Disclaimer: I do not own anything from The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton.

10 June 1965

The drag race wasn't as fun as any of them had anticipated.

Two-Bit, Soda, Dallas, Johnny, and Ponyboy all sat in the front row of the single row of bleachers. Two-Bit sighed and called out to everybody in his row, "Hey, do ya'll just wanna head down to the river bed after this and get rip-roarin drunk?" Everybody agreed, but it was obvious that Soda and Pony wouldn't have anything to drink except pop. Darry would kill them for sure if he found out that Ponyboy was anywhere near a beer keg.

Just as they were standing up to walk around to the cars and leave, a group of girls made their way over to them in the stands. Sylvia was with the group. She walked straight over to Dallas and sat down in his lap. He smiled, leaned forward, and kissed her before pulling away and asking, "What are you doing here?"

She shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. Just hanging out. You?" He looked suspiciously at her. "Same. You ain't here with Ted Sanders are you? Cause I'll beat the shit outta him if…"

Sylvia leaned up and pushed hard on Dallas's chest. "You're always so paranoid! I'm just here with some of my girlfriends. I swear you're just crazy sometimes. You ain't here with Maggie Boron are you? Cause I'll ring her pretty little neck if…"

Dallas laughed and cut her off by saying, "I'm the paranoid one?" Sylvia smiled and kissed Dallas again. Two-Bit was eyeing one of the blonde girls standing in a huddle toward the end of their row. He said, "Say Sylvia, we was just about to go down to the river bed to get boozed up. Any chance your pretty little blonde friend would like to join us?

Sylvia smiled and said, "Yeah, I think we'd all like to come. Or, at least Angela will." Two-Bit and Dallas laughed as they looked over and saw Angela Shepard sitting next to Ponyboy, laughing hysterically about something 'funny' he must have said.

Within a few minutes they had organized everybody into a car, and they were all eagerly headed to the river bed toward the edge of town. Two-Bit, Dallas, Sylvia, and the one pretty blonde girl, named Shelly, all rode in Two-Bit's Plymouth. Soda, Pony, Johnny, Angela, and the other three girls rode in Darry's old Ford Pickup. Soda had insisted that Pony, Johnny and the girls sit in the cab of the truck, because he wanted to drop by Sandy's house and pick her up, and obviously she would sit up front with him.

Ponyboy and Johnny sure did feel funny in the back of the truck with four girls. To say that Angela was all over Ponyboy was an understatement. Because Steve and Soda had brought it to Pony's attention that she liked him, it was all he could think about. Angela insisted that she was sleepy, so she leaned right up against him, so she could take a nap. But Pony was pretty sure that Angela wasn't asleep, because she had her eyes open, and she was smirking to herself the entire ride.

Johnny was backed up into a corner like he was scared of the other three girls. They all seemed to be about Johnny's age, and they just didn't seem to understand that Johnny didn't like to talk a whole bunch. They were sitting there gabbin' him to death, and they kept wanting him to answer them, and contribute to the conversation. Sadly, all Johnny could do was occasionally bob his head up and down and look helplessly at Pony, who would look pointedly at Angela and shrug his shoulders.

Soda's truck load of people actually beat Two-Bit's because Two-Bit had to stop by his house to pick up the keg, and the several dozen cans of beer. But finally they all arrived at the river bed, and the party began. Two-Bit, Shelly, Dallas, and Sylvia went straight for the keg. Angela and the other girls all grabbed a can of beer and started to drink up.

Johnny didn't really know what to do, until Dallas tossed him a can of beer and said, "Relax. Drink." If Dallas had said, "Johnny, do a handstand and count to 500," he probably would have.

Soda and Sandy had picked a quite secluded place under an old sycamore tree to sit down and talk, and kiss, and just be together. The moon was a deep yellow-orange color, and the stars all shone brightly against the dark summer night.

Ponyboy was just thinking about how lovely the night was, and about how it must be awful romantic for Soda and Sandy. Pony really liked Sandy, and he liked the idea of having her as a sister-in-law one day.

Suddenly Angela grabbed onto Pony's arm and leaned heavily against it. "Hey…hey Pony, come sit with me over here for a second." She wasn't slurring her speech, but she was talking rather slowly. Pony couldn't tell if she was drunk already or just tipsy.

He looked behind him to see if there was anything he could use as a distraction so that he wouldn't be trapped alone with Angela. Soda and Sandy were well hidden from the rest of the group from behind their sycamore tree. Ponyboy saw Sylvia and Dallas walking away from the others, hand in hand. They seemed to be headed toward the woods where they could have some privacy. Two-Bit and Shelly had also already left the group; probably also already cozying up in the woods together.

Ponyboy sighed. The only people left in the open of the river bed were himself, Angela, Johnny, and the three other girls, who were looking pretty bored. Angela also surveyed the scene, and she had quite an idea for how they should spend their time. She still had her arm linked with Pony's as she called out, "Hey, you guys come here. Yeah, you too Johnny. Come here."

The three girls and Johnny made their way over to where Angela and Ponyboy stood. Angela said, "So…who wants to play…spin the bottle?"

Ponyboy's jaw literally dropped as Angela suggested what game they play to pass the time. Johnny just looked scared. But he seemed a bit less tense than normal. Ponyboy figured that the beer was getting to him. All three of the other girls squealed and giggled, and promptly agreed to the game. They all sat in a circle, with Johnny in-between the three girls and Angela right next to Ponyboy.

