This chapter was getting lengthy, so it's cut into two parts. The boring and the slightly interesting. Oh, the joy. : )

Just, keep in mind that this story is mostly writing practice and a "fun" story. It's not serious like Running or Blindfolded. So I don't put as much consideration into this one as those two.

But I like writing it, so it's not a shit story, it's just... got no real plot. Haha... yeah. But don't worry, it's not going to rambly. It'll probably be over sooner or later. Maybe.

Glad that the readers like it though...

Edit: There was one time mistake and I'm going back to check for more. I guess I should put some more attention into this. xD

Identity Crisis

Nine: Part One

"Hey, Steve, can I ask you something?"

"As soon as you get your ass offa that car. I can't fix it with you on it."

I slid off the hood of the car that was sitting in the garage of the DX. It was one of the few gas stations I had seen that could fix your car, then make you pay for gas afterwards. I watched Steve pop open the hood, open it, and look inside. I looked too, of course, but I didn't really like cars, so I wasn't too wrapped up in it.

"You gonna ask?" Steve questioned, looking up at me.

"Well," I began, and Steve looked back down at the car. "You're a... mean person, right? Like, not to me or anything but to other people?"

"...You don't have to worry 'bout insultin' me. I know people think I'm a jerk," Steve said, reaching into the mess of mechanics in the car.

"Uhm...anyway, you probably don't feel too bad after you're mean to someone, right?"

"Lauren, you gonna tell me what you're gettin' at sometime today?"

"I need help being more like you or Dally, ya know? Like, if I was a bit tougher, like you guys, I'd have an easier time here. Dig?"

Dig...

That was definately something that had rubbed off on me over the weeks. Instead of "Ya know?" it was "Dig?" or "Ya dig?". I felt like the biggest dork in the world when I said it, but it was apparently cool then, so I didn't have to worry.

Steve looked up from the car, his gaze hard. "I ain't doin' that to ya Lauren. You don't wanna be like me or Dally, especially not Dally."

"But I don't fit in here Steve. It's not the same for me as it is for you. Yeah, you don't fit in with the Socs and all of that, but I don't fit in with anyone. You have other greasers, I have no one. I'm just that creepy girl who's from the future... or the creepy girl who needs to be locked away."

"I'd go with the second one myself," Steve said with a shrug, working again on the car. I glared at him, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Alright I get it, my story is unbelievable. I've already heard it before," I snapped. "But if I'm gonna be stuck here..." I paused, wondering how that would work. If I was Lauren now and I was stuck here as Lauren... would that change the future? I know, it's not going to change the world, but, if I hit that point where I would have been born, would there be two Laurens? Would the process repeat itself with the new Lauren?

"Darry was wonderin' what would happen if you stayed. Is that what you're thinking about?"

"It's really complicated... if I stay, I'd eventually hit the time I was born... in thirty years, sure, but I'd still hit it. I can't even imagine what would happen then..." I muttered. I was distracted then, from what I had originally been planning.

The good news was that I had thirty years (give or take a few) to get back. The bad news? I'd have been missing for almost thirty years and be about 46 by the time I got back. How would I explain where I was?

This wouldn't be a problem if I was Angela and Angela were me, because neither of us would be missing. We'd just have to fall into our new persona and there'd be no problem.

So, if my parents file a missing person's report and Angela's parents actually realize they should, there'll be two people, close to the same age, that went missing the same day and time. True, different states and different years and no one will probably connect it. But if we both disappeared the same way (which we did)...

I was overanalyzing this.

"You hungry? You've been bummin' around all day and I haven't seen you eat a damn thing."

"Huh?" I looked at Steve, who was wiping his hands on a dirty rag. How that helped clean his hands, I had no idea.

"Darry or Soda usually stop by with food or somethin' since I don't have much time to take off if I want all the money I'm workin' for. But they didn't drop by today, so they must be busy."

"And?"

"How 'bout you go back to the Curtises', get somethin' to eat and if you still feel like comin' back, come back."

"I'm getting in the way, aren't I?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. I guess I'll see you later then," I said with a shrug, walking out of the garage and away from the DX. It wasn't too far of a walk for me, after marching a mile when, once upon a time, I was a baton twirler, and running like a maniac in soccer, so I didn't mind that I didn't have a ride (mind you, I was an awful twirler compared to everyone else. It would always hit me in the head or I'd throw it to far. That's why I'm in soccer).

