“Why do I only have 3 lifeguards on duty? Where’s Jade? It’s 2 o’clock on a sunny Saturday afternoon and I’m short a lifeguard…again” Sarah Cooper said to mostly herself as she looked out at the pool deck from the concession stand. “If I knew she wasn’t coming in, I would have asked Nate to stay longer”

“She didn’t text me that she wasn’t coming in…maybe she’s just a few minutes late” Celeste said to Sarah as she made a customer at the window an order of nachos.

“I’m going to have to write her up; this is her third tardy already” Sarah replied shaking her head.

Logan Pool was only open from Memorial Day to Labor Day and primarily staffed by High School and College students except for the supervisors who were teachers off for the summer as well.

At 20 past the hour, Sarah saw Jade Smith’s beat up old Jeep turn into the parking lot. She watched as the 17 year old got out, took a drink from her Soda and saunter up to the entrance gate in her red lifeguard bathing suit with a white t-shirt over it and cheap flip flops on her feet.

“You’re late again Jade” Sarah said as she came in.

Jade took off her mirrored sunglasses and smiled “Yeah, I know” she replied as she snapped on her supply belt. She sprayed on some suntan lotion and took her time getting out to the empty chair on the far side of the pool. She stopped and talked to the other guards and some of the regulars, all to Sarah’s seething.

The Pool closed at 7 so while the other employees wiped down tables and moved chairs back, Sarah called Jade over. “Jade; come here please” she had a clipboard in her hands.

Sarah tapped her flip flop clad foot. She wore black cotton shorts and a light blue t-shirt that said Logan Pool Staff on the left breast. Her short brown hair was pulled up and back off of her neck but she was still hot and sweaty after an 85 degree day in the concession stand.

Sarah Cooper was 37 and a Math teacher for 9 months out of the year. Working at the pool was just extra money for her family and usually it was easy work, but every year there was that one employee.

Jade pulled her long brown and blonde hair back into a ponytail and put her sunglasses on top of her head as she walked barefoot to her boss. She smirked a bit but she knew what was coming.

There wasn’t an office; just a back room to the concession stand where a few cubby holes hung on the wall above the freezers and all the extra supplies got stacked. There were two folding chairs set up there though and that’s where Sarah led them.

“Have a seat Jade” she said pointing to the chair across from her. Sarah sighed, she was exhausted and didn’t want to do this but it was her job.

Jade sat down and slouched.

“I’m sorry Jade but I have to write you up for being tardy again; it’s already been 3 times. If you’re tardy again, you’ll be suspended for three days without pay and the next time after that; you’ll be fired” Sarah said.

“What? That’s bullshit!” Jade replied.

“This was all told to you when you were interviewed and hired. We have to have so many lifeguards for as many people we have in the pool. You have to be responsible and be here on time; it is crucial that we’re covered or we could get shut down…it’s really important” Sarah stressed to her.

Jade just glared, her mouth pursed tight as she tried to keep her temper.

Sarah met her glare but gave her a more sympathetic look even if she wasn’t feeling it inside her own head “Stupid spoiled high school kid…can’t believe little kids lives are in her hands” she thought.

They keep their eyes matched in a staring contest, both stubborn enough to not look away or blink. As they stared, Sarah felt a tugging and pulling sensation followed by a rushing blur that made her heart race and her body tingle all in the course of a single second.

The next thing Sarah realized was that she was looking at herself.

Jade was mad “I can’t believe this old bitch is writing me up and threatening to fire me…what a bitch!” she thought as she stared. As the staring contest became longer, she felt a tugging and pulling sensation on her body but she remained locked still in her chair. That was followed by a rushing blur that made her heart race and her body tingle. She blinked and realized she was looking at herself in front of her.

Time seemed to slow down and every detail became obvious and conspicuous.

Sarah took in a deep breath, feeling her slight chest rise and feeling a bathing suit move against her body. The straps over her shoulders slid, the sides felt tighter, she could feel the cut of it against her inner thigh and around her butt. She blinked and it felt like an eternity for her eyelids to go up and down a single time.

“I’m not looking into a mirror” she thought “I’m actually seeing myself in front of me” Sarah saw herself sitting in the chair and looking back. She realized she could see out the door behind her own body and wasn’t looking at Jade and the wall behind her anymore.