One of the tall girls leaned toward Johnny and asked, "So, have you ever played this game before, Johnny?" He shook his head vigorously, and seriously.

Ponyboy asked, "Hey, how can we do this with no bottle. All Two-Bit brought was cans and that keg thing." Angela grinned as she pulled a bottle from behind her back, almost as if by magic. She smiled. "I found one lying in the dirt over by that tree. I think it will do." As she said this, Angela set the bottle down onto the ground and looked expectably at one of the girls sitting next to Johnny. "Ok Mary, you spin first."

The girl smiled as she leaned forward, and spun the bottle to the left. It went around in a circle six times before finally landing on Angela. Angela sighed. "Ok, if it lands on somebody of the same gender…then we just move on to the next person. No re-spins. Maggie it's your turn."

Maggie leaned forward and gave the bottle a light spin. It only circled two times before landing directly on Johnny. All was silent except for loud 'gulp' as Johnny swallowed in fear. Ponyboy knew that Johnny had never kissed a girl before. This was going to be his first kiss. Ponyboy gripped onto his knees until his knuckles turned white. Oh, the anticipation was horrible.

Very quickly, Maggie gently scooted closer to Johnny, and softly pecked him once on the lips. When she pulled away and scooted back over to where she had been sitting, Johnny was clearly smiling. He looked a little nervous, perhaps a little shaken, but he was definitely smiling to himself.

Ponyboy thought to himself, "Wow, either that beer has really loosened Johnny up, or he's just getting braver all of the sudden."

Maggie just pushed the bottle a little closer to Angela and smirked at her. "I think it's your turn, Angela." Angela smirked right back at Maggie, and spun the bottle hard to the left. It went around and around what seemed like a hundred times to Pony.

He silently wished that it wouldn't land on him. "Oh, please don't let it land on me. I mean sure, Angela is a really pretty girl, and she's really nice and everything but…I don't know, I just don't want to kiss her right now. Well, maybe if she kisses me the way Maggie kissed Johnny…that actually looked nice. I don't know…Oh God the bottle is slowing down…It's gonna land on me…I know it…I just know it…"

The bottle landed just to the right of Pony, pointing straight at Mary. Angela heaved a hugely annoyed sigh. "Ok, its you're turn Pony."

Pony reached for the bottle, and gave it a spin. It only circled around four times before Ponyboy's current worst fear became a reality. The bottle landed right on Angela. Ponyboy squeezed his eyes shut and wished with all of his might that maybe this would just be a dream. But when he opened his eyes, Angela was right in front of him, bending her finger back and forth, to beckon him closer.

Ponyboy had never kissed a girl before. His first kiss was going to be with Angela Shepard: younger sister of the scariest person Pony had ever met, Tim Shepard. He took a deep breath, leaned toward Angela. She quickly closed the space between them as she pushed her lips up against his. As soon as they touched, Ponyboy closed his eyes, partly because he was afraid to look, and partly because Soda had once told him that kisses were always better with your eyes closed.

"Ponyboy, what are you doing!?" Dallas's voice rang out from behind the group.

Ponyboy and Angela immediately jumped apart, and they turned around to face a very angry looking Dallas Winston. Dallas reached down, grabbed Ponyboy by the shoulder and hauled him to his feet. The older boy held tight to Pony's arm and pulled him toward where they had parked their cars; a place a few hundred yards off, well out of earshot of the others.

Dallas roughly pushed Pony up against the car door. "Pony, didn't I tell you less than four hours ago that you shouldn't mess with Angela Shepard? I told you, and you didn't even listen."

Pony was scared of Dallas when he was angry. He almost couldn't muster up the courage to answer him, but eventually he did. "I…I did listen to you…it was Angela's idea! She's the one who wanted to play spin the bottle. I didn't even want to."

Dallas gave Ponyboy a stupid look. "Well, of course it was her idea." She's the one who likes you. That damn girl…she's just as sneaky and shady as Tim is."

Ponyboy shrugged and said, "All we did was kiss. That's it." Dallas nodded. "Yeah, I'm not stupid, ya know? It's easy enough to tell that you weren't exactly havin sex with her back there or nothin."

They were silent for a moment as Dallas observed Pony's pale white face, and fidgeting hands. Dallas slapped Ponyboy on the arm and said, "Jesus Christ Pony, calm down. I'm not mad; I'm not gonna hit you or nothin." Pony smiled a little and nodded. "I know." Dallas shook his head at the younger boy. "God, you act as scared as Johnny sometimes. I just wanted you to stop kissing Angela. Cause, Lord knows that she's gonna try to get you as her boyfriend now, and that's not gonna do anything but bring you trouble, and probably get you in trouble with Tim and Curly."

Dallas leaned back against Two-Bit's car, took out a pack of cigarettes, and handed one to Ponyboy. They both lit up, and stood, smoking in silence for a few minutes. Finally Ponyboy flicked his cigarette bud to the ground and said, "Ya know, I didn't even want to kiss her. I was praying to God that the bottle would land anywhere but on her."

Dallas laughed heavily at this comment. "Say, did Johnny kiss anybody down there? Cause if he did, I'm gonna have to make sure to never let him live it down."

Pony laughed. "He kissed Maggie…well, more like Maggie kissed him, but whatever." Dallas smiled, "Oh, that's great. Which one was Maggie?"

"The tall one with the red hair." Dallas nodded then stood up. "Alright, we lets get back down here before Angela runs off and tells Soda that I've killed ya or somethin."