Disclaimer: S.E Hinton owns the Outsiders.

What's wrong with this picture? I'll tell you what. It's the summer and I'm up at 7 AM. Why? Well that's simple. I have to run a few errands, like going to the post office, grocery shopping, and the locksmith to make copies of the house keys for the boys, so I figured the earlier the better. I was done by 9, so I stopped by the Curtis house to see what was going on.

"Morning Darry."

"Morning Maria. What are you doing up so early?"

"Running some errands. Oh by the way," I threw a copy of the key at him, "here's your copy of my house keys, just incase."

"Thanks."

"Do you need help? You look a little busy here."

"Nah, I'm okay. Social workers are coming tonight after I get off from work, so I'm just tidying up." I knew the deal from Dally, but this was the first any of the Curtis' had mentioned of their parents' death. It was still relatively new for them, maybe 5-6 months ago. I'm not that sure. I'll have to check in with Dal on that one.

"Well then, let me help you. What time are they coming?"

"7:30 – prime time. I only have a half hour after work to come home and shower, so I have to do everything now."

"Let me guess- Soda and Pony are sleeping?"

"Yea, today's Soda's day off."

"Well what can I do to help?"

"Watch TV. There's no way I'm letting you clean this house when you don't even live in it."

"C'mon Darry. I like cleaning—it's therapeutic for me."

"Are you serious?"

"If I said yes, would it change your mind?"

"Oh fine. You can tidy up the living room."

"See that wasn't so hard. Now, one more thing."

"Shoot."

"Tell me when I can go wake up Soda and Pony."

…….

Slowly creeping on my tippy toes, I turned the knob to Soda and Pony's room and crawled in between the two of them. Soda threw his arm across my neck, and since I was facing him, his weight buried my face into the pillows. Pony and Soda were mumbling amongst themselves, but I don't even know what they were saying. It was like trying to watch the news in French.

"Good morning handsomes," I said in a sing song voice.

Soda's eyes shot wide open and Ponyboy rolled off the bed and jumped up.

"Wow, you guys really know how to make a girl feel welcome!"

"Don't… ever... do... that... again," Pony panted out.

"You likely scared the shit out of both of us," Soda said groggily.

"Oh don't act like you've never woke up with a girl in your bed before," I joked with Soda.

Pony's ears got really red and it wasn't until Darry starting laughing that we realized he'd been watching from the doorway the entire time.

"C'mon, there's just enough chocolate cake left for the 4 of us," Darry said, retreating to the kitchen.

…..

"Soda, make sure you're home by 7 today to start dinner before the social worker comes."

"Okay Dar. Make sure you don't carry two bundles of roofing at a time," he said flashing a mile wide smile before his brother left.

"So what do you wanna do today now that we're up?" Soda turned to face me.

"Whatever you want. I don't really care." Truth was, I was wondering about Jake. It's not everyday that I have an instant attraction to a person. I barely knew him, but I just had this feeling…

"And I thought I was the daydreamer around here," Ponyboy said.

I looked up just in time to see Two-Bit swipe my chocolate cake.

"You're not gunna do anything to stop him?" Dal asked, nodding over to Two-Bit.

"Nah. I'm not that hungry."

"What do ya'll think about going down to the lot and playing a game of football?"

"Me? Football, HA!"

"Oo, right. I forgot girls don't know how to play football."

"It's not that I don't know how to play football. I just can't."

"I'm not following you.." Pony stated.

"Well you know how certain people are mentally challenged. Well, let's just say that I'm 'athletically challenged,' so to speak."

"Why exactly can't you play a sport?"

"She can't run." I swear, I can always count on Dal to butt in at the right time.

"Everyone can run," Johnny piped up encouragingly.

"I run like a duck. You name any sport and there's a reason I can't play it."

"Basketball," Soda challenged.

"I can't dribble and run at the same time. I get called on traveling the whole game."

"Tennis?" Pony asked.

"I hit the ball too hard, as if I were playing baseball. Then when I try to hit it lightly, it won't even clear the net."

"Baseball?"

"When it comes to batting and catching, I'm fine. But throwing the ball, that's a whole other story... Whatever, let's go play. I'll let you guys laugh at my expense."

….

UMPHH!

Was this ever a mistake! I was getting tackled left and right. Soda, Pony, and I were on one team, and Johnny, Two-Bit and Dally were on the other. Sure I didn't mind when Johnny tackled me, but when you're squished underneath Dally or Two-Bit, trust me—it's not fun.

"Geez Dal! I mean I know you love me and all, but this!" I said as I got up from the tackle. Dally was so quick to sell me out, refusing to be on my team because of my lack of talent in the football department.

"Ha ha ha," he said dryly, "you're so funny."

"I bet you wouldn't mind it so much if it were Jake on top," Soda poked.

"Oh God! I think he would kill me, he's so muscular. He could, like, break someone's neck during sex."

"Well, I don't know about ya'll but I prefer to break legs." Only Two-Bit would say something like that.

"Well, I don't know about you but I'm going home to take a shower." Truth was, I was sweating more than some of the boys and I was starting to gross myself out.

"Aww, c'mon don't just walk away from the conversation like that. It was just getting good!" Two-Bit and Soda whined.

