Silence fell between them as mouth of their jaws dropped open. “Let’s not jump to any conclusions” Lyndsey said very unconvincingly.

Adam looked up at her “I thought we were the only ones”

“I did too but apparently not…we’re not even the only ones in our town dude” Lyndsey replied. “If this is true…we’ve got to talk to Charlotte and Logan”

“Maybe after the game we can invite them over” Adam suggested.

“Yeah…that might work” Lyndsey replied. She laid back on her bed “Holy shit” she laughed.

Charlotte came into her house and ran through shedding clothes. She grabbed a blue PowerAde and headed for her room. Outside of it, she paused and turned the opposite way and knocked on Logan’s door.

“What?” she heard from the other side.

“Logan…it’s me” Charlotte called out.

Logan got up and unlocked his door. He peered out just through a crack “Yeah”

“Let me in dofus…I need to talk to you” she said trying to push the door open.

Logan smiled and put his weight against it for a moment before jumping back and letting Charlotte fall in “What is it shrimp?”

Charlotte let the name go this time as she said “I made it through practice and everyone thought I had been on the team all year. It was great!”

“Cool” Logan replied. “I mean, that was the best thing we could have happen. It’s like we’re the only ones who know the truth” he was genuinely happy to hear it.

“Yeah…no one but us” Charlotte repeated.

“We have to promise each other, and I mean really promise that no matter what happens, we don’t tell anyone” Logan told her.

“No one would believe me anyway” Charlotte said.

“That’s right…everyone would think we’re nuts and put us in a psych ward” Logan told her.

“You promise?” he asked looking down.

“I promise…do you promise?” Charlotte asked.

“You know I do, I promise I’ll never tell anyone” Logan responded. He began to smile and hunch over.

“What are you doing?” Charlotte asked taking a step back.

“Something I’ve wanted to do since yesterday” he said putting his hands under her armpits.

“Don’t you dare!” she yelled.

Logan just laughed and brought his eyebrows up as he lifted Charlotte up off the ground and lifted her up over his head until her head touched the ceiling “This is amazing!” he yelled out.

“Quit it! Put me down ya big jerk!” Charlotte protested kicking her feet.

“Oh God I love this!” Logan admitted as he brought her back down “Knowing I can do that anytime I want to you…”

“You’d better not or I’ll tell Mom!” Charlotte shot back.

“You sound like such and 8 year old Charlie” Logan told her.

“Don’t call me that!” she said.

“What Charlie…or an 8 year old cause you’re both” Logan told her “Now get out of my room, I’m busy”
Charlotte stuck out her tongue and left. “Shut my door” Logan called out to her after she had already made it across the hall to her room. He smiled when he heard her actually do it.

Charlotte cleaned up and showered after getting sweaty at practice; she wondered if any of her teammates cared enough to shower afterwards. “Eight year old boys are always dirty” she reminded herself.

She went back down and got dinner with her Mom and Dad. Her father, Steve, asked all kinds of questions about how practice went. “That’s my girl” he told her when she finished telling him about her play.

Logan came downstairs and filled a plate but retreated back to his room ignoring Steve’s glare. He would never say it out loud, but the fact that his son had not followed in his athletic footsteps had always upset him. After dinner, he took Charlotte outside to the back yard where they played catch for a half an hour. Charlotte’s throws popped her Dad’s glove each time.

Lyndsey couldn’t sleep. The house was quiet and Adam was fast asleep but she sat up in the living room going through every Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook post she could find looking for any trace of Charlotte as an 18 year old. Outside of her own mind and memory, she couldn’t find a single one. “Maybe I’m the crazy one” she thought at 2 A.M.

Lyndsey was up early Saturday morning and feeling a bit nervous about what she might find out. She was already showered and dressed when Adam came downstairs “Are you showering this morning or are you just going to get ready for your game?” she asked him.

“Just ready for my game” he yawned. “You really think that they swapped?” he asked again.

“We’re going to find out for sure soon” she responded.

Lyndsey and Adam were the first ones outside of the coach and his son so Adam went off to play catch with Parker.

“Hey Dummy” Logan heard his sister yelling at him and pounding at his door. “Wake up stupid! I’m gonna be late for my game if you don’t get out of bed ya big jerk”

Logan looked at the clock bleary eyed and saw it read 9:01 “I’m up” he croaked out.

“Mom and Dad both had to work so you have to take me to my game” Charlotte told him through the door.

“Shit” he mumbled.

“That’s what you get for being the big brother” Charlotte sang out “Just be glad you don’t have to play”

“I am” he told her as he gathered up some clothes.

The door opened “Good Morning Sunshine!” Charlotte said smiling. She was already in her uniform except for her cleats. She stood in her thick black socks, gray baseball pants and black Marlins jersey with the number 5 on the back waiting on her brother as he went down the hall to the bathroom.

