After she had bid Jacob goodnight, Emily headed for her sister's room, but didn't go to sleep right away. Instead, she sat on her sister's bed and looked at the room, which was a lot cleaner and, in Emily's opinion, smelled a whole lot better since she'd gotten rid of Kaitlyn's experiments. Looking down, she studied the pyjamas she wore, the fact that her sister's chest barely pushed out any further than a pair of breast buds and grimaced at the thought of having to start puberty again.
The feeling of missing the B cup swell of her own breasts, how mature and confident she usually felt, and generally everything about her life, she wished that she was still in her own body. Sighing, she climbed under the fresh sheets and comforter she'd put on her sister's bed and stared into the darkness. Her mind never settling on one thing, she eventually slipped into a fitful doze.
In the morning, as she sat up and let her legs hang over the side of her sister's bed, Emily reflected that if she had dreamed, she couldn't remember anything of what the dreams had been about. Glancing at the alarm clock she'd found buried in the closet, she noted that she'd woken nearly an hour before she had to. Wondering if Jacob was awake and up, she stretched, stood and stumbled across Kaitlyn's room, her gait clumsy and unsure, much the same way Kaitlyn's often was.
Jacob meanwhile lay in Emily's bed, refusing to open his eyes, confused by a series of warring thoughts that didn't want to leave him. On one hand, he was sure that he was Jacob and that somehow he'd switched bodies with Emily Johnson. Yet, something insisted this was ridiculous, that swapping bodies was impossible and that he was a girl named Emily Johnson. That it had simply been one of the rather odd and vivid dreams he'd had. Shifting slightly, still refusing to open his eyes, he could feel his breasts rubbing against his nightshirt, could reach down and press the front of the garment into his groin and feel nothing out front, could speak and listen to his voice, and even move and feel his long ginger hair brushing against the side of his face and ears. These, and other things, seemed to him to confirm that he was a girl.
Slowly opening his eyes, Jacob mumbled, "What the hell is happening to me?" as he stared at the alarm clock, which said there was still about an hours time before he had to get up.
Unable to come to terms with whether he was a girl or a boy, but wanting to hold onto the notion that he was a boy, "Especially since I keep thinking my name is Jacob," he reasoned, he pushed back the covers and climbed out of bed. Stretching, yawning, he eventually shuffled across the bedroom and out into the hall. Heading for the bathroom, the call of nature urging him on, he dreaded the idea of taking a shower. Softly shutting the door and heading for the toilet, he sat down.
Outside in the hall, unaware that she'd missed Jacob by a mere couple seconds, Emily headed toward her former bedroom. Knocking, she whispered, "Jay? You up yet?" and getting no answer, she pushed open the door.
The bed, empty and unmade, greeted her and for a moment Emily had a flash of terror that something had happened in the night. But then she heard the toilet flushing and turning away, she quickly headed for the bathroom. Meeting Jacob as he came out, Emily whispered, "Morning," to which Jay acknowledged in a sleepy sort of sleepy voice.
Making a motion toward the bathroom, Emily led him back into the room. There, she explained, "I take a shower each morning. So, since you're me, that means you're going to have to take a shower," and taking a couple wash clothes, a towel, a hand towel and various bottles, a razor and other what-knot out of the bathroom cupboards and medicine chest, she began to explain to Jacob the way to wash his female body, but then stopped when she saw the look of confusion on his face. Thinking it weird to be looking at herself, and seeing the look of not getting it written across her face as Jacob furrowed his brows, stuck out his lower lip, wrinkled his nose and stared blankly at the bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, facial wash, cleansers, shaving cream and a host of other feminine hygiene products.
"You're not getting it, are you?" Emily asked after a moment.
Jacob, shaking his head, eventually picked up a facial cleanser and began studying the bluish-green bottle. After a couple seconds, he replied, "This seems kind of, I dunno, excessive. Couldn't I simple bathe like I normally do? I mean, would it seriously make that much of a difference."
Outraged, Emily wanted to snap that it would. Instead, she took a deep breath and took the bottle from Jay. Explaining, "It does make a difference," and setting it back on the sink, she began to explain why it was important to shower the way she was telling him.
