The Other Side of Me – Part 19
by Limbo’s Mistress

I was completely, utterly, and totally speechless.

Of all the things I expected to be revealed when I sat down across from the Kappa Omega head girl, the very last thing on that list would have been the announcement that she knew about the dimensional shift. To say that a whole new twist had been added would be the understatement of the year.

Luckily, I recovered my wits after a few seconds and put on my most confused expression, hoping it seemed sincere.

“Do what?”

Rachel, for her part, seemed to be more amused, and less convinced, by the attempt. With a little laugh, she leaned back in her seat and silently regarded me for a few moments before speaking.

“You don’t need to play innocent with me. I know you, remember?”

Rooted in my own seat, I glanced from the smirking girl over to the door, half expecting to see an entire entourage of Kappas lurking in the wings, all ready to pounce on the naïve young man who’d dared attempt to trick his way into their secret, females only, society.

However, the room still only contained Rachel and myself, so I looked back and held up one hand.

“Do you mind, like, telling me about what happened here last night?” I sighed, putting as much ‘Annoyed Charlene’ into my tone as I could. I might not be her, but from what I’d learned during my short tenure in her life, she wasn’t the kind of girl to hem and haw about something. “Since it’s totally obvious to both of us that I have zero knowledge about what took place.”

Without more information, I wasn’t going to confirm Rachel’s accusation.

“Fiiiiine,” the redhead said in an extremely placating tone. “I’ll play along with your little game. For now.”

I forced myself to sit back and crossed my legs, adopting a rather casual pose despite the fact that my heart was still hammering wildly in my chest. Taking control of the situation would be nothing short of a miracle. However, I hoped I to least mitigate the damage Charlene had done.
Once again, I found myself responsible for putting out her fires.

Rachel flashed me a smile. “Last night, you left Sigma House not long after you walked out of the room with Danny Morris. A few people said that he followed you from the back yard into the house, repeatedly asking you to stop and talk. Then, at the front door, you finally relented.”
I acknowledged her tale with a single nod, that part of the evening still fresh in my memory.

“He was being a complete ass,” I said. “And I didn’t feel like dealing with him right then.”

Rachel’s grin widened. “But you did deal with him right then, didn’t you? The you two went outside and had a rather heated discussion before you stormed off and he came back inside.” One of her shoulders rose and fell nonchalantly. “Not that you would remember that bit, since you swapped places before then.”

I remained silent, waiting for her to continue.

“Of course, I was less than pleased about you blowing off my game over what was clearly just a lovers’ spat.”

I wasn’t fast enough to keep my eyes from widening in response. Lovers’ spat? Me and Danny? Her casual mentioning of it revealed that she knew about Charlene and Danny’s little trysts.

“I …”

She gave me a slightly sympathetic look. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch, Miller. I’m sure things will work out between you two. Eventually.”

I didn’t know exactly what Rachele was getting at, but I silently urged for her to finish the damned story so I could get my phone, get out of there, and start doing some serious damage control. I wondered if the Jackson of this universe ever bothered to finish calibrating his memory modifier.

“So, here I am, relaxing after a delightful time with Matthew Doland and his incredibly talented tongue,” she continued with a smirk. “When you show up. If not for the fact that I was curious about what you had to say for yourself, I would have left you outside.”

“But you didn’t.”

She shook her head. “No, I didn’t. You asked for a chance to explain so we came in here. I told you that I can tolerate some level of nonconformity from my favorite pledge, but just ditching the party, and my game, was a bit too rebellious for someone wanting to be a Kappa.”

I nodded. As much as I had wanted to tell her to take her game and stick it up her ass, I’d kept my thoughts and opinions to myself and decided to play along. Of course, Charlene’s arrival had thrown all that out the window.

Or maybe not. Considering she’d managed to earn that damned pin.

I sighed. “That’s when you found out about the universe swap?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“And you believed? Just like that?”

Rachel gave me a small smile. “You shouldn’t act so surprised. After all, I’ve seen some of your … boyfriend’s … other incredible toys in action. If he can make things invisible or slow down time, why wouldn’t I accept that an accident in his lab resulted in your male counterpart from a parallel universe inhabiting your body?”

