Kay, I'm sorry this took so long but as I've just been pretty busy lately with exams coming up (luckily I only have one) and my first semester ending I had a lot of stuff to catch up on that I had been putting off (because I was busy trying to do stuff for my story when I should have been working in class…). Oh and btw thank-you texaskid for helping break my writer's block and giving me the information I needed to get motivated and just finish this chapter when I was so stuck.

I'm not even going to bother with saying about The Outsiders not being mine, but remember that anything about Toria is not mine. Not much in here from her except the first sentence, but I just need to remind you. Mark and any of the Martyn's are mine.

Oh and Mr. Grey (my other beta) has officially got me hooked on this indenting thing; so apparently my story is even more grammatically correct. Yeah thanks Cher. =P

I woke up late the next morning after a very restless night's sleep to find that Toria had gone to one of her country friends' farm to help with a thoroughbred horse.

Pony and Johnny had gone off with Angel to wander around town or something, the guys were at work, and the only person in the house was Dally, who was having a hushed conversation on the phone with someone.

After making myself a scrambled egg sandwich with ketchup on it and, pepper and garlic in the egg for breakfast and eating it by myself at the dining room table, I went to take a shower.

When I finished drying off, I cursed myself because I remembered all my clothes were dirty – jeans, underwear, bra, everything! Luckily, though, my period was finished; even though I still felt kind of icky.

Wrapping my towel around me and clutching it tightly, I tiptoed back to my room after seeing the coast was clear. I knew I would not borrow my big sister's underwear, so I just grabbed a pair of mine and ran back into the hall.

Unfortunately, being the klutz I am, I slipped on the water in the hall that I had left when I was going to my room. "OWWW!" I howled, landing hard on my bare bottom and hitting my tailbone; instantly bursting into tears.

"What the…?" Dally came running into the hall, and his jaw dropped when he saw me sitting in a puddle on the floor with only my towel covering me, and a pair of dirty underwear in my clutch, crying with a hand on my tailbone.

I tried to get up, and slipped a little, but caught my balance and raced back into the bathroom and slammed the door in embarrassment. I washed my panties by hand and then rolled them up in my towel to dry them.

Then I hit my forehead with my hand. 'I forgot my bra! Wow I'm sooo stupid today!'

I pulled on my panties and went back to my room where I decided to just wear a dirty bra. The only clothes that were clean enough to wear was the shirt of Toria's I had borrowed yesterday, so I stole a pair of Pony's jeans (they were far too big on me; I had to put a new hole in the belt I stole from him) and a plaid shirt of Soda's with Pony's wife beater underneath.

"Well, I guess doing laundry cannot be put off any longer." I said out loud to my self.

'So…' I gathered all my clothes, and once I did so, I realized exactly how little clothes I had. I also found that if I folded everything nicely, all of it would fit in one drawer.

Sighing, I went in to Darry's room, hoping to find laundry items. Surprisingly, his room was not as tidy as I thought it might have been; there were four piles of very stinky laundry on the floor.

One smelled like kind of like tar and had black spots on some of the shirts, another pile smelled like gasoline and had grease on the shirts, the next one was not visibly dirty; just smelled very strongly of body odour, and the last pile was all sheets, blankets, and towels.

In the corner of the room were two laundry baskets and one laundry bag. One basket with a jar about a quarter full of nickels, the other with laundry detergent and washing soda.

Opting for the laundry bag instead of a basket, I took the washing soda and soap and went back into my room. Shoving my clothes and the washing soaps into the bag, I pulled on my shoes and dragged the bag out into the living room.

Dally looked up when I came in but I just dropped the bag by the door and went to find my wallet.

When I found it, I growled because I realized all I had left was a few dollar bills and some spare pennies. No nickels.

Then I remember the wad of cash Curly had given me to 'help me' when I had been kicked out of there place. And fortunately, it was helpful today.

