"Max!"

  A girl is calling my name. The voice sounds familiar, but I can't quite pce it. Maybe a friend of mine? My head pounds. No wonder I can't figure it out, I'm concussed. I walked into a speeding rhino! I sit up and survey my surroundings. The voice isn't here, and it's not coming from inside.

  I stand up with great difficulty. There's something off about the world. A detail out of pce that I can't figure out. I take a step, and yep. Something’s wrong. Maybe I slept on it. I'm having to consciously move. Weird. Usually this feeling is accompanied by pins and needles.

  "Max, where are you!" No time to panic. She's across the road and she sounds terrified. Did Percy attack her? That doesn't sound like him, but then again, he did bowl me over. I shamble across the road like a zombie. I stumble around the cars, and come to a set of stairs.

  "Max, stop messing with me!" I hold on to the railing for dear life. She sounds horrified and desperate. What is this girl talking about? And this suit. This tie. I feel like I'm going to suffocate.

  Wait…

  A girl's voice sobs from around the corner.

  "Percy?" My voice comes out deep yet quiet. I can't put volume into it.

  In the trench between two cssrooms is a girl with gorgeous brown eyes, shoulder length hair and my dress. Her eyes are different from mine, but I've seen the body countless times.

  "Max?" she asks.

  "Percy?" I respond.

  "I'm so sorry. Max, I didn't mean for this to happen." His words come out between choked sobs. He shuffles back, his hands, or rather my hands move my body away from me. His eyes are wide and red from sobbing, his eyebrows are raised. Everything about him screams 'don't hurt me.'

  I move closer to him slowly. My palms open. It's like trying not to startle a mouse, but maybe that's what he feels like right now. He's been in a big strong body and to now be in mine, it must be scary. I sit across from him, as slowly as I can without stumbling. This situation is bonkers, but scaring him can only make it worse.

  "Did you cause this, Percy?"

  "I don't know. I don't think so." He hasn't stopped crying. Shit. He's loud as well. "This shouldn't be happening. We need to fix this..."

  "We do. But before that, can you remove this tie?" The words are airy. Hardly there. My breathing isn't too restricted. He lets out a breath.

  "Oh okay." His tears turn off quickly when he's given something to do. He leans over and reaches his hands for my neck. As he does, he looks at my face, examining it. It would be almost impossible not to look back, his big brown eyes look odd on my face. He fiddles with the tie and after a few seconds of looking at me. He looks down at my neck. "I can't undo it."

  "What do you mean?"

  "These hands won't work." His voice goes from the remnants of crying, to almost monotone.

  "I can't talk properly." The tie's gotta be the cause.

  "It shouldn't be that tight." His voice is loud.

  "You don't have to yell."

  "I'm not yelling. Oh, I hear it." His voice turns into a very loud whisper. "Try speaking louder. I had this problem when puberty started and I needed more air." A switch must have flipped. His crying and fear seem to have evaporated in favour of trying to help me.

  "Percy, Percy, Percy." I repeat his name a couple of times. I need to get this voice under control. Imitate him. It takes a bit, but it'll work. While I do that, he flexes my fingers back and forth, making fists and trying to get better control. He reaches over again and this time manages to undo the tie.

  "I promise. I'll get your body back to you, Max. I. Well. I panicked."

  "It's fine," We have bigger problems I think and I did startle her. Him. "Where do we start?"

  "Maybe you should run at me. That's what started this. I bowled you over."

  "That sounds like an awful idea." His logic is sound. That's how people usually switch back in stories like this, but my body already looks pretty roughed up.

  "Do you have a better one?"

  "I mean we could just try bumping heads, it works in some stories." Very rarely, I add to myself.

  "What stories?"

  "You know, body swap ones?"

  "Those exist?" he asks. I thought everyone knew about them. It's a pretty common trope, I think.

  "Obviously they exist!"

  "Wanna try it, then?"

  "It's worth a shot."

