A short chapter. I couldn't bring myself to add anything else after the last line (Be funny if I told you the story was over. Hehee. But I still have to swoop in on Angela and give a reason for all of 'dis crazay stuff).

Identity Crisis

Ten

"Angel, get up. I gotta take your ass home."

"Go away," I mumbled, pulling the sheets over my head. It was happening all over again... I was back in hiding... in some boy's bed. Yeah, it was still as strange as before. "I'll go back when I feel like it."

"...Yeah, right. C'mon."

"Go away!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Tim snapped, pulling the sheets roughly away from me.

"Just leave me alone... please?"

"...No fuckin' way," Tim muttered, grabbing my shoulder and rolling me over. "Again?"

"I'm as disappointed as you are," I said, shoving his rough hands away. What ever he was thinking, I couldn't tell. He was pretty impassive when he wasn't angry. And at the moment, he wasn't angry.

"What happened? They told me you were gone."

"I got thrown back. Kinda simple."

"Yeah, I can see how even a first grader could get what's goin' on. It ain't that simple an' you know it."

"Yeah, but I ain't gonna bother thinkin' about it anymore. I'm done. What ever. Take it as it comes and all that shit," I said, waving a hand and rolling back over.

"Sure, do what ya want, as long as it don't involve killin' anyone..." Tim said before he walked away. I felt kind of bad, listening to his footsteps disappear, but that passed in a few seconds.

xxxx

I watched impassively as June was ripped from the calender and July took it's place, but I still felt the excitement over the Fourth of July. I pushed any thoughts of the Fourth of July's that I spent with my friends and family and focused on my new friends and family. Well... mostly friends. The family didn't seem to be in much of a celebrating mood.

Soda was raving on about the fair and the fireworks. I always thought, 'I've probably seen better...' and just shrugged and said I'd try to go. I was putting more effort into falling into Angela's life; snapping at her brothers and swearing more often. I was getting louder and more obnoxious when I was in a group of other girls like Angela and soon, I didn't even notice how short my clothes were or the weight of makeup on my face.

I was changing, but I didn't really care too much. If it made my time here easier, I wasn't going to complain. Sometimes though, I'd slip back into Lauren when I was around Ponyboy or Two-bit or Soda and even Johnny, because I didn't want to scare him away now that he actually said 'hi' when I saw him.

But swapping bodies? It didn't happen. I was beginning to think that, maybe, what ever was doing this had allowed me that one last swap to say goodbye or something. I suppose if I had known it at the time, I would have been saying goodbye and crying like crazy for the short hour that I was there. Hell, I'd have stood on a billboard with a megaphone and flashing lights just to get the message across... I probably would have eaten at all of the fast-food places too, since there weren't too many of the ones I was used to hanging around.

The television shows still bored me to tears and I was starting to miss all of those annoying "text 00whatever for sum luvin' now" commercials... I missed my cell phone too. A few times I had wanted to call someone, in fact, I think the most recent was Darry, so I could get a ride somewhere or something and I had dug through my purse looking for the damn thing until I remembered there wasn't going to be one in there. Pay phone was the way to go, apparently.

The heat was starting to become unbearable and a lot of times Pony and I would go to the movie house just because it was cooler in there than it was outside or at either of our houses. Johnny came once, probably because he knew I wouldn't be able to talk to him because we were in a theater. But, since I was used to whispering things to my friends about the movies he was sorely mistaken. But Pony always sat a few seats away from me and Johnny never said a word back. So I gave that up.

But, despite how social Angela was supposed to be, I went to the park around sunset, because it's cooler outside and the only ones around are little kids and parents... or a couple. But there, I was pretty much left to myself to look at the sky and sit on a swing. It was nice. It was the one time where I could just... detach completely. I wasn't Lauren, I wasn't Angela... I was just a girl, sitting on a swing.

I now wished I could be that all the time...

Fwoop. I'm an evil person, yes, but I'm losing interest in this story and I don't want to drag it out just because of some rabid readers. It'll suck butt if I do.