"Yes." Her eyes narrowed, "Who are you?"

"That's none of your business and I'm glad the nurses aren't letting you see him. What you did to him is… unforgivable."

"I have a right to see him. He's my son. After all the trouble his father and I've gone through to raise him, this is our reward! He'd rather see you no-count hoodlums than his own folks." Her eyes spoke hatred and it was directed at me. "It was your fault. Always running around in the middle of the night getting jailed and heaven knows what else." I knew she wanted to go on, to tell me how horrible I was.

"Excuse me, but…" I was about to go off when Ponyboy grabbed my upper arm and pulled me away, moving to keep his hand clamped on my wrist. I heard Two-Bit say something, but I was already boiling. Our fault?! If anything, it was her fault. I hate her, I really do. I wish Ponyboy had let me take her out.

"Oh, lordy!" I heard Two-Bit this time. "He has to live with that."

When we got to Dally's room, he was arguing with a nurse. I already knew that though, I could hear him before we got into the room. "Man, am I glad to see you! These hospital people won't let me smoke, and I want out!" I smiled in spite of everything and stayed standing while Pony and Two-Bit sat down.

"Shepard came by to see me a little while ago."

"That's what Johnny said. What'd he want?"

"Said he saw my picture in the paper and couldn't believe it didn't have 'Wanted Dead or Alive' under it. He mostly came to rub it in about the rumble. Man, I hate not bein' in that." So, they were friends. Well, it's not like it boggled my mind at all.

"Kid, you scared the devil outa me the other day. I thought I killed you." Dally was looking at Pony and grinning.

"Me?" He said, looking confused. "Why?"

"When you jumped out of the church. I meant to hit you just hard enough to knock you down and put out the fire, but when you dropped like a ton of lead I thought I'd aimed too high and broke your neck." After a small pause. "I'm glad I didn't though."

"I'll bet." Pony said with a grin. I slumped against the wall and sat down on the floor, I still wasn't feeling that satisfied at the encounter with Johnny's mom. I could've gotten her real good, but Pony stopped me. I didn't blame him, I would've stopped me too.

"How's the kid?" Dally asked, so casually it made me want to strangle him. How could he act so casual when Johnny was dieing in the hospital.

"We just left him." Two-Bit's voice told me he was debating, I didn't have to look up. "I don't know about stuff like this… but… well, he seemed pretty bad to me. He passed out cold before we left him."

Dally cussed through what sounded like clenched teeth. "Two-Bit, you still got that fancy black-handled switch?"

"Yeah." Two-Bit said, sounding not in the least guarded.

"Give it here." There was some rustling and I knew Two-Bit had given Dally the switchblade. "We gotta win that fight tonight." Dally's voice was hard, as I remembered from other encounters. "We gotta get even with the Soc's. For Johnny." I could've cried, except I felt weak and all empty inside. Johnny was dieing. Fighting really wasn't going to do anything. It would make it worse, I knew it would. And people were going to get hurt. They wouldn't back down, I and all the other stand-at-the-side-watchers knew that. I didn't have to be told twice. I tilted the back of my head up so it hit the wall and closed my eyes. I would stay with Johnny for the night, no matter what the nurses said.

"Camille, c'mon, get up." I opened my eyes to see Pony's hand in front of me and I let him pull me up again. I fell into his chest and we stayed like that for a moment.

"Carry me." I muttered.

"What?" It sounded like he was laughing.

"Carry me." I repeated, and he sighed.

"I can't, they're gonna think I'm kidnapping you or something." I grinned and let go, pushing myself back a bit.

"Fine." I said and walked beside him as we left the building, closer than we had to be. Our arms kept brushing, but I ignored that now too, not trying to do it purposely. I don't know why, but Two-Bit came up between us and started off with a story, although he was rattling off a bit more than usual. Eventually, we decided to catch a bus rather than walk, so Pony and I sat on a bench and waited for Two-Bit to come back from grabbing some cigarettes.

"Are you alright, Ponyboy?" I asked. I had been watching him for a few minutes. He didn't look well and I think he was falling asleep.

"I'm fine." He said, looking over at me. I still didn't believe him.

"You don't look very well." I pressed, scooting a little closer and placing a hand on his forehead. It felt hotter than it should. He didn't lean away, but his eyes hardened a little and he started to look a little panicked.

"Don't tell anyone. I won't be able to fight tonight. C'mon Camille, I'll take some aspirin when we get back." He gave me a pleading look and it was my turn to sigh.

"Fine, but please don't go if you really aren't feeling up to it."

"You know I'll go anyway." I did know it. I stayed close to him and watched him. He watched me too. It was weird and at that moment I wanted him to kiss me so bad. His hand came up to cup my cheek again and he rubbed his thumb over the bruise just as he'd done in the hospital.

"I wish I'd been there." He said, watching my cheek.

"I know." I said, putting a hand over the one he had over the bruise. I could feel my cheeks heat up as his gaze rested, locked with mine. I didn't even really feel myself lean in, but I did feel my lips brush against his. I took my hand off his and placed my arms around his neck, closing my eyes. His other hand came to rest around my waist. It wasn't the most romantic thing in the world. I'm pretty sure he was sick and we were also at a bus stop. The place didn't matter too much though, I still felt like I was in heaven. I never thought kissing someone would be like this. To tell you the truth, this had been my first kiss.

He tried to pull me a little closer, which was awkward, because we were sitting down and he happened to knock my bruises. I flinched and pulled away a little, opening my eyes sheepishly.

"You okay?" He asked, making the pressure from his arm lighter. We were still pretty close and hadn't disentangled ourselves from each other.

