A/N: Okay, I finally got this up! My friends said that I should put a quote in the beginning of every chapter... so I did. I had tons of fun looking for them though! Hope you guys enjoy this!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders. I mean, do I seem like S.E. Hinton to you? :) ;)

"And the danger is that in this move toward new horizons and far directions, that I may lose what I have now, and not find anything except loneliness."

Sylvia Plath

Upon arriving at the art studio, Lucy took Rebecca to a table at the front of the classroom and sat her down.

"Okay, somethings you need to know about Ms. Collins." Lucy started, not even giving Rebecca time to settle down. "She's pretty and kinda young. She's one of the coolest teachers ever in this forsaken high school. She actually makes art pretty cool and allows individualism."

Rebecca nodded her head although in the inside, she was just barely keeping up with her. "That's cool. What are you guys doing now?"

Lucy made a face. "Drawing faces. I'm not really good at it. Are you?"

Rebecca shrugged although she was finally happy that they were actually gonna do something she was good in. "I'm decent enough."

"Wanna be my partner? My best friend Dakota was supposed to be helping me but she's out with the flu. You can draw me and I can draw you." Lucy suggested.

Rebecca smiled at her. She was glad that she didn't have to go through the awkward phase where she had to look for a partner in a room filled with people she didn't know. She could already feel Lucy growing on to her, which was surprising. Her only two best friends back home, Phoebe and Chloe were nothing like Lucy. They were crazy and fun, and spent most of their time making fun at people like Lucy. They were sure gonna flip when she told them this, she thought nostalgically.

"Who is this?" A girl with curly brown hair and brown eyes asked Lucy as she took a sit next her.

Lucy brightened. "This is Rebecca! She moved here from New York."

The girl nodded her head and smiled at her. "Welcome to Tulsa! You'll find out nothing much happens here as they might do back up north. I'm Gabby!" She said.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Gabby isn't known for being subtle. You may have to excuse her sometimes."

Rebecca laughed. "I don't mind." And she really didn't. Although Gabby dressed just like the way Lucy did, the same skirt style and blouse, Rebecca was immediately reminded of her old friends, who seemed to have a bad habit of speaking their minds.

The minute the late bell had rung, Rebecca saw a short breath Ponyboy and another boy stumble into the classroom. Ponyboy's reddish hair was in disarray and the other boy's left cheek was starting to purple, probably a bruise forming, Rebecca thought.

"Curly, next time don't time don't try to pick a fight with a soc in the middle of a hallway; leave it for rumbles." Ponyboy said tiredly. He turned his head and realized Rebecca was there. He gave her a smile, which she returned and hastily turned away, and he sat in the table in the back of the classroom.

"Stupid, no good greaser." Gabby mumbled as she shot a glare at the boy named Curly.

"What's a greaser?" Rebecca asked, hoping to get a straight answer.

Lucy and Gabby looked at each other in surprised. "Gee, I really don't know how to explain it." Lucy said helplessly.

"I got it." Said Gabby. She turned towards Rebecca and answered, "greasers are like hoods. They've got no money, always seem to be getting high or in jail and are really up to no good. They live in the east side of town. We're socs. We've got the money and we hate the greasers. We live on the west side of town."

Lucy applauded her softly. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

Rebecca understood now what they were talking about but she still had one more question. "What about the people in the middle?" She asked.

Gabby shrugged. "What about them? They're just there. They're not socs or greasers. Nothing much to say about the middle class."

"Where do they live?" Rebecca asked curiously.

Gabby shrugged. "Around middle of town, closer to the west than east. Mulberry street is where some of 'em live."

"I live on Mulberry Street." Rebecca said more to herself but Lucy took it as an invitation to answer.

"Then you're middle class." She smiled at her. "Better than being a greaser."

Rebecca digested all of this. Living in New York helped her understand what Gabby and Lucy were saying but she felt that Gabby's explanation was too one-sided. After all, she did meet Ponyboy and he didn't seem to fit the description that they gave her although he was labeled as a 'greaser'. He seemed like a decent guy, she thought. Not like one of those guys back home that was involved in gangs or such. Nothing is what it seems, she mused. She bet that if she went up to the guy named Curly and asked him to describe 'socs, he would say a load of trash too. Looks like I'm on my own for this one, she concluded.

