Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders :)

Wednesday, February 23rd, 1966

The following day after school Anna could feel her brother giving her looks out of the corner of his eye as he drove towards Grandpa Joe's house. They weren't exactly angry looks, she would be more inclined to call them curiously annoyed, but it was a good twenty minute drive from Will Rogers to their grandpa's and the fifteen minutes that had gone by so far had been utterly silent, making the looks more unsettling than they needed to be.

Anna knew the looks weren't about her failing of math. Danny was still pissed off about that, Anna had a feeling he would be for some time, but after a nice long lecture on his behalf and some promises from Anna to really try harder, he'd let it go for the time being.

So after the fifteen minutes of silence and strange looks, and no reason that Anna could think of for them, she decided to get to the bottom of it. It wasn't like her brother to simply stare at her if he had a problem. He was more the kind of guy to start yelling right away.

"What?" she asked, turning to steadily look at him as he drove.

"What, what?"

"Whaddya keep lookin' at me like that for?" she asked.

Danny glanced at her. "Lookin' at ya like what?"

"Like that! You've been giving me those weird looks since I got in the car. What's goin' on?" she said.

"Who says something's goin' on?"

Anna smirked. "I do. You're my brother, I know when something's up."

Danny gave her another look. "I saw you talkin' to Bobby Miller today."

"So?"

"So, whaddya think you're doin' talkin' to a greaser like that?" Danny asked.

Anna frowned. "You mean a greaser like you? He's in Tim's gang with you ain't he?"

"That's my point," Danny said glancing at her again. "He ain't good enough; you need to stay away from him."

"I need to stay away from him? You realise you can't go tellin' me who I can and can't talk to right? I'm gonna be seventeen in a couple of months."

"That don't mean nothin'," Danny said. "You're still my little sister and I ain't about to go lettin' ya date another screw up like last time."

Anna let out a huff of laughter. "And by last time you mean Ricky Bolton? After what happened with him do you really think I'm lookin' to go getting involved with anyone?"

"You mean after you became the talk of the whole school for how easy ya were?" Danny said with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"Yeah, after that," Anna said, fighting the blush that was rising up her neck. She hated her that her brother had heard those rumours as much as she hated the rumours themselves and almost as much as she'd hated not being able to deny that the one about giving it up to Ricky had been true. She'd tried of course, but Danny knew her too well and could see she was lying right off. At least Ricky had suffered a broken nose and cracked ribs afterwards, thanks to her brother.

"Look, I don't mind if ya go gettin' involved with someone," Danny said, pulling up outside Grandpa Joe's house, "just so long is it ain't someone like Bobby Miller."

She watched as her brother climbed out of the car. "What about Tim Shepard?" she muttered to herself, grinning at the thought of the sexy gang leader, her brother's best friend. She'd had a tiny little crush on him since she was fourteen, not that she'd ever tell Danny that. She had a feeling that Tim knew, but thankfully he'd never said a word about it.

Climbing out of the car Anna followed her brother up the driveway to the front steps and waited as Danny knocked on the door. She heard a few loudly muttered curses from inside as someone stumbled to the door and grinned.

"Bout bloody time you two came to see me," her grandpa grumbled as he opened the door for them.

"Hey, Grandpa," Anna said happily stepping into the house and hugging him.

"Yeah, yeah," he continued to grumble, patting her on the head.

She handed over the muffins she had brought him and the three of them headed into his kitchen where Grandpa Joe put the kettle on before grabbing out two bottles of coke as Anna and Danny sat at the table.

"How you kids doin'?" he asked, sitting down with them.

"We're fine Grandpa," Danny said. "How've you been?"

Grandpa Joe waved a hand in dismissal. "I don't have you kids comin' round here so I can talk about myself," he said, "tell me what the two of ya have been up to lately."

Anna grinned and she and Danny began telling Grandpa Joe what was safe for him to hear. Anna told him about spending Saturday doing makeovers with Kathy, but kept out the part about it being for the party at Buck's later that night. Danny told him about the scratches on his car, keeping quiet the part that resulted in him getting hauled in for jumping the guy that did it.

"Sounds good, sounds good," Grandpa Joe said, getting up to make his tea. "An' you still with that pretty young thing, Danny? Ruth something or other?"

"Yeah," Danny grinned and Anna rolled her eyes. She couldn't stand Danny' on-again off-again girlfriend, Ruth Goodall.

"An' what about you, Anna? Any boys causin' you trouble?"

She should see it as patronizing that Danny's girlfriend was a 'pretty young thing' and any boy who may have liked Anna was 'causing her trouble' but Anna couldn't help but grin.

"Na, no boys," she said.

"Good, good. And how's that father of yours treatin' ya?"

"Aw, you know what Dad's like," Danny said evasively.

"Yeah, that's why I'm askin'," Grandpa Joe continued.

"He hasn't been too bad lately," Anna said, not outright lying but only telling a half truth.

