Chapter 3: Tulsa Tour

"Hey chick! Time to get up." Victoria came in just as I fell asleep again and tugged the covers off me.

I pulled them back over me, and put the pillow over my head. She ripped the pillow out of my hands and threw it on the floor; tore the covers off me and pushed me onto the floor.

"If you're not out in ten minutes you won't get any breakfast." She said a-matter-a-factly before heading out of our bedroom and closing the door behind her.

As soon as she closed the door I stuck my tongue out at her, well, her behind the door.

I decided I better get up; I was hungry and I was pretty sure when she said I wouldn't get any breakfast that she meant the guys would eat it all.

I picked my pillow up off the floor and made both sides of the bed. Then I realized that I had to go to the bathroom. Badly. Only one problem – nobody had told me or showed me where it was.

"Great, now what?" I wondered out loud.

I was just about to ask Victoria when she burst in the room. "Oh, and if you want to have a shower – the bathroom's just down the hall. Just don't use all the hot water and be quick – there are more people in the house besides you. Everyone's had their time in there already – but that doesn't matter, Darry has to pay for the water here and…"

"Okay, I get it. I only take five minutes and I'll try to use cooler water." I said softly, cutting her off.

"Good." And she left again.

I grabbed my clothes, my jean capris and my blue t-shirt, and went to the bathroom. There were towels and some shampoo on the counter. I went to the washroom, had my shower, got dressed and went out to the living room.

Pony's POV

Two-bit was watching Mickey with Toria, Dally was sitting watching everyone as usual, Soda and Steve had left for work, and Darry was putting some pancakes and bacon on a plate for Emma. Johnny and I were just sitting, bored.

I heard Emma go for her shower. When she came in the living room her white-blonde hair that fell to just below her shoulder blades, was almost pure white – whiter than usual – and it was wet and kind of stringy (the way hair gets when it's wet) but somehow it looked kinda pretty. She was combing her hair with Toria's comb – which I assumed Toria had given her because other wise Emma would be dead.

Toria doesn't really know yet if she can trust Emma and Emma – well this is just a guess, but – she thinks Toria hates her or something and she's getting the cold shoulder (who doesn't?) from Dall, and she seems to be trying to please them. That might take a while. Toria will need a lot of pleasing and Emma might never get through to Dally.

Emma's POV

When I came out into the living room from my shower I was combing my hair out with the comb Victoria gave me. I was having a really hard time combing out the knots and tangles, though – I really needed a trim; my ends were extremely split.

"Uh...Emma? I could comb that if you really wanted me too." Victoria said.

"Um." I hesitated. "Sure. My hair is so tangled I can't get out the tangles." When I pulled the comb through my hair it just got stuck in a knot and jerked my head.

I sat down on the floor in front of Victoria and handed her the comb. She took it and surprisingly, was very gentle when she combed out my hair. She had all the knots out in only about two minutes.

"Hey Emma, want some pancakes? They're a bit cold but I warmed up the maple syrup so you can have hot syrup on your cold pancakes if you want." Darry chuckled, cutting into my thoughts.

"Sounds delicious. I'd love some cold pancakes with hot syrup." I replied, licking my lips.

"I could heat up the pancakes for you if you don't mind waiting five minutes for me to pop them in a frying pan for a bit." Darry said after thinking for a moment.

"I don't mind."

"Ok. Hey – Do you like bacon?"

"No I don't."

"Good thing I asked then."

"I don't like bacon I love it!" I said laughing.

"Ha ha, nice one." I sat down in the chair that Two-bit had been sitting in moments ago before he left to go to the bathroom. When he came back two minutes later he didn't notice me there and was about to sit on me when I cleared my throat. He nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Holy shit…aki mushrooms."

"Nice one." I laughed.

"Hey! Get out of my seat." He whined after he got over the shock.

"Pfftt. No way buddy. You snooze you lose. Get your own seat – that I'm not sitting in already." I added the last bit so that it had no loop hole; if I hadn't said that he probably would have just said ok and thrown me out of the seat.

"Nice way to close a loop hole." Pony said with a laugh.

