Caroline didn't know what had hit her. One minute she was standing at the kitchen window giving her orchids their weekly drink of water while waiting for Lawrence to be ready to leave for school, and the next she was on the floor looking at something she couldn't comprehend.

She recalled setting down her watering can while soaking up some of Lawrence's harshest vitriol yet, and, despite Kate being asleep upstairs, she remembered yelling back at him. In the past, out of fear he'd move in with John, she suffered in silence when he laid into her. But with the baby due in a few weeks, it was time for her to establish some much-needed boundaries so Lawrence knew she'd no longer tolerate him being disrespectful to her or Kate. She didn't want to, but if he didn't change his attitude, she'd pack for him and ship him off to John by herself.

Lawrence awoke in a panic about what would happen to him at school when word got out about the engagement. When they dropped that bombshell on him the day before he'd merely gone to sulk in his room but as that knowledge festered overnight, his fear grew. He'd copped crap from the bullies at school when it became common knowledge his mum was seeing Kate but then they broke up and things quieted down. He knew once they were married, things would get exponentially worse again because he wouldn't just be the son of the head teacher, he'd also be Kate's step-son. He was angry and frustrated that his mum didn't understand so he lashed out even more than usual. Suddenly, while he was trying to get thru to her, he found himself on the floor looking at something he couldn't comprehend.

Caroline shook her head as if that would clear her eyes and ears. She didn't understand why she was looking at herself, splayed out on the floor, hearing herself screaming. As she moved to stand up, she looked down and noticed she was wearing Lawrence's school uniform and shoes. She instinctively raced to the closest mirror where she found she was looking out of the troubled eyes of her youngest and they were looking back at her. Lawrence followed close behind. When he caught up, he pushed her out of the way and saw his mum's blue eyes looking back at him instead of his own.

"What the Hell?" they both shouted in unison. Caroline was anxiously running her hands through her hair, or more accurately, running Lawrence's hands through Lawrence's hair that was covering her head. Lawrence, normally very athletic, for his part was trying to balance in Caroline's heels as he grabbed the shoulders on the body in front of him to help him regain his balance; he'd never felt more off kilter.

"Mum! Mum! What's happening? What's happening?" he cried excitedly before finding himself in a bear hug with the arms around him tightening as if they could squeeze him back into the right body.

"I'm not sure, Lawrence," his mum began, loosening the hug that didn't work as she remembered something. "I think I saw this in a movie when I was a kid. It was called Freaky Friday and if I remember correctly, the fates made the mother and child switch places."

"Switch us back! Switch us back!"

"I don't know how or I would!" came the defensive reply. "In the movie it only happened after they'd had some epiphany about each other."

"This has to be a dream! This can't be happening," Lawrence declared, his panic multiplying by the second.

"We can't both be having the same dream, Lawrence," she reasoned while looking at the clock on the wall. "Come on, we have to go or we're going to be really late. Let's just get through this day and we'll figure it out later." She straightened Lawrence's tie in the mirror, trying to look more composed than she felt.

"This is a nightmare! I'm not going to school like this! I'll hang out here with my Xbox until this nightmare ends," he declared, still not able to take in the fact that he was outside his body looking at himself.

"You can't stay here with Kate! She won't understand why I'm playing video games instead of helping her finish painting the nursery. Come on, let's go before she wakes. It'll be fine."

As they got into the car, she realized it would look funny to anyone seeing Lawrence pulling her Jeep into her parking spot but all she could do was hope they were late enough everyone would be in the assembly. She threw her Mulberry and keys at him as it would look better if he carried them, rather than her in Lawrence's body. Then it dawned on her that she had to get Lawrence out of giving her morning address to the student body. While she drove, she had Lawrence call Beverley to have the Deputy Head do the assembly, saying she wasn't feeling quite herself today and that she and Lawrence were running late.

Taking advantage of the empty offices when they arrived, Caroline got Lawrence situated at her desk, gave him specific instructions about what to do and what not to do, and then went to his locker and headed to his first class. Even though she was going to be unacceptably late, she couldn't bring herself to break her own rule and run through the halls.

"Mr. Elliot! So nice of you to grace us with your presence at last," Michael Dobson said for the classroom's benefit. Then in a quieter voice so only Lawrence could hear it as he passed, he threatened, "Don't think you can get away with skating in here late just because your mum is the Head Teacher."

"So..sor…sorry Mr. Dobson," Caroline stuttered in response, taken aback by the severity of his words and aware she wasn't in a position to do anything about it at the moment and wondering how often Dobson had done this to her son before. "It won't happen again."

Ignoring Lawrence's apology, Dobson doubled down and turned the screws tighter. "Class, you thank Mr. Elliot for this pop quiz. I had planned to cover Chapter 25 today, but seeing how he needs a lesson on being on time, close your textbooks and get out a piece of paper and a number two pencil." Dobson smiled as the groans and protests of his class were loud enough to hear in the hallway. Wanting to further embarrass him, he poked his mark again. "Think you can correctly spell your name on the top of the page there Elliot? Remember it's two 'l's and one 't'."

Caroline seethed as she took both Dobson's abuse and quiz, remembering that to Dobson she appeared as Lawrence. With the quiz finished and an independent reading assignment doled out, Dobson graded the quizzes. Caroline, slouching in her chair like Lawrence would, silently plotted the smarmy teacher's demise. More than ready to not have to look at the ass any longer, she bolted out of her seat to follow Angus to their next class as soon as the bell sounded.

"Elliot!" Dobson's voice impeded a fast exit, pinning his punching bag in the classroom until the other students were again out of earshot. Seeing the gathering darkness in Dobson's eyes, she cocked her head and listened closely to what he said next. "You had to have cheated to score a perfect on that test. We hadn't covered some of that material and I know you're too lazy to read ahead. Don't know how you did it but I'm going to nail you when I figure it out. Now get out of my sight and don't even think about running to your mummy for cover. Your ass is mine."

Caroline was shaking with uncontainable anger by the time she found Angus waiting for her…er…for Lawrence. Angus laid into his friend, "Why were you late? You had to know he'd crucify you."

"I had no idea he'd do that," she said in defense.

"Are you kidding? It's like he dreams up ways to torture you. He must really he hate your mum, but at least it wasn't as bad as the last time."

Not trusting herself to say anything in response, she shrugged her shoulders and tried to mimic the indifferent attitude Lawrence showed her whenever he didn't want to acknowledge her request to do something he didn't want to do. As they turned the last corner, Caroline found herself being led into the boys' locker room. "Gym class? Can this day get any worse?"

Author's note: This crazy story idea came about as a result of some of your lovely reviews to my last story, In Sickness and in Health. A couple of you suggested it was time for a Caroline and Lawrence centric story so here it is...for better or for worse. Thanks for the inspiriation! I'll try to post the rest as work and other demands allow. Until then, I hope you'll keep the reviews coming as they clearly help! Carpe Diem.