When we walked back into my house, we looked like we did before we officially became a couple. Our initial plan was to be subtle about it, and then casually tell the gang about it. However, that plan was destroyed, and not by Becky or Sodapop. Apparently, Two-Bit had seen Dally and I kissing on the porch, and no one was aware he was standing outside.

"Hey, knock-knock!" he began a joke which we all knew was going to end up perverted or downright stupid.

"Who's there?" Johnny asked with a sigh.

"Orange."

Everyone groaned this time. "Orange who?" Ponyboy asked wearily.

"Orange you glad you didn't have to see Lucy and Dallas eat each other's faces off?" Two-Bit was the only one laughing. Everybody else was looking at us.

The tension rose in me, and I wondered how Dally could keep cool all the time. I loved him, but I wanted to get him out of that. Why couldn't he be a mess like me?

"Wait a minute," Kelcie started in sharply, "You guys were kissing?"

"Yeah, what'd you think it meant, Kelcie?" Two-Bit asked. "You feel like givin' it a whirl with me?"

"In your dreams," she barked.

"Well, we didn't want to just come in screaming about it," Dally's words sounded like jazz radio air waves just making their way through the world. "Then you all would have charged at us."

"So, did you kiss or not?" Jacklyn asked.

"Yes, Jacklyn!" Becky snapped. "We established it when Two-Bit started hitting on Kelcie."

"Shut up!" Johnny squeaked from out of nowhere. None of us really regarded his little outburst until a bit later. No, this whole thing with Dally and me had to be settled first.

"Just so you all feel satisfied," I finally came in, "Dally and I did kiss. Twice, as a matter of fact. Which one did you happen to see, Two-Bit?"

"The one where Dally told you he loved you and then you told him you loved him. That kiss was about five minutes long."

Kelcie's eyes got wide and disgusted. "Do you have any idea how long of a kiss that is? Five SECONDS is a long enough kiss. But five minutes! Goddamn it, Luciella!"

I said nothing. Kelcie could seriously offend me sometimes, but I didn't understand why I couldn't let her know about it.

"Wait a minute," Soda cut in, "Dally, you told Lucy you love her?"

"Yeah," Dally muttered, "and I meant it. I still mean it, and I'll say it again. I love you, Lucy."

Suddenly I felt overwhelmed with all this emotion. There was love for Dally, and not to mention the platonic love for nearly everyone else in the room. I felt confused because I didn't know if Kelcie was for me or against me right now. Sadness rushed through me because I was afraid that people were mad at me. Happiness was there because Dally and I had kissed and now he was my boyfriend. And to top it all off, there was a bitter anger in me, and I didn't know why it was there.

Sincerely, and with tears in my eyes I replied, "I love you too, Dal."

Jacklyn was the first to "aww", and everyone but Kelcie followed.

"Come on, Kelcie," Steve urged, "why aren't you raving about how adorable it is?"

Kelcie merely shrugged. "I guess I'm used to romance."

"Used to it?" Two-Bit asked, cracking himself up. "How can you be used to something you haven't had anything of?"

"Will you just shut up?" Ponyboy shouted.

"Yeah, why don't you shut up, Two-Bit?" I snapped. Even when I was angry with Kelcie, I would jump to her defense. Why was this? Because even though she got on me nerves and made me want to kill her sometimes, I loved Kelcie. I loved everyone in that room more than I loved myself, and I wanted what was best for all of them.

"Well, I'm happy for you guys," Johnny came in suddenly, "Dally loves Lucy and he doesn't love nobody. You sure about that, Dal?"

"Of course I am," he said sharply, "Why don't you just believe me? I'll say it again! I love you Lucy. I love you."

"Dally, please, not now," I begged. Even though I did love him and I loved that he loved me, I didn't want him to proclaim it right now.

"He loves her all right," Sodapop assured everyone. "Trust me, he would have gone farther than that if it weren't for Lucy trying to keep it personal. I believe him, because we all know that Dally wouldn't show what he felt unless he really means it."

"What the hell is going on in here?" Darry's voice came. He hadn't been there; I didn't know where he had been.

