Chapter Three:

Suze caught sight of Dally and groaned, whacking herself in the head with her book. "Oh, no," she said unhappily. "Not another one!" She was sick and tired of so many ghosts! She knew coming to Tulsa was a bad idea.

"Actually, he's with me," said another voice. The ghost she had seen earlier stepped up beside the one already standing next to her. "I'm Johnny Cade," the ghost said. "And I'm Dallas Winston. But you can call me Dally," said the other one.

Suze cleared her throat slightly and introduced herself. "I'm Suze Carducci," she said. "What do you want?" she added, sighing unhappily.

Johnny looked confused. "What do you mean?" he asked. "I MEAN, why are you bothering me?" Suze demanded. She was anti-social, and quiet, the kind of person who prefers being by themselves and reading a lot.

"You have to help us!" Dally said, surprising himself at how desperate he sounded. Suze rolled her eyes and she set down her book.

"Okay. Spill," she said, sounding bored. Dally took a deep breath and explained everything, with interjections and annotations from Johnny. Suze frowned in concentration, nodding occasionally and digesting the story.

Finally, when Dally was done, she said, "Okay." That was all she said. Dally narrowed his eyes at her. "So will you help us?" Johnny asked hopefully.

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Johnny hoped she would help them. She was the only one who could. Suze shrugged. "It's not like I've got a choice," she said. "I'm the only mediator I know of."

"Can you really help us?" Johnny asked, unbelieving. Suze frowned at him.

"Yes, I said I would help you. I'll figure something out. Now buzz off before I exorcise you," she threatened.

Johnny put his hands up in surrender and faded back into the darkness of death, where idle ghosts remain, dormant, waiting for their chance or opportunity to venture back into the mortal world…back where he lived temporarily until his will was fulfilled…

Johnny shifted uncomfortably. I know my parents were cheap and didn't care about me, but they could have gotten me a bigger coffin, for God's sake! He thought viciously.

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Dally, however, remained to bother Suze for another few minutes. "So," he said. "You're a mediator?"

Suze nodded, not looking up. Dally glided around to glance at the title of her book. "'Gone With The Wind,'" he read aloud. "Huh. Isn't that the one Pony's always reading?"

Suze looked up at him, a funny expression on his face. "I know you ain't talking about a horse," she said, almost questioningly. Dally explained about the Curtis brothers, Sodapop and Ponyboy.

"Oh," Suze said. "Those are weird names." Dally scowled at her. "Weird in a good way," she explained, seeing his expression.

"And I suppose you think Suze is a normal name?" Dally demanded cockily. "I never said that," Suze argued. "I think it's better that my real name, anyway."

Dally snorted. "You think Susan's a bad name? You should try Dallas sometime," he laughed. Suze glared at him. "My name's not Susan," she said icily. "It's Susannah. Now leave me alone."

"Or what? You'll exercise me?" Dally teased. "It's exorcising," Suze snapped. "BUZZ OFF!" she finally screamed, whacking Dally with her book.

Dally yelped in pain as her book hit him. He had no idea that humans could touch ghosts!

"Yeah," Suze smirked, reading his expression, "I can hit you. One of the high points of being a mediator. Now shove off."

Dally cussed at her, but she just stood up and walked away. He faded, still cussing.

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When Dally faded, he didn't go back to his coffin. He usually went to Buck's to throw things and scare the living daylights out of Buck himself, to the Shepard's to drink Tim's beer and laugh while Tim raged at whoever was there for drinking his beer, or to the Curtis', just to hang around in their dishwasher.

This time, however, he went somewhere that he immediately regretted.

"OUCH!" Johnny gasped in pain as he was squished against the side of the coffin. "Hey, kid. What's up?" Dally asked, his voice muffled.

"Dally! Get out! I can't…well, not like it matters anyway," Johnny said, at realizing that he no longer needed oxygen. "But I'm still squashed!"

"Alright, alright, I know when I'm not wanted," Dally said, pretending to be hurt. He faded, and Johnny relaxed. He liked Dally and all, but he needed his space.

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Tim and Curly Shepard relaxed on their front porch, smoking, catcalling, and drinking. Tim tipped his head back, taking a long drag of his cigarette. He turned towards his beer. It was empty.

"CURLY!" Tim roared angrily. Curly jerked around. "What?" he demanded.

"What the hell did you do with my beer?" Curly looked confused. "What? I don't know what you're talking about!"

Then his expression turned to one of fear. "Tim? Tim, what're you doing? Don't look at me like that! Tim? TIM!"

Somewhere, watching, unseen and unheard, Dallas Winston was laughing his head off.

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Suze stormed angrily to the next empty bench she saw, flopped down on it, and began reading again. Someone tapped her lightly on the shoulder.

She took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh, annoyed. She turned, saying, "I already told you—" she broke off, seeing someone actually human.

"Oh," she said, embarrassed. "Sorry. I thought it was somebody else," she said, grinning sheepishly.

The guy smiled at her. He was handsome, with grayish green eyes and reddish brown hair that was bleached at the tips. He sat down next to her. "I saw you reading. That's a great book," he said.

Suze glanced at it. Gone With The Wind. "Oh, yeah. I really like it so far," she said, truthfully for once.

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Ponyboy had been sort of lonely since Johnny had died. Now, he finally thought he had found someone he could relate to. She even looked like Johnny, and she lived right across the street. He had watched her move in.

Finally, he thought he had found a friend. The tight knot of tension that had tightened in his chest every day since they had died was finally relaxing. Now if only he could find a way to untie it. Maybe she could help him.

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Whaddya think? Review.

Tomorrow's FRIDAY! Wahoo! I hate school. (It's my second day, and lucky me, I'm the new kid in town. Everybody knows each other and I know only a couple of friends who I have no classes with. Sorry to complain, but I feel like it and you don't HAVE to read this far.)

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