Here you go. Another chapter just for you.

Chapter 11

Darry was the first one up Monday morning, which meant it was his morning to cook breakfast. He went into the kitchen and started cooking some scrambled eggs and toast. He took the jelly out of the fridge and put it on the table for Soda. When breakfast was done, he put it on the table and went to wake everyone up. He went into the living room and saw Johnny sleeping on the couch. He walked over to him and gently shook him. "Hey Johnnycakes. There's breakfast on the table. Better get some before the rest of the gang gets here."

"Okay, thanks Dar," he said.

Darry then went to wake up Soda, since he was the slowest in the morning. He knocked on the door and loudly said, "Soda, time to get up. Food's on the tale." He stayed at the door until he heard movement on the other side. He headed for Pony's room next, but the door opened before he reached it. "Hey Pony. Food's ready." Pony nodded and walked into the bathroom.

The next task of the morning was waking Cassie. He never knew if she'd be by herself or if Dallas would be with her. He doubted he would be since he hadn't been around much since his birthday. When they got home from the movies that night, the radio was blasting and Cassie was asleep on the couch, but no sign of Dallas. Darry knocked on the door and there was no answer or movement. He knocked a little louder and listened. Nothing. He opened the door and saw Cassie asleep under the covers. He walked over to her and shook her. "Mornin' baby girl. Breakfast is on the table if you want any. You got school so you gotta get up soon."

"Kay Dar," she said rolling over onto her other side. Dar smiled and walked out, closing the door behind him.

He went back to the kitchen, only to find that the rest of the gang had arrived and devoured most of the food. He quickly grabbed a plate and leaned against the counter to eat.

Cassie heard the door slam shut downstairs and assumed Darry had left for work. She slowly climbed out of bed and went downstairs to the kitchen. She found the gang sitting in the living room watching Mickey Mouse. She walked into the kitchen and saw a plate of food just for her and smiled. At least the guys cared enough to leave her food this time. She wasn't hungry yet, so she went back into the living room and sat down next to Soda on the couch, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Don't ya think you should be gettin' ready for school?" he said.

"Nah, I'm goin' late. I got study first period anyway and that's a waste of time."

"You better not let Darry find out or he'll skin ya for sure."

"He won't find out if no one tells him."

"We should probably get goin'," Pony said. "The only reason we're still here is because of her."

"He's right." The gang started getting up and heading out the door.

"See ya later, Cass," Soda said, kissing her on the cheek and heading out the door himself. Cassie was finally alone.

She walked into the kitchen and wrapped up her breakfast and put it in the refrigerator. She'd eat it before she left for school. She poured herself a glass of orange juice and sat at the table, reading the paper.

Dallas walked in about ten minutes later. He came and sat next to her at the table, staring at her. She tried to ignore him, but when she couldn't she said, "What do you want, Dallas?"

"I just wanted to apologize for the other night. I never meant to hurt you or make you feel unwanted or anything. I don't know why I couldn't go through with it. Something just wouldn't let me. Your gift was something I've been waitin' for for a long time. I just couldn't do it." He paused for a minute. "Look, I love you. I don't know what I'd do with out ya and I don't wanna find out…will ya marry me?" he said, pulling a ring out of his pocket.

Cassie spit out the mouthful of orange juice that she had just taken a sip of. "Did you just ask me to…?"

"Yeah."

"You can't be serious?"

"Why not? I love you."

"Dal, we're teenagers. We can't get married; we're still in high school."

"Who cares? We can wait til we graduate. Just say you'll marry me."

"I don't know, Dallas. I'll have to think about it. It's a big step and I'm sorry, but I can't answer right away." She got up and disappeared up the stairs.

Dallas sat at the table, a little shocked and hurt. He thought she would've said yes right away. He thought they were perfect for one another. It never occurred to him that she might say no.

When he heard the shower turn on, he decided to go to school. So he'd be a little late, who cared. He sure didn't. All he cared about at the moment was Cassie's answer to his question, and he hoped it'd be yes.

"Hey Pony," someone yelled from behind him.

"Hey Han," he said. He stopped and let her catch up with him. He took her hand it brought it up to his mouth and kissed her palm. She smiled. "What's goin' on?"

"Nothing really, failed my math test, but who needs that anyway."

