Chapter 20: The Confession Pact (Leo in Ava’s Body)

Leo in Ava’s Body (POV)

I’m in the music building’s basement, my hands, Ava’s hands, gripping a volleyball so tight my knuckles pale. Her shoulder throbs, a dull ache that’s become my constant shadow, and I’m still shaken from Jade catching me crying yesterday. She’s texting nonstop, demanding to know what’s “really going on,” and I’m running out of ways to dodge her. Ava’s across from me, in my body, strumming my guitar with a focus that makes my heart, her heart, skip. Not the arrhythmia kind of skip, but something softer, scarier. The clock’s ticking, Battle of the Bands and Ava’s scholarship trial are a week away, and we’re no closer to switching back.

“Alright, Lin,” I say, tossing the volleyball up and catching it, my voice, Ava’s voice, sharp to mask my nerves. “Your chords are sounding good, but you’re still stiff on stage. Loosen up, like you’re spiking a ball.”

She looks up, my dark eyes glinting under the flickering fluorescent light. “Easy for you to say. Your body’s built for swagger. I’m trying not to trip over your giant feet.” She strums a chord, clean and haunting, part of “Invisible Echoes,” our secret song that’s still buzzing across campus as “Echo’s” mystery hit. “Your turn. Dig like you mean it.”

I crouch, her body feeling small and tight, and she tosses the ball. I dive, her shoulder screaming, but I hit the ball clean, sending it back in a wobbly arc. She catches it, grinning, my grin, wide and cocky. “Not bad, Martinez! You might not tank my trial after all.”

I stand, rubbing her shoulder, wincing. “Might? I’m basically a pro now.” I toss the ball back, but my voice shakes. “Jade’s not letting up, though. She’s texting me again, saying I need to talk to someone. Thinks I’m, you’re, cracking under pressure.”

She sets the guitar down, my long legs folding as she sits across from me. “Noah’s worse. He cornered me after rehearsal today, kept asking about Echo. Blackwave’s coming tomorrow, and they’re obsessed with that song. If they figure out it’s me…” She trails off, running my hand through my hair, a nervous tic she’s picked up.

I drop the volleyball, letting it roll away. “We’re in deep, Ava. Your shoulder’s killing me, your heart’s killing you, and the whole campus is whispering about us. What if we don’t switch back in time?”

Her eyes, my eyes, widen, and she leans forward, my hands on her knees, my knees. “Don’t say that. We’ve got a week. We keep training, we keep faking it. We can do this.”

I shake my head, her ponytail swinging. “Can we? I’m tanking your practices, and you’re barely holding it together on stage. Noah’s suspicious, Jade’s worried, and Blackwave’s sniffing around. If we don’t switch before the trial, before Battle…” I swallow, her throat tight. “We’re gonna lose everything.”

She stands, pacing, my body moving with a restless energy I recognize too well. “Then what? We just give up? Let your band crash, let my scholarship slip? I’m not doing that, Leo.”

I stand too, her body small but fierce. “I’m not saying give up. I’m saying… what if we can’t keep lying? What if we have to tell someone? Jade, Noah, the coaches, Blackwave, what if we have to come clean?”

She stops, my face paling. “Come clean? Like, tell them we swapped bodies? They’ll think we’re crazy, Leo. We’ll lose everything, your deal, my scholarship, our credibility.”

I step closer, her heart pounding. “Maybe. But if we don’t switch back, we’re losing it anyway. I can’t be you forever, Ava. I’m screwing up your life, Jade sees it, your coach sees it. And you’re risking my heart, literally, for a stage I might not even get to play.”

She stares at me, my eyes wet, and I hate how vulnerable I look in her gaze. “So what are you saying?” she asks, my voice low, almost a whisper.

I take a deep breath, her lungs tight. “I’m saying we make a pact. If we don’t switch back before your trial, before Battle of the Bands, we tell the truth. No matter what. We tell Jade, Noah, whoever needs to know. We face the fallout together.”

Her jaw, my jaw, drops. “You’re serious? You want to tell the world we’re… what, body-swapped freaks?”

I laugh, her laugh shaky. “Not the world. Just the people who matter. Jade’s already worried you’re breaking. Noah’s my best friend, he knows something’s off. If we keep lying, we’re just digging a deeper hole.”

She sinks back onto the floor, my long legs sprawling. “And what happens then? They lock us in a lab? Bench me for the trial? Drop you from Blackwave’s radar?”

I sit next to her, our shoulders brushing, her shoulder, my shoulder. “Maybe. But we can’t keep this up forever. Your shoulder’s getting worse, my heart’s acting up. We’re falling apart, Ava. If we don’t switch, we need a plan. A real one.”

She’s quiet, my face tight with thought. Then she nods, slow. “Okay. A pact. If we don’t switch by the trial, by Battle, we confess. To Jade, Noah, maybe even Coach and Blackwave. But we do it together.”

“Together,” I say, holding out her hand, my hand, for a shake. She takes it, my grip firm in her small fingers, and we hold on a second too long, the air heavy with something unspoken.

She pulls back, picking up the guitar. “Alright, Martinez. If we’re doing this, we go all in. Show me that riff for ‘Starless.’ I’m not letting Noah think you’re slacking.”

I grab the volleyball, standing. “And you show me a dig that won’t make Jade cry harder. Let’s make this week count.”

We dive into training, her strumming chords while I coach herwiggle, my fingers, Ava’s fingers, stinging as I dive for the ball, but I nail a clean dig, and she cheers, my voice loud in the basement. “That’s my girl!” she says, my grin wide, and I laugh, her laugh echoing.

We keep going, her playing “Invisible Echoes” while I serve, each of us pushing through the pain, her shoulder, my heart. But every chord she hits, every dig I land, feels like a promise. We’re fighting for each other, for our dreams, even if we have to confess everything in the end.

As we pack up, my phone, her phone, buzzes. Another text from Jade: Ava, you’re scaring me. Talk to me. Please. I show it to Ava, and her face, my face, tenses.

“She’s not gonna stop,” Ava says, my voice low. “And Noah texted me again about Echo. Blackwave’s coming tomorrow. We’re running out of time.”

I nod, her heart heavy. “Then we make every second count. Pact’s on. No more hiding.”

She slings my guitar over my shoulder, her eyes, my eyes, steady. “No more hiding.”

We slip out separately, her to my apartment, me to her dorm, but the pact binds us. One week. One last push. And if it doesn’t work, we tell the truth, together.