The Other Side of Me – Part 18
by Limbo’s Mistress

“Josie,” I said again, taking a step backward from the fuming blonde in the doorway. Despite her petite stature, she looked ready to tear one of my arms off so she could beat me to death with it.

Still glaring at me, she stepped across the threshold into my house, and immediately slammed the door closed behind her. For a few seconds, she just stood there, the fires of perdition burning in those big blue eyes.

“I thought we were friends,” she finally said in a voice that was much quieter, but no less angry, than her initial outburst at seeing me. “I thought of you as a sister. How could you do that to me?”

Oh boy. This was starting to look worse by the second. Yeah, there was a part of me that chastised myself for not coming clean the moment I realized what Charlene and Danny were doing. In my defense, though, I had been a bit more focused on maintaining the status quo in my doppelgänger’s life, instead of doing the right thing.

I held my hands up in defensive supplication. Sure, I had a couple of inches in height and about ten pounds more muscle on the smaller girl. Though, her fury might more than make up for that slight advantage. Plus, regardless of the fact I was currently inhabiting Charlene’s body, I had the sneaking suspicion years of chivalric male upbringing wouldn’t allow me to physically strike a girl.

“I … I can explain,” I said as I racked my brain for anything that might actually pass for a legitimate reason for what Charlene had done. Unfortunately, I was coming up empty.

Her blue eyes widened as a mirthless smirk appeared on her face.

“Can you? Can you really explain why you stabbed me in the back like a common bitch, Charlene?” She practically spat my name out of her mouth. As if it were something totally distasteful.

I closed my eyes, drew in a breath, preparing myself to spill the truth to her about everything. The dimensional transfer between me and my feminine self, spending the past few days pretending to be the girl I wasn’t, but, more importantly, the fact that I hadn’t been the one actually doing the erotic pogo on Danny Morris’ meatstick.

Of course, I had to guess that without Shelly or Jackson around to back up my claim, and provide required evidence, my story was just going to sound like some bizarre lie. Just a heartless betrayal by the girl she thought was her friend.

Steeling my spine, I opened my eyes and looked at her with the sincerest expression I could summon. “Josie, you have to believe me when I say that I would never intentionally …”

I never saw the slap coming.

One second, the furious blonde was glaring up at me. The next, she was lowering her hand back down to her side as a blossom of fire radiated out of my left cheek. Tears of pain formed in my eyes and my mouth hung open as I gawked down at her.

“You’re something else,” she said, shaking her head and shooting me a disgusted look. “Were you really going to stand there and try to convince me that it was some kind of accident? You didn’t do it on purpose?” The hand that struck me came up again, causing me to flinch and take a half a step backward. However, rather than another slap, she merely pointed her finger at me. “You were my best friend, Charlene. Sure, I know that Shells is your bestie. But you were mine. I would have done anything for you.”

“Josie …” I said, holding my throbbing cheek as I tried to figure out if there was any way to defuse this situation before the smaller girl decided to yank every bit of my hair out in a rage.

The blonde snorted and shook her head again. “I even asked you, before Danny and I got together, if you were okay with it. I knew there was something that happened between you two in high school, and I didn’t want to overstep. But you told me that it was all in the past and you were with Jackson now.” Then she glanced over her shoulder in the direction of the house across the street before looking back at me. “He seems so sweet. Definitely nicer than you deserve.”

I sighed. She wasn’t wrong on that point. I … I mean, Charlene, definitely didn’t deserve a guy like Jack. “Josie, I …” Reaching up, I ran my fingers through my hair. My cheek had stopped stinging, but I could still feel the heat lingering a bit longer.

She shrugged one shoulder, looking down. “Danny ignored my calls all night long. I knew he’d be busy, what with the mixer and all. But I really thought for sure he’d call me back before the night was over. When he didn’t, I assumed he just got too drunk and passed out.” She let out a defeated breath, the fire of her righteous anger now just smoldering embers.

