Disclaimer: I don't own the Outsiders or Keeping the Moon

Twitch in my eye: Thank you! And you aren't a ditz. It was an honest mistake. I would hope that my Soda is nicer than Dally though. Dally however will be in one of the upcoming chapters.

Babygurl33: Thanks. Hmm…Johnny. Well that wasn't one of the guys I was thinking of but it is a possibility now. But he'll actually have to talk to her first! You noticed Dally wasn't there! I had hoped someone would. There is a reason Dally wasn't around. He'll be back soon. It wouldn't be an Outsiders fic with no Dally! Thanks for your feedback!

Cutiepiepink angel: Glad you like it.

LatinaChick4Life: Thanks for your enthusiasm! Here's another chapter for you.

Gena-Curtis-Scott: Roxie is most definitely not a Mary-Sue. Her non-Mary-Sue-ness will come into play this chapter. Thanks for the comment!

Vincenza: Sarah Dessen is one of my favorite authors. Keeping the Moon is my favorite. I just love the concept of it. So I decided to cross it over with the Outsiders, one of my other favorite books. I'm glad you like the idea. I don't care if you read my profile, that's what it's there for. The 1980s are possibly my favorite decade (I love the 1920s too), and the movies of it are my favorite part. I'm like obsessed with the Brat Pack. John Hughes is the man! I love all his movies, the Breakfast Club especially! After I finish this fic I'm going to work on a Breakfast Club one so look for that once this is finished. I hope you like this chapter!

Author's Note: I haven't updated in a while. Sorry about that. I have been busy with school stuff because the end of the year is coming up. Plus I've been having some guy trouble too so I had to give myself time to get over him. This chapter took me a while to write. It's one of the more important chapters so I needed to get it right. Sorry I'm a little bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my writing (but thankfully nothing else or I would really get annoyed with myself). Anyway I'll try to update more from now on.

Author's Note #2: I'd still like ideas on who she should end up with. Your input is important! I have about four of the guys to pick from but I need people to sway me one way or the other. I am also in need of a beta-reader. You'll get to find out what happens before everyone else does if you do it…alright that's not much of a bribe. Pretty please!

Chapter Three

The next morning I woke up around 11 o'clock. After taking a shower I got dressed in cutoffs and an old t-shirt, threw my wet hair into a ponytail and headed downstairs.

When I reached the hallway I realized that Aunt Candy was talking to someone. As I rounded the corner I saw Ponyboy sitting at the kitchen table with my aunt. My aunt was bent over a piece of paper scribbling while Ponyboy was eating one of my aunt's homemade donuts. He looked up when I entered the room.

"Hey," he said. My aunt looked up at me from the paper.

"Morning. I made donuts, would you like one?" she asked. I nodded and took one from the tray that was cooling on the counter. I poured myself a cup of coffee from the coffee pot, adding lots of cream and sugar the way I like it. Then I joined the two of them at the table.

"What are you doing?" I asked taking a sip of my coffee. My mom hates it when I drink coffee. She says it's bad for me. But Aunt Candace didn't know that tidbit of information so I was free to drink as much as I liked.

"Working on my latest card," my aunt said. She made a final flourish and then handed it to me. On the outside there was a vase of daffodils sitting on a table. Above it was written I'm so sorry… I opened up the card to read the inside: All losses are so hard to bear, but the loss of former love can be the hardest. Regardless of the reasons, there was love. And my heart and thoughts are with you at this difficult time.

I looked up and raised my eyebrows at them. "What kind of card is this?"

"It's a sympathy card for a dead ex-husband." Ponyboy explained, starting on his third donut.

"Why are you making a sympathy card for a dead ex-husband?" I asked crinkling my nose (something I did when I was confused) at my aunt. She grinned.

"Because it's personal. People like their cards personalized now-a-days. I've made them for everything: dead hamsters, dead room-mates, and even dead mailmen."

"I don't think I'd buy a card for a dead mailman."

"Dead mailman's widow," my aunt corrected. "I didn't think people would either back when I got started. I made the classic ones: birthdays, valentines, etc. Then I really hit it big with Little Roxie," my aunt said as she took the card and put it on her table by the window to mail it off to her company for them to print it.

"Little Roxie?" Ponyboy asked looking from my aunt to me. I blushed. It was a well known fact in my family that Aunt Candy makes greeting card characters out of all the family members but I was the only one who really got popular. It started at my Grandpa's funeral when I was six. My hair was in long ringlets, back in the days when it was smooth and perfect, and I was wearing a gray sailor suit dress with a black trim. My aunt had taken a bunch of pictures of me that day and then started drawing me as a cartoon. Little Roxie was an immediate success, the next big thing since Snoopy in the greeting card world. Luckily things have sort of faded out with Little Roxie and nobody ever guesses that it's me. Still sometimes when I'm in the card section of the drugstore looking for a Mother's or Father's Day card I'll see a Little Roxie and turn bright red.

When my aunt told Pony this he laughed and I shot him a dirty look. "Shut up!" I said throwing my napkin at him.

"I'm sorry," Ponyboy said between giggles. "But it's just so funny. You're on greeting cards across the country!"

"What are you going to do today?" my aunt asked Pony, hurrying to change the subject as she saw that I was getting upset.

"I don't know. Probably go pick up Johnny and then hang out at the DX. Want to come along, Little Roxie?" Pony asked. I glared at him but nodded.