I almost corrected her gender assumption error. If I hadn’t been so focused on her words, looking for a way to refute them, I might have. Instead, I sat there, thoughts spinning in place as I realized what Rachel was assuming.

She thinks she’s talking to Charlene. She thinks that it was Charlie that leapt in at the party, and who came here last night to confess. Which means that Charlene sat here and implicitly told Rachel that she was Charles. But why?

Then the reason hit me like a sledgehammer. Charlene already knew I had been working overtime to keep her life on track while she’s been sabotaging mine. She’d taken this extra step not to help me, but because she wasn’t convinced she would remain in my universe. If she found herself back here for good, she could blame everything on Charles.

She was hedging her bets.

“I was worried he was going to mess things up over here,” I said, forcing myself to visibly relax. “At the party, Jackson called to warn me that a swap was about to happen, which is why I was trying to get away from Danny. I didn’t want to be around him when Charlie’s arrived.” I sighed in what I hoped was a sufficiently Charlene-like way. “Apparently, he doesn’t get along with his universe’s version of Danny.

She nodded. “He told me.”

“What else did he have to say?” As long as she was providing me information, I should get as much out of her as I could.

She shrugged. “Something about residual brain pattern overlays creating a disconnection in motor neurons or something. Said it created an instability in mannerisms and personality. Honestly, I didn’t really pay much attention. Boy You is a bit of a dull dork.”

I gave a derisive snort. “You should try being stuck in his life sometime. He’s an anti-social loser with almost no friends and no purpose. Get this, he’s on the track team, but he runs long-distance solos so he can be by himself.”

Sure, tearing myself down like that might be a sign of some deeper personality issues, but as soon as the words came out of my mouth, I realized they were more than just a cover story to placate Rachel. On some level, I actually felt them. In comparison to Charlene’s life, mine was practically boring.

However, that was a quandary for another time.

“That instability thing makes sense. Ever since the first swap, I’ve had problems with coordination and memory. Probably got a case of Dork Cooties or something.” I laughed as maliciously as I could.

Rachel laughed. “Hopefully it’s not permanent.”

“No shit,” I said, rolling my eyes. “What else did he have to say?”

She gestured at my phone. “He said he left you a message. Telling you what he’s been doing over here, I guess. Anyway, that’s when Jackson called to say another swap was about to take place.”

I chewed on my lower lip. Why would Jackson warn Charlene?

“And that’s when he took off?” I asked.

“Yep. Handed me the phone and told me to hang onto it until I saw you. Then he ran out the door. I guess he was worried that if you bounced back and found yourself in here, you’d freak out.” She shrugged. “I guess he’s not a tough as you are.”

“Not even remotely,” I agreed.

I picked up the phone and powered it on. When the screen flared to life, I saw that there was only about eight percent battery life left and that I had several texts.

Two of them were from Shelly asking where I was. The time stamp logged them as being sent while Charlene was in control. Five were from Josie demanding that I call her ASAP. Well, so much for that.

The last was from Katie and simply read, “Pls don’t b mad.” That one had arrived while I was sitting here talking with Rachel.
My brow furrowed as I wondered what had happened that she expected me to be mad over.

“Everything okay?” The Kappa leader was eyeing me curiously.

I nodded. “Just a text from my sister.”

Rachel laughed. “The little brat is never going to learn, is she? Is she still begging to borrow your peach sweater?”

I sighed and nodded with a smile I didn’t enjoy wearing. Not only was Charlene mean to her Katie, but she also apparently boasted about it with this shallow bitch. My stomach clenched painfully.

“She is. Along with some of my other stuff.” Then I made it a point to gesture at myself. “I swear, if that jerk starts treating her differently while he’s here, I’m going to make him regret it.”

She nodded. “Totes.” For a second, she just stared at me as if about to say something. Then she stood up and held the rose pin out to me. “Anyway, congratulations on becoming a Sister, girl. The induction ceremony is at six, so be here by five.”

I nodded. “I will.” Then I decided to sweeten the pot. “Do I need to come help set anything up beforehand?”

