AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, I got some very nice, generous reviews which encouraged me to write more. I think maybe other people saw more in it than I did, so I gave it a go. I've decided to go with a bit more comic relief in the next two chapters. But there's also some serious stuff too. And the "M" rated stuff is starting... though it's only bad words and "adult themes", not sexy scenes. Hahaha, sorry to anyone who might be disappointed!

I hope you enjoy and I really appreciate the remarks and reviews. To be perfectly honest, this chapter would not exist if it weren't for JohnnyCade4Ever, abc & christy. Wherever you guys are, thank you very much for your encouragement and kind words!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Outsiders.

As soon as they rounded the corner and were out of sight, Ava slammed on the brakes and turned the steering wheel sharply toward the curb. Cathy felt the thud as the rim hit made contact, and closed her eyes tightly, thanking God it wasn't her car. When she opened her eyes again it was at the sound of another thud. She turned to face Ava, only to see her pretty friend hitting her forehead against the steering wheel repeatedly.

"What are you doing?" Cathy cried, when Ava didn't stop.

"I. Am. Such. A. Dork." Ava declared, accenting each word with another steering-wheel-face-plant.

"Well stop that! You're going to hurt yourself." Cathy grabbed her friend by the shoulders and pulled her back from the steering wheel. Ava tilted her head back and stared at the roof of the car for a moment before speaking again.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked finally, turning to face Cathy. Cathy was genuinely confused.

"Tell you what?" She asked, shrugging.

"About him! That guy! He was so…" Ava stopped and took a deep breath. "He was very… attractive." she said once she had regained some control.

"Oh!" Cathy nodded, believing she understood. Of course. Soda… Cathy smiled, but the smile faded and a sinking feeling entered her chest. Girls were always falling in love with Sodapop Curtis. Somehow, I didn't think Ava would be interested in Soda… She thought.

"Yeah, a lot of girls like him. He's always got them hanging off of him." Cathy explained. Ava looked unhappy to hear this. Then a confused look crossed her face. If Johnny always had girls hanging off of him, why had Soda asked her to the party? She had thought he knew she was attracted to Johnny, and that's why he had brought it up.

"So, why do you think Soda invited me to the party?" She asked.

"I dunno. Maybe he likes you too." Cathy smiled and shrugged again. She motioned to the road. "I don't want to be rude, but can we go? I'm going to be late for work."

"Right. Of course. Sorry." Ava signalled and checked her blind spot before pulling back out onto the street.

"So?" Cathy said when her friend didn't speak.

"So what?" Ava asked, checking the rear-view mirror.

"Are you gonna go to the party?"

"You're kidding, right? As the entertainment?" Ava scoffed and slowed as the intersection light turned amber.

"No. Soda invited you himself. You should go."

"I'm not going to the party. And if you don't give me directions, I'm not going to be dropping you off at the right place, either."

Cathy was momentarily distracted by directing Ava to the hospital. Once they arrived, Ava insisted on getting detailed directions back to her side of town before letting Cathy out of the car. Once she hopped out and turned to close the door behind her, Cathy remembered that Ava hadn't given her a firm answer.

"So are you going, or not?"

"See you tomorrow in school." Ava grinned and waved, then hit the gas just enough to lurch the passenger door from Cathy's hand. She quickly hit the brakes and the door slammed shut. Cathy watched her drive off with a smile.

XXX

Ava sighed and closed her Shakespeare reader. She had managed to avoid Ponyboy Curtis throughout the entire day. First she had seen Cathy and him approaching her at her locker before classes started. But a quick slam of the locker door and a dash down the hall had helped her evade them. Next, she had walked into the lunch room, fully expecting not to see them, since they usually ate lunch together outside on the picnic tables. Today, however, they were both sitting at her usual table waiting for her. She had ducked out before they caught sight of her, though, and had enjoyed her meal as much as was possible from the girls toilets on the second floor.

The only drastic steps she had taken, and also the first time she had truly questioned why she was avoiding them so fervently, was when she had lied to Mr. Hackett, to avoid math class. If she hadn't been in the top five of the class, she was sure he would not have let her get off with the excuse: "I really need to read the biography of Euclid. It's in the library and I know it'll help me with the logarithms assignment." Mr. Hackett hadn't asked what Euclid had to do with logarithms, or why one of his top students would need help in order to do it. He had just given her a strange glance and waved her toward the door.

Now, though, English class was over. The school day was over. She could just go home, work in the garden a bit, eat dinner with the family, watch Bonanza! and go to bed. And dream again tonight about Johnny Cade and her humiliation at the Curtis family home. She shuddered at the thought.

She pushed open the classroom door and stepped out into the hall. Cathy and Ponyboy were waiting for her.

"Why have you been avoiding me all day?" Cathy demanded immediately. Ava was taken aback.

"Uh…" She had to think quickly.

