They Were Gold

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

By the way, in this story, the Shepard's and Curtis's are quite good friends, just in case you were gonna point out that they usually didn't have anything to do with each other! :)

Tim Shepard groaned when he heard his mom screaming for Angela; the girl couldn't seem to stay out of trouble nowadays. However, today their mom's screaming was worse than usual.

"Where is she?! Where is the little brat?!" Margaret Shepard yelled at Tim, who just shrugged in response. He knew perfectly well where Angela was: she was at the park with Curly and Ponyboy, however he wasn't about to let his mother know that.

"Why? What's up?" he asked, though he could have cared less.

"The little snake's been suspended!" Margaret yelled, and Tim rolled his eyes; all of the Shepard's had been suspended more than once…why was their mom so upset now?

"Uh…" Tim didn't know how to respond.

"For flirting with a teacher! A teacher!" Margaret screamed, and Tim was suddenly interested.

"What?" he growled.

"She was flirting with one of her teachers! Mr Michaels or something, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that she has crossed a goddamned line! I know what she's been doing with her little boyfriends, hell I think everyone in the whole damned neighborhood does! But with older men? What the hell?!" Margaret shouted, and Tim threw his cigarette on the ground and stormed away from the house.

The oldest Shepard was determined to find his little sister and knock some sense into her, though he kept asking her in his head why she would be so stupid.

The greaser finally reached the park, and saw the whole gang: Ponyboy, Johnny, Dallas, Darry, Sodapop, Two-Bit and Steve at the park. Ponyboy was on the swings while the others were sitting on the grass. Angela was swinging besides Ponyboy, and Curly was pushing his younger sister.

"Angela, what the hell?!" Tim shouted, alerting everybody in the park, which was thankfully just the people he had mentioned before.

Angela's head shot up, a smile on her face.

"Yeah, Tim?" she asked, her smile so wide that her eyes almost closed.

"Want to explain why you're suspended from school?!" he yelled, and everybody looked at Angela.

Angela's smile disappeared and she stared at Tim, confused.

"What do you mean?" she questioned, tears starting to brim in her eyes; she hated being yelled at by Tim because she knew that he was one of the few people who actually cared about her.

"Don't act like you don't know! Flirting with teachers? Mom was right, maybe you are just a harlot." He snarled.

"Flirting with teachers?" she repeated, her eyes widening.

"Yeah, Michaels is it? You been havin' a go with him?" Tim hissed.

When the name Michaels was mentioned, Angela paled and her eyes swivelled over to Ponyboy.

Everybody saw Angela's eyes direct over to Ponyboy's. Soda and Darry looked at their little brother questioningly, and Pony's eyes widened.

Without warning, Angela darted off the swing and grabbed Pony's arm, and the two of them ran off. Everybody stared after them, and the park was silent for a moment.

"I need to see this teacher. Michaels or whatever, to talk to him." Tim breathed eventually.

"I actually got a call about him the other day concerning Ponyboy; apparently Pony's got a warning. I grounded the kid, but Pony told me that he honestly didn't know what it was about. I'd still like to talk to this guy though." Darry said, and Tim nodded.

"I'll go with you." Soda piped up.

"I'll go too; nothin' better to do out." Dallas smirked, and Tim nodded.

"I think I'll just stay here." Johnny said timidly.

"Me an' Steve will stay too." Two-Bit added, and Steve nodded.

"Kay, I've got the truck so we can take that." Darry stated, and everybody nodded.

"You comin', Curls?" Tim asked his brother, and Curly shook his head.

"Nah; think I'll go an' see where Angie and Pony went." He answered, and loped off to go and find the other two.

The four who were going to talk to Mr Michaels left in Darry's truck, while the others stayed at the park. Curly was still looking for Angela and Ponyboy, while Johnny, Two-Bit and Steve were all having a smoke.

Darry drove quite quickly; he didn't want to anger Tim Shepard. Tim's leg was constantly bouncing up and down; he was worried about what this teacher had to say about his little sister.

It was only 4:30 PM; school had ended almost two hours ago, so the teachers would still be in school.

Darry pulled into the school parking lot and slammed his door shut, and everybody else did the same.

All four marched into the building, where a brunette woman with long eyelashes was writing something on a piece of paper.

"Can I help you?" she asked, fixing her glasses on her nose. A secretary, Soda guessed.

"Yes, we need to see Mr Michaels." Darry answered, putting his hands on her desk.

The woman coughed and scratched her throat.

"Do you have an appointment?" she asked.

