AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR

"It is you!" I exclaimed.

I sprinted over to her, nearly forcing her to the driveway beneath her with my hug. "You don't know happy I am to see you."

"Um, okay."

She pushed me away and tucked a loose strand of her dark hair behind her ear. She didn't look at me straight. Her eyes bypassed me and got stuck on her sneakers.

"I'm sorry," she said, still eyeing her shoes. "I have a bad memory, where do I know you from?"

I shook my head, I knew that that was lie. There was nothing wrong with Nell's memory at all, but that is the kind of thing you'd tell people whose names you couldn't remember.

"It's me, Sadie." I said and pointed to my chest. "Remember?"

"Yeah, Sadie," she said uncertain. "You were in my gymnastics class when we were little, right?"

Finally managing to look at me, her eyebrows raised and she managed to give me a stiff smile.

"Nope," I told Nell to her own disappointment. She frowned and crossed her arms in front of her.

"Where are my parents?" I asked. "I really need to see them."

"Uh, my mom's watching TV and my dad's at work," she responded. "But why do you wanna know?"

"I don't. I want to know where my parents are," I corrected.

She shook her head. "I don't know your parents."

"Yes, you do." I craned my head to point to my house next door. "They've lived right there for almost twenty years, longer than you've been alive."

Nell scratched her head. "You mean...Sadie's parents?" she asked. "I think they have errands to do or something."

"I'm Sadie."

"Yeah...I know. But the girl who lives next door to me is named Sadie too."

Boy, this was like talking to a wall.

I took a deep breath. "Where is Sadie?" I asked. And she better have a good answer.

"You have a lot of questions..." Nell muttered. "Sadie should be at her basketball practice by now."

"Sadie's still here? How?"

"Um, yeah she is."

"Can I see her?" I asked.

My body can't still be here, but if it is, I need to see it for myself.

She squinted her eyes. "Why?"

"I need to," I stated, doing my best to keep it short and simple.

"Okay, but where do you know me from?" Nell asked. "Do you know me through Sadie?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "I know you through Sadie because I am Sadie."

She took a few steps backwards. "I think that you're misunderstanding something," she said slowly.

"I'm not misunderstanding anything. We've been best friends for fifteen years, that's how I know you," I uttered out, not breaking eye contact.

"No, no you're not. I've never seen you before in my life! I don't know you!"

Proof! I need proof, but what should I say? One of our inside jokes?

"If I'm not Sadie," I told her. "Then how come I know that you've had the biggest crush on Chester Quimby ever since the eighth grade?"

"I....uh. I don't!"

Yes, I caught her.

"Yes you do," I taunted. "You told me, remember? I'm just stating the facts."

"But how did you know that?" she demanded. "Who are you?"

"Sadie Arlo," I said, feeling accomplished.

She shook her head. "You can't be. I just saw her like forty-five minutes ago and uh," She raised an eyebrow. "Sadie's not Black."

"Well, I am Sadie, and I can prove it too!"

Nell stared back at me, utterly dumbfounded. "No," she mumbled. "You can't prove anything."

Who has two thumbs and likes to prove Nell wrong?

"You're were born Penelope Iris Kissinger on December 8th to Delores and Matthew Kissinger," I started. "You were their third child. Care for me to continue?"

She began to play with her fingers, something her best friend would know was something she'd do when she was nervous or jittery. "Why not?" she asked, trying to hold her ground.

"You are the middle child," I continued. "You have two older siblings named Reyna and Conrad. Reyna's in college while Conrad decided he wanted to have a food truck down in Florida. You also have two younger siblings named Stephen and Jocelyn and you think that they are the biggest brats to ever grace the Earth." I smiled at her. "Need any more proof?"

But I was way too excited to wait for Nell to say something, so instead, I continued on my rampage.

"Your dad's business is this weird pet food that humans can eat too. When you were seven, you tried it and liked it so much that you ate an entire can. You also proceeded to throw it all back up at school the next day. You got so sick that you missed school for a week and almost had to be hospitalized. I brought you your homework everyday after school and watched the entire Land Before Time series with you. Remember that?"

"Yeah but..." she started to say.

"You think that I'm done? I'm just getting started."

"Hmm, let's see," I said. "You went through a very prominent emo phase back in middle school. You straightened only your bangs and exclusively wore black hoodies. Thats when you started to write dark poetry, oh and you listened to screamo. Boy, I'd be embarrassed if I did that."

"Did Sadie tell you all that? I'm gonna kill her," Nell mumbled.

