Connie sat reading a new book in the fantasy section of the book store, quietly scanning the pages with great focus.
"Ugh!" Sadie groaned, heaving a box of books to shelve. "This job is so annoying! Why do I even work two?"
Connie smiled slightly, hiding it behind the book. She glanced around and saw Lars wasn't around, then spoke. "Maybe because you want to see Lars more?"
Sadie gave a cry in surprise and snapped her head to Connie. "Jeez Connie! How long have you been there?"
"An hour." Connie hummed, looking back to her book. "Any time Steven has off from the car wash, I want to hang out with him, maybe you're the same with Lars?"
"That's…" Sadie turned away from the girl. She then gave a growl. "That's stupid! I do it for the money!"
Connie rolled her eyes as if to say, 'Okay, sure, I believe you.'
Lars walked over at that point, not hearing what they had previously said. "Hey Sadie."
Sadie gave a grumble in his direction as a greeting while Connie actually said hello.
"Whoa!" Lars cried, jumping at the sight of Connie. "How long have you been there?!"
"An hour and five minutes I think." Connie answered immediately, going back to the book.
"I can't wait to not deal with this tomorrow." Sadie muttered, nodding in Connie's direction.
"Oh yeah! They're finally taking down a few sections, since Connie's too young to read them." Lars chuckled.
Connie glanced up. "Huh? What about the other people that come here?"
Lars gave a laugh. "No one comes here but you, Connie."
The girl realized that was indeed a fact. It made sense. She seemed to be the only one who loved to read in this town besides Peridot, and Peri didn't like to go into town much.
"So, any plans?" Lars asked Sadie.
Sadie shrugged in response. "Nope."
Lars thought about it and blushed slightly. "Er… maybe, if you want, I know it's been awhile but you could come over to my place and hang out. We could play some video games like we used to."
"Eh, I'll pass." Sadie said abruptly. "I'll see what Buck's doing."
"Oh… Yeah, okay, fine, another guy-friend… I'm totally cool with that." Lars muttered out in a whisper, shoving his hands in his pockets and glancing down at the ground.
"Well, I don't need your permission." Sadie replied snappily.
They then noticed Connie had abandoned the book and was watching them intently.
"Connie…? You're staring a bit." Lars whispered to her.
"Oh!" Connie blushed and laughed. "Sorry!"
"Sadie, girl to girl, I think you should tell Lars how you feel." Connie said as Sadie locked up later that night.
Sadie rolled her eyes. "And what's that?"
"That you love him!" Connie beamed. "That hang out would be a great opportunity!"
"I don't love him, we're not even dating or anything!" Sadie groaned. "Feelings are complicated for a girl, Connie."
Connie frowned. "But.. you do love him! You think you know about complicated feelings about life?! Listen! I know all about..." Sadie was now out of earshot. "them…"
That night, Connie was asleep, and dreaming about Sadie.
She opened her eyes in a dream and saw Sadie in front of her.
"Sadie, why do you have to be so inconsiderate? I wish I could show you how life could be better!"
They suddenly collided and Connie awoke with a magazine over her face. She gave a moan, waking up. She was surprised to see it and took the thing off her face. "What? I'd never…." She trailed off when she didn't recognize her voice. "Wait… Where am I?" She muttered, getting out of the bed. She then noticed the mirror and gasped in shock, seeing Sadie instead of herself. She looked around and saw movies scattered the floor, stuffed animals were in the corner. "Oh no! I must've jumped into Sadie's mind last night!" She shoved on clothes and gave a sigh. "I shouldn't mess with Sadie's life, who knows what consequences there could be!... But… I could make it better for her… I don't know what I should-"
"Sadie!" A loud female voice called. The not-Sadie glanced up. That that probably was the mother of the person she had unwillingly possessed.
Connie in Sadie's body walked up the basement steps. "Hello mother."
"Mother? Where'd you pick that one up?" Barb laughed, giving her a home cooked breakfast, pancakes and eggs. The eggs were the eyes of a smiley face while bacon was the smile.
Connie flushed in surprise. Teens usually didn't use such formality, but since her real mom was gone, and used to be a ruler… it sounded better to call her mother. "I mean, Mom."
"It's fine. So, how you feeling this morning?"
"Um… fine." Connie fibbed in Sadie. She then realized only two places were set, a third sat empty.
"Wait, where's Sa-my dad?" The teen asked.
Barb looked upset for a split second, then gave a laugh. "I don't know where he is! But I'm sure he thinks about you, pumpkin. You usually don't bring him up much anymore…"
"Oh! Er… never mind that..." Connie said hurriedly. She hadn't seen Sadie's father, true, but assumed he was at least around. She felt bad now for just assuming that, after all, she knew better then anyone that everyone had a different family situation.
