while I was you, I’d be able to stay calm. But I was still me, and it was too hard for me to control my emotions. But can we please just …?”
“Switch back?” Jessica nodded. Gretchen’s own disapproving eyes stared back at her, filled with disappointment and anger and what? Agreement, at least. “We have to. Now. Look, I’ll talk to Ariel tomorrow, and I’ll apologize. For both of us,” she added. “Let’s just switch back.”
Jessica closed her eyes first. This time it was easier for Gretchen to let go. She closed Jessica’s eyes and breathed deeply. It was almost as if she could feel her body pulling her back, like they were magnets.
“
Écho exorísei aíma egó dió xei ostó n, proválloun ti n psychí mou se állo spíti,”
Jessica whispered. She leaned in and placed her mouth on top of Gretchen’s, and Gretchen felt that thick warmth inside of her, as if her body were being filled up with sand that had been sitting in the hot sun.
When she opened her eyes, she looked down to find her own familiar hands resting on top of her own, familiar legs. She exhaled with relief.
“Oh-my-God-I’m-so-glad-that-worked,” Jessica exhaled in a rush. Her eyes were moist. “Gretch, I had a moment there. I wondered if I’d have to live out the rest of my life as you.”
Gretchen nodded. She’d never felt so relieved and ecstaticand confused. “Same,” she managed in a hoarse whisper.
My own voice, in my own head!
She wiggled her own fingers and toes, swallowed with her own throat, blinked her own eyes. She felt calmer already. But she also knew something: she’d never look at herself the same way in a mirror again. Staring at her own body talking back at her was nothing like looking at a reflection. It was like looking at another person. A person she could judge and criticize and form opinions about. Videos and pictures were one thing …
Jessica reached into her pocket. “My phone’s going crazy,” she muttered.
Gretchen’s phone started vibrating, as well. She typed in her pass code and clicked into her email. There were at least twenty messages in her inbox from school friends she hadn’t spoken to all summer, and each one of them had the same forwarded message attached.
Delphi Teen Scandal , read the subject line. In the body of the message was a link to YouTube.
“Are you getting this?” Gretchen asked Jessica, as she waited for the video to buffer.
Jessica nodded, clearly horrified.
The video was only ten seconds: the kiss inside of the teepee. Gretchen read the caption. Popular Girls: Secret Lovers. The up and coming Oculus Society Elite. And we wonder why a murder took place? It had been posted by Anonymous.
Gretchen scanned the posting. It had been put up only ten minutes ago, and already there were over five hundred hits.
Jessica looked up. Her face was ashen, and her hands were shaking. “I think we’re too late for apologies, Gretch.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Gemina strode down the Roman street, Plotinus’s short tunic exposing the lower part of her legs in a way that she was not accustomed to. It made her self-conscious, and she kept pulling at the robe in a futile attempt to make it longer. She had to remind herself to stop, lest people think that Plotinus had developed some sort of twitch.
So strange, being a man!
His feet were so much bigger than her own; she found it difficult not to trip over them, and she felt naked without her long hair to cover the back of her neck. The rough, itchy skin on his hands and forearms drove her crazy. A little sea mud would fix it. Men could afford not to take care of themselves. If only they knew! Gemina felt exhilarated by the freedom.
And the Roman Empire, she knew, was not as restrictive as Persia. Plotinus had told her that Persian women were treated almost as badly as the slaves: they were not permitted to show their faces in public, were not afforded any education; they were considered no better than kept animals.
So where did this
“Switch back?” Jessica nodded. Gretchen’s own disapproving eyes stared back at her, filled with disappointment and anger and what? Agreement, at least. “We have to. Now. Look, I’ll talk to Ariel tomorrow, and I’ll apologize. For both of us,” she added. “Let’s just switch back.”
Jessica closed her eyes first. This time it was easier for Gretchen to let go. She closed Jessica’s eyes and breathed deeply. It was almost as if she could feel her body pulling her back, like they were magnets.
“
Écho exorísei aíma egó dió xei ostó n, proválloun ti n psychí mou se állo spíti,”
Jessica whispered. She leaned in and placed her mouth on top of Gretchen’s, and Gretchen felt that thick warmth inside of her, as if her body were being filled up with sand that had been sitting in the hot sun.
When she opened her eyes, she looked down to find her own familiar hands resting on top of her own, familiar legs. She exhaled with relief.
“Oh-my-God-I’m-so-glad-that-worked,” Jessica exhaled in a rush. Her eyes were moist. “Gretch, I had a moment there. I wondered if I’d have to live out the rest of my life as you.”
Gretchen nodded. She’d never felt so relieved and ecstaticand confused. “Same,” she managed in a hoarse whisper.
My own voice, in my own head!
She wiggled her own fingers and toes, swallowed with her own throat, blinked her own eyes. She felt calmer already. But she also knew something: she’d never look at herself the same way in a mirror again. Staring at her own body talking back at her was nothing like looking at a reflection. It was like looking at another person. A person she could judge and criticize and form opinions about. Videos and pictures were one thing …
Jessica reached into her pocket. “My phone’s going crazy,” she muttered.
Gretchen’s phone started vibrating, as well. She typed in her pass code and clicked into her email. There were at least twenty messages in her inbox from school friends she hadn’t spoken to all summer, and each one of them had the same forwarded message attached.
Delphi Teen Scandal , read the subject line. In the body of the message was a link to YouTube.
“Are you getting this?” Gretchen asked Jessica, as she waited for the video to buffer.
Jessica nodded, clearly horrified.
The video was only ten seconds: the kiss inside of the teepee. Gretchen read the caption. Popular Girls: Secret Lovers. The up and coming Oculus Society Elite. And we wonder why a murder took place? It had been posted by Anonymous.
Gretchen scanned the posting. It had been put up only ten minutes ago, and already there were over five hundred hits.
Jessica looked up. Her face was ashen, and her hands were shaking. “I think we’re too late for apologies, Gretch.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Gemina strode down the Roman street, Plotinus’s short tunic exposing the lower part of her legs in a way that she was not accustomed to. It made her self-conscious, and she kept pulling at the robe in a futile attempt to make it longer. She had to remind herself to stop, lest people think that Plotinus had developed some sort of twitch.
So strange, being a man!
His feet were so much bigger than her own; she found it difficult not to trip over them, and she felt naked without her long hair to cover the back of her neck. The rough, itchy skin on his hands and forearms drove her crazy. A little sea mud would fix it. Men could afford not to take care of themselves. If only they knew! Gemina felt exhilarated by the freedom.
And the Roman Empire, she knew, was not as restrictive as Persia. Plotinus had told her that Persian women were treated almost as badly as the slaves: they were not permitted to show their faces in public, were not afforded any education; they were considered no better than kept animals.
So where did this
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