Disclaimer: I do not own BSC or any characters.

A/n: Thanks for the reviews! They're all lovely!

Changing Lanes

3. Memory Loss

"Did you hear Mallory's coming back?" Claud asked as she sat down at our table.

"Why would she be coming back?" Mary Anne asked her as she poked her lunch. Mary Anne still found the school's lunch disgusting and believed it really wasn't food.

"I heard that she got expelled, or asked to leave. Something about getting caught on campus smoking or something like that." Mallory had turned from nice, innocent and good girl to smoking, nasty, lying snot nosed brat. And I was being nice.

"Who'd you hear that from?" I asked.

"Lauren Hoffman. She heard it from Byron Pike yesterday during the drama club's meeting."

"You really believe Lauren Hoffman?" I have despised Lauren Hoffman since the beginning of time but you couldn't really believe anything that came out of her mouth. She had turned into the school's gossip queen.

"Yes I do!" Claudia said, throwing her plastic fork down onto her tray. "You don't think that Mallory wouldn't get expelled? Even though she's done a complete one-eighty?"

"We should go by the Pike house." Mary Anne piped up. Claudia and I turned to her. "After school. We were meant to hang out at Claud's but we can now check out whether or not Mallory's really been expelled."

Claudia smirked at me. "That's a great idea." I said turning back to where I was originally looking. I could see the back of Cary Retlin's head. "How are we going to be subtle about snooping around their house?" The Pike family has eight children. "It's not like someone isn't going to notice us just looking through their front windows."

"Don't worry." Claudia said, leaning forward and patting my hand. "It will be all sweet."

"All sweet?" Mary Anne asked Claudia as we stood behind some bushes a couple of houses away from the Pike's. "The Pike triplets are playing basketball on their driveway!"

"Their shirtless too!" Claudia exclaimed. Yes, the Pike triplets were playing shirtless basketball. Despite only being ninth graders the Pike boys had seemed to have already hit the big time at SHS. I had to admit, they were pretty cute and they were good at basketball. All three of them were already on the basketball team. "Damn, I never knew that those boys would turn out to be such hotties."

I whacked Claudia's arm. "You used to baby sit them!"

"I never knew that they would turn out to be that good looking!"

"Mary Anne, help me out." I turned to Mary Anne, who like Claudia, was fixated on the Pike triplets. "God! Can the two of you pay attention? We're supposed to be looking for Mallory."

"I don't see her." Mary Anne said, checking her watch. "Do you think we should just walk up to her front door and see if she's home?"

I shook my head. That would be too obvious we were snooping. I hadn't been to the Pike house since the BSC disbanded and I hadn't exactly kept in contact with Mallory. The last time I saw her was early on in the summer. "No, it'd be weird if we just rocked up." I stood up. "What do you guys want to do now?"

Mary Anne shrugged her shoulders. "I don't really want to go home." She said in a quiet voice. I looked at Claudia. We both knew the Spier-Schafer household was tense lately.

"We can go over to mine." Claudia offered. "No one will be home." We stood up and began to walk down the street. It was weird to think that only four years ago Mary Anne's family lost their house and had to move into their converted barn. I think maybe that had something to do with what was going on now. "Whose going to Austin's this weekend?" She asked as we turned into Bradford Court. Nostalgia hit me. I hadn't lived here in almost five years and until we became friends with Claudia again, I didn't even step foot in the street for two years. Lately, all I've been thinking is what has happened in the last four years.

"I am." I replied, remembering that Cary asked me yesterday if I was. "Are you, Mary Anne?"

Mary Anne shrugged. "If I'm allowed out of the house and if I don't have heaps of homework." She said. "Dawn called last night. She's thinking about spending Christmas break here this year."

"The first in almost three years, am I right?" Claud asked as we made our way up her front stoop. "Wow, I can't believe I haven't seen Dawn in that long." She unlocked the front door. I realized soon it would be four years since Claud's grandma, Mimi died. It was weird thinking that I used to come here every Monday, Wednesday and Friday like clockwork to hold the BSC meetings. We made our way upstairs, past Janine's room which looked dark and empty to Claud's room. "Are we hungry?" She asked, dropping her bag onto the ground.

"Sure." I replied as I sat down in the director's chair. When we held meetings, I used to think that this seat made me the most important because everyone would turn to look at me. Now it held no importance. Claud ducked into her closet. I looked over at Mary Anne who sat on the edge of the bed. "Are you excited about Dawn coming for a visit?" I asked her.

Mary Anne shrugged. "I don't know. I know I should be, but… she really hasn't been in my life since she moved back in the eighth grade. I don't really know her anymore." She started playing with her hands. "Sharon is happy that both Jeff and Dawn are coming back. It's like; she found out she won the lottery. I haven't seen her that happy since the last time they visited."

Claud walked back out of her closet holding a bag of Oreos and a box of milk duds. "I found food."

"Good, I'm hungry." I said as Claud tossed the bag of Oreos at me. "You know, I never expected to be like this in high school."

"Me either." Mary Anne said, moving more onto the bed. "I had no idea what to expect."

