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

Banana4422: Oh, I was being a blonde. Dally will redeem himself in the next chapter.

ZELINDA: Well love does strange things to your common sense sometimes. I'm glad you like my Dally. I like my Dally too. He's a bad boy but he also has a sweet side that he doesn't like to show. I was worried I was going to make him too sappy but you seem to think I'm doing a good job with him. You hit the nail on the head about Pony.

oOoDancingQueenoOo: not everyone is in love with her. One of them really is in love with her and one just thinks he is. You'll see some that in this chapter. I hope you like it.

TWbasketcase: Thank you! Yes she is going to end up with him. Good girl/bad boy relationships rock. I only watch the movie because the guys in it are hot! Especially Dally and Soda! And it has Emilio Estevez in it (I have a tiny obsession with him)! But the book is better, I'll agree with you there. I love Sodapop and Dallas too. I also like Two-Bit. I hope you like this chapter. Update your Breakfast Club stories soon please!

Gracie: I hope you like this chapter, you'll see your prediction come true!

Cutiepiepink angel: Thank you. I hope you like this chapter.

Stef: Keeping the Moon is a really good book. Some of the stuff in this story doesn't happen in that though, just to warn you, but you'll see the similarities. Aunt Candace doesn't like Dally because she thinks he'll hurt Roxie somehow and she's a little scared of him. But Dally will redeem himself so everything will turn out alright. Yes she will end up with him :does little dance with you: I love Dally too, at least the way I think Dally is, tough on the surface but sweet underneath. I hope you like this chapter.

Sodapop's#1gurl: Mike is an ass. I felt bad for doing that to Olivia but it has to be done so she can end up with…ahem…um…it has to be done for the story I mean. This story will be finished before I post my other story. I changed my mind about the girls name again so every time I said her name I had to change it. That's a major pain in the ass. Hannah's tip of the day: really make sure you like the character's name before you write a whole chapter or else you will end up sitting at the computer for about an hour reading over the whole entire chapter typing the new name in. Not fun at all. Anyways the first chapter still needs some work so there's no way I could post it now anyway. And besides, that story is kind of a sequel to this one (except it's about a new girl and Sodapop) so there's stuff about this story in that one that hasn't happened yet in this one. Savvy? You want some Dally/Roxie action huh? Well I hate to break it to you but he's not in this chapter. There is some drama with Ponyboy in it about Dally but Dally himself is not in it. However he is in the next chapter and…no I've gave away too much already. But it does bring him and Roxie closer together, I can tell you that much. But they don't kiss or anything (that happens later) if that's what you're hoping for. I'm glad you like this story so much. I've always thought if at least one person likes my writing then it's not a waste of time. So there we go, you prove that my writing is not a waste of time! I hope you like this chapter, even though it is Dally-less.

Author's Note: Gah. I'm so mean to all my characters. I make Soda cry, I make Olivia cry. And now I'm going to break someone's heart.. I'm so mean. But everyone shall be happy by the end. Today was my last day of school so to celebrate I wrote a really long chapter. The longest I've written so far for this story. But I don't think any of you will object to a super long chapter. Unfortunately Dally is not in it though. If I put him in it would be way too long. Anyways here we go.

Chapter Thirteen

For the next week I mostly stayed home. I felt guilty for being near Dally when Aunt Candace had prohibited it. I wanted to earn her trust back even though she didn't have the slightest idea I had been with Dally the night I went to Trisha and Olivia's house. So I stayed in the house, organizing her cards, reading books I borrowed from the library with her card. I even did some housework for her.

One gorgeous day in early August Aunt Candace told me to go outside and spend time with the boys because I was staying indoors too much. It was a clear day and the temperature had gone down a little so the heat was more tolerable, so I went over to the Curtis's house to find Ponyboy sitting in the living room reading a book. Darry and Soda were at work and no one else was there.

"Hey Pony." I said. He nodded to me and turned a page in his novel. I hadn't been spending much time with the boys lately but whenever I had Ponyboy had seemed bitter and distant towards me. "Do you want to play football in the lot with Johnny?" I asked.

"No." Ponyboy said, not looking up. I crinkled my nose, wondering why he was acting so strange.

"Well do you want to go walk down to the DX to see Sodapop?"

"He won't be there. If you want to see him you can wait until tonight when he comes over." Ponyboy said marking the page in his book and closing it. He lit up a cigarette and turned to look at me with narrowed eyes.

