Thanks to everyone who has reviewed! I know I say this time and time again but it still is completely true… you all rock! Any ways sorry I haven't updated in like forever. I've been super busy with our school play and so excited I got the lead! But the shows are finally over and I figured I better update for you guys! And then I figured that since I haven't updated in forever I might as well update two chapters for ya! So make sure you read this one… review… then carry on to the next one lol! So enjoy!

Chapter 13

The Right Thing to Do?

When I woke up my head was pounding like crazy. I started gagging and I knew what was coming next.

"Throw up in the bucket will ya," I heard Danielle say as she passed a bucket over towards me.

I didn't even have time to reply as I started throwing up and half-crying all at the same time.

"It's okay girl. It's okay," Danielle said rubbing my back.

After a minute or two I had stopped throwing up but I was still crying a bit.

"I'm so stupid," I said after a minute.

"No you're not," Danielle said still rubbing my back, "It's called a hangover sweetheart. I know it sucks but it happens to us all."

I nodded my head but I don't think I was really crying because of the hang over. Maybe it was partially because of the hangover. Or maybe it was more the reason why I had a hangover then anything else. I could still picture Angela with his arms around Ponyboy's neck. I could still feel my heart breaking over and over again.

Had I really been stupid enough to think that Ponyboy would actually ever take me back? Had I been stupid enough to fall for him when I knew he wasn't about to return the feelings I had for him? Was I just a fling to him? Just a girl? A slutty, greaser girl with a rep for sleeping with guys. Maybe that's all he had ever wanted from me in the first place. I didn't know. But obviously whatever we had had was over, I think. He was with Angela now, wasn't he?

Danielle said something about Lee running to the store real quick and I nodded my head. It took me a second to realize where I was. Until that is, I saw Gary walk by.

Gary was a pretty good-looking 19-year-old with a nice build. He had dark brown hair that always had more grease then necessary. He had dangerous blue eyes, which didn't really fit him if you ask me. Well it depends on what side of Gary you knew. You either knew the tough guy who could take anything side. Or you knew the guy who cared so much about his friend he would die for them. The guy who would always try to help you through, no matter what. I knew that side.

Gary was probably the closest thing to a dad I had ever had. He was kind of like Bryan and Lee's older brother. Gary was the guy who helped them get through all of the tough stuff around here. And when I showed up he took on that role with me pretty quick too. We were all friends. I could trust Gary with anything. But I have always seen him as more like my dad then anything else. Gary knew that.

Gary and Lee shared this house. It was kind of small, but cozy. Gary has lived her since he was 16. He had run away from home because of his step-dad. It was so bad that Gary knew he had to leave before one of them killed each other. But now Gary was a pretty responsible guy. He and Lee paid the rent and Gary had a decent job. He had even met this real nice girl, Heather, and they were engaged. I was happy for Gary. He was one of those guys that after all he'd been though, all he helped everyone else get threw, he deserved a happy ending.

"Howdy there Kate," he said with a grin as he shook his hair out of his eyes.

"Hey Gary," I said trying to sound as cheery as I could but failing miserably.

"Take it easy kiddo. I called Leon and let him know you were gonna be late," Gary said as he put on his shirt.

"Thanks Gary," I said with a smile.

"No problem kid. But if you ever scare me like that again. You're grounded missy," he said with a slight smile though his eyes were stern.

"Yeah, yeah," I said waving him away, "I know."

"Good," Gary said with a smile, "Well I'm off. Don't be too late little girl."

I nodded my head, "Have fun at work Gary."

"I always do," he said with a laugh and headed out the door.

Danielle looked over at me with a comforting smile.

"He's a pretty good guy eh," she said still starring at the doorway.

"Yeah. He's a great guy," I answered with a smile.

Danielle nodded, "Lee should be back any minute now. I swear I don't think I've ever seen him so worried since we've met."

I nodded my head. I knew Lee cared a lot about me. Why did I have to keep worrying him? Why did I have to be the poor pathetic girl who couldn't get over some guy? Why me? Why couldn't the guy I loved, love me back?

