Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders.

"One hundred pounds," Karen gushed. "I finally made it."

My eyes widened. Karen already had the perfect body, but now she had a number to prove it. I'd always thought Karen would make a great supermodel – she's five foot four and she's a stick.

"Congrats," I said. "So are you done with the diet?"

"Of course not," Karen said. "There's ninety-five. Ninety. Eighty-five. Eighty's my big goal, though."

"Are you sure that's healthy?" I asked. "Eighty pounds?"

"Yeah, it's better than healthy," Karen answered. "It's beautiful. What's your goal?"

I'd been wishing she would ask that – I didn't want to give out my imperfect number. "I don't know," I admitted.

"Well, how much do you weigh now?" she asked.

"I weighed myself last week," I said and regretfully added: "One hundred twenty-seven pounds." At the look of Karen's face, I added, "But I was bloated and PMS-ing, and – "

"It's okay," Karen said. "You just have bigger goals. One twenty by next Friday?"

"Geez, that's fast," I said. "That's, what, seven, eight days?"

"You can do it," Karen said. "A pound a day with room for some breathing room."

It didn't sound like breathing room to me. "All right," I complied. "I'll do it." I hadn't brought a lunch to school that day. Thinking of the nice hot eggs I missed for breakfast, I ignored my growling stomach.

"Pony, can I talk to you?" I asked. He was sitting on his bed reading a book, which was how I was most likely to find the kid. Darry and Soda were still at work, and I wanted to take advantage of their time gone. It had always been easier for me to talk to Ponyboy about sensitive topics – Darry was far too protective about it, and I knew Soda would worry about whatever I'd said. He always worried. Ponyboy would help me out, and he would tell me the truth, even if it hurt.

"Mmm-hmm?" he asked. He didn't look away from the book. I sat on his bed and snatched his book from him. "Hey!" he protested. He tried to grab it back, but I threw it on the ground on top of one of his stacks of books.

I was straight to the point: "How important is a girl's body to a guy?"

"May I ask why you're asking?" Pony asked.

"No," I replied. That was the only downfall of Ponyboy – he had to know the context behind everything.

"Fine," Ponyboy said. He considered. "I don't know how important it is. I think it's more of the fact that the girl has a body that's the important part. After that, I'm not too picky, as long as she's not hideous."

Did I qualify as hideous? "Oh," I said. "But if you see two girls walking down the street, would you immediately be drawn to the one that weighed, say, one thirty, or the one that weighed one hundred?"

"I guess it depends on their height, or how else they looked," Ponyboy said.

"They look the same otherwise, and they're the same height," I clarified. That was a lie – Karen's straight smile and gorgeous hair were everything compared to my stringy hair and crooked front teeth. And she was four inches taller than me….

"I guess the skinnier one," Ponyboy said. "Audrey, what's up?"

"Nothing," I said. I got up and walked to the door.

"Audrey, wait – " I closed the door behind me and walked down the hall. I don't know why I asked Pony; I knew he'd say that. That's what everyone thought, too – it wasn't a personal thing.

I sat on my bed and Ponyboy followed me. "Audrey, why do you ask?"

"No reason," I said. "Go away."

He sat next to me. "You already lost my page." I smiled. "Who are you talking about?"

"Nobody," I said.

"No," Ponyboy said. He stood and started pacing around my room. "Look, I said the wrong answer. I don't think what I said. I would look at both girls. Honestly, I'd be drawn to them both. And a lot of guys think like that, you know, and anyway, one hundred and thirty pounds isn't a lot at all. I think that too skinny girls are gross." He stopped pacing and waiting for my reaction.

"Yeah, okay," I said. I didn't believe him, and he knew it. I looked at the floor. He didn't tell me to look at him, but he kneeled by the bed.

"Audrey, I know what you're asking. And no, you're not fat," he said.

"That's not what I was ask – "

"Yes, it was," Pony interrupted.

"Just go away," I said. I laid down on my bed and stuffed my face into my pillow. I heard his footsteps grow fainter. I wish he'd stayed. He would've seen my hot and sticky face when I peeled it away from my pillow.

But he didn't have time for me. Nobody did.

"Audrey, can you go to the store? We're out of milk," Darry asked after closing the fridge. I'd been lying of the couch watching TV.

"My favorite show's on," I complained. "It doesn't end for another half hour. And by then it'll be getting dark. Make Ponyboy do it."

"No," Darry said. "He's doing homework in his room."

"Yeah, sure, homework," I said. "He probably knew the milk was missing and wanted an excuse not to go in the freezing cold to get it."

"It's fifty degrees out," Darry said. "Not that cold."

"And steadily getting colder. It's freezing," I said. "Why don't you ask Soda?"

"Because he's busy moping," Darry explained. "What's the big deal with going to the store? It's not like you're doing anything more important."

"TV!" I exclaimed. "And it's cold, and the old guy who works at the store in the evenings is weird and smells funny. And I'm grounded – I can't."

"Then you should be jumping with joy on this chance to get out of the house," Darry said. He walked to the TV and shut it off. "Go get the milk."

