A/N: Just a couple of quick things. I have not written anything in years so I'm sorry in advance. I'm a little rusty. I'm also going off the movie version of The Outsiders. I just watched the movie a couple nights ago and I still love it as much as I did before. I'm not sure how long this story is going to be. It all really depends on if the readers like the story. This is something that's been in my head for months now so I do have some plans for it. I'm going to try to upload once a week at the very least every other week. But I work all the damn time and sometimes I'm just too tired.

Dally might be a little OOC in this story. Not too much I hope. But I do want to explore a kind of softer side of him. And that's not even the right word but its the best I've got. The rest of the gang will make appearances.

That's pretty much it for now. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders or it's characters


Dallas Winston was not someone who was loved. At least that's what she'd always heard from the people around her. All she knew about him came from her friends. He was a greaser with a short fuse and quite the record. Greaser boys feared him while greaser girls wanted him. Although that fit the description of almost every greaser she heard about. She'd come to realize that the people weren't very creative with their gossip. When there was something to talk about, she usually heard the same piece of information from multiple people. However the first time she laid her eyes on Dallas Winston, she knew that the rumors about him in his case were all true.

The first day Daisy saw him she was at the Dingo with her friends getting food like they usually did after school. It became a ritual in a way. They talked and joked right after school while enjoying their meal before making their way to one of their houses to complete their homework together. The routine worked well for her, it kept her on track because without her friends Daisy knew she wouldn't do he school work. She preferred to do almost anything else. The place was always jam packed with Greasers, Soc's and everyone in between. The food at the Dingo was some of the best and it was always the neutral hang out spot for the people around the neighborhoods.

Daisy and her three friends were all crammed into one of the booths inside the diner. Most of the tables and chairs in the place were taken; nothing new. Daisy was sitting on the outer edge of the both while her friend Anna sat next to her. When they got there they had a slight argument about who was going to get to sit near the window, Daisy lost as she usually did to her stubborn friend. Her other friends were sitting across of her. Their booth was located in the center of the row of other tables on their side. Her seat faced the wall towards the back of the diner as her friends were facing the opposite side where they could see the door. Nearly all of their food stayed on their trays untouched while they all took turns telling their own story's of the school day.

Anna was in the middle of her story when the bell above the entrance gave a familiar ding. Although the noise didn't settle down and Daisy couldn't see who entered, she could see her friends faces and they changed almost instantly. They went from smiling to more of a frown mixed with curiosity. She looked over at Anna who seemed equally as confused. Though neither of them had to wonder who it was that caused these faces for long. Not soon after they heard the door slam shut was Daisy able to feel that someone was behind her. From the corner of her eye she could see the figure of a man coming up beside her. Curiosity seemed to get the best of her as she tilted her head up to get a better look of the person. She was more than a little surprised to recognize Dallas Winston. Even if she was going off the descriptions given to her by some of her classmates ; she knew who he was as soon as she saw the side of his face. If not for his looks then for the vibe he gave off. Dangerous, unpredictable, probably reckless. Daisy could feel the anger radiating off of him in waves. That alone could keep people away from him. Lord knew she wanted to scoot closer to Anna as he sauntered past their table. Although if his vibe didn't keep people away then his face could. It's not that he looked naturally menacing. It was more the scowl he wore paired with how tense he was. As if he was ready for someone to come up to him and say the wrong thing because he was itching to get into a fight. Daisy of course didn't know if he was this way all the time but as far as first impressions went; he was as intimidating as she heard he was.

She vaguely noticed her friends give him a passing glance before going back to their conversation. She knew that she should have done a better job at trying to tune into what they were saying. Daisy's eyes flickered to her friend Lilly who was going on about how much of a difficult time she had in the math class that they both had for second class. She remembered that the teacher did hand out a quiz none of them expected that covered material from the past few homework assignments. Daisy thought she did decent on the quiz while Lilly was convinced that she failed. Lilly always thought she failed yet continued to hold no lower than a B average in every class. Daisy was nodding her head slowly to make it seem like she was listening. She smiled over at Lilly when their eyes made contact to further show that she was invested in what she was saying. None of them seemed to see how transparent she was as her eyes flicked back to Dallas. He'd sat himself two tables ahead of where she was sitting. He was sitting on the seat that faced her direction; making it easy for her to see him. She watched him as he talked to the two boys he was sitting with. One of whom he kept slapping on the shoulder; looking visibly more relaxed than he had when he first entered . The boy seemed only a little uncomfortable; he looked more amused as to what Dallas was saying that he barely noticed him repeatedly hitting him.