Danny. The last image I had of the cheating asshole was him managing to catch up to me at the front door of Sigma House. Before the swap actually happened. Michelle said that he and Charlene couldn’t have boned, because she saw him playing beer pong for quite a while. However, she was in control of her body for at least a couple of hours. Had that been enough time for a sloppy quickie before going to Kappa House and then walk halfway across campus, in the cold, before getting yanked away? The time was far too short, in my opinion. Plus, it hadn’t felt like she’d gotten into any sexual shenanigans when I returned.

“We didn’t do anything last night, Josie. I swear.” I hoped my own conviction resonated in my voice. “I … I told him that it was over. That I couldn’t do that to you anymore.” I forced myself to keep my gaze on her, though she continued to stare at her shoes. Someone had to face the music for Charlene’s actions, and it didn’t look like it was going to be her.

“Yeah, so I heard.”

I blinked. “Danny told you I said that?” Who would have thought the shithead had that much of a spine?

Josie shook her head. “No. Mary Williams saw the two of you at the party. Arguing in the back yard. She said that you shoved him before storming off and he came back inside. She heard him say to one of his brothers that he was done with your crazy ass.” She swallowed, finally bringing her face up to mine. “That … no matter how good a fuck you were, he didn’t feel it was worth putting up with your insane bullshit.”

The comment slugged me in the tummy like the business end of a baseball bat. Did Charlene tell Danny what was going on with her and I? That would explain why he spent the evening drinking and playing games while Charlie was somewhere else. He probably thought she made up the whole “switching bodies” story to explain why she flipped out on him.

Which brought me back to my original dilemma. Should I tell Josie the complete truth? Or would she too think I was just lying to cover my own ass?

“Josie, I really am sorry that this happened.” I dared take a step closer to her. “Believe me, I would never mean to cause you this kind of hurt.”

She shook her head and held up her hand, indicating that she didn’t want me anywhere closer. “Look, I understand that we’re going to have to get along at practice and at games, for the sake of the squad. I’m going to request that I switch with Toni Anders, so you aren’t my base anymore.” Then her eyes hardened into spheres of blue ice. “But other than cheer stuff, I don’t want you to ever speak to me again. Understand?”

My eyes widened and I felt my heart being to hammer in my chest with a painful throb. How could it hurt so bad to lose a friendship I didn’t have a few days ago? Sure, the guilt over what Charlene had done to the innocent blonde dug at my conscience, but hearing the finality in Josie’s statement made tears form in my eyes and my stomach to lurch horribly. I wanted to tell her that she had the wrong idea. That she should be angry with Charlene, not Charles. The words, though, escaped me and I merely nodded in acquiescence to her demand.

“Yeah,” I said with a heavy lump in my throat. “I understand.”

For a second, she stared at me. As if expecting more of a fight. Or some sort of counter-argument. Probably because Charlene would have given her one. Then, before she could change her mind, she turned on her heel and marched over to the door. Part of me hung onto the thin hope that she might pause, maybe look back one last time.

Instead, she pulled it open and walked outside, slamming it closed behind her.

I stumbled backward as the sound reverberated around the empty living room, my legs connecting with the sofa in a way which led to me ending up half-sitting, half-leaning on the furniture. I drew in a shuddering breath and released it as I wrapped my arms around myself and let the tears, which had been hovering in my vision for the past few minutes, flow freely down my cheeks. My breathing came in shuddering hitches and my nose began to run. It felt like everything I’d been struggling to handle since that fateful evening in Jackson’s lab was coming down around my pierced ears.

How much longer could I keep up this charade? Pretending to be Charlene was getting tougher each time I stepped foot out of the house. Could I continue to put this much effort into maintaining a life that, from all the hints I’d seen recently, the original owner didn’t give a damn about? Was there really any bright spot to be had?

I’m not sure exactly how long I sat there weeping and feeling miserable. The pain in my chest did lessen after a bit, but the uneasy feeling in my stomach continued to linger.

Eventually, though, I managed to pull myself out of the pity party and got off the couch. Of course, now I needed to redo my makeup to erase the traces the destruction of my friendship with Josie had left on my face.

