Falling in Reverse

CHAPTER 3

*

The next day, everyone gawked at the fact that the popular Wyatt Griffin came to school together with the what's-her-face Devine. They were both messes, as the morning was a rough start. Stacey had shrieked when Wyatt told her that he needed to go to the bathroom. She did not want him see her anything, so she had to stay in the bathroom with him to make sure he didn't look down at all.

The old maid who woke them up saw them in bed together, and assumed the worst. All throughout breakfast, Wyatt (who was trapped in Stacey's body) received numerous death glares and bashing. The maid constantly whispered in his ear that he was a w***e and gold-digger. It was not a pleasant experience.

The problems escalated when Wyatt refused to wear Stacey's trademark pigtails. She had to chase him around his huge room for twenty minutes with a brush in her hand, swearing she will get him to wear her pigtails no matter what. In the end she got her wish, but it was terribly lopsided and messy. By the time they got to school, they were both thoroughly tired.

"Move outta the way, you bunch of ingrates," Wyatt barked. He pushed a few noisy girls away. The girls looked gave him a dirty look, before diverting their attentions to Stacey with adoring eyes. Wyatt couldn't help but find the scene way too ironic. He turned over to Stacey, who was staring widely in shock at her sudden increase of admirers, and rolled his eyes.

"Let's hurry up and talk to Miss Venide, we need to find a cure," he reminded her. His harsh voice brought her back to reality. "And please get rid of that ridiculous face you have plastered on, you're cramping my style."

She glared at his rudeness, but proceeded to follow him regardless of his nasty temper. They walked to the English room, but it was dark, locked, and vacuous. Stacey sighed, knew this was already a bad sign. She had that terrible tingling feeling in her chest again, and she did not like it one bit.

"Maybe she's in the main office?" Stacey begged to herself, before walking towards the way of the main office. Wyatt sluggishly followed after her.

*

"What just happened?" Jess wondered out-loud; her brain still not fully able to digest everything that had just happened.

"I have no idea." Vinz answered with a hint of frustration outlining his tone of voice. "But that asshole better not lay a hand on Stacey."

Jess nodded, silently agreeing to her black-haired acquaintance next to her. Stacey was very important to the both of them, and if he did anything weird to her, it was going t

*

"What do you mean that Miss Venide quitted yesterday?" Stacey yelled. She rubbed her temples in shock and pain. Wyatt looked equally as distressed, but had better control of his temples.

"Calm down Wyatt," the security plainly told Stacey. "We were shocked too, she just quit yesterday afternoon. No one expected her to leave, she just handed us a letter and left."

Stacey started to grab bunches of her blonde hair and pulled on them.

"What are we going to do?" She whined, ignoring the disturbed look the security guard tossed her way.

"...wait!" The security guard suddenly stopped them, halting their conversation. Her face looked like it was trying to remember something important. "Are you students Wyatt Griffin and Stacey Devine?"

"Yeah?" They both answered in unison.

"Oh, Miss Venide actually left a letter for you two before she left," the security lady informed them. The worker dug through her desk to find the paper. Wyatt and Stacey glanced at each other anxiously when the guard pulled out a thin, crumpled yellow envelope. Both their names were written in familiar, fancy cursive on the front of the envelope. Stacey shakily took the letter.

They sat down on a couch that was near the entrance of their school, and just stared at the worn-out envelope.

When the tension was too much to bear, and Wyatt nodded at her in approval, Stacey tore open the wrapping.

A single letter flew out, and their eyes rapidly traced the words on the small piece of paper.

When there is a sudden explosion of air,

There will be a shift that neither can bear.

A bolt of adrenaline from the touch of lips

Will release this restricted curse and it flips.

Do be warned not to fall into the devil's temptation,

Wait exactly twenty-four hours before the next sensation.

Stacey slowly looked up at Wyatt, who returned her bewildered expression.

"I...don't understand," Wyatt broke the long silence.

Stacey didn't reply, but acknowledged what he said by nodding. She was deep in thought. She was in the same position for the next ten minutes, occasionally reading the letter over, before she abruptly looked up, her eyes gleaming.

The girl happily squealed, "I think I solved it!"

"Care to elaborate?"

"I think I get her riddle- and also proof that I was definitely not trying to seduce you!"

Wyatt raised his eyebrows in disbelief and amusement. "Continue..."

"Look, it says 'sudden explosion of air'- what could that mean?" She rhetorically asked him. "Well, what did we do before we switched bodies?"

Wyatt thought about it for a minute before he replied. "We were pulling on the flour bag and it ripped...?"

Her face scrunched up at the sour memory. "After that."

"...you started yelling?"

