See something you like, Rowan?

Ugh, I can’t get Cai’s words out of my head. All I can do is stare at my bed, thinking about what happened in Cai’s bedroom after the dinner with his parents. Or rather, what didn’t happen. Because nothing did happen. Not really. Cai had pulled the shirt off his own back and insisted I try it on. He laughed after he had made that little remark. “Just joking around,” he said as my face erupted in flames. He said it was his favorite shirt; it would be perfect for Look-alike Day.

I look down at the very shirt at the end of my bed. I try to kick it off the end, but it just gets stuck on my toes, so I sit up and grab it. Compelled by a strange urge, I slip it over my head. It smells like Cai. Like soap and what must be an expensive cologne because it’s subtle. Definitely not something you could buy at a drugstore. I throw my legs over my bed and stand, looking in the floor-length mirror leaning against the wall across from me. I’m not built like Cai—but who is? But for some reason I like the way the material falls on me, the way it feels on my skin. Knowing it belongs to Cai somehow feels reassuring. Maybe I really have lost my mind, or at least slipped into some strange alternate universe where everything is backwards. I flex my muscles, trying and failing to imagine what it must be like to have arms and a body, like his. Must be amazing.

With a sigh, I grab my textbook and crawl back into my bed to study. I stare at the same page for an hour, unable to think about anything other than the T-shirt on my body and whom it belongs to.

***

The incessant droning of my alarm wakes me for what may be the fifth or sixth time this morning. How many times did I press snooze? I sit up groggily and throw my blankets off me, looking down to realize I fell asleep in Cai’s shirt. It’s seriously wrinkled from my sporadic tossing and turning in my sleep and no longer smells of Cai, his scent now eclipsed by my generic brand woodsy & citrus bodywash. He’ll probably have to burn it when I give it back to him. I throw on a pair of dark jeans that are a sad department store version of the ones Cai was wearing last night, and my sneakers. I can almost guarantee that Cai’s morning routine is much more complex, but this will just have to do for Look-alike Day.

When my car sputters at the turn of my key, I have to jog inside to ask Dad to jump it. The poor hunk of junk is almost as reluctant as I am for this day to begin.

“Well, it looks like we’ll have to start looking for a new battery,” Dad calls from under the hood. “Hope it’s not the alternator.” I don’t know a ton about cars, but what I do know is that neither of those things sound like they’re going to be easy or cheap to replace. After fifteen minutes of messing around under the hood, we’re finally able to get my sad green machine to come to life.

As I pull up to my usual spot in the parking lot by the field, I begin to question whether I should change. I packed an extra T-shirt of my own just in case. I could just make an excuse, like I spilled juice on the shirt and had to throw it in the wash immediately so it wouldn’t stain. Would Cai believe me? Probably not. I ponder whether he’d be the least bit bummed if I did show up in my own clothes. He’d seemed pretty passionate about finding the right outfits for this thing. And if he is disappointed… I shock myself by realizing I actually care about disappointing Cai.

Tanisha pounds on my window, and I look to find her posing in a pastel pink A-line dress, which is a drastic change from her usual earthy tones. “What do you think?” she asks, switching poses, throwing a hand behind her head, the other resting on her hip like a classic swimsuit model. “Do I look like Diana, or what?”

“Rocking it as always, T.” When I step out of the car, her eyes scan me, and she’s got a devilish smile on her face.

“Look at you!” She tugs at my slightly baggy T-shirt.

“It’s Cai’s.” I stir, my fingers coming to the hem to adjust it uncomfortably.

“Wow. You’re really going through with this whole partners thing.” She places one hand on her chest and wipes a non-existent tear from her cheek with the other. “I’m so proud!”

“Why are you so excited about this?” I ask.

“Because! You’re actually going to have a chance to reward yourself for all the hard work you do.” She shrugs. “Let’s face it, this school would suck without all your cool ideas.”

“Thanks, T.” I huff. “Though right now I’m not feeling entirely cool.”

“When do you ever?” Tanisha fires back with a laugh.

As we enter the school, the usual cliques are bunched together in the halls. It would be like any other day except everyone looks like someone else. Now it really feels like I’ve stepped into some kind of alternate reality.

“Man, I forgot how weird this day was,” I say with a cringe of discomfort. “Everyone looks like someone they’re not.”

Tanisha laughs. “That’s the point, Ro.” She heads off toward her locker, and I’m about to follow suit when I hear Cai’s voice. He’s holding court—something only guys like him get to do—surrounded by his jock friends, Crystal, and a few of her minions. Only he isn’t wearing the jeans and T-shirt we agreed on. Instead, he’s dressed in some kind of sci-fi space suit. I freeze in place. Is that supposed to be me?

I feel sick to my stomach as an overwhelming and uncalled for sense of betrayal sinks deep into my intestines. I turn and run as quickly as I can from the school. The school doors fly open behind me as I retreat but I don’t look back. I fumble with my keys to unlock my car, cursing myself for never getting the key fob fixed. I turn the keys in the ignition and just like this morning, it struggles to catch. Dammit! I slam my hands on the steering wheel, closely followed by my head. There’s a knocking on my window, and I can see Cai, in all his space-suited glory, in my peripheral. I roll down my window, but I don’t look at him.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, his voice sounding genuinely concerned. He really is a great actor. He sure fooled me.

I take in a deep breath, flaring my nostrils slightly and finally look at him. “Really?” I ask, pointing to his outfit. “How about that for starters?”

Cai’s got this innocent, confused look on his face, only made more child-like by his costume. “You don’t like it?” he asks.

I try to start the ignition again, but the car just groans. “Ugh!” I slam my head on the steering wheel again, defeated.

“I don’t understand. I thought you’d love this,” Cai says carefully.

“Why!”—Cai pulls back a bit, clearly surprised by my outburst—“because I’m a geek? A nerd?”

“I thought—” Cai starts.

“What? What did you think I would say?” I’ve lowered my voice to a harsh simmer.

“I thought you were a sci-fi fan…like me.” He places his hands over where the window disappeared, as if he were ready to hold it down if I tried shutting it on him.

I snort. “You? A sci-fi fan? You wouldn’t know a lightsaber from a sonic screwdriver. Give me a break, Cai.” I meet his eyes and they’ve brightened, which isn’t the effect that I was expecting from my comment.

“I like Dr. Who,” he says. “And by the way, this costume is actually a specially made space suit from Space Comics #75: Captain Valiant Ace of the Interplanetary Police Patrol.” He gives me a challenging smirk, the jock smirk, the smirk that by no means should accompany a statement like that. “But I guess only a true sci-fi fan would know that…”

That would have made me laugh if I wasn’t so totally overwhelmed. In vain I turn the key, knowing full well this thing isn’t going anywhere without a jump start. Dad was right, I should have let him drive me to school today. Now I’m totally mortified, and I’ve most definitely destroyed my car’s ignition beyond repair.

“What, you’re just going to skip school?” Cai asks. “I know that you’ve never missed a class before. There’s no reason to now.”

My eyes feel hot, brimming. “I’m so sick of everyone making fun of me, I get that maybe you didn’t think you were, but…” I don’t’ really know what to say, and I sure as hell don’t want Cai to see how much he’s gotten to me. Too late. I continue turning the key, testing the sadly sputtering ignition when Cai reaches in and pulls the keys out, his hand enveloping mine. I turn to him and find his face a breath away. That perfect face is so close to me. His bright eyes are burning into mine. He tilts his head just a little and my breath catches.

Is Cai Xian about to kiss me?