Since their mother had left, Stan Harris had a habit of getting drunk and taking out his anger on his kids. He'd never laid a hand on either of them, but his yelling and bad moods were bad enough. Most of it was directed towards Anna who, at first hadn't understood why . As she got older she'd realised it had had everything to do with how similar she was to her mother.

"Right, well how's school goin' then?" Grandpa Joe asked, sitting back at the table.

Anna pursed her lips and ignored her brother who was smirking at her over Grandpa Joe's shoulder, practically begging her to try and lie outright to Grandpa Joe. He knew as well as she did that she simply couldn't do it and that, for the first time in her life, Grandpa Joe may just get angry at her.

"Not so good,' she finally said.

"Not so good huh?"

"Yeah. I'm failing math," she said. "But it's o.k. I've got a tutor now."

"An' how's that goin'?" Grandpa Joe asked.

Anna frowned and remembered her first tutoring session the night before. Horrendous wasn't a bad enough word for it. She had arrived at Steve's after dinner, as told to, and had spent the next hour arguing with him because she didn't understand what he was trying to teach her.

"You're not explaining this any better than Mr. Chase," she had snapped at Steve.

Steve had simply frowned at her and tried again, but no matter how many times the words were repeated to her, Anna still didn't get it. An hour and a half after her arrival Steve had ordered her out of his house and during the few blocks walk home she had sworn black and blue to herself that she was not going back there.

Unfortunately she had mentioned beforehand to Danny that her next tutoring was the following night so she didn't think she really had a choice in the matter. At least Steve had kept his mouth shut at school with Mr. Chase giving them an actual lesson that day rather than letting them work alone.

"S'not going so well," she finally told her Grandpa who nodded.

"Just like your grandma you are," he said, getting up to pour some more tea. "She was never any good with numbers."

Anna couldn't help the smirk that was directed at her brother.

XXXXX

Steve was sitting on the couch on the front porch when he heard the car pull up. He scowled, knowing exactly who it was. Stubbing out his smoke he glanced up and saw Anna sitting with her brother in his car, and he was pretty sure they were arguing.

He smirked at that. First she was arguing with Kathy yesterday and now her brother. He liked that, as much as she seemed to like getting on his nerves, others seemed to do a fine job at getting on hers too.

Lighting up another cigarette, Steve watched as Anna finally climbed out of the car, slamming the door behind her. She made her way up the walkway with an angry frown on her face as her brother drove off and Steve had to fight off a grin. Sure a pissed off Anna wasn't really a good thing for him, but he still liked that someone had managed to piss her off. It made his job of getting to her while she tried to annoy him a whole lot easier.

Sighing he realised it actually made his "job" a whole lot harder. Pissing each other off was just a part their every day life, especially hers, but now that he had to tutor her … Steve took a deep drag of his smoke and became quickly aware that Anna being pissed off was going to make today's tutoring even harder than yesterday's had been.

He still couldn't believe he'd agreed to tutor her. He wanted to think that the little broad had been conniving and had somehow managed to manipulate him into doing it but he knew that wasn't true. It had been his own decision; one that had been made the moment Evie had taken off in Armstrong's car. Armstrong - who was well known around school for being popular with the girls.

Steve had been quietly fuming when he'd seen that and at that point, seeing Evie moving on to another guy, he hadn't been able to see any other way of getting her back. At that point, a few good words from Anna had seemed like a good idea.

Now, with one tutoring lesson out of the way and who knows how many more to go, Steve was wishing he'd never agreed to it. Dealing with Anna in math everyday was bad enough; spending extra time with her out of school was pure hell. He wasn't about to go ending their deal though. Even if Anna was no help with Evie, Steve was no quitter.

"Anna," Steve said in greeting as she made her way up the porch steps.

A scowl was the only reply he received and Steve had to smirk at it. "What's got your panties in a knot?" he asked.

She glared at him for a moment before grinning. "Thinkin' about my panties is just gonna get you in a whole bunch of trouble, Stevie," she said.

Steve rolled his eyes. Trust her to turn things around on him like that. He hated to admit it but she often managed to get to him with her quick remarks. His were always meaner, but hers were always more clever.

"The day I'm thinkin' about your panties, Anna, is the day Two-Bit gives up beer," he replied stubbing out his smoke and getting to his feet. "And we both know that ain't ever gonna happen."

"Thank god for that," he heard Anna mutter as he turned and led her inside.

"So? What're you all pissed off about?" he asked again.

She sighed. "I was kinda hoping Danny woulda forgotten that I had planned on coming here this afternoon. But as you can see, he unfortunately remembered just fine."

Steve smirked. "Tryin' to sneak your way outta this already? That's slack Anna, real slack."

"No I'm not," she said. "I just didn't wanna put up with any of your smart-ass comments today."

"Like I have to put up with yours everyday?" Steve said, looking at her over his shoulder as they headed into the kitchen.

