Disclaimer: We don't own the boys, but S.E. Hinton does. We just play with them and thank our luck stars that she ever dreamed them up. We also do not own matchbox twenty's "Stop."


Yes, it's true that I believe
I'm weaker than I used to be

The light from the front window and the porch washed over her. It caught on the scratched silver of the lighter she'd spent a pretty penny on, and then had thrown back into her face. Looking up from the defective token, she caught four pairs of eyes watching her. Three of them scattered when they realized they were caught, and the fourth moved away a bit slower.

Taking one more look at the lighter, she threw it as hard and far as she could away from her. She heard it land with a dull thud when it hit the ground somewhere out of her line of sight.

Storming up the steps, she grabbed the screen door, threw it open and walked inside. Darry was standing in the hallway, his broad frame leaning against the wall near the kitchen. He pointed, subtly, into the kitchen, but Ellie didn't need his help to find the Stooges.

"Ellie!" Steve welcomed warmly, cards in his hands. "Where you been?"

Her head went back and forth slowly, her eyes narrowed and she reached across the table and snatched the cards out of his hands.

"Are you mad about something?" he asked. She wanted to knock the smug grin off of his face, but it wasn't Steve she wanted to tear apart right then; it was the unusually quiet Two-Bit to her right.

"Cool it, Steve," Two-Bit said.

"You knew!" Ellie yelled at him. "Tim said you were there and that you talked to him before he took her upstairs. How could you not tell me?"

He looked up at her and she could see the remorse on his face, but it wasn't enough.

"El, I tried to. I tried to talk him out of it and I tried to tell you, but –"

"But you didn't!" she cried.

"It ain't all his fault, Ellie," Soda piped up.

"Were you there?" she asked, icily.

"No," he replied, looking at his hands and across the table at Steve. "But Two-Bit tried to tell you. It just wasn't that easy."

"What wasn't easy about it? You're supposed to be my friends," she blasted. "And all three of you knew, didn't you?"

"God, Ellie, you act like you didn't see this coming," Steve interjected. "I told you he'd screw you over. He may be my buddy, but that don't mean I have to respect the way he works. You weren't nothin' special to him, even if you were friends before."

"So, why didn't you tell me?" she asked. "Or did you just want to rub in my face, Steve Randle, that I got to find out last? How come I had to find out from Tim?"

"Yeah, about that," Steve said. "What's going on with you and Shepard? Evie said she heard someone talkin' that you were going out with him on Friday night."

"What the hell do you care?" she snapped.

Steve stood up and Ellie knew it was an attempt to intimidate her, but he couldn't do anything. He wouldn't.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?"

"Cool it, Steve," Two-Bit piped up.

"I can't even look at you guys right now. I don't get how you could be there, see what was going on and not have the decency to tell me!"

She backed up a few steps; the energy she had left after the fight with Dallas was waning. This was all too much. These guys were her friends, but at the moment, they felt further from that than anything. Dally was the one who messed up, but they went along with it. She believed that Two-Bit may have tried to tell her, but it didn't change the fact that he didn't.

I wear my heart out on my sleeve
And I forget the rest of me

"Do you hear that?" Johnny asked, suddenly stopping just shy of the gate.

Pony stood stock-still and listened. Someone was yelling, the voice crying against strained vocal cords. It wasn't a strange sound in their neighborhood, but it was the familiarity of the voice that made them both stop. Looking through the front window Pony could see her in the living room, spitting venom to whomever was unlucky enough to piss her off.

"Glory," Johnny said in a hushed voice. "She's loud."

"She's mad," Pony said, pushing the gate open and heading toward the porch. He turned back when he realized Johnny wasn't following him. "You comin'?"

Johnny hesitated for a second and shook his head. "No. I think we both oughta wait out here. Ain't no reason to add to it."

Pony slowed at that reasoning and stopped completely when he heard a loud bang inside and feet stomped in the general direction of the front door. Stepping out of the way, Ellie nearly barreled him over as she came rushing out the door.

"What's the rush, Ellie?" he asked. She ignored him as she stomped down the steps.

