Title- Dealing With It

Chapter Title- The Problem With This

Disclaimer- I do not own The Outsiders

Reviewers-

Darkravenx0- I'm just gonna ignore you from now on…

Babygurl33- Here's an update

Iluvtxcowboiz- I know, she's a brat… very, very evil

Punkforever- I'm not going to even ask… Ranger Dan…

Note- Must I remind you about flashbacks again? S'pose I must, they are omnipresent... I am getting the Green Day poster! -Does a little dance- I made brownies today! I didn't burn the house down! -Dances again- and, they are the gooey kind!

It was hard. I couldn't do it. I got mad and threw the measuring cup at the wall. Then I got mad at myself and rushed to clean it all up. I kept cleaning the same spot even after it was clean. It looked too clean compared to the rest of the house and I cleaned it out.

Then, because my hands felt sticky, I went into the bathroom. In fact, my whole body felt sticky. I shut the door, took off my clothes and put the shower water as hot as it could go. I liked it when it was hot. I was boiling the germs and killing them. I scrubbed my body until it was sore and red. I stayed in the shower until the water turned icy cool. I was thinking about the problems this had caused. There were many.

Flashback

Ronnie looked at the chocolate cake fin front of her. It had candles lit up on top of it. She silently counted them, 15. She was turning fifteen, and her mom didn't believe in that 'one for good luck' stuff. She gasped and pulled out the one candle. She didn't bother blowing it out. She just threw it away. The garbage caught fire and everybody screamed. Well, not everybody, just Megan and Winnie. The fire had been quickly extinguished, and Ronnie fled to the bathroom. She returned later with her hands scratched.

"Why'd you throw it away?" Jessica asked.

"It, it looked broken," Ronnie lied. The subject was dropped and Ronnie grabbed a piece of cake.

I heard the door open and I peeked through the shower curtain. I wanted to know who it was. Quickly, my hand shot out and grabbed the towel on the toilet bowl. I shut the water off and wrapped it around me.

"Dad," I shrieked, kind of scared. I could tell I was turning red. My ears were hot and so were my cheeks. He shut his eyes and walked out. I loved my dad, but I was frightened then. I knew he didn't see anything, but I felt weird. I walked into my room, and locked the door. I decided I should start locking doors. So nobody could walk in on me.

"Ronnie, baby, why is there no hot water left?" dad asked from outside my door. His voice was soft, he was always a good dad. I loved him more than mom, but not more than Nate. Nobody, I mean nobody, could take Nate's spot. I stood there for a few seconds, unsure what to say.

"Uh, uh, I don't know," I lied. I knew he could tell when I was lying.

"Are you sure?" he questioned. He knew I was lying, but I wasn't going to give in.

"Yeah," I told him quickly. He sighed and I heard him walk away. I finished getting dressed and went into the living room. I heard mom and dad talking in the kitchen.

"Soda, she was in there for two hours," mom told him. She sounded worried. "She told Winnie that germs would kill her and then tried to wash her hands. Ronnie washes her hands until they bleed."

"Jessi, I'm sure she'll get over it," dad said, reassuringly.

"I hope so," mom replied. I quickly sat down on the couch and turned on the television. Nothing good was on, there was no Mickey. I wondered what would happen at dad's work tomorrow, probably nothing good. It would be horrible, all of those germs and fumes. I could barely stand being near dad when he came home.

A few hours later, after dinner, the phone rang. I wasn't going to answer it so I let mom.

"Yeah, no, we are sorry about that, I have no idea what she was thinking, no, Nate is not crazy, just because he doesn't talk," she was talking to either Steve or Megan. She groaned. "Megan, I said we were sorry. It's not my fault; I don't know how long she's been doing it. What if I don't want her to see a psychiatrist? I don't care what you think, she's my daughter." I had been sitting on the couch and I heard her slam the phone down.

I walked out of the room. I was causing so many problems. It wasn't fair. Why did this happen to me? Nate was in our room, sitting at our desk. He was probably doing some homework. I wiped away a tear.

"What's wrong?" he asked softly. He pointed to my cheek. I sniffled and sighed.

"I, I gotta go with dad 'morrow 'cause I, I tried to wash Winnie's hands and Aunt Megan's mad at mom," I managed to say before I broke down crying. I heard him groan.

"That means I have to watch the brat tomorrow?" he asked. I tried to smile. I nodded.

"Yeah, you get to have fun. Keep her outta here." He nodded and gave me a hug. I slid under my covers and fell asleep.

I woke up to dad shaking me and telling me we had to go. I slapped him away and turned over. I wasn't going to go. He finally got me up and told me I didn't have to go. He had already asked my friend's mom if I could spend the day there. I was fine with that; dad knew I hated to go to the gas station.

I walked to her house, considering it was in the opposite direction of the gas station. I knocked on her door and her mom let me in. She was still asleep, which was normal. I stood in the middle of their living room. Let's just say it didn't look to clean.

Please review, and if my family doesn't eat all the brownies, you might get one!