I wondered where he had gotten a hold of this much cash and hoped he hadn't gotten it in some illegal way. He probably stole it from Tim. 'Shit Curly Shepard, if you get me in trouble with your brother I will kill you.'Plus, I knew if it was Tim's money there was a high chance it had been obtained illegally. Probably not from drugs because that was the one thing Tim did not stand for on his turf.

Shoving a couple of bills in my pocket, I went back to the living room.

"Hey, um, Dally?" I asked, blushing slightly, hoping he wouldn't mention that mishap in the hall earlier. "Do you know where the nearest Laundromat is?"

"Sure, I'll take you there." He stood up and picked up my bag of laundry.

"No, I'll walk-".

"This bag is too heavy for you to carry. I'll drive you, and don't argue with me." He said firmly, cutting me off, walked out the door and got into Toria's pickup truck.

I realized that unless I followed him he would drive off with my laundry so I hopped in regardless of my opinion on the subject.

Dally drove on Independence St. up till Utica Ave, and there was a Laundromat down Utica Ave a bit; right next to the Stop Inn. It was a ways, but didn't take that long to get there driving. Dally was right about me not being able to walk there. I mean, on a good day I might walk there without a heavy laundry bag, but it wasn't very reasonable.

When I hopped out of the truck, Dally started to get out my bag of laundry.

"Oh, I have to go into the store first to get change for the Laundromat… So I'll be right back." I told him awkwardly. He nodded.

"I'll bring the bag ahead in and wait for you." He said and slammed the truck door closed.

I turned around and walked into the Stop Inn convenience store. I grabbed a Pepsi for Pony later, and a Dr. Pepper for me.

Walking past the magazines, I saw the latest issue of Teen Screen and stopped to pick it up. Connie Stevens and Troy Donahue (AN: I don't know many of these people but I looked up teen magazines in the 60's and anything I say about this mag or the others are true. This was the June 63 issue of Teen Screen) were on the cover and damn, did Connie look great. There were a lot of full colour pin-ups, too. 'Gosh, Tony Dow is so cute!'

TV and Screen World featured Tony Dow and, just when I was looking at the best pictures, a hand clamped on my shoulder.

"You gonna buy that Miss?" The store owner asked in an authoritative voice.

I jumped because he had surprised me. "Uh..uh.." I stuttered – I wasn't sure I wanted to buy it, I mean, I had plenty of money from Curly (about $10), but what if I needed it later? I needed about 20 cents for laundry: washing and drying.

"I'm buying it." The owner and I turned around to see a boy about 16 or so years old with a nice build, brown-blonde hair and hazel eyes. Somehow he looked somewhat familiar, the face structure and the build, I swear I'd seen it before.

"Well than fine." The owner said after a moment, than turned to me. "From now on buy it before you read it all." He glowered at me; I guess he was in a bad mood.

I nodded and the boy went up to the counter with the owner and paid for the magazine, then came back and handed it to me.

"You didn't have to do that." I said quietly and felt my cheeks get hot.

"Naw, its fine." He smiled a cute grin that looked like he had stolen it right off of a movie star then, when he saw the questioning look I gave him, reassured me, "Really. Don't worry about."

"Thank you." I smiled.

"My name's Mark. Mark Martyn" He stuck out his hand, "And you are..?"

"Emma." I shook his hand lightly. "Emma Smith," I mocked him, smiling.

"Well put." He laughed.

I studied him for a bit. Why did I know that face? Mark… Mark… Mark!

"So… you have any siblings?" I asked casually.

"Yeah, a younger sister and an older brother."

"Misty and Jonah!" I blurted out, not thinking how odd that might sound.

"Uh…" Mark started to say something but I cut him off, embarrassed.

"I'm sorry. It's just that I met them at the park the other day. Two days ago, I guess. Misty ran up when I was sitting on the swing and introduced herself right away; she's so sweet. And I met Jonah. too."

