My new Outsiders story. After I watched the movie and read the book in school, I fell in love with the characters and the story, and decided I would write my own fanfiction for it. Thus, this spawned. There's a lot of other ideas I have, but this is just one. :)

Ponyboy Curtis liked walking around the neighborhood at night, especially when the sky was clear. The crescent moon smiled down at Earth, and the stars twinkled beside it. Sure, being a greaser in the nighttime wasn't the best thing to be, but he had a pocketknife. And if he didn't have that, he had his fists and mouth. He could take care of himself.

The streets were just about empty, with the occasional car speeding down by him before disappearing in mere seconds. People seemed to be more busy at night than in the day in his neighborhood.

He was wearing a jacket over his shirt, jeans, and sneakers, like he always did. It wasn't cold at all, warmer even, but he wore his jacket anyways. The old thing was comforting, in a way, and he had had it for years.

As Pony rounded a corner, the sound of light footsteps came from ahead of him. He looked farther ahead, but all he saw was a silhouette of a shorter person walking along. A trail of smoke drifted towards him from the figure. He frowned and ran up to it.

It was a girl who looked about ten years old with short, oily brown hair that didn't look like it had been washed in days. She was wearing a jean jacket over a black shirt, rolled-up jeans, and sneakers. In her right hand was a lit cigarette.

When the girl heard his feet, she turned to look at him and Pony could see ignorance and frustration flash over her face before she turned away. She attempted to walk faster, but Ponyboy was four more years older than her and was next to her in a moment.

"What're you doin' out here?" he asked gently, sliding his hands into his pockets.

She took a drag on her cigarette before replying, "What does it look like? I'm walkin' and smokin'." To add onto that, she let out a string of smoke.

"In the middle of the night?"

"Yeah."

There was a moment of silence as they walked before he continued, "Who're you?"

"Dolly." In all honesty, she looked nothing like a dolly; she had more of a worn and adventurous look. Her short answer annoyed him, but she continued, "You're Ponyboy Curtis. I saw you and your friends' faces in the paper a few weeks back." She smirked. "Y'all got away with that pretty fast."

Ponyboy didn't know what to say to that, so he asked, "Why are you out here alone? You're not even a teenager." It was probably a stupid question, once he got a better look at her, but children usually don't hang around there at that time.

"You ask a lotta questions," Dolly said. "I ran and left my parents yesterday from Sapulpa and I ended up in Tulsa. They were gettin' on my nerves so I left. Never did like me."

"How'd you get on their nerves?" Pony asked, unsure of why she would be getting on an adult's nerves.

She smiled and blew out more smoke. "Said I had a nicotine addiction at too young 'n age. Said I was lazy and rude and sassy and all that. So I left."

Ponyboy took in this information and replied, "Runnin' away ain't gonna solve anything. Got a place to stay?"

Dolly stopped and put a hand up to her chin. "Hm... does the empty lot count?" she finally said.

Pony frowned and shook his head. "You're comin' with me. To my house." A ten year old shouldn't be outside, no matter how tuff she thought she was. It was winter and it was cold.

The girl's black eyes widened, then switched to anger. "No way, Blondie! Haven't you heard of stranger danger?"

Pony laughed, ignoring her comment about his hair. "Like you would be the one to listen to those kinda rules," he said with a grin.

She straightened up a bit, probably in thought, then stomped her cigarette into the concrete as she said, "Good point. All right, I'll go. But for only one night, got it?"

He nodded and they turned tail, running as if it were a race. Even if Pony was in track, Dolly was just really slow for someone her age, and was huffing and puffing as she knelt over the Curtis porch when they got there. Pony wondered unwillingly if she would be able to outrun a Soc.

The whole gang was in the living room, watching TV, talking, and laughing. When they saw him enter, Darry was the first to speak. "Where were you, kid?" he questioned, cocking an eyebrow.

"Walking around. I found something and took it with me," replied Pony calmly.

Sodapop's eyes brightened and he sat up from his laying position on the couch. "Oh, is it a pony?" he exclaimed, and Darry shot him a look.

Ponyboy just smiled and said, "No, better." He sidestepped over by Steve's seat in the chair. "I found a kid." Dolly stepped into the doorway and leaned against it, muttering a quick "'Sup?"

Darry and Sodapop stared, Steve gave her a weird look, and Two-Bit started downing his beer to see how much he could finish of it, her presence by him unacknowledged.

When Dolly saw his face as he leaned forward with beer dripping from his mouth, she gave a laughing smile and said, "Well, if it ain't Uncle Keith? What a coinkidink." Everybody stared at him now.

Most of the beer that was in Two-Bit's gut spewed onto the table.

Dun dun DUUUUN...