I do not own The Outsiders and the song Take It Or Leave it is owned by The Runaways

You know that you're just a playmate

What are you trying to gain?

Lead me into the darkness

To play our little nighttime games

Take it or leave it

Do whatever you want

Take it or leave it

Do whatever you want to me

The Runaways

Tara leaned against the wall of the Dingo, waiting for Dru and relishing the double takes boys and girls gave her as they walked into the diner. She knew she was the epitome of a bad girl this time with her short red skirt and tight black blouse that unbuttoned to reveal a little cleavage. Tara felt excitement in the air and half expected any minute to wake up so she closed her eyes for a minute to relish the moment. Just then, the sound of a car woke her from her thoughts.

The car was an old banger and sounded like it was on its last leg. The bumper was dragging slightly, the hood was rusting, and one headlight had been knocked out but Dru was driving so that made it better than any pumpkin carriage Cinderella could ever come up with. Sylvia was with Dru in the front so Tara had to crawl in the back.

"Ready?" asked Dru as she checked her make up in the mirror. Tara struggled to readjust herself in the crowded backseat. "Yeah sorry Tara, but Sylvia wanted to come as well."

"Charming, I feel like I'm wanted," sneered Sylvia.

"That's fine," Tara replied quickly.

"Well girls, are we ready for the games to begin?" Dru cried as they roared away from the curb.

When they got to Buck's, it was packed already. People were everywhere: sitting in groups on the porch, hanging out of windows as they catcalled to the people coming in, or roaming around the parked cars, looking for a fight. Hank Williams was blaring, which Tara thought was the worst choice but Buck provided cheap booze so no one could complain too much and instead turned up the car radios. A strange mash up of Elvis and the Supremes was blaring around Tara, which started to make her feel ill. She felt self-conscious all over again as they approached the door. Suddenly her feet refused to take another step forward and Dru noticed. She and Sylvia exchanged a look and pulled Tara forward by linking her arms with theirs and then walking forward. "You can't let them win, you're different now," whispered Dru. Tara nodded and pushed her way through the crowd to get to the door. As she did so, she heard Dru say, "That's my girl."

Tara started to head towards the beer when she hear a voice call out, "Hey, Tim! I hear Curly's in the reformatory again!" Even though her heart momentarily stopped, Tara kept going towards the line for the keg.

Once she had a cup of beer in hand, she realized she lost sight of Sylvia and Dru but she spotted them talking to a group of boys.

"Hi sorry, I thought I lost you," said Tara as she rejoined them.

"Tara this is Jack, TJ, and Danny," Dru gestured to each boy as she said their names. She then nudged Tara towards Jack.

"Hey," Tara greeted in a husky voice.

Jack stepped forward. He wasn't bad looking with heavily greased hair, dreamy eyes but his attitude was diluted. He had no overpowering sense of danger. Tara supposed that he would have to do.

"Want to dance?" he asked

From the corner of her eye, she could see Sylvia and Dru being led onto the floor by their respective dates.

"Sure," said Tara and she tried not to wince as Jack stepped on her toes as he spun her around the room. She was going to need a lot of drinks to get through a night with him.

Speaking of needing a drink, Dallas Winston skipped waiting in line for a beer and grabbed a bottle of whiskey from Buck's own private stash. He was a bad mood as his day had been terrible so far: in the morning, he gotten in a fight with a Soc but the little sonuvabitch took off before Dallas could really get a good hit in; then he got caught trying to lift a pack of Kools at the drugstore near Shepherd territory but luckily he beat it out of there before the fuzz was called; and now Buck's was packed when all he really wanted to do was drink a little in peace and quiet.

Dallas scanned the room for a familiar face to talk to and he nearly sputtered his drink when he saw Sylvia necking with some kid. Dallas recognized him as the punk kid who gave him some lip at the Dingo the other day, some kid who only had initials for a name. Without a word, Dallas pulled the kid off of Sylvia and threw him aside, causing TJ to nearly crash into the nearby poker table.

"Nice to see you again, Dally," said Sylvia smoothly. "Did you need me? Because I'm sort of busy," she added.

Damn her. Sylvia was the same broad who could never stay faithful for more than a week when he was in the cooler but she was irresistible with her sassy attitude and good looks.

"Don't tell me you're hanging around kids these days," said Dallas.

"Only when there's not a man around," said Sylvia suggestively as she squeezed his arm.

"Let's take this upstairs," whispered Dallas in her ear and Sylvia linked her arm in his as they walked away. "Hey, what about me?" protested TJ as he made his way back over but Sylvia just said, "Call me when you're a man, kid."

"So how's that kid doing?" asked Dallas as they made their way upstairs.

"What kid?"

"The kid that's been hanging around you."

Sylvia stopped and pointed to the dance floor where Tara and Jack were slow dancing. Dallas let out a short laugh.

"You're making her out to be just like you."

"Dallas Winston, you know there's nobody like me."

Tara had watched the whole scene as she danced with Jack and admired the way Sylvia got Dallas running back to her even though she herself admitted to not being the greatest girlfriend. "Want, take, and have," said Sylvia the other day when she gave the full history of her and Dallas. "That's the way I live and when I want Dallas, I get him."

Tara felt a little sorry for TJ who was now trying to regain his cool by sidling up to some greaser girls, offering to buy them a drink. Tara realized there was no point in feeling sorry for him; he'd gotten back on his feet in no time without any help. That's just the way things worked on the East side, Tara mused. Pretty soon, he'll be doing the same thing to other girls and then they would be doing it to other boys too.

Hi, next chapter will include Tim's POV, I just wanted to set the scene at Bucks first. Thank you to DirenKyo and donkeyface for reviewing. Anyone else out their reading this story please could you possible review just so i know I'm on the right tracks. Thanks! :) Thanks to my beta dizzyizzy123!