In My Shoes (31 page)

I slowly returned to consciousness before I
opened my eyes. I could hear rain on the window. I’ve always loved
the rain. We never get rain here, so the day seemed to have promise
already.

As I opened my eyes, everything slowly came
into focus. Pink. Yellow. Flowers. Still not my room. I had tried
really hard not to get my hopes up. Still, I was disappointed. At
least I’ll get to enjoy the rain.

I dragged myself out of bed, went to the
bathroom, cleaned up and then headed to the closet to get my
clothes. After putting my nightshirt in the appropriate laundry
basket, I grabbed the clothes Nicole had set aside for today.
Hmmm…a skirt and blouse. I didn’t know if Nicole was going to like
this, but I made a judgment call to wear jeans and a t-shirt. The
rain was going to make it cold, and it was a little windy. I didn’t
really want to deal with a cold draft all day. Plus, I kind of
figured jeans would weather the storm better.

Once I got everything together, I headed back
to put the clothes on the bed. Next, I needed to find a bra. I had
picked out a forest green shirt, because it seemed that a lighter
shirt might be a bad idea in rain. A darker bra would probably be
better, but Nicole didn’t have any colors that seemed close enough
to green. It came down to black or white, and since the shirt
didn’t seem to be see-through, I went with white. It’s amazing the
decisions a girl has to make, just to leave the house. As a guy,
I’ve never once thought about the color of my underwear. Actually,
there’s nothing to really choose from since all of my underwear is
exactly the same. Nicole seems to have a different color for every
day of the week, and then some.

Once I put the bra on, I went over to do my
hair. Definitely a ponytail day. Anything else would just get
wrecked by the rain. I couldn’t help feeling at this exact moment
like I was starting to become just a little too much of a girl. The
thought scared me a little. At what point would I stop thinking
like a guy altogether? Would I ever get back to who I was, or was
this what I could expect for my life going forward?

Once I had my ponytail looking decent, I went
to the bed and put the rest of my clothes on. Last thing to do was
to put on makeup.

I’ve become better at putting the makeup on
over the past week. Not because it looked a whole lot better, but
because it gradually has taken less time to put it on. This morning
it took me less than thirty minutes. I don’t know how long it took
Nicole on average, but that was pretty good for me. I was just glad
Nicole didn’t wear a whole lot of makeup. Since we’ve been
switched, I’ve become more aware of how much makeup some girls
wear. There were a handful of girls who, if I had switched with
them, I would have been in big trouble. I would have never been
able to get out of the house.

Once I had myself put together, I put socks
and tennis shoes on, grabbed my things and headed downstairs. I
made myself some cereal for breakfast. It was strange being in
Nicole’s house all alone. I don’t mind being alone. In fact, that’s
kind of nice. But…it’s just weird being in her house alone.

I couldn’t help but think about Tyler, and
Nicole, and how hard it must be for her not to be there with her
family. I sure hope Tyler recovers okay. Nicole’s father had left a
message on her phone this morning. I hadn’t noticed until now. The
message said Tyler had improved some. Not out of the woods, but
improving. I guess that’s good news. I texted the information to
Nicole as soon as I got it.

It was nice listening to the rain pouring
outside while I ate. Rain is so peaceful. I could listen to it all
day, not that I would likely have the chance. When we get rain,
it’s usually just enough to make all of the cars in town dirty.
I’ll enjoy it while it’s here.

It wasn’t long before I got a text message
back from Nicole. “Thanks for the news.”

“No problem,” I replied.

“So, have you ever driven in the rain?” she
followed.

“Yes I have,” I responded back, “but I’ll be
extra careful in your car.”

“Thank you.”

The text made me realize I should leave more
time to get to school. People around here didn’t know how to drive
in rain, and it would probably take longer than it already should
take. I quickly finished eating, rinsed and put my dishes in the
dishwasher and headed to the car.

