle wasn’t the best, but it was obviously clear that the reflection from it now showed Jackson and myself. My male self.

Charlene, still looking at her boyfriend, threw her hands in the air. “You always do this, Jackson. You have some crazy experiment you want to show me, or do on me, and never consider that I have other responsibilities than being your girlfriend. Or your Guinea pig.”

There was no mistaking the indignation in her voice.

“Babe, I’m sorry,” Jackson sounded extremely contrite. “It’s just that this is really cool and requires a bit of timing to get right. I promise it won’t take long. Just turn around and look.”

Charlene huffed. “Fine. But if I end up weighing five hundred pounds again, I’m going to punch you in the nuts.”

The three of us looked over at Jackson. The mad scientist shrugged. “She asked for something to help her lose a few pounds before cheer season junior year. The polarity was off a bit.”

I’m sure we would have had more to say to that revelation, but the sound of Charlene saying “What the fuck?” pulled all of our attention back to the video.

She stood in front of the dimensional window, staring at me. I waved at her and she sort of waved back. Then she turned around to look at Jackson. My male self did the same.

“Is that me as a guy? With another you?” She asks, gesturing at the pair in the mirror.

So, I guess Charlene was faster at deducing a parallel universe when she saw it than I was. Thankfully, there was no sound from the other side of the mirror, so no one had to hear my Jackson breaking down the obviously basic concept.

“Yes. That’s Charles. Rather than Charlene. Fascinating, right?” There was no mistaking the glee in Jackson’s voice. “This might be one of the best things I’ve ever invented.”

I glanced over at him and he took his eyes off the footage long enough to frown my way.

Charlene and I faced each other again. “It’s so freaky. I mean, I thought I would make an ugly guy, but I’m actually pretty cute.” She glanced over her shoulder at Jackson. “Can I talk to him?”

“Sorry,” the genius on the screen said. “Only light can pass through the window. But you can hold up notes. It’s how that Jackson and I communicated.”

A series of sparks shot out of the black box near Charlene. She placed her hand on the mirror and reached over to grab the cabling. The me on the other side did the same.

“Charlie!” Jackson yelled as he started to rush forward. “Don’t touch the -”

The girl on the screen seemed to convulse wildly as one hand held the arcing wires and the other pressed against the dimensional window. There was another flash of light and the reflection of Charles and Jackson vanished as Charlene dropped limply to the floor.

Jackson rushed over and knelt down next to the girl on the floor. At that moment, I realized that it was no longer Charlene lying there, but me. After a few moments, he managed to get her up into his arms and carried her over to the sofa, placing her on it with a great degree of tenderness and concern.

“So, you electrocuted yourself?” Josie said. “That’s what your problem is?”

“Watch,” Shelly told her.

A few minutes went by before the girl on the sofa began to stir. From that point on it was the version of events to which I had been present. My freaking out thinking that Jackson had turned me into Charlene. Then to Jackson’s concern that I was merely possessing her.

Eventually, though, the conversation came to the realization that my mom was dead in this universe, which led to me grabbing my purse and rushing out the door.

Jackson stopped the video and turned to look at the three of us. Shelly and I turned our attention to Josie.

“You really expect me to believe that bullshit?” She shook her head, glaring at us. “I know you two think I’m just a bimbo, but I’m not as stupid as you both seem to think I am.” She turned to walk out of the lab.

“Josie, wait!” I rushed around and blocked the exit. “It’s the truth, okay? I swear to you that what you saw actually happened. I’m not Charlene. I’m Charles. I’m in her body here and she’s in mine over there.”

She laughed humorlessly and then pointed at me. “If that’s the case, then it was you who was fucking my boyfriend the other day. Which means you’re just as big a whore as she is.”

I blinked and shook my head. “No, I swear that wasn’t me.”

Shelly walked up and stood next to Josie. “She’s ... he’s … telling the truth, Jo-Jo.”

Jackson joined us. “There is a problem with the swap. It’s not entirely stable. Charlene and Charles are connected on a quantum level. I haven’t figured out how to prevent it yet, but the two of them are continuing to swap places in what seems to be random intervals.”

Josie looked from him to Shelly. “Continuing to swap? So, are you saying that sometimes she’s Charlene and sometimes she’s Charles?”

“Yes!” I said, taking a step toward her. “Yes. I mean, most of the time since that evening, I’ve been here. But that bit with Danny wasn’t me. I swear.”

“He hates Danny Morris in his universe,” Shelly offered. “They are enemies.”

Josie gave me a skeptical look, but didn’t continue to try to move to the door. Her pausing to consider what we were saying began to give me hope.

“I promise you, Josie. Everything we are saying is the absolute truth. I really have been living Charlene’s life, or trying to, for the past four days. I never meant to hurt you by not sharing this with you.”

“It’s also my fault,” Shelly said. “I didn’t think Charles wanted a bunch of people knowing the truth. But you’re not ‘people’, Josie. You’re one of us. So, I’m asking you to forgive me as well.”

The blonde looked between us, then over at Jackson for a moment, before sighing with resignation.

“Okay, say I believe you. And forgive you. Is there some sort of code word that we’re supposed to use to know if we’re talking to you or her? Because, to be honest, you do a great impression of being Charlene, Charles. Like, way too good of an impression.”

“It’s the quantum entanglement,” Jackson explained. “It’s sort of transferring traits and other things between the two. The longer the exchange goes on, the more that information is moved from one dimension to another.”

“Like how to do makeup and pick outfits,” Shelly said with a teasing tone.

“And walking around in high heels without breaking my neck,” I added, grinning at her.

Josie let out a little laugh, then shot me a curious look. “Wait, the other day at cheer practice, was that Charlene in the locker room? Or was it you?”

I felt the heat rise onto my face. “Uh, it was me.”

Her mouth dropped open. “So, I got undressed in front of guy Charlie?”

I nodded, but Shelly stepped in saved my bacon. “He didn’t peep, Jo-Jo. I made sure of that.” Then she grinned at me. “Not that he didn’t gawk a bit at first.”

“I was more of a guy at that point. Surrounded by very pretty girls. How was I not supposed to at least peek?”

Josie pouted. “Fine. But it’s still a bit shitty that you two didn’t tell me. I mean, I know you two are close, but I always thought the three of us were a time. Now, it feels like you deliberately left me out.”

“That’s not it at all, Josie. I originally wasn’t going to tell anyone,” I replied. “I hoped the Jacksons could get the machines fixed, and everyone back to where they belonged, before anyone would notice.” I sighed. “Unfortunately, everything has gotten a lot more complicated than expected.”

“There will be no more secrets between us,” Shelly promised her. “You’ll know everything that we know.”

“Speaking of secrets, though. Josie’s got a pretty good idea. A secret phrase to identify which Charlie is here would be really beneficial,” I said. “I mean, unless Jackson wants to set up a group text thing to let you both know when a swap is coming.” I glanced over at him. “Make sure Katie is a part of that, too.”

Josie looked from me to Jackson. “So, you can tell when Charlene is coming back? How?”

Jackson shrugged. “The swaps have a unique frequency that my system can measure. I built a detector to alert me of any quantum fluctuations.” He pointed at the siren and light mounted on the wall.

Which, of course, immediately began to flash and wail a second later.

“You have got to be shitting me!” I yelled, smacking myself on the forehead. “Now? There’s a swap happening now?”

“What do we do?” Shelly asked Jackson. “Do we need to get Charlie out of here? Or just Josie and I? Does she know that I know?”

Jackson ran over and picked up the time dilation gun and then took up a position next to the control podium. Given what Charlene had done to the device back in my universe, I was thankful he was planning ahead for a repeat attempt.

“There’s no time,” he yelled as he powered up the unit and adjusted the dials. “Just step back and get ready. If Charlene tries to destroy anything, I’ll zap her with this.” He looked at Josie, who was the only one who didn’t know what the object he was holding could do. “It will make her extremely slow compared to us.”

Michelle nodded. “When you zap her, Josie and I will get something to restrain her with. Then maybe we can talk to her.”

The blonde cheerleader looked more confused than anything. As if she wanted to completely believe what was happening, but still held onto a sliver of doubt as to whether we were telling the truth or if this was just an elaborate prank. Finally, she turned her gaze onto me.

“Charlie …”

I looked into her blue eyes. “Josie, I’m sorry ahead of time for anything she says to you while she’s here.” Reaching out, I placed my hand lightly on one of her shoulders. “Believe me, I am very happy that you’re my friend.”

She gave me a tiny smile and opened her mouth to say something. However, before she could make a sound the painfully familiar wave of vertigo slammed into me. There was a half a second of nausea and then the world around went pitch black.

Less than a heartbeat later, everything came back into focus.

I instantly realized that I was sitting at the kitchen table in my parent’s house with my mom sitting directly across from me. Her hands rested on the top of the table and the expression on her face was one I hadn’t seen in quiet a long while.

Anger.

“Well,” she said in an annoyed, snappish tone. “Are you going to answer me?”

I blinked, trying to play catch-up and figure out what was going on. What sort of shitstorm had Charlene’s antics put me in this time?

“What?” I asked, trying to buy a bit of time.

However, the woman on the other side of the table was having none of it. She leaned forward and stared at me with a hard expression as she raised one hand and pointed accusingly in my direction.

“Please stop acting like I’m both blind and stupid.” She lowered the finger, but didn’t soften her gaze. Now, I’m only going to ask you this once again. Who the hell are you? Because, no matter how much you might look like him, I know that you are not my son.”

The Other Side of Me – Part 24
by Lily Rasputin

“Well?” The furious woman across the table from me said. “I’m waiting.”

I stared at my mother, pain aching in my chest as I was torn between the elated feeling of seeing her again, and the sheer terror that her sternest glare always provoked from deep inside me. Unlike my father, Mom was slow to anger, but when she got mad, she really got mad.

I held up my hands, shaking my head back and forth. “I …”

Her finger came back up again, pointing right at my face.

“And no more lies. So help me, I will drag your ass across the street and ask Jackson if he has any gadgets in his lab that will get answers from you.”

I didn’t want to smile, since I knew from many previous experiences that it would only serve to make her even madder. But the mental image of my mother physically hauling me over to Jackson’s, strong-arming me downstairs to the lab, was a little bit hilarious.

The corners of my mouth twitched up, causing her scowl to deepen. Quickly, I wave my hands in defensive supplication.

“Mom, it’s me. I swear. It is.” For the briefest of moments, I actually considered attempting to conjure an explanation that wouldn’t require revealing the truth about what had been going on for the past four days. Some wildly believable excuse to alleviate her suspicions.

Then I decided that even if I managed to convince her that she was just imagining things, Charlene would eventually return and fuck it all up. At least if she knew what was going on, Mom would be prepared for when that happened.

“Right now, I’m me again.”

She stared at me for a few seconds, though I swear it felt like at least an hour. Her expression bordered between belief and distrust, making me wonder if she would follow through on her previous threat. Finally, she sighed and shook her head.

“Charlie, what in the hell is going on?” She rubbed at her temples with the first two fingers of each hand. “I swear, you’ve been like a virtual Jekyll and Hyde lately. I asked Katie if she knew and she lied and said she didn’t.”

I wasn’t surprised. Katie was a horrible liar. Especially when it came to Mom’s interrogation techniques. “I asked her to keep it secret,” I said, hoping that it would take the heat off my sister. “I thought everything would be fixed before you or Dad would notice.”

A single brow over one of her eyes arched and she looked from me to the wall behind me. However, I knew she was actually looking through the wall, in the direction of Jackson’s house.

“Oh god, he screwed up another experiment, didn’t he?” Her gaze returned to me, the anger from before now replaced by concern and worry. “He’s done something and now you have this … split personality. Right? That’s why you’ve been bouncing between your normal self and being a …”

“A total bitch?” I offered, leaning back in my chair and lowering my hands.

She frowned. “You know that I’m not a fan of that word, Charles.” She sighed. “But yes, you have been quite the whirlwind of shifting personalities lately.”

I looked up at the ceiling, drew in a slow breath, released it, and decided it was time to put all of my cards on the table. I couldn’t hide what had happened from her any longer.

“Jackson did have an experiment go a little wonky a few days ago. But it didn’t give me dissociative identity disorder. Not exactly.”

Well, that’s putting it mildly. The condescending voice sounded exactly like Charlene.

My mother frowned, leaning forward to rest her arms on the table. “What did it do, Charles? Exactly?”

So, I recounted the disastrous event with the dimensional window. Of my discovery that I had swapped, and was continuing to swap, places with my female dimensional double. Me attempting to live her life while she spent time mine. The discussion, right on the heels of having a similar talk with Josie, provoked extreme feelings of déjà vu. The difference being that my mom was more open to accepting the story.

Probably because she was less focused on kicking my ass for sleeping with her man.

Her expression of incredulousness had begun to fade halfway through my recounting. By the time I got to the present moment, she had a sly, extremely amused smile on her face.

Tilting my head slightly to the side, I gave her a quizzical look. “What? What’s so funny?”

She shrugged, leaning back in her chair and placing her palm against one of her cheeks. “Nothing. I’m trying to imagine you having to learn do all those girly things. Like wear makeup, shave your legs, and how to sit down in a skirt without flashing everyone.” Her grin widened into a fully amused smile. “I bet you’re completely adorable in that cheer uniform.”

Her pleased comment at the obstacles I’d been dealing with for a few days made my cheeks burn with embarrassment. Despite the level of comfort I felt as Charlene, now that I was back in my own body, I couldn’t fight against the unexpected wave of shame.

“You’re absolutely right, Mom,” I said in a voice that surprised me with its level of sarcastic venom. “It’s been a complete blast having deal with all those fun, girly things. I’ve so enjoyed that I am ogled by tons of boys, treated like I’m a common whore, … and experiencing my first period.”

The smile dropped off her face in an instant. “Oh, sweetie,” she said softly as she reached out and took one of my hands into both of hers. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make fun of what you’re going through. I just thought …” She paused, looking away for a moment. “I just thought of how exciting it must be. I’ve wondered many a time in my life what it would be like if I’d been born a man. I didn’t think about how hard this must all be on you. Especially that last bit.”

She bit down on her lower lip and lightly squeezed my hand. “The women in our family have a rather unpleasant cycle. Didn’t Charlene’s mother recommend a heating pad or a steaming hot bath to help with the cramps? Or does she not know about the swap either?”

I felt my stomach drop as I realized that my rapid Cliff Notes presentation on what had been going on between me and Charlene didn’t include the largest major differences between her life and mine. The main reason why she steadfastly wanted to abandon her own world for this one.
Mom must have mistaken my expression for embarrassment because she nodded her head as if coming to the answer all on her own. “I guess if neither of you confided in me, you probably didn’t confide in her either.”

I shook my head. “Uh, it’s not that.” I tried to find a less distressing way to informing my mother that the version of her in Charlene’s world was dead. “See, Charlene’s mom ... well, there was a car accident a couple of years ago. A bad one. And …”

The color drained from my mom’s face, and she brought a hand up to cover her mouth. “Oh dear. She didn’t make it, did she? Charlene’s mother?”

I shook my head, fighting against the bile threatening to rise into my throat. The discovery that first evening that my double’s mother was gone had hit me like a sledgehammer to the gut. I’d wanted to puke right there in Jackson’s lab when he told me what had happened.

However, seeing how the news that her double was deceased was affecting my mom made that nauseating sensation return with a vengeance.
“No. She didn’t. Charlene sort of blames herself. Since she was supposed to pick up her Katie and didn’t. Otherwise, her mom wouldn’t have had reason to be on the road that night.”

“That’s horrible, Charlie.” Her voice was steady, despite the pallor of her face. “She shouldn’t blame herself for an accident.”

I shrugged. “Well, she does. And it’s, I don’t know, messing with her head. Making her behave in self-destructive ways.”

I told Mom about Charlene treating her Katie like crap, and about how she had been having sex with one of her best friend’s boyfriend. Leaving out the identity of said boyfriend. How she had attempted to stop our swapping episodes by attacking my Jackson and trashing the dimensional window.

The color returned to Mom’s cheeks, spurned on by the anger I could tell she was feeling due to hearing about my feminine side’s antics.

“I’m sure she’s acting out because of the guilt, though that is not an appropriate response and doesn’t excuse her actions.” She frowned. “But why is she trying to destroy the only way for you two to stay where you belong?”

I sighed and held her gaze with my own. “Because of you, Mom.”

“Me?”

“She doesn’t want to stay in her own life, her own world, anymore. She wants to be here. In a world where her mom is still alive.”

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Katie looked up when I opened her door while knocking, stiffening for a moment. Behind me, Mom waved at her and then gave me a smarmy grin before heading down the hall to her own bedroom. Stepping inside, I closed the door behind me.

“Hey, Katie-Kat.”

Sitting cross-legged on her bed, she visibly relaxed and slumped back against the headboard. “Welcome back,” she said in a relieved voice that hurt my heart. “I guess from the look on both of your faces, Mom now knows. About Charlene?”

I nodded. “I told her everything. Mostly. I probably should have done that the first time I swapped back, but I wasn’t sure if her or Dad would believe me.” I sighed. “Hiding it just made things worse.”

Katie was silent for a moment, then shrugged. “I don’t know if it would have helped. Though, there’s a good chance that if they’d known beforehand, they might have pushed back. Brought it up when she was acting out. That might have made her do something drastic. Like run away or something.”

“She’s not going to run away, Katie. She wants my life here too much to do that.”

She nodded. “Yeah, good point.” Then she gave me an interested grin. “So …”

“So … what?” I asked.

“How are things over there? Still having all the fun with the obviously less-cool version of me?”

She grinned and nudged me with her foot, but I could hear the hurt in her voice. She and I had been so close when we were younger, before I’d become a high school senior and made the choice to spend less time with my “kid sister”.

Now, I was another Katie Miller’s big sister. One who was bridging the divide between them and rebuilding their damaged relationship. Something I was fairly certain Charlene wouldn’t do. In either universe.

“I suppose,” I said, trying to sound like the idea was annoying.

“Whatever,” she said, nudging me again. “You’re not telling me something, Charlie.” Her head bobbed up and down in the affirmative, as if supporting her own statement. “I might not be the smartest child our parents ever produced, but I can spot potential gossip as easily as easily as dad can spot a potential rock star parking spot.” She pointed her finger at me. “So, spill. What’s happened?”

The heat in my face returned, as I looked away from her. “So, I might have gone out on a date last night.”

In a flash, she scrambled away from the headboard and plopped herself down right next to me. “A date? As Charlene?”

I nodded, busy studying her closet door. “Yeah.”

“With a guy?”

The warmth radiating from my cheeks increased tenfold as I nodded again.

“Someone besides Jackson. Or Danny Morris?”

Now I did turn to look at her. “I would never, ever, date Danny Morris. Ever.”

Katie giggled. “Just checking. So, with who did you have this date? Where did you go? Did he hold your hand?” She squealed softly as she grabbed my arm and planted her face on my shoulder, peering at me with wild excitement. “Did he kiss you at the end?”

I made a croaking sound and used my free arm to push her backward onto the bed. “You are horrible, you know that?”

She rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue. “Don’t get mad at me. You’re the one going on dates.”

I laughed and leaned back so that I was lying next to her, staring up at the ceiling. I proceeded to tell her about meeting Mike North and his brother at the mall. How Sebastian had asked Charlene’s Katie out and Mike had requested Charlene’s company to balance out the party.

“But you already liked him, didn’t you? From that first meeting?”

I nodded. “I did. Though I was really hesitant to admit it.”

When I reached the part about me kissing Mike at the end of the date, Katie squealed again and rolled over to hug me.

“That’s awesome, Charlie.” Then she frowned. “I hope Charlene doesn’t mess it up for you. From what you told me, it doesn’t sound like Mike is her type of guy.”

“He might be. I don’t know. I do know that he is definitely my type.” Reaching out, I put a finger on her lips. “Yes, that sounded as weird for me to say as it probably sounded for you to hear. So shush!”

Katie giggled again, causing me to giggle as well. Well, at least chuckle. I might not have felt any shame at the tittering laughter, I just didn’t have the voice for it in this body.

“I don’t think there’s a Sebastian North at my school. But now I’m going to have to check.”

I forced my face to remain neutral and simply nodded. “That sound doable. Just don’t try to set me up with his brother, okay? That would be a little too much weirdness.”

“Says the guy building a romantic relationship as his female parallel counterpart.”

“Touché.”

Then I frowned and shook my head as I turned on my side to look at her. Reaching out, I let my fingers gently push some loose strands of hair from her face.

“You are plenty smart, Katie-Kat. As well as kind, warm, funny, adorable, and a whole host of other things I wish I’d reminded you of before all this started. I can’t promise that this is going to end with me here and her there. Or that if I get stuck over there permanently that Charlene will learn to cherish and appreciate you as much as I do.”

“Charlie …”

I lightly tapped the tip of her nose. “No. Let me say this, okay? You are the best little sister a guy, or girl, like me could have ever had. I love you Katie. Always remember that no matter what.”

A tear rolled down her cheek and she threw herself against me, burying her face into my chest. “I don’t want you to get stuck over there. Even if she started treating me better, she could never replace you.”

I kissed the top of her head and gave her another hug. A second later, my phone began to ring. Twisting to the side, one arm still comforting Katie, I dug it out of my back pocket and swiped the green phone icon before even glancing at the Caller ID.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Stud,” Samantha’s honeyed voice oozed into my ear. “Did you forget that we were supposed to have a date this afternoon?”

Author’s Note: I want to apologize to everyone who’s vested in this tale and who have had to wait an unreasonable amount of time for the next chapter. I suffered a catastrophic computer crash soon after posting Part 23 and lost everything that wasn’t backed. After that, I just lost the will to write for a while.

I will endeavor to not disappoint you again.

XOXO,
Lily (formerly Limbo’s Mistress)

The Other Side of Me – Part 25
by Lily Rasputin

“No,” I said, trying to inject nonchalance into my voice. “I didn’t forget. Uh, the time just sort of got away from me.”

There was a pause from Sam’s end, just long enough for me to wonder if she was mad that “I” had apparently forgotten we were supposed to get together today. If she was, I’d just have to find some way to put out that fire as well. After all, it wasn’t as if I could tell her that it wasn’t really me she’d made plans with.

“Okay,” she said, her voice still as smooth as before. “Well, do you think you’re going to be much longer? Should we just cancel?”

“Cancel?” I wasn’t even sure what we were supposed to be doing, how could I know if canceling was the right move or not?

Katie’s eyes widened and she sat up, shaking her head wildly back and forth. She pointed at the phone and mouthed “Do not cancel.”

