Sorry about the long space between chapters. Work has been keeping me busy for one, and the second is I felt this chapter was stretching the canon quite a bit so I was nervous about it. I have to admit, I do like this chapter though.

And now it's time for Andromeda to meet someone else from the gang.

I do not own the Outsiders.


Andromeda turned a page in the novel she was reading before abruptly raising a hand to her hair to stop it from being blown into her face. Once it was securely tucked behind her ear, she sighed when she noticed that the wind had also blown against the pages of her book, making her loose her place in the book. Andromeda glanced up when she heard something that sounded suspiciously like a snicker to see Ponyboy trying to hide a smile behind his own book.

Andromeda's own mouth twitched up into a smile before she gestured to the book and said, "So, what do you think?" The book which they were both reading had been written in 1999 and was titled 'Speak'. Despite the fact that her parents had not wanted her to read it due to the fact that it was banned in areas, Andrew had rolled his eyes and gotten her a copy saying ignoring traumatic situations, even if they were just in stories, wasn't helpful to anyone.

Ponyboy lowered his book as he answered, "It's a great book. But I'm kinda surprised that it's one of you're favorites given the subject." Andromeda shrugged lightly without truly answering. The fact was she found the protagonist, Melinda, fascinating. Both she and and Andromeda had gone through traumatic, albeit different, circumstances which they both refused to speak of. But unlike Melinda who eventually moved on from her trauma, Andromeda did her best to forget about and repress her memories about what happened.

After a minute, Ponyboy asked, "Are the socs still givin' you trouble?" Andromeda nodded reluctantly, ever since she had became friends with Ponyboy, the socials at her school had gone after her about it. Sometimes they would ask why she was meeting Ponyboy, or they would flat out say that she shouldn't meet up with him. Some would start out doing the first thing and end up doing the second a little while later. However, whenever a social would say she should stay away from Ponyboy, she would fake a smile, and say as politely as possible that she liked being friends with Ponyboy, and it would be rude to stop being friends with him because he was a greaser. She would always leave promptly after saying so to avoid hearing the person say she was wrong.

Ponyboy opened his mouth to say something before he shook his head and turned back to his book. Like she guessed, Ponyboy was not much of a talker. Not that it bothered her any, the few conversations that they did have were a lot more genuine and interesting than the ones with her 'friends' in California. Unlike with her 'friends', Andromeda felt like could actually speak her mind which she found refreshing.

A short amount of time later, Ponyboy glanced up from his book and grinned at someone nearby as he called, "Hey, Johnny!" he gestured to a boy who hesitated briefly before he approached. Johnny was around Ponyboy's height, with dark eyes, tanned skin, and black greasy hair. Andromeda quickly noticed the fact that he seemed rather nervous and smiled gently as she said, "Hello."

Johnny looked over and said something that Andromeda thought sounded like 'hi' although he spoke so softly that she couldn't really tell. Johnny sat down next to Ponyboy and whispered a question into his ear. Andromeda turned back to her book in an effort to give them a little privacy, but couldn't help but overhear Ponyboy say, 'Andromeda's not a soc, she's just a girl from California."

Andromeda dropped her book slightly and Ponyboy pointed his thumb at Johnny and said, "This is my friend Johnny Cade." Ponyboy repeated the gesture in Andromeda's direction as he looked at Johnny and said, "And this is my friend Andromeda Campbell."

Johnny nodded as he said, "So you're from California? What's it like there?" Andromeda paused as she said, "Well, the weather is hotter there for one thing. Unfortunately, due to my parent's ... wealth ... I don't think I could give an accurate comparison in regards to lifestyle." Ponyboy nodded before he said absently, "It must be nice, being rich." Ponyboy froze with a surprised expression on his face that said he hadn't intended to say what he did aloud.

Andromeda shrugged as she said, "I suppose it is. Money is obviously no issue for my family. So if I really wanted to, I could get plenty of nice stuff, and people with money tend to attract friends ... but stuff wears out, and the friends money brings aren't guaranteed to be the right type of friends." Andromeda became silent as she thought about it. "But ..." Andromeda's head turned to look at Johnny who said, "You're able to spend a lot of time with your parent's, right?"

Andromeda was silent for several minutes before she admitted, "Not really. My parents are rather distant and dismissive. So my life at home isn't particularly pleasant." Johnny nodded as he said awkwardly, "Sounds like my mother, she tends to ignore me if she's not yellin' at me for something." Andromeda nodded as she said, "Admittedly, my parents don't yell at me, but some time I wonder if they enjoy scolding me."

Johnny nodded quickly as he added, "Yeah, and if something happens, it's always your fault." Andromeda closed her eyes briefly as she said, "Not to mention how they'll pretend to be loving in public." "Yeah, so nobody ever finds out." The conversation went on for a few minutes as Andromeda and Johnny took time to compare and contrast the actions of their parents. Johnny raised an eyebrow as he said, "So your parent's blamed you when your boyfriend broke up wit you? Why'd he do that anyway?"