"Hannah, why didn't ya get help if ya didn't understand it?"

"Because I don't like teachers."

"Why didn't you ask me then?"

"I don't know, but maybe you can come over after school to tutor me and study and all that."

"Sure, I'll go over. I love being with you."

Hannah smiled again. "I should get to class. Meet me at my locker at the end of school." She kissed his cheek and walked off to her next class. Pony was happy. He wouldn't let anything ruin that day. He was going to get to hang out with Hannah and he loved that. Anytime he got to be with her was good. I really do like that girl, he thought while heading to his next class.

Study started and Lori walked in and sat in the seat next to Johnny. "Hi," she said.

"Hey Lor," he replied, "What's up?"

"Nothing really. I just wanted to let you know that Curly Shepard asked me out. I just wanted to tell you before you found out from someone else," she said looking down at the table. Johnny felt a stab of anger and jealousy, but he wouldn't let it show. She wasn't his girl anymore and he couldn't do anything about that. Besides he didn't have those kinds of feelings for her anymore. "Johnny, say something."

"Have fun. Curly can be a pretty decent guy sometimes."

"That's all you're gonna say?"

"Well yeah. What do ya want me to say? That I'm mad and can't stand the thought of you goin' out with another guy? Well I'm sorry Lori, but I can't say all that's true. Yeah I'm mad and jealous but that's to be expected since you were my girl for a few months. But the thing is I don't feel that way about you anymore." That was the closest he'd ever come to completely losing it. It wasn't like him at all. He never lost control of his temper. He'd always been a pretty mild-tempered guy.

"Fine, Johnny Cade. If that's the way you wanna be, just fine with me." She got up and moved to a seat on the other side of the room. She knew he'd get made. Why did I tell him, he thought, so he wouldn't be hurt finding out from someone else that's why. She sighed and started to do her work.

Johnny watched her open her textbook and start working. He didn't mean to lose his temper and he definitely didn't mean to get her mad at him. He knew he'd have to apologize to her later. He still wanted to be friends with her. He enjoyed her company. He'd just have to get used to seeing her with Curly.

Oh great, Dallas thought, English. Another class for Cassie to ignore me in. He walked into the classroom and sat down in his usual spot. Cassie walked in a minute after him and walked across the room to sit with some other girls that were familiar to Dallas, but he didn't remember their names.

He was staring at Cassie when Soda walked in the room. He took one look at the separated couple and was shocked. He thought that they had been getting along well since they had got back together. Soda walked to his regular seat and turned to Dallas. "You two fightin'?"

"Nah, not really."

"What's goin' on then?"

"I asked her to marry me," Dallas replied, not taking his eyes off of Cassie.

"You what? Are you insane? Darry's gonna kill you!"

"Not yet he ain't. She didn't answer me. Said she needed time to think it over."

"And that's why she's with Evie and Sandy."

Dallas was quiet for a moment. "Ya know, I never thought that she might say no. I always just figured she'd say yes as soon as I asked her."

"Sorry man, but Cass ain't that simple."

"I know, man, I know."

"Do I dare ask why you proposed in the first place?"

"Friday, when you guys all left, we went up to her room, and as it turned out, she wanted to have sex, and I couldn't go through with it. It just didn't seem right. I knew I loved her, I just couldn't figure out why I couldn't give her what she wanted; what I've wanted for a long time. So I figured everything would work out if we got married."

"Well, you better hope that if it works out and she says yes, that you're far away from Darry. He won't be too happy."

"Yeah, I know."

Cassie blocked out Evie's voice and looked over at Dallas. He was staring off into space. She'd been thinking all day, and she still hadn't figured out why he had proposed to her. Did he think it was going to change the fact that he couldn't sleep with her, the girl he supposedly loved, like he had with every other girl in Tulsa. It just didn't make sense to her. It'd been bothering her all day. Did he really love her? She couldn't picture him being tied down to only one girl if he didn't, so that had to be a yes. That made her smile a little. I'm the one who taught Dallas Winston how to love, she thought.

"Cassie…Cassie." Someone was calling her name so she snapped back to reality. When she turned back to the two other girls, they were both staring at her. "What's got you so distracted?" Sandy asked.

"Dallas."

"Ooh. What happened?"

