When the next morning arrived, Luan faked being sick and both Maggie and Benny called their parents, lying to them and informing them that they were driving to school with "the friend they had slept over with" (It seemed that Lisa had been a very convincing liar, as neither Benny nor Maggie's mothers worried about them, and genuinely believed they had a sleepover).

"Alright, since we're now in this... predicament, to put it lightly" Luan began, strolling alongside Maggie on the sidewalk, "I think it's safe to say we made a good call by skipping school. Now we at least have time to figure this whole thing out."

Maggie shrugged. "I would've skipped anyways."

"And here I thought emos hated skipping down the sidewalk. Ha ha, geddit?"

Maggie groaned, and Luan shook her head. "Okay, no, this is serious. I guess I should ask… how do you two feel? Like, Maggie, what does it feel like when Benny's here?"

Maggie rubbed her chin, humming in thought. "I guess I feel like… I'm watching someone else do things for me. It's hard to explain. It's a very soulful and meaningful experience, though. Maybe a metaphor for our lives usually are. Just watching someone else live out our days for us... it's deep."

"I'm sure it is," Luan stifled a laugh at Maggie's unique brand of pseudo-philosophy. "Does Benny feel the same?"

"I don't know. Ask him," Maggie snapped.

Luan tossed an open water bottle at Maggie, and Benny reappeared. "Yeah, I do. I can't control everything, but I can see everything she sees and does. And when she's in charge, it feels like I'm floating on clouds."

Wow, that sounds gay as hell, Luan thought.

A sensitive boy and a sourpuss girl… what did she see in these two again?

"Look, Luan," Benny suddenly started talking again, "I know the three of us are in a bit of a rough patch, thanks to your sister..."

"Heh heh, yeah, it's all her fault," Luan grinned uncomfortably.

"… but I know that tonight is supposed to be one of the most magical nights of your life. It's an important dance, after all. So… me and Maggie want to make this work. For your sake," he smiled softly, making Luan blush.

That's what she saw in them.

"Alright, let's test out what a normal day for us would look like. Let's go to the park!" Luan declared.

And so they went to the park.

Lantz Park was a beautiful place, and Luan personally preferred it over Ketcham Park. It was a nice open field of grass and healthy trees, each sprouting from the soil and scraping the sky with the tips of their top branches. To the sides of the park, there were natural gardens of brightly colored flowers, with pinks and oranges and reds that were a delight for both the people that strolled past them and butterflies that fluttered over them.

But it was the middle of the park that was Luan's favorite. In the middle was a large, shallow pond of water, which was surprisingly clean, considering the frogs that usually hopped around it at night. Luan took a deep gulp of air as she approached the pond, taking in the smell of freshwater. "Isn't this place wonderful, Benny?"

She turned to the young man, who was smiling bashfully. His hands were behind his back, and when Luan pointed, he pulled out a bouquet of the beautiful flowers of the park. Luan gasped, her entire face turning pink. "Benny… you shouldn't have."

"But I wanted to. Because you deserve..."

"No, I mean, you really shouldn't have. It's against the law to pull those flowers."

The young man tensed. "R-Really?"

"No, I messing with you," Luan giggled, taking the aromatic flowers from him. She sniffed them, and they filled her nose with the most pleasant smell imaginable. The soft sun was lightly gracing her skin, and the breeze from the pond made her hair flow. She felt like she was in the Garden of Eden. She was Eve, and he was her Adam.

Nothing could ruin this moment…

"Hey, head's up, dudes!"

Luan dodged as a spiraling football nearly hit her head, the fast reflexes she had learned from training with Lynn finally proving to be handy. Unfortunately, Benny did not have a sports-crazed sibling, and was hit so hard by the football that he fell into the water. "BENNY!" Luan cried.

"Sorry about that. Hope the guy's alright," a man in a tuxedo said as he retrieved his ball. He turned back to another man with a tuxedo, and they returned to their game, while Luan stared into the pond. With a burst of sparkling water, Maggie emerged from the shallow pool.

She glared at the flowers in Luan's hands. "Flowers? Wow, that's really tacky. Not to mention he literally handed you the vegetative corpses of some plants he killed."

Luan groaned. "If I'm Eve, and he's Adam… well, I guess we know who Lilith would be."

Maggie couldn't help but smirk at that. Luan offered the emo her hand, and she pulled her up. Maggie grabbed a handful of her obsidian hair, and began squeezing the water out of it. "That's weird. There's water dripping on my hands, but I'm not changing," Maggie noted.

"Maybe there's a cool-down time?"

"Seriously, how does your sister do it?"

Luan shrugged. "I'm more confused as to how she managed to make sure you guys keep your regular clothes when you switch. Maybe she's secretly a magician pretending to be a scientist."

