Hey, y'all! Sorry I haven't updated in a bit. School's been keeping me busy, along with everyone rushing around like chickens with their heads cut off (I've always loved that phrase) for the holidays. Like I said in my note in the last chapter, when Christmas Break comes around, I'll definitely be updating more. Here's a long chapter. I liked writing it (although I like writing all my chapters, I liked this one a lot) and I hope y'all with enjoy reading it. I love y'all and stay gold!- AthenaRavenclaw13

I woke up in a bed. I could smell something familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I had to think back. When did I fall asleep? Then it all came rushing back. Pony and Johnny killing a Soc. They ran away. God knows where they are.

Soda was sitting at the foot of the bed. "It took you long enough to wake up", he said with a smirk.

"Who's bed is this?", I asked, holding my head. It hurt. I must've hit it when I passed out.

"Me and Pony's", Soda answered.

That's what the smell is, I thought. It was the light smell of cigarettes and cologne and was on Ponyboy's jacket whenever he let me wear it.

"Sorry to intrude, Soda", I apologized.

"Don't worry about it, doll. You want somethin' to eat? You slept right through dinner."

"What time is it", I questioned groggily.

"'Bout 7, I reckon."

"I would love some food, if it isn't too much trouble", I told Soda.

"No problem. Pony wouldn't let us be if we let his gal starve."

With that we walked into the kitchen. I sat at the table.

"Soda, do you have any aspirin?", I asked, my head starting to act up again.

"Yeah. Why? Are you alright, Lily?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think I just hit my head when I blacked out and it hurts", I responded with a slight groan.

"Here ya go", Sodapop said, putting 2 aspirins and a glass of water in front of me.

"Thank you", I said before swallowing the pills.

"What did the officers say?", I asked nervously.

"Well, they grew mighty concerned when you passed out cold. They asked who you are and we just said Pony's girlfriend. Luckily they didn't go into more detail, otherwise it might not have ended well."

"Do they know where they are?"

"No, but Dally said they're in Texas", he said with a sigh.

"Texas?!", I cried, immediately regretting it when my head started to throb.

"They believed him, but we sure as hell don't. We know that he knows where they are, but won't tell us. Maybe he'll tell you".

"I sure as hell hope so, Soda", I responded, letting out a breath.

Soda put the plate on the table with some butter next to it. It was just pasta which I was completely fine with. I started mixing the pasta and butter together and eating when I remembered something. In all the chaos from earlier, I had forgotten to ask Soda if I could stay at their house until Pony came back to help looking for him.

"Soda", I said, swallowing before trying to get his attention.

"Yeah, doll?", he said. I could tell that he was exhausted. His movie-star looks seemed faded and his eyes that usually held so much light and happiness, looked more dull and tired.

"I just wanted to know, and you and Darry can definitely say no, if I can stay here until we find Pony and Johnny and bring 'em home", I said, my voice rising at the end as though I was asking a question.

"I'll talk to Darry about it, but my vote is yes."

"Alright. Can you talk to him soon? I don't want my parents gettin' worried about me and thinking I'm staying out late."

"Yeah, that might be helpful", he said smirking and for a second, the light came back into his eyes.

Sodapop walked into the living room and I could hear him saying to Darry, "Can me and Lily talk to you for a minute, Superman?"

Heavy footsteps hit the floor and Darry and Soda walked into the kitchen and sat down on either side of me at the table.

"Whaddya' need, Lily?" , Darry asked.

I gestured to Soda, suddenly becoming very immersed in the food in front of me.

Soda rolled his eyes playfully at me throwing him under the bus.

"Our brother's wonderful girlfriend, here, would like to know if she can stay here until we find Pony and Johnnycakes", Soda said, sarcasm joking dripping from every one of the first few words. I turned to Soda, a noodle sticking half-way out of my mouth before I quickly slurped in in. I could see him trying very hard to to laugh at that.

"Of course", Darry assured, luckily not seeing the noodle, "As long as your parents know".

"Actually", I started, "My mom was the one who gave me the idea."

"I'm fine with you staying if your parents are good with it. You wanna call them?", Darry asked.

"Yes please. Wheres the phone?"

Soda directed me to the phone and I quickly called my house.

"Hello?", I heard my mom's voice say.

"Hey, Mom. It's Lily. They said I can stay. I'll be over in a few minutes to get my stuff", I said, not really giving her time to answer before hanging up.

"You want me to walk you, doll?", Soda asked.

"No, I'm fine", I told him.

"You almost got jumped earlier today", he reminded me.