“Am I Jade?” her mind raced. “I must be! I’m where she was sitting, I can feel that I’m wearing a bathing suit and I didn’t have on a suit. I was in my shirt and shorts. I can feel the cold cement floor…I’m barefoot like Jade was. I can tell I have sunglasses on top of my head…this is…what’s happening?”

Jade felt heavier. She blinked, confused that she saw herself in front of her “I’m not looking into a mirror! I am seeing myself from outside of my body. I’m seeing me from Sarah’s perspective…am I in Sarah’s body?!”

Jade took a deep breath and with time slowed, she could feel the underwire of a bra moving against her chest as it rose and fell. She could tell her hair was shorter, she could feel the strap of a flip flop between her first two toes when she knew that she herself was barefoot.

Jade also realized that she was no longer afraid of losing her job. She no longer felt the anger. Instead she felt tired and not in the mood to be writing up some kid who should know her own job. Annoyance was the overwhelming feeling in her head now “Spoiled high school kid in front of me” ran through her mind.

“Am I hearing Sarah’s thoughts? Am I feeling Sarah’s emotions?” Jade thought still staring at her own body before her.

Sarah stared back at herself thinking “What a bitch! What does she know?” Sarah felt anger inside of her, anger and a bit of fear of getting in trouble with her parents if she got fired from a job.

“Why would I be afraid and angry unless I was thinking and feeling what Jade was thinking and feeling?”

Sarah shifted her gaze downward. It felt like it took forever to change her view from seeing Sarah to seeing tan legs coming out of a red bathing suit, seeing bare feet pressed down against a concrete floor, seeing small breasts swelling up the front of her suit, catching a glimpse of her ponytail sweeping forward and moving in slow motion falling forward.

Jade saw Jade break eye contact to look down. She followed suit and saw a slight belly and large breasts lifting with her breathing; the light blue shirt going up and down. Heavier, shorter thighs coming out from black cotton shorts and smaller toes in flip flops against the floor “I am in Sarah’s body!” she realized.

“I am in Jade’s body!” Sarah told herself while still dealing with hearing Jade’s own thoughts and feelings.

Both of them raised their eyes, their mouths coming open to either speak, scream or simply hang open in shock. When their eyes met, both of them felt the same tugging and pulling followed by the rushing blur sensation of coming forward.

Time snapped back and Sarah was looking at Jade once again and Jade was looking at Sarah again.

“Uh” Sarah said in a very short, clipped tone; more like clearing her throat.

Jade held her breath, she was frozen momentarily. She eased down looking confused at her boss who was returning a look of confusion “Did you just…”

Sarah nodded “Did we just…”

Jade laughed nervously “Wow! I swear we just like switched places for a second there. I was totally seeing me from your eyes”

“Me too!” Sarah said almost coming off her chair. “I saw me like you see me!” She paused and looked around “Did you also, like get the feeling…?”

“Totally! I could hear what you were thinking and I felt like you felt” Jade paused “You know like instead of being mad, I was annoyed and tired, which is what you must be”

“And I totally felt angry and scared that my parents would be mad at me if I got fired” Sarah said.

“Which is exactly what I was thinking and feeling before I got sucked out of my body and put into yours!” Jade said.

“So what was that?” Sarah asked. “Like 10 seconds in someone else’s mind and body?”

“Yeah, it must have been” Jade said.

“But what caused it?” Sarah wondered “That was freaky. I’ve never experienced something like that before in my life”

“Me either! It was cool but really freaky…like Freaky Friday for less than a minute!” Jade said.

Sarah sat back and stretched her legs out in front of her. She tore up the write up paper laughing “Let’s get out of here…it has to be the heat”

Jade stood up thankful for not getting written up “Yeah…weird man” she said putting her sunglasses down and walking out to the deck. She shook her head and gathered up her t-shirt and flip flops before heading off to her Jeep.

Sarah locked up the gate and headed to her car. She was shook up over her out of body experience “That was the weirdest thing I’ve ever felt…I’m not going to tell anyone about this” she told herself as she drove off.

Sarah got home and just felt off. Everything was moving like in a dream to her; she couldn’t stop thinking about becoming Jade for a moment “Why did that happen?” she asked herself at first but by the end of the night, her questions had become “What would Jade think about this? How would Jade react? What would it be like to be her all the time? Is it possible to switch with her again and make it stick?”

Unbeknownst to Sarah, Jade’s thinking was going through the same progression.