"Ellie?" Johnny asked. She ignored him too, and he just shrugged at Pony as the gate slammed behind her.

"Would you stop being such a girl?" Steve yelled after her as he stormed out of the house. He glanced around, not seeing Ellie. "Where the hell'd she go?"

Pony pointed up the street. Following Steve down the steps, he asked, "What's going on?"

Steve spun on his heel and towered over him. "Why don't you mind your own fucking business, kid?"

Pony stopped beside Johnny and watched Steve stride down the street, trying to catch up with her. He heard the door open and saw Two-Bit walk outside with a barefoot Soda padding out behind him.

"What's going on?" he asked his brother.

Soda shrugged, sitting on the top step and lighting a cigarette. Two-Bit pulled on his coat as he walked down the path. He clapped Pony on the back and said seriously, "Don't get involved with girls just yet, Pone. I can't deal with anymore of this right now."

Two-Bit walked to his car, and Pony turned to Johnny. "What's going on?"

Johnny shook his head. "I know as much as you, and that ain't sayin' much."

I'm more frightened everyday
Someone will take the hope I have away

"Ellie, I swear to God," Steve swore, taking large strides to catch up with her. "Would you just relax? Why is this such a big deal?"

She kept walking and he hesitated a moment, wondering if he should even waste his breath on her. She was pissed off and odds were she wouldn't even listen to him, not that she had heard much of what had come out of his mouth in the last few months anyway. Dashing across the street and through the yards, he decided to give it one last try.

"You know, you can't just walk away from shit when you don't feel like dealing with it," he called, running up to her as she crossed her front lawn.

Spinning around, she faced him and stared him down.

"You're just as bad as he is," she accused, pointing a less than threatening finger at him.

"You got your feelings hurt, Ellie. Quit acting like it's the end of the world," he said.

"I can deal with that," she spat. "What I can't deal with is everyone knowing and not telling me!"

In all his life, he had never been so tired of her. Everyone walked on eggshells around her because they didn't want to hurt her feelings or piss her off, but she was the one who got herself into her current situation, and he thought she should be man enough to deal with it.

"You're so damn quick to blame Two-Bit, but did you ever think that maybe Dally shoulda been the one to tell you? Or are you going to defend him about that, too?"

"I expect that out of him. What I don't expect are the people I thought were my friends hiding it all from me," she retorted. "Is it some sort of stupid boy code to not tell the girl? Is that you guys sticking up for him because you're all buddies or something?"

"Yeah, that's exactly it, Ellie," he said sarcastically. "And that's what you get for hanging around a bunch of guys and then dating one of them. Nobody told you because every time someone gives you a piece of bad news you go ape-shit on everyone and you turn into a complete bitch."

There was nothing like the truth to make someone stand a little straighter. She tried to paint an indignant expression on her face, but he knew he had her.

"So, I'm a bitch?" she questioned, hands on her hips. "I've been all kinds of things lately, haven't I? And now I'm a bitch. Anything else, Steve?"

"How in the hell did you expect things to end up with Dallas? I told you from day one it was a bad idea. He ain't a good guy and being friends with him like you are … were … whatever you are now, didn't make a lick of difference," he told her. "Quit acting like your little heart is broken and get over yourself. Everyone is fucking tired of your shit."

"Then why'd you add to it?" she yelled back.

"Why do you keep adding to it?" he asked. "What's up with you and Shepard?"

"That is none of your business," she declared. "Nothing is any of your business."

"Getting into it with Tim Shepard ain't going to be any different than getting into it with Dally," he told her. "Hell, it's only gonna be worse!"

"How do you even know that? You don't know Tim," she blasted.

"And you do? When was the last time you hung out with him? Oh, that's right, you made out with him awhile back. Do I have that right?" he asked.

She huffed for a second, struggling to find something to say to the contrary, but she came up blank.

"Maybe I oughta go warn Evie what it's like to be around you," she said. "Does she know what an asshole you are?"

"That ain't none of your business," he said, throwing her words back into her face.

"Then stay the hell out of mine," she cried, spinning on her heel and heading toward the front door.

"Yeah, go in and cry about it. And don't forget that I was right," he called to her back, acrimoniously. "I'm sure Shepard is going to give a damn."

