It was the start of a new school day in Cedar Hills. Chuck was waiting at the bus stop for Misha, and she soon arrived.
"Hey, you wanna sit with me on the way to school?" Chuck asked.
"Sorry, not today." the purple haired girl replied. The bus pulled up and all the students climbed aboard. Chuck wasn't in that good of a mood when they arrived.
"What's the matter?" asked UD.
"Recently, Misha has been not wanting to hang out with me. I think I may have done something wrong." He got down on his knees and cried, "WHAT DID I DO?!"
"Nothing, I just want some time to myself." Misha said as she walked past. Chuck still wasn't convinced.
"Our friendship is broken!" he shouted. Just then, time froze, as UD had activated Decider Mode. "Just what I need!" Chuck said.
UD projected the available options. "Choice 1: All shoes are replaced with banana peels.; Choice 2: You become a dog.; Choice 3: You and Misha become close friends."
"Well, I was a dog before, and banana peels on my feet would feel weird," Chuck thought. "but my friendship with Misha is more important, so Choice 3 it is!" He pressed it, and there was a flash of light. When it cleared, Misha noticed Chuck standing right next to her, very close.
"Why are you so close to me?" she asked. "I need personal space."
"Sorry, I'll back up." Chuck said, and he tried to, but he couldn't move. "Hey, I can't back away!"
"Let me try." Misha said, but she got no further either. "What gives?"
That's when they both looked down, and freaked out! They were now conjoined together in a single body, with Misha on the right, and Chuck on the left!
"AAAAAHHHHH!" they screamed in complete shock.
"What happened to us? We're stuck together!" Misha shouted.
"I may have made a choice for us to be close friends." Chuck admitted. "But I didn't expect this close!"
"You think?!" Misha said. They tried to pull away from each other, but it was no use. They were now body buddies.
"Come on," said UD. "it's not so bad. Two heads are better than one, after all." Just then the bell rang.
"We're gonna be late for class! Let's go!" Chuck said. "So, how do we walk?"
"My leg first, then yours. Right, left, right, left." said Misha. They started walking into the building, but with only two legs between them, it was not easy. They finally reached their homeroom by the time Ms. Cho had finished taking attendance.
"Chuck! Misha! You're four minutes late!" she said, then noticed them. "What in the world happened to you?"
"Long story." Misha said.
"Never mind, just take your seat." Ms. Jo ordered. Chuck and Misha sat down at their table, and Ms. Cho handed out the papers for a history quiz.
"Why did we get only one sheet?" Chuck asked.
"One paper per body." said Ms. Cho.
"I guess we're gonna have to put our heads together, right?" joked Chuck.
"Seriously?" Misha asked. They picked up their pencils and started writing. After the quiz, everyone handed in their papers. Ms. Cho called Chuck and Misha to her desk.
"I cannot accept this paper." she said.
"Why not?" asked Chuck.
"Because you each gave a different answer to the same question. One answer per question. I'm afraid I have to give you both a C-." Ms. Cho replied.
"Well, that was a mess." Misha said. They went to their lockers to get ready for the next class. Chuck used his hand (the left one) to remove the lock, but before he could grab his next textbook, he got pulled away.
"Hey! I need my math book!" he said to Misha.
"I need mine, too, you know!" she said. They tugged against each other, trying to get their books, but it wasn't easy. Eventually, they agreed to use just one.
Math wasn't exactly a breeze either. Chuck wrote down the wrong answer for each problem, although Misha had told him the right formula to use. When it was time for gym, even more problems with being stuck together arose. The class was playing dodgeball, and split into two teams. Since the two friends couldn't be picked for either one, they stood in the middle of the court, and got bombarded. Right after that, they went to the cafeteria for lunch. They each carried their own tray, but they began to argue about where to sit.
"I wanna sit with the rest of the baseball team, so I can find a way they can still keep me, even with with you around." Misha said.
"No," said Chuck. "I wanna be near the counter. They're serving blueberry pie today, and I wanna smell the sweetness!"
"Team!" "Counter!" They tugged again, each trying to reach their desired spot, but they lost their balance and fell to the floor. Their trays flew up, and all the food spilled on them.
Later, they were walking down the street, still mad at each other.
"I can't believe you got suspended for the rest of the week." said UD.
"It's all Chuck's fault!" said Misha. "If he didn't make this stupid choice, we wouldn't be in this mess!"
"My fault? Our friendship was in danger of ending! I was desperate!" Chuck protested.
"It wasn't in danger until you got us turned into a two-headed freak!" Misha argued back.
They couldn't stand it a minute longer. "I HATE BEING STUCK TO YOU!" they yelled at the same time. UD then activated Decider Mode for the second time that day.
"Gimme something that can help me!" Chuck said.
