Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters except Athena and Rosaline. S.E. Hinton owns all of the other characters.

This is a little story about a girl living with the Greasers in Tulsa. Who knows, A little romance might emerge between Ponyboy and Athena.

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"Hey Pony! Get up! It's time to train", I yelled over the morning traffic. Ponyboy and me were going out for track together and there was no way that I was going to be the worst on the team.

"I'm coming, I'm coming..." he moaned out the window. Ponyboy wasn't the typical morning person but sometimes he could surprise you.

"Well, are you ready to run? I was thinking about doing two miles today." I said as I swept my long brown, wavy hair up on my head. I hated it when it got in the way while I was exercising.

"Sure, sounds good", he replied back. "But then we have to get some of that chocolate ice-cream at your house. I think it's about 85 already"

We then started to run. I loved feeling the wind in my face. It always reminded me of the beach. The sea spray blowing onto my body always made me feel good. And if I tried really hard, I could almost smell the salt.

"I think we're coming to the halfway point. Maybe we should rest. But only if you want to" said Ponyboy.

"Nah, I think I can push it a little more. I'll race you back to my house though!" said I. I started sprinting towards home. But Pony was catching up really fast. He was always a better runner than me.

I felt a rock slam into the back of my head. I then tripped onto the pavement feeling a jab of pain as my ankle twisted round. The sound of a car full of laughing guys whizzed past me.

"Ah, shit!" I yelled in my loud voice. I could still feel my ankle throbbing on top of the blood coming from my head.

"Oh god, are you okay. No, you're definitely not. I better get you home." Said Pony worriedly.

I felt my body rise up as he hooked his arm under my shoulders. Feeling off balance, I quickly grabbed onto his arm. We were able to get home in about an hour.

"Here, just stay on the couch and I'll get you some ice and something to wash up that cut." Said Ponyboy as he rested me on the couch.

I held my hand up to my head, making sure that no blood got on the couch. It was the only one me and my 19-year-old sister Rosaline could afford. We just moved in about a year ago when my sister came of age and the foster homes wouldn't accept us anymore.

I rubbed my eyes, still feeling the dust of the pavement. I've always liked my eyes. They were such a deep brown color that they almost looked black. But if you looked really closely, you could see my pupils.

"Here's the ice." Said Ponyboy as he re entered the room. "And I got a towel for your head."

"Thanks" I replied.

"Oh, wow. Your foots really swollen. Here, let me raise your leg up" he said.

A shiver went up my spine as he put his warm hands upon my calf. Wait! No! Ponyboy's my friend. We don't like each other like that.

"There, that's better now, isn't it?" he said as he placed the bag of ice upon my ankle. "You're going to have to wait for that cut to heal a little before washing your hair. And don't grease it!"

"Don't worry, I won't" I replied. "Don't you remember, I'm a good little girl." I said in a singsong voice.

Ponyboy snorted.

"You? A good girl? I would think not. I'm a good 'little' boy though. And I still have higher grades than you." Ponyboy said jokingly.

"Yeah, well what about Art? I'm still the only person to get 100's throughout all my life." Said I.

"You're correct on that." He said. "Well, I better get back home now. Darry will wonder where I am. I'll come back later though"

With a quick squeeze of my hand, he dashed out of the door. But I could feel my cheeks warming after he grabbed my hand.

Did I really have a crush on Ponyboy?

Thinking about my ankle again, I moaned with grief and fell back on the couch to take a long nap.

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I'm finished for today. Just got back from another softball practice so I'm a little worn out. Please review so my story can get better.