In My Shoes by Adrian Stephens Page B

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…
     
     
     
DAY
3
    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