Rachel shook her head. “No. We’ve got it covered. Would hate to ruin the surprise.”

She flashed me a wide smile, but the expression made me concerned for a second that she was going to leap over the desk and sink her teeth into my neck. Rachel Bostwick might act like she wanted Charlene for a Little Sister, but I couldn’t help but think there was something else at play. My gut painfully warned me to keep extra careful around the pretentious redhead.

“See you tomorrow night.”

I waited until I got in the Jeep and drove across campus to the library parking lot before pulling out my phone to see what Charlene had to say to me. As I found the saved video file, I couldn’t help but laugh a bit that we’d both had the same idea.

When I clicked play, the screen showed Charlene’s face, moving back and forth as she walked. The buildings behind her were recognizable as being houses on the same street as Sigma, which indicated she’d recorded this right after leaving the party.

“Hello, Chuck,” she said in a rather amused tone. “Having fun? I certainly am. I would say that you have no idea how wonderful it is to have an easy, stress-free life. However, I suppose you do know, because that’s the life you actually got to have.” She stops talking long enough to look around before continuing walking. “I’m sorry about the sex with Danny thing. I’m sure us switching back in the middle of getting thoroughly railed probably wasn’t as much fun for you as it would have been for me.”

She shrugged one shoulder in a half-hearted apology. “Anyways, if the conversation I just had is any indication, you nuked that bit of side fluff. Not that I really care. I was just about done with him anyways. And it’s not like it is really going to matter in the long run.”

“You really are a total bitch,” I hissed at the girl on the screen.

“Anyway, I’m on my way to Kappa House to talk to Rachel and do some damage control. Just in case you haven’t been completely convincing pretending to be me, and my plan ends up failing. If I end up having to stay here, I’d rather have some semblance of this life still intact.” She pulled the phone closer to her face. “But I don’t plan on that happening, Chuck. I’ve finally found a way out of this bullshit universe where my mom is dead, my dad is a depressed loser, and my so-called boyfriend is too lame to do much more than grope at my tits.”

Charlene stopped walking, turning around so that I could see the Kappa House behind her. “So, I’m going to go in and tell Rachel some of the truth. If I’m successful, then the choice to remain a Kappa afterwards will be all yours. I would say the same with the cheerleading, but if you quit the squad, you’ll lose your scholarship. Dad doesn’t have the money for tuition, so you’d get kicked out of school.” She shrugged again and nodded her head at the house. “Well, wish me luck!” Then she made a kissy face at the camera before the recording ceased.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I said to the darkened screen.

Sighing, I put the Jeep back into gear and drove away from the university and headed in the direction of the mall. Maybe Shelly could get some insight from Charlene’s bizarre message. After all, she was the psycho’s best friend.

Being a Saturday afternoon, the shopping mecca was abundantly crowded. It took me a few seconds to find a parking space that wasn’t out in the middle of Bumfuck, Egypt. Inside the Galleria, I headed immediately to the nearest directory, looking for the location of Eternal Style.

“Third floor, West wing.”

I headed to the nearest escalator and rose to the top floor. At the directory there, I looked at the map, then at the closest stores before determining that I needed to go halfway down the left branch. As I walked, I noticed more than a few wandering eyes shifting my way. The majority of them belonged to guys my age. A few of them were men old enough to be my father.

The attention rubbed at my brain. I should have been annoyed at the fact that I was drawing the notice of others. But I also couldn’t deny the fact that it felt nice in a way. No one really noticed Charles when he was out in public. Or, at least, I’d never noticed anyone noticing me. Now, though, it seemed as if I was shining a spotlight on myself.

I didn’t dislike it. Even though I felt, on some level, that I should.

The pink and blue neon sign for Eternal Style loomed ahead. When I got within fifty feet of the entrance, I spotted Shelly. She stood behind a table in the middle of the store, folding a stack of shirts into piles of various sizes and colors. She glanced up and saw me right as I entered, flashing me a sad, extremely unhappy face.

Looks like someone has talked to Josie recently.

