A/N: Thanks again for the reviews, I love getting people's opinions on my writing. Note to self: Go write reviews for other peeps. Sorry this took so long... again.

Chapter 5

"Good morning, sweetheart" said mom as I walked down the stairs and into our homey kitchen.

"Morning mom"

She smiled her wonderful warm smile.

I smiled back and pulled my hair into a ponytail. I could smell the home made pancakes mom made every Sunday.

"I love you" I said, hugging my mom.

"I love you too, honey"

. . . . . . . . . .

"Hey sleeping beauty, care for some dinner?"

Stupid Two-Bit woke me up from the best dream I've had in a long time.

"No, I would not. But it would be quite nice if you took a long walk off a short cliff."

"Wanna come with me, babe?" He asked, smirking.

I threw my pillow at him as hard as I could. It wasn't at all hard considering my injured arm.

"I guess that's a no" He said, making a fake frown.

"You're one smart cookie" I said sarcastically.

"Yup. Come on, get up, I want you to meet the gang."

I guess it was the least I could do, seeing as that I was staying in their house and that some of them may have saved my life.

"Fine" I said, getting up.

Two-Bit held out his hand.

I glared at him with my 'you've got to be kidding me' glare.

"Okay then" He said, walking and leading me to the back door.

I walked out to see four guys sitting on the lawn, three of them smoking.

"Guys, meet AJ" said Two-Bit cheerfully.

"It's Ashley" I corrected.

"AJ, meet the guys" he went on, ignoring my remark.

"That's Johnny, Darry, and Dally" he said, expecting me to remember who's who. "You've met Ponyboy. Soda and Steve are out with their girls. And of course you've met me."

"Aha. Hi." I said dully to the guys that were kind-of staring at me.

"Hello" said Darry or Dally, which ever one is the muscular brown-haired guy, speaking for all of them.

"Come on guys, the cake's ready" said Two-Bit.

What is it with these people and cake?

"Do you want any, AJ?" asked Two-Bit.

"No. And it's Ashley!"

"Do you ever eat?"

Why does Two-Bit keep bothering me? Doesn't he have a life?

"Yes, I do" I replied, dully.

"So, why not have some chocolate cake?"

Maybe if I talked normally and not sarcastically he'd get bored of bothering me.

"Because I'm not really hungry and I'm not too big on chocolate anyway. Okay?"

"That's cool." He said and walked off.

I followed into the kitchen.

"It's real nice of ya'll to let me stay here. Thanks." I said, kind-of, sort-of half smiling.

"Soda and Pony explained the deal." said the big muscley guy. "You can stay with us for as long as you need."

"Thanks" I said.

"I'm Darry. Ponyboy and Sodapop's older brother."

"Oh. Uh, nice to meet you. I think I'll go back to sleep, I don't feel that great."

"Want some aspirin?" asked Ponyboy.

"Yeah, sure" I said.

Ponyboy handed me the pill bottle and Johnny (I think that's his name) got me a glass of water.

"Thanks" I said walking away.

I swallowed two aspirins and lay back on the comfortable couch.

And I drifted off to sleep...

. . . . . . . . . .

When I woke up I could see the darkness of the night pouring in through the windows.

It took me a couple of seconds to remember where I was. Too many memories came back, too many unpleasant, horrible memories. My arm hurt badly and my head was throbbing.

I need to take a walk. I need to think and get myself together. Otherwise I'm not gonna survive.

I got up and walked over to the kitchen. Using the moonlight coming through the window, I saw that it was 2:48. It was the middle of the night. The perfect time for a walk.

I put my shoes back on and started to walk towards the door. I stopped myself. These people helped me and gave me a place to stay. The least I could do was tell them where I was.

I got found a pen and some paper and wrote a note.

....................

Went to take a long walk.
Be back in the morning.
Ashley

....................

I left it on the kitchen counter, hoping they would notice it. Then, as quietly as possible, I walked out the front door into the night.

It took a good 5 minutes to figure out where exactly I was. The street lights helped a lot. I was 4 blocks away from dad's place, and since I wanted to stop there anyway, I walked towards that direction down the street.

I dragged my feet and stared at the ground for the most part, taking a glace at the beautiful full moon every once in a while.

I loved walking in the middle of the night. There was no one to disturb me. No one I had to talk to, no one I had to pay attention to. Just me.

