Sunday is when it feels as if the reality of your situation is beginning to sink in. You're now starting your second full day in Jenny Ashton's body and as such it's now beginning to lose a bit of the exoticism it's had and instead is beginning to feel like it's your's. After all, you've seen it naked multiple times. You've showered with it, explored every inch of it, been intimate with it; things that you would never be able to do were it not your body.
As you dress and get ready for church, it continues to hit you that this is your life now. Oh sure, you attend every Sunday with your family out obligation mostly, and in a sense Jenny isn't wholly different from you in that regard. But unlike you she sings in the choir which means that you sing in the choir and there will be people from school that you know and many that you don't. But Jenny knows them, even if only in passing, which means that you too now know them. And you can't carry a tune to save your life but Jenny is a surprisingly good singer which means that so too are you.
By accepting that this seems to be your life for the foreseeable future, it becomes easy to glide through it in the way that Jenny would. From the service to the choir to talking with her parents on the ride home, it all becomes second nature. Even when you check your phone and see messages from Cindy and Yumi asking if you want to meet up for lunch, you barely blink. Yes, there is still something amazing about the idea of casually hanging out with two gorgeous cheerleaders. But this is what constitutes "normal" for Jenny Ashton and thus you quickly realize that this will now be what constitutes "normal" for you.
So you try your best to not think of any of this as abnormal while you change into a more familiar and comfortable t-shirt and jeans combo and drive out to Panera. You order your food, take a seat next to Yumi and exchange pleasantries... all things that Jenny has done countless times before.
"So what's this big news you guys want to tell me?" you ask, partway through eating your food.
"Who said anything about big news, Ashton?" Cindy teases.
You roll your eyes in response. "Come on, usually when you cheerleaders are wanting me to come out right away it's because you've got something you want to spill," you retort as you look from her to Yumi, "so spill."
"Oh wow, you got us," Yumi replies in feigned surprise. "But yeah, Chelsea sent a big group text about an hour ago telling us we're doing the tryout first thing tomorrow morning."
"Wait, really?" you ask in genuine surprise. "I thought it wouldn't have been until the middle of the week at the earliest."
"We thought so too," Yumi says, "but Chelsea was spouting some crap about wanting to get it over with as quickly as possible because she doesn't want it to be a giant distraction."
"And Tesla's fine with that?"
"You know Tesla, she doesn't care," Yumi answers.
"Chelsea's probably doing it," Cindy jumps in, "because she thinks it'll throw Sydney off if it's just sprung on her." She crosses her arms defiantly. "Fat fucking chance."
You bristle a bit at that. "You seem pretty confident that she'll make it," you tell her. You can't help but feel annoyed at how this girl—who you haven't even met yet—is being talked up like she's going to be the savior of the squad.
"Well, I mean," Cindy starts, "do you think she doesn't have a shot? Because the only way that would happen is if Chelsea just decides to shut her out afterwards and not even Chelsea's that brazen to deny her a spot if she's as good as advertised."
"Yeah," you say as you draw on the same argument that Caleb used on Friday, "but if she is as good as advertised, then don't you think that Tesla will just punt the decision of who Sydney replaces to Chelsea? If she did that then she'd probably just replace Eva or Jessica."
Both Yumi and Cindy shift a bit uncomfortably at that. "She could do that," Yumi says quietly, "but even if she does it'd probably be Eva and from what Cindy's said, Sydney would be a lot more bold than her."
"So you'd sacrifice Eva for Sydney?" you ask with surprise at the seemingly cold pragmatism your friends are showing.
"Look, it's not like the twins are gung ho about being on the squad," Yumi replies. "And no, I don't think either of us want to 'sacrifice' either of them. I'm just saying that I don't think Chelsea's anywhere near as clever as she thinks she is. Even if she does do something that she thinks is going to screw us over."
"Right," Cindy adds. "Have a little faith. It'll all work out."
* * * * *
"The fuck are you doing?" you ask later that evening when you decide to call Chelsea.
"What crawled up your ass?" she shoots back in a tone that conveys clear annoyance at your coming out aggressive.