"Go ahead," I dared. "Kill me."

"Okay." She raised her voice. "I don't know what your deal is. Is this a prank? Is this you or Sadie's idea of a practical joke? It so, it's not funny. It's a serious violation of our trust and we need to talk."

"No one put me up to this. I am the Sadie you're talking about."

"No, you're not. Sadie's at basketball practice right now."

"But I'm Sadie," I said, my voice cracking.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you getting so emotional over this?"

"Because I'm Sadie and I'm a big crybaby. Thats what I am," I said, trying to justify my tears. "You make fun of me all the time for that, remember?"

"Uh, no because I've never met you before?"

"But you have!" I shouted. "We met fifteen years ago! I'm Sadie, okay? I'm your best friend!"

"Thats some serious bullshit right there. How many times do I have to tell you? Sadie is at basketball practice."

"She can't be because I'm her!" I screamed, making my throat sore.

"Who are you? Why are you acting like this?" Nell threw her hands in the air.

"I told you who I am!" I shouted in response.

"Well it's not very believable!"

"Why not? I already showed you that I know all your secrets!"

"Why not?!" Nell mocked. "Are you serious? Who do you think you're fooling?"

"I am the most serious that I've ever been in my entire life. Whoever you think is at basketball practice right now is not Sadie because I'm right here."

"So, you're telling me that the girl that I've been calling my best friend is not Sadie? Who else would she be then?"

"I was Sadie until about..." I counted on my fingers. "Thirteen days ago. Nearly two weeks ago I woke up as this girl named Tegan O'Reilly and-"

Nell raised her eyebrows and shook her head. "So you and that Tegan chick switched bodies or something? Are you really suggesting that?"

"Well, no because that's not exactly what happened," I explained. "You see, I didn't switch bodies with her, but everyday after that I became different people and it's been awful. I came to you today in this body. I have no idea what her name is all I know is that she lives in Iowa so I traveled here to come see you. All I want is to spend the day together, because I have no idea where I'll be tomorrow or when I'll see you again."

I caught my breath after saying all that. It was all I had, so it had to be good enough.

"How long have you and Sadie been planning this?" Nell asked, trying a new angle. "You're good, you nearly convinced me."

I groaned. I was getting nowhere with Nell.

"Oh now you're silent? God, it was hard getting you to shut up earlier and now you're not even talking," she said. "I actually think that there is something seriously fucked up with you. I mean, who else would come up with this elaborate scheme?"

Damn, that was a good point. I am fucked up.

"What will it take for you to get out of my face? Do you want to see Sadie? I'll gladly take you to her if it'll get you out of my hair."

"I am S-" I tried to say

"Enough!" she yelled. "I will take you to Sadie so you can see that you're definitely not her. But after that, you're her problem."

I sighed. "Fine, take me to Sadie."

"Yes, thank you!" Nell exclaimed. "It's great to get some compliance once in a while. Let me just get my keys alright? Then we'll get going."

I scowled. "Don't talk down to me like that."

Nell looked at me, a little disgusted, but didn't speak. She walked quickly into her house and returned a second later with her keys in her hand.

Once we were buckled up in the car, Nell turned on the radio, probably to tune me out if I tried to talk to her.

"Stupid Sadie," I heard her mumble. "I've lost all my respect for her. She can't even keep her damn mouth shut."

I did my best to ignore her insulting me right in front of me by listening to the radio. Playing was a song by her favorite band.

"This is 'Summer Says Goodbye'. You love those guys," I said. "Your favorite song by them is-"

"Shut up," Nell said without missing a beat.

And so the rest of the ride was in silence. She drove to Harmony High School where basketball practice was going on and pulled in to the parking lot. It was oddly parallel to the fight we had on The Last Day Of Sadie, I think that we were even in the same parking spot.

Nell hopped out of the car and raced over to my door. There, she practically pulled me out by the elbow and didn't let go. Instead she directed me to the gym and stopped me by the door.

I glanced inside to see my basketball team practicing. Everyone was there it seemed. I mean there was Natalie Kline, Emily Heidelberger, Olivia Wickes, and the rest of my basketball friends. I gave them a little wave but none of them payed me much mind.

Well, that stings like a bee.

"Sadie!" Nell called, cupping her hands around her mouth.

"Yes?" I responded instinctively.

She ignored me.

Someone else had responded to Nell's yelling. She had been sitting on the bench and now she was jogging towards us. That girl was tiny, probably not even five feet tall.

What is she doing on a basketball team?

Oh shit, That girl is me.