Reviewing Feedback:

LiveOnTheEdge: Yeah, I didn't like them either. I swear to god, this is my first fanfic ever. Timmycheese can testify to that because she goes to my school :P and I am working on the romance part. If you're like Nina in real life, I'd sure want to meet you :D

Kal's Gal: Of course :P I'm hoping to go for around 15-20 chapters.

OOoDancingQueenoOo: Yeah, I think they do too.

Serra's Evil Twin: I tried my best to keep everyone in character.

Timmycheese: I do try and make her seem more independent, that was my idea for her anyway, but yet vulnerable at the same time. I'm trying not to make her seem too much like one of them perfect Mary-Sues (Kills Mary-Sue) :P and no, this story begins a month after Ponyboy's parents death. But I'll keep the plot also linear to the books.

Sodaschick: Good to hear that, and I will.

lady rose 05: Yes, they will.

Qtpie4: Thanks! Trying to do my best.

Disclaimer: I am not S.E Hinton and do not own The Outsiders (Well, I do own a copy of the book, muwhahah). All the characters belong to her except any characters that you are unfamiliar with, which are owned by me and any unfamiliar plot. And I do not own Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay" or any other of his works (Fire and Ice etc).

Author's note: This is my first time writing a Fanfic so be gentle. Read and Review and tell me what you think. Your ideas and comments are welcome.

This chapter will start to tie Nina and Ponyboy together, that's what everyone wants, I guess. This is a long chapter, brace yourselves, ;

BIG QUESTION – ANSWER THIS IN REVIEW: I need to know if people want me to truly stick to the linear plot of the book. Like how Johnny and Ponyboy kill Bob one month after Ponyboy's birthday, which is like a month into the school year. If you want me to go to that exact degree, then the Fanfic will be cut down to around 6 chapters. If not, I can extend the date of Bob's death a bit later, which means I can get the story up to around 20 chapters. Need votes before Chapter 5. If you want me to go Linear, post "I go for Linear" in your reviews. If you want me to continue the way it's going and have Bob die later (he will eventually) post "Keep going your way". Thanks!

Earlier the next day, Nina's Dad dropped her off to school at 6:45am, even earlier than usual, but she was used to waking up early to attend school. He had to get in to work earlier that day, as the Board of Practitioners was going to inspect his dental clinic.

Nina walked into the school, feeling slightly cold. The weatherman the night earlier had said that it would be warm and sunny throughout the whole day, so she decided to wear a red top with a black button up jumper and a black skirt to match her black beret.

Nina ran into the school and to her locker, hoping that that would warm her up. It did, but not that much. By now, opening her locker was pretty easy, thanks to Mr. Syme's tip. She opened the locker door, stood in front of her side door mirror and started to recite the poem that she had memorised the night before. She wanted it to sound good and as every bit as powerful as she had perceived it.

She recited it a few times into the mirror, and a few times in her mind. It seemed refined enough, so she stopped and looked at herself. She had an eyelash on her cheek. She gently got it with her index finger, made a wish and blew it away. Good luck Daddy at work. That was her wish. She smiled, and then froze. She saw something quickly move behind her in her reflection. She turned around, but nothing was there.

"Hello, anyone?" The school corridors were still dark. That pretty much meant that no teacher had arrived yet. She turned back and went as white as a sheet. There stood a tall boy, the Soc boy who had harassed her during the school assembly the day before. Her eyes widened. The boy pushed her against her locker with his body.

"It's you. There's something I've been meaning to do since yesterday," he said, exhaling a toxic odour out of his mouth onto Nina. He was drunk. Nina was terrified. She started to wail but he put one hand over her mouth, and with the other took out a silver canister out of his pocket. He opened up the canister with his teeth and pressed it against her mouth, his other hand now holding onto her head that made her beret fall off.

