Two days later, Friday, End of the First Week of Swap Class:
Leonard shimmied a pleated green mini skirt up his long lovely legs, fastening it tight over her tucked in silky white button up. Around his neck he hung a golden necklace with a heart shaped pendant, that according to his notes was a birthday gift from Andrea the previous year, and he slipped her feet into low white kitten heels. Being on the tall side, Elizabeth didn't usually wear terribly high heels, preferring flats or a low heel, typically only wearing anything higher than 2' on special occasions. Leonard wasn't going to complain about the easier time he had learning to walk in Elizabeth's shoes than Larry or Eddie were having in their partners' much higher pumps.
Outfit completed, he turned to Elizabeth's vanity and set about applying blush and a light coating of subtle peach lipstick; due to often having swim practice after school, Elizabeth didn't go crazy with makeup most days, but did wear a bit and Leonard hoped he was doing an alright job of imitating it. Somewhat satisfied with the results he smiled back at herself in the mirror, grabbed her backpack and slipped down stairs.
The Callahans lived in a nice neighborhood, with a lovely restored mid century house. Elizabeth's dad, William, was a banker, as was her mother, Katelyn, and both made good money. The tidy, spacious home made a nice change from what Leonard was used to; it wasn't like the Drullers lived in squalor, but they were on the lower end of middle class while the Callahans were on the upper, and it showed a bit.
"You look lovely this morning, dear," Mrs. Callahan said as Leonard stepped into the kitchen. His partner's mother was already dressed for work, clad in a black pencil skirt and maroon blouse. Leonard melted into a hug with the woman, enjoying how easy Elizabeth's relationship seemed to be with her folks. Leonard loved his own mother but they argued a lot, and it was nice not constantly being compared to his cousin for once. True, all the love and support currently directed his way was technically meant for Elizabeth, but it was getting easier and easier to think of himself as truly being the brunette British girl she appeared to be, at least for a while.
William smiled at him over his morning paper as Leonard poured a bowl of cereal for breakfast, and had a nice morning meal with his current parents. It was mostly small talk, going over what they had planned for the day, but it was nice. Eventually Leonard finished his meal and headed for the door.
"Love you, mum, see you when I get home!" he called out behind her in a crisp english accent, a perfect match for the original Elizabeth. She'd been really impressed with how well Jon had assimilated their teacher's accent, and really applied herself over the last two days in a similar manner. Now she could confidently talk like the girl she appeared to be without anyone being the wiser. Honestly she loved her new voice, it was so full and pleasant sounding compared to her usual nasally tone.
He was walking to school; he could have gotten a ride from one of Elizabeth's parents but it wasn't that long of a walk, and she didn't end up out of breath and sweaty in Elizabeth's body, so he instead enjoyed the beautiful spring morning. As he neared school, she saw Elizabeth's friend Andrea waiting for her by the entrance, and he broke into a wide grin with his new pearly whites to see the other girl waiting for him. At first he'd been mostly interested in the underlying technology of Swap Class, but day by day, he was finding he really enjoyed the life of Elizabeth Callahan.
Jon hummed to herself as the students for her final period, Swap Class, began filing in. She'd started listening to some of Sonia's favorite music, which was mostly classical, on her commute and had found herself humming Vivaldi all day long. She absently recrossed her legs as she read over her lesson plan one last time, making a quick little note just before the bell ran.
"Good afternoon everyone, I hope you've had lovely days," Jon began, rising to her feet as she did so. She took just a moment to smooth her dress, a light blue floral print number with bell sleeves and a plunging neckline; she noted with a smirk that some of her students, primarily those who had originally been boys, seemed to be fans of the dress, based on how their eyes seemed glued to her chest. She knew she should maybe be annoyed by that but honestly she was enjoying the attention; no one had ever looked at her like that when she was Jon, like she was attractive, but as Sonia she got it in almost every room she walked in. It was honestly a big ego boost.
Still, she needed her class to focus, so she cleared her throat, and quickly drew their attention to her lecture. "As you know, we've come to the end of our first week of Swap Class, and I want to commend you on the real effort most of you seem to be putting into the work. We've got a long road ahead of us but I'd say so far we're off to a promising start. Now, before we start today's lecture, I'm going to pass back your assignments from yesterday and we can go over any questions you had on the grading." It was still incredible to her how easy it was to get people to listen to her as Sonia.
