Chapter One

"That was great."

"I know." Marilyn huffed, already rolling out of the dingy bed.

"Wait, you're leaving now?" he whined. She couldn't remember his name if her life depended on it, honestly, after a while all of them really just started to blend together.

"Yes, we're done here, aren't we?" Marilyn put her statement of fact in the form of a question only for the benefit of the stranger whose bed she had just occupied for a disappointing amount of time. She was just trying to be nice and give him a little bit of power, especially after that poor performance she had just witnessed.

"It's not even ten baby, ain't there a chance of round two?" he said sleazily, barely able to speak through the twelve bottles of beer he had to chug down to help grow a pair of balls so he could hit on Marilyn in the first place. He lurched out at her from across the bed making a messy attempt at grabbing her wrist to stop her from leaving. Marilyn easily brushed off his greasy fingers and laughed lightly.

"Please, you barely made it through the first round. Besides, you'd be one lucky bastard to ever get with me again. You will have some nice bragging rights though, from looks of you and your pals you did this on a dare, and I am so, so, far out of your league." Marilyn told him a little cockily while putting on her other shoe. She thought it would be nice to give him the same thing he just gave her.

"They were right, you are a bitch." He spat at her, barely staying conscious.

"Then why'd you wanna sleep with me so bad, champ?" She asked him with her eyebrows raised, "Night, night." Marilyn smiled smugly and patted him on the head like a dog. The last thing she saw before she slammed the door behind her was the flustered look on his face and the glint of the dull lamp light bouncing off the drool dripping from of the corner of his mouth.

She began the walk over to her friend's house, it was dark but she had never really minded that anyway. And, conveniently, it was only a block away from the house she had just left, which may have been the only reason she accepted an offer from a guy that drunk. Normally after a night that ended so annoyingly early she would just go out again and try for a double hitter but her friend's birthday was a few days ago and she knew she had to go see her, plus she was having some kind of boy related crisis too, attention had to be paid. Jill had formally forbidden Marilyn from going to her house for some unknown reason which was why Marilyn had neglected her real birthday, but apparently turning sixteen and having boy trouble was just too much to handle. Jill had called an emergency meeting for the occasion.

When Marilyn arrived Jill was already waiting expectantly out on the front porch for her.

"What took you so long?!" Jill hissed at her.

"Actually, nothing was long tonight at all." Marilyn smirked, silently laughing at her own joke.

"Are you kidding me? Are you seriously making penis jokes right now?" Jill snapped, she said the word 'penis' like she was trying to chew up Satan and spit him out. Jill always flipped flopped about how she felt about Marilyn's so called 'way of life'. Sometimes she was totally and completely accepting of it, but for the majority of the time Jill did anything and everything she could to try and beat the devil out of Marilyn.

"Oh calm down Jill," Marilyn rolled her eyes and reached into her pocket for a smoke.

"No!" Jill retorted smacking the pack of cigarettes out of Marilyn's hand. "You will not smoke. You will not make sex jokes." This was the first time that she had ever allowed Marilyn to come over to her house even after being friends for so long. It was just that Marilyn had been the "first time" to a lot of other people. She loved Marilyn to death but she also knew very well of her reputation, there really wasn't a way not to. Jill had three older brothers and they had friends that weren't always exactly on the right side of the law, so she knew they would be alright with that aspect of Marilyn. It wasn't necessarily everything that Marilyn was doing that Jill was worried about; it was everyone that she was doing that was the problem. To say that Jill's brothers were over-protective was an understatement. She knew that they would think Marilyn was a bad influence on her. Of course she could be around people that smoked and stole and fought, but God forbid she hangs out with someone who has sex. Plus Jill didn't want the issue of Marilyn and one of her brothers doing it. Too many things could go wrong if that ever happened and Jill was determined to prevent it. "And you will not, under any circumstances, sleep with any of the people who are at my house right now."

"Not even you?" Marilyn asked, giving her friend a wink.

Jill closed her eyes and sighed impatiently, but after a moment Marilyn saw a small spark of smile creep across her face.

