Title- The Return of Jess

Chapter Title- Crummy Day Gets Slightly Better

Disclaimer- I do now own The Outsiders

Note- Don't you just hate it when your laptop doesn't work at night? Mine doesn't work at night anymore, only during the day, how odd.

"At least you're a blonde," I told her and she looked at me confused. She wouldn't get it. She asked about his real name and I told it her was Keith. She liked Two-Bit better.

We went to our house, and she went out to go get milk. Michelle and Anna came over. Something was different with Anna, I couldn't tell. We talked until Sara came back.

"What does Lisa's hair look like?" Anna erupted into laughter. That's what it was. Anna had brown hair, it wasn't that much darker. It actually kind of looked like Ponyboy's hair: reddish-brown. Anna wouldn't stop laughing. She even managed to trip down the stairs.

"What're we gonna do tomorrow?" I asked them. They knew it was my birthday.

"Uh, we have stuff to do with our mom," Michelle said.

"Let's go to the movies," Sara said and I agreed. Movies, oh shit! I had a date with Soda tonight!

"Gee, Jess, you look like you just saw a ghost." I shook my head a little.

"I just remembered I had a date," I told them and ran out to DX. I hoped they were still there. I hadn't seen what time it was. I ran in, I couldn't see them. Did I pass Soda outside? I checked the window, nope he wasn't out there. I looked at the clock, they should've been there. I decided to stick around for a while. Maybe they were fixing a car.

"Jess," Steve's voice called. I turned around a little fast.

"Huh?" I asked him.

"Me an' Evie are comin' with you an' Soda tonight."

"Where're we going?"

"I don't know, probably Jay's." I nodded; at least it wasn't The Dingo. I didn't really like going there when I had work. I hadn't been to Jay's yet.

Steve introduced me to Evie; I hadn't formally met her yet. Surprisingly enough, I hadn't seen her either. Being a waitress, I see a lot of people, but not this girl. I really liked being alone with Soda. I don't know why I was so shy around this girl, maybe it was the fact she was my brother's girlfriend. I barely made it through the night. Soda dropped us off at Steve's house, my old house but I stayed in the car.

"Aren't you going?" I shook my head.

"I don't live there anymore," I told him and gave him the directions to Sara's house. I kissed him good-night and headed to the backyard. I laid face-first on the bed and sighed. I closed my eyes and fell asleep. Some birthday I'd have tomorrow. I was going to the movies with Sara, everybody else had plans.

I woke the next morning thanks to an alarm clock. I had it set for an hour before work. I had enough time to eat, shower, get dressed, and walk to work. I don't move very fast in the morning. I'm not a morning person, or a night person. I'm a mid-day person. Today was going to be crummy. I liked Sara, but I honestly wanted to spend my birthday with a lot of people, not just her.

I walked into work and Pat looked at me and kind of smiled.

"Wanna get paid extra today?"

"Sure, what do I have to do?"

"Work an extra shift, that girl Lisa called sick today so we had to call in somebody but they refused to work two shifts."

"I'll do it, but can I have a lunch?"

"Sure, we ain't gonna starve ya." Okay, today wasn't so crummy. Lisa wasn't here today so it was better, not a lot better. I'd have to hope that Sara came in for lunch, so I could call off our movie plans.

She did and she was okay with it. She looked kind of relieved. 'Whatever,' I thought and continued to work. I had an hour and 45 minutes for lunch so I walked over to DX after grabbing a handful of fries and a burger.

"Aren't you supposed to work today?"

"Working double, getting paid double, I got a lunch break."

"Oh," Soda said and nodded.

"I need to go, I just figured I'd tell you," I told him.

"Bye," he said with a kiss.

"Bye," I responded and returned the kiss.