I was just nervous that a Soc would drive by or something. Usually, I wouldn't look like a Greaser, but with my fading bruises (now on various parts of my body from rough housing), and clothes that Two-bit got from his Greaser girlfriends or from shoplifiting... I was a bit on edge. I hoped that my lack of makeup and blonde, boring hair would throw them off if I saw them.

Unluckily for me, I did see one of their cars, but the worst I got was name calling, before they drove away laughing. I was on guard for the rest of the walk, in case they came back.

"Hey!"

I jumped and looked toward the street.

"Don't do that Darry, I just saw some Socs-"

"I'm sorry. Just get in the car, I don't need you gettin' harrassed by them anymore than you have to."

I gladly jogged around to the other side of the car and climbed in, sighing and leaning back as I buckled myself in. "Thanks Darry. Steve kicked me out of the garage so..." I said with a shrug. I never had much to say to Darry. He was so much older than me, since, he was technically an adult and I was still stuck in high school.

"I know, I drove over there to get ya and Steve said you had left already. I knew you wouldn't leave on your own, so I figured he had told you to get outta there. I was kinda upset with him... he wasn't thinkin' when he sent you outta there."

"Well, a lot of people don't think about things before they do them. Sometimes they think about it afterwards and realize how bad they fucked up and feel guilty about it," I said, looking out the window. "Is that Johhny?"

Darry slowed down and leaned forward, looking out my window. "I think so. What's he doin' this far out?"

"Well, I'm sure he goes to places other than the lot, his house and your house," I said, thinking that was a common sense sort of thing.

"He doesn't walk this far out alone. Not alone anyway. It ain't really safe."

I felt a bit queasy and I rolled down the window a bit. I kept imagining what may have happened if we hadn't spotted him.

"Call 'im over, will ya?"

I nodded absently, taking a deep breath to get any images of Johnny bleeding all over the ground out of my head. "Hey! Johnny!"

He jumped and looked at the car, the usual suspicion in his eyes, but once he recognized the car and my slightly bruised face, he wandered over, his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "Hey," he said, making eye contact for less than a second.

"Need a ride? You'll be hitchiker number two," I said with a small smile. He nodded and got into the back of the car. I noticed that even his movements were silent.

"What were ya doin' over here Johnnycake?"

"I dunno... I was just gonna see what Steve was doin' I guess," He said with a shrug.

"He probably woulda kicked you out," I said a bit hatefully. "I was gettin' in the way, so he sent me off on my own."

"With those Socs drivin' 'round?"

"They just called me names. I ignored them. Don't think they realize I've heard worse," I said, picking at my fingernails. The car grew silent again and I was all too happy to get out of the car once it stopped at the Curtises'. I raced Darry to the door (one of the few nice gestures I had gotten from him), but since I had taken a head start, I was the unlucky one to crash into Dally as he was leaving the house.

"Watch where you're fuckin' goin' you..." he paused, looking down at me as I quickly backed away running a hand through my hair. "You're that crazy girl, aren't you?"

"I'm not crazy," I snapped.

"That's usually what they say, ain't it?"

"Lay off, Dally," Darry said a slight warning in his voice. Johnny slipped past us and went inside, probably hoping there'd be lunch lying around.

Dally raised his hands in a sign of "hey, no problem here" and shouldered past me as he made his way off the porch. I didn't bother saying anything, so I slipped inside as I heard Dally stop to talk to Johnny. Sure, the mean guy can have a decent conversation with him, but I couldn't. That's fair.

"Hey Miss Lauren."

"Hi Two-bit," I said, my enthusiasm a bit less than normal. Ponyboy was sitting in front of the couch, since Two-bit was laying across it, so I sat down next to Pony.

"Your hair is getting darker."

"Two-bit!" Ponyboy yelled, turning and punching him in the side. Two-bit grabbed his side, wincing.

"Sorry, Lauren, I didn't mean to make ya upset or anythin'. I just thought-"

"It's fine."

"Are you-"

"It's fine," I snapped, turning to look at him. "So stop worryin'."

"Sorry Angela."

I glared at Two-bit then, stood up, and stormed away, though I was well aware of Ponyboy calling me back and asking Two-bit why he had to do that.

xxxx

Angela screamed loudly, causing Jessica to drop her eye liner on the floor and nearly knock over her small vanity in her room as she ran to the bathroom.

"Oh... Angela, I'm sorry," Jessica said, looking at her hair sadly. It was bright blonde and was back up to her shoulders. Angela looked at her, sadly.

"I really wish your friend would just let me go home, dig?"

"Well, I can't tell her what to do from here, Ang... she probably has no idea how to get back."

