Sister Switch

by Beth Garrod

  Wait. Did Agatha mean the acting? Or the swap?

  She was so confusing!

  Erin and I glanced at each other.

  Could the switch be about to happen?

  But no! Agatha had stood up and was gesturing to the door.

  What was she doing?!

  ‘But, Agatha,’ my sister protested. ‘Our last chance? We thought if we came to see you today…’ But it was too late. Somehow we were already at the door. And without knowing what I was doing, my shaky hand was pushing it open, my sister following behind me.

  We were heading back out into the corridor.

  There were people everywhere again.

  And Agatha hadn’t swapped us back!

  ‘PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEATS. FIVE MINUTES UNTIL CURTAIN-UP FOR THE SECOND HALF.’

  What was going on?

  I stepped out of Agatha’s room, blinking as the venue lights flickered off and back on. They really needed to sort the electrics out – Singed Simon wouldn’t be able to survive three more nights of performances here with such dodgy circuitry. But now wasn’t the time to worry about electrics! I had the rest of eternity of being Erin to deal with. I put my hand out, and felt hers in mine.

  This was a disaster. But at least we had each other.

  And I really needed her, as Ben was striding towards us.

  ‘Babe, I’ve been looking for you everywhere!’ he shouted as he broke into a run. Woah, he was with the whole crew. Micha, my parents, even Mrs Saddler. Which meant I’d just been called ‘babe’ in front of Mrs Saddler. Lucky I was feeling pretty resilient. ‘I just popped out to pick these up.’ He waved some train tickets. ‘Even better than a lucky rock, hey?’ Wow, my mind boggled. ‘They’re our “Erin’s been so great as Titania we’re joining my parents on a mini-break” tickets!’ So that was the break he meant? PH-EWWW! I sighed so hard I made Mrs Saddler’s fringe flap up. ‘Come here… I need to give you a major one of these…’

  And with the relief, and weeks of practising holding in horrified looks, I finally felt I could do it. Make physical contact with Ben.

  I opened my arms wide and went in for a big hug. ‘Yes, baaaaabe.’

  But he didn’t give me the big bear hug I expected back – it was more like hugging a postbox. And when I twisted my head, Ben looked… frightened? Oh well. I carried on anyway. In for an Erin-penny, in for a pound. I only stopped when I remembered I wanted Micha to have her moment too. ‘And can I say from one chemistry star student to another, congrats, Micha Ndiaye!’

  But Mich was looking at me the same way she did when people put beans and tuna in their jacket potato.

  ‘Er, thanks, Lil. Everything okay?’

  Why was Micha looking so weird?

  Was it the shock of hugging Chase Cheney?

  Wait.

  What?

  ‘SORRY, WHAT DID YOU SAY?’ I shouted so loudly the entire corridor turned round.

  Micha looked even more alarmed than Ben.

  ‘I said… everything okay, Lil?’ Micha looked concerned. ‘Or would you rather I said “porcupine”?’

  But I’d heard right! She’d called me by my name?! My stomach knotted. Could this mean…

  I slowly turned to my sister – who at the same time turned to me.

  The moment of truth.

  And the truth was… there she was. My big sister. Looking exactly like she should. WAHOOOOO!!! Never had I been happier to see her face! Her perfect, grinning Erin-face.

  And with the biggest cheer, we gave each other the world’s biggest hug.

  We’d done it.

  Being back in my own body had never felt so good.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  I wouldn’t have a clue what I was doing backstage in the second half but who cared? We were back in our right bodies! Micha and I were friends again! And Erin was going to get to show the world, show Chinyere Okafor, how great she really was.

  But as Erin and I dashed back to the stage, my sister pushed a car key into my hand. It had the same keyring as Mum’s.

  ‘Don’t ask. But head to the props van. Say I asked you to get the spare key because we were worried. And hurry.’

  My sister wasn’t making any sense, but we had just been eating cookies with a time-stopping body-swapping hairdresser, so I figured I should just go with it and darted off on my own. As I ran I pulled my hair out of the braid Erin had it in and tugged it into my normal messy ponytail. That was better!

  But when I unlocked the back doors of the van something I wasn’t expecting was inside. Something in among all the empty boxes, spare donkey ears and unopened apples.

