A/N: This chapter is pretty surprising… I don't want to give away anything, so just read on!

Songs for this chapter: "Million Pieces" by Newsboys

"Come Clean" by Hilary Duff

"So This Is Love" by The Cheetah Girls

"With You" from the Groove School CD collection

Another Monday morning. Great.

I was asleep in bed when I heard footsteps and then I suddenly smelt bacon right in front of my face. I sniffed a little bit, then took a bite in the air. When I didn't feel anything in my mouth, I opened my eyes, and there was Darry, holding a plate of bacon right in front of me.

"Wakie, wakie, sleeping beauty!" he said.

"No fair! That's just cruel and unusual!" I told him as I attempted to take a piece of bacon, but he swiped it away.

"You're not gettin' any bacon until you're downstairs mister!" Darry teased as he started heading for the door. I sighed. Why did he always have to make things the hard way?

I got up and went down stairs half asleep. I sat next to my hard eggs and grabbed for some bacon. "Mmmmm…" I said. "this is good!"

"Thank you!" Darry said. Then, he called upstairs to Soda, who was in the bathroom, finishing his shower. "GET DOWN HERE, YOU HYGIENE FREAK! YOU'RE GONNA MISS BREAKFAST!" it's surprising. Soda doesn't care a hoot 'bout how clean our room is, which it isn't, but he cares a lot about hygiene. Darry, on the other hand, cares about messiness but not 'bout hygiene at all. I personally didn't care 'bout either of them. Too much worryin'.

"I'M HURRYIN'! I'M ALMOST DONE!" Soda called back. After a minute or two, he came down fully dressed and nearly fell down the stairs he was runnin' so fast. "Hey, guys, did I miss much?" he asked.

"Fortunately, no," Darry said. "Almost missed breakfast, though," he added.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Sodapop mumbled as he sat down.

"Hey, Soda," I started.

"Yeah?" he asked, his mouth full of a mixture of eggs, grape jelly, and bacon.

"Why do you always get spruced up before work?" I asked him.

"'Cause my boss tells me to. It brings in more girls… and besides, I want to show those Socs that we're just as good as them!" he answered. "I've gotten used to it, anyways," he added.

"You know what you'd better get used to? Getting up earlier, that's what," Darry said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Soda mumbled again.

We had breakfast and goofed around until I had to go to school at eight. We took the car so I wouldn't get jumped. Soda drove. I nearly lost my breakfast because of him. It was nearly as bad as that day Dally took Johnny and I to Dairy Queen.

"Hey, Soda, would you mind letting me keep my breakfast instead of the road gettin' it?" I asked him.

"No, I don't," he joked. I rolled my eyes.

We nearly drove past Caitlyn, who was walking to school. I told Soda to stop, though.

"Hey, Caitlyn," I told her. She jumped, but then looked at us.

"Oh, hey guys. Sorry about that, I thought you were my sister. She's been mad at me since yesterday, and we only call each other our real names if we're pissed off at each other. Can you just all me Cross? That's what my friends usually call me," she said.

"Okay, Cross. Hey, wanna jump in?" I asked her. "You know how dangerous it is to be by yourself, remember?" I said.

"Right. Open the door for me, will ya?" she asked. I opened it and we drove to school talking and Soda got caught by the fuzz for speedin'… again. I sighed. "Does this happen a lot?" Cross asked.

"Yup," I told her.

"Well, at least he's a fun brother!" she said.

"Yeah, but fun can cost something sometimes," I told her. She chuckled.

After a minute of Soda arguing with the policeman, we got going again and in no time, we were at school. Most likely because Soda kept speeding.

"Later, Soda!" I told him as I waved. He waved back and drove off.

"I gotta go, don't wanna be late!" Cross said as she ran off. I shrugged and walked on.

