'Great Expectations?' I yawned over Pony's shoulder.

'English', he yawned back, smiling childishly at me as I laughed and sat on the corner of his bed, flopping backwards.

'Rub harder, Soda', Darry snapped playfully from the lounge room, 'you're gonna put me to sleep'.

I watched Ponyboy listen to his brother's in the lounge room before watching him let his mind wander. I watched the glazed look in his eyes appear ever so slowly, letting me know he was off in his own little world, something that no one should ever shake him from. It was his world, his own world where he could be truly happy.

I felt a leg kick me in the side of the head and I arched my back to see what it was. Soda just looked down at me and smiled softly. I smiled back and flopped back onto the bed before sitting up. I went to shake Ponyboy out of his reverie, but I didn't need too.

'Turn off the light, Pony, get in bed', Soda yawned sleepily. I watched the subtle changes in Pony's eyes as he came out of his reverie.

'Night, Pony', I whispered, giving him a hug as he stood up. I hadn't hugged somebody for so long it felt almost alien to me, but what had happened between me and Pony tonight deserved a hug. 'Night, Sodapop'.

He didn't reply as I walked out of the room and flicked the switch for them. 'You sure you're right on the couch tonight, Riley?' Dally muttered from behind me.

He was the only one who ever called me by my first name, I wasn't sure whether it was because he was the only one who actually knew it, or whether he knew it riled me, but either way, he was the only one. 'Yeah, got some extra blankets around, it's quiet cold out?'

He nodded and ducked down the hallway before appearing with a rather thin look blanket. 'If you get cold, just jump in with Soda and Ponyboy'.

I nodded, smiled and headed over to the couch. I sat down and placed my head in my hands as I breathed clearly for the first time that night. A shiver ran down my spine as the events played through my head.

'You cold, Ponyboy?' I heard Soda whisper.

'A little', Ponyboy replied. I sighed ever so softly. I never had a family bond with anyone when I was Pony's age. My father had run my brother out of the house by the time I was able to speak clearly. Had done the same to my mother, maybe that was the reason why I wasn't like all the other girls around here?

'Listen, Kiddo…' Soda mumbled, 'when Darry hollers at you…he don't mean nothing. He's just got more worries than somebody his age should. Don't take him seriously…you dig, Pony?'

'Don't let him bug you; he's really proud of you cause you're so brainy. It's just coz' you're the baby – I mean, he loves you a lot, Savvy?'

'Sure', Ponyboy answered, but I could hear the razor edge on his voice. 'Soda?'

'Yeah?'

'How come you dropped out?' and as soon as Pony finished his sentence, I immediately went about at setting myself a task. To keep myself busy. I adjusted some cushions against one arm of the chair and spread out the two blankets that were already on the couch before spreading out the one Darry had given me.

I ignored the noises of the conversation going on in the bedroom across the lounge room and continued to focus on getting comfortable, anything not to hear about Soda. Anything.

Smack! I leaped up off the couch, blade in hand, quicker than anyone who had stepped on a nail. I looked around for the source that had hit me with something.

'Morning', someone laughed from beside me, as I released a breath and sat back down. I jumped again slightly but stayed on the couch.

'Soda, you ass hole', I snapped angrily, rubbing my cheek. 'What'd you slap me with?'

Soda just held up his hand and wiggled each individual finger at me. I glared at him, trying to be severely angry with him, but like Ponyboy had said to me once during one of our random talks: "No one ever stays mad at Soda, it's just the way he is. He's always smiling".

'How are you feeling?' he muttered, scratching his head softly. I knew what he meant, but I just shrugged, not sure how to word it. My head ached like no tomorrow, my body still felt like it was being constantly scratched at, tugged at, it was the worst feeling anyone could experience.

'Not to bad', I muttered finally, lying plainly through my teeth. 'How's Ponyboy?'

'Pretty shook up…' he paused, sounding like he was going to start again, but he just sat there, holding his breath. 'What'd…' he did need to say something. 'What did they do, if you don't mind me asking?'

