Hi all! Happy Halloween! I know, this makes like the 4th Halloween to pass since I started this story. Maybe I'll finish it this year! Oh, c'mon, that was a little funny! Now, I wrote this chapter while watching the football game – damn, BC should have put Pierce in to get the points higher, but nooo they went with Printers. Stupid Printers – and handing out candy, so there hasn't been time for a beta! So if you see a lot of interesting things, just go with it!

Disclaimer: The usual.

On with the show!

Oh, I was in hell. It was coming up on three weeks as a chick and I was starting to get used to the long hair and the clothing that embarrassed the hell out of my sensibilities. I had even had a good morning because it was the first day I hadn't woken up surprised or sullen about the fact I was a chick. I had even hummed my way through my morning routine until I met Dal's raised eyebrow at the breakfast table.

"What's got you in a mood?" He asked, sipping his morning coffee. Few people would guess Dallas was a coffee fan, but those who knew him well knew he was twice as short with people on the days he didn't get his morning caffeine jolt.

"I don't know, Dal. I just have a good feeling about today," I replied, reaching to open the fridge door. "Hey! See what I mean? There's cake!"

"You sound surprised," he drawled. "Just like every other day this week."

"Honestly, I think Darry and Soda are going to far lengths to make sure there is cake every morning." I helped myself to the cake in the fridge and had a bite swallowed before I continued on. "I don't think anyone wants to see a cake free morning."

Dallas made a noise in agreement, getting up to empty the last of the coffee in to his mug.

"Where is everybody?" I asked, thinking the house was unusually empty.

"Superman had to start early today and he was going to drop the kids off on his way, so Steve and Two-Bit didn't even bother coming." He shrugged, swallowing down more caffeine.

"So it's just you and me?" I asked, smiling widely at the thought. "We are going to have a good time!"

"You've been spending too much time with those damn Socs," Dal declared, setting his now empty cup in the sink. "Hurry up and eat. I want to get going."

I stopped smiling when Dal made the Soc comment. It was worded like a comment, but the words were and would always be an insult. The worst part was that I couldn't call him on it. I had been spending too much time in the company of Socs. The middle classers wanted nothing to do with me and the Greasers had no idea how to act around me, so that left the Socs or complete solitude at school. Oddly enough, the Socs chose me. It was the damn clothes, I thought, tugging at my green skirt. Nancy freaking Drew would have been a Soc and the Nancy Drew look was how I would describe my looks.

I tried to eat my cake and ignore him, but it didn't taste as good now that I was upset. I wasn't a Soc, even if I was pulled into their circle. They were horrible. They jumped kids, started fights, picked on Greasers...brought you notes when you missed a class, gave you rides home, introduced you to their friends so everyone knew you, and they even helped you fix your makeup between classes so no one would laugh at you. I sighed to my cake, really not hungry any more. This double life was really stupid. It was far too conflicting.

"You done?" Dallas asked and I nodded. "Good. Let's go."

I grabbed my bag and followed Dallas out to the car. He was off today. Normally he would have ruined my hair and snapped by bra by the time we got to the car, but instead he was quiet. In fact, aside from the radio on low, the car was silent. When we finally parked at the school, he shut off the engine and hopped out, not waiting for me. I sighed and followed him.

I wondered if he was mad at me, but this wasn't his style. He was more for dirty looks and loud yelling before he used his fists kind of mad. No, this was more how he treated me when I was still a guy. I should have been thrilled he was treating me that way, but I wasn't. He still wasn't talking to me the way he used to. It was annoying that he didn't think he either had to or could because I looked like a chick. Even if he blew up at me and yelled, it would have been an improvement to how he was acting. He was either indifferent or he was holding back. I missed the way he used to just swing at me out of the blue and the way he swore when he was trying to make a point. Normally, I'd hit him and go from there because that always made him mad, but my busted hand scratched that idea. I should have hit him, though. He deserved it.

"Hey, you're here late today."

I nearly jumped out of my skin, tempted to hit Randy for sneaking up on me while I was thinking.

"Randy, how is it that you're always popping up wherever I am?" I asked him, pushing my hair out of my face and hoping I didn't look half as embarrassed as I felt. He was a Soc and he had been able to creep up on me in a crowded hallway in the middle of the morning. It shouldn't have been that easy.

