Chapter 2

                                    

                                          
Thank God Max was a programming whiz, otherwise she would've been way worse off than she was now.
Not only was computer science her major, but she'd done her fair share of hacking over the years. Being good with computers is actually how she'd gotten herself into MIT. Granted, she hadn't done as much hacking recently - she'd almost completely stopped since she started college - so she was a bit out of practice, but it didn't take very long at all for her to pick it right back up.
The first thing she did when she made it to the library was draw up a fake birth certificate, social security card - the basic essentials for what a person needs to live as a United States citizen. The only thing she was missing was a valid ID, so she quickly hacked into the DMV and sent over a fake file with all of her information so that she could stop by and request a copy from them.
Obviously she couldn't use her actual legal name on any of these documents, considering there was already another her out there and she didn't want to cause any confusion for her younger self or her parents down the line by having there be another her with the exact same information, so she changed it up a little.
Her full, legal name was Amelia Maxine Bowen, however she tended to go by a shortened version of her middle name anyways, so she figured why not just switch those two names around? As for her last name, she decided she might as well keep it the same. Bowen was a common enough name, so the odds of somehow getting connected with her 2009 counterpart were slim.
There was one last thing she needed to do before she left the library. In order to do anything - get food, transportation, get a hotel room, etc. - she somehow needed to get a hold of money. She'd been very aware of that fact the whole time, but up until now she'd been holding out hope that she'd come up with a better idea than the one she'd first thought up, and that was to hack into a bank and give herself some funds.
She didn't exactly like the idea - in fact, she hated it - but no other option seemed to be presenting itself, and she knew that whatever she did, she needed to do it fast. Otherwise, she'd be sleeping out on the streets tonight. She'd hacked plenty when she was younger, but never to steal money for herself. The thought of it made her feel disgusted with herself, but she tried her best to push that feeling aside. It's not like there was a guide for how to survive in the city when you're suddenly sent back in time nine years, so she attempted to cut herself some slack.
After depositing some money into her new account, Max closed out of everything on the computer, leaving no trace of what she'd done behind, and left the library. She walked a few blocks away and over to the bank - the one she'd just hacked into, of course - and requested a new debit card be made for her, alongside making a small withdrawal so she had cash for the bus or a taxi.
By the time she'd finished up at the bank and made her way over to the DMV, it was about 4:00pm. Considering it closed at 6:00pm, she ended up cutting it a little close with the amount of people that were there, but thankfully, she was able to get out of there with her driver's license with a few minutes to spare.
Finally, she was set. According to the state of California, she was a real person. Now all that was left was to find a place to stay for the night. After grabbing some takeout from a small sub shop, she asked around for what the nearest, cheapest hotel was around here, and took a taxi there.
Thankfully for Max, they had a room for her, so she immediately booked it and then went out into town to get some basic necessities - like pajamas, clothes for tomorrow, a hair brush, and some toiletries. By the time she finally got back for the night it was around 8:30pm, and Max was wiped, both physically and mentally. Not only was she still stressed from having had to break several laws today, but she was pretty sure she'd gotten at least a mild concussion from her initial arrival here.