I do not own The Outsiders; just love it very, very much! The only people I own are Jennifer, Anthony, and Becca. Enjoy and review, please! For the purpose of my story, I am still going to have the same events happen, except that they happened a little sooner, so Darry is just a year out of high school.

OC's POV

I stood in line, waiting to check out the few items I had. I refrained from rolling my eyes at Anthony, the guy beside me. He was terribly annoying, but I didn't want to be rude. I caught the eye of another guy who stood behind Anthony. He seemed to smile slightly at the look I was giving Anthony. I felt like I recognized him from somewhere, but I couldn't quite place him. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a simple black t-shirt. I smiled back hesitantly, and watched him roll his eyes at something Anthony had said. I honestly had stopped listening to him.

"And that, Jennifer, is how I beat the greaser." He finished proudly.

I was still watching the mysterious guy's face. It tightened briefly at the word "greaser".

"And why is that good? Fighting is awful!"I winced at my harsh tone, but I was so sick of how he talked constantly about how much better he was than greasers.

His eyes widened. "But they deserve what they get."

"Why?" I asked simply.

"Because- well…" I had stumped him.

"Please stop talking about them like that." I ordered.

"I… well… have to go." He said in a rush and almost ran out of the store. I let out a sigh of relief.

The guy behind me silently moved up to take Anthony's abandoned spot.

"Hi." I said to him, watching his reaction. Surprise flitted across his face, and then disappeared as he composed himself.

"Hello." He responded.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" I asked, the curiosity forcing the question from me.

"I think so, from school?" He asked.

It made sense then. His name was something that started with a "D". But I think he was also, as Anthony had put it, a greaser. I hated to use the term, even though by standards I was a Soc.

"Yes. I'm Jennifer." I added, in case he didn't remember.

"Darry." He replied, extending his hand. I knew it started with a "D"! And now I recognized him, he had been a year older than me at school. Real popular guy.

"Do you know him well?" He asked.

"Not too well, thank goodness! He's been following me around lately, trying to impress me." I blushed; I always seemed to talk too much around attractive guys. And this guy was attractive! With his muscled body and sharp eyes, he was extremely good-looking. He seemed amused by my chattering.

"That's too bad. But maybe you scared him off with your little speech about greasers." He suggested.

"Hopefully." I murmured.

I quickly had my few items rung up and paid. I leaned a hip against the counter and waited for Darry to finish. While I had bought a few somewhat frivolous items, Darry had the basics. Some bread, eggs, butter, things like that, and then chocolate. It seemed a bit odd compared to the other necessary things he had. Hadn't I heard something about his family? I frowned, trying to remember. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew something had happened. As he turned to pay, he caught sight of me and looked slightly taken aback.

"I'd thought you left." He said, explaining his expression.

"I thought I'd wait for you, in case Anthony is out there." I added the last part in case he thought I was being a bit forward.

He relaxed and gave me a confused smile. Probably he couldn't figure out why I was being nice to him, me being a Soc and everything.

We walked out together. Thankfully Anthony wasn't anywhere to be seen. I didn't live to far from here, so I had walked. It seemed he had also, because he walked with me, towards the end of the street without any cars.

"Well, it was nice talking to you." He said when it looked like we had to separate paths.

"It was. Maybe I'll see you around?" I asked tentatively.

"That'd be nice." He responded, smiling a little. "Maybe we'll both need food next week same time?"

"Maybe." I agreed. We walked away from each other. As soon as I was out of his sight I smiled even bigger and sighed happily. It's not every day you meet a nice, handsome guy.

Darry's POV

I couldn't believe it. Jennifer seemed like a real nice girl, a Soc who seemed interested in me. I continued walking home; already thinking about the next week's meeting. She was really pretty too, with her blonde hair and green eyes. I was whistling as I walked in the house.

"Why are you so happy?" Soda asked, questioningly.

"No reason." I replied, still smiling.

"A girl?" He persisted.

"Now, why couldn't I just be happy?" I avoided the question.

"Because you're Darry, you need a reason to be happy." He said in exasperation, as if pointing out the obvious.

"Well, yes, you nosy kid. It is a girl." I called out to him as I walked into the kitchen to put the food away.

He got up to follow me, and question me some more, I suppose.

"What's she like? What's her name? Is she pretty?" He fired questions at me.

"She seems nice, Jennifer, and yes, she is." I tried to answer them all in order.

