Help! I'm Trapped in My Sister's Body

  "Gee, I don't know." I shrugged my sister's shoulders innocently. "Maybe it was something he ate."

  18

  Out on the field the game ended. My teammates were patting me on the back and congratulating me on my great game.

  "You were incredible, Jake!"

  "Wow, guy, you're the best!"

  "Thanks, guys." Jessica, in my body, basked in the attention. Even the captain of the other team came over and shook her, I mean, my hand.

  "You were amazing, Jake," he said.

  "That's really nice of you to say," my sister replied.

  "Next time we play, I'm gonna make sure you're on my team," the other captain said.

  I watched myself glow with pride. If only that was really me. I wondered what they'd say if they knew they were congratulating Jessica in my body. Then Josh, Andy, and Jessica came over to Sumi, Dan, and me.

  Josh and Andy gave Sumi curious looks. After all, I'd never told them about her.

  "Boys, this is Sumi." I introduced her to them.

  Sumi said hello and then turned to Jessica in my body. She wasn't smiling. "So we finally get to meet, Jake."

  "Did you get to see much of the game?" asked Jessica in my body.

  "Oh, yes," said Sumi. "You really rot."

  Jessica, in my body, blinked and looked shocked.

  "So, Jake," said Dan, who didn't know that my sister and I had switched bodies. "How does it feel to finally meet your pen pal from the other side of the world?"

  "Pen pal?" Andy scowled.

  "Uh, great," replied Jessica in my body.

  "You don't feel a little awkward?" Dan asked. Jessica furrowed my brow. "No, why should I?" "Maybe because you told Sumi you were seventeen when you're really only fourteen," Dan

  said.

  I watched as an astonished expression appeared on my face. Jessica, in my body, glared at me in hers, as if waiting for me to come up with an explanation.

  "Well, I mean, it was just a little fib," I said.

  "It's very honorable of you to try to make excuses for your brother, Jessica," Sumi said to me. "I admit that I'm a little disappointed. But still, I'm glad to be here." Then she turned back to my sister in my body. "Jake, your sister Jessica and her friend Dan have asked me to join them at the carnival this afternoon. Would that be okay?"

  Jessica widened my eyes. She looked at Dan, then turned to me and glared again. They may have been my eyes, but there was murder in them.

  19

  "Uh, could you excuse us for a second?" Jessica, in my body, asked everyone. The next thing I knew, my sister took me aside.

  "What is going on?" she hissed in a low voice the others couldn't hear.

  "I couldn't help it," I whispered back and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Zitface, er, I mean, Dan mentioned the carnival and Sumi got all excited. She really wants to go. What was I supposed to do?"

  "First of all, stop tucking my hair behind my ear!" Jessica whispered heatedly. "Second, I don't want her coming to the carnival with Dan and me."

  I untucked her hair and whispered. "Neither do I. But I can't say no. It wouldn't be polite."

  "Oh, really?" hissed Jessica in my body. "Look at Dan!"

  I glanced back at Dan. He was gazing at Sumi with a rapt expression and dreamy eyes.

  "He's not supposed to look at her that way," Jessica sputtered. "He's supposed to look at me that way."

  "You mean, me," I whispered, reminding her that at the moment I was her and she was me. Jessica rolled my eyes. "Whoever."

  "By the way," I said. "How did it feel to be a sports hero?"

  Jessica smiled. "Great! Did you see how the captain of the other team asked me to play for him next time?"

  I nodded, suddenly feeling a little jealous.

  "It sure is different from being a girl," my sister went on. "Half the time, when I do well in sports, the other girls just snigger and make fun of me. And even if they appreciate what I've done, they don't congratulate me nearly as much."

  "See how important sports is to a guy?" I asked.

  Jessica, in my body, nodded. "I feel really sorry for you."

  Before I could tell her that I didn't want her pity, Josh and Andy joined us.

  "How come you guys went off alone to talk?" Josh whispered. "What's the problem?"

  "Uh, it's private," replied my sister, in my body. "What do you want?"

  "We want to know if there's any chance you'd stay in Jake's body until the next game," Andy said in a hushed voice. "We really ruled out there today."

