Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders by S.E Hinton, nor do I own the song "Close To Me" by The Cure.

A/N: Just a quick update. I have been posting my story in the year '65 by accident, when Dally and Johnny died in '66. I have edited the year to '67.

Sunday, April 1st, 1967

Anna and Two-Bit were taking up all of the room in a booth at the Dingo. They were popping fries in there mouths one by one, and rattling the ice in the pop as they took long sips.

"How's `bout we prank Darry?" Two-Bit suggested and took another sip of his Coke. Anna was astounded that he didn't replace the Coke with beer, or get the two of them kicked out yet. Anna thought about the gang, well, what was left of the gang. She sure was upset that Johnny and Dally were gone. They had been gone a few months, but it was still hard to wrap her head around the fact that they were gone forever. She thought about Ponyboy, her good friend that she had met in Science class. Sodapop, his older brother, was only a few months older than her. He had turned seventeen a few weeks after the passing of their good friends, and now Anna was turning seventeen in three weeks as of today. Steve was Soda's best buddy. Steve and Anna had never got along well. Anna didn't like how short tempered and opinionated Steve could get at times. Darry was just simply getting old before his age, just like her sister Katie. There really wasn't a negative thought she had about him. She pretty much thought of him as her own father, because her real father had run out on her family when she was five. And she sure as hell wouldn't think of her step-father, Dan, as anything other then a drunk fool.

When Anna didn't answer, Two-Bit piped up again, "I've got it! We can prank ol' Tim!"

Anna almost choked on her Coke. "Are you serious? No! He almost killed me when I thought it would be funny to misplace his cigarettes with Popeye candy sticks." she complained, remembering April Fools when she was fourteen. She knew that whenever Tim saw her, he remembered that incident. When he had come to her house to talk to Katie, he had been in an arrogant mood. Normally when a greaser needed to calm down, a smoke would always lessen the tension. And when he had opened his cigarette pack...well, Anna tried not to think of how angry he was after that.

Two-Bit was laughing, "Man, you oughta thank yer lucky stars you have tits. If ya didn't he woulda beat your head in," he said rather loudly. People looked over, astonished at his grammar.

She threw a golden brown fry at Two-Bit's face, and grinned as he opened his mouth for the fry to fly right in.

"Touchdown!" he shouted loudly, punching the air with his fist.

The manager and one of the waitresses came over. The waitress had a guilty look on her face, and her cheeks had turned beat red. The manager was staring at Two-Bit.

"I think it's time for you to leave," he suggested through gritted teeth.

By the look on Two-Bit's face, Anna decided to keep quiet. She knew that face anywhere. He was about to make a stupid remark that would either make the manager laugh, or just make him even angrier.

"I was jus' practicin' for my football. Coach says I'm the star quarterback," he shrugged innocently.

That comment had sent the manager's face to turn tomato red, obviously from anger.

"Get outta my restuarent, hood. Or I'll call the cops."

Anna hurried Two-Bit out of the Dingo before he started something. They started for the bus stop.

"I have an idea!" Anna shouted cheerfully, walking backwards to face him. "We can put a fish in Steve's room," she chuckled at the thought.

"That could work," he thought for a minute, "That's real bad ass, Anna, but -"

"You have a point," she admitted sheepishly.

The bus turned around the corner, and Anna began to in her pocket for money. When she pulled out only two cents, she glanced at Two-Bit and smiled sweetly. "Can I borrow some money?"

Two-Bit gave her his money, "I'll sneak on. It'll be easy."

As predicted, the plan worked. He held up a crumpled receipt and claimed it was a transfer; and the gullabel bus driver believed it. They walked to the very back of the bus, and sat down. Anna looked out the window, but couldn't concentrate with Two-Bit tapping his fingers on the seat infront of him. She assumed that he got fed up with not talking, because he opened his mouth to speak.

"Sodapop. He would be easy, and it'd be a good laugh."

He was talking about the prank they still had to come up with. "That wouldn't be very nice," she said. "He's going through a rough time with what just happened with Sandy, Johnny and Dal."

Two-Bit sighed heavily and looked forward. "They died a long time ago," he said threw clenched teeth. "Everybody's over it, even him."

Anna saw the look of anger in Two-Bit's eyes. She didn't know if he knew or not, but his eyes gave his true feelings away. It was silent for the rest of the ride home - and it was a long ride home. Anna wondered if her parents were home. Her mom, Caroline, and her step-father, Dan, had been together for a little over a year. They never even had an official wedding. The couple eloped and got married in Las Vegas, coming back months later. Katie, Anna's nineteen year old sister, had taken care of her for that short period of time. She still took good care of Anna even though Caroline and Dan were very much alive and breathing.

