The next morning at breakfast, Soda was in a silly mood; Pony was pensive; and Darry must have, I figured, gotten good sleep.

I figured that because of how he was-he was all alert and talking to all three of us about stuff we were doing, and all that. Plus, he'd been

the first one up, and was frying eggs and bacon when we all came into the kitchen.

He asked Soda how the work on the car was going, and then they discussed money-just a bit. Soda asked if the guy who owed

Darry for the roofing job had paid, and when Darry shook his head, Soda shrugged.

"Aw well," he said. "Ya didn't really expect that he would, did ya?"

"I did expect it," Darry said. "I'll drop by his office and talk to him today."

While Soda began to talk about how Darry ought to wait on such a thing, I was about to get up and take my plate to the

sink.

"You two have your classes, right?" Darry asked, looking at me and Soda. I knew that he knew that we did.

"Yeah," Pony said, while I was quiet.

Darry asked Pony about the creative writing class, and then turned to me.

"Ya okay this mornin'?" he asked me, and I knew that was his way of making sure I wasn't too awfully mad at him about not

letting me go skating.

I settled for an 'uh huh', and went to take my plate to the sink.

Soda started telling Pony then to be cautious about walking home from his work at Mrs. Thatcher's house.

"There was a kid jumped two blocks over last night," Soda said.

"Who?" Pony asked, and I stopped to listen, too.

"Bob Brown's little brother-ya know him?" Soda asked.

"How'd ya hear about it?" Pony was asking.

"Steve heard it-he told me when he showed up to help me," Soda said.

The kitchen became very serious after Soda's announcement. It's always a punch to the gut to hear about stuff like

this. I knew vaguely who the kid was.

"He gonna be okay?" Pony asked.

Soda shrugged. "I dunno. He was in rough shape, Steve said."

Darry took the opportunity to point out his usual advice to Pony and me. "This is exactly why I tell the two of you to be

cautious-"

"Sometimes it happens even if a guy's bein' cautious," Pony objected.

"Sometimes. But, it still pays to be smart-and careful," Darry said. "And, it's why I don't want any of ya out walkin' alone,

day or night."

I felt his gaze settle on me, and it stayed there. My face got sort of hot, and I went on and put my plate in the sink.

I was heading out of the kitchen when Darry reached out and caught my hand in his.

"I hope your class goes good," he said.

"It's a waste of time," I said. "I can't draw and a class ain't gonna help with that."

"I meant your other class. The photography one," Darry said.

"Oh. Yeah," I said.

Darry dropped my hand, and then nodded. Within the next little bit, Darry took his lunchbox and his tool belt and left

for work. Soda was picked up by Steve, and Pony and I got prepared to walk to the YMCA.

I did take my camera to the class, and so did some of the others that were enrolled. It was interesting to see

the different ones, and hear what could be done with them. The teacher told us to bring in some film and we would be

learning to develop it. I was excited about that.

Walking home again, we were about half-way there, when a car pulled up alongside of us, honking. It was Two-Bit, and Pony

and I went over to the car to talk to him.

"Not goin' to work?" Pony asked him.

"Not until later," Two-Bit said. "You two delinquents want a ride?"

Pony and I said sure, and got into the car. We zoomed along for a few miles, with them talking across me, since I was in the

middle. Pony said he was going to head off to work at that lady's house again, just like he'd been doing. Which meant I would

be stuck home alone again. All afternoon.

I suddenly decided that I wasn't going to. Stay home by myself again. I spoke up and asked Two-Bit to drive me to the

skating rink.

"I will, I guess, if ya want me to," Two-Bit said, looking across me at Pony. As if for confirmation.

"Don't look at Pony," I objected.

"Are ya sure, Junie?" Pony asked, and I turned to him.

"Sure. Why not?" I asked.

"Darry won't like it-it's far. How ya gonna get home?" Pony asked.

"I'll get a ride," I said.

"Sure?" he asked, looking doubtful.

"Sure."

"Ya better go talk to Soda first," Pony said.

"I don't need to," I said. "I talked to him and Darry about it last night-all they said was to not ride the bus."

Pony shrugged. "Okay."

Once we were at the roller skating rink, Two-Bit pulled to a stop. There were already kids coming in and out.

Two-Bit got out and I scrambled out after him. Pony stepped out of his side of the car, too.

"Ya got money?" he asked me, looking across the hood of the car at me.

"I've got enough to get in," I said.

Pony reached into his jeans pocket, and took out a few dollar bills, coming around the front of the car to hand

it to me. "For your lunch, and stuff," he said, by way of explanation.

"Thanks, Pone," I said. "I'll pay ya back."

"K," he answered. "Get a ride home, like ya said-don't walk by yourself."

"Okay," I said.