"We can continue this anytime boys. I'm not running away from nothing."

Truth was, before going home to shower, I went to the Curtis'. I was already dirty so I figured I might as well help clean the place up before I took a shower. One thing about me, I'm organized to the max. I hate clutter and, boy, let me tell you, the Curtis house was well acquainted with clutter. So I took it upon myself to organize and clean from the walls to the halls, the floors to the doors. You name it, I made sure it sparkled. Yea, the Curtis house was in disarray, but you can't blame them. From what I know, there's no mother type of figure around for the boys and with Darry and Soda working, there's really no time to make the house look presentable. But I didn't care. I'd do anything to help them out. All 3 of them had hearts of gold, and it was my way of showing my appreciation for all that they helped me with since I've been here. I even started dinner. I was making 'risotto pescatore,' which takes a while to make. So I had enough time to run home and shower before Soda would be on his way back home.

……

"What the hell happened here?"

I moved from the kitchen to see Soda and Pony making their way through the house. They were dirtier from when I left them, their shirts full of grass and mud stains.

"You two go hurry up and get showered. You only have an hour until the social worker comes and Darry has to shower when he gets home."

"Pony, you go first. I'll get dinner started."

"I'm already on it," I told him.

"What the hell? Did you spend your day cleaning and cooking?"

"I like to organize."

"You're crazy, you know that. Outta your mind," Pony called as he closed the bathroom door.

…..

"Soda get the door. That must be him! Oh Boy, I can't believe Darry's not home yet!"

"Hi, Mr. Curtis?"

"Hi, I'm Sodapop Curtis. Nice to meet you, Mr.— ?"

"Mr. Watson"

"Pardon me Mr. Watson," Darry said from behind him, faintly out of breath. "I got off work a little later than my shift and there was traffic. Pardon my appearance."

"Well, aren't you going to come in?" I asked. They were carrying out the conversation in the doorway and front porch area and that's not the best impression to make.

"My records don't say anything about a female figure being around the family. No fiancés and such. You would be?" Mr. Watson said, peering over his glasses lenses and riffling through his folder.

As I held out my hand to greet him, Darry was quick to butt in.

"This is our cousin…"

"Yea, from New York," Pony added.

"Well does your cousin have a name?"

"Oh, pardon me. Where are my manors?!! I'm Vanilla Frosting Curtis, but you can just call me V," I said with a contagious grin, as I extended my arm for a hand shake.

"Please sit down and have something to eat with us. I cooked a whole lot extra and it's a shame to waste it."

"Well, it defiantly tops going home to my wife's burnt meals. She's not that great of a cook."

…..

Dinner with Mr. Watson went better than I had expected. I assumed that a man of his age with the Social Services would've sent an old stiff, but he was middle aged and pretty decent about the situation. The boys were on their best behavior, although they all really are one better than the other. It's just the greaser card that's working against them. But Mr. Watson saw how Darry was handling the situation. I can't even imagine being in that situation, at 20 years old no less. I mean at 20 Darry should be able to go out at night for a drink with his friends and still have his share of wild nights. But he gave it up for his brothers, and I admire him for sacrificing all that.

"Maria what did you do?"

"What you wouldn't let me this morning" I answered Darry.

"I really appreciate it. You didn't have to do that."

"Yea, but I wanted to. I mean it hasn't been the easiest thing for me to leave home and you guys made me feel comfortable around here. It's the least I could do."

"Believe me, cleaning this house was more than enough. And you even made dinner when I told Soda to this morning."

"Dally told me how Soda's cooking usually turns out. And I figured it was a safe bet that I cook, just incase the guy came before you had eaten. And it looks like it paid off."

"You let me know if there's anything I can do to pay you back for all of this."

I bit my bottom lip. I hated asking for favors, but I really did need this one.

"Man, I haven't seen this house this clean and presentable since… since mom was around," Darry whispered, more to himself than me.

"Well, there is one thing.."

Darry just looked at me, waiting for me to proceed.

"I was thinking. You work for a construction company and you do roof repairs. Do you think you could get me, like, a secretarial job. I can type really fast so I can type up any contracts your boss needs done. The only thing is, I don't want to come into the office. I rather just type them at home and then drop them off the next day."

"I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks a bunch Darry."

"Hey, no problem. You helped us out a lot today. I really appreciate it."

"Just doing what I do best," I smiled.

"Alright. Well I'm going to take that shower I didn't get a chance to take when I came home."

"I'm gunna head over to Buck's and see if I get a job there, too."

"You know, Buck's isn't the greatest place for a girl like you to be around," he said apprehensively, not knowing how I'd react to his advice.

"Dar, you're forgetting one thing."

"What's that?"

"I'm a New Yorker. Nothing's ever safe." With that, I headed over to Buck's, in search of Dally and Buck's answer.

Hope you guys enjoyed it! I know a lot of you have because a lot of people have added it to their alerts. So please review. The last few chapters haven't gotten any and I'm sure there's a grammer mistake in there somewhere that you're all dying to correct! NEXT CHAPTER- Maria's secret will come out.. so stay tuned!! I promise it's worth waiting for. I'll probably have it up for Sunday.

-danni babezzz