The bus pulled up directly infront of Anna's house - an advantage that she had - and they both got off silently. Anna desperately wondered what Two-Bit was thinking. Ponyboy had been one of her best friends for a while, and he was an open-book to her. She could understand him inside out. But Two-Bit and Pony just weren't alike, not by a longshot. Two-Bit was one of a kind.

Anna then began wondering if Two-Bit only stuck around because he had taken a sudden interest to her older sister.

"Katie ain't home," Anna informed him, taking off her sweater and letting it drop on the arm of the chair.

"Where's she?" he questioned, letting out a huff as he sat down.

"She's out with some greaser she met the other week," she said without missing a beat.

When he didn't answer, she over at him. He had just pulled a cigarette out of his leather jacket and lit it. She wanted to tell him not to smoke in her house, but she was used to it because Katie's friends smoked all the time. Katie wasn't much of a smoker.

He had an unreadable expression on his face. She thought about all of the blondes he had introduced to her. They had all obviously shown major interest in him, but he didn't treat girls very well. Not that he was abusive, but he just didn't commit when it came to relationships. He would always flirt with other blondes that he met; the occasional brunette. She inexplicably wondered if he would play the same game with Katie.

"That reminds me, I met some real good lookin' blonde tha other night. Boy howdy, I ain't never seen a girl that easy," he joked.

"Where did ya meet her?" Anna asked, just to be saying something.

She really hated being in on his bull sessions about girls. She silently thanked the Lord that at least he wasn't sharing his other stories. They literally made her want to crawl under a rug. Anna markedly thought about herself for a quick second. Two-Bit changed the girl on his mind every other second. Anna knew if she had a boyfriend, that he would be the only guy on her mind. Or even if she was interested in a guy - she would still think about him, and only him.

"The Ribbon. That's a damn rough hangout," he observed. "I tell ya. She had a nice body." he laughed at how red she got. Two-Bit enjoyed embarrassing her with his girl talk, and she knew it.

"I thought you were interested in my sister?" Anna said tiredly.

Two-Bit didn't answer. He simply shrugged, and walked to her fridge. She could hear him rummaging through it for a beer.

"Throw me a grape juice, willya?" she called to him.

As she began to stand up, a grape juice box came flying out of nowhere. Two-Bit's eyes glittered and wide grin plastered on his face, as he watched the juice splatter all over the carpet. Anna gasped and shot up. She stared down at big purple stain on the new carpet. Her step-father would be pissed - and her mother would just agree with him. Her mother never took up for her. Not for shit.

"Well," Two-Bit said cheerfully, breaking the silence. "I have a stash of Bud in yer house for times like these."

He lifted a piece of the circle carpet, and rolled it away. Anna watched in interest and fury as he lifted the piece of wood. He suddenly tossed her an ice cold beer, that she luckily caught this time.

She still horrified at the purple stain on the carpet, and didn't answer. He has a fucking stash of beer in my house?, she thought dryly. She held the ice cold beer in her shaky hands, while she thought of how angry her step-father would be. Anna glared at Two-Bit, who just have her an even bigger smile. Anna slumped down on the coach and tilted her head back. She shut her eyes and pushed the grape juice incident behind her. Two-Bit wouldn't apologize anyways.

Faintly, she could hear the chit-chatter and female giggles outside of her door. Anna settled her temper down, and glanced at the door as her sister and her Anna's best friend walked in. Katie was one of the prettiest girls she has ever seen. Anna is constantly self-conscious every time she looks at her blood related sister. She hated that her mother was strikingly beautiful, and her sister took after that.

She figured that Evie had hitched a ride with Katie, she usually did.

Katie looked at Two-Bit and smiled shyly. Anna knew for a fact that Katie had returned the interest in him. But she knew that Katie changed the boy she had a 'thing' for every other day. She thought it would be a good idea to set them up, but she was just to unsure about it to say anything. Her sister dating her best guy friend would just be plain weird.

Evie, Anna's best friend, sat on the coach next to Anna. Evie's exotic alluring eyes met hers.

"What did you and Two-Bit do?" she asked sceptically.

"S'that supposed to mean?" she asked accusingly, crossing her arms and resting them on her knees.

"Well," Evie drawled, "Since y'all became better friends, y'all have been insperable and yer pranks are dreadful. Remember last April Fools?" she cocked an eyebrow, fuming at the memory.

