A/N: God, guys, I am so sorry for not updating! Last semester was literal hell, and then my laptop broke. Like, seriously, I killed it. It won't turn on and I'm super upset because I had an X-Men/Avengers OC on there, and I had seven pages of a potential fanfiction, and now it's basically gone. Anyways, let's get going on the next chapter.

Oh, on a side note, I don't know how much you guys care about my personal life, but I signed up on this (free) dating site. It's called and so far, it's going pretty well. I only had one creepy forty-year-old message me, and only, like, two or three people start out with something along the lines of "ur hot". For the record, that kind of stuff and pick up lines don't really work on me. They just make me laugh because I can't believe someone is trying that. I mean, do they actually work? If someone came up to you, ladies, and was like, "Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?" would you take them seriously? I got one (on a different site) that was like, "Are you a leprechaun, because I'm feeling lucky!" or something like that, and I was like, are you legit serious?

Anywho, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: As always, I only own my plot and my characters.

Chapter Twenty-one

Kat's POV

Dally was in jail.

Dally was in jail!

This was a good thing, right? I'll finally get some space from him. Maybe I'd try and find a new guy while he was gone?

I was just cleaning up my breakfast when Soda came into the kitchen wearing only a towel, evidentially just out of the shower.

"Hey," he said, grabbing some toast I had set out for everyone.

I stared at him, and my eyes began to move down south before I snapped my eyes back to his face.

He raised his eyebrows and grinned. "See something you like?"

I didn't dignify that with a response. I just rolled my eyes and went to get ready for work.

Steve came barging into the house, and he was so loud it was a wonder he didn't wake the whole neighborhood. Actually, there was a good chance he did.

I returned to the kitchen wearing jeans, a white shirt, and my DX vest.

"You boys ready?" I asked, even though they obviously weren't. Well, Soda wasn't. He was still wearing a towel, and I did my best to ignore it.

"Almost, mom," Steve teased.

I rolled my eyes, and said, "I'll wait outside." As I went outside, Johnny and Ponyboy were walking up. "Hey, guys." I gave them a smile, and a small wave.

Ponyboy smiled back, and Johnny gave a little nod.

As Pony went inside, Johnny stopped in front of me, looking around, and at the ground – basically anywhere but me. I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong, when he finally said, "Dally probably won't be in jail too long."

"That so?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's in the cooler so often, they don't usually keep him there long, especially not for something as small as this," Johnny informed me, still not meeting my eyes.

I wasn't really sure what to say to this, because I wasn't sure how I felt about is, so I just said, "Oh."

We were silent for another moment, and I think it was the first awkward silence between me and Johnny. Finally he looked at me, and said, "You doing anything after work?"

"I guess not," I said with a shrug.

"I'll come get you then," he said, sounding a bit more confident. "We can walk around for a bit before coming home."

"Sounds like a plan." I gave him a small smile, the dream I had the other night about me and Johnny lingering in the back of my mind.

Steve and Soda came out of the house just then, and we headed off to work. As usual, it was uneventful. We got one car needing a tune-up, and I let Steve and Soda work on that.

I was sitting on the tool table, since there wasn't much for me to do, so I was the first one who noticed the group of socs walking up to the gas station, two girls and two boys. Naturally one of them was Drew, and he was holding a blonde's hand, a girl I recognized from my Bio class, I think her name was Carly. The other guy was tall and slim, with blue eyes and brown hair. I think his name was Andy, who was in my history class, and he was holding hands with a tiny little brunette with brown eyes. Her name was Kandy. She was a freshman, and the only reason I knew her was because everyone talked about how she's slept with every guy in the school. I never believed it, but now I wasn't so sure. Why else would a senior be holding hands with a freshman?

I tried to ignore them, which wasn't hard, because they went into the store. I glanced at the clock in the garage, thankful I only had about fifteen minutes left.

As the group came out, I turned away, pretending to organize tools. I really didn't want to deal with any crap from Drew – or any of them, for that matter.

I knew they hadn't left because I could hear them talking, but I was surprised when I heard footsteps behind me. I wanted to ignore them, hoping they had gone over to one of the guys, but I knew they were right behind me.

I turned, ready to tell Drew off. "What do you-" I was surprise when I saw Carly there. Her blonde hair was curly, and her blue eyes would have been real pretty if they weren't filled with such ice cold hate. Her scowl also didn't help. I was slightly taken aback. I never talked to her, or about her (no matter how much she annoyed me with the way she screamed about the dissections we did in Bio), so I wasn't really sure why she was giving me that look.

I think having been around guys who confronted you when they had a problem made me forget how girls could be rather… subtle about their animosity.

