Double digits baby! Chapter 10! Yahoo! I feel so happy that I'm actually going somewhere with this book and there's actually people supporting and reviewing it! It feel great!

So I was planning on making this one average length since I didn't delay it that much.

I have some thank you's to say:

Brooklyn25 I will make sure there's some "Marina and brother" time.
Kyogirl0909 I will try to make things more slow and not so sudden.
kat if Marina and Johnny do end up falling in love with each other, I will take up your suggestion of Johnny's shyness.
Jenna thanks for always reviewing on my chapters and answering my questions! If I need any more info on Skye I'll ask. The same goes for kat with Daf.

Thank you guys and my many other reviewers like staygold101 (awesome username by the way), Guest, puppylover27, Slytherinbaby101, HyperHoshi, and Kittyswirl613CatoandClove4ev a! You guys make this book worth writing.

On with the show!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Outsiders, that belongs to S.E. Hinton. Skye belongs to Jenna and Daf belongs to kat. I have gotten permission to use them both. The only person I truly own is Marina.

Marina POV

We finally arrive back home and I feel absolutely sore. My head aches from being whacked with a book, I can feel the bruises cry out in pain with every beat of my heart, and my rib cage feels pretty bad from being kicked. I hope they didn't break one of my ribs.

As we enter the house, Johnny hands me off to Pony who takes me to ourroom and gently places me on my bed.

"I'll get you some ice." Ponyboy stands up and heads to the kitchen for some ice. What a nice brother.

Daf and Skye enter the room. Only Skye looks sad. Daf just looks concerned and not the slightest bit sad. I look at Skye. Her naturally pretty face looks stained with a trail of tears and her long eyelashes look wet. Her golden eyes are filled with sorrow and concern. I should be the one feeling sorry. She got slapped by Bob trying to save me. Now she has an unmistakable bruise on her left cheek.

"Are you ok?" Daf asks blankly.

"It just hurts." I moan. My head begins throbbing in pain again and I grunt. This hurts like crazy!

Skye takes a seat next to my bed and holds my hand. She rubs it comfortingly. "Don't worry Marina. Pony will come back with some ice real soon."

Daf pulls up a seat and sets next to Skye who sits on another chair. Daf looks at me dead in the eye and we stay like that until Pony comes back with some bags of ice. He hands all but one to me. The last one goes to Skye. I look back and forth between Skye and Ponyboy. They would make a pretty cute couple.

"Here you go." Ponyboy says as he hands Skye the ice bag.

"Why did I get one?" Skye asks.

"You got a pretty tuff bruise there. The ice help the swelling go down. Wouldn't want to hurt that pretty face of yours." Pony refuses to look at Skye dead in the eye. Skye doesn't bother looking up either. She begins blushing though as she lifts the ice to her cheek.

"Are you guys gonna head back to school?" my hoarse voice asks.

"I wanna stay here." Skye whispers.

"I'm not gonna let my kid sister say home alone." Wow. Pony sounds so much like Darry it's not even funny.

"You're gonna need soem company, right?" Daf questions.

"So I take it that you all are staying?" I ask.

"Guess so." Skye shrugs.

"Where's Johnny?" I ask.

"Went home." Pony says like it's no big deal. Which it's not...I guess...Wait what am I thinking? "Do you want me to call Darry and Soda?"

"No...they need to work...we need the money..." I stammer.

"Ok. But if you change your mind just say so ok?" Pony states. I nod my head in agreement. Downstairs we hear the front door ope then slam close. Someone must be here.

"Hello?" a voice cries out.

"Up here!" Pony shouts. We hear footsteps coming closer then stop in our doorway. I look up to see Dally in my bedroom doorway. Skye makes a little whining noise in the back of her throat as she scoots her chair back. That's weird...

"How's the kid?" Dally asks dully.

"I'm fine." I say tiredly. Dally nods his heads. His eyes land on Skye.

"How'd you know?" Daf asks curiously.

"Little birdy told me." Dally says.

"Seriously." Daf orders.

"Johnny did. Man you should've seen that boy. He looked awful. Almost cried telling me the story." that says a lot. It takes a lot to make Johnny cry. He's always having awful at home. He's used to the pain. But why now of all times does he almost cry? Could it be? No! It's not. I'm overreacting again. He doesn't like me as anything more than a friend.

"Well well well. Look here. Skye Marie Sommors. Haven't seen you in awhile." Dally's voice breaks through my thoughts. He makes his way over Skye. Skye's hand flies to her left shoulder and she looks on the verge of tears. Dally must have hurt her before.

"Hi Dally..." she whispers so quietly I could barely hear her. Dally is about a foot away from her and that's when her tears spill. Skye gets up and bolts into the bathroom down the hall.

"What's up with her?" Dally questions.

"I'll go get her." Daf heads off to the bathroom totry to get Skye out.

"Dal I think it may be best if you go." Ponyboy suggests. Dally punches the wall and marches off.

"What was that all about?" Ponyboy asks. I shrug my shoulders and grab one of the many ice bags and place it on my head. The cooling sensation helps my head, but my back still aches in pian. I reach out to another ice bag and place it gingerly on my rib cage to ease some pain. It helps some.

"Feel ok Marina?" Pony asks.

"I guess." I say miserably.

"Ya sure you don't want me to call Soda or Darry?" Pony pushes.

"Fine." I moan in defeat. Pony gets up but before he leaves he turns around to tell me,"That friend of yours...she dig ok."

I instantly know he's talking about Skye. Skye and Pony share some classes at school because she was bumped up a grade because of her smarts. I remember looking in Pony's yearbooks and seeing her face. Pony told me that she was smart and got bumped up like him.

