In My Shoes (15 page)

“Yeah, I’ve seen you coming into class before
as I’m leaving,” he confirmed. He wrote down the rest of his
schedule and we went over it together.

As we finished going over Jake’s schedule, I
realized how similar our schedules seemed. “You know, there are so
many ways that this could have been worse, and yet most of this has
been pretty manageable.”

“How do you mean?” he asked.

“Well, I have Spanish II fifth hour. What if
I had Spanish III, or French?”

“That would have been a disaster,” he
said.

“Okay, is there anything else?”

“I don’t think so. How about you?” he
asked.

I gave Jake my schedule and we went over
seating and friends who we had classes with.

“Okay, I think I got it,” he said.

“So, we both have calculus. Why don’t we try
and do each others’ homework and see where we’re at.”

“Sounds good to me,” he said.

We pulled out each others’ calculus books and
got to work. It appeared that Jake’s class was a chapter ahead of
my class. That should make his assignment review, and means I
needed to learn two chapters in order to do his homework.
Fortunately, I have a habit of looking ahead, just in case
something happens, like I get sick…or somehow change bodies with
some guy I barely know. We studied for another ten minutes or so,
until Jake’s mother called to us to wash up for dinner.

“Jake, would you please get drinks for us?”
his mom asked.

“Sure Mom,” I replied.

I poured drinks and Jake’s mom put the food
on the table. We all sat down to eat. Usually we say grace at my
house, but I didn’t think they did here, and since Jake probably
wouldn’t suggest it, I said my prayers to myself.

“Wow, Mom, this smells great!” I said.

“Yes, Angela, it looks delicious,” Jake
agreed.

“Thank you guys. Enjoy.”

We ate in silence for the first few minutes,
and then Jake’s mom started the conversation.

“So, Nicole, you have a few classes with
Jake, right?”

“Yes, I do,” he said. “We have English and
physics together.”

“You look like a good student,” she
continued.

That was nice of her to say, but I don’t
think Jake knows my grades. I thought I’d help him out. “She’s
actually on course to be Valedictorian,” I helped.

Jake and his mom both look surprised. “Are
you really?” she asked. “That is so impressive!”

“Thank you,” Jake said humbly.

“So, what do you like to do in your spare
time, Nicole?”

Uh-oh. We haven’t really talked about spare
time. “I think I’ve seen you hanging out with your girlfriends at
the mall, right?”

“Jake, let her talk.”

“No, that’s okay,” he said. “Jake’s right. I
don’t have a lot of spare time, but I spend what I have with my
family or my…girlfriends.”

“That’s nice,” his mom said.

Jake’s mom asked him a few more questions
that he winged until dinner was finally over. I cleaned the dishes.
Jake offered to help, but his mom didn’t want Nicole lifting a
finger. So, he sat on the couch and waited for me to finish.

“Well, thank you Angela. Dinner was great!”
he said.

“Of course, dear. You are welcome,
anytime.”

We went back into Jake’s room and Jake closed
the door.

“That went fairly well,” I said.

“I think so,” Jake said with a big sigh.

“So, how are you coming with calculus?” I
asked.

“I’m done. I had a similar assignment on that
chapter last week. How about you?”

“I’m coming along. Probably fifteen more
minutes and then I can start on Spanish.”

We spent the next couple of hours working on
calculus, Spanish and government, and by nine, we were done.

“I think I’m as ready as I can be for
tomorrow,” I finally said. “How are you doing?”

“I…think I’m okay. I’m done with your
homework. I think I’ve got your handwriting passable. I think. I
have your schedule. It’s kind of sink or swim now.”

“Let’s hope swim. Keep your phone on vibrate
and keep it with you. We can text each other in a pinch. Let’s just
try to say less until we get comfortable. The less we say and do,
the less we can say and do wrong, right?”

“Right. I’m going to pack up and head back to
your place.”

I looked at him and he stared back. “What?” I
asked. “You’re going to do fine.”

“Valedictorian. I guess there’s no room for
error on my part.”

“We’re going to do fine,
right
?” I
wanted to hear him say it, to know he believed it.