"We both have first period down this hall together, so I have to come this way and so do you," he replied with a smile. "And I don't just 'pop up'. You're always distracted when I see you. You're one deep chick."

"You do pop up, regardless if I'm paying attention or not." I shook my head. "And don't call me a chick, okay?"

"Man, you're not on that 'objectifying women' kick, are you?" Randy looked wary and I considered hitting him, on top of Dallas. "Because Marcia and Cherry are all for women being independent and they are getting scary crazy about it. Well, Cherry is. Marcia is just kind of following her lead."

"No, I'm not on any kick. Did you want something?" I asked.

"Yeah. After school, Bob's having a study group over at his house. You're invited."

I wanted to roll my eyes. I knew what 'study group' was code for. Drinking, bullshit stories, and whatever else passed for entertainment in a Soc house.

"I'll have to ask Darry," I told him, knowing Darry wouldn't be home until five and it would be a lost cause trying to get a hold of him before that.

Randy merely nodded, leading the way into the Civics classroom. We sat in our usual seats, meaning Bob could turn around to greet us like he did every morning. His smile was bright, sunny, and man did it make my brain feel like mush.

'Mush? Get it together, Curtis!'

I mentally snapped out of it. That little voice in the back of my head was back. It still sounded like everything I did was a moronic move, but at least it was back after it decided to up and leave when this switch happened. It helped keep me in check, clearly less impressed with the female version of me than the male one. At least something in my world made sense...

"Hi, Sunny," he greeted, his tone more sunny than I ever was. "Did Randy tell you about the study group?"

"Yeah." I nodded, carefully forming my words before I said something stupid, because it was important never to say anything stupid when Bob could hear me because that would be...bad. I didn't pretend to get it, either. I figured it was another girl trait because usually I would have just told a girl I liked her and we should go out some time and that was the end of it. All this...mush-ness had to be because of the switch.

"And?" He prodded.

"And...I have to ask Darry," I replied, ducking my head and digging through my bag so I wouldn't have to look at his dark blue eyes.

"No problem. We just thought you might benefit from it, coming in half way through the semester and all," Bob said with a smile I was ignoring. Yep, completely ignoring. "If it makes things cool with your cousin, let him know Cherry, Marcia, and Gayle are all coming over too."

"Believe me, the only thing that would make Darry relax in this situation would be if I were Soda."

I smirked at the thought, but the looks they gave me had me ducking my head in my bag to look for whatever I could find that would make sense for this class. I finally found a pencil and pulled it out, setting the bag back down and smiling a little in hopes they'd stop looking at me like I was weird.

I guess I was lucky that right then the teacher decided that she would begin the lesson and tapped her ruler on the desk to get everyone's attention. The class was almost devoid of Greasers – something I had noticed when I was a guy taking the class – but the few that were in the class always held out the longest when it came to quieting down for the lesson.

"Today, I will be handing out the assignments for your semester projects. I will also be assigning you partners, so there will be no complaints," she called, causing the class to start muttering.

I sighed and bit my lip. I wasn't supposed to do that because it messed up my lipstick something awful, but I did it anyway.

Anyway it went, I was pretty much screwed when it came to partner work. I wasn't even paying attention when she announced the partners and waited for whoever I was stuck with to come and get me for the work. I was real surprised when Bob just leaned his tanned forearms on my desk and looked up at me. I blinked and leaned back, wondering what he was up to now.

"Hey, anything wrong?" He asked and I shook my head.

"No, just day dreaming," I told him, even though I had never day dreamed a day in my life.

Bob smiled that lazy, friendly smile and I cleared my throat a little, looking down at the desk and tucking a strand of blonde hair behind my ear.

"I should go and find my partner," I told him, grabbing my notebook.

He just gave me this amused look. Then it hit me that my partner had yet to come over and Bob hadn't jumped up, either. I settled back into my chair. Yeah, this was my life – I couldn't catch a break with a net. The last thing I needed was to be Bob freaking Sheldon's partner for anything, let alone a project that was going to take the pair of us hours of collaboration.

"You look disappointed," Bob offered, his smile losing a lot of its brightness.

"No...No, just...surprised," I assured him. "I really need to pay better attention sometimes."

Bob's bright smile came back then. I practically melted in my chair. He had a really great smile...