"I can fight. I know how. If there are too many, I'll just yell for one of y'all", I told him matter-of-factly.

"Fine. I'm not one to deny someone their right to beat someone else up, so if you say you can, then you can".

"I'll be back in about 15 to 20 minutes."

I walked out of the house, closing the door behind me. I trotted along the streets, to my house. When I walked in, I immediately walked up the steps to my room. I grabbed some jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts, pajamas, etc from my dresser and closet and put them into a backpack along with some books and other stuff I would need. Almost running down the stairs, I kissed my family goodbye for now and walked back out of the door.

As I slung the backpack over my shoulder, a cold breeze hit me and made me shiver a bit. Even though I had only been to the Curtis house a few times, I already know the way there like the back of my hand. That happens to me sometimes.

I was once again a few blocks from the house when I heard the voices. "Hey Greaser!", they yelled. God dammit, I thought to myself. Just like Ponyboy, I don't use my common sense. My mom could tell you that any time. What made me think that it was a good idea to walk home and back to the Curtis house at night in the dark? I don't know, but whatever it was, I was mad at it.

"Hey", I heard one of the boys say, "Isn't that the broad we saw earlier?" My teeth ground together.

"Oh yeah", another one responded, "She was ignoring us. I think we need to teach her a lesson about listening and respecting her superiors. How 'bout it boys?"

The Socs got out of their red Corvair and started lumbering towards me. There where 3 of them.

"Wait a minute", the Soc who had yelled 'greaser' said to his buddy, "This is that Curtis kid's gal."

I stopped walking and turned around on my heel. I glared at them hard.

"What's it to you?", I asked threateningly.

"Well", the boy answered, "Your boyfriend and his friend killed our buddy, Bob. And we're mad. Joe. Mikey. Get the little bitch."

That set me off. My face got red from anger and I wanted to hurt him, but I did the logical thing and started to run.

Unfortunately, before I could get very far, one of the boy's goonies (I think this one was Joe) grabbed me by both the back of my sweatshirt and my hair, still in its ponytail. He threw me to the ground. Luckily, my backpack cushioned my fall on one side of my body. Unluckily, the other side of my body hit the sidewalk hard and I knew there would definitely be bruises.

The leader grabbed my backpack from my shoulder and chucked it a few feet away before shoving Joe off me and pinning my shoulders do the ground. I could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"What do y'all say we have some fun with the little slut, huh boys?", he said turning to the boys. They got devilish smirks on their faces and nodded slowly.

The leader straddled my waist as I tried to prop myself up on my elbows.

"Oh no, you don't", he laughed. He reached into his back pocket and flicked open a switchblade. My eyes widened in horror.

"Get the hell off me, you bastard!", I yelled, struggling against him.

"Oh, you deserve to be punished for speaking to me like that". He took his switchblade and held it right near my throat, at the collar of my sweatshirt.

Grabbing a handful of the fabric, he began slicing downwards. He cut my sweatshirt all the way down the front, from the neck, parallel to the zipper to the top of my jeans. The cold air hit my now exposed stomach and his eyes looked at me in a way that I wanted to run and hide from.

The other boys had that hungry look in their eyes too, like a pack of starving wolves who just caught sight of prey.

The one practically sitting on me roughly grabbed the back of my head and smashed his lips onto mine.

When his tongue tried to slither into my mouth, I bit it as hard as I could until I drew blood.

He flew back and that's when I socked him in the face. Right in the jaw. He just slammed me back down onto the pavement and grabbed my ponytail.

"You're gonna pay for that, bitch. Need a haircut, Greaser?", he snarled.

He gripped his blade and began sawing off my hair, about a good 7 inches above the ends.

This infuriated me. A Greaser's hair is their pride and joy, especially a Greaser girl's hair.

Despite the fact that i knew he would hurt me again, I swung my fist. It connected with his nose and I heard a sickening crack. Blood started dripping down his face from his now broken nose.

"You're gettin' it now. Boys, get over here and help me teach our little slut here a lesson."

Micky and Joe flicked out their blades now and lunged. That's when I started screaming.

"Darry! Soda! Two-Bit! Steve! Dally! Help me!"

The Socs didn't move the goonies were trying to cut off my pants and when I started screaming, the leader put his blade next to my mouth.

"We're gonna ruin your pretty little face. How does that sound, slut?"

I continued screaming and that's when he cut my lip. Right under the bottom lip on the right side, he cut deep and it started to bleed. A lot. Then he made a less deep cut into my forehead, then right under where the two cups of my bra connected.