The door slammed and he was left standing on the lawn alone. He turned to leave and wondered when she'd turned into such a drama queen.

You'd better stop using me up,
'Cause I've had enough

Glancing around the living room, she was glad no one was lounging around. Her mom was working and Jimmy was … out. Ellie didn't want to give it anymore thought than that.

She walked into her room and slammed the door shut.

Ellie leaned against the door and sank to the floor, resting her head in her hands. It was all such a mess. Dally was one thing, but the guys had betrayed her too. Steve calling her names reminded her of the millionth reason why she needed girlfriends. Pulling her head back, it hit the door with a loud bang. The throbbing it caused wasn't welcome but the urge to hit something was swelling. She drew her hand back and hit the door with a closed fist. It made her feel a little better.

Standing up, she looked around and wondered if there was anything else that could take her anger out on, something she could actually damage. She tore her jacket off and wadding it up, threw it across the room, taking her lamp off the table by her bed with a loud bang and leaving the room in a shroud of semi-darkness, lit only by the streetlamp outside that came in through the open curtains.

She spotted her desk, filled with books and papers and shoved everything off with one big swipe. Books hit the wall and papers fluttered to the ground in a messy heap. She swung her foot and kicked at the pile, throwing papers back into the air and uncovering her copy of Frankenstein for her English class.

Picking it up, she studied it in the light coming through the window. She gritted her teeth as she looked at the cover and, winding back her arm, she threw it across the room with all her might, hitting the small mirror on her closet door. It rattled on the nail it hung on before gravity took over and sent it crashing to the floor, busting the mirror into several unrecognizable slivers of glass.

As soon as the mirror hit the floor, she felt all of her energy leave her in an almost audible whoosh. Falling onto her bed, she buried her face in the mattress and cried until she couldn't see and couldn't hear and couldn't feel anything anymore.

The only problem was she could see and she could hear and she still felt everything as vividly as she felt it before. Maybe it was even worse now. That thought only made her cry harder.

Yes, there are times I've been afraid
And there's no harm in that, I pray

He could tell she was avoiding him, the way she kept walking up and down aisles faster than he could follow. Once he got close enough to ask her a question, the bell over the door jingled and she'd darted around him again to help a customer.

Pony was about to give up completely and go home when he noticed her walk toward the back of the store. Deciding to give it one last try, he followed her and ducked into the little closet-sized area that served as a break room. She was hunched over a sink, running water over her hand.

"You're not supposed to be in here," she said, not turning around.

It was a vain attempt to ward him off, and he wasn't biting.

"What'd you do?" he asked, leaning on the wall instead of leaving.

She shrugged, and he looked down, noticing a cut on her palm.

"I cut it on a piece of glass the other day and I just split it back open," she said hurriedly, grabbing a towel from a small pile and wrapping it around her hand. She sighed and glanced up at him again. "What do you want, Pone?"

"I just wanted to see if you were okay, that's all," he said quietly. "After everything, I mean."

"What, you don't agree with all of them? You don't think I'm a bitch like Steve thinks?" she asked, tossing the towel into the sink and staring at him. He'd never been afraid of her, but he was right then.

"No," he replied. "You're not."

She seemed to believe that because she didn't look as angry. "Just tell me you didn't know," she pleaded.

"No one told me," he said. "I woulda told you, El."

Her eyes rolled but subtly. The bell jingled out in the store, and he heard someone call her name.

"I gotta go," she said, moving by him before he had a chance to say anything else.

When he stepped back out into the store, he stopped. Tim Shepard was leaning against a rack of soup cans, Ellie stood beside him. He towered over her and he could only hear bits and pieces of the conversation.

"It'll be a good time. And Dally'll be there," he said.

Tim seemed to notice him standing there and nodded his way. "Curtis."

Ellie spun around, her cheeks a rosy shade of red. The scratches on her face curiously blended in.

"I'll see you tomorrow night, Ellie," Tim said, looking back at her. "Pick you up around eight."

"Okay," she said, nervousness in her voice.