'Good lord, Curtis! Get it together.'

I mentally shook myself. That little voice in my head was really starting up again. It had good timing, too.

"I, umm...so which topic did we get?" I asked, flipping my notebook open as Bob chuckled.

"We have to look at local bylaws," he replied, rolling his eyes slightly like he thought that was the dumbest thing he had ever heard of. "I don't even know where to start with that."

I nodded. I knew nothing about bylaws. It was pretty foreign for anyone to keep up with the rules in our neighbourhood unless it was a social worker or a cop coming around for something much more serious than a vandalized sign or something. I imagined it meant more to Bob who grew up in a gated community where there was always someone around to keep up the rules.

"I know nothing about local laws," I sighed.

"Why would you? You're from Kansas or something, right?" he asked, flipping open his notebook.

"Something like that," I replied. "So we'll have to get a lot of research done."

"Not necessarily. I think they put out the revised municipal laws every year," Bob told me, looking thoughtful. "I think we have a pamphlet on them at home."

Well, of course he did. They would send that kind of stuff to Soc houses. They had all the breaks, even when it came to homework. Still, this one was smiling softly as he looked for a clean piece of paper.

"I'll have to see if I can loan it to you tonight."

"I still have to ask Darry if I can even go," I told him.

"Right." He nodded like he had merely forgotten and Darry was a minor detail. He had definitely never met Darry, then.

Bob and I spent the rest of the period trying to come up with a way of looking at the bylaws imposed in Tulsa. I thought that it would have been better to have gone on into how they were a complete load of crap on our side of town. Bob just wouldn't understand that, though, and how was Sunny supposed to explain that to him? Now, if I had been me, and he had been a Greaser, we could have had a good time with the project. Take a place like Buck's for example. Buck broke pretty much every law and bylaw you could think of. The only down side would be that there would be something written that could potentially shut Buck's down. I shrugged to myself at the thought. Buck was too crafty to get shut down after all these years.

After class, I managed to get away from Bob and Randy, and everyone else who wanted to be my new best friend, by excusing myself into the girls' room. It was much nicer than the boys' room, let me tell you. It was less smoky and the stuff seemed to be in better condition. Don't ask me why – I just assumed girls didn't shove each other into stuff and start fighting in the bathrooms. For guys, any place was a good place to start something, especially if whatever you were hacked off about couldn't wait for the end of the day.

I walked over to the sink, glancing at myself in the mirror. I had totally made a mess of my lipstick with my lip biting. It was on my teeth and everything. I sighed, fishing a tissue out of my bag to fix the problem.

One of the toilets flushed and I stiffened, waiting to see who was going to pop out of the stall. After my fight with Angela, she had been in the room a few times, looking to start something again. I didn't need her bullshit, not today.

"Hello Sunny!" Gayle Davis greeted.

I relaxed. Gayle was one of Cherry and Marcia's friends. She was also sister to Michael Davis – one of Randy and Bob's friends. It was sad that I even had cause to know that.

See, Bob and Randy hung out with enough people to fill Randy's car. Michael, David Frank and Ben Johnson made up their little group of friends. Michael was quiet and soft spoken, if charming. David laughed at everything and was loud. Ben pretty much told the jokes that kept David laughing. Add in the quiet, sweet personality of Randy, and the overly friendly and charming personality Bob put out, and they were...the kind of guys I grew up hating.

I sighed. Gayle, though, she was harder to figure out than all the guys put together. Sometimes she was so bubbly it made me want to puke, and other times she was so out spoken and harsh about an issue that I wondered if she had a twin out there. One thing I could tell you, though, Gayle was definitely the reason why Michael never needed to be loud – she could fill up a room on her own.

"Hi Gayle," I replied, carefully reapplying lipstick.

"You are getting so much better at that," she praised, watching as I applied my lipstick.

She had been one of the girls around here who had helped me out when I was completely clueless about lipstick. I was a guy – all I needed to know about lipstick was that it got on everything and it never came out again. It was a badge of triumph to get it on your collar, and it was absolutely embarrassing when your mom left a big lipstick mark on your cheek just before you went out with the guys. Being on this end of it? Yeah, it meant fuller lips, more flattering coloring, and a lot of reapplication because every time you ate, drank, or even thought about touching your lips, you needed to go and fix it.

