Nika's POV:

I split off from my friends as usual, heading for my calculus class first period, violin and math book in either hand. As I near the end of the hallway, I spot a familiar face, once again, as I can't help but think, She's so pretty. Everything about her is just so in harmony.

It all started back in freshman year when I met her older brother...

I entered the orchestra room with my backpack on my back, heading into the small room enjoining the choir and orchestra rooms where my violin was stored in one of the twelve lockers. I wrestled with my lock, still not used to the code quite yet, but eventually got it open and took my violin out.

By the time I went to sit where I usually sat, there were no chairs, and I had no clue where to sit. I stood near the front of the section, and I heard a junior with shiny brown skin, jet black hair, and narrow black eyes ask me, "Do you need some place to sit?"

I nodded shyly, and, with a smirk on his face, he pulled up a chair next to him in the front of the orchestra, laughing about my situation with his friend, a senior named Andrew with brown, curly hair and black, rectangular glasses.

I sat down awkwardly, feeling extremely self-conscious. I seriously wished I had set my backpack down before I got my violin so I could have saved a chair and spared myself the embarrassment.

Our conductor, a smiling woman with a blonde pixie cut, walked up to each section and handed out the music that we were to sight-read.*

Butterflies danced in my stomach. I had to sight-read in front of someone who sat at the front like he's the best player in the whole school? (Funny thing is, he literally was) He would notice all my mistakes, and that horrified me.

As we began to play, I saw how effortlessly he played the notes, as though this was the easiest thing in the world, while I was struggling to just hit a few and not get lost in the music.

My bow was going the entirely different way at times, and I could hear how out of tune my notes sometimes were, and I cringed inside. It had only been a few days into school, and I'd already made a complete fool of myself.

But, when we were finished, he didn't let on to know about any of my mistakes. He just said, "I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Leo," and then I rushed out of there as soon as I could, cheeks aflame, not wanting him to say anything about how awfully I had played.

I thought about it that night and tossed and turned, hugging my pillow to my face. How could I have been such a fool?

  *Note: Sight-reading in music is viewing a piece for the first time and attempting to play it with only a brief glance at it. It's a skill that improves over time and practice.

Slowly, as the weeks passed, I began to develop some feelings toward him. I admired Leo's sweet, clear playing as well as his bright, white smile and confidence. I secretly wished that I could play as good as him, that I could be on his level, but I knew that would never happen. It would take me years to do that, and by that time, he'd already be in college. He was a junior, after all.

When he left, all my feelings left with him, and I started growing new ones toward his sister, Fiona, whom I had kept an eye on since she came to the school in my sophomore year. She was three years younger than her brother, and I watched her for the simple, deluded reason that she was his family and that I wanted to make a good impression and know more about her.

Little did I know, that would end up going downhill the moment Leo left.

Normally I would have chided myself over harboring feelings for a girl. I've been sure for all my life that I was straight, but today I just didn't care. So what if this all ends badly? I like who I like, no matter what their gender. I've been slowly getting this feeling that I'm not entirely straight for a while now, and today I decided to just accept things the way they are. What I didn't know was how empowering it feels.

I see my best friend's twin brother, Daniel, come up behind me, and I'm thankful because my hands are full, one carrying my violin, the other my textbook, and it always pains me to try to open doors when I literally have no free hands. He opens the door, and I smile at him for being so nice. I used to think he was really mean, but I suppose I just didn't really know him that well.

I sat down, solved some integrals with trigonometric substitution, and continued on with my day mundanely. Concept review in Chemistry, regionals practice time in Orchestra (so I wasn't paying enough attention as to see Fiona), short story reading in English, some writing activities as usual in Spanish, and some notes in psychology. It passed by in a breeze, and I spent my afternoon watching KPop before calling it a night.

