Hinton owns The Outsiders. I only own Jeff Vincent and Jim Marley.

"Mom can't tell me what to do! I'm not staying in my room all day!" Angela sniffled and wiped her face the blue gingham dress she was wearing. The house grew quiet. Were Mom and David asleep? Nah, not this late in the day.

She placed her doll on top of the quilt that her mother had made for her fifth birthday. "Bye, Gretchen. I'm gonna go play outside." Angela smiled in hopes that she could find a friend. Maybe Sylvia had come home early from her vacation. If not, there was always Evie Jamison. She felt her heart flutter with excitement.

"Maybe I can have a sleepover if they're home," Angela whispered to herself as she walked toward the door, humming to a Beatles tune she had heard on the radio just the other night.

"Hey, kid." Angela's head perked up as she found herself bump right into Tim. His cold blue eyes flickered with amusement. What did he think was so funny?

Angela's eyes narrowed into mean slits. "Get outta my way Tim." She tossed her head in the air and tried to push past him, but he blocked the doorway with his hands.

"Angel, I was just mad and I didn't mean to snap," Tim said roughly. He gave her shoulder a tight squeeze. "Let's go see if there's any ice cream downstairs."

Angela crossed her arms. "There ain't any because Jeff ate the last of it." She practically spit his name out. They barely had enough food to begin with and David drank up most of the grocery money. When they did have a lot of food, which was on a rare occasion, Curly and his friends scarfed it down within a few days.

"Oh, I bet we can find some chocolate because Vincent is allergic to chocolate, remember?" Tim's eyes lit up with excitement. "Let's go see!" He grabbed her hand and the two of them raced downstairs.

"Tim, hurry up and look!" Angela struggled to catch her breath. It was nice to see Tim in a good mood again. He ignored her protest and rummaged through the freezer at his own pace. He sighed and pushed the frozen garden vegetables aside. After a few seconds he pulled out a brand-new box of chocolate ice cream.

"Yay!" Angela shouted. She jumped up and down. Tim chuckled, closing the freezer door.

"Take it easy, kid," Tim laughed. He opened a drawer and pulled out the ice cream scoop.

"Can I have three scoops?" Angela tugged on Tim's shirt. "I'll eat it all. I promise."

"Are you sure?" Tim dug the scoop into the box and dumped it into a bowl. "The last time I gave you three, you felt sick because you couldn't eat it all."

"Please, pretty please, with strawberries on top?" Angela stuck out her lower lip. It worked with him almost every time.

"You don't ever give up, do you?" Tim teased. He shook his head and put a second scoop in.

"No, I don't!" Angela giggled and sat down at the table. Tim sighed, and put in a third scoop.

"Here ya go." Tim set the bowl and spoon in front of her.

Angela beamed and dug into it. I'm glad Jeff's allergic to chocolate.

"Kay, let's eat." Tim put the ice cream back into the freezer and shuffled to the table.

Angela glared at him. "You forgot to wash off the ice cream scoop and put in in the sink. Why don't you ever clean up your mess?" She rolled her eyes. Boys were so gross sometimes.

Tim glared back at her. "If it bothers you so much then why don't you wash it off?"

"Because I didn't dirty up the dishes."

"Well, I fixed you ice cream so the least you could do is - "

"Hey! Can't you little brats see I'm trying to enjoy my fucking day off?" Angela and Tim froze as David stood in the doorway, his face red.

The stench of whiskey on his breath was enough to make someone throw up. She swallowed hard to keep bile from coming up. Where was Mama? Was Mama okay? She wiped her sweaty palms on her dress.

"Y-yes," Angela stuttered. She hung her head.

"Obviously you kids don't have any damn respect for your elders," David slurred. He lunged at Angela.

Angela cringed. "Tim, help me!" she screamed.

Tim jumped up from his chair and threw it against the wall. "Leave her alone." He tried to grab Angela from him, but David's grip on her arm was too strong.

"Ow!" Angela shouted tearfully. She tried to pry his rough, calloused fingers off of her. Her chest felt heavy as she gasped for breath. Why Would David hurt her now? He's never hit her before, even when she had knocked over his favorite ashtray. Instead, he'd cussed her out and told her to go upstairs.

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block out the excruciating pain in her arm. Tim gritted his teeth and climbed onto a chair. What was he going to do? David would kill him if he tried anything.

'I was bad anyway, he shouldn't have to take the rap for me,' she thought to herself. 'If I hadn't made so much noise this never woulda happened.'

"Leave my sister alone," Tim shouted. He jumped off of the chair and seized her arm. The hair on the back of Angela's neck stood up. A grown-up listened to a kid? Wow. She winced, rubbing her sore arm.

"Tim, this was all my fault anyway," Angela argued, but Tim wouldn't back down. "Please, let's just go." She hastily pulled away from his grasp and turned away.

"You're damn right it's your fault young lady," David sneered. His ice blue eyes sent chills up her turned around to face her. "Didn't I tell you earlier to go to your room? You're grounded for sassing your mother." He went to the table and snatched up the bowls of melting ice cream and took them to the sink. "You're not getting any ice cream tonight, little girl." Angela scowled at David's back. Where was Mom and why wouldn't she stop him?

"Come on, Angela." Tim held out his hand. "Let's go upstairs and play." She nodded and walked out of the kitchen with him. When they reached the living room, their mother was nowhere to be found.

"Mom!" Tim called out. Angela listened to see if she was upstairs, but all she heard was the radio in Curly's room. She looked down at the floor. Mom never seemed to care anyway with David, so why would she start now?

"Didn't I just tell you to go upstairs?"

Angela whirled around to see David's red and angry face. She tried to open her mouth to speak, but couldn't get the words out. She felt like a frog was stuck in her throat. David shook his head, running his fingers through his dark brown hair.

"Why don't you ever mind me? Who were you looking for, your mother?" David crossed his arms. "She made a run to the store so you little brats can eat tonight."

A pang of guilt tugged at her chest. Why do I always do dumb things? I should've never yelled at Mom. She hung her head and trudged upstairs with Tim.

The minute they reached Tim's room Angela felt the tears stream down her rosy cheeks. The lump in her throat felt bigger. Tim sighed and picked her up. The two of them snuggled together on his bed. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight, her body wracking with sobs.

"It's okay, kid," he whispered. Tim rocked her back and forth. That bastard was never gonna hurt his sister again. Not if he could help it.