Chapter Ten

I couldn't believe it. Clearly I needed a new plan. How was I ever going to put an end to the madness? I had to come up with something fast, before "Carey" told everyone that Jack and I were involved, and Clu and I came out to our parents. Actually, I didn't really care if Clu came out, and I guess technically Jack couldn't be dragged into it since he was dating me—I mean, Annie. But "Carey" could still come out to my parents, and I really didn't want to deal with the consequences of that.

My original plan was to call Fi and see if she knew of any remedies to reverse the switch, but that didn't seem like such a good idea anymore. For one thing, having Annie's voice instead of my own pretty much destroyed any credibility I may or may not have had. And even if she did believe me, being so far away, how could she help? But—okay, I'm making excuses. I guess the real problem is, not to sound conceited or anything, but I'm pretty sure Fi likes me. Don't get me wrong—I think she's cute and all—but in that little girl type of way, you know? (Molly, on the other hand… well, you get the idea.) And I guess I'm scared that if Fi helps me, I'll feel indebted to her somehow, and that would probably involve romantic favors.

I'm not stupid, though. Last resort, I'm definitely calling Fi.

There had to be a way to reverse the spell—Annie said was from magical pills that she got from her imaginary panther. If only I could somehow get in touch with him—wait, what am I thinking? These super tight pants must be cutting off the circulation to my brain, or something. Think, Carey, think!

Suddenly I had an idea. If I didn't have a solution, I could at least delay the "coming out" party for a little while, couldn't I? Clu was gullible. Maybe he'd believe me…

Hesitantly, I picked up Annie's bright pink faux-fur phone and dialed Clu's private line. "Hello?" he answered briskly.

"Hey, Clu! It's Annie."

"Hey Annie, what's up?"

"Well… a lot, actually. Do you think you could come over?" I decided that this would be much better to talk about face-to-face, behind closed doors.

There was a long pause. "Uh… are you sure?"

Was I sure? What kind of question was that? "Clu, are you coming over or not?" I demanded in my best whiny-Annie impression.

"Uh, yeah, I'll be right there. Bye."

Ten minutes later, there was a knock on the bedroom door. I frantically ran to open it, grabbed Clu's sleeve and yanked him into the room, quickly closing the door behind him. Clu stared at me with wide eyes.

I took a deep breath. "Okay, listen, there's something I have to tell—" Only, I couldn't finish my sentence, because just as the words were leaving my mouth, Clu's tongue filled it instead.