The DX station was filled to the brim with women. But when I drove up to the filler station with my red mustang they moved along quickly enough. I actually received dirty looks from the poorer ones, resenting my presence. What exactly did they want? This was a gas station, I needed gas. How hard was that to comprehend?

I checked my complexion quickly before stepping into Tulsa for the first time in 6 years. My skin was lily white where I used to have a healthy tan, my hair dark brown where it used to be sun-bleached blonde, and my eyes….the same. More tired maybe, and without the child-like innocence that I had left Tulsa with. I unbuttoned the high necked Fourpence school uniform until just above the swell of my breasts and found myself breathing easier than I had in 6 years.

"You poor baby…Come to Mama"

"We're here for you!"

It seemed, even as one of the women spit on the hood of my car, that they were all here for the same reason. The gas station attendant. Well that was just too bad because I damn well wasn't going to pump my gas myself.

I stepped out of the car, one long leg after another, acutely aware of how tall I had grown. I watched as the girls formed a sort of tunnel where the attendant could make his way, being groped and goosed the whole way through. He approached me, grease stains on his clothes and oil streakings on his face.

"Sorry about that Ma'm" He was wiping the spit away with his towel and ran a hand absently through his golden hair. I blinked. Yes, he was covered in dirt and grease, but why did I suddenly want him to kiss me up against the hood of my car? He was beautiful, God's greatest gift to mankind. He grinned at me, but the smile in his eyes was sad, lonely.

"Can we hurry this up-I studied his nametag- Steve, I've got to get home" I placed a hand on my slim waist and steadied myself.

"My name's not—

"I really just need to get going" I ended with a note of finality for the conversation and looked up to meet his surprised honey gaze. Not used to being unable to seduce a girl eh Steve? Well tough. But there was a tinge of familiarity in those eyes, a hint of something from long ago.

"All full Ma'm" Steve's voice broke through my thoughts as he closed the tank. I paid, even tipped a couple bucks and drove off, still thinking that I knew him….somewhere.

I rang the doorbell of my own house because I had never been given a key. My mother answered the door. She was fragile and beautiful still, but there were more worry lines in her face and she looked broken.

"Minnie" She smiled at me before taking my hand. I cringed at the old nickname.

"It's Minalia now mother. Where are Kyle and father?" I used all my boarding school manners to hold myself aloof from my mother and all the weakness that she represented.

"Hi!" I called out as I saw a boy run to the entryway to peer at me from behind the potted plant. He looked at me like he didn't recognize me, how could I expect him to after all these years? But he had been the one in my family I had liked the most so I smiled at the little boy.

"hi" came the small response after about a minute.

"Where's father?" I repeated myself and looked down at my mother, who I found surprisingly was quite a bit shorter than me. In fact everything in the house looked smaller, save Kyle. Who was gawking like I was some kind of strange new animal. He flinched when I took a step towards him and I clenched my fists along the hem of my gray-plaid skirt.

I walked into the house and was hit with a surge of crushing memories. Daddy shaking me until my teeth rattled in my head, the hardwood floor slippery under my stockinged feet, and oh Steel, magnificent black Steel…. I squeezed my temples and took an unsteady breath.

"I've got to get my bag, I forgot I left it in the car. I'll be right back" My mother was looking at me with a worried expression on her face. Her hands were twisting an old handkerchief in front of her. Tighter, tighter, tighter until I was sure it would rip apart under the pressure. But it didn't, and I left the house with my the brother I didn't know, and the mother I was afraid would break, staring after me.

Instead of getting my stuff out of the trunk, I took off. This place wasn't home. Boarding school was more welcoming than the two-story, empty house I'd grown up in. On my now full tank of gas I trolled the richy-rich area around where I lived. The stables were around the side of my house, now completely empty of horses. Finally I reached the other side of town, what I had come to know I my childhood as the 'bad side'.

As I drove by an abandoned lot and an empty park there was only one small house with a light on. It drew me, and I stopped across the street and took out my pepper spray just in case. There was yelling coming from inside the building.

"Well where'd you put your own uniform, genius?'

"I must've left it-

"I washed it. It's hanging in your closet. Glory, I'd think you'd look there first."

"Hey superman…"

"Don't even think about it, Steve. I'm through with washing for the week. Ask Ponyboy, it's his turn now."

Ponyboy. The name struck a chord deep in my memory and my mind flashed to a little boy with reddish hair and green-gray eyes. Fast runner. That would mean that…he was here.

A crash pulled me from my musings as I anxiously sat up and looked around. But the sounds again were coming from the brightly lit house. Grunts and yells echoed through the street as the boys wrestled.

"Say it!"

"No" The voice was strained.

"Say it!!"

"Fine, uncle!" I could recognize voices by now and knew Ponyboy had lost the match.

"Now listen up you two" An angry older voice bellowed and I saw the lamp sway, "Pony's got school tomorrow".

I felt vaguely like a spy, so I started the car and began to pull out. But as I was driving back home, someone appeared in front of the screen door. The boy from the gas station caught my gaze for a split second. I recognized him instantly this time, the warm look in his eyes strikingly familiar. I remember his childish 12 year old face inches from mine with that broad happy-go-lucky grin. Remembered the hurt look on his face when I told him I hated him. I knew him even before his younger brother shouted, "Soda? What're you looking at?"

I didn't stay long enough to hear a reply. I drove back to my white house with the stable, finally ready to call Tulsa home.