"Oh yeah! Misty told me about you." Mark grinned again. "Well, actually she told me about the pretty girl with fairy hair and crystal eyes." He laughed now, "She's always like that, using descriptive words even when she doesn't know what they mean or they aren't real words, or she can't pronounce them. I swear, that kid's going to be a writer. It'd be just like her to publish a book or two and have us rich before she's even out of middle school."

I laughed then, too because it seemed very true, she was such a cute kid.

"Hey, are you going to buy those?" Mark pointed to the Pepsi and Dr. Pepper in my hand.

"Oh yeah! I needed to buy something so I'd have change for laundry." I started to walk to the counter, then stopped and turned around. "Thanks again for the magazine… Mark."

"No problem." He smiled and headed to the door. "So I guess I'll see ya around?"

I nodded and put my pops on the counter. "That'll be 20 cents." The store owner said a bit irritably. I really didn't understand what I had done to make him hate me but I was used to it from back home so I just played along with this hate game and handed him a dollar bill grudgingly.

He gave me my change – more than enough for laundry – and turned away from me as if he was only so glad to not be looking at my face anymore.

Fine, be that way, jerk. Then a thought occurred to me. Was it that whole stupid greaser-soc thing? I surveyed my outfit as I walked out of the store and over to the Laundromat. Maybe normally, he wouldn't have been nasty to me seeing as I was a girl that usually looked "middle class", but today, I was wearing Pony and Soda's clothes and they weren't even that clean. I guess I did look a lot like a "greaser" in my boy clothing. Geez they have dumb reasons to hate people here in Tulsa. Such stupid stereotypes.

Besides, the only socs I had ever met were Jonah, Mark and Misty and they seemed super nice. And their lives weren't all that golden, either, just because they were rich. Really their situation was no different from the Curtis'.

"Where'd you get the money for all that?" Dally nodded towards the stuff in my hands when I walked into the Laundromat.

"Uhm." I looked down at the Pepsi and Dr. Pepper I had bought and the magazine I was holding. It occurred to me then that I should have bought Dallas something to drink or at the very least stole something for him. "The store. I needed change for the laundry."

"And you needed to by a magazine to get change?" He raised his eyebrows.

"No, no. I … this I…" I panicked, he would probably be angry about Mark, he was a soc and I understood now that the whole soc-greaser thing was a lot worse than I had thought at first. "Aw, well, "Ok the truth – or at least half of it – is probably the best route in this situation. I hope. "I was flipping through it and the store owner got a bit mad so this guy came up and just bought it for me. I really didn't want it but the guy just bought it for me and left."

Dally looked at me for a minute, then shrugged. "Come on, let's get this laundry in."

We only had one load since it was only my clothes; and realized that I could have done some of everyone else's laundry, too. But I guess that would have been too much money anyways.

After the laundry was in, we sat down on the plastic chairs that every Laundromat seemed to have. The white ceiling fan whizzed above us and the saggy old lady sitting beside us flipped the page of her magazine noisily. The old couple who owned the Laundromat watched Dally and I warily from the window in their office and the washing machines whirred and sloshed and shook and groaned.

I stared up at the ceiling and tried to figure out what the brown stains resembled; I found a few faces and then tried to see who those faces might be. A Two-bit, two Tims (or was one Curly, haha), a Johnny, and some angry monster which I would have named Dally; but today he was being nice so I spared him todayfrom being a brown water-stain monster on the Laundromat ceiling.

The ticking clock on the wall seemed to be getting louder and louder and, as I stared at it, I felt as if time had simply frozen in this exact moment; the longer and harder I looked at the second hand it seemed as if it was ticking in one place and not moving forward at all. One time, I swear to teddy bear it even ticked backwards. Maybe it was just the heat getting to me.

I did feel pretty hot; maybe jeans and a flannel shirt weren't the best idea for a hot day like this. I unbuttoned Soda's plaid shirt and pulled at the end Pony's wife beater a bit. I swung my legs back and forth to cool them off.

