Chapter 15

The next morning I stared at my closet. Knowing now what S went through, I felt uneasy about picking out an outfit. I wondered if the rest of the Guild had the same problem. Is that why Sydney’s journals are barren? Why she has no style or rules? And if Sydney is now owned by R, why hasn’t he - or she - made rules? I suppose the Guild doesn't know what to do with her.

So I picked out what I wanted to wear. I found a cute pink flannel shirt and a pair of fashionably-ripped jeans to wear. I put on some makeup, but not too much.

I had class first, then my meetup with Kaylee.

After a back and forth text message conversation, Kaylee said she had to work in the evening, but she was available to meet up in the afternoon at her normal hang out. A downtown bookstore.

Of course, I had class in the morning, so we agreed to meet up that afternoon at 2.

I was anxious about meeting Kaylee because I wasn’t role-playing Sunday afternoon. I was myself. And for the first time since being in the Guild, someone was interested in me. But was she really interested in me - or just the Sydney body? Hell, I don’t know if Kaylee is even into girls. This could just be a budding friendship. How do I maintain any type of friendship or relationship when I am not in a consistent body? My mind was in overdrive, overthinking this situation.

I pushed through my morning routine. My second morning as Sydney proved easier than the first day. After getting ready, I boarded the shuttle and headed to class. 

This class was Music History. Another class I knew nothing about. I’m kinda eager to see what happens on Wednesday. Who teaches me music? This also makes me wonder about what R thinks about taking over Sydney’s life again. Is a Music degree what they really want? On the flip side, S was a music major and is now working at a corporate gym.

When I got home, I had an unexpected visitor - Jasmine. Of course, whenever I see Jasmine I can’t help but smile. Since joining the Guild, she’s the person I’ve spent most of my time with - and as.

“Hey, Syd,” Jasmine smiled.

“Jaz, what’s up?” I asked. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I need to borrow the car,” she said with an innocent smile.

My mind immediately went to my initial assessment of Sydney. She was the Guild member whose personality was “the one with the car.” So, I shouldn’t have been surprised by this.

“Oh yeah, sure,” I acknowledged. I put my key into the door to unlock it, then handed the whole key ring to her. “I just need to have it back before 1:30.”

She looked at me like I had three heads. “You know I don’t have a license. I need to borrow you.”

“Oh,” I replied. 

She wants to swap. 

I shifted my weight uneasily. I wasn't ready to swap lives. I had things to do. Could this be temporary? What time was it? Was there enough time for a cool down before my meet up with Kaylee? I checked my phone. It was already 11:30. 

Jasmine noticed my unease. “Is everything OK?”

“Everything is fine,” I said, awkwardly. “Sure, we can swap. But I have something at 2.”

“Oh, what is it?” she excitedly sang. “Could I do it for you?”

“No,” I abruptly replied, taking her by surprise. “I mean - it’s something I’m looking forward to.”

“Oh, OK,” she replied. “I can have her back by then. Let's go inside so we can swap in private.”

* * *

Two minutes later, I was Jasmine. Again. 

I stood outside Sydney’s apartment, and watched Sydney drive away. Before she left, I asked her to be back by 1:30, but I was uneasy about it. After all, now I have no car, and Kaylee’s contact information is in Sydney’s phone.

With all my accumulated time as Jasmine, and only two days since I was last her, it felt normal being her again almost instantly. Of course, this time, I’m not anticipating being Jasmine for more than two hours.

With Jasmine’s next class not until 3, I decided to walk to her and Morgan’s apartment. 

When I walked inside, Morgan was in her room with headphones on. I’m pretty sure Morgan is still R, and I didn’t feel like talking to her right now. Either about Robert, or us. I should ask her about Robert’s assertion that she’s trans. Perhaps another time.

I walked to my room and sat down at my desk. I didn’t feel like reading Jasmine’s journals since this visit was only temporary. 

I leaned back in my desk chair and closed my eyes. I suddenly had this idea, that I should take advantage of being Jasmine. I can see about whatever is going on with Ella. I pulled out my phone and texted Lauren.

“Hey, girl, what are you up to this afternoon?” I sent.

“Just got back from class,” she replied. “Nothing going on. Was going to do some homework.”

“Can I stop by?”

It took her a few minutes to respond. After all, it wasn’t every day Jasmine asked to go visit Delta House. “Sure,” she replied.

“I’ll be back,” I announced openly to the apartment, but I wasn’t sure Morgan heard me. Not like it mattered.

I left my apartment and made my way to Greek Row and to the Delta Pi Theta sorority house. Lauren was waiting outside, holding the door open for me.

