Alright let's get down to something interesting. Remember that the Dingo isn't some restaurant, it's a drive in kinda place. Thnx for the great reviews. Keep reviewing. Ya, I know Orlando has no beaches, I was kinda hurry-writing the first chapter. I looked over some mistakes. But it's all good.

All characters belong to S.E. Hinton except for Arielle. All streets and places belong also to S.E. Hinton. ************************************************************************ We walked around for a bit listening to conversations here and there. Apparently Dally said he was gonna make trouble for Tim Shepard. Ooh, Sandy was late (if you know what I mean) and a bunch of other drabble and garbage. I was rather hungry and asked Johnny whether he remembered if we could order some food around here. He said ya so I went up to the counter to order. "Yo, whaddaya want?" asked the man at the service counter. "Um, well," I looked around, "Johnny," I shouted across the way, "Would you like something?" He shook his head no and I turned back around. "Look lady I don't got all day. You gonna order or what?" "Sure, what's good today?" I asked, trying to start ordinary customer-waiter pleasantries. He rolled his eyes and pointed his pen up. Oh, there was a menu. How convenient. I made a quick order so as not to upset this rude server any more than I had to.

"Milkshake please. Strawberry."

"We out of strawberry."

"Okay, how about vanilla?"

"We out of vanilla."

"Excuse me, but what do you have?"

"Pepsi"

"Ah, ok. medium Pepsi, please."

"We got one size."

"That will do fine."

"Ya it better."

"Say what?" but he had already left to get my order. My goodness, this was rather frustrating. I laughed at myself. Already I was losing my temper. I had to control myself and loosen up if I wanted to get along here. I guess if they wanted to play rough, I could play right along with the best of them. I guess people could read minds around here because the next guy I met decided to take me up on that challenge.

"Well, well, well. What have we got here?" a menacing voice behind me inquired in a sinister way. I turned quickly around to face a blond man who reminded me of the elves in The Lord of the Rings. His ice cold blue eyes startled me.

"You're a long way from home doll, don't you think?"

"How did you kn-" but I was cut off.

"Hello Dally," a solemn voice greeted.

So this was Dallas Winston. The New York gangster who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. He looked just as Johnny had described him, but he seemed too hard. Like he might be made of stone. Johnny always seemed to defend his actions, but I thought this guy could be capable of murder. Hopefully I would be proven wrong, but I hadn't exactly had a great first impression.

"Who the hell are you..." he trailed off but I think he recognized his old buddy.

"Johnny?" Johnny smiled and merely replied "Hey, hey hey." That was his signature phrase nowadays. They shook hands and Johnny got him in a hugging grasp but it looked kinda manly. Like the Romans greeted each other, they looked like brothers who hadn't seen each other in a long time. Dallas seemed a bit taken aback, but quickly separated himself from the hug. "What you tryin to do to my reputation here, Johnny?" He quickly looked around to see if anyone had noticed. I had to suppress a laugh. Reputation could make almost anyone act like fool. He looked for a quick second like a deer in headlights. I would regret if he had to get into a fight over this little encounter.

"Hey! hello?!" I turned around to see my order had arrived. I quickly paid and headed back with Johnny and Dally. "Dally, this is my cousin Arielle. I've been living with her and her family for over the past two years." "They been treaten you better than..." but Dallas had cut himself off. Johnny looked as if he might cry but quickly recovered. "Ya, they're the greatest." In that moment my pride swelled to heights very immense. I greeted this new comrade since he seemed to have forgotten his manners.

"Hi, I'm Arielle O'Shannon." I stuck out my hand for his. He shook it a bit cagily and looked me up and down. I did not like this. "So Johnny, what are you now, a sellout Soc?" Johnny just sort of looked down at his feet. I knew he couldn't hold his own much against someone he admired. I had a feeling he admired this Dallas. Sometimes I thought he admired my parents and me, but other times I considered that notion a crazy thought. Against my better judgment, I tried to stand up for Johnny somewhat. "Oh, and what are you? A bleach blond bad boy out to point some fingers? Johnny's changed some, but it doesn't give you the right to make him ashamed of that. He's not a sell out Soc, so you can check your suspicious attitude and oh so smooth *rolls eyes* insults at the door, got it doll?" At first it took him a second to take this all in, but only a second.

That sly grin reappeared on his face, but before he could resettle the score a bit, I slipped out of his line of vision and abruptly asked, "So, now that that's out of the way, where were you headed this fine afternoon? Johnathon and I just got into town and would really appreciate a tour of how things have changed. Do you think you're up to it?" I guess that was it. There was a silent dare in that request and it was confirmed by the gleam in my eyes. "Sure Soc, I could show you both a thing or two around this town. On the east side that is." I finally looked over to Johnny and he grinned at me. I guess I had handled it pretty well. Jonathon never liked being the bad guy.

I didn't want to leave the car in the drive-in with that bunch, but I didn't trust Dallas to drive, so I ended up chauffer while Dallas told us about the sites we went past. Johnny had offered Dallas shotgun being the gentleman that he was and Dallas had accepted. He kept giving me sideways glances and looking me up and down, but I played it cool with this kid and put on my best sophisticated stance. "Can't we drive a little faster Miss Speed Demon? I think those snails behind us are giving you the finger." I grinned and floored it a little. It turns out I was low on gas. That Danny might have great cars, but he sure didn't give you much benefits. Dally noticed this too and told me where the DX station was. I remembered passing it on our way to the Dingo. "Now you can meet some more of the gang," he told us. When we arrived, there were a bunch of girls huddled around a car and a couple of guys. Now I was wondering to myself how all those girls had been able to fit into that one itty-bitty car.

I pulled into one station and began to, as the phrase goes, fill 'er up. As I proceeded to do so, two young fellows headed towards us through the throng of young girls huddled around them. Johnny whispered to me, "That's Soda Pop Curtis and Steve Randall." "Soda!" Johnny yelled. Soda recognized him instantly. "Johnnycakes! Is it really you? We figured you had headed up for the hills or something." They hugged briefly. "How you doin Johnny, boy?" "I'm doing alright Steve." It was nice to see this little reunion. Steve had come around towards me and asked to let him do his job. I let him have the gasoline pump since he had insisted instead of offered.

"Where's Ponyboy?" Johnny asked. Soda looked a little discouraged, but quickly brightened. "He's at the house. Wanna come by and see him?" "Sure, that'd be great," said Johnny. I knew Johnny liked Ponyboy really well. He told me that Pony was always talking about sunsets or the sky. Really deep stuff. I told him I thought Ponyboy might have a real future in philosophy or the fine arts. "Ponyboy's kinda different from the rest of the Greasers," was all he would say on that subject. Soda told us to stop by around seven since he and Steve had to work on Saturdays. That way, much of the gang would be there. Johnny hastily accepted and the two of them started talking about all kinds of stuff. The old times, what was new and who knows what else. I paid for the gas and told Johnny we'd better be on our way and let these gentlemen get back to work. Tonight was going to be a very enlightening evening.

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Not much happening yet. Have you noticed that Arielle is older than any of the Outsiders guys, except one? He, he, he. I love romance. It's still not headed in a direction I would like. Please, don't grill me on how boring it is so far, cuz I'm not much of an action writer. Keep reviewing.