Sorry it took so long for me to update. The stupid site wouldn't let me load any documents. Anyways, i'm sad to say that the story is almost over :( but don't worry, i might write another one

Chapter 25

I was quick to find out that Darry actually wasn't going to yell at Tori, Soda, and Pony. He just gave them a very stern talking to saying that if something like that ever happened again, Soda and Pony would go to a boys home. Soda and Pony cringed slightly at the phrase "boys home."

One morning Tori and I were sitting on the couch, waiting for Soda to finish getting ready for work. As usual, Steve hid Soda's shoes.

"Hide these" said Steve towards Tori and I. Tori shoved the shoes behind me and her since we were sitting side by side.

Soda came marching in asking "has anyone seen my shoes?"

I said "try the porch. I think I saw them sittin' out there." It was hard for Tori and I not to laugh. Soda fell for it and went outside to look for the shoes. Of course, they weren't there.

"There not out there" said Soda, looking high and low for the shoes.

"Why don't you go look in our room?" suggested Tori. Soda never left his shoes in our room but he looked in there anyways. "I swear if you guys are hiding them I'm gonna kill you!" yelled Soda from our room. Soda came back out and finally got smart enough to look in between us.

"It was all Steve's idea" said Tori, pointing a finger towards Steve.

"I should have known" said Soda. I noticed that Dallas hadn't bothered to pick up his blade from last night.

"Dallas, I'm takin' your switchblade" I said.

"Ok. You can keep it if ya want, I've got more" said Dallas kinda absent mindedly. Soda finished putting on his shoes and got in the car, with the rest of us following close behind, well not all of us. It is kinda hard to follow closely when you have a bad knee and you have to use a cane, or in that days case, a crutch. That day at work was pretty un eventful. It was the normal day which consisted of irritated customers. Pony and Johnny stopped by about an hour before Tori and I got off.

"What did you guys do today?" I asked.

"Nothin' really. Just went to the movies and stuff" said Johnny.

"Darry found out about the party" said Ponyboy.

"What'd he do?" asked Tori.

"I'm grounded for a month starting tomorrow. He said that I could keep my hair like this if I really wanted to."

"Ha-ha, sucks for you" I said.

"Your just lucky I didn't tell him that you three were there and tried to hide me being drunk from him. He would've grounded you for two months" said Ponyboy.

"And your not going to tell him, are you?" asked Tori.

Pony thought about it for a minute before saying "no, I guess not. I do kinda owe you guys for everything that you did" said Pony.

"Yeah ya do" said Johnny, Tori, and I at the same time. Soda came in with a big smile on his face, but then again, he always smiled. I wish I could always smile like him.

"What are you smiling about Curtis?" I asked.

"The boss said that we could get off earlier. Steve and I are goin' over to The Dingo if y'all wanna come" said Soda.

"Thanks, but no thanks Soda. I don't feel like goin' out" I said.

"Yeah same here. I'm not really in the mood to go out" said Tori. Ponyboy and Johnny said that they didn't really want to go out either. They never really said why they didn't. Ponyboy, Johnny, Tori, and I walked home together that day. We hadn't walked home together in what seemed like forever.

We where walking around the park when I noticed the blue Mustang following us.

"What are they doin' here? This is our territory" said Johnny in a low tone.

"They're probably looking for you guys to get back at you for last night" I said. We walked a little faster but that turned out to be a bad idea. The car only sped up so they could catch up.

"What should we do?" asked Tori.

"Just keep walking. Maybe they'll leave us alone for once" said Pony. We kept walking until the car pulled up in front of us, then of course we had to stop. About six Socs stepped out of the car. Let me tell you something, I was beginning to think that these run-ins were happening a little to often lately.

"Well looky what we got here" said one guy, "let's see we've got greaser, greaser, greaser, and greaser gimp." It hurt to be called a greaser but it hurt even more to be called a greaser gimp. The socs circled us slowly, eyeing each one of us coolly.

"I believe we never got to finish last night" said the same Soc.

"Why can't you just leave us alone for once?" asked Tori.

"Awww…….look guys, the greasy girl is begin' us to leave. I don't think so greasy girl" said one other soc. With that the Socs jumped on us, like a tiger would it's prey in the wilderness. I had a hard time fightin' but the crutch did come in us. I shoved the end of the crutch in some guys eye but he had me down in a second. He began hitting me everywhere he could while still managing to keep me pinned down. Suddenly, I felt a searing pain in my leg, almost as if someone had stuck a knife in me. Unfortunately, that was the last thing I remember because someone had kicked me in the head so hard that I blacked out.

