A/N: I don't know why the links didn't post but I'll try them again.

The websites are:

www. donniedarko. org .uk/ explanation/

www. donniedarko. org .uk/ unanswered-questions/ ?post=true#blog

www. donniedarko. / alternative-explantions/

Donnie Darko:

Without the stress of having to save the world the day seems brighter, normal even. Maybe I can go a few years without another Tangent Universe appearing. My mom told me once—before the Primary Universe needed saving and before I became the Living Receiver—it only happened to her eight times; maybe the last thirty've been a fluke or something. As I walk up to the gathering of peers at the bus stop my eyes land on Cherita Chen.

Maybe.

"There he is! There he is! Mr. Undestructable!" calls Ron in a giant announcer voice.

Sam elbows my side and for the first time I feel myself actually blush and do some kind of goofy grin thing. For fucksake, I feel like a normal kid again. Sean slaps Ron on the back of the head while he corrects, "It's Indestructible, you idiot!"

Ron retorts with a shove and some stupid remark but my eyes follow the trail that Sam's hair leads to Cherita Chen. In her arms are her books and my heart, her shoulders are hunched inward, her eyes stare in my direction but I can tell she's not looking at me. I want her to look at me but not in this setting, not with my stupid friends fooling around. She looks to my sister and her friends and I wonder who she hangs out with. I never saw her really talk to anyone if it wasn't about some project. Did she have a comrade?

"Well, come on. Don't be coy, show us! Mr. INDESTRUCTIBLE," came Sean's voice, piercing through my thoughts.

He means my cast. I lift my arm and immediately they pull out black Sharpie markers and begin to sign. It seems you can't just leap out of bed to avoid being crushed by a plane engine without getting a few injuries. I roll my eyes at my friends, "Don't draw any dicks or anything. My mom'll get pissed."

"Pissed or wet?" Ron asks and the chuckles ensue.

Samantha comes out of nowhere to hit him with her bag and that's when I really laugh. I look at my little sister as I ask, "Do you even know what that means?"

With her faced scrunched she nods her head, "Yeah! It's when a girl is sexually aroused and wants to do stuff."

Sean grabs Sam's bag and this is when Joanie steps in to call us all stupid and immature. The way she acts and the way her hair bounces makes me think if this were a Tangent Universe she would be my love interest. But this isn't and I look to Cherita as my dumb friends continue to throw words like "wet" and "pussy" around. I would have told them to shut up if she wasn't making the sweetest face. She's biting her lip and jutting out her chin as her eyes turn away in the ultimate sign of discomfort. It's so adorable I have to keep letting them go, my own form of teasing her. It's just so nice to see her looking like a kid when everyone else is trying so hard to be an adult. I can't help but enjoy it.

"Hey, let me sign."

My arm is suddenly lurched forward and the Sharpies go flying over the tough material encasing my arm. I roll my eyes because the last thing I want is a bunch of hearts and smiley faces annoying me all day. Originally I planned on painting something over it. I was going to sketch it out when I was bored in class but I guess all plans go out the window when girls get involved. I glance down at the first heart and roll my eyes again.

The bus pulls up and everyone goes running to the doors except for Cherita who is always the last one on. I hold onto a stray marker that had been thrusted to me and take slow, careful steps to the careful girl with her eyes everywhere but on me. I ask in a soft voice so I don't startle her, "Hey, Cherita. Do you...wanna sign my cast?"

"Chut up," Cherita hisses, her brown eyes blazing in the sun.

She turns her back to me and storms up the steps, leaving me broken and crumbling. My breath is gone, my heart is in my ass, and my stomach has gone with it. Is this possible? Does she not love me here? But I stayed alive for her, to love her. This can't be.

"Donnie! Get your ass on the bus!" Ron calls.

I shuffle forward in quiet disbelief. I plop down in my seat, in no mood to fuck around. I lower my eyes and that's when I see it on my cast. Joanie's name with a heart over the "I" and her phone number under it.