A/N: Hey, so this is my first Outsiders story, and it's not canon, because I don't like canon. It's not slash, because I don't know how to write that. So, I decided on Soda/Cherry.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Outsiders. In fact, I'm more interested in owning just Rob Lowe, if I could help it.

"Jumped"

When an action, such as walking your dog down neighborhood, or grabbing a bite at your favorite diner, becomes a habit, that's bad. It's not like you're keeping it a secret, anybody could notice, and meet you there, and you don't expect it. How could you expect it? They don't actually have to tell you they'll be there, they'll just show up. Sometimes, if they don't tell you, that means their intentions aren't pure.

Cherry Valance had become accustomed to going to the east side of town, just to walk around. She didn't mean to see any of the gang she had become to know, but if she did see them, that made her trip all the better. If she saw socs starting to jump some greasers, she tried to stop them. Sometimes it didn't work, but a lot of the time it did. She really felt good when it did.

Looking back at that, Cherry wasn't very sure it was a good idea. She didn't regret it, but the greasers didn't want some soc girl looking out for them. The socs didn't appreciate one of their own betraying them either.

In fact, all that it did was let the socs know where she spent a couple of hours everyday. In retrospect, maybe Cherry should've just minded her own business. She still didn't regret helping the greasers though. When she helped them, she was helping herself too. She felt good when she did it, and that was by far better than feeling nothing, like she was used to.

It was windy the day that she started to think back over her actions. It was fall, just a few months after the big events that took place. Cherry was hunched over, her arms folded, and she was looking down at the ground as she walked. With no jacket over her long sleeved shirt, she was still cold, and she looked all the more vulnerable. Thus, three socs noticed her in their mustang, literally looking for trouble.

They called out to her, and she turned around. She wasn't sure what they wanted at first, since they were old friends of Bob's, but then she realized a week or so ago she had stopped them from cutting up some boy's arm. She backed up a couple of steps, suddenly wary. It only scared her further when they stepped out of their car.

"Hey Cherry! We haven't seen you outta school lately…guess we realize now that you've been here," Daniel, the tallest one, sneered. Jackson continued.

"Yeah, you used to be the life of the party! But you haven't been to too many of them recently." Finally, Stanly continued.

"So I guess we'll just have to bring the party to you." Her back was pressed against a prickly and dirty brick wall, and they all had vicious grins. Boy, did she ever feel like the damsel in distress.

"St-stop. Don't get any closer," she whimpered, starting to shake. They took her demand, and did the opposite. The pressure of the bricks on her back had begun to make her severely uncomfortable, almost to the point of pain.

It then dawned on her what they were planning on doing. They wouldn't cut up a girl like her, they were teenage boys, and she was a teenage girl. When they said 'life of the party' she should have remembered what many of the boys did with their dates during a party. She didn't feel like being a victim of what they were planning, no thank you.

"I said, don't come any closer!" she squeaked. She clenched her fist, and punched whatever person she spontaneously aimed at. Jackson stepped back, and his hands covered his nose. It felt like a minute, but only a second later did they all see the first drop of blood hit the ground. Then Stanly and Daniel took their gazes off of their friend and glared at Cherry. Maybe she should run away?

Run is exactly what she did. She couldn't go very fast, curse her stupid shoes, and they were already chasing after her. Daniel was the fastest, and he caught up to her in a matter of seconds. She grabbed her arm, and yanked her against the rough wall, and she could've sworn there was some sort of crunching sound that happened.

"Hey! Hey! Stop that! Get away from her!" a voice shouted from across the street. Cherry and the other socs looked at the source. Cherry had to squint and try really hard to focus in order to see the figure without so much blur. It was a greaser, that's for sure, and he was running to the small group as fast as he could. When he got closer, she realized she knew him. It was Soda! It was Pony's brother, the dreamy one!

"Hood, get out of here! Don't make us do something that could permanently damage that pretty face of yours!" Stanly grit through his teeth. Cherry frowned. Why would they hurt Soda's pretty face?

They didn't get a chance to, because Soda was already swinging punches. He had a far better aim than Cherry did. Cherry admired that. Within a minute they were running back to their car, and speeding off like the cowards they were. Soda stared angrily after them, maybe making sure they didn't try to run him over, and then he knelt down to Cherry, who had subconsciously slid down, so she was squatting against the wall.

"Hey you okay? It looks like the back of your head is bleeding," Soda commented, steadying her with a hand on her elbow. She just looked up at him in awe.

"Well they did push me against the bricks pretty hard," she said childishly. Soda looked at her as if she just said or did something weird, and picked her up bridal style. She didn't mind it, not since she was in shock, and probably wouldn't be able to walk without being wobbly for a while.

"I don't see why she has to stay at your place, tonight. Wouldn't her parents worry more if she weren't at home?" Steve griped. Soda shrugged, and Pony grinned.