"Choice 1: You are scheduled for seperation surgery.; Choice 2: You find a place where you can fit in.; Choice 3: You land a spot on an educational kids show." UD said.
"I don't like the idea of being operated on, and kids would likely freak out, so Choice 2!" Chuck said. He tried to reach for the projection, but because Misha's half was frozen in time, he couldn't. "A little help?" UD pushed it closer to his human friend, and it was chosen.
"Who turned out the lights?" Chuck asked as he looked around in the darkness. Then a spotlight shone on him and Misha, blinding them. "What's going on?"
"Ladies and gentlemen, introducing our newest act, Chuck and Misha, the two-headed freak of Cedar Hills!" said a voice. The duo were under a big top!
"We're in the circus?!" Misha asked.
"This is where people in your, er, condition fit in." UD explained.
"Chuck and Misha will outstand you by unicycling across this tightrope over a tank of electric eels!" said the ringmaster.
"Ooooohhh!" said the crowd. Chuck couldn't believe what he heard.
"Are you crazy?" he shouted.
"Well, this is another fine mess you got us into." Misha said. The unicycle began to move across the tightrope. They held out their arms for balance, so they wouldn't fall into the tank and get zapped. It wasn't easy, but they made it to the other side safely. The crowd cheered.
They had to perform the same stunt for the next three shows that day. After the final crowd departed, it was time to rest.
Chuck and Misha lay down on the bed in their trailer, exhausted from pedalling all day. Chuck looked up the ceiling, sighed, then spoke.
"Misha?" he said.
"What?" she asked. "Haven't you caused enough trouble today?"
"I'm really sorry that I got us stuck together in one body." Chuck apologized. "It's just that, we haven't been hanging out a lot recently, so I thought that we weren't friends anymore. I was just trying to save our friendship."
When Misha heard this, she softened. "I didn't know you felt that way." she said. "I should have told you that I just needed a little time to myself. My life doesn't revolve around you."
"I now know that." Chuck said. "Are we still friends, even though we're body buddies?"
"Yeah, I accept your apology." Misha said. They both hugged and made up. "Now, let's get outta here, together."
Because the door to the trailer was locked, they opened a window, and climbed out. Slowly, they started tiptoeing towards the exit. That was when they heard a growl from behind.
"Please tell me that was your now shared stomach." gulped UD. But it wasn't. The friends turned around, and saw a pair of tigers coming toward them.
"Did they escape?" Chuck asked. Misha saw that each of the big cats had a spiked collar.
"Guard tigers? Who keeps those?" she said in surprise. The tigers roared and charged.
"RUN!" the friends shouted. The tigers chased them around the tents. Soon they came to a dead end.
"Now what?" asked Misha.
"We'll split up!" UD said. Chuck and Misha gave him a look. "I mean you go one way, I go another." he explained. So that's what they did.
One tiger followed Chuck and Misha into the midway games. It sniffed the air, trying to get their scent. The two were hiding inside a water pistol booth.
"How are we gonna get rid of it?" Misha wondered. Chuck snapped his fingers.
"I got it!" he said. Taking full control of the body, he aimed a water pistol at the tiger, and pulled the trigger. "Ha! Everyone knows cats hate water!"
"Didn't you listen in biology? Tigers enjoy getting wet!" Misha said. The tiger was taking a shower and loving it!
"Uh-oh." gulped Chuck. He and Misha ran away, and the tiger pursued them.
Meanwhile, the other tiger was stalking UD. The little robot had to think of something to save his circuits.
"If I remember anything about cats," he thought, "they love lasers!" He shone a laser from his arm. The tiger noticed and began following the dot along the ground. UD led it toward the strength test game. The tiger saw the dot on the game, and pounced.
CLANG! It hit its head and fell to the ground.
"So much for having nine lives!" UD teased. The tiger recovered and chased him again. UD met Chuck and Misha in front of the saltwater taffy booth.
"How are we going to avoid being cat food?" Chuck wondered. Then he looked at the booth, then Misha. "Are you thinking the same thing as me?" he asked.
"Oh yeah." she agreed, fist bumping. They got to work.
Both tigers were getting closer to the booth. One noticed a shape that looked like Chuck and Misha. It growled and pounced. So did the other. They didn't know it was just a decoy made out of taffy, until it was too late. The tigers got the sticky candy all over themselves, and started fighting each other as they tried to get loose.
"Now you know we used to feel!" called Chuck. He, Misha and UD started walking home.
"So, now what do we do until you can choose to get our individual bodies back?" Misha asked.
"I guess our families will have to move in together." Chuck said.
"And we'll have to make arrangements with my sports teams." added Misha.
"By the way," UD asked. "how are you going to use the bathroom?"
Chuck and Misha looked at each other. "Uuuhhh..." they said. That was going to be the hardest part of all.