"Want me to take that home for ya?" Pony offered, gesturing to my camera that I had slung over my shoulder by the strap.

"No, that's okay," I said. "I'll just keep it with me."

They took off, and I went inside the building. There wasn't a large crowd yet. I didn't see Rhonda anywhere. I figured

I would wait for her awhile. I went to get myself a hot dog, and a Coke from the concession stand. I was sitting there, eating, when

Rhonda came in. She was with another girl from our school. Katie. She was, I think, a couple years older than we were.

They came over and we sat for a few minutes, and then we went to get our skates. I put my camera in one of the open lockers

with my shoes. We skated for a couple of hours, and then we went outside to sit at the table there. Drinking Cokes, and

with Rhonda and Katie smoking. As usual, Rhonda offered me a cigarette, and just for a second, I was sort of tempted. I mean,

Rhonda really seemed to enjoy it, and they looked so cool, sitting there, with their hair flipped back, smoking.

Then I thought of Darry-and the solemn promise that I'd made to him. He'd asked me not to. And, it meant something

to me. The fact that I'd made him a promise, I mean. So, I shook my head in refusal of the cigarette. We were getting ready to

go back inside again, when the door burst open, and a couple of guys came out. They nearly knocked us over, with us being

on skates, and all.

"Hey!" Rhonda yelled after them, as they ran on. "You dumb asses-watch where you're goin', why don't ya?"

"They must be in a real hurry," Katie said.

We went back in and skated awhile longer, and then Katie said she needed to be getting home. It turns out that she had

her mother's car, and she needed to get it back so her mom could go to play cards somewhere or something.

I was relieved about her having a car, so that I would be able to catch a ride home, and not have to worry about

finding another ride. We went to sit down to take off our skates. It was when I'd skated over to the shelves, where people put

their stuff, that everything fell apart for me.

I picked up my shoes, and stood there like an idiot for a long few moments, in total shock. My camera was gone.

My camera was gone! Missing! I kept standing there, staring at the empty locker, as I held my shoes in my hands.

My heart started pounding, and I got all hot in panic. Somebody had stolen it!

"What's wrong?" Rhonda asked, coming over to me, her shoes already back on.

"My camera's gone," I said, in a quiet desperate sort of voice.

"You're kiddin'," she said.

As if I'd joke about something like this! Something that was as important to me as my camera.

"No," I said, and started looking around. For what, I'm not exactly sure.

"Well, maybe somebody handed it in up at the front desk," Rhonda suggested.

I knew that wasn't likely, but I grasped at the straw. We asked the guy behind the counter with the skates about

it, and he shook his head and said no, he didn't know anything about it.

I asked him if he'd seen anybody around the lockers that looked suspicious or anything like that, but he

only said, "There's kids in here, wall-to-wall, all day and all night. How the hell am I supposed to notice

anything like that? Ya shouldn't have left it there, kid." He pointed to a sign above the counter that stated: Not responsible for

valuables that are lost or stolen. You want to keep it-don't bring it in here.

"See that?" he asked. Unnecessarily, I might add.

"Of course we see it," Rhonda said, sassy. "We can read."

"Well, ya shoulda read it before," he said. "Nothin' I can do about it."

"But, it was expensive," I protested. "I won it-and-well, it's important!"

The man looked impatient, and then his gaze seemed to soften, just a bit. "Look, kid, I'm sorry, for sure, but like I said,

nobody's supposed to leave valuables here. There's no way I can watch everything that goes on around here."

He turned to wait on another teenager, who wanted skates, size 8.

"Well," Rhonda said, looking at him sympathetically. "Katie says to hurry up."

"I can't just leave, though-" I protested. "I've gotta try to find my camera-"

"June, it's long gone by now," Rhonda said, though she sounded sorry. "It's not gonna help anything, hanging around

here-"

"Well," I said, and then I paused, feeling as though I was going to start bawling, right then and there.

"Come on," Rhonda said.

I sat down to take off my skates, and my hands were shaking so much it was hard to untie the laces. When we came out

into the sun and got into Katie's mother's car, Rhonda said, "I'll bet it was those guys that took it-those two that nearly

knocked us over runnin' out."

"Yeah. I'll bet so," Katie said, in agreement.

"I didn't see them carrying a camera," I said, from my spot in the back seat.

"They could have had it under their shirt or somethin'," Rhonda said.

"Yeah," I said, slumping back.

"Maybe ya could go to the police-and file a report," Katie suggested.

I sat up straight, leaning forward towards the front seat. "Ya think so?"

"Sure, why not?" Katie said, carelessly.

"Can ya drive me over there?" I asked. "Please? I'll give ya a couple dollars for gas."

"I've gotta get home," Katie said.

I slumped back again, my stomach churning, along with my thoughts. This was horrible. We were driving by some of

the businesses, when I saw the lumberyard sign. A sudden thought came to me, and I told Katie to pull into the parking lot

of the lumberyard.