"She's a smart one she is – your pancakes are ready kid." Darry said putting a plate with steamy pancakes drenched in steamy maple syrup and two pieces of crunchy looking bacon on the table.

"Thanks." I said jumping up and going to eat my breakfast – abandoning my seat and losing the fight.

"Ha! You snooze, you lose girly." Two-bit laughed in triumph.

"That's okay I'll find a new, better seat." I said with my mouth full of bacon and pancakes.

"Pfft. Whatever." He replied in a very preppy and VERY girly voice and just put his hand up palm faced towards me and looked away.

"So what are you guys going to do today?" Darry asked as he kicked Two-bit out of his chair; Two-bit just sat on the floor.

I looked at everyone else: curious as to what we would be doing today.

Dally spoke first. "Well, I don't know what their doin' but I got stuff to do."

"What kind of stuff?" Victoria asked.

"Just stuff." Dally spat back.

"Well, then I guess it's just Toria, Pony, Johnny, Emma and me." Two-bit shrugged.

"We could show Emma around town." Pony suggested.

"Wouldn't Curly and Angel have already done that with her?" Victoria said kind of nasty.

"Naw, they didn't. But I know where some stuff is from when I wondered around the last few weeks. Like which warehouses are abandoned and where they are, where the main grocery stores are, where the hospital is, where Shepard turf starts and ends, and Curly told me which sides of town to not go to. He said to stay on this side of the tracks and to never ever go to the north side of town." I said after making sure my mouth wasn't full.

"So stay on the north side of the tracks but don't go too far north?" Victoria asked.

"Pretty much." I replied.

"Ha ha!" Two-bit laughed. "Seems like you only know about the parts of town that don't matter – like where abandoned warehouses are."

"No those parts of town are important. When I need somewhere to go, I usually go somewhere quiet and dark – like an abandoned warehouse. And the things you always need to know when coming to a new town are where the hospital is – which by the way I have been to when Curly smashed into a telephone poll and broke his nose – where gang turf starts and ends, which gangs to stay away from and where their turf is. As for grocery stores – well you kind of have to know where those are to eat." I explained.

"I forgot he did that. What kind of gangs are you talking about?" Victoria said.

"The big tough scary ones, as Angel out it, the real hoods. You know like the Tiber Street Tigers, the PR, and the Hustlers. In New York those gangs where the Bloods, and the Crips." I shuddered remembering how ruthless the Bloods were.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Two-bit said.

"Curly was right about which sides of town to stay on. You never go on to the other sides of the train tracks where the socs are, stay away from the north side at all costs. The PR is ruthless and they kind of have something against us right now. I know Curly told you this – but you better follow these rules NO MATTER WHAT. And I mean that." Dally said in a rough voice – he always seemed to talk in that tone.

"They're only against you because..." Victoria started but Dally glared at her and she shut up.

"Ya, that's exactly what Curly said and I will tell you the same thing I told him – I'll stay away from the West side and North side, and never walk alone at night." I decided to leave out the part about carrying a blade – if Curly got mad about it, chances were that Dally would blow up, too – probably more.

"Carry a blade, too." Dally said in a flat tone.

Well, that surprised me. "Uh, ya. I always do. I always have my Butterfly on me." I said flicking out my beautiful shiny yellow-handled butterfly knife – I had polished it to perfection. "I also carry my switchblade with me most of the time." I put away my Butterfly and flicked out my shiny blue-handled switchblade – also polished perfectly.

"Ok, put that away now, we now know you are ready if a soc decides to jump you, enough show-and-tell." Darry said in an authoritative voice.

I put my knife away.

"Well, folks I'm off." Dally said and left without a further word besides to say bye to Victoria.

"So, I guess we'll just take you to other important places that you haven't been to yet." Two-bit said.

"Like where?" I was curious.

"The Dingo, the DX. We could go to the DX around lunch and catch Soda and Steve on there lunch break." He suggested.

"Sounds good." Victoria and I said at the exact same time. I blushed and laughed awkwardly and she just glared at me. Meanwhile Two-bit was nearly peeing himself laughing.

"Ok, well. See you guys later – stay outta trouble and I'll see you tonight." Darry waved and headed out the door.

