True love is something I never knew I could find. I knew that I could "fall in love" with guys for brief amounts of time, but never have a real, true love. My best friends were true love, which was for sure. Still, I never thought I could have a romantic true love.

You see, I've liked plenty of guys, if you consider two plenty. A few years ago there was this boy named Michael and I thought he was cute and sweet, but considering he was a Soc, we could have never been. That was in seventh grade, and after I got over Michael, I went to a guy from my gang.

All of the guys in the gang are some of my best friends, even though I am related to some of them. The day I came home after Michael had told me he couldn't be my boyfriend, I came home sulking. I knew that when I walked into my house, my friends would be there ready to cheer me up.

"Hey guys, look who's home and looking like the world will end in seven days?" my brother, Sodapop Curtis shouted to the guys when he saw me. Soda loves me, but he has a tendency to tease me, even though I know he just wants to help.

"Hi Soda," I sighed and plopped myself down on the couch. I really did feel let down by Michael. After all, we had kissed in the park near his place, and then his older brother chased me out of there because I was a Greaser and they were Socs.

"What's the matter, Lucy?" Sodapop asked me. "You look like you had all the life drained out of you. Did something happen at school?"

"Yeah," I continued to complain and sigh, "Michael told me he couldn't be my boyfriend."

Sodapop looked at me sympathetically and put his hand on my knee. "I'm sorry he broke up with you," he said. "What an idiot. He ain't got no sense in his head if he didn't want to stay with a beautiful girl like you."

"Thanks. I just don't understand why he had to go and do that. I really thought he liked me."

"Well, he probably did. He probably just didn't want to be the Soc boy dating the Greaser girl. I think that's dumb."

"I do, too. Where is everybody else?"

Sodapop glanced around the house. "Outside, I think. You want to go see what they think of the situation?"

"Sure, let's go."

He led the way to our backyard. Everybody was sitting out there, even Ponyboy and Johnny, but I didn't understand how they had gotten back from school before I had. Becky, Jacklyn and Kelcie were there too, and they hadn't left much before me either.

"Hey Lucy!" Becky greeted me cheerfully. "I was looking for you after school, but I couldn't find you for the life of me! Where were you?"

My eyes shifted to the ground as I replied, "Talking to Michael."

Two-Bit's eyes got wide as he imitated the typical, gossipy girl. "Ooh," he jokingly cooed, "Michael the Soc! How is that dumb ass, anyway? That boy must think he's so cool for dating a Greaser, but I don't understand why you don't just stick with your own kind, Lulu."

"You know what, Two-Bit?" Sodapop snapped at him. "You've already blown it."

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"If you must know," I finally spoke again, "Michael told me there was no way he could be my boyfriend. What an idiot! And you know the only reason he broke up with me is because I'm a Greaser. Maybe you're right, Two-Bit. I should stick with one of my own kind."

"Well, another Greaser is sure to be less prejudiced," my oldest brother Darry supplied. "Michael had learned from the worst. His brother Paul used to be friends with me, you know, and then he stopped because we came from different sides of a city. That's really stupid, and I wouldn't want my baby sister hanging around with a guy like that."

This was sweet of Darry and everything, but I hate it when he calls me his baby sister. Ponyboy, who is my brother but the youngest of the guys, is only a year older than me, so people think of us more as the twins than me as the baby.

"Thanks, Darry. What do you guys think I should do?"

"I think you should just find a new guy," Kelcie advised. "You should find another Greaser. I hear Curly Shepard is single."

"Nice try, but I am not under any circumstances going to date Curly Shepard. I'd date Soda before him." As you can see, I wasn't fond of Curly. He was way too crazy and risky for my taste.

"I'm pretty sure that's called inbreeding, Lucy," Sodapop joked.

"I'm pretty sure I'm just trying to prove a point," I snapped.

This is how much I love my middle brother. He appreciates my jokes and loves to talk to me a lot more than the other two.

"Lucy, I think you should just swear off men forever," Ponyboy told me. "I hated seeing you with Michael, and that ain't just because he's a Soc. You just seem like the type who should never be involved with a guy who wasn't her own brother or gang member who wanted to give her a hug."

When he finished saying this, I went over and punched him the gut. I love all my brothers, just not when they want to make me seem like I'm going to grow up and become a cat lady.

"Ouch!" he squealed. I had to admit, I was pretty good at making people hurt physically, but I had to work on the emotional part. Michael, apparently, was great at making me miserable. I didn't want to talk about anything other than making him suffer in one way or another.

"I agree with Kelcie," Jacklyn added to the list. "Find another guy. There's gotta be one out there who loves you for yourself, and just happens to be a Greaser like you."

"Only in fairy tales, Jacklyn," I sighed.

"Funny, because I thought that rumbles and murders had to be cut out in order to make it a fairy tale," Two-Bit joked again, his voice seeming absent and not fully there.

"Shut up, man! Just shut up!" At this time, I was screaming my lungs out. Why couldn't anyone other than Sodapop just help me out here?

"I think you should stick something like a spider or pig guts in his locker," Steve plotted. "Then he'll scream like the Soc he really is. They scream real high-pitched and loud."

"So far I like Steve's idea best!" I said only half-honestly. "Come on, guys, think of something better."

"I vote pig guts if we're going with that idea," Becky piped up out of nowhere.

"Do you have an original idea, Beck?" I asked, losing my patience by the nanosecond.

"Yeah, make one of these guys fall in love with you." She said this and looked over at the only two who hadn't yet spoken, Johnny and Dally. Her eyes quickly shifted from them to everyone else. They all nodded with her.

"What the hell are you guys all nodded and glancing about?" I shrieked.

"I don't know, but it's making me nervous too," Johnny admitted. The two of us were really great friends, and I was one of the four females that actually got the guy to talk. Johnny was good-looking and everything, but I wouldn't want to move beyond friendship with him.

"Don't be nervous, Johnny," Ponyboy assured him. "It ain't you we're talking about."

The only person left that Becky could have possibly been considering was Dallas Winston, whom we all called Dally. He was the sexiest looking of all the guys, and he really was handsome. Becky, Jacklyn, Kelcie and I all thought that Dally was the sexiest one and Soda was the cutest one, and even I had to agree, despite the DNA factor.

"Why are you all looking at me now?" Dally snapped. He looked at me and his face turned from hard and bitter to soft and understanding. And just like that, I fell in love with Dally.

My throat got dry and I couldn't open my mouth to speak to him. Dally had been another one of my best friends for years, and not being able to talk to him made me even more nervous. So I just stared into his big brown eyes and got lost in them. He seemed to be looking at me in my deep blue eyes, and I wanted to fall forward and kiss him then, but I didn't. I couldn't.

"Come on, Dally," Darry said, laughing a little at me, "You know the answer to that."

"Yeah, Lucy, I think you do, too," Jacklyn whispered to me, obviously playing the same little guessing game as Darry was.

An awkward silence fell upon us as glances were traded between everyone.