This entire chapter is a work in progress. I'm trying to fix up the action scene...

Blindfolded

Six

'Okay... so I was definitely wishing I had enough money for at least a motel. I have never felt more... uncomfortable in my life. Ever. Tommy was all... 'Grr' and Sodapop kept looking at me and looking very confused. Ponyboy seemed as uncomfortable as I was and Darry was just irritable, so I stayed away from him.

'That, and I was wondering who the hell had told Tommy my freakin' life story. I wanted to just... poke them in the eye. I didn't want him to know. If I did, I would have told him, wouldn't I? And because of... the freakin' information booth, I had a very bad experience.

'I've never been so... violent. Ever. Usually I'm pretty mellow. Then again, no one else ever got onto me about such personal stuff. Hold on.'

Jennifer held her journal to her chest and kicked Tommy away from her. "Do I have to get tape and divide the room? Stay. Away. From. Me."

"Aw, c'mon Jen. I said I was sorry. Just one look?"

"And you're a fuckin' liar. Just leave me alone, it's not that hard. You stay quiet and do something else and I stay quiet and ignore you."

"...Okay, seriously, you're having the worst mood swings in the history of the world."

"It's your fault."

"Oh come on, it can't all be my fault."

"..."

"Do I have to say I'm sorry again?"

"One: my journal really isn't that great. Get over it. Two: I don't think you'll ever, ever, ever, be able to apologize for what you did. Ever."

"That's being a bit overly dramatic, I think."

"Did you even hear what you were saying? It's not like I didn't have enough issues with my birth mother, but then you startin on the woman who raised me? What if I started saying that sort of stuff about your mother?"

Jennifer paused, waiting for Tommy to say something. He tensed but that was it.

"...Do you-"

"I have a mother... and a step-mother. So take your pick."

"Oh... I'm sorry. Was it bad?"

"What makes you think I'd tell you?"

"I dunno," Jennifer said with a shrug. She opened her journal again, doodling at the top of the page.

"When were you put up for adoption?"

"Yeah, like I'm gonna give you more ammo for that. I ain't fallin' for it."

Tommy sat back on the couch, watching Jennifer again. Again, he tried to get close enough to look at what she was writing. He got a kick to the shoulder. "Ow! I just wanna know what you're writin' about!"

"It's my business! Stay out of it!"

"Jennifer."

Both Jennifer and Tommy looked up at Sodapop as he walked to the end of the couch, the one Jennifer was leading against. He knelt down and looked at her and then at Tommy.

"I was gonna tell you earlier but... Tommy, this isn't for you to hear."

"It's fine, he already knows my freakin' life story."

"Tommy," Soda said, his tone condescending. "I told you not to listen in."

"Listen in on what?" Jennifer asked, turning to face him.

"Pony was just... explaining some things to me. I guess I should have locked Tommy out of the house."

"I would've been able to get back in," Tommy said, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, what ever," Soda said, rolling his eyes and smiling at him. "Anyway, while you were gone... Paul called."

"... Why?"

"Apparently, your father decided to come home and he's wondering where you are."

"You make it sound like he's not breaking things right now."

"Well, I wouldn't know... he hasn't called here. Yet. He'll probably manage to find the number some where."

"You're making me go back, aren't you?" Jennifer asked, glaring at him.

"My vote's definitely against it. All of ours are. But since he's your legal guardian... we can't just deny him the right to see you. It'll cause a lot of trouble."

"He never cared before, why would he care now?"

"People are kinda funny like that," Tommy said with a shrug.

"Shut up Tommy, I didn't ask you," Jennifer snapped. Tommy raised his eyebrows and turned away from her.

"I'm guessin' there's some hard feelings between you two. And you barely even know each other," Soda said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well if he wasn't such and ass-"

"She's a bitch."

"You jerk! I am not a bitch."

"And you call me a liar?"

"Hey, chill. You're supposed to be sleepin' anyway," Sodapop said, putting a hand onto of Jennifer's head and casting a meaningful glance at Tommy.

"I ain't sleepin' near him," Jennifer muttered, moving her head away from Soda's hand.

"I think it'll help patch up what ever's goin' on between you two if you spend some time together. Tell some stories to scare each other, what ever works. But holdin' grudges ain't gonna do you no good."

"...You have a grudge against my mother, don't you?" Jennifer asked, looking at Soda again. Even Tommy looked over, interested. Soda paled and shook his head.

"I don't blame her for anythin'," Soda muttered, standing up and walking back to his bedroom.

"What was that about?"

"My mother and Soda used to go out... but they didn't really agree with each other, so she married someone else and adopted me. Apparently, she didn't tell him a thing," Jennifer said simply, drawing on the top of the paper again.

