The next morning was Friday...a week since the switch between Sue Ellen and Francine had taken place. Sue Ellen (or rather, Francine in Sue Ellen's body) used the first opportunity she could find--the break between first and second period--to grill Francine (Sue Ellen in Francine's body) about what she had read, and hadn't read, in the diary.

"You told me that you wrote twenty pages about whether HIV would stop you from ever finding a boy to love you," Sue Ellen asked Francine as the two girls stood behind the back wall of the school, far from prying ears.

"Twenty pages?" Francine became nervous and evasive. "Uh, maybe I didn't remember right. Come to think of it, it was actually closer to ten."

"It was closer to zero," said Sue Ellen with a suspicious glare. "In fact, you hardly wrote a thing about it in your whole diary. It's like you woke up one morning with a big zit on your nose, then it went away, and you forgot about it."

Francine could only grin and shrug.

"We're talking about a disease that can kill you!" Sue Ellen exclaimed. "All your friends have been worried sick about you ever since they found out you had it. I even saw Alan crying once. Yet you don't seem to care at all. Now that I've got it, you seem to care even less!"

She could see tiny drops of sweat forming on Francine's brow as the girl replied, "Well, you know me. I'm not afraid of anything. Besides, as long as I keep taking the drugs, there's a good chance I'll...you'll have a normal lifespan."

"A good chance?" Sue Ellen narrowed her eyes. "How good?"

Francine shrugged again. "Uh, I don't know exactly."

"How much do you know about HIV?" was Sue Ellen's next question. "Have you even read anything about it?"

"I, uh, read some brochures once. At the blood bank."

Sue Ellen stared blankly at her. It was obvious that she would get no answers through this avenue, so without a word, she turned and walked away.

She shook her head unbelievingly as she made her way to the school entrance. The depth of Francine's ignorance and apathy in regard to HIV was appalling, considering that she had been infected with the virus back when she was still Sue Ellen. Could it be that she had yet to learn the concept of mortality?

Art class, phys ed class, history class, recess, and lunch hour all blurred into each other as Sue Ellen obsessed over Francine's indifference and her own future prospects. Would she grow up? Should she make plans? What if Alan's story of traveling into the future and hearing of Sue Ellen's death was true?

By the time school ended for the day, she had pledged to learn everything she could about the virus and how to improve her chances of surviving it. Without saying a word to any of her friends, she walked quickly to the nearest bus stop, stood in the freezing cold for ten minutes, and took a ride into downtown Elwood City.

She jumped off the bus about half a block away from the blood bank. Still toting her book bag over her shoulder, she walked toward the small white building, which was decorated with a red cross and a banner with the words FREE HIV TESTING.

As she entered, a white-uniformed aardvark woman and a sterile hospital-like smell greeted her. "Hi there," said the smiling woman, who was dressed like a nurse but was obviously a mere receptionist. "What's your name?"

"It's Sue Ellen, ma'am," she answered, impressed that she hadn't started to say Francine by accident.

"And how can I help you?" From the tone of her voice, Sue Ellen imagined she was expecting a response along the lines of, "I'm lost and I'm scared and I want my mommy."

"I...want some information on HIV," she replied, feeling a tad embarrassed.

"We have some brochures," said the woman, gesturing toward a rack on the wall filled with reading materials. "We also provide free testing. Where are your parents?"

As Sue Ellen searched her mind for a convincing excuse, she scanned the booths along the back wall of the building. In most of the booths, a person sat with a blood-filled tube leading from an elevated bag into his or her arm. She felt as if worms were crawling in her stomach. Francine hated needles, broken arm notwithstanding, and though she had inherited Sue Ellen's body, she didn't have the girl's fearless nature.

She was too nervous to think of a good excuse, so she told the truth. "My parents don't know I'm here."

The receptionist nodded understandingly. "So do you want the test, or just the brochures?"

Sue Ellen turned the woman's question over and over in her mind. What was the point of another test? What would it tell her? On the other hand, it was free, and she could see how it was done...

"I'll take the test, too," she bravely blurted out.

As it turned out, the real "test" was sitting patiently for fifteen minutes while her imagination vividly pictured one nightmare scenario after another. What if the nurse punctured her in the wrong place and all her blood squirted out? What if the needle got stuck and had to be removed with pliers?