"Well, you know that greaser from DX?" Gabby asked Lucy and interrupting Rebecca's train of thoughts. "That one is quite a catch."

Lucy had a dreamy expression on her face. "His name's Sodapop, right? He sure is a doll. Shame that he's a greaser."

Rebecca perked up at the name of Pony's older brother. "Isn't that his little brother sitting in the back?" She nodded her head in Pony's general direction.

Lucy and Gabby made a face. "You mean Ponyboy? He's okay lookin' but he got his own issues." Lucy said.

"What issues? He seemed okay enough." Rebecca asked.

Gabby and Lucy looked at each other. "Well, last year-" Lucy started but the teacher, a petite with straight blonde hair in a bun and green eyes, walked in and clapped her hands to get the students attention.

"Before we get started on today's lesson, I'd like to bring your attention to the fact that we were lucky to acquire a new student today." The teacher turned towards Rebecca, a huge smile on her face.

"Sweetheart, what's your name?" She asked nicely.

Rebecca's face started to turn red as she realized that everybody's were trained on her. "Rebecca Meyers." She said shyly.

The teacher continued to smile at her. "That's a lovely name! I am Ms. Collins. Do you have any particular nicknames that you would like to be called, honey?" She added brightly.

Rebecca was taken aback. No one had ever bothered to ask her that. Chloe and Phoebe had called her Becky or Beck sometimes and her brother and father would sometimes call her Re, but those nicknames had come naturally. Nobody asked her if she wanted to be called anything in particular but she respected Ms. Collins for asking.

Rebecca shook her head. "No, there's nothing I would like to be called." She smiled.

Ms. Collins nodded her head and turned back to face the class. "Okay, so ya'll know what to do. We're drawing either your own face or your partners face and then later we'll paint them on canvasses. So go to the back, grab a pencil, paper, or mirror if you're doing yourself and start drawing!"

Rebecca and the rest of the class got up from their seats and walked to the back of the class.

"So, who are you working with, Gab?" Lucy asked absentmindingly while she took her long wavy hair and twisted into a bun with a pencil.

Gabby shrugged. "I'll do myself. No one knows me better than myself." She laughed. Lucy rolled her eyes and got a paper and pencil and was about to walk back to her seat when Ms. Collins called out to her.

"Ms. Simons, we use the pencil for drawing, not holding our hair up." She said while looking amused.

Lucy looked up at her sheepishly. "Sorry, Ms. Collins." She was about to take her hair down when Ms. Collins stopped her.

"You know what; keep your hair like that. You look beautiful like that and one day you're gonna have to teach me how you did that." She winked.

Lucy blushed but looked proud. "Thank you, Ms. Collins!" She gushed and she turned around to beam at Rebecca.

"I told you she was an amazing teacher!" She said as she walked past her to get back to their seats. As Gabby passed by, she twirled her finger near her head and pointed at Lucy, as if to say that she was crazy. Rebecca giggled and quickly grabbed a piece of paper and pencil. When she turned around however, she nearly collided into somebody.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She said and she looked up to see Ponyboy smiling down at her.

"It's okay." He said. "So, how did you like math class? I bet you hated Ms. Mazz." He said as he collected his supplies.

"Actually, I like her. She's a decent teacher. It's just the subject itself that's bothering me." She replied.

Ponyboy looked at her with an incredulous expression on his face. "You liked her?! I think you're the only student who said that. And besides, math is easy."

"Well, for you maybe but back home we were on chapter nine and you guys are on chapter 12 so I have no clue as to what's going on." She said miserably.

Ponyboy smiled at her. "You'll catch up. It's easy, I promise."

Rebecca snorted. "Even back home I was struggling and I knew what was going on then. I doubt it would be any different here."

Ponyboy looked thoughtful. "Just give it a chance. It might just work out."

Rebecca looked at him, surprised. Boy, he obviously never saw me around numbers, she thought. She was about to say something to him but Lucy called out to her.

"Rebecca, come on! It's gonna take me all period to draw you!" She shouted.

Pony glanced at her and then at Lucy, who was looking at them with her eyebrows raised. "You're friends with Lucy Simons?" He asked.