I paused in mid-step, locked eyes with her and sighed before drawing closer. When I opened my mouth to start filling her in on the fun-filled and totally disorienting day I’d been having, she held up a finger before glancing over her shoulder at another woman, one who looked to be about a decade older than us.

“Charity? I’m going to take my lunch break now if that’s okay. Suzy is supposed to be here in about ten minutes.” She gestured at the practically empty store. “And we’re totally dead.”

The other woman looked from Shelly to me and back. “Fine. Thirty minutes.”

“Wait here,” my friend said as she bounded away from the display table to the counter running along the far wall. Less than a minute later, she was back with her phone gripped tightly in her hand. “Where to?”

“Someplace with a bit of privacy,” I murmured, linking my arm through hers to escort her out into the Galleria’s promenade. “I’ve got a ton of shit to unpack.”

“I can imagine,” Shelly said as she directed us down the walkway and around the corner to a small food court located at the end of the wing.
It was a great deal smaller than the food palace on the first floor. In addition to the place selling soft pretzels and donuts, there was a frozen yogurt stand, and a miniature cantina advertising a three-for-one special on soft tacos. The wafting smell of sautéed meat made my stomach clench painfully and turn over in protest.

Shelly sat down at one of the tables furthest from the food and I dropped into the seat across from her.

“Josie called me after she left your house,” she said without any preamble. “Charity was in the bathroom, so I was able to talk to her for a quick minute. She’s really angry.”

I nodded. “And she’s got every right to be. Her best friend fucked her boyfriend behind her back.”

Shelly winced a bit when I mentioned that I … err, Charlene, was Josie’s best friend. However, she let the comment pass. “Yeah, I got an earful of it. Most of which was asking if I knew and didn’t tell her. I said it was just as big a surprise to me as it was to her.” An apologetic look crossed her face. “Sorry to leave you hanging like that, Chuck, but we’ll never get this sorted out if she’s angry at both of us.”

I nodded. “I totally understand. Speaking of straightening it out, I think we should tell her the truth about what’s going on. She obviously knows we’ve been keeping something from her. Right now, she thinks it’s about Danny. But if she gets the idea that we’re keeping other secrets, then she won’t have anything to do with either of us ever again.”

Shelly seemed to consider my suggestion for a few moments before giving me a dubious look.

“I’m not completely sure that’s going to work out for the best in the end. Especially if you go back home permanently. Josie is sweet and all, but she can hold a serious grudge when the notion strikes her. We tell her about the swap and that it wasn’t you doing that, and she’s probably going forgive you. Because there’s really no reason to be mad at Charles for something Charlene did.”

I nodded. “But when Charlene’s back, either temporarily or permanently …”

“There will be hell to pay in the form of an angry, petite blonde.”

“I still think it’s the smart thing to do,” I said. “She’s going to be mad at Charlene regardless. Might make things easier in the immediate if she understands that I’m not her.”

Shelly nodded. “Yep.” Then she leaned forward. “What happened at Kappa House? I see you got your phone back. Was Rachel there? Are you still a pledge or did you get eliminated?”

“Yeah, she was there. Expecting me, as a matter of fact.” I reached into my pocket and retrieved the rose-shaped pin, holding it up in front of me. “I’m not a pledge anymore. I’m a full-fledged Kappa.”

Shelly’s eyes widened. “What the hell? How did Charlene pull that off?”

“She told Rachel about what happened in Jackson’s lab and what’s been going on for the past few days.” Then I proceeded to recount the weird conversation between the sorority leader and myself. When I was done, Shelly shook her head.”

“I can’t believe Charlene told her the truth about the swaps, but neglected to be honest about which of you she was.” She sighed. “What the hell is that girl thinking?”

I swiped my thumb across the screen of my phone and called up Charlene’s video. Then I passed the device to her. “I think she’s planning on leaving this life behind for good, but wants to make sure she’s got a bit of a safety net first.”

Shelly pulled my phone close to her face and watched the recorded rant while I leaned back in my seat and stared up at the skylighted ceiling while conflicting thoughts danced through my head.

