Disclaimer : I do not own the Outsiders. I own Gretchen, Layla,Abigail, Amon and Amons 9 younger siblings.

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"Please, guys?"

"I don't think we should..."

"Aw, Please?"

"Why can't you just tell Darry where you're goin' ?" Dallas asked.

"Because he doesn't trust me anymore..." Ponyboy told him.

"Awe, Come on, Pony, that ain't true..." Johnny said.

"Yes it is.."

"How do you know?"

"He told me..."

Dallas rolled his eyes, " I ain't goin' to lie for ya..."

"Since when do you have a problem lying, Dal?"

Dallas gave Ponyboy a hard punch in the shoulder.

Darrel stepped into the living, " Hey, guys. Whats going on?"

" We were just going out..." Dallas said.

"Alright.. Pony,did you do your homework?"

"Yes..."

"Ok. be back by nine thirty.."

"Sure Dare..."

After they left the house, Ponyboy turned to Dallas, " Thanks.."

"You owe me.."

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Gretchen was laying flat on her stomach, working on the last of her homework, listening to Bob Dylan, when she heard a tap on her window. She crawled off of the bed and pulled back the curtains. Ponyboy was there, holding on the the drain pipe and the shutters on the window, smiling. She opened the window.

"Hello." He smiled.

" Hmm...now this seems familiar"

"Oh, really?" Ponyboy raised an eyebrow like Two-Bit usually did.

"Yes. The 'rebellious' teenage boy climbs up to the window, trying to impress the 'innocent' teenage girl inside. It's a must in all of those teenage-chick-flicks ."

"Well...Did it work?"

"Just get in here..." She laughed, moving aside.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'.." He said, crawling though the window. " So, what are you doing?"

"Homework." She said, getting back onto the bed, laying on her stomach like before.

"Need any help?" He asked

"Nope..." She said,scribbling down the answer to another question.

Then there was this long silence that made Ponyboy abit uncomfortable...so he decided to browse though her book case.There were alot of books...alot.Shakespear plays, collective works of Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Frost, and the Brothers Grimm. Every one of William Goldins' books, Harold Robbins' books, Charles Dickens' books(except for David Copperfield) and Anthony Burgess' books. He grinned and pulled out A Clockwork Orange. " Welly, welly, well." He laughed and jumped onto the bed beside Gretchen. " You have this? "

She looked up from her notebook and looked over at him, " uh..Yeah. You read it before?"

"I took it out of the library a few months ago and Darry grounded me when he found out. Luckily, I had ...already read it."

"You were grounded?"

"Well...It was the only book Soda had read all the way though in the last year...he told me about it, Darry said I wasn't allowed to read it till I was 16...Like I don't already know about ultra-violence"

Gretchen laughed, "Is he that strict?"

"Yeah, sometimes...honestly, I'm not even allowed over here..."

"Why..why not?"

"Well.."He laughed abit, " He doesn't really trust me being alone with you..."

Gretchen closed her notebooks and put them on the floor, " So where does he think you are?"

"Out with Dally and Johnny."

"So what time are ya supposed to be in?"

"nine thirty. So, what were you planning to do after you finished your homework?"

"Well..."

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Ponyboy caught up with Dallas and Johnny near the lot at nine twenty-one.

"Hey guys."

"Whys your hair wet?" Dallas asked, "and...and..." He made a face, " why do you smell like lavender?"

Ponyboy flushed, " I...I just got out of a bubble-bath..."

Dallas started to laugh. Even Johnny cracked a grin.

Ponyboy glared at both of them, but was quiet the rest of the time.

Once at home, he hurried to his room before Darrel noticed his hair was wet.

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Monday, after school, Two-Bit had offered to drive Ponyboy and Johnny to the theater house for the rehearsal. And of course, Two-Bit also invited Dallas to come along. And of course they didn't just drop the two boys off at the door. But they just had to come in and watch.

Ponyboy and Johnny went over with Gretchen, Amon, Layla and Abigail.

"Hey. Whats going on?"

"Oh, we were just talking about the dance on Friday." Abigail told them.

"Yeah. All of the girls get to sign in guest from other schools...Ponyboy...are you interested in going?" Gretchen asked.

"Sure." Ponyboy shrugged. He glanced over at Johnny, who seemed to be blushing...He was talking with Layla, who was blushing as well.

"One of yous are going to sign me in, right?" Amon asked.

"Of course." Abigail said. " I just wish I had a date..."

"Wait...I thought you two were going out?" Johnny asked.

"Oh...we broke up yesterday..." Amon said.

"Why?" Ponyboy asked.

" I caught him cheating on me..." Abigail sighed.

