Cole loved skating. Her uncle had been big into the skateboarding scene in the 90's, and he could still do a lot of cool moves, even though he was slowing down now that he was in his late 30's. Cole loved going to his place- he had a lot of memorabilia and a huge collection of boards, trophies, and photos of him with other famous skaters.
Her mother kept hoping this was some phase she would grow out of. Cole, on the other hand, wished she could stop growing up- she felt her slender, lightweight body was perfect for skating, and the last thing she wanted was big thighs and a huge chest.
Body issues aside, that Saturday found her at the shopping center. The place had a lot of cool architectural features that Cole really wanted to exploit. She'd got there early, and waited for the place to fill up a bit, so it would be harder for the dumbass security guards to stop her. Then, taking her custom board out of her backpack, she tightened the laces on her Airwalks turned her cap backwards, and recklessly pushed herself into the crowd of shoppers.
She ducked and weaved through the mass of humanity with ease, as she was not only small for her age (just under 4' 9" at age 12), but probably weighed about as much as a balsa wood statue. The guard just came out of nowhere, grabbing her by the hood of her sweatshirt, and lifting her off her board. She could hear the hood rip slightly.
The guard was a fairly handsome young man, looking fresh out of high school. He had short cropped blonde hair, blue-grey eyes, and had the build of an athlete. "Just where do you think you're going, kid? No skating in the shopping center!"
Cole watched as her board continued rolling, coming to a stop after banging against some stupid kiosk. "Let go of me, you fucking mall cop!"
And then, the world twisted. Cole found herself holding up a tiny blonde with one arm. Confused she set the girl down, who looked up at her with wide eyes. Cole was a tall young woman, fresh out of high school- she'd been on her school's basketball team, and she still ran every morning, and worked out with free weights regularly- she wanted to get a gym membership, but even with a partial scholarship, working through school was hard.
She found herself envying the kid, she looked like she was 11, her whole life ahead of her. She really wanted to tell her not to bother growing up, adulthood sucks. Instead, she gave the kid the standard lecture, and let her go reclaim her board.
Josie didn't know what was going on. She was a tiny girl, only 4' 9" despite being 12 years old. The mall cop had come out of nowhere, hefting her off her board with one arm. She'd heard the threads of her hoodie ripping, but it hadn't come off. Damn, that bitch was strong! 'Pretty cute though', she thought, then frowned.
Where had that come from? She reclaimed her board and decided to get the hell out of the overly pretentious 'mall'. What had she been thinking, anyways, coming here, she knew there was extra security right now because...
Wait. How did she know that? After getting outside, she sat down on a bench, trying to think. Ok. She found that she knew a lot about the shopping center's layout, security guard protocols, even where the breakroom and lockers were. How did she know that? Her own memories were muddled as well- she knew her name was Josie Cutter, she loved skating, had learned from her uncle...but now that she thought about it, she suddenly realized she didn't know where she lived! Nor could she put a face to her uncle or her mom!
'What's happening to me?' She also found she knew a lot about basketball, a sport that had never interested her (being short was a decided disadvantage). Man, ever since she'd graduated from high school, things had just...
Wait. High school? She'd just graduated the 7th grade, what was going on? Checking her phone, she found it had no saved numbers. Nor were there any calls in it's history. A blank slate. She shivered, and hugged herself as she started shaking.
It was as if she'd just appeared out of nowhere. She had no past. What was she going to do? 'What would Coach say...oh yeah, if you're lost, turn around and go back the way you came'. She didn't know how 'Coach' was, but it sounded like good advice, so she retraced her steps.
Cole was pretty busy, not long after she'd let the skater girl go, the mall had erupted in chaos- several people had contracted STS (Sudden Transformation Syndrome) and been changed- the ensuing chaos had required her best attempts at crowd control. She had just chased down a slender teen who was now a deer from the waist down, and had been running full tilt in a panic. She was hugging the girl, trying to calm her down. Finally, she was able to get the girl to the paramedics. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to be transformed like that, to become part animal. She'd been surprised when the girl had dashed up to her, and given her a kiss on the cheek before bounding back to the EMT's.
'I've never been kissed before...that felt nice.' She frowned. She was a good looking young woman, why hadn't she ever been kissed in all her 12...18 years? Wait...what? She tried to recall her high school years. Even though she knew she'd been on the basketball team, she couldn't remember her school at all. Nor anyone who went there. In fact, she couldn't recall any details about her life.
Oddly, she knew a lot about skating, even though that had never been an activity that had interested her- she liked having her feet on the ground. Plus, as a tall, well-built girl, she knew she could never be as graceful as that kid she'd nabbed earlier had been.
She sat down and rubbed her head. Her name was Cole Jansen, she knew that. But other than vague memories of a mom and uncle...all she really knew about herself was that she was a security guard, working her way through college, and she'd been an athlete in high school. What the fuck?
