Prompt: Johnny died but Dally didn't. Nope, he lived because of Johnny Cade: To get even with the Socs. Jenny O'reilly (Cherry's twin) is coming back. At 4, her and her dad moved out. She was raised in England while Cherry was raised in Tulsa but now she's back. The parents are still divorced. They eventually forgot about each other (Jenny and Cherry). Jenny is dressed more like a Soc but she doesn't act like one. Cherry acts like one. One day Cherry, Jenny, and one of their friends stop by the Dx to hang out with the gang as Cherry always went by due to helping the Greasers in trial. She became their look out but today, she just wants to hang with them and introduce the newest Soc and her twin. Tracey is Tracey Holden, Paul's sister from Wyoming. She also lived with a different set of parents and just came to Tulsa. Knew Sherri as a kid but then moved away (12) and is moving back. Dally wants Cherry, Soda wants Jenny, and Steve wants Tracey. It's about the 6 people falling in love, dealing with drama, and getting together.

*this is something like that.

Chapter 2:

It seemed like the room was getting hotter the longer Cherry stood there. She felt lonesome, watching couples dancing in the middle of the room as their movements got more daring and steamy. She cringed as her eyes caught sight of Jenny, swaying her hips against Dallas', his arm curled around her abdomen.

"You alright, Red?" It was Two-Bit's kind voice that pulled her from her reverie. She turned to look at him, smiling gently at him, with his arm wrapped around Marcia, as they came to stand at her side.

"Yeah, fine," she stuttered quickly, turning her back on her twin, "just feeling a bit under the weather. I think I'm gonna head out."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Marcia asked, looking concerned and unconvinced. As her best friend, Marcia could read her like a book.

"No, I'm fine, you guys hang out. And let Jenny know that I left, when you get the chance?" She dared a glance over her shoulder at her twin, still grinding against Dallas, who was whispering something in her ear.

"Okay, have a good one, Cherry," Two-Bit smiled ruefully at her as he reached out to give her a one-armed hug. He looked like he pitied her, as she continued to glance back at Dallas and Jenny, feeling a knife twisting in her chest, reason unbeknownst to her.

The redhead smiled at her friends once again, feeling uneasy, before turning on her heel and heading to the front door. Though the hallway didn't seem that long, the front door looked like it was a mile away. The alcohol inside her suddenly swished uncomfortably, and she had to reach out for a wall to support herself.

"Wait, Cher." It was Marcia, ducking under her free arm. Two-Bit was at her other side in a heartbeat, and he set his and Marcia's drinks down to help hobble her awkwardly toward the door and out into the fresh night air. From the immediate change in temperature, and her uneasiness at the sight of Jenny and Dallas still playing in her mind, Cherry felt herself go weak in the knees.

Untangling herself from Marcia and Two-Bit, Cherry keeled over and threw up in a bush just outside the residence. She could feel Two-Bit's calloused hands holding her hair out of her face while Marcia knelt at her side, her manicured fingernails scratching on her back soothingly as she spoke, "You alright, Cher?"

Slowly straightening, the red head sagged against her friend's shoulder. Two-Bit released her hair, now patting her on the shoulder, eyes calm, "You've got her, Marc?"

"We'll be fine," the brunette smiled assuringly, and Two-Bit reached out to kiss her on the cheek. Immediately, he recoiled, eyes watering as he said, "Man, Red, your breath stinks, I can smell it from here."

Both girls laughed, Cherry albeit weakly, before Marcia reached out and kissed Two-Bit chastely on the mouth; Cherry turned away as much as she could, leaning against the brunette. It was a moment that deserved privacy. It was not unlike when old people were affectionate, and you felt that the moment deserved to be kept secret, because they loved for so long, and not understanding felt wrong.

"Alright, time to go home, Cher." Marcia smiled at her, nudging her friend's head off her shoulder, and the two turned around and headed toward Cherry's blue Cavalier. When they reached the car, Marcia helped her around the car and dumped the redhead in the passenger seat, and Cherry didn't complain.

The ride home was silent, just the sound of tires rolling along asphalt, and when Marcia parked and helped her friend into the house, not a word was spoken. It was only when Cherry was snuggled in her pajamas, three water bottles and a tub of Tylenol on the corner of her nightstand, bucket in her lap, that Marcia spoke again.

"So, I get it," Marcia began, settling herself at Cherry's vanity, now wrapped in a long snug nightgown, "you were ill, but I think there may be something you aren't telling me?" Her friend eyed her as if she already knew the answer, but obviously wanted to hear it for herself.

Sighing, Cherry worked her body around so that she was facing Marcia fully, before she began, "I was lonely, watching all of the couples mill around, and myself being single, I was just feeling sad."

