Tehsylvania:Since writing this fic,I've nowgot a craving to write astory about The Outsiders set in the 1800's. Maybe I'll write it. . .

And to Maddiecake, my only reviewer: Ash Creek... Ash Creek...I think I might've heard about it... I'll look it up later.

Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders. The original storyline of this fic belongs MercySeverity.

WARNING: This chapter contains racist slurs. Well, one actually. If you are offended, skip over it.

My Teenage Tragedy

Part I: Chapter II: Kieth "Two-Bit" Mathews

My name's Kieth. But, I don't exactly go by that name. I go by Two-Bit. Don't ask why; it was something the guys made up. They said it was because I always have to get my two cents in, and how back in the sixties, they didn't say 'two cents', but 'two bits'. Weird hippies. Oh well. I like my nickname as it is, and 'two cents' would've sounded like that rapper dude anyways. I'm a senior, although I probably should be in college. I like high school too much to leave it. Besides, everyone, even the freshman, know me. They call me Two-Bit, and even some of the teachers call me Two-Bit. But, keep in mind, just because they know me doesn't make me their friends. I have plenty of enemies; the jocks, the thugs, the. . .uh. . .well that's all I can think of right now! You know how those kids get in groups and start whooping and dancing? I will tell you now: never, and I mean NEVER jump in the middle of one of those things. You'll get the shit kicked out of you. Well, at least here you will.

I did it once, and I'll never do it again, and I'm the daring one in my group of friends. Soda is the goof-ball; me and him are kind of the same, except he has a little something people call common sense. Soda's little brother, Ponyboy, is the dreamy kind of guy. Not that kind of dreamy! You know, the guys that are into drawing dragons. . .and those mythical creatures and shit. I can't draw worth a shit anyways, so I think he's pretty good at what he does. Steve is the pyro. Dude, he doesn't smoke, but carries a lighter. He burnt his progress report once, just so he could tell his dad that he didn't have it with a straight face. Evie is Steve's girlfriend. She's kind of mature, and yells at me and Soda for having burping contests. She said 'it isn't polite to burp in front of a girl', and Soda burped again really loud just to piss her off. Sandy is Soda's girlfriend. She's really nice to everybody, except when she's PMSing. Its funny how fast her moods change then. Once, a group of kids were kicking a soda bottle around, and they kicked it to us, and it hit a locker and exploded everywhere. It got all over Sandy and Soda, and she was fucking pissed. It was like someone let Lucifer out of Hell just for the sole purpose to posses Sandy. It was funny as HELL! Cathy is my girlfriend; she isn't in high school anymore, but I still see her a lot. When we go off campus for lunch, we usually call Cathy ahead of time and have her meet us wherever. She's nice, and likes to joke around sometimes.

Well, right now, the bell is getting ready to ring for lunch. I'm in Chemistry, and it's a good thing that we're not using any chemicals yet; I would've been turning them all into explosives somehow. The bell rings, and I run out of the class, wanting to get some food in my empty stomach. It's impossible for me to work on complicated things without food in my stomach; I think I might want to try to change the period I have chemistry if I want to pass. . .But the again, I didn't pass last year, so all of this should be pretty easy to remember.

I got to my locker, and saw Soda, Pony, Sandy, and Evie putting their books in their lockers. I started putting the combination in mine, and opened it up. I threw my book and binder in, not caring what got crumpled up in the process. I slammed it shut, and jumped when I saw Steve leaning against the lockers. "Whoa, man, don't sneak up on my like that!" I exclaimed.

"I didn't," Steve said. "I've been here for five minutes. I said 'hello' twice."

"Well, I didn't notice you," I replied. Steve rolled his eyes at this.

"Hey, Two-Bit, you sure you aren't still hooked on pot?" Soda said, grining.

"Ah ha ha ha, oh my God, Soda! You're just hilarious!" I said, punching him on the shoulder. Me and Soda both jumped when we heard something slam hard against a locker. All or our eyes looked to the spot where we had heard the sound. At the end of the row of lockers, one guy had slammed a freshman into a locker, and another guy was standing beside the one who had slammed the kid into the lockers. They were both juniors; I could tell from their IDs.