Finally, Dally spoke up. "Wanna come to Tim's?" He asked, trying to make it sound casual. He was just as bored and fidgety as I was. I nodded fast and we got back into Toria's pickup and drove to Tim's place.

When we got there, Tim was on the couch watching TV and drinking a beer; he seemed to be doing that almost every time I came over. He ran a gang… shouldn't he have something better to do than sit around all day?

"Hey, Tim." Dally said as he sat down on the couch.

"Oh hey, Dal, whatcha here for?"

"Nothing really. Just Emma was doing laundry and she got bored so we came over here."

"Huh. Oh hey, Em." Tim said looking over at me.

"Angel here?" I asked.

"In her room, as usual." He jerked his head towards the stairs.

"So… what are you really here for?" I heard Tim ask casually as he took a swig of beer and I walked up the stairs to Ang's room. I lingered slightly to hear Dally's response but it was too quiet.

"Hey, Ang." I knocked on her door. It whipped open barely after I had knocked.

"I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE ME ALO-" She yelled, but then cut off. "Oh sorry I thought it was one of my juvenile brothers pissing on me again." She said disinterested, turning back into her room but not closing the door on me, so I walked in and closed it quietly.

Angel flopped onto her bed on her stomach, facing away from me.

"Ang…" I started.

"Save it. I don't want Toria to beat me up again because you ran and told her I was trying to steal Pony."

"Angel, I didn't…" But she wasn't listening.

"But I'm not the one stealing him," She sat up and turned to me, "I'm not the one who came parading into town from New York City to steal him away from anyone," Her voice was full of venom. "Youcame here to Tulsa and stuck your nose in where you weren't wanted, seducing Pony and snatching him away from me. You – you stole him! It was all you! You KNEW I liked him,"

"Ang, I…"

"You KNEW that I was after him. YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM!" She screeched in her high pitched scream. "HE IS MINE!"

Now I was pissed. "HE WASN'T AND ISN'T ANYTHING YOUR'S ANGELA; YOU'RE DELUSIONAL. HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW YOU EXIST. HE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT YOU; HE CARES ABOUT ME. HE ASKED ME OUT, NOT YOU." I yelled. Then, calming down, I used my normal voice. "I'm sorry that you feel that I stole him, but honestly, I didn't really know that you liked him. I had my suspicions, but I didn't really realize until he had already asked me out. Besides, you have Andrew, remember? I wasn't trying to steal him from you Ang, I swear. He fell for me, and I fell for him. I can't help that. Come on, Angel, I'm your best friend; I wouldn't do that to you on purpose."

Angel still looked kind of angry, but outwardly she played submissive. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry." She was sorry a bit, I could tell, but she was still mad and I knew this would always be a sore point with us. "And you better not tell Tim about Andrew or I swear I'll wring your neck and then I'll fuck Ponyboy like nobody's business." She said fiercely.

"You seriously think I'd do that to you?" I raised my eyebrows. "You know how I feel about older brothers, and you know how I feel about Tim and you."

She smiled now. "Yeah, you think he's a right asshole and that he should be bowing down to me instead of hitting me when he's pissed."

I smirked, too, and then sat on the bed beside her.

"Hey, Em?"

"Yeah, Ang?" When she didn't answer right away, I looked over at her quizzically.

"Who taught you to fight? Like, where did you learn to fight as good as you do?"

"How do you even know I'm a good fighter?"

"I was there when you got into it with Aaron, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that." He had been trying to pick a fight with Billy and Curly, and being almost three years older than them, I didn't think Aaron fighting them was fair so I took over instead when he started to take it too far. At first, Billy and Curly were embarrassed to have a girl doing their dirty work, but once they realized I was holding my own quite fine, they just stepped out of the way. I had forgotten that Angel was there, too. "Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering…" She trailed off a bit.

