I'M NOT DEAD, I SWEAR!

Guys...I think I rewrote this story twenty times. Crazy right? Sorry about the wait.

This story was requested by retro mania, so in all honesty, you guys should be thanking him because his request inspired me to write again.

Oh, forgot to say this last time: Go check out EasternWolf23

Warning(s)

Gender-bending

The occasional curse word

Teens being teens

Possible OOC-ness, but I'll try to keep that to a minimum

More to be added as it comes up

Don't like any of the above? Don't read!

Still with me? Good. Enjoy guys! You all know the drill!

Disclaimer- I own NOTHING!

Tick-Tock

Chapter 1

The second hand ticked and inched its way closer and closer to the goal. The world narrowed to the presence of that hand. One minute passed. It kept going, kept ticking. Nothing else mattered. All of her surroundings faded away, the voices of her teacher and peers were obsolete as her vision tunneled on that clock. Another minute. Three more left.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

Two minutes left. Time slowed, and she swore that the second hand stopped moving momentarily. A wail of despair wanted to burst from her throat, but she held it down. She wanted time to fly, she wanted it to be as obsolete as the people around her, she wanted to be outside the confines of time and space and her chaotic life in general.

BRRRING! BRRRING!

Michelle Webster jumped, startled by the sudden ringing of the bell, announcing the end of the school day. She smiled broadly and hurriedly gathered up her things and all but tore out of the room. The plain girl hurried to her locker and yanked the door open, pulling out her messenger bag and shoving her books in before making a beeline for her best friend's locker.

"Happy birthday Michelle!"

"Heh, finally fifteen huh kid?"

"Happy fifteenth birthday, Michelle!"

"Thanks guys!" Michelle waved to her friends on the football team as they passed her in the hall, calling out to wish her a great rest of her birthday. She had been friends with the ones that had just passed her since grade school; though she was a little surprised some of the upperclassmen had wished her happy birthday earlier as well. It definitely wasn't what she had been expecting but she wasn't going to say she wasn't happy about it. Sometimes her school life was better than her home life. At least here, there was no annoying little brother who would sneak around behind her back to ruin her life in every way imaginable.

"So." Danielle said when Michelle stopped right beside her locker moments later. Michelle raised an eyebrow as her friend continued digging around in her locker, not even looking at the other girl.

"So…? So what?" Michelle asked, eyebrow still raised skeptically as she leaned against the locker next to Danielle's. Danielle finally slammed her locker shut and turned to face Michelle, eyeing her up in down and mirroring her raised eyebrow look. Danielle was a petite, pretty African American with a soft face and sincere eyes that made you want to confess your darkest sins. She often wore her long hair in a braid to keep it out of the way whenever they would play sports or go to the skate park. Danielle also liked to play mind games. She would say quick, short words that were loaded with accusation and scorn when in reality she just wanted to see if you had any secrets to confess so she could hold it over your head forever and ever amen. With all the secrets Danielle held after tricking people into confessions, it would be simple for her to completely destroy the lives of over half of the high school.

And Michelle absolutely loved her for it.

It was a skill not many people had, and Michelle often envied her best friend's natural talent. Danielle's soulful brown eyes had led many people to their social doom. Seniors, juniors, sophomores, even their whole freshman class owed Danielle a great deal of respect. Though, perhaps respect wasn't exactly the right word. No, not respect at all, they all feared her. Wasn't that just something? A whole high school, brought to their knees and cowering in fear in the presence of a five foot four girl with the power to destroy their lives. That was how many secrets Danielle had harvested from so many minds.

At first, no one took her seriously. So, the third day of their freshman year, Danielle had outed some of the secrets in her possession. The Quarterback of the football team who had dared called Danielle a freak? Mysterious proof of him being on steroids wound up on the principal's desk by 8:45 the next day. Four hours later, that unfortunate soul was dismissed from the team and all of his scholarship offers were gone. The cheerleader who had laughed when Danielle had "accidentally" dumped her tray all over the school bully? Incriminating photos wound up on that cheerleader's Facebook page and led to the girl being labeled as a whore.

Point was, Danielle knew things, and she always had proof. No secret was safe from her, and the secrets of her friends were no exception. The only difference was, Danielle had never so much as hinted at revealing any of her friend's secrets.