'I…' I started, but he didn't let me finish.

'Not, it's all right, don't tell me, that's cool', and I shut up.

We sat in silence for awhile, neither of us starting up a conversation about anything, we were avoiding another awkward topic. About twenty minutes had passed and we were still sitting silently.

'Pony said that they…' he paused again in that infuriating way, 'he said that they were trying to…'

'That's the basis of it', I muttered, nodding awkwardly, trying to save him the torment of explaining it, or even just putting it into words. 'I'm going to go make breakfast, yeah?'

'Hey, Soda?' I yawned quick;y, looking over at Soda as he sat in a towel, only just having gotten out of the shower. Something I had failed to notice earlier.

'Hmm?' he laughed, smiling at me, as I smiled back.

'Think I can borrow a shirt?' He looked at me funny.

'Yeah, sure, go ahead', I was forced to borrow shirts that weren't to small or too big, which meant, only Sodapop could lend me clothes.

'Thanks', I mumbled, hopping up and stretching, completely forgetting the fact that I had ditched my jeans before jumping into bed last night. Two-bit's shirt was daggy enough to cover my lower half, so it didn't matter.

I made my way over to the kitchen, not bothering with my jeans as I turned on the stove and grabbed the last remaining eggs from the fridge.

I had been in and out of the house twice since my talk with Soda, I had ran to the 7/11 and grabbed some bacon and a loaf of bread before stealing some of those little packets of butter. The second time I ran out, I had headed back to the 7/11 to grab some chocolate milk and some flour to make a chocolate cake.

'What's for breakfast?' I heard Ponyboy yawn from the lounge room as I walked up onto the porch.

'Don't know, Bullet's cooking, this is the second time she's ran out randomly', Soda mumbled, switching on the TV and watching the morning cartoons.

'And she's back, and stay out of the kitchen', I snapped as I noticed Darry walking towards the kitchen door.

'Don't order me around in my own house', Darry growled.

'No breakfast for Darrel', I muttered, walking to the kitchen door, pointing at him again before walking further in.

'What…' I heard Darry mutter to Soda.

'I don't know, she's been running around for ages now', was Soda's reply.

It took me awhile, but I managed to cook the eggs, bacon and the toast, even buttering the toast for them. I placed fair amounts on each plate and sat them on the table, along with a glass of chocolate milk.

'Breakfast!' I shouted, standing against the bench away from the table. I heard several pairs of footsteps make there way into the kitchen before I finally looked up at them.

'This is what you've been doing all morning?' Soda gaped, staring from the breakfast then back at me.

'And I'm making a chocolate cake Bullet style, but that's not ready yet', I smiled as they all sat down at the table and dug quickly into their breakfast.

I had my hands shoved into my pocket and a jacket wrapped around my waist as I followed Ponyboy and Johnny closer and closer to the Bowen Lounge corner, where Dally stood waiting.

'What's going on, Dally?' Johnny piped up as we came to a stop in front of him. Dally had just lit a cigarette so he was happily sucking away on that for a quick second before answering.

'We're early', he breathed as I just rolled my eyes. I had mentioned to Ponyboy that there really was no point in meeting up now if there were still a few hours before dark.

'What do you want to do?' Ponyboy questioned, just for the sake of saying something.

'Nothing legal, man, let's get out of here', Dally mumbled, putting his cigarette out with the bottom of his boot before, draping his arm around my shoulder and leading us in the direction of the one place I had been avoiding till I had to be there.

'Hey soda', I heard Steve shout over; 'here come the hobo's'.

'Thanks Steve', I smiled, jumping on his back and getting him in a headlock after my feet landed on the ground, 'I love you too'.

'Hey I ain't got no cash...' he stated defiantly, as I spun around the gas tank and came to fumble straight into Sodapop.

'Anyone want to buy a windshield wiper?' Dally asked, playing with a broken off windshield wiper that had been sitting on the gas tank from a few days back. I had been sliding the rubber back into for Soda while he served a customer.

'Dal, give me that', Steve snapped, snatching it off of him.