We stood in silence, and I was vaguely aware of Steve and Soda watching us. Finally, I said, "Can I help you?"

She seemed not to hear me, though. "Do you have any idea how much you've ruined my life?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Considering I've never talked to you before, no, I don't."

"God, you're so stupid," she said. "Drew can't get you out of his mind, which is making dating him really hard."

I shrugged. "So don't date him."

She seemed at a loss of words, and I walked past her to get a coke from the store and clock out for the day. As I walked away, I heard her mutter what sounded like, "stupid bitch," but I paid it no mind.

When I came out of the store, I saw Johnny walking up, eyeing the four socs still here warily.

"Hey Johnny," I smiled, meeting him by one of the pumps. "Let's get out of here." I didn't want to be anywhere near Carly. It had nothing to do with her being a soc, either. I just didn't want to be around a vengeful girl.

Johnny nodded, and we were about to leave when I heard Carly say, "God, she's such a typical Greaser. What guy hasn't she been with?"

Johnny gave me a look, and I just said, "Forget about them, Johnny. Let's go."

"I mean, God, she is such a slut," Carly continued. Even though she wasn't actually talking to me, the volume of her voice insinuated I was supposed to hear; she was testing me.

I froze, mid-step. Johnny shot a look back at them, and then looked at me, silently asking if he should do something. Steve and Soda looked about ready to do something whether I wanted them to or not. So I decided to do something.

I spun around, and marched right up to Carly. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, is there something you wanted to say to me?"

She gave me a cool look. "If there was, I'd say it to your face."

"Then next time, say it to my face, and don't hang around here if all you're going to do is give me a hard time, or I'll have to ask you to leave," I said. I began to turn around, but, remembering my opened coke, I had an idea. I turned back to her, smiled, and poured the whole bottle on her head.

She screamed. An ear-splitting, high-pitched shriek, that brought joy to my heart knowing I caused it. "Ugh, my hair! You bitch, you'll regret this." She gave me one last glare, and then stormed off, dragging Drew with her.

I gave a sugary-sweet smile, and waved. "Bye!" I turned around to find all three boys staring at me. Finally, Soda broke down laughing, and Steve and Johnny were grinning. "What? She had it coming." They all just kept laughing and grinning, so I grabbed Johnny, and we made our way to… well, I wasn't sure where.

"So, um, where are we going?" I asked.

Johnny shrugged. "Wherever, I guess."

We walked in silence, and I was vaguely aware that I was still holding his arm. I dropped my hand, and he caught my hand in his.

We were silent for another minute or so, and the Johnny finally asked, "Kat, how… how do you feel 'bout Dally?"

I glanced at him, and shrugged. "I dunno, Johnny," I replied. "He has his good moments, but he's pretty annoying mostly."

"Oh," he said.

We were silent again. Finally, I said, "Is there something you want to talk about, Johnny?"

"No. Yes. I dunno," he said. "You, I guess. You and me."

"What about us?" I asked.

"I… I mean, I know you like Dal, but what about me? You like me, right?"

"Sure, I like you okay, Johnny," I said. Then what he said really hit me. "Oh. Um, I dunno, Johnny. I never really thought about it."

"'Course you didn't, I'm just some kid, right?" His voice held a mix of humor and disappointment.

"You ain't no kid, Johnny," I said. "But you are my friend."

"And it'd be weird, right?" Johnny asked.

I was silent, but I nodded. Johnny dropped my hand. "Johnny, I'm sorry. It's just… what if it doesn't work out? I don't want things to be… weird between us."

"I know," he said, but it didn't sound like it, and he refused to look at me.

"We should head back," I said softly. He just nodded, and we walked back to the Curtis' in silence. When we got back, I started working on some homework, but I kept peeking over at Johnny.

Why couldn't there be more? How did I really feel about him? My mind briefly flashed back to the dream I had of us, but I shook my head. I needed to do my homework.

But even as I did it, a small part of my brain thought why not?

A/N: Once again, my sincerest apologies. Now, I remember reading one review asking if Kat and Johnny were going to have a thing. I don't want to give too much away, I want you guys to read the chapters as they (very slowly) come, and see what happens. As with any story, you're going to really, really love some parts, and you'll really, really hate some parts, and it's going to be different with each reader. That's the beauty of opinions, we don't all have to have the same one, and as long as you're not sending me hate mail or death threats, we won't have a problem. All I ask of you guys is to just bear with me. I'll explain myself later if you want me to.

I'm on my spring/mid-winter break this week, so *hopefully* I'll be able to get a decent amount of work done. BUT I do have a Chinese mid-term when I get back, so I make no promises.

I hope you guys like this chapter, I'm sorry it's been a while. As always, review!