It might have been Charlene’s friendship once upon a time, but lately I think I’d been more of a friend to the blonde than my doppelgänger.
Once I decided I was Kappa Presentable once more, I grabbed my purse and keys and headed off to get back my phone and find out what fresh hell was waiting for me with Rachel. Along the way, I kept thinking about the moments before Charlene and I swapped places. I was supposed to have given Danny three embarrassing secrets to be shared among the sisterhood in order to cement my place in the sorority and avoid elimination.

I hadn’t even managed to conjure up one before Jackson called to warn me about the oncoming switch.

Was that why my phone was at Kappa House? Had Charlene skipped out on the challenge and had gone there to accept her failure to get accepted into the prestigious sisterhood of Kappa Omega?

The GPS eventually led me to pulling to a stop at the curb in front of a beautiful ivory and brick, three-story building in an old colonial style. There were vines of ivy crawling up the four thick columns framing the wrap-around porch and the Kappa Omega letters in bright pink hanging from the bottom of the second-floor balcony.

For a few seconds, I sat there gawking at the structure. In my universe, I must have jogged down this street a hundred times. Not once did I ever bother to stop and admire how gorgeous the house was. Some part of me wondered what it would be like to live there with a bunch of other girls. Just hanging out, doing sisterly stuff.

No. No. No. I closed my eyes and shook my head.

“You are not staying here, Chuck,” I said as I reopened them to look at my anxious reflection in the rearview mirror. “You are going back to your own universe. Your own life. Where you belong.”

The words sounded completely hollow in the quiet interior of the Jeep. If I couldn’t convince myself after a couple of days, how would I ever summon up the willpower to permanently switch back after a couple of months?

I sighed, screwed my head on as best as I could, and climbed out of the Jeep. The walk to the front door felt like I was heading into a situation that was not likely to make my day any better than it’d gone so far. Something had happened in this house last night. Something that ended with Charlene leaving and walking back toward the Sigma party alone.

My finger was millimeters from the bell when the door opened to reveal Rachel standing there, looking every bit as coiffed and primped as I expected. Her blonde hair had been styled into waves of soft ringlets that seemed almost to float against the force of gravity. The sweater and skirt combination, which I couldn’t help but find completely adorable, added a level of dangerous innocence to her appearance. Those blue eyes, however, were hard and guarded, putting just enough ice into the wholesome girl-next-door look to make me consider abandoning in my phone and running back to the car.

If I was still a guy, I would have sworn there was a ball-kicking on its way.

“Uh, hey Rachel,” I said with a bit of a hesitant stammer. “Michelle said you were trying to reach me?”

“Yes,” she replied in an even, almost patient, tone. “I have been for some time.”

I nodded, feeling my cheeks warm. “Oh. Sorry about that. I, uh, I think I left my phone here last night.”

“You did.”

What the hell was going on? Had Charlene screwed up that badly that she’d become a complete non-person to the Kappa’s leader now? I’d only been gone a few hours. How could she have fucked everything in such a short period of time.

“Won’t you come in?” Rachel offered, moving back to allow me entrance.

I stepped across the threshold, and she closed the door behind me. The click of the latch signaled that my opportunity to cut and run had just passed. Whatever was going to happen next was going to happen.

“Let’s talk in the library,” she said, turning without preamble and making her way across the extravagant foyer to a door on the right.

I followed her into a large room with an ornate desk, three walls of expensive-looking books, and a small fireplace with the Kappa Omega crest hanging on the wall just above the mantle. Rachel closed this door as well and walked around to sit behind the desk, casually gesturing at one of the two high-backed burgundy leather chairs across from it.

“So, uh, about last night …” I said, lowering myself into the seat.

Rachel laced her fingers together and placed her hands on top of the desk. She looked rather regal seated there. Or executively. There was no doubt which of us would be doing most of the talking for the immediate future.

“Yes, last night.” She said with a little terse smile that didn’t come anywhere near her eyes. “Interesting, wouldn’t you agree? Funny how you think you know someone so well, only to discover that they aren’t who you thought they were.”

I swallowed, my head jittering in a tiny nod of agreement. “She knows”, a voice in my head screamed as I sat there nearly motionless. “She knows you aren’t Charlene!”

