Frisk's alarm woke them up, the first thing they saw when they opened their eyes was Chara floating above them wearing a satisfied expression. They were glad to see them waking up at last.
"Morning" Frisk thoulked.
Ready for today ? Chara taunted them, knowing exactly how unprepared they were for what awaited them in a bit over an hour.
Frisk didn't answer, they just turned their alarm off, got dressed, then left to take breakfast.
The first few times they had to do it, getting dressed while Chara was there in their head had been pretty awkward, by now they were both used to it and there was no more embarrassment. They both shared that body, stuff like this was something they had to live with.
You sure you don't want to eat more ? You are going to need it. Chara told them when Frisk served themself a normal portion of cereal.
The day barely started and it was already getting on their nerves.
"Will you stop that ?" Frisk whispered, they could have just thoulked but they hoped saying it physically would make Chara take their words more seriously.
It didn't work that well.
Hey, you cannot say I did not warn you, now you have to live with the consequences.
"Well you are not helping !" They thoulked back somewhat aggressively, they knew that Chara was right and that they should have planned ahead a bit more but reminding them of their situation every couple minutes was more annoying than anything.
No need to be aggressive Frisk, im just playing with you. They answered, Frisk didn't realise it but Chara had perfectly heard their thoughts just now about finding them annoying and it suddenly gave them an idea...
"Well then stop 'playing with me', its not funny !"
Fine then, I will give you what you want.
A few seconds passed by, Chara had went silent.
"Chara ?" Frisk asked.
No answer.
They turned around and looked in all directions to see that Chara's ghostly projection was gone as well, Chara had chosen to make it disappear.
So they were doing that again.
Sometimes when the two of them argued, Chara would get frustrated with them and would just stop saying things for a while, leaving them alone. On one hand they were glad they wouldn't be taunting them anymore but at the same time they felt kinda bad for yelling at them enough for Chara to do this over something so insignificant. Especially since it really was their fault that they didn't prepare for that test.
They were the one frustrated over their own problem, they shouldn't have taken it out on Chara.
"Im sorry, i lashed out for no reason, i shouldn't have done that." Frisk resolved themself to apologise.
Chara still didn't answer.
"I just got up on the wrong foot, I didn't mean it."
They hoped to hear Chara's voice telling them it was okay, as they usually did when they apologized like this. But it didn't happen. Frisk waited some more until it was obvious that their body sharing partner didn't intend on speaking up again yet.
"Fine, be that way." Frisk thoulked before finishing their cereal and preparing to leave for school.
They wouldn't need Chara's help, they could deal with this just fine ! ...Maybe.
Other kids always did it without a ghost friend helping out, so they should be able to do that too.
Chara felt bad for leaving Frisk hanging like that, they weren't actually mad at them. They had just gotten a good idea and they needed to keep pretending for now, soon their partner would call for their help again and then they'd answer. After this, they'd get what they want.
Half an hour later Frisk made it to the school, still quite nervous.
Welp, here goes nothing.
A few minutes later, they were let into the room, the students made almost no noise, they were all serious because they knew exactly what was coming. That didn't help Frisk get any less nervous.
They sat down and were soon handed a piece of paper, Frisk swallowed their saliva.
They hadn't really been paying that much attention in math class recently, Chara kept telling them to focus but their mind always ended up trailing off elsewhere after a few minutes when they tried listening.
In their defense, when you've lived through as many insane things as them, its really boring in comparison.
It was too late for excuses now though, Frisk began reading the questions.
The first few ones were easy, they could find the answers in a matter of seconds.
Its when the they got to the first real problem that things started to get more difficult. They had to read the paragraph fours times before getting an idea of how to proceed, and even then they weren't sure of their answer.
The next question was simple, and yet, despite this, Frisk couldn't answer it.
They knew it was extremely easy, all they had to do was to give an example of an irrational number. But the thing was… They couldn't remember what an irrational number was. It must have been said when they weren't paying attention.
Frisk tried to reason their way out of this, the only info they had was the term "irrational", could they find what it means just with that word ? Not really, they could just deduct there were numbers that were rational and numbers that weren't. It didn't help to figure out what the difference between the two was.
They tried to look at the next question only to find that the next few ones all revolved around that same subject. If they couldn't answer this one then they couldn't answer any of the following ones either.
They were screwed.
Unless…
Last time they heard from them, they weren't really striking up a friendly conversation, but they didn't really have other options so they might as well try, else they would have to leave that entire part blank.
"...Chara ?" Frisk hesitantly thoulked.
I knew it ! Frisk was surprised not just that Chara answered but also about their tone, they sounded like they were in a pretty good mood now.
"What do you mean ?" Frisk mentally asked.
I knew you were going to ask me for help now. Chara answered them, their projection reappearing near them.
Frisk needed to play it smart if they wanted to get Chara to help them. They decided on complimenting.
"Well it looks like you were right" They told their partner.
Some time passed. Frisk hesitated on insisting.
"Sooo.. Can you help me ? Please ?"
I thought that my commentary was not useful ? Chara asked, although they didn't actually retain any grudges, they just needed to get Frisk to think they did so that they would ask them a certain question.
"I already told you that i was sorry and that i didn't mean it. What more can i give you as an apology ?"
There it is ! Chara thought to themself, they weren't afraid Frisk would hear it, they had been too focused on other things to try and read their mind for the past few minutes anyways.
Welllllllll…. There could indeed to be something I might want.
As soon as they said that, Frisk knew exactly where this was going. Chara, you sneaky little opportunist, helping out people only to get what you want out of them.
