Okay, yea yea yea, I haven't been updating blah blah blah. I'm working on write or die right now so I should be getting better.

ANYWAY THIS IS IMPORTANT: I got a review a this morning that kind of troubled me. I couldn't PM the person so I thought I could address it here. You said that my writing had changed. Well, that's because I wrote the first story a long time ago. All of the characters in all of my stories are based off of real people. Now, when these people change, the characters change some, too. Get it? And also, my writing has changed in a way, I think is better. But I guess that's just me. I just wanted to get that out there. The lack of jokes is just me growing, you dig? (Haha, get it? Like I'm being all 60s.) See! I just did a weird little side note, JUST FOR YOU GUYS.

LOVE YOU ALL.

Totally True Love,

-Jasmine

After finishing her first day at school, Megan was pretty tired. No one could blame her, though. She had her good reasons. First, she had to deal with Two-Bit and his many jokes and all the looks the teachers were giving her for hanging around with them. What could she tell them, though? It wasn't her fault that she was being stuck with him. She hadn't wanted him to be her "Mother Goose."

Megan walked through the door into her house and sighed when she saw the note on the table. It was, most likely, from her father. Megan's father, David, made it a goal to come home for lunch everyday. Megan didn't think it would work out pretty well, but he was doing a pretty good job so far. Then again, they hadn't been in this new home for a very long time.

In truth, Megan was just glad that her father had even gotten a job. After Lauren had... died... things in her house had been pretty rough. There wasn't a lot for her to do when she was gone. When Megan was little she'd spent all her free time with her mom. Dad had worked and Lauren had stayed home to take care of her, that was how it was. Megan had learned everything from her mom. The first time she ever baked something, it had been with her mom. It had been brownies, and she had burned them horribly. Maybe one percent of them had been salvageable.

Her mom taught her how to sew. Lauren had been a big believer of supporting oneself. She hated to buy things. They had a garden and ate from it, too! If they'd been able to somehow grow everything, they would have. Megan hadn't been shopping for clothes in a long time. When she was little, Lauren asked her to help with the shirtwaist dress that she was making and Megan had loved the idea. The only store that she had been in since then was the fabric store!

After Lauren died, Dad hadn't known what to do, and neither had Megan. What do you do when the person keeping you going suddenly leaves you? When the time came, Megan had stepped up to the plate. She'd known how to cook and clean and keep the house running. (She'd been watching her mother do the same for years.) She just starting do that job and pushed her father back out of the house.

He'd messed up, though. After Lauren left, he turned angry. All of a sudden he was yelling at anything. He woke up two minutes late, and he would smash his alarm clock. He'd drop dinner and turn over the rest to the ground. So when work came, and he was expected to do his work, he sassed off to everyone. He yelled all around the house but not at Megan. Never Megan, though; he still treated her like she was his little angle. She loved that title and loved that their relationship hadn't changed a bit, but she was worried about him. He yelled at himself and every now and then she heard him yelling at Lauren. He had been about to blow, and she hadn't wanted it to happen at the wrong time.

But it had. It had happened with his boss, and he'd been fired without a second thought. And that is, mostly likely, when the moving came in. Megan loved that her father was getting back into the swing of work. So she just sucked it up and moved. Though she couldn't help but feel as it she had left a huge part of her behind when she left her old house. Their family had lived in that house their whole lives. In fact, it was just across the street from where David and Lauren had grown up. They'd had the most beautiful relationship, and Megan couldn't help but wish that she would have the same kind. Growing up with your best friend and then marrying them. Thinking of that, Megan couldn't help but forgive her father, because losing someone that important to you must hurt more than she could ever imagine.

And now she was dealing with a school that was horrible. Two-Bit was actually making her want to hurt him. He was making jokes all the time, and it probably seemed harmless to anyone else, but to her... He wasn't realizing what he was saying. Sometimes, joking about parents isn't right... which lead her to her other stalker.

There was something seriously wrong with Ponyboy Curtis. A crush is one thing, but the way he'd been watching her and acting... it was like he'd known her his whole life. What was she missing? It made her head heart and her stomach churn whenever she even thought about it.

Megan slumped against the counter and held her head, suddenly not feeling well. She picked up the letter. Her father wouldn't be home in time for dinner; he was working late on a project. That was fine with her, since she didn't exactly feel up to making awkward small talk with him about how her day had been. If there was one thing she knew for sure, it was that she couldn't tell him about Ponyboy or even Two-Bit. She was Daddy's little angle, he didn't want to hear about her going to high school; hearing about boys would probably give him a heart attack.

Before Megan realized what she was doing, she was making brownies. The fact that she had started that without even thinking made her feel as if her mom was with her right then.

"I miss you, Mom," Megan said quietly as she mixed in some baking coco.

Living here was different. Living without her Mom made her want to just cry. Though for some reason, she knew she was going to live without her. She had to. If she didn't, she'd end up on the side of a road with nothing to her name but a too-long police record. She didn't want to end up like that; she didn't want anyone to end up like that.

Megan was violently pulled out of her thoughts by the sharp smell of smoke.

"The brownies!" she yelled and ran to get the fire extinguisher. After moments of horrid panic and fear that she was going to die, everything was okay. Megan once again slumped against the counter. Brownies were just not her gift, were they? Maybe it was the near-death experience or the effects of too long a day, but just then, Megan began to laugh. Not just the weak chuckles of someone making a bad pun, but weak-legged, tearful-eyed, and painful-gut laughing. She was forced to gather herself together, though, as the doorbell rang. Megan ran to get it and opened the door with a few last giggles.

It was Ponyboy.

"Megan! I saw smoke! Are you okay?" Pony didn't wait to get an invitation but rushed in, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her. "You're crying? Oh, man, this is worse than I thought! Where does it hurt? I can drive you to the hospital! IT'S GONNA BE OKAY!"

Megan was taken aback by the yelling but managed to get out, 'It's okay, Pony. I'm fine. Just a little kitchen fire.'

Pony sighed and pulled her into a hug. 'Thank the Lord! I was so worried!' His voice was muffled by her coffee brown hair."

"'...Where does it hurt? I can drive you to the hospital! IT'S GONNA BE OKAY!'

Megan was taken aback by the yelling but managed to get out, 'It's okay, Pony. I'm fine. Just a little kitchen fire.'

Pony sighed and pulled her into a hug. 'Thank the Lord! I was so worried!' His voice was muffled by her coffee brown hair."

"It's okay," Megan told him again, "I'm fine." The two stayed hugging for a while longer, and no one said a word.

Then Pony spoke up. "You're hair smells good."

"OKAY," Megan said, pulling out of the hug, "that's enough of that." Pony's ears went red, and Megan pulled on the hem of her shirt. Pony grabbed her hand, and her gray eyes locked with his. There was a depth in them that she had never seen in eyes before. Maybe somewhere, but she couldn't remember where...

"What were you trying to bake?" Pony asked. Megan laugh a little bit.

"Brownies." Pony gave a small smile.

"I guess they turned out like the ones you made with your Mom."

Megan went cold. Did he just...?

"It's time for you to leave."

Pony gave her a confused look. "What?"

"Get out. Right now."