  A very relieved-looking Frankie.

  ‘Finally!’ She lunged straight for me and gave me a massive hug. ‘I thought no one was going to come till after the curtain went down!’

  First a body transformation from a magical hairdresser. Now a Frankie hug. Today was weird indeed. ‘Er…’ I think I was more shocked than her. ‘It was Erin who told me to come. She found the spare key in the interval.’ I remembered my sister’s instructions. ‘She was worried about you. We both were…’ I trailed off.

  Frankie laughed awkwardly. ‘Well, thank goodness for Erin!’ Did she just wince? ‘I was worried about me too.’

  ‘You… okay?’

  ‘I guess. Bored. Cold. But better now…’ She smoothed down her ponytail, and took the spare key out of my hand, giving it a weird look. ‘I really thought I’d picked up the right key, but I must have been in too much of a rush to get the first-aid kit.’

  ‘Did someone hurt themselves?’ What had I missed?

  And this time Frankie definitely winced. ‘Your sister actually. She cut her finger.’

  It wasn’t my imagination. Franke was definitely being shifty. I couldn’t help but think there was a lot more to this than she was telling me.

  I gave her a hand down as she jumped out. Did I recognize those little bits of white paper sticking out of her pocket? They looked very much like the prompts Erin had made that had all vanished. Frankie saw me notice them and stuffed her hand into her pocket.

  But it was too late. I didn’t care what Erin thought, now I had proof Frankie had messed with the props.

  How dare she?! She knew how much this performance meant to my sister. She’d said it to me herself! And then been so friendly to me earlier?!

  ‘How’s the play been going?’ Frankie was trying to move my attention on. But after months of being too scared to stand up to her, I finally felt ready to call her out.

  ‘Not… ideal.’ Maybe I’d start by seeing how she’d react to all the problems. ‘There was some unexpected banana drama.’ Instead of looking shocked, Frankie just looked at the ground. I knew it. It had been her!

  It was time for me to tell her I’d figured out her little plan to sabotage the play.

  Time to tell her I wouldn’t stand for her walking all over me.

  ‘Look, Frankie,’ I started. But as she looked back, I didn’t see the Frankie who had been making my life a misery. I saw a Frankie who had been stuck in a van for over an hour, a Frankie who knew she’d been rumbled, a Frankie who I hadn’t exactly been great to, in my body or my sister’s, a Frankie who had her own problems, even if I hadn’t seen them before.

  ‘Can I just say…’ But if I really did want things to pick up for Erin in the second half, was it right for me to start a huge fight – or would it be better to finally put everything behind us? ‘… that I’m really sorry, again. For your phone. And Chase. And just well… can we put this term behind us?’

  Instead of smirking, Frankie nodded. ‘You know what? I think that sounds like a great idea.’ I swear she mumbled something that sounded like a ‘sorry’. But I didn’t need one. What I needed was for the second half to go well.

  The two of us raced back inside and in the nick of time. With Erin’s step-by-step plan making it super easy, and Frankie and me both working extra hard, we got the stage ready for the curtain to go up.

  And the second half went bet
ter than I could have ever wanted, because from the second she stepped on stage, Erin’s performance blew everyone away.

  Proud sister alert. And the audience looked equally under my sister’s spell. She was channelling even more magic than Agatha! Dad kept dabbing tears from his semi-black eye, Mum was taking really unsubtle photos with the iPad hidden on her lap, Ben had unleashed his ‘I’m With Titania’ T-shirt, and Micha, sitting next to them, was grinning from ear to ear. Agatha looked content back in her seat, and Chinyere Okafor was furiously writing in her notebook. I thought I even saw Mrs Saddler smile. A tiny dramatic smile. There really was a first time for everything.

  When the curtain fell the crowd erupted. I couldn’t help it – I ran on stage and gave Erin the biggest hug.

  ‘You were A-MAY-ZING!’ I squeezed her so hard I almost knocked her fairy crown off.

  ‘You think?’ she asked as if she really didn’t know.

  ‘Perfectio. In fact, what’s better than perfect?’ But I was out of time. The curtain was rising back up. I needed to scarper. Erin stepped forward, causing the whole crowd to roar (and then join Dad in his unauthorized Mexican wave). Now it wasn’t just my family, everyone knew my sister was a star – and hopefully she’d start to believe it too.