Once I laid my head down on my pillow, however, thoughts of Fiona popped into my head. I imagined waking up with her lying beside me, staring at me, laughing, then shook my head. If I go thinking about all of this now, I'll get obsessed, and then things will really be a mess. The best method is just not to think about it, that way I don't get too attached to her. I mean, I don't even know if she's into girls at all. If I start jumping to conclusions, it'll just get me hurt in the end.

I place my airpods in my ears and listen to some soothing violin music. Though I love songs with lyrics, instrumental ones are always a lot easier to fall asleep to because I don't end up singing along in my head the whole time.

Before I know it, I drift off to sleep with the harmony of a ringing G major chord, the last note, resounding in my ear.

Fiona's POV:

After brushing my teeth until they're sparklingly clean and throwing my wet hair into a quick bun, I head back into my room, or should I say, me and Della's room, and find her asleep on the bed with some classical music on in the background.

I brush her long hair away from her face and kiss her forehead, muttering, "Good night, sis."

One of my favorite symphonies is playing as I lay down and close my eyes. The last chord strikes, and I marvel at how harmonious it sounds, smiling as I let myself wander into dreams.

Warning: I used a bit of language in this chapter. I hope no one minds. I wanted to show a bit of a personality difference and hopefully this will help achieve that.

Nika's POV:

I open my eyes to a faint light peeking out from blue, velvet curtains. I'm lying on a soft, deep purple bed with matching silk bed sheets. A mound of shiny black hair protrudes to the right of me, and I pull the bed sheet away from it to reveal a girl's face almost identical to Fiona's.

Wait, what am I doing here anyway? I look at my skin. It's the color of caramel, and as I glance over at a mirror atop a mahogany dresser, I see the layers of Fiona's soft hair that typically frame her perfect, anime character-like face pulled into a loose bun as she stares back at me with her mouth hung open.

I suppress the urge to scream. What am I doing in Fiona's body? Is this some sort of prank?

A child's voice startles me, "Fia?"

I glance over at the girl lying on the silk bed. She must be Fiona's younger sister. I heard she had one, but I never knew they had such a close resemblance.

What do I do? I don't even know her name, let alone anything about Fiona and how she acts around her little sister.

She stares at me expectantly as I look at her cluelessly, finally daring to ask, "What is it, my dear little sister?"

"Where's my hug? You always hug me to wake me up every morning. You don't want me to be late, do you?"

"No, of course not." I walk over to the bedside and embrace her. She smiles radiantly and leaps out of bed. She's like a younger version of Fiona, and it's so adorable!

For now, I'm just going to have to wing everything until I can meet up with the real Fiona, well, that is, me, and sort this out. She can at least give me some pointers if I'm going to have to live as her. How did this even happen? I guess I'll just have to make the best of things.

 Alright, as for getting ready, I suppose eating breakfast is definitely something I've got to do, but I'm not sure what Fiona eats or if her parents make her breakfast or what.

I look down at my clothing, some loose sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt. Well, this definitely isn't what Fiona wears every day, so I'm going to have to change. Man this is awkward. I mean, even though I like Fiona, I feel like this is crossing way too many boundaries. I don't even know what her favorite color is!

I smell my hair (or rather, Fiona's), and a lavender scent wafts up into my nose. I'm pretty sure she showered last night, so at least I don't have to go that far. Just a quick change of clothes. You can do this, Nika, I tell myself in my head.

"Fifi, are you just going to stand there?" Fiona's sister asks, halfway out the door. "Don't you want breakfast?"

Right, breakfast. I guess that's what Fiona does first in the morning. Let me just hope I can get by with the clues I get from Fiona's sister and that she doesn't suspect that anything's wrong with me before I can get up with Fiona.

"Yeah, I'm coming," I call to her. She's already at the end of the hallway. I suppose I should follow her before I get lost in Fiona's house.

I run to catch up, and when I turn the corner into the kitchen, I spot pancakes, eggs, bacon, and toast all piled on a platter in the center of the kitchen table. It all looks perfectly cooked and so appetizing. Whoa, I think to myself, I didn't know Fiona gets to eat this for breakfast. I'm so jealous! Then again, I get to now, at least while I'm in her body, right?

