Her eyes were burning holes in my skull and I wanted to snap at her to stop, but resisted as best I could. There were the Curtis' (Darry, Ponyboy, and Sodapop), Steve, Johnny, and Dally. Two-Bit was obviously there, considering I'd walked over with him and saw Sandy and Evie standing by Amber, both of them staring at me too.

"How ya been doing?" Sodapop asked, that grin on his face made me smile, despite how much I didn't want to.

"Fine I guess, been busy." I shrugged, trying not to sound like I cared all that much.

"School's going good?" Darry nodded in my direction.

"As good as school can get I guess." Once again I tried to shrug it off, it was starting to get harder and harder to ignore my sister's stare.

"How's… that journalism thing going?" I asked, trying to see if it would lighten the mood at all. She seemed to love it before. It surprised me to see her flinch and turn her gaze to the ground. The air was tense and I shivered, not liking it.

"How could you ask that?" Evie shouted at me, causing me to flinch. What did I say that was so bad?

"She didn't know." My sister spoke, almost speaking up for me.

"She should have." Was Evie's retort. Flinching again, I realized how far apart we'd actually gotten, my sister and I. It had been almost a year since we last talked or saw each other. Everyday I told myself that I should call her or go over to her house, but stopped myself.

"What… happened?" My words were careful. A glare from Evie and downcast look from Sandy to Amber, caused me to regret my question.

"My writing wasn't good enough, no one would take my work." That was pretty bad, but I found a confidence flaring up in me.

"That can't be true! You're a great writer!" It was a protest, to try and tell her I cared. It backfired.

"How would you know." Her eyes clashed with mine defiantly and I found myself staring into the grey eyes possessed by my father, that had been passed to her. An unwanted memory flared up in my mind and I struggled to push it away, but it came quickly and I found myself reliving it for a brief moment before snapping back and looking away.

"You never visited or called me or anything." Her eyes were glazed, with both tears and anger. "You're probably having the best time ever, having a parent who still loves you and cares for you. I lost both mom and dad! You selfish brat!" I lost them too! I wanted to cry out so bad, but I didn't and continued to look at the ground.

"You haven't even tried to get him to try and talk to me again have you?" She yelled at me and I winced horribly. I couldn't lie to her, but I couldn't tell her he'd left. It hurt me at what she was saying, but it would hurt more to tell her and make her feel guilty about everything.

"No." Her eyes hardened, she would never know I was trying to protect her.

"I bet you'll both have a good laugh at my expense. Oh look, Amber failed, just like we knew she would." That hurt more than anything, her doubting me about supporting her.

"I would never do that." Protesting again, a lot of good that did me.

"Sure you wouldn't." Snorting, she looked up at me, her back straightening. My eyes were cast to the ground still, not daring to look her in the eye. Not those eyes, anything but those eyes that reminded me of that last encounter.

"Just leave." Amber said, gritting her teeth. I couldn't leave, not on this note.

"But-" I took a step closer in an attempt to get to her, but an arm was held out in front of me and I looked to it's owner.

"Let her cool off." I watched her standing there, hostile glares thrown towards me. Her stress was because of me, the little sister who she thought didn't care. I'd always cared, always, but I couldn't tell her that either.

"If you really want me to stay out of your life."

"I do." She interrupted.

"Then I'll stay away." Turning on my heel, I walked off as quick as I could, without trying to look rushed. The unshed tears slipped down my cheeks, unbeknownst to any of them. The sidewalk reached my feet quickly and I was already speed walking down the sidewalk, keeping my head down. I didn't look up until I was at least two blocks away from all of them. Wiping my cheeks, I rubbed my eyes and reprimanded myself, trying to stop the crying.

Upon walking into the kitchen, I walked over to the sink and started to do the dishes.

The water was cold.

AU: Hey, people who read this story... would you mind reviewing, please? I love writing this story, but a little appreciation wouldn't hurt right? Sorry if I sound a little of an attention seeker, but one review would do it, just to know somebody's reading. I don't put limits on my chapters to how many reviews I have to recieve in order to post again, so i'm going to keep doing so, but could you review anyway please? I know somebody's looking at these chapters, the hits say so. So... yeah.

thanks