“Outta my way shorty” he grumbled.

“I’m not short; I’m the tallest one on my team” she informed him.

“You’re still short to me and I happen to know for a fact that you’ll never be taller than me again; you only get to 5’10””

“I’ll wear heels when I’m around you big brother” Charlotte informed him.

“Stripper shoes?” he questioned.

“What?” she replied.

“You know like platform stilettos with a 6 inch heel…never mind” he said closing the door behind him.

He peed and got dressed and ran a comb through his hair and grabbed some breath mints as he headed downstairs.

Charlotte was tying her cleats and would not admit that it had gotten harder for to do in the last few days since the swap. She slung her bag over her shoulder and headed out to the 2003 Toyota Camry that had been hers until a few days ago but now belonged to her brother.

They got to the field in just a few minutes and Logan made his way to the bleachers unaware that every step he took was being watched.

Lyndsey’s heart fluttered when she saw the familiar car pull in “That’s Charlotte’s car!” She couldn’t stop herself from staring at the two people who emerged from it “No…frickin…way!” she said to herself.

The small 8 year old girl who got out of the passenger side walked like Charlotte. A bit stiff and straight legged but with a definite bounce in her step while the tall guy who got out of the driver’s side could definitely be a grown up version of her brother.

Logan sat on the bottom row and fiddled with his phone as Lyndsey made her way up to the top row so she could watch him. She didn’t want to get too close to Charlotte yet for fear of overreacting and freaking everybody out, but she watched her like a hawk as she warmed up. She just hoped they’d accept their invitation and not be suspicious.

Charlotte came into the dugout and was told “You’re pitching today…give us some strikes” She smiled wide as she heard Coach Don say “Everybody else to your usual positions…Alex go to second and Adam go to short; Wyatt get your gear on”

Adam hustled out to short, it should have been his day to pitch but he guessed that he had been pushed down in the rotation because of Charlotte too. At least he got to play short.

Charlotte struck out the side in the 1st and punched her glove as she came in out of excitement. “Good Inning” Adam told her as they both tossed the gloves aside and got out their helmets. Adam was batting leadoff but Charlotte was now in the cleanup spot that Tristan had occupied.

Adam glanced over his shoulder at the dugout and met Charlotte’s eyes for just a second but it was long enough for her to smile at him and yell “Come on Adam…lead us off right”

Adam took a few practice swings and looked into the stands were he saw the guy sitting in the first row leaning back and watching with an odd smile on his face “Logan?!” he thought and looked up to his sister.

Lyndsey just locked eyes with him and gave him a slow nod as if she knew what he was thinking before she clapped and yelled “Get a hit Adam!”

She saw the tall but still little girl turn at her voice with a tinge of recognition in her eyes their eyes met before she quickly swung back around.

“It is you” ran through Lyndsey’s mind “How the hell did you do this?” she wondered.

Adam took four straight balls and jogged down to first. He was still there after two outs when Charlotte came up.

“Big hitter!” the opposing coach called out to his team “Take two steps back outfield!”

Charlotte looked comfortable at the plate. Her hips were set even with her feet as she took two practice swings. As the first pitch came in, her muscles twitched and she took a slight step into the ball and crushed it into the gap in left center. Adam was off with the swing and he ducked his head and never looked up, simply hearing the third base coach yell “Go Home! Go home! You’re scoring Adam!”

Adam crossed the plate and saw Charlotte clapping from second with a stand up double.

It would be the only run they would need as Charlotte shut down the Royals and held them scoreless but they did score again to win 5-0.

As the kids finished up and packed up, Blake’s Mom came down and passed out snacks and drinks to the kids “I’d almost forgot about getting snacks after a game” Charlotte thought. Adam came over to her and shyly said “Hey”

“Hi Adam” she responded a bit shyly herself. She fiddled with her hat and tugged on her jersey.

“Um…I was um wondering if uh you’d want to come over and play at my house later today?”

“Oh” Charlotte was surprised at the question; she was being invited over to play. Part of her wanted to turn it down out of pure fear but another part of her wanted to accept, because, she wanted to play with other kids her age.

“I can ask my brother if I can come over” she responded.

“He can come over too if he wants to” Adam said.

They ran together over to where Logan was sitting. He smiled as they approached him “What’s up kids?”

“Adam asked me if I could come over a play at his house later…can I?” Charlotte said.

“Um…can you uh give us a second?” Logan said standing up and leading Charlotte a few steps away. “Do you really think this is such a good idea?”

Charlotte looked over her shoulder and saw Adam standing by his sister Lyndsey. Charlotte clearly remembered her past relationship with Lyndsey and a mischievous streak in her wanted to play at her house with her younger brother just to see if she could get away with really being an 8 year old around someone who she used to know.