It was hard for Daisy not to realize how much of her attention she was giving him without anyone else noticing the same. As soon as he walked in through the door, her eyes were glued to him for some reason or another. The first one being that before that day she'd never seen the other teenager. She would on occasion wonder what he looked like when people talked about him since all they talked about was his tempter and bad attitude. She'd hadn't heard someone mention how attractive he actually was. They only ever mentioned how mean he appeared. So while they gave her a visual, it was nothing compared to actually seeing him. His hair looked like it didn't have one bit of grease in it. Although it was longer than most of the guys she knew. It wasn't combed back. It fell onto his forehead, a little above his eyes. She couldn't see what the back looked like but she could see how well kept it was for a greaser. She could have guessed that he cared about his hair but it was possible that was how it grew naturally. From where she was sitting, she couldn't see his eyes clearly. All she knew was that they were somewhat dark. His features were pretty defined. She could see that much, from his jawline to his cheekbones. What daisy noticed the most how confident he was. When he was walking and while he was sitting. She saw how he didn't doubt himself. He walked with his head high, he sat straight so sure of himself. She partly wished she could be so confident in herself the way he was. It made her a little jealous.

For how long she sat there with her eyes on him, she was lucky enough not to have some person yet realize who she was giving her undivided attention to. Not even Dallas himself, as he was so immersed in his conversation with the boys he was with. Something she was thankful for. She didn't think she could keep her face from turning a bright shade of pink from embarrassment if he caught her and decided to say something. Nor would she be able to explain to her friends why she was staring at him as intently as she was. Mostly because she wasn't sure she could put it into words herself. Dallas just seemed to draw her attention naturally from the second she laid her hazel eyes on him and she wasn't sure why. It wasn't like she'd spoken a word to him. It wasn't like they'd seen each other anywhere before, wasn't like he would ever talk to her without feeling some resentment towards her. Daisy wasn't considered a Soc. She was just a middle classer who lived her life. But her best friend was a Soc and because of that most of the people she spent her time with were Soc's as well. A fact that she was sure someone who was considered a Greaser would be all too happy to point out. If not to mock her for it. She didn't have one reason under the sun to be staring at Dallas the way she was. She couldn't understand herself at that moment. Tried as she did to zone back in with her companions, she couldn't. What they were saying was simply background noise.

Daisy knew she had to distract herself some way because eventually someone was going to notice her. Without thinking too much on it her eyes landed on the empty paper cup in front of her and she reached out to take it.

"I'm going to get another coke." She mumbled to her group. She didn't hang around long enough for her to hear Anna ask her to grab one for her as well. She stood from her table, smoothing out the bottom of her pastel blue dress and turned to around to make her way to the counter.

Most of the afternoon rush had cleared out; moving on to better things after stopping by. So the front counter where the cash register was clear. She placed a sweet smile on her face as she approached the counter. The lady there was only a little older than her. Probably in her early twenties, looking bored as she chewed on a piece of gum. Daisy could only see that she would have been anywhere else than working at the moment. She figured she would have felt the same if she had to help the types of teenagers that walked into the establishment. Which was why Daisy didn't make a face when the girl who's name tag read "Beth." Didn't say a word to her when she asked to purchase another coke. She watched the girl roll her eyes and grab a new cup in silence. The encounter made her feel a little awkward. As if Daisy was inconveniencing her more than she should even if she was being as nice as possible.

"Thank you." Daisy said as soon as her coke was placed on the counter in front of her. She placed the money for it on the counter near the cup. "Have a nice day." She added as an after thought. All the sweetness from her voice was gone and she wiped the smile off her face. Daisy tried her best to be polite to people and it got on her nerves when other people didn't return the same courtesy.

She grabbed her old paper cup and threw it out into the nearest trash can before she turned to head back to her seat.