He nodded at both of them and sauntered out of the store. Pony waited for the bell to chime before he said anything, but she turned around first.

"Are you gonna run home and tell Steve about that?" she asked as if it were a dare.

"I wasn't going to," he defended.

She pursed her lips and gave him an apologetic half smile. She leaned against the shelf and stared at the cut on her hand.

"I'm sorry, Pony," she said.

"It's okay. I know you don't mean nothin' by it," he assured her.

"Yeah," she said, her voice sounding far away. "I gotta go back to work. I'll see you later, Pony."

She eased herself off of the shelf and turned toward the back of the store and disappeared from his sight.

I'm ready to forget the reasons
That keep me here

The bathroom mirror reported back an image she was all too familiar with, and one she had no idea how to fix. Her skirt was light blue with a stupid plaid design that she hated. It was also hanging somewhere around her knees which she also hated. She looked down and pulled the hem of her skirt a couple of inches above her knees. She let it fall with a sigh. There wasn't enough time to hem them before Tim showed up, and she felt foolish doing it anyway. No one was going to be looking at her legs. No one was really going to be looking any higher up either.

She glanced at the dress she'd dug out of the back of her closet and hung by the hook on the door. A yellow, short-sleeved sweater dress stared back at her. It was plain, but she hadn't worn it for a while because she hadn't had a reason to wear it, and she'd been considering it for the last hour. The blue was doing nothing for her anyhow; she didn't think that yellow could do much worse.

Quickly, she changed into the dress and was pleased to see it didn't make it down to her knees. Though it came up short, it still wasn't as short as half the girls wore theirs on a Friday night at Buck's. It was as good as she could do, however, and it was more than she had done for Dally. For that reason alone, she hoped he would show up to the party.

Looking up, she looked back at herself in the mirror again. Her hair was wavy thanks to the sponge curlers she'd borrowed from her mom and slept in the night before. Brushing and pulling with her fingers, she tied a band around her usually boring locks, and tied a low, side sweeping ponytail. Digging through a basket of curlers, scarves and bows, Ellie pulled a long white ribbon out and tied it around the band. She smiled back at her refection and then frowned. She still needed make-up and that was one arena she wasn't very good at.

Opening the cabinet, she stared at her mother's make-up bag. Carefully pulling it down, she started digging through it and thought about what she could do. From what she'd seen, the girls at Buck's liked to wear a lot. Maybe not all of them, but enough to make her feel like she had to. Even her mom liked to doll herself up every morning. She said it helped with tips, but Ellie thought she only looked silly with her eyes painted as dark as they were every morning. She worked in a diner, after all, not a nightclub.

She found a bottle of black eyeliner and stared at it and then at her eyes. Her mom's eyes were always so dark and so thick with the stuff and now that she thought about it, Evie Bradley's eyes usually were, too. On the weekends, at least.

Setting the brush against her eyelid, she tried to trace a straight, even line but that was difficult. The slightest movement of her hand ruined her work and she pulled the brush away and stared at the black smear on her eyelid. Annoyed, she wiped it off and tried again … and again. The third time she threw the liner back in the bag and pulled out the tube of mascara. As far as she could tell, it added enough black to her eyes and she called it quits. That was enough for her.

"Well, well," her mother said as Ellie stepped out of the bathroom and walked past her. "What are you all dressed up for?"

Ellie tugged at her dress, already feeling uncomfortable. "I'm going out tonight," she said.

"On a date?" she asked, staring at her makeup.

Ellie was hesitant to reply but slowly nodded. "I borrowed some of your makeup," she said ruefully. She almost wished her mom would be upset enough to tell her to march right back into the bathroom, wash it off and to stay in her room all night.

No such luck.

Abby nodded, sizing her up. She reached out a helping hand and dabbed around Ellie's eye. "Not bad, but you've got a little bit of stray eyeliner."

Ellie rubbed at it blindly. "Thanks. I thought I took all of it off. I don't know how you use it. I can't make a straight line with it to save my life."

Abby gave her a rare smile. "Takes some practice but you'll get the hang of it."

