Note: Can I just say right now, that I love any reviews in any shape or form if they are useful. I love encouragement and compliments of course – who doesn't? - but I don't tolerate the people who criticize without giving any advice. This is stupid and useless. If something is wrong with my writing come right out and say it instead of just calling me a stupid person for thinking I can write. Thank you very much, but I know I can write and I can write well and if you have a problem, be strong enough to state it. Simply insulting people aimlessly is weak and unpardonable. But thank you to the two people who had nice things to say that always makes me feel better.

Audrey sat on the sofa, reading a book. Soda had just left and she was eagerly waiting for Ponyboy to get home from school. She didn't share the easy relationship with Pony that she shared with Sodapop, but they'd always been close. They fought more than any other pair she knew, but their friendship far overpowered their differences. She had really missed him and all of her cousin's friends while she'd been away. They always made her feel special.

Finally, he came home, with Keith Mathews right behind him, grinning that silly grin, his eyes dancing with mischief as always.

Pony and Audrey hugged on seeing each other and exclaimed over how much the other had grown up. Then Keith and she shook hands, Audrey feeling more than a little awkward. She had always had quite a crush on him, but had never been able to vocalize it. Instead, she had hid her feelings far away and hoped that he would take her quietness for pure and simple shyness rather than rudeness. She was determined this time though that her feelings wouldn't show and she'd still be able to talk to him.

Besides, after what had happened to her at her own school, she hardly felt very romantic toward anybody. She had been hurt pretty badly, and she wasn't eager to repeat those feelings. Not that she thought she could get anywhere with a guy like Keith Mathews anyway, whom to Audrey had always been the embodiment of tuff.

About an hour later, Dallas Winston and Johnny Cade showed up. Whenever Audrey saw Johnny she always thought that the kid just needed a big bear hug. He had a new scar from the last time she'd seen him and it was obvious he'd taken quite a beating. It was too bad, because he was a good-looking kid, but he looked too high-strung.

Dallas had always scared her though. He had a certain charm, but she'd seen him get angry and that had forever been branded into her mind. Unfortunately, it was just how she saw him now.

Steve, Soda, and Darrel finally all came home as well and all of them hung out until it got too late. The guys all left, and Audrey made a bed on the couch, thinking about her cousins and their gang.

She loved how she always felt safe and protected among them. They weren't creepy, and though she knew they'd all been in trouble at one time or another, they were perfect gentlemen to her. They lifted her spirits in a way that no one else had been able to since her parents had died. And since Patrick.

The next day, Ponyboy and Audrey went out to see a movie after he came back from school. It had been okay, but Audrey knew Ponyboy had liked it a lot better than she had. They caught up on all they'd missed in the last two years. She just couldn't get over how much he'd grown up since two summers ago, and he said the same to her.

A car, a blue one, trailed along behind them for a whole block. She could actually hear the guys in it sniggering. Ponyboy was well built for his age, but she still felt scared. She would have felt better if more of the gang had been there with them. The car finally came for a stop and she felt Ponyboy stop beside her, his shoulders slouched and his hands deep in his pockets.

She grabbed his arm and said, "Come on, Ponyboy, just keep walking."

The guys from the car ended up circling around them, laughing quietly, and looking altogether much too dangerous. They were dressed very nicely, and she knew they were what her cousins called Socs. Her hands were shaking and she tried to hide it by clasping them together tightly. This only showed her white-knuckled fear.

"Hey there greasers."

"Well now greaser, looks like you've picked up a pretty decent girl."

"Yeah, how much did you have to pay her to been seen next to her?"

Audrey got angry enough to look up and around at all the boys. There were quite a few of them against just the two of them. She was quivering with outrage and terror. She had never been faced with this kind of situation.

"Can't you please just leave us alone?" she begged.

One of the guys leapt at her and grabbed her into his arms. "Leave you alone? We were just thinking of getting to know you better! You wouldn't want to be rude would you?"

