It would seem like nothing would change in just two years. For Ponyboy, it did not feel right at all. Nothing really changed physically, but Ponyboy felt like everything was out of place. For him, he only left for a second then kept away from everyone for a few days. It felt weird—out of place—to have your family, friends, and people that you knew since you were born look at you with astonishment and relief in their eyes. They treated him like he has been gone for years, which he really has. Everything felt wrong. The atmosphere was all wrong.

Ponyboy looked up towards the sky. He was seated on the edge of the patio, legs drooping off the ledge. It was the only place where he could be alone now. Since he had disappeared, Darry had been keeping full watch on him, never letting him be alone. He does not want the same thing to happen again. The sky was sunny, yet cloudy. It was an awkward weather. He was in an awkward life. It portrayed him well.

"Hey," a voice greeted. Ponyboy looked back towards the screen door. Darry stood there leaning against the frame.

"Hi," Ponyboy answered back, turning his attention back to the sky which was starting to explode in colors.

"What are you doing out here?"

"Thinking."

"About what happened?"

Ponyboy hummed in response. For a couple of beats, no one talking; no one moved. Darry shuffled behind him.

"They're making a really big deal about us," Ponyboy said. The 'us' was meant to represent the 4400. Ever since the day of the comet, the news had been going on and on about them. Rumors and theories were being made and shared. The first and the most booming theory was that the aliens abducted them and experimented on them. It seemed like everyone succumbed to the idea and grew scared of them. Many want the 4400 to go back into quarantine.

"Of course they are. Everyone who had disappeared into thin air was found in the same day."

"But why must they make rumors. None of them makes sense. Why would we be abducted by aliens and brought back down?"

"Just let your head rest, Ponyboy. You have a long day coming tomorrow."

Ponyboy spun around. "What do you mean?"

"You're going back to school, tomorrow."

"What? Why?"

"Believe it or not, but you never completed your years in high school. You're still technically 14."

His stomach dropped. Darry was right, he would have to go back to school. But was that the right thing to do? "I don't think that I should…"

"And why's that?"

"People are telling us to be locked up. They fear us, Darry."

"I doubt they fear you. They are just uneasy."

Ponyboy looked at Darry with pleading eyes, knowing that words cannot change the decision. But his expression was stolid. "You're going," he repeated and left to make sure he does not change his mind. Ponyboy groaned and turned back around. Rain started to pelt down onto the ground, growing harder by each passing second. Ponyboy scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion. When had it started raining? Clouds could not have formed and gathered this quickly. He decided to let it pass and walk back inside. On the way to his room, he made sure not make eye contact with Darry.

The next day came sooner than Ponyboy wanted it too. He was woken up by the sound of Two-Bit screaming in his ear. He shot up from bed.

"What!?" Ponyboy asked, panicked but then calmed down, ears turned a bit red, when Keith started to burst out laughing.

"You should see your face!"

"Oh, shut it, Two-Bit!" After many minutes of Two-Bit trying to compose himself, Ponyboy asked, "What do you want?"

"Darry told me to drive you to school since he left to go to work."

Ponyboy nodded, pulling off his white shirt and replacing it with one of the cleaner ones. Two-Bit left the room and Ponyboy changed out of his sweats into jeans, pulled on his white, hi-tops, and put a thin, cotton jacket over his shirt. He left the room and headed to the bathroom; greasing his hair and brushing his teeth. Once he had finished getting ready, Ponyboy left the bathroom and swung his newly-found backpack over his shoulders.

Johnny was waiting outside when they left the house. He gave a small smile to Ponyboy as they entered the rusting automobile. The closer that they got to school, the tighter of a knot that forms in Ponyboy's stomach and the harder the rain pelted on the vehicle.

As Two-Bit pulled into the parking lot, the car lurched to one side, creaking. "Whoa, this storm…" Two-Bit muttered.

Ponyboy reached towards the door handle, placing all of his weight on the door. The car door slowly opened and Ponyboy stumbled out, quickly grabbing his backpack before the door slammed shut by the wind. The next one out was Two-Bit, who had to hold it open for Johnny to climb out. The rain hurt against Ponyboy's skin and it was hard to stand still in the wind. He pulled up the hood of his thin jacket over his head and the three greasers ran towards the school. The first place that the three went was the office. We walked up to the counter where a woman sat looking through files. She looked up, an annoyed looked passed through her eyes before she smiled.

