I do not own The Outsiders.

I grabbed the woman and Johnny and got out of there as fast as I could. There was no way I was letting my best friend or this woman get killed.

Until she pulled out a six inch switchblade out of the pocket of her skirt.

"GET THE HELL OFF ME!!!" she hollered at us. I dropped her right that minute, and me and Johnny were pretty scared by that moment. The guy came back too, and he still had that knife. We ran out before someone got stabbed, because there was no way we were gonna be there when the fuzz comes.

Johnny and I wondered around the city for a while. We stopped to play some pinball in the bowling alley, and then walked around some more. The sun began to set, and we started worrying about where we were gonna stay.

"Should we go back?" I asked Johnny.

"Nah," he replied. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "They might still be there."

"You think?"

"My old man beats me all the time, but no one stops him."

I thought about that, and that was true. Johnny was beaten all the time, and the police never arrested his parents for it. The couple fought too, so it was might be a fair bet they were still there. He handed me a light, and I wondered faintly what was going on in Tulsa. Would Dally come here and get us?

Eventually, we found a school that seemed empty. The sign, old and worn, read 'Hale Academy.'

"Should we go in?" I asked. Stillwater was a good fifty miles from Tulsa (a/n: Thank you whatcolorinthesky for telling me that was an actual place), so the news might not've gotten here yet.

Johnny shrugged and pushed open the gate. A siren sounded and about three hundred kids started swarming around us. Johnny and I were separated pretty quickly.

"Johnny!" I cried, trying to make my way through the crowd. I faintly heard him scream my name back. The worst started to flood through my mind. What if they stampeded over him? What if they stampeded over me?

Someone roughly pulled me away from the crowd and shook me.

"Why aren't you in your uniform?"

"Huh?"

I turned and saw an old, fragile looking woman. But the way she handled me was anything but gentle.

"Well?"

"Uh, err..." What was I supposed to say to her?

"Never mind, go to the student store and get another one."

I stared at her blankly.

"NOW!" she snaps. She pointed to a small stand near the entrance. There was a girl standing there, in a plaid dress. I recognized her as the girl from my school, the one who looked real good in yellow. I walked over there sheepishly.

"You're the hood from my old school!" she exclaims, eyeing me.

"Uh, yeah," I say, looking at my feet. Being told you're a hood doesn't make you feel too hot.

"What are you doing here? This is a girl's academy!"

I looked at her, my eyes as wide as Johnny's were. "What?!" That teacher thought I was a student here. Being told you look like a girl really doesn't make you feel too hot. I must've looked miserable, because she said, "I'm kidding. It's just that this is an arts academy. You don't usually see too many boys around here."

I sighed and looked around for Johnny. It surprised me how empty it got in a matter of three minutes.

"So, what are you here for?" she asked.

"The teacher told me to buy a uniform," I told her.

"Well, you sure can't go around looking like that." I felt my ears go red.

"Yeah, but I don't have any money on me."

"Hm," she said, looking around, "You can have this one for free, I guess. Just don't tell anyone."

"Is it okay if I get one for Johnny too?" I asked.

"Sure, where is he?"

I looked around again. "I dunno."

She sighed and pulled at my wrist, and took me around the school. It was a big campus, and we found him sitting inside her dormitory.

"Is that him?" she asked.

I nodded, and sat with him on the bed.

"There sure are a lot of broads here," he said softly. Johnny was shy around girls, and he looked a little jittery.

The girl put the clothing next to us and said that we better change before the other girls come here. We both started taking off our shirts, but then she threw a pillow at us.

"I didn't mean in front of me." She walked out after that.

In the uniform, I couldn't have felt more like a Soc. I mean, I was in madras. Multicolored madras. And white pants to boot. I looked at Johnny, and I had to admit that he looked pretty funny without any blue jeans on him. Like a different person.

The girl came back in a little while later. I realized that I never knew her name.

"What's your name?" I asked her.

"Diane," she replied, "Diane Ronard Thompson."

"I'm Ponyboy," I said.

"I know, and you have a brother named Soda, it even says so on your birth certificates."

I looked at her. I didn't know what to say to that.

"You say that every time you tell someone your name."

I felt my ears turn red. Did I really say that every time I told someone my name? I saw her check her watch and look at us.

"It's almost time for bed. There's going to be a bunch of girls here."

Oh Glory, that's just perfect.

"Will that be okay with you?"

I turned to Johnny, and he had a worried look on his face.