"Or she just doesn't want to leave. Probably enjoyin' all the attention she's gettin' as me. I mean, I haven't gotten one double take or second glance or anything since I've been Lauren."

"I doubt it. Lauren isn't one for attention. Hey, ya know what, how about we go to a party? I was invited a while back and so was Lauren and since you look like you could use some cheering up..."

xxxx

"Think of it as Two-bit's way of apologizing."

"I've already been to one party and I didn't exactly enjoy myself."

"Lauren..." Ponyboy whined. I narrowed my eyes. He was doing that on purpose.

"Pony," I whined back. He sighed and bit at his fingernails.

"I'll be there. So will the rest of the gang. You can avoid 'im if it's really that big of a deal."

"That ain't it," I muttered, crossing my arms and kicking at the dirt. I watched a strand of dark hair fall in front of my eyes, but held any emotions back. Think of Dallas. "I don't feel like going. 'Sides, I'm surprised your parents are even letting you go."

"Well, Soda kinda convinced 'em for me."

I snorted. Of course. They were the only brothers I knew that didn't hate each other and threaten to beat each other's heads in. Instead, they helped each other out.

"Well, Tim was lookin' for ya. He's been checking by the house to see if you were... ya know, Angela again. So, I dunno. You could always try to look for him."

I smiled a bit, and shook the hair out of my face, crossing my arms. "I'll go look for him... and maybe I'll catch up with you later, okay?" I said, waving to Ponyboy in a bored sort of manner.

I walked around to Tim's usual places (ones that I had learned over the time stuck here) but he wasn't there.

"Still got the Dingo," I muttered, changing my direction, and keeping an eye out for Angela's brother. Plenty of fights. So I peeked in the crowd, looking for Tim.

"Hey."

I jumped and whipped around, fist raised. "Oh... Dallas... do me a favor? Don't do that."

"If your lookin' for your brother, he's inside... so, is the gang tellin' the truth?"

"Huh?"

"About where you're from," Dally said, a bit annoyed by my slow thinking.

"Shh! I really don't need everyone knowing," I hissed, waving my hands in front of his face. Somewhat. He was a bit taller than I was now that I was Angela. "Yes, it's true, but-"

"You're still crazy."

"Dally!" I shrieked, hitting him in the arm.

"I should get you to beat up my buddies more often."

"Yeah, 'cause gettin' your kid sister to fight for you is real tough," Dally muttered. Tim messed up my hair and blew cigarette smoke in Dally's face. "You know I hate your smoke," Dally said bitterly. Tim smirked.

"Still Lauren in there?"

"Yeah."

"That's too bad... thought you would have made it back to where ever you came from by now. Whaddya want?"

I shrugged. "Pony said you was lookin' for me, so I decided to make the lookin' a bit easier." I realized how quick I could slip into Angela. I didn't even speak the same.

"Yeah, I was. You're kinda hard to track down. You ever stop movin' around?"

"Keeps me busy. I'm usually in the lot-"

"Yeah, playin' soccer. Not really a typical girl thing, soccer," Dally pointed out. I rolled my eyes. "Why you play it anyway?"

"'Cause where I come from, everyone plays sports."

"You play against guys?"

"No."

"Then what's the point?"

I sighed. "I really don't feel like explainin' anythin' to you."

"Pony ask you?" Dally asked suddenly as Tim wandered towards a fight. It was probably one of the members of his gang and since it was his job to keep them in place, he was probably making sure they weren't starting an all out war.

"Ask me what?"

"I dunno, I walked inside to get somethin' to eat and he's talkin' to Soda about askin' you somethin'. Think he said it would cheer you up."

"Oh. Yeah. Some party or... dance or something. He asked if I wanted to go with all of 'em. I don't really feel like it."

"But you'll go to a Tiger party? Jus' go. You ain't got nothin' better to do," Dally said, before walking away. I watched him go and glanced back at Tim who was now in the fight.

"He won't miss me too much," I said to myself, before walking back to the Curtises'.

xxxx

"That's what you're wearing?"

"Well... yeah. Jeans and a nice shirt are kinda the norm. And if my mom sees us walkin' out with short skirts on, she'll skin us both."

"We'll stash 'em," Angela said with a shrug, pulling a shirt over her head, grabbing a skirt and stuffing it into Jessica's rather large purse. "Here, hand me that skirt over there," Angela said, pointing to the floor as she pulled on a pair of jeans she borrowed from Jessica. Apparently, Jessica and Lauren wore that same size.

