A/N: Hey there! Welcome to my story, Shattered. This the sequel to my previous story, Feel Again. The two stories are very much so intertwined so make sure to give Feel Again a read before you start this one. I welcome any new readers with open arms and I welcome back my readers from the first story. I promise this one will be even better than the first. Feel free to review and tell me what you think. I'm always excited to read the reviews. It's always fun for me to see what you all think will happen and sometimes I like it so much that I make it happen. SO enjoy the first chapter of Shattered!

The Outsiders.

"Jacquelyn!"

That voice belonged to the blond beauty hanging on Sodapop Curtis' arm. Her baby blue eyes were trying to focus in on the girl that she had just called. Her slender arm was looped through Soda's as they stood in the front yard of the Curtis' house.

The girl hat had been called turned her attention to the blond who called her. Her hazel eyes focused in on the girl and one of her eyebrows arched. However, in the darkness she wasn't sure if she could see the action of her arching an eyebrow or not. "Gina?" she questioned as she leaned against the railing of the porch.

"Jacquelyn," the blond called again as she pulled her arm from Soda's and started towards the porch. Gina folded her arms on the top of the railing and smiled.

Jacquelyn placed the cup she was holding in her hand on the railing and tossed the blond in front of her a confused look. "Gina." When Gina didn't say anything, Jacquelyn laughed. "You're drunk, aren't you?" the hazel eyed girl questioned as she took the cup from the blond in front of her and then handed her the cup she'd placed on the railing. "Drink this."

"Is it beer?" Gina questioned with a laugh.

"No, it's water," Jacquelyn said. Gina pulled a face. "Drink it."

Gina took the cup and turned over her shoulder to go back towards Soda. The blond ducked under his arm and tucked her body against his. Her small, curvy frame fit perfectly against his tall, lean frame. His arm settled on the swell of her hip while the other hand, the one with the bottle of beer, gestured upwards towards the night sky.

Jacquelyn took the cup that she'd taken from Gina and brought it to her lips.

"I thought you weren't drinking anymore," a voice said as a pair of lips pressed to the side of her neck. A larger hand wrapped around hers and placed the cup back on the railing. A pair of strong arms settled on either side of her body. Without looking or even saying anything, she settled back into the chest of the person behind her as a chin settled on her shoulder.

"I took this from Gina," Jacquelyn said lightly as she showed him the red lipstick stain on the rim of the cup. "But I was gonna sip off of it. Why let good wine go to waste?"

The boys had requested, more like demanded, beer for tonight. They had all but handed Jacquelyn the money to buy beer, since she was going to the store, and shoved her out of the door. The cashier had looked at her a little funny as she placed three twelve-packs of beer on the counter for her to purchase. Of course, whenever Jacquelyn bought beer the cashier would look at her strangely. She didn't really look like the type to drink beer, and she wasn't. She had always been more of a wine drinker, a product of the lessons from her mother's rich upbringing. She liked wine and the boys always made fun of her about it, calling it a sissy drink. In the grand scheme of things, it was a sissy drink.

"Darry!"

The person behind her shifted slightly, taking his chin from her shoulder and turning his gaze towards the driveway. Jacquelyn took a glance in the direction of the caller as well. It was a slightly buzzed Ponyboy. He was walking towards them from Two-Bit's blue Chevrolet. Steve had finally gotten so tired of it stalling that he just fixed it. Two-bit followed Ponyboy's lead, he seemed to be concentrating very hard on the whole putting one foot in front of the other thing and draped his arm around Ponyboy's shoulder for balance.

"You havin' fun, Pone?" Sodapop questioned, pulling his attention from Gina to his little brother.

"Where ya' coming from, Two?" Jacquelyn asked as she grabbed the collar of his shirt as he walked by.

Two-Bit stumbled much more than he should have. "Round the corner on Winn," he said waving his hand to dismiss the topic. "I didn't drive, Pony did."

"That's a good way to lose your license, Ponyboy," Darry told him. His voice starting to take the tone it held when he was lecturing Ponyboy on something or other.

"We just went to get more beer," Two-Bit said as he reached back to start attempting to pull Jacquelyn's hand from his shirt.

"More beer?" Jacquelyn questioned with an arched eyebrow. "I bought like three cases!"

There was a loud pop from somewhere down the road, in the direction on the park. Jacquelyn looked down at the watch on Darry's wrist, 11:45. She then turned her eyes upwards just to in time to see a few red sparks fading in the night sky. Two-bit took this distraction and pulled free from the older girl's grasp and made his way across the yard to where Steve and Evie were sitting.

