Disclaimer: S.E. Hinton owns The Outsiders and Gene Chandler sings Duke of Earl.


"For the love of God," Johnny mumbled to himself when he got out of his last class before lunch. He was graced with the site of Two-Bit and Steve talking to a very uncomfortable looking Rebecca. Johnny hurriedly shoved maneuvered through the people to get over to them.

"Johnnycake!" Two-Bit exclaimed.

"Hey, guys." Johnny nervously shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Well, Johnny, we were just inviting your new friend to come eat lunch with us." Steve had a grin on his face that made Johnny understand why Pony disliked him.

"What did she say?" Johnny asked, knowing that they probably just asked her and were going to drag her with them no matter what.

"I didn't say anything, but, yes, I'll go," Rebecca said softly. Rebecca gave a small, shy smile to Johnny and they started to head out the door; she never left his side.

"Baby!" A pixie like girl also known as Evie ran over and jumped onto Steve. Unfortunately for Steve, this was very normal.

"Hey, doll face," Steve said and gave her a peck on the lips. Not far behind was Two-Bit's girlfriend-ish… sometimes…thing, Kathy.

"Hi," Kathy said air-headedly, popping her gum loudly.

"Jenn—Kathy! Yeah, Kathy. Hey, baby." Two-Bit swung his arm around his girl and suddenly everything got awkward for the partner-less two.

"Oh, Evie, hon, I'd like to introduce you to Rebecca, Johnny's new 'friend.' She's new here." Steve tried to stop his laughter because it was apparent that Johnny was not pleased with his taunting.

"Lay off," Johnny insisted. He turned and gave an apologetic look to Rebecca who looked ready to run at any moment.

"Yeah, lay off, buddy. Can't you see you're embarrassing the kid?" Steve's face was still red from the laughing, and he was only partly serious.

"Well fine." Two-Bit crossed his arms over his chest and pouted.

XXX

"Cause I'm the Duke of Earl! So, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah and…" Two-Bit's lovely singing was interrupted when Steve shut off the radio. "Hey!"

"It's my car; I can do what I want." Steve leaned in front of the open window so Two-Bit couldn't turn the radio back on.

"He's just jealous of my gorgeous voice. Ain't my voice wonderful, sugar?" Two-Bit kissed Kathy's cheek which made her giggle.

"Yes Two-Bit, your voice is so wonderful. You don't understand how jealous I am." Steve rolled his eyes then took a swig of his root beer.

"So, Rebecca, was it? Where ya from?" Evie asked between bites of her chips.

"I just moved here from North Carolina." There was a pause. "To help my grandmother."

"So your granny is the only one you know here? Well, I'll make it my job to introduce you to the people of Tulsa. How 'bout you come over? Me and my cousin, Sandy, are doing nails at my house after school, you should come."

"Oh, I don't know…" Rebecca turned and wrapped her arms around herself.

"Come on! We can bake cookies, too. No one can resist Sandy's cookies. Please!" Evie pleaded. She used her signature puppy-dog eyes. They never worked, but she used them anyway.

"My parents are expecting me home, and I don't know my telephone number yet, and…" Rebecca attempted to discourage any more pestering from Evie, but failed.

"We'll figure something out…" Evie started. "Shoot, I have to get to my locker. See, it's on the other side of the school from here, and my next class. Stevie, will you come with me?" Evie looked up at her boyfriend and batted her eyelashes, knowing that she would get her way.

"Alright." Steve sighed, if he had said no, it would've been hell for him.

"Hey, Kathy…" Evie stopped when she saw Kathy's face glued to Two-Bit's. She didn't bother completing her sentence. "Well, Stevie and I are going to go. Bye, kiddies! Have fun."

"Bye, Johnny. Bye, Rebecca." When Evie was looking forward, Steve turned around and mouthed, help!

"Oh, I have to get to class; I don't know how long it will take me to get there…wherever it is. Bye, Johnny. Thanks for letting me eat with you and your friends." Rebecca gave a quick, awkward smile, waved, and went off in the direction of her locker.

"Bye," Johnny said, but she was already out of ear shot.

"Aw, wasn't that just so darn cute!" Two-Bit said, which resulted in yet another giggle from Kathy.

"Shut your trap." Johnny shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away.

"I'm just saying that you two are cute, that's all," Two-Bit defended.

