Disclaimer: Darn. I forgot this last time. Oops. Well, anyways. I do not own the Outsiders. S.E. Hinton does. Nor do I own the song Sweet Afton, which is a traditional Celtic song, which belongs only to the people of Celtic heritage. In English: I have no clue who does own it, but I don't.

Chapter Two

A Place to Stay

Kaye didn't know where they'd go once they got off in Tulsa. She didn't have friends or family there, so she and Afton were all alone. There was nowhere to go, but anywhere was better than home.

She placed the baby on the ground, letting her stretch her legs, holding her hand all the while to keep her out of the streets. All she knew was that she wouldn't be staying on that side of town long.

Kids a lot higher up in class than she were driving around in convertible cars, obviously richer than she could ever hope to be. They gave her looks as they passed. Looks that said that in their minds, she was no better than dirt. Each time, she quickly adverted her eyes. She had seen this before. It wasn't anything new. She supposed the social class thing was around all across the country, that it wasn't just her old city that did it. She certainly wasn't rich, and she looked as poor as she was. Shabby clothes, threadbare and worn, which she kept as plausible as possible, scuffed shoes and a worn expression had already branded her as one of the poor folk here, even though she had only been here for a matter of hours. She kept walking, stopping for nothing. She didn't want a fight. Not with Afton with her. She did not want her to get hurt.

She kept her eyes out for a place to stay, a room for rent or an apartment to stay in, but everything around was too expensive for her to even think about living in. So she kept on moving, hoping that there would be someone somewhere who would take pity on her.

The farther east she traveled, the cheaper things seemed to become, and for that, Kaye was thankful. Maybe if she came to the edge of the city, there might be some affordable lodging in the area.

She made her way down the sidewalk into a rather rundown neighborhood. The houses were tiny and looked as though a feeble wind could blow them over, but Kaye figured that if one of them was offering a room for rent, she could probably afford to rent it for a time while she looked for a job.

Kaye examined each house she passed, looking for a "For Rent" sign among the yards, but found nothing.

What she did find was even better.

It was a "For Sale" sign in front of the house, and the price was cheaper than she could have ever dreamt. It was as though the people who lived there wanted to give the house away to anyone who would take it.

But then, Kaye decided, not many people would. It was about as run down as anyone could make it, as though someone had purposefully taken a sledge hammer to the fence and broken the windows as a joke, just to see how desperate someone had to be to buy it.

But she was desperate, she realized. Besides, the damage wasn't too beyond repair. Nothing a hammer, some nails, and a couple cans of paint would not fix.

She decided she would call the number on the sign.

------

As it turned out, the house was government property now, and they would do anything in their power to get rid of it. Kaye was even able to negotiate a deal. For a thousand bucks more, she and Afton would actually be able to keep all the existing furniture in the house, which for Kaye was better than dandy. Even if she had been able to afford an upper-class room or apartment, there was no way she could make enough money to furnish it. This was better than her wildest dreams. As soon as she signed the lease papers, she and Afton were in there cleaning.

It actually reminded Kaye a bit like her old house. There was a pretty good detritus of old bottles and trash hidden under the furniture, and there was about an inch of dust that coated everything in sight.

She had bagged six huge bags of trash in the bedroom alone, and was dragging them to the curbside, Afton following behind her, when she spotted a boy with rusty colored sideburns ambling without a care down the walk.

Happy to see a new face, Afton ran out into the road to meet him, Kaye screaming, "NO! Afton, get back here this minute!"

She ran to catch the child before she was run over by some car not obeying the speed limit, but the boy got there first. He scooped up the child in his arms. Kaye met him there, her voice loud and high as she shouted, "Afton, you do that again and I swear! If you were not already dead I'd kill you myself!"

"This your baby?" the boy asked.

Afton gave one of her trademark high pitched screeches. "You tell him," Kaye answered. "Yeah, she's mine."

She reached out to take her back, but the child refused. Instead, she grabbed a fistful of the boy's shirt (which oddly enough had a picture of Mickey Mouse on it) and held it in her small hand.

"Sorry," Kaye apologized. "She likes your shirt."

"No problem. The name's Two-bit by the way. Two-bit Matthews."

"Kaye. Kaye Smathers."

"Ain't seen you around here before. You new to these parts?"

"Yeah. Just kinda drifted in somehow. Figured this was as good a place as any to settle down."

"Well, if your new, you have to meet the gang. Come on, we're just down the street."

"No," said Kaye. He seemed friendly enough, but she'd lived long enough to know that you don't just randomly walk with a random person to meet his gang. "I'd hate to intrude on y'all. Besides, I have a monstrous amount of cleaning to do. We just got here and the house is a wreck."

"Nonsense. If you smile and act all pretty I'm sure they might actually volunteer to help. Hell, even I might hang around to help. Come on!"

And with that she was dragged down the road to a small house she had seen only in passing.

Two-bit threw open the screen door and shouted inside, "NEW NEIGHBORS! Come on y'all! Say your howdy-do's." Kaye couldn't help but smile.

"What the hell are you yellin' about, Two-bit?" One of them asked. Four more boys had piled into the kitchen, ranging in age from probably 15 to 23 if she had to guess. But the one she noticed the most was the one standing tall and silent in the back, with eyes the color of ice and a hard face, worn by worry. It was a look she knew only too well. She had seen in impersonating herself as she looked in the cracked bathroom mirror.

"Glory!" She shouted. "All y'all live here."

"Kinda," one of them, with a movie-star presence to him said, "I'm Sodapop Curtis, and these are my brothers Darry," he gestured to the oldest, "and Ponyboy." Once more he pointed, this time to the youngest of the group. "My best friend Steve, and I see Two-bit already kidnapped you, so that's everybody. They hang around so much they might as well live here."

It was Darry's turn to speak now, though he looked rather uncomfortable as he tried to offer some hospitality. "Don't just stand there in the doorway. May I offer you and your daughter something to drink? I believe we have some chocolate milk around here somewhere…."

"My dau…?" Kaye burst into hysterical laughter. Everyone else stared. Finally, she regained a little of her composure, at least enough to say, "She's not my daughter! She's my sister!"

Everyone, even Darry, started to laugh, and the tension was immediately broken. Kaye and Afton (despite her constant shrieks) were even invited to stay for a fun meal of blue mashed potatoes and chicken for dinner. As soon as the food was uncovered and all her new friends seated around the table, Kaye knew that she was going to like living in Tulsa.

------

A while later, Kaye was forced to politely excuse her and Afton, as their house was still not fit for habitation. As soon as she left, excited conversation broke out among the guys.

"She's nice," said Ponyboy. "I like her. The baby's pretty okay too."

"And pretty," commented Two-bit. "You think she's pretty, Darry?"

"Huh?" asked Darry from the sink, where he was washing dishes. "Oh yeah, she's nice lookin'."

"It's obvious Darry likes her," Sodapop shouted, who was on the floor, wrestling with Steve. "First time he's smiled in… well… forever."

"Say that again little buddy and it'll be ME your wrestling with, not Steve." Then, cautiously, "What makes you say that?"

"Come on, Darry. Admit it. You couldn't keep your eyes off her."

Ponyboy glanced quickly at Darry. He was sure he and Soda would have it out till Soda surrendered, saying that he was just kidding. But all Pony saw was the flicker of a brief smile on Darry's face before he turned back to the dishes.

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Okay, finally, a little longer. Hope you liked, tell me if this is getting to Mary-Sue. I've never written a fic with girls in it, so I could use some advice.

RATE AND REVIEW PLEASE,

Bookworm