Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders

This fic/chapter is being post as part of "Good Fic Day," an effort to raise the quality of writing here. We hope to encourage more writers to improve the quality of their own fan fiction - spell check, grammar check, keep the gang in character, outline, plot and don't use Mary Sue's. Good fan fiction requires effort, and we would like to encourage other writers to rise to the challenge of producing better fan fiction, not only for our readers, but for S.E. Hinton, who created the wonderful book we are trying to honour.

Wednesday, March 2nd, 1966

"Do you need me to pick you up tonight?" Danny asked as he pulled up in front of Steve's place.

Anna shook her head and stared up at Steve's house. The absolute last thing she wanted was to go in there but, unfortunately, there was no choice in the matter. Not only was Danny was not about to let her out of any tutoring, Anna wasn't about to go quitting either.

She knew Steve always let her into his house when she turned back up after an argument because he was too stubborn to tell her to get lost and be the one who quit. She wondered though if Steve realised the reason she kept coming back was because she was just as stubborn.

"Right; well, don't you go causin' him too much trouble 'kay?" Danny said as he lit up a smoke.

Anna looked indignantly at her brother. "Me causing him trouble? Were you not listening to a word I said last night? He is causing me trouble."

Danny smirked at her. "I've seen the way you egg him on. You ain't exactly all innocent in this."

Anna sighed and grinned a little. "Maybe."

"C'mon, Miss B, the last thing you need is to fail and have to be a junior again. Randle is helping ya out big time with this."

Anna stayed silent, not wanting to admit her brother was right.

"Just try an' be nice,' he said.

"Whaddya think these are for?" she asked waving the container that held freshly baked chocolate muffins. She'd been willing to bribe Steve in the past and she wasn't against doing it again.

"I'll see ya later," Danny said, chucking the car back into first.

Anna sighed and climbed out of the car, slamming the door behind her just in time for Danny to pull the car away from the sidewalk and speed off down the street. Looking back at Steve's place, Anna let out another sigh and began to slowly make her way up the walkway.

So far they'd had three tutoring sessions and each one had been as bad as the last. Last night's session had probably been the worst though, with Anna telling Steve some lie about Evie saying he was bad in bed after Steve had said something horrible about Ricky and the rumours he'd spread that she didn't particularly want to think about right then.

Once again the night had ended with her storming out of Steve's house and Steve probably doing his best to remember that she was a girl and that it wouldn't go down too well if he were to hit her.

Anna drummed her fingers on the bottom of the container as she made her way up the porch stairs and stopped in front of the door. She had to knock, there was no getting around that, but the longer she could put it off the better.

She thought maybe she could just hang around outside for a bit, that way by the time she went in, part of the session would be over and she wouldn't have to be there as long. It sounded like a great idea until she imagined Steve's reaction when she finally went in and how pissed off he'd be at her being so late.

Raising her hand to knock, she was surprised when the door opened right in front of her. She tensed up for a moment before grinning and hiding the container of muffins behind her back when she saw Two-Bit.

"Anna!" he called merrily. "Me and Steve were just coming out to see if you were here yet."

"Really?"

"No, not really," Steve said from behind Two-Bit who ignored him.

"Yup," Two-Bit continued as both boys walked through the doorway and onto the porch. "In fact we've both been counting down the minutes till you were s'posed to arrive."

Anna grinned. "Aw, Two-Bit, if I'd know you were here I woulda come earlier."

"Now, now, Anna,' Two-Bit said, still sounding unbelievably cheerful. "You wouldn't wanna go and make Steve here jealous would ya? I mean, I know you're not flirting, and you know you're not flirting. But Steve here may not realise it."

"Knock it off, Two-Bit,' Steve said.

Anna laughed, remembering when Two-Bit had once jokingly accused her of flirting with him in science. She laughed at him and told him he was just like a naughty dog who was always getting into trouble and was fun to joke with.

He had of course replied in similar style that Anna was just like a kitten that he could get into trouble with him and tease mercilessly. He had proceeded to prove that by setting fire to her science notebook, earning them both detentions.

"See what I mean," Two-Bit whispered. "Jealous."

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Steve asked, shoving Two-Bit's shoulder.

"That I do."

"You're leavin'?" Anna asked.

"That's right. I have myself a very lovely lady in need of some of my lovin'."

Anna grinned, remembering how excited Kathy had been about their date tonight. "That's right," she said. "Kathy mentioned you had something nice planned."

Two-Bit just winked and, giving Steve a manly slap on the back, barrelled down the porch steps and headed for his house.

The silence left behind was awkward to say the least. Last night's fight had become possibly a little too personal for her bribe to work, but she wasn't going to give up hope.

"Here," she said shoving the container towards him.

"What is it?"

"Muffins," she said. "Triple chocolate."

Steve sneered at her. "Whaddya want this time?" he asked.

"Nothing," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Then why are you giving them to me?"