"All those guys really love ya, you know," Danielle said with a smile.

"Ya I know. I love 'em too."

Danielle grinned, "And I must admit. I've become rather fond of ya too."

I laughed, "Well the feelings mutual."

Danielle smiled but it quickly turned into a serious expression, "Then why do you let him get to ya?"

I was silent for a minute. Why did I let Ponyboy get to me? Maybe because I loved him and he made me so happy. Maybe because his very touch made me feel things I'd never felt before. Maybe because I could talk to him about anything, or nothing at all and still be happy. How could he make me feel all these things and yet me having no affect on him at all? Maybe that's why I let him get to me. Maybe because I didn't think it was fair that I could feel all these things, and Ponyboy felt nothing. Did he?

I wanted to tell Daniel how I felt. I wanted to get some of this off my chest. But saying the words would make it real. I knew that I was in love, I had admitted that to myself time and time again. But saying those words. Those exact words. Once I said them, there would be no going back.

I looked over at Danielle who was starring at me her eyes filled with concern. I took a deep breath and turned to face her.

"Cause," I paused for a second before clearing my head again, "I think I love him."

I was expecting Danielle to call me stupid. Or say I was delusional perhaps even crazy. But she didn't. She just nodded her head and as my eyes started welling up with tears she let me cry on her shoulder.

"It's okay Kate," she said softly.

"No. No you see that's the thing it's not okay," I said pulling away from her, "Why is this happening to me?"

Danielle sighed, "I'd like to say I know how you feel. But I can't. And in all honesty I think you're doing a much better time getting threw this then I would. I can't imagine what I would do without Lee."

I saw tears welling up in Danielle's eyes. And at that second I knew how much Danielle really cared about Lee. How much she really did love him. She needed Lee as much as I needed Ponyboy.

"And," Danielle continued, "I know it sounds really cheesy. But if he really loves you and you really love him. It'll all work out. Or at least that's what you can hope for right?"

I nodded my head as I tried to brush away some of my tears, "Yeah, right."

We both kind of sat there for awhile not saying too much. I was trying to come to term with things. I needed to accept that Ponyboy was with someone else now. I had too. I couldn't keep going on like this. But yet how come I didn't think I could. How come I was thinking it would be easier not to move on. To just give in.

All of a sudden we heard the doorbell ring and we both screamed and then started laughing. I guess I had just assumed it would be Lee at the door. But then again he did have a key. But knowing him he had forgotten it or something.

Danielle walked over to the door and opened it. And to both of our surprise it was Jeff.

"Oh hey Jeff," I said obviously looking more surprised then I sounded.

"Nice to see you too Kate," he said with a laugh.

"Sorry, sorry. Thought you were someone else."

"Oh now I feel real loved," he said with a grin shaking his head.

"Now, now Jeff. You know we both love ya," Danielle said with laugh as she sat back down beside me.

"Well have you two lovely ladies seen Garrett and Scott around?"

We shook our heads.

"Really they went to the store but they've been gone for a while. I figured they might have already ditched me to go check up on Kate."

"Well they're not here," Danielle answered a little puzzled herself.

Jeff stood for a second before shrugging his shoulders and taking a seat, "Lee kicking around then?"

"Nah he went to the store too like an-"

Danielle paused and all three of us looked at one and other. Almost instantly we all got up and started heading towards the door.

I stood up rather quickly though and fell almost fell but Jeff helped me stand up straight.

"Careful now Kate. You're still seem a little woozy."

I knew he meant well but the grin on his face told a different story. I went to give him a punch but I figured I was weak enough that it was going to hurt me more then him. So I just settled for a playful glare before following Danielle out the door.

We all figured that most likely the guys were down at the store. Probably ran into one and other started talking. Lost track of time. You know that whole thing. But part of me couldn't help but feel like there was something wrong.

Every step I took my stomach seemed to tense up more and more. What is wrong with me? I kept asking myself. I decided to just blame it on the hang over. That's the only thing I could really think of at the time.