Charlotte thought that only she and Logan had any idea of what the truth was so she told him “Come on…this can be our test to see if we can pull this off. You can come over too. You should know Lyndsey…you two just graduated together didn’t you?”

“Well um yeah but uh…” Logan stalled.

“Please!!!!” Charlotte pleaded.

“Okay” Logan relented. He walked over to Lyndsey “I guess your brother invited my sister over to play”

“Yeah he said he was going to” Lyndsey said.

“What time do you want us to come over?” Logan asked.

“Whenever! We’re going there now and we’ll be there all day” Lyndsey replied so relieved at step one being pulled off. “Bring your bathing suit; I’ll put up the sprinklers!”

Charlotte hadn’t played in a sprinkler in years and found that she was looking forward to it “Sounds cool!” she said.

“See you later” Adam said as Charlotte and Logan headed to their car.

“We live at 24 Grant…do you know where that is?” Lyndsey called out.

Charlotte almost said “Of course!” but caught herself. Logan nodded “I know Grant…I’m sure I can find 24”

“It’s on the left; third in from the corner…white with black shutters” Lyndsey told them.
“Okay...easy enough” Logan replied.

Once inside the car, Logan asked Charlotte again “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“I told you everybody thinks this is how we’ve always been; it’ll be fine” she said hoping she wasn’t wrong.

“But what if one of us slips up and says something stupid” Logan asked.

“Don’t be such a big baby” Charlotte said which got a laugh from both of them. “We have to interact with other people dofus and…”

Logan looked over and noticed his little sister was blushing a bit “You want to go play with a boy your age”

Charlotte said “Shut up!”

“Oh do you have a crush on an 8 year old?” Logan teased her.

Charlotte repeated “Shut up” as she turned to the window. She heard him giggling and laughing as she looked out the window.

“It’s already happened…just a few days in this little body and I’m already fully back to being an 8 year old in everything” she thought. “I don’t remember things I learned in high school or looking forward to college; I don’t remember how to drive…boys that were my age last week are now just big and scary to me…even Logan is big and kind of scary to me and I know that he’s actually just a bumped up shrimp”

She looked over at her brother but he was looking up at a light waiting for it to change. “I like Adam…he’s nice” she thought turning back to the window.

Once home, she rushed in and ran upstairs. She tossed her bag aside and stripped out of her uniform ignoring how sweaty her feet were. She found her bathing suit; it was a brown tankini with little multi-colored heart on it. She put a pair of shorts and t-shirt over it and grabbed a beach towel before rushing back downstairs.

“Somebody’s anxious to go” Logan said making himself a sandwich. “Did you want something to eat for lunch before we rush out of here?”

“Oh…um…yeah I guess” Charlotte answered.

“Well have a seat” he said gesturing to the table as he made her a very basic turkey and cheese sandwich. He added some chips and got her a Dr. Pepper before he sat down across form her.

As she ate, he looked over and reflected back on the last few days. He still sat on his side of the table; the side he had sat on the night they had their fateful conversation. He would never fail to reflect back on that whenever he sat down in this chair. It was the moment that changed his entire life for the better.

“I still can’t believe it actually happened and here I am now sitting here…18 years old and bigger than my sister” he looked over at her as she munched on a chip; her mismatched and missing teeth showing through as she smiled at him quickly.

His gaze focused on the refrigerator door behind her where a photo was held up with a few magnets. It was taken the previous Christmas and showed Charlotte sitting on Logan’s lap in the middle of a large family gathering of cousins and aunts and uncles.

The original image had of course been the flip side of this and Logan could still see himself sitting on Charlotte’s lap in his memory. She had been wearing a green blouse and black skirt with black tights originally but now seeing her sitting on his lap, it was a frilly green dress and white tights Charlotte had on.

Logan just smiled and went back to his sandwich. “Let me clean up and then we’ll go” he told her.
They drove over to Adam and Lyndsey’s house and as they pulled into the driveway, they saw Adam looking out the window waiting for them.

He opened the door with a smile as they walked up. Logan had never been to Adam’s house before but Charlotte had been here previously.

The house looked different to her as did everything these days. She saw it from a perspective over a foot shorter than she used to and it changed things for her. “I’m happy you could come over” Adam said. “Do you want to go outside?”

“Yeah!” Charlotte answered and they ran through the house to the back yard.

“Um okay” Logan said watching them take off.

“Oh hey Logan” Lyndsey called out as she was almost ran over by the two kids barreling past her through the kitchen.

“Hey” Logan replied. He walked into the kitchen “How are you doing?”

“I’m good how about you?” Lyndsey replied.

Logan had picked up new memories every time he had come in contact with someone he should know as an 18 year old but he got absolutely nothing from Lyndsey. He was sure that she was a friend of Charlotte and that meant that she would have been a classmate of his but nothing developed up in his mind upon seeing her.

