I turned and stared at the wall. Christopher looked around puzzled. “Ummm…. Nikki – why are you here?”, he asked. I couldn’t just tell him could I? I mean – two million dollars is a lot of money. But somehow, as I saw him staring at the picture of Em Watts I knew I would have to tell him. He was crying just thinking about Em, and I could make him feel better.
I didn’t know how I could persuade him that I was telling the truth. If I just told him then Stark might put my parents in prison. But if I told the newspapers – Stark would have their hands full explaining that brain transplants aren’t that bad.
I decided to send an short article into “People” magazine.

My name is Emerson Watts. If you looked at me you would see Nikki Howard. That’s because of Stark Enterprises. They saved my life but in return I am stuck here as Nikki. I had a brain transplant.

I got a call back almost immediately – they were going to publish a massive article based on this in the next issue. Perfect! Now all I had to do was make sure that Christopher read it!

Two days later and the magazine arrived at my door. When the magazine was released into the shops (a day later) everyone would know my secret. It had cost me but it would be so worth it. I arrived at school early, ready to place the magazine on Christopher’s desk. I put the magazine down, opened it at the right place and sat down in my seat.
Half an hour passed. An hour. Then the bell rang and everyone started to file into the classroom. Christopher looked at the magazine and his eyes nearly burst out of his sockets. Whitney and everyone looked at him like he was having a heart attack. I gulped, knowing that soon Christopher would know the truth – and tomorrow everyone would.
He said nothing to me all morning. I was starting to worry he hadn’t believed me. Silently at dinner he handed me a note. “Nikki, are you telling the truth? This is sick if you are lying. Prove it.”. I grabbed a notebook and wrote “Ask me a question.”. He sent another note back. “ What’s your sisters name?”.
I frowned, why was he making this so easy? I mouthed “Frida” back. He looked slightly satisfied but then decided that wasn’t enough. “Alright then, why are you telling me this?” he asked. I mouthed back “I miss you. I can see you miss me.”. He smiled and looked sad again.
“Is it really you?” he asked and I nodded. He came up to me and sat down next to me. He whispered in my ear “I still don’t properly believe you you know. If we go to your flat and your parents answer the door then I’ll believe you.”
I was starting to get really frustrated so asked if he wanted to go NOW, after all we would still be back at school for next lesson. He nodded and we walked off together out of the school gates. Walking down the road to where my parents were living now, Christopher kept giving me these weird looks. I couldn’t blame him to be honest. He would never have guessed it was me – not even with the help of some dinosaur stickers. “Chris, do you really want to know the truth? Do you want me to be Em again? If you don’t want the truth we can just all walk away right now and forget this ever happened”.
“Was it Em when Nikki came to the school?” was all Christopher said. “Because I could never imagine that I would see Em again…” he trailed off. I didn’t know what to say. “Look Christopher do you want the truth?” I snapped. I didn’t want to have to pay 2 million dollars and be in jail if he didn’t care. I could simply cancel the People magazine article and everything would be ok again.
He nodded. “Yes Nikki. I do want the truth. I know you’re not Em – that’s impossible. I don’t know why I even bothered to come.”. I grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him to the front door of an apartment building. I pressed the button for the lift to come and got inside. I sneaked a glance at Chris- he looked so upset but I couldn’t stop now.
I knocked on the flat door the second we got there. “Chris I need you to erm… hide. First Im going to just talk to them and then you’ll realise. If that doesn’t work then you come out and they’ll just have to tell you. He nodded and looked sick.

