Rachel POV

"Thanks again for walking me home." I smiled at Ponyboy as we turned the corner, walking away from the library.

"It's part of the job description." He laughed. I laughed along with him. We paused at the movie theater to see what was playing.

"Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" Ponyboy read off the marquee. He raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"There's no harm in seeing it." I laughed. "It's coming on in ten minutes anyway."

"All right. Let's do it." Ponyboy took his wallet out of his pocket and handed the ticket lady a crinkled dollar bill. She gave us two tickets and we went to get snacks.

"What do you want?" I asked, looking over the candy.

"Maybe just popcorn and a coke."

"That sounds good." I smiled.

We got our food and entered the dark theater. It seemed to be a lot of people in the theater, and we were instantly shushed as we walked down the aisle way. However, even as hard as we tried, we couldn't keep quiet during the movie, it was just too ridiculous. As we exited the theater after the movie the bright sunlight blinded us. I blinked a few times and was able to see better.

"So what did you think of the movie?" I asked Ponyboy.

"I'm not sure. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either." He replied to me.

"Greaser!" Ponyboy and I picked up our pace, ready to break out sprinting if we had to. I had figured out from the greasers that anyone who yelled that was not a friend. As we passed shop windows I saw a green corvette following us through the reflection of the windows, and the socs inside didn't look too nice.

"Hey greaser!"

"On the count of three we're going to run." Ponyboy whispered to me. I nodded slightly, bracing myself for a long sprint. "One, two, THREE." We took off sprinting. I looked back, and the corvette was gaining on us.

"Quick. This way." Ponyboy pulled me into a back alley. "There's a shortcut to get to your house from here." I nodded, breathing heavily.

"Here." I ran into a crevice between two buildings and Ponyboy and I stood there, catching our breaths.

"Do you think we lost them?" Ponyboy panted.

"I hope so." I breathed. We came out of our hiding place and began walking back towards the main road. As we emerged from the alley, we found ourselves face to face with some socs. The boy that stood up front was shortest and cracked his knuckles.

"Well look who showed up here. A greasy, white trash greaser and his trashy girlfriend." Trashy? That's one step too far dude. Before I knew what I was doing, I punched the soc in the jaw.

"That's it!" The soc hollered. He swung at me, but I ducked out of the way. "You little..." He wasn't able to finish his sentence since I had kicked him in the gut. I looked over and saw Ponyboy get slapped across the face. His cheek immediately turned red but he was able to dodge the socs as he ran at him, causing the socs to run right over a trash can. After a few minutes, the socs began walking away, having decided that we weren't worth a fight. I could hear them speed off in their corvette as I rolled over on the ground.

"Rachel! Ponyboy!" I heard two voices call and looked to the left and saw Sodapop running down the sidewalk with Jennifer trailing behind.

"Are you two all right?" Soda asked us as he knelt down to our level to look us over.

"Just a few bumps and bruises." I replied brushing myself off and getting up. I could tell my shoulders would be sore as I stretched out. "What are you doing down here anyway?" I directed my question to Jennifer.

"We had a lunch date, but it ended up lasting most of the afternoon." She explained, looking a bit sheepish. I shook my head and laughed a little at my friend.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I turned around and noticed that Sodapop was still leaning over his brother and looking over all his minor injuries.

"I'm fine Sodapop. Let's just make sure the girls get home safely and we can talk to the rest of the gang." Talk about what?

"Yeah, you're right." Sodapop sighed, helping Ponyboy up and returned to Jennifer's side. The four of us walked home in silence.

The second I walked in the door, Jennifer got some ice out of the freezer and wrapped it in a towel.

"Put this on your eye." She said simply. I did as I was told and watched her pace around the kitchen and living room.

"If you do that anymore you'll bore a rut into the floor." Sodapop said. Jennifer sighed at sat down on the couch with him.

"Why did this happen again?" She asked no one. Sodapop put his arm over her shoulder and let her nuzzle into him. I saw Ponyboy walk down the hallway and I got up to catch up with him.

"Hey, what was that about the rest of the gang?"

"Well, you know how Steve said those socs are asking for a rumble?"

"A rumble?" I questioned. "Is that what's going to happen next?"

"Yup. It's the only way to stop things down here."

"Alright," I started, thinking about all that's happened, "but if that's what's happening next we'll be ready."

"I'm not sure if that'll happen. Darry would never let you girls come and get beat anymore."

"But we started it." I stated, recalling the first day we experienced the socs' treatment. "And if anything we're going to finish it."

"It's not your fault those socs are such assholes."

"And it's not yours either. This is our fight, and I would feel awful if something happened to you guys because you wanted to help us."

"You girls are as much a part of the gang as we are, and we'll do what it takes to make sure you can walk outside without worrying about being attacked."

"Thanks Ponyboy." I said as I gave him a half hug. There was no way that I would let those boys take on all our problems.

I went back to the living room and picked up the ice towel again, though most of the ice was half melted.

"Don't worry Jennifer." Sodapop murmured to her. "We'll fix this." Yeah, all of us.