"Drink this," he said like a hungry dog, eying her chest. She tried to move free, but her small body was still pinned against the locker. Slowly, he tipped the canister forward, bumping her glasses to the side and releasing a toxic and burning liquid into her mouth and down her throat. She felt like she was suffocating, but swallowed it, and the consequence was a horrible burning sensation that burned the walls of her throat. She couldn't even holler without making it burn more.

The boy then took back the canister, guzzled down the rest and threw it onto the ground, and started to take off Nina's jumper.

Father, Mr. Syme, Millis! Somebody please help me! Nina thought desperately. She even thought of Ponyboy. She then felt a hand climb up her leg. She closed her eyes and feared for the worst, also trying not to let her tears spill. And then…

"NINA!" sounded the voice of someone she knew. She heard footsteps running up the corridor towards her. The hand stopped climbing, and she was released from her pinned position, falling down against her locker. She couldn't open her eyes though. The shock and terror of the ordeal had left her numb. She heard yelling and a large thud as if someone was smacked, and then the footsteps of someone running away in panic.

"Hey there, you're going to be okay," said a gentle voice, almost like Ponyboy's but deeper. She felt her hair being stroked and another person sitting down besides her.

"I'll go after the …" another male voice said, calling the Soc every un-writeable name under the sun, and then his footsteps could be heard running up the hall.

"Glory, she looks as white as a ghost" said another male voice, whom she remembered the tone being of that of the boy who had snapped at Ponyboy when she bumped into him the other day.

"Nina, please say something" said the voice of the person sitting down next to her. She recognised it now as Ponyboy's. She slowly opened her eyes, and a steam of tears ran down her face. Had it been any other girl, their face would have smudged off, but Nina did not wear any make-up. She tried to say something, but it was as if her throat had swelled up and she couldn't say anything, except for make out little sobs.

"Ponyboy, you look after her. Steve and I will go after Two-Bit and that ass who did this," said that gentle voice, deeper than Ponyboy's, again. The two then ran off on Two-Bit's pursuit.

Nina turned her head and looked directly into Ponyboy's eyes, and he did the same to her. He gentle adjusted her glasses back the right way and she wiped the tears off her face. She remembered the old saying that "A lady should never been seen crying in public". Ponyboy stood up, and gently grabbed onto Nina's hand and helped her up.

"T-T-Thank you for w-what you did back there" Nina said in the most sincere way that she could, trying to do it in between sobs. Ponyboy looked at her for a moment, crouched down to get her beret and held it out to her.

"We may be different, but I'd never let a girl be treated like that" Ponyboy replied truthfully. Nina took back her beret and softly placed it back onto her head.

"I can't help think of what would have happened if you hadn't come," Nina said shivering. "I'm actually glad that it was you, and nobody else". Ponyboy's face turned red.

"You're lucky that my brother Darry dropped me and my brother off early". He felt like he had done something very heroic, which was technically true, but he also got the pleasure of seeing a Soc get smacked by his brother. They stood there for a minute in silence, and then it was broken but the 3 boys coming back down the corridor.

"Damn, he got away," said a boy wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt. Nina remembered him from the day before.

"I sure would have loved to punch him some more," said the boy who sounded like Ponyboy. He was the boy she also saw the day before with the golden hair and movie star smile. The other boy with the swirly hair leaned against a wall.

"Looks like you sure healed her back to health, eh Ponyboy" said the Mickey Mouse T-shit wearing boy with a wink. Nina looked at Ponyboy.

"Are these friends of yours?" she said in a quiet whisper. She had stopped sobbing by then, but she kept shivering from shock.

"Yeah. This is my brother Sodapop" Ponyboy answered, pointing at the boy with the golden hair, who came up to Ponyboy and gave him a noogie.

"That's Two-Bit" he pointed at the boy in the Mickey-Mouse T-shirt. "And that's Steve other there" he said, looking at the boy with the slick swirly hair.

"Thank you for helping me, I'm Nina," Nina said looking at them.

"Anything for a pretty face" said Two-Bit. Sodapop and Steve chuckled.

"I thought you only liked blondes," Sodapop said with a grin. Nina couldn't help but smile.

