Disclaimer: The Outsiders is © S.E.Hinton. I own Matt and Nate. Hahukum Konn owns Shawn, and I use him only with Hahukum's kind permission.

Chapter Fourteen
The Christmas Call

It was now December, in the middle of the Holiday break. Darry, Soda, Steve, and Nate were at work, and Two-bit was baby sitting his kid sister since she didn't have school. Pony, Shawn, and I were just hanging around the Curtis house. It wasn't like we had anything specific to do. So basically we were lounging around on the couch, watching TV, listening to the radio, reading, doing whatever we felt like.

It was nearly Christmas now, and a sullen feeling was beginning to creep through my and Nate's house; this was going to be our first Christmas without Mom and Dad.

I glanced at the corner of the room, where a small Christmas tree sat alone, under which sat a meager pile of presents. It was at times like this that I missed having money.

"Hey Shawn?" I asked suddenly, remembering something.

He looked up from the TV. "Yeah?"

"Aren't you going to spend Christmas with your family or something?" I asked. I had noticed that he hadn't packed at all, and I had never heard him mention anything at all about his family. Surely he had parents or something somewhere….

"No," he said quickly. "They're dead." He said it very flatly, no emotion in his voice. "They died on their farm in North Dakota, a little while after I left."

"Sorry," I said.

Shawn just raised and lowered one shoulder, then returned his eyes to the TV.

"You wanna hear something funny?" I asked them, trying to lighten up the mood. "When I first met Shawn, Two-bit said that Shawn claimed he was from the future or somethin'. Ain't that weird?"

I noticed Ponyboy look up from the red and green paper chain he was making and glance up with raised eyebrows at Shawn, who frowned and returned his gaze. They seemed to make a decision then, 'cause Shawn looked at me and shrugged, saying, "Well, you know Two-Bit. Always coming up with some crazy thing or another."

I laughed, remembering Two-Bit and the pomegranate, though I felt as though they were hiding something for me.

We sat in silence again for a moment, Shawn sitting in the old, overstuffed armchair, Pony sitting cross legged on the floor, a huge paper chain coiled like a snake around him, strips of red and green paper littering the floor, a pack of glue sticks beside him. I was stretched out on the couch, yawning leisurely, experiencing the joy of not having to do anything I didn't feel like doing.

"You know what's been bothering me?" Ponyboy asked me, out of the blue.

"No, what?"

"You, my friend," he said matter-of-factly, "look absolutely nothing like a greaser."

"What?" I asked, confused. "I'm not a middle-classer, and I definitely ain't no soc." At least not anymore, I thought.

"You don't look like a greaser," Ponyboy repeated. He got up and descended to the bathroom, then returned with a comb and a tube of something or another.

"I remember when I got all greased up," said Shawn, amused. "Two-Bit did it. Lifted some clothes and stuff from the thrift store down on the corner."

I had gotten my clothes from the same thrift store after the fire, though Nate had paid for mine, so I personally didn't see what the problem was.

"Then came the grease," he said.

Instantly, I felt something cool and slimy being run through my hair, and I realized Ponyboy had been attacking my head with the comb and hair grease, which was what was in the tube.

Finally, he stepped back to examine his creation. He looked at me skeptically for a moment, then said, "It'll do. It'll look better once you grow your hair out a bit."

Shawn grinned at me. "Now you're all dressed up for Christmas!" he said.

I rolled my eyes. Nate was going to have a good laugh at me tonight. Either that, or he'd get mad. Don't ask me why he would, that just sounded like something he would do. But either way, it would be rather amusing.

"Speaking of dressing up for Christmas…" said Ponyboy. "This house could sure use a bit of decorating…."

Ten minutes later, Ponyboy had raided the attic. The tiny Christmas tree had been given a decorative tree skirt wrapped around the base and Pony's long paper chain had been draped across the branches. A few old Christmas balls had also made their way to the tree, some dating back to decades before Ponyboy was born. A few of them had dates painted on them; one had the Curtis parents' names on it, saying "our first Christmas" and listing a date some twenty-five years previously. There were Pony, Soda, and Darry's first Christmas ornaments, and others that belonged to Pony's grandparents.

We arranged an old, hand carved wooden nativity scene on the mantle, above a couple of faded and patched Christmas stockings. We threw some garlands and holly around too, arguing where to put it, then finally added a star to the top of the Christmas tree.

Eventually, Pony and I hauled a ladder out of the garage and leaned it up against the roof, and were finally able to convince a skeptical Shawn to staple Christmas lights to the roof while I held the latter and Pony untangled the huge ball of lights he had unearthed from the various detritus of the attic.

"If I fall," said Shawn, stapling some of the lights onto the roof, "you two are paying for my hospital bill."

"Then don't fall," Ponyboy yelled back up.

From outside, we just barely heard the ringing of the phone inside.

"I'll get it," said Pony, abandoning his post as light-untangler and running into the house.

"He'd better come back soon," said Shawn. "I'd prefer to get down off of this ladder as soon as possible."

"Matt!" Ponyboy called from the door, "It's for you!"

I too left, leaving Shawn calling for someone to come back and hold the ladder, and grabbed the receiver from Pony's hand.

"Hello?" I asked, wondering who would know to find me at the Curtis house.

"Thank God," came a familiar voice. "I've been calling all over the place for you. I couldn't reach you at your house, so I figured you might be over there…"

"Steve?" I asked. Since when did Steve want to talk to me?

"Yeah, listen, you gotta get down to the station now!"

- - - - -

Muwahahahaha. Aren't I evil, a short chapter and a cliffy all in one. Now, I'll make a deal with y'all. The more reviews I get, the sooner I'll update. Thanks to the magic counter thing in the login page, I know I'm getting more hits than reviews, so if your reading this, PLEASE REVIEW! I'm on my last chapter and possibly and epilogue now, so. Remember Flames excepted, as well as somewhat expected. So now a big thanks to Hahukum Konn, who puts up with these chapters unbetaed, then betas them, and allows me to leave Shawn hanging around on the Curtis' roof. Another thank you to those of you who actually DO review…..

Hahukum Konn- Here it is, hope you like it. And thanks for betaing for me, you really help a lot. Ah, the end is near….

Darkdestiny2000- Yes, I agree, poor Matt. And the worst is yet to come. Though I'm afraid Nate won't exactly be joining the gang anytime soon….

Aoki-chan- Yeah, I figured I could put the Turkey to a good use, even if it was going to be taken by the socs. Thanks for reviewing, and I hope you liked the update.

Bookworm

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