"I talked to Yumi and Cindy earlier," you tell her, "and they said that 'Chelsea' pushed for tryout to be tomorrow because you wanted to get it over with."
"Yeah, I did," she replies. "It's not anything that Chelsea herself wasn't already planning."
"They said that you probably thought that doing it so soon would throw off Sydney," you say. "Probably so she could use it as an excuse to reject her."
"Yeah, that's about right," she states, "but that's not why I'm doing it. I just want it over and done with." She lets out a large sigh. "I really don't want to do this though. I only give a shit about the cheerleaders because my friends are on the squad, otherwise I wouldn't care. But now I'm on the squad... I'm the fucking head cheerleader! If we're doing everything like normal then that means I'm going to have fuck over my friends!"
"So what are you going to do?"
There's a long pause. "I don't know," she finally says, "but I'll have to think of something. I mean, I'm stuck like this right? This is what my life is now; being Chelsea Cooper, head cheerleader."
"We're all stuck like this," you tell her.
"God," Chelsea moans in frustration, "it's not fair. Her life isn't even bad, I don't know why she's such a bitch all the time! She has it good, especially compared to..." She trails off and lets the thought hang there.
"Compared to who? You?" you ask.
"Not me," she says quietly. There's another pause before she speaks again, "Gordon," she simply says.
"You mean the gorilla?"
"He's not—" she starts. "I've had a few days inside Chelsea's head so I know," again she pauses, "I know that his home life sucks."
"Oh, I see," you flippantly reply, "so that means he gets to try and beat up James and Carson and anyone else who pisses him off... which is everyone."
"I didn't say that!" she protests. "But I guess now I understand why he's like that. But when I was with him yesterday... we didn't do anything. Just hung out and talked. I saw a different side of him and I just... let myself be Chelsea but not totally. I hate saying it but she actually does care about him a lot so maybe that colored things."
"Sounds like you're falling for him," you snort.
"I am not!" she cries. "But I'm just... seeing past the surface and I guess it's making me feel sympathetic." There's yet another long pause and you're honestly about to just end the conversation but Chelsea stops you before you do. "You're going to try talking to Chen tomorrow, right? See if he's actually Kim?"
"That's the plan," you tell her. "I'm thinking lunch. Why?"
"Well if the two of them swapped, then it means someone or something is going around and doing it right? There might be other people who have been swapped too." You admit that you hadn't actually thought of that but wonder what she's getting at. "Well, if someone is doing it and we find out who it is, maybe," again she pauses for a second as she contemplates what she's going to say, "maybe we can convince them to swap Gordon."
* * * * *
You never hear from Will at all on Sunday and even on Monday you get no texts or any other messages from him. He's probably avoiding you out of embarrassment over what happened on Saturday, you figure, so it's probably best to leave him be until lunch. After all, you both share it and it's going to likely be the two of you going to look for Chen because as a girl, you're certainly not going to go looking around in the usual haunts of guys like him on your own.
Still that's a ways off and you've allowed yourself to really sink into Jenny's personality which means your first two classes—concert choir and constitutional law—pass without any incident or nerves. It's only third period, a study hall in the library, where the mask slips a bit when you spot Kim at a table. Thankfully she doesn't even look up at you for you have a brief fear that if she did she'd be able to see right through you somehow. You take a seat at an empty table, toss your backpack on the table and get out your phone. It's a short time before Eva shows up and takes another seat at the table.
"You look excited," you tell her and it's true, for she looks like a kid who wants to tell someone, anyone, a cool secret they just learned. "How'd the tryout go?"
"Nobody told you?" she asks. "Not Yumi or anyone?"
"Nobody's said anything to me," you answer. "But I'm guessing Sydney made it?"
A small grin creeps onto Eva's face. "Yeah, she did," she says.
"That's good," you say. "So who'd she replace?"
At that, Eva's face damn near explodes in joy. "Chelsea. She replaced Chelsea," she says with giddiness. "She quit." You have the following choice: 1. Continue |
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