Author's Note: Thank you to all the people who reviewed! Here is the next chapter of 'Changing into a Hood' it's not as 'adorable' (I quote that from a review...never would've thought of that word. Still, I repeat, thank you for reviewing!) This is where he meets the gang and has his first tangle with the socs. I might add that Dally and Johnny emerge victorious. He also makes a name for himself. It looks won't have any chances for me to update tomorrow, so I wish you all a happy New Year and hope that it will be more prosperous than the last (did I spell prosperous wrong? It looks funny...)

Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders. I wish I did, but I DON'T!

Chapter Six

The Gang

Dally never once said 'thank you' to Mr. and Mrs. Curtis. While he could remember everything about manners he had been taught, he just didn't think he could not care and say thank you at the same time. Anyway, he had the feeling that they already understood.

Dally was watching the sunrise, something that surprised even him. But he had awaken early that morning and just couldn't fall back to sleep. He pulled his cigarette away from his mouth and exhaled a perfect smoke ring.

"Oh…I'm sorry," someone said behind him. A dark haired boy stood there. "Were you watching the sun rise?"

"Hell no!" Dally lied. "I was attempting to get my smoke to blow in different shapes." Now that was a stupid lie if he ever heard one.

"Hmmph," the boy said. "Never heard of that."

Well, no, you wouldn't because I just made that blasted thing up, kid. Who the hell are you anyway? Not that I care. Dally was quick to add that last thought.

"Well…um…" the kid seemed at a loss for words. "Do you know if Pony's up?"

"Who?"

"Ponyboy…I was wondering if he was going to play football today," the boy said.

Dally got his first good look at the boy. He had dark hair that stuck together with hair oil. He looked like he'd taken a beating recently. Dally felt his heart soften for the kid. He realized that the kid was awfully short, despite the fact that Dally thought he must have been only a year younger than himself.

"Who are you?" he asked bluntly.

"My name's Johnny Cade," he looked a bit afraid of Dally. It was almost as if he expected him to bite his head off. Dally tossed his cigarette butt to the ground and squashed it so the lawn wouldn't catch aflame.

"Dallas Winston," Dally offered him a cigarette. "Call me Dally."

"Right…so do you want to play football with Pony and the gang?"

"Gang?" Dally asked…this place just kept getting better and better. Johnny nodded enthusiastically and he knocked on the door. Ponyboy answered it as if he was expecting it.

"Hey, Dalla-y…" he paused wondering if it was ok to call him Dally. "You gonna play football with us?" Dally peered in to see Soda and Darry pulling shirts over their heads looking as if they'd just woken up.

"Sure…if you introduce me to the 'gang'," he used his fingers to make quotation marks. Darry grabbed the football and tossed it to Soda who barreled out of the house as if it were on fire.

"Is Sodapop always this hyper?" Dally asked Johnny. Johnny smiled at him and nodded. All four of them walked to the lot while Soda ran ahead, tossing the football into the air and jumping up to make the ball bounce on his head.

"Soda! Knock it off, you're gonna get yourself hurt," Darry yelled.

Dally wondered if this place held war councils and rumbles. If there actually was a 'gang' then maybe he could learn to like this place. A good rumble to blow off his anger at his father would do him some good. The war council would be a bonus.

"Hey, Soda, who's the bum you've got?" a boy asked pulling a switchblade out of his back pocket. Dally's hand went to his switchblade in an instant. No one was going to jump him with a blade without having one pulled on them in return.

"I'm Dallas Winston, got a problem with that?" he snarled flicking open the blade.

"Two-Bit Mathews," the boy said and he held out his blade. "Like it? Nicked it from a store," he proudly proclaimed.

Soda looked around and then asked, "Where's Steve?"

"Probably getting yelled at by the ole man, you know how it goes," Two-Bit shrugged. Dally was startled to learn that other people had parent problems as well. He had laid awake for a good portion of the night over that subject finally coming to the conclusion that he was the only exception in the world. Now he had to take it back.

Sure enough as they divided into teams another boy stumbled into the lot cussing. "Damn dad," he yelled to the sky. Soda stumbled forward as if to make the boy laugh at his clumsiness. Yet he said a few words to him and the boy calmed down. Dally noticed that Sodapop had a way of getting everyone to feel comfortable.

Steve approached him and held out his hand. Dally slapped his hand instead of shaking it like is normal. "Steve Randle," he told Dally.

"Dally," he smiled. He felt grateful to learn that this boy was like him in some ways.

They split into uneven teams but they seemed well matched for no one scored all during the game. Ponyboy stopped once to tie his shoe and Dally approached him, "You know…you've got quite the mom. She knows the score."

Ponyboy quickly agreed and then stopped. "The score to what game?" he asked.

Dally stared at him for a moment and then admitted, "The really fucked up one called life."

Pony nodded, finally understanding what he meant. "Yeah, my mom's golden!" he boasted.

Dally fiddled with his St. Christopher necklace and admitted, "Yeah…yeah, she is." What he wanted to say was 'I wish I knew if mine had been' but that would say he cared which of course he didn't.

Dally watched everyone go home and Darry yelled at him, "Hey! Dallas, you gonna come with us or not!"

Dally turned around and hollered, "Maybe I'll just see what's in town!" Johnny stopped and walked over to him.

"You need a guide?"

Dally was all for telling him to get lost, but he shrugged his shoulders and strolled off, Johnny following him.

---

Johnny showed him everywhere. Dally was surprised to see that the kid knew all of it. "Why do you know this place so well?"

"I sleep out here sometimes," the kid admitted.

"You? Why?"

"The old man beats me and the old lady yells all the time." He stared at the ground.

"Hey, my dad did too."

"But your mom-"

"Died," Dally cut him off not wishing to discuss it further. But from that moment on Dally realized that he wasn't dealing with a gang of angry social outcasts, but a gang of friends who had a bad life at home. Sure, the Curtises seemed to be the only family that was intact, but he was sure they had problems as well.

Dally saw that Johnny avoided one place and asked, "What's there?"

"That's the socs side of town." Johnny's eyes grew big. "We don't want to go there!"

"Why not? It's a free country," Dally stepped onto the side walk and headed down the street. Johnny gulped but followed him.

"Hey, greasers! Get to your territory!"

Dally flipped the kid off and yelled a few obscene words to the boy. The boy gave a startled yell and walked out to the street to see him.

"You wanna repeat that to my face?" he demanded. Dally walked around him and said the obscene remark to the kid's back.

"What, you too chicken to say that to my face?" he snarled.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Dally said in the most polite tone he had. Johnny watched him with huge eyes. "I thought your butt was your face!"

"Why you!" he pulled his switchblade from his pocket and Dally made two moves and the kid whimpered, holding his wrist. The knife had fallen into the gutter and Dally strolled out of their territory yelling, "MY NAME'S DALLAS WINSTON!" no one could not have heard him and he'd just made a name for himself.

Johnny was next to him, his eyes filled with reverence. "How'd you do that?"

"Learned to fight in New York City…but you're right, kid, we don't want to go there. Next time I tangle with them, I'll be on my turf." Dally vowed and muttered a few swear words.