School starts the following week.

The next several days went by pretty fast, but you made sure to do your best to maintain in contact with one another a little more. You text. Emailed. Even Skyped on occasion. Allison keeping you updated on how her apartment hunt was going - her parents having apparently found a nice place that they'd all be going to view the following week. She was obviously rather excited about this, as well as at the same time, slightly nervous. Having not left the house in almost three weeks, and it soon being time for her to begin playing the role of Jennifer Connors - your mother.

You assured her however that she would do fine. She had been close to your mom after all, and had spent enough time around your house in the last five years to come up with at least a passable impression. Not to mention the whole weird subconscious brain thing she'd previously told you about. Apparently that would help her a lot too. Having recently found herself becoming quite the chef while helping her own mother in the kitchen. Your mother's culinary skills obviously seeping through.

You meanwhile had the drudgery of school to contend with. Having not been looking forward to it in the slightest. Your senior year having previously been the one you were looking forward to the most. Now though, without Allison by your side, the thought of graduating was a lot more daunting prospect. All your plans and dreams had been thrown out the window. It just wouldn't be the same without her...

"So how's it going? Anything exciting I'm missing out on?" Allison inquired a few days in, calling you up after you'd returned home from yet another long and boring day.

"Nah. It's the same as ever I guess," you told her. Her absence and the looks of pity you now received being the only real difference. "Classes still all suck. The teacher's are still just as crazy. And Randall's had the bright idea of running for class President, if you can believe that."

"You're kidding me? ...Randall!?"

"I think he's just joking around. His way of trying to take my mind off things. I doubt he'll actually go through with it."

This was very Randall. Always one for dreaming up schemes and pranks. Which usually amounted to very little. Still, you appreciated the effort. A lot of your other so called 'friends' had actually been keeping their distance from you since school had started. Presumably feeling too awkward and uncomfortable. Not entirely sure what to say. It might have been a month now since the accident, but everyone still looked on you as "that guy who's girlfriend died".

Wanting to know then about her own friend's, Allison asked, "What about Shawna and Debbie? How are they coping without me?" Presumably having neither seen nor heard anything from either of them since before the crash.

"They're doing okay, I guess," you told her, having only really spoken to them briefly (both at the funeral and in school). You and Allison's friend's having never really gelled - Shawna especially, who you found more than a little grating. "Seems like they really miss you though."

Letting out a sad little sigh, Allison responded, "Yeah... I miss them too."

What with you back at school, still seeing all of these people, you sometimes forgot that Allison could no longer see or talk to any of them. Her only friend's now (apart from you), were your mother's friends. People that she didn't actually know. That had to be tough on top of everything else. Breaking off all communication with her closest friends and having to pretend like they no longer existed. Just as technically, Allison Lowry no longer did.

This didn't last long however. Allison perking up not two seconds later. "Anyway, what I was really calling about was...you know that apartment we were going to look at?" she asked, her voice growing rather excited.

"Yeah."

"Well, I've decided to take it. I've got my own place now!"

This took you back a little. Not having expected it to happen quite so soon. "Wow... Already?"

"Yeah. Isn't it great? It's really nice and modern, and it's in a great location. I just can't wait till you see it."

"Cool. Me neither," you told her, finding her enthusiasm rather contagious. Allison sounding genuinely happy, and you being rather stoked that she was.

"Well what are you doing this Friday? After school I mean..."

Having no plans currently - your Friday nights in the past having usually been spent gaming with Randall, or hanging out with her - you told her as much, and she quickly decided for you that you'd head over to hers and she'd take you to see it. Telling you that you were gonna be "totally blown away".

And so, two days later, you found yourself back again at the Lowry's (having explained to your father where you were), hopping into a car with an incredibly excited Allison. Apparently getting out of the house had been a positive experience for her, just as Mrs. Lowry had said, and her parents saw no reason why she wouldn't be perfectly fine driving you over there herself. Though for the moment she would have to use her father's car, getting one of her own was next on the agenda. Seeing as she now had over 22 years driving experience under her belt, as apposed to the six or so months she'd previously had.

There was no rush for that just yet though. Getting her own apartment was a big enough step as it was. Her own car could wait.

"So how was it... you know, signing all the paperwork... talking to the Realtor as my mom? Did you manage alright?" you at one point asked her. Ignoring the strange sense of deja vu you were feeling, being driven around again by your 'mom'.

"I think so, yeah," she told you, sounding pretty confident. "I mean I did get the occasional funny look every now and then when I had to ask my mom something I didn't know (almost forgetting to call her Linda on more than one occasion), but I think overall I passed the test. As weird as it was."

This was good to hear, especially due to the fact that she was soon going to be doing it a whole lot more. Still, Allison had always been pretty good at all that kind of stuff. Having taken drama when she was younger, and being able to keep a pretty straight face when the opportunity called for it. You on the other hand would have completely fallen apart. Being about as transparent as a pane of glass and not that good of an actor.

The rest of the journey was pretty much taken up by Allison gushing over what her new place looked like, describing every single detail before you'd even got there, and around twenty or so minutes later, you pulled up outside.

"Seems like a pretty nice area anyway," you said as you looked up at the modern looking apartment building. It being located a little closer to the center of the city than where your house was, but still far enough away to be considered part of the suburbs.

Getting out of the car then and following a rather eager Allison into the building, the two of you then took the elevator up to the fourth floor, where her apartment was located. Watching as she giddily pulled the keys out of your mother's purse, she opened the door and went inside.

"TA DA!" she grinned as you followed her after her, holding her hands out wide and dancing joyfully around the rather large front room.

It was admittedly a pretty darn impressive space. Fully furnished. Recently built by the looks of it. And very Allison. It being the kind of place she always dreamed of living.

"This is pretty sweet," you told her, walking over to a pair of sliding glass doors that led onto a small balcony, displaying one hell of a view. "Way nicer than I would have thought."

"I know right! And it's all mine. Can you believe that? I've actually got my own apartment. It's crazy!"

It was. Only a month ago the two of you had been pretty much on an even keel. Now all of a sudden she had her own place. Her own independence. If it wasn't for the fact that she was now wearing your dead mother's body, you might have even called her lucky.

Showing you around the rest of the apartment then, you soon discovered an equally as impressive kitchen, bathroom, master bedroom, along with two slightly smaller spare rooms - which Allison told you would be perfect if her parents, or even you, wanted to stay over. This wasn't something you'd really considered truth be told, still thinking it slightly awkward with her like that. While you hadn't actually gone all the way, you had slept over at each others quite a few times in the past, even sharing a bed once or twice. Now that you were no longer girlfriend and boyfriend it seemed like it might be a bit weird. You didn't say this to her however, you just awkwardly smiled. Not wanting to knock the wind out of her sails when she looked so happy.

"So uh... when are you officially moving in?"

"Tomorrow with any luck," she told you, looking a little wistful for a second. "Though I'm not sure I have all that much stuff to move. Seeing as all my things are kind of redundant now..."

Yeah. She could hardly fill her place with all of her stuffed animals and posters and things when she was supposed to be passing as your mom. That meant leaving a lot of her old self behind. Which had to be yet another little blow.

Hoping to cheer her up a little, you told her, "Well, I can always collect up some more of my mom's clothes if you want. Maybe give you a hand moving it as well."