I kinda had to take a step back and regain focus back on the story I had in mind and not spinning off into an entirely different story concerning Jennifer's new problem. It took a bit of effort, but I'm more or less there again.

Blindfolded

Nine

"Whaddya mean you can't take her back? You're a fuckin' AoD, you can do anything. You guys brag about it all the time!"

"First things first, Dallas. I do not brag about anything. Kenneth brags, and from time to time, so does Ruth and a few others. But I can assure you, the rest of us aren't bragging about anything. And I can't bring her back because you didn't listen. You set her forward to fast," Tommy explained, his arms crossed over his chest.

Sixteen year old Alice was sitting with Leann and Julie, talking about one thing or another. Bobby had left, having to do his job, which they had teased him for. Johnny didn't want to take part in the conversation.

"So now what?"

"She'll have to get in the way you would."

"Really? Alice, c'mere!"

"Why?"

"Just c'mere! Damn," Dallas muttered as Alice stood up and walked over. "Tommy's got some things to tell ya."

"Well, I think I would have been happier if he had called me over," Alice muttered, crossing her arms and glaring at Dallas.

"Alice, I'm afraid I can't take you back."

"What do you mean? You mean back to Heaven? Why?"

"I warned Dallas that spurring your memories too soon and out of order would cause problems. I'm afraid that the process was thrown off and, rather effectively, neutralized."

"So this bastard threw off my chance for eternal happiness?"

"If you want to put it that way, yes. If you want to get through, you'd have to complete a term of service."

"...Do you ever stop talking like that?"

"Like what, Dallas?"

"Like you aren't nineteen years old."

"Technically, I'm not. At this point, I'm old enough to be your father."

"Yeah, just how old are you?"

Tommy paused, thinking. "Fifty-four."

Dally snorted.

"I'd be quiet Dallas, you're growing old too."

"Uhm, hello? Did we forget we have a problem?" Alice asked, raising a hand and waving it. Tommy looked away from Dallas, a smile on his face.

"I..." Tommy paused, sighing. "No, I didn't forget. If you wanna get to Heaven, you'll have to be a Guardian. For how long, I don't know. If you'd rather me try to get you back in, I could, but... we may both be in trouble for that one."

"Seriously? I can be a Guardian Angel? That sounds fun!"

"The job isn't as bad as an AoD..." Tommy said, more to himself than to Alice.

"I'll do it!" Alice said with a grin.

xxxx

"Jen! C'mon, you wanna eat before you go to school?"

"I hate breakfast," Jennifer said, her pillow muffling her voice.

"I'm kinda tired of finding food in your back pack Jen."

"That was once."

"Two times. You've gone to school two times. I'm seeing a connection."

"Alright, so I forgot about it," Jennifer muttered, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She grabbed a pair of jeans off of the floor, the clean pair she had set on her chair last night, but had knocked over and not bothered to pick up.

She pulled them on and walked to her dresser, digging out a pair of socks and pulling those on next. The next step was her closet and the last stop of the morning was the bathroom, where she kept her hair brush and other such things, since she didn't have a mirror in her room.

She walked into the kitchen, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. It had been a month since she'd run off to Tulsa and she'd been getting anxious as September set in. Her birthday was getting closer and once again, she was moving up in the High School Food Chain as she walked even further away from her Freshman year.

'I wasn't worried about the normal, 'Oh my God, September!' stuff. Ya know, teachers, friends, boys.

'Nope, this school year held an even more worrisome topic. My sixteenth birthday and my Dad. How do those go together in anyway, you may ask? Well, consider it his first exam. His challenge? Remember his daughter's birthday.

'I had already called all of those that do know my birthday and warned them not too mention it around him. And if he asked, they would call me and let me know. If he can't remember my birthday, I don't know how I'm going to handle living with him.

'I mean, he was around for a few birthdays. And I know his. It's November 18th, if you want proof of that.

'Hell, I think even Ponyboy and Soda know my birthday. So if he doesn't, I'm gonna raise a tiny fuss. Or I'll ask my friends to help me make a movie. "Sixteen Candles: The Real Deal", or something stupid like that.'

"Is that the elusive journal I've heard so much about?" Ronnie asked, watching Jennifer scribble in it as she ate some toast. She nodded.

"You've had that thing for awhile haven't you?"

Jennifer paused, looking up from her writing, surprised that he even knew that. "Yeah, I have."

"It's a miracle it hasn't fallen apart. Let me know when you need a new one."

"Yeah... sure thing," Jennifer said, closing her journal and eating the rest of her breakfast. "Ya know, I'm gonna be able to drive soon."

"...Yeah."

"And I was... ya know... wondering, 'cause Mom said she would-"

"Your mother was going to teach you how to drive?" Ronnie asked with a grin. "You would have gotten your license suspended the first week."

"I know she was bad, but Uncle Paul said he'd rather not have me on the road at all and offered to buy me a new bike with a basket on the back instead."

"I see," Ronnie said, leaning back in his chair. "So you want early driving lessons."

"...Well, yeah."

"If you buy both of us helmets it's a deal."

