Holy shit! I still exist! I'm surprised myself… Oh, yay for random inspiration… I reread the summary. XD This story was started back when it still was 2010. Now, it's 2012... XD

Though, good news! In the nearly year and a half that this story has been in-progress, I've managed to get my hands on a copy of the Time Traveler's Wife and read it. It was good. ^^ I suggest it to anyone who's looking for something to read.

Chapter Four!

When Cherry was thirteen, she started to see a change in herself, but even more so, she began to see a change in Danny. Though, really, this wasn't until after she came back.

Cherry wasn't sure what had happened. Their last meeting hadn't been anything spectacular. They'd sort of just hung out, celebrating Cherry's birthday early as there was no guarantee that Danny would show up on the acutal date. And she hadn't. But what Cherry didn't expect was to not see Danny for four months.

While Cherry and Danny didn't always get along, Cherry had always counted on seeing Danny regularly. When she just… disappeared for a four-month stretch… it had been scary.

Though when she did turn up again, Cherry almost didn't recognize her.

Cherry had been walking out of her house, about to meet her boyfriend at the end of the road. (They were going to see a movie. It was kind of awkward to date at thirteen; it wasn't like the older kids who had their licenses and could drive themselves places. No, Zach's dad would be driving the two of them to the movies.) She almost wouldn't have stopped and recognized the girl as Danny if she hadn't just appeared. And when she did, Cherry stopped and stared. Well, gaped is the more appropriate word.

Danny had gone through a growth spurt, (not a huge one, she was still shorter than Cherry) but that wasn't what made Cherry stare.

Her brown hair, which had always sort of cascaded down her back, had been chopped short and dyed jet black. On the other hand she'd grown out her bangs, which were now covering one eye where a bow was pinned, the exact same color as her eyes. She had her hands in the pocket of her dark gray sweatshirt, probably because she wouldn't have been able to stuff them into her bright purple jeans which appeared to be at least a size too small.

Now, Cherry tended to stay well away from the greaser girls. She usually didn't think too much about them. But at that second, a thought crossed her mind… You didn't have to wear a super short skirt to look trashy.

However, all this wasn't even the scariest part. Danny's eyes, well, the one that Cherry could see, had gained a dull, deadened look.

"Are you just gonna stand there and stare all day? Hardly a welcome back…"

Cherry wasn't sure if Danny was trying to sound tough, but her voice was colder and had much less emotion than Cherry remembered.

"Where were you?" Cherry asked at last, deciding this was really the only safe question.

Danny shrugged, the poster child of not being able to care less. "All over. You're not the only one I visit, you know. Sometimes I go certain places, sometimes I just… don't."

Cherry hadn't considered that Danny had other friends from other times. She wasn't sure if that was supposed to hurt or not. She obviously didn't own Danny; she couldn't lay some sort of sole claim on her. To be honest, she didn't really feel anything in regards to that. But she got the definite feeling that her strange friend had meant that comment to prick at her.

She heard a car horn beep from the end of the driveway and saw Zach's dad promptly telling Zach off for being impatient. She knew she she had to go, but on a whim she stayed just a second longer and turned back to Danny.

"We're going to the movies… do you want to come?"

Danny rolled her eyes. "Why would I want to go see some plotless movie with shitty quality?" she asked coldly.

Cherry was silent for a moment, surprised by the amount of anger in the younger girl's words, never mind the cussing that previously would have been uncharacteristic of the eleven-year-old she'd known. Then she shrugged. "Just wondering… figured you might want to tag along since I haven't seen you in so long."

"Well, I don't."

"Okay…" Cherry slowly began walking to the end of her driveway. Right before she got in the car, she turned back one last time to see Danny, who was now staring at the sky. Cherry couldn't help thinking that she looked a little sad.

Review please!

Officially updated 8/4/14. (So, I remember the original point of this chapter being to contrast modern-day teenagers with 60s teenagers, but as I was writing the chapter, it took a bit of a darker turn. There's a lot more going on with Danny than just being a sulky teen.)