“I’m fine…thanks for inviting Charlotte over…being the only girl on the team, she doesn’t get a lot of invites to play”

“I understand being a tomboy can be swimming in muddy waters” Lyndsey said. “You want something to drink?”

“No thank you…we just had lunch before we came over” Logan said.

“We should probably go out and watch them” Lyndsey said.

They went out onto the North’s back deck and sat down in the plastic chairs that dotted it. Charlotte and Adam were playing basketball in the driveway as Lyndsey pull up a second chair in front of her. She put her bare feet up on it and stretched out. “So where are you going to college in the fall?” she asked.

“Miller” Logan replied. “I can stay at home that way so it’s a bit cheaper and easier…less debt”

“I thought I had heard you were going to Marquette” Lyndsey said.

Logan’s heart fluttered and beat faster at the mention of his sister’s school “No. Not me” he replied with a wary smile “How about you? Where are you off to?”

“I’m going to Hayes…same thought as you; I can live at home…it’s only a half hour drive”

Logan nodded “What are you studying?”

“Nursing…you?” Lyndsey replied.

“Engineering” Logan said.

“Nice” Lyndsey replied “So remind me…who did you go to prom with?”

Logan cleared his throat and let the memory come to him “Alexis Blake” he said with a touch of nerves kicking in.

Lyndsey looked hard at him, in her memory, Alexis had gone to prom with Travis Lockhart in a lilac and silver dress. She didn’t want to come directly out and say anything but it was frustrating doing it this way. “I can’t believe that we never had a class together” she said to him.

“I know…crazy huh” Logan said watching Charlotte and Adam intently; his discomfort level was through the roof “How am I going to get through this afternoon?” was all he could think about. “So you played sports right?”

“Yeah…volleyball and basketball” Lyndsey replied.  “If we only had a dominant front court player we could have went further in basketball. I see your little sister is already pretty good…I wonder what she’ll be like when she’s our age”

Logan’s mouth went dry “I mean…it uh…it’s good that she has players to look up to like you, ya know”

“Yeah…that’s sweet. You get that a lot in high school; the younger kids really look up to you” she replied.

Logan got up and watched them play while standing.

“Something wrong?” Lyndsey asked.

“No, uh, I just wanted to see how they were doing” Logan said.

“Sit: It’s going to be a long afternoon if you keep jumping up like that”

“That’s what I’m afraid of” Logan thought to himself.

After another few minutes and a few more uncomfortable questions, Lyndsey got up. “I’m going to get the sprinklers ready…can you give me a hand?”

“Sure” Logan said “Anything to stop your mouth” he thought to himself.

“If you could just make sure it doesn’t kink up while I take it out to the middle of the yard I’d appreciate it” Lyndsey said.

She went to the side of the yard and got out a toy that hooked to the sprinkler that also had a whiffle ball and bat with it. “This thing is cool; the water shoots the ball up and then they can hit it off the spray” Lyndsey explained. “Hey! I’ve got the sprinkler ready!” she yelled out.
“Yea!” Charlotte yelled as she came running into the yard.

“I gotta change!” Adam yelled sprinting into the house past Logan.

Charlotte took off her t-shirt and shorts revealing her bathing suit underneath as she kicked off her shoes. Logan gathered them up and whispered to her “We’re not going to stay long; Lyndsey’s questions are driving me crazy”

“What are you talking about?” Charlotte whispered back.

“She keeps asking me stuff about last year in school and all our years in school” Logan told her.

“So…you have memories of everybody. Talk to her ya dork” Charlotte said.

“No…it’s not like that with her…it’s totally different”

“Different how?” Charlotte asked.

“Different in that I have no thoughts or memories of her. It’s so weird…everybody else was just there; she’s not”

“Come on!” Adam said grabbing Charlotte by the arm and dragging her into the yard. He was shirtless and wearing blue swim trunks.

Lyndsey turned on the water; Charlotte yelled out as the cold water hit her and she put her hands up to her chest. Adam began to show off and run back and forth through the streams getting soaking wet as Charlotte stayed back for a minute.

She finally worked up the courage to get closer and soon found herself dripping wet. Her hair was soaked and stuck to her back but they were both laughing as Adam began to swing the oversized whiffle ball bat back and forth.

“Come on Babe Ruth…hit it out!” Charlotte teased him as she got the ball balanced on top of the stream.

<Poom> the sound of the plastic bat hitting the ball rang out and Charlotte chased after the ball across the yard.

Lyndsey leaned over the railing watching the kids play. She had had enough of trying to lure it out of Logan so she just went in for it thinking “Here goes nothing…either he’ll crack or he won’t. I can handle looking like a fool if it gets me an answer”

She smiled and said “So…you know we’re a lot alike Logan”

“How’s that?” he asked.