  He leans in again, this time a lot closer. If that wasn't my body and face, I'd probably be a lot more flustered. The dress I chose and the wildness of my hair after the tumble look great. Like an escaped princess from an oppressive kingdom of straightced douches.

  "Ready?" His voice is softer.

  I nod and brace for impact. My eyes close. A brief second of contact occurs, not a whack or a bonk but a gentle tap. A tap that isn't likely to fix this issue.

  "You need to put more into it than that, Percy!"

  "I don't want to hurt your body!"

  "Aren't you meant to be scary?"

  He falls silent for a second and sms his head against mine. It's still not hard enough in my opinion, and judging by our bodies, the swap agrees. Another tap.

  "Do you need me to do it?"

  "No. Trust me, I think you'd hurt yourself."

  "What do you mean?" His head finally gives a good bonk, and yet we are still in each other's bodies. "Fuck!"

  "I took off the brakes. Sorry."

  "What do you mean by brakes?"

  "It's hard to expin. Look, you can try bowling me over. On the grass so we don't get hurt badly."

  "Right." It's the only option now.

  "Do you think you can walk? You were stumbling." I get to my feet. The world spins for a second, but I manage it. Now that I know what's happening, it's easier. I'm tall for now. I instruct my legs to stomp and they listen. At least I won't have to learn how to walk again.

  "Easily, what about you? You aren't in the best condition after you bowled me over."

  "You got in my way!"

  "Fair, but you were sobbing. I was worried."

  "Sure you were, Max." He rolls his eyes at me. "Let's go." He stumbles to my feet. I left my heels inside a while ago; he should be thanking me for that.

  We walk side by side, hand in hand, to the oval next to the hall. Thank goodness it was hand in hand or I think we both would have fallen at least half a dozen times. It's an odd sensation to hold a hand so much smaller than mine, made stranger by the fact I am holding my own hand.

  "What are you two doing out there?" Miss Jackson, shit. "That was sneaky, Maxine. Get back inside this instant."

  "What did you do?" Percy angrily whispers.

  "I was trying to check on you," I whisper back. "Look, we'll have to try it after the dance. Just act normal."

  "Oh lord, Max, what did he do to you?" Miss Jackson looks at me in horror. Like she knows. Why is she bming him? It's not like he could cause this. She rushes over to my body. "You're not hurt are you?" She shoos me off of him. Oh.

  "No, ma'am. He didn't do anything. I left to get some fresh air and tripped on a branch.” He's covering for me, or making himself look good. "I almost went tumbling down the hill, but he was able to help me out."

  She looks over at me. While he puts a finger to his lips. Shush. Okay.

  "Whatever happened, get back inside, both of you. Go clean yourself up, Max." Percy follows the instruction, but before I can join him, Miss Jackson turns to me. "I'm keeping an eye on you. No fighting or ying a finger on anyone, Percy."

  "Yes, Miss Jackson," I whisper.

  It's colder here than it is outside. The other students in the eating area stop and stare. Percy walks past them all, heading to the nearest chair.

  What am I meant to do with them all looking at me? Do they think I beat him? Do they think I am him? I guess that would make sense. I haven't done anything weird yet. Still, it feels like I can't move from the entrance or they'll come for my throat. So I stand still. Eventually they'll find something else to stare at. Percy's body can't be that interesting.

  "I won't let you leave again, Percy. Don't even try it," Miss Jackson barks, snapping me out of my trance. I need to stick with Percy. My uninteresting reputation should act as camoufge.

  "I won't."

  "Then run along."

  I take a few cautious steps and the eyes stop looking one by one. The chairs -- I need to head for the chair, but Percy isn't there. Where did he go? The eyes start staring again. Maybe if I just sit, they'll stop looking and…

  "Hey, I got you a drink, Max." I jump back. "We just have to make it through the dance, okay?" Soft and worried. Lying through his teeth earlier. Crying and eye rolling. He doesn't have any consistency. "My phone's in my left pocket. Where's yours?"

  "It's in my hand bag. I left it with the others."

