Title- The Return of Jess

Chapter Title- Not 'Til I'm Married

Disclaimer- I do not own The Outsiders

Note- I did a bad thing... I pulled an all nighter, and I finally got my laptop running during the night. YAY! It's a crappy one anyway, so I'm surprised it hasn't died yet. It's Windows 95, and a brand I haven't heard of. It's hand-me-down, and it's only good for word processing. I type most of my work on it, save it to a floppy and transfer it to my HP computer. The HP is the family's, the laptop's mine.

I woke up to see four girls staring at me, 3 brunettes and a blonde. I couldn't guess their ages, but I figured these were the twins' sisters.

"Who is she?" one of them whispered to the other 3.

"I'm Jessica, I live here," I told them.

"Does our dad know?"

"Sure he does," I answered, I didn't know for sure. I hated kids, how the twins put up with 4 sisters, it's beyond me.

I rolled over and looked at the clock. 12 o'clock, oh my god I'm dead! I got out of bed and changed my pants and put on a new shirt. I quickly brushed my hair and ran to The Dingo. I ran the fastest I ever had, but it still didn't change the fact that I was an hour late.

Pat stared at me and I noticed Lisa's replacement taking orders. I saw another girl with an order pad; Pat probably thought I wasn't coming in.

"Your friend said you weren't comin' in, I was goin' to call you to get you to work the later shift." I sighed. I was stuck with that shift, well; it was the price you pay for having a party.

"Okay, oh, I gotta give you my new number. I moved out of my father's house." I wrote down the number and told her to ask for Sara first and then ask for me. On week ends she could ask for Sara, Michelle, or Anna first. She rolled her eyes and I wrote it down on a piece of paper.

I walked back home and set the alarm clock. I noticed Sara was passed out on the bed still. The poor girl would have a horrible hang over.

When the alarm clock buzzed, Sara shot up. I pushed her back into the bed and shut the alarm clock off.

"Go back to sleep," I told her. Maybe she'd sleep off the hangover. It'd be better than having to go through the day with a headache.

I walked into The Dingo a few minutes early. The rest of the day went fine. I had spitballs spat at me from boys who thought they were tuff shit. Babies cried and parents were yelling at me.

I was glad when I got home, except for the fact that I'd have to share my room with a bunch of kids. I'd have to find a cheap apartment or something, or maybe I could live with this. It was only on the weekends. It was plain to see that Sara's uncle didn't enjoy his six girls around the house, let alone Sara. How did he manage five pregnancies? His wife must've been a bitch.

Anna had stuff to do with Lisa. She was going to find out what made Lisa mad (besides mentioning her hair that is) and when Lisa would be going back to work. Michelle was going out with some guy and Sara was a little wiped out, not to mention hung over. There was nothing to do, unless I went to Soda's.

I wrote a note because I figured Sara would forget if one of the twins asked her. I walked over, deciding I needed a car again. I opened the door, expecting to see everybody there, but it was dead.

"Did they ditch you?"

"No, they had plans. Steve's goin' out with that girl at your party. He an' Evie broke up. Ponyboy went to the Nightly Double with Two-Bit. So it just leaves Darry and me. I guess you too, huh?"

"Yeah, wait, you said Steve was going out with a girl at my party? Did she happen to have red hair?" He nodded. Steve was going out with Michelle. Was Michelle the girl Evie caught him flirting with? I'd have to ask her later. I walked over to the couch and sat down next to Soda.

"I didn't see you a lot at your party," he said.

"Well all the girls were around you, how were you going to see me?"

"Are you jealous?"

"Just a little," I told him.

"Don't be."

"Stop being so good-looking."

"Then why would you like me?"

"'Cause you're nice." And then we started making-out, but what else was new. The phone rang and I think it was the first time I noticed Darry was in the room. Apparently Two-Bit had left Pony alone at the Nightly Double. Darry was surprised Pony called him and used his head. It was kind of dark; anybody would've called for a ride. 'Behave,' was his final warning as he left the house. I'd behave; I was only doing that sort of thing when I was married. Look where it had left my mom, a single parent with a rotten daughter.

"I'm not doing that until I'm married," I said. He nodded, he understood. I said bye and kissed his cheek. I walked home and into the basement. I saw Michelle.

"So how was your date, with Steve?"

"Oh, you found out. It was good."

"I wouldn't be mad at you; in fact, I'd rather he dated you than Evie. I like you better." She laughed at that.

"I like myself better than Evie. Have you seen Sara?"

"She was here when I left, why?"

"I can't find her."

"I don't think that's good." It wasn't. If some guy on the street found Sara and offered her something, she'd take it to be tuff.