More, as promised.

When I woke up, I ached and smarted all over. It felt almost like a hangover. The only time I could remember being this banged up was at the Big Rumble.

I glanced out the window, and it was either late night or early morning. I kind of laid there for a while not doing anything, before I turned to Sodapop.

Except it wasn't Sodapop.

I almost yelled, I was that spooked by it. Instead of Soda, there was a girl! Just thinking about it made my head light, and my face got real hot too. A girl in my bed! Oh glory, was I embarrassed.

Just then, Soda tip-toed into the room, nudging the door open. I looked at him in horror, but he seemed so ready to burst with laughter. He came over and sat on the bed. The little girl didn't nudge.

"Calm yourself, Pony. We put her here for a lot of reasons. Firstly, we tried to put her on the couch but she kept rolling off. Secondly, the other kid," he jerked his thumb towards the living room, "Wanted the couch. Said he was gonna bust as soon as he knew she was okay. From the way he said it, he didn't seem too keen on taking her with him. Or too keen on her in general."

I just stared at him with my mouth hanging open. He went on, "Thirdly, I couldn't well put her with Darry. At least you two are the same age. Darry tried to give the other one his bed but he wouldn't take more than the couch. Grumpy kid, I'll tell ya. And fourthly," he wiggled his eyebrows, so that instantly made me nervous. "She was running a real, real cold temp, and you were burning up. It was the logical thing to do."

I glared at him skeptically. "Alright. But if she wakes up and sees me without trousers and yells her head off, don't blame me."

Sodapop laughed. "Fair enough, little buddy," he said, messing up my hair. "Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to go make breakfast for fifty."

I knew what he meant. Our gang could clean out a buffet easily, and we alone could clean out the cupboards the day after shopping. Not to mention we had two more mouths to feed. Great. I wonder if the Socs ever pick up strays. Probably not.

I hunted around for a pair of jeans that were halfway clean, since mine were kind of wet and muddy, but I wasn't having much luck. I hadn't been wearing a shirt, and Lord knows I wouldn't find one, so I just went without. Boy, did I need to do laundry today. I finally dug around under the bed, and found a pair I hadn't managed to dirty too much.

I quickly pulled them on, and started to weave through the maze of books, until my eyes fell upon her, and I think my mouth might have dropped.

I'll hand you one thing, boy was she pretty. She could be the prettiest girl I ever laid eyes on, excepting maybe Cherry Valance. She had long black lashes, and pretty lips that were red almost, without lipstick or anything. She had really dark brown hair, almost black, but it was tied at the back of her head in one big rat's-nest. She must have had a lot of hair, because the knot seemed real big.

She was pretty, but boy was she dirty. There were tracks through the grime all over her face, and I couldn't tell of they made by tears or rain. There was mud caked in her hair, and she was cut in some places. I felt real bad. But even all dirty, she looked almost...angelic. Gosh, she was pretty.

I decided to go help Soda with breakfast, and she never would have noticed I was there if I hadn't tripped over a stack of books on my way out. For being asleep and all, she sure could jump! She flew upright, her mouth in a perfect O and her eyes wider than all get out.

I was almost taken aback by her eyes, and I couldn't help but pause and stare at them. They were a really pale blue color, like icy blue, or the sky on a winter day. They had little green, black, and oddly enough, gold flecks too...where had I seen them before? I knew I'd never seen her, I would have remembered a girl that pretty, but I was positive I knew those eyes.

I didn't really have much time to ponder that though, because then the little miss pulled out a switchblade! Who the heck would give a girl a switchblade? Are they stupid? I didn't have time to find out though, because she wasn't shy with it, and I backed against the wall, nearly tripping and killing myself.

"Hey! I need a little help!" I yelled, my hands up in surrender.

His footsteps met me in a second flat. Well, it was a small house I guess. He saw the kid poking at me with a knife, and glanced at me. I shrugged. She sorta just did, Soda, there wasn't much I could do about it! I mouthed.

He nodded, and turned to her, his hands up. "Calm down, this is my brother. He's an okay kid, I promise." Suddenly he grinned real crazy. "Probably better than the rest of us, honestly. He's a real sweet kid, just ease up, he won't lay a finger on you."

Her eyes darted between me and Soda, and she lowered what I now saw was a piece of glass with bandaging tape wrapped around the bottom half. Smart kid.