"Daisy!"

The dirty blonde haired girl turned her head to the side when she heard her name be called. Unsurprisingly she saw that the voice belonged to Daniel. A boy she shared a couple of classes with. They were friendly enough, sometimes they paired up to work on assignments together in class but they didn't have much in common. He was a true Soc. A boy who got off messing with people he thought were below him because he knew that nothing would happen to him. It made it hard for her to agree to spend time with him outside of school just for that reason. He was nice to her and her friends even if she herself had less money than his family. However she'd seen the way he treated other people and she didn't want to be around someone who could be so rude. Daisy could agree to it if they were the ones to start with him. She believed that people had to stand up for themselves if someone was being a jerk. But Daniel was usually the one to start it. She didn't find that cute. She actually found it rather annoying.

Daisy let a small ghost of a smile form on her face as she turned to approach the table he was sitting at with his friends. Even if he could annoy her at times, he was always nice to her. So she didn't have a reason to be rude to him. "Hi, Daniel." She said as she stopped right in front of him. She waved her free hand as a greeting to his companions. All of them smiled at her in return.

"Why don't you and your friends come sit with us?" Was the first thing he said to her when she approached. His eyes shifted to his friends who nodded in agreement.

Daisy shuffled her feet as she kept the smile on her face. She couldn't come up with a reason as to why she shouldn't join them so she gave him a small shrug and a nod of her head.

"Sure." She replied; sounding more enthusiastic than she felt. "I'll go tell 'em to come over."

Daisy didn't say anything else to the boys as she turned to head back to the table she was just sitting at. Wondering if her friends even noticed her talking to Daniel. Lilly was fairly good friends with Daniel both in and out of school. She knew her older brother hung out with him from time to time. She probably wouldn't mind sitting with him. Daisy suspected that Lilly might have a crush on Daniel though she didn't mention anything to herself or Anna who were her closest friends. So maybe it was just Daisy misreading the situation.

Daisy inhaled a sharp breath the second she felt ice cold Coke spill all over the front of her dress. She must not have been paying as much attention as much as she thought she was. Seeing as she hadn't notice that someone was walking towards her until her pop was not only on her but the other person as well.

"Oh." Daisy gasped, feeling the Coke begin to soak into the fabric." "I-I am so, so sorry." She managed to get out. "Oh my god." While she was getting over the shock of the cold pop, she was more concerned about the person she ran into. They would have been equally as soaked with the exception of their arm. The Coke managed to get almost to Daisy's shoulder. She guessed it was from how hard she ran into the person.

She was absolutely terrified to look at the person. If it was their fault she could easily look at them and tell them that this was their fault. But in this case it was all her fault. She hadn't been paying attention. She'd been talking to someone and she was the one holding the nearly full cup of pop. She had no one else to blame but herself. What made it worse was that the place was crowded so she embarrassed both of them in front of a bunch of people. As if she needed to give people a reason to gossip about her. She knew that she had to face the person. They hadn't moved since she took a step back to let the Coke drip onto the floor. Another problem she had to deal with. She knew that Beth girl would be none to happy to see it was her that caused the mess.

She took another breath before setting the cup down on a nearby table that had been recently abandoned. She could feel the coke beginning to dry on her hand, making her more uncomfortable because she couldn't wash them. Knowing she couldn't avoid it any longer she allowed her eyes to slowly move up the person in front of her.

Daisy took notice of the fact that the person was wearing a white shirt, which made it even worse. From what she could see, it looked like she walked into another teenager. A boy. Which made a lot of sense, since she was the one forced back by the impact. The guy just stayed put, where as another girl would have moved back as well and she'd probably had started freaking out on her by now. She hadn't heard a peep from this person. Nearly the entire front of his shirt was stained and Daisy felt more guilt crawl up her spine. It was as soon as her eyes landed his jawline did Daisy want to turn around and walk away without another would. It would only be her luck to literally run into the guy she'd been staring at since he walked into the joint. To top it off this guy was known for his tempter and she had no doubt that she was going to get an ear full when he finally did say something. She couldn't even blame him for it. She was saying a few things to herself. The only saving grace she had was the fact that the noise in the place did not die down. It wasn't silent the way she thought it would be. Which meant that people were too busy with their own stuff to pay attention to them.