Jade drove home, the side and top down on her Jeep making her hair whip around her face. “That was the weirdest feeling I’ve ever experienced…no one will ever believe it actually happened. I can’t tell anyone”

She got home and had dinner with her parents and younger brother but she seemed slow, she couldn’t get that moment as Sarah out of her mind “Why did that happen?” she thought but as the evening at home progressed, her thoughts progressed too “What would Sarah think about that? What would it feel like if I was in Sarah’s body…walking, standing…just doing whatever as her? I wouldn’t have to take out the trash when my Dad says to if I was Sarah…I’d be married. I wonder if there’s a way to do that again? I want to do that again. I wonder if we did do it again, could we make it last longer?”

Both of them had become obsessed with that one moment.

The next day, Sarah was opening up and saw that Jade was there and on time. Her heart jumped with nerves upon seeing her get out of her Jeep and walk up.

Jade knew she had to get to work on time, if not early. She saw Sarah working already and her heart jumped “Should I say something to her?” she thought.

They passed a nervous “Good Morning” back and forth but nothing else. Both of them would keep stealing glances throughout the day, constantly thinking “What if?”

Weeks went by, July turned to August and while neither of them had mentioned it out loud to the other, both of them had come to think of nothing else.

Becoming Jade was Sarah’s obsession and becoming Sarah was Jade’s.

Finally, the dam broke.

It was after close on a cloudy and slow Thursday; Sarah and Jade were the last two people left at the pool. Sarah looked up from counting out the cash drawer and saw Jade looking at her. Jade had an odd smile and a faraway look in her eyes. She recognized the look and knew she was daydreaming the same way she had been as she watched Jade go about her job on a day to day basis.

“Hey” Sarah called out.

Jade jumped and looked a bit embarrassed but she hurried over to the window. “What’s up?” she asked leaning forward on the ledge.

Sarah pulled the tape from the adding machine and locked the drawer down “I wanted to talk to you” she said “Give me a second and I’ll come out”

Sarah locked up the stand and came out to the pool deck. She motioned and Jade followed her to two chairs by the water. Once they were seated, Sarah asked “Have you thought any about that night when we switched into each other?”

Jade tried to play it cool but couldn’t, she broke out into a wide smile and admitted “Yes! Like every chance I get I think about it”

“Oh my God what a relief…me too!” Sarah said letting out a held breath.

“So you’ve thought about it too?” Jade asked.

“All the time” Sarah said “I can’t stop thinking about it”

“Me too, it’s like I constantly think what it would be like if I was in your place…what are you thinking…what are you feeling?” Jade said shaking her head.

“I watch you walking around and I can almost put myself into your place. I can imagine how hot the concrete feels beneath my feet. I can close my eyes and imagine feeling a swimsuit drying out on my skin in the sun while I’m baking away back here”

“I watch you out of the corner of my eye…I’ve even caught myself trying to walk like you just to recreate it. I try to ask myself in every situation now, how would Sarah react, what would she say, what would it feel like if I were in her body right now?”

“So what do we do about it though?” Sarah asked sitting back.

“I don’t know, do you think we could do it again if we really tired and concentrated?” Jade asked sitting forward.

“I’d like to try” Sarah admitted giving Jade a sly smile.

“You want to?” Jade asked eagerly.

“It can’t hurt…even if it’s just a brief swap again…” Sarah started.

“It would enough for me!” Jade finished. “I am so for it”

“How do you think we should try this? It happened when we were staring at each other but so you think we could make it stronger if we were, I don’t know, like holding hands or something?” Sarah asked.

“Oh! We could…” Jade hopped up and moved her chair back and motioned Sarah to do the same “Let’s get down on the ground, sit cross legged in front of each other”

She plopped down on the pool deck concrete and crossed her legs.

Sarah came down right in front of her.

“Now scoot forward so we’re touching knees” Jade instructed and Sarah complied. “Let’s get our toes together too” she added and they made sure the ends of their toes were together too. “Now take my hands…” Jade put her hands out palms up.

Sarah took them and held on tight enough but not squeezing.

“Now we can start by just looking into the others eyes” Jade said and they began staring. “Think about journeying across…it’s not far…not even two feet away and coming inside the other person”

They stared at each other, both controlling their breathing and not looking away.

Sarah thought as hard as she could, concentrating every thought on trying to think of what Jade was thinking; what she was feeling. She was feeling hopeful at first and overjoyed at the prospect but now feeling more anxious and cynical.