Anna grinned, and remembered when they had set up Evie with an eleven year old. Evie had never let Anna or Two-Bit off the hook for pulling a stunt like that. Anna thought that what Evie was saying was partially true, but she hated to agree on something when she was proven wrong. "Whatever."

Evie had already forgotten about it. "You shoulda seen Katie's date today. He was a real mess. Katie ditched him. Said she was goin' to the bathroom," Evie cracked up.

Anna laughed, and looked at Katie and Two-Bit. They were hitting it off perfectly fine.

"Alright," Katie announced, grabbing her purse from the door handle. "I gotta get goin'. I've got a job interview. I'll see y'all later."

Anna didn't think that it was fair that Katie was only nineteen and working her ass off. She already had one job, why get two? Anna thought of Darry, Pony's gaurdian and older brother. He worked mighty hard too. With juggling two jobs, and two teenage brothers, he hardly had any time for a social life. She remembered when he had been voted Boy of the Year at Will Rogers a good two years back. Anna thought facetiously that Darry and Katie made more sense then Two-Bit and Katie. Their personalities fit together like puzzle pieces.

Once Katie left the house, Two-Bit winked at Anna. "We're goin' out on a date," he grinned.

"Way to go, champ." Evie smirked, obviously uninterested in Two-Bit's love life with her best friends sister.

"I gotta get goin' though," he said, getting up.

"Where too?" Anna asked soundlessly.

Two-Bit gave her an bizarre look, "Pro'lly gonna hunt up a poker game."

Anna sat there and nodded in a solemn manner. She looked over at Evie, who shoved the money in her pocket that had fallen out. "I've gotta head out too. Steve's waitin' for me."

Anna didn't like being alone. It scared her to be alone, mostly emotionally. Anna had no idea why it frightened her to be alone, but she just felt uneasy and uncomfortable. "Is the house near Ponyboy's?" she questioned Two-Bit. She heard the gentle sound of the front door click, and Evie was gone.

"Why?" he winked. "Are ya in'erested in him? `Cause ya know, I can set y'all up."

Anna glowered at him, "No."

She couldn't help the roll of her eyes. She couldn't help but smile at the stupid expression on Two-Bit's face.

"Remember," she said as they walked out of her house. Anna set down the beer, and let it noisily roll over. She leaned on the doorframe and tangled her fingers together, oddly nervous. "We've still gotta come up with a kick ass prank."

Two-Bit took a smoke out of his back pocket, and cupped his hand around it to prevent the benign wind from blowing the fire out. He let the smoke droop loosely between his lips as he spoke. "Actually, prankin' Stevie would be a good idea."

Anna thought about it. "It's still early," she told him, "Meet me at DX when Steve's shift would be almost over. At four, `cause his shift's over at 5."

Two-Bit reluctantly smiled, "If I don't get to boozed up I'll try."

Before Anna knew it, she was standing out front of Ponyboy's house. She rattled open the gate, and winced as it screamed open. "I'll see you later tonight," she said softly.

He nodded, and nonchalantly waved his hand. She looked back at him for a second, but his back was turned and all she could see was his leather jacket. She slammed the gate shut, and came up the three steps of Ponyboy's house. She entered the house and looked around for the gang. He was the only one home. Pony simply gave her a small grin, and continued writing something. She sat in the chair beside him, and silently watched him do his homework.

XXXXX

Two-Bit had plans to hunt up a local poker game, or even cause a brawl. His typical Sunday usually consisted of that sort of stuff. He walked slowly, and kicked a broken glass bottle that had obviously been used for self-defence. Hence it was only the end, and the sharp edges were painted with blots of dry blood.

As he looked up to see where he was heading, he grinned and jutted his chin to the River Kings. The leader, Ricky Forsyth, was the first to notice him. As he spotted Two-Bit, he departed from his gang and shook his hand. "So man, who was that fine broad you was walkin' with?"

Two-Bit was confused for a split second, before realising Ricky was asking about Anna. "My friend," he replied, shrugging and getting a manly slap on the back from Ricky. The boys all stopped talking and clued in on their conversation.

"Ain't she Katie Mercer's kid sister?" Ricky's right hand man, Matt Harris, asked. Two-Bit studied him and then remembered that Matt used to date Katie. They had broken up because Matt had cheated on her multiple times. He had felt a little bad that she found out infront of everybody. She had been pretty broken up about it; but he really didn't know what to think of it or how to comfort her. Katie didn't cry, she just slapped Matt and got over it quickly. So he stayed out of it.