A teary eyed Skye and a once again emotionless Daf walk back into my room.

"You ok?" I ask.

"Did Dally leave?" Skye asks.

"Yeah he did..." I reply.

"Where's Pony?" she adds.

"Calling Darry and Soda. I wish he wasn't though. We need the money and can't afford any days off. It's a miracle that we even have enough money for 2 tuitions at school. School costs a lot of money and we don't have that much le-" Skye places a finger on my lips to silence me. It takes me a moment to realize that I was practically shouting.

"It's ok Marina. It was those stupid Socs faults for hurting you, not yours." Daf says smoothly. I guess she's right.

"But what did I ever do wrong? All I did was walk to math and all of a sudden they began surrounding me! I can't take it anymore!" I shout. Tears begin trailing down my cheeks and I begin punching the bed. "I just want it to end! I'll kill myself or something!"

"Marina! Don't think like that! You can't kill yourself!" Skye begins crying more. "We need you! I need you! So does Pony, Darry, Soda, Johnny, and your other friends! You and Daf are the only ones left that I care about. I sometimes feel like Cherry doesn't even like me. So don't kill yourself! Please!"

"Marina...don't go thinking like that. Like Skye said there's people in the world who truly do need you and can't bare life without you. Please don'tkill yourself." Daf begs.

Skye POV

What's Marina thinking? Killing herself! Not over my dead body! I couldn't possibly enjoy life without her or Daf. And I meant it when I said that Cherry doesn't like me. I mean she's sweet and all, but she just doesn't make up that empty hole in my heart where my mom and dad should be. Cherry's always hanging out with Marcia and Bob. Never me. She'll promise things to me, but never does them. That's why I'm always at Holly or Marina's or Daf's. They actually care about me!

Daphne POV

Marina better not kill herself! The last thing Skye needs is another dead person. She already lost her parents at 11 weeks old, she doesn't need to lose her newest friend. I can't either. I feel like crying with Marina and Skye now, but I can't. I have to be strong for both of them. I just hope Marina will change her mind on commiting suicide.

"I won't. But things have to change! I don't want to come home everyday with a new scar or bruise or broken bone!" Marina complains. Good. That's a relief. She's not gonna kill herself. Phew.

"Marina, I fully agree with you. Things have to change. I can't stand to see the ones I care for hurt. The same thing goes for Skye." I try to comfort her.

"Darry and Soda are on their way." I turn around to see Pony leaning in the doorway of the bedroom. He's a little late to the party.

"Ok." Marina responds.

"Hey guys." I announce. Everyone stares at me. "I gotta go home. Later."

"Bye!" Skye waves. Marina stays quiet though. Pony just nods his head. I shrug these off and begin running back home. Lucky for me home's only 5 houses down the street. I don't know why I'm heading home to my father who could care less about me, but I am.

I finally arrive and shout,"I'm home!" As usual, there's no response. My pet cat Sugar walks up to me and rubs her back on my legs.

"Hey Sugar." I say in my sweet voice. I stroke her fluffy white fur and instantly all the worries of my day go away. Now I can finally relax.

(Back at the Curtis's) Marina POV

We hear a car pull into our driveway followed by the sound of a slamming door. Darry and Soda must have finally decided to join us.

"Pony? Marina?" Soda's voice calls out from downstairs.

"Up here!" Pony once again shouts. We once again hear footsteps climbing up our stairs. Soda walks in the room first followed shortly behind by Darry. the minute they lay eyes on my tattered body, their eyes buldge out and their mouths hang open.

"Marina! What happened?" Soda asks in disbelief.

"Socs." I reply.

"One day we're gonna have an all out rumble against them." this suprisingly comes from Darry.

"I hate disrupt you guys but I have to go." Skye interrupts.

"Would you like us to take you home?" Soda offers. Good ol' Soda. Always first to volunteer.

"No thanks. I'm spending the night at Holly's. Bye Marina! Get well soon!" Skye heads out the bedroom and off to Holly Mathew's house.

"So can you tell us how this happened now?" Darry orders. I start telling them my story of being beaten by the Socs. I begin with me walking over to my locker then to math class when they started surrounding me. Then I tell them that they started hitting me and how Skye got whacked by Bob and Daf, Pony, and Johnny coming to my rescue.

"D*mn Socs." Soda swears.

"Soda! No swearing allowed." Darry warns. Soda mumbles an apology. "I don't think it's the best idea to send you to school tomorrow..."

"Darry I'll be fine!" I reassure him.

"I don't know..." Darry seems unsure of his answer.

"C'mon Darry. Johnny and Pony can always walk her around. They do have some of the same classes. Right Marina?" Soda winks at me. I've already told him I don't like Johnny as anything more than a friend! Why doesn't he believe me? I still nod my head.

"Ok...but if Johnny and Pony don't walk you around, I'll beat the tar out of the 3 of you. Got it?" Darry warns. Me and Pony nod our heads. I know they won't forget. As long I we tell Johnny tomorrow we should be ok.

"You get some sleep ok honey?" Soda asks.

"Ok." I reply. My brothers walk out of the room and I close my eyes. Sleep overcomes me quickly.

Well this was longer than expected...anyways...Love it? Hate it? Comments? Questions? Concerns? Ideas? Criticism? Just review!

I hope y'all liked this and I tried my best to fufill some of you guys's comments. I really did!

I still don't really know if Johnny and Marina should be together. I need more votes!

Also, if you have any ideas for the book (because I'm planning on soemthing very big happen) please PM me with your thoughts! And, if you're lucky, I'll tell you my mastermind plan...

I hope y'all enjoyed and please do review!

Stay Gold everyone!

-Katie Lynn