I laughed despite myself. Soda could probably get a girl to do anything just through his looks.

"I don't know her n—"

She cut him off, "I'm Red."

"The color of your blood. I get it now," Soda cocked an eyebrow at her, and grinned. That made him look a whole lot like Two-Bit. Red, like most girls would have, smiled back at him, making googly-eyes. Well, there goes any hope I had. I nearly smacked myself.

I felt my face get red, and Soda must have noticed to, because he asked, "What's up?"

I just shook my head. He shrugged. "Alright."

I turned to Red. "So...are you, uh, hungry?"

She nodded, and I must have looked nervous, because she smiled softly. "Definitely. I have eaten in...a while," she added thoughtfully.

Soda and I exchanged looks. "Alright," he said. "I just made bacon and eggs with cheese, and we have chocolate milk and cake too," he grinned.

I looked at him in disbelief. "Bacon? Where did you get bacon?" Some bacon yesterday would have been great—but we didn't have any.

Red smiled back kindly. "I think I'll pass on the cake, but the rest sounds great." She tried to get up, but her face scrunched up and she gasped. Soda and I immediately ran to her side. "No," she breathed. "I'm okay. I'm okay." But it sounded like Red was trying to convince herself more than us.

I held out a hand to her anyway, and she looked up at me with a weird expression on her face, but she took it, and I pulled her up.

"Thanks," Red murmured, her face pink.

I smiled nervously. "No problem."

But before she turned away, I noticed she was smiling too. Sodapop wiggled his eyebrows, and I elbowed him hard in the ribs. Oops.

Red was pretty woozy, but she insisted on trying to walk by herself. Soda shook his head. "Nope. The kid and I haven't tried to clean up in ages, and we trip on the floor when we're not dizzy and suffering from blood loss."

I glared at Soda like he was crazy. Soda just bent down and began making a path through books and clothes and old cigarette packs, so I had to pick Red up. I really should try to be neater.

I hefted her up and...glory! She weighed almost nothing. I could believe it when she said she hadn't eaten in a while...I wondered how on earth someone could go without eating any longer than a few hours.

As I trudged out of the room, I was really aware of how close she was. That was when I noticed a long, thin, pale scar that fell down the side of her face, right through the very tip of her eyebrow down to her jaw. I wonder how she got that, it looked like it must have hurt pretty bad.

I lowered her into a chair at the kitchen table, and went to get plates and forks.

"You didn't have to carry me, you know."

I held still for a minute, my back to her, then shrugged nervously. "Wasn't a problem. The civil thing to do." It made me uncomfortable, actually, but I wasn't gonna tell her that.

At that, she laughed bitterly. "Civil. I haven't heard that word applied in a long time. At least not correctly."

I felt myself tense. "You're tellin' me..." I said under my breath.

"Oy, Ponyboy!" Soda said, entering the kitchen, grinning. He looked down at the table. "Well, guess I don't need to tell you to set the plates," he mused, then turned to Red, who had an odd expression on her face, and my guess was disbelief or skepticism. I was used to it though. My name tended to do that to people. "Do you need to wash up? I could get you a towel."

Red drummed her fingers on the table, then nodded. "That would be nice. I haven't had a hot shower in a long while."

Soda went to the hall closet and retrieved a towel, tossing it to her. She barely caught it, laughing nervously. "Thanks. What about—"

"A change of clothes?" a voice said, and there came Darry, buttoning up his shirt.

I looked at Red's outfit. She wore a beat up denim jacket that was way too big for her, with a plain white top under it that had a print of an American flag, and an eagle. She had on a pair of tight, faded, ripped up jeans held up by a black belt with a silver buckle that had a W emblazoned on it, and stars circling it. Huh...wonder what that stood for. For shoes, she had a pair of red Converses, and it looked like she had drawn the colonial flag on one toe with a marker, and an eagle on the other toe. She must have been a decent artist, but they were completely battered, and falling apart. The look was completed by a red handkerchief tied around her head, knotting at the top. She was real dirty, but somehow she managed to be beautiful all the same...

"You could borrow some stuff from us, I suppose," Darry tried, and if I didn't know better, I would say his face reddened a little. "And if someone," Darry looked at me pointedly, "Does laundry today, we can wash your clothing."

"But—" I began to protest, but Darry cut me off.