Here goes nothing… I walked up to the door and knocked. My Mum answered. “Hi Em. What’s wrong?”. I tried to think of a way to get the truth out of her. I settled on “I can hardly believe what has happened, can you remind me?” I said sheepishly. She frowned – that was so unbelievable. “Look Em you know what happened, I don’t really think you need to dwell on this.” she said.
I decided that it really was time to get Chris. I mouthed for him to come over. “He knows Mum.” What do you mean he knows?” my Mum said. “Why did you have to tell him Em… I mean Nikki” she moaned. Chris just started crying. “Does that mean Nikki was telling the truth? She really is Em?”. Mrs Watts just looked stunned. “Christopher, how much does it mean to you if that was true?”. I knew she was trying to weigh up whether or not to tell him I really was Em.
I quickly interrupted “Unless you tell him, there will be an article on brain transplants in People, with me on the cover…”. My Mum sighed. She knew she had no choice but to tell him the 100% truth.
“Well Chris… it’s true. Nikki really is Emerson. But you can’t tell anyone at all OK?. “Well I guess…” Christopher began before staring at me. Suddenly he hugged me and looked so happy – I guess because he hadn’t seen me in so long and thought he never would. “Em, does anyone else know?” he pleased. I shook my head. “Does that mean that you still have to pretend to be Nikki?”. I nodded.

I cancelled the article in People Magazine, no-one else needed to know. Me and Chris walked back to school smiling our heads off. I walked in to Spanish to see Whitney about to surround me. I sighed – I didn’t have time for this. I was about to shake her off when I realised that in her hands was the magazine that I had left for Christopher… Noooo… Whitney knew. That meant that the whole school must. She silently handed me the magazine, waiting for my response. I shook my head. “Like, what’s that Whitney?” I asked. I saw Christopher smirk out the corner of my eye. Whitney just shook her head. “You know what it is….freak,”.
I gulped. Whitney believed the magazine? Christopher frowned. “Like… no I don’t Whitney.”. She just giggled and said. “Em? Is that your name… Freak…”. I tried to keep a straight face as I said “ No Whitney. I am Nikki.”. She tried again. “I know it’s you Em.”.
Christopher intervened. “Whitney, if it was Em then I would know. That’s probably just written by some weirdo paparazzi. She’s nothing to do with Emerson Watts.”. I smiled. Whitney HAD to believe Christopher! “No Christopher. SHE is Emerson Watts! I don’t know how to prove it. Erm… she would have a massive scar on her head! Look for it Christopher!”. I was scared now, Christopher would prove it.
Christopher felt for the scar and I winced as he touched it. “Nothing there,” he declared. I knew in that millisecond that Whitney would never believe me. I had to tell the truth. My heart sank but I whispered to Christopher to tell the truth.
He was reluctant but eventually he spoke. “Yes. She is Em.I don’t know how but she must be”. Whitney cried out in rage.
The teacher walked in at that exact second but Whitney didn’t care. She was on a roll. She immediantly plugged in the scanner and placed the magazine on the projector. I turned around, so embarrassed and upset. I quickly texted my Mum, “My whole class knows. Help!”.
Everyone who hadn’t already heard Whitney turned and stared at the screen. I heard loads of whispers about how this was impossible and must be a joke. But then they saw Christopher crying and squeezing my hand and they knew it was true. Whitney looked stunned, she hadn’t expected me to just take it. She had wanted me to admit that I was a little freak but I wasn’t going to let them win. I stood up. “So what? So what? I had a brain transplant? Yeah, I’m still Em Watts “that freak”. But what can you do now?” I challenged her.
Whitney smiled and pulled out a mobile. “I can call the press.” I said nothing

Whitney looked stunned, she hadn’t expected me to just take it. She had wanted me to admit it. But I wasn’t going to let them win. I stood up. “So what? So what? I had a brain transplant? Yeah, I’m still Em Watts “that freak”. But what can you do now?” I challenged her.
Whitney smiled and pulled out a mobile. “I can call the press.” My eyes widened – would she really do that. Suddenly, my mum walked into the classroom with about twenty piles of “Confidentiality Papers”. She walked around the classroom making sure everyone (except me and Christopher) signed them. Then she gathered them back up. “Now if any of you reveal my secret then you will be in breach of this contract. You will get two years in jail. Enjoy!” I shouted at the top of my voice.
My mum walked out of the classroom and in walked… Frida. She was just coming in and everyone turned. "Umm...Nikki can I have a..." she trailed off and saw that Christopher was smiling. She mouthed "Since when was he so happy?". Everyone was looking at us and someone even shouted "Your own sister doesn't even know?". Frida looked confused. "What don't I know?" she asked.
I bit my lip. "You know.....". She immediantly nodded. "Wait, these people know you're..." Frida started. Christopher nodded and whispered "Em".
I gulped again, all these people knew my secret. Even though they could never tell anyone outside this classroom about what they knew, I could tell that my life was going to be very different now.

