Title- Dealing With It

Chapter Title- That Big Ol' Secret

Disclaimer- I do not own The Outsiders

Reviewers-

RangerDan- It was more like 35 minutes straight of running up and down a field, a 2 minute break and then another 35 minutes. A little worse than volleyball I would guess.

XAmberX- Sorry, my family ate them, even after my brother said, 'What, did you sit on them?'

Tikagem- Anything is better than school work. Oh, a lemon square!

Note- It's mostly talking. I had to have things work out like this. I had to mention somebody that hadn't been mentioned in a while. But now I must leave you to the story because Thank You for the Venom is one and I love that song.

"Look who stayed home from school today," Nate said as he opened the door.

"I'd shut up Nate, it's your fault. I am so mad at you. How many times am I going to have to say I'm sorry?"

"When were you going to tell me about you and Josh?" Was he being serious? He's been ignoring me. Plus, it only happened this morning.

"I'm sorry, it only happened this morning and you weren't talking to me. Am I going to have to explain more to you?"

"Nah, I just can't believe you hit me. With everything that's been going on, you just hit me." He sat next to me. That was the best thing about Nate. He couldn't hold a grudge for over a day.

"I didn't want to believe you and I didn't want anybody to find out. It didn't matter, he found out anyway. I'm glad he found out. Everything worked out." Nate grinned. I smiled back.

"It was my plan. I'm a genius," he told me.

"You wanted me to hit you?" I asked him. There was no way, no way he could have predicted that.

"Nah, I wanted to see what you'd do and I figured I'd pass the information on to Josh. He's liked you for a long time. And everybody thinks your smart."

"That's quite a speech there Nate. What are mom and dad gonna do when they find out? I know they were okay with him being a friend... but what about as a boyfriend?" Nate shrugged.

"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.

"Yeah, I just gotta make sure I am always busy. It won't be to hard. I got a boyfriend this morning!" I smiled.

"And when you aren't busy with the lucky guy, you can come over to my place and we can watch Mickey and eat ice cream or cake or do something. As long as it keeps me away from the Mickey hating brat. So, who's the lucky guy?" I called Josh in.

I couldn't tell if Two-Bit liked him or not. It didn't matter. I liked him and my parents liked him. Well, when they found out we were going out, it might change.

"Why'd you stop by anyway?" I asked Two-Bit.

"I ran out of food at my place," he responded. A few months back, Two-Bit finally moved out of his mom's house and moved into an apartment. He's a comedian. Sometimes he goes to other states to do shows at clubs. I wasn't allowed to listen when he first started. I'm not sure mom and dad would be happy if they found out that I was hearing his stuff now. I'm fifteen, I'm mature. Well, maybe not mature, but I'm old enough to hear these things. I've seen 'the video'.

"You only visit us because you have no food? I feel loved. Where were you, any where cool?" I always loved hearing about these places.

"Alabama, anything happen with you while I was gone?" I sighed.

"Yeah, I went to New York and found out that I have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, or OCD," I explained. He nodded.

"You're mom went back to New York?" I nodded.

"Why was she there before?" I told you I was going to figure out.

"Well, lemme see. She moved here, then her friend was dying so she went back, then she came back and got married to your dad and had you and Nate. Then your dad got drafted into the war and your mom didn't wanna be here without him so she packed you and Nate into Steve's car and drove off to New York." My dad was in the war and they never told me?

"Dad was in the war and Nate and I never knew? What happened to him?" I was going to find out. I was so happy.

"He came home because he was shot in the leg and couldn't walk. He eventually got better. He just tore some muscle and tendons and ligaments. It was nothing big."

"My dad was shot?" This was a surprise. When mom or dad walked through that door, they were going to hear about it. I hoped it was mom, it should be, and she was normally first home. I hated to yell at dad, actually, I have never done it before.

"So give me all your poison; and give me all your pills…" Oh, sorry, didn't see you there! Josh's dad was mentioned briefly in The Outsiders, take a stab at it and tell me who it is. I love to hear all your crazy answers. I made it pretty obvious in the description two chapters ago. If you can't figure it out, re-read that chapter and the book. It's as clear as day... or maybe not... You might have to think hard about it... The answer will be mentioned next chapter, I'm not that mean. Till then, you basically need to review to find out. Here's your next chapter clip like thing…

Around four, the front door opened. Mom took off her shoes and took her hair out of the ponytail. I waited until she was settled. She was drinking a cup of coffee at the kitchen table while looking at the newspaper. I don't think she really reads it. She normally puts it down ten seconds later and forgets about it. I walked into the kitchen and sat across from her. She lowered the paper and looked at me.

"When were you going to tell us?" I asked. I don't know why I didn't make it more specific. At first, mom looked confused. She stared at me for a while.

"Tell you what?" she asked. I stared back at her.

"About dad and about the first time we went to New York," I said. I was actually quite calm. Not on the inside, on the inside I was breaking down and yelling and crying. I could've lost my dad before I really knew him. It wasn't fair for them to keep it a secret.

"He's alright, it doesn't matter," she responded. She had put the paper down completely and hadn't taken a sip of her coffee since I came in.

"What, what would've happened if he died? What were you going to tell us, that he died in a car accident? Were you going to move us to New York, away from our family?" My voice got a little louder and I was trying hard not to yell. I was trying hard not to cry.

Review to find out the rest and about Josh's dad!