As Cindy entered the school building, she felt the smile leave her lips almost instantly. Her eyes flashed to either side of her as she walked along the hallway, attempting to not make eye-contact with anyone. She could only imagine the rumors that were going around about why she was out of school so long.

Shaking her head slightly at the thought, she stopped in front of her locker and turned the dial, muttering the code under her breath. Listening to the lock undo itself, she began to rifle through her books, listening to approaching footsteps. Taking a deep breath as she heard the footsteps stop beside her, Cindy closed the door slightly, smiling softly as she looked at her cousin.

"Hey, Sherri."

Cherry smiled at her cousin as she leaned back against the locker beside Cindy's. Her eyes glanced toward her cousin before she looked down the hallway, watching to see who was approaching them. Seeing that no one was coming, though, she turned her complete attention back to her cousin.

"How're you feeling?"

"I'm good…nervous," Cindy replied with a small laugh, hoping that it sounded more natural then faked. To be completely honest, she was more than nervous. It felt as if she was starting all over at a new school again.

"Don't worry," Cherry said, reassuringly as she listened to her cousin close the locker door. "Everything's going to be fine. It's not as if anyone really knows what went on."

Cindy, despite herself, couldn't prevent herself from asking the question she had been wondering about all last night. "What do people think happened?"

A strange look passed over Cherry's face, one Cindy knew meant that she was not at all interested in continuing on the topic. However, unable to side-track from it, Cherry simply sighed. "They think you had to go away to visit a few sick relatives. That's all."

"That's all?"

Cherry nodded, smiling as she moved away from the locker. She had seen her escape from the conversation at hand – Bob and Marcia. "Come on, Cindy, it's in the past. What's done is done. Now, you just have to realign yourself, you know? Just get back into the swing of things and don't" – she paused here, looking sternly at her cousin – "get involved with the Greasers again. I know they're great guys, but what happened was bad enough. We don't need another repeat and the safest way is to stay away from them, completely…"

Cindy looked at her, her shock evident on her face.

"Sherri."

Cherry merely shook her head, though. Her mind was set. She was not interested in reliving the same accident again and in her mind, and in everyone else's that knew, the Greasers were the ones to blame.

As the thought passed through her mind, she allowed a smile to reappear quickly on her face as Bob and Marcia came to a stop before them. It was odd seeing Bob again, after all she had stopped talking to him five months back because of his constant drinking and fighting. That, though, had changed…or so she hoped.

"Hey, good to see you back," Bob stated, nodding towards Cindy, who appeared to be still lost in her own thoughts.

Cindy looked over at him, smiling politely as she spotted Ponyboy walking along the hallway. Keeping her eyes focused hard on the group before her, she forced a soft laugh from her lips, "It's great to be back. I see I haven't missed much," she stated, indicating Bob's arm, which had snaked around her cousin's waist.

Cherry smiled and shrugged as Bob merely nodded, his eyes flashing dangerously in the direction of Ponyboy, who had turned his attention momentarily towards the group. "Keep walking, Greaser!" Bob hissed, his tons deadly as he watched Pony stiffen slightly in response.

Both Cherry and Cindy could see that Ponyboy was fighting hard to control his temper. It wasn't abnormal for him to be called out by the Socs, however, it was abnormal for him to have to listen to it around the Valance cousins. He had assumed, over the past few months, that they were all on good terms. That was a mistake.

Merely rolling his eyes, Ponyboy continued on his way to his homeroom class. Cindy made a small motion to follow him but felt her cousin's sharp gaze on her. Resisting the urge, Cindy merely turned back to the group, talking lightly with Bob and the rest before the bell rang, signaling it was time for classes to begin.

Sodapop rested beneath the black convertible, his eyes moving along the parts as he debated on what was wrong with it. Undoing a part, he slid out from under the car, heading towards the back of the shop where a few spare parts were. Shifting through them, he heard the door of the room open and heard the loud cursing of his best friend.

Laughing to himself, Soda continued on with what he was doing, not bothering to acknowledge Steve as he kicked violently at the nearest wall. After this outbreak, Soda was unable to prevent himself anymore; turning around, he looked at his friend, raising his eyebrows.

"What's with you?"

Steve allowed a few more curse words to escape his lips, all of which Soda was able to understand "Soc…cops…dead…"

"Got caught?"

"Hell yeah them…."

Soda merely turned Steve out at the overflow of curse words that escaped his lips. Figuring that the hubcaps his friend was going to swipe had been a good deal, Soda could understand the frustration and the hatred his friend was feeling. However, Steve had been risky enough to attempt it in the middle of the afternoon.

"Who's tires?"

"That Soc that's been houndin' Johnny."

"With the rings?"

"Yeah, he was comin' out of school and right there he pulls that blade and asks me what the hell I thought I was doin'."

"And?"

"I told him I ain't gonna back down from him and his gang of friends."

"Why didn't you?" Soda pressed, figuring it was simply best to ask Steve enough questions until his temper boiled down.

"Witnesses."

Sodapop laughed, tossing the broken car part into the garbage. "You'll get'em next time."

"We gonna get 'em."

Soda stopped, glancing over his shoulder at his best friend.

"What?"

"We gonna drag race."

Soda couldn't prevent the grin that appeared on his face, nodding in agreement. "I'm in."

"I knew you'd be."

Soda laughed, nodding towards the car he had been puzzled by all day. "Go and look at that."

Steve merely smirked, heading towards the car before he slid beneath it. Soda, as he listened to his friend tinkering away at the automobile, allowed his thoughts to go off in their own direction, a direction that led him to being half excited about the race and half confused on how to tell his brothers and Cindy.