Chapter Five:

Disclaimer: All Outsider related material belongs to S.E. Hinton. The song is "Respect" by Aretha Franklin.

The rain began to fall more and more slowly, from pouring down in sheets to a light drizzle.

The lightning flashed and the thunder rolled one last dramatic time before the rain stopped completely and the thunderstorm ended.

"Just in time," Darry remarked. "The candles are almost burned down." It was true. The candles were beginning to flicker as they burned down to a stub.

The lamps flickered once, twice, and then shone. "Yee-haw!" Soda shouted, leaping up. "The power's back on!"

Johnny blew out the candles. Darry threw out the candle stubs and looked critically at Ponyboy.

"That's strange. You look a lot worse than you did before, Pony," he remarked. Ponyboy blew his nose. Mercifully, Darry had found some Kleenex.

"Um," Ponyboy said intelligently. "Well, I, uh, ah, ah, ACHOO!" he sneezed. Darry was right. He did feel a lot worse.

"I just don't understand it. How could you have gotten worse if you were in the house all day-" Darry broke off. He turned towards Ponyboy slowly, looking suspicious.

"You didn't happen to go outside, did you, Ponyboy? Sneaking to the park for some fun?" Darry said menacingly. Ponyboy felt like he was in the interrogation room on one of those crime shows.

Ponyboy tried not to make eye contact with Darry. He was horrible at lying. "N-no. Why would I do something like that?" he said, feigning innocence.

"Ponyboy," Darry said warningly. He leaned in towards Ponyboy. "If I find out you're lying, I'll kick your sorry-"

"Alright, already!" Ponyboy cut him off, practically crying with remorse. He hated it when Darry got the best of him like this.

Darry always got the truth out of everybody. It didn't help that Ponyboy was probably the worst liar in Tulsa.

"Alright, Darry," Ponyboy said, defeated. "I, uh, went to the park with Johnny and got caught in the rain. Achoo!" He wiped his nose with a Kleenex, avoiding Darry's furious gaze.

"If it helps any, he saved me from getting jumped," Soda said in a small voice. "Those Socs would've cut me to ribbons."

"Why weren't you at work!" Darry fumed. "Boss closed early! Then he called me not to bother to come back today because of the rain!" Soda said quickly.

Darry's rage diminished, but ever so slightly. "Why were you out of the house anyway, Pony? You just don't use your head!"

"I'm sorry, Darry, I wanted out! You have no idea what it's like to be cooped up here all day!"

"Well, why didn't you talk to Two-Bit? He was supposed to be here!" Darry raged. Ponyboy had an inner battle. Two-Bit did run off, but Ponyboy didn't want to get Two-Bit in trouble either.

Just as Ponyboy had made his decision, Two-Bit came banging through the door. "Hey, Pony, Soda, Johnny…oh. Hey, Darry," he said meekly. He cowered as Darry started shouting.

"Where were you? You were supposed to be here! Why doesn't anybody LISTEN to me anymore?" Darry roared.

"Why don't you people get it! Why can't you just listen to what I say for once? It is that difficult!" he ranted. "All I want is just a little respect!"

He finished, looking like a volcano about to blow. Ponyboy sneezed again. His head was throbbing from all of Darry's shouting. Where did I leave the aspirins? He wondered feebly.

And then the music started, and Darry started singing.

"(oo) What you want
(oo) Baby, I got
(oo) What you need
(oo) Do you know I got it?
(oo) All I'm askin'
(oo) Is for a little respect when you come home (just a little bit)
Hey baby (just a little bit) when you get home
(just a little bit) mister (just a little bit)

I ain't gonna do you wrong while you're gone
Ain't gonna do you wrong (oo) 'cause I don't wanna (oo)
All I'm askin' (oo)
Is for a little respect when you come home (just a little bit)
Baby (just a little bit) when you get home (just a little bit)
Yeah (just a little bit)

I'm about to give you all of my money
And all I'm askin' in return, honey
Is to give me my profits
When you get home (just a, just a, just a, just a)
Yeah baby (just a, just a, just a, just a)
When you get home (just a little bit)
Yeah (just a little bit)

