Disclaimer: I only own the people not mentioned in the book

Author's Note: I'm so sorry it took so long to update!!!

Chapter Three

            Hazel was intrigued, to say the very least. Steve had explained to her the difference between Socs and Greasers in Tulsa. She was a Greaser, but she'd already figured that much out by herself. It would be interesting, she decided, to see how these socs acted towards her on her first day of school.

            "Do we get a lot of work?" Hazel asked her brother, skipping to keep in step with him.

            "Yeah, we get some. Why? Are you, like, a genius child or something?"

            "No. I just care. And someday, I want to go to college."

            Steve snorted, "That's almost impossible. Where are you going to get the dough?"

            "It's called a scholarship."

            "It's called a miracle."

            Hazel rolled her eyes and fell back behind Steve. Did he really have that little faith in her? Did he really think that she couldn't do it? Well she'd prove him wrong, that was for sure. By the time she got into senior year of high school, she'd have more than enough credits to graduate and possibly get a scholarship.

            "A job," Hazel whispered to herself. That was it! She'd get a job and add on to the little savings that she already had.

            "A what?" Steve questioned, looking back at Hazel.

            "A job," Hazel repeated.

            "What about a job?"

            "I want a job," she clarified. Steve gave her an incredulous look and rolled his eyes. Hazel glared at his back. Maybe he didn't know her very well and all, but he didn't have to be so mean about it.

            "What are you going to do? Waitress at a diner?" Steve asked finally stopping in front of a locker.

            "That's not a bad idea."

            Steve groaned, "Please don't. This is your locker by the way. Here's the combination. Mine is on the other side of school so…ya know…if you ever need to use it because yours is too far…it ain't too messy is all I'm sayin'."

            Hazel smiled at him, attempting to open her locker, "Thank you. See? It wasn't that hard to be nice to me, was it?" she joked.

            "Shut it."

            "Um…can you help me?"

            For the first time since she'd arrived in Tulsa, she saw Steve Randle laugh. Hazel knew if must have been rare because the kid from the neighborhood, the little brother of Steve's best friend, looked surprised.

            "Hi Steve. Hey Hazel," he smiled at them.

            "Hey kid," Steve nodded at him, swinging Hazel's locker open. She blushed furiously.

            "You're going to have to do that for me everyday, you know? Hi," she turned to the boy, guilty because she didn't remember his name. All she knew was that it was an original name. The three greasers made small talk before the first bell rang.

            "Steve, where's my first class?" Hazel asked apprehensively. In all honesty, she was a bit frightened of her older brother.

            Grumbling, Steve took the schedule from her, "I'll show you. Come on." Hazel said a quick good-bye to Ponyboy, whose name she had remembered finally, before jogging to keep up with Steve. In the back of her mind, she wondered why her…brother…seemed so mad all of the sudden. 'This is a difficult one to figure out,' she thought sullenly to herself.

            Steve felt a twinge of guilt for laughing at her dream to go to college that morning. But it was true. Unless she came up with the money somewhere, Hazel was going to be stuck in Tulsa forever, which was sad, of course. He was angry at himself, though. He'd told himself the night before that he was going to try his absolute hardest to be a good brother and a good friend to his sister. If Soda could do it, he could too. He hated to admit it to anyone, but he really did care about Hazel. He remembered, faintly, laughing and playing with her in the backyard when they were little.

           "One time," Steve said softly out of the blue as the two were waiting for everyone else outside the school, "when you were two and I was four, we were playing on the tire swing in the back-yard."

            Hazel snapped out of whatever daze she was in and became interested.