“Yeah. I mean, if you’re busy we can just hang out another time.” Now there was an apparently note of disappointment in her voice. “No biggie.”

Katie gave me an extremely pointed look and pointed at the phone again. I responded with a nod and turned my attention back to the girl on the phone.

“I don’t want to cancel,” I told Sam. “I do want to see you. I promise, things just got away from me.” I locked eyes with my sister. “I unexpectedly needed to make a trip to my parents’ and got pulled into a serious discussion with my mom.”

All of which was the truth. From a certain point of view.

“Cool,” Sam said, sounding pleased. “So … think you’ll be here in an hour? More than? Less?”

Okay. That helped clear up part of the problem. Since now I didn’t have to ask where we were supposed to meet for the date that Charlene had planned but which I was going to have to attend. I was going to meet Sam at her place.

A place I had no clue how to find.

“Less?” I responded, wincing at my questioning tone. “Just need to finish up here and get ready.”

She paused again. “Get ready?”

I nodded, spurned on by Katie’s nod of positive reinforcement. “Uh, for our date? I’m still wearing what I threw on this morning. I figured I’d get changed.”

Katie gave me a double thumbs-up.

There was another brief pause from Samantha’s end of the connection.

“I didn’t realize you had to wear a specific ensemble to study Chemistry, Charlie. If you’re taking suggestions, I’m a big fan of you in jeans. I like the way your butt looks in them.” She let out a little throaty laugh that made me to feel both embarrassed and aroused.

“Oh, right,” I said, giving Katie a look and getting a shrug back from her. “Jeans it is. I’ll see you in about an hour.” Hanging up the phone, I flopped back on the bed. “Apparently Charlene made a study date with Samantha.”

“Hopefully, it will turn into more than just a study session,” Katie said, wagging her eyebrows at me. “You should get to do it at least once more as a guy before you head back to get your cherry popped.”

“What?” I said, sitting back up.

She bounced off the bed and quickly rushed to the door. As soon as her hand hit the knob, she looked back at me. “I mean, if Mikey makes your knees weak with a kiss of his lips, think about what he can do with other parts of his anatomy.”

Katie let out a cackling giggle and fled the room, making it to the bathroom down the hall before I could get off the bed and catch her.
I sighed and knocked on the door. “If I’m not the one who comes back from this date, remember what I told you. Believe in yourself as much as I believe in you.”

She opened the door a crack and peeked out. Her smile was a tiny bit sad. “I hope it is you, Charlie. If Charlene never came back, I wouldn’t be the least bit upset.” She shrugged one shoulder. “But I’ll understand if it’s not you the next time. Have fun with Sam.”

Mom was standing by the door waiting, as I headed to leave.

“I overheard something about a date. With Samantha?” She frowned and shook her head. “Charlie, I’m not sure that’s a great idea. What with is going on with you and Charlene, do you think it’s wise to be with someone who doesn’t know. What if you and she swap while you’re with Samantha?”

“Mom, it’ll be okay. We’ve been doing this for a few days now, I think we’ve both learned to roll with the shifts.” While Charlene might have acted in manners atypical from me, it didn’t seem like she wasn’t able to bluff her way through a sudden change in situations.

Mom didn’t seem convinced. “What if you and Samantha are, uh, occupied and a swap happens? I’m not sure she’s going to be happy to find herself in a compromising position with another girl. I mean, how would you like it if you blinked, and some guy was kissing and touching you?”

I couldn’t help the amused laugh that came out of my mouth. Shaking my head, I grabbed the bag of clothes Charlene had brought with her and winked at my confused parent.

“Considering that we’re both bi, and she’s already enjoyed Sam’s company as me, I think that there wouldn’t be too much protesting from either of us.” I leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “If I don’t see you again for a while, I love you. And Dad.”

As I stepped out onto the porch, she followed behind me and smiled. “I wondered if you would ever realize that aspect of yourself, Charlie. My biggest fear was that you never would.”

I paused, looking at her with a mouth partially open in surprise. “Wait. Are you saying you knew I was bi?” I shook my head. “Am I the only one who didn’t know that about myself?”

She smiled at me and shook her head. “I’m your mother, Charlie. It’s my job to know my children. Even those parts of themselves they don’t want to accept.”

I moved in and kissed her cheek again. “I’m accepting a whole lot of new things lately, Mom. Not all of them are bad. Love you.”

“I love you, too, Charlie.”

After climbing into the Jeep, I sat there for a moment, trying to figure out where Sam had said she lived. There was a comment she had made while we were having lunch once, that she loved not being in the dorms, and that her new bedroom overlooked the park.

“I guess I could drive around the apartment complexes until I spotted her car.”

Sighing, I glanced across the street to Jackson’s house. While I felt guilty about not checking in on him, I didn’t want to pop in just for a few moments. Our friendship had definitely become strained since his experiment threw my life in disarray, and Charlene had turned out to be a certified nutjob.

Still … if anyone could figure out where Samantha Thomas lived, it was a super-genius.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I called him. The phone rang twice before being answered.

“Yes?” Jackson said with a note of disdain.

“Chill, dude. It’s me.”

“How can I be certain of that? Would you be willing to be injected with a truth serum to verify that you are Charles and not Charlene?”

I looked from the house to the phone, gaping. “Seriously?”

“Yes, I’m serious,” he said with a sniff. “After what happened the last time I let that body into my lab, I’m not taking chances.”

“Well, you’ll have to come up with something other than that truth serum. Unless you’ve revised the formula. I’m not going to risk walking around for two days, sounding like I’m huffing helium.”

“Charles?”

“That’s what I said. It’s me. Mega Bitch is back home for the moment, and I hope she’s having a grand time dealing with the fallout from some of her bullshit.”

He laughed. “Maybe it’ll straighten her out. Give me a second to deactivate the security protocols and you can come in.”

I frowned. “I can’t, man. I’m already late for a date with Samantha that Charlene set up, and I don’t want to be in any more trouble than I probably already am. I just called to see if you could do me a favor.”

“Understandable. The last thing you probably need on top of everything else is a pissed off redheaded soccer player. Unless you can time it so that her anger coincides with Charlene’s return. Let her deal with one of your messes for a change.”

“That wouldn’t be fair to Sam. Even if she did kick Charlene’s ass.”

“Good point. Plus, you’re too damned nice for something that mean. What’s the favor?”

“I’m supposed to get with Sam and study. Problem is, I’ve never been to Sam’s apartment, though I’m sure Charlene has. Which means I can’t just call her and ask for directions to a place I should know how to get to. Do you think you could use that awesome computer of yours to find out?”

“Are you sure being swapped into and out of the body of a hot girl isn’t messing with your brain, Chuck?” He laughed again. “If Charlene’s been to Sam’s place, it’s likely the history of the trip is in your phone’s GPS. Just look for a recent trip to a destination you don’t recognize. Chances are, that’s her apartment.”

I reached up and smacked myself in the forehead. I knew as soon as Jackson suggested using the GPS, I should have thought of it for myself. Hadn’t I just sleuthed the location of my phone, Charlene’s phone, using something similar?

“Thanks, dude.”

“No problem. It’s the least I can do since … you know.” The regret in his voice was clear. This wasn’t the first experiment of his to have effects upon me. But it was likely the one that might never get fixed.

“It’s okay, Jack,” I said, feeling myself smile a little. “No matter what happens in the end, I’m not blaming you.”

* * * * * * * * * * *

Samantha’s place, as it turned out, was only a couple of blocks from the parking lot where I, as Charlene, had to park for school. It wasn’t until I was actually standing at the heavy-duty security door before I realized that no amount of GPS trickery in the world would tell me which apartment was hers.

The intercom panel next to the door had twelve buttons labeled with suite numbers, rather than the occupants’ names. Probably for safety reasons. So, with no clues to help me decipher the correct one, I decided to try them all. Putting on a big, friendly smile, I pressed the topmost button as I looked into the miniature camera in the center of the device.

“What?” A gruff-sounding male voice asked after a second.

“Sorry, dude. Wrong button. My bad.”

“Stupid fucker,” came the angry response, followed by the sound of disconnection.

I shook my head and glared at the camera. I doubted the douchebag would have an asshat if Charlene had been the one standing here. I briefly wondered if this clown had a doppelgänger that I could kick in the nuts with a pointed heel the next time I swapped back.

Even though I knew for a fact that alternate personalities weren’t always identical, I got the feeling that this guy was a total jerk in any dimension.

It took five more wrong tries before Sam’s voice finally drifted out from the tiny speaker.

“Took you long enough to get here, darling,” she said as the door before me buzzed loudly and unlocked. “Come on up.”

I jogged up the stairs to the second floor, exiting onto a short hallway that led me down to a door marked 202. Running my hand through my hair, I reached out and lightly knocked. I hoped Sam wouldn’t be too mad that I was late.

The door opened and the pretty redhead posed in the doorway. She wore a light lavender V-neck cardigan sweater and a faded denim skirt. Simultaneously, I noticed that the sweater was thin enough to reveal that she wasn’t wearing a bra under it and that the color really set off her hair and complexion.

“You gonna stand there in the hall and drool all afternoon?” she asked with a playful smile as she stepped back to allow me entrance.

I laughed as I crossed the threshold and unslung my backpack from my shoulder. “No. I prefer to do all my drooling in private. Not that anyone would blame me if I did just stand there slobbering. You look freaking amazing.” I gestured at the sweater. “That color is phenom for your skin tone.”

One of her brows slid up into an amused arch as her lips twisted into a tiny smirk. “Really? That’s probably the first time a guy has made that comment on it. They usually just appreciate the fact that it shows off my tits.”

A wave a heat exploded across my face. Shrugging, I turned and opened my bag. “Well, I’m not afraid to get in touch with my feminine side,” I mumbled. “Every now and then.” Pulling out my Chem book, I turned back to her. “Are we really studying? Or am I just here for you to tease and abuse.”

Laughing, Sam walked over to me, slipped her arms around my neck, and peered up at me with a slightly mischievous smirk. “Yes.” Then she leaned in and pressed her lips against mine. They were soft, wet, and had just a hint of cherry to them. Lip gloss. Probably the same brand as Charlene.

The front of my jeans grew tighter as I put my own arms around her waist and leaned into the kiss. For a few seconds, I was able to enjoy being Charles again, without worrying about what sort of shenanigans Charlene was getting into. It was just me and Samantha.

When we finally decided to resume breathing, my mouth came off of hers with a wistful little sigh. She grinned and shook her head as she brushed her fingers along my jaw and slowly let her arms drop from around my neck.

“How do you do that?” She asked, turning around and walking to the small, round table near the kitchen. On it was a textbook similar to mine, along with an open laptop, and a notebook full of diagrams and formulas.

“Do what?” I asked as I followed her, dropping into the seat next to hers.

“Change up your kisses. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Charlie. Every time you kiss me, it makes my toes curl and leaves me wanting to just tackle you and have my way with you. I just never met anyone who had two distinct styles of kissing.” She laughed and picked up a yellow pencil, twirling it around between two fingers. “It’s almost like being kissed by two different people.”

I forced myself to smile and shrugged. “Maybe I’m possessed. Sometimes it’s me kissing you, sometimes it’s the demon inhabiting my body.”

She rolled her eyes. “If that’s the case, we’ll send your demon out for a pizza later.” She tapped the open page in front of her. “Right now, we learn.”

For the next couple of hours, Samantha and I sat at the table and focused on our schoolwork.

We started with Chemistry, since we shared that particular class in this universe. Then I dove into Trig while she focused on Sociology. When I made an off-handed comment about culture and identity being possibly fluid as gender, she shot me a surprised look, then laughed.

“Hopefully, your open-mindedness is genuine and not just a ploy to get into my panties.” She stuck her tongue out at me. “Not that they would fit you anyway.”

How I managed to avoid making a “you’d be shocked” comment was beyond me. Instead, I merely shrugged one shoulder. “I’m a very open-minded type of person.”

In addition to knocking out a couple of days’ worth of schooling, pizza was ordered and eaten, and flirty comments over melted cheese were made. Afterwards, we decided to move from the table to the sofa, lounging comfortably in our own corners with books in our laps and our legs casually entwined.

There were several long periods where we didn’t even speak, though we constantly touched and caressed and flashed smiles at each other. It wasn’t until I closed my book and turned my attention back to her that I noticed the comfort we seemed to have together. Before, our dates were hasty lunches between classes and the occasional meetup on the weekends. Never had we just “hung out” together.

At first, I told myself that we hadn’t gotten closer because of our hectic schedules. Between my running and her soccer practices, along with all our schoolwork, it seemed the wrong time to think of getting into a serious romantic relationship. Now, sitting here watching as Sam chewed on her thumbnail while staring intensely at the book in her hands, I felt something stir within me.

I wanted this to be more than just hanging out with someone you occasionally had sex with. I wanted to be able to just be around with someone and not feel the overwhelming need to talk or do anything in particular besides bask in their presence.

The previous evening came rushing back to me. While there had been plenty of talking and carnival activities to keep us entertained, there had also been more than a few moments of comfortable silence. Several time over the course of the evening, I had glanced over to see Mike staring at me with a weirdly relaxed expression on his face.

Much like the one I was sure I was wearing now.

Sam lifted her gaze and gave me an amused smirk. “You’re doing it again,” she said, closing the book. Turning slightly so that she almost completely faced me, she smiled. “Care to share?”

My cheeks warmed and I managed a small laugh. “I was just taking a moment to appreciate the moment.” I gestured in the air around us. “Appreciate this.”

Sam glanced around, then back to me. “My apartment? You’re appreciating my apartment.”

“Well, mostly just the living room,” I said with a shrug and a smirk. “Oh, and the part of the kitchen I can see. Both very nice and welcoming.”

She let out an amused giggle, shook her head, and then let her face drop into something less flirty and more seductive.

“If you think those are nice and welcoming, I wonder what your assessment would be of my bedroom?”

Before I could come up with a witty response, she was crawling across the sofa and pressing herself down on top of me, her mouth hungrily seeking mine. The books in which we’d so recently been engrossed fell to the carpeted floor with a pair of thuds.

Two sets of tongues, lips, hands, and fingers played and explored for several minutes. Finally, Sam stood up and started walking away from the sofa. I quickly sat up, wondering if I’d done something wrong.

However, when she stopped and looked back at me while still wearing that smile, I understood where she was going. Where we were going.
The bedroom was smaller than I expected, but the bed was soft and the light coming in through the closed blinds provided enough illumination that I could see every bit of Samantha as we helped each other peel off our clothes.

This was the first time I’d seen her completely naked since the lab accident, and I couldn’t completely shut down the comparisons and contrasts between the sporty redhead’s body and my other one.

Both of us had well-defined legs with shapely calves, though I thought my thighs were a bit thicker. My arms were slightly more toned, but I figured that was due to the lack of back-handsprings Samantha had to do on the soccer field. And, of course, she had me beat by at least a cup size in the chest.

Now that I knew firsthand how sensitive nipples could be, especially when fully erect, I made sure to give Sam’s the utmost care and attention with my fingers and tongue. She purred playfully and reached down to massage and stroke my own engorged body part.

In reciprocation, my hand went down between her legs, seeking out the center of her arousal. Using what I’d gleaned from recent explorations of my own female anatomy, I slipped one, then two, fingers inside of her, gliding through the slickened folds down to just the second knuckle. Then I began to tease and stroke and caress with alternating amounts of pressure and rhythm.

Sam groaned and sighed, losing interest in pleasuring me as she gave herself over to my ministrations. More than once, she commented her amazement at how much improved my bedroom skills had become, causing me to feel a little pang of jealousy when I understood that she was talking about Charlene and not me.

This time, however, I focused solely on make sure Samantha reached optimum satisfaction. After bringing her to the edge and backing off a few times, she grabbed my hair with one hand and growled at me with frustration and need. Smiling, I changed tactics, and it wasn’t long after that the woman next to me closed her eyes, scrunched up her face, arched her back, and let out a resoundingly loud moan of release.

Part of me wondered if my face made a similar expression during my orgasm.

The rest of our lovemaking was slower and more reciprocal. There were a few times, where I wondered if I would suddenly be yanked away in the middle of my own climax, as seemed to be par for the course. This time, though, the universe decided to throw me a bone and let me enjoy all of Samantha’s extensive talents.

We made love until almost midnight before our bodies finally gave out and she passionately kissed me one last time before rolling over and spooning her back against me. I lay there for a while in the darkened room next to her, feeling the cooling down of our sweat-soaked bodies and listening the soft, almost-snore coming from between Sam’s slightly parted lips.

After all that I’d dealt with over the past five days, it was nice to just relax and spend time with someone I liked. Someone with whom I could be me. Where I didn’t have to pretend to be in control of someone else’s life, rushing constantly to put out fires I had no hand in creating.

As sleep finally started to overtake me, two final thoughts drifted through my head.

The first was that I wanted this feeling to become a regular part of my life. To have someone to share myself with, spend time with, and curl up next to throughout the night.

The second thought was that I wasn’t a hundred percent sure that I wanted that with Samantha ... or as Charles.

The Other Side of Me – Part 26
by Lily Rasputin

As the heavy haze of my intense, dream-filled slumber slowly parted, I found that Samantha was no longer curled up next to me.

Some part of my brain, probably still soaked with serotonin, hoped the sexy redhead would rejoin me soon. However, as I continued to lay there with my eyes closed, it occurred to me that the bed didn’t seem as soft as I remembered from the previous evening. In fact, it felt as if I were lying on something a bit stiffer and less comfortable.

Reluctantly, I slipped one arm from beneath the warm environment of the blanket and reached out, exploring. Instead of a pleasant expanse of mattress, my searching fingers found the edge of a rough, scratchy cushion and the cold, unyielding surface of something hard under it.

My eyes flew open as I pushed the covers away and sat up, pushing my hair out of my face as I blinked at the sterile white walls of the small room around me. Devoid of windows, the only illumination came from a small bulb set in the domed ceiling that was no brighter than your average nightlight. A steel door was set into one wall, the keypad next to it dark.

I was inside Jackson’s virtual imaging chamber.

It wasn’t Sam who had abandoned me while I slept. I was the one who’d left.

Sighing, I crawled off the futon and stretched, wincing slightly as the accompanying yawn made my left cheek sting with pain. Rubbing at it, I glanced down to see that I was dressed only in the boyshorts I’d donned Sunday morning and one of Jackson’s oversized NASA t-shirts.

There was a small pile of clothing on the floor next to the futon. The outfit I’d been wearing before Charlene and I swapped. Peeling off the t-shirt, I dressed as quickly as I could, starting with my socks. Though the air itself was just cool, the floor beneath me was practically freezing.

I had just slipped into my shoes when the keypad flared to life, followed by six rapid beeps. The sound of a lock being disengaged echoed through the small chamber was followed by the heavy steel slab swinging outward. I stepped toward it, holding up one hand top shield my eyes from the harsh light that streamed through the opening.

Jackson’s silhouette appeared in the entrance, holding something in his hand that had the shape of a coffee cup. He didn’t enter the room but remained just on the periphery.

“It’s okay, Charlie. You can come out. The force field is deactivated.”

I emerged into the brightly lit lab, blinking as my eyes adjusted to the change in lighting. Turning to face him, I held out my hand as I nodded toward the mug.

“Please say that is for me. I need all the caffeine I can get this morning.”

He smiled and handed me the mug. “Yes. But it’s a special blend I’ve developed. It provides the desired energy boost without those unfortunate side-effects?”

I brought the cup to my lips, pausing to look at him over the rim. “Side-effects?”

“Oh, yeah. Forgot who I was talking to for a second. The first attempt resulted in Charlene being so amped up that her mental processes were operating five times as fast as her physical ones. She felt like she, and the rest of the world, were moving in slow motion.”

Shrugging, I took a sip of the steaming beverage. “That doesn’t sound too bad.”

Jackson frowned. “Then the effect ended, and she crashed hard. Slept like a coma patient for five straight days. I thought her dad was going to kill me for sure that time.”

Lowering the mug, I shrugged again. “Still doesn’t sound that bad. She could have been so energized she vibrated through things.” I let out a little laugh and glanced up at the D.I.A.S. “I guess you knew that it would be me, and not her, when you opened the door? Did Miss Thang behave herself while I was gone?”

Jackson frowned. “Eventually. Do you want to watch the surveillance video and see for yourself?”

I shook my head. “Can you give me the high points. I’m guessing she wasn’t too happy to swap back and find she was still in trouble, huh?”

“Still?”

While I finished my coffee, I told Jackson about how I returned to my universe to find my pissed off mother accusing me of being an imposter and that there was now another ally back home to help try to keep Charlene’s rampages under control.

“If that’s even possible,” he commented with a derisive tone.

“Well, considering her motives for wanting my life, I don’t think she’s going to do anything to deliberately make Mom mad. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

I placed the mug down on a nearby table and immediately winced as a bolt of pain rolled slowly from one side of my abdomen to the other. Grabbing my stomach, I moaned as I stumbled to the sofa and plopped down.

“Fuck,” I said, leaning back and massaging my lower belly. “I did not miss this part one little bit.”

Jackson refilled the empty mug with water and handed it to me. Along with a bagel and couple of pills.

“Yeah,” he said as I swallowed the pain relievers and chased them with the water. “Bouncing back into her body in the middle of a crap wave did absolutely nothing to help Charlene’s attitude.”

Taking a bite of the bagel, I swallowed and then arched a brow.

“So, Charlene?”

“Right. It was … interesting.”

Jackson filled me in on what had taken place once Charlene and I swapped. Then, realizing that she was back home, facing a trio of unhappy-looking people, she did what we all expected her to do. She tried to flee.

However, Jackson had been ready with the time decelerator, and before the effect fully wore off, Charlene found herself strapped to a rolling chair. The unfortunate guest of honor to an impromptu intervention.

Shelly had gone first, telling Charlene that she and Josie were well aware of what had been going on, both before and after the swaps began. She asked how someone who claimed to care about her friends do those things on purpose. Of how she could be so callow about trying to ruin my life as Charles.

Charlene had started with some, as Jackson called it, “bullshit excuse” about how none of us knew how hard it was to be her. Dealing with her loss. And how suddenly finding herself in a stranger’s life, a better life, have been so overwhelming that it had clouded her judgement.

Unfortunately for my doppelgänger, Josie was still fuming from the whole Danny Morris affair and was buying none of it. Especially since it was clear that particular indiscretion had been going on before the cross-dimensional disaster.