  Jessica didn't answer. I could see that she was seriously considering it.

  "You guys aren't really serious, are you?" I asked my friends.

  Andy bit his lip. "Well, yeah. Did you see how you played today? You were awesome."

  "But what about the real me?" I asked. "What about when we're not playing football? Doesn't our friendship mean anything? Is sports all you guys really care about?"

  "You're right," Josh admitted. "It's not just sports. It's winning at sports that really counts." "But what about our friendship?" I asked. "We could still be friends," Josh said.

  "But we'd be winners too," Andy added.

  "In fact, that would probably make us even better friends," Josh pointed out.

  "I can't believe this!" I groaned. "You guys don't care about me. All you care about is sports."

  Jessica in my body laughed. "Look who's talking!"

  "You stay out of this," I growled.

  But Jessica shook my head. "You're so typical. Last night you insisted that sports is everything in life. Now you can't believe that your friends feel that way, too."

  I glared at my sister in my body, but she smiled back, knowing she was right.

  "Ahem!" Andy cleared his throat. "So, uh, back to my original question. Is there any chance you guys would stay in these bodies until the end of football season?"

  My sister, in my body, gave me a searching look. It was obvious she was still considering it.

  "You can't be serious," I said.

  "I really had a lot of fun out there," she said. "Well, I'm not having a lot of fun, okay?" I sputtered. "Being you is a big fat drag."

  "Give it a chance," Jessica said.

  I shook her head vehemently. "Forget it."

  Andy turned to Josh and shrugged. "Well, I tried."

  Josh sighed and pointed at his wristwatch. "In that case we better get back into school."

  He was right. If Jessica and I were going to switch back to our own bodies, we had to do it before the young writers' conference ended and school closed.

  "What are we gonna tell Sumi?" I whispered.

  Jessica, in my body, turned to Dan and Sumi, who appeared to be deep in their own conversation. "Sumi?"

  "Yes, Jake?" Sumi looked up.

  "Uh, Jessica and I have to run into school for a moment," my sister said. "Would you mind waiting?"

  A big smile appeared on Dan's face. "Hey, no problem, Jake. Take your time. I'll stay with Sumi."

  Jessica blinked my eyes. Then she turned back to me. "Jake," she whispered, tugging on my earlobe. "You have to do something for me."

  "What?" I whispered back.

  "Go over to Dan and kiss him on the cheek," she said.

  20

  I looked at my sister, in my body, like she was 1 crazy. "Are you out of your mind!" I hissed.

  "Please, Jake?" she bit my lip and begged.

  "Why?" I asked.

  "To remind him who his real date for this afternoon is," she whispered.

  "If you want to remind him who his date is, you kiss him," I whispered back.

  "I can't," she whispered. "He thinks I'm Jake." "Well, he may think that, but I'm really Jake, and there's no way I'm kissing him," I said.

  "But he doesn't know you're Jake," she said. "He thinks you're Jessica."

  "Well, I know I'm Jake," I sputtered. "And Josh and Andy know it too."

  "Jake, please!"

  "No."

  "Jaaaaake, pleeee
ase!" my sister in my body whined. "Just a little peck on the cheek?"

  "Never! Not in a million years! I don't care

  whose body I'm in. I wouldn't put my lips on his scuzzy pimply cheeks for a billion gazillion dollars. Especially in front of my friends." I admit I got a little excited.

  Jessica, in my body, glanced back at Dandy Dan again. I could see that she was really upset. To tell you the truth, I felt bad for her. Or maybe it was just that I was a little upset, too. I mean, Sumi was supposed to be my friend. I didn't like Dan drooling all over her any more than my sister did. But now that Sumi knew I'd lied about my age, I felt really humiliated. In a strange kind of way I almost wished she would go off with Dan. Because every second I spent with her was a second of her looking at me and knowing that I hadn't told the truth.

  21

  The young writers' conference must have been coming to an end because everyone was in the cafeteria listening to some writer with a beard talk about how he'd needed help with reading when he was a kid. Josh, Andy, Jessica, and I snuck past the cafeteria doors, then down the hall and back to the science lab.