"Bye!" We all said, and I went to my room to get my hair elastic. After I grabbed my hair elastic and twisted my hair into a messy bun I went back out into the living room.

"Hey Emma – can I call you Em? – Do you want to go now? I'm bored. Mickey just ended." Two-bit asked.

"Yes and yes, I've been called Em before – which I like – and I'm kinda bored, too."

"Alright let's go." Victoria said leading the way out the door.

************

First they took me to the Dingo; the greasers' diner. We watched a fight in the parking lot for a while then we headed to Dairy Queen.

"What do you guys – and girls – want? My treat." Two-bit asked as we sat down in the Dairy Queen.

"I'll have a chocolate milkshake." Victoria said.

"Ok." Two-bit looked at the rest of us, waiting for one of us to say something. "What do you peoples want?"

We all shrugged and Two-bit sighed. "Fine – Johnny what do you want?" He asked pointing at Johnny.

"Same as Tore I guess." He said real quiet.

"Pony?" Two-bit asked.

"Might as well follow the trend."

"Emma? What can I get for you my darling?"

"Same." I mumbled. I was going to say something smart-ass, but with Victoria eyeing me the way she was, I chickened out.

"Ok. So. Five chocolate milkshakes it is." Two-bit smiled.

Just then the waitress came over and took our order from Two-bit. When she came back five minutes later with our drinks, I saw Tim Shepard come in out of the corner of my eye.

"Hey, Tim." I said as he sat in the booth behind us.

"Emma, Tim isn't here." Two-bit said in a way that said he thought I was nuts.

"Yes he is." I argued.

"Uh, no Ems, he's not." Now Two-bit was plain creeped out.

"Yes, Two-bit he is." Johnny and Pony said at the same time.

Two-bit looked at all of us strange. I was just about to tell him Tim was right behind us, when Tim came and scooted in beside me.

"Hi Tim." I smiled.

"Hey, Em; Toria." He greeted.

"Hello Tim." Victoria said, looking kind of jealous that Tim was beside me, but she knew there was no room beside her: since Two-bit was on one side of her and Pony was on the other side.

"What ya doin' here?" I asked.

"Nothing much – just come to see you girls." Tim shrugged. "And now that I've seen you – and that you are getting along fine – I'm gonna go." He got up.

"See ya round Tim." Victoria said.

"See ya Baby."

"Bye Tim." I said and waved.

"Bye Ems." And then he left.

"Well that was brief." Two-bit laughed.

"And some what random." Pony added.

"Well that's Tim for you." I smirked. We finished our shakes and then headed out again. "So where to now?" I asked.

"Well, we've been to the Dingo and we've had milkshakes at Dairy Queen, and it's almost lunch time so we should go see Steve and Soda at the DX." Two-bit answered.

So we headed off in what I guessed was the way to the DX. About ten minutes after leaving Dairy Queen we saw Angel and some other slutty looking girl walking towards us. "Great. Evie and Angel, just the bitches I want to see." Victoria growled. When they reached us the tension was so strong you could almost see it. "Hi Angela." Victoria greeted curtly.

"Hey Tore." Angel replied. There seemed to be some sort of secret conversation going on between them through gestures and facial expressions because Angel shot Victoria an apologetic helpless look.

"Nice to see you bitch." The trampy blonde with Angel, whose name was Evie apparently, said to Victoria.

Who you calling bitch, bitch? I wanted to say but didn't.

Then Victoria lunged at the girl, punching her right in the face.

"Victoria!" I sputtered in surprise. I didn't like what the Evie had said, but I had expected my sister to just retort something smart like what I had almost said, not start a fight.

Evie punched Victoria in the stomach, which knocked Victoria off balance. Evie was just about to kick Toria in the stomach but she rolled out of the way in time, and kicked at Evie's heels, making her fall flat on her butt. Then Toria stood up and kicked her in the stomach.

"Victoria! Stop fighting! It's not gonna solve anything! So she called you a bitch – so what? She is one. Let it go!" I said. Victoria ignored me and kicked her again.

"You stupid whore! You stole my boyfriend!" Evie screeched, jumping up.