I walked and walked down the street, taking a few turns at corners. The cool night air felt great and my headache began to die down.

Before I knew it, I was at dad's house. This brought back bad memories of the night before, and I did my best to just ignore them for now. It worked.

I opened the door and instantly smelled alcohol. It was like dad was still there. I was a bit scared.

I turned on the lights, and the surroundings gave me some comfort. I probably should have gone to sleep. But I spent almost the whole day asleep, and I wasn't the least bit tired.

I decided that I needed to clean myself up so I don't look like I've been jumped. Wait... I have been. Oh well.

I took a LONG shower and put some new bandages on my arm. My wound didn't look that horrible, thanks to Soda I guess. It hurt less too, thankfully.

I got dressed in my long black jeans that were torn at both knees. I put on a black tank top and a black sweatshirt over it. I combed my hair and brushed my teeth. And of course, put on my eyeliner. Soon I was back to semi-normal. Semi being the key word.

Now that I looked like a human being again, I started to feel a bit more like one, too. I sat down for a little while. Then, I got up and walked out.

I had no clue whatsoever where I was going and I didn't get out enough to know these streets very well. So I guess I was kind of lost, but it didn't worry or bother me at all.

So I walked on and on to god knows where.

It turned out I actually didn't go that far. I wound up at the park. I've only been here a few times before, but I loved it.

My childish side told me to jump in the fountain, but my adult side held me back.

I sat on the monkey bars until the sun came out. I love watching the sun rise and set, it looks so amazing. I like being outside too, as long as it's not in the broad daylight. I stayed out so many nights from sunset till morning. Mom understood me so she let me stay out.

I looked at my reflection in the water. I should dye my hair black, it would look really good. I wish my eyes were black, too. The whole world should be black.

After sitting for a few more minutes, I got up and started to walk towards the Curtis house.

I thought about the idea of being put in a foster home, and I hated it. There was no way that was going to happen to me. I don't know what's going to happen, though. I don't know anything anymore.

It was real nice of those guys to let me stay at their house, but I couldn't stay there forever. My living relatives are all so distant, and it's not like they care about me anyway. So, where was I gonna go?

It's really annoying when I think of so many things at once, and that is where most of my headaches come from.

I was almost at the house when it started to rain.

I love the rain. Any type of rain, from a summer shower to a major thunderstorm. I love it. I don't know why, I just do.

I stood there in the middle of the street like an idiot until the rain storm ended. It probably lasted 20 minutes, and it soaked me from head to toe. Who cares, I'd dry off eventually.

The sun came out, followed by a rainbow. I hate rainbows. They're too colorful, and that really bothers me. I wish rainbows were black.

I felt kind of bad coming into the house like this, but people like Two-Bit have probably dragged in something worse than water. So I opened the door and walked right in.

Inside, Darry was cooking something and Ponyboy and Soda were sitting at the table.

"Hi" I said, noticing that all three were looking at me.

"What happened to you?" asked Soda, kind of laughing at me.

"The rain" I said, I wanted to add 'duh' but I wasn't the type of person who would do that.

"You look different, too" he said.

"This is how I usually look" I said, my tone being a little more obnoxious than I had intended it to be.

"Cool"

"Breakfast will be ready in a minute" said Darry.

"Okay" I said.

I don't know what was wrong with me, but I wasn't the least bit hungry. I know I haven't eaten since Friday evening, but I had absolutely no desire for food.

"So tell us about yourself" said Darry.

I really hate when I have to talk about myself.

"What do you want to know?" I asked.

"I don't know. Whatever you feel like talking about." he said.

"I don't really feel like talking about myself, but okay. I'm 15 and a freshman at school. My parents are dead. I have no siblings, pets, or relatives that care about me. My hobbies include thinking, standing in the rain, and staring into space. I'm..."

"Whoa... don't wear yourself out" said Sodapop.

And guess what I did. I smiled.

"So you CAN smile, can you?" he said,

"Guess so" I said, still smiling.

It was weird. Not many people can make me smile. Just my mom, and now Soda too.

A/N: That chapter took me a while...

This is kind of off topic, but I finally saw the Outsiders movie yesterday. Yay! People weren't exactly how I pictured them to be, but Matt Dillon (Dally) was so hot... I have no idea why I'm wasting space writing this. Oh well.

I'm really going to try to update faster with Chapter 6.