Author Note: I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far! Please read and review! I would appreciate it more than ever! Thanks(:

Fri. Feb. 16, 1968

Times have been tough but things are starting to clear up. Ever since the whole huge Soc-Greaser fight that landed me in the hospital, things just haven't been so bad. Randy Adderson came back from his long journey and visited Ponyboy. And, I got a special surprise from a special person.

I was eating breakfast and sitting on the couch watching TV. Travis walked in and nonchalantly sat beside me. I looked at him for a moment not realizing it was him. Then it hit me.

"Travis!" I dropped my bowl, accidentally, to the ground. I hugged him. "What are you doing back here?" I was thrilled to see him.

"Grandma Taylor's in town." He sounded both happy and anxious. Of course I love my grandmother but she is just like my father. She is very judgmental and never likes anyone (my dad had to get these traits from someone). And the worst part, she hated my mother but my dad married her anyway. I knew that my grandma would want to meet my boyfriend but I also knew that she wouldn't like him.

"Oh."

"I know you don't want to see her because she won't like Sodapop. Trust me Typh; if she doesn't like him then she's crazy." He patted my back and got up to leave. "Oh, and we're all staying back at the old house with Grandma." Travis gave me an aren't-we-lucky smile. "Be there tomorrow at eight."

"Eight in the morning?" I did not want to wake up that early.

"Yeah. Grandma's coming at ten. See ya later, Typhie." Travis was in and out in five minutes. I released a sigh. I plan to not tell my grandmother about my boyfriend. I don't need anyone else to tell me how horrible my friends are and to tell the truth, they are not that bad once you get to know them. I just hate people telling me that they're no good and delinquents and yada yada. Though, I do know that it's true. I just don't want people to remind me.

Sat. Feb. 17, 1968

Uh, I woke up so early and I was so tired. Casey and Cherry had to drag me out of bed. I didn't put on any make-up or bother to do my hair. I dressed in sweats and slippers. I convinced Casey to drive me to my dad's house because I was so sleepy. She hugged Travis when he came out to meet me. Then my dad came out and hugged me. I was kinda happy to see him. I mean, I had to be stuck in a house that I purposely moved out of.

My mom and Max were inside and I greeted them there. I went up to my old room and almost everything was still there. At the end of my bed was teddy bear that Dallas won me at a fair. I can't believe I left it here.

"I bet you I could win that bear!" Dallas was so sure that he was strong enough. He wanted to play that strength test game. The prize was a big teddy bear. The other boys were here too but they were with dates and wanted to ride rides and hang out with the girls. So Dallas and I stuck together but we weren't dates.

"You could not." I actually didn't know if he could or not but I was sure he wasn't that weak. Dallas walked up to the guy and then he asked me, "Do you have a dollar?" I unwillingly gave him a dollar.

"You got two tries to win this pretty lady a pretty teddy bear!" Dallas took a second to prepare himself. Then he swung his arms back and whacked the metal plate designated for hitting. He didn't make it all the way to the top and I looked at him and said, "You're not gonna make Dallas, so don't flatter yourself."

Dallas tightened his grip on the hammer, took a step back, took a deep breath and slammed it down. Some people gathered around to watch. Ding ding ding! Dallas won! He made it all the way to the top.

"Congratulations man." The guy running this game handed Dallas the teddy bear and Dallas gave it to me.

"You're sure you don't wanna keep it?" I asked, kidding though.

"No, my teddy bear collection at home is pretty big." He joked. I nudged him in the arm.

"Thanks." I didn't understand why people hated him. Dallas could be so sweet sometimes.

I grabbed my teddy bear named Teddy and lied down on my bed while holding it.

"Typhani, wake up!" I tossed and turned and then fell off my bed from moving so much. I moaned and got up and saw that my grandmother was standing there watching me. She smiled and then we hugged. She looked the same, nothing changed. I could still tell she was the same opinionated lady she had always been. "The rest of the family is coming over later and you better make yourself look pretty. You look like a bum."

"Thanks. I wasn't ready anyway." And the rude comments start now.

The rest of the family showed up around eleven-thirty. I had to put on a fake smile and pretend to be happy to see all these people that I hardly knew.

"You're back, kiddo!" It was Johnny, my brother, with Jane. Jane was pregnant; I did not know that. Alice hid behind Jane's leg but when she saw me she came to give me a hug. That was one hug I was happy to receive. Later we were all crowded in the family room talking about the new Taylor baby that's on the way. I could tell Jane didn't like the attention.

