Nevyn gripped the phone tightly, letting his hand express the anger that he tried to keep hidden in his voice. Despite his efforts, his volume rose with each word spoken. "You're telling me that you've been there a month and haven't learned anything. Are you kidding me?"
"Hey!" Derek's voice came back defensively over the speaker. "Last I checked, you hadn't figured out why you can do this and you've been hopping bodies for over two centuries, so how about cutting us a break! We're at least trying to do something while you're just sitting there at home, living my life."
"It'd be a lot easier if your life didn't fucking suck. Your parents still treat me like a leper, and get this, they want me to get a job and pay rent."
Derek laughed. "You should be glad that's all they want you to do. You'd be out on the street if you weren't in my body. Believe me, we're all hoping to get this resolved as fast as possible. I'm using what you taught me and I feel I'm making headway, at least as far as setting up Aubrey in the university's science lab."
Nevyn had been pacing in his small room, Derek's room actually, but his temporarily, along with Derek's body that he'd been stuck in for months now. What had started out as an opportunity to have a normal life had become like this room. He felt constrained, trapped, and each day he woke up anxious to break free. This was ironic, as he had wanted nothing but a chance live normally. Since he was a boy, he had been cursed to hop between person to person, taking on an identity that was not his own. He had been unable to feel at home in any place because it was not truly his. He had been unable to have anyone love him for who he was. But now he had a body that did not shudder, because he did not have to fight for dominance from another soul inside. As much as Derek's family hated but tolerated him, their home felt like his. And as two arms wrapped around him from behind, causing him to stop pacing, he had the love of a woman who knew his true name and did not run from him. He knew he shouldn't, but he had grown to hate it all.
The short haired blonde girl squeezed him momentarily, then whispered into his ear, "Tell Aubrey hi from Bekka."
Nevyn was glad his back was to her so she wouldn't see his face of disgust. He adjusted his face to appear more like a good boyfriend before turning to respond to her. "It's Derek right now, I assume in Aubrey's body."
"Oh, well, can't she hear me while he's in there?"
Nevyn's mouth twitched and he struggled to avoid rolling his eyes. "Yeah, apparently she can. So I guess, hi Aubrey."
Derek's voice began speaking with agitated tones into the receiver, but he was not talking to Bekka or Nevyn, but to the thoughts of his sister inside. "What? No! Call her when I'm in your roommate or someone else. I'm not going to do that. Because it's stupid and confusing and...fine! I'll do it but just for a minute."
"Are you arguing with your sister in your head?" Nevyn asked, slightly amused.
The first response was an exasperated sigh. "Yes, Aubrey wants to dish to Bekka about girl stuff and apparently it can't wait and I'm told it's the least I can do for letting my sister be my taxi service. Put Bekka on please."
Nevyn handed the phone to his girlfriend and sniggered, "Aubrey wants to speak to you."
"Why's that funny?" she asked while taking the phone and putting it to her ear. "Hey girl! What's shaking?"
Derek cleared his throat, a low rumble, then Aubrey's voice answered mechanically, "I miss you so much. I wish you were here with us so bad. It's not the same without you. I totally need you by my side so you can scope out the hottest professor in the world with me!"
Bekka paused. "Why do you sound like you're reading from a script?"
Aubrey's voice continued, but now with Derek's vocal cadence. "Because this isn't really Aubrey, it's me, Derek, telling you what my sister is thinking to me right now. It's like playing telephone with a telephone but way more annoying."
Bekka took a second to process that and laughed. "Bri, tell your brother to fake being you better!"
Derek's voice was back, arguing again with a voice only he could hear. "I told you to do this later. I know you'll be busy later. Yes, that's my fault I know, but I don't...okay, okay, you don't need to yell in my head!" Effortlessly, Aubrey's voice was back. "Sorry about that Bekks. Anyway, so Derek got me into an advanced genetics class. He hopped the registrar's office and set everything up. He then hopped the professor of that class and told everyone I was some kind of prodigy and not to question her placement there."
"Her placement?" Bekka asked as she teased his grammatical slip up. She knew Derek was struggling to keep it all straight in his head and she was loving that Aubrey was making him do this.
Aubrey sighed before going right back to sounding like her happy self that was getting to talk with her best friend. "My placement, yes. I thought I'd look stupid, but Derek stays in the professor most of the day trying to extract as much knowledge as possible, then hops back into me and teaches as much of it as he can."
"Wow, that must be really hard for Derek since he was never as smart as you."
Through gritted teeth, Aubrey said, "That's right, but he's doing the best he can, so everyone should back the fuck off."
"Tell me more about this hot professor. Is he in that class Derek got you into?"
Aubrey's voice registered new excitement at this topic. "Yes! His name is Professor Kendrick. He is the sweetest, kindest man, and wow he is easy on the eyes."
"Is that your opinion or Derek's?" Bekka teased.