Anna was impressed that he at least didn't think she was trying to poison him this time … that had to be some kind of improvement.

"All I want is to pass math," she said, "and that ain't gonna happen with us constantly at each other's throats."

Steve stared at her for a moment, seemingly thinking over what she was saying. "That's true," he said grudgingly, obviously hating to agree with her. " But it still don't explain the muffins."

Anna shrugged and grinned at him. "A peace offering?"

XXXXX

Steve frowned at the container. A peace offering? Was she serious? He glanced back up at her and realised immediately that yes, she was dead serious.

Looking back at the container filled with muffins, Steve considered things. A truce wouldn't be too bad an idea. After the argument they'd had the night before he was a little tired of fighting with Anna. She always gave as good as she got and Steve found himself letting out more emotion around her than he would with most people. 'Course all that emotion was anger but it was still more than he wanted Anna to see.

A truce wouldn't be too bad. It meant he'd have to be kind of nice to her but he figured it meant she'd have to be kind of nice right back. Seeing Anna force niceness towards him the other week had been, although pesky because he'd known she had wanted something from him, a little amusing.

Plus if they stopped arguing they might just get somewhere with the math then she'd be out of his hair forever.

He looked back at her again and as much as he wanted to kill the slightly hopeful look in her eyes, nodded.

"Fine," he said and walked past her into the house.

"Really?" she asked, walking in behind him.

"Uh-huh."

"Why?"

Steve frowned. "Whaddya mean why?"

"Why are you agreeing to this?"

"'Cause as much as I hate to admit it, you had a point. You ain't ever gonna get better at math if we don't stop fighting and the sooner you get better at math, the sooner I get Evie back and get rid of you."

"Wow," she said as they walked into the kitchen. "Ya know I never thought I'd see the day where you'd actually agree with me over something."

"Neither did I," Steve admitted.

"Especially when it was something that would result in you having to be somewhat nice to me," she continued.

"Are you wanting me to tell both you and your peace offering to piss off?" he asked glaring at her. "Cuz you're the one that did the offering which means you gotta be nice to me too and I only just agreed to the damn thing and you're already beginning to annoy me."

Steve was sure Anna was about to say something else that would get to him but she quickly bit her lip, grinned at him and quietly opened her notebook.

"So," she said in what he figured was supposed to be a friendly tone, "where were we up to?"

XXXXX

Anna made her way up her porch steps, still slightly in awe of how her night had gone.

For starters, Steve had agreed to her truce much quicker and easier than she'd dared to hope. She'd expected him to fight her tooth and nail, saying what a terrible idea it was and that he'd much rather continue to argue with her over every little thing than force himself to be nice to her, even if it wasn't true.

On top of that, their night had gone reasonably well. She still didn't understand a single thing he said about math, but he was keeping his frustration at her to himself and she was trying that little bit harder to deal with not getting it.

All in all it hadn't been a terrible night. Still not great, but Anna didn't think she could really complain considering last night's events.

Seeing her dad's car gone when she got home was just an added bonus, one she could only count on three or four nights a week when he was on the graveyard shift. Hearing Tim Shepard's rumbling voice as she opened the front door was just peachy.

Grinning she dropped her school books on the floor, ran her fingers through her hair and wandered into the kitchen. She wasn't stupid enough to think Tim would take any notice of her whether she made any kind of effort or not, in fact he'd been buddies with her brother so long that he'd seen her at her worst, but she still wasn't about to let him see her look a mess from the wind outside.

"Hey." She made her voice bright and cheery as she spotted her brother and the gang leader sitting at the kitchen table drinking beer.

"Hey, how'd it go?" Danny asked and Tim just nodded in acknowledgement.

"Surprisingly well," she said, grabbing a coke from the icebox. "Now is this 'gang business' or can anyone join in?" she directed her question at Tim.

"Take a seat," he offered, kicking out a chair.

"Surprisingly well? Does that mean you learned somethin' this time?" Danny asked.

Anna frowned as she sat at the table. "Not exactly."

"Meanin' what?"

"Meanin' no," she admitted.

Danny nodded thoughtfully. "You seem to be in a better mood tonight than last night though; I take it the muffins went down well?"

"Yeah," Anna grinned. "The muffins were good and the peace offering was taken. Rather quickly might I add."

"A peace offering? As in a truce?" Tim asked.

"Uh-huh."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Between you and Randle?"

"Yes, between me and Steve."

Tim smirked at her. "I don't believe it."

Anna furrowed her brow at him. She'd had a crush on him since she was fourteen, which she was pretty sure he knew about, and she thought he was awfully good looking but she hated the way he teased her like her own brother did. It made it even more obvious that he only thought of her as Danny's little sister.

"Why not?" she asked.

"I've seen the two of you argue."

"That don't mean nothin'," she said pursing her lips. Jeez, she thought to herself, is there anyone who hasn't seen us argue?

"It means ya can't stand each other and any truce you think you got goin' on ain't gonna last."

