Title- Dealing with It

Chapter Title- After Partying with Two-Bit

Disclaimer- I don't own The Outsiders

Reviewers-

XAmberX- I care… But I don't right now because I am eating popcorn and watching The Outsiders… Sh…

oOoRikku4EveroOo- My kid would be dead, but Jess doesn't know and maybe it will stay that way.

Note- She was really depressed that she went and got herself drunk with Two-Bit, poor Ronnie. Let's see how she handles her hangover and her day back in school after breaking up with Josh. I had one idea for this chapter and I let my mind run with it, this is what I got. Now you know what kind of weird nut I am. Sorry this took so long… I have been admiring my new DVD- The Outsiders: The Complete Novel. Yes, this is the only time I am not pissed at my mom because she took me to go get it.

I felt horrible the next morning. The slightest noise made my head ache. I knew what it was. I was experiencing my very first hang over. I had to go to school. My mom told me I could go out with Two-Bit if I went to school the next day. I regretted making that deal with her. I felt sick to my stomach; the only thing I ate yesterday was ice cream.

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.

"I'm going to drive you two today," she told us. I nodded; I could avoid Josh on the side walk. I was lucky.

Mom dropped us off in the front of the school. I wondered what sorts of rumors were started about me already. I saw Janice talking to her friends. I detoured into the bathroom to see what they were talking about.

"D'ya know why she's dressed like that?"

"No, do you?"

"I heard they had sex and then he broke up with her."

"That's what that fight was about."

"Yeah, Nate was pissed he did her and not him."

"Yeah, but he was trying to tell Nate that she forced him and he was breaking up with her because he loved Nate."

"All three of them are wack-o's."

I knew better than to start something with them. Nate, Josh, and I knew the truth and that's all that mattered. I walked to my first class when I felt an arm around my waist.

"Hey baby," a boy I recognized as an East-sider said. "Wanna hang out after school?" he said. I was about to say no and pull his arm off of me, but then I saw Josh. He was staring at me. I grinned.

"Yeah," I told him and let his arm stay on my waist. I could feel the germs crawling up my body. It was killing me. Josh walked past, looking awfully pissed. He shouldn't have lied to me. It was his fault I was hurting him now. The boy was named Ben and he was a year older than I was. I had seen him some place before, not just at school. I tried to think. "Do you work?" I asked him. I think he filled tanks at the same gas station my dad worked at.

"Yeah," he said, "at the gas station with your dad. I saw you crying the other day over that ass hole, what was his name, Jeremy?"

"I don't know," I lied and giggled. Nate walked up behind me.

"Hey sis," he said, pulling me away from Ben. "What the hell are you doing with him?" he asked quietly, so Ben couldn't hear.

"Hanging out," I said.

"C'mon, you have to know that this guy is just hanging around you because of the rumors," he told me.

"Rumors, hey, Nate, are you gay?" I asked, loudly. He looked stunned.

"No, I am not gay!" He whispered harshly. "It's a rumor," he replied, sounding pissed. "Are you," he paused for a moment, "drunk?"

"What, of course not, I don't drink!" I told him.

"Tell that to the beer cans under the sink." He grabbed my arm and pulled me into the classroom. The teacher welcomed me back and handed me the rest of my test. I scribbled down some nonsense. There was no denying it now, I was drunk.

After class, Ben was waiting outside the class. He kissed my cheek and then started to walk with me. I didn't turn around to see where Nate was.

"Babe," Ben said, "wanna cut with me and my friends?" Cutting with eleventh graders sounded totally cool. I smiled and nodded my head. He laced his fingers in mine and led me out of the building. He kept saying all these weird things and I giggled at them.

"This the girl?" one of his friends asked Ben.

"Sure is," Ben replied.

"Wow," another one said stunned. "Hey, cutie, wanna beer?" he asked. I nodded and caught the one he tossed at me. I popped it open and chugged it.

"She's a drinker, and good looking. You did well with this one, Ben," the first guy said.

"She's hot," a new voice said. We sat down and they started to smoke. "Ya ever tried?" he asked me. I shook my head. I was definitely drunk. He handed me the paper roll and helped me light it. I choked on it a bit. I put it out and rested on the ground.

"I'll stick to beer," I said unsteadily.

"Your choice," Ben said.

"So, what's your name?"

"V'roneeca," I said, pronouncing it wrong and hiccupping.

"Well, we're going to call you Neeca," one of them said. I giggled again.

"Neeca and I need to get back to the school so she's there when her mom or brother comes looking for her," Ben said. He helped me up and walked me back to school.

I wanna date Nate... (heh, it rhymes). I love him beyond belief, but now, I am wondering... Does anybody think he sounds like the guy version of a Mary-Sue?

"I wish we were alone," he told me. I blushed. "You are very, very good looking." I turned darker red. I didn't even like him to begin with and this was making me hate him more. I didn't think I was that good looking, I hated my looks. I looked plain and ordinary; brown hair and eyes.

"My brother doesn't like you," I told him. I hoped he would take the hint, it meant I didn't like him.

"Well you need to stop hanging around him and those friends. Start hanging around me and my friends. We need to go to a concert one day, I'll drive us out of state and we can go see a band." Just the thought of being in the car with this stoner made me uneasy. Then I thought of Josh and his lies. I nodded and smiled. "So, are you going to cut with us again?" he asked grabbing my hand.

She really hates Josh... Wow, maybe she doesn't. Maybe she does. You'll have to review to find out. Remember, you want to find out who dies so REVIEW!