A/N: Guys, are you ready for the last chapter?! Because I'm not...

"God, Ana. I can't believe we have to leave today," Leesha says when I wake up on New Year's Day.

"Yeah," I say, sadly. Although I don't want to leave my brothers, I know that I need to get back to school. Classes start again tomorrow and we can't be late.

"It's gonna be weird leaving. I feel like after all that's happened, I'm apart of the family. When're we leaving?" She asks. I smile at her first comment.

"You've been apart of the family since the funeral." I plant a kiss on her lips, then tell her when we'll leave. Right after breakfast. It's 10:30 AM right now, and if we want to get back in time to finish up homework and get a good night sleep, we'd need to leave at noonish.

After getting up, we see everyone sitting around, eating pancakes and watching morning cartoons. Mighty Mouse, from the looks of it.

"Morning Ana. Leesha. You want some breakfast?" Ponyboy asks, not taking his eyes off the TV. I had to laugh. I love that even though he's in high school, he can still act like a child every once in a while. God knows that's not a trait Darry and I got...

"We'd better. Don't want to have to stop too much on the drive home," Leesha says. I nod in agreement.

"You're leaving today?" Dally asks.

"Classes start up again tomorrow, bright and early." I take my cheerfulness and hear Darry laughing from the kitchen. He comes out after a moment, trying to balance three plates in his arms. Leesha and I run to grab them from him, then sit down next to each other on the floor. Like always, Darry takes his arm chair.

"You'll come home again soon, right Ana?" Ponyboy asks, turning off the TV as his show ends.

"Of course. Spring break and I'm all yours," I say, smiling at him. Leesha huffs.

"Spring break and you're all mine, baby," she corrects. I lightly slap her shoulder, laughing. She kisses me.

"Cut it with the PDA," Dally says after a second. I roll my eyes, pulling apart from my girlfriend.

"Shut it, asshole. It's not like we'd say anything to you if you wanted to kiss Johnny," Leesha says, making the two boys on the couch blush.

"You kidding, Leesha? They'll never kiss in public!" I tease, only half joking.

"Sad, isn't it?" Leesha asks. "I don't care who sees us kiss." Now it's my turn to blush, as she pecks my lips, lingering up to cheek. A chill goes down my spine, and I can't help but enjoy it. But then I remember that my brothers and friends are watching.

"Leesha," I hiss. She stops, and then I look over at Dally, expecting him to say something rude to us. Instead, I hear Leesha squeal, and everyone else in the room is speechless. Dally seems a little busy to be making a rude comment. I can't take my eyes off of it. Right there in plain sight, Dallas Winston is kissing Johnny Cade.

"This isn't really happening, is it?" Leesha asks. I shake my head. Impossible.

"Can't be." But it has to be, if we're both seeing it. When they both pull apart, I think it might have really happened. When Johnny blushes brighter than I've ever seen him and Dally looks down at the floor, hoping and pretending that nobody saw what just happened, I realize that it most certainly did happen. They don't say anything, and nobody says anything about it for the rest of the morning.

At 12:00 exactly, Leesha and I are packed and ready for our four hour drive home to Oklahoma State University. Two-Bit comes to me for goodbyes first.

"My sister is leaving already?" He fake sobs. "By Spring Break I'm not even gonna remember what you look like!" I laugh.

"See you soon, Two-Bit." I hug him, and I get a muscled squeeze back. Then I hug Steve. It's short, he's never liked me much, and then I get passed onto Sodapop.

"Bye, Ana. Come back soon, okay?" His voice wobbles as he talks.

"I will, Soda. As soon as the next vacation comes, I'm here." I hug him tightly, kiss his cheek. He tells me he loves me and to stay in touch. I promise to call more.

I get to Ponyboy, and start tearing up. "Bye, baby," I say, hugging him.

"I hate that you have to go," he says. I give him a sad smile.

"I know... I do too. But I'll be back soon, okay? I love you," I tell him.

"I love you too," he mumbles into my neck, and I try not to pay attention to the tears cascading down his cheeks. Since Darry's always the one to send me off, I go to Johnny next and give him a squeeze.

"Never be afraid to be who you are, Johnnycakes. Okay? For so long I was ashamed of who I am, and that never did any good. Embrace who you are. Kiss Dally in public. Hug him and hold his hand. Do what makes you happy. I love you and I'm so happy for both of you." He smiles big, and I tried not to cry.