"No buts. Hospitality, Ponyboy."

Red coughed, then got up and left for the bathroom. I noticed she kept her hand pressed to her side, gripping the jacket there.

I crossed my arms and made a sour face. I didn't want to wash a girl's stuff...I felt my face get hot just thinking of it, and I could see Soda trying to keep from snickering. I elbowed him in the gut, hard. "Why can't Sodapop do laundry?"

"He's too busy keeping food on the table. However, little buddy, today is Saturday, so you're free all day," Darry said, piling food onto his plate.

"You're gonna leave me home alone with a girl?"

Darry must not have thought of that, because he paused. Then he said, "No, the guys'll probably be over today, Two-Bit at least. And aren't you forgetting about the other kid?"

Glory, I forgot there was another kid. Turns out he was still fast asleep on the couch, guess that's why I didn't notice him. "Oh, okay."

Darry caught his toast as it popped, and sat down at the kitchen table, leafing open the paper, and started digging into his food. He looked at it in surprise.

"What?" I asked suspiciously.

Darry looked at it for another minute. "Well, I've just realized that the food is a normal color and taste, the kid didn't do anything wacky to it. Or did you cook it?"

Huh, it was weird hearing your oldest brother call your older brother a kid. "No, it was Soda." He continued to stare at it, then just shrugged, and kept eating. It was a bit funny that Soda didn't make the eggs green or something, he liked to experiment when he cooked. He has way too much fun doing everyday jobs, I'll tell you.

Soda came back in and plopped into a chair. "I tried to find some of Pony's old clothes in the closet, but I don't think they'll fit very well. I left them on the bathroom counter."

Darry nodded, but then his gaze went past me, to the living room. He smiled coolly. "Good morning, buddy."

I turned in my seat to see that the guy was upright, his eyes sleepy and his hair tousled. He had a black eye, and another bruise on his jaw. He met my gaze and I nodded to him.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"Red's cleaning up right now," Sodapop replied shortly. "Hungry?"

"Yeah, thanks man," he said, standing up. "Red?" he whispered under his breath, then shrugged.

Guess they weren't on a first name basis. Or maybe a name basis at all. For some reason, I was glad about that. "So...did you guys just meet or somethin'?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. Met her in Ardmore, wanderin' around funny. Decided I'd see if she needed help, and she pulled a piece of glass on me. Ain't never seen a girl do that, but gosh did she look like a deer in headlights, scared to death. I told her I wouldn't bug her none, and I asked if she wanted to be taken home, and she wouldn't answer, so I asked if there was somewhere else I could take her, and she said Tulsa.

"I had a guy who owed me a favor and he let me take his car up. Once we got here I asked where she needed to be, and she said east side, there's some guys she needed to find here. Never said who though. But it seemed important. I just got kicked out by my older brother, he got engaged and his wife's gonna move in with him. I figured I might as just go along with it, so I think I'll stick here in Tulsa. Ardmore was itchin' to get ridda me anyway."

Soda and Darry and I exchanged looks. For some reason, Soda looked almost pained, probably because the poor girl was fending for herself. He seemed to have a soft spot for things like that. I didn't feel too hot either. She's got a guy up here somewhere. My heart sank.

"Well, where are you guys gonna go?" Darry asked.

"You mean, where am I gonna go. She ain't comin' with me, I got my own problems, I gotta find somewhere to stay. I don't have any connections here in Tulsa, or any connections anywhere for that matter, other than Ardmore. Well, she seems alright, I've filled my obligation, so I'm gonna bust. You can find out who she's lookin' for, 'cause she sure as hell wasn't tellin' me."

The guy finished his food and looked ready to leave, but then Darry said, "Hey, kid. Hold up for a sec."

The guy turned back expectantly. "Yeah?"

"What's your name?"

"Ricky. What for?"

"Say you got nowhere to stay?"

"Yeah, what's it to ya?"

Darry cocked an eyebrow, leaning forward over the counter. "Don't get tough with me kid, I was gonna say you could hang with our gang, but if you're gonna be like that you might not be worth our time."

Ricky looked at him pensively for a moment. Finally, he spoke. "Alright..."

"Darry." He motioned to Soda, then me. "This is Sodapop, and this is Ponyboy. You'll meet the other guys—" the screen door creaked open, "—right about now."

This was gonna be good.