"What am I ever gonna do with you Mar?" Jill asked, shaking her head but still not able to keep the smile off her face.

"No one will ever be able to tame me kid, you know that!" Marilyn joked, she wrapped her arm around Jill's shoulders and laughed.

"I know, I know!" Jill put her arms ups in surrender and joined in Marilyn's laughter. "But seriously, can you promise that you won't seduce any of brothers? Or their friends?" Jill turned serious again, now crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"I have to see 'em before I can make that promise." Marilyn smiled.

Jill kept her arms crossed and raised her eyebrows at her friend, giving what Marilyn called the 'I mean business' look.

"Okay, okay… I promise." Marilyn sighed before linking pinkies with Jill. The off-limits zone had finally been opened and Marilyn was more excited than she expected, it felt like she was finally going to solve an incredible mystery with one unanswerable question. Are any of Jill's brothers hot?

She hadn't taken her second step into the house and immediately Marilyn heard a low whistle come from the far side of the living room.

"Shut up Steve!" Jill lashed out, as if she could smack Steve on the nose with a rolled up newspaper with her words. She was regretting this already, if she had to act like a human shield for Marilyn she would.

"I just wanted to meet your new friend Jilly, what's wrong with that?" Steve was completely full of it but kept his lie going by getting up off the couch. "My name's Steve, what's yours?" he asked, directing the question at Marilyn's chest. She was wearing a tight black leather jacket with an even tighter white tank top underneath that didn't leave much to imagination.

"I'm sorry, are those wear her eyes are now?" Jill whacked him with the newspaper again. He smiled sheepishly at Marilyn, shot a mean glare at Jill and sat grumpily back down. "Everybody, this is Marilyn. Marilyn, this is everybody. Now let's go to my room, bye everyone!" She said speaking as fast as she could and grabbing at Marilyn's hand, desperately trying to get her out of the living room.

Marilyn would later learn that other than Steve, Jill had three other friends there: Johnny, Two-Bit, and Dally, and two brothers: Ponyboy and Soda. She recognized each of them vaguely, greasers were a pretty tight-knit group when push came to shove, which is exactly what was going on when she saw them at the occasional rumbles. She also knew that Dallas was Jill's trial boyfriend, and she happily took note that unlike Steve he kept his eyes averted from her bosom. Especially knowing the infamous Dallas Winston's reputation, which was not unlike her own, she was impressed with his dedication to monogamy. Of course they had only been together for a few days, but for Jill's sake Marilyn had high hopes for Dallas.

"Hang on." Jill's third older brother Darry said, holding up his hand like a little red stop sign. It was such an easy gesture but he did it with such confidence and control Marilyn almost thought he could stop time if he wanted to. Jill sighed, she was only a foot away from her room but she turned around slowly with Marilyn in tow, exasperated and defeated. "Darrel Curtis," he stated, extending his hand to Marilyn. It looked like she had found the answer to her question, the answer being: hell yes!

"Marilyn Montgomery," She returned the handshake and the two of them lingered there just long enough to make Jill feel the worst combination of nervous and furious there ever was.

"I know who are." Darry grunted. He crossed his arms the way Jill always did when she was trying to look stern, but when he did it his biceps screamed trying to escape from his form fitting black t-shirt and his lips pursed in just the right way and his eyes seemed to see right through her tough-girl façade, making her feel vulnerable in a way she never had before… and his hair… oh God, did his hair always look like that? She hoped so…

Marilyn was forcefully wrenched back into reality as she began to realize that Jill and Darrel were still waiting for her to respond. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit… was all she could think as she tried to find her way back to the real world. What was happening? Muscles, lips, eyes, hair… Marilyn gulped.

"So you've heard of me?" Marilyn leaned forward and placed a hand on his arm, regaining her confidence and composing herself into prime flirting form. Jill reached out and pinched Marilyn as hard as she could to get her attention. She prayed it was a 'don't sleep with my brother' pinch not a 'what just happened to you?' pinch. When Marilyn looked back Jill narrowed her eyes and shook her head. Marilyn contained her relief and gave Jill a reassuring nod.

