The Switch

ARIA'S POV.

I literally had three panic attacks this week and while I stared at my empty medication bottle, my hands shook.

Two hundred people were sitting in the hall because the Spring showcase was about to begin in twenty minutes. My mom was also present and sitting in the front row.

“I don't think I can do this thing". I doubted myself.

I literally looked like what everyone said about me. ARIA CHEN, the perfectionist and the one that never makes mistakes.

My mom sent me a message after five minutes for the third time. I gasped when I saw the text.

“Where the hell are you, this girl? People are asking of you and don't even dare embarrass me". My mom said, over the phone.

My breath seized and I held the toilet sink trying to remember the exercises my therapist taught me recently but I was still suffocating.

The door knob clicked and Victoria walked in gracefully.

"Oh, So you are here!" Victoria said harshly She was wearing a silver dress with her blonde hair falling freely behind her back.

Behind Victoria were two other girls moving around with her like her ducklings.

"You are supposed to be there in fifteen minutes, what exactly are you even hiding here?"

"Um, I'd be done in few minutes..." I replied her.

"Hmmmm.... please be fast, you don't have time. Victoria stared at me from head to toes to see if I had flaws. "Is this not the same cloth you wore to Flora showcase? She raised her eyebrows. "Aria, this it the biggest event of the year and college scouts are here. My mother donated fifty thousand dollars for this event, and you're wearing a recycled dress?" She said in an irritated voice that clearly showed in her facial expression.

The other girls giggled while she talked and I clenched my fist in anger.

"It's a nice dress," I said quietly but confidently while looking at my gown.

"It's fine." Victoria said. "You're representing Ashford Academy, so, fine isn't good enough." She stepped closer and lowered her voice so that only I can hear. "I really don't know what has been going on with you lately but you've been distracted and distant and If you mess up tonight and make this school look bad, no one would forget.Including the admission officers."

I squeezed my face in confusion.. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, didn't you hear? Yale's head of admissions is here tonight. The one who is actually supposed to interview you next month." Victoria smiled broadly. "Julian's family arranged it. So when you go out there, you better be perfect. For his sake, if not yours."

She left with her followers trailing behind her.

Julian, my fake boyfriend. The arrangement our families made six months ago, his parents needed him publicly linked to someone with "character and achievement," while my mother needed the St. Claire family's connections and donations to secure my Yale admission. A mutually beneficial arrangement without feelings.

Everything in my life was an arrangement.

My phone buzzed again but this time it was not my mother. I looked at the caller ID strangely.

Unknown Number: "I'm drowning. Are you?"

My heart stopped. I knew the number. It was the code we created five years ago, before everything fell apart. Before the divorce and before our parents split us up and pretended the other twin didn't exist.

It was Sage.

I tapped on the message immediately in curiosity and it read; "I'm in the parking lot that's close to the North entrance and after your show, please come online. I have brought up a plan."

"Aria Chen! You have just five minutes". The stage manager said.

I put my phone in my purse and left.

I took my place in the grand piano. I could literally feel my mom's eyes on me. I tried playing the first notes on the piano but it was feeling a bit hard. It wasn't supposed to be like that because I had practiced for long.

There was a long silence in the hall. I had to force myself to start. The anxiety and pressure fueled me to start and the melody filled the whole room.

There was a brief silence at first then people started clapping. I saw my mom nodding in approval. I passed the test.

I bowed before leaving the stage. As I walked off stage, Julian appeared in the wing. "You were incredible," he said, but his voice was plain. He tried to get to me for the expected kiss on my cheek, and whispered, "We need to talk about the arrangement. Meet me in the garden in ten minutes."

Before I could respond, he was was already gone.

Victoria intercepted me, her smile was evil. "Well done. Though you started a bit late. Nerves?"

"No. I was just trying to build tension." I said, slightly smiling.

"Hmm." She tilted her head. "By the way, has Julian seemed strange to you stayed distant?

My instinct told me that there was danger"No. Why?"