When I woke up, I found myself lying on the couch in the Curtis house with the gang sitting around me. I looked over and saw Tori unconscious in Darry's chair.

"Tori?" I said weekly. The rest of the gang turned and looked at me.

"Kelsey, your awake" said Soda happily.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You, Pony, Johnny, and Tori got jumped. You feelin' ok?" asked Soda.

"My leg hurts like hell."

"You got stabbed. Those damn Socs stabbed you in the leg. Gave you a black eye and a couple of cuts too."

"What happened to Tori?" I asked.

"She got cut on her arm pretty bad" said Soda. Soda moved Tori's arm so that I could see. There was a cut that ran from her elbow to her wrist. She was going to have a scar there the rest of her life.

"She hit her head pretty hard too" continued Soda.

"What about Pony and Johnny?"

"There ok. A few cuts and bruises but they'll be ok" said Soda.

"This is the last straw" said Dallas from the floor.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, not really sure what was going on.

"I'm callin' a rumble. It's one thing to jump me or Two-Bit or someone like that but for them to jump you and Tori, that's just not right. Something needs to be done" said Dallas.

"What are you gonna do Dal? They're Socs, we can never win against them" said Soda. That was true. It was nearly impossible for us to win against Socs.

"I don't care!" snapped Dallas, "I'm callin' a rumble whether you like it or not!" With that, Dallas ran out of the house, furious. Who could blame him? It had just dawned on me that the Socs knew exactly were to hit us. They jumped the youngest of the group, the little brothers and sisters. Like Dallas said, it's one thing to for them to jump him, it's another thing for them to jump us. But if I was that important to the gang for them to call a rumble just cause of me and Tori, then I figured I should be honest with them. I should tell everyone else that we are from the future. I knew that at that moment when I was lying on the couch was the best time.

"Guys, I have something to tell you. Get Darry in here" I said. Two-Bit jumped up and got Darry from the kitchen. All eyes were on me now, and to be honest, I didn't exactly know how to start.

"Your gonna think I'm crazy for saying this but…………………. Tori and I………………….we're from the future. We're from the year 2006."

The gang just stared at me, like I was crazy or something. There was a deadly silence in the room that normally wasn't there because the gang was always loud.

"Soda check her forehead, I think she runnin' a fever" said Darry.

"I'm not sick, I'm telling the truth" I said.

"She being serious" said Soda.

"Your not kidding, are you?" asked Steve. I shook my head no. Why would I want to joke about something like that?

"How'd you get here?" asked Two-Bit.

"I don't know. We just woke up on the highway one day right outside of Tulsa. That was the day that we met Soda and Steve at the gas station. And while I'm being honest, our real names aren't Tori Lewis and Kelsey Wood. I'm Kelsey Lewis and she's Tori Morrow" I said.

"So you were lying to us the whole time?" asked Steve.

"Yeah. I'm sorry but we had to. Do you realize how weird it would have been if we just showed up here one day and said we're from the future? It's not like we wanted to lie, we had to. Your not mad at us, are you?"

The gang thought about it for a moment but then began to say something like a "no" at different times.

"Boy, Dally's gonna be mad when he hears about this" said Two-Bit.

"Yeah, I know, but we'll tell him when the time is right" I said.

"So what happens in the future?" asked Steve. Steve asked the question that was on everybody's mind but no one wanted to ask.

"I can't tell you" I said.

"Wadda ya mean you can't tell us?" asked Soda.

"It might be a bad thing for someone to know too much about the future. I'm sorry but I can't tell you. You'll just hafta find out for yourselves" I said. Everyone looked a bit disappointed but somehow they understood what I meant. Besides, the fun part about the future is the feeling of not knowing what's going to happen. Who am I to spoil that for 6 people? They would have to experience it for themselves. No one else can feel the rain on your skin besides you.

The night was pretty normal except for the fact that we had no idea where Dallas was and if he was serious about calling a rumble. Eventually everyone went to bed. Me, Steve, Johnny, and Tori slept in the living. Darry wouldn't let me get up from the couch so I was basically stuck. I was laying on the couch quietly with the moon light streaming in through the window, when I heard a movement coming from Darry's chair. Tori was having another bad dream and if we didn't do something soon she was going to start screaming. I tried to get up so that I could get her medicine but my leg was stuck the to couch. So I did the next best thing. I picked up a pillow off the floor and threw it at Steve to wake him up. He rolled over and asked "what the hell was that for?"

"You hafta get Tori's medicine" I said, whispering so that I wouldn't wake Johnny up.

"Why can't you get it?"

