Switched

Chapter 6 - Friends

The moment Michael walked in through the double doors, he felt self-conscious. It wasn't because he felt uncomfortable in his clothes or his body. But more so, because everyone was staring at him.

It was a little creepy how everyone turned their heads to stare at him just as he walked in.

He didn't know why though. It could've been because he was wearing masculine clothes and girls usually didn't wear that, or maybe because everyone knew that he was a 45-year-old man in an 18-year-old girl's body.

He tried to ignore their stares as he kept his chin up but as soon as he walked over to the lockers, he slapped his own forehead.

"Damn it, I forgot to ask for her locker."

Michael mumbled to himself as he took Andrea's phone out of his pocket.

The two had exchanged phones since they had to handle each other's businesses without being suspicious.

Just as he unlocked the phone, he smiled as he saw a picture of Lisa as the background photo. It was of when she was only 6-years-old. It was a cute picture and Lisa was smiling widely in it.

It reminded Michael that Andrea loved her younger sister more than she would let on at times.

Touching the screen, he went to the contacts list to call himself.

Putting the phone to his ear, he looked around at the students looking at him again.

It only took two bells more for Andrea to finally pick up, "Already missing me?"

Michael rolled his eyes, before he spoke up, "I don't know your locker number."

He heard a snicker from the other side before he heard an answer, "It's 63."

"Okay, that was all. You also have your class schedule in there, right?"

"Yeah, also some stupid-ass books you'll probably need."

Michael frowned as he walked over to the locker 63. "Young lady, books are not stupid."

"Psh, and the sky isn't blue. What's your point?" Michael sighed as he reached the locker. "What's the code?"

"6969."

Michael wanted to slap his forehead at his daughter's level of crudeness but controlled himself as he opened up the locker and tried to find the schedule sheet. "How's it going in the office though?"

"Eh, I just found out you and Fredrick are nerds. Plus, a few of the women here have a crush on you. Also, I have no idea what to do about the files on your table?"

Michael sighed again as he found the schedule and looked at it just to take out the books he needed from the locker.

"Ask Fredrick for some help. He'll probably help you."

"No way am I going to talk into a can just because I need help. Can I just make up numbers and write them in the files?"

"Don't do that. Those are important files, ask Fredrick for help even if you don't like it. Don't mess anything and get me fired."

Michael heard Andrea sigh into the phone before he heard the call being cut from the other side. "Rude." He mumbled to himself before he closed the locker with the books in his hands.

He noticed that a group of girls kept staring at him.

They looked a little more serious than the regular students that just stared at him, got bored and then moved on.

There was just one girl in that group of four, that didn't stare at Andrea's body like she wanted to kill her.

It was weird and Michael made a mental note to ask Andrea about it later.

........................................................

"Hanning!" Andrea jumped in her seat as soon as she heard her last name being called loudly. She had been sleeping with her head on the desk which was probably not something to do at the workplace, she guessed.

"Have you been sleeping?" She looked at a small stubby man standing behind her. He looked way older than he must've been since he didn't have that many wrinkles on his face.

"Uh, no." The man gave her a frown before he looked at the stack of files that were still sat in the corner untouched.

"I needed those last week!" Andrea turned to look at the files he was looking at before she shrugged her shoulders. "I was on leave, sir?"

She felt like this was maybe the boss since he was acting like a bitchy boss anyway.

"Doesn't make a good excuse. You seem fine to me now, why were you sleeping then?"

"Sir, Michael was probably tired. His daughter was also in the accident and he probably looked after her too. You know how he is; don't you remember how tired he usually was when his wife was sick." Fredrick came out of nowhere for Michael's defense which made Andrea raise an eyebrow.

The boss man just frowned in response. "I don't care about it anymore. Either he works or he gets fired."

There were gasps all around the office as the boss raised an eyebrow in question. Andrea suddenly realized where the situation was headed as she stood up on her feet to apologize for whatever she had done wrong, even though she did nothing wrong according to her book.

"I'm sorry, sir, for not working. I'll get back to work."

The man smiled with satisfaction before he nodded his head. "Try not to sleep again, or you can just stay home and sleep all day."

Andrea sighed as the small man wobbled away. She plopped down on her chair as Fredrick looked at her with a frown. "Wow, he's not kidding. I've never seen him threaten to fire you before. I mean, back when Amelia was sick, he didn't care much whether you came to the office or not, but now he just seems so serious."

Andrea just nodded her head before she looked at the stack of files on her table.

"Uh, Fred, can you please help me out with those?"

Fredrick smiled as he looked at Michael. "I've never heard you call me by my first name before."

Raising an eyebrow in question, Andrea questioned, "Then what did I call you before?"

Fredrick frowned before he tilted his head to look at the man in front of him. "By my last name."

"And what's your last name?"

Andrea's patience was once again wearing thin as she stared at him for an answer. "You know my last name, buddy."

She had to try her hardest not to cuss this man out as she nodded her head and turned towards her desk.

"Well, whatever I called you before sounds wrong now. Friends should call each other by their own names. Aren't we friends?"

Fredrick looked at Michael with disbelief, not knowing what had really happened to this man, but he smiled in happiness.

"Yeah, we're friends. You can call me Fred."

Andrea smiled up at him before she grabbed a file to work on. "Can I call you Mike then?"

"Michael's fine."

Fredrick laughed as he sat down on the other chair in the cubicle to help out his co-worker. "Worth a shot."

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