"He proposed."

"What?!" Evie and Sandy said simultaneously. "Is he crazy?" Evie finally asked.

"That's what I'm wondering," Cassie said. "I can't imagine why he'd want to marry me. If I marry him, he definitely won't be sleeping around behind my back. I'll make sure of that."

"I think it's romantic," Sandy said. "He obviously loves you. I mean, c'mon, it's Dallas Winston. He ain't supposed to love anyone. He's supposed to be sleeping around with other girls, besides you, and committing crimes and getting in trouble. You've softened him."

"Obviously not enough. He won't sleep with me. He'll screw every whore in town, but when it comes to me it's like I'm off limits."

"He doesn't want sex! This doesn't sound much like the Dallas Winston I've heard so much about," Evie said.

"No it doesn't, but who cares? She's finally tamed the wild beast," Sandy said laughing at her own words. "When's the date? I can't wait! It's going to be so exciting!"

"I haven't said yes yet. I really don't know if I wanna marry him. Yeah I love him, but marriage; that's huge." They were silent so Cassie decided to try and change the subject. "How're things between you and Soda?"

Sandy blushed. She always did when it came to him. The girl really did have feelings for him. "They're good. We're getting together Friday after school to work on our project and to go to the Nightly Double."

"Ooh. Sandy's got herself a boyfriend!" Evie said. "It's so cute!"

"My brother's just as excited as you are. He really likes you."

She blushed again and smiled. "How're you and Steve doing?" she asked Evie, trying to get the topic off of her.

"They're great. We've been together all weekend. It's really amazing being with him. He's great."

"That's cool, Evie. I'm happy for you, me, and Steve. It's about time that boy get a hobby besides me," Cassie said.

"I'm so glad it's convenient for you," Evie said grinning. "Thanks for setting me up with him."

"No problem. You're my friend. It was the least I could do." They smiled at one another and continued to talk about other things besides their boyfriends.

After school, Pony met Hannah at her locker and they walked, hand-in-hand, to her house. When they got there, no one was home except for the maid. "C'mon," she whispered and pulled him up the stairs. They entered her room and Hannah threw her books on the bed before closing the door. Pony kicked off his shoes and sat down on her bed. "What're we studying first?" he asked.

"Umm…math?" She sat down next to him on the bed and opened her math book. "I need help with coordinate proofs. They're so confusing."

"They aren't once you get the hang of 'em." He opened his book and said, "Okay, prove that a line joining the midpoints of three sides of a triangle is parallel to the third side."

"Okay, do I start by drawing it?" He nodded. Hannah went on to draw a coordinate plane with a triangle with one point at the origin. "Now what?"

"You have to label the points A, B, C, and then write the coordinates. A would be (0, 0) because it's at the origin. C is (a, 0) because y is still on zero and you don't know what the x-coordinate is, so it's a."

"So B would be (b, c)?"

"Mhm."

Pony then went on to explain how to prove the statement, showing her how to use the slope formula to show that the lines were parallel.

After they had moved beyond that problem, Hannah tried one on her own and Pony took out some other homework. After awhile, Hannah couldn't take any more shapes, distance formulas, proofs, or math in general. "Pony," she said and when he looked up from his book, her lips went crashing into his. She moved her book off her lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. After a few minutes of just kissing, she lay down on her bed, pulling him down on top of her. His hands moved to the bed on either side of her and she tangled her hands in his slicked back hair.

Their make out session was getting pretty heated when Cathy walked in on them. "Hannah Cade! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Hannah and Pony immediately stopped what they were doing and separated. A deep blush started to creep up to Pony's ears and Hannah tries to stifle a giggle. "Ponyboy, I think it's time you left."

"Yes ma'am," Pony replied. He got up and started gathering his books. "See ya tomorrow," he said before exiting her room.

Cathy waited until the front door closed before she started to yell. "What did you think you were doing with that innocent boy?!"

"He's not that innocent," Hannah said under her breath.

"We both know how you are with boys, but don't try to corrupt the only one that cares this deeply for you."

"I'm not corrupting him, mom. I'm sure his sister is worse than me."

"I don't care how his sister is. I don't want you two up here when I or Michael isn't home. You will sit downstairs, in the living room, doing homework. There will be nothing more than studying and the doing of homework. Am I clear?" Hannah said something not understandable. "I said am I clear?" Cathy repeated.