"Someone looks hungry," a youthful looking woman with an apron on says with a smirk. I'm guessing that's Fiona's mother. And from the apron, I'd assume she's the one who made this meal.

She pulls out a chair for me, and I sit down. I dig right in, so grateful that I've been blessed with such an awesome meal and that I get to meet Fiona's parents without all the awkwardness that that typically involves.

I listen to the small chit-chat between the family members and try to learn as much as I can from it. So, Fiona's dad, a tall man with a bald spot, but still charming nonetheless, apparently works as a radiologist; Della, Fiona's little sister, is in middle school and loves horses; and Fiona's mom works as a photographer and author. She also runs a blog, but apparently Fiona's dad has been on her about "spending too much time on such a pointless website." He doesn't understand how important it is to share thoughts with other people online. It's just another outlet in my opinion, at least. They've also got a cute dog named Ruffles.

After I'm finished, I thank my (Fiona's) mom for the meal, and she nods, modestly saying, "It was nothing. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much."

I smile at her and go to get ready. I grab the first t-shirt I can find from Fiona's closet, a bra, and some dark jeans and rush into the bathroom. Here comes the hard part. I guess I should just close my eyes so Fiona can still have her privacy. Though I want to look at her, all of her, it'd be without her permission, and it would just be wrong. My eyelids flutter closed as I take off her shirt and sweatpants and dress myself in the articles I picked out.

I open my eyes at last, taking in the sight of Fiona in the mirror. What do you know? This outfit looks like exactly her style. I'm glad the random shirt I chose worked.

Fiona's POV:

An alarm rings out and buzzes through my drowsy mind. Since when do I have an alarm? Maybe Della set it.

I squint my eyes open and hit the clock to make it stop beeping. I move over to the right, trying to capture Della in our typical morning hug, but my hands meet with air. I feel around, trying to find her, but she's nowhere to be found.

I sit straight up in the cotton bed, looking at the dark room around me. It's not even light out yet. And what am I doing in someone else's room!?

I see something in my peripheral view move, and I realize that it was my own head in a mirror. But-wait-that doesn't look like my head.

I scramble over to find a light, and once I turn it on, I see a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl staring back at me wide-eyed. What the hell is going on? Why the hell am I in someone else's BODY? Wait, have I seen her before?

A shock hits me as I realize that it was Nika, that one junior in the first violins that didn't move up a single chair this year.*

I spot a phone sitting on the desk in the far back corner, and I grab it, hoping to find a way to contact Nika. I look at the time: 5:34. 5:34!? Why the hell does this girl get up so early? So that's why she's always got bags under her eyes.

The passcode screen pops up after I press my finger on the round disk of a home button. What could her passcode be? Birthday? But I don't even know that...

Without thinking, I decide to try the duration of my favorite orchestra piece, 34:16:45. My mouth opens wide when it suddenly goes to the home screen. What kind of luck is that?

I click on messages, but before I get to sending one to my own phone to see what's going up with my own body at home, one message catches my eye:

Nika: hey colly...

Colleen: yeah girl, what's up?

Nika: i have something to tell u..something big

Nika:i think i like a girl

Colleen: what? no way!!

Nika: it's weird isn't it?

Colleen: no, not at all! who's the lucky gal?

Nika: fiona

"Pfffffffftthahahahaha!" I guffaw at 5 something in the morning. "She likes me?" My laughter dies down as it sinks in. This strange girl that I've switched bodies with likes me?

*In an orchestra, chairs are like a ranking of sorts. So, first chair is the best in the section, then comes second, third, and so on.

Fiona's POV:

Before I can even text my phone to talk to Nika about the situation, I'm called downstairs by a feminine voice, presumably Nika's mother.

"Coming, Mom," I shout. I'll have to text Nika later. Hopefully she's holding up okay.

I exit the room to find carpeted stairs leading down to a living room and kitchen.