"It's very nice to meet you, sir." Marilyn diverted her gaze from Darrel before zipping her jacket all the way up to her neck.

"Right, let me talk to my sister for just one minute." Darry said before grabbing Jill's arm and pulling her into the kitchen.

"You cannot be friends with her." Darry told Jill, using his 'assertive' voice.

"A little too late for that, don't you think?" Jill squeaked. Her voice always got high when she got nervous. Standing up to Darry wasn't too hard when she was the sympathetic baby sister with three insane older brothers. And standing up to Marilyn wasn't hard after actually getting to know her, which most people didn't take the time to do. However, facing Darry with a Marilyn-related problem was a completely new experience for Jill, and the combination of two of the most stubborn and strong-willed people she had ever known was what made her sound like she was sucking helium.

"Jill, do even know what girls like her do?"

At this Jill's nervousness went out the window, Darry always treated her like she was a five year old nun with a purity ring on every single one of her fingers. It constantly got on her nerves but with her new boyfriend in tow and the introduction of Marilyn it was time for Darry to get over it. "What, sex?!" She threw the forbidden word back in his face. "Yes, Darry, I know that Marilyn has sex, and lots of it for that matter! Everybody knows that, but it doesn't make her a bad person. Just because you don't have a sex life doesn't mean my friends can't, and it definitely doesn't mean I can't!"

Okay, so maybe Jill had pushed that just a little bit too far, but he kind of deserved it, right?

"Excuse me?" Darry roared, opening his mouth so wide it looked like he could have bit Jill's head off.

Jill figured she was already beyond the point of no return so why not just go all the way?

"Sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex, sex! Watcha gonna do Darry?" Jill copied Darry's stance, planting her feet with her fists firmly set on her hips.

Darry took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingertips. Jill lifted her chin in triumph, for the first time in history someone had broken Darry. She knew if she was any of the guys Darry would have beaten her to a pulp already, but she was the girl so she had won, which may not have been totally fair, but Jill took it for all it was worth.

"Can you just tell me how you two met in the first place? Or really any story about her that will give me some shred of hope that I can actually trust you with her." Darry bargained, not wanting to drop the subject but having no idea how to recover after Jill's little outburst.

"Actually, how we met is the absolute perfect example of why you should be okay with our friendship."

Jill walked quickly down the street, moving her feet as rapidly as she could and clutching her school books to her chest. She felt like an idiot and had taken a wrong turn getting home and did not like where she had ended up. She wanted to be in the slums, surrounded by open switch blades, broken bottles, and red hot cigarettes, where she was safe. The pristine buildings of the south side seemed to loom over her, daring her to fight after she had crossed the boundary into enemy territory. She kept her head down, and sped her feet up more, she knew running would only draw more attention but if she could fly to get out of this neighborhood she would. Suddenly she saw a pair of brand new shiny leather shoes in front of her and she stopped dead in her tracks. The stranger reached out his hand and lifted her chin.

"I haven't seen you around here before." He grinned wickedly at her. Jill was only fourteen and had never been more terrified in her life. Her brothers had taught her how to fight of course, but she kept to herself when she was out alone and if she was with her brothers they would always take care of it and just tell her to scram. It was easy to feel in charge when she was surrounded by the guys twenty-four-seven but she had never felt more lost in her life alone in this moment.

"Why don't you come with me, I can get to know you a little better." He said, stroking the side of her cheek, making her want to retch all over those fancy shoes.

"No." Jill said taking tentative a step back.

"Come on, we could have a lot of fun." He smiled again, and then grabbed her arm, yanking her back towards him.

"No." Jill said again, just a little louder. She tried to pull away but that only made him hold on more tightly. "Let go! Please!" She begged. All the voices in her head were telling her to fight back but she feared that it would only make him angrier and her chances of winning after that were slim, if that.

