'Ello. Here is chapter 3... Btw, this chapter is pretty much the set off for the entire story… Pay attention to little things. And also, sorry for my weird past tense present tense talk. All my stories end up like this; I never really know what tense it's in. Kinda confusing, but just try to ignore it.

Disc: I don't own any of the outsiders (I wish I owned Ponyboy) I own all the people you don't know. Sam, Mac, Trinny, Melissa, Janie, Vic… Anyone else who I feel like putting in my story.

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"Hey Dar, I'm gonna go down to the corner store with Sam. I'll be home later." Pony said to his big brother. For some reason, this made me blush. Darry stood up and nodded an OK.

"Don't stay out past midnight. You know the rules Pony. I don't wanna find out that you killed another Soc again."

What? Ponyboy killed a Soc? What the hell? I decided I would ask him about it when we left. He was walking with his head down and I figured he was crying.

"Pony? What's wrong?" I put my hand on his shoulder and smiled gently.

"Nothing. Uh, you wanna walk?" He asked me. "That was a stupid question, of course we're walking. Not like either of us have a car." His ears grew red as he said these last words. I really want to ask him about what Darry said, but maybe I shouldn't. What if it was just a joke? Yeah. That must be it. A joke.

"Actually, how do you feel about going in style?" Instead of following Pony, I turned a sharp left and started to my house. He looked real confused and I just beckoned for him to follow me. I led him to our backyard and wheeled out Mac's black motorcycle. He would kill me if he knew I had taken it, but hey, I taught him how to drive it.

"Can you drive it?" Ponyboy asked me uncertainly.

"'Course I can. I taught Mac how to." I left out the part that I got into a wreck when I was 11. It wasn't my fault, Mac was tickling me and I just ran into those people in their car.

"Is this your brother's bike?"

"Yeah, but he won't care." Actually he would. But he's not here, so who cares? Pony smiled and mumbled something about not getting in trouble. I strattled the bike and threw Pony a helmet.

"Don't ya need one?" he asked me, holding the helmet out to me.

"Uhh…" How was I supposed to explain to him that I didn't want to mess up my hair? "Nah. It's all right. I'm more concerned about your health then mine." I laughed and pushed the helmet back toward him. Taking the helmet reluctantly, he sat behind me and put it on. I felt a shiver go down my spine as he put his arms around my waist. I started the bike, and then realized I had no idea where I was going.

"So Pony, where're we goin'?"

"Turn right here." He pointed at a light and I turned and almost ran into a big black mustang.

"Hey Greasers! Watch where yer goin'!" Screamed a bunch of Soc's from the car. I sped up to avoid them. After a while, we finally reached a drugstore. I hopped off and Ponyboy threw me the helmet. I stifled an 'umph' as I caught it hard. He was pretty dang strong for someone his size. He held the door open for me and I almost laughed. I don't know why. When I walked in, I noticed a display of Kool's over in the corner. Yes. I grabbed 3 or 4 packages and Ponyboy got a Pepsi. According to him, he loves Pepsi. When I paid, we headed back to the bike and Pony said,

"Wanna go to the lot?"

"The lot?" What the hell is the lot?

"The vacant lot. It's the hangout for us greasers."

I nodded and drove to the 'lot', with Pony directing me. When we got there, I just kinda froze. This place seemed kinda ominous. Maybe I'm just paranoid. Me and Ponyboy just sat there on the bike. It took me a while to notice his hands were still around my waist. He apparently noticed this too and shook his hands off.

"Sorry." He blushed furiously and slid off the bike. I wished he wouldn't. I swung my legs over on one side and just sat there. Pony was lying on the floor now, just looking up at the sky. He's really different. I mean, compared to all the other boys in this town, Pony doesn't act like a greaser. Wait a minute, what are we doing here?

"Pony?"

"Yeah?"

"What do y'all do here for fun?"

"Well, there's always the nightly double. We can go to the movies." He stood up and looked at me.

"Sounds good. Let's go." I started the bike and Pony loosely put his hands around me.

"It don't start for a while. Not till it gets dark. Whaddya wanna do till then?"

I turned my head and smiled.

"I dunno. How 'bout we just go somewhere?" Ponyboy suddenly smiled and said, "We can go to Two-Bit's house. Unless he's at my house…" So I sped off to wherever Pony pointed to. Eventually we reached a little house, it was cute. There was a woman sitting in front, reading a book. I guess this is Two-Bit's Mom. She looks like him, the same eyes and nose.

"Oh, hello Ponyboy!" She sat up and opened the gate. "Who's your friend?"

