(I don't own the outsiders.)

Chapter 11

It took two days to get rid of the dead bodies of the hunters. Some ran away when the fight was getting to out of hand. Soc and Grease lost a team member. I could never forget the way that one Soc just disintegrated. He shouldn't have gone out like that.

It's been a whole month since the fight and we're still looking for a new house. As for the guys and I well, were doing okay.

Darry and Paul have managed to get catched up with what has been going on. Paul eventually found out that Darry still had feelings for him so I think they will eventually date. When Darry can forgive Paul for almost killing me. Paul reluctantly agreed but that still didn't stop him from trying to get Darry alone once in a while.

Two-bit and Dally are helping out too. They drove off in Two-bit's truck and searched Tulsa for a new home. They had found an apartment, but it couldn't hold the new addition we added. Two-bit is till his funny old self, but something's up with Dally. He can't seem to concentrate on anything and he's not around often. I asked Dally about his attitude lately. "None of your damn business! Now leave me alone before I pound you!" He growled, a literal growl, and stormed off.

I asked Two-bit about it. "I ain't going to risk getting my head sliced off, but if I had to guess, it might be something to do with Tim." Tim Sheppard, the leader of his group of vampires that live near the railroad tracks. Him and Dally have a history with each other and I didn't know how deep that was. I decided to just leave it alone.

Soda and Steve seem to be getting along better in they're relationship. They still go to work at the DX and since his boss found out his house was burnt down, Soda got a raise. He was thrilled about it. He and Steve went to his father and got Steve away from his father. Steve was so happy.

Johnny and I….well…what can I say. Ever since the confrontation, if you can call it that, with Murray things have been a little bit rough. Johnny never let me out of his sight and everywhere I go, he goes. I exploded on him one time when he went with me to the bathroom and he avoided me for two days. I didn't mind the distance, it's just waking up in the middle of the night with no one beside you is what scares me.

On the third day, I went up to Johnny and apologized. "No, I should apologized. I should have given you some space, it's just I almost lost you a year ago and now this." He said, cradling me against his side. We sat on the park bench and he put my legs on top of his legs, so I was leaning against him with his arms around me.

"Why does trouble seem to find you?" He asked me with a laugh. I shrugged. "I don't know? Maybe it's a gift." I said, pretending to flip my hair. Johnny laughed, and hugged me tighter. After that, we still are working out some stuff but we managed to patch things up.

It wasn't until July that Soda and Darry came back and said they found a house.

I forgot to tell you where we're living at. Well, we're living in the abandoned building that Johnny took me to, to get my arm fixed. Which is better, thanks for asking. We got mattresses from the dump on the West side of town. It was a good thing that the Socs still remembered us helping them or we were toast for being on their side.

Dally and Steve managed to win some money in pool games at Buck's and got enough money to buy a house and get me food. Of course they kept going to different bars because the guys at Buck's got smart to play against them. I guess vampires are good at everything.

Soda even saved his raise money and added that up with the money they would get and we had more than we could have dreamed of. The guys got food the usual way. Let's not talk about that. Back to what I said a bit ago. Soda and Darry found us a new house.

It was somewhere toward the middle, where normal humans are at they said, and it was also close to the school, about six blocks away so I didn't have to travel far. Soda and Steve had to drive a lot longer but Soda didn't mind. Steve on the other hand didn't like that.

We used all the money we had and got new furniture. Two couches and a big chair. The house had four upstairs bedrooms and two bathrooms. The bottom had two rooms also with a bathroom. It had a hall closet and a big kitchen and dining room which lead to the living room.

The two couches lined the wall next to the dining room and the chair was close to the door. We also got one of the bigger TV's and sat it right against the wall under the window. The dining room table had enough chairs to fit all of us. Everyone got to pick out their own dishes and Darry got two of every pot and pan there was.

Darry and Paul built king sizes bed frames for the couples and a single frame for the ones downstairs. Darry gave Paul the guest bedroom, "Until I'm convinced you want this for real." He gave Paul a kiss on the cheek and walked away, swaying his hips drawing Paul's eyes to them. I laughed at Paul's face. So Darry got a king size bed and Paul got a single size.

We got matrasses a week later because Two-bit used the small bit we had left and got the Mickey Mouse collection. "But it's Mickey!" He whined, holding onto his tapes like a life raft and flinched from the glare Darry gave him. Sometimes I swear he's still a kid.

We got the supposed soft matrasses and guess what…they are soft. We got bed sheets and covers the next day and then after that got the rest of the essentials. Dressers, nightstands and hangers for important stuff. Refrigerator was the last thing we got and finally the house was finished. We decided to keep the house painted the way it was until someone didn't like their color.

