I woke up with a jolt as the sunlight beamed right into my eyes. My head pounded so hard I felt like it was going to break my skull, but I tried to ignore it. I looked at the clock that read, 2:00; I sighed. I wasn't asleep for too long and luckily I didn't yell in my sleep, because Sodapop and Darry would be the ones shaking me to get me awake. I sat up in the bed and carefully tried to remember what happened.

"Ok," I muttered, "The gangs gone insane, my brothers are overly protective, and there is another me…well that summed things up pretty fast. But," I flinched, "why did my weird clone-self tell me that I only have five days?" I growled, "Five days until what?" I sighed and hid my face under my pillow and growled for at least five minutes.

"Ponyboy don't eat the pillow!" Soda said as he pulled the pillow off my face and tossed it to the side. His happy eyes glanced down at me as he gave me his famous grin. "I just got back from school, everyone is worried about you! Cherry might come over soon, not quite sure." I groaned, Cherry? Why her? "Randy sadly has practice after school, plus he has a lot of homework." He ruffled my hair to cheer me up, "Come on Pone! Why ya so depressed? The girls have been so worried about you, but that's probably because we're the most popular in the whole school!"

I looked up at the smiling Soda, "Soda, since when were we so popular? I mean, you of course, but me?"

Sodapop grinned, "The greasers don't like you that much but the Socs think you're pretty awesome! "

"Probably because you're my brother." I sighed.

"Naw," Soda shrugged, "it's because you're smart, handsome, and tough!"

I cracked a smile, "Thanks Soda." Soda once again ruffled my hair and left me alone so he could do his homework. I chuckled, "He never did like homework." I got up and changed back into the weird Soc wear and walked outside to get some air, and it felt good.

"Don't go too far, honey!" My mom called from the kitchen, "And if you feel sick, come home immediately. Get back around three, okay?"

I smiled, "Alright!" I looked in the distance, over the train tracks, "I won't go far…"

I trudged over the rail road to walk into Greaser territory. I felt kind of stupid since I was not wearing the typical greaser outfit that I usually did. But I really wanted some hair grease. As I walked through many stores and neighborhoods, I questioned who I was going to meet first. Was it Johnny? Two-Bit? Dally? Steve? I couldn't tell, but instincts told me to walk straight to my house; my original house of course.

I looked at the house; it looked the same, but the fence looked pretty busted and the curtains were torn pretty well. The plants were all dead and the house itself started to show its true age.

"Well, Well, look at the little Soc!" I turned around to face two familiar figures; I gasped, it was Bob Sheldon and Tim Shepard. Bob Sheldon, a greaser? My jaw dropped at the sight of Bob. His hair was completely greased and he wore a black leather jacket. He had a cigarette in his mouth and had cold eyes that almost reminded me of Dally's. Tim Shepard didn't change much at all; he still had that curly black hair and green eyes.

"Bob…Tim?" I gasped. The two looked at each other and back at me.

Bob threw back his head and laughed, "I heard that this Soc LOST his memory and couldn't remember a thing! Or that is what I heard."

Tim took a drag of his cigarette and laughed, "Poor little Soc, lost are we? Well," Tim flicked out a switchblade from his pocket and smirked. My blood turned cold, Déjà vu? It seemed to me like it was, but instead of getting jumped by Socs, I was about to get jumped by hoods.

"You guys don't get it!" I said, trying to reason with them, "Bob, you're supposed to be a Soc! I'm supposed to be a greaser!" I pointed to my house, "this is my house, where I live with Darry and Soda!"

Bob glared, "No, I live there." He sighed, "I guess you do forget everything."

Tim Shepard frowned, "Alright I had enough of this chat, get him Bob!" Bob quickly pushed me down and pinned my arms hard. The blood in my ears roared as I suddenly started to panic. I couldn't call for Darry or Soda since they were all the way on the other side of town. What would Johnny do? Well he had a blade and accidently killed someone. Dally? He used self-defense by using chains and pipes. Sodapop? He would most likely kick or punch. Better go with option three.

