The rest of the gang will have a short appearance in the next chapter. Oh, and on a side note, due to Angie, the events of 'The Outsiders' did not happen. Hope you enjoy, thanks for the reviews!


Latent rage was clear in Darry's eyes as they followed the slim figure to her refuge in the dark corner of the basement. The day before had been filled with questions, relentless questions. Angie demanded to be told everything, and she could care less how painful it was for them to tell it. She couldn't fathom missing her parents like they did, in fact, it'd be better if they were gone for good.

But it was only an interrogation. Nothing more. There was no torturing, no meds. It seemed she just wanted to know more about Soda. After awhile it became easy talking to her, it was almost casual even. When she wasn't ranting, she was an observant listener, taking in every detail, words, how they were said, and the facial expressions paired with them.

Now it was very early morning, and she was crawling into her corner.

"What are you doing down here?" Darry called out in a loud whisper.

"I got sick again. I'm trying to stay away from the…the alcohol…Damn, what does it matter to you dumbass? Go back to sleep."

If Darry wasn't being held prisoner by this girl, he would've been concerned. Since when does getting sick become a normal occurrence? And why would someone so young and rich turn to alcohol?

He didn't busy his tired mind with these questions. He was glad to oblige and fall asleep.

"I know I should go to the doctor…" Angie was muttering quietly as an image of her sister flashed before her eyes. Lindsey's round eyes were narrowed, her expression was one of disappointment. "I can't do it…I hate doctors. There's nothing wrong with me…besides the obvious."

Angie knew her sister wasn't there, she was well aware that her sister's corpse was rotting underground in the town graveyard. But she felt like Lindsey heard her somehow. Talking to herself was a sure method of problem solving, she was not hallucinating, she had not gone insane, or so she told herself that.

When Angie woke again she decided she'd better get ready to go to school. The sickness always seemed to pass after the early morning hours, so she would do fine for the rest of the day. As if it was routine, Angie pecked Soda on the lips before leaving, and this time, his eyes fluttered open. He watched with drowsy confusion as she walked up the stairs.

As soon as Darry heard the front door shut, he looked over at his two brothers.

"Soda, you're going to have to do something else. It's not working."

"He's doing all he can Darry," Ponyboy jumped in. He'd been awake for most of the night. He was unable to sleep in such an uncomfortable condition.

"Shut it Ponyboy," Darry snapped. "Look, you're going to have to flirt with her a little. If you can convince her to let you out, we have a chance."

"How do you know she'd fall for it?" Soda asked.

"She's nuts over you. Have you seen the looks she gives you? She wouldn't give up the chance to…" He didn't finish. He was judging his brother's reaction. His face drew up in slight disgust.

"You mean I have to…"

"If it gets us out of here," Darry said. He was eyeing Ponyboy with suspicion. He didn't happen to understand what they were talking about, did he? That would be a yes. Darry noticed that Pony's ears were turning awfully red.

"If I hadn't thought she was way out of my league when I first met her I would've asked for her number or something…I'm glad I didn't. She's crazy." Soda said after a short silence.

"You know, if you had, we might not be in here." Pony theorized grumpily.

"Get some sleep Pony, heaven knows you need it." Darry commanded.

Ponyboy didn't respond. He only sighed and began thinking, pessimistically, about the bleak future ahead. How long would they spend chained to a wall before they died of malnutrition? Or would she kill them in another way? His face went pale as he thought about it.

"We have to figure out what she wants. She said she'd let us go…"

"Just listen to me for once. If it doesn't get us out, it'll put her in a better mood."

They would continue to have idle conversations till Angie returned, and it would be later than usual.

"Well of course I can come over Maria, but only for an hour. I'm expecting someone at my house soon."

"Alright," Maria agreed in a tone of disappointment. She was not actually unhappy that Angie could stay a short time, actually, it overjoyed her. She couldn't wait to have that brat out of her house.

"You need new bedroom furniture May-May," Angie sneered, "this bed creaks."

"It's my grandmother's and I'm not getting rid of it."

Angie was fiddling with various objects on Maria's dresser. There was make up, some jewelry, and a postcard from her aunt reading 'to May-May'. Upon seeing that Angie had snorted and commented on what a stupid nickname it was.

"You haven't invited me over in a long time." Maria noted.

"I haven't had anyone over in awhile, and you don't need to see my house." Angie snapped back defensively. Maria's eyes widened momentarily, but she was careful not to let Angie see her reaction. Many times she and other friends of Angie had thought they'd succeeded at doing so, but they had failed. Angie saw their expressions; she only chose to disregard them.

"Did you finish Miss Smith's homework?" Maria asked, plopping down on her bed. Angie was still fiddling with jewelry on her dresser.

"If you haven't noticed, I didn't bring my books home."

"May I see it tomorrow?"

"If I'm there,"

Maria perked up a bit.

"Well why wouldn't you be?"

"I haven't been feeling well lately." Angie replied, glancing up to observe Maria through the mirror.

"That's not good. Maybe you should get it checked out." As much of a snob Maria could seem to be at times, she had a good heart. For a moment she had been genuinely concerned about Angie.

"I hate doctors. They can all go to hell."

Then her concern was dissuaded by Angie's rude response.

After a few more minutes of talking back and forth, Angie announced she had to leave, and Maria was glad to see her go.

"How did you two get along today?" Maria's mother asked as she handed her daughter a steaming dinner plate. She then sat down to enjoy the meal of potatoes and chicken with her - Maria's father got home too late to bother eating dinner.

"Fine, just fine." Maria replied as she twirled her spoon in her potatoes.

She would play with her food for nearly twenty minutes before her mother demanded that she eat. Maria would nod meekly before eating a few spoonfuls and then rushing upstairs, claiming that her stomach was bothering her. It was often like this since she'd met Angie.

Angie herself was ecstatic. She threw the door open and ran to the basement. There her three prisoners waited, hungry and eager. After she'd fed them just as she did yesterday and refilled their bottles, she dragged a chair down so that she could sit while she conversed with them.

"We've told you everything about us, why don't you tell us something about yourself?" Soda asked in an attempt to be polite and charming. He knew that girls, even insane ones like Angie, craved attention.

Angie was glad to tell the story of her heritage. It was an unusual one, and it wasn't often that she told it to anyone.

"My parents are pretty messed up." Angie began, rolling her eyes. "My grandmother on my mom's side, without knowing, married a man who was a part of a cult. So she fled from England. Of course the ship she was on sank, it was the Titanic, and she was a third class passenger, so she lost everything. But she met another man on the ship, a really rich first class passenger, and they ended up getting married. My dad's parents died on the ship, and he was just an infant, so they took him in. So my mom and dad were practically siblings, and my dad was way older than my mom, but they got married."

The boys were rendered speechless. No one could quite think of an adequate response for her tale or the sarcastic way she had told it. She acted as if she was ashamed of her high class family.

"My grandparents died when I was really little, so no, I can't tell you anything about the Titanic."

There was a silence for a moment. Soda could see Darry's eyes boring into the side of his face, but he didn't know how to begin. How do you hit on a girl when you're in his position? Heck, how do you even flirt with Angie? She's wacko!