A few days later, Katie decided it was time for a break. Soda had been all over her lately and Pony tried his best to not look jealous, but she can tell he was. He really was. She sat down in a secluded room away from the other prisoners. She wasn't so sure if seeing him was a good idea, but the two haven't spoken since the trial, which felt like ages ago.

"Surprise to see you here." She glanced up meeting the eyes of Marcus. He sat down across from her with a small grin. "What brings you here?"

"I just needed a place to think." She returned his grin. Her brother looked okay.

"And you thought prison was a good place to do so?"

Katie let out a strangles snicker. "Or more like a person to talk to."

Marcus studied his sister. Her eyes were pointed down, looking at her hands and she let her brown her cover most of her face. "Something wrong, Katie?"

Finally, she snapped. "Those Curtis are driving me insane, Brother!" She leaned forward, scaring Marcus with her wide eyes.

"O-kay? What'd they do?" Katie frantically told Marcus of the events the past few days.

She told him about how Soda would always show affection and would eye his younger brother every time he did so. She told him about Ponyboy not knowing who to like and everything else going on in their house. When she was finished, Marcus only laughed.

"Sounds like Soda's trying to hook you up with his little brother." His grin widened.

"What do you mean?" Katie sat back down, fixing her clothing.

"Well, about a year ago, I did the same thing with Austin. See, he liked this one girl. Lets call her girl number 1. So he liked her, right? But he also had a crush on another call, and we'll call her girl number 2. When girl number one and two were together in the same place with him, Austin liked girl number 1, but I knew he really liked girl number 2. So, to make him realize that, I started going out with girl number 2. Needless to say, Austin always looked like he wanted to slit my throat. So instead of focusing on his girl, he started to plot his revenge. Before it got worse, I told him my plan and everything worked out in the end."

"You mean Austin and that girl you were dating got together?" Marcus nodded. "So what you're saying, is that Soda's after me to make Ponyboy realize he likes me and not Cherry?" Marcus nodded again. "What a sly little Mr. Universe."

Marcus frowned at that insult. "Mr. what?"

But Katie was in her own world. "But wait, isn't that like forcing his little brother?"

"I didn't think it was. It was rather cute seeing Austin flustered." Katie imagined her abusive big brother all embarrassed by Marcus. "By the way," she glanced up to face a serious Marcus, "if they do anything to you, just let me know."

Katie nodded in understanding. "Thank you." She slowly stood up, fixing her clothing. "Well I better go. The guys are probably worried about me."

Marcus stood as well. He laid a hand on his little sister's shoulder accompanied with a soft smile. "It was good to see you, kiddo."

"Good to see you, too, Brother." She slowly advanced towards him and wrapped her arms around her brother's form. "I'll see you soon."

When Katie stepped through the door of the Curtis house, she immediately spotted Ponyboy talking to Cherry in the kitchen. They looked like they were having a time of their lives laughing. She was reluctant to take another step if it weren't for Soda who pushed her in. He pretended to not see his brother and his date.

"Oh, sorry, Pony. Didn't know you got your lady friend over." He smirked at them. "If you don't mind, tell Darry I'm takin' miss pretty eyes over here out to lunch. See ya kid!" He waved goodbye and dragged the younger girl away. Katie could hear Ponyboy yelling how that was a terrible idea.

They walked for a while out of the neighborhood and into the streets. Soda walked with hands stuffed in his jean pockets and eyes on the road. He had on a playful smirk. "So where'd you disappear off to this morning? Darry said you were gonna visit someone."

Katie followed his gaze and watched as cars passed by. "I went off to see Marcus."

Soda stopped dead in his tracks. "What? Why'd you wanna see that jerk? Don't you remember what he gone did to you?"

"Yes I remember. But you and Ponyboy have been driving me crazy the past few days I needed an outside source to tell me what's going on." she continued walking, waiting for him to catch up to her.

Soda asked what she and her brother talked about and Katie told him. Katie told him how he and his younger brother were making her lose her mind in an instant and how she needed someone to vent out to and give me advice that wasn't biased. Then she told him how Marcus found out about his little game.

He gave her a soft chuckle. "So that bastard's figured me out, eh? You ain't gonna tell Ponyboy 'bout it, are ya?"

"Maybe."

Soda abruptly stopped. "You can't tell him! My plain ain't gonna work if you tell him."

"Fine. Then you're going to stop with this flirting with me. It's annoying and it's mean to Ponyboy."

He sighed and gave in. Soda sulked on the way to DQ and while they ate lunch. He really thought that her and his little brother looked better than Pony and Cherry. Besides, Cherry was a rich kid and saw them greasers differently. He was so close to breaking Ponyboy, if it weren't for Katie ruining his plan.

Ponyboy's House:

Soda dragged Katie away so quickly the youngest brother didn't have time to protest. He hated seeing the two together, even with Cherry around. The redhead noticed her friend's change in atmosphere.

"You ain't jealous, are you?" She asked. Ponyboy denied it.

"Soda's been all over Katie for days and it's annoying." He glanced out the window to see his brother disappear into town with Katie.

"Oh so you are jealous." Cherry gave her friend a soft smile. "Why don't you just let her know that me and you are just friends?"

That sentence made Ponyboy glance up at the girl in surprise. "Friends?"

"Yeah, friends. Even if you and me are okay, we're still different." Of course, Cherry just had to remind him of their social status. But he remembered. It was strange to him, thought, because Katie was rich, too. Yet, Cherry considered her to be in the same social status as Ponyboy.

And just like that, the youngest Curtis fell out of love.

Hey Guys! Sorry for the late update and sorry if this chapter was baaaddd... It started off okay, then I got distracted badly. So I tried my best to write the rest of it before I got major writer's block... Hope you guys like it! Love and all, AIR