"That's what this is all about!?" Angel burst out, stepping between the two enraged girls. "You're mad because Toria is dating Steve? You know that she didn't steal him – he left you because he loved Toria and was bored of you."

"That's not true - she stole him! She came parading in town with all her charm and he ditched me for the slut." Evie yelled at Angel.

"Whatever makes you happy. But I just want you to know if this is going to turn into an actual fight – I'll be on Toria's side." Angel retorted, crossing her arms over her chest and stepping closer to Victoria, but still not giving Victoria or Evie any room to hit each other.

"Come on Tator, let's just go." Two-bit coaxed. I noticed that he was careful to not mention we were going to the DX.

"He's mine Ross and you can't ever have him back. Besides I've told you before you shouldn't have dumped him. I'm never letting him go now." Victoria spat and came over to us.

"Come on, let's go, she's not worth it." Two-bit put an arm around her and we headed off again.

"You leave my sister alone or else Evie!" I heard Angel say.

"Whatever Shepard." Evie replied and when I looked back they were both going their separate ways.

When we got to the DX Victoria ran ahead of us into the garage. "Hey you guys want a drink?" Two-bit asked as we went into the store half of the DX.

"But Two-bit we just had milkshakes." I laughed.

"Ya, so? It's a hot day."

"I know – I'm really thirsty."

"See? You're thirsty – so why do you care if we just had milkshakes?"

"I don't know." I laughed again.

"Okay – So I know that you'll want a Pepsi, Pony. And I want a Coke – what do you two want?" Two-bit asked me and Johnny.

"Pepsi, please." Johnny mumbled.

"Lemonade please." I smiled, mimicking Johnny.

Two-bit came back with our drinks two minutes later. "Here's your Pepsi, Pony. Yours, too Johnny." He said handing them their Pepsis. "And a lemonade for a beautiful little girl." Two-bit said making an elaborate scene of handing me my lemonade.

"I am not little." I told him, taking a sip of my drink.

"Sure. Come on; let's go visit S&S."

"Who?" Pony and I asked at the same time.

"Soda and Steve." Two-bit told us.

"Oh, that makes sense." Johnny said surprising me – that was the first thing he said all day except what drink he wanted. I noticed him and Pony never really said anything.

Two-bit led the way into the garage, followed by Pony then Johnny and me.

"Don't worry Tator I love you, and I will never leave you, let alone go back to Evie." Steve had his arms around Victoria's waist.

"I know. I was just checking." She smiled then kissed him.

I wanted to make a gagging sound but I knew that that was not the way to earn her trust. "Hey you two – wanna stop sucking face so you could say hi to us?" Two-bit asked.

They ignored him.

"Oh come on. You gotta get some oxygen some time." He pushed.

They finally stopped kissing, but Steve's hands didn't move. Well, actually they did: to Victoria's butt. She gently moved his hands. He smirked. "Hands off my butt Randle or have you forgotten how much trouble you're in already?" She muttered.

"Hey you two – do that in private." Two-bit gagged. I giggled, but when Victoria shot me an evil glare I stopped.

"Hey where's Soda?" Pony changed the subject.

"Right here little buddy." Soda slid out from under the car he was working on.

"Hey Sodapop." I smiled.

"Hey Emma." He smiled back.

"How was your Tulsa Tour?"

"Great. We had chocolate milkshakes." I left out the part about Evie – if Victoria had told them, fine, but I wasn't about to.

"Lucky you."

"Yup."

"So what are you guys going to do now?" Soda asked us.

"Well, I'm starving – we should probably go grab something to eat at your house." Two-bit said.

"Why not get a burger or something?" Steve asked.

"I'm kind of broke." Two-bit hung his head.

"I've got money." I spoke up. "It's at the house, though."

"Naw, just grab something out of our fridge – you don't need to feed your money to those bums." Soda said.

"Hey! Who you calling bums?" Victoria burst out.

"Two-bit, Pony, and Johnny."

"Ok, good." She smiled, satisfied.

"I don't care where or what we eat – let's just go eat!" Two-bit whined.

"Ok, fine whiney butt." Victoria said then kissed Steve again. "Bye Soda!" She said as she came over to us.