"You'll be fine, just calm down, alright!" He yelled at her. Jill began to think that if she struggled enough he would consider it too much trouble and let her be. She was trying to think of a strategy as best she could when her thoughts got interrupted by a new variable in the situation.

"Get off of her, you rat." A female voice came from behind Jill.

"Why do you care?" The boy sneered, still keeping most of his energy focused on Jill.

"I said let go of her." The voice said again, sounding more dangerous the second time around.

"Why don't you make me?" He threatened; however, those words were dipped in a thick coat of sarcasm, making Jill think that he didn't consider the other girl to be much of a threat at all.

"Okay." The voice came again, this time it sounded easy-going, almost nonchalant. Jill was confused, the girl's words said that she was getting ready to fight, but the tone of her voice made Jill worry that her rescuer had given up before even trying to save her. Well, she didn't have to worry long, the first thing Jill ever saw of Marilyn was her fist flying into the side of that guy's jaw. Jill heard a satisfying crack and he stumbled to the ground, a large imprint of a ring on his face. Jill saw that imprint bleed and realized that along with an already darkening bruise he also had a huge gash running down from his cheek to his chin.

"I'll get you for that!" He shot at her, he spat blood onto Jill's shoes before getting up and running around the corner.

"Thanks, for that…"Jill told the girl. She was significantly taller than Jill with long wavy blonde hair and piercing green eyes.

"No problem. That guy is such a creep, even I wouldn't do it with him." She said, smiling. "My name's Marilyn, what's yours?" She asked, holding out her hand to shake.

"Jill."

Jill broke out of her reverie after telling Darry her story.

"What the hell?! Why wouldn't you tell me about that Jill? You know I would've taken care of him for you." Darry looked like he could kill.

"But you didn't have to because Mary did! She's a good person! I swear Darry, please, just give her chance" Jill pleaded, not knowing what else she could do to convince him.

"Yeah, yeah… I guess. I still don't like it though."

"But she can stay?" Jill asked, hopeful.

"Yeah, sure." Darry told his sister, feeling defeated. Jill gave him a quick hug then went back into the living room.

"Come on Mary, let's go to my room." Jill called to her friend. She was so relieved that all the drama was over so she could go talk to Marilyn about all the other drama that had been going down lately.

"Mary, isn't that an ironic nickname?" Jill heard one of the boys say as they walked out of the room.

"Those guys are nice." Marilyn told Jill once she had closed the door to her bedroom. She wished she could say something that wasn't quite as lame as 'nice', but if she said anything more about what she thought about the guys it would only be about one guy in particular. Marilyn didn't think that Jill would be too thrilled to find out that she might already have the hots for one of her brothers.

"Guys are always nice to you." Jill countered.

"Well then they were nicer than all those other guys. But enough about them, let's get to the good stuff!" Marilyn exclaimed, she pulled a small pink bottle from the inside pocket of her jacket.

"What is it?" Jill asked, looking confused. She took it from her friend and read the label. It was something in French that she couldn't understand.

"It's perfume. I thought with this boy you told me about it would make a very practical birthday present."

"That's so sweet Mary! I'll have to try it out." Jill gave Marilyn a devious wink and placed the bottle on top of her dresser.

"Speaking of that boy… What did you think of Dally?" Jill questioned eagerly, unable to keep herself from blushing wildly.

"Out of all the older guys he was the only one who didn't try to hit on me. He did a wonderful job of keeping his eyes on his shoes, you should be proud."

"Really? That's great!" Jill sighed with relief. Marilyn got every single guy she wanted, and Dally wasn't known for having a steady girlfriend either, Jill was terrified that they would be the perfect one night stands for each other and she would be left behind in the dust. She was so relieved to find out that Dally was being faithful, even when it came to just flirting with other girls.

"Yup, you found a good one, kid." Marilyn ruffled her hair. They talked for hours about Dally and how great he was, and what advice Marilyn had, and how Jill had never felt this way before… Marilyn thought it was all very sweet, she was so happy for Jill, she just wished that the happiness wasn't paired with the jealously she felt for Jill when Marilyn realized she had never experienced anything like this and probably never would.