"Yeah, it just stung a bit." I said, glad that the pain was dulling away. He looked a little sad and we just stayed there and then I started to blush. I wanted him to kiss me again but I doubt he would. I pulled away a little, but he kept me where I was and kissed me with a little more pressure. Who had Ponyboy kissed before? He never seemed that interested in girls, but maybe I was just a little blind that way. His hands stayed where they were and I was glad for that. I didn't want to stop him, but I didn't want him to feel me up. Before he, or I, could really do anything more, such as make the kiss more intense, a voice came close to my ear.

"What you doing?" I yelped and pulled back from Ponyboy, who looked perturbed for a second at the intruder. Two-Bit was laughing at us and wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. "They grow up so fast." I was redder than a tomato and took my arms away from Ponyboy's neck, using them to hide my face. Man, Two-Bit wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut.

"Couldn't keep your hands off her, could ya Pony?" Two-Bit said, laughing as he said so. After that, it was all quiet and Pony and I were sitting a foot away from each other, with Two-Bit standing beside Pony. When the bus came, I sat in front of Pony while Two-Bit sat beside him. I'd zoned out for most of the way , thinking about the kiss. My thoughts kept shifting from one subject to another and I didn't even realize that Two-Bit and Ponyboy had been talking. I only heard what they said when we got off the bus.

"Tonight-I don't like it one bit." Pony said, and I fell behind. It was between him and Two-Bit, it was about the rumble. I wasn't going to get involved in it.

"I never knew you to play chicken in a rumble before. Not even when you was a little kid." Two-Bit replied.

"I ain't chicken, Two-Bit Matthews, and you know it." Pony said, anger evident in his voice, "Ain't I a Curtis, same as Soda and Darry?" I knew Two-Bit wouldn't be able to deny that. How can you deny blood bonds? "I mean, I got an awful feeling something's gonna happen." Great, thanks Pony, that's real reassuring to the one that's going to be worrying the whole time.

"Something is gonna happen. We're gonna stomp the Socs' guts, that's what." Two-Bit responded and then it was quiet again. We rounded the corner and there was this little red Corvette by the vacant lot. We walked over, although I wasn't sure who it was. It may have been Cherry Valance. I heard Soda talking about her with Steve, something about a spy.

"Hi Ponyboy, Hi Two-Bit. Hi…" She stopped and looked at me with confusion.

"Camille." I supported. "I'm Camille."

"Hi Camille."

"What's up with the big times?" Two-Bit asked, after we had been formally introduced. I didn't want to hear any of it, it wasn't any of my business. I walked over to a bench nearby and picked at my fingernails. I really did hate fighting, it really was just the violence of it all. The rumble just gave them another reason to go and fight someone. It wouldn't do anything. It couldn't help Johnny, the thought brought tears to my eyes, and it couldn't bring my mom back. It couldn't make my dad change and become the father he should've been. It felt like forever before an arm fell around my shoulders. I jumped away and snapped my head over.

"Pony!" I exclaimed, "You scared me." My heart was pounding three miles a minute. He looked sheepish and I looked around.

"He left." Ponyboy said and I exhaled a bit, but tensed too. No one would be around to interrupt this time.

"Well, what do you want to do?" I asked, watching him again. He shrugged.

"Fine then, I'm taking you home." He watched me lazily as I grabbed his arm and tried to pull him off the bench, not really succeeding much.

"Let's go for a walk." He said, abruptly standing up. I almost fell back, but caught myself. I glared and we walked beside each other, having a staring contest the whole way. I blinked and cursed while he let out a low chuckle.

"Go ahead Curtis, I'll win next time."

"That's what you said last time."

"Only 'cause it's the truth." I smiled, looking up at him, although it wasn't much of a stretch. He did look different with his hair the way it was, but I'd recognise him anywhere. Ponyboy knew I was staring at him and I saw his ears start to go red. Laughing silently, I turned to in front of me again. We were close to his house and I'm guessing that's where we were going.

"I thought you weren't going to let me take you home." I said, tilting my head to the side. He didn't say anything, but he didn't really need to. I guess sometimes he does listen to me. When we got inside, no one was home. It was just us. I thought sadly that if Johnny wasn't in the hospital he would be here too. With a sigh, I made my way into his kitchen, looking through the cupboards. Bored, the only word to explain what I felt. I felt an arm come around my waist and jumped, accidentally slamming a cupboard closed.

I was pulled right up to his chest and could feel his chest vibrate from trying to hold in his laughter.

"You looked bored." He said and I could hear the laughter in his voice.

"Bored, not looking like I needed to be scared out of my mind." He didn't remove his arm and he didn't say anything. We just stayed there like that, like we had in the hospital. "Pony, what does this make us now?" I asked, feeling him tense ever so slightly as I asked the question.

"What do you want us to be?" Avoiding the question with another, but I didn't want to make a big deal out of it.

"Well… I mean… are we going to be girlfriend and boyfriend?" I said it quietly, but he heard it loudly, since the noise level in the house just wasn't there. There was a moment of silence and I started to panic, thinking he didn't want us to be that at all.

"Yeah, I'd hope so." My body completely relaxed and I turned to smile at him, giving him a quick kiss.

"Now what are we going to do?" I asked, looking around the kitchen. Living room. I pulled out of his arms and walked slowly into the living room, sitting down on the couch and turning on the TV. Of course, there was really nothing on, but what else was there to do? Ponyboy eventually sat down close to me and we watched TV for awhile. It didn't take long before I got bored and had to stand up again, stretching.

"Your house is boring, Pony." I said grudgingly. He only laughed and nodded in slight agreement.