When she finished that, she tried again, in a different way, to spell out how he was to shower, but stopped after a moment when she saw he still wasn't getting it. Taking a deep breath, she thought for a moment on how else to explain it before huffing out, "I guess the best way would be to show you," to which she noted Jacob began to blush.
Jay, fumbling for some response, eventually stuttered out, "Is that, well, um, appropriate?"
Emily, picking up the bottles and what-not, and putting them in the shower, replied, "It's fine," as she began running the tap part of the walk-in shower.
When the water was warm enough, she turned back to Jacob and told him, "Strip," as she grasped the hem of the shirt part of Kaitlyn's pyjamas, pulled it up and over her head, then tossed it into the laundry hamper.
Embarrassed, unsure what he should be looking at, feeling it wasn't appropriate to see his sister nude, Jacob shucked off the nightshirt he was wearing and tossed it into the hamper as Emily removed the pyjama bottoms and underwear she was wearing. The feeling that he was a girl leaving him briefly, Jacob tried hard not to stare at Emily's naked thirteen-year-old body as she picked up the shaving cream and razor. Telling him, "Hold one of your arms up and behind your head. With your other hand, put spread some of the cream over your exposed armpit. Then, after wetting it, use the razor to shave," she handed him the can and razor, then guided him through shaving first his armpits, then his legs.
After that, he legs and arms still stinging, a few nicks on his legs still bleeding, he followed Emily into the walk-in shower. There, he followed her lead as he washed his hair, his face, then his body, with only touching the pert B cup swell and his privates giving him pause as he once more felt like he was crossing a boundary he shouldn't. When they had finished that, he did as she told him by rubbing over his body and face a couple lotions and products he didn't know how to describe. Smelling sweet, he used one of the hand towels to dry his hair, then wrapped around his head. Next, he used a large towel to dry body, which he wrapped around his torso afterward. Watching as Emily did the same, Jacob found himself feeling fresh. A feeling that any time before, he hadn't actually washed himself, settling over him, he followed Emily back to her room. Trying to find words to describe what he was feeling and why he liked it, but, unable to do that, he decided that it wasn't really important after a bit.
Back in Emily's room, he stood by the vanity and watched as she took out a pair of black leggings, a pair of socks, panties that he thought looked rather small, a bra, short sleeve shirt and, from her closet, a plaid button-up shirt. Turning back to him, she handed him the underwear and the box of panty liners, which he wasn't sure when she'd grabbed them. Telling him, "You want to put the liner in the middle of the underwear," she began guiding him first in getting dressed in her clothes, with the bra once again causing him the biggest hang-up. Once he was dressed, she had him sit down at her vanity, where she had him work a brush through her hair, teasing it into something he thought looked cute, attractive, yet simple, then applying a touch of lip gloss.
When they were done with this, Emily stepped back and examined him. Nodding, she smiled and said, "Congratulations. You look like me," and waiting to see if he'd say anything, she eventually said, "I'll meet you downstairs in a bit," before heading out of the room.
Alone, Jacob looked into the mirror above Emily's vanity and smiled. Turning his head first one way, then another, he started to think that Emily was really pretty, but then stopped and thought that he was very pretty. Looking away from the mirror, suddenly aware that he'd actually thought of himself as being a beautiful girl, the need to impress Michael washing over him, Jacob clasped his hands together and pressed them into his lap. Feeling them pressing into the soft leggings, which, combined with the underwear, pressed comfortably into the front of his crotch, Jacob whispered, "Am I losing myself?" as he tried to remember his life as Jacob, but found himself drawing a blanks on some things, like the name of his sister, he was sure it was Kaitlyn but that didn't seem right, who his best friend was, "Was it Madison? Or someone else?" he asked himself, and what his favourite super hero was, which he wondered why he would ever read a comic.
Scared, he glanced once more into the mirror. Seeing his reflection, thinking that he was rather beautiful, Jacob heaved a sigh. Watching as he pert chest moved, the soft bra shifting, the cotton shirt rubbing against his skin, he stood and turned away from the mirror. Looking at his room, forgetting for the moment it wasn't, he asked himself, "Emily? Or Jacob?" and found himself uncertain and fearing the answer.