Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own the Outsiders. I own Adrian, Brennan, and Bryan.

"Everyone, you will need to read pages 220- 234 and do questions 1-5 for both sections over the weekend. Class dismissed," The teacher called out to his class as they began to pack up their belongings and rush out of the classroom as fast as they could, rejoicing the end of the school day and creating plans for the weekend ahead of them.

Ponyboy Curtis laughed quietly to himself, twenty years ago he was in the same position as his students and he certainly had no idea that he would be in the front of the classroom teaching them English. He sat down at his desk and slowly began to gather the tests and papers he would be grading over the weekend. He took a moment to glance at the pictures that lined the front of his desk; one photo was of his wife, another of his two little boys, and an older picture of him and his brothers when they were young.

Ponyboy grabbed the photograph by its frame and held it in front of him for a while. The photograph pictured him, Darry, and Soda twenty years ago. They had their arms around each other's shoulders and happy smiles reflected off their faces. The memory of taking the photograph brought a bitter-sweet smile to his face, they had taken the picture about a month before Soda was drafted and went to Vietnam, only to never return.

His thoughts and memories were brought to a screeching halt the moment he heard a soft knock at the door. He looked up to see one of his students, Adrian Riddle, at his door.

"You wanted to see me, Mr. Curtis," she asked quietly, tucking a sandy brown curl behind her ear and taking a step into the classroom.

"Yes, Ms. Riddle. Please take a seat," Ponyboy smiled and motioned for her to sit in the desk directly in front of his.

Adrian obeyed, making her way to the indicated desk. She set her books and backpack down before sliding behind the desk.

"I was just wondering if you were all right, Ms. Riddle, you were absent for a majority of this week," Ponyboy asked the student, seeing her expression sadden a bit.

Adrian was what his other students would call a 'nerd'. Her outfits were somewhat similar to what he would wear when he was her age; t-shirts and jeans seemed to be her style, the exception that she wore glasses. She was also very focused on her studies, unlike the social life and fashions her peers were concerned with.

He thought about this for the few minutes that Adrian stayed quiet; looking down at the books on her desk and adjusting the oversized, dark denim jacket she was wearing. She finally sighed and looked up at him. "To be honest, Mr. Curtis, I'm not all right. This week has been, well, very hard to get through…"

"May I ask what happened?"

Adrian looked down at her books again, her hand clenched around the oversized sleeve of the denim jacket. "My…" Her voice cracked slightly, so she forced herself to take a deep breath before continuing, "My best friend, uh, passed away earlier this week."

Ponyboy saw the pain in her now tear-filled eyes as she met his and knew the pain that she felt. He could only bring himself to say, "I'm very sorry for your loss, Ms. Riddle."

Adrian shook her head and turned her gaze to look out the window before absent-mindedly saying, "It's just not fair, y'know? I just lost my parents a little less than a year ago, and then Brennan got into a car accident Friday and he passed away on Sunday… I was with him when he died, and there was nothing I could do to keep him alive… I never saw him so helpless before, his life just slowly slipping away like a fistful of sand..." A single tear rolled down her cheek, but she quickly brushed it away and returned her gaze to her desk. "Sorry," She muttered quietly, "I didn't mean to just lose it and ramble like that."

"Don't worry about it, I know that this situation you've been thrown in doesn't seem fair… but that's the way life is sometimes," Ponyboy tried to think of the right words to explain, very unsure if there was anything he could say to console her, "Trust me, it gets better though."

"Get real, Mr. Curtis," Adrian answered quietly, shaking her head in disbelief of what her teacher was trying to tell her, but it was more in the pain of loss than in anger. "What do you know about what I've gone through? How do you know that it'll get better?"

"I know because I've been in your shoes," Ponyboy explained calmly, reaching into his one of his desk drawers and retrieving a composition book that sat next to his beloved copy of Gone with the Wind. He stood up and walked over to Adrian, notebook in hand, "In fact, I'm pretty sure this can explain it better than I can."

Ponyboy handed Adrian, who took the old and frail notebook carefully, observing the faded image of a sunset emblazoned on it before setting it down with her other books gently. "You can read it over the weekend, just return it to me on Monday. I'm here for you if you ever need anything, Adrian."

"Thanks, Mr. Curtis," Adrian replied in a soft tone, having calmed herself down a bit. "I'm sorry that I exploded on you."

"It's not a big deal."

Adrian glanced up at the clock in the classroom, and suddenly became angry with herself. "Shit, sorry Mr. Curtis but I gotta jet. Bryan's waiting for me at the elementary school."

"Watch the language," Ponyboy warned before he waved to Adrian as she ran out the door. He then turned to his own desk, gathering the rest of his belongings from his desk. He wasn't looking forward to having to try ro resolve the argument he had with his wife that morning, but he was looking forward to being able to at least spend sometime with his sons this weekend.

Author's Note- 11/26/11

I know, I've been gone a long time thanks to school. But I'm back for a bit with this story, which will unfortunately only consist of three parts. Please tell me what you think. :D

Thank you benignmilitancy for your critique and pointers, they help make stories great! :)