  "Okay," Josh said, closing the lab door softly behind him. "Let's make this quick. I don't want to get nailed by Principal Blanco."

  Jessica and I quickly got into the reclining chairs. Josh went over to the computer console and began typing. Andy was on the other side of the room looking at the animals again. Then he glanced over at me. "Just out of curiosity, Jake, how did you like being a girl?"

  "It's not such a big deal," I said, shrugging my sister's shoulders.

  Josh looked up from the computer. "What about wearing perfume?"

  Oddly, I'd forgotten about that. "You get used to it," I replied. "After a while you hardly even notice."

  My sister, in my body, gave me a funny look. "That's scary, Jake."

  "Maybe he'll still wear perfume after he changes back," Andy quipped.

  "Very funny," I grumbled.

  Josh finished typing and put his finger on the button. "Everyone ready?"

  "Yeah," I said.

  "How about you, Jessica?" Josh asked.

  She didn't answer. She had twisted my body around in her chair and was staring out the window.

  "Jessica?" Josh tried to get her attention. "I asked if you were ready."

  "Wait a minute." Jessica, in my body, got out of the chair and went to the window.

  Josh frowned. "Now what?"

  "Something must be going on." I slid out of my chair and joined my sister at the window. Outside Dan and Sumi were strolling across the school yard, talking. Dan was standing close to Sumi, and he kept glancing at her with that mushy look. "Uh-oh." Andy joined us at the window. "Dan the Man's on the make."

  Jessica put my hands on my hips and narrowed my eyes. "I don't like this."

  Just then Dan pointed at something across the school yard. Sumi shook her head as if she couldn't see what he was pointing at. So Dan slipped his arm around Sumi's shoulders to help turn her in the direction he was pointing.

  "What a fake!" Andy gasped. "He just wants an excuse to put his arm around her shoulder!"

  Jessica started tugging at my earlobe. "Now I really don't like this!"

  "Stop tugging at my earlobe like that," I said. "You're gonna stretch it out."

  I don't think my sister even heard me. "I can't believe him," she said to myself. "I just can't believe him!"

  "I told you he was slime," I said.

  Outside, kids and their parents began to cross the school yard.

  "The conference must be over," Josh warned us. "We better switch you guys back into your own bodies before they close the school."

  I headed back to the DITS. Jessica, in my body, was still standing by the window, making my eyes bulge out of my head, and clenching and unclenching my fists.

  "I can't believe him," she kept muttering. "I really can't believe him!"

  "Come on, Jessica," Josh said. "We're running out of time."

  My sister, in my body, returned to her seat.

  Once again Josh typed something on the computer. "Ready?"

  Jessica and I nodded.

  "Okay," Josh said. "Three . . . two . . . "

  Just then the door opened and Principal Blanco stepped into the lab.

  22

  "Let me guess." Our principal arched a skeptical eyebrow. "You're doing another writing experiment?"

  "Uh . . . " Jessica, Andy, Josh, and I exchanged panicked looks. Josh reached toward the red button on the DITS.

  "Get away from that machine, Josh," the principal ordered. "You know you're not supposed to fool around with it."

  Josh stepped away from the DITS.

  "And you two." Mr. Blanco turned to my sister and me. "Out of those chairs, now!"

  We got out of the chairs. Mr. Blanco crossed his arms. "All right, kids. I'm waiting for an explanation. And it better be good."

  "Well, you see . . . " Andy began, but then trailed off.

  "It all started when . . . " Jessica, in my body, couldn't continue either.

  Mr. Blanco turned to Josh. "Want to give it a try?"

  Josh shook his head. He wasn't even going to bother making up an excuse. Mr. Blanco looked at me next. "How about you, Jessica?"

  I bent my sister's head and stared down at the floor. "It's all my fault, Mr. Blanco."

  The principal looked surprised. "Go on, Jessica."

  "Well, if you really want to know the truth," I continued, "I just really miss middle school. It's not the same over at the high school. It's so big and impersonal over there. I wanted to come back here because I have such fond memories."

  Mr. Blanco blinked with surprise. "I see."

  "I mean, it's not like we were doing anything wrong," I said as sincerely as possible. "I just wanted to come back and feel like an eighth-grader again."

