[Lily's POV]

My heart dropped at the sight of the police car right in front of my house. It meant that he was here again. 

He; meaning the cop that comes one too many times, the cop that is constantly forcing my mom to sleep with him.

I ran inside, afraid of what I was going to see inside. I knew I had no choice but to go in and find out for myself. 

The moment I entered my house, I clenched my fists. I tried to ignore the sickening sounds of sex as I ran my way back to my room. I didn't realize I was holding my breath until I shut the door. Tears slid down my cheeks without me realising. 

My legs gave out and I fell to the floor. I felt angry, angry at the cop, at my mom yet I felt so helpless. Tears threatened to fall down my face but I composed myself, crying won't get us anywhere. I had so many mixed emotions going through me right now. 

Resentment for that stupid cop, and pity for my mother. I knew I couldn't do anything about it. I hate that my life has come to this. I wished that my family had money, then this kind of thing wouldn't happen. Instead, we had to suffer through situations like this to get by, 

Trying to not think about what was happening downstairs, I cracked open my French textbook and quickly took out my headphones from my bag and played French music. I mimicked the pronunciation of the singer and wrote down words that I didn't know so that I could search the meaning up later. 

***

I was not privileged or lucky enough to be born into a normal family. I was born in a poor, single-parent family. All I had was my mother and brother, Arthur, who we lovingly call Artie.

I realised this sad reality when I was a little girl. Other girls would have their fathers with their mothers during parent-teacher day, but sometimes my mother couldn't even show up because she had work. 

Aside from my family issues, I had my own. Physically, I wasn't conventionally pretty, I had a very plain face, actually. and I didn't have a modelesque figure. 

Mentally, I had self-esteem issues that affected everything I ever did. 

Socially I wasn't very well off either, I had virtually no friends that I could rely on for anything. I'm also not that good at communicating with other people. 

The only thing I'd consider special about myself were my grades. I was a straight-A student at school. My goal was to maintain my grades so that I could get an excellent college recommendation letter from my principal. 

The recommendation letter combined with my grades were my tickets to an Ivy League ranking university. College was only a few months away, so I needed to keep up my performance at school. 

I knew I was the only hope for this family, so I needed to be the change I wanted to see. 

***

"Come on Lily, it's another fresh day! Everything will be fine!"

I talked to myself the next day as I stepped onto my campus.

But... I was wrong.

A sharp pain pierced through my body as my back hit the wall. I winced at the pain but I tried to hold it in as I didn't want it to show it on my face.

Amy, the head cheerleader stands in front of me with her hands on her hips with a displeased look on her face.

"Do you know why you're here now, Silly Lily?" she menacingly asked.

Silly Lily, the nickname she decided to give me. Amy wasn't the brightest kid in school but she was popular and had power at school. She was a cheerleader and they were not to be messed with. One wrong move and they could make your life in school a living hell.

So basically me right now, though I don't even know what her problem even was with me. 

"No. I don't," I said meekly. 

"How can you not know? Did you think that I was blind? Huh?" she yelled and slapped me in the face. Ouch, my face stung. 

I defensively covered the side of my face that she hit. A sharp pain appeared on my lip, I wiped my lips to see blood on my hands. My lip was cut. I bit my lip anyway because I didn't want it to be visible. I could taste the iron flavor of blood as I did so. 

"I saw you yesterday! You slutty bitch! I saw you talking to MY Chuck!"

Chuck Desmond, head boy of the school. He was very popular and charming. 

...And apparently Amy's Chuck?

"What could you possibly have in common with Chuck Desmond? What the hell did you two talk about?" she screamed while trying to kick me. I quickly rolled into a ball. 

She kicked me again, and again, and again. All the other girls were just laughing at my desperate attempt to protect myself. I couldn't do anything but hold my limbs defensively. I tightly held on to myself, praying that this nightmare would be over soon. I felt so angry yet I hated how deep down I was scared as well. I was alone and I was weak, I couldn't do anything to protect myself.

Then. she grabbed me by my hair and made me sit down normally. She continued tugging on it as she spoke. 

"I know you're poor, so you probably don't have any manners or common sense. So let me teach you some etiquette. A girl like YOU, doesn't just get to talk to a guy like Charles, okay? You are beneath him. So don't you dare even think about putting your filthy hands on him. Am I clear?"

I didn't want to answer her, I didn't want to admit that I was beneath him, beneath her and everyone else in school. But, I knew that if I didn't, she wouldn't let me go, this torture wouldn't end. Lip trembling, I mustered whatever energy I had left, "Yes" I managed to speak out. 

"Good," she said as she let go of my hair, but then kicks my back one more time before leaving. She left the bathroom and so did all her lackeys. 

I sat there for a second and took a deep breath, trying to gain my composure.

I mindlessly stared at the floor. My head felt empty but at the same time, my body was overwhelmed. My body was still trembling, like it was still trying to process what had just happened to me. It slowly sunk in. 