"With who?"

"With Angel..."

"Whos that?"

"Layla's older brother."

"Oh..."

"Cast! To the stage now!" The director shouted.

Two-Bit and Dallas tryed not to laugh when it started. There were kids getting nervous. People skipping lines, or reading the wrong parts, going to the wrong pages. Eventually, They had to be escorted out.

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Two hours later, Ponyboy and Johnny stepped outside and noticed Two-Bit and Dallas were gone.

"Hey, "Amon and the girls stepped outside, " You guys need a ride?"

"Sure... "

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Ponyboy had convinced Gretchen to come to his house for a while. The two of them were sitting alone in the living room, just talking, for nearly twenty minutes before anyone else came. To Ponyboy's surprise, the first one home was Darrel, who had a smile on his face. Another odd thing, Ponyboy thought. "Whats going on, Dare?"

"Got a week off."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And guess what else?"

"What?"

"I get paid an extra seven-fifty an hour."

"Whoa. Thats Great! And it's about time, too." If anyone deserved a raise, it was Darrel. He worked long and hard, and now he's finally getting paid a fair wage.

"Yeah.. Oh, and Pony?"

"Yeah?"

"How long have you two been here...alone?"

Gretchen blushed and looked away.

"Not long...really..." Ponyboy told his brother." Anyway...What are ya going to do on your week off?"

"I dunno. Relax? that would be good..." He said, dropping down into his chair.

Relaxing wasn't something that usually happened in this house. Sodapop and Steve blundered into the house, alrighty fighting each other. Gretchen looked over at Ponyboy, who smiled at her, " they always do this..."

"Why?"

Ponyboy shrugged. After a few minutes, Sodapop looked up, " Oh..Darry...You're home early...Did somethin' happen at work, or somethin'?"

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Around Seven, Ponyboy walked Gretchen home. It went as usual. She thanked him, gave him a good night kiss. But it was on his way home that was different for the last few times. He was never bothered when he went to her house or back. But tonight, he had no suck luck. He hadn't made it half way home when a car full of Socs pulled up beside him

Damn...Ponyboy thought. This wasn't good.

"Well well well, Look what garbage truck left behind." Said the one that stepped out of the drivers seat. Ponyboy just backed up abit as the others stepped out, " Well, You know, if you hurry, you can catch up with it and just jump right in..."Ponyboy said. He shouldn't of said that. There were 5 of them, and only one of him. They all went at him. They got him to the ground in no time and they kept kicking him over and over. Soon, they stopped, and one of them pulled Ponyboy up by the hair..Ponyboy gave a painful yell, then pulled out a butterfly knife from his back pocket and swung it blindly at the boy behind him. He succeeded, making a large gash across the Socs face. He had let Ponyboy go, yelling and cursing. Ponyboy just ran, despite the pain shooting though his whole torso. But no one ran after him, they were too busy helping their bleeding friend. He stopped near the park and took a few leaves off of the trees to wipe the blood off of his knife. There were only two people that knew he had that knife, and that was him and Curly.

A couple of weeks back, Curly was trying to fight off two Socs at once, and Ponyboy went to help him. About two days later, Curly gave him that knife, saying he got it with a special ' Five-Finger Discount '. Ponyboy was surprised that Curly would do something like that. No the fact that he stole it, the fact that he was giving it to him. It was so un-Curly Shepard. But he took the knife anyway. He knew Darrel would never give him one, and if Darrel found out that he had one, He'd take it away. No question.

Ponyboy folded up the knife and put it back into his pocket and ran home.

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Ponyboy practically stumbled though the front door. In fact, he stumbled right into Two-Bit, causing both of them to fall to the floor. Two-Bit laughed, " You drunk, too, huh, Pony?"

"What?" Darrel stood up.

"No..I'm drunk...I just got jumped on my way home..."

" You dun't look like you been jumped, Pony.." Two-Bit said, then hic-cupped. He smelled very strongly of alcohol.

"Yeah. Lucky me.." He mumbled as Darrel helped him up. He clutched his sides and was going to sit down, but Darrel asked, " Break any bones?"

"I don't think so...I think...I think I'mma going to go lay down..."

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The next day after school, Ponyboy was at his locker when he noticed the guys that had jumped him last night, and one with a bandage over his forehead, nose, and left cheek. Ponyboy smiled, " How's your nose?"

"Shut up!" The Soc snapped.

"Mine too. It must be this cold weather.." He laughed, then headed outside for track.