“She slapped the living crap out of her,” Jackson said, shaking his head and sounding impressed. “She also called her several rather unflattering names. Lemme tell you, if you thought she was mad when you were in the body.” Another headshake. “It took both Shelly and I to pull her back and talk her out of doing something worse than slapping her.”

I reached up and rubbed at my aching cheek. “Seeing as I’m in here now, thanks. Still stings like a mother, though.”

After that, Jackson shooed the other girls into another part of the lab and sat down to talk to Charlene alone. He told her how much what she’d done had hurt him. Explained that even if she had fallen out of love with him, or if she’d never loved him in the first place, he’d thought their years of friendship would make her more considerate about his feelings. That at the very least, she should have felt comfortable enough to simply say that she didn’t want to date him anymore.

“How was that received?” I asked, curious.

He sighed. “She mumbled something about my lack of romantic spontaneity. And my inability to actually enjoy living life, rather than studying it.”

I nodded, but wisely kept my mouth shut. If pressed, I would have said the same thing could be applied to my Jackson as well.

“After the talking session was over, Charlene demanded to be released. However, Shelly insisted that we keep her here until you came back. However, we couldn’t just leave her tied to a chair all night, so we zapped her again and locked her into the VR chamber.”

I frowned, turning my gaze away. I understood, on some level, their reasoning. Having been cornered and berated by the three most important people in her life, who knows what sort of craziness she might have responded with. They did what they thought was best to help keep everyone safe.

The problem I had with what they decided was that it wasn’t fair. To either me or to Charlene.
Locking her up and waiting for me to return and take back over would only widen the disconnect she felt toward her life and her friends. It also would likely make her even more determined to stay in my universe permanently.

What if she decided that the only way to make sure things never got fixed was to kill, or severely injure, my Jackson? She’d already beaten the shit out of the dimensional window. Crippling the inventor would result in it never, ever, being repaired.

“You don’t seem to agree,” Jackson said in a slightly annoyed tone. “Come on, Charlie. You know firsthand what a mess Charlene is making of everything. How can you think we’re in the ones in the wrong?”

I shook my head and stood up, looking down at him.

“She’s not some BBEG to be battled, Jackson. Yeah, she’s done some pretty horrendous things. Both here and over there. But she’s also me and I’m her. On more than one level. I don’t think chastising her in some gang-press, or locking her in your lab, is going to make her come around and start playing nice.”

He opened his mouth, but I held up one finger and wagged it as I planted my other hand on my hip.

“She has to find her balance, Jackson. Or else she’s going to fully nuke whichever life she ends up with.”

Jackson stared at me for a moment, then snorted. “After all she’s done, I don’t understand how you can just be so casual. If she was screwing up my life, I’d be furious.”

I thought about Samantha and how Charlene had managed to get closer to the sporty redhead than I ever had. While I’m sure a lot of it was me getting in my own way, I couldn’t help but believe that having a friendship with her here helped to strengthen the romance over there. Why do it at all if she was dead set on bringing complete ruination to my life?

“Because I want to believe that her and I aren’t completely opposite people. Fundamentally. I think our mom knowing about the swaps might help straighten her out some while she’s there.”

“I think you’re being extremely optimistic, Charlie. I sure hope that your faith isn’t totally misplaced.”

I had to concede his point and nodded. “Yeah. Me, too.”

Just then, I heard the triple dinging of my phone’s text notification chime. Glancing around, I spotted it laying on top of the dimensional window control panel.

“Uh, yeah. That’s been happening since about an hour after you two swapped places yesterday Charlene demanded to know who was texting, but none of us told her. Which did nothing to improve her mood.” Jackson shrugged causally, but I noticed that his lips tightened into an unhappy line. The expression told me that he’d seen the messages. Or, at least, who had sent them.

Curious, I picked up the phone and unlocked it, seeing I had several unread texts. All but one of them was from Mike.

The first read: “Good Morning!” Sent with the requisite smiley face. I checked the timestamp and saw it had arrived around the time I discovered I was bleeding from my lady bits.

“It’s not too early to text, is it?” This about twenty minutes after the first.

“I wanted to tell you that I had a really great time last night.” “Not that I didn’t think I would. I’m just saying.” “Okay, that sounded way to casual.” Those three were back-to-back, and I couldn’t help but smile a little thinking about Mike sending them with rapid abandon.

“I hope you enjoyed yourself, too.” “Okay, that sounded way too flirty.” Those were an hour after the other three.

The next was almost three hours later. After the swap.

“Seb said he had a good time. In case Katie was wondering or anything.”

An hour after that. “I think he just asked her out on a second date.”

My smile widened. “Good for you, Katie-Kat,” I murmured.

“How about you? Interested in a second date with me?”

My heart skipped a little beat when I read the question, and my cheeks flushed as I smiled wider. Good for me.

Then I scrolled down to the last message, this one from my sister. It had come in around eleven pm. About the same time that Samantha and I were winding down our lovemaking.

“Charlie. Can you call Mike when you get back? He’s worried you’re mad or something.”

The smile fell off my face. Replaced by burning shame.

Mike had reached out multiple times with self-effacing and sweet comments. He hadn’t gotten any response at all because I hadn’t been around to send any. He assumed I was ignoring him. He didn’t know I wasn’t dimensionally available.

I looked up at Jackson. “When did you tell Katie that Charlene was back?”

He shrugged. “Around nine or so, I think. After we prepped the chamber and stuck her in it. Shelly called and told her. I guess so she wouldn’t get worried when you didn’t come home. Katie was going to tell your dad that you were sleeping at Shelly’s place because you had studying to do.”

I arched a brow. “What was the plan if the morning came, and Charlene was still here?”

“We didn’t get that far ahead.”

I sighed and tucked the phone into the pocket of my hoodie. My first class on Monday’s was Chemistry, which started at nine. That gave me about an hour and some change to get ready, grab my stuff, and make it to school. A large part of me whispered that I should just skip it. It wouldn’t kill me to miss one class.

However, I felt the distracting tedium of higher education was what I needed to get my mind off things for a little bit. No Charlene. No Samantha. No Jackson. No Mike. Just me and covalent bonds.

Shaking my head, I started toward the door. Jackson practically jogged to get in front of me.

“Where are you going?”

I stopped and gave him an incredulous stare. “Home. I need to shower, change my tampon, and get ready for school. I have class at nine.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea. If Charlene comes back …”

I held up my hand, cutting him off. “She won’t be here for you to imprison again?”

“I just think that, until we can be sure she’s not going to go even more off the rails, it would be better if you’re someplace where you can be monitored.”

“Monitored?”

Jackson’s cheeks reddened and he shrugged his shoulders. “You know what I mean, Charles.”

We stared at each other silently for another thirty seconds before I simply turned around and walked out of the lab. Before I could say something that I couldn’t take back.

As I stalked back across the street home, I felt my anger threatening to bubble over. I was sure that some of it was probably PMS, considering I’d already been warned by multiple sources that Charlene was a less-than-pleasant person for the first few days of her period.

But the majority of my rage, I was sure, was directed at Jackson’s suggestion.

Did I blame Shelly and Josie for agreeing that Charlene be locked up overnight? Maybe a little. I couldn’t disagree that, after the welcome she’d received when she bounced back into her body, she might have been a danger to herself or others. If I’d been them, and it was someone else who was swapping places with their unstable, interdimensional doubles, I would have voted for an imposed time-out as well.

However, keeping this body locked up until the swapping stopped was completely unfeasible. Besides the fact that I would get kicked off the cheer team, lose my scholarship, and flunk out of school; it was a fair bet that my dad wouldn’t hesitate to kick in Jackson’s door, grab him by the neck, and demand the release of his daughter.

Or he would probably just call the cops. Given the current physical shape he was currently in.

Luckily, Dad’s car was absent from the garage when I cut through and into the house. That meant no awkward grilling about whether or not I’d actually been at a sleepover with Shelly and not actually keeping Mr. North’s bed warm.

Not that I think I would mind taking on that particular task.

Entering through the kitchen, I paused just long enough to fill a mug with coffee from the still-warm carafe and made my way upstairs. Katie’s door opened when I reached the landing and she poked her head out, apprehension plastered on her face.

“It’s me,” I said, wincing at how tired and miserable I sounded. “I need to take a speed shower and get ready if I’m going to make it to class. So, if you want to talk, you know where to find me.”

I didn’t wait to see if she was going to accept the offer. I hit the bathroom, cranked the shower to just shy of scalding, and guzzled half the mug before climbing under the spray. I turned the nozzle slightly to the side so my hair wouldn’t get directly soaked. There wasn’t enough time for wash, condition, and style it this morning.

The sound of the bathroom door closing was followed by Katie’s silhouette moving toward the sink. She hopped up on the edge of the counter and looked my direction.

“Mike’s freaking out,” she said, lobbing a loaded grenade in my direction with her opening comment.

“I read,” I replied, lathering up my loofa and going about the process of making myself less stinky. “I’m gonna text him back after class.”

“You don’t think that might be too late? What if he already thinks you’re not interested in him?”

I wanted to roll my eyes, but since the glass between us was heavily frosted, the effort would have been a complete waste.

“If he’s jumps straight to that conclusion, after the way I practically devoured his mouth Saturday night, then he’s way too twitchy to date me. Given that, you know, I’m in the middle of what might actually be the craziest identity crisis the world has ever seen.”

Katie let out a little laugh. “That’s a good point. Well, I covered for you as best as I could. I told Seb that you were having some female issues and weren’t really in the right frame of mind for flirty banter.”

I snorted. “Ain’t that the truth?”

“When did you get back here?”

“About thirty minutes ago.” I rinsed the loofa clear and hung it on the empty hook before grabbing the hose and rinsing myself. “Did you know they locked Charlene in Jackson’s lab for the whole night?”

The ten second moment of silence that followed gave me my answer.

“Do you think that’s fair?” I asked.

More silence.

I snapped off the water and shoved the door to the side, staring at my sister’s downcast face.
“You do, don’t you?” Clenching my jaw, I grabbed a towel and practically flung it around my torso. “I guess you also think keeping her a constant prisoner, unless I’m the one in here, is a good idea?”

Katie’s head bounced up, eyes wide, and shook from side to side. “No. Of course, I don’t. I just … Jackson said that she was behaving way out of control. It was the best way to make sure she didn’t do anything rash.”

This time, I did roll my eyes.

“I don’t know how out of control she was. I didn’t see the video of her return. I have only Jackson’s word for it. And right now, I’m not a hundred percent sure I believe him.” I began to dry myself rapidly. “Regardless, none of you seem to have considered the fact that keeping her tied up and pissed off here isn’t going to keep her from going crazy in retaliation over in my universe.”

Her mouth dropped open for a moment as her cheeks blossomed into a bright shade of crimson. “Oh, god. What do you think she’s going to do?”

I opened the drawer next to Katie’s leg, pulled out a wrapped tube, then disappeared into the separate toilet area to handle the necessary hygiene task.

“Hopefully nothing,” I said through the door. “My hope that her waking up to see Samantha in bed next to her helps cool her down a little.”

“Samantha?”

“My sort-of girlfriend.” I shrugged. “Though, Charlene has done a much better job of wooing her than I did. I think we might be officially dating now.”

Back in my room, I finished getting ready to leave for school. Since I was stressed from the swap, the discovery of what Jackson had done, and the 4K return of my period, I picked a comfy pair of black and pink leggings and a gray and white sweatshirt for the day’s ensemble.
Kappa’s posh sensibilities be damned.

I’d already put on my least sexy panties and was fighting with my bra when Katie stopped in the doorway to watch, her backpack already slung over her shoulder.

“Megan Smith is giving me a ride. She wants all the Seb North gossip firsthand.”

I nodded, still struggling with the brassier. “Okay. That makes it easier on me this morning. Which, apparently, is necessary.” Growling, I looked over at her. “What the hell is wrong with this thing? It’s like it shrunk or something.”

Katie looked at the bra, then to me, and giggled. “It didn’t get smaller, Chuck. Other things got bigger.”

Blinking, I looked down at my breasts. “Bigger? How the fuck did they get bigger?”

“Period swelling. All that progesterone flowing through your body. It’ll level out in a day or two and they’ll back down to normal.” She shrugged. “It’s the only time I manage to fill a C cup.”

“What the hell am I supposed to do?”

“Either shove them in and deal with the discomfort or wear a different bra. I think Charlie has a couple she bought just for that problem.” The sound of a car horn beeped from somewhere outside, and Katie waggled her fingers at me. “See you later, Chuck.”

I managed to find one of the bras Katie mentioned, but as my fingers curled around the light peach strap, they brushed something rigid buried under the pile of satin, cotton, and silk. Pulling it out, I realized it was a card. A birthday card, to be exact.

One the front was a pair of cartoon girls standing in a flowery meadow with their arms slung around each other and big, comical grins on their faces. The fluffy pink caption across the top read, “I know birthday cake is supposed to be sweet …”

I opened the card to see the rest of the greeting continued on the other side. “… but nothing could be sweeter than having you as a sister! Happy Birthday!” Then my eyes tracked to the personalized message opposite the cheesy Hallmark sentiment, scrawled in the ornate loops of familiar handwriting.

“Thank you for being the best, most wonderful little sister a girl could ever have. Happy 15th Birthday. I love you munches and munches. Charlie.”

Standing there in my underwear, with my bra in one hand and the card in the other, I read the message three times, trying to wrap my thoughts around its implications.

I’d been operating under the impression that Charlene and Katie’s relationship had always been hostile and antagonistic. At least for a long while now. Since arriving in this universe and letting her Katie in on the secret, Katie acted as if she had finally gotten a much-needed break from her overbearing older sister.

However, according to this card, Charlene adored and loved Katie. So much so that she’d kept the birthday card she’d given her over a year ago.

“I don’t think anyone’s telling me the whole story.”

The Other Side of Me – Part 27
by Lily Rasputin

I made it to school in record time, despite having to pause to accommodate the whims of a flock of stupid geese who decided that the side of the street they had been on was not to their satisfaction.

When I finally pulled into my parking spot on campus, I glanced at the time and calculated that a brisk walk should get me to class just before the lecture started. Which was great, since I doubted my quaking abdominals would allow me to move at any faster pace.

Hopping out of the Jeep, I slung my backpack onto my shoulder, locked the vehicle, and managed to take all of five steps in the direction of campus when a vice-like grip encircled my left wrist. Before I could turn around to see who’d grabbed me, my assailant yanked forcefully, causing me to stumble backward.

Instinctively, I stuck out my free hand in a wild attempt to maintain my balance. My palm slammed against something solid, keeping me standing, and my head tilted up to look right into the furious face of Danny Morris.

“Hey, Charlie,” he said in a voice that was hard and dangerous, causing a rippled to run through my unhappy belly. “No need to rush off. Let’s have a little chat?”

I pulled my hand from his muscular chest as if it was touching a hot stove and attempted to twist my arm out of his grip. He responded by squeezing even tighter, bringing a little groan of pain from me as it felt like the bones rubbed together.

“Let me go,” I said. I tried to inject steel into my words, but rush of blood pounding in my ears made my voice sound scared and weak. Which is exactly how I felt. Charles hadn’t been scared of Danny Morris in quite a few years.

Now, in Charlene’s smaller, feminine body, I was terrified of what he had planned.

“Not until we talk.” He shook his head and let out a little chuckle that contained zero mirth. “You really do enjoy fucking me over, don’t you? First, you throw practically yourself at me at the Homecoming Dance, causing Jeannie Stover to break up with me.”

Jeannie Stover? I flipped through my memories, trying to recall if I knew a Jeannie Stover in the other universe. A half a second later, the image of a petite redheaded girl with freckled cheeks and a super friendly smile leapt into my head. Jeannie Stover, member of the Student Council and President of the Glee Club. A super nice girl, according to what I’d heard.

I didn’t know her well enough to know if she and Danny dated, since I long quit being concerned with the actions of my former bully by that time. Though, given their completely opposite natures, I sort of doubted it.

Clenching my jaw, I narrowed my eyes up at him.

“Jeannie was too good for you. You say I ruined your relationship. I prefer to think of it as doing her a favor.”

Danny yanked on my arm, sending a wave of pain rolling up my arm to my shoulder and making cry out again.

“Funny, Charlie. Real funny. I suppose that’s what you were doing when you showed up at the frat house a couple of weeks ago like some bitch in heat? Doing Josie a favor?”

I noticed the way the cords of his neck strained under the ruddy flesh of his thick neck, and the hard set of his jaw. It didn’t matter what I had to say. Or what excuse I tried to spin for why Charlene decided to place herself in his bed. Danny anger wasn’t about to be easily quelled. In his tiny Neanderthal brain, he was the victim of my double’s devious actions.

While I had little doubt Charlene probably instituted both of the referenced sexual liaisons, there was absolutely no way in hell Danny Morris had been her helpless pawn. I would bet my pom-poms it didn’t take Charlene too long to convince him to drop his boxers and take her to bed.

My own wave of fury bubbled up, directed at both my doppelgänger and the ogre assaulting me. My lips began moving before I even thought about what I was going to say.

“Well, considering she dumped your ass when she found out, I’d say that she’s much better off without you.” I shrugged my not-aching shoulder. “Of course, I don’t really expect her to give me a thank you.”

His already mad expression turned absolutely stormy. “You’re the one who came onto me. Seduced me. But just like last time, I’m the one getting the blame. Everyone thinks that I was the one who pressured you into having sex with me.”

I couldn’t stop the surprised expression that swam across my face. “Do what? Who’s blaming you?”

My mind wheeled to who could possibly be on my side in this revelation of boudoir indiscretions. It had to be Shelly. Maybe even with Josie’s help. They knew the truth about who was running the show and were doing what they could to make sure that I didn’t bear the full brunt of Charlene’s just desserts.

“Sure, there are people who think you screwed over Josie. But there’s just as many saying that you wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t taken advantage of you.” He let out a short, humorless bark of a laugh. “However, I ain’t going down like that, Charlie. You’re the one who deserves to be scorned. You were the one who came onto me. That knife that got stuck in your friend’s back has your fucking fingerprints all over it.”

His snarl turned into a malicious grin as he brought up his other hand. In it was his phone.

“Well, you’re not dancing away, smelling like a rose and playing the poor innocent girl this time, Charlene.” He waggled the phone teasingly. “I’m going to send these videos to the football team, the cheer squad, and the Kappas. Rachel may be grooming you to take her place, but I think high-definition videos of you getting railed, and absolutely loving it, might make her decide you’re not really Kappa material after all.”

My face ignited with shame and anger. I’d forgotten about the videos he’d taken of him and I having sex. Part of me wanted to giggle and dare him to light that candle. Maybe let Charlene deal with the results of her shitty actions for once. It would really serve her right to swap back in and discover that her indiscretions had completely derailed her life.

Only … I had started to think of it more as my life. Not hers. And while I had already altered its trajectory in ways that Charlene probably didn’t plan, the last thing I wanted was for it to completely crash and burn.

Especially if I was the one who ended up staying here.

“You wouldn’t.” I said, though the tremor apparent in my voice revealed just how unsure of that statement I was. Not matter which dimension, Danny Morris was the exact type of person who absolutely would.

“You bet that sweet ass of yours I would. Since I’m already going down, might as well take you along with me.” Grinning wider, his thumb slid across the screen, unlocking the phone. “If you wanna save your rep, Charlie, all you have to do is convince me not to send it out?” He laughed again while giving my wrist another squeeze. “Go on. Beg. Show me that mouth of yours has other skills.”

My stomach roiled. It killed me to beg anything from the creep. But what else could I do? Not only would that video completely torpedo my school and social lives, I feared it would also end up screwing with Katie’s life as well.

I looked into his eyes, willing tears to flow. A task made easier by the pulses of agony coursing through my arm. “Please don’t do this, Danny. Please. I’m begging you.”

He shook his head. “Gotta be more convincing than that, Charlie.”

“I … I’ll tell everyone that I came onto you while you were drunk. That everything that happened between us was all my fault. That I’m just a slutty whore who was jealous of what my friend had.” I nodded my head emphatically, hoping I sounded sincere in my promise. “Just please don’t send that video out.”

His response consisted of a laugh so callous and hateful that it practically stabbed me in my already churning gut. My heart sank as my knees wobbled and threatened to dump me on my ass.

No matter how much I tried to be the best version of Charlene, her actions ended up costing me.

Why?

His eyes narrowed into a pair of greedy, baleful points and he opened his mouth, probably to add another horribly cruel insult. However, before any sound left his lips, another voice chimed in, interrupting him and bringing a surging tsunami of hope rolling through me.

“Is there a problem here?” Mike North said as he stepped around the corner of a Subaru to stop next to me. His eyes glanced from my face to the meaty hand strangling my wrist, then over to Danny. “Right now, you would do well to let go of Charlie’s arm, friend.”

Danny blinked, frowning at the interloper who had dared come to my rescue. Tilting his head to the side, he studied Mike for a moment before flashing that malicious grin, still as nefarious as his days ruling the hallways at Wingate High.

“Is that so? Well, unless you want your ass kicked, friend, you would do well to move on and mind your own fucking business.” Danny squeezed my wrist again, harder than before, and locked eyes with Mike. “I’m just trying to convince this bitch to be reasonable.”

I let out another pathetic whimper at the fresh wave of pain, drawing Danny’s smug smile back my way. Which, it turned out, was a huge mistake.

Mike didn’t say another word as he took two steps toward my assailant and lashed out with the toe of one foot, catching the larger boy right below the knee of his left leg. The joint crumpled and Danny let out a shrill yell while simultaneously releasing his hold on both my arm … and the phone.

The device hit the asphalt and bounced a few feet away while its owner cradled his injured knee with both hands and leaned against the passenger side of the Subaru. No longer being supported, I collapsed as well, landing on my ass with a painful thud.

Mike took another step closer, now lording over his opponent. “You come around Charlie again, asshole, and I’ll make sure you never play football again, or walk without a cane, ever again. You got me?”

I’m not sure anyone had ever talked to Danny Morris like that before. At least, not back in my universe. Judging from the stunned expression on his face, I was leaning toward it being an extremely rare occurrence in this dimension as well.

Danny, still holding onto his leg, shot eye-daggers at Mike. However, he refrained from commenting back. I guess even a brain as tiny as his knew when a bad situation could get a whole lot worse.

My gaze drifted from the two boys squaring off to the glint of sunlight reflecting off the phone lying a few feet away. It didn’t seem like its fall to the pavement had done any damage to it. Without hesitating a moment, I leaned over and scooped it up, holding it tightly in both hands.