Anna smirked at him. "I didn't give you any smart-ass comments today," she said.

"The first thing you said to me when you got here was smart-ass," Steve said with a snort and sat at the kitchen table. "I'm startin' to wonder if you know how to talk without bein' a smart-ass."

"Maybe, but you're no better. In fact you're probably worse," she said sitting opposite him.

Steve stared at her for a minute. "Must you have an answer for everything?"

Anna grinned. "Everything but algebra."

"Well, did you at least understand anything Mr. Chase was talking about today?" he asked, glad to change the subject.

Anna snorted. "You're kidding me right? The most I understood was roll call. Everything after that is a bit of a blur."

"So, do you understand algebra at all?" he asked not feeling at all optimistic.

"I'm supposed to figure out what 'x' is, right?"

Steve raised an eyebrow at the confused look on her face. "That's it?"

"Pretty much," she said.

Steve sighed and opened his math notebook to the page he'd written today's notes in. The girl was impossible and he was sure it was going to be a long night.

XXXXX

"I just don't get it," Anna said an hour later.

"Glory, Anna, how can you not get it?" he asked, leaning back in his chair and frowning at her.

"I just don't."

"But it's so simple,"

"Well I'd hardly call it simple," she said, chewing on her pencil.

Steve sighed in frustration and pushed his notebook across the table. Grabbing his comb out of his back pocket he ran it through his hair and glared at Anna. As far as he was concerned she was being deliberately unhelpful. She just responded to his glare with a raised eyebrow and he couldn't help but snap at her.

"You're doing this on purpose aren't ya? This stuff is not hard to understand. How can you not get it?" he said.

"I am not doin' this on purpose. You think I actually like bein' here?" she said.

"Considering how badly this is all goin' and how much longer teachin' you all of this is gonna take, I'm startin' to wonder," Steve said.

"Trust me, Stevie; I do not want to be here. In fact I would rather be anywhere but here."

"Then why aren't you even trying?" he asked.

"I am trying! It's not my fault I don't understand this stuff."

"You mean it's not your fault that you're stupid?"

Anna glared at him and Steve just stared back, waiting for her to yell at him and hoping that she would. He wasn't in the mood for helping her anymore, not when everything he tried to teach her went in one ear and out the other. He just wanted her to leave so he could go back to Soda's. If they happened to yell at each other a bit before she left, well, he was in the mood for a fight, even if it wasn't physical.

"Ya know," Steve said, deciding to egg her on, "you wouldn't even hafta be here if you weren't such an idiot."

Steve could practically see the fury burning in Anna's eyes and he smirked at her as she slammed her notebook closed and stood from the table.

"Yeah, well maybe Evie wouldn't have dumped you if you weren't such a jerk," she said.

"Evie didn't dump me cuz I'm a jerk," he said, realising too late the opening he'd just given her.

Anna grinned though her eyes were still furious. "That's right," she said, "she dumped you because she wanted to date other people. Hmm, doesn't say a lot about you as a boyfriend does it?"

Steve glared.

"Or maybe it wasn't the 'boyfriend' part that was the problem," she continued. "Terry Armstrong does have quite the reputation, if you know what I mean."

"Shut your fuckin' trap," Steve said.

"Or what?"

Steve glared at Anna and stood from the table with clenched fists, hating that the anger and defiance in her eyes never wavered. Silently he cursed her brother and his friends. They were the reason his temper never scared Anna. She had seen just as bad in her own house, what with Tim Shepard often being there.

"Or you can get the hell outta here," he said, hoping she took his advice before he did something he'd regret … maybe.

"That is probably the most useful thing you've said all night," she said and grabbing her book and pencil, stormed out of the kitchen.

Steve glared after her, waiting until the door had slammed shut before he sat back down and ran his comb through his hair again.

"Stupid broad," he muttered, rubbing his hands over his knuckles.

He'd wanted to fight with her, to argue about something with her, but as usual it just left him mighty angry afterwards. She always managed to get under his skin and really piss him off. He didn't know what it was about her, she just bothered him and he just didn't like her.

Scowling, Steve stood up and stormed outside, heading for Soda's. Of course had it not been for Anna, he would've been there an hour ago. He wouldn't've had to have left at all after school and he could've spent the night hanging with his buddies, playin' poker or football, instead of trying to teach some idiot girl algebra. He was once again glad he'd already agreed to working on Two-Bit's car that Sunday, getting him out of tutoring Anna.

Steve sighed and kicked a stone in front of him knowing that, as angry as she made him, he still wasn't going to give up. If she were to quit instead, then fine. He would just have to get Evie back on his own somehow.

But he wasn't about to go tellin' her that the deal was off. He wasn't about to go and give her the satisfaction of being the one to quit. No matter how much he hated Anna, he was no quitter. Whether it was stubbornness or pride, he didn't know, but he wasn't going to let her win.

A/N: Thanks again to RileysMomma for beta-reading and all comments are still very much appreciated :)