In My Shoes (11 page)

“Okay,” I said, mildly frantic, “I can’t
think about this now. Let’s get back to hair, and we’ll talk about
this later.”

“Fine by me,” he said, still smiling. His
spirits seemed suddenly higher than they had been the last few
hours. I was annoyed.

“Could you please try and look a little less
pleased?”

He got serious. “Sorry. You know, it’s not
like I asked for this, but given the circumstances, I’m having a
hard time being disappointed.”

“Just try not to look so happy about it,
could you?”

“Sure,” he said with a try at sincerity.

“So, where was I?” I said, slightly
flustered.

“Ponytails. You fix them after P.E.”

I took a deep breath. “Right. So, I will
touch up the ponytail after I shower. The rest of the week, I use a
few different hairstyles based on the mood I’m in.”

“Oh,” he said, suddenly excited, “can you
show me how do that braid thing you do sometimes?”

“The French braid?”

“Yeah, I love it when you do that with your
hair.” He said it, and just as suddenly stopped and turned red. I’m
sure I did, too.

I tried to spare us any further awkward
silence by continuing on. “Uh…sure. Although, it’s going to be
really hard to do that style yourself. Are you sure you want to
try?”

“No, but let’s try anyway.”

I grabbed a brush and sat down on the bed
behind him. Once I finished brushing his…my hair out, I explained
how to draw a line across the crown of his…
ugh
…my head with
a comb. I divided the hair above the line into three equal parts,
and talked him through the process as I did it.

“Still with me?” I asked as I worked new
layers into the braid.

“Believe it or not, I am still with you.”

“Good. Keep working new layers in all the way
down, until there are no layers left. At this point, you will
finish off with a standard braid of the remaining lengths of the
three original groups of hair.”

At that moment, I looked over toward the
doorway, and to my surprise, my mother was standing there, watching
us.

“Mo…uh…Mrs. Evans I am guessing?” I tied off
his...well, my hair and got up to shake her hand.

“Yes…and you are?” Over the 17 years I’ve
been alive, I’ve learned my mother’s tone inflections pretty well.
It was pretty apparent she didn’t know what to make of seeing some
boy braiding her daughter’s hair in her bedroom. She wasn’t angry,
but she wasn’t pleasantly surprised by what she saw.

“My name is Jake,” I told her. “Your daughter
and I have a few classes together. We thought we would study
together today.”

“Oh,” she said, taking just a little edge off
of her voice, “you are Jake. It’s nice to meet you.” She looked
over at Jake, in my body, with a look he probably didn’t
understand. I knew it to mean that she was surprised to see the
events over the last few days had led us to here.

“Nice to meet you, too,” I said.

“So, I’m curious…why is it that you are
braiding my daughter’s hair?”

“We were just taking a break,” Jake chimed
in. “Jake was telling me he just learned how to French braid hair,
and I didn’t believe him.”

I looked over at Jake with a look that I hope
said, “leave the explanations to me.”

“Hmmm,” my mother responded, “and where did
you learn to braid so well, Jake?” Her question was not completely
sincere. She was…perplexed, I would guess, with the situation.

I thought for a second. Where on Earth would
Jake have learned to braid hair? “I was watching a friend braid
another girl’s hair at lunch, and she bet me I couldn’t learn how
to do it. She lost. It only took me three times!”

“Hmmm,” she said again. She ‘hmmms’ a lot
when she doesn’t know what to make of a situation. Suddenly, her
tone softened a bit and she smiled. “Well, it’s nice to meet you,
Jake.”

She looked over at Jake, who she thought was
me, sitting on the bed. “Nikki, dinner’s in an hour.” She looked at
me and asked, “Would you like to stay for dinner, Jake? We’re
having tri-tip tonight, and afterwards we are going to watch a
movie.”

I couldn’t believe she was inviting him, even
if it really was me, over to dinner and movie night. She never
invites anyone to movie night. “Oh, thank you Mrs. Evans, but
Nicole mentioned that it is a family thing. I wouldn’t want to
intrude. Besides, my mother is expecting me for dinner.”

“Maybe next time. Oh, and please, call me
Sara.”

“Thank you, Sara.”

She smiled and walked out of the room.

