I do not own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton does :)

Ethan's perspective

Ponyboy took off running without saying another word. Not that I cared; most people didn't stick around me much anyway. However, I was excited when he told me that he'd introduce me to some of his friends!

A few fine dressed boys who looked a little older than Ponyboy strolled down the street and stopped in front of me. I looked up at them, and they stared back down at me, and I felt my gut sink; these guys were intimidating.

One of them who had short brown curly hair snarled at me, revealing his white sharp teeth. He reminded me a little of Lonnie; Lonnie always snarled at me.

"Were you talking to a greaser?" he spat, glaring down at me.

"What's a greaser?" I squeaked, and a few of the boys around him snickered.

"I think he's a greaser, Harold. He has an attitude, that's for sure. You should teach him a lesson." One with red hair commented, and I stared up at him, confused. What attitude was he talking about?

"Nah, now that's a little mean, and it's sure to get us locked up. As soon as a little kid or a girl's involved, the fuzz actually decide to get involved. There's no point in going to jail now." A new one with dark straight hair added. Was he sticking up for me?

"Yeah…but not when it's a greaser. The fuzz will probably thank us if we get rid of it before it grows." The curly haired boy, Harold, growled.

"I really need to go. My mom's probably looking for me." I lied, hoping they would leave me alone. I quickly got up, but the red haired guy pushed me back down.

"Guys…" the guy with dark straight hair started. "Let me handle this." He said, and crouched down to my level. I was shaking; who were these guys and what did they want?

"Hey, little guy, what's your name?" he asked sweetly. I just stared at him with wide eyes, not trusting him. "Come on, it's okay, I ain't gonna bite." I breathed out deeply before answering him.

"Ethan." I answered. He smiled.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Ethan." He greeted. I didn't know why, but this guy just didn't seem right. He didn't seem like Ponyboy who I now trusted a lot…I didn't trust this guy at all.

"My name's Tommy, and these are all my friends." He said, motioning towards the other boys. They all looked down at me. I didn't say anything to his friends; not when they had just treated me like that.

"You know, they were only trying to help. That boy, Ponyboy, he's really bad. He hangs out with a group of guys, greasers, and all's they do is beat people up and steal their money. You're just a little boy; you don't need to be hanging out with boys like that." Tommy stated, and I pulled a face at him; he was treating me like Daniel.

"I'm not little, I can think for myself." I answered confidently, which only made Tommy treat me like a little boy even more.

"Of course you are; you're a big boy." He cooed, and I wanted to kick him; that's what everyone who treats you like a little kid says: 'You're a big boy'. But nobody could fool me.

"Listen…we used to be friends with that kid. He's not nice at all: he used to fight with us all the time, and he and his friends jumped one of our friends." Tommy told me. Ponyboy didn't seem the type of person to fight with people, so I turned away from the boys.

"You're lying." I said, and Tommy laughed.

"Whatever you say, but don't start crying when Ponyboy hurts you. You should hang out with better people, like us." He stated, and I glared at him.

"You were mean before." I snarled, and Tommy shrugged.

"Because we thought you were like Ponyboy. But you're really just a little boy, so you couldn't hurt us." He laughed.

"I'm not little!" I shouted.

"Of course not." Tommy chuckled. "How old are you? Six?"

I felt my cheeks burning; did he really think that I was just a little six year old? Not like I cared what he thought anyway. But still…six?

"No." I spat.

"Greasers are nothing but trash. Look at what one of Ponyboy's friends did to me." Harold said, revealing his bruised arm. "I think it was Dallas who did it, and he and Ponyboy hang out all the time. They just hurt people for fun." He said, and I actually started to believe them.

"One of our friends was put in hospital because another guy who Ponyboy hangs around with beat him up real bad." The red haired one added.

I felt tears coming to my eyes. So Ponyboy had lied to me all this time? Did he only want to show me to his friends so they could hurt me?

"But he seemed so nice…" I croaked.

"They all do. Then…they kill you." Harold scoffed, wringing his neck like he was about to choke himself. He made a spluttering noise, and then glared at me.

"He's just a greaser. It doesn't matter though, as long as there's nice boys like us in the world." Tommy smiled, but I didn't smile back.

I don't what came over me, but I found myself violently shoving Tommy, making him fall backwards onto the sidewalk. He didn't break anything, but it did give him a nasty gash on the back of his head. It wasn't like I meant it; I was just upset.

Tommy sat up and looked at me, clutching the back of his head with his hand. He quickly got to his feet and ran away.

The red haired boy (whose name I still didn't know) and Harold glared down at me with hatred. I knew that they hated me anyway, but they really didn't look happy now.

"What the hell?" Harold screamed, grabbing me from under my arms and lifting me up so that I was face-to-face with him. Considering I was small for my age, and Harold was quite tall, there was a big drop to the sidewalk. I gulped and stared at him pleadingly.

There wasn't time for him to give me a punch before I heard a loud voice behind me.

"Put the kid down, soc." The voice ordered. Harold snickered.

"Why I should I, greaser?" he laughed, making me shake slightly.

"He ain't big enough to take two socs like you. That's unfair, and I thought socs always played by the rules." The voice said again. What was all this soc and greaser talk?

"It's not like you play by the rules, Shepard. I'm sure we could break them, just this once." The red-haired soc said.

"Shut up, Monty." A new voice yelled. "Just put the kid down."

"Have it your way." Harold laughed, and dropped me.

I landed on my back, and I was sure it was broken, until I felt somebody hauling me to my feet.

"Get outta here, kid." The boy said. He had thick curly hair, and the boy beside him had a very large scar. They both looked very similar, except the one who was talking to me was smaller than the other guy.

I quickly obeyed and started running back to Ashleigh's house, despite my back's protests. But then I remembered that Lonnie told me not to come back tonight; he said him and Ashleigh needed some alone time.

So instead I just started walking, but I didn't know where I was going. I wanted to go to Ponyboy, but then remembered Harold's words:

"They all do. Then…they kill you." He was referring to greasers, and I had learnt that Ponyboy was a greaser. The other two greasers from before saved me, but when I turned back, I saw them beating Harold and Monty, and the damage they were doing was pretty bad.

Maybe the socs were right. Maybe all greasers are the same.

I'm sorry I haven't updated this for a few days, but I was honestly stuck on how to continue. I started writing it a few days ago, but I just got stuck! I would be obliged if anybody could suggest chapter ideas for Little Man and One Marvellous Adventure, because I'm getting stuck! Stay Gold :)