Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I am not making any profit off of this, and it is just for entertainment purposes only. Please enjoy it!

I was woken up the next morning by someone shaking me roughly. I opened my eyes to see the round face of Maria, my 13 year old sister.

"Hey Two-Bit! Where's Mom? Isn't she home from chemo?" She asked me eagerly. Poor kid, this was going to hurt her more than me.

"Where'd you get to last night, Ria?" I asked her, trying to change the subject before I broke the news to her.

"I stayed the night as Michelle's." She said. "So where's Mom?" I bit my lip. I pulled her next to me and she looked at me, her eyes a little wide.

"Two-Bit. . .?"

"Ria. . .Mom, she's not coming home." I said, my voice just hovering above a whisper.

She stood up immediately. "NO!" She screamed. And as soon as she yelled it, her knees buckled and I grabbed her by the armpits, setting her gently back onto the couch. I sat down next to her and hugged her close.

She clung onto me and sobbed into my shirt. I almost started crying again, too, but I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek. I wasn't going to cry in front of my sister, it would just upset her even more.

Ria pulled away from me, and stood up. She was shaking a little. She looked at me, and then bolted out the door.

"RIA!" I yelled after her, but she was already gone. I squeezed my eyes shut and after a few minutes or so I went out the door, to see if I could find her, make sure she was okay, or with a friend or something.

I walked along the sidewalk, my hands pushed into my pockets. I walked by the Curtis' and walked up to the front door, maybe someone saw Ria. I opened the door, and let it shut with a bang.

Ponyboy was sitting next to Johnny on the couch and they both looked up at me with pity in their eyes. I could hear Soda in the bathroom, hollering something to Darry, who yelled back "IN YOUR CLOSET!" loudly from the kitchen. He came into the living room, and smiled when he saw me. Why were they all looking at me with that same pitying look?

"Hey y'all. Any of you guys seen Ria?" I asked.

They all shook their heads. "She'll turn up." Darry said with a nod.

I faked a smile. I think it was probably my first fake smile ever. What I didn't know was that there were going to be a lot more fake smiles where that came from.

The door swung open again and I turned to see Dally strolling in casually. "Damn, this place is always loaded with people." I said to myself. Dally nodded to me and went to the kitchen.

He came back moments later with a beer in each hand. He extended one out to me, but I shook my head.

"No, thanks though." I said. Pony looked at me, with genuine surprise written all over his face.

"Two-Bit Keith Matthews?" He said. "Turning down a beer?"

I shrugged. I didn't feel like drinking. It wouldn't take the pain away. I learned that a while back. Beer was good to numb stuff up, but after the numbing sensation fades away, the pain starts to sink in worse than before.

Dally walked over to me, a concerned glint in his eyes. For a second, I thought he was going to punch me, don't ask me why, but I wouldn't put it past him.

All he did, though, was put a hand on my forehead. I rolled my eyes and slapped it away.

"Geeze Dally, I ain't sick." I said.

He raised a brow at me. "I dunno, you felt kinda warm." He joked.

"I'm gonna go look for Ria. See ya'll later." I said and went out the door, and jumped down the porch steps.

I walked on, scoping the streets for my sister. I finally spotted her, sitting on a bench in the park. I almost didn't see her, because her head was hanging down looking at the ground.

I sat beside her and put my arm around her. She looked up at me.

"Two-Bit, are we gonna be okay?" She asked.

"I have no idea." I thought, but "You bet," is what I said.