She turned to him to get his full reaction “I swapped ages with my brother and skipped 10 years too”

Logan couldn’t hide his emotions or reaction. All color drained from his face as Lyndsey stared him down, an odd smirk on her lips. “How did you…what? I mean uh…” he swallowed hard and laughed nervously. “I don’t uh…I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about” the words came out but they were soft and unconvincing.

Lyndsey crossed her arms “I knew it! Quit lying and tell me what happened to you two a few nights ago. It must have happened that night after you…” she pointed at his chest “…struck out to lose the game. Your sister was pissed at you…”

Logan took a step back but Lyndsey was all in. She took step after step toward him backing him across the deck pointing her finger into his chest and talking “She said you couldn’t play and she would give anything to be back out there playing. Charlotte was my friend and my teammate on the volleyball and basketball teams. You weren’t in our class; your sister was but now you’re 18 and she’s 8 so tell me what happened”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you” Logan protested.

“Yes I would…try me” Lyndsey said.

Logan fought back “What did you say to me to begin this? You swapped ages with your brother?”

“You tell me your story and I’ll tell you mine…just admit to me that on Wednesday you were 8 years old and now you’re…this!” Lyndsey said.

“Uh…wait a second; so you’re telling me that you’re supposed to be 8 too!”

Lyndsey nodded.

“But how…but that makes no sense…” Logan stuttered.

“It makes all the sense in the world. I better not have any trouble with you; No one outside of us knows and nobody says a word but I could tell right off the bat…excuse the pun…that something wasn’t right when Adam told me about practice and his new teammate. The only reason I can see the real you is because I went through it too” Lyndsey said.

“You and Charlotte are good actors but I can see my friend and I could see in her eyes that she can still see me for who I am to her. Adam knows too but he’s not as worked up about it as I am” Lyndsey admitted.

“Yeah…Charlotte doesn’t seem to care as much either but to her…I don’t think she’s thought about it long term yet. She’s just happy to be playing baseball again” Logan told Lyndsey.

Lyndsey pulled up a chair for Logan and sat in one herself “So…talk”

“Well…I don’t know where to begin really” Logan said.

“Okay I’ll start because it’s been a year for us now” Lyndsey started to talk. “My brother over there was a real jerk; always getting in trouble with our Mom and making my life a daily trip to Hell. One day my Mom got mad and found a spell on the internet that took years away from him and gave them to me to teach him a lesson”

“Watching him get smaller and smaller as I got bigger and bigger was so weird but yet awesome at the same time” Lyndsey said to Logan’s enthusiastic nodding. “It was a process until he was 7 and I was 17. It was only supposed to be for the week, kind of like a grounding, but at the end of the week, Adam actually wanted to stay young. He told me he was an idiot and a jerk and that he deserved to have to grow up again to see if he turned out better by being the younger sibling”

“You’re kidding me” Logan said fascinated by the story.

“No. I was ready to go back but he wanted to stay so who was I to say no. I stayed at 17 and went on with my life. Certain mental aspects changed immediately with us so I was prepared to go into my senior year and as I did I found out I was an athlete and my best friend was Charlotte Jenkins”

Logan laughed low and slow. “I can’t believe this; we thought we were the only ones”

Lyndsey slowly turned her head back and forth.

“This changes everything” Logan said.

“This changes nothing” Lyndsey replied. “I still need to hear your story”

“But…this means that there would be others out there…not just you and your brother and not just me and my sister…but others” Logan said.

“Well, if that’s what you mean than…yeah…meeting someone else who has gone through this definitely increases the probability that there are others out there who have changed ages”

“But who…is this just between kids…siblings…or is it wider? Are there parents swapping with kids, adults swapping with other adults”

“I don’t know…I just want to hear your story now” Lyndsey said.

“It makes sense though that I didn’t pick up anything from you since you’ve gone through an age swap yourself” Logan said.

Lyndsey just smiled but gave him the visual clue that she was waiting to hear his story still.

“Okay, it’s like this: Yes, up until Wednesday I was an 8 year old little boy who sucked at baseball but had to play because my sister and Dad loved the stupid game, but I hated it. I could tell Charlotte was super pissed at me for striking out and we were by ourselves for dinner so we got to talking at the table. She told me how great it would be if she could play again and then the conversation turned to what if I was her older brother and she was my little sister, you know, just goofy stuff like that”

“She was talking like that during the game saying she wished she was out there” Lyndsey confirmed.
“So we went back and forth and then she asked me if I would swap ages with her if it were possible and I said sure and asked her if she would go through with it and she said sure then we both said how we wished it were like that and then boom, next thing I know I’m getting taller and she’s getting shorter” Logan said.

“So it was all at once?” Lyndsey asked.

