First of all, if you haven't done it yet: GO BACK AND READ THE END OF CHAPTER NINE. I ADDED FIVE PARAGRAPHS ONTO THE END.

Also, I'm really, really sorry about the whole lying about one more chapter thing. And I realize that I've done it about three times. And yes, now I'm doing it again. It's not really my fault; I just have this whole story planned out in my head, but the chapters are a lot shorter up there than they are on the computer. I am very sorry about this though.

I am, however, more than halfway done with the last chapter (for real this time, I promise), and it is DEFINITELY THE LAST.

I don't own RENT. Or Dazed and Confused.

Amy (looking a bit nervous) was at the door with someone, who I presumed to be her mother.

"Hi," she said to me with a smile.

"Hey," I replied.

"I'll call you later, okay Amy?" asked Amy's mother. Amy nodded, gave her mother a quick hug, and then she came into the house. I was just about to shut the door when I heard footsteps. I opened it up to see Kathleen.

"Hi!" she said happily in the usual loud voice of hers.

"Hi," I said, standing back to let her in.

"So," I said to my friends as we walked into the house, "What do you guys want to do?"

"I bought Dazed and Confused," Kathleen told us, holding up a DVD, as we headed into the family room. "It's this movie that came out in the nineties. It takes place in the seventies, and it's about a bunch of high-schoolers that go and get high on their last day of school."

"Sounds like my parents," I muttered. Thankfully, neither of them heard me.

"Plus, it's got Anthony Rapp in it," Kathleen continued.

"Who?" Amy and I asked together while the three of us sat down on the couch.

"You guys don't know who Anthony Rapp is?" Kathleen asked us disbelievingly. "He's an actor. And he's, like, amazing."

"Umm………okay," I said with a shrug. "We can watch it later though, okay? Like after dinner?"

"That's fine," Kathleen replied with a shrug.

"What are we having?" asked Amy.

"Umm," I answered. "I think my dad is making soy burgers………"

"Soy burgers?" Amy asked with a skeptical look.

"They're good," I told her. "Or at least I like them. My dad and I are both vegetarians, and Angel kinda is, so it's what we eat. It'll taste the same as a hamburger if you close your eyes. Or, at least it would if someone else was making them."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Kathleen, seeing my concerned face.

"Nothing really," I replied. "My dad's cooking is just………interesting. But I'm sure that it'll be fine."

"I'll eat anything," said Kathleen with a shrug. "Just a lot of it."

"Okay," I answered. "So………do you want anything to drink?" They both nodded, and we headed into the kitchen. While I was pouring three Pepsi's, I suddenly remembered what I had wanted to tell them about my parents. "Guys?" I asked. They both looked at me. "Just to tell you, when Angel gets here, just call her Angel. It gets a little awkward for you when you start trying to work out the Miss or Mr. Schunard. She thinks it's funny, but you'll end up a little embarrassed."

"That's fine," Kathleen said. I noticed that Amy had gone a bit quiet.

"And just call my dad Collins," I went on. "It's his last name, but it's what all of his friends call him. He isn't very big on formalities though. If you call him 'Mr. Collins,' he'll probably start laughing hysterically."

"Okay," they both said. Suddenly, I heard the garage door opening. My stomach briefly flipped, but it more that I was anticipating what was about to happen then being nervous.

I heard the door open. "Carlie honey?" Angel called from the family room.

"Hey Angel," I answered with a smile as I walked into the family room to greet her and my dad. Kathleen and Amy followed.

"Hi sweetie," Angel said as she gave me a brief hug. Like I'd asked, she was completely done up in drag, wearing a short, light blue skirt and a purple and blue long-sleeved top. And, of course, her black wig.

"So," I said to her. "This is Amy," I gestured to Amy, who said 'hi' nervously, looking at Angel with wide surprised eyes, "and Kathleen." Kathleen stepped forward.

"Hi," said Kathleen energetically with a smile as she extended her hand. Angel shook it with a surprised look on her face.

"Hey sweetie," she replied back. My dad also shook Kathleen's hand, but it was with a very amused look on his face.

"So………you girls hungry?" asked my dad holding up a shopping bag. A variety of 'yeses' and 'uh-huhs' answered his question.

"We're gonna go upstairs while you're cooking, okay?" I asked my parents.

"That's fine," answered Angel.

"Try to actually cook the burgers this time, dad!" I called back as Kathleen, Amy, and I headed upstairs. I led them both into my room. Once I turned on the light, they both spent a minute looking around at my walls with surprised looks on their faces. Which I guess was to be expected, considering that I didn't exactly have a "typical" teenage room.

My walls were painted a very bright blue with random splotches of light purple here and there (courtesy of Angel), and my posters, instead of being of Usher or Orlando Bloom, were of Sondheim, musicals that he had written, Roger's band, and Maya Angelou. But what can I say? My parents made sure that I was brought up liking the "right" sort of things.

"Wow," Kathleen said with wide eyes as she surveyed it all. "I love your room. Seriously."

"It's pretty cool," Amy said as she ran her fingers through her hair, still looking over everything.

"Thanks," I replied, trying with a smile. Amy and I went in and sat down on my bed, but Kathleen started walking around the room looking at pictures.

"Who're all these people?" she asked, stopping at a picture that had been taken about fifteen years ago on New Year's Eve.

"Those're my parents and their friends," I answered, as Amy and I got up to look at it with her. "Actually, I think it was taken only a week after they met or something. That's my dad, dressed up as James Bond, and Angel as Pussy Galore," I told them pointing the two of them out. "Maureen's the one in the cat suit, and Joanne, that's her life-partner, is the one dressed up as Tina Turner. Maureen was my dad's roommate like sixteen years ago. And then that's Mimi, she's Angel's best friend, and Roger, who she was dating then, but now they're married," I said as I pointed them all out. "The only one from their group that's not in the picture is Mark, but that's probably because he took it."

"Wow," Amy said as she stared at it. "They look really………I don't know, just happy."

"They were," I answered simply. "Or, they are."

We were all quite for a moment, looking at the picture.

"And drunk," said Kathleen squinting at it.

"Yeah, that too," I answered with a smile. We suddenly heard Angel calling us.

"Girls!" I heard her yell from the bottom of the stairs. "Dinner!" With one last look at the picture, the three of us headed downstairs.