"Are you wearing a dress?" Barb suddenly asked.
Sadie, or rather Connie glanced down. "Yes? Um, do I look alright?"
"You look nice." Barb smiled.
"I can't believe this…" Connie whispered to herself. "I knew I could project myself into the beings I made, but humans too? … My powers are so surprising. I should write this down somewhere..." She whispered. She glanced up and saw Buck Dewey and Sour Cream. She ran up to them.
"Hey guys!" She cried, waving. The two teens glanced at each other, then back to her, wondering if they should talk to her. Maybe?
Sour Cream looked at her up and down. "Uh, you're wearing a dress?"
"Yeah! She normally wouldn't, but I wanted to show how pretty Sa-I look in a dress! Um, Connie gave me the idea." Connie said. It was… sorta true?
"Cool. I like that kid." Buck said calmly.
Sour Cream nodded in approval.
A sweet smile lit Sadie's face. "I'm glad to hear that."
Jenny suddenly walked out Fish Stew Pizza with a moan. "Dad made me work this morning. Now I stink like pizza and fish."
"You don't stink." Connie said immediately, complementing her friend.
Jenny gave a beam. "Thanks, girl!"
Sadie smiled back. "Anytime! You're also super cool, and kind, and I look up to you!" All of those were Connie's real thoughts.
"Sadie, you are making my day! This is so unlike you!" Jenny chuckled.
Buck suddenly furrowed his brow. "I see what's going on here,"
Sadie looked surprised, while inside her, Connie was praying he didn't know.
"Maybe Sadie is actually…" Buck put a hand on her shoulder. "A good person who likes making people feel good."
"Heh, heh, yeah…" Connie chuckled nervously. "You got me…"
"That's the kind of vibe I want on our dance crew." Buck smiled.
"A dance crew? Oh, I can't dance, but maybe Sadie would want to!" Connie blurted out. She realized her mistake and covered her mouth but the others ignored it.
"Buck is pleased." Buck said with a smile.
Connie remembered Lars. "I'm really sorry guys, but I need to do something else."
She knocked on Lars' door with a smile.
Lars opened the door, in his robe and yawned. "Yeah, who…." His bored expression faded to slight panic when he had to look down to see her.
"Hi." Connie waved with Sadie's body. "Do you still want to hang out?"
"Huh…" He grunted, crossing his arms. "You just keep coming back."
Sadie looked surprised, he looked slightly angry. "Are you… upset?"
Lars blushed and glared away. "What? No! It didn't even matter anyway, just was a suggestion and…" He realized his ability to not share his emotions was making Sadie a bit uncomfortable. "I mean, come on in… Um, want to play some video games, you don't have to-"
"That sounds great."
"Heh…" Lars smiled, watching her come in then gave burst out laughing. "You're wearing a dress?!"
They sat in Lars' room in the attic, which was really messy, but that was fine. The bed was unmade, posters were on the walls, it seemed a lot like Lars. For the first time in a long time, Lars plugged in a second controller.
"You're choice, Sadie." Lars called as he fiddled with a game console.
Connie sifted through the games. "Army of War, Destruction of Hope, Rebellion Against The Odds…" The girl glanced back at Lars. "All of these sorta make me feel uncomfortable."
Lars raised a eyebrow. "But you love those-"
Connie suddenly gave a gasp of wonder, diamonds in her eyes. "You have Legend of Zelda?! The original?!"
"Um… yeah… But I only used to play it as a kid, way too simple for me-"
"Simple?! Swords, puzzles, amazing music! None of that is simple!" Connie squealed, fangirling. "Can I play it, Lars? Please? Please?! I know it's one player, but just a few minutes would be wonderful for me, I've never played it!"
"Okay, only a few minutes! And we take shifts!" Lars muttered. Sadie never cared for the single player ones, she liked playing with him, or, she used to…
"You can do it… You can do it!" Sadie cried through clenched teeth about a hour later. They hadn't kept true to that agreement.
Lars defeated the boss of the temple and the two gave yells in victory, high fiving and laughing.
Lars flopped on the bed next to her and smirked. "Told ya it was simple."
Connie rolled her eyes with Sadie's. "Yeah, sure."
Lars noticed the untouched bag of oyster crackers and frowned. "You haven't even opened the crackers. They're your favorite."