“Yeah, it took maybe a minute or two at the most; it didn’t hurt at all just a little bit of a tingling sensation and some vertigo dizziness I guess as I grew like a foot and a half up in height. Kind of like riding a really fast elevator up. I don’t know how it felt for Charlotte…how it felt shrinking as opposed to growing. It had to be weird though going back through puberty and losing her…you know…her boobs and everything” Logan was blushing slightly.

“Yeah…” Lyndsey said deep in thought.

“But I just kept getting bigger and older, maturing at lightning pace but I couldn’t really see myself; I’d look down and I could see and feel my chest getting bigger, broader and my legs getting longer and my hands growing but I couldn’t see my own face as it happened. I could see my sister though and all the changes she was going through. Our heights coming closer and closer together…her body changing and getting smaller until she was shorter than me. Her legs going skinny but it was her face that I watched the most. Seeing her deage…I don’t think that’s a word but you know what I mean. Watching her face get younger and younger, losing her maturity and just turning into a little kid face in front of me; I don’t think I’ll ever forget seeing that happen”

“So anyway, we started looking around and we realized that everything had changed. Pictures were different, yearbooks, paperwork…like the whole world adjusted to make our change real; like it always been that way”

“Go on” Lyndsey urged.

“The mental changes took longer; slowly my head was filling up as Charlotte’s, I don’t want to say emptied but I don’t know how else to put it. She lost her knowledge and experience for my gain”

“Huh…yeah, that happened to us too. You just start maturing mentally as well as physically” Lyndsey said.

“Uh huh and that’s how we got here. You called our bluff…you figured us out but only because you could see through us. To everyone else, this is how it is…even our parents don’t know” Logan said.

“See that’s how your situation is different than ours. My Mom knows because she initiated it. We all agreed to never talk about it but come on, I just had to today. We all have to keep quiet” Lyndsey said.

“Oh trust me…we will” Logan agreed.

“So should we bring them in on this too” Lyndsey asked.

“I think we have to, to be fair” Logan admitted.

Adam and Charlotte looked like they were getting tired. “Break time you guys” Lyndsey called out as Logan went over and turned off the water.

Charlotte hopped her way over and grabbed her beach towel to dry off. Adam had failed to get one so Lyndsey went inside to get one for him.

He stood in the sun dripping wet but getting cold until Lyndsey returned and tossed the towel to him. Charlotte draped her towel over her shoulders and sat down in one of the chairs, her toes touching the hot surface of the deck and keeping her heels up.

“I’m tired” Adam said sitting down and putting the towel over his lap.

Lyndsey had brought out Lemonade for everyone as well and they all drank up. “So Charlotte” Lyndsey said getting her attention.

“Yeah” Charlotte replied looking over.

“I miss you” Lyndsey said simply.

“What?” She said slightly confused. She looked to her brother who was just grinning as he slowly nodded.

“It’s okay…they know about us” Logan said quietly.

“What?!” Charlotte replied. “Oh God!” she flung her towel up and over her face.

“No! It’s really okay Charlotte…I didn’t say anything I swear! Tell her Lyndsey!” Logan said.
“We know because we went through the same thing you did Charlotte” Lyndsey said putting her hand on Charlotte’s knee. “Adam and I are just like you and Logan; we swapped ages with each other last year about this time”

Charlotte slowly lowered her towel “What?” she said again. “I don’t understand, I…I thought we were the only ones” she looked around at everyone else on the deck “Adam?”

“I was the only one who thought it was weird you were on the team all of a sudden. Everyone else thought it was normal; only I remembered Logan playing with us” Adam told her.

“And as soon as I heard what his new teammate’s name was and then I saw you two and I recognized you because I remembered you. You’re gone from my yearbook; you’re gone from our basketball team picture so I had to find out” Lyndsey said.

“But…” Charlotte pursed her lips down tight.

“See last year, Adam was my jerk big brother and I was his picked on little sister until we swapped out ages” Lyndsey told her.

Adam came over to Charlotte “See, it’s better now; it’s our secret instead of just your secret: You’re not alone in this. If you have questions or get scared…we can help”

“Are you mad at me for becoming an 8 year old?” Charlotte asked Lyndsey.

“No!” Lyndsey laughed “Not at all…look at how happy you are! I miss having you as my 18 year old friend but think of it this way…I’ll be your big sister type from now on! I’ll even volunteer to babysit you when your brother can’t”

“I’d like that…I miss some things about being grown up…well as grown up as I was but I also like being a kid again” Charlotte admitted.

“I know I wonder about what I missed by skipping those years” Lyndsey said “And to think that you get them twice”

Charlotte smiled.

“And I can help Logan out too” Lyndsey said.

“And I want to help you too” Adam told her.

“Why don’t you two stay for dinner; I’ll order pizza and we can talk” Lyndsey said.

