A/N: And here Give it a Week comes to an end. I'm sad to see it go, and yet relieved that I've actually completed it. Just shy of twenty chapters ... Well. This isn't your normal chapter.

If you like perfect endings and you want Pony and Angela to stay together forever, you probably don't want to read this. This epilogue is the rational side of me, the realistic one. This is what I think would happen if they ever got together like in my story. Even if it wasn't so sporadic, truth be told, I can't see them working out forever. (Not that this was the most complex or realistic romance story anyway; it was written very quickly from a very optimistic viewpoint.) If you don't want to think like that, then this can be left unread.

This is just me tying up the loose ends.

Epilogue

Six Months Later

"Earth to Angela."

Curly waves a hand in front of Angela's face, annoyed. "You listening?"

That breaks her out of her trance. She glances up to him, startled. "Yeah, I'm listening."

But she's not. She hears the first few words of his rant about Tim's injustice, and then tunes out. She's heard this all before. Tim decided to be responsible and make them go to school, every day, on time - and so here they are, at 7:30 in the morning, leaning against the brick wall and complaining about it.

Angela already got all the complaining out of her system. By means of yelling at Tim until she was blue in the face.

Instead, her eyes focus on Ponyboy Curtis.

He's walking into school, holding hands with a pretty girl in a yellow dress that isn't too short. She's respectable, all right. Probably smart, too. She ain't a Soc, but she ain't greaser material, either. She smiles up at him and says something that's most likely very intelligent. He smiles back.

Angela wants to hate her, but she doesn't.

She and Ponyboy had a couple good months. Sweet months, where she didn't have to worry about fights and arguments. He treated her right, she basked in the newness of it all. Tim liked Ponyboy a lot, too, though he didn't show it; Angela never came home with bruises or mascara running down her face from crying.

She couldn't live like that, though. It was nice, but it wasn't her. Angela is a Shepard through and through. Wild and fiery inside, wanting adventure and a good yelling match once in a while. Calm and straightforward isn't in her nature.

Ponyboy wanted to settle down eventually, get a good job, blend into the crowd and live 'til he needed dentures. Kids. Marriage. Taxes.

Angela can't see herself like that, with Ponyboy or any boy like him. Somehow, when she looks ahead to her future, she can't picture herself past twenty-five or so. She thinks she'll burn out before then.

She told Pony that, as gently as she could. For once, she had to try not to hurt her man instead of the other way around. He looked real sad but he told her it was okay.

And that was that. No slow disintegration. No huge blow up. Simply one quick snip with a pair of scissors.

And that was how it happened.

One week later, Angela was back on the marker. Since then, she's gone through three different guys. All a tad more exciting than Ponyboy.

The one she has now is wild but not cruel. Maybe she'll stay with him. He knows how to laugh, and he doesn't care about the rules. He hasn't hurt her yet.

Or maybe that's just her wishful thinking. Maybe she'll just keep going on like this until she dies early.

She doesn't know.

All she knows is that she might have an actual life, now that Tim is shoving it down her throat. Maybe something will come out of it. Maybe not. And maybe Current Boyfriend will stick around.

In the meantime, she hopes Pony is happy.

"-I mean, he's just such a dickhead about this. This is our life, and he's fucking controlling us. He ain't our old man, he's our brother, for God's sake. School. School! Can you fucking believe it?"

Angela looks up at Curly, then back at Pony and the backpack he has stuffed full of books.

"Yes. Yes, I can."

Fin

And so it ends.

Thank you to all those who followed, favorited, and especially reviewed this story. Whether or not you were here from the start, I'm very grateful. I love hearing your thoughts and feedback; it helps me grow as a writer. I hope you enjoyed the story.

My next fic looks to be a Supernatural one about Krissy. If you're into that show, watch for it.

Thanks again, readers!