"Nevermind that." Cathy shook her head and waved her hand dismissively. "We need to know that you're coming tonight."

"Right, well, I was going to tell you -"

"Liar."

"OK, I wasn't going to tell you. But, anyway, I don't think I'm going."

"Why not?" Ponyboy asked, a bit perplexed. "Soda told me I had to get you to promise to come."

"Really?" Ava asked. What exactly, she wondered, was Sodapop Curtis's stake in arranging this meet up? Was he after a girl who was after Johnny?

"Yeah, he just told me it was important." Ponyboy shrugged. "Anyway, you can go with Cathy."

"Yes. Come by my house early. We'll get ready there and then head over to Ponyboy's." Cathy smiled. Ava knew she was out of excuses. In any case, her excuses really weren't very convincing.

"OK." She nodded. "I'll come by around 5."

XXX

Johnny watched with curiosity as Sodapop and Steve shoved each other playfully in the bathroom. Both were trying to get a better view of themselves in the mirror. When the shoving turned into a quick wrestling match, Darry came out of his bedroom to simmer things down.

"Knock it off, you two. If the bathroom isn't big enough for both your egos, then you'll just have to take turns."

Johnny tuned out the chorus of protests and the continued sounds of wrestling. He pondered momentarily why Soda and Steve always ended up in a scrap over the slightest things, but he dismissed the thought and settled with the comfortable knowledge that they were just like that.

He stood up from his seat in the corner of the living room and headed for the front door. The sun was beginning to set in the West, and though he didn't exactly know where he was going, he knew he needed to get out of the house.

Two-Bit had arrived only a few moments before the bathroom rumble had broken out, and he had started drinking from time earlier. He was half blitzed already but had declared loudly that he had every intention of getting even more drunk. Between his loud and shouting, Soda and Steve's antics, and Darry shouting, Johnny needed a break.

It had been a very bad day at work, he thought to himself as his feet carried him up the street. He had been sweeping out the back room of the drugstore when the front door bell sounded. He heard Frank get up from his desk and go the soda counter. It hadn't been long after that that Johnny heard raised voices.

"Where is he?" Someone had yelled angrily. Johnny had frozen, broom in hand. He had recognized the baritone immediately. It belonged to Jessy Hickock, the quarterback for the high school football team and captain of the Let's-Kill-Johnny-Cade platoon. Only two weeks earlier Jessy and two of his buddies had cornered Johnny after he had been leaving work. If Tim Shepard and one of his friends hadn't been there at the time, Johnny knew he would have suffered more than the verbal torments Jessy and party had slung at him. He shuddered now, at the thought of the words. In a way, they were almost worse than fists.

After Frank had gotten rid of Jessy and his buddies, he had come into the back room in search of Johnny. Frank's face had been a mixture of sympathy and annoyance. He opened his mouth, but before he spoke, Johnny knew what was coming.

"I'm sorry Johnny. But I just can't have this going on anymore. You… you can't work here anymore."

He swallowed hard to keep the tears back and watched as his feet took step after step in their dirty old white runners. He just didn't know what he was going to do.

When his feet stopped suddenly, almost of their own accord, Johnny looked up to see where he was. It shocked him to see his old house directly across the street. The living room was lit up, and Johnny could see the silhouette of his mother as she stood there, hurling abuses at some unseen man. The fight was really heating up and Johnny flinched when he heard his father's voice, screaming right back. So his father had returned again. Johnny couldn't count how many times his father had walked out on them, only to return a few days or even weeks later, waltzing in as though he had never been gone at all.

As he watched the two silhouettes battle it out, Johnny's vision became blurred. As the images blurred, he felt that the outline of his father altered slightly. He could see him, in his mind's eye, the tall, lean bully with a goatee and greased, black hair. Johnny ran his hand over his own chin, feeling the stubble pushing it's way through the skin. He ran his hand over his own greased locks, and remembered his mother's words: I don't know why he calls me a whore so much. You two look so much alike it's like only one of us made you. Johnny stared at the scene unfolding.

"You dumb slut." He muttered, speaking aloud the words he knew his father was yelling. "Don't call me a slut you asshole." She would yell back. It was the same almost every night. "You can't even get it up anymore, so what am I suppose to do but go lookin' for it someplace else? Crack." Right on queue. Johnny could see his father's hand come crashing down against his mother's face. The image was clear in his mind. His mother on the floor, cradling her bleeding nose. The man above her a small, meek 18 year old, with the beginnings of stubble on his chin.

Johnny shook himself. No. He thought. I may not have a future. But no future is better than that. He knew then. He knew he needed a plan. He needed to get out. He needed relief. He was desperate for it. He turned quickly, his back to his old home and the violence taking place inside. The sun had already dipped below the horizon and the light remaining in the sky was weak. Night would be here soon. The party was starting soon. Purposefully and determinedly, he began heading back toward the Curtis residence