Better Late Than Never

'That's okay,' Jenna mumbled.

Mrs. Devon raised her wineglass. 'Let's toast our gifted daughters and vow never to take advantage of their gifts.'

Stuart raised his glass, and so did Mr. Devon. 'To our daughters,' they intoned.

Tracey looked at Jenna, but Jenna averted her eyes. She suspected that Tracey knew exactly what she was thinking, despite not having any mind-reading skills.

Which reminded her of what she'd planned to do to Stuart Kelley. When Mrs. Devon went into the kitchen to get the dessert, Tracey left to help her, and the two men began talking about some movie they'd both seen. It was a good moment to try a little mind reading.

Since the men were talking, their topic of conversation would probably be the uppermost thing on Stuart's mind. But this would be a good opportunity to try what Mrs. Devon had suggested--to see if she could get below the surface thoughts to something deeper.

Her father's--she corrected herself--- Stuart's back was to her, so she had no problem staring. First, she blocked out their voices, the music coming from the stereo, the sounds from the kitchen. Then she concentrated on piercing Stuart's mind.

But she couldn't. She tried again and again, but she couldn't even pick up the superficial thoughts about the movie they were discussing. Was he able to block her, like Emily? No, it was probably Emily's own weird gift that made her unable to be read. This was more like what happened when she tried to read her mother's mind. The family thing . . .

She caught her breath. Then she started coughing.

Mr. Devon poured her some water while Stuart patted her on the back. 'Take deep breaths,' he ordered. She did, and when the coughs died down, she drank the water.

'Are you okay?' Stuart asked.

'I'm fine,' she assured her father. And in her mind, she added, Maybe more than fine.

Chapter 9

AMANDA HAD NOW HAD 24 hours to practice being a boy. Well, not exactly being a boy--other than using the toilet, she hadn't really clone anything boyish. But she'd had a day to get used to feeling like a boy. Which wasn't long. So she still felt very, very strange.

When she'd realized, the morning before, that she was now inside Ken Preston's body, she'd been pretty stunned. Even though that had been one of her original plans, she hadn't been aware that she'd been feeling sorry for Ken. But apparently those feelings she'd had after seeing him on Tuesday were real sympathy and pity, not simply distaste at seeing a boy cry.

So now she was in a body unlike any she'd ever known before. Thinking about it now, she had been a boy once--little Martin Cooper from the gifted class, years ago when he'd lived across the street from her and she'd seen him being bullied. But that had lasted only a minute or two, and at that age, she probably hadn't been all that aware of the difference between boys and girls anyway.

Now she was very much aware. When she'd climbed out of bed the day before, she couldn't even bring herself to take off her clothes to have a shower--it had been just too embarrassing to look at the body she was in. She'd realized that, other than babies and statues, she'd never seen a totally nude male before. It was all too much. So when Ken's mother appeared at the door and demanded to know why he hadn't come down for breakfast, she pretended to have an upset stomach and a sore throat. For a moment, Amanda was afraid that Mrs. Preston might call a doctor, but instead she decided he should stay in bed and see how he felt the next day. Then Mrs. Preston took Ken's little sister to school. And as it turned out, she had a job, so Amanda could be alone and had the house to herself all day.

With this body, so different from her own, nothing was easy. Talking, moving, eating--everything felt as though she were in a costume. Walking on legs that weren't her own was particularly difficult--she kept stumbling and tripping as she moved around Ken's house. When she spoke out loud and heard someone else's voice, it utterly freaked her out.

Of course, she'd had the experience of spending a long time inside another person's body, but at least Tracey Devon was a girl. And something interesting occurred to her. Despite the fact that Tracey was a total nerd and she, Amanda, was fabulous, it hadn't been this hard being Tracey. She shuddered to think that maybe she and Tracey had more in common than she'd ever suspected.

Size made a big difference. She and Tracey were approximately the same height, but Ken was a lot taller. Going up and down stairs, reaching for things-- everything like that felt awkward. There was no way she'd go back to school until she could feel--well, not normal (she couldn't hope for that), but at least not goofy.

She still felt goofy that morning, but she couldn't stay at home another day or Ken's mother would drag her to a doctor. So she got up, showered with her eyes closed, put on jeans and a T-shirt, and just hoped that Ken wouldn't have to wear a tie while she was in his body--she had no idea how guys made those knots.

Checking herself out in the mirror, she wasn't displeased. If she had to be a boy, at least she was a good- looking one. And she had to admit it was kind of nice not to have to spend the usual time fixing her hair and putting on makeup.

She went down to the kitchen. Ken's father had already left for work, and his mother was helping his little sister with her coat.

'Feeling better?' she asked Ken-Amanda.

'Yeah, fine,' she replied. She took a bowl and examined the cereal boxes on the counter. 'Don't we have any Special K?'

Mrs. Preston was taken aback. 'Special K? Why would we have that?'

Amanda always ate Special K in the morning, because it was supposed to be good for her figure. How stupid of her--guys probably didn't worry about stuff like that. She'd have to be more careful about what she said.

'Oh, I was just curious what it tastes like,' she lied.

Mrs. Preston still looked puzzled. 'You've been eating Cocoa Puffs since you've had teeth, Ken. I can't believe you're interested in trying something else now.'

'I'm a teenager,' Amanda said lamely. 'We do crazy things.' She poured herself some Cocoa Puffs and was amazed to find how good they were. It occurred to her that boys always seemed to eat a lot more than girls. She'd have to take advantage of this body and indulge in the treats she was always denying her real self.

Luckily, she could remember Ken's schedule from constantly looking at that photocopy she had, so she knew where to go when she arrived at school. Unfortunately, she didn't know his locker number, so she'd have to lug his stuff around with her all day, but Ken used a backpack, so that wasn't too bad.

She'd just walked into his homeroom when she felt a hard smack on her shoulders. 'Hey!' she cried out in outrage, before she remembered that guys were always slapping one another on the back.

Barry Levin looked at him in surprise. 'What's the matter?'

'Oh, nothing--I, um, pulled a muscle,' she said quickly. 'What's up?'

'Not much. You ready for the French test?'

Her heart sank. Amanda took Spanish. 'Nah, I'm toast. I'm gonna blow it.'

Barry grinned. 'Yeah, right. Mister Straight A is gonna blow a test.'

She managed a sickly smile. With any luck, there would be a smart person sitting in front of her whose paper she could copy.

As the day went on, she discovered some interesting facts about the social life of boys. They didn't gossip about one another, they didn't compliment one another's clothes or hair, they didn't talk behind one another's backs. She didn't have to talk much at all-- she just acted interested in whatever sport the other guys were discussing. Fortunately, Ken had a reputation for being pretty quiet, so nobody seemed to expect him to take the lead in conversations.