Before I meant to write I hope you like it so far. I'm not anywhere near done yet! So don't worry. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far!

The next morning I woke with a smile still on my face. I swear I had slept the whole night with that same smile. It was like it was permanently etched to my face or something. But I liked it. I was in a real good mood. I felt sort of giddy and I was all happy which is a bit unlike me at this time of the morning. Usually I'd wake up in a real bad mood on Sunday morning. I was always tired from the night before and I had to be at work an hour early then Saturday. So typically I was a bit of a bitch till I got my usually coke. Then I'd manage to get back to myself between the ride from here to work. But this morning I was in a good mood. Hell I didn't think there was much anyone could do today to piss me off.

I got dressed and ready before I went downstairs. I was wearing just a pair of jeans and a blue tank shirt. Nothing to fancy, I felt good in anything I was wearing today. So when I went downstairs Mrs. Hannigan was still I bed. It was real quiet. But nice. I had grabbed a piece of toast and went outside for a while. I had a good 20 minutes before Lee got here so I figured I'd just go outside and enjoy the peace and quiet. I just sat outside listening to the birds. I was real calm. I kept thinking about Ponyboy and what a dreamer he was. I was actually wondering if he was outside enjoying the same sunrise I was right now.

I guess I had lost track of time because Mrs. Hannigan came outside telling me that Lee was waiting for me outside. I gave Mrs. H a hug before running out the door. As I hopped into Lee's car he looked at me kind of funny. I guess he was use to my Sunday morning bad moods.

"Hey," I said with a smile as he passed me a coke.

"Are you okay," he asked with a strange look on his face. I guess he was just amazed I wasn't demanding my coke.

"Yeah I'm great actually," I said with a smile as I took a sip of coke still looking around at the sky.

Lee gave me a funny look then smiled, "Had a good time last night then?"

"Yeah. A real good time," I said turning to look at him. His eyes were real dark. He looked like he hadn't for more then an hour or two, "You okay there sleepy?"

"Yeah fine," he said with a yawn, "Didn't get much sleep that's all."

"Why's that," I said as he started driving away.

"Jen," he said simple. Though I noticed the tone in his voice. I expected it to be real happy. I assumed he had gotten Jen into bed to something. But no. He was real quiet when he said her name. Almost regretful.

"What happened with Jen?"

"I don't know. We were having a good ol' time. Then all of a sudden she just says she's gotta go home. So I offered to give her a ride. But she said she'd walk. But I insisted. Then she slapped me," he said with a sigh not looking me in the eyes.

"What?" I asked a little shocked, "Did you try something with her?"

I know Lee was my best friend and I loved him but I figured when I girl slaps you it's not for no good reason. Especially a girl like Jen. She just seemed like the kind of girl who might get upset if a guy tried to make a move on her. And Lee was definitely a guy who would.

"That's the weird thing," he said looking at me, "I didn't try anything. I figured from talking to her she wasn't ready to be doing anything. So I just didn't try. For some reason I thought I really liked the girl. But hell turns out she don't give a damn about me."

I looked at Lee. And could tell he wasn't lying. Me, Lee and Bryan always use to be able to tell when one of us was lying. Though all three of us could tell a real good lie to someone else without them ever knowing. But I could never lie to Lee and Bryan. Not that I wanted to or anything but they could always tell when I was. And I could always tell when they were. I guess we just had known each other that well.

"Come on Lee. Don't be stupid. Maybe she was just really tired. You know how I get when I'm tired. I get bitchy. Maybe that's all it was," I said trying to comfort him, "You know she likes you. She wouldn't risk going to that party with you if she hadn't"

"Well she sure has a funny way of showing it," he said as we pulled up to the store.

I looked at Lee and the smile I had on my face had slowly faded. I loved Lee a lot and he was my best friend. I knew full well it took a lot to make him sad. I also knew he has probably been slapped by many other girls. But I could really tell now that he liked Jen. And it hurt me to see that he was hurting.

"Come on Lee. What girl couldn't like you? I mean look at you," I said with a smile giving him a playful push before I got out of the car.

Lee managed a brief smile. He had a real big ego I thought with a laugh; "Well I'll seeya later. Thanks Kate."

I smiled at him, "Yeah seeya Lee."

I watched him drive away. I wish I could take him out for a drink or to go see a movie. I wanted to cheer him up. But unfortunately I had to work. And I couldn't afford not to. So I headed inside the store.

