My sister's always been the perfect one. Straight A's, flawless skin, perfect body, and true friends. Why couldn't I be born two minutes earlier?

My names June, and unlike my perfect sister Julia, I'm stuck with all the flaws. I don't have immaculate grades, or the unblemished skin, or the model boy, or any real friends. And yes, I'm the younger twin. You may think I'm very lucky, well your WRONG.

The first day of senior year was a blur. I may have been present physically, but mentally I was zoned off. Somewhere far away from everyone. No one yelling my name, hugging me, or telling me they missed me over summer vacation. YEAH RIGHT. I'm June, remember? Your talking about my sister Julia, you didn't miss me over summer vacation. In fact I think that you were relieved that there would be no awkward conversations with the quiet girl. That's right, you dearly missed my sister Julia who looks oh sooo much like me.

'Hey June!' I don't know who just said that, but mistook me for my sister. As if that's possible.

I turn around and realize it's my best friend. If I could really call her that, I haven't spoke to her ONCE during summer vacation. No swim days at the local pool, no shopping sprees at the mall, and definitely no all nighters this summer.

But of course I don't tell her that. Nope, June's the one who never opens her mouth or talks about her feelings, everything's ALWAYS incognito.

'Hey Rach, I missed you tons!' I say trying to sound as if I really did miss her that much. Yeah, she's my best friend but sometimes I feel as if we share literally NOTHING.
We spend close to five minutes talking about our summer adventures, of course mine is simply one sentence, it might even be cut down into a single word. Boring. Rachel goes on about her summer happenings, it takes forever, but I'm finally saved by the bell. Before I turn to go, I realize Rachel has my schedule. Great, June's late on the first day of school. I can just tell senior year is going to be a blast.
I start running down the crowded hallway, jamming into freshmen trying to find their classes, sophomores thinking they look cool by just knowing where their classes are on the first day, juniors giving big hugs to their friends whom they didn't see at all during summer break, and us, seniors just sauntering to class.
Hello people I think they bell has rung, or maybe its just me who's worried about school.
Let's get back to the story. As I notice the old faces, fresh faces, girls who had numerous nose jobs, guys who might have matured, I realize that I am in no rush. So what if my schedule is lost, I think, I can always get a new one. And that is exactly what I do. I stroll into the office and get my schedule.
Glancing at it, I think to myself, not bad. Yep, not bad at all. Minus all five AP classes, after school tutoring, babysitting my little brother, all the community service hours, and the job I currently have, I simply love my new schedule.
Sigh. I better get to class. First period, AP Chemistry, with Mr. Brown. I just love that man.
The rest of the school day passes in a snap. Suddenly I find myself in my car, in front of school, waiting for my oh so perfect sister to finish her very important conversations with her friends. After practically a million hugs and the never ignored 'I'll talk to you later,' my sister finally starts walking towards the car. Her hair flying in every direction, her backpack slung over her shoulder, she still looks impeccable. I would definitely kill to be her for just one day. One day is all I ask.


