AN: I don't own the book Great Expectations. Charles Dickens does.

"No," Dallas snaps. I roll my eyes with a smirk.

"Okay, so I know," I say.

"Where are you going to stay till then?" Johnny asks quietly.

"Stay where?" I ask.

"He means, where are you gonna stay since your dad's in the cooler," Ponyboy explains.

I bite my lower lip. "Good question," I try to think of where.

"You could crash on the couch at our place," Soda offers.

"Okay," I reply. "For how long?"

"For as long as Darry will allow," Pony pipes up.

"Okay, thanks," I reply, relieved. Then for whatever reason I think about Tiffany. I mean she's my sister. I may hate her, but I can't help but wonder if she's here too . . .

The Curtis' house is okay. Darry is bigger than I thought and a little scary, and Pony and Soda convinced him to let me stay for as long as needed. It felt a little awkward, and I vowed to find out where I "lived" so I could at least stay there. Apparently I knew everyone and I deduce that I've arrived before the novel starts since Dally and Johnny are alive, and Sandy's around. Not to forget no one has said a word about Cherry Valance.

"Hey Pony?" I call. I walk into the living room.

"Yeah?" Pony asks as he looks up from his book, Great Expectations.

"Do you know where my house is?" I ask. He cocks an eyebrow. "I know it sounds weird, but I'm talking about the place me and my dad lived in?"

"Yeah, I know where it is," Pony replies.

"Can you show me where it is?" I ask, hopefully.

"C'mon." Pony gets up and I follow him out the door.

We walk in silence for a few minutes, in the breezy outdoors until I ask, "What do you do in your free time?"

"I mostly read books, and sneak into the Nightly Double when I can," he says. "What about you?"

I take a deep breath. I glance at him, studying me. "Funny," I finally say. "That's what I tend to do too,"

"Really?" His eyes brighten. "What about sunsets?"

"I don't know," I reply. "I've never really seen one."

"You need to see one," he says. "Oh, and there it is," he adds, gesturing to a dilapidated house off a few feet away.

I stare at it. The house's paint's peeling and there's garbage in the yard. "I guess we should take a look inside." I shrug.I jog up the stairs to the porch. The keys are hanging on the doorknob. I grab them and unlock the door, stepping inside.

The inside doesn't look as bad as I thought it would be. It actually looks clean. Just a few bottles lying around, and pillows on the floor, it doesn't look half bad. "I could live in here!" I exclaim happily. I walk into "my" bedroom, which is a collab of pink, white, and black.

"But I thought you're staying with us?" Pony asks.

I sit down on my bed with a sigh. "Look Pony, this might be hard to understand, but I don't want to be a burden to Darry and Soda. I mean, when you look at it, you can see how hard they're working to keep you all together. Savvy?" I ask.

Pony nods. "I get it."

"Good," I reply. "Now, why don't we go back to your place to get my stuff?"

By the next day, I had finally moved into my house, with a full fridge, and my own place. Yeah, I'm just thirteen. But I can survive on my own. I'm reading Mary, Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer when there's a banging on my door. I roll my eyes in annoyance and get up.

"What do you want?" I snap, opening the door. And guess who I find. Dallas Winston. But not any Dallas Winston. The drunk version. Bloodshot eyes and everything.

"Lemme in Arizona," he slurs.

I glare at him for a moment. "Fine," I swing open the door and he crashes onto my couch. "Stay. There," I order.

"Why? You worried?" he asks. "You're too young for me anyway."

I roll my eyes and walk into my room. I pick up the phone and dial in the Curtis' number. Soda had handed it to me when I left. "For emergencies," he had said.

"Hello? Who is this?" It's Soda on the line.

"Hey Soda, this is Arizona," I say. I hear Dally ranting on about something and ignore him.

"Arizona? What's going on?" Soda asks.

"We have a Code-Red," I inform him. "A drunk Dallas Winston showed up at my doorstep, and I don't know what to do with him. Except dump ice cold water on him to bring back his senses.,"

"He's at your place? Why?"

"Ask him!" I exclaim. "He keeps ranting on about Sylvia. I think they broke up or something,"

"Okay, we'll be there." Soda replies.

"Come ASAP!" I say, then hang up. I walk back out into my living room. "Dal, the Curtis' are on their way, so for now, relax!" I end up yelling because he won't listen. Finally, I've had enough. I rummage through the cabinet under my bathroom sink until I find a nice metal pail. I walk back into my kitchen and fill the bucket with water and dump in a bunch of ice. Then I let it sit as I walk back into the living room.

"Did you and Sylvia break up or something?" I ask, sitting down in my armchair and picking up my book.

"No good broad was too needy, that's what," Dally snaps. "Always wanted me to be fucking there for her."

"That's bad," I reply casually.

"No it ain't," Dally growls. "Never shows up when I need her. That's the thing with broads. Always a bunch of airheads!"

I smirk. "And I suppose you need her more than she needs you?"

Dally shoots me a murderous look. "I don't need anyone. I never will need anyone,"

Without thinking, I say, "You need Johnny,"

AN: Oh snap. What going to happen next . . . . I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the next one should be up soon!

Reviews are ALWAYS welcome!

Stay Gold!

Moniqua