"Hey Ms. Matthews. This is Sam, she moved in next door." Pony handed the helmet he had been holding to me.

"To me? I never knew anyone was selling their house." Ms. Matthews looked up and down the street, as if to look for a moving van.

"No, I moved in next to the Curtis's." I held my hand out and we shook hands.

"Very nice to meet you, dear. Pony you sure have good taste. Not like my boy, who by the way is out with Bonny, some new blond who he met at a bar. She's not nearly as polite as you." She smiled warmly at me and took us inside the house.

"How are ya doing Pony? I don't see ya much anymore. How's Darry? And Soda?" She settled into an overstuffed armchair. "They doin' all right?"

"Yeah. Soda has a new girl, Melissa. And Darry is actually enjoying work ever since they had to repair the roof of this broad Jessica's house."

"Oh I sure am glad Darry has found something else to occupy his time then work." Ms. Matthews scooted off to the kitchen to take a roll out of the oven.

"She's nice. A lot like her son." I said to Pony. We were both sitting on a red couch.

"Yeah. If you need someone to talk to bout anything, come see Ms. Matthews." As if on cue, she walked in holding a tray of cookies and bottles of water.

"Here ya go. Enjoy yerselves."

"Excuse me, where's your bathroom?" I really had to go.

"Oh just down the hall." She pointed to a little wooden door. I thanked her and used the bathroom. When I came back, Pony was waiting at the door, holding his jacket.

"It's time to go. The movie'll be starting soon." Soon, we were waving good-bye to Ms. Matthews and driving to the movies. When we got there, Pony led me under the fence to get in.

"Back home, we used to climb over boxes to get in." I could tell Ponyboy was glad I said that, maybe he felt weird. So we watched the movie from a row of seats and about halfway through, I noticed Pony looking at me. I turned my head and laughed. The rest of the movie went by like this, Pony looking, me looking, me laughing, yeah it was pretty weird. We decided to leave after the first movie, and while we were walking back to the bike, I saw a group of teens hanging around about 30 feet from the bike. They were wearing fancy clothes and looked drunk. Soc's. One of them, I could tell, scared Pony to pieces. He was big, and African-american. Pony grabbed my hand and whispered softly to me,

"Ignore them and maybe they'll leave us alone."

"Lookie here boys! Grease love!" Said the big Soc. He seemed like the leader.

"We ain't doin' nothing. Leave us alone." I said, my voice shaking with rage.

"Hey Vic," another Soc said to the black guy, "they want us to leave them alone." All the Soc's laughed as I gave Ponyboy a look and we both bolted. We were 10 feet from the bike when I was shoved onto the ground. I felt a flurry of fists on my face. I heard Pony yelling for his brothers. I just took the punches like a man and eventually managed to throw a hard punch to some guy's jaw. With the punches slowing, I began kicking everyone in sight and using my free hand to punch anyone near me. I heard that Vic guy say quietly to Pony who was taking a beating next to me, "There's no one who can help you now, grease."

Suddenly, I felt all the Soc's stand up and run. I could hear yelling and screaming in the background. Someone was chasing the Soc's away. I just laid there, very quiet. What happened? I felt my own blood running down my lip and my cheek hurt like hell.

"Sam? Sami? You ok?" Pony asked in a whisper. I looked over and saw Pony with a huge cut on his ear.

"Yeah. I'm all right. Damn, I probably look lousy right?" I tried to laugh but only exclaimed with, " Pony! Your ear is practically cut open!"

Darry, Soda and Mac ran up with a couple of girls.

"Pony you need stitches. Let's go." Darry was pulling Pony to his feet while Soda helped me up. Great. I feel stupid. A girl who looked about 16 was wrapping a piece of cloth around Ponyboys' ear. She had sort of dark skin and was wearing a turquoise shirt and matching earrings and hairties. Even the ribbon around her neck was blue. For some reason, I immediately thought this was Soda's girl.

"Do you want a ride home, Sam?" She asked me.

"No. I wanna go to the hospital with you guys." Pretty soon, we were all crammed into an old Ford and Ponyboy's head was in my lap. We eventually reached the hospital and after Soda yelled at a few doctors, got into an examining room. While Pony was getting stitches, I remembered something I had heard while being jumped. When Darry was beating up the Soc's, Vic was running off, screaming threats behind him to Darry. He sounded pretty serious. I walked home from the hospital, feeling stupid, scared and tired rolled into one. When I got home, no one was there. Mac was still out with one of the girls I saw. Obviously, he didn't give a damn if I was jumped. I just walked to my kitchen, listening to my own footsteps. I laid on the cold linoleum of my kitchen floor and just dropped to sleep.