Mike shot me a curious look, but Danny’s face shifted from rage to something resembling panic.

“That’s mine, Charlene.” He pulled one hand off his injured leg and held it out in my direction, flexing his fingers back and forth. “Give it to me.”

I shook my head. “No. Not until I delete some shit first. Then maybe you can have it back.”

Danny’s upper lip curled, but when his eyes glanced up at Mike again, I knew he wasn’t going to try and take it back by force.

Mike extended one hand in my direction. I took it and allowed him to help me back onto my feet. As soon as I was upright again, he slipped the arm around my waist, his hand loosely resting on my hip. I wasn’t sure if it was to make sure I didn’t fall back down, or if he was sending some sort of signal of possession to the other boy.

Danny watched the action with a confused expression. Then he looked directly a me. “This isn’t over, you bitch,” he spat, wincing as he rubbed his knee.

Mike pointed at him with his free hand. “Call Charlene a bitch, or any other slur, just one more time. I dare you.”

I had heard the expression “murder in their voice” before, but never had I expected to actually experience it in real life. However, I had no doubt that Mike was fully prepared –and probably able–to thrash Danny to the edge of needing hospitalization.

Probably even beyond that.

I shook my head and put one hand on Mike’s arm. “Let’s just go,” I said, my voice still shaking from fear and adrenaline. “I’ve got what I needed.”

“You’re a fucking whore, Charlie!” Danny yelled after we were several yards away.

Mike’s arm tensed under my fingers in response, but I pulled lightly to encourage him to ignore the screaming asshole. He relented and we traveled down the pathway toward campus. We stopped at the first bench we found.

Which I realized, coincidentally, was only a few feet from where we’d first met.

It was hard to believe it was less than a week since my hectic first morning as Charlene.

Giving once last glance back toward the parking lot, Mike pulled his hand off my waist and gestured for me to sit. Then he plopped down on the edge of the seat next to me and reached out to lightly lift my injured arm up for inspection.

“Are you okay?” He asked, carefully turning the limb over. The places where Danny’s fingers had pressed into the soft flesh were already starting to turn a dull yellow color. They’d be full-on bruises in a couple of hours.

“Yeah. I’m fine now. Thank you.” I tried to smile but considering that my heart rate was still in the high four hundreds, I’m sure it was more of a strained grimace.

After another couple of moments of examination, he released my arm. “Guess your boyfriend was a bit upset about us going out Saturday?”

I blinked, trying to figure out how Jackson landed in the middle of the conversation. Then I understood he was referring to Danny.

“Oh, that wasn’t my boyfriend. He’s a … mistake ... a big mistake a part of me made.” I sighed and leaned back against the bench’s seat. “Twice.”

He gave me a look which seemed to indicate he needed more of the story to fully understand it but wasn’t willing to push. “Well, that’s a relief.”

“What is? That he is just a mistake I made, or that he’s not my boyfriend?”

“Both.” Then he flashed me a smile that caused my pulse, which had been slowly returning to normal, speed up again.

I placed Danny’s phone in my lap and lightly massaged my wrist. “How did you know I needed help?”

“I didn’t. I was here,” he patted the bench. “Waiting for you to come by on your way to class. I wasn’t sure which building you would be going to, or what time your class was, but I figured hanging out somewhere close to where you nearly ran me over was the best option.” He frowned. “Then I heard you cry out and went to go investigate.”

“Oh.” I released my wrist, letting my hands drop down to rest on Danny’s phone. “Thank you. I’m glad you were nearby.”

Mike nodded. Then he looked at me without speaking for several long seconds. The anger had washed out of his face, replaced by confusion and maybe more than a little bit of hurt.

“Charlie, did I upset you on Saturday? I mean, I didn’t think you were mad. Not with the way you, uh, kissed me after I took you home. And I know you said you were in a complicated relationship with someone. I just didn’t expect you to, you know, suddenly ghost me.”

My mouth dropped open. “What? I didn’t ghost you?”

He shrugged. “We had a great time at the carnival. Then an even better time on your front stoop. After that, you ignored every one of my texts yesterday. That’s literally the definition of ghosting, Charlie.”

I frowned, looking away as my cheeks burned. I wished I could tell him the complete truth about why I hadn’t responded. Explain that my silence all day had nothing to do with him or my feelings for him. That it was a matter of a science experiment that had gone out of control and left me bouncing between parallel dimensions.

It wasn’t that I was completely sure he wouldn’t believe me. Hell, Josie had been the most resistant to accepting the truth, and she had eventually come around when presented with proof. What scared me the most was fear that Mike would believe it. Every bit. And then decide that he couldn’t be attracted to a girl who was really a guy inside.

But … was that what I was? Just a guy trapped in the body of his girl version? Less than a week ago, I might have said yes. When I was confused and felt like a complete imposter. Now, though, when I was in Charlene’s body, I didn’t feel that way. I just felt like … well, a girl.

“I’m sorry,” I said, finally looking back over at Mike. I reached out and took one of his hands in mine. “I had the best time Saturday. The whole evening, not just the bit there at the end.” I managed a smile and squeezed his hand. “And I want to go out with you again. I really, really do.”

His smile appeared with my own. However, it turned a bit tense as he arched a brow and studied me. “But? Because I get the feeling there’s a ‘but’ coming.”

I drew in a breath and sighed, giving a little nod of my head. “There is a lot of things going on in my life right now. Some of which is completely out of my control. There are a few things, though, that I’m finally getting control over.” I pointed at Danny’s phone. “This is just one.”

Mike’s curious gaze dropped to the device for a moment, then came back up to my face. “So, the aspect of starting a new relationship is not something you think you can handle right now?” He nodded, smile dropping into a seemingly hurt frown. “I completely understand. I’m sorry if it felt like I was pressuring you.”

I blinked and shook my head. “That’s not what I’m saying at all, Mike.” I sighed again, still holding onto him. “I want to explore this. My feelings for you, I mean. I’m just trying to say that if I suddenly seem distant, act strangely, or don’t respond quite like you’re expecting, it has nothing to do with you. Okay?”

He stared at me for another couple of seconds, then flashed me a tiny smirk. “So, you do have feelings for me?”

I couldn’t repress the giggle. “Really? That’s your takeaway from my confession?” I shook my head. “I should punch you.”

“Just don’t do it with your injured hand.”

I rolled my eyes and let out another small laugh. “Stop being so wonderful, okay?”

“I’ll try. But make zero promises.”

I glanced back toward the parking lot again. “Also, keep a watch on your back. Danny’s the kind of asshole who both holds a grudge and doesn’t like to fight fair. He’s liable to come at you when you’re not expecting it.”

Mike shrugged. “I’m not worried about his plans for retaliation. A few of the guys on the basketball team are Sigmas. I’m sure they would severely frown about one of their star players being sidelined for the season because a Brother couldn’t keep his hands to himself.”

“Still, be careful.”

Mile’s smile widened into that flirty expression I saw multiple times on Saturday. “I mean, it might be worth getting beat up if you’ll be the one nursing me back to health. You wouldn’t even need to wear the uniform. Not that you wouldn’t look great in it.”

My face ignited again as I looked away and shook my head. “Stop it. I’d rather you not get pummeled to the point of needing medical care. Even the amateur type.” Heart hammering, I slowly turned back to him and gave a little smile. “Though, I guess if you wanted to see me in that uniform, that might possibly be arranged.”

His smile widened. “Interesting.” Then he leaned forward, and before I could even think about what I was doing, I met him halfway.

Unfortunately, the sound of my phone dinging three times interrupted the kiss before it really got started. Grumbling, I apologized and pulled the device out of my bag. Glancing at the screen, I saw the messages were from Shelly.

“J said that you came back this morning.” “Said you were pretty mad.” “Where are you????”

I checked the time at the top of the screen. The class I was rushing to get to started ten minutes ago. Even if I hopped up and ran full speed, the lecture would be half over before I got in the hall. Plus, I’d likely draw my professor’s ire for the interruption.

I tapped on the message and sent Shelly a quick response.

“Boy trouble this morning. Can you meet in the Quad at 10?”

Turning to Mike, I shrugged. “Sorry about that.”

“No problem. Should we, uh, continue?”

I looked at his mouth and nodded. “Please.”

His lips enveloped mine, our tongues swirling in an intricate dance of passion, and I felt his hand move up to my neck, fingers gliding carefully through my hair as he did his absolute best to taste every portion of my mouth. My own hand slipped under the inside flap of his jacket, seeing out the warmth of his side and the impressive muscles of his back.

As he kissed me, my thoughts drifted to everything I’d experienced since grabbing that loose wire in front of the dimensional window. Despite everything that Charlene had done, and was likely to do, I suddenly realized that I no longer felt she was one hundred percent in the wrong.

Because the more Mike North kissed me, the more I thought being stuck on this side might not be all that bad.

The Other Side of Me – Part 28
by Lily Rasputin

As much as I might have preferred to sit on a bench and tongue wrestle with Mike all morning, both of us had classes and responsibilities that we couldn’t completely ignore. So, after another ten minutes of really wonderful public displays of affection, I peeled my face away from his and sighed.

“Guess we should take a break for now, huh?” He asked, sounding about as disappointed as I felt.

I nodded. “Probably. I have to meet with Shelly and talk about some stuff. But I could meet you for lunch if you wanted.”

His smile turned into an apologetic frown. “I’m meeting my dad for lunch today. It’s a Monday thing.” His fingers played across the back of my hand. “I can be back by around two, if you want to get an afternoon snack.”

I arched a brow and smirked. “Is that an innuendo?”

His face flushed and he let out a little laugh. “Not originally. But it could be, if you wanted.”

Now it was my turn to frown. “Unfortunately, I have cheer practice this afternoon. I won’t be done until around four.”

He seemed to ponder this for a moment, then shot me a hopeful look. “After practice? I’m sure all that jumping and flipping will make you work up a bit of an appetite. It could maybe an early dinner thing? I don’t mind waiting for you if you don’t mind me watching you practice.”

I laughed. “It’s not going to be like it is at games, Mike. We don’t practice in our uniforms.”

At least, that had been my experience so far.

“It’s not the uniform that tickles my fancy, Charlie. It’s you.” He punctuated the statement with another of those kisses that completely stripped my breath away.

Once we had said our momentary goodbyes, which included a couple more kisses, I strolled to the Quad feeling slightly better about the day. Granted, I’d woken up as a prisoner in Jackson’s lab, discovered that Charlene apparently didn’t actually hate Katie, despite what I believed, and nearly had my hand yanked off by Danny Morris.

Now, though, I hoped the worst was behind me. A sentiment that had a slight bout of backsliding as a real asshole of a cramp stabbed me at an agonizing pace … with a bastard sword.

I bought a large mocha with extra whipped from the student café and plopped my ass into a chair to wait for my friend to arrive. As I sipped the warm, chocolatey-flavored java, I turned my thoughts back to the birthday card.

It was Katie’s, given to her by Charlene. But why was it hidden in Charlene’s underwear drawer? Her keeping a card given to her would make more sense.

Just as I began to deduce that I needed more information if I intended to solve the mystery, an extremely familiar voice called out from just behind me.

“Hey, Charlie.”

I flinched as I turned to see Samantha heading toward me. In a second, vivid memories of the previous evening flooded my brain. Followed by a wave of guilt at the fact that less than twelve hours after having sex with my Sam, I’d been like a total smitten kitten under Mike’s kisses. Charlene might not have given a damn, but I suddenly felt like a common slut.

“Uh, hey Sam. What’s up?”

She stopped next to the table, hitching her bag up onto her shoulder as she shrugged. “Not much. Missed you in class.” She let out a little laugh. “Not that you missed anything remotely groundbreaking.”

I blinked. It would seem that I had Chemistry with Samantha in this universe as well.

“Got off to a bit of a crazy start this morning. By the time I got to campus, I already knew I wasn’t going to make it in time.” I flashed a strained smile. “Get your notes later?”

Her copper-tressed head bounced up and down as she flashed me a smile that I recognized as one of her flirtier ones. The guilt ball reformed. “Always,” she said.

Motion out of the corner of my eye made me glance over to see Shelly walking toward us. She gave me a smile and a wave, then gave Samantha a not-impolite nod. Courteous, but not exactly overflowing with friendliness.

“Hey, Michelle,” Sam said, her voice equally as neutral as Shelly’s head gesture.

Shelly looked at me for a moment, then sat down at the table. “Hey, Sam.”

As for me, I just looked back and forth between the two ladies. There didn’t seem to be anything resembling open hostilities between them. However, there was definitely a level of coolness. There was an issue there that Charlene might have been privy to. I, though, was completely clueless.

After a couple of seconds, Samantha smiled down at me. “Okay. Well, uh, guess I’ll catch you later, Charlie.” She started walking backward. “Hit me up if you want to swing by and get my notes.” She gave me a little wave and strolled away without looking back, vanishing around the corner in the direction of the cafeteria.

I turned back to Shelly. “What was that all about?”

She frowned. “You might want to be careful about being seen hanging around with Samantha, Charlie. Especially if you’re going to continue to pursue sisterhood with the Kappas.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

For a second, Shelly shot me a confused expression, then shook her head and laughed. “Sorry. After dealing with Charlene for hours yesterday, I sort of forgot that you don’t have her memories.” She gestured in the direction Samantha had departed. “Rachel really hates her. If she knows you two are friends, she might make you choose between Sam and being a Kappa.”

I held up one finger. “Are you serious? Why doesn’t Rachel like her? Besides the fact that she’s a stuck-up, entitled mega-bitch who thinks she’s the greatest thing to ever grace this school while Samantha’s a soccer nerd who thinks Chemistry is both fascinating and frustrating. Not sure what the connection is.”

Shelly shrugged. “No one knows for sure. There are rumors, really hush-hush rumors, that at the first kegger of the year, Rachel was really drunk at a party at Alpha House and started to majorly flirt with Samantha. Someone said that they went into an empty bedroom for some sexy shenanigans. Rachel, of course, denies it vehemently. She claims that it was Sam was the one coming onto her and was shot down.”

“What does Sam say?”

Shelly laughed. “She says that whatever took place was between the two of them and she’s not up for discussing it. However, Rachel’s worried that if she’s seen as the kind of person to have a drunken make-out session with another girl, it will ruin her reputation and status.”

“So, she’s a homophobe?”

“Not exactly. Like, there are Kappas who are gay. And some,” she gestured at me, “who are bi. Rachel doesn’t seem to give a damn about the orientation of others. It’s her own that she’s guarding like a dragon over treasure.”

“Sounds like Rachel’s got a few issues she needs to deal with.”

“Probably more than a few.” She reached over and grabbed my mocha, taking a sip before handing it back. “So, how was the trip back home? You were there for a while this time.”

I nodded and told her about swapping in during the middle of my mom grilling Charlene on not being me. How I explained what had happened and was continuing to happen.

“No wonder she was all freaked out at first,” Shelly said with a grin. “She actually looked relieved to see the three of us. At least, until we started in on her. I guess now your mom will know that if you’re acting like a bitch, it’s not really you, huh?”

I shrugged. “I just hope her knowing the truth will lead to her trying to help Charlene. Maybe get her to deal with some of the shit that’s making her act out.”

Shelly nodded. “Let’s hope. However, I’m not sure anything can change the way she is. She’s been like that as long as I’ve known her. It wasn’t until Jackson’s experiment that I realized just how bad it had gotten.” She flashed me a smile. “Well, did you have a good time hanging out with your other family?”

I started to tell her about the fact that in my universe, Samantha and I were more than just friends. Given her detachment to the redhead, I decided to keep that bit of over-there information to myself.

“I did. It was nice to tell my mom the truth and get her input.” I frowned. “Honestly, Shelly? I’ve missed her quite a bit, even though back home I only saw her for a little while on weekends. I think if I knew I’d never see her again, I might not be all that different than Charlene.”

“You would. Because you’re already different.”

I shrugged. “Maybe.” Though I had my doubts about the accuracy of Shelly’s statement. “Hey, I have a weird question. Do you know what happened between Charlene and Katie?”

“When? As far as I know, Charlene didn’t see or talk to her sister yesterday.”

I shook my head. “No. Before. Like, before the swap. Did they used to be close?”

“Oh. I dunno. Maybe. All I can say for certain is that as long as I’ve known Charlene, she’s been dumping on Katie. I guess she thinks her little sister isn’t good for anything other than being a pain. Why?”

I shrugged. “Something I found this morning makes me think that perhaps they weren’t always like this.”

“You could ask Jackson. I mean, you two have known each other since you were kids, right? If anyone would know if anything’s changed, it would be him.”

I sighed. “He’s not happy with me right now because I snapped at him when he suggested keeping me locked up, or at least immediately nearby, just in case Charlene came back.”

Shelly frowned. “I don’t know what she said to him yesterday. After I managed to get Josie to stop wanting to kill her, we left to take a little break. When we got back with food, the two of them were pretty much reduced to just glaring at each other.”

“Is that when it was decided to imprison her in the VR chamber?”

She frowned. “Sorry. Jackson said that we couldn’t just let her leave. That she might do something drastic here like she did over there. I didn’t feel great about it, Charlie. But I did agree to it.”

I opened my mouth, then simply closed it and nodded. “Fair enough.”

After second, she gave me a curious look. “Have you tried her diary?”

“Whose?”

“Charlie’s.”

I blinked, staring at her. “She keeps a diary?”

“She used to. At least, that’s what she told me at orientation camp.”

“Katie didn’t say anything about a diary. Which would have been extremely helpful those first few days.”

Shelly shrugged. “Maybe she doesn’t know about it. That sounds like the sort of thing Charlie wouldn’t share with her.”

“Wonder where it is.” I mused aloud.

“Probably hidden somewhere in her room. Someplace where Katie either wouldn’t think to look or would be too afraid to look.”

I nodded, thinking if there were such a place in the house, it was likely to be somewhere in Charlie’s bedroom. I made a note to hunt high and low as soon as I got home this evening.

After Shelly and I split up, I found myself a frustrated passenger on the Struggle Bus as I attempted to pay attention in my next two classes. The problem being that not only did I not have these subjects as Charles, but my brain was also too focused on Charlene’s personal past to worry about cellular mitosis or Chaucer.

Luckily, both professors reminded their classes that these lectures and accompanying notes would be available online later that day. So, I didn’t have to worry about falling too far behind while I slacked off academically.

When I met Shelly again at noon outside the cafeteria, she arrived with a dour expression on her face.

“Just me and thee today, Charlie.” She said, shrugging her shoulders.

“I thought … I mean, Josie knows that I’m the one that’s here now, right? Charlene’s back in my universe.”

She nodded. “She does. And she knows the truth about what really happened and who was actually responsible.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling a pang of hurt in my heart. “But she’s going to still blame me, right?” I shook my head. “Charlene fucks her over and I’m the one that she snubs. Just great.”

Shelly put her hand on my arm. “Charlie, you have to understand that she’s dealing with really conflicting emotions. One of her best friends turned out to be someone completely different than she thought she was.”

“Welcome to my world,” I said, adding an exaggerated huff.

Shelly’s eyes hardened, but her hand remained on my arm. “Look, you’ve been constantly in the shit since you arrived. All of it due to Charlene. I’m not saying that it’s not fair, because it’s not. I’m saying that you have to give Josie a bit of time to reconcile everything.”

I shrugged, looking away. “It didn’t take you that long to reconcile, though. Did it?”

“No. It didn’t. But I also wasn’t the one whose boyfriend Charlene was fucking.”

“Youch,” I said, pouting. “That was a bit rough.”

“Sorry,” she said without sound the least bit contrite. “I’m just saying that it’s going to take Josie some time to forgive you for what Charlene did. It’s not fair, but it just what it is.”

I was even less attentive in my one o’clock Econ class than I was in my morning ones, I left Daniels Hall and trudged slowly toward the athletic complex. My desire to bounce around and hurl ‘rah-rahs’ had trickled down to nearly nothing, but I knew another no-show would only serve to increase my problems. On top of everything else, I didn’t need the Charlie Haters Club to gain Coach as a member.

My funk vanished, mostly, when I spotted Mike standing next to the entrance. He had his phone in his hand, thumb brushing across the screen, but he glanced up as I approached and that brilliant, pulse quickening, smile spread across his face.

“Hey, Charlie.” He nodded his head in the direction of the field. “You are okay if I hang out in the stands and watch, right? I mean, if you’d rather I didn’t, I can chill in the library or something until four.”

I returned his smile as I walked right up to him and placed my cheek against his chest, basking momentarily in the warm of his personality. And body heat. Then I turned my face to look up at him.

“I’m actually glad you’re going to be there. I really, really, could use the moral support today.”
He smiled wider, as if that was even possible, and leaned his head down to let his lips lightly brush across mine. He pulled back, however, before we could start a repeat performance of the morning’s actions.

“I would be honored to be your moral support.”

“Even if I’m not out there in a short skirt?” I asked, playfully poking him in the chest.

“Even if you’re out there in one of those deep diving suits.”

He gave me another small kiss before I forced myself to leave and walk into the building. I was practically floating all the way into the locker room. However, the second I stepped through the door, I felt the temperature in the room drop several degrees.

Danny had said that he was the one getting blamed for cheating on Josie, but it seemed the I wasn’t going to get to play the innocent card. While no one actually came out and called me a “slut” or a “whore” aloud, there was plenty of enough animosity in their glares to blast away all the positive vibes Mike had just instilled in me.

The only person who actually flashed me any sort of pleased greeting was Shelly, and even hers didn’t break any enthusiasm records.

I dropped my bag on the bench and went about changing into more exercise-appropriate clothing.

“Should I even bother?” I asked Shelly as I stripped off the larger PMS bra and squeezed into a green and black sports bra. Everyone else had already departed through the doors leading to the field, leaving just the two of us alone. “I mean, what’s the use of being a base if no one wants you to spot them?”

She sighed. “I really didn’t think it would be this bad.”

I snorted. “You mean, that everyone wouldn’t think me the worst friend in the world for sleeping with Josie’s boyfriend?”

“We thought we’d lessened your role in the situation.”

“How?”

Shelly shrugged. “Josie and I told everyone that Danny came onto you. That he got you drunk, told you he’d broken up with Josie, and that you weren’t thinking clearly when he got you into bed. That way, you’re sort of blameless. At least, that was the plan.”

I shot her a look. “Wait. So, to make me look like less of a boyfriend-fucking tramp, you made up a story that Danny … raped me? Basically?”

Her jaw dropped. “No! That’s not what we said.”