The teenager opened her mouth to say something else but in the blink of an eye, Daniel was in front of her. Completely cutting off her view of Dallas; making her move to the side in order to see him. She looked up at Daniel only to see that he was stiff with a cold expression on his face. The opposite of how he looked not just a minute or so earlier. She briefly wondered what could have changed within the last sixty seconds and then it hit her. Her eyes shifted and remembered that Dallas was someone Daniel started trouble with for fun.

"Watch where you're going, Greaser." He spat the word Greaser as if it was the worst thing he could call another human being. She supposed in his world, it was.

Daisy side stepped Daniel and attempted to put some space in between the two because even though Dallas hadn't replied to him yet, he did take a step closer to the other teenager.

"Daniel, stop. It was my fault." She said; looking up at her friend who gave her a passing glace. She had a feeling that this wasn't even about her. This was a just a reason for him and his buddies to start in on him.

She saw Dallas eyes flicker towards her as his mouth formed a smirk. Though she could see in his eyes that he was more than a little annoyed. If not with her than with the other person that decided to get into his personal space.

She heard him scoff as he finally said something. "Looks like it's your broad that needs to watch where she's going." Daisy could feel her cheeks heat up at his remark. Not for him assuming she was Daniel's broad but because of his voice itself. His voice sent a small shiver up her spine and she had to wonder if something was wrong with her for letting this stranger have such an effect on her. She was sure that if she had left the Dingo earlier she could have left without thinking about Dallas again. Now she wasn't sure it would be that easy.

She was taken by surprise when she heard him laugh. A genuine laugh like entire thing was hilarious to him and it probably was. She was sure he'd dealt with worse before if his reputation had anything to say about it. "This was my favorite shirt too. What am I suppose to do now?"

Daisy knew he was being sarcastic. Daniel knew he was being sarcastic and while she had half a mind to laugh because of how awkward she felt. Daniel's face told her that she shouldn't because he looked genuinely pissed for some odd reason.

"Too poor to get another shirt? No wonder you all always look so ratty." Daniel replied placing a malicious smile on his face. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him take a step forward and took a piece of Dallas shirt between his fingers while placing a disgusted look on his face. She could also see the instant change in Dallas face as the smile was gone. He was tense now, his eyes focused on the Soc in front of him. If looks could kill. She didn't have enough time to process him shoving Daniel away from him.

Daniel himself was caught off guard and stumbled a bit trying regain his balance. Before he was able to, Daisy stepped in front of him and put a hand on his chest. "Stop."

For the first time, she noticed that Dallas friends from the table were behind him and from the looks of it they wanted no part of the situation either. "Come on, Dally. Let's just go." Some boy with fairly tan skin and jet black hair said. She recognized him enough to know that he went to the same school. They were in the same grade although they didn't have any classes together. She couldn't remember his name. The other boy next to him also went to her school, she couldn't remember his name either. Just that he was younger than her yet they shared the same English class

None of them were able to get another word in before red lipstick wearing, gum chewing Beth walked up to them with a towel in hand, clearly more irritated than she was before. She stopped before the group of teens and placed one hand on her hip and used her other hand to point towards the door. "Take it outside." Was all she said before shoving in between all of them to start cleaning up the mess.

Daniel was the first one out the door with his friends right behind him. She knew that he was probably peeved that Dallas was able throw him off balance. Probably made him look bad in front of his friends. But he had no business getting in Dallas face like that. Daisy thought he should have stayed in his seat. He didn't need to cause a scene.

Dallas and his friends were the next to brush pass her without another word. She noticed that her classmate gave her a sheepish look as he was behind the other two. Though he didn't say anything, him acknowledging her made her feel a little better about the situation. When she saw all of them walk out she knew that was pretty much the end of it. She saw Daniel and his friends leave in a car. Meaning that they were no longer around and there would be no more trouble once the other boys got outside. Now she was free to go home and change her dress; clean herself up as she'd momentarily forgotten how sticky she was and that she looked a mess. Once she got home she could leave this moment in the past. One day soon she would laugh this whole thing off as accidents happen all the time and this was another one for the books. It was no big deal.