"A girls a girl" Two-Bit replied.

"We ought to go before more people arrive here. They'll think 'what are we doing harassing a Soc like her'," Steve commented.

"Alright. Ponyboy, make she doesn't get in harms way. Bye Nina" Sodapop added and winked at his little brother. Ponyboy reddened again.

"Yup, here they come" Two-Bit said, looking down the corridor. Students had started arriving. "Don't forget to do your homework," he added, waving his index finger like a teacher did when they were cross. Ponyboy chuckled, Nina smirked and Two-Bit walked off.

"Heeey, Nina!" yelled a voice down the hall. Millis was running towards Nina, as if she thought she was in trouble. "What are you doing here?" Millis asked Ponyboy.

"Millis, please, it's alright," Millis snorted and Ponyboy shrugged.

"I'll be off. Bye Nina" Ponyboy said and walked up the hall. Nina looked at him in a rueful way. "Oh, alright. I'll talk to you later Ponyboy!"

Millis looked at Nina's hair and her unbuttoned jumper.

"… What happened? DID HE HURT YOU? I'LL GET THAT PIECE OF GREASE FOR YOU!" Millis said in a stern voice, clenching her fists together. Nina raised her eyebrows and shook her head.

"No, no! Millis… If I tell you this, do you promise not to tell anyone else?" Nina looked dead serious when she said that. Millis nodded, and Nina began.

"Shoot! Nina… You sure your okay?" Millis looked worried. Nina gently nodded, she had stopped shivering and the burning sensation in her throat had become a mild stinging.

"I wouldn't have been if it wasn't for Ponyboy, his brother and friends". Millis snorted.

"I guess not all greasers are bad then". Nina raised one eyebrow up.

"Like I didn't know that".

Millis walked over to the silver canister that was still on the ground and picked it up.

"I guess we just have to find whoever owns this, and then we can get him back"

"He was a Soc…" Nina looked down the corridor. Millis rolled her eyes.

"Do you think a Greaser could afford this?"

"Do you think a Greaser would have done this?" There was a deadly silence.

"I'll see you at recess" Nina waved to Millis as she headed to her maths class, they weren't in the same class for a few subjects. Millis waved and headed her own way.

During Maths, Nina met her new teacher, Ms. Bishop. She looked around 40 and was quite rotund. She favoured the Soc girls and didn't like Soc boys, or any Greaser be it boy or girl.

"Oww! Ms! Louis shot a spit ball at me!" Jessica shouted at Ms. Bishop. A few Greaser girls laughed in the background.

"Don't worry, dear. Trash like him will grow up to serve you at the counter one day. Louis, See me after class". Ms. Bishop seemed like a Soc herself.

Nina avoided getting hit by spitballs from the Greasers at the back of the classroom. At first, someone shot two at her, but then they stopped because she didn't turn around and look at them like as if they were trash, unlike Jessica and the Soc girls sitting with her who were getting bombarded. For the rest of the class, Nina stayed quite and did her work.

"No homework tonight for you girls" Ms. Bishop said pointing to Nina, Jessica and all the Soc girls. "As for the rest of you, do pages 17-20".

The bell rang and everyone was dismissed, most of Greasers muttering bad things about Ms. Bishop as they left. Who could blame them? Nina went and had a drink at the taps before she went on to English. There was a long line, and when she finally got her turn, she was pushed out before she even got a drink, so she just headed onward to English – thirsty from that liquor.

The class seemed pretty quiet when she got there; Mr. Syme was just rubbing off the work that was on the blackboard from the last class. Jessica and half of her friends were in the girl's bathroom, getting the spitballs out of their hair. When Nina sat down, Ponyboy was already sitting next to her. He looked at her and Nina smiled, saying "Thanks". He was about to reply, but then Louis at the back of the class laughed at them two, and Ponyboy went back to sitting in a 'cool' position. Nina cheerfully sighed and tried to remember her poem. She had nearly forgotten it because she was so shaken up from what had happened earlier.