“If I was too drunk to say ‘no’, then it’s rape, Shelly.” I kept the leggings I was already wearing but pulled a tight Lycra top over my bra. “Danny’s a complete shit, no argument. But he didn’t coerce Charlene into anything. Or get her drunk to take advantage of her.” I sighed and zipped up the bag, slinging it over my shoulder. “Jesus, no wonder he was so pissed this morning.”

Shelly shook her head, looking surprised that I was taking Danny Morris’ side.

“Charlie, we had to do something. I mean, everyone knew he and you … Charlene … had slept together. I looked really bad for you, and we couldn’t just tell everyone that you weren’t the version of her who did that.” She held up an accusatory finger. “Besides, didn’t he record you without your knowledge and threaten to send it to everyone we know? Sounds like he got exactly what he deserved.”

“For all we know, Charlene enjoyed being recorded during sex.” I shot back, walking past her toward the door. I knew it was the height of stupidity to snipe at the remaining ally I had, but the thought of her and Josie deliberately making up a story that sounded like Danny was a date rapist just twisted my gut worse than my period.

“I doubt it,” Shelly said, unwilling to let me get in the last word. “Charlene wouldn’t risk something like that getting out.”

“Wouldn’t she?” I asked as I stepped out of the locker room and into the afternoon sunshine. I lifted my hand to shield my eyes and looked over at her. “Seems to me that worrying about the results of her actions isn’t exactly a Charlene-like trait.”

“Charlie …”

I waved her off and moved to the crowd of girls already working on their stretching and warm-ups. I ditched my bag on the side of the field, glanced up to see Mike hanging out halfway up the bleachers, and then joined them.

As expected, no one talked to or even acknowledged me. Shelly looked from me to Mike and back before moving to talk to a couple of the other girls. Josie met my eyes only once, and the look in them was equal parts anger and sympathy.

Coach put us through an extensive training routine. I managed to only get called out for sloppy form twice. Which, considering my mental and physical states, was nothing short of a miracle. Fortunately, all of our practice moves were non-flying, with only a couple of pyramids. I could tell the girls next to me didn’t want me there, but no one said anything.

Finally, after almost two hours of sweaty torture, the whistle to quit was blown.

“Line up, ladies,” Coach said before any of us could attempt to leave the field. “I have something to say.”

We all fell into place on one of the chalked lines, looking straight ahead while Coach walked back and forth like a movie drill sergeant.

“You all looked like complete crap out there. There was no cohesion and zero teamwork.” She paused and stared along the line of us before continuing. “I have heard some buzz about something that may or may not have happened between a couple of your squad mates.”

“Definitely happened,” someone a few spots down from me murmured.

“Shut it!” Coach yelled. “I don’t give a damn what’s going on between you ladies. You can hate each other’s guts as much as you want. Off. The. Field. When you are out here, I expect each of you to be a part of this team with every other girl. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, Coach!” several of us yelled in unison.

“If I find anyone treating anyone else on the squad like a pariah on my field, they will be the ones sitting on the sidelines.” She paused to look us over one last time. “Okay, go home and try to remember what I just told you.”

The line broke apart, but not without a few angry glares being thrown my way. However, Josie wasn’t one of them. Neither was Shelly, though she looked like someone had just kicked her favorite puppy. She gave me a small frown and turned her eyes away.

“And I thought our coach was a hard ass,” Mike said as he walked up to me. “I’m surprised your legs still work after all that.”

“They might not,” I said, sighing. “If they fail, will you carry me?”

“Anywhere and everywhere.”

I laughed and then let out a little scream of surprise when he just scooped me up into his arms. I draped an arm around his neck and smiled at him. “I didn’t mean now, goof.”

“Just getting in the practice,” he said as he placed a little kiss on the side of my neck. “Ready to go?”

I nodded. “I just have to get my stuff. It’s over there.” I pointed to the sidelines to see Shelly standing there with a look of terror on her face and a phone against her ear.

My phone.

No, no, no, no, no! Not now. Of the absolute worst possible times.

“Put me down,” I said to Mike, my stomach starting to drop with fear.

“Charlie?” He gave me a concerned look but didn’t release his hold on me. “What’s wrong?”

Shelly, phone still plastered against her cheek, began walking toward us at an accelerated pace.

“Mike, please. Please, put me down.” Even though I could hear the panic in my voice, it was already sounding so far away. “I have to … to …” My words died in my ears as the sound around me vanished.

Shelly managed to reach us just as the world faded into darkness.

The Other Side of Me – Part 29
by Lily Rasputin

“Charlie? Are you okay?”

Sight and sound popped back into existence around me, revealing that I was in the living room of my apartment, sitting on the sofa with Samantha’s head resting in my lap. I glanced down to find her looking up at me with a concerned expression.

“Huh?” I asked, still trying to reacclimate to the dimensional jump. Unlike the previous swaps, this one was jarring. The difference between stepping across a threshold and stumbling across one.

Sam’s frown deepened. She reached up and placed her hand against the side of my cheek. “I asked if you were okay. You were telling me about your day and then just sort of … zoned out for a bit.”

My heart was thumping hard enough to hurt in my chest as I heard Sam’s comment. Leaping between universes had not only been seamless, but they had also been relatively instantaneous. The alteration should have worried me. However, the majority of my focus revolved around the scene I’d just left.

How did Charlie react when she blinked to find she’d gone from lounging around with her girlfriend to being held aloft in the arms of a boy I was pretty sure she didn’t know. Would Shelly help her come up with a plausible explanation that would get her away from Mike for a little while in order to explain things? Did she start screaming at him like a banshee, making him wonder if the girl he thought he wanted to be with was a lunatic?

Or … worse.

What if Charlie had just rolled with the situation and decided to take the hunky basketball player to bed while she was there?

That thought sent a wave of jealousy rolling through me, along with a bout of nausea. While I wasn’t so blind as to not see the irony of my concern, since I was the one who spent an intimate evening with the lovely redhead currently lounging in my lap, the idea that Charlene might be the first of us to have that experience with Mike made my heart hurt.

“Charlie?” Samantha dropped her hand from my cheek and grabbed the edge of the coffee table to pull herself into a sitting position, turning to face me. “What’s wrong?”

I grabbed all the incredibly vivid images of Charlene riding Mike like an enthusiastic rodeo diva and shoved them into the furthest recesses of my brain. Then I slammed and locked the door behind them. They pounded forcefully in an attempt to escape, but I wasn’t about to let them back out. I needed to be here, and now, before Samantha started to really freak out.

“I’m okay,” I said, forcing a smile on my face. “Just got distracted by a memory.”

She gave me a dubious look. “Not a pleasant one from the way you just stopped talking for a second.”

I reached out and took her hand, giving it an affectionate squeeze. She responded by arching a curious brow at me. Was that not something Charlene did? The lack of knowledge about what had transpired between the tantric love session and my return made knowing what to do, or how to act, rather difficult.

“Seriously, babe. I’m okay. Just got stuck woolgathering for a moment.” I hoped my smile had turned into something more reassuring. “I promise.”

She considered me for another few seconds, looked down at our joined hands, and gave a little nod of her head. Instead of resuming her place in my lap, she leaned against my side and rested her head on my shoulder.

“Anyway, it sounds like your day got better. I’m sorry your friend doesn’t want to accept your apology.”

Apology? Charlene actually apologized to someone? And it had been thrown back in her face? Though the list of possible candidates could have included anyone, the comment about it being my ‘friend’ narrowed said list down to Jackson.

“I’m sure he’ll come around,” I said. “I mean, he can’t stay mad at me forever.” My eyes drifted from the redhead to the phone lying on the table. “You know, maybe I should try again. Uh, let him know that I was being sincere.”

Had Charlene’s apology, if she’d really provided one, been sincere? Or had it been an attempt to gain access to the lab to engage in another destructive rampage? Part of me held out hope that my universal double might be trying to do the right thing for once.

Sam gave me a tiny pout. “Do you have to do it right now?” She extended her leg and ran sock-covered toes against my ankle while a sly smile played across her lips. “We’re not supposed to be at your parents’ for another hour or so. I was hoping we could find interesting ways to pass the rest of the afternoon.”

I thought about the fun afternoon I originally had planned. The one with the really handsome power forward. Of course, I couldn’t tell Samantha about that, could I?

The internal conflict I felt must have shown on my face, because Sam stopped her seductive actions and gave me a slightly hurt look. Tilting my head to the side, I tried to flash her a smarmy grin and salvage the moment. For Charlene.

“I dunno,” I said softly while reaching out to run my finger across the exposed flesh of one thigh. “Depends on what nefarious ideas you have in mind.”

Even though I didn’t feel the pull of attraction from before, I at least attempted to put some actual effort behind the flirting. Thinking about Samantha that way, in spite of intensity of our recent lovemaking, seemed to sit wrong inside me. I couldn’t stop imagining this scene from the other side. With me coming coyly onto Mike.

“Well,” she purred, resuming caressing my shin with her toes. “Since Jeff is spending the evening with Stacy, and both George and Tony will be at work until much later, I thought maybe I could pay you back for this morning.”

“Oh?” Now I began to see how Charlene had responded to waking up to find she was no longer a prisoner in Jackson’s lab. Apparently, discovering she was free and in bed with a beautiful girl had provoked at positive response. “Refresh my memory about this morning.”

Sam’s jaw dropped open in mock indignation and she shook her head. “Oh no. You don’t get to just act like it was no big deal, Charlie. I could barely walk to class thanks to you.”

Okay. So, it would seem that Charlene’s oral skills were not only superior to mine, they were also superior to any of Sam’s other lovers. I probably shouldn’t have felt a little swell of pride at that discovery. You know, since it hadn’t been me doing the work. But, it had been my body, so I figured I was entitled to a bit of the glory.

I nodded slowly, becoming increasingly aware that, whether or not this was right, I was becoming extremely aroused by Sam’s antics. At this rate, clothing was definitely going to be shed. After that, I would just have to deal with the guilt of my actions.

“That, uh, that sounds like quite the plan,” I said, keeping a relaxed smile on my face.”

Her eyes drifted down to my crotch and her mischievous smile widened. “I might not be able to make you come three times in a row, but I’m gonna make you feel like you did.”

Then, grinning like the cat just about ready to eat the canary, she reached out and placed her hand on top of my stiffening member, giving the base as much of a squeeze as she could through my jeans.

“Looks like someone agrees with that idea.”

I mentally began to kick myself. I needed to derail this train before it left the station. If not, then I needed to be prepared for whatever Charlene and Mike did back on the other side of the dimensional barrier. But was stopping now even possible? Not without completely torpedoing my … uh, Charlene’s … blossoming relationship with Samantha.

Something I was sure would have a result far less pleasant aftershocks than just unwanted sexual intercourse.

“Uh, of course. He always does.”

Samantha kept her hand on my bulge and slipped off the sofa, lowering herself to her knees between my feet. She smiled up at me as she began unbuttoning my pants and lowering the zipper in a manner that was almost pornographic in its slowness.

Once free of its denim prison, my straining manhood poked up through the parted material, pushing painfully against the front of my boxers. Samantha ran her fingertips along the edge, nails gliding sensually across the cotton wrapped around my shaft, she sighed wistfully.

“I’m glad we decided to make ourselves exclusive,” she said in a pleased little one while continuing to stroke me through my underwear.

So, Charlene had actually pushed the relationship with the redhead to the next level? Was this, and the attempted apology to Jackson, the start of a personal turn-around? Even if Charlene was doing all of this in the hope that it would become her life, the fact that she was building bridges instead of burning them gave me pause.

I let out a little laugh and tried to think of something witty to say. However, just as Sam slipped her fingers under the waistband and took me in her warm hand, a fresh wave of vertigo slammed into my brain, causing my eyes to roll back in my head.

The accompanying blackness was swift, total, and seemed to last more a few seconds.

Instantly, light and sound crashed back into me, causing me to stumble over my own moving feet. I was barely able to catch myself and keep from falling face-first onto the athletic field as the world came back into focus.

From beside me, Shelly’s grip on my upper arm tightened, helping keep me upright. “You need to chill out, okay? I will explain everything later. But right now, Charlene, will you please stop freaking out.”

It was just as I expected. Charlene had gone from relaxing as a guy with Samantha in his lap to a girl being cradled in the arms of some strange guy and had reacted badly to the sudden shift.

I looked at Shelly and shook my head. “Not her.” Then I glanced behind us to see Mike standing pretty much where he’d been when I left, watching the two of us with a look of pained confusion.
“Fucking hell,” I murmured, turning my attention back to Shelly. “How bad was it? Did she scream?”

The girl holding my arm gave me a surprised blink before leaning closer. Her voice dropped to a husky whisper. “Charles?” The single word question rang with suspicion. As if she thought this was a trick of Charlene’s to get away before she got locked in Jackson’s lab again.

I nodded. “Yeah. I’m back” I subtlety tilted my head in Mike’s direction. “So … how bad?”

Shelly frowned. “Well, first you went completely limp for, like, three seconds or so. Then you jerked and glanced around. I mean, Charlene did.” Her description of the swap seemed to match what I had experienced myself. “Then you screamed at Mike to put you down. You scared him so badly the poor guy nearly dropped you.”

My heart seized. I wanted to turn around and run back to Mike and tell him that it hadn’t been me yelling at him. But what could I say? Josie barely believed my story, and she’d obviously heard some of the crazy stories about Jackson from Charlene and Shelly. What chance did I have to get the gorgeous basketball player to accept it?

Would he accept it? What if the thought of the girl he was attracted to was actually a guy on the inside was too much to deal with? What if knowing that I’d spent the first nineteen years of my life as a male from another universe was a gigantic turn-off?

“Charlie?” Shelly hissed. “Are you still in there?”

“Yes.” There was no hiding the gloom and doom in my voice. The happiness I’d felt on the bench that morning had completely evaporated. Now, I just wanted to go home, crawl into bed, and die. “Then what happened?”

Shelly shrugged. “You looked from him to me, saw me on the phone, grabbed your bag, and took off. I managed to catch up and grab your arm to try and talk some reason in you, uh, her. But you went all spazzy and nearly fell over.” She shrugged again. “I guess that’s when you came back.”

I glanced back at Mike again to see that he was still looking our way.

“What am I going to do, Shells? I can’t tell him the truth. He’ll either think I’m a complete lunatic or he’s going to decide he’s not the type to date another dude.” I sighed, feeling tears beginning to well up in the corners of my eyes. “This sucks.”

She nodded. “Yes. But you currently have bigger problems than your love life, hon.” She let go of my arm and held out my phone. “Way bigger problems.”

Her ominous tone struck my already frazzled nerves like a sledgehammer. My hand shook as I took the phone from her and saw Jackson’s number on the Caller ID. The call was currently on hold, so I tapped the phone icon with my thumb and placed the device next to my head.

“Okay, Jack,” I said to the person on the other end of the line. “Give me the bad news.”

“Charlie? Boy Charlie, I mean?”

Despite everything, Jackson’s confused voice made me respond by looking down at the generous cleavage poking up from the opening of my sports bra and the smoothness of the front of my leggings. It felt indescribably right to see myself from this angle. The naturalness of it picked at my brain.

“Not physically. But, yeah, it’s me. What the hell happened? Charlene and I swapped places for, like, a minute. The swap, though, was … different.”

“There was a huge spike of energy from the mirror. I think that’s what caused you two to get transferred for such a short exchange.”

“Were you running some test or something? Is that why it spiked?” I asked, finally turning around to look directly at Mike. I lifted my free arm and waved. He waved back and gave me a small smile. I knew I had to come up with something to tell him. Sooner, rather than later. “Next time, would you mind giving a girl advanced notice?”

There was a moment of silence from the other end of the call. Then Jackson’s voice went soft and serious. “Charlie, the spike didn’t originate from this side. Your version of me must have done something.”

I shook my head, even though I knew he couldn’t see me do it. “That’s not possible, dude. The machine over there is bashed all to hell. And the mirror’s got a huge fucking crack in it. There’s no way it could have been him.” I chewed on my lower lip for a moment, still watching the boy waiting for my return. “Is it still spiking?”

“No. The quantum fluctuations seem to have settled for the moment. I’m trying to analyze the data now, but it’s not anything like I theorized could happen.”

“Well, you can’t be an expert in things you’ve never dealt with before, right? I trust you though.”

As soon as I said the words, I realized that I meant them. Despite his insistence that I be sequestered away this morning, I knew that Jackson’s personality wouldn’t let him stop trying to fix things. Which meant if I felt one hundred percent positive that I wanted to stay in this universe, I was going to need his help.

“Charlie, I don’t think you’re seeing the whole issue.”

“Uh … okay?”

“If the surge wasn’t due to my counterpart’s actions, then there is a degree of likelihood that he entangled connection is becoming unstable.”

“Wait. Unstable?” Shelly looked at me with a confused expression. I switched the phone to speaker mode and turned the volume down so that only the two of us could hear. “If the connection between Charlene and me is becoming unstable, what does that mean? Exactly?”

There was a stomach-curdling length of silence his end before Jackson decided to just rip the band-aid off and send my day into a tailspin.

“The connection between you two is what keeps pulling you back and forth, sort of like a yo-yo. The instance and duration are already random, but with the entanglement behaving in such an unpredictable manner, the swaps could become even more random. Plus, the information transfer that’s allowing the two of you to be the other relatively easily? That could move beyond basic physical manifestations and muscle memory.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Shelly asked, looking at me.

I had already guessed at the answer before Jackson confirmed it. However, even suspecting what he was going to say didn’t help soften the blow one bit.

“There is a very real possibility that Charles and Charlene may begin exchanging memories and personality traits.”

The Other Side of Me – Part 30
by Lily Rasputin

“I don’t want Charlene’s memories! Or her fucking personality quirks!”

I paced back and forth in Jackson’s lab, my arms crossed petulantly over my chest while Jackson, Shelly, and Katie stood off to one side, well out of my path, watching me with sympathetically weary faces. Remaining silently supportive as I ranted about this potential new wrinkle in my interdimensional dilemma.

After receiving the wonderfully bad news from Jackson, I’d hung up the phone, barely resisting the urge to hurl it into the distance with a primal scream of rage. Movement out of the corner of my eye caused me to turn to see Mike slowly making his way from the side of the field to where I stood.

When he saw the look of fury on my face, his own expression dropped into a mask of barely hid disappointment.

“So,” he said, looking from me to Shelly, who stood a couple of yards away and doing her best impression of not paying us any attention. “I have a feeling our afternoon outing is going to have to be postponed.”

I’ll give him credit, despite looking like I’d just kicked him in the nuts, he kept his voice light and relaxed. Jovial, even. Which made him even more attractive and caused me to feel like I was stomping all over a defenseless puppy.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Something’s sort of came up.” I lifted my arm and reached out toward his, pausing just before actually touching him. “I’m sorry about just now. I didn’t mean … uh … there’s a perfectly good explanation for my outburst. I just …uh …”

He reached up and wrapped his hand around mind, entwining our fingers together.

“And you just can’t share it right now?” he asked, a tiny smile breaking through the gloomy expression.

I nodded again. “Yeah. I know it’s totally crazy and completely sus. I just …”

He cut me off by pulling lightly on my arm to make me have to step closer. His other arm snaked around my waist as he smiled down at me.

“Charlie, I want to get to know you. All of you. The good and the bad. I’m not going to pressure you to behave in a certain way just to make myself comfortable. I’m also not going to pry into anything that you’re not ready to share.” He leaned in closer, looking deeply into my eyes. “All I am going to ask is, do you want to let me try? To know you?”

I blinked up at him, his words ricocheting around my already addled brain. After a second or two, my head bounced up and down enthusiastically.

“I do, Mike. Honestly. I really, really do.”

His smile widened. “Good.” He kissed me softly before pulling back and releasing my hand with a hesitant, almost reluctant, slowness. “If you find yourself free later, call me. Maybe we can get some dessert or something.”

My heart did a triple flip, and I felt my smile widen into a somewhat less distraught expression.

“I will.” Then I paused and gave him a sly smirk. “Can I call you later even if I can’t go out for dessert? Just to talk?”

“Anytime,” he said kissing me once more before stepping back to let me leave.

With a heavy heart, I forced my feet to move, strolling toward Shelly like a person on their way to the gas chamber.

“Let’s go talk to Jackson,” I mumbled, fumbling around in my bag for my keys. However, the second I had them in my hand, Shelly shook her head and snatched them away.

“I really don’t think you should be driving at the moment,” she said, nodding her head in the direction of a different parking lot.

I stopped walking and glared at her. “What? Why?” I pointed back toward the athletic field. “Do you think would change my mind and sneak off to spend time with Mike?” Despite the annoyed look I gave, to be honest, I did originally consider that very course of action. “Or are you just worried Charlene’s gonna come back and take off to parts unknown?”

She didn’t respond to my teasing. Instead, she stopped walking, turned around, and looked me right in the eyes. Her expression was deadly serious.

“No, Charlie. What I’m worried about is that there might be a swap along the way. And seeing as how the last transition didn’t seem as smooth, or instantaneous, as normal, I think being behind the wheel of a moving vehicle is the last place you should be.”

I opened my mouth to retort, but then closed it with a single nod of my head.

“Okay. Fair point,” I conceded.

“So glad you approve,” she snipped. Then turned on her heel and stalked off to where her car was waiting.

Along the way to Jackson’s house, I texted both Josie and Katie asking them to meet us there as soon as they could. Katie replied that she was home and would head on over. Josie, however, just responded with a thumbs-up emoji.

At Jackson’s, Shelly and I went inside without bothering to ring the bell and headed down to the lab. Stepping inside, we spotted Katie sitting on the sofa, watching as Jackson scribbled a series of complex equations on the whiteboard as he talked to himself.

“No. That’s not it,” He said with a sigh as he wiped away half of an equation. “The delta of the inverse proportion of the wave function doesn’t collapse through gravitational interference. There has to be some other catalyst at play.”

I stopped just behind the pondering mad scientist, studied at the board for a moment, then turned to him.

“What are you doing?”

He jumped as if he hadn’t heard Shelly and I arrive, almost dropping his marker in the process of spinning around.

“Uh, hey Charlie.” Then he glanced back at the board. “Trying to determine the cause of this newest … complication.”

“Complication?” I gestured at myself, then to the board. “Having to roll with bouncing between universes is one thing. But the possibility that Charlene and I might start exchanging key aspects of our personas should get a more serious designation than just a ‘complication’.” I threw my hands into the air. “Why don’t we refer to it as a ‘Total Fucking Disaster’!”