"I dunno Ang. I don't think it's such a good idea. I mean, now we'll have to watch the purse and make sure no one steals it."

"I doubt anyone will steal your purse at this party. You wanna get your purse stolen? Go to one of the party's I used to go to. Spiked drink included."

Jessica sighed, but handed her the skirt, which Angela stuffed into the purse. "Alright... so... now we need to cover it up," Angela muttered. She walked over to Jessica's small vanity and dumped some make up in, her house and car keys and some money. "There. Now, if your mom asks, we'll tell her that we might go out to dinner if we get bored with the party... where's that little phone you like so much?"

"My Razer?"

"...Your phone."

"That's what it's called. A Razer, because it's so thin."

"Just give me the pink square so we can leave," Angela snapped. Jessica handed it over and Angela dropped that in the purse too. "Oh, wait, you might need these," she said, handing Jessica her keys.

"How old are you again?"

"Lauren's sixteen."

"I know that."

"We'll just say I ain't sixteen."

"Excuse me?"

xxxx

"I'm glad you're going. I'm sure you'll have fun. It's just a dance and most of those dangerous types don't hang around those."

"Yeah, sure," I muttered, carefully dragging the eyeliner pencil across my lower eyelid. It was a bit weird to have Pony standing there watching me and people walking in and out of the bathroom to grab random things. Like toothbrushes. Or a comb. Or a roll of toilet paper. Which of course gave me the impression that we would be trashing someone's house, but I didn't say anything.

I doubted that these guys would do something as... well, low key as that.

"I figured you could learn some of those dances that you were so keen on learnin' before. And I'm sure if Sandy don't mind, Soda could teach you too, 'cause he knows more about dancin' than I do."

"Sandy?"

"Yeah, she's Soda's girlfriend. She's real nice. Has pretty eyes too."

"Well, ain't she lucky?" I muttered, moving onto the next eye.

"I guess she is. Lots o' girls are jealous of her, but she don't seem to care."

"I don't think I would care either, if I bagged Mr. Movie Star. You got a girlfriend?"

I watched as Pony's ears turned red. "I ain't to keen on them yet. And Johnny and I are kinda scared of 'em after what Steve told us."

"Maybe it's just because your both really shy. Girls ain't that scary."

"The one's I know are."

"Like me?"

Pony's ears turned even redder. "No, that ain't what I meant. Sandy ain't scary either. But if you see Evie and Sylvia... lots of greaser girls are kinda scary."

"Well, you're 13. You're supposed to be afraid of girls. 'Cause you really don't need one right now anyway. Just a bunch of drama and kissing."

"You got a boyfriend?"

"Had. But, like I said, it was just a bunch of drama and kissing. My grades started slippin', so I broke it off... or... well, he broke it off with me, because he thought I was cheatin', 'cause I wasn't spendin' enough time with 'im or somethin'. What ever. He wasn't that great. And my grades shot right back up and he got a cheerleader, so it's good."

"...Wow," Pony muttered, watching me put mascara on. I smiled a bit, wondering if he was that amazed by mascara, though, I knew that's not what he was commenting on. Personally, I hated mascara. It always smudged. But since Angela wears it, I had to put it on. I nearly poked my eye out as Pony bumped into me because Steve and Soda knocked into him. I sighed, and finished quickly, before slipping past them to get out of the way.

I could still hear them fighting as I walked down the hall.

"Hey, boys, cool it, huh? Use that energy for the dance," Mr. Curtis said, smiling as the boys broke apart and grudgingly walked into the living room. I laughed; they were all fixing their hair. Mrs. Curtis walked down the hall, smiling at me and smoothing down my hair as she walked past. A loving gesture I missed.

"Since everyone is running away tonight, we're going to enjoy ourselves and go out. So don't panic if you get home and we aren't here. We'll call if we won't be back before 12, okay?"

A loud chorus of "Sure", "Okay", "See ya later" and Two-bit's, "Use protection" (which caused laughter and a little talking to) they said goodbye and left.

"Steve an' I are gonna pick up Sandy an' Evie. You guys okay goin' with Two-bit?"

Of course, 'you guys' was Ponyboy, Johnny and I. I was ready to protest, but what would I do then? Walk?

"No," we said. Two-bit grinned.

"Alright, Lauren, you can sit in the front. Pony, Johnny, I need a push."

"... Wait... what?"

I feel like eating this chapter so it will never be seen again, but I can't eat a computer file and it's kinda good. So, eh. Have fun.