Sarah tried to match Jade’s breathing so they were inhaling and exhaling simultaneously.

Jade was concentrating on Sarah trying to flip and go until she saw herself in front of her again. She felt happy to begin with and was trying to keep any negative or discouraging thoughts back and out “Concentrate on being Sarah…Concentrate on becoming Sarah…” she kept saying.

After several minutes of staring, Sarah’s eyes began to blur. She shut her eyes and tried to think harder “Concentrate on being Jade…Concentrate on becoming Jade…” came into her mind and she began to repeat it.

Jade closed her eyes at the same time as Sarah; they were beginning to match up more and more. Without knowing it, their heartbeats matched and were pumping the same rhythm. Their breathing matched and their thoughts matched.

Muscles twitched in Sarah’s hands and she squeezed harder for just a moment. When she did, her nails grew longer; they changed into Jade’s nails as Jade’s nails shrank back and changed into Sarah’s nails.

Once the nails switched, it had begun. Sarah’s fingers trimmed and lengthened as Jade’s shortened and thickened but they had been holding each other’s hands for so long and were so deep in thought, the changes simply happened.

Both were locked deep in thought; muscles twitched in their thighs at the same time; physical changes were occurring. Jade’s thighs began to shrink down and fatten up as Sarah’s grew longer and thinner.

Their knees rubbed up against each other as they changed and shifted against one another.

Their calves, tucked underneath changed in kind before ankles switched sizes and the changes ran down their feet.

Jade’s toes twitched when they changed becoming shorter, her nails became thicker but they maintained their touch with Sarah’s as her toes lengthened and her nails thinned changing into Jade’s.

“You are becoming Jade…You will be Jade…” ran through Sarah’s mind.

“You are becoming Sarah…You will be Sarah…” ran through Jade’s mind.

At the exact same time, a matching smile came to their lips as their ovaries pulsated, their uteruses throbbed and their vaginas changed.

Sitting on the hard ground, Sarah’s ass cheeks lost mass as Jade’s grew mass. Jade lifted up ever so slightly as Sarah dropped down an equivalent amount.

Jade’s hips shifted out as Sarah’s shifted in.

Jade was concentrating hard as the front of her swimsuit pushed out as her stomach changed into Sarah’s and Sarah felt nothing as her stomach went flat beneath her large shirt.

More muscles trembled in their arms as Sarah’s trimmed and Jade’s plumped. “You will get there…you will be Sarah” thundered in her head now, the thoughts coming louder and clearer to her. Jade’s mind seemed to become more alert with the thought and she closed her eyes tighter, trying to keep all other thoughts out.

Sarah’s mind shared the thought “You will get there…you will be Jade” It repeated loudly in her head and she felt happier and more certain now but kept her eyes shut tight concentrating on her thoughts and her breathing.

With each deep breath, Sarah’s breasts shrank and rose higher and closer on her chest. With each deep breath, Jade’s breasts grew and dropped lower on her chest. She couldn’t feel anything now, her body had gone numb but the thought in her head had grown louder.

As Jade’s neck pulled down, Sarah’s rose up. As Sarah’s chin became more pointed, Jade’s rounded off. As Jade’s jaw dropped down, Sarah’s lifted up. As Sarah’s lips plumped, Jade’s thinned. As Jade’s teeth shrank, Sarah’s grew. As Sarah’s nose elongated and came to a point, Jade’s shrank and broadened at the tip. As Jade’s cheeks rounded, Sarah’s lengthened. As Sarah’s eyes, still remained shut, turned green, Jade’s turned brown. As Jade’s ears pulled in, Sarah’s came out. As their foreheads shifted and lines appeared on Jade’s skin as they disappeared from Sarah’s, Sarah’s hair grew out longer while Jade’s lifted up shorter.

“Jade…Jade…Jade…” Sarah’s thought was down to just her name repeating.

“Sarah…Sarah…Sarah…” Jade’s thought was down to just her name repeating.

“I’m Jade!” boomed through Sarah’s head.

“I’m Sarah!” boomed through Jade’s head.

An unseen wave of energy pushed them at that moment and they broke contact, both falling backwards.

Their concentration broke, the bond broke and time seemed to go in slow motion.

Thoughts flooded forward but the first one in each of their minds was “IT WORKED!” as other thoughts swirled around rushing forward at lightning speed.