Katie’s eyes widened and she looked from me to Jackson. “Wait. You were serious about that? It thought you were, you know, exaggerating.” She shook her head as her shoulders slumped, her gaze moving down to her pink and white sneakered feet. “I don’t want him to start acting like her.”

I opened my mouth to comment, probably with a great degree of sarcasm, that no one wanted that. However, Jackson spoke up before I could say anything.

“I simply mentioned it was a possibility. Not something definitely happening.” He shrugged. “I’m not completely sure how the tether between them works beyond a few conflicting theories. Right now, the two contenders are: either the connection between Charlie and Charlene is destabilizing or the recent changes are due to something my dimensional counterpart did.”

I gave him my best death stare. “Well, I guess the only way to find out for sure is for me to ask my Jackson the next time I’m over there. You know, if I don’t bounce back while Charlene’s busy being balls deep inside Samantha.”

Katie was the only one who didn’t seem shocked at my statement. Jackson’s mouth hung slightly open while Shelly simply blinked as if slapped. She slowly raised her hand as she arched a brow.

“Samantha … Thomas?” Her question was both stunned curiosity and dubious suspicion.

I nodded, beginning to pace back and forth. “One in the same.”

Her hand remained raised, like she was sitting in a lecture hall. “So, Charlene, in your body, is having sex with Samantha Thomas? Your Samantha Thomas?” She tiled her head to the side, staring at me.

Katie shrugged as she glanced at my bestie. “Apparently Charles and Sam were enjoying this super casual, occasional hookup thing before all the swapping started. It looks that Charlene’s turned it into a real relationship.”

Shelly looked from my sister to me, a hurt expression forming on her face. “Oh. Well, I certainly didn’t know that little tidbit of information about over there.”

My face warmed and I shrugged my shoulders. “I was going to say something at lunch today when she stopped by, but …” I didn’t want to explain that Shelly’s attitude toward the redhead had given me a bit of pause in confessing what was going on between her and my male self.

There was already a lot on my plate to deal with.

Jackson cleared his throat, causing the three of us to turn his way.

“Your amorous dalliances over there notwithstanding, do you think it’s possible your version of me might be trying another avenue to make things right? Something other than simply repairing his device?”

I shrugged. “What do you mean by ‘another avenue’?”

“Well, if his equipment is as smashed as you said it was, then he might try to recreate the experiment another way? Or maybe he’s figured out the nature of the connection between you and Charlene. Then he could initiate a swap, return you and she to your original universes, then sever the entanglement.” He shrugged, looking at the three of us who stared at him in mute horror. “Well, it’s what I would do.”

Later, after Shelly left for home, and Jackson went back to his equations, promising not to swap Charlene and I on purpose, Katie and I went home. She went to her room to finish her homework while I cut up potatoes and browned some ground beef for dinner. Dad had called to say he was working late again. Which meant it was just the two of us.

Sister Time.

As we ate, Katie’s phone kept vibrating every couple of minutes. Each time, she would look down at it sitting there next to her place to read the newest message on the screen. Most of them made her grin like a looney, so I set down my fork and put my elbows on the table, steepling my fingers together to stare at her until she realized what I was doing.

“What?” she asked, placing her palm over the glowing light of the screen.

“Sebastian?” I asked, though I already knew the answer due to her facial expressions.

She nodded as her cheeks tinged a pretty shade of pink. “Yeah,” she said with a tone of voice I was pretty sure I might have used once or twice while talking about Mike.

I put my fork down and laced my fingers together under my chin, regarding the girl across from me carefully. The grin on her face as she typed out her latest response to Sebastian was the kind that simply broadcast happiness. She was, without question, on Cloud Nine.

Which is why part of me really hated what I was going to do.

"Can I ask you a question?" I said, continuing to look at her.

She, for her part, didn't look up from the screen. "Sure!"

I waited until she finished reading before continuing. "Do you mind if I ask you to put Sebastian on pause so we can chat. Sister to sister."

As I'd expected, Referring to us as sisters caught her attention. Looking up, she saw the serious expression on my face and immediately put the phone face down on the table. "Of course. What's up?" There was a small tendril of worry in her voice. Not fear or panic. More like hesitation.

"Tell me about you and Charlene."

She blinked, her brow crinkling in what appeared to be confusion. "What do you mean?”

“Tell me about the relationship between you. The truth.”

Katie shrugged, but her eyes didn’t stay on mine. “She's always coming down on me and being a totally basic bitch." She sniffed. "If she’s stuck over there forever, I won't miss her at all."

I nodded, keeping my face as neutral as possible. "But it wasn't always like that, was it? You two used to be close."

Katie shrugged again. "Maybe when we were little. I think she's always treated me like a pain in her ass. And constantly goes out of her way to remind me about it." She slowly brought her eyes back over to mine. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, funny enough, when I was getting dressed this morning, I found a birthday card shoved deep into the back of the drawer. Apparently, it was from Charlene to you for your 15th birthday."

While she at least didn't look away this time, I could see her blanche slightly at my revelation. Rather than give her time to start a defense, I continued through my thought process.

"It was rather sweet, too. With a nice, loving sentiment in Charlene's handwriting. It would seem, at least according to my impression, that it was heartfelt and genuine." I lowered my hands and leaned back in my seat. "So, what am I missing? Because it appears to me that, until recently, the two of you were very close."

"It's a lie," Katie said, clenching her jaw. "She might have written that, but it's total bullshit."

I nodded in a non-convinced manner. "So, she wrote a bunch of Hallmark feelings into your birthday card as a disingenuous platitude? And then, she, what, kept the card as ... a memento of the time she said she loved you but really didn't?"

The girl across from me was silent for a few long seconds, before she pushed her half-eaten plate away. "I'm going back to my room. I still have homework to do."

I held up one hand. "No, you're not. You're going to tell me what the deal is between you and Charlene. I really hope to hear a more valid explanation than 'our mom died, and it turned her into a rampaging bitch'. Because it's been my understanding that tragedy like that causes people to turn to their loved ones. Not turn against them."

She rolled her eyes and started to stand. “You don’t know anything, Charles.”

When she did, I brought my fist down on the table. Not a hard slam, but enough to rattle the cutlery and make her flinch. After another second, she slowly lowered back into her seat.

"I don't like lies and secrets, Katie Kat. Especially when I'm having to navigate a whole another life I'm not experienced with." I hoped that using my pet name for her and reminding her that I was still Charles (mostly) would get her to open up.

"I'm not lying," she said, a single tear ripping itself away from the corner of her eye to slide down her cheek. "Charlene has been super mean and hateful to me. For a long time now."

"Since your mom died. I know that she didn't take it well. Not that I blame her for that. But it seems weird that there'd be that much venom directed at you. This is the kind of thing that should bring people, sisters especially, together."

When she remained silent and looked away from me again, I knew I was on the right path.

"Charlene blames herself for that night. That much is a fact. But her being mad at you, being a shitty person to you, over it. Well, that really doesn't make a lot of sense." I shook my head. "Don't get me wrong, she's doing an incredible job, or was, of sabotaging her own life. Weird that she would want to sabotage yours, too."

Katie remained silent. Save for the occasional sniffle as more tears flowed down her face.

"What happened, Katie?" I asked in what I hoped was a non-judgmental voice. "Charlie blames herself for your mom having to go out in the rain to pick you up so she could hang out with her friends. Do you blame her as well?"

"Yes," she said in a near whisper. Then, a few seconds later. "No."

"Talk to me." I got out of my seat and walked around to the one Dad normally sat in, pulling out the chair so I could face her. I reached out and put my hand on her knee. "Why does Charlene feel the need to be so nasty to you?"

She brought her face up to look at me, now crying freely. I felt something rip in my chest. Not five minutes ago, the teen had been practically bubbling with joy. Now, she looked as despondent as a guilty defendant awaiting sentencing.

Her gaze went back down to her lap, to the hands wringing each other there. "It ... it was me."

I kept my hand resting where it was. "What was you?"

At first, I thought perhaps she wasn't going to answer. As drop after drop landed on her legs, she continued to sit there and sob softly. Then, just when I was about to try another line of questioning, she responded.

"My fault. It ... Mom ... it was ... my fault."

I gently squeezed her knee. "Tell me."

She drew in a breath and released it slowly. "I wanted Charlie to pick me up when she was done with cheer tryouts. I wanted to hear all about it and everything. But, she called me and said that she was going to hang out with her friends to celebrate, and that I should just get a ride home with Susan Fowler.”

“But you didn’t?

She shook her head ever so slightly.

“I called Mom and told her that Charlie said she wasn’t coming to pick me up and there was no one left I could get a ride from.” Katie’s voice hitches slightly with another sob. “I thought … thought she’d call Charlie and make her come get me. I never thought … never wanted …”

Unable to help myself, I stood up and wrapped my sister in my arms, squeezing her tightly against my chest as the dam within her finally broke apart and she bawled against me.

“I-I-I killed my mom!” Her scream was muffled against my breast.

“No, you didn’t. It was just an accident. It’s not your fault.”

She mumbled something else that I couldn’t quite understand. However, rather than ask her to repeat herself, I just sat there holding her, letting her get the crying out while I stroked her hair comfortingly.

I continued to hold her while she got the majority of the grief out. As I did, I realized it wasn’t just grief; it was also guilt.

“Katie,” I said softly, continuing to hold her trembling form. “Charlene doesn’t know, does she? That you skipped getting a ride on purpose.” The second part wasn’t a question. Since I was fairly certain it was the truth.

She shook her head but didn’t say anything.

A few more moments went by, and eventually she pulled away from me, wiping at her bloodshot eyes.

“So,” I said, dabbing at my own. Stupid menstrual hormones. “Care to tell me all of it? Not the events leading to the accident. What came after.”

Katie didn’t answer right away. She didn’t do anything for almost five whole minutes but stared at her hands, wringing themselves over and over in her lap.

“I was mad and hurting. I knew that if I’d just got into the car with Susan, like Charlene suggested, Mom wouldn’t have been on the road. She wouldn’t have …” She swallowed twice and sighed. “Charlene was depressed and mopey as well. I think she was already blaming herself.”

“Everyone was in pain,” I said. “With good reason.”

Katie shook her head. “It wasn’t just the sadness, Charlie. It was also the guilt. It was tearing me up. I couldn’t eat. Couldn’t sleep. I just wanted it all to go away.”

She looked up, fresh tears starting.

“I went into Charlene’s room and found her lying on the bed crying. She was holding a picture of her and Mom. Some thing they’d gone to, just the two of them. Fun adventure I hadn’t been a part of and I just … lost it. I started screaming at her and telling her that she was the reason our mother was dead. If she’d not ditched me to hang out with her friends, mom wouldn’t have had to come get me.”

My mouth dropped open of its own accord. I knew that something split the two of them apart, but I honestly didn’t expect it to be that.

Katie looked away to her lap again. “After that, I think she couldn’t look at me without feeling like she was reliving that moment all over again. And every time I started to feel bad about it, I would tell myself that I wasn’t completely wrong.”

I sighed. “You dumped your guilt onto Charlene, and continued to dump it occasionally? Which is why she’s been a complete bitch to you the past two years. That sound about right?”

She nodded. “I kept meaning to tell her the truth. But then she’d yell at me. Or call me fat or stupid.”

I ran my fingers through my hair. “Then I show up in Charlene’s body and you don’t have to feel guilty anymore. Because I’m not her. I’m not carrying two people’s guilt because I wasn’t the one who lived through that horrible moment.”

She nodded again. “I thought … since you were the one here …”

“You thought maybe you could have your sister back? One who didn’t hate you.”

“Yes.” Her voice was whisper soft.

I sat there for a moment, processing. Then I stood up and put my plate in the sink before wrapping up the rest of the food for Dad to eat when he got home.

Katie didn’t move from her seat. However, I could tell she was watching me out of the corner of her eye. I think she thought, given her experience, I was going to yell at her. After all, wasn’t I supposed to be channeling Charlene’s personality?

When the kitchen was relatively clean, I stared toward the door.

“Where are you going? Are you leaving?”

I stopped but didn’t turn around. “No. I’m going to my room. I need to … think. To decompress.” I drew in a breath and released it with a sigh. “This explains a lot about the situation I’m in, Katie. What I’m dealing with over here and what my friends and family are dealing with over there.”

“I’m sorry.”

Shaking my head, I walked out of the kitchen.

“I’m not the one who deserves your apology,” I said as I headed toward the stairs.

Author’s Note: I’m not sure why this never got posted here the first time around. However, since I have been working toward a conclusion, I felt it needed to be added.

The Other Side of Me - Chapter 31
by Lily Rasputin

I was lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling, attempting to parse through the revelation that Katie's bombshell confession had dropped on me.

To be honest, the news that a good portion of Charlene's guilt wasn't her own didn't do a whole lot to make me forgive her for the way she'd behaved in the intervening years. Did it help paint a more understanding picture? Of course. Did it wipe the slate clean, and make what she'd done to Jackson and to her friends okay?

Absolutely not. At some point, the blame for her actions, regardless of the emotional turmoil behind them, still had to rest squarely on my doppelganger’s shoulders.

A soft knock at the door dragged my thoughts back to the moment. I climbed off the bed and went over and opened the door, fully expecting my father to be standing there. I'd heard him return home while I was ruminating, and suspected he'd come up to find out why I'd made Katie cry again.

It was a conversation I was sure had been a regular occurrence until Jackson's experiment threw our lives upside down.

Instead of my father, however, I found Katie standing there looking rather admonished and ashamed.

"Charlie," she said with a sniffle. "Can we talk?"

I sighed and shook my head. "Right now, I really want to just think about things. Maybe we can talk about it when I’ve had a chance to deal, okay?" I frowned and shrugged one shoulder. "I know you were hurting, and I'm pretty sure you never really wanted Charlene to be so twisted up that she imploded. But the fact of the matter is that this whole mess I'm in just got more complicated. I just need a little while to think. Can you give me the evening at least?"

She opened her mouth, but then simply closed it, nodded, and padded away down the hall to her own room. I closed my door and went back to the bed, throwing myself upon it in a most dramatic, but fully justified, manner.

Almost immediately, a few tears began streaming down my cheeks as a tsunami of melancholy crashed over me. I turned onto my side, pulled my knees up around my convulsing core, and bawled silently into my pillow until, at some point, I fell asleep.

A dinging noise from somewhere roused me back to consciousness. I sat up, wiping my tacky cheeks and stinging eyes. The ding sounded again, louder now that I was awake. My phone.

Looking around, I spotted it on the other side of the bed, where I must have pushed it during my emotionally driven, and completely impromptu, nap.

Thumbing across the screen, I saw it was a pair of messages from Mike.

"Do you mind if I stop by?"

"I have ice cream."

The bribe was accompanied by three emojis. A smiling face, an ice cream cone, and a heart.

Despite my current emotional state, I couldn't help but laugh as I typed in my response.

"Actually, I would love to see you. The ice cream just seals the deal."

I climbed off the bed and went over to the vanity. The girl in the mirror had a horrible case of bedhead, bloodshot eyes, and splotchy cheeks with ruined makeup. She looked like one of those kidnap victims that has finally been rescued by the police. Or by her anti-terrorist, ex-CIA father.

In other words, she was a literal disaster.

I let out a gasp of panicked horror at the image. Upset as I might be, there was absolutely no way in hell I was going to let Mike come over and see me in such a state. I would simply die before I let that happen.

Grabbing a brush, I tamed my unruly locks back into some semblance of order, then used a bottle of eye drops I found in one of the vanity’s drawers to take some of the harsh redness out of my eyes. The result wasn't perfect, but it was a damned sight better than it was before.

My face, however, required a bit more work to make it more presentable.

I grabbed a tissue, moistened it with some water, and wiped away the tear tracks running diagonally across my cheeks. Then, I deftly applied new foundation to the areas where my crying had washed it away. After that, it was just a matter of dabbing a little concealer around my reddened nose and eyes and finishing the touch-up with a bit of powder.

The girl in the mirror now looked much closer to her normal self than she had minutes before.

The social disaster had been averted.

"Not bad," I said with a little grin. Then froze for a moment as the realization of what I’d just done hit me.

I'd gotten used to accessing Charlene’s muscle memory, and the quantum entanglement provided me with the ability to do most of the things Charlene could do. However, the majority of those things were either automatic, like walking, standing, and the cadence of her voice; or required at least a little bit of concentration on my part.

Such as being able to perform her cheer routine, for example.

Applying makeup was one of those other skills. I had enough of Charlene inside me to pull it off, but it did require my focusing on the task. However, this was the first time I'd done it while on autopilot.

I hadn't even had to contemplate the best way to go about repairing my makeup. I'd just done it.

"Is this just another part of the further integration between us?" My reflection asked. "Or is this simply just my becoming more adept at being her?"

Unfortunately, the ringing of the doorbell downstairs meant this existential conundrum would have to wait for an answer.

I gave myself one last examination for presentability before grabbing my phone from the bed and rushing out of my room and down the steps.

"I got it!" I yelled, taking the stairs two at a time.

My vocal declaration, however, was in vain.

I reached the bottom of the landing to find my dad standing at the open door, already engaged in conversation with Mike. He turned as I approached, gave me a little bit of a concerned look, and mouthed, "You okay?"

Guess he'd seen Charlene in her post-bawl mode enough times to not be fooled by a bit of makeup magic.

I nodded and flashed him an ‘I’m okay’ smile as I stepped past him to give Mike one that was less daughterly and more on the romantic side.

"Hey. Sorry to keep you waiting."

He let out a little laugh. "You didn't. Not that I would have minded. You’re worth waiting for, Charlie."

I heard my father let out a little snort of unconcealed amusement behind me.

"Easy there, Romeo,” he said jovially. “You already brought ice cream. No need to add additional sweetener."

Mike's face turned a brilliant scarlet, and I spun around to look at the man standing behind me.

"Daddy!" I scolded, putting my hands on my hips before I realized I was even doing it.

The older man put his own hands up in surrender. "Sorry, honey. I couldn't resist." Then he nodded in Mike's direction. "You two go have your dessert and whatever. Just don't be up too late and if you go anywhere." He paused to look from me to Mike and back. "At least text me so I know you left."

"We're having ice cream and hanging out here, Daddy. Which means you can drop the Uber Protective act."

He shook his head. "I'll never do that, Pumpkin' Never."

I laughed, sighed, and then grabbed Mike's free hand to pull him across the threshold and in the direction of the kitchen. Along the way, I glanced back over my shoulder at my father, who stood there watching us.

"No eavesdropping."

In the kitchen, I noticed that Dad had eaten the food I left for him. And had even managed to clean up after himself. I stopped long enough to grab a couple of spoons from the drawer, then sat down at the table.

Mike, to my giddy satisfaction, sat down next to me as he placed the bag on the table. The logo featured a large triple scoop cone with a cartoonish line of drips falling from the top. The name underneath the logo read "Ice Cream Dreams."

"Is this a new place," I asked while watching him pull out a white cardboard box that was cube approximately eight inches squared.

He sat the box down next to the bag and gave me a strange look. "It's the place across the street from the campus library, Charlie."

I scrunched up my brow as I tried to picture the library and the shop across the street. "Across the street from the library? That's State Street Grill." I did my best not to drool. SSG, as far as I was concerned, had the best hot dogs in the world.

Now the look coming at me from the hunky baseball player turned from confused to really freaking confused.

"Charlie, State Street Grill burned down last summer. Remember? It’s been Ice Cream Dreams since right before the semester started."

I tried to hide the shocked expression I knew appeared on my face, knowing full well that I had failed miserably. I looked away, nodding my head. "Right. Of course. How could I have forgotten?"

Despite my casual tone, I mentally kicked myself for the mistake. How could I have forgotten that this wasn't my universe?

Sure, there were major differences, such as my parents raising two girls, that stood out first and foremost in my mind. What I’d neglected to consider was the thousands of smaller ones. Including the loss of one of my favorite eateries.

Mike looked at me for another couple of seconds before he opened the box and reached inside. His hand came back out holding a large waffle cone topped with vanilla ice cream streaked with bands of dark brown.

My eyes widened in surprise, causing his worried expression to morph into a slightly smug smirk as he handed it to me.

"One vanilla and dark caramel bliss for the lovely lady."

I looked from him to the dessert and back, unable to not be stunned. "How … how did you know?"

I wasn’t sure what shocked me more. The fact that Mike had brought me my all-time favorite flavor of ice cream. Or the fact that it was another of the eerie similarities between me and Charlene.

Pulling a second cone from the box, this one appearing to be dark chocolate with peanut butter chunks, he grinned wider as his cheeks took on a flushed tone.

"I might have heard it was your favorite."

Arching a brow, I brought my foot up and nudged his calf with my toe. "Someone told you. Was it Shelly?"

He shook his head. "Nope."

"Josie?"

"Negative."

I frowned. "Katie via Sebastian?"

"Nope and nope."

I took a lick from the cone, savored the delicious flavor rolling across my tongue, then shook my head.

"That's all the guesses I have. No one else knows me well enough to know my favorite ice cream flavor."

Mike grinned wider. "Rachel does."

"Rachel Bostwick?"

My mind immediately leapt to an image of the snooty sorority queen. I hadn't spoken to her since the day after the party. When she returned my phone and told me that she knew Charles and Charlene were swapping places.

Hell, between dealing with the fallout of the whole Josie/Danny thing, the discovery that the connection between Charlene and I was glitching, and learning that Here Katie had a big hand in fanning the flames of overwhelming guilt tearing my double's life apart, the whole new Kappa sister thing had simply fallen to the wayside.

Mike nodded. "I was talking to her and mentioned that I wanted to surprise you with something nice. You know, since we didn't get a chance to hang out this afternoon like we’d planned. She said that I should pick up ice cream and bring it to you. She even told me what flavor to get."

I couldn’t help but stare at him. I didn’t realize that Mike and Rachel were that close. Or that the Kappa Queen knew me well enough to suggest what I would like.

Then I remembered Shelly mentioning something about Charlene being practically up the other girl's ass right before I arrived to take over her life. For all I knew, such personal preferences had been a part of that kiss-ass phase.

"Good,” I said, lightly punching Mike in the shoulder. “It would have been terrible if you had shown up with something nasty. Like pistachio."

Mike laughed and took a lick from his own cone as he made a disgusted face. "No way. I wouldn't force pistachio on anyone.” He held up one finger. Well, maybe I’d make an exception for that asshole from this morning."

I stiffened a bit at the mention of Danny, then nodded with a slightly forced grin. "He deserves far worse torture than shitty ice cream."