"Jennifer… Did she go to school with you?" He asked, recognizing her right away.

"Yeah, she's a year younger."

"Pony! Darry's got himself a girl!" He called through the house.

I heard something crash, Pony probably tripped to get out of his room.

"Really? Who?" He asked as he entered the room.

"Jennifer. She goes to school with you. She's a senior." Soda answered.

"She's real pretty, Darry." Ponyboy commented.

"Will you two be quiet? I don't got a girl. I just talked to her today." I think I blushed some, so I turned to the cupboard to finish putting away the food.

"Getting defensive, I think we're right, Pony." Soda grinned at me.

"Go away. Don't you have to work or something?" I asked, annoyed.

"I just got home a little before you did. I'm done for the day."

"Great." I mumbled.

Pony and Soda smirked at me broadly before turning away to watch some TV.

After I finished in the kitchen, I went and sat with them on the couch. I pushed Soda to one side, and sat between them.

"Hey, watch it." Soda said crossly, as he readjusted his position.

"Sorry, Soda." I grinned at him until he rolled his eyes and looked back at the TV.

"We shoulda got you a girl a long time ago, if this is how happy you're gonna be." Pony said under his breath.

I threw a pillow at him, and since he wasn't expecting it, it hit him right in the face. He picked the pillow up and looked at me indignantly. I smirked at him, and his indignant look turned to one of shock, then to one of deviousness.

He threw the pillow back at me as hard as he could, which I still managed to catch. I threw it at Soda, and an all-out pillow war ensued. I'm not sure how long we fought, but I had to stop it when the pillows almost busted open. We couldn't waste money on new pillows.

We all collapsed onto the couch again, out of breath from laughing.

"Seriously, Darry. This girl has got you happy!" Soda exclaimed.

I thought about that for a minute. It wasn't just Jennifer, but talking to her made me feel like an average guy just out of high school. Not a guy trying to raise his two kid brothers, while fighting to earn a living. I didn't feel the need to explain this to them, they would just feel guilty. So I shrugged and got up to make dinner.

And of course dinner wasn't complete without some of the guys over, so by the time dinner was ready Two-Bit and Steve both had joined us. I ignored the stage-whispers of Soda explaining that I got a girl.

"Congrats Darry. Finally actin' like a real guy. We were wondering if you were ever gonna find a girl." Two-Bit said, trying to get a laugh.

"Real funny, Two-Bit. Just cracking me up." I rolled my eyes.

"I know. It must be so hard for you guys to be around me when I'm just so amazing at everything." He proclaimed.

"Oh yeah, we can't hardly deal with it." Soda smirked.

After that the guys toned the mocking down a bit, focusing on Steve with Evie. I think they broke up again, I wasn't really paying attention. After that I made sure Pony's homework was done and then decided to call it a night.

Jennifer's POV

I got home and was so happy! I finally found a decent guy who wasn't some jerky Soc or some scumbag hood. A nice medium. My parents didn't notice anything was off, not that they would notice if I jumped up and down screaming it to them. But that's beside the point. My older sister Becca did, however.

"Why are you so smiley?" She asked, smiling herself.

"No reason, really." I said, not fooling anyone, including myself.

"I think I'm hearing future conversations about a boy!" She exclaimed.

I wasn't sure how much to tell her. She wasn't terribly prejudiced like most Socs, but she didn't exactly like greasers.

"Do you remember Darry Curtis?" I asked hesitantly.

She paused, thinking. "Yes! That cute one who played football?" She snapped her finger when she figured it out.

"Yeah, well, I kinda ran into him today at the store and we hit off pretty well. We sorta made plans to meet back there next week." I said in a rush.

"Wait, wasn't he a greaser?" She asked softly.

"Yes." I stuck my chin out defiantly, daring her to say something.

"That's nice. He was a real nice kid. A year younger than me, right?" She asked sweetly. She knew exactly how far I could be pushed before putting up a fight. Plus, she knew my strong feelings about the great Social Divide, as I liked to call it.

"Yep. I bought some stuff to make cookies. You wanna help me?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Sure." She agreed, smiling at me.

The rest of the evening went by fast with baking the cookies. I decided to go to bed early and called good night to everyone.

Thanks for reading everyone! I hoped you liked it, and please tell me how to improve! I'm not sure if I captured everyone quite right, so please give me feedback!

Love,

Allie