"I can't get up from the couch remember?"

Steve was about to protest but gave in. I guess he was too tired to fight with me at three in the morning. He came back from the kitchen with two pills and a glass of water. She took the medicine and started to clam down and wake up at the same time. Steve went back to his spot on the floor and fell asleep almost instantly. "What happened?" asked Tori, "why is it so dark in here?"

"Shhhhhh………..everyone's asleep. You had a bad dream. You've been out for hours now. You feelin' ok?" I asked.

"I ache a little but I'm ok. What happened?" repeated Tori.

"We got jumped by a bunch of socs. You got a pretty bad cut on your arm there" I said, pointing to her arm. She looked at her cut and moaned, like it suddenly started hurting her.

"We got it pretty bad this time, didn't we?" asked Tori.

"Yeah. You should of seen Dallas when I woke up. He went crazy" I said.

"Really? What did he do?"

"He said that he was callin' a rumble. That he had finally had it with the Socs. They hit us in the soft spot" I said.

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean, the socs knew that the gang would go totally crazy 'cause they had jumped the babies of the gang, being You, me, Johnny, and Pony. In my opinion, they was askin' for a rumble the minute they stepped into our territory. "
"I think I know what you mean now" said Tori, sitting back in Darry's chair, "what'd they do to you?"

"They stabbed me in the knee. Kicked me once or twice in the head" I said.

"Looks like Prom is totally out of the question for you" said Tori. I had totally forgotten about prom.

"Yeah I guess. You can still go though and have fun. That's tomorrow night isn't it?"

"Yeah. Won't be the same without you there."

"I think you'll survive somehow." That was the last words that were said. In a minute or so I could hear Tori's light breathing. It took awhile for me to fall asleep but I eventually did. I was awoken the next morning by the sound of a slamming door.

"I told you not to slam the door" came a voice to the kitchen, "your gonna wake them up."

"Sorry" said whoever slammed the door. I blinked a couple of times so that my eyes could adjust to the sunlight. I could see Darry in the kitchen making breakfast and Two-Bit climbing over all the motionless bodies on the floor to get to the kitchen. I wanted to get up but I couldn't find the set of crutches the doctor had given me. I guess Darry had put them away in the closet since I never used them. "Darry?" I said in a week voice.

Darry appeared in the kitchen doorway and said "great, Two-Bit, you woke her up."

"Where are my crutches?"

"They're in the closet. Hang on, I'll go get them." Darry came back in with my crutches and helped me up. I took the easier route to the bathroom so that I would have to walk over the people sleeping on the floor. Since there was someone already in the shower, I had to wait outside. I waited until Soda came out in nothing but a towel. My ears must of turned bright red. That's one thing Pony and I had in common. Our ears turned red whenever we were embarrassed or something. I prayed that Soda didn't notice.

"Mornin', Kelsey" said Soda, making his way to his and Pony's room.

"Mornin'" I said. I slipped into the bathroom before any one else could claim it. The hot water felt good on all of my cuts and bruises. It was weird cause all I could think was "if my mother saw me now." If she could see me not just with all these cuts and stuff but living where I was, she would have a cow. She would never, ever approve of me staying in a house full of boys, and in her words "hoodlums at that." When I first saw the movie, the greasers appeared to be hoodlums but now that I know them, I've learned that they only looked like hoods. On the inside they were completely different except Dallas that is. The shade of difference that separates a greaser from a hood wasn't present in Dallas Winston. I got out of the shower, put on some clothes, and made my way over to the kitchen table before all the chocolate cake was gone.

"How's your knee doin' this mornin'?" asked Darry.

"It still hurts a little but it's okay" I said, rubbing the bandage slightly, "I'm gonna hafta get a new brace though. The Socs lost my other one."

"I don't want you to be going out today. You should stay home" said Darry.

"That's ok. I wasn't planning on going out today" I said. I finished up my breakfast and went back to my couch. I laid there quietly and watched everybody get ready to go to work or school or wherever it is they were going. In about an hour, I was all by myself. It felt kind of nice to be home alone. I was almost asleep when I heard someone come in through the back door.

"Kelsey!" called Dallas from the back door.

"In here!" I replied.

Dallas stepped into the living room, took one look at me and said "damn, they got ya good didn't they kid?"

I nodded my head yes.

"Well don't you worry about that 'cause were gonna have it out with 'em next Saturday. Soc against grease" said Dallas.

"You weren't joking about the rumble were you?"

"Would I joke about something like that? Hey, where's everybody else?" asked Dallas.