"Sure why not." I waited as Pony finished his last donut and then we headed outside, letting the screen door slam behind us. We made idle chit-chat until we found Johnny kicking around a football in the vacant lot down the street.

"Hi Roxie," he said shyly throwing the football at Ponyboy who was running backwards in front of us.

"Hey Johnny." I grinned at him as Ponyboy threw the football at me. I have pretty good reflexes so I reached out and grabbed it before it hit me in the face.

"Woah, I didn't know you could catch!" Pony said.

"I'm a girl of many talents." I said as I sent the football towards Johnny, spun spirally towards him, landing perfectly into his arms. Johnny's dark eyes grew wide. I shrugged. I have an older cousin, Mark, who used to come visit my family with his parents all the time. Because he didn't find much interest in my doll collection so he taught me how hit a curveball, throw a football, and shoot a foul shot in hopes that I could play sports with him. He left for college two years ago and hasn't been to see us in a while so I hadn't thrown a football in quite some time but still it was like second nature to me.

Finally the boys grew tired of me throwing perfectly and catching almost every single time so we left the ball there and started on our way to the DX. Johnny remained silent most of the time but Ponyboy kept chattering on to me about almost everything. He told how much he liked to read and reading was one of my favorite things so that kept me and Pony talking until we reached the gas station. By the time we had arrived to the gas station we were arguing about Jo and Laurie in Little Women. Ponyboy said that he thought they should have been married while I argued that they were just like brother and sister. As I looked around the gas station I noticed there were a few girls lingering around the soda machine, eyeing Soda from where he stood behind the counter.

"Hey Pony! Johnnycake! Miss Roxanne!" Soda said hopping up on the counter, something I doubted he was aloud to do but Soda could get away with anything. He grinned at us, some of his long silky hair falling into his eyes. The summer sun was turning it the color of corn silk.

"Hey Soda." I said grinning as Ponyboy hoisted himself up on the counter beside Soda. With them sitting side by side I could see the similarities between them. They both had long, silky hair and structured features.

"Hey guys. Roxie." Steve said coming in from the back and nodding at me. He gave me, Pony and Johnny free Pepsis but then left to go back to working on cars. Pony had mentioned something about Steve being sort of mean and ornery but he seemed alright, a little rough around the edges but alright. Besides he was Sodapop's best friend so he couldn't be that bad.

Soda was teasing Pony and Johnny when they came in. Two girls. One of them was tall and had a really short, flapper type hair that was black and straight. Her eyes were brown, standing out against her pale skin. She was dressed in a skirt that reached her knees and a blouse, very neat and professional looking. The way the smart girls at my school dressed. The other girl was wearing tight jeans and a tank top. Her long blonde hair was in a perky ponytail and her baby blue eyes were glinting. You could tell that the blonde was someone not to mess with. Like one of the girls at my school who made fun of me all the time. They were obviously here to see Sodapop. Pony had informed me earlier that the reason the DX is so popular is because Steve is a wiz at fixing cars and Soda is so handsome.

"Hey Soda," the girls said simultaneously as the came up to the counter. Johnny looked away from him; he was pretty shy I'd noticed. However Ponyboy was looking back and forth from them to his brother as if it was a TV show. I stood off to the side holding the Pepsi that Steve had given me.

"Hey Olivia, Trisha," he said nodding to them. Steve called for him from the back so he left. Ponyboy and Johnny had gone outside to smoke, which left me all alone. I bit my lip as I stood there awkwardly with the girls looking me up and down.

"Hi, I'm Olivia," the tall one said sticking out her hand to me. I raised my eyebrows as I shook it. She seemed alright, but it was her friend that I was unsure of. "This is my best friend Trisha." The tall girl said hooking her thumb at the blonde who was leaning on the counter, narrowing her eyes at me.

"I'm Roxie."

"Roxanne? Candace's niece?" Olivia asked. I nodded. "We work at the drugstore; we're good friends with your aunt. She told us you were coming down to stay with her. How old are you?" Trisha was staring at my hair, wrinkling her nose disgustedly.

"Fifteen." I muttered. My palms were getting sweaty, the way they did when I knew that someone was going to make fun of me.

"Can I tell you something?" Trisha asked, she stopped leaning on the counter and put her hands on her hips, making her look totally domineering.

"Stop." Olivia said, jabbing Trisha in the ribs but that didn't stop her from talking.

"You should really do something with that disgusting mop of tresses you call hair." Trisha continued. Olivia was trying to drag her out the door. The final words I heard from her were, "And you should wear blush too!"

I stood there, my bottle of Pepsi shaking in my hand. I could feel the tears forming behind me eyes but I didn't let the fall because I heard Soda coming back the front. He grinned at me easily which caused me to give him a weak smile. Ponyboy, Johnny, and I hung out at the DX all day. They joked around and I forced myself to laugh at them until I said something about Candace wanting me to go to the grocery store with her later so I left Ponyboy and Johnny to hang with Soda and Steve and all those slender, pretty girls hanging by the soda machine trying to catch Sodapop's eye.

I ambled along the street chocking back my tears. I didn't know why it hurt so much; I mean I was used to it. But this Trisha girl's comments had stung. I guess I was just expecting that here I would start with a clean slate. The guys didn't seem to mind last night but now I wasn't so sure.

Don't forget to comment about who she should end up with and I really need a beta-reader. I'm sure that there are some grammer errors in this chapter because spelling/grammer check only does so much.

Peace, Love, and Oreos,
Hannah