“What's new?” she asked, a pleasant smile on her face.

“I had some free time,” I said, casually walking into the sorority house. “I figured we could hang out for a little bit.”

“I’ve got some calculus homework if you want to help,” she chuckled.

As I followed her to her room, I looked around and noticed I hadn’t been to the sorority house in the daytime. It was quite empty and quiet. We walked right by Regina George. Maybe one day I’ll get her real name. She said hi to Lauren, but she neither recognized me nor acknowledged my presence. Why would she? I had been Morgan the night we met, but I wasn’t Morgan at this moment. I kept my eyes peeled for Ella. 

When we reached her room, she sat down in a desk chair and I sat on her bed. She had books and notebooks strewn across her desk. The open book was definitely a calculus book. She wasn’t kidding, she was studying.

“How was Saturday night?” Lauren asked, chewing on a pen, not looking up from a notebook.

Saturday night? What should I say? That I had sex with Daniel? She doesn’t even know who Daniel is. “It was fun. We went out dancing.”

She nodded as if she was only partially listening.

I decided to test that theory. “I hooked up with a guy.”

She stopped what she was doing, pulled the pen out of her mouth and looked at me with wide eyes.

“Wait, what? Who?”

“A guy from my Lit class. Daniel.”

“Are you… going to see him again?” Her tone was full of concern. I got the impression she was concerned for my safety. Or she was jealous.

“He’s just a friend.”

“Oh,” she said. She sighed out of relief. I’m not sure if she meant it to be obvious. “Are you still bi?”

“Definitely,” I responded.

She went back to looking at her notebook.

“What did you wind up doing?” I asked.

“One of my sisters rented a movie on Prime and a few of us stayed in.”

That was my opening. “Ella?”

“Ella?” she asked. “She wasn’t here.”

“Oh,” I replied. Well, there goes that.

She looked back at me curiously. “Did something happen between you two on Halloween?”

“Yeah,” I confessed. I needed to keep her talking about Ella, so I decided to be at least partially truthful. “I walked in on her and Aiden.”

“Aiden, the Kappa President?” she scoffed.

“Yeah, they were sucking face.”

“Eww.”

“I know, right? Well they got pissy that I saw them and they both assaulted me.”

“They assaulted you?” she asked, incredulously. “Like, assault assault?”

I nodded. “Yeah, like pinned to the wall and forced to kiss Aiden.”

“Jaz, why didn’t you tell me?” she admonished.

“I didn’t want to make a big deal of it.”

“But it is a big deal. You’re my best friend. You come before the people in this house.”

That was the first time I heard her say that. I was wondering where I stood in her hierarchy. Of course the real reason I didn't say anything was because I used a secret magic stone in self-defense.

“The next morning, she said something while hung over,” Lauren revealed.

“Oh?”

“She said that you’re a perv and a bitch and we won’t be allowing you to pledge. But, I figured that was OK with you anyway.”

“I’m totally OK with that.” 

“But she assaulted you?”

“Well, it was more Aiden.”

“That prick. I’m sorry, Jaz. I should’ve been there.”

“I managed to get out of it.” Time to dig further. “Has Ella been acting…weird?”

“Weird how? I dunno. I honestly haven’t seen her much since Halloween. When she does come home, she locks herself in her room.”

“Oh.” 

“I saw her last night, though. She came home looking very disheveled.”

“How so?”

“She usually wears cute outfits, but was wearing baggy clothes. It looked like she hadn’t showered in days.”

“I see.”

“Wait, do you think Aiden did something to her too?”

“Oh, no. I just think she was acting weird at Halloween.” Thinking fast I added, “Both her and Aiden were pretty drunk.”

“Actually, one of my sisters said she was being creepy the other day. We all thought it was a bit she was doing.”

“Does she usually do bits like that?”

“No. So, I’m not sure what’s going on there. Maybe she’s going through something. The end of the semester will be coming up soon. It’s a stressful time for all of us.”

I thought back to Sydney’s music composition project. “Yeah, definitely.”

“But if Aiden did something to her, then we have to tell someone.”

“I don’t think he did. And I have no proof.”

There was an awkward pause and I wanted to check the time on my phone, but Lauren whispered, “I think she’s having sex - or masturbating. Not sure which. But it's loud.”

“Wow,” was the only response I could muster. 

She turned back to me, a quizzical expression on her face. “Did you just come here to ask about Ella?”

“No,” I lied. “I came to see you. We haven’t really talked since Halloween. What movie did you guys watch?”

“A cheesy time-travel flick where a girl travels back to 2003.”

“Oh, yeah, I heard about that,” I replied. “I wanted to see that.”