Jacquelyn pulled the flannel shirt she had on closer to her body as a cool winter breeze blew by. The wind caught in her dark brown hair tousling it as it went by. The exposed skin of her face started to chill and the skin of her cheeks began to turn pink.

"Here," Darry said from behind her as he draped his jacket over her shoulders, effectively stopping the breeze from chilling her arms. He then moved to stand beside her and lean on the railing. "Told you to wear a jacket."

"Sorry, Dad," Jacquelyn teased as she looked over at him.

The brunette pushed her arms through the sleeves of the too big jacket and pulled it up to her ears. Out of the corner of his eye, Darry watched her. The skin on her cheeks and nose were now a bright pink. The freckles were starting to stand out against her skin. She was biting on the corner of her pink lips. Her long dark brown hair was still fluttering in the breeze. After a moment, she glanced over at him with her hazel eyes and smiled, flashing him her perfect white teeth, before looking back across the yard. He then briefly glanced at the ring on her left ring finger. Even in the dark he could see the gem.

It had been maybe two months since he had taken her to the football field at the University of Tulsa and asked her to marry him. About two months and he still couldn't believe that she had said yes; that she had agreed to be stuck with him for the rest of her life. It had been about two months and every time he saw the ring on her finger he felt his heart speed up a little. It had also been about two months or so and he still wasn't used to the word fiancée. He'd had had to introduce her to one of his co-workers when they'd run into him at the store and it had been very awkward. Only because he hadn't known what to call her. He had never introduced her to anyone before. In the end, Jacquelyn had ended up introducing herself as his fiancée.

"Ross."

"Randle," the brunette replied. "What's up?"

"Hand me a beer?" he questioned as he gestured to the cooler behind her.

"Evie want anything?" she questioned as she leaned away from the railing and grabbed the neck of a bottle of beer. When Steve answered in the negative, she handed him the bottle and wiped the moisture from the beer bottle on her pant leg. Steve thanked her and moved back towards Evie,

There was another white flash of light in the sky followed almost simultaneously by a pop. As if he knew what was going to happen, Darry held his wrist out to her to let her glance at the time. 11:56. She pushed off the railing.

"Gina, Evie!" In turn, a pair of blue and green eyes turned towards her. "Wine?" she questioned. Gina scrunched her nose clearly not happy with her friend's choice of alcohol. As if to prove that she most certainly did not want wine, she reached over and took a sip of Soda's beer. Evie pulled herself away from Steve and made her way to the porch. "Gonna try it?"

Evie glanced at her through her light green eyes and shrugged. "Why not?"

Apparently, Evie was intimidating. Her green eyes were always so intense. She was a Greaser girl through and through. She was tough. She knew the streets. However, Jacquelyn never saw that. She always saw Evie as an independent woman. She knew what she wanted. Apparently, that was intimidating. It could have also been the way that Evie looked as well. In general, she wore a bored expression unless engaged in conversation. She also held herself in a certain manner, with her arms crossed over her chest that seemed off putting. Or it could have been that she was stunning. Evie had raven hair and light green eyes. They complimented each other perfectly.

Jacquelyn smiled and ran into the house. It took her a moment to get into the kitchen from the living room due to the fact that there was just so much stuff on the floor in the living room. She grabbed two plastic cups from the kitchen counter and poured a bit of red wine into both the cups. She moved to put the bottle back in the fridge, but after looking at the bottle just poured the rest of it into her cup. After climbing over the shoes by the door, Jacquelyn pushed the door open with her shoulder and handed the girl the cup.

"It's bitter," Jacquelyn warned.

Two-bit, who had found his way back to the Chevy, turned up the car radio. There was an MC talking on the station. He was excited and laughing with a female MC.

"About 60 seconds left in the year," the man announced.

"Okay, okay, it's starting."

Jacquelyn shifted her gaze to the watch on Darry's wrist. 11:59.

Jacquelyn never thought that this was how she was going to be bringing in the New Year. She figured that she'd be sitting on the sofa with her mom and some guy that her mother was trying to get her to date drinking out of glasses. However, it was the exact opposite. She was standing outside, in a 40 degree December/January night, getting ready to watch fireworks from her high school sweetheart's porch. A high school sweetheart that she had gotten engaged to less eight weeks ago.

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Darry reached behind him and pulled a beer from the cooler. Without much effort, he popped the top off on the porch railing. His action reminded her of when they were younger and he was more carefree. The metal lid dropped to the wooden porch with a soft clink. However, it was more or less covered by the sound of the fireworks going off at the park.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

"Happy New Year!"

Jacquelyn tapped the rim of her plastic cup to the rim of Darry's beer bottle before taking a drink. Her hazel eyes scanned the brightly lit night sky, watching as the fireworks exploded with so much color and then faded away only to be replaced with another bright color.

