Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders. Do any of you?

A/N: Hello everyone! If you read my Fruits Basket stuff too, you'll know that I'm late getting back to this because of vacation and the start of school. Which I like right now, because we're only coming to the end of the second week. Not even the second week since I missed the first two days and only went to school on Friday. (School started here on a Wednesday). And this week we have a three day weekend which is completely and totally awesome. Labor day you know. I guess everyone has a three day weekend! Happy Labor Day everyone! (We're having a meat sale here, are you? I'll bet you're jealous of our meat sale. Seriously, why would someone put up a sign for a meat sale on a high school bulletin? What high schooler cares about meat sales? Sometimes I just don't understand people's reasoning.) I always ramble during these because I have so much to say and don't have the sense to go to that thingamabobber right above the stories. I should go there soon because I really do have a lot to say to everyone. Well anyway, without further ado, THE STORY!

I took over scrambling the eggs and told Darry to just get the chocolate cake out. Soda came out not long after and I put down his chocolate milk and eggs with jelly. He beamed up at me, not even thinking to ask how I knew he liked jelly in his scrambled eggs. Darry took his eggs and left, apologizing he wouldn't be able to stay and explaining that he still had to go to work. I told him not to worry about it and sat down. That was when I realized something very vital in this picture was missing. Ponyboy.

Just as the thought crossed my mind, Sodapop asked, "Have you seen Ponyboy? He didn't come home last night, not that I know. I thought he might have come in in the morning and told you where he'd be." When I shook my head, he started to look worried.

After we finished breakfast, he went to the phone and called what I assumed was one of the gang's numbers. Obviously he couldn't call Darry to ask if he'd seen Ponyboy on his cell-phone because - and this is just a guess here - they might not have cell phones in 1960. Not that I wasn't blonde enough for that thought to have crossed my mind for a second.

"Hey Mrs. Cade. Is Johnny there?" Pause. "All right, thanks." He hung up, a confused and even more worried look on his perfect features. He dialed another number and put the receiver to his ear.

"Hey Two-Bit. Seen Johnny or Ponyboy? Pony's been missing since last night and Johnny isn't home." Pause. "All right. Do you have any idea where they would be?" Pause. "Why try Buck's?" Pause. "Oh, Dally's there. I really don't want to talk to Buck though, especially since he's probably having a hangover." I prayed that Johnny and Ponyboy hadn't tried to run away again during another pause. "All right, thanks Two-Bit." He hung up the phone and dialed yet another number.

"Hello? This is Sodapop Curtis. Put Dallas Winston on the line." There was another pause and I assumed whoever it was on the other line was taking the phone to Dallas. "Hey Dally. Stop cussin for a second and listen to me. Are Ponyboy and Johnny there?" Relief was so acute on his face, I thought for a second he would pass out. "Great. Tell them to get over here now. Bye." He hung up the phone and looked at me, a broad grin on his face.

"Dally said there comin!" I smiled in relief too. For whatever reason they were at Buck's instead of here, they weren't in a church or on a train. No one had been killed, or I could assume that much. Nothing terribly awful had happened.

In about fifteen minutes, a junker car pulled in front of the house and Dallas, Johnny, and Ponyboy all came out. Johnny and Ponyboy had very guilty looks on their faces and Dallas was wearing his regular scowl. They came in and Soda immediately gave Ponyboy a hug, and then almost as an afterthought, gave Johnny one too. I refrained myself from hugging and kissing everyone. They weren't going to jail! Johnny wasn't going to die!

"You had us worried sick! Where were you?" Soda asked Ponyboy.

Pony opened his mouth to speak, his ears turning red. "After Darry hit me, I ran to the lot and saw Johnny asleep. I woke him up and asked him to run away. Told him we had to. I was crying by then. Johnny got this really weird look on his face, and he said no. He said he'd walk me home." Johnny just sort of nodded and got all red in the face. He chanced a quick glance at me, but quickly looked away, an aloof look on his face. "We were almost here when we saw the Socs. They were really drunk and very scary. They looking like they were going to beat us up. We ran until we were almost lost. I asked Johnny where we should go and we decided we'd better find Dallas. We spent the night at Buck Merril's."