'Give them the money', Soda laughed as I draped my arm around his shoulders giving him a headlock. He tensed up pretty quickly so I pulled my arm away cautiously.

We all headed off again with the money the guys had earned in tips, and made our way slowly through a vacant lot of land.

'What's the movie about?' Johnny asked, mimicking my question from earlier.

'I don't know, Johnny. It's one of those beach movies', was Dally's reply as we made our way across the lot and found a few little kids playing with a bunch of cards. 'Did I say you guys can play on my grass?'

'No', they all replied at separate intervals as if in a chorus or something.

'Then what are you doing here? Give me those cards, will you?' Dally snapped, as they all looked at each other weirdly, or what looked like to others, worriedly before handing over the cards. 'You guys ever play "52 Pick-Up"?'

'Yeah', they answered cautiously, as if they were being tested on it.

'What? Don't get wise. I don't like little kids; I just don't like them', he grumbled before clicking the cards, making them go every which and way. I tried hard not to tell Dally how bloody retarded he looked, and watched on. 'Get out of here or I'll kill you!' he screamed, chasing the kids away, as we all ran after them.

'Get out of here, you little rats', Ponyboy shouted as he came to a slow stop, allowing for me and Johnny to catch up.

'The sky's getting dark. Let's go', Dally noticed before becoming the macho leader again and leading the way to the side fence of the drive in. Dally crawled through the hole, then Ponyboy, who helped Johnny who then helped me through.

As we were walking through, making our way slowly towards the seats close to the canteen, I looked over and noticed a girl fighting with her boyfriend. We jumped the railing, even though we could've just walked a meter to walk around it, and sat the second row from the front. Dally sat at the end, then Ponyboy, Johnny then me.

'Are you sure you want to do this?' questioned another girl I had known at school as the quarrelling girlfriend and her friend sat in front of us.

'I came to see a movie and I'm going to see a movie', she stated angrily before getting herself comfortable in the most uncomfortable of seats. I stared at the back of her head for a little bit, trying to picture where I had seen her before, but couldn't place it. It wasn't until Ponyboy spoke that I actually realized I was staring.

'Man, I'm freezing', he complained, rubbing his hands up and down his arms in hopes of some random amount of warmth to spring from it with life.

'Why didn't you bring a hood, stupid', was Dally's reply as he lent back in his seat, checking out the girl that had so defiantly stated that she was here to see a movie.

'I forgot', Ponyboy snapped softly, still rubbing his arms. I sat back wondering if I slipped off, whether they'd notice, because for some unknown reason, I just couldn't sit here and enjoy the movie. It didn't have the appeal it had a few hours ago.

I watched slowly as Dally leant forward and lit his match via the chair, then proceeded to stand up and light his cigarette in the redhead's ear.

'Some cute redhead, huh?' Dally stated loudly to whoever would listen. He didn't really care, all he cared about was scoring the redheaded chick in front of him. When she didn't answer, Dally kept going.

'Are you a real redhead?' he started, trying to bury his face in the side of her head. From my point of view it looks like he was trying to eat her. 'Are you real?' he tried again, that time I wasn't sure whether he was talking to her or her hair. Before I could focus on what anybody else was saying, Dally rested his feet on the back of the chair next to the redhead before fashionably falling off, causing Ponyboy and Johnny to snicker. I buried my head in Johnny's jacket in fits of laughter causing him to laugh more.

Dally didn't give up though, whether she thought him a loser or not. He got straight back up and was into her hair again. 'How can I find out if this is your real red hair?' he muttered wrapping her hair around his fingers, and when she didn't answer, he continued. 'If this is the same red hair that you have on your…' he paused and Ponyboy looked from Dally to the movie then at me and Johnny. '…On these eyebrows?'

'Cut it out, Dal', Johnny cut in before the redhead snapped, I could sense it, so I bet Johnny did too. We all watched Dally as he pretended he was going to put his cigarette out in her hair when she finally said something.

'Get your feet off my chair and shut your trap', she snapped, not even looking back, but that didn't faze Dally one bit, he just kept pushing it.

