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

oOoDancingQueenoOo: You'll find out here in this chapter. I hope you like what she does as much as I do.

ZELINIA: Another new reviewer. So exciting! Ha-ha, you did a good job on guessing (or you have just read the book and know what's going to happen). You'll see it in this chapter. Thanks so much, I hope you like this chapter.

Author's Note: I love this chapter. I was so excited to write this chapter that I wrote it in about an hour; even though I should have been asleep I just couldn't keep the words in me. My beta-reader babygurl33 is grounded from her computer right now so if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes, I'm sorry. I tried my best but there is a reason I wanted a beta-reader, I'm not perfect in the grammar and spelling department. But hopefully you can over look them for the next few chapters until babygurl33 gets her computer back. I just want to thank her for all she's done for this story even though she didn't beta this chapter. She rocks my socks! Anyway I was going to wait a few days to upload this but whatever; I'm in the mood to put it up. I should get the next chapter up by this weekend if I'm lucky. Oh and I just want to thank everybody for all the support they have given me with this story. You guys make me want to work to finish this (I usually loose interest in my stories half-way through but that's not going to happen with this one!). I hope you like this chapter as much as I do.

Author's Note 2: Let's have a little poll in this chapter. I'm not saying that the winner will be the guy I just want to know what you guys think because I want people to be happy for her. Here are the guys I have to pick from. Some of them were suggested, the others were ones that I picked out myself. Here we go: Which guy out of these should Roxie end up with?

Dallas Winston
Ponyboy Curtis
Sodapop Curtis
Keith "Two-Bit" Matthews
Johnny Cade

This chapter is dedicated to Twitch in my Eye, Golden Greaser, Crazycatluver, and cutiepiepink angel who were the first to review this story.

Chapter Seven

The first thing I noticed upon entering Trisha's bedroom was the mirror. Well it wasn't the mirror itself, which was just a mirror in a frame that was painted white with pink designs, hanging above an old Hollywood style dressing table that was loaded with beauty aids. It was the pictures around the mirror. The pictures were cut out of magazines; blondes, brunettes, red heads. All of them were skinny and glamorous. There were a few regular Kodak pictures sprinkled in, a few of Trisha, Olivia, and even some of the guys. Next to the models you could see the imperfections in real people. I noticed Olivia's crow's feet, creasing under her warm eyes; the worry lines on Darry's forehead that stood out; the way Two-Bit's mouth went up higher on one side when he flashed that cocky grin of his.

Trisha ushered me into the chair in front of the vanity before going over to the closet and digging for something. She mumbled to herself and I wondered what in the world she was doing. Finally she came back with a box held behind her.

"I can I tell you my honest opinion on something?" she asked. I nodded, I already had people make fun of me today, I was pretty sure I could take more. "I think you should dye your hair. Your color may be natural but it doesn't suit you." I was surprised; this was not what I was expecting. I didn't do anything so Trisha put the box in my lap. It was hair dye, the kind that you buy in the box at the drug store and do yourself at home. My mother had always told me never to trust that stuff, she once turned her auburn hair carroty orange using it. The color of the model's hair on the box was a few shades darker than Trisha's, Dally's, and Soda's; but still gave her that Beach Blonde look that I envied.

"It's blonde…really blonde."

"Duh!" Trisha said as she threw a towel around my shoulders and went out of the bedroom to the kitchen and turned on the sink. I didn't know what I was getting myself into but I followed her in there.

"What do you think?" Trisha asked as she stood behind me as I sat in front of her vanity. My hair was actually blonde and it made me look very different. She had blow dried it to perfection, not a frizzy in sight. And it was straight, not all wavy and messy like it normally was.

"It's wonderful!" I exclaimed as I toyed with one of my silky strands that no longer made me look like a cocker spaniel. Trisha laughed and then got out her tweezers. She said that my eyebrows were shaped kind of weird.

As she did this I looked up at the pictures and saw one that I hadn't noticed before. It looked like a yearbook picture, stiff and rushed. The girl in it still had her baby fat in her face and she was wearing dorky glasses and a horrible sweater, probably made for her by a grandmother. Around her neck there was a gold chain with a tiny frog pendent on it.

"Who's that?" I asked as Trisha plucked. I winced and mumbled 'Ouch' but Trisha wouldn't listen to me complain. She said that I would have to suck it up if I wanted to have normal eyebrows.

"Who?" she asked, she put her left hand on my shoulder to keep me from pulling back.

"The girl in the yearbook picture." I said pointing. Trisha glanced up and then back to my brows quickly.

"My cousin," she said distractedly. "She's a real looker, ain't she?"

"Well…"

"Oh come on Roxie. She's wretched looking and you know it." Trisha said stepping back and examining my face. It was easy for her to say, easy for a girl like Trisha with her model good looks and flawless skin. But I knew her cousin, and I knew what she felt day after day. I knew the way that her body would tense up when she knew someone was talking about her, I knew the way that she had no one to be her partner with in gym for fitness testing, I knew the way that she had to ask a group of nice people to eat lunch at their table because she had no where else to sit. I knew her well.

Trisha had plans later with a guy named Tim Shepard, who I knew vaguely of from stuff that Dally had mentioned in passing, so she sent me off on my way with my new hair and eyebrows, along with the things I had bought at the drug store. I was walking the short distance to Aunt Candace's house when I bumped into someone. It was a hard jarring; the ones that almost make you fall over.

"I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed, tucking my hair behind my ear. I looked over at the person to see Soda standing there, looking me up and down the way he did when I first went over to the house with the cookies Aunt Candace had given me to take to them.

"Miss Roxanne what happened to you?" he asked, he put his chin in his hand as he continued to stare at me. Soda is usually always smiling or laughing but he wasn't then. He looked rather surprised by my appearance. But it was in a good way, I could just tell by the way his eyes were taking me in.