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The rest of the week seemed to go back rather slowly. Nothing really happened on Wednesday, and Thursday there was another rehearsal, but this time, Ponyboy and Johnny got a ride with Amon, to save themselves the humiliation of Two-Bit and Dallas coming with them. But Friday, Everyone was meeting at Gretchens to get ready for the dance.

Darrel dropped Ponyboy and Johnny off at Gretchens at Six o'clock. Her father opened the door and seemed abit taken back seeing two greasers on his door step. He was about to say something when Gretchen came, " Oh. Daddy..These are Johnny and Ponyboy.."

"Ponyboy? Well...Thats not a name you hear every day.." her father said.

"Well...actually, sir, I do..." Ponyboy said.

"Come on. Everyone's upstairs.." Gretchen said, leading both boys up into her room.

In her room, Abigail was sitting at the chair in front of the vanity, Amon was kneeling down in front. " Stop blinking. Keep your eyes open."

"Its hard.." Abigail complained.

"oh it is not..." Amon said, still trying to put the eyeliner on his ex-girlfriend. " I had to do this for Jackie, Joyce, Jessica, Jillian and all of their friends. They didn't seem to have any problem keeping their eyes open.

There was another boy there that neither Ponyboy or Johnny recognized. He was as tall as Amon, with black hair and dark eyes. They figured that he must be Layla's older brother, Angel.

"Are your sisters going to be there tonight, Amon?"Layla asked.

He sighed, " Yes...and unfortunately, so are my brothers..."

"I heard what happened to your brother..."

"Yeah, But he had it coming..."

"What happened to your brother?" Johnny asked.

"I dunno. Him and his friends tryed to jump someone, and the pulled a knife out. He's got this nasty cut now, needed 15 stitches.."

"Opps..." Ponyboy said, abit louder than he should have. Because everyone looked at him. " I mean...Look...If I knew he was your brother..."

"You mean you were the guy he tried to jump?" Amon asked.

Ponyboy nodded.

"Don't worry about it...He's an ass. Really."

"You carry a blade, Pony?" Johnny asked. " Since when?"

"Since last month..." Ponyboy shrugged.

"Look. We gotta go, or we'll be late.." Angel said,standing up.

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The dance was going great for the first while. Ok...Yes. People were staring...well...to be more honest, glaring and Johnny and Ponyboy. And even afew were pointing and laughing at Amon and Angel. But they managed to ignore all of the people and have a good time. For the few hour or so anyway. There was this boy standing right behind them, kept getting louder and ruder with each passing minute. Within 2 seconds, Angel tackled him to the ground. He kept punching this boy over and over again with his left hand (which he always has at least 3 rings on). The boy was now cut and bleeding. Angel didn't even seem to notice the blood on his rings. He just kept hitting him. Amon, Ponyboy and Johnny tryed to pull him up off of the boy, but the closest they got was pushing him off so he was setting on the floor beside the bleeding boy. Everyone was now staring at them.Friends of the boy pushing their way though the crowed. The boy muttered a highly offensive remark and Angel punched the boy as hard as he could in the balls. The boy let out this high-pitched scream and curled up into the ball.

"Pathetic", Angel spat as Amon helped him to his feet. With one swift kick to the ribs, Angel started to the exit, followed by Amon and the rest of the group, so they wouldn't get into any trouble.

Angel was fuming. He was ranting on and on until Layla took him home. Amon offered to go too to make sure he didn't unload his anger on some poor kid that was walking alone.

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Pretty soon Johnny and Abigail left, leaving Ponyboy and Gretchen alone together...not like they minded. They went back to Ponyboy's house. They had gotten into Ponyboy's room, but just before he closed the door, Darrel called "Ponyboy, that you?"

"Uh...yeah..." He stepped out of his room and looked down the hall at Darrel leaning against the door frame of his bedroom

"I thought you went to a dance?"

"Oh...I did...it wasn't the great...so me and Johnny left..."

"Come here for a moment..."

Ponyboy just stared at him for a moment, then looked down the other end of the hall way, toward the living room, then back at Darrel.

"Come here..."

Cautiously, Ponyboy walked down the hall, as he got closer, Darrel grabbed Ponyboy roughly by the back of the neck and pulled him close. " Look, you can't go around sneaking that girl into the house and hiding her in your room."

Ponyboy didn't say anything, probably afraid that if he opened his mouth, a whimper might come out. His brothers grip tightened.

"Now, if you invite her over and stay in the living room, WITH supervision. That would be fine. But the next time I catch you sneaken around, I will skin you alive, got it?"

Ponyboy nodded and Darrel let him go, giving him alittle push back down the hall. Ponyboy went back into his room and took Gretchen into the living room to watch a movie. Not 5 minutes later, Darrel joined them in the living room.

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