Title- Dealing with It

Chapter Title- When Partying with Two-Bit...

Disclaimer- I don't own The Outsiders

Reviewers-

XAmberX- I can't promise anything, but it's cheesy. Cheese is good… How's volleyball going?

Tikagem- Nate and cheese, I like them both.

Note- I like this chapter for a few reasons. The first one is Two-Bit is back in it. The second one is that it shows what Nate would do for Ronnie and the bond they have.

I woke up the next morning with my hair sticking to my face. I could feel the dried tears on my cheeks. My nose was stuffed and my mouth was dry. My lips were chapped. I was being shaken by somebody, but I couldn't tell who. It was too gentle to be mom, not gentle enough to be Nate, and dad was at work. I rolled onto my stomach and put the pillow over my head.

"Nate, she isn't waking up," I heard somebody say. Was that Josh?

"I wouldn't blame her, she spent all night crying over you," Nate snapped back. He sounded really pissed, more pissed than he had ever been at me. It was Josh. I was going to stay in bed. "I don't know why you came here, but she won't get up if you're here. So leave," he told him. I heard the front door open and then close. "Ronnie, Josh left, so get your ass out of bed. Wake up," Nate said.

"I'm not goin' to school today, I don't feel good," I told him. I didn't feel good, honestly. My stomach felt bad. I hadn't eaten a lot yesterday.

"Well, you'd feel better if you didn't cry about an ass all night." He was being really mean to Josh. I thought Josh was his best friend.

"I thought Josh was your friend," I said.

"He was until I found out what he did to you. I could never be friends with a jerk like that." I smiled. Nate was way too nice. I wished he wasn't my brother. I wished he was my boyfriend, he was sweet.

"Call mom, I wanna stay home," I told him. He sighed and walked out of the room.

I stayed home, eating ice cream and watching television all day. Around 2, the telephone rang. I got up and went into the kitchen.

"Hello," I said casually. I tried to sound older, like my mom.

"Mrs. Curtis, this is Mr. Jones, Nate's principal." What did Nate do?

"Hello Mr. Jones," I said. I hoped I was going to be able to convince him.

"I have your son, Nate, here. He's in trouble for punching a young man named Joshua Holden." No, he didn't. "I think I'm going to give him a day of In-School Suspension and a detention because he couldn't supply me with a reason."

"Yes sir," I answered. I realized what I said and I hoped he didn't notice that. I hung up and went back into the living room. I put my feet up on the coffee table and started to eat my ice cream again.

"Anybody home?" Two-Bit called opening the door.

"I am," I answered. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the refrigerator. He sat down next to me.

"Why are you home, did you cut school?" he asked, grabbing the remote from me.

"No, I felt sick this morning," I answered, pulling the remote back out of his hand.

"So, you watched television and ate ice cream all day?" he asked. I smiled and nodded. I told him about everything that had happened with Josh. "Bastard," he muttered. I giggled a little. "You must feel upset," he said. I nodded. "Well, let's go!" he shouted and sprang to his feet.

"Huh?" I questioned. He pulled his keys out of his leather jacket and grabbed my arm. He opened his car door and I got in. "So, where are we going?" I asked him.

"I'm taking you to get a fake idea and then I'm taking you to a few clubs. You need to meet some guys and party." See, Two-Bit was my favorite adult because he let me do fun, illegal stuff. If mom found out, she would kill me. Dad would' go along with mom or just scold me for a bit. Steve might've taken me to get a fake idea, but never to clubs. I could see him buying a few six packs and giving me one can. We drove to the outskirts of town where he got me a fake idea. It was a pretty good one and gave my age as 21, just old enough to buy some alcohol and get into a club. We drove to a few clubs. There was just a bunch of adults and drinking. I didn't touch any alcohol, but by the end of the night I wouldn't know for sure.

We came home around 11 o'clock. I had called home around 5 to let them know I was out with Two-Bit. I could barely walk and I was leaning on Two-Bit.

"Damn, I told you not to drink, you started off fine by not touching anything," he told me. "We need to get you inside without anybody noticing." I just mumbled 'yeah, sure' and leaned on him more. "Just pretend you're tired," he said. I nodded. I was tired, I hadn't gotten a good sleep last night and I was out pretty late.

We walked into the house and I didn't hear anybody. Nate was probably in bed and who knows where mom and dad went. Two-Bit hit the coffee table with his leg.

"Who's there?" Mom yelled, sounding a bit frustrated.

"Ronnie and Two-Bit," Two-Bit called back. He led me into my room where I fell into my bed.

"Ronnie?" I heard Nate say.

"She's fine," Two-Bit answered. The light went on and I rolled onto my stomach. "Holy, Nate, that's quite a shiner," he exclaimed. I had to see. Sure enough, Nate's eye was colors all around. That's right, he was getting ISS for punching Josh. "What happened?"

"I started something with Josh, he beat the crap out of me," he said softly. "Mom doesn't know I started it." I lay back down and closed me eyes. I was out in a few seconds.

Damn, I wish Nate was a real person. I would so want to be his girlfriend. He is so sweet and loyal.

Mom was in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee. Her hair was a mess and she was in a large tee-shirt. She overslept, I could tell. Normally she was fully dressed and ready to leave by now. She dumped the rest of her coffee in the sink and went into her room. Nate was sitting at the kitchen table writing something. I peeked at the paper, he was doing my homework. He forged my handwriting pretty well.

"Why Nate?" I asked him. He smiled.

"I know it was you Mr. Jones talked to yesterday on the phone." He sounded like he was yelling. I put my hand to my head.

"Nate, be quiet," I whispered. I made some toast and washed it down with a couple of beers. I thought the beer would numb the pain of my hangover. I put the cans under the sink so mom wouldn't find them. I put on a pair of sweat pants and a large tee-shirt. I felt like being comfortable. Mom came out of her room all dressed and ready to go.

Ready, set, click that purple review button! I know you want to what happens to Ronnie at school... Of course, I know everything! Remember, the faster you review the faster you get to find out who dies... (As if that's what you really want to know...)