“Right.”

Jake packed up and headed out of the room. I
followed him to the front door. His mom was on the couch in the
family room, and Jake told her goodnight.

“Goodnight, Nicole. It was very nice to have
met you.”

“Thank you, Angela.”

As he walked out, he whispered in my ear,
“Thank you for letting us study here tonight. I needed to see
her.”

I smiled and he left.

“Well, she seems very nice. And
very
pretty. I see why you like her.”

I was blushing, but not for the reason she
was probably thinking. “Mom, I told you it’s not like that.”

“Well, just the same, you have good taste in
friends.”

“Thank you. I’m going to go to my room and
get myself ready for tomorrow.”

“Okay Hon, sleep well. And make sure you make
it into your bed tonight!” she called down the hall. Well, it’s
Jake’s bed, but who’s keeping track.

I got everything ready for tomorrow, went to
the bathroom and got ready for bed. I lay in bed running tomorrow
over in my head again and again. The real fun is just about to
begin. Lord, please have mercy.

I woke up with a start and searched for the
alarm clock. I was sure it hadn’t gone off, causing me to
oversleep. The clock was glaring five a.m. I had set the alarm for
five fifteen, so I guess I beat the clock. I wasn’t late for school
after all. Relief came over me as I lay back down to take in my
environment.

Normally, I would have trouble waking up in
the morning. I could go all day long once I got going, but starting
out was always tough. Since I’ve been in Nicole’s body, waking up
has been easy, but I’ve been exhausted by the time I get into
bed.

So, waking up like this, I was already
subconsciously aware that Nicole and I were still switched. If
there was any doubt, the pink and yellow flowers, frilly pillow and
makeup table were plenty enough of a reminder that I was still not
myself.

I lay in bed thinking about my day. So many
things I needed to remember today, and a lot could go wrong. Last
night I had decided I wasn’t going to play the ‘what if’ game. I’ve
prepared myself as well as possible. Whatever was going to happen
was going to happen. And let’s face it; I’d be lying if I said I
wasn’t looking forward to P.E.

I got out of bed and took off my nightgown.
That just sounds weird…‘my nightgown.’ Anyway, I took off
Nicole’s
nightgown and put it in the appropriate laundry
basket. While I was in there, I grabbed the outfit Nicole had laid
out for me and took it to the bed. She had a blouse and a dress.
Really? A dress? First day at the school with all of her friends
and she lays out a dress. I was tempted to pick something else out,
but I didn’t want to get in trouble for messing something up.

The blouse was a button down that was a
random design of different shades of green and purple. I looked in
Nicole’s drawer with her bras. There were white, black, brown and
one red. No green or purple. I knew red and brown were wrong, but I
wasn’t sure between white or black. I grabbed the black bra,
fastened it around my waist and adjusted it into place. I put fresh
deodorant on and put the blouse on. The buttons were on the
opposite side. Strange, but fitting. Since everything in my life is
reversed right now.

I pulled the dress up to my waist. It had an
elastic waist, so it just kind of stayed there. I grabbed some
socks and put them on.

My hair was still in the French braid, but I
smoothed a little Pomade over it to keep down the stray hairs. I
brushed my teeth and then decided to put the makeup on. Nicole
didn’t say much about the makeup yesterday, so either she was
holding her tongue or she thought I did a passable job. I carefully
went through all of the steps she explained, trying to pay as much
attention to detail as possible. I took twice as long yesterday as
she took when she made me up on Friday, so I gave myself extra time
this morning. I’m not fast, but I think I’m starting to get the
hang of it. That’ll look great on my college application…Special
Accomplishments: Good at applying makeup and French Braiding
hair.

I gave a final look in the mirror. I don’t
remember Nicole ever wearing this outfit. It didn’t seem right to
me, but who was I to say? Everything looked in place, so I gathered
up Nicole’s backpack, purse and phone and headed downstairs to get
some breakfast.

Nicole’s mother was already up and she was
walking around in a nightgown. I would imagine that it was not
totally inappropriate morning attire for around the house…unless,
of course, some guy is walking around your house disguised as your
daughter. There are some very good genes in this family.

