Disclaimer: Don't own The Outsiders.

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After days of driving we finally made it to Flordia. We did stop along the way to sleep and get food though. Everyday I kept missing home more and more. But I wouldn't tell Ponyboy and Darry that though. Ponyboy seemed to like the new house, and so did Darry. Ponyboy liked the fact that he only had to walk to the end of the street and cross the road to get to the school. I'd hate having school that close by.

Our new house was blue on the outside. It didn't look anything like our old house back in Tulsa. This house was a luxury compared to our old house. I was still wondering how Darry got the money to pay for something like this. But that was still in the back of my mind. The inside of the house was even better. It had 3 rooms, a kitchen, a dining room, a living room, and a bathroom. I thought that was pretty good. At least we all had a room to our own. Ponyboy would probably want to keep sleeping with me in my room, he might have one of those nightmares again.

I laid my suitcase down and took a closer look around. All of our other stuff was scattered all around the house. "Well we got a job ahead of us," Ponyboy mumbled as he stepped over a lamp on the floor. I groaned and laid my suitcase down. I wasn't in the mood to fix up the place right now. Instead I decided I would go outside and look around. I didn't bother telling Ponyboy or Darry where I was going because they were already fixing the place up. Quietly I trudged out of our new house and onto the wooden deck. I walked down the concrete steps and went out on the green grass.

There was a house similar to ours on my left and I was wondering who lived there. It was probably just an old couple since the house was small. I broke my thoughts and decided to walk down the sidewalk. I noticed the school that Ponyboy was going to attend. It looked bigger than his old school on the outside. The inside was probably much bigger though. I crossed the road carefully and sat in a bus station shelter. I just wanted to be alone for a while.

While I was sitting there, away from the sun, a young girl with light brown hair slowly walked down the road with a baby in a stroller. I think the baby was a boy, I wasn't really sure. The girl looked familier in a way. It must of just reminded me of some girl back in Tulsa that looked like her. She didn't notice me though. I guess the shade was blocking me out. If she was a girl back in Tulsa I would of already flirted with her, but something about her made me want to stay away. Maybe it was because she had a baby. I finally stopped thinking about her and went back home.

When I opened the door I seen that the living room was all furnished and Ponyboy and Darry had already been working on the kitchen. "Need any help?" I asked while I shut the door. Darry peeked around the corner.

"We could use some right about now," Darry responded. I quietly heard Ponyboy grumble about something. I went in the kitchen and looked around. All the dishes had to be put away, so I decided that I would do that. That's how the whole evening went actually. Somehow we got everything put into place and the house looked really nice. I was actually pleased with myself. I chuckled at the thought.

"So are you excited about school tomorrow, Ponyboy?" I asked while getting some chocolate milk from the fridge.

"Yeah." I laughed. Well Ponyboy didn't change, that was for sure.

"Of course you would be excited for school," I replied while picking up his bookbag from the middle of the floor and throwing it at him. He caught it in just the nick of time and put in on the edge of the couch.

"So Soda, meet any girls while you were out today?"

"No, I didn't. I wasn't looking."

"That's a surprise," Darry muttered from under his breath. Darry went over and sat in his chair with the newspaper. I just shook my head and headed for my bedroom.

"I'm going to bed, night," I announced.

I could hear the echo from both of their voices as I walked down the hollow hall. It didn't take long before I was lost in a deep sleep. I didn't have enough energy to think anymore.

xXxXx

When I woke up the next morning I turned over so I could be facing the window. It looked cloudy today, but the sun was slowly coming out from where it was hiding behind a cloud. After letting the new setting soak in, I looked at the clock on my nightstand. It said that it was 11:00. Ponyboy was already gone to school but Darry must of been around the house somewhere. I got out of my bed so I could take a better look out the window. The truck was gone so I guess Darry was too. He was probably just out getting some groceries or something.

After getting breakfast I decided that I would get ready and go out for a bit. But before I could even step out of the house Ponyboy bolted through the door. He stumbled into me and he quickly straightened up. "Sorry," Ponyboy mumbled.

"What's the big rush?"

"Its just lunchtime. I want to make sure that I'm home and back to school before 1," he explained. I looked at the clock on the wall.

"Its only 12:15," I pointed out. Ponyboy tilted his head towards the clock and nodded his head. He walked past me and went into the kitchen. "I'm going out for a bit, talk to you later, Pony."

I heard Ponyboy say bye as I shut the door behind me. I looked up at the sun and sighed. I missed Tulsa. The being a Greaser part I could live without, but a part of me wanted to go back so badly. Maybe someday I'd go back again. Maybe I could convince Darry to go back over Christmas. I sighed again as I realized that Christmas was another 2 months away.

I jumped off the front step and started to walk down on the sidewalk. I wasn't really paying attention to anything until I bumped into the same girl that I seen yesterday. The girl stopped and looked up at me. Her dark green eyes were staring at me. Even though I was taller than her, it still seemed like she was staring me down. "I- I'm sorry," I muttered. She didn't look very pleasant.

"You should be. Watch where you're going," she mumbled as she darted past me. I could only think of what her problem was. I was positive that she was the same girl as I had seen yesterday while I was sitting in the bus shelter. But she didn't seem to be the same person. Yesterday she seemed like a happy, cheerful person. But today she was a complete wreck and mess. When her eyes met mine I could see the hurt behind them. Major mood swings then, I finally thought. I laughed to myself and noticed that I was at the end of the street.

For a little while I went looking around at all the shops that were here. It was crazy because there was so many. Tulsa was nothing like this. I guess that was one good difference. I wasn't enjoying just walking around looking at things so I decided to go home. But I hoped to God that the same girl that I just ran into wouldn't be there again. If she was, I'd make sure I was on the other side of the road.

But I guess I jinxed it because just before I got at least 30 feet from my house a door creeped open. I automatically knew that it was her house. Before I could make a run for it, a little dog burst through the dog wouldn't shut up either. It was a pug, I think. When I was about to leave and ignore the dog, she stumbled through the door. "Katie!" she yelled from the top of her lungs. "Get over here!" The dog wouldn't respond so I took it upon my responsibility to pick the dog up and bring it over to her. The dog didn't bite me as I expected, but instead he, or she, seemed to like me. I rubbed his head lightly and gave the dog to his owner, who was standing on the last step of her steps.

I looked at her. Her hair was light brown and straight and it fell along her back. Her eyes were green like I realized before, but this time they were different. The outer ring was read and puffy, and I noticed tissues in her hand. She tried to hide them but you could notice them quickly. "Here you go," I said while placing the dog in her arms. The tissue that she was holding fell to the ground. Without thinking, I picked it up and put it in her soft hand. I didn't bother asking what was wrong with her. She might kill me this time. I decided that I would just introduce myself so then maybe I would figure out that her name was. "Um, I'm Soda," I said quietly. I watched her slightly roll her eyes. She just nodded her head slightly and went inside with the Katie in her arms.

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