I turned and looked at Jake. “What kind of an
excuse was that? ‘I learned how to braid hair, and you didn’t
believe me?’ Let me come up with the explanations with my parents.
At least when we’re both here, okay?”

“I’m sorry, I was trying to help.”

“I know,” I said with a nervous laugh, “it
just didn’t help a whole lot. She was pretty skeptical of the
situation.”

“She thinks
that
was bad,” he offered,
“she should have seen when you were doing my makeup.” We both
smiled. It could have been worse, I guess.

“Why don’t you take me back to your house
now, so you can be back in time for dinner.”

“Sure,” he said, getting up off of the
bed.

We gathered his stuff together into his
backpack and we headed downstairs. I whispered over to Jake, “Go
over and tell her that you are going to take me home and you’ll be
back in about an hour.”

He did as I instructed and we both headed out
to the car. We drove in silence for a while. There were so many
things we needed to cover today, that time kind of got away from
me. Now that we’ve stopped for a few minutes, exhaustion from the
day was starting to catch up. I was tired.

“I’m going to get a head start on your
homework tonight, and then I’m going to crash. I’m tired,” I
said.

“Yeah, I’m tired, too. After the movie, I’m
hoping to go straight to bed. What time do you want me to pick you
up tomorrow?”

“Well,” I thought out loud, “assuming we
haven’t changed back…you are going to have to go to church with my
parents tomorrow morning.”

“Oh!” he said, surprised.

“What?”

“I’ve just never been to church. I don’t
really know how to be at church.”

“Don’t worry. Our church doesn’t have any
ritualistic celebration.”

“What do you mean ritualistic
celebration?”

“Some churches have recitations they perform.
Rituals that everyone knows and repeats. My church has a minister
who preaches his sermon. There’s not much you need to do. When he
says bow your heads, bow your head. You can do that, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

We arrived at his house, and I opened the
door to get out.

“Remember, don’t worry too much. Don’t
over-think. You’ll be fine.”

“I hope so. I’ll call you when I’m on my way
tomorrow. Keep your phone next to you just in case something goes
wrong…tonight or tomorrow.”

“I will,” I said, trying to reassure him.
“Good night.”

“Night.”

I walked into Jake’s house, and his mother
was there sitting on the couch. She was watching TV and eating
dinner.

“Hi Hon. I wasn’t expecting you or I would
have prepared some dinner. I just heated up some leftovers.”

“That’s okay. I’ll fix myself something to
eat.”

“I thought you would be at Mike’s house
tonight.”

“I was going to, but I’m still not feeling
well. I decided to come home instead. I’m going to study for a bit
and then go to bed. Maybe the extra sleep will do me good.”

“Have you taken anything?” she asked, concern
written on her face.

“No, I was hoping it would go away on its
own.”

“Well, maybe it’s time you take something,
before it gets worse.”

“Maybe you’re right. I’ll take something
before bed.” There wasn’t really anything I could take for this
problem, but I couldn’t really explain that to her.

I heated up some chicken and vegetables that
I found in the fridge. I ate quickly, said goodnight and headed
toward Jake’s room.

I headed to the bathroom and got myself ready
for bed. Once I finished getting ready, I went into Jake’s room,
closed the door, grabbed his backpack and sat down at his desk. I
figured I would start with the subjects we had in common. That way,
if we were changed back tomorrow, it wouldn’t have been a waste of
time studying now.

I opened his physics book and turned to the
chapter we were working on. I pulled out a piece of paper and
started to write his name on the page. That’s when it hit me…how am
I going to pull off being Jake, and he me, if we can’t write like
the other? I have no idea what Jake’s handwriting
looks
like, much less be able to duplicate it. How are we going to pull
this off? I would die if we were accused of cheating.

My heart was racing, and I was slightly
frantic. Okay, I thought, deep breaths Nikki. We can work it out.
Maybe we won’t need to work it out. Maybe things will be fixed by
Monday.

Truth is, I had no idea when this would end.
I don’t know why it happened in the first place. Maybe we
were
being punished. But what did I do? Is it because I was
mean to Jake on Thursday? I could fix that. I could be extra nice
if it would fix this. Tomorrow, I will do whatever he wants. Well,
within reas…

I woke up the next morning to Jake’s mother
knocking on the bedroom door and coming in.

