"I think…" She shook her head and looked towards the front door. "I think maybe I should go and talk to her. She's not going to say anything to Steve about what's wrong, and she'll just end up mad."

"So, you're gonna tell Steve?"

"No."

"So, there is something wrong."

"No! I mean… if there were something wrong, I'd tell him?"

"No."

"Will you tell me?"

"I'm not telling you anything."

"So, there is something wrong."

Emma turned to Sodapop Curtis and glared. She didn't know what to think of the high school drop-out, and she thought it would make life all the more easier if she could figure it out. If she knew exactly what it was about him that attracted her besides his pretty face and apparent ignorance at the fact that he wasn't supposed to be hanging around her, maybe she could make a decision on just how much of this Soc/Greaser interaction she could take.

Sitting in the room with Adelle outside, she felt slightly uncomfortable. It wasn't the first time that she'd been alone in a room for a short while with the Curtis brothers and their friends, but it was the first that she could remembering sitting with a muttering Two-Bit and Darry shaking his head. Except for Soda's taunting, the room was silent, as though everybody were waiting for something. What that something was, she wasn't sure.

They could have been waiting for Adelle's obvious oncoming break down. The girl was having a rough time of life, and there was no way that it was lost on all of these people. Sure, in what had once been their own inner circle, no one would have noticed anything. None of them had noticed how happy she was until that happiness caused her to defend Ponyboy at school, leading her to giving him a ride home and showing everyone that she really did align herself with Greasers. Truth be known, their circle didn't even realize that Emma was so far gone into her own little world half the time that she didn't even listen when they spoke. As long as their personal belongings and status were intact, they didn't really care much about anyone else.

However, these guys had never seemed very blind to much of anything. The first time Adelle brought her to the house, Darry had been very quick to pick up on her apprehension and had said as much. It seemed as if they were all trying to be on their best behavior, though Two-Bit did tend to let that best behavior fall the second he realized that yet another of his friends was giving eyes to a Soc. Yet, even with the ensuing attitude, Emma had always gotten the feeling that these Greaser boys knew everything that was going on around them and to them at all times. It was just a matter of one asking.

And she thought that Steve was asking right at that moment. And so was Soda.

"I don't really think we should have come over here tonight." Emma sighed. "I think she did it for me, but…"

She paused, waiting for the oncoming question of what was wrong with her. The closest she got was Two-Bit's comment, "If I gotta listen to the problems of the South side all night, then you're gonna have to pay me, and don't say you can't afford it."

Emma groaned. She folded her arms around her midsection and pulled herself tight for a second before loosening slightly. Were they all waiting for Adelle to break down… or for Emma to explode? She knew that tension was building inside of her, but she didn't think she was going to crack. Of course, most people who cracked didn't expect it, either, but Emma thought that her time around these people had brought enough awareness to her that she would be able to see it coming.

"I'll have you know," she said, "that if I need a psychiatrist, I will be more than happy to go to one that doesn't talk with his mouth full."

"Oooh, it's just like I said. So—" He stopped as Ponyboy gave him an evil look. "True colors are showin' tonight."

"There are no true colors, Two-Bit. Just people having bad days. Some of us have them, ya know."

Soda leaned forward, resting his arms on his thighs, and all Emma noticed when she looked at him was that his hair fell into his face in such a way to draw attention to his sparkling eyes. She wanted to brush away the hair out of a habit of neatness, but at the same time, she wanted it to stay just the way it was. She also didn't want to hear Two-Bit's mouth if she brushed hair out of his face.

Emma sighed and shook her head. "Why are you looking at me?"

"Because I want to."

"Do you always do what you want to do?"

He turned towards his older brother and winked, then turned back to Emma. "Unless Darry tells me I can't."

"And I'm about to tell you that you can't pick on that girl anymore." Darryl Curtis stood up and sighed. "It's time you kids started your homework. As soon as Adelle's back in here, the three of you are gonna get on that paper 'cause Ponyboy's not allowed to fail, and I don't think your parents would appreciate you failin' either."

"My parents…" Emma shook her head and decided against saying it. "Alright, Darry, we'll do our homework."

She thought it was strange, yet comforting that Darry was so parental. She had never really liked being parented, but at the same time, it was nice to see someone actually take an active hand, to actually care what went on. She never asked, but she often wondered why Darry had never taken his brothers up in life. He would never be completely Soc, but he wasn't totally Greaser, either. She got the feeling that he could have been more, but his own status in society was far less important to him than his family. It was a concept that she didn't think she saw much of in anyone other than him.

Emma turned towards Soda and sighed. He was just so… She didn't know what he was. She thought if she had to put a label on him, he would just be normal. Neither here nor there, and not really too much closer to one side or the other. And yet, for as average as he seemed to be, he made her feel anything but. "Are you going to watch me do my homework, too, Soda?"

He grinned and sat back. He stretched his arms along the back of the couch and said, "Maybe. Haven't made up my mind yet."

"Something's wrong with you, Sodapop Curtis, you know that?"

"That's what they tell me."

She sighed, then was very glad to hear the front door creak open because she had no idea how to respond to him… the words or the devilish grin on his face. She turned to see Adelle walking in and thought that at the very least, the fact that her make-up was all in place was a good thing. They really did need to work on that paper, considering that neither of them had done very much work on it. But, all the same, she almost wished that things had went badly, because then they would have been leaving, and Emma wouldn't have to wonder about Soda and what was behind his grin. At least, not right at that moment.