It was one of those rare days that I was actually on time for work. Leon looked at me kind of amazed.

"Wow on time today eh Kate," he said with a grin.

"I know amazing ain't it," I replied as I grabbed my apron.

I hated wearing uniforms. Before Leon had us wearing these ridicules outfits. But me and Desiree finally convinced him to get rid of them. It was either he got rid of the uniforms or we quit. They were really that bad. But me and Desiree brought in a lot of customers. Me cause of my looks. Desiree because she knew pretty much everyone in town. She was a cool girl, I liked her. Any ways, Leon had caved and gotten ridden of the uniforms because he couldn't afford to loose us. But in all honesty I don't think I could of quit. I couldn't afford it either. But Leon still forced us to wear aprons thought they weren't that bad. He let the two of us 'spice' up our outfits. I'd actually gotten complements about my apron before. And not to sound cocky but Desiree and me looked real good in them.

Leon shook his head though I could tell he was grinning and pointed towards some customers at the counter. I nodded my head and went over to them.

"Hello how may I help you fine gentlemen today?" I asked with a smile as I walked over.

It was actually a pretty busy day. A lot of people were coming for some hang over remedies. In fact I probably had about 30 people ask what was best to cure a good hang over. I couldn't help but laugh as I pointed them towards Lee's famous hang over cure. It was quite a mixture that's for sure. I had only gotten drunk once and Lee had whipped up a good old drink. I swear it was the nastiest thing I've ever tasted but it worked like a charm. So between helping all of the customers and working the till I didn't even realize that Ponyboy had come into the store. I was standing there helping some old lady pick out the right kind of cheese when I felt someone grab me by my shoulders. I swear I screamed so loud I made everyone in the entire store stop and stare. I turned around and gave Ponyboy a playful punch in the arm. He kissed my on my head and everyone got the point I wasn't being held up or anything so they went back to shopping. I made sure to point out to Ponyboy that older lady standing next to me. He nodded his head and actually helped the older woman as I went over to some kids who had decided to play pass the cereal box.

I worked the till as Ponyboy helped a few people out who were looking for some things. I thought it was real sweet that he was helping me out. Especially when he could be out with his buddies. But he was here with me. The smile I had this morning came back but I still had Lee in the back of my mind. I wanted him to be happy too. But slowly as the customers started to file out Ponyboy walked over towards me, grinning.

"Thanks for the help Ponyboy," I said with a smile.

"Anytime Kate," he said smiling back. I really liked him.

I put my arms around his shoulders and gave him a kiss. It was a lot longer then the kiss we had last night. But then again there wasn't people watching us either. Slowly as we both pulled away I caught myself blushing again. This was all really new from me. Ponyboy noticed me blushing and he grinned back at me. But I guess now that I think about it he probably knew about my supposed rep around here. So he probably found it a bit weird that I was blushing after kissing him. But I've only ever kissed three guys before in my life. And none of those times had ever felt like this.

"So what are you up to today?" I asked with a smile.

"Well…" he said with a smile, "I was hoping that you might want to go down to Dingo's and get a bite to eat. That is if you're not busy or anything."

I smiled at him. I could tell that Ponyboy hadn't asked out to many girls before. Not that I found that bad or anything, I thought it was sweet. I could tell he wasn't like a lot of guys I knew. He just didn't go out with any random girl who flirted with him. He actually liked the girl when he asked them out.

"I'm not sure. I'll have to try to fit you in somewhere between Rob and Ned," I said with wink, "But I suppose I could always bump Rob up and I could fit you in there."

Ponyboy grinned, "Well I'm glad you can fit me in."

I smiled, "I'll always make room for you."

Ponyboy blushed slightly. And I smiled. I saw Desiree come in and she winked at me. Desiree and I were really good friends. She knew that hardly any stories she heard about me were true. She was someone I could trust. Come to think of it she was one of my very few girl friends. Most girls hated me.

"Hey Kate," she said with a smile as she put on her apron, "You're free to go."

I smiled at her, "Thanks Dez."

I took off my apron and went to the backroom quick to hang it up. When I walked back to over to Ponyboy he gave me one of those help me looks. I laughed as I saw that Desiree was drilling him. About who his friends were, how he did in school, what his family was like. She sounded a lot like Lee. Oh shit Lee I thought to myself. I saw him outside in his car waiting for me.

"Hey Dez we gotta get going. I'll talk to you later," I said as I grabbed Ponyboy's hand and we left the store.