Another guard came up to her. She couldn't remember him, but he seemed to know her. "You're Jansen, right? New girl. Are you ok? I saw you with that deer kid, that was good work."
"Uh..yeah, just felt dizzy." She gave him a thumbs up.
"Well that was a lot of running, you might need some carbs in you. Things are going to be crazy for awhile, go take a break, nobody is going to miss you for the next half hour or so."
She smiled at him. "Thanks, dude."
As she headed to the food court, she wondered why her stamina was so low- she ran every day, didn't she?
She nearly ran into the tiny blonde girl from before, who was moving frantically and erratically, as if trying to find something. "Woah, hey there, kid, I almost ran you over!"
The girl looked up at her, and there were tears in her eyes. "I don't know who I am!" She wailed.
Cole never could take a crying girl well, and she tried to comfort the kid. She was really cute too, with blonde hair tied in a ponytail tucked under her ball cap, and a dainty little nose. She had these blue-grey eyes that Cole found particularly striking. 'Why am I checking her out, she's just a kid?' She asked herself, but got no answer. 'Am I some kind of freak?'
She put an arm around the girl and took her to the food court. "Hey, let me buy you something to eat, you look underfed. And we can talk about it, ok?"
The girl nodded, shivering as if she was freezing- a neat trick, given the oversized hoodie she was wearing. Cole didn't have a lot of money, but she was able to get them both a hot dog and a root beer from the A&W. The girl devoured her food, then belched.
"Excuse me...I didn't realize how hungry I was. All I had to eat today was a candy bar."
Funny, Cole recalled she hadn't eaten anything besides a Milky Way today either. "Me too, just a damn Milky Way. Never grow up, kid, being an adult sucks."
The girl frowned. "That's what I had...well when they said high school was the best years of my life, they weren't kidding."
"High school? You can't be out of junior high." Cole blinked.
The girl (her name was Josie, she said) gave Cole a funny look. "You know, you're right, but I swear I can kind of remember playing basketball. Weird, huh?"
"But you don't remember the school..."
Josie's eyes widened. "No, I don't! But I know everything about playing ball. I had a coach who was like a dad to me. I remember I have an uncle who taught me how to skate, and a mom, but that's...it."
"Ok, this is weird. I remember those things too. And not much else either. What's going on?" Cole was trying not to freak out, because if she lost it, this girl wouldn't be far behind her.
They quickly compared notes, and found that their jumbled memories seemed to line up. "Ok, so everything went nuts about the same time I grabbed you off your board..." Josie frowned again.
"You mean when I grabbed you off your board?" Cole ran her fingers through her short black hair. "What the fuck is going on?"
"Is that when people started to change?" Josie had a thought.
"Oh no, you mean...you...I...we..." Cole felt dizzy.
"That's the only explanation. Somehow we got all mixed up together!" Josie was nodding now. "Now we just need to figure out which of us is which."
"What do you mean?" The taller girl blinked.
"Well, one of us, I figure, started the day as a security guard, and the other was the skater girl."
"Well isn't it obvious, I'm the guard. I got the uniform and everything!" Cole protested.
"Yeah, but you said you've never been kissed before, and while I can't remember details, I know I've had sex before. Actually, I'm pretty sure I had a girlfriend...was I a guy before?"
Now that Josie said it, Cole could recall a male security guard. "Oh my God...we switched bodies?"
"No, I mean, otherwise you'd be a boy. It's more like we swapped, I don't know, lives. So I got to be the cute tiny girl, and you're the ex-athlete." Josie shrugged. "That kind of sucks for you, you just lost your teen years, and let me tell you, being an adult sucks."
"What are we going to do? We don't even know if we have homes to go to!" Cole felt tears forming.
Josie got up and put her arms around Cole. "Hey. We can work this out. You and me, we're in this together now, ok? We're a team."
Cole sniffled, but nodded. "So what do we do first?"
"Well, if this is STS, we should contact the authorities, but you should have car and apartment keys. So let's start by finding your...my car."
"Ok Josie...I know how to drive at least." The two girls got up and left the shopping center. By pressing the key fob, they eventually found an older blue Toyota Camry. Cole unlocked the car and they got in- Josie looked like a little kid sitting next to her.
"Ok, being short is weird."
"That's how I feel about being tall! Oh man, what if we're stuck this way? I'm not ready to be 18!"
"Stay jazzed, Cole. One problem at a time, just like coach says."
Cole nodded. "Yeah, I remember that." She turned the ignition. She did have to adjust the seat and mirror a bit, as a girl, she was shorter than Josie had been as a guy. "Hey Josie, what's your real name?"
"Oh hell, I don't know. Joe? Joseph? Josh? Something like that, I think."
"Weird. Ok, well, we can go anywhere, but where do we go?" Cole looked over at the tiny girl.
"Just drive for a bit, maybe something will look familiar."
"Ok, will do."
Then they...