Working Title: the cheesy amnesia story
Author: ness
Disclaimer: I don't own them.

Notes: Jamie asked for a story where "nobody knew Jake was a girl." I like the sight of Ham in denial. This is the result. It's all Jamie's fault, I tell you.

Jamie gave me a title too! Thank you!

This was written ages ago, but the site on the net where I had it displayed got found by a RL friend so.. it isn't publically visible anymore. So I'm putting it here, if that's all right.

Closed eyes, darkness. Open eyes, light. Way, way too much light, reflecting off gloss white walls, off surfaces polished to a shine. His room had a cork board where he pinned his current favourite shots. His room had posters of 3rd Eye Blind where he could see them from bed. This room was unfamiliar. This was somewhere else.

This was some kind of institution, he supposed. His head hurt, a dull ache which turned into outright pain when he struggled upright.

He scrunched his face up. Way, way too much light. This looked like a hospital room. He had no idea what he was doing here. His head throbbed.

He couldn't remember anything happening to cause this. Maybe, an accident. Would it stop him attending the Summer Session? Being free while the other guys were stuck in class would be cool, but he totally wanted to go. The guys there would be hooking up into groups. He wanted to be a part of their friendships. This year, he wasn't going to be the annoying little tagalong. This year, he was gonna be one of them.

He so didn't want to miss out on all of that. His dad didn't need to know just how badly his head hurt. Actually, he wasn't sure his dad would bother to show. Being Dean was kind of a full time occ -

The door crashed open. Both his parents were there. His eyes stung. His mom swept over and enveloped him. "My baby" she crooned. He held on tight for a moment. Over her shoulder, he could see his Dad hanging back, looking solemn.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" the Dean asked urgently.

"Steven.." his mom protested.

Hamilton sighed. "Three, dad."

The Dean's frown eased a little. "Who is the President?"

"Noakes" he said confidently. Then, seeing his father's face, "Oh. Sorry. Not the School Board. Clinton."

His mother pulled away to look anxiously at his face. "It's Bush, munchie."

Hamilton froze. How long had he been in hospital? "Did I miss summer session?"

"It starts in a week."

Now Hamilton was completely confused. He could have been in a coma for years, then. He glanced quickly down. He didn't have old-guy hands anyway. His head throbbed in time to his pulse.

His mom explained. "You were hit on the head a couple of days ago."

He snuck a look round. No calendar, no helpfully dated papers lying around.

"The consultant said you might experience memory problems." The Dean was eying him somberly, no doubt wishing academically average kids could be shoved back in the womb and replaced with something more bragworthy.

Hamilton's head was pounding. Summer session next week. So, July. But.. "What year is it?"

His mom started to cry.

"2001" his Dad said.

Hamilton was silenced by shock. He'd lost a year out of his life.