"Oh well…Trisha did it." I said hooking my thumb back at Trisha and Olivia's house. "I guess she was tired of me looking so horrible so she took pity on me." Soda nodded as if he understood, that was one of the things I liked about him. He always seemed like he understood you, even if he actually didn't. "What do you think of it?" I asked, looking quickly at him. I was very apprehensive on what the guys were going to say about it.

"I think that Two-Bit is going to flip his lid when he sees you." Soda said as he cocked one of his eyebrows and did a bad imitation of Two-Bit's grin. I opened my mouth and playfully slapped him on the shoulder.

"I mean it Soda."

"Alright, alright. I think you're even prettier than you were before," he said smoothly in that charming way that he has. I knew that he was probably just saying it to be nice but still it was sweet of him. "I was just coming to get you. Candy is mighty worried 'bout you," he said as he turned so he was walking the same direction as me.

"I hope she didn't worry too much!" I said, imagining my aunt pacing in front of the phone, waiting for me to call or burst in the front door like people do in movies.

Soda snorted. "Candy is a pretty easy going person. She was just concerned because your parents are supposed to call today. But they hadn't yet when I left."

"Oh fudge!" I said. My parents only called every few days and to get a call from them was something I looked forward too. I had always been close with them and although I liked it here in Tulsa now, I still missed them. Besides they would worry their heads off if Aunt Candy didn't know exactly where I was and who I was with.

"Anyway Candy came over to our house to see if any of us knew where you were and Dally said that he saw you walking out of the drug store with Trisha so she sent me to come get you."

"Oh." I said. Soda and I walked in silence for a while and for once I didn't feel the need to talk. I always felt like I had to talk, fill the void of silence but when I was walking right there with him I felt comfortable and content. He was humming some song softly, so I couldn't make out what it was but it was pretty with his sugary sweet voice.

"Hey guys I've got a surprise for ya!" Soda yelled as he led me into his house. I had stopped to see Aunt Candy to tell her not to worry and to give her the shampoo that she wanted. Then Soda wanted me to go over and show my mini-makeover to the rest of the gang. I bit my lip with nervousness, wondering what they would think of my new look, granted it was just hair and eyebrows but still, it was a start as Trisha had said.

"What is it Soda?" Steve asked. All the guys were sitting in the living room. Darry was reading the paper in his chair; Steve, Two-Bit, Dally and Johnny were grouped around the coffee table playing poker; and Ponyboy was reading a book. They all looked up when they saw Soda; he was standing in front of me, blocking their view of me.

"May I present our very own Miss Roxanne Parkinson?" Soda asked taking my hand and pulling me in front of him. I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear as the guys stared at me.

Darry simply looked up from his paper and nodded at me. I doubted he noticed the difference. Steve smiled at me for a moment but then went back to his cards, working out his strategy. Johnny's dark eyes were wide and he looked almost as surprised as Sodapop was. Two-Bit's crazy grin went as big as I had ever seen it and I remembered he had a thing for blondes which made me feel a little uneasy. Ponyboy's book fell out of his hands as he stared dumbfounded at me while Dally mouthed a word so dirty I would be grounded for a month if I repeated it. None of them said anything.

"Well?" I asked. Ponyboy and Johnny were still dumbfounded while Steve made his play. Dally blew a smoke ring with the cigarette he was smoking while Darry continued to read the paper. Soda sat down next to Steve and looked at his hand over his shoulder.

"Glory." Ponyboy muttered, picking up his book off the floor as he continued to stare at me. I raised my eyebrows; I wasn't used to having so many people look at me for a long time. Ponyboy's face was flushed as he buried his nose in the book. Two-Bit stood up from his seat and walked over to me. He circled me like a vulture, studying me from every angle.

"Two-Bit, why are you walking around the broad like that?" Dally asked him, his teeth clenching the cigarette. I narrowed my eyes at the use of the word broad which Dally still called me, no matter how many times I asked him not to. Two-Bit shrugged at him and put his arm around my shoulders like he did the first time I met him, although this time he stood closer to me.

"Two-Bit, I love you and all but is there a reason your arm is around me like this?" I asked. I was used to him joking around, tickling me and stuff, but this was just a little too weird for me. Two-Bit shrugged and grinned at me as he removed his arm and went back to the game. Johnny was still quietly watching me with his giant puppy dog eyes, although he didn't look so surprised anymore. Although Ponyboy still wouldn't stop staring at me, I breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on the couch with Steve and Soda, watching them playing poker. They were betting coins and cigarettes, nothing to fancy but it was pretty funny to watch them be so competitive over a card game.

When it got to be dinnertime I stood up and told the guys I had to go. Darry was already in the kitchen making dinner and Dally said something about needing to go over to Buck's, who ever he was. Dally and I headed out the door at around the same time so he walked with me to Aunt Candy's gate, not saying anything as he smoked his cigarette. But it wasn't the kind of silence that I had with Soda. That silence had been totally comfortable. This one was full of tension.

Dally confused me. Half the time it looked like he wanted to sock somebody and now here he was walking with me to my aunt's house, something that Pony and Soda did sometimes. They were type of guys to walk a girl to her gate but to have Dally do it was just weird. I was mulling it over as I walked up to the gate and turned around to look at him. He was slouching, wearing his leather jacket, despite the fact that it was hotter than Egypt out, with the collar popped up. He nodded at me when he saw I was going to get inside fine and then ambled down the middle of the road, kicking a rock.

I shook my head as I watched him until he turned the corner and then went inside.

Dally is a bit weird near the end there, I don't think I'm that good at writing his character but oh well. Hopefully I'll get it right in the next chapter.

Love, Peace, and Oreos,
Hannah