"But, one couple definitely caught your attention, didn't it?" Marcia's voice was soft, gentle.

Cherry let her head fall back against her headboard, losing any hope in fighting Marcia's questions, "I don't know. Just seeing Dallas and Jenny had my stomach in knots-" the brunette, who was hanging onto every word, nodded ruefully, "and I don't know why. Dallas isn't my boyfriend or anything - we don't even call each other friends! - so I don't understand why I felt so gutted when I saw them together."

Smiling sadly, Marcia reached over to pat Cherry's knee, "Maybe it's the idea of Jenny coming back into your life so suddenly is throwing you off. It used to just be you and your mom, and you and Dallas, and you and me, that now with someone else in the mix, it's throwing you off."

"Maybe," Cherry admits, nodding thoughtfully, "but it's not just that. It's the vibe that Jenny gives off. She just seems so... forgive me when I say this, trashy."

The word hung like a stench in the silence for a long moment, before Marcia seems to come to a revelation, a soft smirk curling on her rouge lips.

The sight immediately set Cherry's stomach turning again. "What?"

Looking devious, Marcia just shakes her head, "Nothing, I just thought of something funny."

"Marc," Cherry whines, throwing her pillow at the brunette, who just shakes her head.

"I don't know, it just reminds me of how Dallas treated you when the two of you first met." The dark-haired girl shrugs, "maybe she just takes some time to warm up to."

Cherry shrugged, unsure, "I hope so."

Two weeks.

Fourteen days is how long it took before she saw him again. What with all of these feelings boiling behind her sternum, she had avoided him like the plague, hoping that maybe if she never saw Dallas Winston, maybe her feelings would fade away and things could go back to normal.

But, as the months changed, she saw the dreaded date on the calendar looming just out of reach, and she knew that her days were numbered, because on that chilly autumn night, Dallas Winston would need her.

September 19, 1966

The day came up faster than Cherry had expected. What with the school year starting up again, she was so caught up with the school work of senior year, and being co-captain of the cheerleading squad - and helping Jenny fit in at Tulsa High - that she hadn't realized it was already the nineteenth until she caught a glance of Ponyboy heading to class, eyes rimmed red.

It had already been a year.

On her way home, Cherry vowed to stop at the cemetery.

"He killed your boyfriend!" Jenny exclaimed as Cherry dropped her off at the Valance residence, "why does he deserve any of your respect?!"

"You didn't know him," Cherry sighed, "and he didn't do it maliciously; it was self-defense."

"Still!" Jenny stated, but Cherry had already rolled up her window and drove off without a look back.

When she got to the cemetery, she found that her car wasn't the only one in the lot. A rusted pickup sat lonely at the edge of the asphalt closest to the dirt path, sitting crooked in it's spot, like it was parked without much care.

Such a Sodapop thing, she pondered as she picked the cheap bouquet of flowers off the passenger seat and clomped down the path and along the headstones until she came across the certain plot crowded by the three Curtis brothers.

Darry was saying something about Johnny being a spirited soul who had a spark that died too young when Cherry reached them, and she didn't interrupt, just sat her flowers next to theirs and stood between Soda and Ponyboy as Darry finished his spiel.

"I keep hoping he'll come back." Ponyboy whispered, sadness evident in his voice, "He was my best friend."

"He still is, Pone," Soda sighs sadly, "He's just out of reach right now. You two will meet again some day."

Cherry tries to hide her surprise. She had not really known Sodapop's beliefs, if he'd had any, but she wasn't sure whether or not he was just saying that to comfort his brother. Looking at Soda, she couldn't really tell. His face was red from all of the crying, and he seemed most heartbroken of the three, so she wondered if she should check up and see if he was alright.

She waited until they had meandered toward the parking lot before she sidled up next to Soda and whispered, "You okay, Soda?"

Sniffling, he wiped his nose with his sleeve, muttering back, "Sandy and I first met today, four years ago. She and I were really close- I thought I was going to marry her. It's just... this day seems to get worse every year, for more reasons than one."

"I'm sorry, Soda," she sighs softly, as they approached the Curtis' truck, "Will you be alright?"

"Yeah," he stuffed his hands into his pockets, "It'll be over soon enough." Giving her a rueful smile, he hoisted himself into the truck bed, and with a rev of the engine, and a chorus of "Bye, Cherry", the trio peeled out of the parking lot and down the road. She waited until the truck was out of sight before heading back to her own car and heading back home.

Like the weather forecast predicted, that night was frosting everything with a chill that Cherry could feel biting into her bones. Yet she still kept her window open, just a crack, for that moment at three in the morning, when she heard the shift of ivy below her window.

Trying to keep herself steady, she listed her head in the direction of her window, watching the glass slide up and watching a head full of dark hair poke through her window, "Sherri?"