“It was OK.”

“Hey wanna go out this weekend?” I asked in earnest. “We can make up for last weekend.”

”Definitely,” she replied, grinning like we were old friends again..

“Great,” I replied. “Um, can I use the bathroom?” I whispered, trying to sound embarrassed.

“Sure,” Lauren shrugged.

I hopped off the bed and went out into the hallway. I knew where the bathroom was from the last time I was here, but I wanted to do some investigating first. 

I quietly made my way down the hall to where I knew Ella’s room was. I played the theme song from my favorite spy video game in my head. I found her room, but the door was closed. I lightly knocked on it. Enough for someone inside the room to hear it, but not someone down the hall.

I didn’t know what I was looking for. Evidence that Ella wasn’t Ella? What would such a thing look like? Lauren’s description wasn’t hard evidence, but it made me think that a swap was likely. 

Nobody answered, so I tested the door handle. It opened freely. I peeked in the room. “Hello?”

When nobody answered, I looked up and down the hall to make sure nobody saw me, then I ducked into the room, closing the door behind me.

Her room was messier than I remembered it from last week. Clothes were strewn everywhere, and the bed was unkempt. Was that evidence? Maybe, I haven’t been Daniel in a month, yet his room looked identical to when I last left it.

I dug through clothes. Nothing. I went through the papers on her desk. They were various homework papers.

After spending a minute looking through the room, I gave up. Aside from the mess, there was no evidence Ella was Aiden. 

I was startled by a knock on the door.

“Ella?” a feminine voice called from the other side of the door. I didn’t recognize the voice.

The doorknob started to turn. Looking for cover, I ducked behind the bed.

The door creaked open slightly. “Ella, are you home?” the voice persisted.

The door creaked shut.

I poked my head out from behind the bed to make sure I was alone again. I breathed a sigh of relief and quietly made my way to the door.

I made sure nobody was in the hall before quickly leaving the room and resuming my way to the bathroom.

As I sat down in the bathroom, I checked the time. 1pm. I texted Sydney to remind her that our swap back time was fast approaching.

I returned to Lauren’s room. “Hey, I need to get going.”

“So soon?” She sounded disappointed.

“Yeah, I need to meet up with my friend Sydney, then I have class at 3.”

“OK,” Lauren said. “Saturday?”

“Definitely,” I replied. I’ll make sure to put that in Jasmine’s journal.

* * *

Sydney was ten minutes late. I was pacing in front of her apartment watching the minutes go by on my phone, when she finally pulled into the parking lot.

“You’re late,” I said.

“Sorry,” Sydney replied. “I lost track of time.” She got out of the car and pulled out several shopping bags.

“Let’s swap,” I urged. I needed to get going.

“Hold your horses, girl,” she laughed, opening the door. “Got a hot date?”

I followed her into her apartment so we could swap out of sight of any passersby.

Once I was Sydney again, I wasted no time. I said bye to Jasmine and ran to my car. I drove as fast as I could to Kaylee’s proposed meetup spot.

The bookstore was very busy this afternoon. Plenty of people were shopping. And the attached cafe was full of people as well. I found Kaylee at the cafe with an open seat in front of her. She saw me first and waved her hand.

I walked over to her, pulled out a chair and sat down. “I’m sorry I’m late,” I huffed, a bit out of breath.

“It’s OK,” she assured me. “It gave me a few minutes to get my tea and read.” She closed the book in front of her. “You didn’t have to rush.”

“I was worried about missing you.”

“That’s sweet. How are you today, Sydney?”

“Today was good,” I replied. “I had class in the morning, and hung out with my best friend until I came here. How have you been?”

“I’ve been better,” she sighed. “Today was actually fine. But when I texted you yesterday I’d just had a falling out with my twin.”

“Oh, no, what happened?” I asked.

“Our 21st birthday is going to be coming up soon. She planned a party without my input.”

“I’m assuming it’s not a surprise party for you.”

“Nope,” Kaylee replied. “She wants to go out to a dive bar I don’t like.”

“Can you do something else?” I suggested.

“I can - but we have the same friends. Who am I going to go out with?”

A stray thought popped in my head, “Me?” But, I decided against it - at least for now. I had no idea if I would still be Sydney on Kaylee’s birthday. “Have to talked to her about it?

“That’s what led to our argument. She said she likes that bar, but it’s loud and you can’t hear shit. I suggested a nightclub - while we might not be able to hear each other, we can at least go dancing.”

“How about someone’s house?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “It sucks because she always does this. It's like I’m invisible.”

“You’re not invisible. I can see you right now,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood.

