Sometimes, Emma was certain that hell was high school. For all eternity, one was forced to walk the halls as an outsider, receiving snarky comments from the Socs and being tripped by the Greasers. Whatever the middle ground was between the North and South sides… that's what one became as punishment for all misdeeds. At least there was a title to be held on either side of the spectrum. In the middle, one was nothing, just the common place where Soc and Greaser met.

Sometimes, standing in the hallway, Emma was certain that she was already in hell and when the bell rang to signify the end of the day, the whole bitter scene would play out again. Standing in the hallway, with the South side boys talking about their cars and the upcoming football game and the North side boys grabbing the rear ends of their girlfriends and laughing obnoxiously just because they could, Emma was certain that she didn't belong in either group. Standing in the hallway beside Adelle, being the only person who would speak to the girl outside of the losers in between who wanted her for their group, Emma was certain that her head was going to explode.

"He came to school today," Adelle said in a soft voice. She clutched her books to her chest and stared off down the corridor. "I didn't think he would, and when I asked Pony this morning, he said that he didn't know, but he actually came."

Emma turned her attention from the whispering Socs and looked down the other way. The whispering behind her grew, and she knew what they were talking about, even if she couldn't hear all of their words. They were calling her a traitor, muttering that the grease had rubbed off on her. They were calling the both of them tramps, whores, whatever else they could say that would hurt their feelings. However, they were unaware that the only thing that could hurt Adelle was for Steve to shun her. The only thing that could hurt Emma was to realize that she was truly stuck in hell's abyss with no chance of going in either direction.

Steve Randle stood in the center of the group. He was turned to the side, his eyes jumping back and forth between loud boys who talked about rumbles and what it was like to feel their fist break the nose of Soc faces. If he felt the eyes of Adelle on him, he didn't make notice of it. He didn't turn towards her, and he didn't motion to her. He was in his own little group, in his own little world, and within a few months, he'd be gone from high school forever. Until he died, that is, and he was sent back into high school hell.

"Go talk to him, Adelle," Emma said softly, giving her a small nudge. "He's right there, and I'm sure that nothing he's talking about could be so important that you'd be intruding."

Admittedly, as much as she just wanted Adelle to stop sighing, Emma was curious as to whether or not her friend could actually do it. She had been so quick the night before to say that she'd have no problem talking to Steve in public, that she would go to him and hug him in front of the entire school, but those were just words. The chance for action was there, and Emma wasn't so sure that Adelle could go through with it. She didn't know if she would actually move towards him in particular with Soc eyes trained so heavily on her. Talking to Ponyboy Curtis about homework was one thing. Letting the entire school know that yes, she was in fact, somewhat dating Steve Randle of the DX gas station was something totally different.

Yet, there was more than curiosity's sake at stake in her urgences. Emma wasn't just caught in the middle of high school. She was caught in the middle of life. She didn't belong with the Soc crowd, but at the same time, she wasn't one of them either. However, considering that her anxiety and tension were both lessened when she was at the Curtis house, she thought that maybe they were closer to the type of people that she could see herself associating with than those who had the same wealth as she did. Maybe, if Adelle could take the step forward, she would be able to follow her. If not in that direction, specifically, at least to the point of actually making a decision either way.

"I can't," Adelle said softly. She blinked and her eyelashes were moist. She turned to Emma and lightly chewed on her bottom lip. "It's not that I don't want to, but I'm… I'm afraid, Emma."

"Of what? Of them?" She forced herself not to turn around and point to those who were probably already pointing at them. "I thought you said you didn't care what they thought. You don't care that they see your car driving out of our neighborhood and heading there. They've already shut you out, Adelle. There's nothing else they can do to you."

"It's not them," she said, turning back towards the crowd. "It's Steve." Adelle took in a deep breath and let it fall slowly from her lips. Her body sagged. "What if I walk over there and he doesn't say anything? Or worse, he turns me away? Touching me at the Curtis house is one thing. Talking to me in front of all of his other friends is something different."

"Yeah, but he's done all of that with you in front of his best friend, the only one that counts, and that's something totally different. Soda doesn't give him grief, so I wouldn't think that he'd actually care about the people here."

Emma was proud of herself that she didn't actually sigh when she said Sodapop's name, though in her head, she could hear and feel the whoosh of breath that followed it. She would almost swear that it was all the fault of his eyes. In fact, if she did end up in high school hell, she was going to blame it all on Sodapop Curtis's eyes, and maybe, if she were lucky, she could use him as a good enough defense to get a ticket right out of hell. A boy with eyes so blue shouldn't look at a girl the way that he did. It was just unnatural and more than a little cruel.

He looked at her like he could see right through her. He looked at her as though he knew all of her questions and had all of the answers, but he would only give those answers to her if she asked the questions. Well, that most certainly wasn't going to happen. Even if she did knew what her questions were, exactly, she wasn't going to leave their unravelling to the wit and wisdom of Soda. That was just asking for trouble, and there was enough of that on her hands to go actively searching for more.

