Disclaimer: I do not own the Outsiders. As usual, the references are at the end.

I was alone in the house when I woke up.

It was almost noon. I usually don't sleep so late. Crawling out from under the covers, I made my way to the kitchen. I made myself some toast and thought I would enjoy a nice quiet breakfast.

Of course, that was too much to hope for. Before I took my first bite the door opened and slammed shut, with Two-Bit shouting 'Pony, you up yet?'

I sighed, "Yeah, I'm up."

"' bout time, you lazy bum."

"Who you calling a lazy bum, Two-Bit?"

"You. You never sleep in." He stepped into the kitchen, took one look at me and said, "Get dressed."

I managed to stop myself from asking 'why?' and asked as less idiotic question, "Where we going?"

"Out."

"Well, jeez, Two-Bit, care to vague that up a bit?"

"Don't you start crackin' wise, Pony."

"Why not?"

" 'cause if you start, I'll be outta the job."

I stood up, shaking my head, muttering something along the lines of 'crazy bastard' as I headed back to my bedroom.

When I left my room, now fully dresses, I rummaged around to find my new sunglasses. Two-Bit was- I kid you not- smoking a cigarette and watching Captain Kangaroo. We watched it until a commercial came on, and then we left the house.

As we walked, I started humming the tune of Flowers on the Wall. Two-Bit noticed, and joined in. We eventually started singing the song. Neither of us was very good.

We were in the middle of down town when Two-Bit deiced to stop, "Hey, hey. I know those guys."

I knew them, too.

"Met 'em a couple'a nights ago. When you went on that date with that girl that look like that model that looked like a boy."

"Rose."

"Naw, that ain't it…"

"Not the model. My girlfriend. Her name is Rose."

"Ooh, girlfriend? My, my, I didn't realize you two were serious."

"Haha."

"Ain't that your girl there with those guys?" He asked, squinting slightly and pointing towards the twins.

"They're her brothers."

"Oh…you didn't say she was British."

"She's not."

We started walking toward Rose and her brothers, when Two-Bit asked, "…is that a belt or a skirt?"

"It's a skirt." She had on one of those real short skirts she had on a few days ago, her purse with the black sequins and a tee shirt that was too small. Too small as in it showed quite a bit of midriff. It was white, and had a print of a Banana on it. I recognized it as a Warhol piece but didn't understand why it was on a tee shirt.

"Nice."

Rose was the first one to notice us approaching. It was a sight, the three of them together. Albeit an odd one. They all had the same hairstyle, which usually isn't too weird. Guys who hang together tend to have similar hair styles. Same with girls. But this is two boys and one girl with the same style. Not as common. Not to mention the fact that they all liked black eyeliner (mascara? I really don't want to ask), blush…eye shadow, lipstick. I didn't understand the appeal of wearing makeup. Although Rose went for a most casual look on this hot summer's day, Oscar and Sebastian had on light grey, tailored suits, and expensive looking shoes. If they're still going with the Right part- Oscar, Left part – Sebastian, then Oscar had on a pale green shirt, and a matching tie, and Sebastian's shirt was pale purple, again with a tie, but the heat seemed to be getting to Sebastian more than Oscar. He had removed his jacket, and had loosened his tie, undid the top three buttons, and had rolled up his sleeves to his elbows.

Rose seemed to be the only one trying to acclimate herself to Tulsa's youth culture. Failing, but trying. Not that I minded. She has some real nice legs…

She gave me a hug when I got close enough. And she gave me a kiss.

We decided to go grab a bite. This was good, because I didn't finish my breakfast.

The place was packed with the noontime rush. But there was a booth free, which we managed to grab. I noticed that Tim and Curly, and several others in Tim's motley crew had pushed a few tables together.

I saw down with Rose, Two-Bit went to get the food, and Oscar and Sebastian went over to the jukebox.

I noticed Tim nudge someone from his table, Roger, I think his name is, then gesture towards the twins. As soon as the boy stood up I knew there was going to be trouble. Rose seemed to notice, too. I told her to stay there, and that I would deal with it.

But apparently this was one of those 'blink and you'll miss it' types of moments. Because by the time I finished reassuring Rose, Roger was on the ground, and Sebastian was removing his tie and handing it to his brother. Both looked pissed.

Tim was now approaching the twins. Two-bit was, as well.

I ran over. By the time I got there, Roger had gotten back up with a bloody nose. I managed to wedge myself between him and Sebastian.

"Hold up, man…"

Roger was about to hit me. Tim stopped him before he could.

I'm so glad he's on my side.

"Ponyboy, are you friends with these queers?" He gestured lightly to the twins.

Oscar stepped forward, pushing his brother out of the way, " 'oo you calling a queer, you gormless tit?"

I chose this time to say, "Yeah, I know these guys, Tim…" But he didn't seem to hear me.

"Did you just call me a tit?"

Now I was no longer between Roger and Sebastian, but Tim and Oscar.