  "What does it look like?"

  "Why are you asking?"

  "Because talking like this is making people stare." He's right. Why are they all so interested? Even more people are watching now. Kaitlyn and her boyfriend have left the dance floor.

  "And?"

  "And if we keep talking, people will ask questions. We can avoid that by texting. Oh."

  "Get away from her!" Kaitlyn yells at me.

  "Huh, but I didn't do…"

  She grabs Percy's hand and pulls him away from me.

  "I'm fine, he…" he starts.

  "You are a mess. Let's go get you cleaned up, Max." She drags the boy away as he mouths a very shaky sorry.

  What the hell is happening? What did Percy do to merit all this?

  ---

  Stay calm, Percy. You have to stay calm. This is so bullshit! I just wanted to get it over with. We should have stayed put. I'm an idiot for suggesting we move. Max looks so pathetic in that body. So dejected. So hurt. I don't want this. If she hadn't caught me, she'd still be in her body and I would be, well… I wouldn't be pretending to be friendly with people who hate me.

  "You're a mess. He must have done something," Kaitlyn argues. I didn't even get the chance to have a moral dilemma about entering the girls’ bathroom.

  She pulls me close and roughly plops me down on a chair. The familiar stench of whisky fills my nostrils.

  Looking in the mirror, of course they wouldn't believe me. Sticks and twigs poke out from her hair. There are grazes on her shoulder and she came back in with Percy the hulking monster; he must have done something.

  "I fell over and he tried to help. He fell on top of me. That's it, Kaitlyn." I pick a twig out of my hair. It's not a total lie. Those are the easiest to tell. Ideally Kaitlyn would be around twenty feet away, five at minimum. Simply being around her is enough to make me feel gross.

  "He didn't attack you, did he?" She sounds worried about Max, but all I can feel is hurt. People really think I'm capable of that? She is way too close and I can't help but feel guilty for lying about who I am.

  "God no!" I want to be angry. I want to be furious that anyone would even think I am able to do such a thing. I just sound... I don't know. My voice comes out loud and forcefully. A statement of fact and nothing else.

  "Thank goodness." She breathes a sigh of relief. "If you aren't going to tell me what happened, that's okay. As long as you're okay?"

  "I'm fine." She runs a brush through Max's hair, to make her look presentable. Her touches, her brush, each sensation hurts. Lying is easy, but that doesn't mean it's something I like doing. I'm betraying this girl’s trust by being the wrong person, and she doesn't even know. She takes a swig out of a fsk hidden in her dress.

  "You're lying again."

  "I am not," I lie.

  "Yes, you are."

  "He didn't do anything!" I yell. I've never done anything not in self-defense and yet they keep making these assumptions.

  "Maybe not about Percy then. Something happened." She hardly reacts to the yelling. If I were in my body she'd be running by now.

  "Nothing happened." She ties up my hair.

  "There, all better. Now let's get back out there. The boyf is waiting for me." Her voice is slurring. She's too perceptive. If she's like this while drunk, I can't be around her while sober.

  "The what?"

  "My boyfriend. Now come on, Max!"

  She pulls me back out into the eating room. I catch a gnce at Max. Her eyes are green. She's scrolling through my phone, not that there is much there. A couple of games, maybe. They should keep her entertained.

  Kaitlyn drags me through the divide into the sensory hell that is the dance floor. Loud, obnoxious music makes the floor and walls reverberate. Bright lights zoom around like a thousand ser pointers for a thousand cats. Kaitlyn tries saying something, but I can't hear her over everything else. In my gut, I feel the bass moving through me. People dance around, bumping into each other.

  She starts dancing with her boyfriend. Not that either of them are any good at it, and she tries to invite me to join in. Possibly the worst idea right now. I slowly back off. This body isn't mine and I can't properly move it yet.

  "Oof," a voice behind me excims.

  I turn to face them.

  "I'm sorry."

  "It's fine, Max, are you okay after running into him?" Charley spits out that ‘him’ like a snake spitting poison.