She struggled against him, trying to beat her fists against his chest, but her efforts were futile. They all laughed and the guy actually tried to bring her face closer to his.

This made Ponyboy act. He charged at the guy and ripped Audrey from his arms. She staggered on the sidewalk, but pulled herself upright.

Now the guy was wrestling Ponyboy to the ground as Pony yelled, "Run Audrey! Don't worry about me, just get outta here!"

She tried, but their circle had gotten even tighter. Audrey started yelling for help as loudly as she could, feeling real terror start to clamp around her heart now. It beat painfully fast in her chest. Another guy made to grab for her, but she fell back into another boy's arms. He laughed and pinned her arms behind her. "Look greaser, we'll let her go if you agree to a haircut." She pulled harder, but only managed to send a shooting pain up her right arm. She whimpered and hated herself.

The guy that had wrestled Pony to the ground whipped out a switchknife and brought it to Pony's throat. "Right below the chin, greaser. That's where we'll start the haircut."

"Help! Somebody help please!"

"Shut her up, Warner!"

Instead of shutting her up, she felt him let go of her. She fell to the sidewalk, banging her knees on the edge, adding to the pain in her right arm. She got to her feet and watched as the gang of Socs jumped in the car and drove off. She looked around to see what had frightened them, and saw all of the gang running after them, throwing rocks and glass bottles from the side of the street.

She immediately ran over to Ponyboy, who had a big slice on his temple and the beginnings of a bruise on his cheek. Audrey whipped out a handkerchief from her purse and pressed it against the cut. Then she helped him to his feet and he took the handkerchief himself. She could feel the burning of oncoming tears behind her eyes. She took a deep shaky breath and closed her eyes. The feeling had been chased away, but she didn't know what she'd do if the gang came and tried to make her feel better. She certainly didn't want to start bawling in front of them.

"Pony! Audrey!" It was Darrel. "Are you all right?" Pony and she nodded silently. "Are you sure? You're bleeding, did they have switchknives?"

"Smart question there, Darry."

"Shut your trap, Two-Bit." He turned back to Ponyboy. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah Darry, I'm fine, quit fussing over me."

Darrel immediately turned to Audrey. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

She shook her head numbly. Now that they were all around her she didn't feel remotely like crying. In fact, she hardly felt anything at all. She felt rather faint, and sat down on the concrete hard. The others immediately helped her up with worry in their stricken faces.

"Gee, you sure you're all right there, Audrey?"

"Yeah." She nodded again. "Yeah, I'm just…I was scared."

"C'mon, let's get you home and you can tell us about it."

Soda put his arm around her and they all walked as a group to the house. Ponyboy explained what had happened as Audrey sat on the couch, white as a sheet and staring at her shoes. When Pony came to the point where one of the boys had grabbed Audrey, Darrel whipped around and started yelling. "Are you sure they didn't hurt you Audrey? I'd love to get my hands on them. Who does that kind of thing to a lady?"

Under other circumstances, Audrey probably would have blushed at being called a lady. Though she wasn't exactly a greasy girl, she was barely middle-class and certainly not a lady.

Once everything had settled down a bit, the gang left. Ponyboy had put a band-aid on his cut at Darrel's insistence, and was currently holding ice to his cheek. Audrey was still sitting on the couch, not saying much. She couldn't wait for her cousins to go to their rooms so she could make her bed and go to sleep.

She was thankful that the gang had left early. She had had the distinct feeling that Dallas Winston had been watching her the whole time he'd been there, and he hardly wanted him judging her, thinking she was weak probably. Thinking it was just like a girl to react the way she had to the attack. Well, Audrey was just thankful she hadn't cried in front of them, because that would just make Dallas hate her even more.

When Audrey fell asleep that night, she closed her eyes only to see the boys circling around her and Ponyboy. When she fell asleep she was all alone in the middle of that circle and she could tell something much more was going to happen than what really had. She woke up before anything could, scaring herself out of the dream.