"Aww, Steve, did you wanna crash on our couch tonight? Do you really like the couch that much, or do you wanna be near your bestest friend in the whole wide world?" Pony teased. Steve grumbled a response, left the kitchen, and stomped out of the house slamming the door in the process. Soda laughed.

"Nice Pony. Now I've got a good greeting to hit him with tomorrow. Ha, bestest friend. I'm really going to make fun of him with that!" Pony shook his head, amused at his older brother's ability to make anything funnier than it already may be.

"Whatever, I've got to go. Darry has decided that I need to learn to hunt better. I'm so excited," Pony informed Soda sarcastically. Soda snickered once more, and left the kitchen. Cherry Valance was sitting on the couch, staring at the floor, and chewing on her bottom lip.

"Hey baby, what's got you worried?" Soda asked her as he crashed down onto the couch right beside her. This startled the girl greatly. She whipped her head around to face him.

"Oh, it's you. I don't know what really is bothering me, there are too many things rushing around in my mind for me to tell what's affecting me more than the rest." She sounded like a smart girl, Soda observed.

"Well, I guess I can guess most of them. You know those guys won't mess with you again, if, when you come over here, you get one of us to walk with you. I'm sure you're also worried that your parents are worried…but you really don't have to. You called them and let them know you'd be spending the night at a friends!" Cherry continued to bit her lip, and looked at Soda, and it looked like she definitely had something to say.

"Alright…now I know what I'm stressed out about most. Spending the night with a guy I barely know." Soda hadn't realized that would be an issue for her.

"See, I never would have guessed that. I'm used to people coming in the middle of the night without my knowledge and just crashing on my couch." That may have been the wrong thing to say, since her eyes grew to the size of saucers, and she stared at the couch.

"So, anybody could just walk in here and crash? What if someone comes in here tonight, like Two-Bit, and doesn't see me, and I get crushed?" Cherry seemed a lot smarter than Soda at the moment…

"Well, you could…sleep in my bed…with me," he slowly suggested, looking past the room and into his and Pony's. He'd have to tidy up a couple of his things first. He looked back at Cherry, who had a skeptical look on her face.

"How would I know you won't try anything?" she inquired. He grinned his amazing Soda grin at her.

"Well, you would know if I would or not depending on whether you bought me dinner first." He waggled his eyebrows at her, and she had to laugh. That was an easy joke, but somewhat of a good one.

"Besides, Pony and Darry aren't even here, no one else would know," he told her. She looked down with the corner of her eyes, and sighed.

"Fine. I just don't want to sleep on the village couch." Ha, village couch. Soda picked Cherry up, and carried her to his room.

"You are so kind, So-da!" He dropped her onto the bed as she was talking, and when she finished his name with shock, he laughed and snorted. To him, it was all about the jokes. She playfully glared at him.

"Very nice. You know what? I take that back. You're mean." Soda just kept laughing, as he picked up a couple articles of clothing and threw them in his closet.

"Yeah, yeah. You know, Pony's pretty sure you don't have a concussion, and that the brick just pricked at your scalp, which made it bleed, but if you go to sleep, and don't wake up, I wouldn't mind," he grinned mischievously at her. She fake gasped, and acted fake offended.

"Sodapop Curtis!" she mock-scolded. He laughed, his head thrown back. Then he jumped onto the bed next to her, picked her up, and put her on Pony's side of the bed.

"I'm going to sleep. There's a track-sweatshirt of Pony's that you could wear, in the closet. You're also gonna have to turn off the lights when you get up." That boy was high maintenance. Cherry shook her head, but she never quit smiling.

"Yes sir…you're like a five year old," she muttered, but she could tell that he heard her, when she got up to go the closet. His eyes were closed, but to make sure, she walked back, so he'd have to look behind to see her, in order to change into the sweatshirt. It was big, but Pony had gotten even taller lately. He's filled out more too.

Like Soda instructed, she turned off the lights, and stripped off her pants, since the sweatshirt more than covered her bottom, and Soda was enough of a gentleman to know not to try anything with her. She climbed into the bed, having to grope it in a few places so she knew where she was going. She was sure she may have groped Soda's butt at some point, but he didn't make a sound, so she figured he was okay.

She finally got to her spot, and settled in with a sigh, and was very close to sleep when Soda spoke up.

"Butt-grabber."

"Shut up and go to sleep." There was the sound of a manly giggle, and a slight rustle of sheets, and then it was quiet. Cherry fell back to sleep, and Soda did as well.

When Cherry woke up, she noticed an arm wrapped tightly around her waist and it's mate pressed slightly into her back. Hot breath was exhaled slowly on her neck, and she blushed. She wondered if he did the same with Pony, and she came to the conclusion that he most likely did.

Instead of getting up and waking him up, she decided to close her eyes again, and wait for him to move first. Why waste a perfectly good moment? After all, having your crush's arm wrapped around you doesn't happen very often.

A/N: Sooo...did you like it? Please, let me know, so I can guess whether I should write more Outsiders fics. This was kind of difficult to write, but I think I can get better.

~RosesAreForWriters