"A lot of drama!" Jacklyn called.

Darry appeared next to Ponyboy a few seconds later. He seemed confused, and then he asked, "What's all this drama for?"

"Let me explain it in a pure knock-knock joke," Two-Bit offered.

"No!" everyone else shouted.

"Lucy, what happened?" he asked.

I clued him in on everything, and he wound up laughing. "Lucy, it seems so weird for you to be with a guy, especially Dally. But why do you all have to turn it into such a big deal?"

"Because it is a big deal!" Kelcie shrieked. "Darry, Two-Bit said that Dally and Lucy were on the porch kissing for five minutes! And it was just one kiss! Five seconds is a long time! They kissed on a porch where everyone could see it!" She turned to me.

"I still want to know what the hell is the matter with you, Luciella."

With that, my brothers went crazy. They hate it when people ask what's the matter with me, and they especially hate it when it's from people who call themselves my friends and then when they follow it up with Luciella. My brothers know that there's nothing wrong with me. I'm just different, even with other misfits like me.

"You shut your mouth, Kelcie Valentino!" Ponyboy shouted at her. "There's nothing the matter with my sister and you know it! Why is it that whenever she's got something you want, you treat her like she's some kind of freak?"

Now, right away I had realized Ponyboy had hit on something. Could it be that Kelcie was jealous of me? Why DID she treat me like I was some kind of freak when something good happened to me?

"Kelcie, leave Lucy alone! She's beautiful, smart, and absolutely wonderful!" Sodapop was almost crying, which was his main tactic for anger. "Just because you feel inferior to her for some strange reason doesn't mean you can go around making her feel like shit when you panic!"

It was one of the rare times you ever hear Soda curse, but it made me feel like he was a real person when he did. You see, to me all four of us siblings had a reputation within our own house. We all shared the smart rep, even Soda, who thinks he's stupid. But to us Darry's the strong one, Soda's the angel, Ponyboy's the caring one, and I'm the creative one. When Soda curses, I know that his angel rep goes away for a little while. Then it comes back and he acts like the Soda I know and adore.

"You listen, Kelcie, and you listen good," Darry began briskly. "Lucy is a great person, and you need to stop belittling her when something excited happens to her and not you. I'm not going to make you apologize, but know that I think you're wrong."

Kelcie glared at me, like she always did when something bad happened to her and I was somewhat involved. Even if the situation had nothing to do with me, like when my mother embarrassed her at the store one time, she took it all out on me. And I was getting tired of it.

"How did all of this go from Lucy and Dal to Kelcie being jealous of Lucy?" Johnny asked. "Why is it that none of us can get along for two minutes?"

"We can and we have," Becky said hotly. "Today is just a little shocking for all of us, and I suggest we put it behind before someone sets the house on fire."

Everyone in the room looked at Becky like she was covered in cockroaches. No one ever mentioned fire anymore, especially not around Ponyboy, Johnny, and Dally. Johnny almost died from being trapped in a fire that he possibly started, and we've avoided the actual object and talking about it in any form now. We now refer to it as "The Deathly F Word."

"Did you forget to call it The Deathly F Word?" Jacklyn screeched. She's very sensitive, and it's kind of surprising that she wasn't dating Soda and Becky almost was. They were both my best friends, but from what I could see, Jacklyn had more in common with him. Oh well, she was interested. She had been in love with Ponyboy since we were fifteen. What is with my friends and them falling in love with my brothers?

Becky bit her bottom lip and smiled shyly, something she rarely did. "Yeah, I did. Oh shit, I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's okay, Beck," Johnny said, forgivingly like he always did when someone obviously offended him in some way, "I know you were just mad and trying to find out how to explode. We can't all be like Dal."

Dally smirked at him, and then they both began to laugh. I don't know what it had been that made Dally seem less mean over the last five years, but I certainly felt better about being in love with him now that he was nicer.

