Disclaimer: I don't own anything affiliated with "That's So Raven." I don't.

Chapter 9

Raven slowly opened her eyes and realized that she was on a bed.

"Was it a dream?" She mumbled, moving a hand to her forehead.

"What?" An angry voice cracked through her ears.

Sitting up quickly and looking around the room, Raven realized that this wasn't her bedroom. The bed she was on had a black and white comforter on it. The walls were covered in posters of rock bands and dark red paint.

As Raven scanned the room, her eyes met the person from which the angry voice was coming. And it shocked her.

"Chelsea?"

Chelsea's hair was a dark brown with cherry-red highlights. She wore crimson red eye shadow, black eye liner and dark lipstick. She had on an olive green jacket with a black t-shirt, semi-loose ripped dark blue denim jeans and black combat boots. This was not the Chelsea that Raven knew.

Chelsea was sitting on the floor directly across from her bed, her knees tucked under her chin; the lamp off to the right of her reflected off her brown eyes, making them glow. "Are you…all right?"

"How did I get here?"

"I…you were passed out on my stoop. My dad brought you up here because wedidn't know how to reachyour parents."

"Is Eddie really…" Raven couldn't finish the sentence.

Chelsea didn't answer, but Raven could tell by the tears glistening in her eyes that it was true.

"This is all wrong. I didn't want this to happen." Raven whimpered, new tears beginning to sting her already burning eyes.

"What?" Chelsea whispered, her voice cracking with emotion.

Raven stood up, agitated. "I wished to be normal, but it ruined everything. I don't belong here. This isn't right."

Chelsea watched Raven rant with a mixture of fright, anger, and curiosity. Raven stopped pacing and rushed over to Chelsea, dropping to her knees right before her.

"Chels I know this is going to sound crazy, but I'm from a different world."

"What?"

"I'm not the Raven Baxter you know. I'm another Raven."

Chelsea stared at Raven with wild eyes at first, but then her eyes squinted in irritation.

"You're cracked." Chelsea said, getting up off the floor and moving away from Raven.

"No! I'm psychic. At least, I was psychic and only my family, you and Eddie knew about it. That is until two days ago when I saved Eddie from getting hit by that car and everyone found out about my secret. Then, I went to a magic shop and got a magic birthday candle. I made a wish to be normal and messed everything up. I need your help to get it back."

Chelsea looked at Raven for a moment and then said, "You're insane. But now that you're up, do you mind getting the hell out?"

"What?" Raven squealed, surprised.

"It's bad enough that you were up here at all. I'm going to have to burn these sheets."

"What happened Chels? In my world, we're best friends."

Chelsea scoffed. "Listen up, mental patient. I wouldn't be friends with you if you were the last person on this planet. You hate me. And I hate you too."

Chelsea's words cut through Raven's heart like a knife. But she needed help. "We are best friends. We are. I can prove it to you."

Chelsea straightened out the comforter on her bed, trying to ignore Raven.

"When we were in kindergarten, we met because I kept bringing things over to you for you to eat, and you kept eating them."

"We were friends in kindergarten but somewhere in fourth grade, you latched on to Alana and her crew and began to mercilessly taunt me and Eddie." Chelsea muttered sourly, still not paying full attention to Raven.

Raven figured out quickly that since she was normal in this world, she wouldn't have Eddie and Chelsea to accept and help keep her "freaky" secret. Combine Alana and posse's popularity even in the fourth grade and Raven's need to be popular….and you had it, the "Four 4th Graders of the Apocolypse."

And it only seemed to get worse.

She seemed to think for a minute that maybe it would be best if she left Chelsea alone, but Raven needed someone to help. She always needed someone's help; things turned out better that way, but she couldn't go to her parents. Raven knew that to even the most understanding parents, this would make her seem crazy.

Raven needed someone she could trust, and the only way to get her was to convince this very bitter and angry Chelsea that she was from a different world.

Raven wracked her brain for facts. Hopefully, they would be the same. "Um, when you were five, you had a birthday party and made a wish on each candle, but I ruined it by blowing them out before you got to."

Hearing Chelsea's scoff, Raven concluded that that wasn't the best example. So, she tried for more. "Okay, okay…so…not the best way to get you on my side. Um, uh…you love history because you can remember dates easily."

Raven could tell that she was getting through to Chelsea because Chelsea had stopped fixing up her room.

"You're parents are therapists. Every Thanksgiving, your cousin Earl asks you to pull his finger. You're a vegetarian. You love animals. You love your dog Sam. You call him your "Sammy-whammy boy.'"

Chelsea turned to Raven. Nobody but Eddie knew that. "How did you know that?"

"Because in my world, we're best friends; you, me, and Eddie. We know everything about each other. When you like a guy, you snort like a pig when you laugh. You want to be an environmental biologist…how else would I know this if we aren't best friends?"

Chelsea contemplated the situation here. Maybe Raven was telling the truth.

Then, she shook her head. "This is impossible. There is no such thing as magic."

"Chelsea, I need your help. Please help me get my world back. You're the only one who can. Please?"

There was something decidedly different about Raven, Chelsea thought. She seemed, nicer, even if she was completely nuts. And she seemed desperate.

Chelsea sat down on her bed. Raven sat down next to her. "Please help me Chelsea. Please."

Chelsea didn't answer. Raven changed the subject for a minute. "Why aren't you downstairs at the…memorial?" Raven almost choked on her words.

Chelsea picked off the already chipping black paint on her fingernail, not wanting to look Raven in the eye. "I…I just couldn't go. I couldn't."

There were a few seconds of tense silence, and then Chelsea took a deep breath. "You know how crazy this sounds, right?"

"Does that mean you're going to help me?"

"Why don't you ask your loyal followers for help?"

"Are you kidding? The three of them together don't make up a fully functioning brain."

Chelsea cracked a small smile and Raven gasped. Chelsea frowned. "What?"

"Nothing it's just…for a second, when you smiled…I saw my best friend."

Chelsea hesitated,and then said,"Let's get one thing straight, this doesn't make us the best of friends. And this better not be a trick or so help me..."

"Oh, thank you Chels!" Raven practically screamed, pulling Chelsea into a hug. Chelsea tensed up at the contact, but then relaxed and sort of hugged back.

"So, why don't you tell me what happened from the beginning?"

Raven nodded and explained the entire situation.