“Listen to me complaining. I’m sorry, taking advantage of your company, Sydney.”

“Nah, it’s OK,” I replied. “That’s what friends are for.”

“How are you?” she asked. “Any luck with your identity?”

I smiled. “I think so. I talked it over with someone and figured out I don’t need to worry about it. I’m young and this is the best time in my life to find out who I am.”

“That’s a great way of looking at it,” Kaylee replied with her own smile. “Hey - so I mostly came here today because I want to buy a book, and I thought you’d be interested, too.”

“That'd be cool.” I replied. “Which one?”

“The Fated Crown,” she replied. “By Simon Littlefield”

“What’s that about?”

“Well, an evil Orc swaps bodies with an Elven Princess-”

“They body swap?” I interrupted.

“Yeah,” she replied matter-of-factly. “Now the princess, in the body of this Orc, must gather a party to take back over her homeland from the imposter.”

“Interesting.”

“But given that both you and I are talking about identity, I figured this would be a good one to read together. What makes this princess a leader? Was it her looks and family blood line? Or was it something inside her?”

“Yeah - that sounds great.” I paused for a minute. “Do you… read many body swap stories?”

“I mean, I’ve read a few. I’ve seen movies like Freaky Friday. Why?”

“I was just curious. It’s a fascinating premise right?”

“Yeah, I suppose. I’d love to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. My luck, I’d just swap with my twin,” She giggled. “In The Fated Crown, this princess trades her grace and poise for strength, durability, and endurance… I read a few reviews already. I didn't seek out spoilers though.”

I bit my lip. I wanted to dive deeper. I wanted to tell her the truth about me. About body swapping being a real thing. But I couldn’t. It was against the rules. Granted, so was attempting to bodyswap Aiden and Ella. I shouldn’t push my luck and break two rules in the span of a week.

“Did you ever finish The Heroine Prophecy?” she asked.

“Oh - um. No. I loaned it to a friend before I was able to finish it.”

“Oh,” she said, looking mildly disappointed.

Sounds like she really wanted to talk about it. And I realized I really wanted to talk to her about it too. Which means I’m going to need to get that book from Daniel. “I’ll see if my friend is done with it.”

She smiled, “Definitely. I enjoyed it and can’t stop thinking about it.”

Well, looks like I have to pay a visit to Daniel tonight.

I followed Kaylee through the bookstore racks and to the Fantasy section. We each picked up a copy of The Fated Crown.

I looked at the copy in my hand. A beautiful picture of a princess adjacent to an ugly Orc graced the cover.

“I can’t wait,” Kaylee gushed. “It’s like we have our own private book club.”

“I’m going to try to finish my other book first,” I stated.

“Sure, just let me know when you want to start the new one.”

I smiled. I was eager to read both. I was also eager to spend more time with Kaylee.

Eventually we paid for our books and parted ways. We didn’t make plans to see each other again, although it felt like an inevitability. The lack of concrete plans, however, made me nervous. As well as the fact she didn’t ask me out. Was this just a platonic relationship? Or should I have made the first move?

* * *

I texted Daniel later to ask him if I could borrow The Heroine Prophecy. He said sure and would meet me at the dorm lobby.

Sure, it occurred to me that by asking for Daniel’s book, I was outing myself as D, but I figured I had already done that this weekend when I swapped into Sydney and didn't show up to the meeting.

Daniel greeted me with a smile and open arms like we were long time friends. “Hi, Sydney.”

“Hey, Daniel,” I said, returning his hug. I haven’t seen him since we slept together, so it was awkward for me. But the Guild member inside him right now isn’t the same one I slept with.

We released our hug and he handed me the book. “I'm surprised you asked for this.”

I examined it, and my bookmark was right where I left it over a month ago. “Thank you. I was thinking about it this afternoon and was eager to see how it ends.”

“Is being Sydney that boring?” he chuckled.

“No,” I replied. “I just have a little more free time than I did as the others.”

“I hear ya,” he replied. “Being Daniel allows me to catch up on some of my own projects that I haven’t been able to do. Hey - how are you doing? I heard about last weekend.”

“Oh, I’m fine. I just needed to get away for a few hours.”

“Good. Listen D, if you’re having troubles of any kind, don’t hesitate to tell us.”

I nodded. Well, that confirmed that Daniel knows I’m D.

“I’m serious. We’re a close-knit group and the only other people who understand what it’s like. If there’s an issue, odds are one of us has already gone through it.”

I sighed and hugged my book against my chest. “Thank you.”

“Enjoy the book.” Daniel smiled as I left my former room. I wonder if he will be as understanding after I tell the Guild what I suspect about Aiden and Ella.