Although as she stood there for an extra second, watching Dallas and his friends walk along the sidewalk; she somehow felt like she couldn't let him leave without a proper apology. Those guys were probably used to getting treated like trash because of who they were. If she were someone else, they probably wouldn't have apologized at all. They would have done exactly what Daniel did and blamed him. Probably why he laughed earlier. He didn't think she meant the apology at all. She wasn't sure why that bothered her so much. Those boys were strangers. They were no one to her. She didn't talk to any of them, never even seen Dallas before. For some she just knew that she had to try to say sorry to them just one more time and after that she could let it be.

She turned to Anna who was staring at her, confusion written all over her face. Daisy smiled and mouthed "Be right back." Her best friend just nodded. She didn't doubt that she would be questioned once they were both back at Daisy's house.

Glad that Anna didn't stop her, Daisy left the Dingo. She broke out into a light jog just to catch up to the three boys who were able to walk pretty fast. Once she was close enough to them, she slowed down to a walking speed.

"Hey." She called out to them. The tan one with the black hair had fallen back and was looking towards the sidewalk when said something. He was the first one to stop and turn towards her. She could see his eyebrow raise in question at her but he didn't say anything. He just looked at her and waited for her to say anything else. Once the other two took note that their friend was no longer behind them, they stopped mid step and turned to look for him. As their eyes landed on her, they all had the same questioning glance. Of course her eyes landed on Dallas last and she saw his expression change to a blank one. Instead focusing his attention on lighting the cigarette between his lips.

"I really am sorry about the Coke. I should've been paying more attention." She shuffled her feet nervously. "I'm also sorry about Daniel. He's a jerk who likes to get a rise out of people any chance he gets." She saw Dallas turn his attention back to her, his expression still unreadable Though she did notice that her classmate was giving her a little smile as if he was pleasantly surprised by her.

She took a step closer to the boys. "I can help you clean the shirt or replace it or something. It really was an accident." She couldn't help but gesture to her own dress, somehow trying to convey that if it was on purpose she wouldn't have gotten it all over herself as well. There was a small silence that followed. None of the three boys responded to her and she had half a mind to leave. What mattered to her was that she was able to apologize and that they listened to her. Them believing her or not was a different story and it seemed like she wasn't going to be able to get anything out of them. Anna was waiting for her and she was itching to change her clothes already. She was sure that the stain on her dress was going to be hell to get out and she sure hoped it would come out. She loved the dress she had on.

Daisy wasn't sure how long she'd been standing there but it felt like a long time. Her eyes went from Her classmate to his friend and then over to Dallas. She kept her gaze on that particular teenager longer than the others. Strangely enough she didn't feel as embarrassed as she did before looking at him. Granted this time he knew she was staring at him and to her surprise, he was staring right back at her. It might have been with the same blank expression that he had on before but she thought it was a lot better than the angry one he had on when he first laid eyes on her. After letting another breath pass in silence, she broke her gaze with the guy. She ran one of her hands through her dirty blonde hair to get it out of her face before giving a small shrug. She didn't know what to say to make it less awkward before leaving so she opted for not saying anything at all. She nodded at the three of them and turned on her heel to go back to Anna

"Don't worry about it, Doll face." She heard Dallas say as she began walking away. Which prompted her to stop mid step and turn her head to get a glimpse at him.

"Got another one just like it." He added; popping his collar with a smirk on his face.

Daisy let a smile form on her lips when she saw his lips curve upwards. Only this time he didn't look angry at all. Just amused.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "But that one's your favorite. Right?"

Dallas didn't say anything to her. He simply winked before taking a drag of his cigarette and turning away from her to begin walking again.

She shook her head at his back then turned to his friends. They both had their own smiles on their lips as she chuckled about something to themselves. "See you guys in school tomorrow." She said to both of them. She gave them a wave of her hand as she set off back to Anna.

That day, Daisy couldn't know what would come of an encounter so small. Couldn't know that Dallas Winston and his friends would become such a significant part of her life. Couldn't know that he would change everything for her. Good and bad.


A/N: Feel free to let me know what you think.