Well here ya go, here's the next chapter. In honor of Pony's birthday on the 22 and my birthday today you get this chapter. Now on to the story.

I don't own the outsiders.
I do own Mel, Jason, Jenni, Grizzly and Dino.
I don't own Carina; she belongs to the talented
dorkyduck.
I don't own Sam; she belongs to the wonderful
Kyori Uchiha of the Sand.
I don't own Alexa; she belongs to the amazing Outsidersfan5790.


"I got into a fight and needed a ride from Buck's." I answered.

"A fight with who?" Darry asked.

I looked at Tim. "They know you've been saying crap."

"Then say me but don't mention the socs." Tim answered.

"Alright." I agreed.

"Who won?" Darry asked.

"What is this twenty questions?" I spat.

"Those boys are more curious than I am you have to have your story straight."

"Alright, we came to an agreement before there was a clear winner." I said.

"And you're even now."

"Yeah we're fine. He's going to stop saying crap and I won't mention the socs."

"Alright so you ready to face at least Steve and Pony? You know it'll upset Steve to see you hurt."

"I know, but he'll understand."

"And..."

"Can I crash at your house? For tonight at least? I'm not sure I want to see Jason just yet."

"Sure." Darry answered. When we got back to the house Steve and now Soda were playing poker while Pony was watching TV. As soon as the door shut behind me Pony looked up.

"Hey, you ok?" He asked.

"Yeah fine." I answered.

"You sure? You sounded a little shaken on the phone." Pony said.

"I just needed a ride from Buck's."

"You're hurt." Steve said now standing in front of me.

"She is?" Soda asked.

"I'm fine. I just got into a fight."

"With who?" Steve asked.

"Shepard." I answered shrugging.

"She's your best friend." Pony said.

"Wrong one, try again."

"Curly's in the reformatory."

"That's what Rodgers said yesterday which means..."

"You got into a fight with Tim Shepard?" An amazed voice said behind me. I turned slightly to see Johnny standing there.

"Uh...yeah." I answered.

"Who won?" Steve asked.

"We came to an agreement before a winner was clear." I shrugged.

"What was the agreement?" Steve questioned. I glanced at Darry and back at Steve.

"That's my business now ain't it? It's stopping him from saying crap that shouldn't be said."

"What did you have to give up for that to happen?" Soda asked.

"I can't tell you that." I answered.

"Why not?" Steve asked.

"Because Steve, one of the conditions was that I don't say it." I spat.

"Fine." Steve conceded. I curled up in the chair by the door trying to think of something that would pacify Jason. I couldn't come up with anything and eventually the sun came up.

"Morning Mel." Dally said.

"Hey, you make Tim stop yet?" I asked stretching.

"I came up with something last night, until I was told you fought him and socs showed up."

"Yeah Tim and I got into a fight yesterday, but there were no socs."

"Really?"

"Yeah why I lie to you?"

"Why would Todd?"

"Because he's an idiot. He's always been an idiot and he's always making up stuff."

"He said he saw the whole thing."

"And I wasn't there was I?" I said sarcastically. "Now I wonder what's for breakfast."

"It's almost 11 o'clock Mel."

"Holy shit."

"You looked like you needed the sleep so Darry forced us not to wake you. He said to let you take the three day weekend." I nodded and went into the kitchen and got some breakfast anyway. After eating and setting the bowl in the sink I walked back to the living room where Dally had turned on the TV. Four days later it was Monday and I had been told that Alexa wanted to talk to me.

"Hey what's up?" I asked plopping down next to her in the lot.

"If I told you a secret would you keep it?" Alexa asked.

"Sure. I don't like blabbing too much, that's Two-Bit's job."

"Dally asked me out." She blurted.

"Dally as in Dallas Winston tough greaser hood you couldn't stand when you met him?"

"The very same."

"What did you say?"

"Yes. We've been out a few times but you gotta promise you won't say anything."

"I promise I won't say anything." I swore. "So when did he ask you out?"

"Friday night and then again on Saturday."

"Where'd you go?"

"An out of the way diner. He says that he doesn't want anyone to know just yet."

"You have my word I won't tell anyone not even Dally."

"Can I ask you for some advice?"

"Sure."

"Is Dally really as bad as everyone says?"

"He can be. Just be careful around him. You saw what he did to that girl the night you met him. Normally the does take the girl home or to Buck's and has his fun before he leaves or kicks her out. Do you know about the Soc/grease rivalry down here?"