Darry found some pictures that survived the fire and hanged them above the couch next to the TV. One was of mom and dad with us and the other was the gang. "We couldn't savage the book you liked so much, sorry Pony." Darry said rubbing my back.

"It's okay," I shrugged. "I've read that thing so many times I probably can recite the book word for word."

The house was nice. No creaks, no groans, and the shower was great. Darry and Paul found curtains to hang that were really dark so when the sun was up the sunlight couldn't go through to make them so tired.

Dally installed a porch swing like the old house did and I was sitting on it right now. Swinging back and forth in the shade of the porch, Johnny sitting next to me, laying down with his head in my lap and one leg propped up and the other swinging us. I ran my fingers through his hair, grease and all. My hair finally grown out again and was getting back to its original color.

We sat there in silence when suddenly a car pulled up to the curb. Darry's truck and Two-bits were parked in the driveway that had a garage separate from the house. Johnny stayed where he was. "It's okay, it's only Randy and Cherry." He told me, calming me down with his hand on my ankle. I sat there and watched them approach us.

"Hey," Cherry said, waving a hand. Randy had one hand in his pocket, while the other had car keys. "Where the others?" She asked, looking inside through the screen door.

"Soda and Steve are at work, Paul and Darry are out on a date, and I don't know where Two-bit and Dally are." I answered still petting Johnny's hair.

"So, Paul finally had the balls to admit to Darry that he liked him." Randy chuckled, smiling and shaking his head. He ran his fingers through his hair. "I take it you're not hear to visit, are you?" I asked.

Cherry shook her head. "Randy and I decided to move out of town. It's not permanent, just to get our minds clear." She hurriedly said, but something else was bothering her.

"It's also Bob's birthday this Saturday and I told Cherry I'd take her to a place Bob used to hang out." Randy explained, the fluid building in Cherry's eyes. I nodded, understanding. Johnny didn't say a single word.

"Before we left, I decided to give you this back." He pulled his hand out of his pocket and threw something at me. I caught it and gasped. It was the Evangel charm that Dally gave me to keep Johnny from hurting me when we hid. Randy stole it when he came and captured me.

"I didn't want to come back to see you dead." Randy explained, smiling. I put it in my pocket and watched them climb back into Bob's Mustang. "Bye, Ponyboy," Randy called from the driver's seat. "See you Monday!" He hollered over the sound of the car. Cherry smiled and gave a soft wave.

I watched as they drove off toward the intersection. "What happens now?" I asked, watching the car disappear.

Johnny shrugged. "I don't know, Ponyboy. I just don't know." The Mustang turned right and the car, along with Randy and Cherry disappeared from sight.

That night, Johnny and I climbed into bed and I snuggled against Johnny. He wrapped his arms around me and I rested my head under his chin. He rubbed the patch of skin that my pajama top didn't cover and I shivered. I still couldn't get used to the fact that he was cold. It didn't bug me just gave me goose bumps.

"Johnny," I whispered. I knew he could hear me. "Yeah?" He said softly. His voice sent tingles down my spine.

"What are you going to do when I'm at school?" I knew school was three weeks away, I just wanted to know.

"I don't know, maybe hang with Dally or something. But I'll pick you up from school, don't worry." He assured me. I let out a sigh. "Why?" He asked.

I didn't want to say this, and sound like some teen that showed no emotions but I had to. "What are you guys going to do when I'm gone?" I played with the new sheets. I felt him tense up.

"What brought this on?" He asked, his hand stopped moving. I made him upset. "I just thought of it the other day and I wanted to ask." I casually said. He let go of me and made me look up at him. His eyes were so full of emotion that I couldn't look away.

"I'm not taking your humanity away from you. I want you to grow up and have a full life, not stuck at some age and watching the others around you die." He said, his voice rough with emotion. "What about me? I'm going to miss you and I want to grow old with you, but not the usually way of growing old." I exclaimed.

"I want to be with you til the end of time. I don't want to wait for you till that." I kissed him. He responded back and I pulled away reluctantly. "I want to be with you forever." He seemed contemplating something.

"If I'm dying, will you change me?" I asked. He looked shocked, but that went away. His face was neutral. "I won't let that happen. You're not going to die while I'm hear." He gave me a kiss and we were in the middle of our making out when a moan came from across the hallway. I laughed. Johnny groaned.

"I guess Paul got approved?" I said in between my laughing. I heard Two-bit and Dally wolf whistle from downstairs and Soda clapping. Steve was yelling about how they should go somewhere else. I finally went to sleep and had a nice dream. Mom and Dad was in it and everyone else. I didn't have to worry about anything, just family.

(Just one more chapter to go! Please Review!)