Sarah saw a house that she recognized as her own now. She saw a man and a woman and a little boy there “My parents and my brother Sam” she thought. She saw a dog and knew it was hers, faces of teens came flooding in recognizing them as friends “I’m her!” she thought as she opened her eyes.

Sarah put her hands out as she felt herself pushed backward to catch herself. She felt her palms hit the concrete and she felt a fingernail bend back painfully “I have long nails…I have Jade’s hands!”

Sarah’s eyes focused. She blinked an unbelieving blink; there in front of her was her but clad in Jade’s red bathing suit.

Jade held onto that solid thought as she saw a house and a man she recognized as her husband. She saw a classroom and faces of kids; she saw teenagers as just kids “They’re kids and I’m not…I’m an adult…I’m in charge of this classroom…I’m the teacher and I’m the authority” ran in her mind.

Jade began regaining feeling. A tingling overtook the numbness as she put her hands out to catch herself from falling backward. Blinking, she opened her eyes.

“It worked” she thought as she focused. “It really worked!” repeated over and over. She saw herself across from her but dressed in Sarah’s clothing. “We did it” she said softly and to herself. “My voice!” she thought “I even have her voice!”

“We did it” she said louder, enjoying the sound of her voice “We really freakin did it!”

Jade began moving; her body held tight in the now too small swimsuit.

Sarah began to laugh and stood up much quicker and easier in her now lighter and younger body “Oh my God Sarah” she said without pause at calling out her own name to someone else; Jade’s thoughts were changing and becoming more and more her own. Her identity began to solidify as she stood up a 17 year old girl instead of a 37 year old woman. “It worked…I’m Jade” she looked over, her mouth open in shock “I’M JADE!”

She jumped up and down, her large shirt billowing, her big shorts loosening more and more and beginning to slip down her skinny legs. Her feet now a size larger than her shoes, she could feel the back of her heels touching the concrete outside of her shoe.

They rushed forward and embraced, the new Jade feeling how soft her old body was and the new Sarah realizing how bony and skinny she used to be.

“I can feel everything you feel! I’m think like you think” Jade said.

“You’re a kid to me now…I look at you and I see a young kid” Sarah said. She tugged at the tight bathing suit trying to loosen it up.

“We can change clothes” Jade said flapping her arms up and down in the big shirt she had on “This bra is worthless to me now”

Sarah ran her fingers through what was now her old hair, feeling the sun damaged brown and sun streaked locks “This is so unreal…I thought we might go like last time at best but this…this is amazing. We physically changed bodies with each other. I’m in your body. I have your thoughts!”

“I know! I have yours! We’ve already been like this for a couple of minutes” Jade said. “How did we totally miss changing bodies?”

Sarah shook her head.

“We were concentrating so hard that our physical bodies changed into the other one while we sat there holding hands and touching toes!” Jade said practically bouncing around her older friend.

“We changed everything while we were, I don’t know, in our trance” Sarah said looking down at herself.

She began walking to the changing rooms and Jade followed her. “I know I’m thinking like you now” Jade said.

“Yes, I’m sure you are and I’m pretty sure I’m thinking like you. I have your thoughts and your feelings…” Sarah said.

“And my body!” Jade added in crossing over behind the door.

“And your body” Sarah agreed.

She hooked her fingers under the shoulder straps of the red bathing suit. She peeled them down the tops of her chubbier arms and lifted her arms out of them. She shimmied and tugged and pulled until she was out of the small and tight suit.

Sarah took in her more mature body as Jade danced around taking off her clothes, flaunting her young tight figure.

The bathing suit was inside out so Jade flipped it around and easily stepped into it “Woo!” she called out as she pulled it up easily and snapped the shoulder straps and pulled the fabric out of her ass.

Jade giggled as Sarah put on the 40C bra and panties, the gray cotton shorts and the yellow Logan Pool t-shirt.

Jade ran out and went to her cubicle to grab her flip flops and white shirt to throw on overtop of her suit as Sarah took her time walking out of the changing room towards the gate.

“You know, I’ve obsessed all summer about becoming you and now I am” Sarah said satisfied.

“I know” Jade said nodding at the older and shorter woman before her. She was already getting used to seeing her old body as someone different. “I think that those thoughts will pass from us now” she said in all seriousness.

“I do too Jade…I do too”