"Well, I was always a pretty fit and busy kid. John and my mom had me in all sorts of things when I was little. Swimming lessons, gymnastics, dance lessons, and even figure skating for a bit. I was great at everything I did, but truthfully, if anyone had stopped to ask if I liked any of it – which they didn't – I would have told them I didn't really."

The whole time I was talking, Angel just sat quietly and listened, not looking bored or anything. Oddly, she almost seemed interested. I hadn't really told her much about me; or told anyone really. I wasn't the type of person to talk about myself.

"Anyways, John took me out of dance lessons only a few months after I started. I have no idea why because I was actually really good, but after my teacher told him that I could go far, he pulled me out." It felt weird to be talking about this stuff; I never talked about my early childhood.

"How long did you do gymnastics?" Ang spoke up.

"Well I had to stop for a bit when I first started school because I didn't have the time, but by first grade, I managed to convince Mom I wanted to do it again. I did it every summer and sometimes I'd run the fall session too. I only officially quit when I was nine or ten."

Angel nodded.

"Anyways, when I first joined, the current leader of the gang taught me to fight, starting with self defence and getting myself out of situations that I couldn't hold my own in. Once I could defend myself properly, he taught me to fight. Then, I learned how to jump people, how to pin people, lots of stuff. Why do you ask?"

"No reason…" I raised my eyebrows. "Well... Just that someone told me one time that I needed to learn to fight better." She said as if she wasn't sure she wanted to tell me.

"You want me to teach you to fight?"

"Well, only if you want…" Then she snapped a warning, "But you can't tell anybody!"

"Calm down, I won't tell any one." I smirked. "I'v actually been wondering why no one's taught you self defence."

Angel shrugged. "Because I'm Tim Shepard's kid sister, I guess. No one's stupid enough to mess with me."

"Now, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." I snapped at her. "Just because your big brother runs a gang does not make you untouchable. Some day, you're brother won't be there to protect you and you'll have to save your own ass. As for people not wanting to have Tim on their asses because they messed with you, some day you're going to come across someone who doesn't give a crap about Tim and isn't scared of him at all. Then what are you going to do Little Missy? Huh? Then what?" Gosh, Tulsa is so screwed up!"Bullshit." I muttered.

Angel sat kinda stunned for a moment, and then seemed to realize I was right. Damn right, I know what I'm talking about."So, you'll teach me?"

"Yes. I'll teach you self defense." I flopped onto my back. "And – if I think you're worth it, I might teach you to fight. But all you really need to know is how to get out of a bad situation or hold your own if you can't get out." Personally, I knew I wasn't going to be teaching her to actually fight because I didn't want her to end up like Curly, a Tim-wanna-be, or like Toria because Angel just wasn't like that.

Or maybe, I just didn't want her to be like me.

"Hey, Mandy was looking to give away her leftover cat food." Angel said out of nowhere. "Her cat died last week and I told her I thought I knew someone who could use it. If you just drop by her place she'll give you the bag. She lives right next door to Billy."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, he's been looking to get her going with him for weeks. They would make such a cute couple."

"Wouldn't it be weird with your friend dating someone from your brothers gang?"

Ang shrugged. "I've only known her for a little while and I don't really see her much, either. We're not that much close and I don't really like her too much; she's too nice and goody-goody."

"Huh."

Dally's POV

After Emma put her laundry in and got it going, we sat down on the stupid plastic chairs that don't even have the durability to knock someone unconscious if you hit them over the head with it. The bitchy owners of the place where in their office watching us with dirty looks, and the washing machines and the ceiling fan was making annoying sounds and that stupid ugly fat lady beside us didn't know how to turn the pages of her stupid magazine without making it sound like a goddamn atomic bomb was blowing the place up.

Finally, when I knew I would go crazy if I had to sit there for another minute more, I asked Emma if she wanted to go to Tim's with me. I wanted to get out of there, and I had been meaning to ask Tim about something so it worked out well. Besides, she liked Angela for some dumb reason.