"What are you talking about Pony? If Soda isn't at work then where is he?" I asked in a perplexed tone.

"You know who I'm talking about." Ponyboy said, blowing a smoke ring. I coughed as it came close to my nose.

"No I really don't Pony…" I said wondering who on earth he was talking about.

"Don't play dumb Roxie; you're too smart to do that. The whole gang knows you have a thing for Dally." Ponyboy said bitterly.

I bit my lip and thought about it. Did I have a thing for Dallas Winston? I had to admit that at times he was handsome, not in a movie-star way like Sodapop but still he wasn't horrible looking, and he did have this special something about him that made you want to take a closer look. He was brave and gallant and loyal to the gang. Sometimes it seemed like he didn't care about anybody but himself but I knew deep down he really did care for them, and that made him have an almost sweet quality. He was also smart, maybe not in the academic way like Ponyboy was but he did have street smarts, and I admired him for that.

"The whole gang knows?" I asked suddenly. Ponyboy nodded.

"We have for a long time."

"And here I've always been told boys don't notice anything." I mumbled, looking around the room.

"We notice a lot more than you think." Ponyboy said. "Why Dally?" I stared at him blankly, not knowing what he meant. "Why don't you like Soda? He's more handsome than Dally is. What about Two-Bit? Dally doesn't have his sense of humor. Or

Johnny, Johnny is a better listener than Dally ever could be."

"Pony, why are you asking me this?"

"Because I want to know what he has that I don't!" Ponyboy said loudly. I raised my eyebrows and Ponyboy seemed to realize what he had just said. He slapped his forehead and then I realized it. That day walking to the DX talking about Little Women, all the times he had walked me to my gate, at the fair when he asked me to ride the Farris wheel with him because supposedly nobody else wanted to go on it with him, whenever I looked over at him and he was watching me.

"Ponyboy…" I said, reaching over to touch his arm. He pushed my hand away.

"Just tell me why you don't feel for me the way you feel for Dally," he said.

"Ponyboy I do like you. Really I do, just not in the way you want me to. You're like a brother to me. And so is the rest of the gang. Just like Laurie is a brother to Jo. Jo could never feel anything more than a sisterly love towards Laurie." I said, trying to make him comprehend.

"Why isn't Dally like your brother then if all the rest of us are?"

"Because Dallas Winston never showed that he cared for me in a brotherly way. The first day I met him I thought he was going to beat my head in." I said, chuckling in spite of myself, remembering back to the day I had stepped into the Curtis's kitchen and first laid eyes on him.

"Oh so you like guys who will beat you up?"

"I'm not saying that Ponyboy! Dally doesn't let people in that easily. When I first met him I doubted he would ever really like me. He would only associate with me because of you guys. But after some time past he started to let me in. To have him let me in really means something. It means that he does care for me, maybe not in the same way I care for him but he still cares." I said biting my lip again. I didn't know how to explain it. I wasn't even aware that I loved Dally until a minute ago and now I had to explain why I did.

"Whatever."

"Ponyboy don't be like this." I said. He shook his head at me and then walked out of the house with his cigarette. I sat alone in the Curtis's living room for a second and then got up and left the house, not locking the door behind me. I knew the Curtis's never locked the door, no matter how many times Aunt Candace told them too. Ponyboy was walking down to Johnny's house and I could tell by the way that he was striding that he was upset. Not wanting to bother him even more I walked the other direction to Trisha and Olivia's house.

"Hello?" I asked, pushing the screen door open to find Trisha sitting on the sofa in the living room drinking a beer and staring at the wall.

"Hey Roxie." Trisha said putting her beer down on the coffee table. She got up to go the fridge and got me a Coke.

"Thanks." I said accepting the soda. "Where's Olivia?" I asked looking around. Trisha pointed to Olivia's bedroom.

"She's locked herself in again, playing that stupid song of there's over and over again. If I have to hear it one more time I'm going to scream." Trisha said solemnly. She got up off the couch and knocked on Olivia's door. "Ollie please let me in! Roxie's here. Do you want to see Roxie?" she asked pleadingly but the door remained shut. Trisha sighed and sat back down on the sofa. "Tonight I'm going to ask Darry to take the locks off all the doors in this house so she can't bolt herself in anymore." I nodded. Trisha turned to look at me; she studied me for a moment, as if I were a painting or something. "So you finally figured it out huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"You finally figured out that you're in love with Dally! Duh!" she said rolling her eyes. How can I be in love with someone and everybody knows it but me?