My eyes shed a tear, but I quickly wiped it away as it fell. I didn't want to cry here, because only God knows that if I cry here, I wouldn't be able to stop. 

I was angry, but there was no way for me to release my frustration. I clenched my fists, in an effort to try to resist from standing up and punching the wall. I couldn't afford to do something like that, I needed my hands to do my exams. I bit my lip to stop myself from sobbing uncontrollably, which only worsened the previous wound that was inflicted on me. 

I was used to this pain, I was used to all the bullying. I just needed to numb myself and get through it. 

I pulled myself back up and saw my reflection. 

All I saw was a sad pathetic girl that couldn't do anything. 

I ran out to the wishing lake behind the school. The lake was usually very empty, so it was naturally my favourite spot at school. I always came to this lake during lunch.  It was like my sanctuary. It's quiet, it's free from other people, from the judgement and pain, even if it's for a short while. 

But this time, I went there because I wanted to compose myself. At any moment now I felt like I was going to break into a fit of sobs.  I stood at the edge of the lake and attempted to tidy myself up. 

I combed out my hair with my fingers, trying to make myself look presentable. As I thought about what happened just now, the rage inside me exploded. I felt so exasperated, I messed my own hair up and  yelled. As I was doing so, tears unwillingly fell on my cheeks. 

I fell on my knees and cried. I couldn't hold my feelings back anymore, this was my breaking point. 

"I wish I was stronger. Why aren't you stronger?" I asked myself. 

My chest physically aches as I think about what happened, my family, myself and my life. Why was life so unfair? Why do I have to go through all of this? Why can't I have one thing that makes me happy?

I stood up and stared into my reflection in the water, my mind blank. 

"HEY WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!" I heard someone yell, snapping me out of my thoughts. 

I turned around to face away from the lake to see where the voice came from, and sees a silhouette of a boy running towards me. 

What? No one ever comes here? So who was this? 

I rub my eyes and look back at the person that was walking to my direction, and realised that it was Alex Stewart, the notorious school bully and bad boy. 

Then I suddenly noticed a tall guy heading towards me. Holy shit, it was Alex Stewart, the school's bully. And no doubt about it, he was looking in my direction. 

He started running closer and closer. Why was he here? Why was he looking at me? And more importantly why is he running towards my direction?

I started to panic, I was alone and the lake was pretty secluded. What could Alex want from me? I took steps back out of fear, forgetting that I was at the edge of the lake. I stepped on some wet mud and slipped backwards.

When he was about an arm's length away from me, I took a step back and realised that I wasn't on even ground. Shit, I was going to lose my balance! I slipped on the wet soil at the edge of the lake. I extended my hand out to try and grasp on to something to prevent my fall. 

My hand managed to grab Alex's shirt, but he too lost his balance and fell into the wishing lake with me. 

***

Once my back hit the cold water only did I realise that I had actually fallen into the lake. I flapped my arms around frantically, though that only made me sink into the water deeper.

Everything was darkness to me, I didn't know which part of the lake I was in, and how deep I was in. My heart was pounding, is this how I was going to die?

I can't die just yet, I'm only 17. I have to help my family live comfortably, they need me. I'm their only hope. 

My lungs tightened. Fuck, I was drowning! No! This can't be. I'm too young. There was so much that I wanted to do and stuff I have yet to experience.

I realised my panic made me lose even more oxygen by the second, which terrified me even more. 

Before I knew it, someone's arm was wrapped across my waist. I tried removing the hand from my body and elbowed whoever it was that was behind me. But the person in question was stronger than me and kept a strong grip. 

The person swam towards the edge of the lake, and I extended my hand to pull myself towards the shore. 

When I managed to pull myself back out of the lake, I quickly took a deep breath in to recuperate my oxygen. I could've drowned from that.

"Alex, what are you--" 

Right as I said those words, I noticed that my voice was deep and male-like. I tilted my chin downwards to look at myself, I was wearing the boy's uniform?! I was in a man's body?

I turned around to see that the person that had pulled me to the shore was...me?!

I patted my chest, to feel it flatter than before. What the heck?! I patted the side of my pants, and felt a wallet in my pocket. 

I took it out. This wasn't mine! My wallet wasn't made from leather!

I opened it anyway to double-check my suspicions and saw Alex's ID card. No, no, no, no. This couldn't be real. 

I was in Alex's body?! So who the hell was in mine?!

The person got up from their kneeling position and scrunched my face. They stood up, then as they saw me, their eyes widened. 

"What?!" I heard this person say frantically, he looked down to see my female uniform. A bead of sweat building up his brow.

"Are you… Alex Stewart?" I questioned.

Staring at my own face and body through someone else's eyes, I could see the panic and confusion on my face. He stared right back at me with wide eyes, gaping. After what felt like forever, he finally replied "I am! Who the hell are you and why are you in MY body?!" 

"Oh my God, our souls switched bodies."