Chapter 11
"So where do think they are?" I asked Chris who was leading us.

"Most likely they're at the pool hall, or at Ace's house" he replied; I nodded. I looked back at Patricia who had locked arms with both Ponyboy and Sodapop; they had their own conversation going on. I smiled at her.

We reached the pool hall. I cupped my hands around my eyes and looked into the window. Yup, Ace was in there. So were Eyeball, and two other people that I didn't know. And surprisingly, so was my brother Jeremy.

"DALLAS!" Ponyboy shouted. And one of them looked at us, we walked into the pool hall.

"Well look who it is, my brother, Christopher." Eyeball said.

"Hey Pony, Soda, what brings you to this poor excuse for a town?" a tall boy, said, and I took it that his name was Dallas, or Dally for short.

"Darry's wife," Pony said, "She has family here. And this is our new sister- in-law" he pointed to me and I smiled.

"Hey Jeremy! I thought you were supposed to be helping Kathy!" I said.

"I WAS, but not anymore." He said. I looked over at Ace to find him looking at me.

"Well hello there," he said taking my hand a kissing it, "I'm Ace."

"Cool it Ace, that's my baby sister" Jeremy said taking a drag off his cigarette; I wondered when he started smoking.

"Well she's not a baby anymore," Ace said.

"She's with me," Chris said, standing in front of me. I could see there was tension between Ace and Chris, so I decided to change the subject.

"So, Pony, gonna introduce me to your friend there." I said nervously.

"I almost forgot. Dally this is Jessi, and this is her friend Trish." He said. "And that's Buck over there"

"Hi" I said. Patricia's jaw was on the floor when she saw Dallas. I'll admit it, he was good looking, and I could tell she felt the same way when she forgot about Ponyboy and Sodapop and rushed over to him with her flirting mode to the max.

"Well I think I'll just leave you all now, since you found your friend and all," I said taking Chris's hand and walking out, I poked my head back in, "Pony, you and Soda just go home with Jeremy."

Chris and I started walking back to my house. I wanted him to meet Kathy and I'm pretty sure she wanted to meet him too.

"So what do you want to do tonight?" he asked swinging his hand making mine do the same.

"Can't do anything tonight."

"Why not?"

"Kathy's in town, my parents are happy, they're probably going to go out tonight and I'll get tricked into watching the kids. That's how it is." I said.

"Well maybe I can come over and keep you company."

"I don't know, boys aren't allowed in the house, house rules."

"Since when have you ever obeyed the rules?" he said with a grin.

"You're right."

"As always."

"Jeremy will probably have his friends over, and Pony and Soda will be here, so . . . forget about the house rules."

"That's my girl," he said and we reached my house. We stopped in front of the door.

"Ready?" I said, and he nodded. I opened the door and we walked in. I found my parents, Kathy, and Darry sitting in the living room. May and Thomas were in the back yard.

"Hello Jessica, who's your friend." Kathy said with a smile on her face.

I took Chris's hand and led him into the room where they were. " Kathy, this is Chris. Chris Chambers."

She got up to greet him, "hello Chris, I've heard a lot about you."

"Really?" Chris asked.

"No, I actually haven't heard anything." She smiled and gave me a look.

"Yeah I'm sorry about that, Kathy," I said and she smiled at me. "Mom, dad? You remember Chris." I asked and they nodded. I had introduced him to my parents about two months ago. I knew that my dad didn't like him too much; he was like everyone else in this town. They all thought that he'd turn out to be like the rest of his family. But I knew different.

"Jessica?" my mother said.

"Yes, mom?"

"Your father, Kathy, Darry and I are going to go out tonight, would you mind looking after the twins?"

"Sure, no problem," I lied. Like I told you before, that's how it is.

"We'll be leaving soon, I think you better say good bye to your friend now. You know the rules." I nodded.

I walked Chris to the door and we walked out. It was almost six o' clock. We stood outside the door for a while.

"Come back in 30 minutes. They should be gone by then." I told him. "And if you run into Ponyboy and Sodapop, you should probably tell them to come home. Tell Jeremy that too."

"Ok, see you in a while," Was all that he said. I gave him a kiss on the cheek before he walked off.

I walked back into the house, and upstairs to my room. It wasn't soon before Kathy came in. She wanted to talk about Chris.

"Hey, Jessi," she said opening my door.

"Hey," I said, "I already know what you're going to ask."

"Oh yeah? I'll be expecting some answers now," she smiled.

"He's 18, two years older than me. We met a little more than three more than 3 months ago. And no, I'm not sleeping with him."

"18?".

"Yeah, he flunked a grade when he was younger."

"ok other than that, you pretty much went over everything." She said.

"I already went over this with mom and dad."

"Well you forgot one thing."

"What's that?"

"Do you love him?" she asked.

I froze. Of course I loved him. How could I not? But was I in-love with him? He was, after all, my first real relationship. Now I know the answer, I am, and I do.

"Yes." I said.

"I thought so. Every time you see him your knees get weak?"

"A-huh" I laughed. "What about you and Darry? How did you meet? Was it love at first sight? Was there someone before him?" I was anxious, and I needed answers.

"KATHY! ARE YOU READY? WE'RE LEAVING!" our mother yelled from downstairs.

"Well I have to go now, I'll answer those questions later."

"Alright" I pouted. I followed her downstairs. May and Thomas were sitting on the living room floor playing with 'Lincoln logs'.

"Jessica, no boys in the house while we're out, and no friends either." My dad said.

"But what if Jeremy brings some of his friends over?" I asked.

"Jeremy's smart, he wouldn't do that." I nodded, and disbelieved that.

"The number of the place is by the phone." My mom said.

"You two behave," Darry told the twins,

"Bye, you all have fun." I said walking them to the door. They pulled out of the driveway, and were gone.