"And you didn't think once to call?" asked Soda. He didn't sound mad, but he sounded disappointed instead, which I could tell made Ponyboy feel worse than he would have if it had been Darry yelling at him instead.

I decided to say something. "Maybe they were just sort of shooken up. I know if that had happened to me, I probably wouldn't have thought to call anyone."

They all stared at me, Johnny and Ponyboy looking a little appreciative. Soda nodded his head and said I had a valid point and I told myself not to blush, not to blush, don't kiss Soda, don't kiss Soda. "But you know Darry might be mad." Pony nodded and then things kind of went back to normal. Sort of.

Two-Bit came in around noon and the seven of us sat around playing poker. I took half of the winnings to my side at the end of the game, and the other six had to divide what was left and what they had amongst themselves. Two-Bit gave me an admiring look. "You play a good game of cards," he said. I smiled and thanked him. My grandpa had been teaching me how since I was eight. Dallas scowled and mumbled something, then left the room.

"Aw, don't mind him. He's just sore because he lost," Sodapop explained. "He's usually the best hand at poker, and you just beat him sorry." I put the winnings back on the table and told everyone to take it. They looked at me strangely and then told me to keep it myself. When they asked me if I had any money and I realized the only money I had was twenty dollars, I decided maybe I should keep it. So I stuffed it all in a pillowcase which would have to make do as a purse until further arrangements could be made.

Dallas came back out and we all sort of vegged out. Darry came home and there was some yelling which was when Johnny, Dallas, and Two-Bit decided to leave. I asked if I could get in one of their cars and Two-Bit explained he couldn't. He had to go pick up his mom and if his mom saw him with a girl he would be fried. (He had just broken up with a girl and his mom said she liked him to have a little decency and wait at least two weeks before picking up another one). "And besides, you're not blonde. I have a strict no-non-blonde's in the back seat of my car." He gave me a grin, and left. That left me with Johnny and Dallas. I sort of pawed at the concrete sidewalk with the toe of my shoe until Dallas groaned and said I could get in his car. I smiled and the three of us got in. Dallas drove to Johnny's home.

I knew what to expect. I knew when Johnny opened the door to go inside, he wasn't going to get worried parents who would hug and kiss him. He wouldn't get someone to yell at him for not calling. Believe it or not, teenagers really do need someone to ground them for running away and causing trouble. They need someone to worry, they need someone to love them. Johnny had no one. Before he got out of the car, I gave him one of my Sassy-hugs. That is to say, I crushed the crap out of him. "Thank you," I whispered in his ear. "For not running away." He just turned red and got out of the car.

Dallas lit up a cigarette before starting the car. "What was that about?" he asked.

"Oh…just nothing." Dallas started the car and we drove around in silence for a bit.

"You plannin on goin to school?" he asked me. School…I had always wondered what school would be like in the 1960s. But did I really want to go? Yes. Homework might be homework, but from a different age in time it certainly wasn't. ((Haha, that makes no sense)).

"I don't know," I answered, even though I did. "I think so, but I still don't really know what I'm doing. My aunt's gone, my parents are dead, I…ran away from my last foster family." Also the truth. That's why I had been going to Seattle. The foster parents had been completely unbearable. "I have no where to go." The truth hit me. I had no where to go. I didn't know how to get out of this crazy world, and a part of me that was growing with every hour didn't want to.

"Darry, Sodapop, and Ponyboy wouldn't mind if you stayed with them longer," he said, lighting yet another cigarette. He offered me one and I declined.

"I don't want to impose."

He grinned and told me I wasn't. "There are always so many boys on that couch, I don't know how you stand the stench of it."

I said, "There is a hint of B.O." He looked at me strangely and I said, "Body Odor." He laughed, actually laughed. Well, it was more of a snort accompanied by a grin, but I liked to pretend it was a laugh. Imagine the look on Sally's face when I told her I had made Dallas Winston laugh? She would probably try sending me to the funny farm. Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut on that little victory.

And that was when we crashed.

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