"Just let us see the guy; we won't be a few minutes! This is concerning our siblings; he's had them suspended! Just let us see him!" Tim demanded, and the lady sighed.

"His room is number 10: straight down the main hallway, go left, and then it's the third door up." She directed, and all four of the greasers nodded.

The four men did as instructed, and found themselves outside of room number 10.

Darry knocked, and heard a man call behind the door:

"Come in!" and all four boys did indeed go into the room.

Mr Michaels looked up when he saw the boys stroll in, and he felt his heart beginning to beat faster. All four of them together looked very intimidating, especially to Mr Michaels who was smaller than all of them.

"Can I help you, boys?" he asked, trying to hide the fear in his voice.

"Yes actually, apparently my little sister was flirting with you and she ended up getting suspended, though she didn't even know what I was talking about until I mentioned your name. She seemed scared when I talked about you, I wonder why?" Tim growled, and Mr Michaels gulped.

Darry decided to stay quiet about Ponyboy, and would ask the teacher about him later. Dallas however, had spotted a picture on the teacher's desk of a schoolboy, and the boy looked a lot like Ponyboy.

"I'm waiting!" Tim yelled, and the teacher started crying.

"I didn't want to get fired!" the teacher sobbed, and everybody in the room looked at Michaels. "I had a dream a few months ago about your sister, and I realized how beautiful she really is! I started hanging out with her more…I got pictures from her. I wish that I hadn't but I can't change it. I only want her out because I know one day I won't be able to stop myself!" the teacher screamed, and everybody gasped.

The only sounds that filled the room were Michaels's sobs, until Eventually Dallas exploded.

"You sick pervert!" he shouted, and Soda had to hold him back. Darry was also holding Tim back, who had by now got his blade out of his pocket.

Once Michaels had finally gained control, he stood up and opened a drawer where numerous tapes filled them, along with pictures. He threw the pictures down on the desk, as well as the tapes.

The pictures were of Angela, but they weren't explicit or anything, just normal pictures. In every picture, the youngest Shepard was smiling her cute smile, or doing pretty poses for the camera. This was the side of Angela that hardly anybody ever saw anymore: the cute, innocent little girl whose smile was too big for her face.

The men looked through the black and white pictures, and Darry found one picture of Ponyboy, however that one picture soon turned into many more.

"Oh, that's just one of my other students. He doesn't matter." Michaels claimed, trying to snatch the pictures away from Darry. Darry pulled his hand away and narrowed his eyes at the other man.

"This is my little brother, so yes…this does matter." He growled, and Michaels's face turned even whiter.

"So this is why I got the call?" Darry hissed dangerously, while Sodapop looked through the pictures of his innocent baby brother.

Mr Michaels just nodded; he didn't know what else to do.

The young man took the tapes off his desk and put them in his tape recorder and played the first tape.

All of the men in the room listened to the tape, and were horrified to hear what it was playing.

Tape 1

"So, do you have any brothers or sisters?" Mr Michaels asked.

There was the sound of things moving, and then a voice spoke.

"Yes: Tim and Curly; they're both my older brothers." It was Angela.

"Have you ever done something with somebody else that your brothers would kill you for if they found out?" Michaels questioned in a strange tone.

"Well…" the young girl thought for a moment. "Well, one boy asked me out on a date one time, but I said no to him." She replied.

"Only one boy? I'm surprised all of the boys in your grade haven't asked you out!" the teacher exclaimed, and Angela giggled nervously.

"A lot of people think I'm weird; they say I've got a big nose." Angela said sadly, and Michaels chuckled.

"Big noses just mean better Eskimo kisses." He laughed, and Angela giggled too, though she didn't sound happy.

"You're sick, you know that?" Dallas groaned.

"I know…I know." Michaels said softly.

"Put in another one." Tim ordered, and Michaels obeyed.

Tape 2

"Ponyboy is such a weird name…I love it!" Michaels shouted.

A heavy sigh was heard, obviously from Ponyboy himself.

"My dad named me." He said sadly.

"Oh yeah, I heard about that. I'm sorry." Michaels said sympathetically.

It was quiet for a moment, until Michaels spoke again.

"I know that you live with your two brothers now. Have you ever done something with a girl that you didn't want them knowing about?" he questioned.

"Uh…no." was Pony's response.

"Would you like to?" Michaels asked, and a small nervous chuckle was heard from Ponyboy.

"Why were you doing it? Why? Why couldn't you just leave them alone." Soda cried, getting extremely upset.