Mike nodded and continued to eat his dessert. I did notice he moved his chair a little bit closer and sat so that our knees touched. The contact was like pressing my skin against an insulated live wire. More vibrating than shocking. Energetic.

There was a strong desire to knock the ice cream out of his hand and give him something sweeter, and far more flexible, to devour.

Take it down a notch, girl. Yes, he’s hot and obviously into you. But your hormones are also way out of whack right now.

After a few moments, when it was clear that he'd worked his cone down to a safer, less drip prone, level, Mike turned to look at me with a slightly serious expression.

"Charlie, can we talk about what happened today? On the field?"

I froze, tongue out, and slowly lowered my hand as I reeled it back into my mouth. For a moment, I chose to stare at the white and brown dessert, rather than his handsome face.

I knew that I owed him some sort of explanation for my “outburst”. I just wasn't sure if I was ready to tell him the whole truth.

"Okay," I said as I finally looked at him. "I think that it's only fair to let you know what's going on with me."

His eyes widened a bit, and he shook his head. "I mean, if you want to tell me, I want to hear. I don’t want to push you or anything." The sincerity and care in his voice made my affection for him increase by leaps and bounds.

I laughed. Not loudly, but enough to break some of the tension. While it seemed to work on Mike, my own heartbeat didn’t decrease from its elevated state.

"You’re not,” I assured him. “You should at least know some of what's going on. If for no other reason than to be sure you want to continue … this." I gestured in the air between us.

"I sincerely doubt whatever it is you have to tell me would change that, Charlie."

I really hoped he truly meant every word of that declaration.

"So, Jackson, my ex-boyfriend, lives across the street." I pointed in the direction of Jackson's house.

He followed my finger before looking back with a nod. "He’s The Mad Scientist, right?" Before I could ask, he held up his hand. "Your favorite ice cream flavor wasn't the only information Rachel volunteered."

I gaped at him. Did that mean that she'd told him about the cross universal swaps? Granted, Rachel supposedly thought I was Charlene and Charlene was me. However, I couldn't be sure that Mike would be so easily fooled. The more time we spent together, and the more mistakes I made, the more likely he would deduce I wasn't the Charlie native to this dimension.

"Yeah," I said with a little sigh. "Though, that’s a bit of a misnomer. He’s more like an … eccentric genius." Tilting my head, I gave him an inquisitive look. "What else did Rachel tell you about me and Jackson?"

He shrugged. "Just that he sometimes performs these elaborate experiments that have a tendency to backfire. When that happens, it’s usually you who deals with the consequences.”

I shook my head. “That’s sounds more nefarious than it is. We’ve known each other a long time. Sure, I sometimes get caught in the backlash. But Jackson always manages to fix things in the end.”

“But you are usually the victim, right? When things go wrong?”

I sighed with a frown. “That is not incorrect.”

His expression turned curious. "Is that what's going on with you now? Some failed experiment? Is that why Danny was accosting you in the parking lot? Why you were behaving so strangely this afternoon?"

I shook my head adamantly. "Danny Morris was being an ass this morning because he's pissed his girlfriend dumped his cheating ass." I paused long enough for Mike to ask any more questions about Danny and with whom he may or may not have had said dalliance. Then, I put my hand on his forearm. "Yes, there was an experiment recently that went off the rails and resulted in some unexpected … uh … changes.”

Mike gave a single nod of understanding but remained silent. I took it as a request to continue explaining.

"So, now I'm dealing with ... uh ... a kind of dissociative identity disorder."

His brows scrunched together. "You mean like multiple personalities? The experiment gave you additional people in your head?"

"In a manner of speaking, yeah. But not multiple multiple. Only two.” I shrugged one shoulder. “I can't control when there's going to be a shift. From me to her. Plus, neither of us has any memory of what the other one did while they were in control."

He reached up and stroked his chin, seeming to mull that over for a few moments. "That would certainly explain your reaction on the field earlier,” he said with a nod. “I mean, when you saw me holding you, it was like you were looking at a total stranger."

"She was. I mean, I was.” I sighed. “She doesn’t know about you."

"Does this other you have a name?" he asked.

"Charlene."

"Isn't that your name?"

I frowned. "Yes. Both of us are Charlene. But we're also not the same Charlene. We’re alike in some respects, and very different in others."

"So, I take it Other Charlene is less fun to be around? Given the way Shelly was acting during the incident."

I laughed. "It seems to be the general consensus."

He nodded. Then gave me a concerned look. "Which one is the original? I mean, which one is th result of the experiment?"

I pondered asking if it mattered. Unfortunately, I was already feeling shitty enough about hiding a large portion of the truth from him. I figured I could at least be honest with the answer to his inquiry.

"The other Charlene was here first. I showed up after the lab accident. And, unfortunately, until Jackson gets things corrected, there are going to be random times when she's here and I'm not. I just don’t want you to think that her opinions and actions are mine."

He didn’t say anything for several long seconds. As the silence in the kitchen continued, his facial expressions went from curious to anxious and into worried. With a healthy dose of sadness right on top. Like the cherry on a Despair Sundae.

My blood chilled and my pulse raced when I saw him looking at me in that fashion. I immediately put down my half-eaten ice cream to take one of his large hands into both of mine. I gave it an affectionate squeeze.

"Mike, does it matter to you that I'm not the original Charlene?" I winced at how desperate my voice sounded to my ears. Like I was pleading for him to tell me that he didn't care if I was the new version. That it didn't bother him one bit that I was the result of a lab accident. “I’m the one who flirted with you at the mall. Who accepted your offer of a double date that wasn’t a double date.” I squeezed his hand again before pulling it closely against my chest. “I’m the one you were kissing on the bench near the parking lot.”

He didn’t pull his hand back, but he also didn’t return the squeeze.

"Mike?" I said, leaning against him and willing myself to not cry. "I promise that I'm nicer and friendlier than she is. Ask Shelly. Ask Josie. They'll tell you that they prefer me to her."

I should have felt bad about throwing Charlene under the bus like that. However, I was the one responsible for this thing blossoming between Mike and me. Not her. The thought that he might consider her to be the superior version, or at least the rightful one, filled me with existential dread.

After a few moments, he sighed and looked me in the eyes.

"It's not that I think you're not better than her, Charlie. Or that you are. Honestly, I don't know the other you well enough to make that sort of judgment call. Yes, you're the one I've been getting to know these past few days. You are the Charlene that I want to be with."

Hope began to stir within my chest as I nodded eagerly in agreement. “Yes. I want that as well.”

That same swell of hope crashed and shattered into a thousand pieces as he finally extracted his hand from mine.

“But there is the fact of the matter that the accident that created the two versions of you is in the process of being corrected. Which means, at some point, there is only going to be one Charlene around. That’s what you said, right?”

It wasn’t necessary for me to answer him. Because he was right. At some point, Jackson would fix the machine. Then I would either be sent home for good or remain here in this new life that I was beginning to treasure. The back-and-forth swaps couldn’t continue indefinitely.

He shook his head as he put his own ice cream back in the box and slowly rose to his feet.

“That idea scares me, Charlie. It terrifies me because I’m starting to fall in love with you. Fall pretty hard.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and finally turned to look at me.

“Mike,” I said in a tiny voice. “Please …”

“I’m falling in love with you, Charlie,” he repeated, not breaking eye contact. “But I’m scared that the girl I’m falling for will be completely gone someday soon.”

I opened my mouth to beg him to not think of it that way, but he shook his head and spoke before I could utter a single syllable.

“And I don’t think I can handle that. I’m sorry.”

Then he walked out of the kitchen, and by the time the sound of the front door closing reached my ears, the tears had started to flow anew.

The Other Side of Me – Chapter 32
by Lily Rasputin

Mike scooped me up in his arms and cradled me like a princess, smiling down at me with a grin that was both adoringly sweet and slightly lecherous. The arm closer to my butt slid higher, practically vanishing beneath the extremely short hem of my cheer skirt. A second later, I felt his palm cup my bottom, his fingers giving my rump a playfull little squeeze.

“Mike!” I squealed with mock astonishment as I slapped playfully at his arm. “Someone’s gonna see us!” Of course, despite my protesting, I enjoyed the way his hand felt on my ass. Like it belonged there.

“Let them see,” he replied, winking at me as he carried me off the football field toward a more secluded area at the rear of the stadium. “All they’ll see is the most beautiful girl in the world being carried by someone who loves her.”

My heartbeat sped up, and I draped one arm around his shoulders, stroking the taut muscles beneath his T-shirt. I tilted my head to look into his eyes, sending him what I hoped was my most smoldering and lustful gaze.

“Really?” I purred. “Show me.”

His grin widened as he finally stopped walking. We were all the way on the other side of campus, right next to the library. He gave one quick glance around, confirming that we were completely alone, then placed me gently back down onto my feet.

“You’re sure?” He asked as he stepped closer, pressing his body against mine.

I nodded, slipping my arms around his waist, and pulling him tighter while stepping back into a sheltered doorway.

“I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.”

Mike’s grin widened into an extremely pleased smile. Leaning down, he brushed his lips lightly against mine. Tasting. Teasing. Then they were pressing hard against my mouth, his tongue sliding inside as a soft moan of happiness came from somewhere deep in my throat.

Both of his hands moved around and up under the back of my skirt while mine fumbled around with his belt and the zipper on his jeans. I managed to unbuckle the belt, but momentarily stopped working on the fastener beneath when those hands stopped exploring the surface of my panties and slid beneath the waistband to grip bare flesh.

I pulled my mouth, reluctantly off of Mike’s and turned my head to breathe into his ear. “I want you inside me. I need you inside me.”

His hands squeezed as he nodded. “Anything for you, Charlie.”

The snap on the front of his jeans came apart, and I slid the zipper down with one hand while the other reached inside. My fingers curled around the hard shaft straining against the cotton of his boxers, feeling its warmth filling my palm.

Mike’s entire body shuddered as I began to stroke him up and down, running my thumb over the captured head teasingly.

“Oh, god. Charlie, that feels incredible.”

I giggled and continued to move my hand back and forth. “You’re so big, Mike. Big and hard.”

He nodded, eyes closed, as one of his hands remained firmly planted on my ass while the other moved across my hip to the front of my crotch. I fully expected him to immediately shove a finger or two inside my dripping sex.

Instead, I felt his fingers curl around something protruding from between my legs. Something stiff and hard.

His head pulled back, eyes opening wide as he looked down at what he’d found hiding within my satin panties. For a second, he just stared, then he practically leapt backward, pulling his hands off my body as if he’d just touched a hot stove.

“What the fuck?”

The shift in atmosphere had me reeling with confusion, and it took me a moment to realize that he was pointing at me. No. Pointing at my skirt.

I blinked, looking down at myself. For a moment, I didn’t understand what I was looking at. Then realization slammed into me like a linebacker, making me exhale with a rather audible gasp.

The front of my adorable cheer skirt was tented outward.

“Charlie? Is that a …” He shook his head, moving to rebutton his jeans. “You’re a guy?”

I shook my head violently back and forth, even as I reached down under my skirt with a trembling hand. “No! I’m not a guy, Mike! I swear I’m a girl!”

The hardened rod my fingers found inside my panties, however, countered my argument. Unable to stop myself, I took it into my hand and gripped it tightly. Just as I’d done to the one in the basketball player’s pants only seconds earlier.

“You’re a guy pretending to be a girl, aren’t you?” The accusation flew out of his mouth as his eyes, those eyes that had recently been looking at me with lust and adoration, now brimmed with unbridled disgust.

“No! I’m not. I’m … only a guy sometimes.”

He shook his head, backing away from me while I could only stand there holding the throbbing steel-like shaft in my hand.

“You’re disgusting! I hate you!”

“No! Mike, please don’t!” I started crying and walking toward him without letting go of the offending appendage in my vicelike grip.

He shook his head again and spun around, running off as fast as possible. In under five seconds, he was gone from view.

“No!”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My eyes flew open as a scream died in my throat, revealing another pair of staring back at me from point blank range.

“Wow,” Samantha said with an amused smirk as she waggled her brows. “Someone is super excited this morning, huh? What’s the matter? Didn’t get enough of me last night?”

I stared at her as three things hit me, one right after the other.

We were in Sam’s bed. We were naked. It wasn’t my hand gripping and stroking my hardened manhood.

It was hers.

I jumped out of the bed, nearly castrating myself in the process. My newly freed slab of morning wood bounced and jiggled as I put one hand down to cover myself, unsuccessfully, while I glanced around in a panicked hunt for my clothes.

Spotting my boxers lying at the foot of the bed, right beside a really cute forest green thong, I snatched them up and stepped into them so fast I’m pretty sure both feet were off the floor at the same time. My still-inflated cock pushed against the opening in the front of the boxers, like it was trying to peek at the naked beauty less than five feet away.

I looked up to see Samantha was now sitting up in bed, the sheet pulled up to cover herself and held in place with one hand. The playful, sensuous expression she’d been wearing a moment ago was now the semblance of a disappointed frown.

“Welcome back, Charles,” she said dryly, adding a bit of a sigh at the end. “Great job on making a girl feel desired.”

“What are you talking about?” The crystal-clear memory of Dream Mike’s rejection of me still had my brain whirling in every possible direction. “Sam, you know that I do desire …” Then I paused, blinking as her words, all of them, actually cut through the fog in my mind. “Wait. What do you mean ‘welcome back’?”

Her green eyes studied me for a moment, then a single brow arched above one of them.

“You and Charlene switched places again, right? You’re here and she’s back over there. So, welcome back home.”

I ignored the obviously unhappy tone of her voice and lowered my hands away from their pathetic attempt to cover my body. “You know about the swaps?” I shook my head and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. “How?”

“Charlene told me.”

I couldn’t stop my mouth from dropping open in shock. I had been fighting against the need to tell everyone I thought deserved to know, and apparently my opposite had no problem spilling the beans at the drop of a hat.

I knew that Charlene had begun to develop real feelings for the sporty redhead. I just didn’t think she would be so bold as to tell her new lover the truth about our situation.

“When?”

Samantha nodded. “Yesterday. When you came back and took over when we were at your place. You seemed confused for a moment. Then we started making out, but you didn’t really seem all that into it.” She shrugged one shoulder. “A few moments later, you’re twitching and looking around like you’re not sure what was going on as you screamed at me to take my ‘goddamn hands off your ass’. That's a direct quote, by the way.”

I gaped harder, remembering that Mike had been cradling Charlene just like he had me in the dream. It wasn’t hard to imagine her reaction at going from being curled up with her girlfriend one moment, then finding herself in the arms of a boy she didn’t know the next. No wonder she came back angrier than normal.

She shook her head. “I already knew there was something going on with you. I just didn’t expect swapping bodies with across a parallel reality to be the explanation.”

For a moment, I considered trying to continue the bluff. Unfortunately, it was far too late for that now. While I might not be one actually dating Samantha, I didn’t feel comfortable trying to gaslight her.

I sighed and nodded. “It’s not easy pretending to be someone else,” I confessed. “Even if that person is your dimensional duplicate.”

She threw me a little amused smirk. “I can imagine. But I have to give you two props for doing as well as you have been.”

“Obviously not well enough. If you already suspected me ... her … whatever.” I tilted my head, looking at her. “What tipped you off?”

Sam reached out and patted me on the arm with the hand not holding the sheet against her chest. It was an extremely conciliatory and placating gesture.

“Please don’t take this the wrong way, Charles. You are a good lover. Attentive and sweet. Even enthusiastic. I really enjoyed having sex with you.” Then she shrugged. “But there is something to be said for the expertise and skills that come from actually owning the equipment.”

“Owning the … oh! Gotcha!” I felt my face grow hot. “So, what about the equipment she doesn’t have the experience with?”

Samantha laughed and wagged a finger at me. “Let’s just say it’s taking her a bit to get the hang of using it. However, what she can do with her fingers and tongue? That more than makes up for any premature shortcomings.” She let out a contented breath. “I honestly thought after my ex I was done with girls permanently. But this is like, uh, a fusion of the two. The best of both worlds.”

I frowned, still slightly annoyed that apparently Charlene was better at giving my pseudo-girlfriend orgasms than I had been. The logic of it was completely asinine, but then again, so was this whole situation.

When I didn’t say anything further about it, the inquiring expression returned to her face. “So, this guy that Charlene nearly clawed the eyes out of? Has he enjoyed the benefit of your own expertise?”

I blinked, my cheeks beginning to burn as the thought of using the knowledge of what I had enjoyed as a man to make Mike’s knees buckle. “Not yet.”

She gave me an accusatory glare. “Why? Please say you’re not having some homophobic hangup.”

“It …uh …” I looked away, my face on fire. “No. It’s just that I don’t think I’m ready yet.”

“Ready?” There was no disguising the sarcasm in Samantha’s voice. “What do you mean you’re not ready? I happen to know for a fact that you’re not a virgin.” She snorted. “Nor is Charlene.”

I shook my head. “I know that. It’s just … you know.”

She put her hand on my shoulder, drawing my attention back to her. “Is it the fact that you don’t feel ready to have sex with this guy? That you’re not ready to have sex as a woman at all? Or are you feeling guilty about doing the deed because it’s ‘not your body’?” One hand came up to make the air quotes gesture.

I shrugged. “One of the swaps happened in the middle of her having sex. Actually, it was at the end. I arrived right during her climax.”

Sam’s eyebrows wiggled. “Oh really? And how did you enjoy the female orgasm?”

The frown that formed on my face made the humor drop from hers. “Well, she was fucking her best friend’s boyfriend. Didn’t she tell you about that?”

Sam’s frown matched my own. “She did. And she feels bad about it.”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “Seriously? Until recently, she’s been doing everything she can to screw people over. In both universes. Now she feels bad?”

“Believe what you want, Charles. I know what I’m seeing. Charlene seems to view being here as a chance for redemption or something.”

I wanted to explain to her that whatever Charlene was up to, it wasn’t likely to be any sort of penance. However, any further discussion about my duplicate’s actions, or about my resistance to have sex with Mike North, was tabled due to the fact that we both had mid-morning classes to attend.

Fortunately, it seemed as if Charlene had planned for the overnight stay and packed a bag with clean clothes and toiletries.

Sam slipped into a robe and headed toward the door, pausing to look back at me.

“I know that we’ve showered together before, Charles. Among other things. But …”

I nodded, waving my hand. “Knowing that it’s me in here instead of her makes it weird, right?”

She flashed me a small, slightly guilty smile. “Yeah. Kinda.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll go second. As long as you promise to save me some hot water.”

“I promise to try,” she said as she left the room.

While Sam bathed, I grabbed my phone and pressed my thumb against the screen. The darkened surface came to life with a surprising wallpaper image. Me and Sam. We each had an arm around the other’s waist and my other arm was extended up and out of fame. A selfie, apparently taken by Charlene.

“Guess you’re falling just as hard for her as I am for Mike, huh?” I said to the image that was both me and not-me. “I suggest not fucking it up.”

I debated whether or not to check the text messages. On the one hand, they were technically private conversations of which I wasn’t a part. On the other, until the dimensional swapping ended, however it ended, this was still partially my life.

Opening the app, I scanned the most recent conversations. The most recent one was from Charlene to Sam telling her that she was on her way over and would pick up pizza. It was accompanied by a heart emoji. There were a bunch of messages before that one, but the thought of reading what was likely a bunch of cutely romantic texts didn’t sit well for me.

The next one down was from my mom. It said, “The choice is yours, of course. But you need to consider the impact of it on everyone’s lives.”

I frowned as I opened the conversation. There was a serious tone to the black letters inside the peach-colored bubble. A warning from my mother to Charlene.

Skimming back through the short exchange, I discovered that the topic was Sam and Charlene’s relationship. It would seem that she was more smitten than I had imagined. She had bounced the idea of moving in with the redhead past my mother. Who, it seemed, was equally concerned about both me and the girl currently living my life.

“All yours,” Samantha said as she walked into the room in a towel. Almost immediately, I felt myself stirring down below. I might be falling in love with Mike, but there was no denying that the redhead was stunning. Especially right out of the shower.

She glanced down at my obvious erection and flashed me a coy smile. “I know just the thing to take care of that problem,” she purred.

I swallowed and tried to look casual. “Oh?”

She nodded, walking my way with an exaggerated sway. She stopped right before me and leaned down so that our noses were only inches apart.

“A cold shower.”

Then she grinned, tapped me on the nose, and walked over to her closet.

I sighed and stood up. “Is it cool if I call you a bitch when I’m not in a female body?” Sam’s amused giggle followed me down the hallway to the shower.

After I finished my classes, two of which I arrived tardy on account of getting my schedule and Charlene’s mixed up, I decided to head over to Jackson’s and find out what he thought about the new and improved girl masquerading as me.

Fortunately, no one else seemed to be at home. So, I let myself in and went downstairs to find him in the lab bent over his worktable.

“Knock! Knock!”

Jackson tensed as he looked up from the circuit board he was soldering, brow crinkling for a moment as he studied me. Then his posture relaxed, as he put down the tools and turned to face me.

“Back on this side again, huh?”

I stopped and gave him a smug look. “How can you be so sure?”

He grinned and pointed at me. “You’re standing with your hand on a cocked hip. You might be back in your body, but you’re still moving like you’re in hers.”

I glanced down at myself, then quickly straightened my posture into something I felt was more masculine. The problem was it just didn’t feel natural at all.

“Dammit.”

Jackson shook his head. “That’s really not that much better. You just look uncomfortable.” Leaning back against the table, he gave me a concerned look. “How are you doing? I mean, all things considered.”

I shrugged. “The connection between Charlene and I is becoming more unstable,” I said. “At least, that’s what the other you said. I’m supposed to ask you if you’ve done anything recently that might be the cause.”

“Not that I’m aware of.” His worried expression turned to curiosity. “Unstable how?”

I told him about the incident after cheer practice, leaving out the part where Charlene had found herself in the arms of a boy she didn’t know. I’d already had this discussion with Samantha and certainly didn’t need another repeat of uncomfortable questions. I mentioned Other Jackson’s theory that our memories and personalities might start getting swapped as well. Something I was keen on preventing if at all possible.

He frowned, rubbing his cheek for a moment in thought. “While it’s not entirely impossible, I don’t think it would be quite that dramatic. More like subtle influences than actual exchanges.”

Before I could ask him to elaborate on the differences between the two, he continued. “For example, can I assume that your temper has been a lot shorter than normal recently? Find yourself getting angrier and impatient more quickly?”

I reluctantly nodded as I thought about the flash of annoyance I’d felt when Samantha was boasting about how wonderful a person Charlene had become. It hadn’t been a big increase, but enough that I’d noticed. And it had itched at the back of my mind most of the day.

