Disclaimer: Everything from The Outsiders belongs to Susie.

XXX

December 29, 1965

"You totally have to let him get to second base, Jane," Angela Shepard said as she started pulling the curlers out from the back part of my head. I looked up from my nails and red nail polish, staring at her through the mirror. I scrunched up my nose before looking down and painting my middle finger.

I had been out with Jimmy Marshall once and if the second date went anything like the first he'd be lucky to end up with a peck on the cheek. We ended up going to The Dingo and he happened to forget his wallet. Not that I expected him to pay for me but I definitely wasn't prepared to pay for him too. I ended up paying for his popcorn and Coke too, an entire weeks worth of working at the grocery store that was wasted on a guy who couldn't take a hint and keep his hands to himself. And after the blatant hints that I wasn't interested he thought we could go park and have some fun. After telling him I didn't kiss on the first date let alone do anything else, he took me straight home. I was surprised he asked be out again.

"That some kind of new rule I don't know about?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her. I heard Angela sigh through her nose before tugging on my hair.

"Ow," I snapped as I swatted her hands away from my head. "Bitch," I mumbled as I pulled out the last curler

"Jane, people are never gonna wanna date you if they think you're a prude," Angela said, snapping her gum. I rolled my eyes as I finished painting my nails. I never understood why girls found it necessary to chew their gum like cows, if you asked me it was unattractive.

"Can it Angel," I said, "ya don't even know what you're talking about."

It was true too, Angela was fourteen and I was pretty sure she was waiting for her first kiss to be with Ponyboy Curtis. She was as innocent as they came, it just seemed Tulsa was the worst when it came to gossip and rumors. Before the second day Angela stepped foot in Will Rogers she had a reputation, and it wasn't a good one either. Maybe it was the fact that she was a Shepard, people knew it'd get to her brothers, or maybe it was teenage girls that were jealous of her long, dark hair and bright blue eyes. She said it didn't bother her but I knew it would have pissed me off something awful. It upset her just like it would upset any girl and I think the reason she liked me so much was because I knew better then to believe that a fourteen-year-old kid was as easy as someone like Sylvia Clarke.

"Hey, having a reputation is better then being a nobody," she said as she held up a pink shirt from her closet. "Do you even own anything pink?"

I shook my head as I blew on my nails; Angela gaped at me and I gave her a shrug. I always thought pink looked odd with my rusty hair colour.

"I have an outfit picked out at home," I told her, trying to avoid the pink shirt.

I had been at the Shepard's place all afternoon and I was starting to get used to finding excuses to give to her. I had managed to turn blue eye shadow and red lipstick into curls and red nail polish.

Angela liked make over's and I seemed to be her favourite subject. I didn't mind playing the sister role but the girl couldn't put make up on if her life depended on it. The door downstairs slammed shut, I glanced at Angela; her brothers and Dallas were back from their special "business".

I never understood the point of gangs. All they did was cause violence, I despised fights especially ones that involved people I cared about. Considering who I was related to and who hung out with I had to learn to live with it. Now I knew the difference between the Curtis gang and the Shepard gang, that's why I was glad my brother was part of the Curtis gang. Sure, he got in trouble but he didn't end up in the cooler and he didn't end up hurt enough to make it to the hospital. I was glad Dallas wasn't a part of the Shepard gang but he was still pretty good friends with Tim and he still got into a shit load of trouble. Though he got into trouble with or without Tim.

Almost as quickly the door slammed shut Angela had her bedroom door open, hanging over the railing. I didn't know what it was but girls had this infatuation with Dallas. Every girl wants a badass they can fix, I guess. I'd rather have a guy I didn't need to fix but hey, it worked for him. I always teased him that he only got the girls 'cuz of his pretty blond hair but I always got mine in the end because one thing Dallas would always be good at was bugging me.

Dallas and me were friends; actually, I considered him my best friend. I never told him though 'cuz I didn't know if he thought the same way. Sometimes I thought he did because hell, he's told me some pretty fucked up shit that I didn't think many people knew about. I never saw him in any other way but as a friend and I valued our friendship too much to complicate it with anything else.

"Hey, Dally," Angela said in what I assumed was supposed to be her flirtatious voice. I never knew how she could flirt, or in her case try to flirt with a guy like that in front of her brothers. I had a tough enough time telling Keith I was going on a date.

I cringed inwardly and held back a giggle as I grabbed my sweater that was hanging on the railing. I didn't know who gave one of the toughest people I knew the nickname 'Dally' but I'd always hated it. Made him sound like a girl or something, it was the worst nickname ever. I mean, living with Janey was tolerable but… Dally?

And I knew for a fact he didn't like it, he confessed it once when he drunk as all hell. He never did anything about it either because pretty well everyone that knew him called him Dally, it was a name that stuck. And with friends like my brother and Tim Shepard, he couldn't very well tell people to stop 'cuz it bugged him.

"Hey, Shepard," Dallas grinned, "ya got somethin' on your face."

Angela turned and looked at me with an expression of horror on her face. I bit my bottom lip to keep from laughing as she turned around and stomped back to her bedroom. I wasn't trying to be mean or anything but her face was a different colour then the rest of her. Dallas could be a real prick though, poor girl had crush on him. If there was anyway to crush a fourteen year olds self esteem that was it.

I hopped down the stairs two at a time, Dallas was my ride home and I had this date to go on and I wasn't bringing my wallet this time.

"What did ya do to your hair?" Dallas asked as he ruffled it, messing it up to all hell. I glared up at him and swatted at his hands.