"No, you nitwit, we sneezed," she reminded him. She stood up from the couch they were sitting on and loomed in front of him. It was a weird feeling, he thought, seeing so much of his own face in one day.

"Okay, so?" Stacey looked at the boy in ignorance.

"Basically, every time we sneeze, we switch bodies," she explained. He bobbed his head up and down as a signal that he understood. "And every time we kiss, the switch will be undone." Wyatt dropped that coy grin of his on her way again.

"Reminder, we tried that and it didn't work. Are you trying to se—" Before he could complete his sentence, she smacked him over his head. A few girls who walked into the school at that moment gasped.

"Did you see that? Wyatt just hit a girl!" Wyatt overheard.

"I never...I never expected him to be the abusing type!"

"Well, he has to have some imperfection, men don't come that perfect!"

"But he's always so quiet..."

"Kevin told me once it's always the ones you least expect it to be the worst ones..."

"Ah, who cares! I still want him and his whole abusing self."

Wyatt grew hot at the conversation that erupted a few feet away from him, and he heatedly stared up at Stacey in a ferocious manner.

"Stop hitting me." He hissed through his teeth, glaring at her cocky smile.

"Why? Don't like your image being ruined?" She teased him, putting on the same expression he had on when he mockingly told her that she was trying to "seduce" him.

"Just stop it," he ended. "Anyways, so you were saying something about the cure?"

"Yeah, a kiss. A kiss is the cure, but we can't kiss before twenty-four hours— a day— is up, or we don't switch back. So, we have to kiss to cure the spell, but only when a whole day has passed." She fully explained their circumstances. She showed her distaste about the thought of kissing him by a faked gag motion.

He looked at her with a playful smile tugging the side of lips.

"And how can I be sure that this is not another scheme of yours to kiss me?"

She smacked him even harder, causing his smile to immediately change into a frown.

"We just have to make sure we get through this school day, and we're done. We can do that terrible..." She tried to look at him in disgust, but it was hard considering it was her face that innocently stared back at her. "...deed again, and we'll be done, free!"

"Yeah, except you said every time we sneeze, we'll switch back again," he pointed out.

"Don't sneeze," she blatantly told him.

"How am I going to resist a sneeze?"

"Resist it," Stacey strictly ordered. Right then the bell rang and she briskly walked away, leaving Wyatt to grumble to himself in the background.

*

The whole school day went by pretty smoothly, especially since they were basically in all the same classes together. They kept a distance from each other, and Stacey and Wyatt went silent throughout the passing classes. They found out during English class that the new teacher was ecstatic about the flour baby project, so the project was still intact. Stacey got another flour baby, along with a lecture about being more civil to each other; they were, after all, parents. The only problem was during their lunch period, when they decided to separate. It was already weird that they came to school together, having lunch together would blow things out of proportion.

"Stacey?" Said name heard a familiar voice call out.

"Yeah?" Stacey turned around from habit. She briefly forgot about the body she was resided in.

Vinz looked at her funnily before saying, "I wasn't addressing you, I was trying to talk my friend next to you. Stacey, can you come with me?" Vinz motioned the girl, Stacey, to follow him.

"Oh..." Stacey silently whispered in disappointment. It was then that she remembered she currently was not herself. Stacey caught Wyatt looking at her with a sleazy smile before following Vinz. She had no time to respond, as Vinz rapidly dragged Wyatt to an emptier part of the cafeteria.

"Did that—" Vinz stopped mid-sentence and looked Wyatt over. "What happened to your hair? It looks like a disaster, here let me fix it." He took off the bands on Wyatt's head and rearranged them. Wyatt looked at him in utter distaste, but said nothing for the sake of keeping his promise with pigtails.

"There, all good," Vinz happily said. He tugged the end of her pigtails lightly. "Anyways, I wanted to ask you something, Stacey," the boy informed Wyatt.

"What is it, symmetry boy?" Wyatt asked, his bored brown eyes staring off to space.

Vinz shot him a weird expression at the inappropriate nickname, but decided to ignore it. "You know how that Wyatt took you away yesterday? Did he do anything weird to you?"

That Wyatt? Wyatt stared at Vinz, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"What do you mean did he do anything weird?" Wyatt asked, thoroughly offended.

"Well, you know..." Vinz awkwardly looked down to his sneakers. "...He didn't like...touch you inappropriately, or make any moves on you, did he?"

"What?" Wyatt cried out, his mouth gaping wide.

Vinz looked at her uncomfortably. "Well, you know. He just looks like the type to be a total pervert..."

Wyatt looked at Vinz with the most traumatized expression written on his face. He was shocked. Absolutely mortified of the accusations like those that they say about him behind his back?