            "There's a picture of it somewhere in my room. I haven't seen it in ages though. We were taking turns on the swing, pushing each other. So when it was your turn again, I got off the swing and was ready to push you. But mom had gone inside for a minute to make us lemonade because it was hot. You really wanted to go so I tried to pick you up. I dropped you by accident. You started crying real loud and me? I ain't never been so worried before that. I didn't want to get in trouble with mom. But you stopped crying suddenly and held your hands out to me. I helped you up and put you on the swing…you didn't fall off. I started pushing you and you laughed. Mom took a picture right then. Turns out, she was standing there the whole time. When we had to give you away, I remember mom refused to take the tire swing down because it reminded her of you," Steve finished softly. Hazel looked up at him, smiling. It was times like this, she really liked her brother.

            Throughout the whole school day, Hazel had gotten lost several times, but she was always afraid to ask. She was scared of the socs and she hadn't seen much of the greasers around. She'd seen Steve a few times in the halls, but he didn't see her. If he did, he'd chosen to ignore her. Hazel didn't say anything because he figured he wouldn't respond anyway. But when they were alone together or with just a few people around, Steve was extremely nice to her. It confused her, but Hazel knew why he was doing it. At school, he had a status to keep, a reputation. Apparently, little sisters would cramp his style. It should've hurt Hazel at least a tiny bit; she knew that. But for some strange reason, she understood and she didn't really care. Maybe it was the fact that she barely knew him as it was. Maybe she just got past the point of caring already. Or maybe she just missed Illinois too much.

            Hazel tuned back into the present where Two-bit had already arrived and was in the middle of telling some joke. Ponyboy was there as well. They were walking towards the car and laughing at Two-bit's joke, Hazel not understanding a word of it but pretending that she did. Nobody needed to know that she wasn't paying much attention.

            "Hazel," Steve called out her name. She jumped a little.

            "Yeah?"

            "Are you coming to the DX with us or not?" he sounded impatient.

            "The what?"

            "The DX."

            "Uh…sure," Hazel muttered, not really knowing why they were heading to a gas station. She soon found out that Steve worked there. So for an hour, she hung around Two-bit and Ponyboy, watching Steve and Soda work diligently and attract more ladies than a celebrity.

            Steve watched Hazel from the corner of his eyes as he worked on cars and absent-mindedly talked to girls. She seemed at ease with Two-bit, but something about Ponyboy seemed to make her uptight. Steve secretly hoped that she would shy away from the tag-along kid. It wasn't that he absolutely hated Ponyboy since he didn't. It was something else about him that made Steve iffy about having his little sister hang around him.     'What are you saying Steve?' he asked himself, 'She's fourteen. She can take care of herself. She can decide who she wants to hang around for herself just fine. Besides, you've seen how chicks get when their brother's get too protective in the movies.' Steve reasoned with himself. But he couldn't get that uneasy feeling out of the pit of his stomach. Not until he and Hazel went home that night anyway.

Thanks for all the reviews!!!

Angie: Hehe, thanks!

Dollwithouteyes: I'm glad it does J

Tallemera Rane: Yes, there will be fights…soon. Oh yes, Steve as a bro…all I have to say is that it's definitely…not boring.

RebelDream2222: Thanks! My school's team name is Rebels. So whenever I look at your user name, I keep thinking of my swim team :D.

Two-BitGortez: I'll try and update regularly…but I can't promise anything because I have a ton of work to do.

Kimmerkay: Thanks!

Kate: Thanks! Haha, I know what you mean and I respect your opinion. I was thinking about what you said and you're right. There will definitely be a relationship in this story because, you'll see, it causes a lot of problems. But it doesn't really develop for another few chapters.

Jesse James N Slim: I don't know why, but I really like writing Steve stories. Maybe it's because his character's so…usable.

DallysGirl4Life: Lol, well bad boys are even better if they're sweet at heart.

MissLKid: Ah…the artistic type. You gotta be careful with those J. Just kidding.

Naria4: Well…it's going to be one of those fics. Kind of. I guess. Well, you'll see.

Usrockstar: I tried. I really did try and update soon. But then my teachers threw work at me. *Shakes fist at teachers* Anyway, yeah Hazel…I don't really know where I got it from. I don't know where I get half the names I use actually.

Please review!