"Uh oh. . ." Sandy said. "Come on, let's get out of here." She took ahold of Soda's arm.

"Hey," Ponyboy said, "that kid's in my French class."

"And?" Steve said. "Come on. I don't want to get tangled up in this."

I watched as the juniors harassed the kid. "Hey, you some kind of fucking goth spic? What the hell?" The first said, pulling the boy off of the lockers, and slamming him back into them, harder. "Whatcha so depressed about, huh?"

The kid struggled, and tried as hard as he could to get out of the older guy's grasp, but it wasn't happening. I felt kinda bad not doing anything; after all, the boy was younger than them, and outnumbered. But it wasn't my business.

"What the fuck?" I heard another voice. I turned around, and looked to see a blond haired guy walking quickly to the fight. Well, it wasn't a fight yet, but it looked like it was about to be. The blond was wearing a Mudvayne shirt, whatever that is, with blue(it looked blue; it might've been green) plaid pants tucked into black boots. He threw his Geometry book against the wall, and punched the first junior in the side of the head. "You wanted a fight, you fuckin' got one. Come on, bitch," the blond said, grabbing the first guy's ID. He looked ready to strangle the guy, but the other one shoved the blond back.

"Two-Bit!" Steve snapped, getting my attention. They were already walking off, and I couldn't decide whether to pass up these front row seats for a good fight, or go and eat. My stomach grumbled, and won me over. I walked off with Steve, ignoring the fight. But then, someone was shoved into me, and I stumbled forward.

"What the hell?" I said, turning around. The freshman who had been slammed against the locker was now at my feet, knuckles bleeding. He turned to look at me, and said, "Sorry."

"Whatever," I replied. I stood up, and dusted myself off. The blond suddenly brushed by quickly, looked at the black-haired freshman, and said, "Watch your fucking ass, alright? I ain't going to be around everytime one of those dickwads decides to pick a fight. This was a freebie; I don't like seeing kids being beat up when they're outnumbered." He looked at me. "Who the hell are you?"

"Uh, Kieth. Why? You aren't going to kick my ass too, are ya?" I said jokingly.

"Keep up that shit, and I might," the blond replied.

"Sorry. Dude, you're a good fighter," I said.

He looked at me again. "Uh. . .thanks. . .I guess."

How long you been going here? I 've never seen you around before."

"A week. I failed a year; I shouldn't be here anyways," he replied. I glanced down at his ID. Sure enough, there was a blue bar highlighting the white-lettered words: Class of 2004. His name read 'Dallas Winston'.

"Who's that?" I said, nodding towards the black-haired kid.

Dallas shrugged. "I don't know."

I stared at him. He was either completely stupid, or just liked fighting. Who would mingle in a fight to defend someone they didn't know? "Alright. . ."

"Johnny," the black-haired boy replied quietly. Sure enough, the kid did look Hispanic; he was tan with black hair, and brown-ish eyes. He was wearing a hoodie with and 'S' in orangish flames over two stars in a circle. His pants were black and baggy, with two red bondage straps crossing over eachother in the back. His shoes were black Converse's that looked really old.

"What were those guys picking on you for?" I asked. I have a reputation for being nosey; so sue me.

Johnny shrugged. "They don't like me." It was more of a question than a statement.

"Oh. Okay. . .um, so what are you eating for lunch?" I asked. He didn't have any drinks or food or anything.

Again he shrugged. "I don't."

"How do you get through the day?" I said with a grin. If I don't eat lunch, I can barely think the rest of the day. I always make sure I have some money, even if it's only enough for a can of soda. I went to ask Dallas the same thing, and he was gone. I looked down the hall, then back out into the area around the gym. Not there. "So, you wanna eat lunch with me and my friends?"

Johnny looked unsure, as if I were going to play a cruel joke on him. "Um. . .Sure. . ."

"Okay. Come on. We have to go find the others first; we usually eat in this hallway, but we didn't want to get tangled up in that fight," I explained.