Jennifer snorted, pulling on her shoes and standing up from the table. "Sure thing. I'll save up the money."

xxxx

'Apparently, I had one more thing to worry about. Sympathy. Heaping piles of sympathy. Good news! Things still get around the entire school in less than three minutes.

'Even Eileen, the lunch lady knew. And it wasn't even lunch yet! It was only second hour!'

"Jennifer I'm really-"

"Whoa there," Dawn, one of Jennifer's oldest friends said, stepping in front of Jennifer to protect her from the sympathy of Janet, a girl that usually got on both of their nerves.

"I'll take a message," Dawn said. Jennifer smirked and continued writing in her journal. Janet frowned and glared at Dawn.

"She's sitting right there."

"Uh, Yeah... no she isn't," Dawn said, nudging Jennifer's arm. Jennifer rolled her eyes, but gathered up her journal and walked away. "I'll take a message for you."

'I'm very grateful for friends like Dawn, but I don't know if I can tell her what's been going on with me just yet. It's still been happening, don't get me wrong. Still hearing and seeing deaths and I've already seen one in the school.

'It's unsettling, sure, but until I'm threatened by it, or at least until I can explain it, I think I'll keep it quiet.'

xxxx

Jennifer sighed, sitting on the rocks that surrounded the small garden of different bushes near the side of the school. Waiting with her were numerous other students, looking for that familiar car.

By the time the last kid, a boy that she had never seen before and guessed was probably a freshmen, climbed into his father's fancy car, Jennifer was just a bit annoyed. She rolled her eyes and looked up at the sky, enjoying the mild weather of September and trying to forget the fact that someone should have swung by to pick her up by now.

"Natalie?"

Jennifer looked at the boy standing in front of her and froze. She remembered the times she had read, "blood ran cold" in books and now realized they were probably lying. She could feel her blood rushing through her, and it felt rather warm, thank you very much.

"No... go away," Jennifer said, trying to keep her voice steady. It was kind of hard, given the circumstances. The kid looked like he had been mauled by a dog, run over by a car once, then thrown into a creek. Obediently, the boy disappeared and Jennifer released the breath that had been caught in her throat.

Not long after, Ronnie finally decided to pull up.

"Sorry Jen. I'm still getting into the swing of things," he apologized as she climbed into the car. "You look kinda sick... were you feeling okay this morning?"

"Yeah, probably those school lunches or something. Don't worry about it."

Ronnie didn't say a thing.

xxxx

'Alright, so he's not used to the whole nagging parent thing. But it would have been nice if he had at least tried to start a conversation! That had to be the longest, most awkward car ride of my life! I mean, the ride with Sodapop may be a close second, but I was groggy and in a bad mood.

'I was in a relatively good mood today, actually, but that stupid boy who thought I was Natalie totally killed that. I really need to find a way to deal with this...

'... That Matt kid was pretty cute... I should talk to him sometime.'

xxxx

"Hey, Bobby, you're the only person who's never mentioned where they lived," Alice said, leaning back and picking at a blade of grass. Bobby frowned and took extreme interest in a blade of grass himself.

"Oh, come on Bobby, it won't hurt to tell us. You can't just keep to yourself the entire time we're here," Leann said, patting the boy's knee.

"I lived in North Dakota."

"Yeah? Never been there before," Julie muttered, her head resting on Dallas's legs. Dallas himself was leaning against a rock.

"Yeah, 'cause you're an experienced traveler," Dallas said, glancing up at the sky. Night was falling "Up There", a rare event considering that time passed slowly there.

"Actually," Julie said, reaching up and fingering the collar of his jacket. "I've been to most of the states in the U.S. So take that Mr. I Don't Get Around Much."

"Yeah, too bad you didn't come home last time," Dally drawled. Julie just frowned.

"I don't get it Julie, how'd you fall off that cliff anyway?" Leann asked, playing with the hem of her skirt. Julie sighed and looked away from Dallas, her hand dropping from his jacket collar.

"I stood too close to the edge. The ground I was on wasn't stable and I fell."

"...That's it?" Dallas asked, looking down at her. "C'mon, I was just gettin' interested."

"Yeah, I fell thirty feet, hit a ledge, rolled and skidded and slid and finally stopped, neck, arm, leg and wrist broken. I was a bloody mess, happy?"

Dallas snorted. "Way to kill the mood Jules."

xxxx

Jennifer considered herself lucky. Her birthday fell on a Saturday this year and she was more than happy to sleep in and enjoy the rest.

Of course, no one else seem to be thinking the same thing when the phone rang. Growling, Jennifer grabbed the phone from her night stand.

"Hello?"

"Happy Birthday."

Jennifer blinked, rubbing her eyes. "Wait... Soda?"

"Yup. Were you still sleeping?"

"Of course I was."

"How are things with your Dad?"

"Uhm, not so good."

"Why?"

"I mentioned Dallas yesterday, ya know, in an off handed way and he exploded on me, yellin' and swearin'. He stormed outta the house."

"I wonder why..."

"I dunno, but it didn't really help the relationship."

"I can't see how it would."

"Ya know, Dallas has a habit of just... fucking everything up."

Soda laughed. "Yeah, he did have that habit sometimes, whether it was intentional or not. I hope your birthday is better though."

"Yeah, so do I..."