"They are?" Connie then blushed and quickly cried out, "They totally are, yes! I, um…" She opened the box and poured some crackers out before half-hazardly tossing them into her mouth. She frowned at the salt level, but then quickly smiled when she noticed Lars watching.
Lars smiled and gazed at who he thought was Sadie, then glanced away. He cleared his throat, gaining her attention, and he gave a worried sigh. "Um… Sadie, you've been acting really strange lately."
"Oh?" Connie chuckled nervously. Lars was Sadie's best friend and partner, at least, Connie could only write about them being partners, so of course had have suspicions.
"Yesterday, when Connie was around, you said you'd go hang out with other people, and made sure Connie knew that, but now, you're here… I'm not stupid, Sadie. Not everything goes over my head."
"I… I didn't say you were stupid…" Connie mumbled softly, feeling bad. Whatever she did, she had to refrain herself from blurting out the word 'love'. She would not mess with Sadie's love life! As much as she desperately wanted to, she wouldn't.
"Just, tell me how you truly feel about me, okay? Please."
Connie glanced up in surprise, and with her emotions tied to Sadie's body, it made the blonde blush. "Er, well… I can't…. um… I can't tell you that."
"You can't tell me?" Lars growled, snapping his head to her and recoiling away. "Why can't you tell me?! You don't want to hurt my feelings? You don't want things to get weird between us? Do-Do you even know how you feel about me?!"
"At the moment…. I can't say I do!" Connie yelled back as Sadie. She only thought she knew, and if that was true, she wanted the real Sadie to tell him.
Lars narrowed his eyes and glanced away in anger. "You know where the door is."
"Lars, you don't understand-!" Connie tried, but Lars put a hand out.
"I do! You're only friends with me when it's convenient for you!" Lars cried, crossing his arms.
Connie hestatied, then sighed, walking to the door. Her finger tips grazed the doorknob, she then gritted her teeth, and turned to Lars. "Lars, I can't give you the answer, because... I'm not Sadie! It's Connie! ...I woke up with my mind in Sadie's body… and I'm sorry."
Lars looked back at her with near disbelief and then knew she was telling the truth at the last word. "Huh. That explains a lot, Sadie never was into single player, and she loves oyster crackers."
"Wait, if my mind's in Sadie's body, Sadie's mind would be in mine! And that's at home!" Connie gasped suddenly.
"You just now thought of that?!"
"I've been under a lot of stress!"
Connie and Lars rushed through town, racing to get to the beach house. The cool kids were walked with their new, shining silver trophy, when they saw the two run past.
"Hey, look! It's Sadie and Doughnut Boy!" Jenny said with surprise. They followed them, eager to show the trophy.
Meanwhile, Barb was out delivering mail just as Connie and Lars ran by. She turned and saw her daughter and frowned. "Sadie? Where you going?" She then noticed Lars and quieted. "... Wait, who's that boy with my Sadie? He better not be getting her into any trouble!" She ran after who she assumed to be her daughter, and Lars.
The two arrived at the Beach House, unknowing of their recent fans. Connie struggled to open the door. "Urgh! I never leave home without my key in my pocket, but I don't have it on this body!" Connie moaned, trying to push it open.
Lars attempted to ram into it, but it was no use.
"I want my real body back!" Connie cried, slamming all of Sadie's strength into the door. She broke it open.
"Why are they breaking into Connie's house?" Jenny asked the other teens, watching from afar.
"Sadie?! What are you doing?!" Barbara cried, running after the two.
Connie and Lars ran up to Connie's true body, which was still peacefully asleep.
"There! Now how do we get you to wake up?" Lars asked hurriedly as the witnesses came in.
Connie desperately tried to shake herself awake while the others watched with worry.
"This looks weird, but don't jump to conclusions." Buck softly said, then they all gasped in horror as who they presumed was Sadie started slapping who they presumed was Connie.
"Wake up!" Connie yelled, and finally giving a slap, and there was a huge tingling sensation before she closed her eyes. She felt like she was nearly sick as her spirit went from Sadie's body to her own.
Connie gave a cry, blinking awake, happy to see her white nightgown with pink roses, and Sadie above her, who was drooling slightly as her real mind returned to her body, before collapsing into Lars.
"Sadie?!" Sadie's mother yelled as she and the Cool Kids ran up, Connie sitting up in her bed hurriedly, clenching the blanket as Sadie shakily stood.
Sadie finally awoke to see Lars above her. "L-Lars?" She then glanced over and gave a cry in shock, seeing everyone else there. "How did I get here?! What are you all doing here?!"
"Sadie, don't be mad…" Lars muttered.
Sadie snapped her neck to him. "About what?!"
