Bring in Bethany

"This is gonna sound weird. Are you ready?" Ivy said, fidgeting.

James nodded, although he was puzzled. What was more weird than the situation they were currently in?

"If you want to do more stuff with me," Ivy said, "then we need another set of Ascend tech. And you have to convince Beth to participate."

James's eyes went wide, as he stepped back from Ivy, putting a hand on his head. "W-what? You want me to make Beth wear a receiver too?!"

Ivy shrugged a little, looking down at her body again like it was a bit of a distraction. "Well, she doesn't have to be the receiver side, it could be either way, but... yeah. Half of me loves you, half of me loves Bethany, and the only way I'm going to be comfortable is if she's a part of this."

James slumped against a wall. This was getting complicated. They were supposed to be hiding all this stuff from everyone else, but now Lucas wants to bring Beth in? Not to mention, Beth and Luke had on-again-off-again relationships, so there was no solid ground to convince her of doing this, of giving up partial control of herself or putting part of her in James's head just to fool around with Ivy! It was weird that Ivy even suggested another girl, but in the fifty-fifty mix it must be both their attractions working together.

"I won't be able to convince her to do that," James finally said. "I could get another unit from Lucas's dad and say it's for backup purposes, but then there's no way I could talk Beth into something like this!"

"Leave that to me," Ivy said with a wink, as she reached down for her bra and blouse. "Just, trust me. And it's only fair, right? I'm partly a guy in your girlfriend's body, so if you were in my girlfriend's body then it would be basically the same. You know she's really hot too!"

"Is she even your girlfriend right now?" James shot back.

Ivy squinted. "She *would* be if you helped out in mixed mode! I mean, c'mon bud, it's pretty clear by now that I'm the best of both worlds, right? Best friend AND girlfriend, and both sides of it are totally cool when we're mixed like this! It feels good! Ivy and Beth are friends, you and Luke are friends, that's double-friends! Then you're dating Ivy, and Luke wants to get what you've got but with Beth, so..."

James relaxed a little, as the gears started to turn in his head. So that was what this was all about... Lucas, at least the part of him in that mixed mode, was betting on the fact that the friendship and current romantic bonds between the minds in the body would amplify the romantic side of things with Beth for Luke. Clearly, it had some effect, if Ivy was so readily willing to take her top off for James to do what he wanted when normally she wouldn't have, and James bet that if one of the minds in Ivy had been a stranger to James, he wouldn't have been afforded such a luxury, even if his best friend or girlfriend was in the mix. So, the best option was to build a tangled web of relationships...

"Fine! Fine." James said, as Ivy dressed again. "You talk to Beth, I'll get the Ascend. But then what? I can't do her schoolwork too, Mr. Iverson would immediately think something's up."

Ivy bit her lip a bit, thinking for a moment. "Well, I don't need to just wear the mask during the school day, you know. If you bring me the second headset, I'll invite Beth over for the evening, and I'll have my headset too. No problem! Then, we can figure it all out. Oh, and... you've got your voice commands for my headset, so I want voice commands for yours."

James could tell, this was already going to be a mess! But, the two eventually left the practice room to finish out the day, and then get moving on the plan.