As we reached the store there seemed to be quite a crowd gathered around. Not really thinking much of it I pushed my way threw everyone to see what was going on. But I nearly passed out when I saw.

There obviously had been some sort of fight. Not that this wasn't pretty typical around these parts. But this time was different then most of the fights I've seen. I was use to the usually cuts, bruises and sometimes a fat lip kind of fights. But this fight looked a lot worse then that. Some guys looked like they were literally unconscious while others were bleeding like mad. And I nearly died when I saw Lee, Garrett and Scott were one of them.

I literally think my heart must have stopped. I just froze not knowing what to do or say. Tears began streaming down my face as I looked over at them all.

Scott was lying on the ground rolling and moaning. He had a nice big cut above his right eye and it was bleeding pretty good. He also had what was already turning into a black eye on the left. He was holding his leg and for a good reason. I nearly threw up as I noticed the Scott's leg bent in a very unusually direction and it had kind of a green type color. Not to mention how pale his face looked. I didn't even have time to say anything before Jeff had ran to Scott's side.

"It's okay man," Jeff said as he somewhat helped Scott to sit up, "What happened?"

All Scott could do was let out a yelp as Jeff tried taking a looking at his leg.

"What the hell happened?" Jeff said turning his attention to everyone crowded around, "What the hell happened!"

A few people murmured something but there's no way you could even begin to try an interpret it. Jeff was now crying a bit as he continued quietly talking to Scott, trying to reassure him everything would be all right. Though Jeff wasn't too convinced himself.

I then looked over at Lee who wasn't even moving. He seemed to be unconscious and bleeding pretty bad. Danielle was already with him trying to wake him up. She was crying almost as much as I was. She was holding Lee's hand and whispering in his ear trying to get him to wake up.

"Come on baby," she said threw her tears, "Please Lee. Wake up. Please baby, I love you. Wake up. Please."

I kept looking over at Lee and then the image of Bryan lying there bleeding to death. There's no way that could happen again. I couldn't live with Lee. I honestly couldn't.

I noticed a few other guys who I didn't personally know. But they looked like greaser. One or two a recognized as part of Sheppard's gang. I also saw some pretty well dressed guys. Socs. And then I realized this fight had been Socs against greasers. And it was hard to tell who had won. There were a few girls crying beside their Soc boyfriends but in all honesty I didn't really give a shit about them. I didn't care if some Socs had gotten their ass kicked. As far as I was concerned, after what they had done to the people I loved, they deserved it.

But with one final last blow I looked over at Garrett. Out of everyone there he looked the worse. He had a nasty gash on the side of his head and it looked really deep. I ran beside him and fell to my knees.

"Garrett," I called softly, "Joker. Come on. Wake up."

Garrett moved a little bit but didn't open his eyes. I leaned in to make sure he was breathing okay. But it sounded really bad. Like he was struggling for every breath. My tears started to cover his already blood soaked shirt.

"Garrett," I said crying, " Please. Please wake up."

But he didn't. And I knew he couldn't. I started screaming for somebody to help but turns out someone had already called the ambulance.

But what if they didn't get here in time. What if they were too late? Like they had been with Bryan. What if I lost three of my best friends in one fowl swoop? I didn't want to think about it. I couldn't. The mere thought would kill me.

I took Garrett's hand and I quietly talked to him, waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Thankfully I didn't have to wait too long. Well it seemed long for me, but it reality it had only been a few minutes. I quickly stepped out of the way as the ambulance pulled up and started putting a few guys on stretchers. Scott, Lee and Garrett were one of those guys. There was also one other greaser. He couldn't have been more then 15. He looked about the same as Scott. Except it was his arm that was such a funny color. And there was also one Soc boy. He looked pretty bad. But I didn't care. I really didn't give a damn about him.

The rest of the guys lying around got up and headed over to their friends. Some of them with a bit of a limp but at least they could walk I thought to myself.

As the crowd slowly started to file away I still wasn't able to move. I honestly was having trouble breathing myself. I had no clue what had just happened. All I knew was three of my best friends were going to the hospital not looking too great. And it was those damn Socs faults.