She shrugged and looked at him curiously. "Not really. But she's been really nice to me since I met her."

Ponyboy made a face. In his opinion, Lucy Simons was not the person people should befriend. "She's not my favorite person." He admitted to Rebecca.

Rebecca gave him a knowing look and shrugged. "That's cool. I guess I'll see around." She said and she walked back towards her table. She put her supplies down and looked up to see Lucy and Gabby looking at her strangely.

"What?" She asked innocently.

"What were you and Curtis talking about?" Gabby asked.

Rebecca blinked at her. "You really do get to the point, don't you?"

"I sure do." She said unfazed. "So what did you guys say?"

Rebecca shrugged. "I bumped into him and apologized to him."

Lucy looked unconvinced. "For that long?" She asked while lifting her eyebrows.

"Lucy, your eyes may not come out right 'cause I can't draw eyes." Rebecca said while turning a bright red.

Lucy laughed and gave Rebecca a knowing look. "Sure thing, Rebecca." She played along. "I can't draw humans so what I draw might not even look like you."

Gabby shook her head although she was smiling along. "Idiots." She murmured. Rebecca felt happy knowing that Gabby had chosen to include her, even though it was kinda of an insult. Maybe I could thrive in this city after all, she thought absentmindingly as she began to draw Lucy's face.

The classroom became a lot more quitter after everybody started drawing. There was the occasional laughter and people telling their partner to tilt their head a certain way or look up. Rebecca felt a sharp pang of homesickness. Back in New York, the art room was never silent. The students may not be talking but there was always the honking of cars or the chatter of people in the distance. But here, in Tulsa, the silence was so tangible that Rebecca could practically feel it surrounding her, suffocating her until the point where she had to look up and take a deep breath.

"Are you okay?" Ms. Collins asked behind her. Rebecca turned around and nodded and gave her a shaky smile. Ms. Collins smiled down at her sadly.

"It's homesickness, isn't it?" She asked knowingly and Rebecca gave her a sheepish smile and nodded again.

"Where are you from?" The teacher asked and Rebecca told her.

"Oh, I'm guessing you used to live in the city?" Ms. Collins guessed and Rebecca looked at her with surprise written all over her face and nodded her head.

Ms. Collins gave her a sympathetic look. "I know how you feel. I used to leave in Chicago but when moved here, I became extremely homesick. It became so severe, that I had to stay home in bed all day." She gave her a sad smile. "The first thing I noticed when I arrived here was that it was so quiet. Too quiet for my liking. There's just something peaceful about the background noise of a city, don't you agree?"

Rebecca felt a rush of gratitude towards Ms. Collins. She was glad that there was somebody in this town that she could relate to because she knew if went around telling people about this, they would just think she was crazy. Rebecca felt something heavy being lifted from her heart and she realized that it was the feeling of loneliness. She had never felt so lonely in her entire life to know what it actually felt like but know that she knew, she wished she'd never feel it again.

"Thank you." She whispered to the teacher and Ms. Collins smiled at her.

"You're welcome, sweetheart." She said kindly and turned towards the rest of the class. "Okay, kiddos, that's it for today! Put your drawing by windowsill and let's compare them!"

Rebecca looked nervously at her picture of Lucy. Everything looked like the way it should be expect for the eyes. They had this unrealistic quality to them and Rebecca could feel frustration building inside of her. Why couldn't she get it? Why is it the eyes that always seemed to trip her up?

"Curly, I look like a horse." She heard Ponyboy say to the boy he was working with.

"Well, that should make sense." She heard the boy reply. "You're name's Ponyboy after all."

She saw Ponyboy roll his eyes at him and she stifled a laugh herself.

"So, how did it come out?" Lucy asked her about her portrait. Rebecca turned to face her and smiled.

"Okay, but I'm still having trouble with the eyes." She admitted.

Lucy snorted. "That's better than what I have. This drawing doesn't even look like you!" She exclaimed.

Rebecca laughed and hanged her drawing right next to Lucy's and Gabby's. Lucy took one look at the drawing and squealed with delight. Gabby placed her hands over her ears and looked at Lucy tiredly.

"Next time warn us before you go and blow our eardrums off." Gabby grumbled.