"So what time should I be over tonight?" Danielle asked, her stoic expression breaking into a wide grin, and Michelle grinned back, glad her friend hadn't forgotten.

"Mom and Dad said everyone could come over around five. Sound good?" Michelle offered, and Danielle nodded with the same bright smile still on her face. "Alright! See you at five, Danni! I've got to go check with the others!" Michelle said, waving to her friend as she took off down the hall, dodging all the people in the process. She made a beeline for the set of lockers at the end of the hall where her other two friends stood talking to each other. "Lilly, Karen, five o'clock, my place, you guys remembered right?" Michelle asked as she stopped in front of her friends. Lilly nodded, flashing her signature smile while Karen just gave her a look that said, "Really? You're really asking me that?"

Lilly Aarons had curly dark brown hair and a beaming smile that was always on her face and always showed her dimples. Lilly had the ability to draw anyone in with her sweet and charming personality. All the guys in the school fawned over her angelic features...then she opened her mouth. Everything she said flew right over their heads and if that didn't scare them away, they took off running for the hills when they learned Lilly was a thirteen year old sophomore. Her brain had allowed her to skip several years of school and she probably could have graduated already but her parents insisted she experience high school. So Lilly stayed a sophomore but she just coasted through the classes, complaining they were too easy. Many of the other girls at school gave her grief for her brains and for the fact that she dressed like a boy rather than wearing girly clothes all the time. All in all, Lilly Aarons was an overly intelligent and charming girl who often got the short end of the stick, but she couldn't hurt a fly.

Karen Darren was the exact opposite of the sweet, timid thirteen year old. For years, people had teased Karen for her rhyming name. To this day, Karen swore up and down that her parents were high when they named her. One day when the teasing was too much, Karen snapped and sent the poor kid to the hospital. It was a downward trend from that point on. Karen had been held back two years and had been suspended many times for getting into fist fights. At age seventeen, she already had a record, and people said she was going nowhere fast. Everyone had stereotyped her as the bad girl who would drop out as soon as she turned eighteen and would end up in prison by twenty-one. So everyone was surprised when all of a sudden Karen had cleaned up her act (only slightly) and removed her nose piercings before she suddenly started getting Bs and Cs in her classes rather than Ds and Fs. There was much speculation about why Karen Darren had cleaned up her act, but only Michelle and her circle of friends knew it was because Lilly had taken a shining to Karen and followed her around like a lost puppy. Karen couldn't shake her follower and so decided to be a better person rather than hurt Lilly in any way.

"Of course we remembered! We'll see you at five, Michelle!" Lilly replied with that bright, genuine smile still on her face. Karen still said nothing, just continued trying to glare a hole into Michelle's head, and Lilly's smile faded slightly before she elbowed the seventeen year old girl in the side. Karen grumbled under her breath but made no move to retaliate.

"Yeah yeah. Course I remember. Why are you even asking me that? Duh," Karen scoffed and Lilly just sighed, shaking her head at the older girl but not saying anything. Despite their friendship, Lilly knew that Karen and Michelle sometimes clashed in personality and only Lilly's peacemaking ways kept everything in order. That, and Danielle's overall scariness.

"Alright, thanks guys! See you at five!" Michelle said, waving before she headed for the exit, passing many more people on her way out and thanking many more for wishing her a happy birthday. When she walked outside, she immediately saw her mother's minivan waiting to pick her up and take her home. Michelle slid into the passenger seat and happily greeted Angela Webster. "Hi Mom!" Michelle chirped happily as she pulled on her seat belt and her mom pulled out of the parking lot.

"Hi Michelle. Did you have a good day at school?" Angela asked softly, glancing at her daughter from the corner of her eye before glancing back to the road. Michelle nodded eagerly and proceeded to tell her mother about her day. However, when Michelle finished explaining everything that had happened, Angela only replied distractedly, "That's nice, honey." Michelle sulked the rest of the way home. Angela Webster barely gave her daughter the time of day anymore, let alone hold a conversation with her.

It had all started eleven years ago, when the bane of her existence entered the world. She had been content, happy, and then her parents announced she would have a younger brother or sister. Michelle was excited at first; she had always wanted a younger sister. Then life took a wrong turn. Tommy Webster came into the world and everything changed. Her parents gave her only scraps of their time and the baby cried all night, causing her to lose even more sleep than her parents considering the baby's room was right next to hers. It had been like that ever since and she had been miserable at home. Oddly enough, school was her only sanctuary.