"Sweetheart, your egg's ready. All you've got to do is heat up the rice. I have to go feed the dog. Don't forget to talk to your teachers today."

Talk to them about what? Well, anyway, I suppose I'm supposed to prepare some rice. I open the refrigerator to find a pyrex container with white rice halfway to the top, so I open it and put some on a plate that I find after a bit of work up in a cupboard. I stick it in the microwave for 30 seconds, and luckily, that seems to be just enough time. In the pan on the stove is an egg cooked omelet style, which I place on my plate of rice with the spatula. I suppose this is what I'm supposed to eat? Doesn't look as appetizing as what my mom always makes, but I suppose I shouldn't expect much.

I take a bite into the omelet. It's so bland. Does this girl not use salt or pepper ever? I take the salt and pepper dispensers sitting on the table and use them generously on the egg. NOW it tastes much better.

After I finish, I set the dishes in the sink for someone to wash later and head back up to Nika's room. I probably ought to get dressed - does she shower in the mornings? Well, either way, I don't feel up to that right now. I've got more important tasks to focus on.

I type my phone number into a new message, then decide to add myself as a contact. I should totally mess with her and put like "Bae" or something as the contact name so later once we switch back (there's no debate about this, we're going to find a way to switch back), I can tease her about it.

I look at the time: 6:21. I probably wouldn't be up yet. Still, if there's a chance Nika wakes up early and sees this, it's worth it. So, I start texting her:

Fiona: hey Nika, hows my life going

Fiona: i heard u stole my body for a day, didnt u?

Fiona: i hope u didnt do anything to it ;)

Fiona: see u at school

Fiona: we need to fix this somehow

I feel satisfied knowing that I've at least texted her about it. Hopefully this will resolve itself soon. I really don't trust my body being left in the hands of a stranger. I mean, she's my classmate, but I know her so little that we're pretty much strangers.

A stink hits my nose suddenly, and I realize it's coming from my armpits. This girl really does need a shower. Well, I guess I have no choice now. I grab a spare pair of clothes, the ones that seem the most like me, and head into the bathroom to shower.

Nika's POV:

After getting dressed, I go back into Fiona's room and notice her phone laying on that same dresser with some recent messages on it.

Although I hate to invade her privacy, the number catches my eye - isn't that my number!? Is that the real Fiona in my body texting me?

I scoop the phone up in my hand and read what she sent. Indeed, it is her.

She hopes I didn't do anything to her body? And what's that wink supposed to mean? Does she know about my feelings for her?

I swipe to the left and hit the reply button.

​

Unknown (Fiona): hey Nika, hows my life going

Unknown (Fiona): i heard u stole my body for a day, didnt u?

Unknown (Fiona): i hope u didnt do anything to it ;)

Unknown (Fiona): see u at school

Unknown (Fiona): we need to fix this somehow

Nika: agreed. want to meet b4 school?

Nika: ill be in the parking lot on the west side @7:30

It's decided then. That's where I'll be. Fiona's mother said that I've got to leave with Fiona's little sister first, though. I might as well get going.

Fiona's POV:

I take off Nika's dirty clothes and step into the shower, the lukewarm water cold and refreshing to my skin. In an instant, I already feel awake. I suppose that's one nice thing about showering in the morning.

I lather her waist-length hair in shampoo and conditioner. It's not like she's anything much, though. There's no way I could ever like her as much as she likes me; I mean, with this kind of an ordinary body? No way.

I get into the tight, ripped jeans and black crop top I found in her closet. They actually make her unattractive features look better somehow.

I go back into her room and read the most recent texts. We've got to meet up soon. I text a quick "I'll be there soon" as I gather up her backpack and violin, which I'd assume she'd need and almost head out the front door, but a voice stops me. "Sweetie, do you have your lunchbox?"

"Umm..no," I replied.

"Here you go," Nika's mom said, handing it to me.

"Thanks!" I respond.

Now it's time to finally figure out what is going on with our random body swapping.