Okay, this isn't the first joint story that I'm working on, but it will be the first one that I put up. Here's how the whole 'joint story' thing works for me. duckie lover 151 came up with the idea, but I'm writing the story. This is the complete opposite of the other story, where I came up with the idea, but she's writing the story.

Anyway, this is somewhat of a crossover between The Time Traveler's Wife (Which I haven't read, but she has and I don't own) and the Outsiders.

Well, the concept is almost the same, but I'm not using any of the characters from the book. I'm not sure if I'm going to include any other characters from the Outsiders, but this is mainly a Cherry story even if I do. YES! There is a plot to this story. ^^

So anyway... I own nothing and on with the first chapter!

Chapter One

Cherry's P.O.V.

The first time I saw her, I thought I was going crazy. Then, once she started to explain, I was sure she was crazy.

And even to this day I question her sanity at times.

But if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that, even in her own time, Danny is one of a kind.

~ Eight years earlier~ (Cherry is 8) (Danny is 6)

Not Cherry's P.O.V

A little girl of just eight sat in her backyard. Her house was behind her. A giant white building that would've impressed many, but she simply saw it as home. The yard behind their home was just as big. It was more a field than a yard, and that field was filled with wildflowers.

Tulsa was a big town. The Valances lived right at the edge of it. The next town over was mostly wilderness. It was a peaceful place. A nice change of atmosphere to come home to.

Mr. Valance had one of his business associates over. Mrs. Valance sat with them while they held their meeting. Every once in a while she'd check on her daughter through the living room's giant window. Cherry could be spotted in the giant field easily because of her hair.

Little did Mrs. Valance know, as she went to the kitchen to refill everyone's drinks, that out in that field, history was about to take place and her daughter's life would change forever.

One minute, Cherry was sitting in the grass, watching the clouds, all by herself. The next, another young girl was standing beside her.

The girl was smaller than Cherry with straight brown hair and green eyes much like her own. The girl was wearing bright green shorts under a short purple dress both made out of sweat-suit-like material.

For a moment Cherry could do nothing but stare at her. Then she took a glance down at herself. Even her play clothes were lacy. The girl returned her stare for a few minutes before finally deciding to plop down next to her on the grass.

Cherry immediately glanced at the big window in the living room. Her father was faced toward his business colleague, his back to her; her mother was nowhere in sight.

Slowly, Cherry turned back to the younger girl who was still watching her, remembering everything she'd been told about strangers. But those rules couldn't apply to little girls who literally appeared out of thin air, right? So, gaining a bit of a superior air from being the obvious elder, Cherry said, "My name's Cherry. What's yours?"

The girl just stared at her for another minute. Then she said, "My name's Danny."

Cherry narrowed her eyes, unsure if she was being teased. "Danny's not a girl's name."

"So?" Danny said defensively. "Cherry's not a name at all."

Cherry bristled. No one had ever picked a fight with her before. Especially not someone younger, though at this point she was unsure just how much younger Danny was. "Cherry's my nickname. My real name's Sherri," she explained, equally defensive.

"Well Danny's my nickname." She seemed to grimace a bit, an oddly sophisticated expression for such a small child, before adding, "It's short for Daniella."

Cherry returned to staring at the strange girl for a moment, wondering why she would want a nickname when Daniella was such a pretty name. "Well, that's all you had to say," she huffed.

Danny frowned back, just as frustrated. "No it wasn't. If that was all I said, then you'd call me Daniella."

"So?"

"No one calls me Daniella," she said with a surprising amount of firmness for a six-year-old, clearly stating that there would be consequences for anyone who dared to use her full name.

"Well I want to!" Cherry protested, used to getting her own way. "Besides, you probably don't exist anyway!"

That shut her up for a moment. Then she reached up and undid a bright blue ribbon that had been hidden under a few strands of hair. Cherry didn't move as Danny went around behind her and tied the ribbon into her own bright red hair.

"There," Danny said, coming back around in front her when she'd finished. "Now you'll know I'm real."

Cherry gently touched the ribbon. "How?"

"Because when I disappear that will stay with you."

"When you disappear?"

Danny nodded, and then, without so much as a puff of smoke, she was gone.

Cherry stood up and gently pulled the ribbon out of her hair. It hadn't been tied very well; Danny must not've done her own bow herself. She ran into her mother in the hallway almost immediately after coming back inside. "Hi, Mama."

Mrs. Valance looked down at her daughter over her tray of drinks. "Hi, honey. All done playing outside?"

Cherry nodded, noticing for the first time that her mother was still talking to her like she was five years old.

Mrs. Valance then saw the bright blue ribbon clamped in Cherry's hand. "Where'd you get that?"

"From Danny," Cherry answered with out thinking. Then she added, just so her mom didn't think she was outside playing with strangers, "She's my friend."

Her mother just stared at her for a moment, wondering if eight was too old to suddenly discover an imaginary friend. "That's wonderful, honey. But Danny isn't really a girl's name." Before now, Cherry also had never noticed that her parents were always correcting her.

Without thinking she responded, "Well, Cherry's not a name at all!" Then she raced up the stairs like she'd been told not to do so many times.

Mrs. Valance sighed. Cherry must've found the blue ribbon in the pocket of her dress.

Review please! No, this won't be the only chapter.

I don't own the Outsiders! I've never tried to write a Cherry story before... how was it?

Officially updated 8/4/14.