Jeff who had managed to stop crying for a second walked over to me putting his arm around my waist as I just started crying. I was pretty much soaking his shirt, which already had a bit of blood on it from what I assumed, was from Scott.

Danielle walked over to us crying onto my shoulder as Jeff removed one of his arms from my waist to put around Danielle's shoulder. After a few minutes Danielle and I had tried to stop crying but we were still a little bit. Jeff wiped his eyes trying to act like he hadn't been crying but his eyes were all red so it pretty much gave it away. Besides Jeff was trying to be the strong one right now. Thank god. Because there's no way I could be strong right now. I was too worried, too scared.

Jeff grabbed my arm and pulled me as Danielle followed.

"Where we goin?" Danielle asked as she still sniffled a bit.

"We're gonna borrows Scott's Mom's car. I took his keys," Jeff said as he pulled them out of his pocket, "Then we're heading off to the hospital."

Danielle nodded her head. Jeff let go of my arm and was walking to Scott's Mom's car. I was following but then something caught my interest. I saw two Soc boys walking by and I listened to their conversation.

"Wow some fight," the one Soc said. He had blonde hair and was pretty tall with a decent build. He looked like he had been in the fight judging by a few cuts on his face. But that was nothing compared to what I figured he deserved.

"Yeah I know man. That most of been some chick you were trying to pick up if those filthy greasers had such a spazz about it," answered the other guy who looked the same as the guy beside him, pretty much. Maybe a little taller and a few more cuts.

"No kidding," the other guy replied with a laugh, "I dunno why that guy was trying to be such a hero though. There was like 5 of us and one of him. How stupid are those damn greasers?"

"I know! He's lucky his two little friends came along. Though they looked like middle classers to me. I wonder why they'd wanna be hanging around that kind of trash. But that greaser should be thankful otherwise he'd be in worse shape then he is now."

The first guy laughed again and nodded his head. I felt like pounding both of their faces into the ground. But for some reason I stopped myself, "Did you see Joe's brother Dylan?"

"Yeah. He looked pretty bad. What happened to him?"

"Well Dylan being the idiot bastard he is starts getting all cocky. He says something about that little tramp Kate or whatever and all of a sudden he's got all three of those guys pounding him. Stupid git."

"Oh well. It's not like were gonna miss him or anything."

I couldn't believe this.

"Nah. My mom will probably make me go see him at the hospital tomorrow since our mom's are friends and all. But it's Saturday night so let's just go find some party. I'm getting bored here already."

"Alright. Remind me to break up with Suzy tonight would ya? I'm probably gonna be too drunk to remember, again."

The first guy laughed and they started heading off. But before they left they pointed at some girl.

"There's that girl now."

My eyes followed his hand and I saw Jen. She was just standing there. It looked like she had gotten punched maybe because he cheek was a little on the purple side. There were a few tears running down her face.

Then I realized what had happened. Those Socs had tried to pick up Jen again. Lee must have saw and tried to call them off. Which probably started a fight. Then Scott and Garrett would have shown up and tried to help Lee out. And then a whole bunch of other greasers and Socs must have joined in. Like a rumble or something. At least that's what a figured.

Why? Why did Lee do it? Jen was embarrassed of him. She couldn't wreck her social status by being seen around a greaser. She had made that pretty clear. So why did Lee help her?

But I knew why. Because Lee was a good guy and he would never let her get hurt. Even if they hated each other. Lee figured it was the right thing to do. Was it the right thing to do? And Garrett and Scott had come along to help because they were all friends. The all for one, one for all, kind of mentality. They would die to help each other.

And these Socs didn't really give a damn about each other. Well maybe I'm not really being fair, but why should I be? When my best friends were going to the hospital for sticking up for some girl and helping out there friend. And these Socs had only been interested in picking up a girl and when she refused they tried to force her. But they soon found out you can't do that around someone like Lee. But yet how come they were all walking off with a few scratches, proud of themselves.

Jeff honked the horn and I headed over to the car. I was still lost in my thoughts. Not sure what to be thinking. I was just praying that they would be all right. That everything would be okay.

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