When I got to my locker and opened it, a piece of paper fell out. I read it. It said:

Dear Ponyboy,

Your eyes are glowin',

And I'm a'knowin,

I've had to admire you from afar,

Even though I want to get into your car

And say 'Ponyboy Curtis,

I love you'

And hear you say 'I do too,'

And I want to ask you for a stroll through the park

But I am too scared to

So just one last thing;

I love you

-Your Secret Admirer

My eyes got wider and wider as I read it. Someone loved me? Me? No, it's just a Soc pulling a prank on me, I thought. No one could love me!

As I thought of this, I couldn't see where I was going and I bumped into somebody. I couldn't see who it was, but it turned out to be a Soc talking to his friends.

"Why, you little!" he said angrily as he held me by the collar of my shirt and pulled his fist back to punch me. Just before he could place that fist on my face, the bell rang. "I'll get you next time," he muttered under his breath as he put me down and headed to class.

"Saved by the bell," I whispered to myself as I headed for English.

I was pretty nervous for the next two classes; I was scared stiff of that Soc. I had noticed he had a few rings on his fingers, like a lot of Socs did. It was a sign of anger. They wore rings like Bob. They were getting us back, all right; a lot of greasers had been put in the hospital already.

At lunch that day, things were rough. I ran into Cherry, who looked sad when our eyes locked and walked away quickly after that. I kept on seeing Socs with rings on. There was one thing, though, that reigned supreme.

I was on in the field practicing football with Two-Bit, and he went to the bathroom for a minute. I was scared stiff. I had a good reason to be. There were five Socs, one of them the guy I bumped into, and they were coming right to me. I reached in my back pocket, then remembered I didn't have a blade. I forgot it that morning. I gulped. The one I bumped into spoke first.

"Hey, greaser, you're the kid that bumped into me this morning. You're gonna pay for that and for killin' Bob and for beatin' us in the rumble," I could smell whiskey. They must have brought booze to school. It was rank.

"Do I, really?" I asked.

"Yeah, now shut up!" another Soc said angrily as he reached back for a blade. He also had a bottle with him. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't fight them with no weapon on hand! I would die! I suddenly remembered about my voice, and how to use it.

"Two-Bit! Cross! Anybody!" I called. Then, right before they started cutting me up like sushi, Two-Bit came out of the bathroom and called for Cross and came runnin' across the field.

"Ponyboy!" He called.

"Two-Bit, get me outta here!" I called back. Then the Socs turned around and saw Two-Bit.

"Somebody, get him before he does too much damage!" the leader said. Two of the Socs ran over to Two-Bit with their blades. Right before they started cutting us up, Cross came… with Mr. Syme.

"Look! Over there!" she was saying to him as she pointed right at us and the Socs.

"Boys, what are you doing?" Mr. Syme asked them.

"Oh, nothin'. Just teaching them how to avoid a blade…" they replied casually.

"Look, if any of the faculty sees you doing this again to anybody, you're going to be suspended," Mr. Syme said.

"Yessir," they replied as they put their knives away. That was a close one.

When they left, Two-Bit and I thanked Cross.

"Oh, it was nothin' really, just savin' your lives is all," she replied. When it started to rain, Two-Bit and I started to walk inside when Cross asked me to stay. When I did, she asked me something I didn't expect from her. "Ponyboy, did you find a note in your locker this morning?" I nodded. "I want to show you something," she said as she dug in her sweatshirt pocket. Then, she took out a piece of paper that said 'Ponyboy' in the writing that my letter was written with.

"Who'd you get that from?" I asked her.

"Look," she said as she wrote on the paper. She wrote 'Cross' on it… and it was the same writing as the letter.

"You mean…" I asked her.

"Yes," she said. Her eyes said one thing; I love you.

"I… I think I do, too," I told her, reading her mind. She smiled, and now her eyes said another thing; let's seal it with a kiss. "Lets," I told her. Then, we closed in on eachother and kissed right there in the pouring rain.

A/N: Yowza! Now was THAT expected? I don't think so!

Please remember to R&R! ;D