Lee gave me one of his who-the-hell-is-that looks as I walked out with Ponyboy.

"Hey Kate," he said glaring at Ponyboy, "Ready to go?"

I looked at Ponyboy who looked a bit intimidated. But I didn't blame him. Lee could look real mean when he wanted to.

"Actually Ponyboy and I were gonna head over for a bite to eat," I said very calmly like this happened all the time (which it didn't), "You want to come?"

Lee seemed to relax a bit as she heard me say Ponyboy's name. He knew that Ponyboy was a Curtis and Lee knew Sodapop and Steve pretty well. He stopped glaring at Ponyboy and seemed more like himself; even though I could tell he was still depressed about Jen. Ponyboy also seemed to relax a bit too. He loosened his squeeze on my hand a bit. Though I tried not to notice that he had been squeezing it in the first place. Most guys didn't like looking intimidated in front of people. Especially girls.

"Ponyboy Curtis?" he asked seeing Pony nod Lee nodded back, "Yeah sure. Why not? I wouldn't mind going out."

I looked over at Ponyboy to make sure this was okay with him. He seemed like he didn't mind. Besides I figured if Lee needed to be with friends right now. Plus by the time we got to Dingo's Lee would see someone he knew and leave me and Pony alone. That's what happened most of the time anyways.

"Great," I said with a smile as me and Ponyboy hopped into the car.

The whole way there Lee was quizzing Ponyboy out. I felt kind of bad for the guy. But even Lee couldn't find anything wrong with Ponyboy. He was a really great guy. I was resting my head on Ponyboy's shoulder and I saw Lee give me a glare. But I stuck my tongue out at him. Lee laughed. Besides I don't think Lee was to worried about Ponyboy but then again Lee was still pretty protective over me.

As we pulled up to Dingo's we saw a lot of people were there. But then again there typically always was. Getting out of the car I saw the looks some guys were giving me. But Ponyboy had his arm around me and was making it real clear that I was with him. Not to mention Lee was making damn sure that the only guy within 5 ft. of me were him and Ponyboy. As we walked in Lee and me both kind of stopped instantly. Ponyboy didn't know what was going on but he stopped too.

I looked over at the corner booth where Jen was drunk out of her mind. And she was with a whole bunch of guys. She was slurring her words and yelling random things. She reminded me a lot of Angela right now. And it made me sick. The worst thing was the look on Lee's face. He looked really hurt. Lee was a tough guy. You had to be pretty tough if you lived around these parts. The only time Lee had ever cried was at Bryan's funeral. And he typically didn't let things get to him. Though I was to close to him to know that he hurt a lot more then anyone else would ever be able to tell. Well Bryan could tell when he was around too. But that was pretty much it. But right now he had this look in his eyes that I'd never seen before. No girl had ever caused Lee to look like this. I couldn't believe first off that Jen would ever do something like that, especially to Lee.

I saw that Ponyboy kind of got what was going on when he saw me and Lee staring at Jen. I then remembered that Ponyboy and Jen were in the same Science class, and he knew Jen wasn't like this usually. He looked almost as shocked as Lee and me did.

"We can leave," I whispered to Lee but he shook his head.

"No, no," he said his voice was fairly confident, "I wanna stay."

"You sure?" Ponyboy asked.

"Yes I'm sure," he said looking at Ponyboy, "Never been more sure of anything else in my life."

Lee headed off towards the booth not that far from Jen's. Pony and I followed him, neither of us sure what to expect. Though I was really concerned. I sat down beside Ponyboy his arm still around me. We both looked at Lee as the waiter arrived. Lee was flirting away with the girl. He looked like he was back to his typical self but I could see him watching Jen from the corner of his eye. I could see he was still hurt, but if I knew one thing about Lee it was that no one did anything to him or anyone he loved without getting some pay back. Lee had nearly killed those Socs that had beat up Bryan. And I'm sure if that I hadn't shown up when I did he would have killed them. Any time a guy hurt me, he made sure to be a real jerk around him. Any girls that dumped him, he made sure that the girl saw him making out with another chick. Lee didn't let anyone hurt him without getting his revenge.

Pony and I ordered our food like nothing was wrong too. We didn't want Lee to think he couldn't handle himself. We saw Two-Bit and Johnny come in and Pony waved them over to our table. I laughed at some of Two-Bit's jokes and I piped up every once in a while. But I kept glancing over at Jen's table then back at Lee. I was expecting the worse.