-1Disclaimer: I don't own any BSC characters.

A/n: Thanks for the reviews. This will be set in the same -verse as my other story, California Diaries.

Changing Lanes

2. Ouch, Burn.

I woke up to my eyes burning, my throat burning with an odd-sock taste and the realization that I wasn't in my own room. I was in someone else's room, someone who favoured plaid sheets and a lingering smell of pot. I rolled over away from where the sun was coming in and rolled into something warm and hard.

"Morning princess." I heard Cary Retlin drawl. I froze. I was in bed with Cary Retlin? Oh, lord, Jesus, fuck!

"Cary?" I asked quietly, keeping my eyes shut. "Am I naked?" My exact idea on last night was fuzzy after I vomited all over my shoes. What if Cary took advantage of that?

Cary laughed. "Do you really think I'd stoop that low?" My eyes bolted open and I was still had clothes on my body. That was a good thing at least.

"I don't know." I said, sitting up. "I'm not the one who hooked up with Cokie Mason and that's as low as it gets." I said coldly.

Cary stared at me. His jaw clenched. "I couldn't take you home and have to explain why you're passed out drunk with vomit all over your feet and smelling like a brewery." He glared at me. "Sorry, if I didn't want you to get into trouble and actually cared what happened to you."

He had a point. I looked down at my lap in embarrassment. "Thank you for that." I said, quietly. I knew that Cary would be holding the "Thank-you" over my head. "What's the time?" I asked.

"Just after eleven." Cary replied. "Do you need a lift home? My mom could give you one." He offered. I shook my head. I didn't want Karen or anyone else at home realise someone other than my regular friends' parents was dropping me off.

"I've got to get to Claudia's. We were meant to hang today." I slowly stood up. My legs felt like jelly. "Where are my shoes?" I asked.

Cary chuckled. "They're down in the laundry, soaking. I can give them to you a different time." He walked me out of his room, down stairs and out to his front porch. "Do you want me to walk you?" He asked, jamming his hands into his pockets.

"No." I sighed. "But thank-you. And…uh… for last night too." I turned around to look at him. Cary Retlin had changed.

I managed to walk to Claudia's house just fine except my feet were hot because I had no shoes and I was hung over. Cary Retlin brought up so much old feelings from the past. Things I hadn't thought about since they happened. Like the BSC club disbanding shortly after eighth grade graduation. It was one of the last times I spoke to Stacey - on good terms. I spent the summer baby-sitting at random times, and hanging with Mary-Anne and Dawn, when she visited from California. Dawn grew up so much faster than us. She came back with stories of her wild adventures on the west coast. Her visits became less. The last time I saw Dawn, was the summer after tenth grade. Her friend Sunny's mom had just died and she only spent two weeks here before cutting her visit short and going back. I was alone for three weeks in August will Claudia was in Vermont and Mary-Anne went over to Palo City to visit Dawn. I hadn't seen Jessi since she graduated eighth grade. Apparently she went off to New York to go to a good dance school. Mallory was still at Riverbend. I rang the doorbell and the door flung open. Claudia looked at me. "You look like shit." I couldn't help saying it considering she looked it.

"So do you." She said, standing back and letting me in. "I didn't see you last night after I went looking for Alan. Did you get home okay?" We walked up the stairs to the second level.

"Yeah, I got home okay." I replied as I peered into Janine's room like always. Janine was three years older than us and was in her junior year in college. She was Mr and Mrs Kishi's pride and joy according to Claud because Janine had gotten early acceptance to MIT. I didn't know if they'd be so proud about Claud's idea to defer for a year and go travelling then college. "When did you get home?" I flopped down onto Claud's bed.

"About five minutes before you rocked up. I was making sure that none was home. They would have cracked a shit." She said, her head buried into her closet. "Sometimes, I swear, they wished that they had two Janine's." Claudia's head popped back out. She looked upset but then in a flash a smile appeared. "Oreos or milk duds?"

I sighed. "Milk duds." She tossed the Oreo packet back into the closet and sat down next to me. "I wonder if Mary Anne's up yet."

"Proberly." Claudia stared down at her hands. "Proberly spent half the night worrying if we were dying in a ditch somewhere."

"Have you ever thought about what happened after middle school?" I looked at Claudia. Out of all the people I knew, Claudia and Mary Anne were the only ones who didn't really change.

"I do. All the time. I thought about it a lot after Dawn's last visit. I just remembering that she grew up so much faster. That she had this life that we couldn't understand. And that when she came back here, it was boring for her. I mean, she didn't really know anyone anymore."