"I don't know if I'd go so far to call it love…" I said tracing the rim of my Coke bottle with my fingertip. Trisha rolled her eyes again.

"Roxie when you're with him it's like you're a different person. You're more confident, you look happier. Your eyes have a special sparkle to them and your smile gets wider when he talks to you. If that's not love then what is?" Trisha asked.

"Lust?"

"Lust is the first step towards love dummy!" she said hitting me with the sofa cushion. "So what are you going to do?"

"Act like it never happened?" I asked. She hit me with the pillow again.

"Roxie, you only fall in love once in a lifetime, especially with a guy like Dallas. I went out with him once a long time ago but it didn't work out. He was way too wild for even me. I never would have thought a girl could tame Dally but you have."

"I tamed him?"

"Sure you did. Remember that night at the fair when Dally was about to sock Evie and you stopped him. If I had tried that, if Olivia had, if any of the guys (except perhaps Johnny) had tried that we would have been plowed over. But he didn't touch you; he did what you told him to. Dally doesn't usually listen to people." Trisha explained.

"Does that mean that Dally loves me back?"

"Judging by the fact that Dally has never let people tell him what to do I'd say yes." Trisha said smiling. I couldn't help but smile too.

"So what should I do?" I asked.

"Tell him how you feel of course!"

"Oh no. I can't do that…" I said tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"Why not? Just go up and tell him. It's not that hard."

"That's easy for you to say. You're beautiful. You have guys falling at your feet. You get asked out all the time. I haven't even been kissed yet!" I said, almost bitterly.

"You are beautiful Roxie." Trisha said sincerely. I snorted.

"Only when you do my makeup and hair. If it wasn't for you Dally probably never would have looked at me other than some annoying tag-along kid who was friends with the Curtis's. If you do my makeup and hair maybe then I can have the courage to tell him." I said hopefully. Trisha shook her head.

"I can't besides you don't need all that."

"Yes I do. I just can't tell Dallas that I love him looking like this." I said gesturing to my jean shorts and sweaty white tank top.

"Sure you can Roxie. You're beautiful."

"No I'm not…"

"You don't need me Roxie. You never have. I just dyed your hair and smeared a bunch of makeup on your face. That night at the fair you were beautiful Roxie because once in your life you believed in yourself. You believed you were beautiful and so did the rest of the world." Trisha said throwing her beer bottle into the trash can. I sat on the sofa, letting her words sink in.

"But how?" I asked. Trisha gave me a sort of sad half smile.

"It's the hidden secret that no one ever tells you. We all can be beautiful girls. It's so easy. Like Dorothy clicking her heels to go home. You could do it all along," she said going into her room. She came back a second later with a small hand mirror. She sat down next to me on the couch and held it up so I could see my face. "What do you see?" she asked.

It took a minute to register that I was looking at myself. The girl in the mirror was beautiful. Her short hair was wavy from the humidity but it looked natural, not frizzy. Her bright eyes the color of ocean mist jumped out from her skin that was rosy with sunburn from spending so many hours outdoors playing football and walking around. But her beauty wasn't in the cookie-cutter way that all the pictures around

Trisha's mirror where. She didn't have the effortlessly good-looks that Evie and Sandy did. She knew she was different from the others, and that made her all the more beautiful. She knew the secret, and she had clicked her heels three times to find her way home. I finally looked up from the mirror.

"Trisha is that how I really am?" I asked. She smiled and nodded. I bit my bottom lip as I smiled and looked at myself in the mirror again. "Do you see now?" she asked. I nodded. "Good. I knew you would," she said as she put the mirror on the coffee table and got up to knock on Olivia's door again. "Olivia honey, open the door please!"

In response Olivia turned up her music very loudly to some love song that I had heard on the radio a few times. Trisha sighed. "Roxie why don't you head on home?

It's almost dinner. I'll talk to you later. Let me know if anything happens between you and Dally," she winked at me but I could tell that she was sad underneath. Olivia hadn't been taking the breakup well at all and as a result Trisha was stressing herself out.

"Alright," I said getting up. "Don't forget that my aunt is having that party type thing for the eclipse." I reminded her. Trisha nodded and I left for home.

So Roxie finally realized she love Dally! Took her long enough huh? But does Dally love her back? And what will happen with Ponyboy since he likes her too? You'll just have to wait and see.

Infinite X's and O's,
Hannah