"Bye Soda and Steve." We all called as we left the DX headed towards the Curtis' walking in the alleyways.

Chapter 4:

We were probably only walking for five minutes when we heard barking and saw a flash of grey and black streak past us.

"Hey Tator – ain't that your dog?" Two-bit pointed in the direction the mass had disappeared in.

"Ya. Dammit Terror come back here!!" Victoria yelled chasing after her dog.

"You have a dog?" I asked, running beside her.

"Ya, what's it to ya?"

"Just didn't know that."

"There's a lot you don't know about me kid."

"Ya, and there's a lot you don't know about me – let's start with the fact that I'm not a kid." I stressed the word not.

"Ok."

Just then we saw Victoria's dog – he had a black cat backed into the corner of the alley. "Jet!" I cried out – scared of what the dog might do to my cat.

"Jet?" Two-bit asked. I guessed they must have been following us the whole time.

"Ya, my cat."

"You have a cat!?" Victoria asked me surprised.

"Ya, there's a lot you don't know about me."

"So my dog has your cat backed into the corner of the alley?"

"Ya."

"Will your cat scratch my dog's eyes out?"

"I don't think so – he's more scared then anything else. He hasn't met many dogs in his life and the ones he did were playful puppies not growling dogs."

"Oh, good. Terror will be ok."

"Will your dog eat my cat?" I asked worriedly as he lunged at Jet.

"Nope. Terror come here!" Victoria called. "Terror! COME HEAL!" The dog turned his head towards Victoria, looked back at Jet, and then came running to his owner. Hmm. Faithful dog.

I ran over to Jet and snatched him up before he could run off.

"Shhh Baby, its okay, shh Baby. He's not gonna hurt you." I covered his eyes with my hand and whispered softly to him, petting him and kissing him – it always calmed him.

When his heart slowed down he wiggled his head out of my hand so he could see, sniffed my face and jumped down out of my arms. He didn't run away, though, he just rubbed up against my feet.

Victoria scolded Terror, then took off the scarf she had on as a belt, slipped it through Terror's collar, and used it as a leash.

"Your dog's pretty obedient." I commented.

"Yes." Then as an after thought she added, "Your cat is pretty loyal to stay right by you even though Terror isn't gone."

"Ya, I've had him since he was a kitten – found him on the streets when I was 8 ½. He was a really tiny kitten – probably the runt of the litter. I snuck him in the house sometimes – mom eventually noticed, she didn't care, though – but mostly he just wandered around the neighborhood, catching and killing birds and mice – he was a real good hunter. But he never actually ate what he caught – he'd wait till the end of the day – right around the time I was eating supper and come home for the cat food I had given him when I first found him. Mom said he was a strange cat, and I had no other explanation at the time except for that he loved me – I mean I was only 8 yrs old, I didn't know that pets don't love."

"But they can." Victoria argued – nodding at Jet who was sitting at my feet gently rubbing his head against my legs, but watching Terror warily.

"I guess so." I shrugged.

"Well, I'm hungry – can we go now?" Two-bit asked impatiently.

"Sure Two-bit, but I think I'm just going to drop off Terror and then go back to the DX and hang with Steve." Victoria said.

"Hey Em – how you gonna get that cat to follow you home? Is he like a dog – you call him and he comes?" Two-bit laughed.

"Sometimes, but I think I'll just try and carry him home – if that doesn't work I'll just try to lure him home with my shoelace." I picked Jet up and held him the way he liked; my hand under his bottom, his front paws over my shoulder and his face against my shoulder facing behind me.

"What if neither of those things work?" Two-bit was so argumentative. I sighed.

"Then hopefully he'll find his way back to the Shepards' and I can pick him up from there later." What Two-bit hadn't realized was that while he was asking questions we had already started walking and were now almost to the Curtis'.

"Hey, how'd you get him from New York to Tulsa anyways?" Pony asked.

"I just took him with me." I scratched Jet's ears.

"How'd you get here?" Johnny asked.

"I hopped a couple trains, hitch-hiked, etc." Jet dug his claws into my shoulder as he began to purr. "Ouch, Jet! Gentle, buddy." He just looked at me and purred more, rubbing against my cheek.