A/N: Hey y'all! Thanks for the reviews and glad y'all like the story so far. Especially all my southern readers, who excuse my overuse of 'y'all' and other phrases that are known in the south! Haha!(: Old habits die hard, and I was born and raised in Alabama, but I'm trying to update as soon as possible. It's been a crazy weekend, so I'm very sorry for the late update. Oh, and as for the point of view, it will always be in Alice's point of view unless otherwise specified. Thanks!

-Dani

Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders.


The last thing I remember is Darry coming in to check on me. "Goodnight, baby girl." I heard him say just like our dad used to.

"Goodnight, Superman." I mumbled with a small smile.

I woke up hearing the shower running. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, while pushing myself up to a sitting position. I yawned and looked down to notice I never changed out of my clothes from the day before. I felt gross. I grabbed some clean clothes to wear to school and was about to bang on the door to tell Ponyboy to get out of the shower when the door was swung open and I came face to chest with Sodapop. "Whoa," I stumbled back. I looked up seeing Soda looking worn out. The weird thing was usually he didn't get up until five minutes before Steve pulled up. "Soda, are you ok?"

"Yeah," he replied without thinking and went to look for his uniform for the DX. I turned and watched him for a minute, then it hit me why he was so tired.

"Soda, how's Johnny Cakes doin'?" I asked.

Soda jerked his head up, looking at me. "He's tough. He's gonna be alright."

"You and Two-Bit could have called," I snapped. I couldn't believe they didn't call to tell us anything. "Ponyboy was so shook up just from seein' Johnny. I'm sure he would've liked to known."

"Two-Bit called while we were at the hospital-"

I walked into the kitchen seeing Darry and Ponyboy eating toast. "Why didn't you tell me, Darry?" I asked. "You just let me and Pony worry all night thinkin' somethin' was wrong. Glad you are the only one who can worry around here."

Darry stood up and said, "You shut your mouth, Alice. I didn't wake you two up because they didn't say anything when they called. Two-Bit and Soda still couldn't even see him."

"I don't care, Darry, you said you would wake us up!"

Soda walked in, and you could tell he could do without the fighting. Pony said, "C'mon, Aly, you know Johnny would've wanted us to not worry. You would've just worried more if you thought they wouldn't be able to help Johnny."

I never tried to pick a fight with Darry, but for some reason I couldn't help myself. I wanted to pick a fight with him. I wanted to let out all the anger from the Socs getting the chance to jump one of us. I was about to say something when we heard a horn honk. Two-Bit was our ride to school. I just left without another word grabbing my stuff for school.

I tried to act like nothing was wrong and said, "Hey, Two-Bit." Ponyboy sat in the passenger seat glancing at me every now and then. I tried to avoid looking at him.

"Hey, Al," he replied. "What's got you so tense, kid?" he asked looking at Ponyboy, who hadn't said a word. "Johnny will be alright. He got let out of the hospital last night."

I cursed under my breath. Darry wouldn't tell us anything. I definitely wasn't going to school. When Two-Bit parked, Ponyboy practically ran to class. "Darry, didn't tell us anything," I told Two-Bit when it was just me and him.

"He said he was going to wake you two up after we got off the phone," Two-Bit said. He must have saw that look on my face. Everyone said I had this look when I was up to something, or when I was about to go against Darry. "You ain't going to school, are you?"

"Nope."

"Alright, well let's go ridin' around," he said, hopping back in his truck. I gave a grin because that was Two-Bit for ya. He never would tell Darry I skipped even if the school didn't call him. Two-Bit was always up for skipping school anyways. He has failed twice already. I hopped into his truck and watched out the window. "Wanna visit Johnny?"

I snapped my head to Two-Bit. "Really? Where's he at?"

"My house. His parents showed up last night, but was yellin' at him so much even Soda was fed up. You know how my mom is about Johnny. She thinks he's a good kid even though he hangs around us." He laughed.

I nodded and said, "Let's go then." Two-Bit started driving towards his house. I looked in one of his side mirrors and saw myself. I had jet black hair that I had thrown up in a pony tail. I had a small scar right above my right eyebrow where I had gashed it when I was twelve and was hanging out with Dally. I actually wasn't too roughed up. I had on a gray t-shirt that could have been any one of my brother's that they had outgrown. I looked away from the mirror. "Glory, Two-Bit, I wish we had some heat." I usually wore Two-Bit's old leather jacket he didn't wear any more, but forgot it at home when I ran out of the house.

Two-Bit looked over at me and said, "Where's your jacket at?"

"I left it when I ran out of the house." I was shivering, but I would be ok.

He shrugged out of his leather jacket and said, "Put this on, Aly. You just got over being sick. Darry'll kill me if he knew I let you skip and get sick."

"I'll be alright, Two-Bit."

"Yeah, and I will too when you get that jacket on." Two-Bit laughed and parked right outside his house. "C'mon." He led the way and said, "Johnny Cakes!"

Johnny rolled over from his spot on the couch and said, "Hey, Two-Bit, what time is it?"

"I don't know me and Al skipped school," he replied like he was telling him we were going to the movies. He went and got him some food from the kitchen. "Want anything?"

I looked at Johnny who shook his head no and yelled towards the kitchen, "No!" I looked back at Johnny and said, "How ya felling, Johnny?"

"I'm doin' alright," he said. It was weird though. Johnny kept looking around and when Two-Bit would suddenly yell about being out of something Johnny would jump two feet in the air.

"We're gonna get them Socs. I promise."

Two-Bit walked in and said, "Yeah, we are." There was a silence that stretched between the three of us. You ever had this nervous feeling like something was going to happen, but you wasn't sure if it was good or bad? I've had that feeling all day. I thought seeing Johnny would make it feel better, but it hasn't. "Hey, Johnny, you wanna get out of the house some? Go catch a movie with me and Al?"

I didn't know we were going to a movie, but I didn't mind. I loved movies and Two-Bit made them hilarious. We would always wind up getting kicked out. Ponyboy hated going with anyone to the movies. We dig him, but Ponyboy is definitely the different one which I'm the only girl in the gang so I guess our gang digs different.

"Yeah, let's go. I hate sittin' in this house all day. I don't really wanna go home yet either," he said standing up. I stood up and got a cold chill. I pulled Two-Bit's jacket closer to my body to warm up. I guess Johnny decided that was the time to notice I was in Two-Bits newest leather jacket. "Are you two...?"

I was shocked. I guess Johnny didn't want to intrude if Two-Bit and me were a couple, but I had never really thought about Two-Bit like that. He was always just there. I mean yeah, I kinda had a crush on him when I was fourteen, but then he started finding girlfriends outside the gang like Dally, Soda, Steve, and Darry that I didn't even give it a shot. "No," I said. "I forgot my jacket at home and Two-Bit was being my mother and making me wear his."

I also noticed Two-Bit never said anything to deny we weren't together. Two-Bit didn't think like that, but he did laugh off my mother comment. When we went out to Two-Bit's truck, I had to sit in the middle like always and it felt different. I was squeezed against Johnny and Two-Bit. I felt both of them look at me occasionally. I kept my eyes on the road, but I could feel Johnny tense every time we would pass Socs. The one thing that kept going through my mind is: Did I really like the idea of being Two-Bit's girl?


A/N: Next chapter should be up sooner then this one was. Hope you liked it. I was going to add what happened at the movies to this chapter, but knew it would have to wait because I desperately needed to update for y'all which is also why this chapter is so short! Again, trying to update as fast as I can. Next chapter will be longer hopefully!