Marilyn Kaye - Out of Sight, Out of Mind

FOR ONE BRIEF MOMENT, Jenna thought she might have made a mistake. The reaction to her accusation was typical Tracey. The girl who now gazed back at her looked nervous, fearful, and almost ready to cry.

But any doubts in Jenna's head disappeared as "Tracey's". expression quickly changed. She stared right back at Jenna with a challenging look.

"You're crazy," the girl said. "Of course I'm Tracey. Who else could I be?"

This response only confirmed Jenna's suspicion. Tracey would never have been confrontational like that. "You're Amanda Beeson."

"I am not," she declared hotly, but Jenna didn't have to be a mind reader to see the panic in her eyes.

"Oh yes, you are. You're Little Miss I'm-Too-Cool-for-Words Amanda Beeson. I remember when you and your prissy friends called me a vampire. Huh-I wish! I would have drained your blood by now."

"You're disgusting and crazy," the girl-who-wasn't-Tracey's aid, and she turned away. Jenna grabbed her arm.

"Do your snotty friends know you're a body snatcher? What would they say if they found out you're gifted, like the other freaks in the class?"

"They'd never believe you!"

"Let's try it." Jenna looked around. "There's Sophie Greene-isn't she one of your friends?"

"And look who she's meeting at her locker," her classmate retorted. "Amanda Beeson."

Jenna's brow puckered as she watched Sophie and Amanda walk down the hall together. "I don't know who that is. Your clone, maybe. Or a robot. It's not Tracey, that's obvious. She looks too sure of herself." She looked at Amanda-Tracey appraisingly. "So you and Tracey didn't change places?"

"No. That's me and I'm me and I don't know how it works, but…" Amanda-Tracey's topped suddenly, and Jenna grinned.

"So it's true. I was just guessing, but you really are a body snatcher. I've heard of people like you, but I've never met one before."

She recognized the flash of anger on Amanda-Tracey's face. She'd seen it before once, in the cafeteria, when someone spilled orange juice on Amanda's white jeans.

"If you tell anyone," Amanda said, "if you dare, I'll-"

Jenna didn't give her the opportunity to complete her threat. "Don't worry, Amanda, I'm not going to tell anyone. Not yet. There's something I'm curious about, though. Why would you want to be Tracey?"

"Are you kidding? Do you think I want to be inside this creepy girl's body? It-it just happened. I was thinking about her, and then… poof!"

"Why were you thinking about her? I can't believe the great and wonderful Amanda Beeson gives a hoot about poor little Tracey Devon." Jenna was having a good time teasing Amanda. She'd never had this kind of encounter with a popular girl, and she had to admit it was fun, even if the popular girl didn't look like herself.

"Can't you just go away and mind your own business?" Amanda fumed.

"No. I want to know where Tracey is."

It was so weird to see a haughty expression on Tracey's face. Jenna had to keep reminding herself that behind the face was super snob Amanda Beeson.

"I don't know," Amanda finally admitted.

"You can't hear her thoughts or anything?"

"No."

Jenna felt a twinge of concern. "She's not… dead, is she? Did you kill her when you took over her body?"

"No!" Amanda exclaimed. She hesitated. "I mean, I don't think so." She bit her lip. "Wouldn't I feel it if there was someone dead inside me?"

"You don't feel her being alive, do you?"

"No." Amanda looked up at the hall clock. "The bell's about to ring. I don't want to be late for class."

"It doesn't matter," Jenna said. "Half the time no one sees Tracey anyway."

Amanda frowned. "Yeah, what's the deal with that? Madame keeps saying it's nice to see me."

"You haven't figured that out yet?"

"Figured what out?"

"Tracey's special talent. Her gift."

"What is her gift?"

The bell rang, and the few remaining students in the hall headed off. "Meet me after school, at the mall, in front of Barnes amp; Noble." She couldn't resist one more insult: "That's a bookstore, in case you don't know. It's next to Style Session, and I'm sure you know where that is."

Feeling unusually pleased with herself, Jenna swaggered off to her next class. For the rest of the school day, her spirits were high. She didn't like anything about Meadowbrook, but she particularly despised Amanda Beeson and her crowd. She was going to enjoy watching Amanda squirm.

Amanda felt sick. To have a freak like Jenna Kelley acting superior to her was almost as bad as being a freak like Tracey Devon. Things were getting worse and worse.

But by the end of the day, she'd made the decision to meet Jenna at the mall. Jenna knew Tracey, and Jenna could read minds, so maybe, just maybe, Jenna would be able to help her get out of Tracey's body. She didn't know how Jenna could help, but she figured there was a chance that all these weird kids were connected in some way--that they had some sort of special knowledge.

Only, would Jenna want to help her? Obviously, Jenna despised Amanda, which was natural. Dweebs, nerds, and geeks all pretended to hate popular girls, when they actually envied them and wanted to be them.

But it seemed as if Jenna might care about Tracey. And maybe she'd help Amanda if she thought she was helping Tracey. In any case, Amanda didn't have anything better to do, and going to the mall was preferable to going back to Tracey's house and being ignored.

So when the last bell rang, she hurried out of the school and went directly to the corner where she could safely cross the highway and head to the mall on the other side. And, despite Jenna's snide remark, she knew exactly where Barnes amp; Noble was. Stupid Jenna didn't realize that just because a girl was pretty and cool and popular didn't mean she'd never read a book.

Just moments after she arrived at the bookstore, Sophie, Nina, and Other-Amanda strolled into the mall. For a second, Amanda froze-what if they saw her with Jenna? And then she almost laughed at her silly thought.

"Why do you look so happy, Tracey?" Nina asked as the group passed her. "You've got nothing to smile about."

Now that was interesting, Amanda thought. Usually, Nina ignored Tracey like everyone else. Maybe she was just trying to impress Other-Amanda with her nastiness. Or maybe she was about to challenge Amanda's status as the Queen of Mean! Amanda made a mental note to keep a close eye on Nina.

She was distracted by the arrival of Jenna, who must have overheard Nina's remark.

"Nice friends you've got," she commented.

"Oh, shut up," Amanda-Tracey replied. "The only reason I'm meeting you here is because maybe you can help me get back inside my body. And get Tracey back inside hers," she added quickly. She guessed Jenna would be more likely to help if she thought it was for Tracey's sake.

"We've got to find her first," Jenna said. "Which might not be so easy, when you think about her gift."

"Which is?" Amanda asked eagerly.

But now Jenna was distracted by a group down at the other end of the mall, in front of Target. "Want to meet some of my friends?" she asked Amanda.

"Not particularly," Amanda replied, but Jenna took off, and Amanda had no option but to follow her. As they got closer to the group, she began to have serious misgivings. Jenna's friends looked like a very creepy bunch.

An older, skinny guy with dyed green hair and a cigarette dangling from his mouth said, "Hiya, Janie."

They couldn't have been great friends if he didn't even know her name, Amanda thought. But Jenna didn't seem dismayed. "Jenna," she corrected him. "Yo, Slug."

Slug? Who had a name like Slug? Amanda couldn't wait to find out what the others were called. The sleazy-looking goth girl in black with blood-red lipstick was called Bubbles, while another girl with a shaved head and tattoos up and down her arms was Skank. Jenna introduced the heavyset guy with the half-closed eyes as Harry. Amanda thought they all looked older, at least 18. And they were all extremely ugly.