Tim, the lazy ass, was watching TV and drinking a cold one on the couch when we got there. I didn't know what the hell he was doing slacking off at home. It wasn't like Tim Shepard to be home on a Friday doing nothing.

"Hey, Tim." I sat down beside him as Emma just stood near the front door. Where were his parents? Usually, they'd be fighting and throwing shit around. Probably working. Huh. That'd be new.

"Oh hey, Dal, what'd'ya want?"

"Nothing, really. Emma got bored so we came over here."

"Huh. Oh hey, Em." Tim said looking over at her, realizing she was here.

"Angel here?" She asked. What's she so hung up on Angela for? Doesn't Victoria hate that bitch now?

"In her room as usual." Tim jerked his head towards the stairs and turned back around.

"So… what are you really here for?" Tim asked casually as he took a swig of beer and Emma walked up the stairs to Angela's room. I could tell she was lingering to hear my response, so I lowered my voice.

"I wanted to see what you knew about Emma. I'm curious about her. You know anything I don't about her? And where did she come from, anyway?" I figured she probably came from New York, but I don't remember seeing any kid around when I went to see my mother.

Tim shrugged. "She said she came from New York to find her father. Brooklyn, I think she said."

"Yeah. What else?" I tried not to seem too eager. Even though it was only Tim I knew he'd laugh at me if I was like a puppy with a treat in front of it.

He flipped the channel. "S'bout it." Another swig of beer.

"She stayed with you for two weeks and that's all you know about her?" Don't get angry act cool. I had to remind myself of that.

"She's your little sister and you don't know anything about her?" He remarked.

Touché, asshole, touché."Well, I didn't even know she existed and neither did my dad so don't go lecturing me about nothing." Well that wasn't completely true, the old man knew about her he just didn't like to talk about it.

"Yeah, because her mother and father were both married and cheating on their spouses when she was conceived. I don't think Dennis even stayed in town more than that one night before he came back here." Tim said not even caring.

Bastard, cheating on Tina like that. And since when was my mother married?"Her mom was married?"

"Yep. Em didn't talk about it much but it came up once in conversation; then she just skipped right over it pretending she didn't say it. John, think she said that was his name. All she mentioned was how she used to take swimming lessons before John left, so I'm guessing he left at some point when he realized she wasn't his. I think she had an older brother, too. John and her mom's kid."

"Huh." Well that meant I had another half-brother if Tim was right.

Just then, we heard yelling from upstairs. "KNEW…. YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM!" Angela was the one screeching. Ah, the Ponyboy speech. She was obsessed with the kid and he didn't even know who she was, 'cept that she was Tim's bitchy sister."HE WAS MINE!"

Then, to my surprise, Emma bitched back, yelling at the top of her lungs. "HE WASN'T AN ISN'T ANYTHING YOUR'S ANGELA; YOU'RE DELUSIONAL. HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW YOU EXIST. HE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT YOU; HE CARES ABOUT ME. HE ASKED MEOUT; NOT YOU."

Hm. Who knew my sister had a defensive side. And a backbone, too.

There wasn't any more yelling after that.

"So, Ponyboy and Emma, huh?" Tim said looking over at me. Tim seemed completely cool as though he didn't care either way about anything. He probably didn't.

My jaw tensed a bit. "Yeah. Apparently he asked her out, Wednesday night. They went to a movie last night."

Tim raised his eyebrows. "And big brother let her go without any threats or demands?"

"I told her she wasn't going with him, but Toria started arguing and told Emma to ignore me and do whatever she damn well pleased. I couldn't argue with Toria; Emma ended up going anyways."

"Sounds like Emma." Tim nodded. "She doesn't really take no for an answer in anything. Pretty pushy when she wants to be. 'Bout as stubborn as you, too, Dal." That seemed to be a running theme and I wasn't sure it was a good thing. I didn't want either of my sisters to be like me.