"You see, Connie didn't mean to-"
"YOU!" Sadie yelled, turning to a frightened Connie still in bed who gasped. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
The Cool Kids protectively went in front of Connie, who was trembling, but made a brave face, thinking of what her mother would do, be confident, sound like it was not really too important, that she was far too supriour to handle explaining this, but would anyway.
"I spent the whole day in your body." She explained firmly, looking straight into Sadie's eyes. The eyes looked infuriated after she told what had happened, making the girl glance away in nervousness.
"How did you- DO THAT?!" Sadie yelled in anger.
"Where's your chill?" Jenny asked with confusion, as if this was normal. But, if this girl was her own mom and lived with three very odd women who almost got her killed on accident every few occasions, it probably was.
Buck was thinking nearly the same thing. "Buck is no longer pleased." He said, narrowing his eyes.
Connie brushed her fingers in her hair, not noticing it had started to friz because her electric powers were going in her fear. She told herself to calm down in her mind, taking a deep breath.
Barbra grabbed her shoulder and sighed. "I'm sorry, she usually is the sweetest girl!"
Connie frowned. What was she talking about? Sweet? When was Sadie sweet? Then again, maybe to her mother, she would be.
"I was acting 'sweet' all day, and no one thought to question that?" Sadie cried. "Everyone was fine with that?!"
"Sadie, don't embarrass yourself!" Barb scolded her daughter, who gave a huff in anger.
The teen took a deep breath in, closing her eyes, thinking it all through. She slowly tried to walk out of the room, but she failed at the side of the bed, there giving a war cry and trying to clobber Connie.
Barb give a cry and held her back.
The next morning, Connie in her own body glanced through the bookstore window, seeing Sadie sitting in one of the chairs, with her head down on a reading table.
Connie slowly walked in, and then up to her. "Um, Sadie? … Can we talk about yesterday?"
Sadie gave a muffled growl in response. Connie walked up to her and gingerly placed a emvolope on the table. "I wrote you a letter, it exsplains the power that made us switch bodies, at least, as much as I know about it, which isn't too much, and also explains all my other known powers, and all the safety precautions you should take to pro-"
Sadie grabbed the letter, head still down, and tore it in half, dropping it to the floor.
Connie frowned and glanced down at the once long, and elegant message full of her guilt and sorrow about the event, and all she had done. She had spent hours on that… She glanced back up at Sadie. "Okay, well, just to let you know, Lars knew something was up." The girl turned around and started to walk out when she heard a tiny voice.
"What did you say to him when you talked?" Sadie asked, putting her head up at the mention of Lars. "Did you… Did you say that I-"
"No. I didn't." Connie muttered.
"Thank goodness!" Sadie sighed in relief, and put her head back on the table.
Connie bit her lip and walked back up. "But… he asked what you thought of him… and I said I didn't know, that I couldn't tell him, because only you can, Sadie. I'm not interfering with that."
"What did he say back to you?"
"He thinks that you're embarrassed by him, and that you don't know how you feel about him… I've never seen a guy so upset before, besides Steven I mean."
Sadie looked sad, and felt even worse than that. "Makes sense, I treat him horrible, don't I?"
"Hm… If you do, why does he have a full box of oyster crackers in case you come over?" Connie smiled with a tiny blush.
Sadie glanced up with surprise. "No way, those are my favorite!" She cried. "... He really had those ready?"
"Yep. I think it's romantic!" Connie giggled, not stopping herself. Did Sadie really not know how much she meant to Lars? And Lars, the same about Sadie?
Suddenly, the door opened with a little jingle as the glass door hit the bell. Lars walked in, seeing Sadie, he gave a little wave. "Er, hey.."
"Lars!" Sadie ran out from behind the counter, and quickly gave him a hug, both blushed, and then she quickly let go. "Don't get too attached!" Sadie mumbled to the boy, who gave a small smile. The short girl looked up with a smirk.
"Weird day yesterday, huh?" Lars joked.
Sadie gave a scoff, rolling her eyes. "Everyday in Beach City is weird, that's why I hate it here."
"It's good to see the real you, Sadie." Lars smiled happily.
Sadie looked surprised, but incredibly grateful. He seemed to be the only one, but that was fine, that was just fine. "You think? Hey, why don't you bring some video games over later and I can show you how it's done." Sadie smirked, cracking her knuckles.
Lars gave a chuckle. "Yeah, okay."
Sadie and Lars played later that night, and Sadie gave a tiny yawn before stretching out and wrapping her arm around Lars.
The boy smiled and let her lean her head on him as they played on into the night….