I continued screaming. At this point, it wasn't even words, really. More just screaming and hoping someone would notice. I had never been this scared in my entire life. I started crying from fear and pain and something else that I couldn't quite put my finger on, but it burned hotter than anything I'd ever felt before.

That's when I heard the pounding of feet no the sidewalk and yelling.

"Get outta here! This ain't your territory, you assholes!"

"That's right! You better run you bastards!"

I had closed my eyes tightly when I was screaming, but when I felt the pressure of the leader alleviated from my gut, I opened them back up.

The first thing I saw was the gang beating the ever-loving crap out of the Soc boys. The boys sped off in their fan year and the gang came over to me. Soda was the first one to fall on his knees next to me.

"Soda", I sobbed, still lying on my back.

Soda scooped me up and held me in his lap. I was practically curled in a ball, digging my had into his neck. I knew I was having an anxiety attack. I was hyperventilating and sobbing and I felt light headed.

"Lily", Soda comforted, "Doll, can you stand up?"

I shook my head no.

"Alright, come on", he said. Soda stood up, giving me Darry before shouldering my backpack.

Darry held me in his arms bridal style while I continued to have my anxiety attack.

"Shh", he said as he was walking, "Shh. It's okay, doll. We've got you now and we're goin' back to our place. We're gonna fix you up and you can go to bed. How does that sound?"

I had stopped totally hyperventilating, but my breaths were still short and fast and tears were still streaming down my face. I whimpered in response to Darry's words and buried my head into his chest.

I wrapped what was left of my sweatshirt around myself. I felt all the blood from my face, especially my lip, cascade down my cheeks and chin and fall onto my chest, making red streaks.

Looking up, I saw everyone's eyes on me. The only people in the gang who had seen me ever really cry were Two-Bit, Johnny, and Ponyboy, and only one of the three was present at the moment. Darry and Soda had seen me cry a little bit when the cops came to the door earlier today (it was hard to believe that had only been this morning), but neither of those times compared to this time. I didn't just cry, I broke. I broke like a freaking dam and everything rushed out.

When we got back to the house, Sodapop opened the door for Darry and I and everyone streamed in. Darry carried me to the living room where he carefully lay me down on the couch and he and Soda went to grab the first-aid kit.

Two-Bit sat in Darry's recliner and Dally and Steve sat on the floor next to me. They were all looking at me like I would break any second. I recognized that look. I had seen them give that look to Johnny before. That's when I remembered: the same thing that happened to me had happened to Johnny 4 months ago.

Just then, Darry and Soda came back with the first-aid kit. Darry sat on the coffee table in front of the couch and Soda sat next to me. After rustling through the kit for a few minutes, Darry found what he was looking for. He pulled out a needle and some thread.

My eyes widened a bit.

"What are you planning on doing with that?", I asked shakily.

"Doll, we need to stitch up your lip", Soda explained in a calm voice.

"Will it hurt?", I asked, worried.

"Truthfully?", Soda said, "Yes, it will hurt. But it only takes a few minutes and after we'll give you some medicine to take the pain away. Do ya think you'll be okay?"

I nodded my head. Darry took that as his cue to start trying to thread the needle. His fingers and hands were too big to do it properly.

"Here", I said quietly, "Let me". I reached out and he gave them to me. My hands were shaking, but I managed to keep them steady enough for a long enough time, to successfully threat the needle. I gave it back to Darry and grabbed Soda's hand.

"It's okay. You'll be okay", Soda assured.

Darry had told me to lie back, so I lay my head on the arm of the couch and Soda moved to the floor next to me so he could still hold my hand while I was getting the stitches.

Darry sat between my legs.

"You ready, doll?", he asked.

I nodded and lightly squeezed Soda's hand.

"I'm just warning you now, Soda", I said, "I might break your hand."

He got a confused look on his face,

"I have a string grip", I clarified.

That was when Darry put the needle into my lip.

I couldn't really move my mouth, but I managed a "God freaking dammit".

I squeezed Soda's hand tightly and I knew that now he knew what I had been talking about. He didn't complain, though, which I was thankful for. He just took it, although you could see from his facial expressions that he was in pain.

"Almost done", Darry told me.

A few tears leaked from my eyes. Soda was definitely right. This hurt a lot.

After what felt like an eternity, I finally heard Darry say, "All done, Lily. The stitches are all done."

I sat up slowly and Soda got back up next to me while the other boys left.

"Doll, I have to clean the rest of the cuts and stuff, okay?", Soda said.

I nodded.

"The antistuff is gonna sting, just lettin' ya know", he told me.

I smirked a little, "The antiseptic, you mean?"