  Mr. Blanco pressed his lips together thoughtfully. "I guess it's not easy growing up."

  I nodded Jessica's head sadly. Out of the corner of my sister's eye I caught my friends giving each other amazed looks, as if they couldn't believe I was going to talk my way out of this.

  Meanwhile, Mr. Blanco rubbed his chin thoughtfully and seemed moved by my words. "You really loved it here, didn't you, Jessica?"

  "Yes." I nodded my sister's head some more.

  "You'd probably like to come back again," Mr. Blanco said. "Am I right?"

  "Oh, yes, Mr. Blanco," I said dramatically. "More than anything!"

  "Well, good," the principal said. "Because Monday morning I'm going to call Principal Smilely over at the high school and arrange for you to come back."

  Huh? That didn't make sense.

  "Uh, er, that's great," I replied uncertainly.

  In my body, Jessica muttered unhappily. "No, it's not, meatbrain."

  "It's not?" I frowned.

  Mr. Blanco nodded. "I think what your brother means, Jessica, is that by the time your week of detention is over, you probably will have had enough of this place for a long, long time."

  A week of detention? I felt my sister's jaw drop.

  But wait! By then Jessica and I would have switched back into our own bodies. I wouldn't be serving that detention, Jessica would! I put my sister's hand over her mouth to hide her smile.

  "You see, Jessica," the principal continued. "When I told you before that I didn't want you wandering around school, I meant it. Just because you're a tenth-grader at the high school doesn't mean that you're not subject to school rules."

  "Uh, excuse me, Mr. Blanco?" Jessica, in my body, said.

  The principal turned. "Yes, Jake?"

  "It's really not Jessica's fault," my sister, in my body, said. "It's really my fault. I'm the one who insisted that she come back in here again. If anyone gets a week's detention, it should be me, Jake Sherman."

  Principal Blanco blinked. "Did I hear you correctly, Jake? You're volunteering to serve detention for your sister?"

  "It's only fair," my sister in my body said.

  "
No, it's not!" I gasped in my sister's body. "You were right in the first place, Mr. Blanco. I, Jessica Sherman, should serve detention. I broke the rules and I should face my punishment like a man."

  Principal Blanco frowned.

  "Ahem!" Josh cleared his throat.

  "Uh, I meant, like a woman," I quickly corrected myself.

  My sister, in my body, turned to me. "I insist I serve it, Jessica."

  "No, no, Jake," I replied. "As your big sister I should have had better judgment. I must be taught a lesson!"

  "But you only did it for me," Jessica insisted. Jessica, in my body, and I, in hers, argued back and forth.

  "Stop!" Principal Blanco finally yelled. "I don't know what's gotten into you two, but forget it. And forget about detention. Now I don't know who to give it to. But this is the last time I'm going to tell you to leave. I have to close the school. If I see you back here again, the next step will be a month's detention!"

  Mr. Blanco really wanted us to leave. But we couldn't. We had to switch first. I had to get my body back. And that meant switching now!

  "Oh, please, Mr. Blanco," I begged. "Can't I just stay a little longer?"

  The principal gave me an amazed look. "Jessica, didn't you hear what I just said?"

  "But — " I gasped.

  "No buts, Jessica." Mr. Blanco firmly waved us toward the door. "You either leave right now or I'll make sure you get that month's detention."

  "But you don't understand," I gasped.

  "Yes, he does." I felt a sharp stab of pain in the ribs as Jessica, in my body, came close and gave me a poke.

  Principal Blanco smiled. "Well, I see that at least Jake has some sense."

  23

  "Thanks, Jake, thanks a lot!" my sister muttered angrily in my body as we walked down the hall toward the school doors. "You were ready to let me get a month's detention."

  "Hey!" I shot back. "It wasn't my fault! We would have switched by now if you weren't so worried about what Dandy Dan was doing with Sumi."

  "Oh, sure." Jessica rolled my eyes. "Blame it on everyone else except yourself. You're such a typical male."

  I stopped and glared at her in my body. Then I put one hand on her hip and bent the other in a feminine way. "And you're such a typical girl. All you can think about is some dumb guy who doesn't even care about you."