The Swap

She's Not A Clone

In the media box is Brynn/ Melanie, played by Kelli Berglund :)

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"This is so exciting!" I said setting bowls of snacks on the table in my living room.

"I don't feel excited." Melanie said quietly.

I pouted. "Come on, Mel! Turn that frown upside down! My friends will love you."

Tonight was the night that we were starting phase one of our swaping plan.

It was simple: I'd go to her school in her place and change her image a bit. I'd try to get the jerks that tormented her to back down and finally leave her alone. Then, while I did that, she'd go under the protective wings of my best friends and learn the ways of our group. With their help, I was hoping to get Melanie out of her shell a little more. That way, when we finally switched back, she'd be able to handle everyone on her own.

Tonight, though, was going to be the first night that she would meet my friends. They were crazy and fun, and they would probably intimidate her, but it was better that she get used to them right away. It was like ripping the band-aid off. They were a wild group of girls, but I loved them to death. Before Mel, they were the closest things I had to siblings.

We finished setting the snacks on the table and we sat down on the couch. They would be here any minute. We had already changed into our pajamas and I was bouncing with excitment for the sleepover to come. Since I met Mel I hadn't been spending any time with my friends, and I missed it. But now they were going to know. All three of them.

There was Clara: the girly-girl, Maeve: the artsy one, and Marina: the flirt. I was the 'spitfire', or so they say.

Melanie looked around the living room anxiously. I could see her try to mentally trying to calm herself down. Her eyes found the family portrait of my parents and I and turned sad.

"Do you ever feel lonely here?" She asked me.

I shrugged and gave a weak smile. "I got used to it."

Lonely had become a constant in my life, along with the absence of my parents. I loved them and it was hard to be without them so much, but they had a good reason for leaving. They'd been living this life since before I was born.

When I was just six months old I was adopted by a beautiful couple. The husband, Michael, was a neurosurgeon and the wife, Camille, was a registered nurse. The medical field was how they met, when Cammy was at the hospital applying for a job and she passed Michael in the hallway. They said it was love at first sight. Everything was perfect until they found that they couldn't have a baby. Then they found me.

That's the story they told me every night until I was nine, anyway. It was two and a half years ago when I was fifteen that everything changed. Michael was an excellent surgeon. One of the best in the country. So it was him who was offered a huge opportunity. The only catch was he had to travel to different countries for special cases and surgical emergencies.

So, of course, my mother decided to go with him, but they both agreed it would be easier to travel without me there until I finished school. They paid for the house I lived in, but I had to get legally emancipated so that I could live by myself. They got my approval of course, and they didn't just force me into this situation, but the house wasn't the same with only post cards and weekly phone calls to my parents.

And as it turned out, Mel's life wasn't too different. Though she wasn't emancipated, her parents were gone a lot of the time. They were business partners and travel agents. They'd become pretty well-known and their service was high in demand. Melanie and I grew even closer bonding over our similar lives.