Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Hurricane Isaac hit hard. Anyway, read, review, and stay Gold!

I do not own The Outsiders. All rights go to S.E. Hinton.

"Okay, today's the actual first day of college, Ponyboy. Wake up, man," Sodapop slapped me over the head with the palm of my hand.

"I'm awake, Soda!" I snapped when he jammed the spoon that was hanging out of my mouth against my teeth.

"Sorry. Someone woke up on the wrong part of the bed," he said, shoving a spoonful of yogurt in his mouth. I glanced at Johnny.

"It's wrong side of the bed, So," I corrected, throwing the spit covered spoon on the breakfast table at a café on campus.

"How did you even get into this place, So?" Steve snuck up behind me and handed me a bottle of water.

"I bribed the secretary."

"With what?"

"Ten bucks and a good night kiss." Steve began to laugh so hard, tears filled his eyes. He and Two-Bit will laugh at absolutely anything, literally. We were watching Old Yeller and when they shot Yeller at the end, they began laughing so hard they fell out of their chairs. Forget comedians to get them to chuckle. Just show them a dying puppy and they can't breath. Heartless, those two.

"Hey, Hey, Hey Ponyboy! You escaped before we could catch ya!" Jared's voice rang out. I sighed and smiled. I could actually call these guys from my friends now.

"Sorry. You didn't hear all that knocking on the door this morning?" I asked him as he and the other two came around the table and took a couple seats to join the group.

"No, I did."

I pointed to Soda and Steve trying to arm wrestle with an empty water bottle between their two arms.

"Nice, man," Jackson said. I wasn't exactly on the top of Jackson's like list right now. I never was to start off with.

"Hmm," Jared started picking off crumbs of my muffins and sticking them in his mouth, "did you hear about the first semester trip we're having in like a couple weeks?"

"No. Where we going?" Johnny asked softly.

"Las Vegas, man! Whoo! And I thought this was the only place you could wrangle up some girls. You guys gotta see that city," Jared said, laughing when Jackson slapped him over the head.

"Man, you guys should see that city at night! You've never seen anything like it. Mercy and I went there for our six month anniversary," Jackson said.

"What'd y'all do to celebrate?" I asked, smiling. This oughtta go well.

"Got drunk and got broke too," He smiled.

"Nice. Six month anniversary with my ex-girlfriend we went to a bar in Oklahoma City," Sodapop said once Steve beat him.

"What happened there?"

"Same thing. Only you got peepshows. We just had greasy girls," Soda said. Two guys walked up behind Steve and Soda. One was as tall as the sky with light brown hair, lanky like a beanpole. The other was short, but not stout. He had blonde hair and an eye swollen shut.

"Hey, So!" They called out, causing Soda to jump like a frog.

"Hey, Andy!" He said to the tall guy. "'Sup, Mike!" I was guessing the blonde was Mike.

"Oh, this is Ponyboy, my brother," He gestured to me.

"Hey. Hey, Jackson, man! Jared! Evan!" They ran up to each other, cheat bumping, doing weird sorts of handshake and laughing. I completely ignored them and started looking out along the walkway for people I knew. A couple minutes later, Mercy came strutting by with a Hispanic looking girl about her height, her black hair bouncing in a clean bushed ponytail. They were both carrying books. Once they passed by, I saw another Hispanic looking girl that was on Mercy's left, but she was much shorter.

"Man, who are those two?" I asked Jackson when the chaos died down.

"Oh, the tall one is Stephanie. The short is Tania. They're Mercy's best friends," He said before going back to talking to Andy about football. I looked at Johnny. He had his eye on Stephanie.

"Why don't you go talk to her?"

"Man, Pony, I can barely get out a sentence."

"Come on. It's not like you're asking her to get in your car and head on down to that Love Shack." He laughed.

"Real Wild Child… Come on, John," I pleaded.

"Okay, man," I spotted them going into a bookstore on the left side of the walkway.

"I'll see y'all later, okay?" I said to Soda and my roommates. I grabbed Johnny by his jacket and dragged him with me into the bookstore.

"How do we do this?" Johnny whispered. I quietly laughed, but was silenced by the sound of girls giggling in the back corner of the store. I peeked above the shelves to see a sign above that area that read as, "Magazines".

"Come on," I said, pulling him towards the racks packed to the gills with all sorts of magazines; Cosmetic, Time, Politics, Literature, etc. I spotted the cover of the one all three girls were laughing at. It was one of those teen magazines. Oh, Lord. I quickly grabbed a random one from the shelf and threw another one to Johnny.

"Follow my lead," I whispered. I started to flip pages back and forth to see what the hell I was reading; How to Cope with your Period, Boys, and Emotions. Oh God…

"On second thought, don't follow my lead. Jus-"

"Hey, you're Ponyboy, right?" I heard Mercy cry. I winced and turned back around with the magazine still in my hand. I'm dead. Please just shoot me.

"Uh, yeah. You're, uh…" My mouth went dry and my heart began to pound against my chest as she came closer with her group following her.

"Mercy, remember?" She said, smiling. She was walking up to me, close. I cold put out my hand and her chest would be chopped. What was I saying?

"Oh, yeah. I'm Ponyboy," I said. What? She just said that! What the hell is wrong with me? Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"Yeah, I know. Whatcha readin' there?" She asked, slipping the magazine out of my hand. I had chills run down my spine when her hand brushed against mine. What was I doing?! The guy is supposed to make the first move.

"How to Cope with Your Period, Boys, and Emotions… Pretty heavy stuff, Pone," She laughed. Glory, was I in love! I was sacrificing my rep as a greaser and tough guy with a coping with your menstrual cycle magazine for her. Beat that, Jackson!

"Yeah, well, I think now that since I'm in college, I should start understanding about you girls," Ponyboy Michael Curtis, shut up! I couldn't keep the words from escaping my mouth.

"So what have you learned about your period so far?"

"It's bloody," I answered. She and her group laughed.

"Uh, have you met my friend, Johnny Cade?" I pushed Johnny forward.

"Oh, no, I haven't. Hi, I'm Mercy Williams. This is Stephanie Regan, and this is Tania Quail."

"Hi…"

"He doesn't talk much," I said.

"You don't say."

"So, uh, Ponyboy, I've got just a question."

"What is it?"

"Why were you two spying on us?" My eyes grew wide. On second thought, maybe I should buy one of those girl magazines, just in case.

"We weren't spying on you three. Johnny wants a copy of Gone with the Wind," I said. Thank you, God for Gone with the Wind.

"Gone with the Wind?!" Stephanie exclaimed.

"Uh, yeah. Johnny loves it."

"Oh my gosh, I absolutely love that book." I winked at Johnny.

"Well, you're in luck because I'm an expert on it," Johnny said.

"Really?"

"Yep. What's your favorite line?"

"I don't have a favorite line, but I love when the soldiers rode in gallantly."

"Me too. You wanna find a copy before school?"

"Sure," And those two rode off gallantly into the book shelves.

"So, Ponyboy…" Mercy said.

"Yeah?"

"You room with Jackson Collins?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, I just wanted to know what he says about me. He's my boyfriend you know…" And my chances and ray of hope was shattered down to nothing.