"No," I moaned. I curled up on the couch underneath the warm blanket. "It's cold!"

"Audrey, stop giving me a hard time, get up, and go to the damn store!" Darry yelled. His face was turning red.

I covered my face with the blanket. Next thing I knew, Darry'd yanked it off so quickly that I fell off the couch.

"Ow," I muttered.

Darry ignored that. "Get up and go to the store," he said. I glared at him. My glare turned into a smile when a beautiful man walked through the doorway.

"Do I hear the dulcet tones of Audrey complaining? Wow, that never happens. She's always so agreeable."

"Shut up, Two-Bit," I said. Anyone could catch the sarcasm in his voice. "Why don't you get the milk, Darry?"

"Okay, fine," Darry said. "I'll go get the milk. You stay home, you know, some bills just came in the mail, and all. I know you want to deal with that. And you'll love it so much that you'll want to stay up until eleven working on that until you get up at five thirty to work all day long."

"I get it," I said. "Fine, I'll go. But it's freezing."

"Audrey, I'll make you a deal," Two-Bit said.

"You'll get me the milk?" I asked.

"Nope," Two-Bit said. "But I'll give you a ride there if you get me a beer from the kitchen."

How could I not take up an offer like that? I skipped into the kitchen and grabbed a beer out of the fridge, but just before leaving the room I checked my reflection on the bottle. My hair was a mess from lying on the couch. I tried to pat it down, but I deemed it a hopeless cause after a moment's notice.

I climbed into the passenger seat of Two-Bit's car and handed him his beer.

"Wanna sip?" he asked. I shook my head. "Course not," he said after taking a sip himself.

"Fine," I said. "I'll have a sip."

Two-Bit cocked an eyebrow but handed me the bottle. I cautiously took a small sip.

"This stuff tastes good," I said as Two-Bit started up the car.

"Best stuff on Earth," Two-Bit argreed. "You've never had beer before?"

I hated to do it, but I shook my head. I always felt so young and inexperienced around Two-Bit.

"Don't tell Darry I gave you that, then," Two-Bit said. "And let's not make a habit of that."

"It's fine," I said. "I'm already grounded for life."

Two-Bit smiled. "You are? What'd you do this time?"

"My grades," I answered as I ignored the butterflies in my stomach. "They sent a letter. I'm already flunking practically all my classes, or almost. So I guess I'm only grounded until I bring them up. So, for life."

Two-Bit laughed. "Just copy Pony's homework."

"That's what I was thinking. I told Pony and he said that he never took Modified Algebra," I said. I took another sip of the beer.

"Well, you're screwed then," Two-Bit said.

"Bet I get a better report card than you," I said.

"Probably," Two-Bit agreed. "Not by much, though. And Darry isn't my brother."

"Your mom doesn't care if about your grades like that?" I asked.

"She's just glad I'm still in school," Two-Bit replied. "I stay there 'cause it makes her happy. And it isn't so bad, anyway. What else am I gonna do?"

"I guess that makes sense," I said. "You're lucky you don't have Darry breathing down your neck." I loved talking to Two-Bit; it was so easy.

"Don't complain so much about him," Two-Bit said. "You're too ungrateful."

"I'm ungrateful?" I asked. "How so?"

"You complained a shitload about going to get milk. Not that tough a thing to do, not so bad. You could have things so much worse, you know?"

He reminded me of Andrew. I didn't like that.

"So maybe I complain some. Doesn't make me ungrateful, just frustrated. Or maybe annoyed. But not ungrateful."

"Whatever you say," Two-Bit replied. He glanced at me, and his eyes widened when he saw the bottle in my hand. "Shit, did you already drink most of that?"

I looked at the bottle and realized he was right. "Not most," I said. "Maybe half."

"Three quarters," Two-Bit said. He snatched it back. "Shit, and you smell like it, too. Darry's gonna kill me."

"Naw, I think he'll kill me first," I said. "Maybe he'll just maim you."

Two-Bit laughed. "Fantastic. Here, check if there are any breath mints or anything in the glove compartment."

I opened the glove compartment. "Um, Two-Bit?"

"Yeah?" he said. He glanced down at the glove compartment. "Oh, shit," he said. "Don't look in there."

"Yeah, I figured that out when I saw the thong," I answered. Honestly, I was jealous. I wished my lingerie was in his car.

"Just pretend you didn't see anything in that compartment, okay? Especially not Kathy," he said.

"Those weren't Kathy's – "

"Nope," Two-Bit said. "And I'd love it if she didn't know about those."

"All right," I said. "I won't tell her. Maybe you should take care of that before the next time you take her in your car."

"Yeah, maybe," Two-Bit said. He pulled into a parking spot. I opened my door, but Two-Bit hadn't shut off the car or made any attempt to leave.

"You coming?" I asked.

"No," he said. "Said I'd give you a ride here, didn't I? You're walking back."

I groaned. "Fine," I said. I slammed the door, but as I heard Two-Bit's car driving out of the parking lot I walked with my back straight and my butt out. That's how Kathy always walked.

Author's Note: What do you think? Review, please!