"It was curled 'til you went and messed it up." Guys really didn't appreciate what we did to look good. I mean I wore those curlers all afternoon. I sighed and ran my hand through my hair.

"Ya didn't break too much of the law, did ya?" I asked as I put my sweater on.

"Us?" Tim smirked, leaning back in his chair. "Never."

"Uh huh," I said skeptically as I turned to Tim. "Ya know Timmy, if Dallas ends up in the cooler 'cuz of you, I'mma kick your ass myself."

I smiled when Tim let a grin slip. The guy smiled less then Dallas did, maybe it was the Mathews in me or something but making people smile was one thing I was good at.

"All five feet and a hundred pounds of you, Janey?" Dallas snorted.

"Damn straight."

XXX

My date, Jimmy, was twenty minutes late. I was beginning to think he wasn't gonna show when I heard a honk from outside. I got up from the couch and looked out the front window. There he was in his beat up Ford, he honked again as I turned around to head outside.

"That your date?" Keith asked from the fridge. I stopped at the door and turned to look at him. "He's late ain't he?"

I gave my brother a shrug as I tried to drown out the annoying honks coming from outside.

"I shouldn't keep him waiting," I said as I turned for the door again. I heard my brother make his way up behind me before he put his hand on the door.

"He kept you waitin', I think it's only fair. And he can damn well come to the door and ring the doorbell like a normal date."

"Keith," I sighed, "it's not a big deal. I don't care." Truth was it made me feel miserable. The guy had me wondering for a whole twenty minutes if he was going to even show up. He even had me thinking I wasn't good enough or important enough. Keith knew I was full of shit so he shook his head and stood in front of the door.

"Yeah, well I do," he said right before the doorbell rang. Before I could tell him to go back to the T.V. room he had the door open and was glaring down at Jimmy Marshall like he was about to pummel the guy.

I found my brother to be the least threatening guy on the face of the planet. He was always smiling, always joking, and always having fun. But when he wanted to get mean and tough, he was scary as any other greaser on the East side.

"Keith, don't," I said, almost pleading. I didn't like the guy that much but I still wanted to try and have a good time tonight.

"Just one sec Janey," he said, still glaring down at Jimmy. "You must be Jimmy Marshall."

"Yeah," he said, in an almost bored tone. I shook my head, I knew he was and asshole but stupid… he really didn't have anything going for him 'cept his looks. "Look I've been waiting outside, so where's Jane?"

Keith let out a chuckle in disbelief. And I tensed up a little; I really hoped he didn't punch him in the face.

"You're late," Keith spat angrily.

"So?" Jimmy snorted. "I'm here now and I wanna go. So stop trying to be some big shot tough guy."

I saw my brother's back tense and he was gripping the door awfully tight. I was about to interrupt before Keith decided to put him in his place, with words, thankfully.

"Listen you little shit. It should be a goddamn privilege for someone like you to take out someone like my sister. You shouldn't be twenty minutes late; you should be fucking twenty minutes early. You best be treating her with a little more respect or I'll beat the living shit out of you. And that includes coming to the door and ringing the goddamn doorbell."

My hands were wringing the hem of my shirt when Keith walked away from the door. I knew he'd walked away only to keep himself from choking the guy out. And the only reason he didn't give Jimmy what he deserved was because of me. My brother knew me probably better then I knew myself. He knew the twenty long minutes I'd been waiting were hell and he probably knew how shitty it made me feel. So, no I wasn't mad at him for flying off the handle because if someone made him feel like I had, I would have done the same thing.

"Man, your brother is a psycho, I know you guys have daddy issues but Christ," Jimmy said as I looked up at him. I raised an eyebrow at him before slapping him as hard as I could across the cheek.

"What the fuck?" he said, raising his voice at me. I shook my head in disbelief and shoved him until he backed off the porch. In our community everyone knew about everyone's family issues, that included divorces, deaths, and in my case abandonment. No one ever mentioned anyone else's home life, out of respect, but everyone knew.

My dad was a touchy subject, not just for me but for my entire family. Thinking about it now made tears spring to my eyes and I felt like attacking him, though I wouldn't put it past the asshole to hit me back.

You just didn't say that shit to someone. The guy deserved a lot more then a slap and a shove and if my brother were still in hearing range, Jimmy wouldn't've been able to walk normally for a couple weeks.

"Get the hell off my porch," I snapped. "And don't for a second think about calling me or talking to me, you fucking prick."

"Sweetheart, do you even think you're worth that?" he snorted as he turned around and made his way back to his pick up truck. I slammed the door shut and took a deep breath. I didn't remember the last time I cried but there was no way in hell I was crying over him. I turned around and saw my brother staring at me from the kitchen table.

"I'm sorry Janey," he apologized. I shook my head and gave him the best smile I could muster given the situation. I wasn't mad at him, Jimmy was the asshole and I should have never agreed to go on a second date with him.

"It ain't your fault I have bad taste in guys."

"You're gonna turn me grey before I turn twenty," he smirked. "Ed Sullivan's on, wanna watch?"

I nodded before we made our way to the couch. It was our favourite show and we always watched it together, matter of fact, I didn't bother watching it if he wasn't around. My brother had told me once that he was the only man I could count on. I made jokes about him being a man; truth was he was the best man I had ever met. And I wasn't just saying that 'cuz he was my brother.

XXX

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A/N: I am not a big fan of this chapter; make sure you point out any mistakes. And I want to make this perfectly clear this is NOT a Dallas romance, some will be disappointed but I'm guessing most will be relieved.