"The what?"

"Socs and greasers are two different social classes. They have a big time rivalry in Tulsa because well really who knows. Socs think their better than everyone else and greasers just need something to do. There are a couple more social classes which aren't really named. I like to call them as follows: the wanna-be socs, the too well off to be greasers, the hoods, the thugs, and then the riffraff that shouldn't be touched with a ten foot pole. The wanna-be socs are the upper middle class, they aren't as rich as socs but they buy knock off clothes and stuff and try to be like the rich kids. The too well off to be greasers are the lower middle class. They aren't really greasers but their not really middle class either, kinda in between. Hoods are lower than greasers only because they are more daring and don't really care about getting into a lot of trouble and love to fight. Hoods are like Shepard's gang, the Tiber Street Tigers, and the River Kings, the ones that are in actual gangs. Thugs on the other hand are even lower than hoods and are the ones that are most likely to end up in one of two places, in jail or as bouncers. Riffraff are just that, their the homeless people that beg for food or jobs or stuff like that. The bums that don't get up and get themselves a job. If everyone else can do it why can't they?"

"That sounds horrible."

"It sounds worse than it really is trust me if you stick with Dally and his friend Tim it'll be alright I promise. You look like the lower middle class type to me. That and well where you live kinda gives off that vibe too. Just try to stay out of the middle and you'll do fine. That may be another reason why Dally wants to keep it a secret for now. That way you don't get dragged into anything."

"Thanks...I think." I nodded and saw Dally approaching.

"Hey Dally." I called. Alexa just scowled.

"Ladies." Dally answered. I rolled my eyes but noticed Dally hadn't taken his eyes off Alexa.

"Alright, I think I'm just gonna go." I said standing and then walking away. Almost as soon as I was out of sight I heard Dally say something.

"Hey, babe." I knew instantly that he had kissed her. I rolled my eyes and went to see who was at the house. Turns out only Pony was there.

"Hey Pone what's wrong?"

"You know Tessa right?"

"Of course, something happen?"

"No, but uh I wanted to ask her out but I don't know how."

"She likes you Pony all you have to do is ask her to the Dingo or the movies or something."

"It's that easy?"

"Yeah just don't say anything to the guys or else they'll make fun of you." Ponyboy nodded and we fell into a comfortable silence. Then Two-Bit walked in. "Hey Bitsy." I said.

"Hey Meli, can we talk?" He asked. I shrugged and looked at him.

"Sure I guess."

"In the kitchen?" I nodded and walked into the kitchen with him. "There's really no easy way to say this..."

"Then say it straight out."

"You're my best friend even like a little sister and I care so much about you that it hurts me to see you hurting." I nodded. "I think it'd be best if maybe you started to talk about Jenni..."

"Bitsy..."

"No let me finish." He said seriously. I swallowed unprepared for what he was about to say. "I really do think it would be good if you started talking about her. Maybe not all at once but a little at a time. Even if you are over what happened to you maybe you should talk about it to get completely over it. I can see it tearing you apart slowly and I don't like it one bit."

"But..."

"No buts about it Mel, I really think that's what you ought to do. Maybe to me and Soda first before you talk to the rest of the gang then your brother." I nodded and thought about it.

It was Thursday after school before something made me actually talk about it. "Hey Mel." Carina said.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for how I've been treating you."

"It's alright I know it's mainly my fault. The guys need time with their girlfriends alone and I guess I've been kind monopolizing that time."

"It's that but it's also that they care about you and they want to make sure you're alright too. I've seen the way Two-Bit gets upset when you get hurt and it makes me realize that you guys are close and I can't get in between that." Carina said.

"Yeah thanks." I nodded. She gave me a small smile before we went our separate ways. At home Steve and Soda were playing a game of poker so I sat down to watch. Soon they moved on from Poker to a three way game of war. "How was your day?"

"It's was alright, got to work on the sweetest Corvette today." Steve said. Halfway through the game I looked from Steve to Soda and sighed.

"Do you know how evil Jenni is?" I asked softly.

"What?" Soda asked.

"Jenni, she was completely evil. You know what Tiff did to Johnny?" They nodded and I pulled my legs up to my chest and wrapped an arm around them still looking at the table. "Well just imagine that times about ten. I mean Two-Bit saw the bruises. It was like there was nothing I could do right."

"Meli you know..." Steve said.