On my way to school, I thought about the day
ahead. It ought to be interesting. I was going to be present to see
myself on a date in the third person. As weird as that would be for
me, I was glad I wasn’t in Nicole’s shoes. Or worse, I was glad not
to be on a date with a guy. The thought alone gave me the
willies.

The drive to school ended up being
uneventful, which I was thankful for. It wouldn’t have mattered
whether it was my fault or not, Nicole would not have been happy
with me if I had gotten into an accident in her car. Plus, it would
have only added to her stress level today, and I didn’t want to do
that. I had a feeling she was going to be a little on edge all
day.

There was still about thirty minutes until
school started, and since it was raining, I decided to sit in the
car and listen to music while I watched the rain dance on the
windshield. The sky was gray for as far as I could see. It occurred
to me that we were probably going to have a full day of rain after
all. Nice.

Mike and Nicole showed up at my…well,
Nicole’s car about ten minutes later. They knocked on the windows
and I unlocked the doors to let them in.

“Wow, when was the last time we had rain like
this?” Nicole asked.

“I know! It looks like it’s going to be here
for a while,” I said.

“Yeah, it seems like usually we have about
ten minutes of rain and that’s it,” she agreed.

“So, what,” Mike interjected, “are you just
sitting here watching the rain?”

“Kind of. It’s not like we get rain every
day, so I thought I’d enjoy it.”

I looked over at Nicole, who had sat down in
the front passenger seat. I couldn’t really read the expression
on…well, my face. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Nervous about tonight or is it something
else?”

“I don’t really know. I guess…well, yes, I’m
definitely nervous about tonight. But, I’ve just been thinking
about us.”

“What do you mean?” I said, trying to sound
casual.

“I mean, so much for our theory about last
night. I was trying really hard not to get my hopes up, but it
seemed to make sense, if any of this makes sense anyway, that we
would change back last night. If we aren’t changing back after a
week, then what? A month? A year? Ever? No offense, but I don’t
really want to be you forever.”

“None taken. I don’t want to be you forever,
either.”

“It’s just got me a little down, and I’m
trying not to think about it, but it’s a little difficult not to
right now.”

“I know, I’ve been thinking about it a lot
too. I mean, how far are we going to have to take this? When I’ve
thought about getting married someday, I never imagined actually
being the one walking down the aisle.”

“You think about getting married?” Mike and
Nicole asked together.

“Yeah, doesn’t everybody?”

“Dude,” Mike said, “I’m seventeen. Why would
I want to think about getting married?”

“It’s not like I’m thinking about getting
married soon. It’s just, I think about the future and when I do, I
see myself getting married and having a family. It gives me
something to look forward to.”

“I think that’s great,” Nicole said. “I…I
just didn’t expect that most guys would think about their future
like that.”

“Most don’t,” Mike said, laughing.

“Well, Mike, let’s hope you aren’t the gauge
for how the average guy thinks,” Nicole quipped. “We should get to
class.”

As we hurried through the parking lot, Nicole
picked the conversation back up. “You know, the worst part about
all of this, if it’s even possible to pinpoint a
worst
part,
is that I can’t even spend all of my effort thinking about Tyler.
I’m really worried about him. I wish I could be there, but instead,
I have to focus on going on a date with my best friend.”

I didn’t know what to say to Nicole. I felt
bad for her. I mean, I was experiencing a lot of the same problems,
but I couldn’t imagine if…my mother were in the hospital right now.
“I’m…sorry. I know it’s hard.”

Nicole looked at me with an appreciative
smile. My smile, but still a little different. Not much,
though.

We headed into the school, Mike and Nicole
headed their way, and I went mine.

This past week, I have been one of the first,
if not the first, people in the locker room. Today, there were
already plenty of girls inside. Jessica was one of them.

“Hi Jess,” I said.

“Hey, Nikki!” she said very enthusiastically.
“We don’t have to dress out today because of the rain. They are
showing a movie in the cafeteria instead.”

“Great,” I said, trying to hide my lack of
excitement.