Andromeda hesitated, after the break up, she found it rather embarrassing to say the exact reason Edward broke up with her. Andromeda glanced over to where Ponyboy was last sitting and blink when she noticed he was no longer there. Johnny must have noticed her confused expression because he said, "I think he said something about going to the restroom a while ago. He probably felt uncomfortable because of out conversation. His parents were really great people."

Andromeda nodded and Johnny hesitated before he said, "Something bad happened to you. Am I right." Andromeda nodded lightly and Johnny muttered, "Thought so. Ever since I got beat up, people keep mentioning this sorta look in my eyes. I didn't get before, But I think you have it too." Andromeda hesitated and closed her eyes briefly as painful, bloody images flickered in front of her eyelids before she opened her eyes and whispered, "I was six at the time ... and I never saw it coming ..." Her voice drifted off again and after a minute, Johnny glanced around and said, "Ponyboy will probably be back soon."

Andromeda blinked rapidly before she smiled in thanks for the sudden change in subject. As they sat there she began to ponder an idea. It was probably a bit silly, and Andromeda wasn't certain Johnny would accept it ... after a couple minutes of thought, Andromeda decided to give the idea a try.

Andromeda slid her hand into her bag and grabbed hold of the object as she turned to Johnny and said, "I have an idea, and I want to to listen to it all the way through before responding, okay?" Although he was clearly confused, Johnny nodded in agreement.

Andromeda breathed deeply before she pulled out the older of her two phones and spoke quickly, "This probably seems strange but I'd like to give you this so if you ever need someone to talk to at any time, I'll be there. You don't have to worry about my parents finding out because they never really notice when I forget to have a old phone deactivated or how much time I ever spend talking on these things."

Johnny blinked rapidly in surprise as he seemed to be thinking about what she said before he asked cautiously, "Are you sure it's okay?" Andromeda nodded as she replied, "I'm positive." Johnny studied the phone in her hands as he thought about it for a while before he slowly said, "Okay." Andromeda smiled as she handed over the phone and said, "You'll want to delete all of the contacts other than the one labeled self. That's my current phone."

Johnny nodded as he said, "I gotta say, I never thought this would ever happen." Andromeda nodded in agreement before Johnny stood and said, "I gotta go, I'm meeting up with some friends." Andromeda nodded as she said, "I'll see you later." Johnny nodded and waved before he left. Andromeda went back to reading her book until Ponyboy sat down and asked, "Where'd Johnny go?" Andromeda glanced up and said, "Oh, he said something about meeting up with some friends."

Ponyboy nodded briefly before he said abruptly and exclaimed, "I forgot, everybody was gonna meet up in the lot today!" he turned to Andromeda as he said, "I gotta go, Darry'll be after me if I'm late." Andromeda nodded and Ponyboy hurried of in a rush.

Andromeda smiled lightly as she made her way home, but stopped to look in a mirror attached to a jewelry stand. Was there really something about her eyes that said that she had suffered? She looked deeply into her reflection and slowly noticed an expression of nervousness, anxiety, and hesitance in her eyes." After a minute she looked quickly away from her reflection and hurried on to her aunt's house. There was something unnerving about the look in her own eyes.


Dallas glanced up briefly as Ponyboy hurried over, late as usual. Darry scolded him and Ponyboy frowned as he said, "Sorry, I was talking to my new friend, Andromeda." Darry opened his mouth to respond but Two-Bit leaned in and said, "Long, fancy name that starts and ends with 'A', huh? Maybe she's the girl Dally ran into. Or ran into him, more like." Ponyboy blinked and shrugged as he said, "Maybe, I dunno." Dallas sighed then asked irritably, "Did she have violet eyes?"

Ponyboy looked surprised briefly before he nodded and Dallas concluded, "Then, that's her." Dallas doubted there weren't many people in the world with violet eyes, and there probably wasn't any other with with such an uncommon name as Andromeda as well. The conversation went on without Dallas, but he was too stuck in his thoughts to notice really. Every so often, he would think of her, and it was getting annoying. He shoved the memory of expressive violet eyes out of his mind as he finally joined the now strange conversation.

As the group was breaking apart, Dallas noticed something in Johnny's pocket and caught his arm before he said, "I thought I said not to nick phones, people notice when there missing. Johnny looked at the phone as he said, "I didn't, Andromeda gave it to me so I could call her If I needed to." Dallas' eyebrows raised as he said, "And you just took it?" Johnny shrugged as he said, "I wouldn't have if it wasn't for the fact I was certain she wouldn't take no for an answer."

Dallas released Johnny's arm and the smaller boy said goodbye before he hurried off. Dallas' own mind was whirling as he tried to figure out what he just learned. Why would a socy girl make friends with greasers, much less give one a cellphone? Why would she try to understand a greasers problems? It didn't make sense.


Well, I tried to fix all the mistakes I found. I purposefully reread the chapter before uploading so I could catch as many mistakes as I could. However, it is possible that I missed some, and if people want to point them out in a message, I won't be offended. However, if no one wants to, I won't mind that either.

I have the next chapter started, but I feel that it stretches the canon a bit further and though I like it, I still feel nervous. Hopefully I'll get it up soon.

Please leave I review, I really love reading them and I want to know if I'm doing a good job.