And still, if Adelle could just cross the hallway and talk to Steve, maybe it would give her enough backbone to admit to herself that she liked more about Soda than just his eyes. Maybe, if she saw that there was actually something there besides one-sided infatuation between Adelle and Steve, then maybe she could admit that there was more to Soda than that he was the bad boy with which she shouldn't be associating. There really did have to be a reason that he unnerved her so, and yet, she continued to put herself in situations where he would spend the night making her tense. And maybe there was more to his attentions than just the thrill of setting a girl on edge.

"It's still scary," Adelle whispered. "Before, I knew exactly what I was supposed to do. Classes ended, I went straight to the gym and got dressed for cheer practice. Now, there's no cheer practice for me to go to. School ends and I wonder if, on the off chance that Steve decided to come to school, he's going to be going straight to the station. And then, it becomes…"

"Should you rush over there or wait because you don't want to seem eager." Emma sighed and shook her head. "I know, it's hard, but you've got to make up your mind, Adelle. We can't just stand here in the hall forever. We haven't gone to hell, yet."

"What?"

She shook her head. "Nevermind." Emma turned to look behind them, then sighed. Marcia and Cherry stood waiting impatiently, and it was obvious that they both wanted to see what was going to happen. Cherry Valance was the girl with the reputation of feeling sympathy for the Greasers, but when the chips fell and it was time for action, her sympathy didn't carry enough weight. She was back in good with the Socs, and Emma and Adelle were on the outside.

"Will you go with me?"

"What?" Emma turned to her with wide eyes. She was supposed to be a spectator, sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see if it were safe to go forward. "You want me to go over there? I don't know anybody there."

"You know Steve. And Steve could take us to Pony, because if Steve's here, he'll know where Pony is. And Pony's probably outside waiting for Two-Bit to pick him up."

"But I talked to Pony today, already." Which had been hard enough, she didn't add out loud. Thanking him for his help with her homework had been awkward, even more so since she was sure that it had been obvious to him that she had made sure that no one was around to see them. "I don't have a reason to go over there."

"You have me," Adelle told her. There was so much need and fear in her eyes and Emma bit her lip. "Please, Emma, don't make me go over there alone."

Emma decided that sometime during the ride to school and first period, she had in fact died, and this was her hell. The second she started walking, everything would rewind and she would be back in her car, sitting outside of the school. There was no other explanation for the situation she found herself in. Sure, she could say that it was because she held loyalty to the only person that she didn't fake a smile with, but the idea of hell sounded so much better. It was much more exciting, and at the same time, all the more depressing.

A hand touched her arm and Emma jumped. "We need to replace a cheerleader, and we want you to try out," Cherry said. As she spoke, her eyes flashed quickly to Adelle, then went back to Emma. "If you come with us, the crowd will go."

Emma hadn't realized that there was actually a crowd to disperse until Cherry said something. She looked around and there were more Socs standing behind her. They were closer as well. In the other direction, Steve was finally looking their way, as were his friends. There were more of them, too. The classes had emptied already, and everyone should have been gone. At most, she would have expected only a few to be left in the stare-down between South Side and North Side. She didn't expect most of the school and quite a few teachers to be there, too.

"I don't want to be a cheerleader," she said, pulling her arm away from Cherry. "And you're really not helping the situation any." She looked to Adelle. "Do you really want me to go with you?"

"Yes."

"You can't be her friend anymore, Emma. Unless you want to be on the outside, too, you can't be her friend. I've done all that I can, but…" Cherry sighed. "If Bob hadn't died, then maybe it wouldn't be so hard. But now, things are different. You can't be talking to Ponyboy Curtis, and you can't be Adelle's friend, anymore."

Emma turned to the side and tears were falling from Adelle's eyes. She didn't think Adelle was crying because of what Cherry said. She had to know by then that even if she didn't take anymore trips with her to the Curtis house or anywhere else that she needed a friend to be, Emma would never leave her completely alone. She had to know that the surest way to get Emma to do something was to tell her not to do it. She thought that the tears could only be because she was truly invisible. Cherry stood there, talking about her as though she weren't even present, and as far as she had noticed, Steve didn't even know she had spent the past five minutes staring at him. She would have rather been the butt of someone's joke than to not be there at all.

And suddenly, Adelle was spinning on her heel. Emma watched her walk slowly across the way and stop a few feet in front of Steve. She watched her wipe her face and say something that made Steve frown. She watched the boys and girls around Steve back away, while Steve moved closer to Adelle. He took her arm and started to turn away, but Adelle didn't move. She looked back at Emma because as sure as Emma wouldn't have left her, she wasn't going to leave Emma.

With a sigh, Emma looked at Cherry. She didn't know what the words were between Steve and Adelle. She didn't know if their leaving together meant anything more than Steve's desire to do something to upset the Socs on the other end of the hall. But, Adelle had taken the chance, and that's what she'd been asking her to do all along. "I don't want to be a cheerleader," she said to Cherry, then turned around. And walked off to join Adelle.