Sodapop decided to call Steve's place, see if the same guys who bothered the two of us bothered him at all lately. Ponyboy was at the table finishing up some homework he still had. Two-Bit was in the bathroom trying to clean the cut on his lip. I sat on the couch with a towel with ice in it on my wrist since it was a little swollen at this point and I was not going to any hospital, thank you very much.

Two-Bit came to the living room and sat next to me on the couch, he held a rag to his lip, "How's your wrist?" I shrugged, "It hurts… how's your lip?" "I think I'll live," he laughed a bit. I laughed then leaned my head on his shoulder. A few minutes later, Steve came through the front door with a confused expression on his face, "Wait, so what happened?" Soda walked over to his best friend and explained what happened and asked if he knew anything about them. "They must be new cause we haven't seen 'em at the DX before," Steve said.

"Rain, you talk to Cherry sometimes, right?" Ponyboy asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"Maybe you could ask her if she knows who those guys were?" he suggested.

I shrugged, "I don't know… I mean, we don't talk that much."

"There's no harm in asking."

"Fine," I sighed, "I'll ask her at school tomorrow before homeroom starts."

…the next morning…

Two-Bit, me and Ponyboy all walked to school like every morning. Two-Bit quickly kissed then went off to whatever he had first in the morning. "Don't forget to ask Cherry or Marcia about the red car," Ponyboy reminded me. I nodded hesitantly, "You should try asking Randy. He may know more about them than Cherry and Marcia." He nodded and we both went in the direction to our first classes.

I got to homeroom and sat by Cherry like I usually did. We had about ten minutes before class started. Cherry looked up from her notebook and smiled at me, "Morning, Rain!"

I smiled back, "Mornin' Cherry! Hey, can I ask you about something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Ok… did anyone move into your part of town recently with a red car?"

She thought for a moment. "Now that you mention it, I did see a red car driving past my house late last night. Why?"

"You know the fights that go on, right? Usually with guys?"

She nodded.

"Well last night, I was out with Two-Bit and this red car drove up behind us and was bothering us Long story short: he's got a cut lip and I have a sprained wrist," I explained.

She glanced at the fabric bandage wrapped around my wrist that led to my hand. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry about that."

I shrugged, "Happens… anyway, do you know who they are?"

She shook her head, "I only know they're new in town."

I nodded and the teacher walked in. "Thank you," I mouthed to her. She smiled, nodded and looked forward at the teacher. Later after class, I asked Marcia about the red car and she told me what Cherry had told me, and that Randy would probably know something about them. Ponyboy met up with me after school since Two-Bit told me he had to get right to his job at the body shop after school ended. "Find out anything?" I asked him when we started walking.

"Randy said that the guy who owns the red car is named Griffin but he didn't know the other three guys names. Cherry and Marcia know anything?" he asked.

"They both said they never saw the car before so they're new."

A second later, someone came up behind us and draped one of their arms around me, the other around Pony. I nearly screamed till I turned around and saw Steve about to burst into laughter. I slapped his arm, "You idiot! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" He just laughed and I glared at him a bit.

"Shouldn't you be with Soda at the DX?" Ponyboy asked, clearly annoyed as much as I was with Steve's action.

"We get to take breaks and Darry told me this mornin' I should see what dirt you two got on that red car," Steve answered once he finally calmed down.

"I still don't see the point in nearly knocking me and Pony down." I crossed my arms across my chest… Ponyboy wasn't the only one who didn't get along with Steve too well.

He rolled his eyes. "look, did you two find anything out or what?"

"You'll find out later like everyone else will."

I saw Ponyboy try to hold in laughter at my comment that had attitude, probably more than actually needed. Neither of us really like Steve. The two of us merely tolerated him cause he was Sodapop's best friend, if he wasn't we wouldn't have any contact with him, whatsoever. I remember when I first met Steve I found him annoying. He didn't call me a "tag-along" like he did to Ponyboy, which I really found rude and obnoxious, but he still just bothered me. Ya know how there are personalities that just don't get along when they're together? That was me and Steve.

He gave an annoyed look and I gave a teasing smile. "I gotta head back to the DX," he uttered and turned to walk away. As soon as he turned the corner at the end of the block, me and Ponyboy started laughing. "Nicely done," Pony smiled. I laughed again, "Thank you… thank you, very much." I tried to do an Elvis impersonation of some sort but by Pony's reaction, I failed miserably.

When we got back to the house, there was a note taped onto the door:

Rain, put some ice on your wrist… Pony, make sure Rain does that… both of you, don't forget about your homework.

I chuckled and shook my head a little at the note then showed it to Ponyboy. He copied my actions and we went into the house. He set his schoolbag down by the couch then pointed at me, "Get your ice." He tried to be serious but it looked like he was about to laugh. I laughed and nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I know." I went to the icebox and did as I was told. I sat down next Ponyboy on the couch so we could both start our homework. "Ponyboy?" I started and he looked up from his textbook. "Can I ask you about something?"

He nodded, "Yeah, sure."

I bit my lip, "When we all got back here last night, what was the important thing that you and your brothers had to take care of?"

"Oh, um…"

I kinda waved it off. "You know what, never mind. It's none of my business."

"No, no, it's fine… what happened is that, Darry and me got Sodapop upset… you know how the two of us would argue?" I nodded. "Well, we were kinda dragging Soda into it by trying to get him to take sides… long story short: me and Darry aren't gonna yell anymore or argue."

I smiled. "That's great! I mean, you're brothers and I get brothers argue, but for crying out loud, you two argued about the same old things all the time."

He laughed, "Yeah, I know. Well not anymore." I smiled and nodded.

Well that answers my question how Soda was handling their arguing.