Her friends understood to an extent, and more often than not, she ended up staying with Danielle or Lilly. Not Karen, no, never. They all spent the night at Karen's house once. All four of them swore to never mention it again. Needless to say, no one had ever stayed overnight with Karen ever again.

Michelle grimaced when the van pulled into their driveway and the garage door went up so Angela could pull in. Her mother didn't hesitate to open the door and go into the house, but Michelle took her time, slowly climbing out of the van, picking her backpack off the floorboards, and then she trudged into the house. She paused upon seeing Tommy perched on the couch, flipping through the channels on TV with a bored look on his face...but the bored look seemed forced. Michelle's eyes immediately narrowed. What was he up to this time? "Mom?" Michelle called, and Angela poked her head in from the kitchen.

"Yes dear?"

"Why is Tommy home from school?" Michelle asked suspiciously. Tommy didn't react to either of them, seemingly absorbed in some weird show he found that was about pirates* but Michelle could swear she saw a mischievous smirk flash across his face before he schooled his expression into a careful, neutral one. Tommy's school started a whole hour later than Michelle's. He always left an hour after her, and got home an hour after her. He should not be home at this point.

"Oh, he didn't feel well so I let him stay home today," Angela replied with a shrug before going back into the kitchen. Michelle's jaw dropped in shock, and then Tommy, that little brat stuck out his tongue at her with an impish grin on his stupid, smug face. Michelle's face turned bright red with rage and she leapt over the couch with a screech of anger, tackling Tommy to the floor.

"You little brat!" Michelle shouted as she wrestled her brother. "What did you do? What are you planning? It's my fifteenth birthday, if you ruin this day for me I will kill you!" Michelle succeeded in pinning her brother and tried to strangle him. She wasn't trying to completely cut off his airway, though, which is why he had enough air to start screaming at the top of his lungs. Michelle was startled but refused to get off him, knowing he was just being dramatic.

"Mommy, mommy, Michelle's trying to kill me! MOMMY!" Tommy howled. He managed to get his leg free and kick his sister in the stomach repeatedly. "I didn't even do anything! MOMMY!" Angela rushed into the room as Tommy finished screeching and put his leg down.

"Michelle! Get off your brother or your friends won't be coming over," Angela scolded as Michelle flopped back onto the floor, winded by the repeated kicks to her stomach. She stared up at her mother in shock as Angela helped Tommy to his feet and started fussing over him. "Oh my poor baby. Are you alright? Did Michelle hurt you?" Tommy sniffled and shook his head, hugging their mother and shaking as though he was crying. When Angela turned her glare on Michelle, Tommy peered around and smirked at Michelle. "Go to your room and do your homework and don't come out until your friends get here!"

Fuming, Michelle got to her feet and stormed up the staircase, heading to her room at the end of the hall. "Stupid mom. Stupid Tommy. Stupid life," Michelle muttered to herself as she swung open the door to her room. It slammed into the wall with a loud BANG! Michelle stepped over the threshold quickly, just in time for a bucket full of melted ice cream and cake to be dumped over her head. For a moment she was frozen, horror rising in the pit of her stomach as she noticed the colors of the cake frosting. This wasn't...oh, it totally was. Rage exploded in her chest and she opened her mouth, screaming at the top of her lungs, "YOU'RE DEAD, TOMMY!"

I'm so, so sorry it took me so long to get this done. I cut a lot out of this chapter, rewrote it several times, edited it, and just overall struggled. Then I wasn't sure how to end it. But! I finally got this chapter to where it was...semi-acceptable.

B.T.W.: Whoever says senior year in high school is the easiest year? They LIE!

*Tommy is a little shit-head but he has good taste in shows. Why yes, he is watching One Piece thanks so much for asking!

ADDITIONAL DISCLAIMER: One Piece belongs to Oda.

Now I noticed I didn't get a big response last chapter. I'm not too surprised, but I want more feedback. So! I will not update until I get THREE reviews from three DIFFERENT people.

Why yes, I am holding next chapter hostage.

REVIEW!