"Harsh. Hey, what time is it?"

Jennifer sighed and held her journal close, leaning over the arm of the couch to see into the kitchen and see the clock on the wall. "Why?"

"Just tell me."

"It's like... 10:54."

"Shit," Tommy hissed, grabbing his shoes and pulling them on.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"It's none of your business."

"Oh come on, are you gonna do something stupid?"

"I was supposed to meet my friends at ten."

"Oh..." Jennifer said, stretching out her legs as Tommy got up and grabbed a sweater from the floor. "You have fun with that, I guess."

"Sure. Just for you," Tommy said, pulling the sweater over his head as he opened the door and walked out. Jennifer narrowed her eyes, her gaze on the door, wondering why he had put a sweater on in the first place. It wasn't that cold outside.

xxxx

Burning lungs... it hurt to breathe. Can't stop running. Keep going. Where is he? Falling... scraped knees. Bang.

Jennifer's eyes snapped open, the images, feelings and sounds slowly slipping away. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew that it had nothing to do with Dallas, the feeling was different from what she had felt on the street before.

"So, who was it?" Jennifer muttered, sitting up and pulling her hair back. She leaned forward, her arms resting on her thighs.

Light hair, worn shoes, blue eyes...

Jennifer suddenly felt cold, before a sudden rush of warmth set her to action. She grabbed her shoes and pulled them onto her feet in a rush. She leapt from the couch and yanked the front door open, pushing the screen door open as she rocketed off the porch.

Same street... street name? Can't see it...

It was like someone was putting one transparent picture over a solid one. But not everything was clear. Jennifer wasn't sure what was going on, or what she was seeing or how, but she knew she'd have to worry about that later.

She careened around a corner before she saw a small group of boys under a streetlight. She slowed down. Nothing was happening. She was panting lightly, watching, before she jogged over to the dark, small alley between two stores.

'What the hell is going on?' Jennifer wondered, catching her breath as she watched the boys carefully. She saw it before they did. A ghostly figure running down the street, the flash of lights.

The boys seemed to get excited then, a few of them taking off and the others cheering and pushing each other, swearing.

"Maybe it was Dallas I saw," Jennifer muttered. But a boy suddenly ran out into the street, under the streetlight where she knew the ghost would fall. It was eerie to watch, the ghost turning just under the streetlight, the far off sound of gun shots, and then, it fell through the boy, before disappearing.

It was quiet then and the boy sauntered back over to his friends. He seemed to be asking for something. The boy he asked shook his head and shoved him.

Bang.

"Oh no," Jennifer said, bending down and picking up a rock as she ran forward. "Tommy!"

Tommy turned to look at her, surprised. Jennifer wished she hadn't called him. She stopped in the middle of the street and drew back her arm, "Duck!" and chucked the rock forward. Luckily, Tommy was pretty quick on catching onto the fact that a rock was flying toward his head. It hit the boy that he had been standing in front of and he stumbled back, falling and holding his head.

Tommy walked over to her, glaring. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Tommy, listen, I-"

"No, just shut up! Why don't you keep your nose out of my business, huh?"

Jennifer tuned him out, looking over his shoulder. "Tommy, if we don't leave, it'll happen again."

"...What?"

"The story you told me! If we don't-"

"Alright, I get it, I creeped you out, but nothin's gonna happen."

Bang.

Jennifer jumped and screamed, the bullet making an odd noise as it hit the pavement. Tommy grabbed her arm and ran.

"Look what you did," Tommy said, jerking her forward as he ran down the street. Jennifer stumbled and almost fell forward, but she managed to catch herself. She knew it was coming. She realized what was going on now.

'I was the one running... I was the one who fell.'

"Tommy, you need to understand, if I hadn't done that, you'd probably be dead right now," Jennifer gasped. She could hear the boy behind them.

"Why, because he pushed me? I'm definitely gonna die now!"

"No," Jennifer said with a small smile. "No, just me. C'mon," Jennifer said, grabbing his hand and dragging him around a corner. She dropped back and took another direction.

'Keep going... c'mon...' Jennifer pleaded. She could hear the boy's foot steps behind her and Tommy kept going.

"Yes!" Jennifer gasped, her smile widening. She jumped a fence and fell, feeling the sharp sting of her skin scraping the pavement. She jumped up and kept running.

"You're gonna die for what you did!"

"I know," Jennifer called over her shoulder. The boy, who Jennifer realized was really about eighteen and not as much of a boy as she had thought, faltered, slowing down a bit. Smiling, Jennifer picked up the pace and ducked into and alley way.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Jennifer screamed, trying to jerk her arm out of someone's grip.