"Can we please all act like adults and settle all of this?" Darry pleaded. "Kelcie, you know that Lucy and Dally kissed on the porch for five minutes. Get over it. She hasn't had a boyfriend since she was thirteen, so I'd be happy for her if I were you. And again with you, Kelcie, stop treating Lucy like she's a worthless piece of trash, because I know that a lot of the time she feels that way."

Why thank you, Darry, I thought. He was just trying to help, but it wasn't really doing much good.

"We aren't adults," Jacklyn pointed out. "Kelcie, Lucy, Becky and I don't graduate high school until June."

"You're all eighteen, are you not?"

"Seventeen," they all responded in unison. Jacklyn wouldn't be eighteen until next October. She was the real baby sister, not me.

"Well, adults and high school seniors, can we try to handle this like we're not in eighth grade? Personally, I'm happy that Dally loves Lucy and Lucy loves Dally."

"Me too," Becky answered, smiling softly at me. "You know, I love you too, Lucy."

"This is getting too dramatic for my taste," Two-Bit began seriously, but we all knew he was joking. "I mean, I understood the whole Lucy and Dally romance, and I'm happy for you guys, too. But this whole Becky being in love with Lucy thing? All these years I thought you were into Sodapop."

Sodapop blushed and Becky glared at him. "You know what I meant," she hissed through clenched teeth. When Becky got angry, she wasn't afraid to show it, and that's one of the reasons why she's my best friend.

"I love you too, Becky," I replied. "Thanks for always being my best friend." We ran over to each other and hugged. I don't think anyone else really knew what Becky and I had been through together. There were a lot of things we had done together and rescued each other from. She was definitely my best friend out of everyone in that room.

"We've been through a lot together, haven't we?" she asked, tears welling up in her eyes, but she was grinning anyway.

"Yeah," I said. "Why are you crying? What happened?"

"I feel really overwhelmed right now. Do you think I should just walk over to your brother and tell him how I feel? And then there's you and Dally and the fact that you're dating. That was like, my finest wish for you, Lu. And you got it! Oh man, I feel so happy for you right now, but nervous for myself."

"Go out there and just tell my brother what the hell is eating at you like a fatal disease!" I encouraged.

She laughed and walked over to Sodapop, giving him a bigger smile and trying her best to hide her happy/nervous tears from him.

"Hey Soda?" she asked anxiously.

"Yeah Becky?" he was nervous too. How cute was that?

"You know how Two-Bit said that for all these years he thought I was into you?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the truth is, he's right. I AM into you. Are you into me?"

"No shit," Dally whispered to me, and I smacked him across the chest.

"Becky, I've always been in love with you." He took her in his arms and lightly kissed her lips, but only lightly.

"I swear to you, if one more couple gets together tonight," Darry started, "I'm going to quit my job and you'll have to find ones of your own, Pony and Lu."

"Going to school is my job," I pointed out.

"Mine too," Ponyboy said defensively.

"You're," he said, pointing at me, "eighteen, which is old enough to get a job. And you're in college, which is an even different story than your sister's."

"Well, I don't think you'll have to worry about that, Darry," Jacklyn complained, even though she sounded serious like it would have came from Johnny, "Those four are the only ones that we could ever see falling in love anyway."

I glanced at Jacklyn sympathetically, and her eyes turned from Ponyboy to me. I knew she was happy for Becky and me, but I also knew that she wanted Ponyboy to be hers.

"Keep on, Jacklyn," I encouraged her, and I didn't mouth it like I normally would have. Everyone turned and looked at me.

"What'd she say?" Ponyboy asked.

"It's none of your business," I told him. "Yet."

Jacklyn grinned excitedly and then walked next to Ponyboy and stood there for a little while.

"Is everything settled now?" Steve asked. "I'm getting really tired of you all yelling at each other."

"I think so," Johnny informed him. "Guys, are we done fighting and getting together as couples?"

Everyone nodded like they were serious, then laughter struck everyone. Sometimes the drama in our house was a cause of Two-Bit or Dally stealing something from a store and having to hide them from the cops, or Johnny getting beat by his parents and having to help him out. But other times the drama was as simple as who fell in love with who and who said the word "fire" even after we had banned it.