"I thought we'd all be in the BSC until graduation of high school. That'd we all still be friends. That we'd be recruiting 13 year olds after a while..." I said, trailing off. But of course none of that came true.

"Same. I thought that'd we all stick together when high school came around. But sometimes nothing is what you want it to be." Claud said. "I never expected to be still dating Alan."

"I can't believe you even dated him in the beginning!" I exclaimed, giggling. "I was totally shocked when you did!"

"I was too!" Claud said. "It shocked me."

"I thought Logan and I were going to be together forever." Mary Anne piped up. "Just because of how serious our relationship was for 13 year olds."

"Logan was your first love, right?" I asked.

"Yes, I think so. I still loved him a long time after."

"I think Alan is my first love." Claud said, looking at the framed photo of her and Alan. "Every time I see him, he makes me happy. Still. And it feels…good." I thought about my own love life. There was Bart Taylor… we almost got serious but I decided I wasn't ready for a serious relationship at 13. I had kissed a few boys at parties in high school, but other than that, there was nothing. "I may have good news."

"What is it?" Mary Anne asked.

"I applied to NYU. Not for next year, but the year after. I'm looking at Columbia as well." Claud announced.

"That's great! At least your parents won't be hounding you to apply to anything." Mary Anne said. "Sharon doesn't really give any input to the whole college thing. My dad is helping me apply to Northwestern, Brown and Sarah Lawrence. Dawn's apparently applying for Sarah Lawrence as well."

"The last time I saw Dawn, I felt like she was growing up so much faster than us." I said. "I always felt like, when she left for California, she was leaving us for good." I looked up at Mary Anne. She looked sad. "I felt like that when everyone left us half way through the eighth grade. I felt like we were being abounded."

"I felt like that when Stacey and I stopped being friends." Claudia said. "I felt like everything that I had known for two years had disappeared."

I heard a sniffle from Mary Anne. I got up and sat down next to her, putting an arm around her. "Mary Anne, why are you crying?" I asked her.

"What if we never stayed friends during high school?" She said between sobs. "I think about it and it makes me sad." Claudia sat on the other side of her. We didn't say anything for the rest of the afternoon.

Austin's party starts around 10pm on Saturday night. It's a bit like Alan Grey's party the weekend before but everyone seems more of their face this time, then last. There is a thick grey haze and it reeks of a mixture of rum, bourbon and beer. I had spent the afternoon over at Claudia's, with Mary Anne getting ready. I had promised Claud on Wednesday that she'd decide what I'm wearing. I was no regretting it as we walked through Austin Bentley's lounge room. I feel like everyone can see my underwear as I walked because of how short this dress is.

"Wow, everyone's here." Mary Anne says as we find a spot to stand. "Including the Pike triplets."

"Great, are you two going to start gawking again?" I asked.

Mary Anne's mouth hanged open. "I didn't gawk." She said, unconvincingly. "I'm not lying!" She exclaimed before snatching Claudia's bottle of tequila and taking a large sip. "How can you drink that stuff? It tastes like oil!"

Claudia laughed. "I pretend it tastes like something nicer." She said. "I can't see Alan anywhere. I hope he's not upstairs with Cary Retlin smoking pot."

"Cary smokes pot?" Mary Anne asked. "Oh my! Did you know that, Kristy?"

I shrugged. "I don't care. Cary Retlin can do whatever he likes." I said, sipping out of vodka double black I was drinking. "I'm not his baby-sitter."

Claudia screamed. "Sorry. I think I just Alan. I'll see you later."

Mary Anne and I hung out a little while longer before she decided to go home. "I better go soon before my dad rocks up with the entire police department." She said. She leaned close. "Do I smell like I've been drinking?"

I sniffed. "Nope. Be home safe!" Mary Anne gave me a hug and left.

"Jesus, every time I see you at a party you're by yourself." I didn't need to look behind me to see who it was.

"Yeah, I'm just a loner who sits in the corner by themselves at a party." I watched his hand lean against the wall in front of me. I could smell pot and whiskey. I could feel his breath on my neck. "I see you're by yourself as well."

"Alan got preoccupied. She mentioned you were down here." Thanks, Claud. I felt his left hand on my hip. "I thought you could do with some company."

I closed my eyes. Everything seemed to be going slow. And closing in. "What are you doing?" I asked. I felt his hand move upwards.

"You don't have a boyfriend."

"So?" What the hell was he playing at? I felt myself spin around. This was the closet I had ever been to Cary. I shook slightly. His hand moved to my lower back, pulling me even closer, before I felt his lips crash down onto mine. Cary Retlin. Was. Kissing me. Had the world stopped and spun the other way? What was I doing? I thought as I started to kiss him back. He pushed me back into the wall, as his lips moved down my jaw, to my neck. "Stop…" I said hoarsely. "Please, just…" I moaned slightly as I felt a twinge of pain. This had to stop. "Fuck!" I exclaimed as I pushed him off me. "What the hell are you playing at?" I shouted at him. He didn't say anything. Either did I was I left Austin Bentley's house and began to run down the street towards my house. I didn't care if it had just started raining.

I wanted to get as far away as possible.