"Calm down! Damn, you're about as jumpy as Johnny."

"Who-" Jennifer stopped, confused. "Dallas?"

"I heard that some crazy kids were gettin' into some trouble in Tulsa so I came to check it out. Guess one of them kids was you."

"I can't stop running right now, I have to find Tommy and-"

"Nah, you don't. Time's slowed down right now. A trick I picked up after twenty years. Tommy's fine, Leann's leadin' him home right now."

"What about-"

"Julie's takin' care of him. 'Course, after this, no one's gonna remember anythin' 'cept you."

"Why just me?"

"Well I'll remember too if it makes you feel any better."

"That's not what I meant."

"I shouldn't have brought you Up There. It did somethin' to ya. Messed with somethin'..." Dallas muttered, leading Jennifer down the alley way and back onto the street. She saw the blonde, Julie, kneeling over the boy in the street, taking his gun.

"Man, this kid's more boozed up then I was last night... no wonder he pulled a gun on you guys."

"Wait, what did it do to me? Am I gonna die?" Jennifer asked, looking back at Dally.

"No," Julie said, standing up and dusting off her hands and her skirt. "You're just a bit more perceptive than most people... ya know, see things that they can't see, that sort of thing."

"You mean-"

"You can work in a circus, wear about fifty shawls, and charge twenty bucks to look into a ball to see absolutely nothing," Julie clarified.

Jennifer stared at her, before she slowly faded away and Darry's house replaced the street she had been on. Tommy was standing on the porch, looking a bit confused.

"Did you suddenly appear here too?"

"Yeah, I think I did," Jennifer said, looking around. Dallas was gone. "He said no one else would remember."

"That one chick said it'd probably be okay if I remembered what happened. Said I'd learn a lesson... or somethin'. How'd you know what would happen?"

"I... I kinda guessed. I figured what ever you were doin' was goin' to get you in trouble."

"Then how'd you know when to throw that rock at Chris?"

"... Another guess?"

"You're a liar..." Tommy said, sitting down on the steps of the porch. "...But you helped me out, so I won't hold it against you, no matter how weird you and the whole situation may be."

"Gee, thanks," Jennifer said, rolling her eyes.

"...Seriously, thanks..." Tommy said, looking at his shoes.

"What was goin' on?"

"He owed me money... and he refused, so I called him some names and... well, he pushed me and you chucked that rock."

"...Really?"

"What? You don't believe me?"

"Not really," Jennifer said, shrugging and looking at her own shoes.

"...I owed him money."

"Huh? What for?"

"This ain't twenty questions," Tommy snapped. "I didn't have it and..."

"Oh."

"So... now I can keep my money. Thanks," Tommy said, walking inside. Jennifer watched him walk inside, before shaking her head and sitting down. She looked across the yard, her chin in her hands, as she yawned.

'I ain't doin' this anymore!'

'Then don't! Just drop me then, like you've been planning to. Why keep puttin' it off?'

Jennifer looked around, confused. The transparent picture slipped over her view again and she watched as the screen door slammed open.

'I wouldn't have to be thinkin' about this if you could just-'

'Don't you dare... don't you even try to blame this all on me.'

Jennifer's eyes widened as a younger Alice and Soda stepped onto the porch. Soda looked quite upset and Alice's eyes were red, like she had been crying. She glared at him as if daring him to try and continue.

'I don't get you Alice... you weren't like this before. You never cheated before'

'Yeah? You never cheated before either! You weren't anything like this. Who gave you the idea that I liked you hanging over me like I'm in a hospital? What are you waiting for? A mental break down?'

'I'm just tryin' to-'

'No, stop. Just... stop it. You wanna help? Leave me alone. I'm not sixteen anymore Soda, I'm an adult and perfectly fine now. But you don't seem to believe me. Do you not trust me? Are you waiting for me to go crazy on you and then jump off the roof?"

"Alice... listen," The younger Soda said, reaching out for her shoulder. Alice glared at him and shrugged him off.

"I'm going home Soda..." Alice said, looking away and walking down the steps. Jennifer noted the slight bounce in Alice's step as she walked down the steps, despite how hard she tried to stop herself. Jennifer looked up at Soda, who seemed a bit lost for words. He turned and faded away before he reached the door. Alice had disappeared too.

Jennifer stared, feeling very cold again. That had been quite a few years before Jennifer knew Alice, before Alice became her mother. Quite a few years where they hadn't spoken a word to each other...

And now Alice was dead. Jennifer held her head and bent forward. No wonder Soda had been so upset...