"Yeah I know that now. Back then I didn't realize how much Jason did actually care for me deep down. It started off the way it usually does. She was kinda nice but sorta suggestive about slowly moving on to harsher things. You know about Jason using tougher methods of discipline, doing something she wanted to do but that he wouldn't do necessarily. It was like she was brainwashing him. Soon his mind was often somewhere else so she began getting rougher with me. It was the day I called over here and asked Two-Bit to screw Mickey that she first hit me. After that it just got worse and worse. She continued to just hit me for the next couple of weeks until she realized that although it hurt me it wasn't breaking my spirit so she forced me to study and work harder than I've ever worked before. Slowly but surely my spirit was being broken." I swallowed hard remembering everything she had done to me.

"The day after I had to clown because we were so strapped for cash I came home to find her there. She was in the kitchen and for some reason she had a pot of boiling water. I got a glass of water and when I turned around she had the pot in her hands and poured it all over my feet. I screamed and that's when Jason came in. It was like she expected him to be there. When the water hit my feet I dropped the glass and it shattered all over the floor. Jason asked what happened and she made me lie to him."

"No, wait." I heard someone whisper.

"It wasn't until after state champs that I finally got up the guts to stand up to Jenni. She was yelling at me for my math grade I think and I yelled back that it was none of her business and she should just leave it alone. She smacked me across the back of the head. My vision swam and I ran over here before calling Soda and collapsing." I said breaking down into tears.

"Jason..." I heard.

"God Mel I never meant..." I heard Jason say as he pulled me out of my chair onto his lap.

"Let me go." I wailed.

"Shhhh she's not going to hurt you. It's alright she's gone and she's not coming back." Jason continued to try to calm me for the next twenty minutes and soon I was sniffling instead of full out bawling. "My god Mel I should have been protecting you I can't believe I let her get away with all that."

"All that, what do you mean?" I asked.

"Lissa baby we all heard everything."

"No, you couldn't have...I would have..."

"Melissa listen to me, it's a good thing we heard it all because now you don't have to repeat it. Do you have your butterfly knife on you?" Jason asked. I nodded rubbing my tears away. "Hand it here." He said. I pulled it out and handed it to him. "What I'm about to do is something I hope I can keep up. I will try to but it's gonna take effort on both our parts."

"What is it?" I asked. Jason flipped the blade open and then wrapping his hand around the blade he offered me the handle. I recognized exactly what he was about to do. I took the handle in and pressed my thumb against my initials just like he was doing on the other side.

"I promise you that from now on I will try to be there for you to talk to and I will never bring another girl into our house that I don't trust. I also promise you that from now on I will never take another girl's word above yours." He said. I nodded and was about to remove my hand but he spoke first. "There's something I want you to promise me as well." I swallowed hard looking into his eyes.

"I promise from now on that if I ever feel threatened by your girlfriend I will come to you no matter what I think." I said.

"And..." He prompted.

"And I promise that I'll try to communicate better with you."

"And you will..." I looked at him confused. "You will not..."

"I promise I will try not to lie to you again." I said.

"Good girl." He answered removing his hand from the blade. I flipped it shut and slid it back into my pocket before looking up at him. "Now where were you on Friday?"

"What do you mean?"

"All day, Tiger said you weren't at school."

"I was here. I got into a fight Thursday night and Darry let me sleep it off."

"Tim Shepard, I couldn't let her go to school after that kind of fight." Darry put in. I turned and looked back into the living room.

"I didn't know by 'we all' you meant the entire Curtis outfit, the Apaches, and Grizzly and Dino."

"They were worried." Jason said sheepishly.

"I'm sure they were." I said skeptically.

"We were. We've seen you around but we thought something was wrong. We wanted to confront you but Cobra made us wait." Grizzly put in. Introductions were made and then the BH members left. I stood and walked over to Steve sitting in his lap as Jason watched the Poker game he and Soda had restarted. When Jason took me home that night we began to work on our relationship making it grown better than it ever had before.


-Well that is all for now. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I thank you for reading and love reviews and if dorkyduck or Kyori Uchiha of the Sand or Outsidersfan5790find anything wrong with Carina or Sam or Alexa respectfully or have some input on your character I would be eternally grateful.

And I do accept input on anything. Just make sure you've tried to understand the story first and if you don't understand something message me to let me know.

This could go into a big long rant but I don't want that, so just tune in next time to find out how much improvement Jason and Mel make, where Jason and Jess's relationship leads along with Pony and Tessa's and who get's put in the hospital next.-