Someone was gently shaking my shoulders. "Rain, c'mon. Get up, ya gotta get ready to meet Cherry and Marcia," someone said. I sat up and waited for my eyes to adjust, "What?" I heard Two-Bit laugh, "You're going with Steve and Sodapop to the DX to meet Cherry and Marcia." My eyes widened when I realized what he was talking about. I pushed him out of my room so I could get dressed. I put on jeans, black sneakers, a button up shirt with a knot in the front and the sleeves rolled up. I just left my hair out for now since I know Cherry and Marcia would most likely be changing it or something.

After we ate breakfast, Darry brought us all to the DX then he left for work. Cherry came about twenty minutes after Soda and Steve opened the place. She dragged me to the bathroom since I had been waiting outside with the two boys since no one was there yet, and handed me the bag with clothes in it. I went into one of the stalls and took the clothes out from the bag. "Let it not be said that I didn't suffer for the safety of me and my friends," I thought. "Marcia said she'll be here in about ten minutes," Cherry said through the stall door. The clothes she gave me was a somewhat puffy light green shirt- I think it's what was called a poodle skirt- and a cream colored cotton sweater. I put on the pair of tights I had bought, and then put on the white ked sneakers that she brought as well.

I put my clothes in my own bag then walked out of the stall. Cherry smiled a bit and I glared at her a little bit, unhappy with my own appearance. How did people dress like this all the time? Marcia walked into the bathroom with a pink plastic box. She placed it on the counter where the sink was and took the stool from against the wall in front of the counter as well. She smiled and motioned for me to sit. She put her hands on my shoulders from behind, "Ready to be a Soc?"

I sighed. "Ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

…thirty minutes later…

I finally understood why it took so many girls to take so long to get ready in the morning.

"Nobody is going to recognize you that you're not a Soc," Cherry smiled as I stood in front of the mirror. Aside from the clothes they lent me, they put makeup on me and curled the edges of my now straight hair. Thankfully they didn't use too much makeup on me; blush, mascara and lip gloss was our agreement. It wasn't too much but it was enough to make me look different considering I never wore makeup. Honestly, I had never worn any before. "Ready to go out and show your friends?" I gave a nervous chuckle, "They have to see me at some point."

The three of us walked out and went into the main part of the DX. Marcia cleared her throat loudly and the gang all turned to us. All their jaws dropped a bit as they stepped behind me and pushed me forward. "Who are you and what did you do with my girlfriend?" Two-Bit teased and walked up to me. I sucked on my teeth and quickly kissed him. "What's a Soc like you kissing a Greaser like me?" he joked.

I slapped his shoulder playfully. "Knock it off, will ya?"

"No one is gonna recognize you," Steve said.

I looked at Cherry and Marcia and mouthed "thank you". They gave a weak smile, but I could tell they were uncomfortable. I went over to the counter and handed the bags to Soda, "Thank you for helping me." He nodded and went to the back to put the bags away.

Cherry, Marcia and I walked to the door, all the guys giving me a thumbs up. I gave a weak smile and followed the two out the door. "Ok… so what's my story?" I asked.

"Your name is Rose. You're a childhood friend of mine who lived here in Tulsa but moved to Georgia for your dad's job eight years ago and you finally convinced your parents to come and visit, but only for a few days," Cherry answered in a single breath.

My eyes widened for a second and I let out a slight chuckle. "Well you sure got this figured out."

…thirty minutes later…

Two cars including the red car drove up to the three of us as we walked. I recognized the blue one as Randy's car. One of them honked their car horn and pulled over next to us on the sidewalk. Cherry and Marcia walked toward the two cars. I took a deep breath and followed close behind them. Everyone said their hello's bur I kinda just stood there, not speaking but just watching to see how to act. Cherry put a hand on my shoulder, "This is Rose. We were friends growing up but her family moved to Georgia. But she finally convinced her parents to visit back here." I smiled and waved a bit. Everyone told me their names and I found out that Griffin's crew was named Joseph, Andrew and Caleb.

We were all gonna head back to their part of town. The three of us went to Randy's car since he knew our plan and was helping us. I was still nervous about the whole thing, but I tried to hide it and hoped it didn't show. "You're doing good, Rain," Marcia smiled as we got into Randy's car.

"I couldn't even tell it was you at first," Randy said.

I gave a weak smile.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but it's amazing how you're not nervous," Cherry said.

My eyes widened a bit. "Me? Oh no, my heart feels like it's pounding out of my chest right now. It's racing. You should have seen me last night, I could barely sleep. My boyfriend stayed over cause I was so nervous."