“I assumed it would be a worthwhile game. Though I was fairly certain I knew how it would end. We picked up three new sisters last night. Brand new Kappas who will be inducted tomorrow evening.”

My mind whirled. Shelly was one of those who came back with an embarrassing story worthy of surpassing her pledge status. But according to her, neither Trina nor I returned to share our own tales of shame. I knew what my reason was, but I couldn't imagine anything being more important than my nemesis winning the prize we both coveted.

That she and Charlene coveted.

“Shelly told me that she made the grade,” I said, keeping my hands planted firmly on the arms of the chair. “Who were the others?”

“Jenny Talbot,” Rachel said, smirking. “Did you know that she once got caught practicing her oral skills in church? By the organist? By the time she was done with the story, I think her face was as red as her hair.”

I nodded again. “Who was the third?”

There was a moment of silence where she just stared at me. Examining me the way one might study an interesting organism under a microscope. Leaning back, she opened the desk drawer, reached inside, and pulled out a gold rose pin.

“You, of course.”

I just sat there, looking between Rachel and the gleaming jewelry held between her thumb and index finger. Surely this was a joke, right? How the hell had I managed to win. Especially since I didn’t know how I could have won. Charlene didn’t know what the game was going to be. How did she come up with an embarrassing story worthy of Rachel’s entertainment?

When did she?

Swallowing again, I leaned forward to take the pin. Before my fingers could barely brush against it, however, the blonde pulled it back closer to her and smiled.

“What did I tell you last night?”

Oh, crap! “Uh, you said that …” I paused, shifting to point toward the window. “You mean, when you were explaining the contest?”

That predatory smile returned, and she gave a little shake of her head, sending those curls swaying. “No. Not at the Sigma party, Charlene. What did I say here? In this room?”

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I was so screwed.

“You don’t know, do you?” The tone of her voice told me that she already knew the answer to her question.

“Uh, it’s all sort of fuzzy, Rachel.” I said, grasping at any straw I could. “I don’t recall how much I had to drink so my memory’s…”

She held up her other hand, indicating that I should just stop right there.

“You weren’t drunk last night, Charlene. So don’t try to play me with that.” She laughed and reached back into the desk drawer again. This time, her hand emerged holding my cellphone. “Would you like another chance to explain why you don’t remember what happened last night?”

I looked from her to the phone and back before sighing. “No. I don’t.”

She gave a single nod and placed the phone down on the desk. I resisted the urge to grab it up and flee. Bringing the rose pin up, she twirled it between her fingers as she stared at it.

“Trina didn’t return to the game because she felt that her most embarrassing secret wasn’t fit for the ears of girls who might not end up being her sisters. I applauded her on her stance and allowed her to tell it to me alone.” She chuckled. “It wasn’t worth the time it took her to tell it. The moment she started speaking, I knew she was just making something up in the hopes of winning.”

“I see,” I said, though I really didn’t. So, Trina had attempted to bullshit the Kappa ice queen and was now an ex-pledge. Did that mean I’d won my spot by default? Something hinted at a deeper meaning behind the reason for Rachel’s aloofness and her quiet amusement.

“So, imagine my surprise when you showed up not an hour later and demanded to be given the same consideration.” She placed the pin down next to the phone. “I thought maybe you’d have a story about some major social faux pas. Or perhaps something from your high school days. A wardrobe malfunction while cheerleading perhaps.”

I forced myself to remain where I was, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Rachel laughed and stared right into my eyes.

“I have to admit, I honestly wasn’t at all prepared for you to sit right there, where you are right now, look me dead in the eyes, and sincerely tell me that your most embarrassing secret was that you are swapping bodies with a male version of yourself from another dimension.”

Uh … what!?!?

Author’s Note: First of all, I would like to apologize for the extremely long length of time for this chapter to come out. 2021 was a horrible year for me, and I just didn’t have the spoons available to string together words, much less get into Charlie’s head. Thank you for all who waited patiently for the next installment. Secondly, I promise that there will be new chapters at least once a week (more often, if I can keep the muse on the hamster wheel) and I will not abandon this story until it is complete.

As always, feedback is welcome and encouraged. Either here or at [email protected].