Jon picked up a stack of papers and walked, her 4 inch white peephole slingback heels clacking, through the rows of desks, returning the graded work. She gave her old body, currently housing the current Sonia a little wink as she passed back the paper marked A; having the original teacher doing all her assignments meant Jon would probably be ending the course with a near perfect average.
"What the hell, a C-!?" Mike protested from Jay Duncan's body.
"Language, Mr. Duncan," Jon said sternly. "If you have a problem with your grade, you can ask me about it civilly." She folded her arms under her chest and stared down the former linebacker.
"I did the stupid assignment, why am I getting a C- when Duncan's got a B?" Mike demanded snottily.
Jon resisted the urge to mutter Cabron under her breath lest one of her students hear her, before replying to the boy. "First of all, I'll remind you that you are Jay Duncan and it was Mike Matthews who received a B+ on this assignment." While they could drop character a bit within the confines of her classroom, she was very strict about referring to yourself and your partner based on your current identity, not your original one. "As to why you received a C-, if you read the notes accompanying your grade, you'd understand without wasting class time. The assignment was a simple quiz covering basic information about your partner you should have learned on the first day from your partner's notebook. I know your partner provided sufficient information considering that's where I sourced the answer key, yet you still managed to, among other things, get your address wrong, misspell your mother's name and seemingly invent an extra sibling."
That earned a few scattered chuckles from some of the other students, and also shut Mike up, who just reluctantly nodded, red in the face. Jon didn't like having a student's poor grade aired out in front of the class like that, but Mike had been the one to loudly bring it up in the middle of class time, really bringing it on himself. Jon shook her head, her pearl drop earrings dancing as she did so. She turned to the rest of the class, "I know there's a lot of up front information to get a handle on, but I promise you it's well worth the effort. You're going to be living your partner's lives for months to come, and building a strong foundational understanding is vital to getting fully enmeshed in your new identities."
After that she pivoted the class to the day's lecture, talking about social dynamics and fielding questions from the class about navigating their new friend groups. You had the more social students who'd switched with loners wondering how to fill their time, and conversely the outcasts suddenly fielding a full social calendar. There were also cases of students who knew someone in both their original and swapped identities, trying to figure out how to act around them. Stacy and Rick in particular had a funny situation on their hands as Stacy's best friend, Lexi, had a massive crush on Rick, who's body Stacy was now in.
"Well, if Rick pretty much ignored Lexi before the swap, I think you should probably continue to do so," Jon counseled, "after all, she's a freshman and you're now a senior. I'm sure there are plenty of older girls interested in the school's lacrosse star." Jon winked as she said it, making Stacy in Rick blush but nod, while Rick rolled his eyes. According to her lesson plans, as time went on she would be encouraging the class to make more decisions in their swapped lives, but for the first month the stress was on not deviating much from the original. The idea was to really get them in the mindset of who they appeared to be before loosening the reigns.
Most Swap Class lectures were like that, a mix of discussion and feedback, quite different from her Spanish classes. Many of the problems her students had were specific, but had application to several pairs, making it useful to talk through them as a group. As they neared the halfway mark of the period, Jon brought the lecture to a close.
"This will be your first weekends in your partners' lives," Jon said as she strode back towards her desk. She turned back to face the class, "this will be your first chance to experience those lives fully outside of the school environment, spending more time with family, hanging with friends, or practicing hobbies. If you're lucky like Sarah you might even have a date." That earned another smattering of laughs from the class. Larry, who would be going out with Biff soon, played with a strand of her long gold hair but smiled, while the original Sarah in Larry's body prayed the dweeby underclassman wouldn't mess things up.
The weekend was also a major milestone for Jon herself, since she'd be meeting with Sonia's sister and niece tomorrow for lunch, and welcoming her wife Bella home on Sunday. She was equal parts stressed and excited at the prospect. "For homework, I want a two page essay from everyone reflecting on their first full week, which will be due Wednesday; this is less about reciting your new bios, and more about expressing your responses to your new experiences, so dig deep." There were a few groans about homework, but it wasn't that tough of an assignment. Jon smirked, glad to be the one assigning work rather than doing it, even if she would have to grade it eventually. "For the remainder of class please meet with your partners, go over anything that they already had planned for the weekend and then if you have leftover time, go through the mirroring exercises again."
With that the class began breaking into pairs, and Jon took her seat behind her desk while Sonia dragged a chair up to sit across. Jon smiled at the teenager, "well, Jon, are you looking forward to the weekend?"
Jon's Dress:
