'Kay, here is Chapter 17!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Outsiders...but i own Arianna, and SodaNdallysgrl410 (my long lost sister...lol)owns Nicole

Family Troubles

Arianna's POV

We arrived to the Curtis's house. We all got out of the car and headed up the porch. Nicole was trembling what seemed to be in fear; I would be too, if my cousins were about to scold me for being out with a dangerous hood. Two-Bit was the first to enter the house, then it was me, and last was Nicole. Ponyboy was fast asleep on the couch, and Darry and Soda were talking in the kitchen. Once they heard the door open, they scurried out of the kitchen.

"Where the hell have you been?" Darry asked furiously. It looked like steam was coming out of his ears.

"I was out." Nicole said coolly.

Two-Bit and I walked away from the intense conversation and sat on the couch next to Ponyboy. By this time Darry and Soda were yelling and woke up their younger brother.

"What's going on?" Pony said rubbing his eyes.

"We found Nicole." I said. Nothing else needed to be said.

"Were you with Dallas the whole time?" Soda asked.

It took Nicole awhile to answer. She didn't want to seem suspicious about what happened that night. "Yeah" was all she said.

"And what exactly were you two doing?" Darry asked. It seemed that Nicole didn't want to make eye contact; she just stared at the floor.

"We went to a party…" Nicole's voice was shaky and was trembling more. I thought for sure she was going to get caught. "It shouldn't bother you! I'm old enough to be with a guy and come back as late as I want!"

I thought Darry was going to explode, and he sort of did. I guess he couldn't contain his anger in anymore, because he slapped Nicole across the face. I saw tears coming down Nicole's cheeks. Soda, Two-Bit, Ponyboy, and I just were in awe. I never thought that Darry would ever do that.

"I never want to see you and Dallas going out anymore. You are forbidden to see him." Darry said.

"I don't have to listen to you! You're not my father!" Nicole yelled and ran into Soda and Pony's room and slammed the door. Darry scratched his head and walked into the kitchen slamming his fist against the cooler to take off some stress and steam.

I looked at Two-Bit and mouthed out 'Maybe we should go.' He nodded and we walked out of the house without saying good-bye to anyone.

Nicole's POV

I was lying down on Soda's bed. I rested my head on the pillow and shut my eyes. Tears were still rolling down my cheeks. I wanted to stop crying but I couldn't, the thought of not seeing Dally anymore was hurting more then when Darry slapped me. I heard someone knock on the door.

"Who is it?" I said roughly.

"Nicole" It was Soda. "Can I come in?"

"I want to be alone." I said and buried my head into the pillow. Soda said nothing more. I heard him speak to Ponyboy.

"Let's sleep on the sofa tonight." Soda insisted.

"Why? I wanna sleep on my bed." I heard Ponyboy say.

"Nicki's in there. We got to let her cool off a bit." I heard foot steps walk away. I shut my eyes to forget about my problems. After awhile I heard someone knocking on the window. It was Dally. I checked the clock it was 4:00 AM, I thought Dallas was crazy for coming at this time. The room wasn't high up either, there is only one floor in this house so it was easy to escape but I think about that now; I just opened the window to greet him.

"Hey babe" He said. His face expression changed from cool to concerned, when he saw my face swelled up from me crying. "What happened?"

"Darry and Soda "forbid me to see you." I said. I put air quotes when I said 'forbid'

"Wow that sucks. You're not going to listen to them are you?" Dally asked.

"Of course not, I'm going to run away. Can I live with you?" I must have been out of my mind or madly in love to run away with Dally. I went with madly in love, it made it more romantic.

"Sure but I don't know where to stay. I mean most of the time I stay here, in the Curtis house, or I knock out at Buck's place; or something like that."

"Can't we stay at your place?" I put more enthusiasm in the word 'your'.

"I don't want us living with my ol' man. He might think I got you pregnant or something. And he might start bitching about the less space he has now that three would be staying at the house"

"Okay, well let's just get out of here." I said and was read y to jump out the window. Dally stuck out his hand and helped me down. We had no idea where to go, but there was one thing certain; I wasn't going to stay with my cousins.

Please Review!