The next morning, I realize my alarm clock does not go off. This has never happened to me before, I am always up before six. I look to my right expected to find my clock on my wall, but instead I see a huge poster of Jesse McCartney hanging where my clock is supposed to be, or well, used to be. Then I realize the walls are pink. Pink? I despise pink, I prefer blue. Yes blue, whoever told you blue was a guy's color, is so not passed the first grade.
My bed is unlike its normal petite size, it's humongous. The covers are black with pink polka dots; did I mention that I also hate polka dots? In front of the bed hangs a big mirror with pictures. Millions of them. I get up and realize that I'm not in my room. Obviously. In big pink letters, over the bed spells 'Julia.' Oh right, I'm in my sister's room. I guess we had a switch over night? She might have woken up from a scary dream and convinced me to switch rooms for a night. I'll just go change. In my room.
Before I do that, I go look to see how the disaster on top of my head is doing. My hair looks impossibly perfect. Didn't I have brown hair?
Whoa, this does not look like me. I'm Julia. Well, I sure do look like it. Not bad. Definitely not bad. It's probably a dream though. I couldn't possibly be Julia. Never, not in a million years. My skins too plain, my grades are a little too shabby, I'm not that popular. This is definitely a dream. I just don't want to wake up. But I will eventually need to wake up, it might as well be now.
After ten minutes of sleep, I get up and look at the mirror. Nope, not a dream. I'm still Julia. I wonder where she is. I make my way across the room. It's a shame I never share valuable time with my one and only sister. Not to mention my same DNA. That surely sounds scary.
I knock on the door, but no one opens up. So I decide it'll be best to open it myself. When I crack open the door, I notice Julia's still sleeping, well June's still sleeping, or is it Julia? Anyways, my sisters in bed sleeping, completely unaware of this disaster.
While I ponder about what to do. I wonder how I should start.
'Hey, Julia? Yeah well it may seem as if you're seeing yourself, but really I'm June. It just that I'm in your body and your in mine!' No she might scream,
'Hey June! Get up we're gonna be late' Nah, sounds too calm.
'Hey Julia I gotta tell you something,' yeah I think I'll just go with that.
So I make my way to my bed, well June's bed and lightly tap her shoulder. She opens her eyes, shock fills her face, and I expect her to scream. But instead, she just goes back to sleep.
This time I pull off the covers.
'Julia, you might think your sleeping, but your not. You're in my body. And well, I'm in yours. I don't really know what happened, but I promise we'll find out soon.' Is all I can manage.
She opens her left eye, then her right and stares at me in shock.
'Um, why do you look so much like me? Yeah I know you really want to be like me, but you didn't need to drag me here in the middle of the night while I was unconscious just to be like me. And you definitely do not need to tell me that I'm in your body. Because I know for a fact that I'm not.' Is her reply.
Well, I guess her reaction to this is better than I'd expected but apparently she isn't getting the picture.
'No Julia, I'm serious, we switched bodies.' I choke out.
Without further dismay she gets up and walks to the mirror in my bathroom. Looking at her, I realize that I definitely need to step up my game. Maybe cut my hair, change my wardrobe a little?
Then I realize that I'm not June anymore, I'm Julia, so I might as well start acting like it. Times a ticking.
So instead of sitting there, trying to figure out what went wrong last night. I do the unexpected I ditch my sister in MY room, and go into hers. Getting ready for school has never been more fun. Especially since I'm Julia now, the perfect one.
Once I'm in Julia's room, from now on, I've decided to call myself Julia. So, once I'm in my room I head over to the window. I slowly open up the curtains and smile. I've never wanted to be anyone else more than this. No is my chance, and I'm not going to waste a minute of it. Julia can do whatever she wants in my body, but since I'm in her body, I can control it however I want. And she surely can't stop me.
I open up the closet. Wow, my closet mainly consists of dark colors. Like I don't know, black, gray, some white. But this closet is filled with pink, red, green, blue, yellow, ever single color imaginable. I can tell choosing an outfit is going to be a challenge. But I enjoy challenges and I have an hour to get ready.
After trying on about a dozen outfits, I pick one out. And it looks gorgeous on me, of course, because I'm Julia Stewart. Everything looks incredible on me. I can never get used to this feeling. I tried on almost everything and couldn't find one piece of clothing that looked ridiculous on me. It's either my fashion sense, or my body, or maybe even both.
I decide on a short denim skirt and a simple t-shirt. Even wearing a screen tee, I look great. Next stop, my hair. It's already straight, so I might as well not waste my time on it, I can pull it back. And that is just what I do. I put on some eyeliner and dab on some blush. In ten minutes I'm definitely ready. I check my backpack and remember that it's now a purse. I guess Julia outgrew backpacks ages ago.
I slowly go down the stairs expecting Julia to look confused in my body, but when I get downstairs, I find her in my clothes, with my backpack, and a huge grin. Let me tell you something, the girl knows how to make anything bad look good. Although it's my body, I suddenly realize that it's not outer appearance that matters, it's really the attitude. Enough pep talk, I tell myself. You get to feel confident for one day, one day don't let pep talk mess it up.
When I get to school, I immediately go find Rachel to tell her about my news, but I was stopped my Julia's annoying blob of a friend.
'Julia you won't believe what happened yesterday.' I her the blob blurt out.
'Um, and that would be?' is all I manage to jest.
She rolls her eyes at me and turns around, 'whatever', is all she manages.
I can not believe my sister talks to people like these. I thought she was smarter. I guess I was wrong. All her friends come talk to me about their experiences, as far as I'm concerned, Julia talked to them last night, what could have happened in six hours, I definitely don't know. I'm dearly missing Rachel currently, but of course Julia would never talk to her.
As the day rolls on by, I realize I have more than Julia. Yeah, she might have the friends, the looks, the confidence, the grades, the body, but she isn't me. And she never will be. I suddenly miss my old self. I reminisce what I once said how I would kill to be Julia, now, I would kill to be myself again.
Life can not be lived with only a person's outer appearance, I realize. Wow, took long enough June, I think. I start sprinting to where I think I might find Julia. Bathroom? Crying her guts out about how she can't be with her friends, maybe.
I get to the bathroom, and that's exactly what I find. All those times I'd doubted we were twins, I regret this moment. We really are, although we may not look like it on the outside, we both feel very comfortable in the inside. And no matter what, I can always read her mind.
'Julia, I know you hate being me for the day, but I guess now you know what it feels like being plain old June.' I say trying to cheer her up.
No luck. 'Yeah, your life sucks,' she says.
Geez, a little empathy? 'Well, thanks,' I try to say without showing hurt in my voice as much as I can.
'June, what are we going to DO?' she chokes out.
'I honestly don't know.' I say in a soft voice.
We spend lunch time figuring out what could have gone wrong last night. Was it something we did? Maybe Karma? After forty five minutes of pondering, crossing out ideas, getting new ones. We realize that we both wanted to be something we were not.
Julia actually admits to me that she sometimes went to bed wishing she was me. And I do the same, I don't think I'm going to give up a little bonding time with my sister. I've been living with this girl, my sister, my twin, for seventeen whole years, and I have never had an intimate conversation with her. This being our first, we both realize that we are closer than ever.
Suddenly, a quick bolt inside my body stirs up all the chemical stimulants in me. I look down at my hands and notice that their not Julia's French manicured fingers. They're mine..I quickly run to the mirror and see my face staring back. My face. Me, June, staring back. I look next to me and see Julia, looking more beautiful than ever. To be honest, it's not her outside appearance that makes her so gorgeous, its her posture, her attitude, and her confidence. Because even in my body, she looked spectacular.
We give each other a long hug, and remember last night. Of course, the Japanese restaurant! We ate some food and the waitress brought us each a fortune cooking. Laughing at the fact that fortune cookies are not often served in Japanese restaurants, Julia and I both opened ours to find the same fortune.
'Be prepared to accept a wondrous opportunity in the days ahead. '
Reaching into the back pocket of my jeans, I find the fortune, and so does June. We both wanted to be each other. Even for a day, and now that we were, I think this starts a new chapter in our life.
We won't make fun of each other's friends ever again, or grades, or looks, or anything. The arguments will however continue, we are sure. But we do know that at the end of the day, it won't matter, because now we understand what it feels like to be in each others body. Literally. I think it is safe to say that for once, I am happy with who I am. And that means the world.