"Darry and Soda are at work. Two-Bit, Tori, Pony, Johnny, and Steve are at school, wait a minute, aren't you suppose to be at school too?"

"I can skip can't I? I mean, what's the worst they can do? Kick me out?"

"You don't care if they kick you out?"

"Nope. I thought by now you would've learned that I don't care about nothin'" said Dallas.

"That's kinda hard not to care about anything. You've got to have at least one thing you care about" I said. I did think it was a little weird that Dallas didn't care about anything or anybody.

"And like you do?"

"I care about things. I care about almost everything." I thought it was obvious that I cared about things. I guess I might have to work on that.

"Name one" said Dallas, sitting down in Darry's chair.

"I care about you" I replied honestly. Even though I may have said things to him that I wouldn't normally say to someone, like I hate you, I still cared about him. I didn't cry just for the sake of crying when he died in the book and movie.

"Yeah right. Your just saying that. Nobody cares about me."

"Honestly, I do care about you. You'd be surprised by how many people do."

Dallas got real quiet. It made me sad to know that Dallas thought nobody cared about him. Nobody should think thoughts like that. The rest of the day was pretty quiet. Dallas left me about half way through the day and I fell back asleep.

When I woke up, everybody that actually lived in the house was home, well, almost everybody that is. Darry wasn't home yet and he probably wouldn't be home till late.

"Hey, your up" said Tori in a cheery voice from the kitchen.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Couple of hours. You hungry?"

I shook my head no.

"I heard that Dallas stopped by today. What did y'all do?"

"We talked about stuff. Did you hear about the rumble?"

"No."

"Dallas said there's gonna be a rumble next Saturday. Soc against grease" I said.

"You heard about it too?" asked Soda coming into the kitchen.

"Yeah. I don't think I'm gonna be in it though. It'd be a little hard for me to fight with one hand" I said.

"It's ok. I think the gang'll understand if ya don't wanna be in it" said Soda.

"Where's Pony?" I asked.

"He's in his room workin' on homework or something" said Soda. Tori finished up whatever it was she was doing in the kitchen and said "I'm gonna go start getting ready." She left the room to go take her shower. I just sighed and sat back in one of the kitchen chairs. I was really upset about having to miss out tonight. I had been looking forward to this for weeks and thanks to some Soc, I couldn't go. This made me hate the Socs even more.

"Somethin' botherin' ya?" asked Soda.

"Yeah" was all I said.

"It's about prom isn't it?"

I slowly nodded my head yes.

"Don't worry about it, there'll be other proms" said Soda.

"Not like this one."

"And what makes you think this one is so special?"

"Because it's here. Next year I might not even be here. I might be back in 2006" I said.

"That's true but you don't hafta go back do ya?"

"Yes. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love living here with you guys but I belong in 2006. I mean, there's no way I could live the rest of my life without a computer."

"A what?"

"Never mind" I said.

"But you'll be here for the rumble, won't you?" asked Soda, a hopeful expression on his face.

"Yeah. Who else would take care of all the wounded soldiers?" Soda just smiled one of his signature smiles. That was one of the main things I was going to miss about Soda when I left. No one could smile like he did. I went back to the couch and waited for everyone else to get here. It bothered me to see everyone dressed up in there prom attire. Tori looked beautiful that night, like a princess straight out of one of a fairy tale. I was so mesmerized by how beautiful she looked, I didn't realize I was staring.

"Kelsey?" asked Tori.

"What?" I asked, coming back to earth.

"You think I look pretty?" she asked, spinning around so that her dress flew up slightly.

"Absolutely" I replied.

"Lets get a picture of everyone" suggested Darry as he got the camera from the closet. Everyone was in place and Darry was about to take the picture when he noticed something wasn't right.

"Something's missing" said Darry. He thought for a moment. "Kelsey, get in the picture."

"No, no, no. I hate taking pictures" I said. Everyone begged a pleaded until I finally gave in. Besides, that was probably the only chance I was going to get to have a picture taken with everyone. So I got in between Dally and Tori. Darry was about to try to take the picture again when he stopped, again.

"Something still isn't right" said Darry. He thought again and then said "Soda, get in the picture." Soda didn't even bother to protest like I had. I had a feeling that Soda liked having his picture taken. We were about to take the picture when I said "wait. Something still isn't right. Darry, get over here." Darry set the timer on the camera and as soon as he was in place, the flash went off.

"Lets take another" I said "this time a funny one." I always liked doing the goofy group pictures at school. Darry set the timer again and everyone made a funny face. Except for Dallas that is. God forbid he should have a sense of humor. The flash went off and another picture was taken.