"I hope she's a necromancer," Maggie sighed.

"Well, now that this moment's been shattered, how about me and you spend a little girl time together?" Luan asked.

"Yeet," Maggie answered, completely deadpan.

As the two began walking, Maggie felt more and more thankful that the day seemed more mild and temperate than other days. She had no idea how sweat would affect her transformations, and something told her it wouldn't be pretty. She felt like voicing her complaint to Luan, but when she saw the jester strutting along the sidewalk, beaming cheerfully, she felt a twinge of guilt. The idea of bothering Luan with her problems seemed… as if they would spoil the mood. She decided to do what she usually did; keep her frustrations bottled inside.

After about half an hour, the two came across a grocery store. There were boxes outside, containing fruits and vegetables of an arrayed variety. Luan felt her stomach growl at the sight, and she turned to Maggie. "Are you hungry? We can get something to eat if you want."

"I'm not hungry, but for your sake, let's go in."

"You know me too well," Luan laughed lightly.

"I also know you well enough to know you're planning some food puns."

"What? No. I donut know why you'd think that. Even if I did, you'd laugh because my jokes are gouda. But I guess I butter stop with the puns, because I value our friend-chip."

By this point, Maggie had already gone inside, so Luan followed after her with a cry of "Hey, slow down. I need to ketchup!"

She found the thirteen year old inside, waving her hand in front of the mist that was being sprayed on the herbs. She nodded to herself when she found that she wasn't changing into Benny. "Alright, good discovery," she mumbled to herself.

"Okay, Mags, I may be on a diet, but I still think basil is a bit extreme," Luan said, grabbing the younger girl by hand. Maggie felt a soft electric tingle race through her body when Luan's soft hand touched her cold skin, and she shivered feverishly. She let the jokey girl take her to the healthy snacks aisle. The shelves were stuffed with fat-free cookies, sugar-free chocolate and chips that tasted like vegetables.

"You know this is the same stuff as the regular version, right? They just slap a fake label on the box so lazy people can feel good about eating crap."

"Oh, Maggie, don't be so cynical," Luan smiled at her before reaching for some radish-flavored chips. "Besides, if it was bad for you, you think they'd make it taste better."

"It would taste worse without the chemicals."

"Fine, Dr. Maggie. What do you recommend I get?"

Maggie tentatively glanced around, making sure no one could see her and Luan. When she was sure the coast was clear, she revealed a green pear and gave it to Luan. "I'm giving you this because, aside from it being healthy… I-I think we make a great pear," she forced herself to pun.

"Aww, Mags, did you really just force yourself to make a food pun for me?"

"I guess," the blushing Maggie responded, before Luan pulled her in for a hug.

You know, maybe it won't be so bad having the closest people to me be in the same body. Sure, it'll be a little weird having to dodge all the water, but… I think we can make this work. And hey, it definitely works for the dance tonig-

Suddenly, Maggie burst into mist, and Luan coughed violently as a confused Benny appeared in her place. "What the… oh, the pear must've had some water on it," Benny said.

"But… what… I was having a moment… I… ugh..." Luan stammered, picking herself off the floor and dusting herself down. She looked back at Benny, who seemed to cringe under her disappointed gaze.

"Um… I can call her back if you want."

"No, you have the cool-down time, remember?" Luan sighed, her tone more upset and annoyed than anything. By this point, she had lost her appetite, and her stomach was churning, so she tossed the bag back and started storming away. Benny chased after her. "Luan, I'm really sorry. I mean… do you not like seeing me?"

"It's not that. It's just… I want to have special moments with you guys, you know? Individually. I don't want to have to constantly worry about water when I'm taking some flowers from you, or hugging her or… or..."

No, Luan. You can do this. You can make this work. Because if you can't, then you'll have to go to the dance with only one of them. You can't make that choice. Maybe… maybe you can just stick it out until then…

A buzzing notification interrupted her thoughts, and Luan angrily snatched her phone and looked at the name of the messenger. Surprise, surprise, it was little Lisa Loud. "What does she want now?" Luan muttered as she opened the phone and read the tiny scientist's message;

By the way, Luan, I forget to inform you due to my sheer anger and annoyance (my apologies, I should not have allowed my emotional state to interfere with my explanations) but in order to make this project of ours work, I had to use a particular natural resource; an incredibly rare, top secret element known as Element 122. Unfortunately, it is particularly unstable, and I have found that if Benny and Maggie are not returned to my lab before midnight (AKA when your silly dance ends) they will trapped as they are forever, shifting between two forms. Luan… I can't and won't force you to make the decision I think is right. All I will do is implore you to just choose one of them as your partner, or both they and you will be stuck forever.