"Oh, no reason." But her eyes said otherwise. "Enjoy your evening, Aria." She said and left.

I changed out of my performance dress in record time, wearing jeans and a hoodie that I had hidden in my locker for emergencies. The north parking lot was empty except for one figure leaning against a motorcycle.

Sage.

For a moment, I couldn't breathe. It was like looking in a mirror, but everything was reversed. She had my features. She was wearing ripped jeans and a leather jacket covered in paint stains with multiple piercings lined in her ears. She looked dangerous and like everything I was not allowed to be.

"Hey, stranger," she said in a rough voice.

When did she start sounding like that? I thought staring at her weirdly.

"Sage." My voice cracked. "What are you doing here? If Mom finds out…"

"Hahaha..., she laughed. "Mom isn't going to find out. Nobody saw me." She pushed off the motorcycle. "I need to talk to you. Actually, I need more than that. I need your help." She added.

"What's wrong?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

She laughed but there was no humor in it.

"What isn't wrong? Dad's drinking is worse. I got my third strike at Lincoln High last week. One more suspension and they're sending me to Juvenile Detention. I'm seventeen, Aria. They can actually do that."

I raised my eyes in horror. "Sage, no…" I was cut off by her.

"So I've been thinking." She stepped closer and I could see dark circles under her eyes.

"You're drowning in your perfect life. I'm drowning in my disaster. What if we switched?" Sage said.

I stared at her in shock. "What?"

"Switch lives for one semester. You take my place at Lincoln High, live with Dad. Be messy, be free, be whoever you want. I'll take your place here at Ashford, keep your grades up and play the perfect daughter."

"That's insane. We haven't seen each other in five years. We can't just…"

"Why not? We're identical twins. We used to fool everyone when we were kids." Sage argued.

"We were kids. This is different. This is…" She interrupted me again.

"...Your only chance to breathe before you suffocate completely." Sage's eyes bore into mine. "I saw you on that stage, Aria. I watched you through the window. You looked like you were dying inside."

Tears welled up in my eyes. "I can't. Mom would never…”

"Mom won't know. Nobody will know. We'll prep each other on everything. Friends, teachers and routines. It's just twelve weeks, like, one semester. Then we switch back and nobody is the wiser."

"This is crazy." I said in fear.

"Yeah." Sage grinned. She was wild and desperate. "But you're actually considering it. I can see it on your face."

She was right. Some treacherous part of me was imagining it. Waking up without my mother's expectations, going to a school where nobody knew me, being anonymous and being free.

But there were so many complications. Julian, My Yale interview, The Spring competitions and my entire future.

"I need time to think…"

"We don't have time!" Sage's voice broke. "In three days, Lincoln High comes back from winter break. If I get one more mark against me, I'm done. And you…" She grabbed my hand, and I realize hers were shaking too.

"...how many more panic attacks before you completely break? How long can you keep pretending?"She asked me.

My phone exploded with texts. Mom was demanding to know where I was. Victoria was asking if I was meeting Julian. Julian himself was asking where I went.

"Seventy-two hours," Sage says. "Meet me here Friday night, 3 AM. If you decide yes, we'll make the switch. If you don't show, I'll never contact you again."

"Sage…" I called out in a shaky voice.

"I have to go home, Aria. Security's coming." She swinged onto her motorcycle. "But Aria? Think about who you actually are versus who they've made you then decide which life you want."

She started the engine of the motorcycle and zoomed off before I could even respond.

I stood alone in the parking lot with my phone ringing with messages insistently and my heart beating fast.

I had seventy two to decide if I was brave enough to become someone else or if I was just a coward to stop being the person everyone expected me to be.

Behind me, footsteps came closer and Julian's voice cuts through the darkness: "Aria? What are you doing out here?"

I turned to him forcing a smile and I saw something in his expression that was actually strange about him. He looked afraid.

"We really need to talk," Julian said. "About the arrangement because there's something I haven't told you. Something that could actually destroy both of us.”