"Thanks," I replied, flashing her a bit of a smile as she crowded the counter beside me to fix her own make up.

"So, I saw you and Bob Sheldon gettin' all cozy today."

"We're partners," I replied, agreeing that we probably did look cozy.

"Uh huh. I'm partners with Nick Lewis and we didn't look half as cozy as the pair of you."

Well, what was I supposed to say to that? Bob was a close proximity person and I was putting up with it.

"Well," I sighed, straightening up and putting my lipstick away. "Nick Lewis is a Greaser."

One of the few in the class. He was probably less than impressed with getting stuck with a Soc girl. I'd switch Gayle in a heartbeat. Nick was a Brumley. They weren't too bright, but they knew all about Darry. I could have gotten through a project with him just fine.

"Yeah. He's really cute, but really dumb," Gayle sighed with a nod. "Well, I have to get to my Biology class, but I'll see you tonight!"

"Tonight?" I asked, wondering if anyone understood the fact that I needed permission to go.

"Well, yeah, silly. You're practically the only reason we're even getting together. It wouldn't mean anything if you couldn't come."

She smiled at me and left the room then and I sighed. My female side was feeling both touched and guilty. Damn. It looked like we were going to a Soc get together after school, permission or not.

'Joy.'

The little voice in my head was bang on with that one.

At the end of the day, I had pretty much guilted myself into going to Bob's. That meant I had to at least touch base with Soda. It took me a while to finally track down Steve. He was standing by his locker, waiting for Two-Bit when he saw me. He sighed, annoyed like he always was whenever I was around, but I didn't really care. He was an ass and he thought I was dick. Life went on. What was important was that we were a gang and push comes to shove, I could count on Steve when it was really serious.

"I need a favour," I told him, not even pausing to make pleasantries.

"What kind of favour?" he asked and I shifted my books in my arm so I could tuck that same strand of blonde hair behind my ear. Yeah, that was starting to become a bad nervous habit.

"The kind where you tell Soda that I'm going to a study group after school and he needs to come rescue me in an hour or so," I replied.

"What, just here at the school?" he asked and I shook my head.

"Not exactly."

Steve got this look on his face like he had just figured out what I had said to him, knew exactly where I was going, and was less than impressed. I gave Steve a lot of crap over the years, but I had never been under the illusion that he was an idiot.

"You need one of us to come with you?"

"You volunteering to come to a Socy house and make nice with the upper crust?" I asked and Steve shook his head.

"I meant the kid," he clarified.

Ponyboy was the best choice. He would come and fit in better than Two-Bit or Steve or any of the other guys in our gang. What was more was that he could learn and contribute to the group if any studying actually got done. He would look natural to the scene.

"Steve, it may be the chick hormones talking, but I think I love you."

Steve sent me a dirty look and I smiled at him. Oh, he was too easy to have fun with these days.

"Well, you better go find him. I think he was going home with Dallas today."

I nodded, waving at Steve before I started jogging down the hall.

As it was, I couldn't find my kid brother and I didn't have to. One look out the window that faced the track and I was sure that I couldn't count on him coming with me. Track season was normally over by now, but they had started an indoor program. Since it was so nice out right now, they were still running outside. I groaned and sat down on the bench by the window, watching. Maybe they would just leave without me.

"Sunny!"

Or not...

"There you are!" Bob called, jogging down the hall. "What are you doing sitting here all on your own?"

I shrugged. "The kid in the blue shorts is my bro-cousin," I explained, pointing Pony out.

"Oh. Well, are you coming?"

He looked so earnest, like a puppy.

'A puppy? Seriously...'

"Uh, yeah," I replied, ignoring the little voice in my head. "I will have to call one of my other cousins with the address when I get there."

Bob beamed, whole face lighting up and I blushed.

"Great."

He offered me a hand up from the bench and I let him. He reached for my bag and I let him. At this rate, he could smile that way and I would let him toss me off the building.

Oh, it was going to be a long night at this rate. And to think I had woken up feeling really good about today.


Well, another chapter down! I really enjoyed getting back into this story! It makes me kind of sad Pepsi isn't a sister. I could have a lot of fun with him as a sister!

Any comments at all are welcome and flames accepted.

See ya in the funny papers!!!

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