Luckily, Two-Bit intervened.

"Hey now, be cool Tim. Alright? Just be cool…"

Both boys backed down, then Two-Bit continued talking to Tim, "Now Samneric here are new in town. They ain't looking for trouble."

"And just how do you know them, now?"

"Pony's dating their lil' sister." Two-Bit jerked his head in the direction of our table. Rose, by this time, had stood up.

Tim seemed satisfied with this answer. He and Roger went back to their table. Crisis adverted.

But there no way we could only have one near-physical confrontation per day. No. That would be much too easy.

It happened as we were walking back to Rose's house. And it wasn't one of those 'Oh-it's-okay-they're-with-me' types of situations.

I said before that the Soc's don't attack as often as they use to. But what happened was they had mistaken the Twins for two of their own.

They pulled up in their shiny red Corvette. Three of them stepped out, strutting up to us like they owned the sidewalk. They had two girls in the back, leaning out the window.

"These grease ball bothering you?" said the first one, standing out in front. He had asked Oscar, who was in the process of lighting up one of his long, thin cigarettes. He took a big puff, and blew smoke in the Soc's face. The Soc turned his head, his upper lip turning into a scowl.

"Ney. No bother at all." Oscar said with a shrug, holding his cigarette only a few centimeters from his lips.

"Oi, " Sebastian said this loudly, getting the Soc's attention, " Does it flood around here, often?"

The soc's expression went from pissed to confused, "Huh? No."

"Then wots with the pants?"

He and Oscar laughed. Rose tried not to.

"Oh…Sebastian…you know who this bloke reminds me of?" Oscar asked.

"Who?"

"That annoying little puppet we saw on the telly this morning…oh…what was his name?"

Two-Bit laughed loudly, pointed at the soc and shouted, " Howdy Doody!"

"Yes! That's it. Thank you."

We all laughed at this.

The soc didn't find it as funny. He took a big step forward, shoving Sebastian back and knocking the cigarette out of his hand. "Listen here…"

"No. You listen here, mate," Sebastian shoved him back, then grabbed the soc's collar and turned him around, pushing him up against the building. The other two soc's moved forward to interfere, but Two-Bit and Oscar stopped them. Rose grabbed my hand. I glanced over at her. She looked worried.

"You shouldn't go picking fights with people you oughtn't." Sebastian was actually very intimidating. Frightening, almost. "If I ever see your bloody face again, I personally will kick your arse from here to…to…" He looked over at Two-Bit, all menace gone. His head tilted slightly, "Oh…bollocks. What's that silly city name you Yanks use in this situation?"

Two-Bit didn't seem to understand the question.

"Newport News?"

Sebastian shook his head.

"Walla Walla?"

Another head shake.

"…Oh!" I could practically see the light bulb over Two-Bit's head as he snapped his fingers, "Oh, you mean, Timbuktu?"

"Yes! That's it. Thank you." Sebastian turned his attention back to the Soc. He pulled him forward slightly then pushed him into the wall again, scowling once more, " I will personally kick your arse from here to Timbuktu!"

You think after interlude there it would be less intimidating. But it wasn't.

Sebastian pulled the Soc away from the wall and tossed him into his friends, "Now sod off!"

They didn't look too happy about it, but they did leave.

Crisis adverted. Again.

I felt that that was plenty of action for one day.

We continued to Rose's house, this time with no further confrontational interruptions.

'That model that looks like a boy' is Twiggy. Rose does not look like a model. She has the same hair style and body type. A look she worked very hard to get. Rose tries very hard to be as fashionable as possible. And since Twiggy was known for her high-fashion Mod look, and Rose was a 'mod', naturally she would be influenced by her.

Howdy Doody was a popular children's television show.

The Banana on Rose's shirt it a Warhol print, used as the cover of the Velvet Underground album ' The Velvet Underground and Nico'

'Samneric' is a reference to the twins ( Sam and Eric) from Lord of the Flies.

I also picked Roger because of LotF. As we all know, or should know, Roger was douche. An even bigger douche than Jack. And Jack was a pretty big D-bag.

'Smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo' is a line from the song 'Flowers on the Wall' by the Statler Brothers, which is why Ponyboy thinks it funny that Two-Bit is having a smoke while watching Captain Kangaroo. It is also why Pony starts humming it as they are walking. In Pulp Fiction, Butch (Bruce Willace) is listening to 'Flowers on the Wall' after he got his watch from his apartment. Also, at the end of the movie, Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) tells Pumpkin/Ringo (Tim Roth) to 'Be cool' as he is robbing the restaurant they are in to keep him from shooting him, and possibly other people. This is why I have Two-Bit saying it to Tim to stop anybody from getting hurt. (It was a leap, I know )

The whole, "you gormless tit" and "Did you just call me a tit?" is from Angel, season 5, episode 12 'You're Welcome' as banter between Angel and Spike. I just wanted those two lines in there because I think they are hi-larious. And I'd probably never find another place to use those lines.