By the time Luan finished reading her sister's text, she groaned. "Goddammit, can I just have something go easy on me today?!" she shouted, attracting a few eyes from other shop-goers. "Why does the world insist on making me miserable?!"

"Luan, we're in public," Benny whispered, pulling her to the side. "Sorry, folks, nothing to see here," he tried to wave them off. He pulled Luan out of the store, and clutched her shoulders, his eyes wide and full of concern. "Is everything alright? I-If I can help somehow, please tell me. I don't want to see you like this."

Luan was heaving at this point, her breaths loud and heavy. She looked back into the young man's eyes, and it helped calm her down. "No, Ben, I'm not completely fine," she admitted to him. "The truth is that..."

Are you really going to tell him? Her subconscious voice said, speaking with a tone full of selfish desire. Are you really willing to go through with the consequences? Are you willing to see Maggie ball up her fists and tremble as she struggles not to cry if and when you cancel on her? Are you willing to see the light fade from Benny's eyes if and when you reject him? You're not brave enough for that, Luan. Let them stay this way forever. Let them stay this way for you.

There was a flicker of a spark of resistance within Luan's mind, but it died out as quickly as it was lit.

"The truth is that I really wanted the, uh, c-carrot chips," Luan lied to her companion. "Sorry for overreacting. I just… this whole thing with you and Maggie..."

"If you're worried about me blaming you, I'll tell you right now that I don't. And I know that Maggie doesn't either," he reassured her kindly. He reached over to her bound, brunette hair and ran his fingers through it, stroking her head gently. "We know what's happening to us isn't your fault."

Luan squirmed uncomfortably. "Y-yeah."

"And hey, we got all day. So why don't you go back inside, find the chips you wanted and maybe get me a bottle of water?" Benny joked, trying to cheer Luan up in her way. A humorless smile curled onto Luan's face, but she still jerked up suddenly, nodding at Benny. "Sure thing, Gender Bennyder," she tried to joke before she went back inside. At first, Benny glanced up at the sky, his mouth curling and uncurling, distraught. He was troubled by the dark clouds hanging in the sky, indicating rain, but there was a more important issue at hand.

He knew something was bothering Luan… well, aside from the whole him and Maggie being the same person thing. There was a deeper issue nagging at her. Was it something to do with the dance that night? It would be an emotional time after all…

He heard a buzzing on the ground, and his eyes widened as he saw Luan had accidentally dropped her phone. He picked it up, brushing some dirt off the screen. "I'll hold onto this, until she gets back," he said to himself. And just as his finger was about to press the off-button…

Benny was filled with a sneaky, boyish curiosity.

He glanced back at the exit, making sure Luan wasn't about to come out, and then he read through her messages. He felt immense guilt upon doing so, but at the same time, some of the things on there were pretty interesting. "Wow, is her sister really tying up that buffalo by herself?" he scratched his curly hair with bewildered awe.

Then he found messages between her and Lisa. "I bet Lisa's sent her some messed up sh-"

He read everything the genius wrote to her sister. By the time he finished, he was gasping for air, his entire body shaking with fury and betrayal. He was still rational enough to think, however, and he realized that if he was angry… Maggie would be ten times angrier…

And she would express it better.

And luckily for him, the dark sky above decided it was time to start pouring just as Luan exited the store.

"Hey, sorry I left you in the rain. I also got you a water bottle, but I guess since it's raining you don't… hey, Maggie, what's wrong? Why do you look so..."

Luan eyes widened with horror when she saw her glowing phone clutched in Maggie's cold grip. The girl shot daggers at her with her dark eyes, and Luan shivered. "Wait, Maggie, I can explain, I swear!"

"Oh really?" she growled, her voice more audible than the heavy rain crashing into the ground. "Explain to me how you ended up with both of us as your dates. And then explain to me why you had your sister put us together like some science fiction freak monster!"

"I didn't ask her to do it, I swear!"

"Oh, but you weren't exactly rushing us to your house to fix us, now were you?"

"I just… I mean..."

"I get what happened. Little yes woman Luan decided to invite me to the dance, maybe as a joke knowing you, and then when Breaking Benjamin asks you out, you're too much of a coward to say no. And then you ask your creepy sister for help, and then you're surprised when she does something creepy. And you want to keep us like this, maybe even risk us getting back to your sister in time, just so you don't have to make a choice. Is any of that wrong?"

"You're not letting me explain myself..."

"Is any… of that… wrong?" Maggie repeated through grit teeth.

Luan glanced to the side, her head hung in shame. "No," she whispered.

"Didn't think so," Maggie muttered, before turning around and walking away from the comedienne.

And maybe it was the rain, but Luan could've sworn she saw tears coming from Maggie's eyes.