"I always think I've just stayed the same." I said as I looked at Claudia's walls. Paintings that she's done over the years, a portrait of her grandmother, Mimi and lots of photos. I noticed that there was still a few from BSC times but mainly just of the last few years. I looked at Claudia. Perhaps we really hadn't changed.

Monday morning was weird. It's always a bit weird after parties, usually because some people have done various activities with others under the influence that they would normally do. Thank god I wasn't one of those girls who ended up on the wall in the third floor boys bathroom. All I kept thinking about was Cary Retlin going to tell everyone about my great vomiting skills on his shoes and that I spent the night in his bed. I didn't tell Claud or Mary Anne. Something about it wanted me to keep it a secret. As I walked down the hallway to my locker, I noticed someone was standing against. "What do you want?"

Cary turned to me. "Feeling better, I see."

I sighed. "What do you want Cary?" I asked him. I wasn't wearing a watch today. It just irked me how he always seemed to snag it off me without realizing.

"To see if your okay. You didn't look to good the last time I saw you."

"I'm fine. Better. You can leave now."

Cary pushed off my locker and started to walk away. He stopped and walked back until he was standing right over the top of me. He leaned down next to my ear. "Next time, I won't be there to help you." He whispered. He stalked off down the hall. I turned to my locker and slammed my head against the cold metal. Despite the dull pain in my head, Cary's words hurt more.

"Anyone home?" I called out as I got home. Silence. Sam's car wasn't in the drive way so I guessed that he and Stacey weren't having a quickie. I walked upstairs to my room. I didn't see Cary for the rest of the day. And the others mentioned that he hadn't been in class all day at lunch. I wondered where he had been. He'd proberly been smoking it up out in the car park with Justin Forbes or Price Irving. I opened my bedroom door to see Stacey sitting on the edge of my bed. "How did you get in my house?"

She looked down at her hands, then looked back up and gave a small smile. "I know where the spear key is."

I dropped my bag on the ground. "Then why are you here? Sam isn't home."

"I know. I'm not here to see him. I'm here to see you. We need to talk."

"Talk about what Stacey? We haven't exchanged words since the ninth grade." It felt weird to be talking to her. She was wearing her pristine clean cheerleaders uniform and I was wearing sneakers, a t-shirt and jeans. "Last time I checked, we had nothing left to talk about."

"It's about you keeping… what you saw the other day a secret." She looked at the picture of Claudia, Mary Anne and I at last years winter formal dance. "Sam and I have kept it quite for a long time now and we just need…you too keep it quite too."

"Are you trying to blackmail me?"

"No. I'm just asking you to refrain telling other people. That's all. No blackmail. Just please, for me and our old friendship, to keep it a secret." Stacey looked like she was going to cry.

"Okay. I will. But why? Why am I keeping this a secret?"

Stacey stood up, brushing her skirt. "Because, Sam and I, we have always just wanted this private thing that none in school had to think about. I just didn't want anyone judging us." She smiled. "Thanks Kristy. You're a good sister and friend." She walked out. I stared at myself in my mirror. I frowned. I turned around and walked out slamming the door.

I walked. I walked to Stoneybrook Middle School. I had no idea why but I did. It was so weird being back here. I had been back about five times since I had graduated. Next year David Michael and Karen would be graduating middle school. David Michael went to this school, just like Sam, Charlie and I did. It was weird thinking that soon none of us would be attending this school. Emily Michelle would proberly follow Karen and Andrew's steps and go to Stoneybrook Academy.

"You're a bit too old to still go here."

I whirled around. Cary Retlin stood five feet away. "You look like an over grown sixth grader."

"At least your around their height." He walked closer. "Odd that it wasn't so long ago, we were starting our last year here."

"Yeah. It feels weird that this time next year I'm going to be in college."

"College… interested in any?"

"Michigan State but like any parents, Yale or Harvard will be nice."

"My parents will just be happy if anything would accept me." He laughed. "Your not jumping down my throat for talking to you. Are you sick?"

I snorted. "You just caught me in a good mood for once."

"You were in a good mood on Friday night."

"I was drunk. Everyone gets in a good mood when they drink." I pulled my jacket in tightly. "It's proberly the only reason I was talking to you."

"Ouch. That hurt." He looked at his watch. "I have to go. Are you going to Austin's this weekend?" He asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know yet." I was going but I wasn't going to tell him that.

"Well, I just might see you there, Thomas." I watched him walk away. I just had a normal conversation with Cary Retlin.