"Hello, what can I do for you?" She asked.

"Uh, hi…um, I'm Ponyboy Curtis," Ponyboy introduced awkwardly. The woman's face lit up and she nodded.

"Ah, yes. You're one of the 4400. One second." She opened a cabinet, sliding out a folder and looked in it. "Alight, welcome back Mr. Curtis. Here's your new schedule and new locker."

"Thank you," Ponyboy said, taking the two slips of paper. Ponyboy, Two-Bit, and Johnny walked out of the office and down the hallway. Other students looked at Ponyboy after noticing that he got out of the office. The hallways were unnaturally quiet. The students whispered amongst each other.

"Is he one of them?"

"Yeah, he must be! Why else would he be attending this school now?

"Didn't he go here though? Like two years back? He was in my class, I think… Yeah! He was the one that disappeared."

"Why are they letting him back in his school? He's going to get us all killed!"

"They should have just shot down all of them…"

Ponyboy looked at his feet, pushing his way through the crowd with Two-Bit and Johnny at tow. People pushed back as if Ponyboy was infectious. Ponyboy was almost to his locker when a football player stepped in front of him. He growled and grabbed Ponyboy's shirt, slamming him against the lockers.

"Hey, freak! What are you doing here?!" The jock screamed, growling. Ponyboy struggled against his hold, but it only tightened. "Go back to where you came from!"

"Hey!" Two-Bit exclaimed, pulling the jock off of the smaller greaser. The jock clenched his teeth tightly, staring down Keith before looking at Ponyboy then at Johnny. As soon as he came, the jock left, grumbling. Two-Bit looked at Ponyboy. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he answered, readjusting his backpack and started to walk again. The three had to separate to get to their own individual classes. Well Johnny and he did. Two-Bit was probably going to try sneaking into the girl's locker room again. Luckily, only the teacher was in the classroom at that moment. Ponyboy walked to him and handed him the schedule.

"Ah, Mr. Curtis. So nice for you to join. We opened a seat for you." The teacher smiled and pointed to a desk near the front of the class. Ponyboy nodded his thanks, sitting down. The bell rung soon after and students filled in the classroom. As the seats quickly filled up, Ponyboy could feel stares being sent to him. They recognized him. But none of them approached; send harsh whispered to friends. It was not even an hour into the class when the girl that sat behind be started to whisper loud enough for the whole class to hear.

"Hey, Macy…" She hissed out. "I'm scared… He's going to get us all killed! He's an alien so his people will track him down. We'll be the first to die."

"Yeah… and think about what he can do if they experimented on him…" Macy answered back.

"He's a murderer…a killer…"

Ponyboy bit his lip. Each word that was spat out stung. His hands tightened around his worn-out, wooden pencil.

"He will be the reason the world ends."

Ponyboy closed his eyes in concentration, trying to block out the commentary. He could slightly hear cracking but that was muffled by the sound of the girls.

"He should just die…"

Then the windows exploded and gusts of wind pushed the glass towards the screaming students.

o-o-o

Sorry that took so long to update :( I've been so busy. I had so much homework and I have my midterms coming up this week. Then the week after that are my exit exams which determines if I will be able to graduate in a few years. Then I also had to take these stupid SAT classes which I felt stupid in. So much stress. But now that the classes are over, I can probably update faster…unless my parents pay for another month… That would suck. Also I didn't look over this chapter so sorry if I have mistakes.

Also, if you have an account and are the first to review what reference I used in this chapter, you will win an Outsider's one-shot dedicated to you and written by me. The topic would be of your choice and we can talk about that with PMs. So, yeah! This short event will end when I update the next chapter.

REPLIES:

SaiyanPrincess: Sorry for not putting the homecoming in debt. I just thought I should take a large leap in my fanfiction instead of small steps.

The Curtis Crew: YEAH!

Tmntlover2013: Thank you. I hoped you liked this chapter.

Trizdelatrix: What can I say? I'm pretty lazy. I kind of was like "Whatever, I'll post this now… I'll put more in the next chapter." But I didn't. :/ Oh well. Sorry for the wait.