Switched by R.L. Stine

me?
    â€œI—I have to find Lucy,” I stammered. “I know she told you. I know she told you we switched bodies.”
    Margie placed a hand on my shoulder. “Calm down, Nicole,” she said softly, as if talking to a child. “We just want to talk to you. We just—”
    â€œNo!” I screamed. The anger roared through my body. “No!”
    They were trying to stop me, trying to hold me there, trying to help Lucy get away.
    I shoved Margie out of my way, shoved her with all my strength.
    She uttered a surprised yelp and stumbled backward, over the curb. She toppled to the hard surface.
    Turning, I saw Hannah running toward us. “Wait! Wait!” she called.
    But I didn’t wait. I pulled open the car door and dived inside. Margie was back on her feet. She reached for the door—as I slammed it.
    â€œNicole—!” She pounded on the window with both fists. “Nicole—wait! Please!”
    I found the key in the ignition. A bad habit of mine. But now I was glad.
    I started the car.
    Margie pounded on the window. Then she made a grab for the door handle.
    I clicked down the door lock.
    I shoved the gearshift into Reverse.
    Glancing in the rearview mirror, I saw Hannah step up behind the car to block my path.
    Wow! I thought. They really want to stop me from getting to Lucy!
    Hannah waved both hands, signaling for me not to back over her. I stared at her in the rearview mirror. Her cornrow braids blew wildly around her face. Her eyes were wide with fright.
    Why were Hannah and Margie so frightened? Why were they so desperate to keep me here?
    Had Lucy threatened them?
    Had Lucy threatened to murder them, too, if they didn’t help her escape?
    Margie pounded on my window. Hannah waved wildly from behind the car, blocking my escape.
    Uttering a cry of rage, I pulled the gearshift into Drive and slammed my foot down on the gas pedal.
    The little Civic let out a roar as it bumped over the curb. My head snapped back as the car jumped onto the narrow square of concrete dividing the rows.
    Margie made a last frantic grab for the door handle. Missed. Stumbled back.
    I bounced down into the next row. The car shot forward.
    I could still hear the two girls shouting my name as I roared away.
    I drove around town, trying to calm down, trying to think clearly. But my thoughts circled aimlessly round and around, much like my little car.
    So many questions crammed my brain. So many questions that I didn’t have answers to.
    But Kent can help me.
    The words flashed into my troubled mind.
    Kent can help me.
    The thought swept the questions away. I made a wide U-turn and pressed harder on the gas, heading to Kent’s house.
    Lucy took all of her clothes, I remembered. That meant she planned to go somewhere. Probably somewhere far away from Shadyside.
    She wouldn’t leave Shadyside without telling Kent,I knew. Lucy and Kent were so close. I knew she confided everything to him.
    Kent wouldn’t talk to me the first time I visited him. But this time, I told myself, I will make him talk. I will make him tell me everything. I will force him to tell me where Lucy went.
    I thought about my first short meeting with him, hours before. He saw that I looked like Lucy. But he believed me when I said I was really Nicole. And now that I think about it, Kent wasn’t shocked at all. That meant he knew that Lucy and I had switched bodies.
    That meant he had talked to Lucy this afternoon or evening.
    Before Lucy murdered her parents?
    Or after she had murdered them?
    I’ll force him to tell me this time, I vowed.
    I pulled the car to the curb in front of Kent’s house. I gazed over the smooth, sloping lawn to the familiar redbrick house.
    Lights were on downstairs. The porchlight was on.
    I stepped out of the car and carefully closed the door, careful not to make a sound.
    I had decided to surprise Kent, to catch him off guard. To frighten him—just enough to make him tell