Title- Dealing with It

Chapter Title- Sympathy and Realization

Disclaimer- I do not own The Outsiders

Reviewers-

Tikagem- That's actually quite funny and I had to laugh. Now my sides hurt because I was eating a pickle. (Don't askme how that makes sense because I don't know!)

Kal's Gal- I'm updating!

XAmberX- That's cool, I don't think our team is that good. I don't play school sports. I play on an interleague soccer team. It's almost like school sports except its cooler because some of the people are nicer on my interleague team than the ones on the school team.

Note- In case you were wondering; I have been in a very depressed mood. That's why Ronnie's confused and she doesn't know which way is up. I tend to make my characters confused or dead when I get depressed. This time; I don't know why I am depressed. Nothing depressing happened. Well, actually my mom and dad had this huge fight the other night, but that's the only thing and that was about six days ago…

I polished the first one off in a matter seconds. I found a bench to sit down on. Next to me sat the remaining five beers. I grabbed one and mindlessly drank it. I wanted to die. I didn't want to kill anybody else. I couldn't kill anybody else. The next person to go would either be dad, Nate, or Two-Bit. I thought about it for a while. I didn't only kill people, I hurt them, or did something wrong. I made Steve and Megan break up and I hurt Josh before I killed him.

"Veronica Curtis, is that you?" somebody asked. I looked up to see who it was. Standing a few feet away from me was Janice Shepard. I nodded. She walked over to me and sat down, grabbing a beer. That was my beer. She had no right taking it. She turned to look at me. "What's wrong?" she asked me. I tried to open my mouth to tell her, but my mind wouldn't let me. I knew better than that, this was the same girl that spread cold rumors about everybody. She convinced quite a few people that Nate and Josh were gay. If I told her I killed Josh, she'd make up some sick and twisted story about how I brutally murdered him with a chainsaw because he kissed Nate. Yeah, I wasn't going to do that. Instead, I shook my head and reached for another beer.

"Why are you here?" I asked her. I decided to turn the conversation on her. So I was asking the questions, not answering them. I could've sworn I was still on the West-side. I couldn't think of a good reason for her to be here. She stared at me and swallowed some of the beer.

"My dad had to make a crack run; he says this side of town has the better stuff." 'Oh,' I mouthed and took a sip of my beer. It was awfully silent for a moment. Then, Janice got up. "My dad's coming, I'm gonna go," she said. I nodded and watched her swipe another beer. She ran to a beat up car and got into the passenger's seat.

I felt bad for Janice. She was 15, and her dad didn't trust her in the house by herself. He cared more about his crack than his own daughter. Was I feeling bad about this, why? I never liked Janice; she spread those heartless rumors about me and the people I cared about. But then again, she was dragged to the West-side when he needed a crack fix and she risked getting in trouble. I got up, leaving the remaining beer on the bench. Some West-side teenager could have a free beer. I didn't feel like finishing it.

I walked back to the East-side, my legs started to bother me. They were hurting from all the running and walking I was doing. But, I wasn't going to risk sitting down on the curb and have some police man come. They'd ask me all these stupid questions, what's my name, how old am I, where do I live, you get the point. Slowly, I walked to Janice's house. The rusted, old, beat up car was parked in the side of the road, and Janice was sitting on the steps.

"Why are you out here?" I asked her. I thought, maybe her dad kicked her out. He didn't want her touching his crack.

"I don't like to be inside when my dad gets high. I hate him when he's like that." I couldn't sympathize. I didn't know what that felt like. My parents never drank or got high, they loved us. They loved me and I hurt them. What was I doing here?

"I need to go," I said quickly. I got up and started to make my way to my house. I think I was drunk. I must've been, because I fell off the sidewalk. "Shit," I muttered as I picked myself up. I dusted off my pants. I had put a new hole in the knee and I skinned my palms. I studied my palms, and pressed them together, they were sting really bad. I tried to remember which way I was going when I heard it. It was a long, low honk. I turned my head to see a car, trying to slow down. I stayed put, my body froze. I couldn't move, but I wanted to. I needed to. My life depended on it.

So, I guess you need to review to find out the conclusion of this horrible cliffhanger! Wow, last night I had a stroke of genius… after this story, there shall be another one. But it won't be about Ronnie or Nate or Soda or Jess… forget that Ronnie, Nate, and Jess after existed after this story. Actually, don't. I have a four chapter follow-up after this and then the new story. One is called 'I Just Can't Believe It' and the other is 'Trying to Adjust'. I won't tell you which one is which (although, both titles are good for one of them, just not the other).