Finally her turn came, and she took a seat on a plastic chair while a teenage cat girl with curly red hair was cleaning a small needle with antiseptic. "My name's Denise," said the girl, smiling reassuringly. Sue Ellen felt a sense of dread as she realized that this what probably what she would look like when she reached adolescence. "Have you done this before?"

She wasn't sure what to answer...the old Sue Ellen had, but Francine hadn't. It occurred to her that if she said yes, then the girl would ask her about the results of the previous test, which would lead to confusion.

"No," she replied.

"It's easy," said Denise. "I poke your finger and take out a little blood, then I put it on a strip that detects the presence of antibodies. Those are cells in your blood that fight against viruses. Now stick out your finger..."

Sue Ellen did so, and the girl lowered the small needle onto her fingertip. There was a short pricking sensation, and a tiny amount of blood oozed through the hole that was left. Denise took a sample, and then taped a cotton swab over the wound.

The prick had been unpleasant, but not as bad as the actual waiting for it to happen. She had endured it courageously. She felt proud. Perhaps she would follow up her victory by donating blood...no, wait, she couldn't do that anymore.

Then Denise showed her a strip with colored squares on it. "Congratulations," she said, smiling. "The test result is negative. You're clean."

What...?

"I...don't have HIV?" Sue Ellen stuttered in disbelief.

"You sound disappointed." Denise put down the strip and gently patted her on the bandanna. "Now pick up some snacks on the way out, and don't forget your bag."

"It must be wrong!" cried Sue Ellen, leaping to her feet. "I had tests done before! They turned up positive!"

"You said this was your first time," said Denise, a bit surprised.

Not sure what to think or believe, Sue Ellen reached down, picked up her book bag, and walked slowly away.

Inside her head, Francine's mind was drowning in confusion. How was this possible? Was it the unicorn horn? Then why hadn't it worked the first time? Had the drugs somehow eliminated the virus from her system? That seemed highly unlikely...

She was certain of only one thing...she had to tell Francine immediately...

She exited the bus at the stop closest to Francine's apartment building. As she hurried down the sidewalk, she thought it odd that she wasn't at all happy about the news. Her new body was healthy. She wouldn't die. Other than the fact that it wasn't the body she was born with, she really had no cause to mourn. Yet something about all of this was very strange...

She bounded up the stairway, charged into Francine's apartment without knocking, and found that Francine was watching TV while her mother was plugging away at the sewing machine. "Francine! Francine!" she cried earnestly.

"What?" Curious, Francine rose up from the couch to meet her.

"I don't have HIV!" Sue Ellen shouted.

The response was far from what she expected. The wide-eyed Francine lunged at her, placing one hand firmly over her mouth and wrapping the other arm around her chest. She then literally dragged Sue Ellen into her bedroom, where her sister Catherine was seated on a bed, reading a teen magazine.

"Out, Catherine! Now!" barked Francine as she removed her hand from Sue Ellen's mouth and released the girl from her grip. Confused at first, Catherine quickly jumped from her bed and hurried from the room. Francine slammed the door shut after her while the speechless, stupefied Sue Ellen looked on.

The two girls sat down--Francine on her bed, Sue Ellen on Catherine's bed. "Don't...ever...do that again," Francine whispered sternly.

"I don't have HIV," Sue Ellen whispered back. "I went to the blood bank and got tested, and..."

"I know," said Francine quietly.

"You know?" asked Sue Ellen. "Know what?"

"I know you don't have HIV. You never did. I never did. I've known all along."

Sue Ellen's mouth gaped open so wide that her jaw hurt. She hadn't imagined this in even her wildest speculations.

"But...but...why..." she stammered helplessly.

"Now that you're me, there are some things you need to know," said Francine in a half-whisper. "You may find them hard to believe. The important thing is, you must not tell anyone else. Ever."

As Sue Ellen stared at her incredulously, Francine stood up, walked over to Catherine's CD player, inserted a rock album, and started to play it at the highest volume level. The overpowering bass sound shook the walls of the bedroom. The door remained closed. Francine returned to her seat on the bed.

"Hank Armstrong is not really a diplomat," she told Sue Ellen in a normal voice. "He's an agent of the CIA."

(To be continued...)