“Okay” Charlotte said and Adam agreed.

“I want to change clothes” Charlotte said. She looked down and saw she had grass stuck to her still wet feet and she dried them off quickly. “Come in with me Lyndsey” she said.

“Alright” Lyndsey said standing up. She grabbed Charlotte’s bag and led in her inside. “Let’s go up to my room okay”

Adam and Logan exchanged a look on the deck. “So…” Adam said.

Logan blushed and looked down at the ground “Yeah man…so you used to be older and now you’re a kid again too”

“Yup” Adam replied. He felt a little jealous about seeing what he used to have transferred to someone else young but then he thought about getting to grow up with Charlotte “Just know that I used to be that age for real…I gave it up like Charlotte did for you”

“I know man” Logan replied somewhat embarrassed about being this old and this big “No hard feelings though right?”

“No: I made my choice and I’m still fine with it” Adam said looking up to his formerly smaller teammate.

Charlotte hugged her towel close to her and tried not to step on the bottom if it as she trailed behind Lyndsey. She looked her adult friend up and down and thought “And I was bigger than her…” as Lyndsey’s hips and rear sashayed up the stairs.

Lyndsey closed the door behind them and regarded the small girl in front of her closely. She smiled and then began to cry “You’re where I was last year!”

“And you’re big like I was!” Charlotte began to cry too.

“Oh My God!” Lyndsey said. She got down on her knees and hugged Charlotte tight and Charlotte hugged her as tight as she could in return.

After a few minutes, they broke apart “I’m sorry…I didn’t think I’d get this emotional” Lyndsey said wiping her eyes.

“I had no idea. I thought I was coming here to just play with Adam but finding out that you two are like us…” she trailed off and laughed and cried at the same time.

“You’re just so…” Lyndsey began as she stood back up; she was a full foot taller than Charlotte.

“Go ahead…you can say it” Charlotte said rolling her eyes.

“You’re so small” Lyndsey said “And so cute!”

Charlotte chuckled and shrugged her shoulders “I hadn’t been intimidated by anyone’s size yet because everyone looked at me like just any other ordinary kid but now you’ve made me think about it and since I remember being with you and around you”

“Don’t tell me that I scare you!” Lyndsey said.

“No…you don’t scare me you just make me all too aware of how childish my body looks. I’ve seen you in the locker room and you’ve seen me and now you get to look at me all undeveloped and stuff”

“Don’t you dare say that! You…You’re a kid now…you’re different is all, everything is different.

Don’t be like that around me; I told you to think of me as your big sister now” Lyndsey said.

“It’s just thinking about stuff like how I’m going to have to go through everything all over again. Not just school but you know…everything” Charlotte said. “I have to go through puberty twice and you went through it in a matter of seconds”

Lyndsey gave her friend a wan smile “true…pimples came and went and braces and first periods were just there as something in my mind but never suffered through”

Charlotte looked up “I’m going to change clothes…I’m tired of being wet”

“Do you want me to leave?” Lyndsey offered.

“No…I don’t care if you see me like this” Charlotte said as she peeled off her soaking wet top to revel her childish body. She dried off some more and took off the bottoms as well. Lyndsey gathered them up “I’ll put them over the shower rack in the bathroom so they can dry off; just don’t forget and leave them here”

By the time Lyndsey came back in, Charlotte was back in her t-shirt and shorts. She put her arms out wide, did a little curtsey and smiled “Ta-Da…I’m still little!”

“Yes you are” Lyndsey said. She sat down on the corner of her bed and patted the spot next to her as she took out a hairbrush “Let me do your hair”

Charlotte smiled and sat down in front of her and tossed her hair back over her shoulders.

Lyndsey dried it some more and began to brush through it swiftly but gently. “Your hair’s so soft” she said as she got the knots out of it.

“Thanks” Charlotte chirped up.

They went downstairs and found the boys still sitting across from each other. Lyndsey noticed her brother sit up straighter when Charlotte came out.

“You two okay?” Logan asked.

“We are” Lyndsey said with a smile and an enthusiastic nod from Charlotte.

Adam rushed past to go change too and by the time he came back out, he and Charlotte rushed off the play basketball again.

Charlotte stood dribbling with her back to Adam, backing him closer to the basket. She turned, took a step back and shot over his outstretched hand. It hit the back of the rim and shot off to the right and both of them took off chasing down the rebound. They collided and bounced off each other laughing.

“So…” Adam said.

“So” Charlotte responded lifting her shoulders.

“We’re both supposed to be big but instead, we’re both 8” Adam said putting it as simply as possible.

“Yeah” Charlotte said. “What’s wrong with that?” she asked in an incredulous tone.

“Nothing” Adam replied. “It’s just that…I don’t know…maybe if we were still 18…we might be you know…”

“Dating?” Charlotte laughed. “Do you remember me from high school?”