"Yeah, that", he said. Soda pulled out some cotton balls and the bottle of antiseptic from the kit and doused the first cotton ball. Then he put it to the cut on my forehead.

"Dammit", I muttered, flinching, "That hurts".

"Sorry, doll. It's what's gotta happen to clean up the cuts."

After working on my forehead, he had to clean up the cut right below my bra.

"Are you comfortable with me doing this?", he asked.

"Yeah, it's fine."

In truth, I felt kinda exposed, but I was fine with Soda doing it. I knew he wouldn't make any moves and even though I've only known him for a short time, he was already kind of like a brother to me.

He carefully pressed the cotton ball to the injured area and I let out a small groan. I could tell he was trying to work as quickly as he could to clean up the cut so I wasn't in pain anymore and because we were both kind of uncomfortable. I mean, he's looking at his younger brother's girlfriend's chest and he already has a girlfriend, so the discomfort was definitely just.

"All done", he told me, letting out a breath.

"Thank God", I sighed, "I just wanna go to bed now."

"Go get ready and come back in here. I wanna talk to you."

"Okay?", I said, more like a question than a statement.

I walked into Pony and Soda's room where my backpack was. Pulling out my pajama shirt and pants, I quickly changed into them, making sure not to hurt my sore injuries. I brushed out my hair and put it into a low bun which I would take out before I fell asleep and brushed my teeth.

Soda was still on the couch when I came back.

"What'd you want to talk to me about, Soda?"

"If you're alright with it", he started, "I want you to tell me what happened."

My eyes widened a little.

"You don't have to if you don't want to", Soda speedily assured me.

"No, no. It's okay. Just gimme a second".

I sat down on the couch, sitting on my legs.

"I was walking back here…", I started.

By the end of the story, Sodapop was looking at me with wide eyes.

"Those bastards", he muttered, "They tried to… Oh golly, doll. I'm so sorry this happened to you."

"It wasn't your fault", I assured him. I would've said that it was okay, but it wasn't. The Socs had no right to do that to me. I never did anything to them. Not that I'm saying that all Socs were alike, because I knew they weren't, but at that moment, I hated Socs. I knew that I would never really ever forgive those Soc boys. I don't hold many grudges, but I was pissed off, scared, and felt vulnerable and violated.

I just wanted Pony back. At this moment, there was nothing Could've wanted more than Ponyboy holding me tight to him, wrapping his arms around me, and telling me everything would be alright while I cuddled into him. But unfortunately, Pony (along with Johnny) was God knows where, doing God knows what, with God knows who.

I hadn't realized that I had started to cry a little bit until Sodapop pulled me into him. He gave me the hug and I hugged him back.

"I miss 'im, Soda. I just want him back", I cried.

Soda knew who I was talking about. "I know, doll. I want him back too. We all do."

I realized something then. Something I had been internally grappling with for about a week now.

"I think I love him, Soda", I murmured.

"Huh? What did you say, doll?", he asked, leaning his face in a little to hear me better.

"I said", I repeated, taking a deep breath, "I said I think I love him."

Sodapop smiled. Not a smirk, but a huge, genuine smile that was contagious enough, that even in my semi-traumatized state, I smiled too.

"Oh, Lily", he said, hugging me even tighter, "I think he loves you too. He hasn't said it outright, but the way he talks about you. He never stops and when he's talkin' about you, his eyes light up and he gets this goofy smile on his face and it looks like he's just dreamin' about you while talking."

My smile grew even larger.

"I think when he comes back, I'm gonna tell him."

"I think you should. Now are ya ready for bed?"

"Yeah", I said, "I'll just take the couch. If you'll bring my backpack in here-"

Soda cut me off, "Oh, no. You're sleeping in me and Pony's bed. You've been through enough today. I'll take the couch,"

"Really, Soda. I'm fine with taking the couch-"

He cut me off again. "No ifs, buts, or ands about it, young lady. You're sleeping in me and Pony's bed and that's final", he ordered with a smirk.

"If you're sure", I said, "Thank you, Soda".

I stood up on tip-toe and kissed his cheek.

"Goodnight Soda", I said, walking into his and Pony's room.

"G'night, Lily. Sleep well", he responded.

I took out my hair and slipped under the covers of Soda and Pony's bed, pulling the blanket up to my chin. It was hard to believe that only a few hours ago, I had been in this bed after going unconscious when the cops came.

I breathed in deeply, smelling the cigarettes and cologne that was so distinctly…Ponyboy. I could almost imagine he was right there next to me.

"Goodnight, Pony", I whispered into the air, "I'll see you soon."

And with that, I fell asleep.