…one week later…

"…who's awake!" I heard someone call from the hall. I tried to sit up wherever I was until pain shot through my right side and stopped me. I grunted a bit and leaned my head back against the board behind me, my hand clutching my side. "This is the Curtis' house," I thought. "Doin' ok, Rain?" Steve asked and walked into the room.

"Why does my side hurt?" I mumbled and closed my eyes.

"You had surgery, remember?" Soda asked following his best friend.

I shook my head, "Last thing I remember was being at the hospital and saying I had to have surgery. That's it."

He chuckled. "That was a week ago."

My eyes widened. "I've been out for a week?!"

Dallas walked in and leaned in the doorway of the room, "You've been in an' out for a week. Last night when you were able to leave that hell hole you were kinda awake, by the time we got ya here you were out."

I sighed loudly. "Lovely…"

"Like I said, at least you're outta there."

"If I was asleep, how'd I get here?"

"Steve and me dragged you from the car," Soda answered like he was gonna start laughing at himself.

Darry came in and told the three to leave, then sat on the edge of the bed I was in, "So how ya feeling?"

I shrugged. "My side hurts and my head hurts."

He nodded. "Alright… just rest today, got it?"

I nodded and he started to leave the room. "Hey Darry?" I stopped him and he turned around. "Thank you," I said quietly. He nodded and I saw him smile a bit then he walked out.

Even though I was grateful for him letting me stay there, I kinda felt bad. Mr and Mrs Curtis had died only a month ago in that car crash and things were not easy for them, and it was pretty hard on the rest of us too. And now this whole incident wouldn't help with anything. We all were close with their parents, considering none of us really had stable homes, maybe Two-Bit but not completely cause his dad walked out on them when we were all just kids. Steve's dad was just, terrible. Dallas', I don't think he even cared anymore at this stage of the game. Johnny, we both came from basically the same kind of home, just different people. Mr and Mrs Curtis were the only parents out of any of ours that genuinely cared about their kids and all of us too. I remember when I first met them… the whole gang too, actually. It was the same day…

"I'm sorry," I mumbled and looked away from the boy I bumped into.

"It's alright, no injuries," the boy smiled and held out his hand, making me look up at him with a shocked expression, "My name's Sodapop. Sodapop Curtis."

I hesitantly shook his hand and chuckled quietly. "Sodapop?... isn't that a drink?" My voice was still quiet; I was always sheltered whenever I came in contact with someone I never met before.

He smiled proudly. "Yeah. My dad chose it cause he liked how it sounded different than most kids around. My little brother is even named Ponyboy!"

I chuckled again but gave another confused look. "Sodapop and Ponyboy…"

He nodded. "Yup! I have a big brother too, but my mom named him after my dad, so his name is just Darrel, but everyone calls him Darry so nobody gets confused… what's your name?"

"Raina…"

"That name sounds cool! Sounds different like mine too!"

I chuckled again but stopped when a boy walked up behind the boy who said his name was Sodapop. "Hey Soda, ya disappeared aft-" he stopped when he saw me, "Who's the girl?"

Before I could answer, Sodapop did, "This is Raina!" He looked at me, "Raina, this is my best buddy, Steve!" The boy named Steve nodded at me and I said a quiet "hello". "Hey Raina, you wanna come over my house after school? You can meet the rest of our friends, I think you'll like them." His smile from before was still in place and I couldn't help but give a small smile back.

I shrugged, "Sure, if your parents don't get mad about it." He nodded, smiled bigger and waved as him and the boy named Steve walked off.

…end of school day…

I walked to the entrance of the school and saw Steve and Sodapop talking on the sidewalk. Sodapop turned and smiled when he saw me. "Raina!" he called waving both his arms frantically in the air to make sure I could see him, but getting a few looks from older kids surrounding the area. I smiled and walked over to the two boys I had recently met. "My parents pick up my big brother first cause he's in a different school cause he's ten," he said in a proud way.

A few minutes later, a big red car drove up in front of us on the sidewalk. A woman with blonde hair and light eyes came out from the driver's side. She was obviously Sodapop's mom, the two looked exactly alike. The woman hugged him, said hi to Steve then helped them into the car. "Mom, that's my new friend Raina, can she come over?" Sodapop asked the woman hopefully. She chuckled at her son's enthusiasm and nodded, "Of course." She then helped me climb into the car.

"Your dad is already home with Ponyboy," she told him as she drove away from the school, "So Raina, you're friends with Sodapop?"

I looked at him and he nodded, signaling me what to answer, "Um… yes."

"I never knew Soda stopped thinking girls had cuties," she teased and Sodapop's ears turned red and his cheeks were pink. "I'm Mrs Curtis." She turned for a quick moment and smiled at me.

She stopped the car in front of a house on the corner of the block and we all got out. A taller boy got out of the passenger's seat. "That's Soda's big brother, Darry," Steve whispered to me, "He can be a real stick in the mud sometimes, but you'll get used to him."

The boy who Steve said was Darry was shockingly tall for a ten year old. He kinda looked like their mother, but not too much. I guessed he looked more like their father. He seemed like a very stiff and serious person. "Darry, that's Sodapop's new friend, Raina," Mrs Curtis informed her other son. He looked at me and smiled a bit, "Hi there, Raina." I smiled back but stopped and jumped a bit when Sodapop grabbed my arm and pulled me inside, running and laughing.

There was a man sitting on the couch in the front room with a little boy with brown hair, reading him a story book. The boy didn't look too much younger than I was." He smiled at Mrs Curtis. "That must be their dad," I thought. Darry walked over to the two, "Hi Dad! Hi Ponyboy!"

Sodapop ran over to his father and motioned me to follow him, "Dad! This is my new friend Raina!"

The man smiled at me, "Hello Raina, I'm Mr Curtis, Sodapop's father… and this is Ponyboy," he smiled at the little boy sitting on his lap with brown hair, who was now smiling.

Steve, Sodapop and Darry all went outside and insist I go outside with them. Two boys came walking up to the house a little while after. One was almost as tall as Darry and had dirty blonde hair. The other boy had tan skin and dark hair and looked familiar. Steve pointed to the blonde one," That there is Keith, but we all call him Two-Bit."

I gave a confused look, "Why do you all call him that?"

"You'll see once ya get to know him," he then pointed to the one with dark hair, "And that's Johnny, or we call him Johnnycake sometimes cause his last name is Cade and it sounds almost the same."

The boy named Johnny walked up to me, "You look really familiar… do you go to the school in the middle of town?" I nodded. "What classroom are you in?"

"234…"

He smiled a bit, "You're in my classroom!"

I remembered now. He sat in the back of the classroom. He was the quiet boy that a lot of people talked about cause he was so quiet. A lot of kids thought he was weird cause of it, but I never thought he was weird… even though I never met him.

The blonde boy walked up to me smiling, "What's your name?"

"Raina…"

He thought for a moment and gave a look. "Can we call you Rain instead, it sounds more tuff."

I chuckled a bit and shrugged. Sodapop came back over by me, "There's another boy we know but he doesn't live here. He's from New York! That's far! He comes here every other month with his family. His name is Dallas, like the one is Texas. He's kinda mean but that's just till you get to know him." He still had the silly smile on his face, but I smiled again too, I couldn't help it.

Aw little greasers :3 I don't know what to put in the author's note :/ I always do that whenever I start a brand new story… maybe cause right now I'm listening to Stevie Wonder and I'm distracted (I LOVE STEVIE WONDER!) ? I don't know… but listen to him and you'll be happy :3 bye! =^-^=