“I thought so,” Jackson said. “Conversely, it would seem that Charlene has received a small portion of your patience. Thankfully.”

“I heard she apologized to you for her past behavior?”

He nodded. “And she actually sounded sincere, too. Of course, she still gets a bit … standoffish when she’s around me.”

“Probably still feeling the guilt over what she did to her Jackson.”

“Maybe.”

“So, have you done anything on this side that might account for the changes?”

He sighed. “I’m not sure. I can’t say for certain since I had no idea it was happening. Contrite as she might be feeling, Charlene isn’t a big fan of hanging around the lab.”

“I’ll bet. I’m sure she’s giving her Jackson an equally wide berth.”

He nodded. “However, I have started exploring alternative methods that might reverse the swap on a permanent basis. A couple of which, I’m glad to say, seem promising.”

My reaction to this unexpected news must have shown on my face, because he immediately stared at me as he sighed with resignation.

“But … you don’t want it reversed, do you? You want to stay over there as much as she wants to remain here.” He shook his head.

I shook my head. “It’s not like that, dude. It’s … complicated.”

Jackson stared at me for a few more seconds, then turned around and picked up the soldering iron once more.

I walked over to him, standing on the other side of the worktable. “Come on. Don’t be like that.”

He didn’t look up from his task. “Be like what, Charlie? Upset that my best, and pretty much only, friend wants to stay in another universe? In the body of his female counterpart? That he’d rather live her life than his own?”

My mouth dropped open, but nothing came out. First Katie, then Mike, now Jackson. I was on a roll upsetting the people who meant a lot to me. I guess I could put Samantha on that list. As long as I was here, she wasn’t able to be with the Charlie she really wanted.

“It feels right.”

Jackson paused and looked up from the circuit board. “What does? Being her?”

I nodded, then shrugged. “I don’t know how to explain it, man. I just feel more like … me when I’m being her. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but all I can do is tell you how I feel. I feel more alive over there. Happier.”

He frowned, then went back to work. “I suppose if I told you it was only because of the quantum entanglement, you wouldn’t even care. Would you?” He shook his head. “Just like her, you’re determined to say in a universe that’s not yours.”

My hands balled into fists. In the course of our entire friendship, despite all the mishaps I’d been affected by, I’d never once wanted to hit Jackson.

Until now.

When I realized what I was feeling, I dialed my temper back a bit. However, I was still rightly peeved.

“I’m sorry if being over there, living as her, makes more sense to me than my life here ever did. You’re my best friend, Jack. Didn’t you see how unhappy I apparently was?”

He stopped his work again and looked up at me. “Of course, I did, Charlie. But I didn’t know how to help you. Other than be your friend.”

I sighed and walked over toward the dimensional control panel. Most of the damage Charlene had done had been repaired, though it still didn’t look close to being ready to recreate the original experiment.

“I can’t explain it,” I said, looking back at him. “Maybe it is the connection. Or maybe some quirk of the transfer. All I know is that I feel more like me when I’m her. As crazy as that sounds.”

I let out a sighing breath and leaned back against the podium. “Sometimes it’s all so confus-”

Jackson dropped the soldering iron and held up both hands in my direction. His eyes were wide and full of panic.

“Charlie, don’t touch that, it’s plugged in!”

His warning came a second too late. My elbow bumped against the top of the control panel. Which I hadn’t realized was lit up like a damn Christmas tree. A zapping shock blasted up my arm through my elbow and sent me stumbling backward as a wave of intense nausea slammed into my gut.

Losing my balance, I fell backward and landed on my ass.

Only, instead of the hard floor of Jackson’s lab, I was on the slightly softer surface of the school’s athletic field.

Blinking rapidly, I glanced around to see the rest of the cheer squad standing there, eyeing me with worry. Well, Shelly, Josie, and a few others looked worried. The rest of them seemed amused as hell.

“Charlie?” Shelly asked as she knelt down next to me. “Are you okay?”

I nodded, but my thoughts weren’t with her. Or the squad. Or the fact that my return had majorly disrupted practice.

Instead, they were centered on the event that happened right before that.

When I leaned against the dimensional control panel and got shocked, the result had been my returning here. To this dimension. Not completely different than the first time, when I’d grabbed the power cable while touching the mirror.

“It’s electricity,” I said softly as I stared into Shelly’s eyes. “That’s what controls the swaps.”

The Other Side of Me – Part 33
by Lily Rasputin

After my initial shock of finding myself unceremoniously falling on my butt during cheer practice, I realized that everyone, including Coach, was staring at me with bewilderment. Everybody that didn’t know I was currently leaping back and forth between universes; that is.

“Miller,” Coach said, giving me a look that was part annoyed, part concerned. “You okay?”

I nodded, quickly climbing back to my feet to brush off my Lycra-clad bottom. “Yeah. Just got dizzy there for a second. Guess I haven’t had enough to eat today.”

Shelly shot me an amused look but wisely kept her mouth shut. Lest the ire of the cheer team’s leader get turned in her direction.

“Well, the last thing I need is you falling over again. Or, heaven forbid, dropping your flier.” She looked at the rest of the girls, then her watch, before sighing. “Fine. Call it a day, girls. We’ll go at it again tomorrow.” Then her stern gaze settled back onto me. “And Miller? Make sure you’re properly nutritioned and hydrated tomorrow. You’re already skating on thin ice. Understand?”

I nodded, ignoring the way a few of the other girls grinned and elbowed each other. Figures that Charlene’s attitude, coupled with the weird behavior they’d seen recently, had pretty much eroded any past camaraderie. I’m sure most of them, especially the alternates, would love to see me get kicked off the squad.

“Got it, Coach,” I said enthusiastically. “Won’t happen again.” I hoped.

The assembled squad broke up, girls drifting away alone, or in tiny groups, to gather their things and head off. Josie and Shelly stayed right next to me, holding their interrogation until we were all alone on the field.

“Welcome back,” Shelly said. “How was your day back in your own body?”

I frowned, shrugging my shoulders. “Weird.”

Josie canted her head to the left, arching a single brow. “Weird good? Or weird bad?”

“Weird wrong. I …” My gaze drifted away from them as I thought about how I meant to express the experience. “It just doesn’t feel like me anymore. Like I was … I dunno … wearing a costume or something.”

“But being here doesn’t feel that way?” Shelly probed deeper.

I shook my head and looked back at them. Shelly wore a mask of confusion, but Josie was nodding her head ever so slightly.

“What?” I asked her. Her demeanor was making me feel uncomfortable.

“Nothing,” she said, enigmatically.

I started to push back and demand that she tell me what was going on in that blonde head of hers. Was Charlene’s temper affecting me? However, Shelly sighed and crossed her arms under her chest.

“Well, while you were over there feeling weird and wrong, Miss Thang was over here being just as weird.”

“Oh? She didn’t try to set the remainder of her life on fire before lunch?”

Josie snorted. “No. She showed up in class, sat down, and then looked at me and said, ‘I’m not him.’ After that, she pretty much ignored me for the rest of class.”

I glanced over at Shelly, who nodded.

“Yeah. I mean, she wasn’t a bitch to us. But she also wasn’t … normal. She kept fidgeting and frowning. She sat with us at lunch. Even though she didn’t talk much or eat hardly anything. When you fell, we thought it was just her blood sugar dropping.”

“No.” Then my stomach rumbled audibly. “Though, now that I’m thinking about it, do you think we could catch up over something to eat?”

As we walked toward the cafeteria, I told them about waking up in Samantha’s bed and the discovery that she and Charlene were officially a serious couple. And that my doppelganger had told her new paramour all about the dimensional game of Pong currently taking place.

“I cannot believe Charlene told Samantha,” Shelly said, with more than a hint of derision.

“Maybe that personality thing is affecting her as well,” Josie suggested, holding up one finger. “I mean, even if she was sort of standoffish today, she wasn’t being a total bitch.” That finger turned in my direction. “You’re a good and honest person, Charlie. Maybe that’s rubbing off on her.”

“Great,” I grumbled. “Guess that means I’ll be the one lying to my friends now, huh?”

“Better not,” Shelly warned playfully as she bumped me with her hip.

I also told them about what Sam had said about my feelings toward Mike. As well as how the hunky young man had practically bolted from my house when he thought the version he preferred of the girl he wanted might not be staying.

“Jesus, Charlie,” Shelly said as she shook her head. “You should have either lied or told him the whole truth when you had the chance.”

“We just had a discussion about the fact that Charlie is more honest than Charlene,” Josie countered. “Let’s not start asking her to change that.”

“Then you should have just told him the truth,” Shelly said. “You could have dragged him across the street to Jackson’s lab to prove it.”

My face heated up as I wrapped my arms around my middle. “I … I was scared he would freak out and reject me. You know, if he knew I’m really a guy. On the inside.”

The two of them looked at each other, then Shelly put her hand on my shoulder.

“Are you, though?”

I looked at them for a moment, then shrugged and pulled slightly ahead as we walked into the eatery. Fortunately, neither of them commented on the situation further.

However, Shelly’s question reignited the feelings I’d spent most of the day battling against. The idea that I was more comfortable in Charlene’s body - and her life - than I was in my own. And, apparently, the same could be said for her. I didn’t know what she’d been like, really, until her mom died.

Had she always been a bit unhappy with herself? Had she felt something amiss inside her; something that she couldn’t explain?

I sighed. “I just don’t know anymore.”

After swiping our meal cards with the cashier, we took our trays outside and found an isolated table.

“The thing I don’t get,” Shelly said, as she sat down across from me. “If it’s electricity that’s causing you two to swap places, how does that factor into all the other swaps? I’m fairly certain you weren’t grabbing any high voltage lines in any of those instances?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.” I stabbed at my salad and brought up a conglomerate of spring mix, bell peppers, and one cherry tomato. “The human body generates an electrical current. Maybe something inside builds up until the charge is enough to initiate a transfer.”

“Like in the Matrix?” Josie asked.

“Maybe,” I said.

“We could call Jackson and ask him. No reason to drive all the way there if he’s going to need to think about it for a bit before testing anything.”

So, I dialed Jackson’s number and waited, impatiently, for him to answer.

“You know,” he said with a note of annoyance, “it takes longer to repair the machine every time I’m interrupted.”

“Sorry, dude,” I said. “I’m here with Shells and Josie. I just got back from being h-”

“We have some new information about the whole body swapping thing,” Shelly interrupted him. “Do you think that’s worth an interruption?”

There was silence from Jackson’s end for a few seconds, followed by. “Well, of course it is. What new information?”

I gave him the abbreviated version of my discussion with his dimensional double, ending with the incident that sent me back to this side of the Charlieverse.

There was another couple of seconds of silence, meaning that it was likely he was looking at his all-important whiteboard.

“Electromagnetically Induced Transference. Hmm … that actually makes sense now that I think about it.”

“It does?” Shelly and I both asked at the same time as we glanced from the phone sitting on the table to each other.

“Well, yeah,” he replied. “The initial transfer took place when both Charlene and Charles grabbed the dimensional window’s power coupling. The electrical current passed through them, into the window, and dragged their consciousness with it. It only stands to reason that another electrical discharge would likely create another exchange.”

Shelly grinned, but I held up my hand to silence any premature celebrations.

'How many volts are we talking about?" I asked. "I don't want to unplug my curling iron and accidentally jump back."

"Especially if it means arriving when Charlene's doing something intimate with Samantha," Shelly responded dryly. "Because then those of us on this side will have to deal with her bitching about getting blue balls."

Josie snickered, and I shot her a soft glare. I almost reminded her that one of those types of swaps had already happened, but it was Josie’s then-boyfriend Danny that Charlene was getting down and dirty with at the time.

"Without proper testing," Jackson continued, "we can't know what the threshold is. I mean, it's obvious that more than simple static discharges are required to initiate transference. Otherwise, you'd be constantly bouncing back and forth."

"Oh! I have an idea," Josie said with giggly delight before she began rummaging around in her purse.

"So, what's the plan?" Shelly asked. "Just hook probes up to Charlie and zap him with various levels of juice until he and Charlene swap?"

"Yes. If we did that, then we could extrapolate the information and see if we can figure out the reason behind the other times." There was more of that noticeable silence for several seconds on his end. "In theory, it might even be possible to sever the connection permanently. If so desired."

Shelly nodded, looking from the phone to me. "That's good news, right? I mean, then you and her can decide where you want to stay and ... what the hell!" Her gaze whipped from me to Josie.

I turned to look as well, only to find that the grinning blonde sitting next to me now had what looked to be a simple two-button box in her hand. It was a little smaller than a television remote with two silver bumps protruding from one end.

"My dad gave me this the day before I left for school. Never used it before." She glanced from the device in her hand to me. "Hold on to your panties, Charles." Her thumb pressed down on one of the buttons, causing a bluish bolt of electricity to leap between the silver nubs.

"Josie, wait!" I yelled as I attempted to leap up from my chair and away from the blonde's arm, which was already moving in my direction.

The sparking end contacted the middle of my bicep, sending a flash of agony leaping from the point where it touched and running all through me. Every muscle in that limb seized as my jaw clenched and my eyes rolled back into my head. It was like being splashed with acid - on the inside. Darkness and vertigo slammed into me, twisting my guts into a painful knot.

Then, it was over. The pain, disorientation, and nausea vanished in an instant. Even my arm felt perfectly fine.

"Charlie," I heard my mother say. "Are you okay?"

I blinked a few times, looking around. I was at home, sitting on the couch next to my mom. I could hear someone, likely my father, rummaging around in the kitchen. Katie was nowhere in sight, leaving just the two of us alone in the living room.

When I turned back to her, my mom arched a brow in inquiry.

“Charles?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

She frowned. “That was so weird to watch. Especially now that I know what is happening.”

“You should experience it from this end. It’s more than just w-”

My vision went dark again for a heartbeat or two. Then my sight returned along with the excruciating pain in my arm.

“Ow! Fucking hell!”

I glanced over to see that Shelly had Josie’s arm in both of her hands, gripping tightly to keep the stun gun pointed upward. The blonde’s face seemed both amused and annoyed. At my outburst, both of them looked my way.

“Charles?” Shelly asked.

I rubbed furiously at the tingling spot on my bicep, glaring at both of them with as much anger as I could summon.

“Yes. I’m back.” I snarled, shaking my head. “What did you do, zap me again?”

Josie nodded, continuing to pull against the larger girl’s grip. “It worked, right? I shocked you back home and then shocked Charlene to bring you back. So, we know that a powerful enough zap will cause you two to swap.”

“That was extremely dangerous,” Jackson warned, apparently still on the line.

“But it proved the theory,” Josie replied, sounding almost pouty. “There was a theory and we tested it.”

How Jackson didn’t sigh aloud, I will never know.

“Yes, Josie,” he said in a voice much calmer than I was feeling. “But we don’t know what the lower limit is. That’s why I wanted to do this in my lab. In order to find out the lowest necessary power level.”

She looked from the phone over to me. “Sorry.” Though I didn’t believe she was being completely sincere with her apology.

I continued rubbing my arm. “That really hurt, Josie. I mean, really hurt. And you did it to me twice.”

Josie shook her head. “No, I did it once to you and once to her.” The way she said ‘her’ informed me that any regret she felt about electrocuting me didn’t carry over to Charlene.”

“But it’s still the same body, doofus,” Shelly grumbled, finally wresting the stun gun away from the blonde. “You shocked that body twice, and now Charles is the one feeling the pain. Charlene only had to deal with it for a few seconds and now she’s back in the form that didn’t get electrocuted.”

Josie’s mouth dropped open, and a blossom of crimson spread across her face. “Oh. I didn’t think about that. Sorry, Charlie.”

I waved her off and turned my attention back to the phone. “So, when do you want to hook me up to a Flux Capacitor and make my hair stand up?”

Jackson ignored my movie reference. “Give me an hour or so to rig up the equipment. I want to have precise control over the voltage level, as well as the necessary measuring devices in place so that I can get readings on everything. It might not be just the voltage. It might take a certain current, it might depend on the resistivity of the body-”

“OK, we get it, Doc Green,” Shelly interrupted. “1.21 Gigawatts. Just like required for time travel.”

“Doc Brown,” I corrected Shelly. “In Back to the Future, it was Doctor Emmet Brown.”

Shelly looked at me like I’d just rattled off a whole sonnet about the wonders of Danny Morris’ dick. Then she shook her head. “Not in this universe, Charlie. It was Doctor Eliza Green and Melanie McFly.”

“Actually,” Jackson said thoughtfully, interrupting my near-protest about the wholesale slaughter of one of my favorite movies, “the right conditions might cause leaps in time as well-”

“Wait! Stop!” I shouted over everyone. “Let’s focus on controlling the universal transfer. Get a dog and a DeLorean if you want to experiment with time travel. The last thing I want is to be stuck as Charlene running from dinosaurs!”

When everyone calmed down we resumed discussing the electrical transfers. “Charlene isn’t going to like being a part of this experiment,” Shelly warned. “Especially if she bounces over here to find herself strapped to a table in Jackson’s lab, hooked up to a battery.”

“She can just get over it,” Josie said, twirling her stun gun before putting it away.

I told Jackson I’d see him in an hour and a half, hung up the phone, and then looked back at Josie.

“What’s going on, Jose? You said that Charlene was being uncharacteristically nice while she was here today. Yet you seem pissed about something.”

Josie looked from me to Shelly, then sighed.

“After you told me about Danny’s phone and the video on it, I thought he might have made a copy. So, I accessed his cloud account to see if I was right. I figured if there was one, I’d delete it from there so it would be gone forever.”

“How did you get into his account?” Shelly asked her.

Josie rolled her eyes. “Danny Morris is a lot of things. A password genius, he is not. I simply took a few guesses. Turns out it’s his initials and his birthdate.”

“Okay,” I said, shaking my head. “I think it’s possible your Danny is monumentally more stupid than mine.”

Josie nodded. “No argument there.”

Shelly leaned in closer. “Was there another copy?”

The blonde looked from her to me and nodded, her eyes moving away from my face. “And others. About a dozen or so.”

“That bastard!” I snarled, almost slamming my fist down on the table. “He filmed her more than once? What an asshole.” Then I blinked, realization hitting me in the chest like a punch from a prizefighter. “Wait. A dozen? Like, when?”

Tension rolled into Josie’s frame as if it were fog rolling onto the shore. “The first one was dated about two weeks after the semester started.”

“That son of a bitch!” Shelly spat.

“Let’s not forget that Danny’s not the only one in the wrong here,” I added. “Charlene was a willing participant - to the sex - I mean.”

“To the video, too,” Josie added, finally looking back up at me. “In one of the videos, she looked directly at the camera and winked.” The tremor in her voice made no secret of her anger. “She knew he was filming them and didn’t care.”

I ignored the nausea forming in my tummy and reached out to put my hand on her arm. “She didn’t care about much back then, Josie. But that’s not to say it’s an excuse. She fucked up, and she knows she fucked up. That doesn’t make it right, and I’m not going to say you should forgive her.”

Shelly sighed. “But at least stop blaming Charles for Charlene’s actions.”

Josie glanced over at Shelly and nodded. “Okay. You’re right. But I’m done being Charlene’s friend. Charles, whenever Charlene is here, I will be courteous to her in public settings. Only because I don’t want people to think I’m mad at you. However, when there’s nobody around but people who know, I’m going to tell her exactly what I think about her.”

“You already did,” Shelly reminded her. “That evening in Jackson’s lab.”

“Then I’ll come up with some new insults for her.”

I nodded. “Fair. Now what are we going to do about all the other videos?”

Josie shot me a confused look. “What do you mean? I erased them all from Dannys’ cloud account. Except for one. I’m keeping that one so that if he decides to try and get revenge, we can bust him for recording a sexual act without permission of the other person.”

“Uh, you just said that Charlene knew about it,” Shelly said.

When Josie turned to me, the unsettled feeling in my stomach lessened a bit. “Did I?” I asked Shelly. “Did I really know he was doing that? I don’t think I would agree to such a thing, do you?”

We finished our lunches and agreed to meet up at Jackson’s in an hour. Josie needed to meet up with a friend to get some notes from a lecture she missed, and Shelly had an appointment with her faculty advisor.

As I cut across campus toward the parking lot, I thought about the new information about the swaps. The electrical thing wasn’t painless. All three times I’d been shocked into leaping across the dimensional barrier had been decidedly not enjoyable. Perhaps the required energy discharge threshold was actually lower.

If that was the case, then Charlene and I could change places at will. We could coordinate schedules and at least be guaranteed to know when some transfers would take place. Which would be great for being able to occasionally see my own family.

I stopped in mid-stride as I realized that I’d finally found the solution to the main problem with me staying on this side of the Charlieverse. If I had the chance to visit my mom from time to time, then I could throw myself into Charlene’s life completely. No hesitations.

Feeling my lips curl into a smile, I began walking again. Just as I was about to exit the Quad, I spotted Mike’s familiar form about a hundred feet ahead, striding toward me from the other direction. Clearly looking at me.

Did he want to talk about the previous evening? If so, I decided that I would risk it all and tell him everything. About the failed experiment, my being a guy currently inhabiting a girl’s body, all of it.

The glimmer of my nightmare tried to rear its head, but I pushed it back down. It was more likely that the basketball star would believe I was either lying or insane. Or possibly that one of my personalities was trying to get rid of him. Either way, I promised myself that I was done lying to people. That was Charlene’s schtick, not mine.

Mike smiled as he drew closer, and the expression made my pulse quicken and my heart surge within my chest. The smile, I felt, was a good sign.

I lifted my arm to wave at him just as someone walked up behind me and spoke.

“Charlie?”

I turned to see Samantha Thomas right behind me. She was biting her lip and had a pensive, almost anxious, look on her face. The nervous expression was one I had never seen her wear before. At least not in my universe.

“Sam,” I said. “What are you-”

Before I could finish the thought, the pretty redhead moved in, slipped her arms around my waist, and pressed her lips against mine. Stunned by her actions, I could only stand there confused as her tongue pushed inside my mouth and swirled around my own for several mind-bending seconds.

When she pulled back, she flashed me a relieved smile. As if she had thought something bad was about to happen and was glad it had not.

“Yes,” she said softly, nodding her head in the affirmative.

“Yes?” I repeated, still dazed from the unexpected kiss. In my periphery, I could see that Mike had stopped about twenty feet from us. Despite not looking directly at him, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he’d just seen the blatant PDA between me and the sporty redhead., who still had her hands resting on my hips.

“Yes,” Sam repeated. “I’ll go out with you.”