Disclaimers: I do not own the Outsiders. Anything else you recognize, see note at end of chapter.

I had a strong foreboding feeling as we drove off to the party. A thick fog had rolled in and it started to rain. I could thunder rumbling above the clouds as well pulled in front of a decent looking house on neutral territory.

I separated from Soda and Steve the moment we got to the party. I know that at some point I was giving a bottle of beer, but about an hour later, only one third of the bottle was empty. Eventually I ran into the girl I helped the other night. She wanted to talk to me in private, so we went to an empty bedroom upstairs.

We sat on the edge of the bed. She thanked me, and gave me a hug. It was okay. But then she kissed me. And I don't mean a little peck on the cheek. It was long, and hard. On the mouth. I shoved her off of me, and asked her what the hell she was doing. She seemed offended that I stopped her and she left. I sat there, slightly dazed for a moment, when another couple came into the room. They asked me if I was waiting for someone, I said no and went back down stairs.

I walked into the living room, where the majority of the guests were dancing. In the crowd, I noticed the girl in the sundress…only she was no longer wearing the sundress.

She was wearing a purple skirt, a few inches longer than most at the party, but with a slightly tighter fit. She seemed to have some sequins in a pattern, because I could see light reflecting off of it, and a silver, short sleeve blouse. Bangles on her wrists, I could see as she danced to a song I've never head before. She seemed taller than before. Then I noticed she was wearing platform high heel go-go boot, also silver.

I made my way over, but was stopped by Soda and Steve. They were leaving. It wasn't quite the party they had expected. Soda asked me if I was going, I told them no. I must have sounded …off. They asked me if something happened, so I told them what happened. Steve snorted and said, "Oh yeah, big surprise. Holden doesn't wanna slept with Sunny."

It took a few minutes for me to realize that Steve had just made a literary reference. Of course, those two were gone by the time I did realize it.

The song that was playing now was slower, kind of dreary. Almost hypnotic. I walked up to the girl. I notice she was wearing make up now. She had on black eyeliner and two colors of eye shadow on both lids. I thought that was odd. Purple and pink. Popular colors with girls around here, but I never saw a girl around here with two colors. Her lipstick was red, nothing odd there, I thought. But the blush, pink, again, not uncommon, but she had glitter on her cheeks. No way was this girl from Tulsa. Or Oklahoma…or the south west.

By the time I was next to her, there were people all around us, moving slowing to the song. I wasn't too sure what to say to her. I took in her appearance as a whole,"Do you jive?" I asked, almost yelling over the volume of the music

She looked at me, smiled, and nodded her head. We danced together for a few songs. But at some point, the power went out. With no more loud music, and no more lights, I noticed the lightening outside, and thunder rumbling menacingly in the background.

People started to leave. Me and the girl left, hand in hand. We started walking, the rain was only a light drizzle.

"Isn't your girlfriend gunna be pissed if she sees you with me?" She asked.

"Girlfriend? Oh, what, Angela? Oh, no…well…okay…she might get a little jealous, but she ain't my girlfriend." I told her.

"Really?" She seemed surprised by that. " Cause she seemed so…"

"Clingy? Possessive?"

"Stupid?"

I chuckled. " Yeah, that too."

She laughed. "You got a name?"

"Yeah."

There was a silence. She laughed again, "Well, what is?"

"What's yours?"

"Hey, I asked you first."

"I'll tell you mine when you tell me yours."

"Yeah...but mine's stupid."

"I won't laugh. Promise."

"Promise?"

I nodded.

"Gypsy Rose."

I laughed. She hit me in the arm.

"You said you wouldn't laugh!"

"You're named after a stripper!" I laughed

"She's not a stripper! She's…a burlesque…entertainer…and an actress…and…and...and," She hit me again, " and you said you wouldn't laugh."

"I'm sorry." I stopped laughing, but didn't stop smiling, " I'm Ponyboy."

"Oh, you're just sayin' that."

"No. Really. I even got a brother named Sodapop."

"Yeah?...Got any other brothers?"'

"Uh huh. My oldest brother, Darry." I told her. " You got any siblings?"

"Yeah, two step brothers. Oscar and Sebastian. Both older."

"Oh, I get it. Oscar, as in Wilde…and Sebastian as in Melmoth"

"Smart boy."

We eventually stopped at her house, which was in neutral territory, as well. There was that awkward silence that always comes when dropping a girl off at her house for the first time.

"So…"

"Yeah…"

Another silence.

"I'd like to take you out sometimes…" I told her.

She smiled, "I'd like that."

"Tomorrow? To the drive in?"

"Sounds good."

"Eight o'clock?"

She smiled again, "Perfect." She gave me a small kiss on the cheek, then went into her house.

By the time I got home, I was soaked. Candles were places all over the living room and kitchen. Steve and Soda were playing cards at the coffee table. Darry was laying on the couch.

"Hey, Pony."

"Hey."

"So how was it?" Darry asked me, "Good, right?"

"Yeah. How'dja know?"

"You got lipstick on your cheek."

I started to rub it off.

"Sunny?" Steve questioned.

"Naw."

"She cute?"

"Yeah." I picked up one of the candles and went to the room Soda and I shared.

She liked art. And movies. She reads for fun. She's not like the other kids in Tulsa.

She's a mutant.

Just like me.

Uh…the Holden/Sunny comment is about Catcher in the Rye. If you haven't read it yet, do it now.

The slow, dreary and hypnotic song Pony referred to was 'Venus In Furs' By the Velvet Underground, from the 1967 album The Velvet Underground and Nico.

'Do you jive?' Is supposedly the first thing David Bowie said to his wife. It was also used in Velvet Goldmine, as the first thing Brian says to Mandy.

Gypsy Rose was named after Gypsy Rose Lee. Oscar Wilde's pseudonym after he was released from prison was Sebastian Melmoth.

Gypsy Rose is a London Mod, not born in London, but moved from New York when she was 8 after her mother married her step father, who was in fact, from London. I can't really go into her background that much in the story it self because it's all Pony's point of view.

Anyone who picked up on this while reading the story is my kind of people. Anyone who didn't, well, the more you know ;)

Oh! And I now have Microsoft Word. Actual borders come up when I do my usual --. That doesn't really have anything to do with the story, but I just think that is pretty damn cool!