Jody stood on the front porch, rifling through his new purse for the keys. Even though he'd looked through it before, it still surprised him how much stuff could fit in there. Finally, under three different tubes of lip gloss and two mascaras, he found the pink metal keychain - shaped like a heart and emblazoned with a rinestone "J". He pulled the keys out and took a deep breath before raising the key to its hole - but before he could insert it, the door swung open. A stocky, balding man - a full head shorter than Jody - looked up at him, smiling.
"Heya, princess! Whatcha doin' fumbling with your keys out here? You know I always leave the door open for ya when you get back from school!" The man stood aside and allowed Jody to step in. He recognized the man from parent-teacher conferences - this was the old Jody's father. Or, he figured, his father now. And apparently the man thought so too, having no problem calling a 28 year old man in a suit carrying a purse "princess."
"Oh, right. Thanks dad," he said as he walked through the foyer. He casually tossed his purse on the side table and looked at his new dad. He remembered the man being gregarious and jolly, and he got a real sense that he liked to spoil his daughter. "Anything for my princess," he remembered him saying. Now that was him, and he had to admit - it kind of felt nice to be called princess. And if that meant being spoiled, so be it. It was a fair swap, after all.
He didn't want to let on that anything was amiss, since this man seemed to so readily accept him as his teenage daughter, but he was curious.
"Say, um... daddy?"
"What is it, sweetheart?"
"Do I... um... do I look... ok, to you?"
"What? Of course, honey! You're the prettiest 17 year old in this whole town - and don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise!" he put his hands gently on Jody's broad shoulders. "Even if you are growing up way too fast, you're still my little girl!"
"What about me!?" came a voice from down the hall. Suddenly, a younger girl - who looked a lot like the old Jody - came around the corner.
"You're my little girl too, Danni!" He pulled her close, and put an arm around both his daughters. "You're both my princesses, and don't you forget it! Now why don't you girls go help your mother with dinner."
Jody and his little sister hugged their dad and moved into the kitchen. His mom was moving swiftly, chopping vegetables and stirring something in a pot, but didn't miss a beat in greeting Jody and Danni, and plying them for the latest gossip from their respective schools. Jody didn't have a lot to go on, since he'd only had this life for half a day - and he didn't want to discuss the swap, since nobody else seemed to know about it. But he had to admit it was fun just to listen. In fact, the whole meal was fun. He guess he lucked out on getting a pretty good family. He could get used to being Jody.
After dinner, Jody went upstairs to do his homework. He paused when he got to the door to his room. He hadn't really thought about it, but since he'd switched wallets and ID's with Jody, everything in this room was now his. The bed, the pink bedspread, the vanity and the piles of makeup on top, the dresser and closet. Even though they hadn't switched clothes earlier, all of her other clothes were his now. He peeked inside, somehow they were all in his size now. He looked down at his suit, then at the rest of the wardrobe. "Well, it was a fair trade. She's got all my old suits now."
Jody opened the closet wide and started contemplating what to wear to school tomorrow. His hands were running over a few different skirts when a knock came at his door. Danni poked her head inside.
"What's up, kiddo?" Jody had deduced from the dinner conversation that Danni was in 8th grade, and looked up to Jody a lot.
"I was wondering," she looked pensive for a moment, "Would you braid my hair before school tomorrow?"
"Braid... your hair?" Jody didn't know the first thing about hair - his hair was still its usual short, brown buzzcut.
"Pleeeeeaaassssee!" Danni pleaded. "I saw a picture of you when you were my age and you had this braid that was sooo pretty. I asked mom and she said you should do it."
"Oh.. Well, okay." He could tell how much Danni admired Jody. "First thing in the morning! We don't want to be late for school!"
"Thanks Jody! You're the best big sister ever!"
Danni ducked back into the hallway and Jody went over to his desk and flipped open his pink laptop. He pushed the textbooks aside. The homework would be easy. He had to learn how to braid hair, and quick! He wanted to be a good big sister, after all.
