Stephanie's POV

Ponyboy showed up at the DX just before closing time. I was braiding Soda's hair when he entered, and he couldn't resist laughing. Soda swatted him. "At least she is happy." He defended. He bought his brother a bottle of Pepsi and started cleaning up. When he and Steve finished, He helped me off the counter and let us out before locking the door. We walked as a group back to the Curtis house. On the way, Steve stopped and bent down, picking something up.

"Looks like Johnny forgot his jacket, let's go give it to him…"He stopped, examining it closer. There was a rust coloured stain on the collar, he looked at the ground, there seemed to be more stains on the grass. He looked up and across the field when his eyes fell on a motionless lump on the ground – we all heard some moans.

Soda had reached Johnny first, turning him over to reveal his face all swollen and beaten up. Obviously the Socs had gotten to him; I felt hot tears starting to sting in my eyes before I had collapsed on the ground crying. It seemed that the whole gang had known what had happened because Dallas and Two-Bit were suddenly there while Darry and Audrey were running at us from the Curtis'. I had never seen any of the boys beat up so bad before. Not even Dallas, who sometimes deserved it! Why did it have to be Johnny? The sobs wracked through my body, shaking me so violently it started to hurt. I saw Sodapop lift poor Johnny and start walking to the house. I felt a set of arms lift me. "He will be fine, Stephanie." It was Ponyboy. He lifted me up and carried me back to the house. When we got there, I had stopped crying, but I was still shaking like crazy. I saw Audrey, wide eyed and terrified. She was as white as paper and just staring into space. Everyone was outside except for Johnny of course, Sodapop, and Dallas. Soda came out minutes later and announced that Johnny was sleeping, but was cleaned up. I hung around for a few more minutes, until deciding I wanted to be alone and walked on trembling legs into the house. Dallas was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. He looked up when he heard me. I hesitantly sat on the other end of the couch, avoiding his eyes.

"What happened to your arms?" He asked. I looked at the badly bruised skin.

"You did that this morning….." I whispered. I peeked at him from the corner of my eyes. He looked guilty as hell.

"I promised the gang I would never lay a hand on you…." He mumbled to himself. He stood up in a rage. "I hurt you, and then I wasn't there for Johnny! Why am I such a screw up?" He punched walls and ranted for a good two minutes. Finally, he stopped and sat next to me, staring me straight in the eye. Before I could blink, his lips were on mine. I was frozen in shock. My first kiss was Dallas Winston. The older boy used his hand to move my jaw and get me to respond to his lips. I was soon kissing back full force, even allowing him to run his hand up and down my side. The dominant boy pushed me down onto the couch, holding his weight above me. It was pure joy, until a voice cleared their throat angrily. Dallas and I separated and looked up. Standing over us, was my brother Steve. His head looked ready to explode.

"What the hell!" He screamed. The rest of the gang came running in behind him, asking what was going on. "Dallas fucking Winston, you are not supposed to lay a hand on my kid sister, especially after beating her up!" He ran over to Dallas, grabbed him from the couch and slammed him up against a wall. The gang ran up to pull my angry brother off of Dallas as Audrey came running over to me.

"Well, okay then," she said with a blank look on her face.

"You know you weren't supposed to touch her!" We heard Steve scream at Dallas as the boys pulled them apart.

"I'll do whatever the hell I please with her!" Dallas screamed back. Audrey left to go back outside. I curled up into a ball and covered my ears, the way Steve taught me too when I was little.

"If you touch her one more time Winston, I will kill you and I am not scared of prison!"

"Why don't you let her control her own emotions? Let her tell you. If she says it felt good, you can leave me the hell alone. If she says it was bad, then you get your wish." Everyone went silent and turned to me. I looked at them and Dallas asked me how the kiss felt.

I replayed every detail of the kiss in my mind. "It was….." Steve looked like he knew he was going to win this. "I don't know, okay!" I yelled. Steve's expression was unreadable. Dally was looking at the ground. I grew scared of how Steve would react and ran off to one of the bedrooms. I didn't know whose room I was in; I just jumped on the bed and hid in the covers. I heard the door open. The person stood silently for a moment.

"You're alright, Steph." They finally said. I knew it was Sodapop from the sound of the voice. I pulled the blanket from my face. The gorgeous boy grinned and leaped onto the bed. "Darry is going to be so mad at you for not asking to be in his room." He whispered, pushing my hair behind my ear. I was shaking, terrified form the current fight between Steve and Dallas. Soda must have realized that I wasn't in the mood to talk. He went to the door and yelled, "Dar, you're sleeping with Pony tonight!" He walked back and got under the covers. "Go to sleep, Steph." He whispered, I obeyed quickly, falling asleep in his arms.