Johnny nodded. He shoved his hands in his pockets, and followed me like a dog. I looked down the lunch line to see if Soda or anyone else was in it. Soda and Steve were both through the middle of the line. I made my way down there, and cut in behind them. I grabbed up a pizza, and tapped Soda on the shoulder. "Hey! We wondered where you went," he said.

"This is Johnny," I said, turning to point to him. He didn't say anything, and just looked at Soda and Steve nervously.

"Hey," Soda said. "I'm Soda, that's Steve."

Steve waved, and grabbed two Pepsi's out of the cooler. Soda and Steve stood in line for their girlfriends, and I always bought mine and Ponyboy's lunch. "So, where are we eating? Back by the lockers?" I asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Soda said. Steve payed for the lunches quickly, then said, "I'll go get the rest of the gang." He headed off towards the front of the building. That is always plan 'B'; if our spots are occupied, we go to the front hallway and sit out there.

Soda payed for his food, and I followed. We both walked off, Johnny behind us. I sat threw my sandwich on the floor, and sat next to it. "Sure you don't want any, Johnny?" I offered. He nodded, and remained standing, even after Soda sat down.

"You know," Soda said, mouthful of pizza, "you can sit down."

"Oh," Johnny said, and sat down by the lockers. There was something weird about him, but I didn't know what it might be. He just seemed really out of it. Pretty soon, Evie, Steve, Sandy and Pony showed up. Sandy sat next to Soda, leaning on him. Steve and Evie sat across from me and Soda, and Ponyboy sat between Evie and Sandy. Johnny was sitting next to me. Sandy glanced from me to Johnny, a questioning look in her eyes.

"This is Johnny. Johnny, that's Evie, Sandy, and P-Michael," I said, catching myself after glancing at Pony. He didn't like being called 'Pony', but we did it anyways.

"So, Johnny, what grade are you in?" Sandy asked.

"I'm a sophomore," he replied.

"Really?" I said, after swallowing some Pepsi. "I thought you were a freshman. How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"Oh. So you should be a junior?" I laughed. "I should be in college, so don't feel bad!"

Suddenly, Sandy yelped, and jumped up. We all looked at her. Her Cherry Pepsi was foaming, and she held it out at arms length. I started laughing. "Sandy! Your soda's jizzing!" I shouted. Then I thought about that after the stare I got from Soda, and laughed even harder. Evie was grinning, and Steve was laughing. Pony was tying to get the fizzing soda off of his arms, but was still grinning. I glanced over at Johnny, and he was barely smiling. Just barely. Sandy flicked pepsi at me, and scooted back away from the sticky drink on the floor.

"Hey," Pony said. "Don't you ride our bus?"

Johnny looked over at him. "I don't know. I ride bus 318."

"Yeah, so do we, occaisionaly," Steve said.

"So. . ." I said, trying to think of something to talk about. I looked over at Johnny. "What's a Slipknot?"

"Slipknot's a band, you dumbass!" Soda said. "They're metal, right?"

Johnny nodded.

"You like metal?" I asked.

He nodded again.

"Do you ever talk?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Then say something!"

"Something," Johnny replied. I grinned, and shook my head.

"Hey," Soda interjected, "You know, if you spell 'slipknot' backwards, it spells 'tonkpils'?"

Johnny stared.

"Nevermind," Soda said.

"Do you listen to any punk?" Steve said.

Johnny shook his head slowly, as if he might get in trouble for giving a wrong answer,

"Oh. That's the kind of stuff we listen to."

"Eighties metal was okay," Soda said.

"Yeah!" I shouted, making the little devil horns with my fingers, "Iron Maiden forever!"

"Hey," Soda said, shoving me, "Iron Maiden kicks ass!"

"Yeah, Domo arigato,Mr. Roboto," I said.

All at once, Sandy, Steve, and Soda all said, "That's Styx, you idiot!"

"Well I don't know all those old bands!" I said.

Soda grinned and shook his head. I glanced back at Johnny. He still wasn't smiling. In fact, he looked kind of scared. It bothered me way more than it should.

----

Oooh someone is suspicious. Yes, I know the encounter with Dallas was a bit odd, but this has happened at my old school(in which this story takes place); people will jump into fights to defend someone they don't know. A lot of major things are taken from events at my old school.