"I told you, once those kids were in my head, I couldn't stop thinking about them!" Michaels shouted, desperately not wanting to anger anybody any further.

"What about the last tape?" Dallas asked, pointing over to the last tape, which was notably larger than the others.

"There's a VCR and a television in the back room. We can view it on there." Michaels said shamefully, walking out of the classroom and into the teacher's lounge. All four boys followed.

The teacher put the tape in the VCR and took a step back while the other boys stared at the TV, all patiently waiting.

Tape 3

Angela was sitting on a chair, waiting to see what her teacher had to say.

She looked so innocent; her hair was tied back into two ponytails, she wasn't wearing any makeup, and she was wearing her signature smile. She was dressed in a red plaid shirt with jeans and boots, looking like a stereotypical cowgirl.

Very soon, Ponyboy Curtis sat in the seat next to her. Angela looked at Pony and her grin got even wider, and as for Ponyboy, he just smiled back.

"Now, you two have both read Romeo and Juliet, right?" Mr Michaels asked, and the two teenagers nodded.

"Well, you both remember the kiss scene, right? Just after they've first met?" he questioned, and the two teenagers nodded again.

"Well, as part of the little project that we're doing, I need you both to act this scene out. Don't say any words though, just do the kissing." He ordered.

"You're sure this is part of the project?" Ponyboy said nervously, biting his lip.

"Positive." The teacher replied, and zoomed in on the teenager's faces.

The two children gave each other nervous glances before Michaels told them to start.

Angela leaned into Ponyboy, and the two started kissing.

"You two would be great actors!" Mr Michaels exclaimed while the two continued to kiss.

When the tape ended, everybody in the room was silent. Not even Mr Michaels uttered a word.

Then without warning, Tim leapt onto the teacher and started slugging the sense out of him.

Dallas stood guard of the door, making sure that no suspicious teachers walked in, while Darry and Soda helped with the beating.

"Angie! Pony! Come on guys; you've both been gone forever!" Curly Shepard shouted, but nobody could hear him.

Meanwhile, in a peaceful field where the sun was beginning to set, sat Ponyboy Curtis and Angela Shepard.

"Do you think they've found out by now?" Angela questioned, staring at Ponyboy.

"Probably." He answered. "I feel dirty."

"He made me feel dirty too, Pony. I know I'm not the brightest girl in Tulsa, but I know it's not our fault." Angela claimed, and Pony nodded.

"I know…I just wish I could have stopped him from hurting us. All the pictures we gave him…I should have known it wasn't a stupid class project!" Ponyboy screamed, throwing a rock down the hill.

"I know…I should have realized it too." Angela sighed, resting her hand on her forehead. "So, I wonder if the Pony and the Shepard had a happy ending." She smiled.

"Huh?" Ponyboy asked, rubbing his eyes.

"The Pony and the Shepard: us. I wonder if we'll have a happy ending." Angela wondered, looking up at the sky.

"We have to move on." Pony stated, and Angela nodded.

"I'll never forget about it though." She whispered as tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

"Me neither…at least we haven't lost our you-know-what yet." He laughed lightly.

"I wanted my first kiss to be special." The girl mumbled.

"Me too. But at least my kiss was with someone special." Pony said, and Angela looked up at him again.

"Mr Michaels, he ain't nothin' special. He's a nobody. But you," he pointed at Angela. "You're special, just like your family, like mine. And though when people walk past us, they'll never know how special we are, and they won't know our stories; they won't care. And we won't care about them either." Pony continued, and Angela finally let the tears spill.

"Thank you. I just really want to forget!" she sobbed. Ponyboy gave the girl a hug.

"We'll forget together. Like you said, it's not our fault. Tim will know why you're suspended, and he won't be mad anymore. I bet they're all probably getting rid of the tapes, and we'll get our pictures back." He explained, and Angela nodded and wiped her nose and eyes.

The two children would carry on with their lives, every day a new step to the road of recovery. The two moved schools since everybody knew that it would be a waste of time going to the cops. Life was slowly starting to get back to normal, but the one thing that stopped Ponyboy Curtis from recovering sooner was a fact that always echoed in the back of his mind:

He wasn't gold anymore.

AN: Well, that was sad. As horrible as this, we all know that this happens out there, and I felt the idea come to me while listening to the song Total Eclipse of the Heart (if you analyse the music video, you will know what I'm talking about) and so I felt kind of inspired to write it. I recommend watching the music video; it's quite weird and hard to understand at first, though it's the ending that explains it all. I hope you all found this story alright, and please review so I can see your opinion :)