"Everything'll be okay," I whisper in his ear, although I'm not sure what I'm talking about. I can't handle another goodbye, so I go over to Dally without another word. I was surprised when he immediately wrapped me in his arms.

"Thank you, Ana," he whispers. And then I start crying. I can feel tears slipping across my skin, but I'm too busy to wipe them away.

"You're welcome... and like I said to Johnny... Embrace who you are, Dally. I know this is hard, but I was in the closet for so long, lying to everyone, hurting the people I loved the most. It feels so good to not have to hide anymore. I'm not saying you should do the same if you don't want to, I'm just saying... If someone really cares about you, they won't care about your sexuality. Don't forget that. And don't forget that I'm not too far. If you ever feel like taking a little visit, go for it. Or pick up a phone, because you're not the one that pays the bill, and nobody's gonna care anyways, okay?" By the end of my speech, I'm laughing and so is he.

"I'll see you soon, Annalise," he says, letting me go. Last, I walk over to Darry. His shoulders shake throughout my embrace.

"I've thought long and hard about this, Dar," I start. "College is gonna be over for me in a few short months, and I'll come home after that. I'll have a college degree, so maybe I can get a good job. So... what would you say about starting college next fall? I know money'll be tight, but I've already started saving for your tuition, and maybe you can save a little too, if you have it. Even if it's just a community college or something, at least you'll be doing what you've always wanted." He stares at me, his eyes wide.

"Ana, you have a life to live. You're going to school to get a good job. You could go anywhere in the country with your degree," he says. I shrug.

"Yeah, but don't you deserve the same chance I do? We can put that on hold, Dar. I have my whole life to live still!" I exclaim. He squeezes me tightly, and I suddenly hear Leesha yelling that we have to get going.

"I love you," I whisper, hugging him one more time.

"See you soon, sis," he says. As I walk towards the car, everyone else starts to walk inside, but Darry just stands there, making sure we leave okay. I wave to him from the car.

"Well, Annalise," Leesha says from the drivers seat. "That was the most fun family vacation that my family wasn't apart of that I've ever been on." I laugh, smiling at her. She turns on the radio, rocking out to an Elvis song, then The Beatles, then more and more music, but I don't pay attention. I don't have time, because I'm finally working on my English assignment.

"How's it going?" She asks me after a while. My hand hurts from writing so much, but it is supposed to be 5+ pages. Typed out, it probably won't be nearly as long.

"Good..." I respond, absentmindedly. I don't want to take my eyes off of it.

What was the most meaningful thing I did all week? Everything.

"Well, we're here, baby. Wanna go inside?" She asks. I nod.

"Yeah, hold on." I don't want to stop, even just to walk upstairs, where after three flights of stairs I could once again continue my work.

"Aaaanaaa?" Leesha says. I don't look up, not until she puts her head in front of my paper. I blink, I guess I haven't looked away in a while.

"Hi," she says, laughing as I lower my head to kiss her.

"Hi baby," I respond, getting my papers together.

"Can I read it when we get upstairs?" She asks.

"If you let me finish it I will," I say. And then, without even getting out of the car, I add the finishing touches, the last sentences.

When I was a little girl, I lied to my whole family. My parents, my siblings, my friends, everyone. I wasn't who I said to me. Although spending time with my family is always meaningful, this vacation was the most important thing in the world to me. And it all started with me yelling to my brothers that I was home...
The End

A/N: So that's a wrap on this one. Not What It Seems was a journey for me. So fun and exciting to write... (And you're welcome for that Jally kiss 😉) I think Leeshana (Analeesha??) will forever be my OTP out of characters I've created.

Anyways, I want to thank you guys for reading and not giving up when it takes me three months to update. It may take me a while, but it's only because I want to make it perfect for you guys!!

And so, as we end another story, I want to thank you for your constant nice comments that always brighten my day so much. I love you guys :) I'm glad you enjoyed!

{Shameless self-promo time. Feel free to leave now, but don't forget to tell me what you thought first 😘}

Don't forget to check out my three stories that are in progress at the moment:

•My Worst Summer- about Ponyboy. It only has about 5 chapters left.

•Memories- about River Phoenix and an OC of mine. It has about 15 chapters and will probably have a ton more by the time I'm done.

•The Delinquent's Daughter- My personal favorite of the ones I'm working on right now. It's an unofficial sequel to Hope, meaning it follows it, but you won't miss much if you haven't read it. I'm so obsessed with it that I have 11+ chapters written and ready to post and only one published so far!

That's all for now! Love you😘 -Katy