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Someone asked, and yes, I don't know who it was who asked.

"It's a boy." Jane smiled and rubbed her large stomach. "We're gonna name him Carter."

"You don't want a Jonathon the third?" Grandma Taylor asked.

"We figured Typhani had too many Johnny's in her life." Johnny half-joked but was honestly serious.

"I have one too many Carter's in my life." I mumbled to myself, referring to the jerk that is Ashton Carter. I left the conversation for something to drink. In the kitchen I ran into my Aunt Blair.

"Hi."

"Hi."

The relationship between me and my aunt was weird. She was the baby sister of my dad. Blair had dreams of spoiling her daughter but her husband left her so she hasn't had the chance to have a kid, so she wanted to spoil me and become best friends. When I was a baby she used to always babysit me and play with me. Of course, I didn't know what was going on so I just played along. I was six-years-old when I first rejected her. She had always bought me expensive gifts and stuff but I asked her to return them all. She was quite offended and I was grounded for a couple days. But then she did notice that I was a sort of tomboy. So she tried again next year.

Instead of pretty dresses and fancy skirts I received jeans and t-shirts, clothes a boy would wear. Though at seven I did wear dresses because my mother forced me to; I just didn't want anymore. Ever since then things between me and Blair have been all bad. Still, though, to this day she tries to buy me things every once and awhile but I send it back.

After the awkward hellos we looked around and walked away with nothing else said and without the drink I wanted. I went back to the couch. I saw Grandma Taylor, Travis, and some girl talking. My dad came to sit next to me.

"Maybe you should give Blair a chance."

"Well, she's not getting the message and obviously it's just not gonna work." I got and left, again. I tried the kitchen again for that drink I've been dying for. No sign of Blair. I was leaning against the counter and Travis came in.

"Who's the hot brunette, besides me? I'm kidding of course." I asked Travis. He laughed.

"Her name is Kimberly. We've been dating so I brought her to meet Grandma."

"How long have you been dating her?" I asked.

"A couple months but I really like her." We both turned to our grandmother who walked in.

"Kimberly is very sweet girl. I'm proud of you Travis. Typhani, your father tells me that you have a boyfriend." My grandmother said.

"Did he?" I cannot believe my dad told her. He did this on purpose to sabotage my relationship with Soda.

"Why didn't you bring him today?" I tried to answer but she spoke again. "Bring him over for dinner and we will meet then, okay?"

"Sure." Oh boy. I just knew that my grandmother would not like Soda only because Dad doesn't like him and mother-like-son, my grandma will not like him too. "She's gonna hate him." I said to Travis.

"No she won't. I think you're being overly paranoid. Soda's a good guy. Just because Dad doesn't like him doesn't mean Grandma will. When he met Kim, he didn't like her but Grandma did. Think about it Typh." He walked away.

"There are my favorite twins!" It was my dad's brother, Danny.

"Hey." Both me and Travis gave him a hug.

"It's good to see you guys!" He patted our shoulders simultaneously and walked away. It was a weird moment.

The night ended for me at eleven (a twelve-hour party). I stayed the night in the old house that drove me crazy almost every day. Travis, Max, and Mom stayed too but Mom slept in Max's bed and Max shared the bed with Dad. I went to sleep the instant I got in bed.

I heard noises in my room. I turned over and saw someone coming through the window. I squinted trying to distinguish the stranger. I couldn't see. The stranger came toward me. I wasn't scared. I knew it'd be one of the boys. I was right; it was Soda.

"Are you awake?" He came and bent down by the side of my bed.

"Yeah." I sat up and kissed him. He sat beside me.

"Cherry told me you were here for a family reunion." He said.

"Yeah, my dad is gonna tell my grandmother everything: about the divorce and me moving, California. And speaking of my grandmother, she wants to meet you tomorrow for dinner. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, what's the big deal?" Soda didn't seem like he minded and didn't understand why it was such a big deal to me.

"Well, my grandmother is very opinionated and I don't want her saying bad things about you. Her opinion means a lot to me and I want her to like who I love."

"I'm sure she'll like me." Soda was quite sure that she'd like him. Everybody loves Sodapop Curtis; and, I do mean everybody.

"Right." I kissed him again and he left. I went back to sleep.