"Says you," she said rudely. She wasn't afraid of Tim Shepard. Admittedly, if she were to piss him off the only thing stopping him from giving her a whack on the head like he would his own sister was Danny, but that was good enough for her.

"You really think it'll work?"

No, I don't. "Yes, I do."

"Good luck to ya then," he said, taking another mouthful of beer.

"I don't need luck," she said. "Just patience and determination."

Tim raised an eyebrow at her and Danny snorted.

"O.k. and maybe some more chocolate muffins," she conceded.

Danny shrugged and glanced at Tim. "Two outta three ain't too bad."

Anna rolled her eyes and stood up. "You two need to have a little more faith in me," she said. "I have plenty of determination."

"What about the patience?" Danny said.

Anna took a breath. "Well, I s'pose I'll just have to work on that won't I?"

Danny chuckled and even Tim looked amused. "Good luck with that, Miss B," her brother said, "you'll need it."

Anna glared at the two of them before turning and storming to her bedroom.

"Stupid boys," she muttered to herself.

XXXXX

Steve was sitting at the kitchen table, picking at some left over chicken and thinking about the guys in the Mustang that had followed him, when his dad got home from his night job. He hadn't had any more trouble from the Mustang owner but was definitely expecting some. Staying silent for a moment, he wondered what his chances were of getting from the kitchen to his bedroom without any trouble from his dad.

It'd been over a week since their last fight and Steve was just waiting for the next. He sat listening to his dad take off his jacket and kick off his shoes, cursing the whole time and knew he'd be spending the night at Soda's.

Sighing he stood and went to place the rest of the chicken back in the fridge when his dad came into the kitchen. Steve turned cautiously, watching his dad stop in front of the table and stare at him.

"Why aren't you at work?" John asked.

"It's my night off."

"So you think you can just sit around the house and eat food I paid for, do ya?"

"I ain't about to go hungry," Steve was unable to stop himself from replying.

"Ya ain't about to go hungry," John repeated. "Well maybe if you put that pay check of yours to good use ya wouldn't have that problem."

Steve didn't say anything. He'd offered money to his dad to help around the house on more than one occasion and his dad always told him to keep his money, that he was capable of taking care of his own son.

"Don't ya know it's rude to ignore someone when they're talkin' to ya?" his dad asked. "I thought your mother taught ya better than that."

Steve bristled. He could take his dad yelling at him and kicking him out but he hated it when he brought his mom into it. As far as Steve was concerned, she was gone and didn't deserve to be talked about this way.

"Leave her outta this," he snapped, his hands tightening on the plate of chicken he still held.

"Or what? Huh?"

Steve said nothing.

"You'll hit me?" John asked. "You'll start a fight with me like you and your stupid buddies do all the time?"

Steve was so tempted and his knuckles were itching to be used. He was one hell of a fighter and had a wicked temper to go with it but his dad was a big guy. He wasn't stupid enough to try and hit him, no matter how angry he got.

"Get the hell outta here," his dad finally said. "Ya useless piece of shit."

Steve placed the plate of chicken on the counter next to him and stormed out the back door, hearing his dad cursing at him on his way out. Shoving his clenched fists into his pockets, he walked around the side of the house and started down the street.

His dad was a bastard, and sometimes Steve really hated him, but he was still his dad. It bothered him that his dad treated him so badly, but it bothered him even more that it bothered him at all.

Steve lit up a smoke and scowled. His dad was a useless father who thought five bucks made up for being kicked out. The money was his dad's way of apologising, he knew that, and he always took the offered money as a way of acknowledging the apology and agreeing to come home. That didn't mean he accepted the apology.

He sometimes wished he could stay away. Move out of home or something. But most of the time he just wanted his dad to stop treating him so bad. As much as Steve hated him, he was all the family he had left, not counting his cousin and Aunt in Kansas. Ever since his mom had died it'd just been him and his dad and that still meant something to Steve.

Glad to reach the Curtis' place, Steve flicked away his cigarette butt and pushed the gate open, spying Ponyboy sitting on the couch by the window reading by the light of the living room lamp.

"Hey," Steve said as he walked up the porch steps.

Pony looked up. "Hey, there's left over meatloaf if ya want some."

Steve nodded his thanks and made his way inside. At least he and Pony managed to get along sometimes. He still thought the kid was a damn tag along, but he supposed he was all right sometimes.

Opening the screen door Steve found Soda sprawled on the couch, wearing nothing but jeans as he looked through a car magazine.

"Hey, buddy," he said, looking up from the magazine.

Steve nodded and sat next to him, still scowling.

"Want some meatloaf?" Soda asked, getting up. "Darry had a feeling we'd be seein' you or Johnny tonight and made plenty."

"Yeah, thanks," Steve said and picked up Soda's discarded magazine.

"Anytime, buddy," Soda said. "Anytime."

A/N: Thanks again to RileysMomma for beta-reading this for me and thanks to those who have left comments, they are very much appreciated :)