I threw my legs up and hit Bob square in the face. I quickly got up and punched Tim right in the nose. Before I had any second thoughts I ran for my life. I ran passed the lot, passed Buck's, passed the drive-in; only to stop at the park to catch my breath. No Bob and no Tim. I took a deep breath, I needed a cigarette badly.

On the corner of my eye I saw a figure with a bottle of beer that was standing close by me, leaning on a tree stump, hiding in the shadows.

"What ya doing here Soc, trying to rob me? Don't you already have enough money to spend?"

I gasped, "Two-Bit?"

Two-Bit glanced at me with his cloudy eyes, "Two-Bit? What kind of name is that? It's Keith you idiot."

I frowned, "Since when did you get so feisty? Why are you such in a bad mood?"

Two-Bit frowned, "Well you're a Soc and I'm a greaser, makes since right? I hate you, that's why I'm grumpy."

I took a closer look at his appearance. He wasn't wearing his Mickey Mouse shirt and his hair covered up some of his face. His sideburns still looked good, but his attitude made him look older and meaner.

"Two-Bit…I mean, Keith; don't you remember me; your pal Ponyboy?"

Two-Bit glared, "Pal…Nope, not at all."

I growled, I just wanted to yell and slap him in the face, tell him to get his act together. But I was scared he was going to get his blade and slice me to ribbons, so I sat near the water fountain and didn't move a muscle.

"It's strange," Two-Bit said in a low mutter, "I usually hated you and your brothers, but…something's different about you, in a good way." Before I could answers he got up and walked away. "Call yourself lucky this time, Soc."

I sat there, watching him walk away into the damaged and dirtied streets. I sat there; thanking God that Two-Bit didn't try to kill me. I got up from the fountain and slowly walked home, where I would eat dinner with Darry, Soda, Mom, and Dad. Dad would ask me questions, Sodapop would laugh, Darry would talk about college, and mom would smile happily.

"Night Pone," Sodapop said, "see ya tomorrow."

I crashed into bed and fell into a deep sleep…

"So, I see you meet Two-Bit and Bob now." My clone said as he paced back and forth in the dark place called my imagination.

I nodded, "But they are so different…why are they so different?"

My clone sighed, "It's so that Johnny, Dally, and your parents can stay alive. Two-Bit is now Keith because Sodapop was the one who gave him the nickname. Bob lives in your old house so that you can live in his old house."

I looked up at my clone, "But the kicker is, I never asked for Bob to stay alive."

My clone shrugged, "That's the weird thing about fate, it always has a catch." His confused expression turned into a frown, "But it always cost with a price."

I looked at him, "There has been this question that been on my mind about you…" He looked up in confusion, "who exactly are you?"

The clone chuckled, "I am you, and you are me. Get it?" I shook my head. "We are the same person but we are from different paths, from different fates. Both our lives got switched on your behalf, but there is more of use our there, with different fates."

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"Let's just say you only wanted your parents to be alive, then you would be a Soc and the gang would most likely be socs as well. The case is, your father would hit you, make you run away and Johnny and Dally would die. But if you wanted on Johnny and Dally to be alive you guys would never meet and your parents would be dead since you guys would still be greasers. You see, these are all the different paths that you could have taken, but you choose the one in the middle."

"This is really confusing. How do I fix all this?"

My clone looked at me straight into my eyes, "You have to make them remember who you are; you have to make them remember their true selves. Then your path will be fixed."

I nodded my head, "Thanks…"

My clone smiled in sympathy, "No prob, just remember you have four more days." He then walked away into complete darkness.

I woke up, around four in the morning and I stared up at the ceiling, questioning.

"Four more days, for what?"

Hey :) sorry these chapters have been short, I'll try my best to make them longer! Mid-terms are coming up...no study guide and I already know that my Biology Mid-Term is sixteen pages...goodbye world. lol jk. Anyway, I'll try to update as quick as possible and to make chapters longer. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!