Usually P.E. has been an opportunity for me
not to think about everything going on. With an hour of watching a
movie, I wouldn’t have that distraction. Fortunately for Nicole,
the boys would probably be playing something in the gym since we
were in the cafeteria.

Ms. Pierce put
Groundhog Day
on for us
to watch. I had never seen the movie before, and I had a feeling
most of the class hadn’t seen it either. There was a lot of
grumbling in the class when she announced the movie she was putting
on.

It was actually pretty good. This real
arrogant guy, Phil, finds himself stuck reliving the same day over
and over again. At first, he tries anything to keep from living the
day over again. Then, he realizes that he could use it to his
advantage by using what he learned the previous day to manipulate
the same events the next day, and try to get his producer, Rita, to
fall for him. At the point where Phil decided to try and use the
time to learn new things, like ice sculpting, Ms. Pierce turned the
movie off.

I don’t know about most of the class, but I
was disappointed. I wanted to know how it ended. The movie was
really funny. If I had to guess, I would bet that Phil learned how
to be a better person in the end, and he probably got the girl. At
some point, he probably stopped reliving the same day. I’ll have to
watch it later and find out. I want to learn how to ice sculpt.

The good news was that the movie did manage
to keep my mind off of things. On to second period.

I got to English before Nicole, since I
didn’t have to shower today. As I was waiting for class to begin, I
was thinking about the movie, and how it related to Nicole and me.
I mean, we weren’t reliving the same day, but in a way it’s still
the same. Every day we wake up to find that we still aren’t changed
back, and every day we have to try and move on and live through the
day. As much of a jerk Phil started out as, I still could relate to
his situation and I still felt sorry for him.

I must have been in a trance, because all of
a sudden the tardy bell rang. I jumped a little in my seat. I
looked behind me and Nicole was in her seat. She was looking at me,
a little concerned, so I smiled at her and turned around. I
completely missed the part where she came into the classroom and
walked past me.

English passed by at a steady pace. Ms. Early
was reviewing for an exam next week. We were covering Dickens. Half
of the exam was going to have questions covering a few of his works
we had covered this quarter. The second half of the exam was take
home. We would have to compose a final chapter to one of Dickens’
works. We needed to change the ending. It could be changed to
anything we wanted, but we would be graded on how well it
transitioned from Dickens’ work to our ending, originality and
relevance to the story. We were supposed to follow the writing
style of the novel.

Maybe it was the nerd in me, but I thought
the exam sounded kind of interesting. It would be kind of fun to
try and come up with a new ending to a classic novel. I’d have to
think about which novel I wanted to choose.

The bell rang and I packed up my things.
Nicole walked up to my desk and waited while I finished packing
up.

“So, what do you think of the exam?” she
asked.

“I think it could be interesting? Do you know
which novel you are going to choose?”

“Not really. It probably seems silly, but I
was thinking about
A Christmas Carol
. I’m not sure how I
would want it to end differently, though. How about you?”

“I don’t really know. There are a couple I am
thinking of, but I have to work out how I would change the ending
too. I like the idea though. It could be fun.”

We headed to physics class, where Mike and
Jessica were already seated. Mr. Korelinski gave us a pop quiz on
speed, velocity and acceleration, which I was pretty sure I aced.
Judging from the look on Mike and Nicole’s face, I think they aced
it too. Jessica didn’t look as confident.

“How’d you do?” I asked Jessica as I packed
up my things.

“I don’t know. I think I did okay. What’s the
formula for acceleration again?”

“Change in velocity divided by the change in
time,” Mike said, joining our conversation.

“Okay,” Jessica said, a little disappointed,
“then not quite as good as I thought. That means I missed question
two, seven, eleven and…eighteen, I’m guessing.”

“That would still be a B, Jess,” I said.
“That’s not bad.”

“No, I guess not,” she said as we headed out
of the classroom. “You guys all probably aced it, though.”

Nicole and I didn’t say anything. Mike chimed
in after a minute. “Yeah, but your grades are still probably better
than mine overall, so don’t feel bad.”