When Wyatt revived from his mortification, he 'cooly' answered back, "No, not at all. Actually, symmetry, I tried to seduce him by tricking him into kissing me on the lips."

"What?" Vinz looked at him with an astounded face.

Wyatt shrugged, trying to hide a smile that was growing on his face. "I mean, how could I resist him? No other girl can, what makes her— I mean me so special?"

Vinz stared at Wyatt with widened eyes, unsure if the Stacey in front of him was really his best friend Stacey Devine.

"Stacey, you hate Wyatt. You think he's repulsive," Vinz reminded her.

"What? How dare she...me! How dare me— how dare I?" Wyatt finally managed to sputter back.

"What's gotten into you?" Vinz's hands worriedly felt the top of Wyatt's forehead. Wyatt squatted it away.

"Don't touch me, symmetry. And for the record, I do not hate Wyatt, it's just a facade. A pretense. In fact, yesterday I was as bold as to sleep in the same bed as him. Part of my seduction plan, but of course I failed. Miserably. I mean look at me, I'm as flat as cardboard! How dare I, someone as lowly as I, be one to hate the perfect Wyatt?" Wyatt dramatically exaggerated, moving his arms around to emphasize his point.

"Okay, now I am totally convinced that you are terribly sick. What the hell did Wyatt do to you? Did he threaten you to say these things?" Vinz asked, his yellow eyes burning with disgusted rage.

Wyatt narrowed his eyes at the teenager, as a crooked smile replaced his frown.

"Wait a minute...you asking me all these weird personal questions...you like me don't you?" Wyatt challenged Vinz, crossing his arms and looking extremely entertained.

"Okay, Stacey, that's official. I officially diagnose you with a case of insanity with a little retardation sprinkled here and there," he shook his head. His stiff eyes looked at Wyatt in disgust.

Wyatt chortled at how fast Vinz shot down the fact that he might have feelings for pigtails. "I was obviously joking, symmetry, stop taking it so seriously. I mean look at me, how am I in any way lovable? I don't believe in love anyways."

Vinz looked at Wyatt with a terribly dejected face. Wyatt noticed that the atmosphere around them was growing heavier by the minute.

"Stacey, you have to stop saying those kinds of things," Vinz finally replied back. His mood nor the atmosphere did not lift up at all. "Stop with the low self-esteem. I already know don't believe in love, and you're determined that you never will, but I really wish you would reconsider your bias towards that particular feeling." With that, Vinz left Wyatt all alone in the deserted cafeteria.

Wyatt stared at Vinz's backside, and the words that had escaped his mouth ran through Wyatt's head repeatedly. The words burned into his skull and just wouldn't leave him alone.

Wyatt was speaking on Stacey's behalf about the subject of love, he had meant it as a sarcastic joke. The fact that it was actually a valid statement sparked a tremendous amount curiosity through Wyatt's veins.

Stacey Devine didn't believe in love?

*

"What did you tell Vinz?" Stacey demanded. She had cornered Wyatt into an empty hallway. School ended a while ago, and they both decided to hide out and meet after school once everyone already went home.

"I didn't tell him anything," Wyatt lied.

"Yeah, sure you didn't," Stacey sarcastically answered back. "That's why he keeps looking your way— with my face, may I remind you— in the most sympathetic way ever."

"He was mad and upset because your pigtails were a mess and terribly unsymmetrical!" Wyatt hastily made an excuse.

Stacey looked at him with an unwavering expression on her face, her harsh cherry red orbs burning into his guilty green ones. "You have got to come up with a better excuse than that. Sure, Vinz may be obsessed with symmetry, but to have caused a reaction like that? I don't think so. I've known him for three years now."

Wyatt avoided direct eye contact with her, but he could still feel her gaze burning him.

"Answer me Wyatt Griffin."

He kind of liked the way his name rolled off her tongue. It was his own voice, but the way she said it so harshly...

"Earth to Wyatt Asshole Griffin, I'm talking to you!"

Now that was just plain rude. Wyatt suddenly remembered an old conversation he had with Kevin a few months ago.

"Are you seriously trying to ignore me?"

It was a conversation on how to divert a girl's attention.

"Wow, really? How dare you! Ig—ignore me?"

To make her forget everything they were talking about at the moment.

"That's it! I'm going to s*******r you!"

What was it?

Stacey expeditiously got closer to him to physically hurt him, when he grabbed her by her collar, tip-toed on his feet, and kissed her, shutting her up completely.

And then Wyatt remembered what Kevin had told him— to kiss her.

Sure enough, Stacey had shut up, as she felt a familiar rush in her body— an electric pulse rang through her whole body. She felt feeble, as if she might fall any second, and had onto the body next to her to stay balanced. Then her vision blurred before going completely black.