Darry placed his hand on Jacquelyn's waist and turned her to face him, drawing her attention away from the fireworks in the night sky. He rested his and beer on the railing, the brunette female copied him resting her arm on the railing as well.

"To us," Jacquelyn said quietly as she held her cup of wine between them.

Darry smiled and tapped his bottle to her cup again before echoing her and taking another drink. Then he placed his bottle on the railing. He placed his hand on her cheek, and she leaned into his touch. His fingers tangled in her thick brown hair as a soft smile played on her pink lips. He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers. His lips tasted like beer, and she was sure that her tasted of fermented grapes. Her hazel eyes briefly met his azure ones.

"Dare!"

Jacquelyn and Darry broke away and he glanced at Soda, to which Gina was still clinging to.

"We have to talk about that," Darry told Jacquelyn, his eyes settling on Gina and Soda, before responding to his brother. "What's up, Little Buddy?"

"Happy New Year," he slurred.

Jacquelyn wasn't sure if Gina was supporting Soda's body weight or if Soda was supporting Gina's. All she knew was that they were both much too drunk to be standing on their own. So somehow they were supporting each other's weight. She also was not looking forward to talking to Darry about that. Soda was an adult and he made his own choices. If he wanted to date someone that was two years older than him then he could. Of course, she was sure that it wasn't just the age difference. It was Gina's lack of commitment to Soda. He'd been chasing after her for months, trying to get her to go steady with him, but she just kept dodging it and putting it off. That was getting on Jacquelyn's nerves, but she had to be completely neutral in this situation. Gina was her friend, but Soda was, essentially, her brother, for all intents and purposes. So if sides were forced to be taken, she would have to lose a friend and side with her brother.

"Jac!"

Her hazel eyes focused in on Soda's smiling face. His smile made her smile. "What's up, Sodapop?"

He stumbled over towards her, clumsily finding the railing. "Hey," he said as he took the hand that wasn't wrapped around Darry's neck and looked into her hazel eyes. "Hey, I know you're not a Curtis yet, but you're gonna be, and I'm glad that you're gonna be. I wanna tell you that I love ya' and, and you're great. "

Jacquelyn covered his mouth with her hand and laughed. "Save it for when you're not drunk," she teased. He licked the palm of her hand, forcing her to remove her hand. "Soda, that's gross!"

"Don't touch my mouth," he replied before he leaned over and kissed her cheek, a sloppy, wet kiss on her cheek, before stumbling away.

Jacquelyn ran the palm of her hand down her pants leg and huffed, before turning her eyes to Darry. "Your brothers," she started.

"Yours too," he told her before kissing her again. Because although she didn't have the Curtis name, not yet anyway, Soda and Ponyboy were for all intents and purposes, were her brothers. She was the one that had enough courage to teach Ponyboy how to drive. Of course, Ponyboy played a hand in the selection of his teacher. She was the one that finally got Soda over Sandy. Even if that did mean that he was now spending whatever free time he had with a certain blue-eyed blond. She was family.

"They are ridiculous," she continued when he broke the kiss. She glanced down at his watch. 12:15. "How are we going to get them to settle down?"

Soda and Pony had taken to hollering and jumping around the yard as the fireworks went off. Soda had pulled Steve away from Evie to force him to join in the racket making. And of course, Two-Bit, who couldn't stand to be left out, joined in the shouting. Gina had her arms crossed over her chest as she and Evie held some idle conversation. Jacquelyn couldn't really tell if Gina liked Evie or if Evie liked Gina. However, it seemed that they both realized what they had to do. Even if they didn't like one another they were seeing two boys that were attached at the hip. Neither boy would let a girl come between their friendship. So they would just have to suck it up.

Darry shrugged. "We don't. We wait until they tire out."

"That could take forever!" the brunette sighed.

Just then Soda, just as drunk as ever, appeared and grabbed her. Jacquelyn let loose a startled scream as Soda drug her off the porch, despite her protests. He realized that she was going to fight him the whole way and attempted to pick her up over his shoulder. However, he only succeeded in falling down and taking her with him, rolling her across the yard.

"Christ Soda," she laughed as she sat up, pushing him off of her.

Ponyboy appeared behind her, shouting, as did Two-Bit. The brunette covered her ears to block out the sound. However, her body was shaking with laughter. Despite the fact that she had been assaulted by Soda and now her ears were being assaulted by the sounds of shouting, she was having a good time.

She was surrounded by her best friends, her family, watching fireworks on New Year's Eve/Day. To her, this was perfect. This was as perfect as it could get. She wouldn't change any of it, and she didn't want any of it to change.

A/N: Yay new story! Let me know what you think!