Feigning grogginess, Cherry squinted, lifting her head in confusion, as if she hadn't expected Dallas to slip through her window, closing it sharply behind him and plopping down onto her bed, distraught, "Fuck, it's freezing in here."

"Dallas," her voice is soft.

He doesn't answer at first, his teeth clenched, eyes oddly vacant. But under the redhead's kind, understanding eyes, the dark-haired man started to crumble, tears flooding at the corners of his eyes, when he broke down, soft sobs falling from his lips.

"It's been a year."

"I know," she slides her legs from underneath the covers and comes to sit next to him at the edge of her bed. Like most nights, he doesn't say much for a while, just sits there, breathing unsteady, occasionally reaching up to wipe his face. Cherry watches him, eyes full of worry.

"He was just a kid," Dallas finally says, voice unusually wobbly, "he had his whole life ahead of him."

The words "I know" almost fall from her mouth, but she stops herself. He knew she knew, but what could she say? For as long as she could remember, no one in her close-knit family has died for a long time; she didn't know what it was like to lose someone you love. She had loved Bob very much, but she didn't cry as much as she'd thought at his passing; what with the whole provoking Johnny Cade into using self-defense and killing the Soc, it wasn't very sad. But, she thought back to all of the times rumors about Bob cheating on her had spread, and how her mother would come in and hold her and tell her everything would be okay.

Trying not to lose her confidence, Cherry tentatively scooted closer to Dallas and wrapped her arms around his torso, head resting on his shoulder, humming quietly into the fabric of his shirt. That was the moment that Dallas Winston broke down. The sobs that escaped his lips were loud and unashamed, and he shook like a leaf under her grip, which only made her hold him tighter, humming therapeutically against fabric and skin, using her actions to calm him down.

When his sobs had quieted down, she raised her head to look into his red-rimmed eyes, before whispering the only words she could muster, "I'm sorry, Dally."

A softer, choked sob fell from his mouth, followed by a chuckle, before he shifted out of her grip. Trying to hide her disappointment, Cherry let her arms fall to her sides as she watched him stand, "Are you going to be okay?"

Wiping his eyes, he smiled blankly down at her, "You don't have to worry about me, Valance."

The redhead stood so she could look at him properly, "Don't make any stupid decisions. We can't afford to lose you, too."

Both cringed slightly at the words, but he seemed to soften a bit at her caring words, "I'll be fine."

For a solid second, they both were frozen, just staring at each other, and Cherry thought she saw his eyes flicker to her lips, but then, he was at the window, peeling the glass and screen away from their hinges.

Suddenly, the redhead was overcome with an uneasy feeling. She didn't want him to leave. She didn't want him to go to Buck's, get high, wasted, or both, and fuck some easy piece of trash. (She cringed at her own words.) She didn't want him to haze his memories through drugs and alcohol just to get through this night. She didn't want a smooth, unfamiliar body to meld against his in hopes of him not thinking about his dead best friend. She couldn't let him leave.

"Dallas?"

Hands bracing the window, one leg dangling out in the cool night air, the dark-haired man turned to look at her wordlessly. Suddenly, she was grateful it was dark enough to hide her body's flush, she stated simply, "Stay."

Raising an eyebrow, he stared blankly at her for a moment, before slowly pulling his leg back through the window and sliding the glass pane shut, "Why?"

Wordlessly, she reached out and touched his hand; he jolted at the gentleness of her touch. Taking a cautious step closer, but leaving enough space between them, she felt her flush deepen as she uttered a soft "please."

His eyes widened slightly, tantalized, as he uttered a soft "okay."

With that, Cherry smiled softly, feeling as if she could breathe easier, and headed toward her bed, snuggling close to the wall, offering the spot on her bed next to her, which both did their best to hide their surprise at, but carefully, Dallas settled himself against her frilly comforter, back against her headboard, and he watched her settle deep under the covers. He had a soft smile on his lips when she looked up at him, and she raised an eyebrow at the uncharacteristically-correct behavior, "What?

Chuckling, he blinked a stray tear from his lashes, "You're weird, Red."

Biting her tongue, she held back the 'but you love me' because that was not only unrealistic for Dallas, but he also sort of had a thing for Jenny, it seemed, that would definitely fuck things up.

Holding back an overwhelming feeling of uneasiness at the thought of Jenny and Dallas together, she just rolled her eyes as she chuckled out, "Why thank you."

A/N: Hello all! It's been a while! You're looking great! How are the kids? - Now aside from my weirdness, hope you're enjoying this story! I don't know how I felt about how this chapter ended, but it fits in with the timeline of how the chapters go, so I hope you liked! Please send me little prompts to add into this story or new stories in my PM inbox! Thanks for reading!