Frida was crying now ; "How did they find out? You should never have told him and then this never would have happened". I knew I had done the right thing though, I didn't have to pretend any more!

Christopher looked up at me, in deep thought. "Don't you hate looking different to before?" then laughed. That was a strange thing to be saying to a friend you just found out was alive.... I just ignored the comment though and tried to ignore the whispers around me too. I ran home after that lesson and locked the magazine safely in a drawer. h

The next morning I woke up in the loft I share with Lola and looked in the mirror. I gasped - my long blonde hair was short,raggy and black! I laughed, Christopher must have snuck in and done this. Knowing how mad Lola would get if she saw, I tried to sneak out.

"oh my god! What have you done to yourself? " came the cry from the kitchen. "Nothing.. I didn't do it!" I cried out.
Lulu didn't believe me.
She immediantly started to cry and asked me over and over again why i was doing this to myself.
I had no answer. It was only a haircut and t be honest I prefered my hair like this. I managed to sneak away eventually.
When I got back to school I was ready for the whole class to be laughing and giggling but I did not except the way I was shunned. When I tried to sit down in my normal seat next to Christopher everyone got their phones out. "Nice haircut Nikki" Whitney snorted, "This so belongs to the press. They will just love your haircut".
I sighed, there was nothing I could do about that. "Hi Christopher," I mouthed. He looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. Did he even remember what had happened yesterday? "Hello Christopher?" I whispered. It was like he still didn't know who I was.
"It's me,Em". At that Christopher just snapped. "How can you be Emerson? How?".
Oh My God. He had forgot.
"Christopher just listen to Whitney" and then I watched as Whitney told him everything that had happened yesterday. He blinked over and over again like he still could not believe it. "Is it you? I've been up all night and I'm not feeling too good." Christopher murmured. I just gave him a look. "Chris? You OK?". He nodded this tiem. Nikki Howard. How can you be Em? Em is Em. Em does not look like you." Christopher screamed. The whole class screeched. I knew what Christopher was thinking, he had forgot the accident. “Christopher, what day is it?”. He immediantly said a date about six weeks ago.
I groaned. He didn’t know about the TV falling on me…..Was he going to have to go through all that again just so he would know who I was?
I immediately looked for a way out and settled on, “Christopher, it is me. I’m just in Nikki Howards body. It’s erm…. an experiment.” Whitney gave me a look – we all know the truth but Christopher doesn’t have to.
He looked confused, “Oh you mean like a brain transplant?”. I replied “Umm…yeah. They paid my parents umm…. a million dollars.”. Christopher stared at me. “Are you ever going to look like Em again?”. He still though it was just an experiment. “No Christopher, I’m not going to.”
hen he remembered. Everything. Gulp. He started crying as memories flooded over him. Eventually though he remembered that I was still here - even if I did look like Nikki Howard. He gave me a massive hug and everyone looked away in disgust - Nikki Howard and Christopher Malloney? They did not expect that.
Whitney grinned and pulled out a phone. Click! I realised she had just took a picture of me and Chris together. "Umm... Christopher? Whitney just got a picture of us and if like your Dad sees you with Nikki Howard don't you think it would look a bit weird?".
He just shrugged. "Hey Em, do you want to come over later and play Journeyquest?" I nodded.

First too lessons I was "Em", last 5 everyone had to pretend I was Nikki. Now that was fun... the way Whitney had a smile plastered to her face....
Just as we were walking out of the school Christopher asked me, "Em? You coming?". Someone heard and thought Chris was talking to himself.
Frida runs along after us as we are laughing and giggling. "Hey Nikki, you look happy! Like your new friend!" she winked.

When we got to Christophers his Dad just stared at me and laughed. "And I thought you weren't over Emerson". I blushed,drew my self up to my full height and said "If you don't mind "Sir", Im not Christophers girlfriend. Im just here to play Journeyquest".