  But instead of soaking up her moment, once the rest of the cast had come out, Erin started a chant of, ‘Backstage crew! Backstage crew!’ Mum, Dad, Micha and Ben joined in so loudly that soon the whole place was yelling it. I looked a complete mess, and was pretty sure my pen had leaked when I was chewing it, but Frankie and Singed Simon grabbed me and out we went.

  As we took a bow, the crowd went wild. But best of all was the front row – Dad had whipped out his air horn (he must have smuggled it out!) and was honking with wild abandon, Mum’s free hand was waving around in the air like she just didn’t care, and Micha and Ben had climbed on their seats. Mum and Dad seemed just as proud of what I’d done backstage as they were of my sister in her huge role! Maybe they didn’t always think Erin was better after all?

  Arm in arm with my sister, I looked out. At my best friend who was shouting, ‘Brava, Lily!’, at Chinyere Okafor who was on her feet for a standing ovation, even Nic cheering as she took photos. Although… was Cockapoo Karen yelling something?

  I tilted my head to pick it out from all the noise. ‘Stand up straight, Frances! Smile!’

  Sorry, was she yelling at… Frankie?

  Nooooooooooooooo.

  Please tell me that wasn’t her mum!

  Or at least that I was the only one who remembered the cockapoo thing.

  ‘Your mum is Cockapoo Karen?’ Singed Simon hissed to Frankie.

  ‘Don’t!’ Frankie snapped back. ‘I never want to hear that name again!’

  And suddenly it all made sense. The reason Frankie had hated me all term.

  My most popular blog piece had compared her mum to a cockapoo. It was meant to be a compliment! I guessed Nic had found it funny – she’d reposted it after all – but Frankie couldn’t have done. And she couldn’t just ask me to take it down, because then I’d know her mum was Cockapoo Karen. Weirdly, I felt… relieved. I grabbed Frankie’s hand, Singed Simon’s too, and lifted them both in the air, unleashing yet another roar from the audience.

  We were all still buzzing when we eventually made it offstage.

  Erin and I made our way to find Mum and Dad. When we spotted them in the crowd talking to Mrs Saddler and Chinyere, we rushed over. I just had to hope Mrs Saddler wasn’t going to kill my vibe and give me another detention for being late earlier.

  But someone else appeared from nowhere and beat us to them.

  ‘Mr Mavers, how superb to see you again.’ Agatha embraced my dad. ‘And you must be their wonderful mum I’ve heard all about.’ She’d bundled Mum up into a hug before she could respond. ‘I really hope you don’t mind me saying what an amazing job your girls did tonight.’ Agatha paused. ‘And in the events leading up to it.’ Mum and Dad looked confused – but also as if they were willing to overlook that and enjoy the compliment. ‘From what I can see, neither of them could have done it without each other. A true partnership. I think we can all agree?’

  Mum and Dad nodded, but I didn’t have time to say thank you as somehow Agatha had gone.

  Mum’s eyes were wide. ‘Whoooo was that?! She was incredible.’

  We all turned to look at where Agatha had disappeared into the crowd, but the only evidence she’d even been here was a business card Dad now held in his hand.

  The Hairy Godmother:

  Get ready for a real transformation!

  ‘That, Mother, was Agatha.’ I couldn’t stop smiling. ‘The Hairy Godmother. That Dad took us to.’

  Mum nodded, impressed. ‘Think I might book myself in.’

  And with a simultaneous, ‘No,’ Erin and I burst out laughing.

  Mrs Saddler coughed.

  ‘Sorry to interrupt, but as you can imagine I’ve got some very busy and important things to be getting on with.’ She waited for someone to ask what, but no one did. ‘I wanted to congratulate you, Erin… In fact, both of you. That second half was one of the most spectacular pieces of theatre I’ve ever seen.’

  ‘So spectacular.’ Chinyere Okafor held her hand out towards my sister. ‘You’re not just looking at a stunning Titania – but also the newest student at my academy.’ She grinned at Erin. ‘That is, if you’d still like the scholarship?’

  Erin’s jaw dropped.