“Jake? Mike’s on the phone for you. Did you
fall asleep at your desk?”

“I…guess so.” I had a pile of drool hanging
off my face and pooling on the desk. Eeeww.

“Honey, that’s not good for you. I guess I
should have checked on you before I turned in last night.”

“I’m okay. I was lost in thought and I didn’t
realize how tired I was.” She handed me the phone and smiled. I
thanked her as she turned to leave the room.

“Hello?” I answered, changing my attention to
the phone.

“Yo, it’s Mike.” As if I didn’t know.

“Hi Mike. What’s going on?” Did that sound
too formal?

“Dude, what’s going on? You’ve been so weird
lately.”

I guess that answers that question. “Whaddya
mean?”

“I mean, you’re talking funny and you’re
acting funny. Is this to impress Nicole?”

Good, he’s giving me an out. “Yeah, maybe. I
don’t know. I want her to like me.” That sounds true, right?

“Yeah, well maybe you should try being
yourself.”

I’m getting girl advice from Mike. I think
even Jake would find this funny. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.
So, what’s up?”

“Come over and hang out.”

“Can’t. I’ve got plans.”

“No you don’t. You’re avoiding me, aren’t
you?” Wow, does he know how to get right to the point, or what?

“Dude, I’m not avoiding you!” Well, yes I am.
But it’s not what he thinks.

“Then come over and hang out.”

“I told you, I’ve got plans.”

“What kinda plans?” he pushed.

“I’m studying.”

“With who?”

“Nicole.”

There was silence, for about 20 seconds.
“Somethin’s up.”

“What do you mean, something’s up?”

“I mean, somethin’s up. Friday morning, you
were fighting, and don’t tell me you weren’t. Now, today and
yesterday you are studying? I don’t buy it.”

“Don’t buy what, how I could spend time with
Nicole?” I said defensively.

“No, I totally get that. I don’t get how a
girl who you were fighting with two days ago, and barely knows you
would spend two days straight with you, unless there was something
more to it.”

Jake was right. Mike is pretty smart. Such a
waste. “What do you think could possibly be going on?”

“I don’t know, but I thought I was your best
friend. We’ve always told each other everything.”

Great. I’m in dangerous territory. I don’t
want to mess up Jake’s friendship with Mike. Jake suggested we tell
him, and I’m thinking he’s right more and more.

“Okay, Mike. I’ll tell you, but not over the
phone. Nicole and I will come by your house later today. You’re not
going to believe what I tell you, though.”

“Dude, she’s not pregnant, is she?”

“She is most certainly not pregnant!”

“Then why do you
both
need to come
over to tell me?”

Now, he’s getting on my nerves. More so than
usual. “Do you want me to tell you or not?”

“Whatever. I’ll wait. When are you gonna come
over?”

“After she gets out of church. Probably
around one o’clock. Maybe later.”

“K. Later.”

“Later,” I answered.

I hope Jake knows how to convince Mike we are
telling the truth. If not, we are going to have a real problem on
our hands.

Now that I was completely awake, I realized
my neck and back hurt from sleeping on Jake’s desk. I stretched my
neck and back and lay down on Jake’s bed. I closed my eyes for a
minute. I felt tired, but I couldn’t sleep. Great.

The alarm clock read ten-thirty. No wonder I
couldn’t sleep. I’m surprised I slept this long. I
never
sleep this long. I got up and went to the bathroom, took a shower
and got myself dressed. Twenty minutes…I love it!

I returned to Jake’s room feeling a bit
better. I still had a few hours before Jake would be coming to get
me, so I decided to tackle some of the homework I obviously didn’t
get to last night. Thankfully, I didn’t drool in any of Jake’s
books.

Maybe it’s just me, but I always study better
in a clean environment. I took a few minutes to straighten Jake’s
room up. It wasn’t really messy. I just needed to make his bed and
clean up his desk. While I was thinking of it, I decided to start
some laundry.

After getting the washer running, I headed
back to Jake’s room, ready to study. Once again, I pulled out
physics and opened up the current chapter. I figured that I could
write in my own handwriting and Jake could hand it in for me. That
would take care of two subjects, but in-class writing and the other
subjects were still a concern.