Disclaimer: I only own Alicia. Everything else belongs to S.E. Hinton.

"So." Tim said, avoiding making eye contact with Angela. Angel. What a shit nickname for her. "Devil" or "bitch" seems far more appropriate.

"So," Angela smiled widely at him. The two siblings were sitting on the stairs, speaking softly, so as not to wake Dally, Curly or Alicia.

Her older brother sighed. "What the fuck d'ya want me to do for you? I swear to God, if you make me do anything in public that'll embarrass me, I will personally, and with pleasure, knock your teeth out!" But, even with that statement, Tim was at her mercy.

Angela looked at her nails. They were long and painted bright red. Her smile widened even more. "I really can't believe you're gay, Timmy. You're one of the toughest people around, and you don't like girls." She blinked innocently. "Sometimes you amaze me."

Tim glared at her. Normally, any other girl would've shirked away, but Angela received this look on a regular basis, so she didn't do anything but retaliate with a glare of her own. Besides, Angela wasn't a normal girl, greaser or no.

At that moment, there was a creak at the top of the stairs. Alicia and Curly stood there. Alicia's curly hair was a mess and Curly blinked the sleep from his dark eyes. "What are you doing?" Curly yawned.

"Little love fest down here, eh?" Alicia said, dryly. "I'm surprised at you two. Normally, I would find you with guns." She gave Dally the once-over. "Well, look what the cat hacked up."

"What's Dally doing here?" Curly brushed his curls out of his face.

"He didn't want to go to his house, so he came over here." Tim said.

"He came over here to see Tim!" Angela proclaimed, gleefully. Tim punched her in the arm.

"Well, whatever. I'm goin' to bed." Alicia yawned and headed upstairs, with Curly in her wake.

"We'll settle this in the morning." Angela said to her oldest brother, before she too, wandered up the stairs.

Tim sighed and gave Dally one last look before retreating to his and Curly's room.

"Wisdom! To leave his wife, to leave his babes, his mansion and his titles in a place from whence himself does fly? He loves us not; he wants the natural touch; for the poor wren, the most diminutive of birds, will fight— her young ones in her nest—against the owl.
All is the fear and nothing is the love; as little is the wisdom, where the flight so runs against all reason." The sound of clapping filled the drama room.

"Oh, that was wonderful, Rose! Take your seat." Ms. Narwin, the dramatic arts teacher, stood and gaveRose a standing ovation.

Alicia and Angela were sitting in their drama class. The classroom was large, but hardly furnished. There was a small stage at the front of the room, in front of the blackboard, and the desks faced the stage. Currently the class was practicing their assigned parts for their Shakespeare unit.

Rose beamed and began to walk down the aisle to her desk. Angela glared at her as she passed, and Alicia stuck out her foot; the girl narrowly avoided tripping. Rose was a Soc. She was fourteen, the same age as the Shepard twins, but she looked sixteen. She was tall and skinny, very pretty and she was blonde and blue eyed, and everyone liked her. Except Angela and Alicia.

Rose was annoying to them. She was perky and preppy. The Shepard twinspreferred sadism and darkness. But Rose was rude, too. Angela remembered one day, in first grade, when Ashley stole her brand-new box of crayons and broke them. Looking back on it, it was just the beginning. The Soc made fun of the Shepard family, calling them "circus freaks" and "science experiments." The girls ignored those comments, but they were still very pissed about them.

Alicia dropped back to reality. Brushing her hair out of her face, she ripped a piece of paper out of her notebook and scrawled a note to Angela.

Angie-

Let's cut English and go downtown, okay? There's a new cigarette store opening on Filbert.-

Ali

Alicia tossed the note across the aisle to her sister. Right after she did, Ms. Narwin turned around and looked at the next name on her list. "Alright, next we have… ah, Alicia Shepard with Antony and Cleopatra." Seeing her student's blank stare, she added, "Alicia, remember, your homework?"

"We had homework?"

Ms. Narwin gave her a tight-lipped smile. "Yes, dear, we did."

"I don't remember."

Ms. Narwin's smile faded. "We've had the homework for three weeks now, dear. Alicia, I'm afraid if you don't shape up, you'll fail this class." She turned to Angela. "That goes for you, too." Alicia heard a snigger at the back of the room. Rose, she thought. The greaser clenched her fists.

"Sorry, Ms. Narwin, but I didn't remember."

"Ah, that's alright, you'll just take a zero." Alicia glared at her.

"Angela, did you do your homework for Hamlet?"

Angela was writing her response to Alicia. "Nope." She said, without looking up.

Ms. Narwin sighed. "Okay, Grace Penn, did you do your piece?"

After another thirty minutes of classmates talking like they were in the Middle Ages, Ms. Narwin had an announcement.

"Class, as you know, Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and our school does out traditional Thanksgiving play. This year, the ninth grade drama class has been asked to perform for the school!" Ms. Narwin reminded Angela of Rose: perky and annoying. "Tomorrow I'll give you all your parts."

"But don't we get to audition?" Someone hollered.

"No, James, because I want to see how well you do with assigned parts." At that moment, the bell rang. "Okay, have a good day, class!"

Alicia and Angela strode to the front door and walked out. After going to the new cigarette store, they discussed the new play.

"So, what part do you think you're going to get?" Asked Angela, lighting up.

"Eh, I'm not sure. I think we're both gonna get Indian parts, 'cause we've got black hair and dark skin."

"Rose's gonna get the lead." Angela muttered. "I hate her so much."

Alicia nodded. "Just 'cause she's got a lot of money and a big house, she thinks she's the princess." She sighed. "I can't wait until she dies."

Angela laughed. "We're probably gonna die before her, with all our drinking and smoking!"

Alicia looked thoughtful. "What's been goin' on with you and Tim the last few days? You're so… hostile to each other."

Angela smiled mischievously and told her sister about the rainy night when Dally came, and she saw Tim almost having an orgasm over the younger boy. "So, what are you gonna do?"

Angela shrugged. "I'll ask Curly. I don't really wanna blackmail Tim. This way is better. Slow, painful torture is more my style."

Alicia smirked. "So you're a sadist?"

"I guess."

The street was filled with the ringing laughter of the Shepard girls.

A/N: Aw! Thanks volleyballluver and and starybryte! Yeah, really, why CAN'T they repost it for us? Ah, well. Thank you to all who reviewed before I had to take it down and repost it! I hope to get the next chapter up soon.