Two-Bit nodded, cocking his eyebrow. "What's it to you?" he asked, getting a little defensive. Anna Mercer was a really good kid, and he didn't want her to get involved with greasy hoods like Ricky or Matt. Nonetheless any greasy hood.

Ricky just gave him a look that made Two-Bit want to slug him. Any other girl, that wasn't Anna, and Two-Bit would even try to set them up. But Ricky just wasn't a good guy, and he never was. He was decent to the girls in the first few days of there 'relationship' - if you could even call it that - then things went downhill from there. It made no sense that he was always the dumper.

"We still down for the poker game?" he changed the subject.

"Na," Matt answered, "We're gonna go down to Soc territory and cause some shit for April Fools. You up for that?"

Two-Bit grinned ear-to-ear, "You know it."

They walked to down to the Soc side of town. Two-Bit looked around and went wide-eyed at the huge houses. He looked over at a bunch of junior high kids who didn't looked scared to get jumped. On the greaser side of town, the kids knew to be careful. They knew the score. Compared to the greasers' souped up cars, Socs had some pretty decent cars that Two-Bit would kill for. Though he adored his Plymouth, the tuff Mustangs and Corvettes were making him insanely jealous. The girls were real good lookin' too, he had to admit. They were all dressed fancy and had there skirts and dresses a decent length.

He began to walk a bit faster and brushed past Ricky and Matt. He heard Matt jingle his car keys, and began to draw and scratch all over a tuff looking Corvair. Two-Bit winced at the screeching sound, but laughed after. He laughed a bitter, hard, grim laugh.

Two-Bit took out his switchblade and messed around with it. He twirled and spun the blade then at a sudden breath, the blade flicked out. He turned it in the sunlight, and caught a glimpse of the crazed look in his eye. He walked over to the same car Matt had just been messing around with.

Not thinking straight, but only thinking of his buddies, he took the knife and stabbed it into the tire. Damn them for everything, he thought, everything is their fault. He thought about the time he had went to the movies with Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dally when Tim had been looking for Dally. Dally had been infamous for slashing tires.

Two-Bit stabbed into the tire and made four seperate slashes in the two tires. He made four in the front right tire, and four in the back right tire. Before he could go any further, they all stopped.

"Shit!" Ricky cursed, and punched a nearby tree. The gang, including Two-Bit, all looked up to see a cop car heading down the street. Two-Bit casually pushed his blade back into his pocket and hoped to hell they didn't see him. The one rule to his outfit was: don't get caught. He cursed himself for hanging out with Matt and Ricky in the first place. Sure he did some pretty stupid things, but he was really pissed at himself for getting caught. Especially by the fuzz.

"Mathews, Harris, Forsyth," the cop nodded to the three boys, recognizing them. The cops assistant waved the rest of the gang out, and it was only the three boys who stood there. They were all slouched, and had there thumbs hitched in the pockets of their pants. "We got a call of complaint," he explained, writing something on his notepad. "Anyone wanna fess up to what happened?"

"We were just havin' a little illegal fun, officer," Two-Bit explained, trying his best to sneak his way out of going to jail for the night. He knew that he would have to go to jail for at least one night, then his old lady would have to pick him up and sign some paperwork before he could leave.

"Right," he muttered, "Who all was responsible?"

They all looked at eachother, but figured telling the truth was the least they could do. They had already been spotted, so they just shrugged. "Me," Matt said, rolling his eyes as the assistant put him in the back of the police car.

"I ain't did nothin' officer," Ricky held his hands up innocently.

Two-Bit rolled his eyes and walked to the car with his hands behind his back. He sat next to Matt, and watched Ricky fool the cops like it was his own mother. When Ricky was dismissed, he nodded to them and walked out of the Soc side. Two-Bit thought about Johnny and Dally again. Would they have been more careful? Would they have gotten away with it? Hell, would they have even done it in the first place? He knew for sure that Dally would, but he wasn't sure Johnny would have. Two-Bit rolled his eyes. He had probably just been tested by someone, or something. Tested to be sure that he was responsible enough. Of course he hadn't passed the 'test'. He wasn't responsible. Nobody in the Mathews family was.

He then suddenly wondered if Anna would be mad that he wasn't going to be at DX. He silently kicked himself. Ricky knew who she was, where she lived, and was interested in her.

God, he couldn't wait to get out of jail.

It's only when you're tested that you truly discover who you are. And it's only when you're tested that you discover who you can be. The person that you want to be does exist, and somewhere in the other side of hard work and faith, and belief and beyond, is the heartache and fear of what life has.