“Hi Mom,” I offered politely, sitting down at
a barstool in the kitchen.

“Hey, Sweetie. I was just getting ready to
scramble up some eggs. Would you like some?” she asked, looking
over my way.

“Yes, please.”

“You’re wearing that new blouse I got you. It
looks great on you!”

“Thanks,” I said, feeling a little relief. If
she thinks it looks okay then it must be okay.

“So, do you have anything special going on at
school today?”

I felt a knot in my stomach. “No, it should
be pretty much the usual today.” As long as you don’t count the
fact that I’m in a girl’s body, that is.

She went about her business cooking when
Nicole’s cell phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Jake it’s me,” Nicole said. She sounded
funny. I couldn’t tell if it was frustration or something else. My
voice, but I didn’t recognize the expression she used.

“Is everything alright?”

“Yeah,” she said after a long pause. “I’m
just really enjoying…being a guy.”

“That sounded a lot like sarcasm. What’s
wrong?”

“Nothing. Look, are you alone?”

“No, I’m getting ready to eat breakfast
with…my mom.”

“Great. Okay, when you hang up the phone,
tell her it was Meredith on the phone.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because, if my mom’s been listening to this
conversation, she would believe it was Meredith. I’d rather not
have her think we are talking morning, noon and night.”

“Oh, okay. Is that all you called for?”

“Yeah, I called just to tell you to tell my
mom someone else was calling you,” she snapped.

“What’s with the attitude?” I said
defensively. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” she said, backing off. “I’m sorry. I’m
having a rough morning. I was calling to ask you to meet me after
P.E.”

“Sure. You’ll tell me then?”

“Tell you what?”

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t really want to talk about it. I’ll
be fine.”

“Okay, so why are we meeting after P.E.?” I
asked. Maybe it was just me, but this wasn’t making any sense.

“Look, can you just meet me? I’m nervous
about P.E. and I’m nervous about the rest of our classes. I’d just
like to check in with you before we have our difficult
subjects.”

“Okay. I’ll meet you at my locker.”

“Thank you. Wait…is that your locker which is
my locker or your locker, which I’m using currently? Oh, and how do
I get into your locker? I don’t know the combination. Actually, I
don’t even know where your locker is.”

“Uhh…why don’t we meet at your
old
locker and take the rest from there?”

“Okay, sounds good. See you then.”

“Bye,” I said, hanging up. Boy, does she talk
a lot, and fast, when she gets nervous. I hope she can keep it
together.

“Who was that?” Nicole’s mother asked.

“That was Meredith. She’s having a rough
morning.”

“That girl has more rough mornings than
anyone I know,” she said.

Oh, I’m sure we could give Meredith a run for
her money right now. “Yeah, but she’ll be okay,” I said. I was more
worried about Nicole.

“Mom, do you think I handle pressure
well?”

“I think you handle pressure better than a
lot of adults, Sweetheart. Although, you do tend to over think
things sometimes.”

Yeah, that seemed about right.

“Why do you ask?” she questioned.

“Oh, just our conversation about Meredith
made me think about how people see me.”

“Nikki, you and Meredith are not much alike.
I know you girls are friends, but it’s not because of your
similarities.”

That’s good to know. I guess I won’t worry
about Nicole too much. At least she has Mike to help her out. I’ve
got to worry about myself at this point.

“Do you mind if I take my breakfast with me?
I think I’d like to get an early start on the day.”

“Not at all,” she said.

She rolled the eggs into a tortilla, gave it
to me with a kiss and wished me a good day. Then she walked into
the dining room. I gathered up my things and headed for Nicole’s
car.

On the way to school, I continued thinking
about the day, trying to convince myself it was all going to be
okay. Nicole and I covered so many things over the weekend, yet
there are so many things we didn’t cover. There are so many people
at our school. I know a lot of them, and so does Nicole. But…how do
I know if Nicole knows someone that I know, or vice-versa. Can we
fake it all day without offending people? Not likely. We’ll just
have to do our best. I just hope it’s good enough.