'Who's gonna make me?' Dally snapped back, and I felt Johnny tense up before standing.

'I'm gonna get a Coke', he muttered as I stood up and followed. I didn't find Dally funny when he did this. It was beyond a joke sometimes.

'Who, your boyfriend?' I heard dally snap again as we headed towards the refreshment stand and waited in line.

'Are you all right, Johnny?' I muttered leaning on the rail.

'Yeah, I'm all right', he muttered grabbing a cup and filling it up as soon as we got close enough. 'And you?'

'Ah, you know, Dally rubs me up the wrong way sometimes', I mumbled, grabbing a coke myself and paying for both Johnny and I. We slowly made our way back, passing up a rather pissed off Dally on the way.

'Your brother, Sodapop, he works at the gasoline station? A DX I think', I heard the redhead ask Ponyboy. As I got closer, I noticed whom she was. We went to he same high school, she was Sherry Valance, but everybody called her Cherry because of her hair.

'Yeah, that's him', pony boy muttered awkwardly as Johnny and I shuffled across. Sodapop not being in school was a tough subject for Ponyboy, and I knew the question was going to pop up. It always did.

'Soda's the cute one'; Marcia giggled.

'Yeah, he's a doll, I should have known you were brothers', Cherry smiled, causing Ponyboy to shuffle in his seat nervously.

'How come we don't see your brother at school anymore?' Marcia asked quietly, and I swung my attention to Ponyboy, who shuffled a little bit more. 'Has he been working full time since your parents died?'

'He's a dropout', Ponyboy muttered awkwardly, turning his gaze from the eyes of Marcia to the screen of the movie. Dally had come back and handed Ponyboy a coke before shuffling out of the row and taking the vacant seat next to Cherry.

'I can see this ending badly', I mumbled ever so softly to Johnny, who I knew had heard me because he tensed up and kept a half gaze on Dally.

'Here, I thought this might cool you off', Came Dally's voice as he handed Cherry a coke. I tensed up as well as I saw Cherry's left hand grip the chair tightly.

'That will cool you off grease, until you learn how to be talk and act decent, maybe then I'll cool off too', she shouted throwing the coke right into his face. It hit him with a shock as he paused for a minute before acting on his impulse.

'Fiery, huh? Just the way I like them', he exclaimed, wrapping his arms around her and trying to get her to kiss him.

'Get off of me', she screamed, trying her hardest to push him off. What Dally was doing now had crossed the line and I went to shoot up and wrestle him off her, but Johnny beat me to the punch.

'Look, leave her alone Dal', Johnny stated definitively, standing up slowly. Dally started to let up as he looked at Johnny in a way I don't think anybody had seen him look at him that way before.

'What did you say?' Dally snarled.

'Come on, you heard me. Leave her alone', Johnny tried again, this time a little less sure of himself.

'What did you say; you little shit? What'd you say to me?' Dally snapped again, glaring at the side of Cherry's head.

'Come on', Johnny cooled.

'Wiseass', Dally growled before getting up and walking off like nothing had happened.

'Now you blew it', I heard Ponyboy whisper to Johnny who just looked at his feet.

'Thank you, he had me scared to death', Cherry cooed as she turned to face her "hero".

'You sure didn't show it. Nobody talks to Dal like that', Johnny grumbled, as the realization that he had just gotten his friend angry with him, hit hard.

'From what I saw, you do', Cherry answered.

'Why don't ya'll come sit up here with us, you can protect us?' came the quiet voice of Marcia.

'What do you think? Come on', Johnny smiled.

'Might as well', was Ponyboy's answer before Johnny looked at me. I shook my head slightly and he just looked at me funny before climbing over the seat.

I sighed quietly before getting up and heading the way towards the exit. The movie wasn't much fun without Dally there, and Ponyboy and Johnny had their minds wrapped up on girls, it just wasn't much fun by yourself. I got a glare as I walked out. Maybe they guess I hadn't paid, I don't know, but I wound my way ever so slowly back home.