Ooo, your kisses (oo)
Sweeter than honey (oo)
And guess what? (oo)
So is my money (oo)
All I want you to do (oo) for me
Is give it to me when you get home (re, re, re ,re)
Yeah baby (re, re, re ,re)
Whip it to me (respect, just a little bit)
When you get home, now (just a little bit)

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Take care, TCB

Oh (sock it to me, sock it to me,
sock it to me, sock it to me)
A little respect (sock it to me, sock it to me,
sock it to me, sock it to me)
Whoa, babe (just a little bit)
A little respect (just a little bit)
I get tired (just a little bit)
Keep on tryin' (just a little bit)
You're runnin' out of foolin' (just a little bit)
And I ain't lyin' (just a little bit)
(re, re, re, re) 'spect
When you come home (re, re, re ,re)
Or you might walk in (respect, just a little bit)
And find out I'm gone (just a little bit)
I got to have (just a little bit)
A little respect (just a little bit)."

Darry finished singing and turned back to Two-Bit and continued his tirade. Ponyboy shook his head slightly. Have I gone completely bonkers? Or have they? He wondered.

"But, Darry, it wasn't my fault! Dally said he'd-" Darry cut off Two-Bit.

"Do you really think Dally is going to be that responsible? Did you really think…? No. No, you didn't, did you. You weren't thinking at all!"

Darry continued ranting, Soda tried to calm down Darry, Two-Bit cowered, Ponyboy sneezed and coughed, and the entire place was general chaos until the front door slammed again.

It was Steve. They all stared at him. "What?" Steve said curiously, looking at them staring at him like he had grown a second head. They ignored him and returned to what they were doing.

Johnny, who had been sitting quietly for the past twenty or so minutes, had had enough. He remembered a trick Dally had shown him once.

He put his two pinky fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly and shrilly enough to break the sound barrier. Everyone stopped what they were doing and put their hands over their ears.

"Just, stop," Johnny said, trying to keep his cool. "You're right," Darry said. "Jeez, I have to get back to work!" He grabbed his tool belt and ran to his car, slamming the door behind him.

Ponyboy winced at the noise. Sodapop noticed and handed him the box of aspirins. Ponyboy took seven, and his headache cleared.

"Now what?" said Two-Bit. "I'm bored." Soda rolled his eyes. "Two-Bit, you get bored in five seconds with anything that doesn't involve blondes, making wise-cracks, or stealing."

Two-Bit looked hurt. "That's not true! I can pay plenty of attention to…um. Yeah, I guess you're right," he said sheepishly.

"We could take a walk," Ponyboy said hopefully. "You know, to the park? Maybe we'll catch the sunset."

Johnny shrugged. Soda said, "Okay by me." Two-Bit grinned his famous grin and announced, "Well, what're we waiting for? Let's go!"

So the four of them walked along to the park. Johnny and Ponyboy walked ahead in silence, but Soda and Two-bit preferred to hang back, goofing around, shoving each other, and being a general nuisance.

It was just a few minutes until sunset. Ponyboy was so focused on getting to the park in time to watch the sunset that he was completely unaware of what was going on.

He never would have noticed the commotion in the middle of the street if Johnny hadn't grabbed his arm and pulled him around to watch.

There was a small crowd of greasers in the street, talking, arguing, shouting, and making a general ruckus. A policeman was trying to break it up.

Ponyboy and Johnny squeezed through the crowd to see what was going on. No surprise, Soda and Two-Bit were in the center, talking to the policeman.

Ponyboy arrived just in time to hear the policeman say, "Alright, you two, you've got a lot of explaining to do! What is the meaning of all this?"

"Gosh, officer, we didn't mean no harm," Two-Bit said innocently, grinning widely.

The officer glared to Two-Bit. "That's what they all say. Explain yourselves, before I have to arrest you two hooligans!"

Uh oh. What happened? I promise, it's not as lame as what happened last time I did something like this. Again, the faster you review, the faster the next chapter comes up.

By the way, if you have any song suggestions, tell me and I'll try to use them.