Says the one with the SAVE power ! Frisk had forgotten to block Chara from their thoughts before saying that to themself. They kinda had a point though, that was a bit hypocritical of them.
"Alright then, let me guess. You want me to buy chocolate after class and let you eat it with my body again ?" Frisk rhetorically asked.
You know it.
Frisk didn't like chocolate, but Chara did, a lot. They didn't eat chocolate on their own unless it was to make Chara happy.
They still remembered the first time they found chocolate after the two of them had gotten stuck together, it was a brand name chocolate bar in Toriel's fridge, Chara was very disappointed when they left without taking it with them.
At least i got to eat it in the RESETS that came afterwards.
"You made me eat that same bar ten or so times in total !"
You never complained about eating the same butterscotch cinnamon pie even more times than this.
Frisk looked at the clock.
"We can continue this conversation later but right now I don't have much time. Deal. I'll get you your chocolate. Now please tell me what an irrational number means."
It means a number that cannot be written down as a fraction of two whole numbers.
"That's all ?"
Yup.
"That's so easy…"
Yup.
"I should have known that."
Yup.
When the bell rang, Frisk had barely finished, they didn't have the time to read their answers again to make sure they didn't make any minor mistakes while writing it down.
They didn't expect excellent results, but they had feared it might go a lot worse than this.
You are welcome. Now the next class is about to start, i suggest you to pay attention a bit more this time.
"Yes, yes, i know" Frisk reluctantly answered before closing their thoughts to Chara, they would go nuts if they heard what they had just been thinking...
School sucks... They could basically time travel, why couldn't they just abuse that power to win a really big lottery and get enough money for the rest of their life ? Sound better than going to school or to work for like half of their existence.
In theory, they could just do that if they wanted, nothing would stop them from doing it. In practice, there was no way on earth Chara would ever let that go. They already hated it when they made a small mistake and used their power to escape the consequences of their actions, so doing something like this ? Chara would complain about it for the next eighty years !
Frisk ! Focus ! Chara told them after noticing that they weren't paying attention again a mere minute after saying that they would.
Whoops.
When the bell rang again, Frisk was glad to be able to take a break, but they were not as exited for it as their best friend. They wondered if maybe Chara was a bit more fat than what their projection showed back when they were alive, liking chocolate so much couldn't be very healthy.
No i wasn't ! Screw you ! Chara playfully laughed it off, using Frisk's right hand to pinch their left arm as retribution.
"Ow"
Monster food dissolves into energy as soon as you eat it anyways, you cannot gain much weight from it. They added in order to answer Frisk's question while they walked up to the distributor.
"Which one do you want ?" Frisk asked while searching for coins in their bag.
That one. Chara used Frisk's other hand to point at the chocolate bar they desired.
A few other kids gave Frisk some weird stares after seeing them searching their bag then suddenly stretching an arm to point at some distributor behind them out of nowhere.
"Chara, there are people here, why didn't you tell me the name instead of doing that ? Everyone's gonna think im a weirdo again" Frisk thoulked after memorising which one Chara wanted and finding the money.
But you are a weirdo.
"Well yes, but not in that sense" They retorqued while pressing the buttons of the machine.
The bar fell and Frisk took it, then they began heading towards some empty hall to make sure no one would stumble on them at the wrong moment. Once they found the right spot they sat down against the wall and brought out the bar again.
"Alright, you can take control now"
Chara didn't wait long before doing so, then took a bite.
"Chara ?" Frisk asked after a few moments.
Yes ? They answered mentally with their mouth still full. Or well, it was actually Frisk's mouth.
"Do you think that you helping me in tests counts as cheating ?"
You do write 'Frisk' on it and if your teachers knew about me i doubt they would allow it, so it probably does.
"I mean yes but aren't tests meant to check what we can do in real situations later in life ? If we're stuck together forever then you'd also be here in those moments, so in that way doesn't 'Frisk' also include you in this type of situation ?"
Chara took their next bite.
You cannot deny that you have an unfair advantage over everyone else. Chara stated.
Frisk took a moment to consider wether they really believed in what they had just said earlier or if they merely said that to make themself feel better.
Do not beat yourself up too much either. If you SAVED before the test, read it, then LOADED to look up the answers, that would be much worse. You're still trying to do it fairly and only ask me when you are really stuck at least, i would not accept if you asked me for help about half of the questions.
"So you consider it unfair and yet you're still fine with helping a little bit ? What happened to living with the consequences ?" Frisk questioned Chara's words which seemed to contradict the type of stuff they usually said whenever those types of questions came up.
Everyone has a price.
"And so your price is chocolate ?" Frisk asked them.
An an answer, Chara took another bite. They took a really long time to savor each one and the bites they took were quite small as well. Because of this, it took way longer than it should to finish it whenever they ate chocolate.
Hey, I do not get to do this very often, let me enjoy it when i can. Chara pointed out when Frisk had thoughts about this.
Frisk didn't object, it was their part of the deal after all.
As Chara was almost finished, Frisk realised something. Chara knew they weren't ready for that test and they refused to talk again even though it was really not a big dispute and Frisk had apologized multiple times. Not to mention that when they did talk, they weren't even mad at all.
Its like they had never really been mad in the first place, but then why would they …
Frisk felt their mouth open as Chara ate the last piece of chocolate.
Then it dawned on them.
No. freaking. way.
"Did… Were you planning on this the entire time ? Did you fake all of this dispute just to get me to be more likely to accept your offer to buy you chocolate for help in order to 'make up' for earlier ?"
Chara swallowed the last piece before starting to giggle, still using their body.
Took you long enough to figure that out !