"Cute? I am not cute. Puppies are cute. I ain't a dang puppy!" Well, that was one way to piss the kid off. Two-Bit grinned, clearly not taking him seriously.

"Well, you're gonna have to get going. You'll be late." Two-Bit waved his hand in dismissal, which earned him an unpleasant hand gesture from Johnny. "Johnny Cade!" Two-Bit exclaimed in over-dramatized shock. This did not phase Johnny one bit, and he started on the journey to his locker.

XXX

The gymnasium was loud as always. Even louder since it was filled with competitive students hurling dodge balls at one another. Johnny sat on the bleachers, barely getting away with the note that was obviously not written by his mother, watching the brutal game; the Socy team was obviously winning. At that moment, a dodge ball rolled to Johnny's feet, and he looked at it for a moment, pondering what to do with it. Then, Johnny picked the ball up and threw it as hard as he possibly could into a clump of Socs, hitting the black-haired one right in the nose. When the Soc noticed who threw it, he looked as pissed as hell, giving a dirty look to Johnny. Johnny felt a bit bad, but had to chuckle to himself a little.

"That is Bob Sheldon. You just gave Bob Sheldon a bloody nose," some small kid said to Johnny.

Johnny looked at the kid with a confused face.

"He is Bob Sheldon," the kid repeated.

"Yeah, so what?" Johnny asked.

"You are dead. I think you just signed your death sentence," the kid said with the same look of horror on his face.

Johnny tried to make it look like he didn't care, but he was scared, even if it was only a little bit. He looked over at Bob Sheldon. He had this look on his face that was so full of hate; he'd never seen anything like that before. Sure, he'd seen Dallas Winston madder than hell, but Bob had a different kind of hate. Johnny couldn't really point out the exact difference, but it was very clear.

"Hey, grease. How dare you? Don't you know that I actually have to go places and not look like I was just mugged? God, I have a dinner party to go to. Now I have to make up some accident so I don't look like I got clocked!" Johnny was shoved into the bleachers and was now looking straight up into Bob's dark eyes.

"Hey, hey, hey! Hold it!" Coach Michelson put his hand on Bob's shoulder and said, "Mr. Sheldon, don't get yourself into trouble, alright?"

"Yes, sir," Bob answered obediently, but shot Johnny an evil glare.

"You, Mr.…"

"Cade."

"Don't you start anything else in my gym again, you hear me?" Coach said in a strict, angry tone. Nothing like how he talked to Bob. Before Johnny could answer, the coach blew the whistle for everyone to go change.

"I am going to break every single bone in your body, grease." Bob gave Johnny another good shove, but that time he was planted firmly on the ground. "I hate greasers, David. They are too stupid to even think." Bob started ranting to a buddy of his.

XXX

As the final bell rang, Johnny left the classroom as quickly as possible to get home as fast as possible. After the third time at failing to open his locker, he threw his hands down in defeat. "Damn it!" he cried, frustrated.

"Johnny?" a soft voice asked from behind.

"Oh, Rebecca, hi." Johnny was a bit embarrassed about cussing in front of a girl. Well, a girl like Rebecca. "Hey, I'm sorry about my buddies. They're all off their rockers."

"Oh, well, I'm sure they must be ok…"

"Hey, come on!" Evie yelled.

"That would be me cue to follow her," Rebecca sighed shyly.

"Yeah, sure, ok," Johnny managed to get out.

"Good-bye!" Rebecca got out before Evie dragged her out the door.

"Well, well, well." A voice from behind said which made Johnny jump, and that triggered the laughter of Two-Bit and Steve. Johnny could have sworn that the voice belonged to Bob Sheldon, but was apparently only Two-Bit.

"So, my girlfriend, your girlfriend and Soda's girlfriend are all making cookies. Isn't that swell?" Steve said.

"Why isn't my girl invited?" Two-Bit interrupted.

"She's too stupid; she'd probably burn the fucking kitchen down," Steve told him.

"Hey!" Two-Bit countered.

"I'm sorry, man, but she is an idiot," Johnny added.

"Fine, y'all win, but you have to admit her rack is fantastic." Steve nodded, but Johnny's ears just got a bright shade of red.

"He is just so little and cute!" Two-Bit said through a light chuckle.

"You know what? Shut it."


Author's note: I'd like to thank Aerodynamics for beta-ing for me! You're the best!