"Crystal," Hannah replied. Cathy glared at her daughter one last time before leaving the room.

When her mother was gone and the door was shut, Hannah lay back on her bed and sighed. Pony, Pony, Pony, what is it about you that makes it so I can't control myself around you? She thought, closing her eyes to ponder it.

After school, the gang collected at the Curtis household to de-stress after another long, boring day of classes. Two-Bit had somehow gained control of the remote and was flipping through the channels, presumably looking for Mickey Mouse. Cassie and Dallas had ended up on opposite sides of the room, and she could feel his eyes on her. She didn't dare meet them, afraid of what she'd see—love, anticipation, anger, sadness. Who knew what she'd find in them.

After about ten minutes of unrelenting looks from Dallas, she met his eyes. What she saw was love, happiness, softness, and eagerness. Not a look anyone saw very often on him. "Can I talk to you, in my room?" she managed to say. He nodded and followed her up the stairs.

When they got there, she closed the door and they were silent. "So…" Dal said, trying to coax the long-awaited answer out of her.

"I don't have an answer…to the question that you asked me this morning. I still have no idea what to say to it. But I wanna know why you wouldn't make love to me if you love me as much as you say you do? And why could you with all those other girls that you had absolutely no feelings for? Why, because not knowing is killing me. Am I not good enough for that, or beautiful enough, or what? I know you say you love me and want to marry me, but are you really sure that's what you want, or do you just say those things out of pity for me?" she asked, nearly in tears.

He immediately walked over to her and pulled her against him. "Cass, don't say that. I love you so much. Words can't even begin to describe how much I love you. You're beautiful and smart and amazing. I do wanna marry you, whether you believe me or not. And I don't know why I couldn't make love to you, or why I have with the other girls, but I've been trying to figure that out all weekend. I really don't know, but don't doubt my feelings for you. Please don't."

She looked into his eyes and could tell he was sincere. He really did love her and she loved him too. After a few minutes of staring at one another, she kissed him softly on the lips and said, "I love you."

"I love you too," Dallas said and pulled her tightly against him. He kissed t top of her head and said, "I really do."

She pulled away and smiled at him. "I'm not positive, but the answer is leaning towards a yes." At that moment, Cassie saw the biggest smile she'd ever seen from him appear across his face. He took her head in his hands and pressed his lips against hers. She placed her hands on his chest and started moving them over to the bed. She pushed him down on it and climbed on top of him. He moved his hands to her lower back, lifting the hem of her shirt a little so he could place his hands on her bare skin.

After a few minutes of making out, Soda yelled from the bottom of the stairs. "Cass, Dal, we're goin' to play football in the lot. You comin'?"

"No," Cassie yelled back and went back to kissing Dallas. The front door slammed shut five minutes later, leaving the two of them in the empty house.

"Cass," Dal said.

"Mm," she replied.

"I want you so bad right now."

She stopped kissing him and looked at him. A huge grin spread across her mouth and she said, "Good, cause I really want you, too."

He grinned and rolled them over so he was now on top. He sat up and removed his shirt. She lifted her arms above her head and he pulled hers off. He threw both shirts on the ground and bent down to kiss her. He moved his lips along her jaw line and down her neck to her collarbone. Cassie moved her hands down to his belt buckle. This time, he didn't stop her. She undid it and then unbuttoned his jeans. She pushed them down, and he finished removing them. He then did the same thing with hers. After a few minutes of kissing, they removed the rest of their restricting garments and tentatively touched each other. When it finally occurred, Cassie grabbed Dally's shoulders, almost positive that she had dug her nails into him. Dallas continued to kiss her softly and passionately wherever his lips touched.

When it was over, they were both tired and sweating. Dallas moved next to her on the bed and wrapped his arms around her. She placed her head on his chest and ran her hand along his toned stomach. He kissed the top of her head. "I love you," he said.

"I love you too," she replied and closed her eyes. Her first time with Dallas had been perfect. She couldn't get over how special he made her feel, not just then, but every day. She loved him for it and couldn't picture being with anyone else. She fell asleep, listening to his steady breathing and feeling his heart beat beneath her.