The swap

Chloe's POV

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!?!

The scream that tore out of my throat didn't sound like mine. It was scratchy, thick, and ended in a weird wheeze.

I bolted out of a bed that felt like it was stuffed with rocks. The air smelled like... ginger and old books? This wasn't my room. My room had floor-to-ceiling windows and white silk curtains. This room had wallpapers and a desk filled with sketchbooks and Japanese textbooks.

I reached for my face and gasped. My fingers hit something. Glasses? I didn't wear glasses. I ripped them off, but the world immediately turned into a blurry, terrifying vision.

"No, no, no," I whispered. I scrambled out of bed and fell immediately. I was shorter and my legs felt heavy. I crawled to a mirror propped up against the wall and shrieked again. Amaya Nakamura was staring back at me. Except it was me inside those brown eyes. I looked at the red flare of acne on the forehead and the tangled, dark hair.

"AMAYA!" I yelled, but my voice was her voice.

I heard a knock on the door. "Maya? 

Honey, are you okay? I heard screaming."

That was Amaya’s mom. If she saw me like this, losing it, I’d be stuck here forever.

"I'm fine!" I yelled, the Japanese honorifics feeling like sand in my mouth. "Just... a spider!"

I couldn't stay here. I grabbed a hoodie from the floor, shoved my feet into some beat-up sneakers, and spotted a pair of car keys on the dresser. It was for Maya’s dad but I didn't care. I needed to get to my house.

I snuck out the back door. Driving the old sedan was a nightmare, the seat was too close and the brakes were squeaky. Every person I passed on the street looked at me with that pitying look they always gave Maya. It made me want to vomit. I pulled up to my real house and pounded on the door.

"OPEN UP! MAYA, I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!"

***

Maya POV

I opened the door slowly.

I stood there, staring at my old body. It felt weird. Chloe was wearing my stained hoodie, my thick glasses crooked on her nose. She looked frantic.

"Chloe?" I said. My voice sounded so strange.

"What did you do to me?!" she screamed, lunging toward me. I stepped back into the corridor. "You weirdo! Is this some Japanese magic? Fix it! WHAT DID YOU DO!" Chloe kept yelling.

I caught a glimpse of us in the grand hallway mirror. A short, messy girl in a hoodie screaming at a beautiful, composed blonde in a blue pyjamas.

I took her upstairs. "Chloe, calm down," I said, my hands steady. I reached out to touch her arm, but she flinched. "I’m just as shocked as you are.

"This isn't normal, and I don't know how to fix it."

"You have to!" Tears pricked those thick glasses. "Jaxon is coming! My parents! I have a life, Maya! You... you're just..."

She stopped, but I knew what she was going to say. Invisible, nothing, ugly…

Suddenly, a phone buzzed on the nightstand. It Jaxon, I whispered.

"Yeah, I know it's Jaxon. He's coming to pick me up. He can't see me like this! He'll die!

"Answer the call" she said, handing me her pink iPhone. "Tell him you're driving yourself today. Tell him you need space."

My hands shook as I reached for her phone. 

"J-Jaxon? Hey, babe... No, don't come. I... I have a huge breakout. Yeah, it's gross. I’ll just drive myself. See you at school."

I hung up. She llooked at me, terrified. "I can't go to your house, Maya. I can't be you."

"You have to," I said, a strange coolness settling over me. "If we don't play along, people will think we’ve lost our minds. Go back to my house. My mom thinks I’m still in bed."

"I don't know how to drive that piece of junk!" Chloe cried.

"You'll figure it out. It's an automatic." I said. 

She walked to the closet and pulled out a dress. "Here, get dressed. Wear something good. If you're going to be me, at least try to look like me."

"You're being awfully calm for a girl someone in such a situation," Chloe muttered.

"And you're being awfully loud for a girl who's supposed to be invisible," I retorted.

I watched her leave, watching my old body stumble down the stairs and struggle to pull out of the driveway. I turned back to the mirror and ran a brush through the blonde strands. For the first time in my life, I didn't want to hide.

"Make sure Jaxon doesn't suspect a thing," Chloe had whispered.

I looked at the "Chloe" in the mirror and smiled. It was a perfect, dazzling smile.

"Don't worry, Chloe," I whispered. "I’m going to be the best 'you' there ever was.”