Lucy ignored her and turned towards Rebecca with a huge grin on her face. "This looks exactly like me! You're so talented!" She gushed.

Rebecca turned a fierce shade of red. "No, I got your eyes all wrong and they're the most important part of your face." She stammered.

"Who cares? I most certainly don't." Lucy said.

Gabby rolled her eyes. "Insane, that's what you are."

Rebecca looked at the picture that was supposed to be her. She did a double take when she glanced at it. Lucy had drawn a girl, but the girl looked nothing like Rebecca.

"Umm, Lucy?" Rebecca asked while trying to hold back a laugh.

Lucy turned towards her and realized that she was looking at her drawing. Lucy waved her hand and said, "I know it looks nothing like you. It's probably some girl who lives half way across the world."

Gabby and Rebecca laughed. "You can draw." Rebecca said.

"But not individuals!" She wailed.

Ms. Collins had walked over to them and examined their art work.

"Ladies, these are really good." She was impressed. "Would you like me to criticize or are you good?" She asked politely.

Rebecca could feel her respect for Ms. Collins growing by the second. She respected that Ms. Collins had ask them if they wanted criticism instead of just giving them her opinion.

They nodded and Ms. Collins smiled. "Okay, so Gabby. This self-portrait but you're putting too much effort on your nose. Just draw a simple outline and shade and the rest will speak for itself."

She turned towards Lucy's painting and smiled. "You're a talented young lady, Lucinda," Lucy winced at the mention of her full name. "But you need to recognize individualism. See how Rebecca's eyes are more round than almond shape? And notice how there's a little freckle above her upper lip? Draw those things to bring Rebecca more into your drawing."

She finally turned towards Rebecca portrait. "Rebecca, you too have a talent in art but you need to bring more life to your drawing. Your Lucy looks like a statue. She's smiling but it's not showing in her eyes. Crinkle the edges around her eyes to show laughter in them."

The girls nodded their heads. "Thank you, Ms. Collins." Gabby said sweetly.

Ms. Collins grinned at them. "Anytime sweethearts." And she walked towards other students.

"She is soo cool." Lucy exclaimed.

"Almost as cool as Mr. M." Gabby said dreamily.

Lucy immediately launched into a conversation with Gabby about some teacher Rebecca had no idea about. Rebecca wandered off to see the other student's drawing but stopped when she came to Pony's. His picture of the boy named Curly was perfect. He had gotten everything right, even the purple bruise that had begun to appear on the boy's face.

"You like?" Somebody asked behind her. Without even turning Rebecca knew that it was Ponyboy.

"It's amazing!" She exclaimed.

Ponyboy blushed. "Thanks. I saw your drawing too and it was really good."

Rebecca snorted. "Hardly. But this portrait is amazing!" She said sadly. The last time she saw anybody draw this good was her mother but her mother had been gone for a year now.

Ponyboy looked at her curiously but the bell rang and she hurried over to grab her stuff and go.

"Hey, Rebecca! Wait up!" Lucy called out to her. "We have lunch now. I can't wait to introduce you to our other friends!" She said happily and Gabby nodded her head in agreement.

Rebecca gave them an apologetic look. "I'm sorry guys but my older brother, James, promised to pick me up during lunch and drive me around."

Lucy pouted. "That's okay. How about tomorrow?"

Rebecca nodded her head and smiled. "Tomorrow sounds perfect."

Lucy's face brightened. "Okay, that's cool. What class do you have after?" She asked.

Rebecca glanced at her schedule. "Writers Workshop."

Lucy frowned. "We have Social Studies." They came to the front entrance of the school and Lucy and Gabby turned towards her.

"It was nice meeting you." Lucy said.

Rebecca smiled. "You too."

"See you in few!" Gabby cried out as she and Lucy headed towards the cafeteria.

Rebecca smiled and turned towards the front door. The one thing she liked about this high school was that the students were allowed to eat lunch off campus, as long as they came back on time. When James had heard this, he promised her that they'd drive around for a while during her lunch period on the first day. Rebecca smiled at her brother's eagerness before and stepped outside to wait for him.

A/N: There you go! If you have a suggestion or a nice comment, please review! Thank you for all the reviews before! Keep them up!

More reviews= faster updates! ;)