"Well you sure don't show it," Randy said. He started the car and followed Griffin's car.

We stopped right near the edge of the West side of town. There was a park there where Socs and brave Greasers went. What I mean by "brave Greasers", is that since the park was right on the edge of Soc territory, they have a pretty good chance of getting jumped. Most Greasers didn't go there unless they were looking for a fight. Dallas had gone there a few times with Tim Shepard and Buck Merill to blow off steam, but they were the only people I ever knew to go to this park. And they didn't even go very often.

We all basically hung out there for a few hours and drove around a bit. A few other people from town had come to hang out with us as well. I wasn't really paying attention to the conversations going on around me till Griffin called "Rose". I looked up. "You look really familiar, have I seen you before?" he asked.

I shrugged and tried to act natural. "Ever been to Georgia?"

He shook his head.

"Then I guess I just have one of those faces," I slightly chuckled. I hoped he would buy that.

He nodded. "Anyway… I have a question for you."

"What is it?"

He gave a nervous chuckle. "I was wondering if, before you leave town, if maybe you would, I don't know, go out with me sometime?"

My eyes widened a bit. "Oh! Uh, I… I can't."

"Why not?"

"I have a boyfriend already."

"So what?"

I was pretty shocked by his reaction that he was actually suggesting that I cheat. Well, that "Rose" cheat. "Well, we've been going pretty steady. I don't wanna cheat on him."

"What's his name?"

"Keith." I cursed at myself inside my head for my answer.

He nodded and turned back to the rest of his friends. I went back by Cherry and Marcia. "What was that about?" Marcia asked, obviously referring to my conversation with Griffin. I rolled my eyes and gave an annoyed sigh, "Tell ya later."

It was about 5:30 when we all decided to head back in to town. Thankfully, I saw no one I knew all day and they wouldn't call me out like, "Hey Rain!" or whatever they would say. We walked back and I saw a group of Greasers walking. I couldn't really tell who they were till I saw one in a dark hoodie, two of the four in DX shirts, and one wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt. Griffin smirked a little and looked in their direction. I bit my lip and nudged Cherry's arm. She gave a confused look and I pointed in the direction of my friends. "They're probably on their way to meet us at the Dingo," I whispered. I saw the four say some things to each other then all, except for Pony, went inside the Dingo. Pony sat on the curb in front.

"We'll be right back," Griffin smirked. Marcia grabbed his arm, "Not with Rose here… they don't really have fights where she lives so she hates them. Even more than Cherry and me." He looked at me then back at Marcia, "He's just a greaser." The four walked off.

I cringed at what I had just heard. "He's just greaser." I never heard such a horrible thing in my life, my parents weren't even that bad.

Even Randy's eyes widened at Griffin's comment. I was shaking, both from fear and rage as I saw the four walk toward Ponyboy. He was looking down at the ground and had no idea of the four Socs on their way to hurt him. "I have to go help him," I said. Cherry grabbed my arm to stop me, "No, you can't."

"Why not?"

"Griffin, Joseph, Andrew and Caleb all think you're a Soc. If they find out you're a Greaser now, they'll hurt both of you. And there's a lot more they could do to you since you're a girl, and you know it," Randy answered, making me cringe again.

I bit my lip to keep from screaming to Ponyboy. I looked back at them and the four had him pushed up against the wall by the edge of his hoodie. Two-Bit ran out the Dingo and pushed the four off of Pony. One tackled him to the ground as Soda and Steve came running out. I squeaked and covered my mouth with my hand to prevent from anything else coming out of my mouth. "I can't watch this," I mumbled to Cherry, Marcia and Randy, "I'll meet up with you later." Before they got a chance to protest, I ran off in the other direction to a payphone a few blocks away.

I put a few coins into it and dialed the house number. Darry should've been home by now. "Hello?" Darry answered.

"Darry? It's Rain," I said.

"Where are you all? I thought you'd be back by now."

"Well we would be, but I'm still dressed as a Soc."

"What… what's going on?"

"The guys that jumped me and Two-Bit that night. Him, Sodapop, Ponyboy and Steve are fighting with them right now. And Cherry and Randy said I couldn't go help them cause they thought I was a Soc, so I ran a few blocks away cause I just couldn't just watch and do nothing. So I called you."

"Well first of all, they were right. If they find out you're a Greaser, they'll hurt you all even more. I'll be right there," he said then hung up.