Title- Dealing with It

Chapter Title- Flipped Out

Disclaimer- I do not own The Outsiders

Reviewers-

RangerDan- I made flat cookies the other night, but they're all mine! -Eats cookies-

XAmberX- Well, it's great that you're undefeated.

Note- Sorry about the wait… I've been busy with school and soccer just started.

Nate and I didn't walk home together. He beat me home. When I got home he was already in our room, with the door locked. I knocked on it, gently.

"Who is it?" he mumbled.

"Me," I called back. There was no response, the door didn't unlock. He was really, really pissed at me. I did my homework at the kitchen table, waiting for Nate to come out. He didn't come out, not even when mom called him for dinner. Nate never missed a meal.

"What's wrong with Nate?" mom asked me.

"I need to go for a walk," I said quickly. I pushed my plate away and grabbed my sneakers.

I needed to talk to somebody. I needed to talk to Josh. I ran to his house and impatiently knocked on the door. His dad answered the door and called for him. I grabbed Josh's sleeve and walked over to the West-side Park. It was a lot better than the East-side Park.

"Nate's still not talking to me," I told him. I could feel tears pouring out of my eyes.

"He told me what happened," he said. I felt dizzy. Nate told Josh what happened? I coughed a little and started to run. "Ronnie, Ron, c'mon, you can't run away from me. I'm faster than you."

I didn't care. I kept running. I ran all the way home and knocked on our door until Nate opened it.

"You told him?" I screamed. He backed into the wall. "How could you do that to me?" I could see that Nate was scared. I never yelled at him before. I never yelled at anybody this loud before.

"Veronica, you have a guest and you are yelling at your brother like this?" my mother snapped. Oh, Josh must've really followed me back. I stepped away from Nate and turned to face my mom and Josh. I blushed and laughed nervously.

"I, uh, I need to take a shower," I said and ran into the bathroom. The shower could get me two hours away from them. I turned the water on and sat down in the tub. I didn't bother to lock the door; I didn't care if they thought I was crazy. I was crazy.

Sometime later I felt somebody shut the water off. I must've fallen asleep, or dozed off. It was mom, I could tell. She shook me awake and helped me into an oversized tee-shirt. She led me into my bedroom. Nate was already asleep.

Breakfast was quiet the next day. Nate wasn't talking to me and mom was doing some laundry. I rushed out of the house, so I wouldn't have to walk with Nate. Josh was standing at the end of our block. I didn't look at him.

"Ronnie, I didn't mean to start anything between you and your brother. I begged him to tell me. I needed to know. Ronnie, just say something," he pleaded.

"So, now you know, are you happy?" I asked him. I stared straight ahead.

"Well, not as happy as I can be. Ronnie, I really like you. I always thought you thought of me as Nate's friend."

"I used to," I replied.

"Ronnie, you wanna go out with me sometime?" I turned to face him. I dropped my book. I reached over to pick it up, but he beat me to it.

"So?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'd like that," I told him and grinned.

"You have a really cute grin," he told me and tried to put his arm around my shoulder.

"Please don't touch me," I said and moved away from his arm. He gave me this look and shrugged. I was really happy and I owed it all to Nate. I turned around and ran to him. "I'm so, so sorry about yesterday. I was in a bad mood."

Nate didn't say anything. He didn't acknowledge me. Josh waited for us to catch up with him.

"I just wanted to say thanks," I told Nate. He just kept walking. "You can't stay mad at me forever; I share a bedroom with you."

"Maybe I'll move into the spare room," he answered. He didn't look directly at me.

"You wouldn't," I whispered.

"I would," he replied. I could see him smirk.

"I already said I was sorry, what more do you want?" I asked him. He shrugged and picked up his pace. Josh looked at me.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, ya know what? I'm gonna head home and not go to school." He nodded and I walked home. I checked Chocolate's water bowl. I went to the couch and laid down. Nobody would be home for a while; nobody would know I was home. Well, nobody would know except Nate.

I just had to hope that Nate wouldn't rat me out. I wouldn't hear the end of it from mom.

I have the next clip for you!
"I brought your homework home. Aren't I a nice brother?" I gave him a smile and then a look.

"Can I come in now?" Josh called from outside. Nate opened the door.

"I invited your boyfriend over to do homework. If you don't mind." I shrugged. It's not like I'd do anything. He played football, germs crawled all over him. We went into our room

"Anybody home!" somebody called. I ran back into the living room.

"TWO-BIT! WHERE YA BEEN? IT'S BEEN LIKE, UM, SIX WEEKS! YOU MISSED IT ALL!" Two-Bit smiled.

"Tell me, what did I miss?" I sat down next to him on the couch. I told him the whole story. "And he has to keep the little brat? Poor Steve, wait, poor us. We have to put up with her still." I laughed.

Two-Bits back… I had forgotten about him… -Slaps head- Um, yeah, please review… God, my legs hurt I had a soccer game this morning… now off to babysitting.