  ‘So does this mean…’ Dad’s voice was breaking. Mum put her hand on his arm to help him hold it together, but her eyes were firmly fixed on Erin.

  Who, with a shaking voice, said, ‘Yes.’

  And, ‘Thank you.’

  And, ‘Sorry about the banana.’

  With the hugest whoop of the whole night, arms flying everywhere, all eight of us – me, my sister, Micha, Ben, Mum, Dad, Chinyere Okafor and even Mrs Saddler – bunched up in the biggest, happiest hug.

  It was so good to be back to being me.

  Even if I had accidentally leapt on Ben’s previously unbroken foot and very much had my arm round Mrs Saddler.

  I guessed normal Lily business had resumed.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  Never had meeting Micha in town felt so good. Having our regular fifty-pence chips at the greasy spoon café felt like the best treat in the world.

  There really was nothing better than hanging out with my best friend and talking about… well, nothing much. But that was the point. Even the small, stupid stuff was fun with Mich.

  Erin and Ben were meeting us at four p.m. Lou was coming too – with her new boyfriend, Harley. They’d got together two weeks after the play. She’d told my sister he often quoted lines from it to be romantic. Bleurgh. Micha and I had since agreed maybe he wasn’t that perfect after all. Still, the bigger news was that Lou had got an audition for Chinyere Okafor’s Drama Academy too, and Erin had been helping her rehearse whenever they got a spare second.

  Micha sipped her milkshake. Today’s brunch was on me – I’d told the grumpy guy serving us to do double toppings. Which meant I couldn’t really see Micha’s face behind the tower of squirty cream when she asked, ‘So tell me again what we’re doing with your sister?’

  ‘Micha, they’re spending the afternoon playing Castles! Chaos! Cows! The team version. They’re just coming to say hi.’

  Since the swap, things had changed between me and Erin – we were closer than ever. But… it would take a lot more than an entire body swap and the most stressful time of my entire life for me to willingly invite her to a whole Saturday with Micha.

  Erin and I had been hanging out in the evenings though, just like the old days. I’d forgotten how good it was to wind up Dad together and gossip in her room. Which is exactly where I was when she’d given me the real story of what happened the night of the play. When I said I thought all the trouble with the props was Frankie, and Erin said she knew who it was, what she didn’t have time to explain was that she wasn’t c
orrecting me. She was trying to tell me she knew for a fact it was Frankie.

  Frankie hadn’t forgiven us for the tickets like she’d said she had. So when she realized her backstage partner was going to be stuck at LOLCon, she’d spent the morning removing all the prompts to throw Erin’s performance off. She’d even thrown in the banana for good measure. The next part of her plan had been even worse – to get Lily locked in the props van once she got back from LOLCon, so she couldn’t put anything right, and would get in even more trouble with Mrs Saddler for disappearing.

  So that was why Frankie had messaged pretending Nic wanted to meet Lily in the van. But when I’d forwarded that message to my sister, Erin was running back from helping Micha and had seen Nic outside LOLCon, which is when she started to think maybe it was a set-up. She went to find Frankie to talk about it, but instead ended up overhearing Frankie telling PJ she was waiting for Lily to arrive so she could get her stuck in the van and out of the way. So, determined to stop Frankie doing any more damage, just before the play started Erin had swapped the van key for Mum and Dad’s car key, keyring and all, and pretended to Singed Simon she’d cut her finger. He’d then asked Frankie to run to get the first-aid kit from the van and it locked behind her.

  I’d been so shocked I’d had to collapse immediately on Erin’s bed! I never knew my sister could be devious! And I liked it! Especially as Mrs Saddler now reckoned I was a hero for managing the first half on my own, and then finding Frankie too.

  Not that Frankie and I had talked that much since the play finished – now we’d called a truce I think we both wanted to move on. I’d realized Frankie’s life wasn’t as easy as it looked, and although she’d tried to ruin the play, we hadn’t exactly been great to her. Which was why I was really happy Erin had managed one last thing when she’d still been in my body. Turns out she had managed to have a quick chat with Chase at LOLCon after all – and had wangled two pairs of backstage passes for his next tour. My sister and I had already given them to Frankie and Micha to make up for what had happened last time.