Charlene was determined to take over my life and let me have hers. Apparently, she felt I had the better existence and wanted it for herself. Which, if she succeeded, would leave me here in hers. I really should be a lot angrier about it than I felt. Problem was, the boring, non-pressure nature of my life that she so envied, was starting to look unappealing to me.

I’d told Rachel that I was a dullard with no friends and no social life. Until a few days ago, I’d preferred it that way. Now, whenever I stopped to think about leaving and going back home, a sense of dread attempted to wash over me. Could I go back to Charles’ life? Just sitting here contemplating the possibility made me queasy.

“Holy shit,” Shelly hissed as she passed the phone back to me, yanking my thoughts back to the present. “She’s fucking nuts.”

I nodded. “No question about it. I can’t believe she told Rachel about the dimension swap.”

“Yeah, didn’t expect that. Or that the Ice Queen would be so casual about it.” She frowned. “Still, I wouldn’t suggest trusting Rachel any further than you absolutely have to. The only side she’s on is her own. Anything you tell her might come back to bite you in the ass.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said as I went to put my phone away. Before I could, though, it buzzed in my hand. Looking down, I saw it was incoming call from Katie.

“It’s Katie,” I said to Shelly as I thumbed the green circle and brought the phone to my ear. The memory of her last text popped into my brain. Asking me to not be mad. “Hey, Katie-Kat. I just now picked up my phone from where Charlene left it last night. That’s why I didn’t text you back. What’s up?”

“Oh, I thought it was because she had come back,” Katie said in a voice that reeked of barely constrained panic.

“Nope. Not since last night.”

“That’s a relief,” she said softly.

I felt my brow furrow a bit. “What’s going on? What do you think I would be angry?”

There was a lengthy pause before she answered in a quiet, concerned voice. “I did something that I probably shouldn’t have. I just wasn’t thinking.”

I sat up in my seat. “What did you do?” Shelly looked up from her own phone to shoot me a worried glance. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m okay. I just …” Another three second pause. “Look, you’re going to get a phone call in a moment. Please, please, please just say yes. I promise that I won’t ask anything else of you for the rest of the time that you’re here. Just say yes this one time. For me?”

“Say yes to what?” I asked, my own worry starting to build. “Who is going to be calling me?”

As if the universe was waiting patiently for those words to come out of my mouth, my phone immediately began to buzz again. The Caller ID identified it as an Unknown Caller.

“Son of a bitch,” I breathed.

“Please, Charlie,” Katie said, practically begging aloud now. “Please.”

I glanced at Shelly, who was giving me a strange look, as I put Katie on hold to answer the mystery call.

“Uh, hello?”

“Charlie?” The guy’s voice was sort of familiar, but I didn’t recognize it right before he spoke again. “It’s Mike. Uh, Mike North. From school.”
“Uh, hi,” I said, trying to figure out why Mike North was calling me, and how Katie knew he would be.

“Hi,” he repeated, followed by a little laugh. “Anyway, sorry to call you up last minute, but Seb, my brother, wants to take your sister out on a date tonight and …”

“Sure!” I said, cutting him off. I guess Katie wanted me to give the okay for her to go out with this boy, rather than risking a chance of Dad saying no. “Tell him she has to be home by ten.”

There was a moment of silence before Mike’s soft chuckle drifted into my ear again. It wasn’t an unpleasant sound, but I really didn’t care for the way it made certain parts of me tingle.

“Oh, uh, that’s not exactly the purpose of this call. See, Seb doesn’t have his license yet. So, I’ll have to drive them around.” A slight pause followed. “I was calling to see if you wanted to help me chaperone them. Otherwise, I’m going to feel like a big old fifth wheel, you know?”

My mouth dropped open, and Shelly put her phone down to lean forward and stare expectantly at me. I wasn’t sure if she’d heard what Mike said or if she was merely reacting to my stunned reaction. I swallowed the lump in my throat and hunted around until I managed to find my voice again.

“Are you … asking me out … on a date?”

Shelly’s eyes widened as her jaw dropped open.

That stupid, delicious laugh rang in my ear again. In an instant, my mind perfectly visualized the smile I knew was plastered widely across his handsome face. Which only made the tingling increase.

“Yeah,” he said. “Looks like I am.”