Switched by R.L. Stine Read Free Book Online

ago.
    This has been the longest day of my life, I told myself. And the saddest.
    My eyes darted over the empty parking lot. For some reason I felt like a criminal. Stealing my own car.
    I usually kept my car keys in my jeans pocket. But I was wearing Lucy’s clothes. Luckily, I kept a spare keyhidden in one of those little magnetic cases under the fender.
    I pulled open the door and slid behind the wheel.
    I glanced tensely into the rearview mirror. I expected the two police officers to jump out from behind the school building.
    But there was no one around.
    My hand trembled as I slid the key into the ignition and started up the car. The hum of the engine sounded soothing. I sat there for a while, listening to the car, running my hands over the cool steering wheel.
    â€œLucy, I’m coming,” I said out loud. “I’m going to find you now, Lucy. You won’t get away.”
    I felt a little better, a little calmer, a little more confident as I switched on the headlights, then backed the little car out of the parking space.
    A few seconds later I had eased past the side of the school and turned sharply onto Park Drive. A bright spotlight on the front of the school building cast a white cone of light over the bare flagpole. I caught a glimpse of a maroon and white banner, proclaiming GO, TIGERS ! over the front doors.
    I’m going to drive around town till I find Lucy, I vowed to myself. I’ll drive to all of her hangouts. I’ll drive everywhere she’s ever been.
    I won’t give up. I’ll find her. I’ll get my real body back.
    And I’ll force her to tell me why she tricked me like this.
    â€œLucy, I thought you were my friend,” I murmured out loud, easing through a stop sign. “How could you hate me so much? How could you hate me enough to want me to take the blame for your parents’ murders?”
    As I drove to my house, I tried to think back. Tried to think of something I had said to her, something I had done to her to make Lucy hate me.
    But I drew a blank. I couldn’t think of a thing.
    We had always been so close. So honest with each other. If one of us was angry, we would tell the other. We would never keep it inside.
    The dark houses and lawns whirred past in a blur of blacks and grays. I gripped the wheel tightly in both hands. It felt so solid, so real. I gripped it as if holding on to the real world. I had the strong feeling that if I let go of the wheel, I’d slip away, slip out of the car, into a dark, unreal world and be lost forever.
    I cut the lights as I pulled to the curb in front of my house. If Lucy was home, I didn’t want her to see me coming. I wanted to surprise her.
    But I saw no car in the driveway. The porchlight was on, and the spotlight over the front lawn. My parents always left those lights on when they were away.
    â€œWhere are you?” I murmured out loud, peering at the dark windows. “Where are you this late at night? Lucy, I need my body back.”
    I suddenly found myself wondering if Lucy had been able to fool my parents. Did they think she wasNicole? Did they think that I was with them? That nothing had changed?
    I clicked on the headlights and eased away from the curb.
    I’m not going to sit here, asking questions I can’t answer, I told myself. I’m going to drive until I find Lucy.
    I cruised through town, gripping the wheel tightly. Wherever I drove, Lucy’s face floated in the windshield in front of me.
    I’ll find you. I’ll find you. I’ll find you. The vow became a chant in my mind.
    I tried friends’ houses without success.
    I drove past my house a second time. A third time. Still dark.
    I tried Alma’s Coffee Shop, a little place where she sometimes hung out. No sign of her.
    Each time I failed, I grew a little calmer, a little angrier, a little stronger and more determined to find her.
    When I finally did track her down, I was ready.
    She was sitting in a