Adam tilted his head “No” he replied honestly.

Charlotte nodded “I don’t remember you either; you knew I wasn’t on the team Wednesday but I was there on Thursday and you saw that”

“Yeah, but I really don’t remember that much about being a teenager at all” Adam admitted. “It’s foggy in places and just not there in others”

“Me too” Charlotte said looking down. “It’s gone”

“You remember Lyndsey” Adam said.

“Yeah but not too many other people” Charlotte admitted. “I must have had lots of friends but I can’t remember any other ones. I know my best friend in school now is a girl named Anabelle Rodriguez”

“That was my best friend in first grade’s name…why do I remember that?” Lyndsey said joining their conversation. “We didn’t mean to interrupt…we were just coming over to see if you guys wanted Pizza yet”

“Wait…I have memories of a girl named Anabelle and so do you” Charlotte said.

“And since we were best friends last year…now most of the memories I had with you are now wrapped up with Rebecca in your place” Lyndsey said. “There is so much that I don’t know if we’ll ever understand about this whole reality shift”

“So Anabelle is a third grader?” Charlotte asked.

“Yes: I remember her in that timeline…but everything else has shifted around”

“It’s like our minds have scrambled” Logan chipped in.

“Or it means Anabelle and her sisters are in our same boat” Lyndsey said in a phrase that made all of them stop for a moment.

“Anabelle is the middle child” Charlotte said.

After another moment of silence, Lyndsey said “So…you guys want a cheese pizza? We’re going to share a pepperoni and sausage”

“Yeah” Adam said.

“I like just cheese” Charlotte piped up.

“Where are you getting it from? I don’t like it when it has too much sauce” Adam reminded Lyndsey.

“It’s just Pizza Hut because they’ll deliver”

Logan and Lyndsey walked off with Lyndsey taking out her phone.

“Where were we?” Charlotte asked.

Adam juked right and ran past her to put in a layup. “Hey! That’s cheating!” Charlotte yelled chasing after him.

Adam caught the rebound and bounce passed the ball to Charlotte. For the briefest of moments, just a blink of the eye, he saw her as she should be. He saw the tall young adult standing there with a confident look in her eyes, her ponytail pulled back, her full breasts in a gray tank top, her long legs in tight shorts.

And just like that; she was gone.

“What are you looking at?” little Charlotte asked him with a sour look on her face.

“What?” Adam said.

“You just went all spacy eyed there for a minute” Charlotte told him.

“Nuh…nothing” Adam replied. “Take your shot”

“I will” she said and hit a jump shot from 15 feet away.

Logan and Charlotte spent the rest of the day talking and hanging out. Logan and Lyndsey exchanged numbers so they could check in with each other from time to time, especially if they saw something weird as they put it.

The Marlins last game of the season was on Tuesday. Lyndsey came with her Mom Cheryl who was back in town. Logan sat with his parents to watch Charlotte and Adam close out their season.

Adam got to pitch and while he didn’t hold the White Sox to nothing, he only gave up 2 runs which didn’t hurt them after Charlotte’s 3 run homer in the 4th inning.

“So can you come over and play again sometime this summer?” Adam asked Charlotte as they packed up their bags.

“You can come over to my house next time…how about that?” Charlotte told him to his smile and blushing embarrassment.

“Deal” Adam finally said.

“Think fast” Deacon yelled and tossed a ball at Charlotte. It went way over her head and rolled against the stands.

“Thanks Deacon” Charlotte said.

“Sorry” was his only response with a shrug.

A girl of about 4 had picked up the ball and was playing with it. Charlotte went up to the smaller girl “Hey can I have that back?” she asked.

The girl tossed it underhand to Charlotte. “Here you go” she said smiling.

“Thanks” Charlotte replied.

“I watched you play out there today” the girl said. “My name’s Jade; I’m Hank’s sister”

“Hi Jade…nice to meet you” Charlotte said.

“I didn’t know girls were allowed to play baseball”

Charlotte was offended and feigned anger “Who told you something dumb like that? Your stupid brother?”

“Yeah…he said baseball’s for boys. My Dad said I should play softball, but since I saw that you’re the best player on the team; I want to play baseball now” Jade said smiling.

“Good for you” Charlotte said putting her hands on her hips “Girls can play baseball; girls can do whatever they want! We’re better than boys…everybody knows that”

Jade giggled and covered up her mouth.

“I’ll teach you how to pitch sometime okay” Charlotte said.

Jade nodded “Thanks!”

“Come on Charlie…we’re leaving!” Charlotte spun when she heard her brother calling to her.

“Don’t call me that Logan! You know I hate it when you call me that!”

“Whatever Charlie” Logan said tapping his little sister on top of her hat.