Ellie shifted awkwardly in her dress. Guilt was weighing heavily in her stomach. Whenever Abby started acting so motherly, she never knew how to react, and now with the weight of Jimmy's two-timing on her shoulders, she felt obligated to tell her. The thought of no one telling her about Dally nearly pressed her into the floor, it was awful to be the last to know.

Abigail was heading to the living room, but Ellie couldn't take it anymore.

"Mom?"

"Yeah?" Abby turned around, shuffling a stack of bills.

"I need to-" She snapped her mouth shut when she heard the front door open and Jimmy drop his lunch bucket to the floor in his trademarked loud entrance.

"What is it, El?" Abby asked, turning her full attention to her daughter.

Jimmy walked down the hallway, stopping to study Ellie's makeover with a mocking look on his face.

Ellie swallowed hard, thinking of something else she needed to ask to take the place of her ratting on Jimmy.

"Are you going anywhere tonight?" she asked.

Abby shook her head. "No, I think we're just staying in tonight, right, Jim?"

Jimmy nodded in agreement, staring at Ellie like he was reading her mind.

"Do you think I could borrow your coat tonight?" she asked. It was a dumb question when she had a perfectly fine coat hanging in her closet. Abby didn't seem to think much of it, because she nodded.

"Sure, kid, it's by the door. Don't stay out too late tonight, huh?" Abby said. Jimmy scoffed but she either ignored it or didn't hear it.

Ellie nodded and ducked into her bedroom. She listened to see if Jimmy would say anything, but the hallway was quiet. She jumped when she heard the doorbell ring.

"Ellie! It's for you!" her mom called.

Ellie's eyes widened and she took a deep breath. Glancing into the largest sliver of mirror she could salvage- the reason for the bandage that was still on her hand- she decided she had to like what she saw. She grabbed her purse and headed down the hall, slowing to a sudden halt when she saw Steve standing there.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. She noticed her mom had gone back into the kitchen, so she grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the front door.

"Don't go through with this, Ellie," Steve said.

Ellie shrugged, grabbing her mom's coat from the hook by the door. "You can't tell me what to do, Steve."

Steve sighed in exasperation. "I just don't think it's a good idea for you to go to Buck's with Tim on your arm. That ain't smart. Besides, I know why you're doing it."

"Well, considering how you're right about everything," she exaggerated, "you're probably right about that too. And you have no idea what I'm doing."

"You're doing it to get back at Dally. Plain and simple," he said, crossing his arms and looking down at her.

"There ain't nothin' plain and simple about it," she said. "Don't you have a date tonight?"

She wanted him off of her back for once.

"I'm pickin' her up soon, but really Ellie. Don't do something stupid just because it'll make Dally mad," he said. She could almost pin point the moment where he started pleading with her. He didn't actually believe she'd do it.

He looked hopeful and Ellie gladly dashed his hopes by continuing. "Well, that's too bad. I'm doing it anyway and Tim's not a bad guy. I think I can look out for myself and even if I can't, that isn't your concern."

She never thought she would be so happy as to see Tim's Bel-Air pull up in front of her house. If he asked her, she wasn't going to lie; she didn't think he would even show up. She wasn't even concerned as to how he knew where she lived.

"Bye, Mom," she called before she hustled out the door, tugging the coat on.

"Ellie, don't do it," Steve said as he followed her toward the car. "I'm not going to bail you out of this one."

"You've never bailed me out of anything," she called over her shoulder. "And you still owe me an apology."

"Don't expect one."

"Then leave me alone."

She climbed into the car and slammed the door shut without even acknowledging Tim. She stopped Steve in his tracks when she gave him a smart-aleck wave goodbye.

"What's that all about?" Tim asked.

"Nothing," she answered, hoping he wasn't too curious.

She decided he wasn't when he hit the gas and squealed the tires. She knew she was in for a wild ride into the new year.

Good God, you need a little love
While you find what you think
You're gonna be, Child.


A/N: Oh, Lord, here we go. Ellie and Tim should be an interesting match, if they'll even mix well. Stay Tuned: Be on the look out for our up and coming side fic: Front Page Drive-In News. It'll chronicle everything that is Tim and Ellie that won't show up in Tender. It'll be a good time ...