The bell rung and yet Jessica and the majority of her friends hadn't arrived. Mr. Syme rolled his eyes and sat at his desk, ticking off who was present and who was absent. After that, he reminded them of their homework, looked at the roll and chose Nina to go first.

Nina stood up, still reciting the poem in her mind, and stood in front of the half absent class.

"I will be reciting Robert Frost's 'Nothing Gold Can Stay,'" she said to Mr. Syme, then looking back towards the class. She looked at Ponyboy, whose eyes were open wide. Then she started.

"Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leafs a flower,

But only so an hour.

So leaf subsides to leaf,

So Eden sank to grief.

So dawn goes down to day,

Nothing Gold Can Stay".

What was of the little class clapped, mostly because they wanted to be clapped when their turn came. Mr. Syme smiled and asked her what she thought it meant.

"I thought it symbolized how everything is good and pure in its early stages, for example when you have just fallen asleep. You can have a good dream, and feel happier than how you do in real life. But nothing can stay good forever, and you will wake up eventually and have to face the harshness of reality." Mr. Syme looked into her eyes deeply, as if he truly understood what she was talking about, unlike most of the people in the class who had a dumbstruck expression on their faces.

"Good Work, Ms. Ambrosia. You may sit down. Since Ms. Brown is absent, it's your turn to go, Mr. Curtis"

Ponyboy got up, cleared his throat and began:

"Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favour fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice." He stared to the back of the room and continued.

"This poem is called Fire and Ice and is by Robert Frost. I think the message is that people shouldn't be picky, and should enjoy what they have in life before they lose it". The class clapped and Mr. Syme smiled, jotting down a mark on the roll.

The remainder of the class had their go. Nicholas recited the Star Treck theme, Louis did Ba-Ba-Black sheep – threatening to jump anyone who laughed, David stood there and combined a few nursery rhymes together and one of the few Soc girls recited a slogan of the Dairy Queen. Mr. Syme seemed more pleased that everyone had a go and was more interested to hear what they thought about what they had done. Once everyone had finished, Jessica and the other girls finally arrived. They looked as if they had just had a makeover instead of removing spitballs out of their hair. Mr. Syme was probably mad, but simply wrote a note on the roll under all the girls' names and told them to see him after school. After that, they had a spelling test till the end of the class.

"Nina, wait up" Ponyboy yelled to Nina as she was heading to her locker for recess.

"I didn't know you read Robert Frost's books," he said as he caught up to her.

"Oh, Well, I have a lot of books at home. I've nearly read all of them myself; I just remember that I had his works last night. My father told me that my mother liked his works in particular." Nina replied, trying to sound modest.

"Oh, Why doesn't she read them anymore? They're good, aren't they?" Nina stopped walking and looked down at the floor.

"M-My mother died when she was giving birth to me". She said as she fiddled with her glasses. Ponyboy looked at her and frowned.

"Sorry to have brought it up. My parents several months ago in a car wreck"

"Oh… I'm sorry for your loss… I guess you live with your brothers, Sodapop and Darren?"

"Sodapop and Darrel" he corrected. "Yeah, we get along pretty good". Nina smiled.

"Anyway, yes, I do like his works. He's a very good poet." Ponyboy smiled back.

"I'm glad to hear that you think so too. Hey, we've got Chemistry later right? I'll see you there" he said, looking up the corridor. At the end stood Two-Bit, Steve and Sodapop, accompanied by a cute looking boy with jet-black hair and a dark tan.

"Yeah, sure. Bye Ponyboy" Nina waved as he walked up the corridor. Nina turned the corner and walked towards her locker. She felt pretty happy that she finally had a conversation with Ponyboy.

Alright, this chapter started getting too long, and to make it easier, ill continue it in Nothing Gold Can Stay part 2. It'll start off where this chapter ended, at recess :P

Don't forget to review – voting if you want me to end the story fast or continue going but not perfectly linear to the book. I do care about what my readers think.

Thanks!