Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy my story and more chapters are coming!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders, but I do own this story and the jelly donuts!

Christmas, Contempt, and Compassion

Darry's POV:

This was gonna be one heck of a Christmas. Mom and Dad have been dead 4 months and now I'm in charge of my 2 brothers and pretty much their 4 friends. They're my friends too, practically brothers, but with all my work I barely get to spend much time with them. I work 2 shifts a day and my 2nd youngest brother, Soda, is always telling me to take a break. Little does he know that:

I hate work as much as he does…and trust me, that's a lot.

It's mainly my work that keeps him alive…he can be lazy, I'll be honest.

I'm 20, 4 years older than him, and I wanna have as much fun as he does!

You're probably wondering about my other brother I take care of. Oh, don't get me started on that kid. Ponyboy, my youngest, 14-year old brother, gives me an unbelievable abount of stress. That kid always walks by himself and never uses his head, a perfect equal to writing "Come kick me" on his forehead! Although, he does well in school…go figure. He wonders why I yell at him…he can figure that one out on his own.

Anyway, it's Christmas Eve and my buddies are coming over soon. Everytime we hang out, something bad usually happens. Here are some recent accidents:

Last week, we had jelly donuts and Dally was being a moron and squeezing the jelly out everywhere. He projectile squeezed it and it landed in Steve's eye! So we had to rush him to the ER. Yeah, I know…wow.

On Thursday, we walked past a lake and Soda and Steve were messing around near the water. To make a long story short, Steve pushed Soda into the lake and Soda got tangled in a bunch of algae. 2 hours later, we got him free.

Yeah, you understand why I'm nervous now. I don't trust most of my gang around lights, fire, water, or anything sharp. We have all of those things at our house, so I'm real worried. Oh, one of them is here now.

"Hola, mi amigo!"

"Hi, Steve, I didn't know you knew that much Spanish."

"Yeah, Senora Martinez made me start comin' to tutoring. I've got a 47% in that class!"

"Is that the improvement?"

"Yeah!"

"Good job, Steve?"

"Thanks, Dare! Where's Soda?"

"In his room."

"Alright," Steve replied and as soon as he went upstairs, I heard screaming, crashing, and the word "stalker!"

I had to smile. Soda and Steve loved any competition or physical fighting, but were best friends 'til death…maybe longer. Then the doorbell rang again.

"Hey, hey, hey, Darr-ay!"

"Hi, Two-Bit."

"What's goin' on 'round this place?"

"Nothing…for once," I muttered, "But it won't last!"

"Ha! So true!"

"There's pie, if you want some

Two-Bit said nothing, but his eyes lit up. He rushed to the kitchen and yelled, "Yes, apple!" Two-Bit is awfully obsessive about beer, sugar, and sometimes…both. It honestly scares me sometimes 'cause he gets sugar-high a lot! I heard a loud bang, it was the door.

"Hi, guys," I said.

"Hey, Darry…I was at the lot," Ponyboy assured me.

"Uh huh," I said, honestly uninterested.

Him and Johnny walked in. Johnny and Ponyboy were like Steve and Soda, but they didn't hurt each other. I don't know what they did actually. Johnny was shy and nervous as heck, but he talked a lot with Ponyboy. It was funny actually, he's 16, but looks 14 and Ponyboy's 14, but looks 16. It made me laugh.

"What's so funny?" a familiar voice asked.

"Oh, nothing. Hey, Dally, how'd you get through the front door?"

"I didn't come through the front."

"Well, how'd you…?

"Ummmm…garage?"

"Oh, but it's not open?"

"It is now!" he replied impatiently.

"There's pie…" I suggested.

"Not anymore," he said, glancing at Two-Bit stuffing his face into the pie.

"Great, happy holidays," I muttered. Things could only get worse, I thought, and I knew I was right.