"Why ya wanna stop here?" Rhonda demanded.

"I'll get Two-Bit to drive me home," I said. "Maybe he can take me by the police station."

Rhonda gave me a dubious look, but when Katie stopped the car, and I got out, Rhonda looked out her

open window at me. "Good luck," she told me.

I said thanks, and goodbye, and went into the lumberyard office.

I asked for Two-Bit Mathews, and the lady, though she seemed irritated, called for Two-Bit over the intercom.

I waited until he came up front, his hair damp with sweat.

"Junie," he said, obviously surprised. "What're ya doin' here? Is somethin' wrong?"

I started to tell Two-Bit about what had happened, but I was conscious of the secretary's obvious interest.

I lowered my voice. "When do ya get off work?"

"In about an hour. Why?"

"If I wait for ya, will ya take me to the police station?" I asked, nearly in a whisper.

"Police station?" Two-Bit said, not so quietly. "Why ya wanna go there?"

I quickly told Two-Bit what had happened, and he said he'd take me, and for me to wait outside, in his car.

He gave me the keys so I could listen to the radio and everything, but even listening to the music didn't

soothe my turmoil. And right then and there, with no witnesses, I started to cry.

The tears were coming, still, when Two-Bit came out of the building. He got in, and sat there, looking at me.

"Aw, Junie, don't cry," he said.

"I can't help it," I said.

Two-Bit began the drive to the police station.

"I'm so stupid," I said, thru my bawling.

"You're smart," he contradicted.

"Only a really stupid person would have taken somethin' like that to the skatin' rink," I said, ridiculing myself.

"Aw, ya weren't thinkin' about that," Two-Bit defended.

Once we were at the police station, and we got out, I paused out front. I'd stopped crying, but I was swiping at

my cheeks. "Do ya think they can maybe do somethin'?" I asked him.

"Sure," he said.

So, I braced myself, and we went inside. I'd never been inside the police station before, and there were officers walking

around. Two-Bit seemed to know what he was doing, though, cause he nudged me and pointed.

"There's the main desk," he said.

When the square-faced man behind the tall desk asked me what I wanted, I explained to him, haltingly, what

had happened. He heard me out, and then gave me a somewhat bemused expression.

"And you just left it there, the camera?" he asked me. "Why did you do that, miss?"

"Well-I didn't think about it bein' stolen-" I said, and then let my voice trail off. It sounded stupid.

The officer sighed, and picked up his pen. "Describe the camera to me," he said.

I did that, telling him what sort it was, and then when he'd written down what I'd said, he gave me a long look.

"I'm sorry, young lady, but I wouldn't hold out much hope for the return of your camera." His words were

curt, but his face wasn't unkind. "With having no idea at all of who might have taken it, we have virtually nothing

to go on."

I told him about the two guys who had rushed past us, and said, "My friend thought they might have been the

ones who took it-"

He asked for a description, and I bit my lip, trying to remember.

"One of them was sort of tall, and the other one was-" I gestured at Two-Bit. "About his height. And they were wearing

blue jeans, and-" I hesitated. "Well, I'd didn't really get a very good look at their faces-"

"I'm sorry," he said, again. "I imagine you've seen the last of your camera, miss."

My eyes filled with tears, and I turned away.

"Leave your phone number in case we do find something out," the officer was saying.

It was Two-Bit who gave him the telephone number to our house, and then it was Two-Bit who came, and took my hand,

leading me back outside and to the car. He installed me in the passenger side, and then shut the door, and walked around to

his own side. Just like a real gentleman. I knew now that he hadn't believed that we would accomplish anything by going to the

police station. He'd only said he thought so to make me feel better about going.

I gave him a look. "You're bein' so nice," I told him, and then promptly burst into tears again.

Two-Bit tried like the devil to get me to stop crying. He tried teasing, and coaxing, and comforting. He even held

my hand as we drove towards my house. "I didn't know such a little thing as you could cry out so many tears," he said.

But, I just could not stop.

Once there, he parked, and we went inside. Pony was in the kitchen, and I could smell the popcorn he was making.

"Hey," he greeted us, coming to the door of the living room.

"Hey," Two-Bit said.

I didn't say anything. I just passed right by, heading to my room.

"Thanks for the ride, Two-Bit, and for takin' me to the station, and all," I said, looking back at him.

"What's wrong?" Pony was asking.

I paused, still crying somewhat. "My camera got stolen," I said.

"Huh?" Pony asked, looking shocked, and then regretful. "From the skatin' rink?"

I went on into my room, and I heard Two-Bit telling Pony that we'd gone to the police station but that it had

been a wash.

I took off my shoes, and laid on my bed, curling up in misery, and cried.

Outsiders