Lab practical finished, more coolant in my car, and I don't work tomorrow! Yay! Five days in a row of cleaning rooms took a toll on my body. Anyway, here's another chapter like I promised. Thanks to alley529 or reviewing.

I do not own The Outsiders.

A month.

An entire month went by since I last talked to Alex in the janitor's closet. She managed to cut off all contact with us except for passing each other in the hall. Every now and then I would catch her eye, but she would look away real fast and walk away before I could say anything. I think I saw more of her brothers than I did her.

Even though we didn't talk, I saw a difference in her. She always kept her jacket on, even when it was hot out. She would glance around with a nervous look in her eyes all the time and then she would pull on her sleeves or hem of her shirt. I noticed that she always looked tired, and once I even saw her sleeping at a lunch table. She didn't look like the Alex I knew, she looked like she was fading away.

Of course the guys noticed. I told Darry and Soda about her brothers beating Johnny up, and while Darry had been mad at first both he and Soda understood her situation. How couldn't they, we had all been judged in some way by what the other two had done. Johnny healed up, but whenever one of us mentioned Alex's name his eyes would go wide and he looked scared. He knew that it wasn't Alex's fault, but I had a feeling that it would be hard for him to be around her for a while. Dally and Steve were still mad at her, no matter what any of us said to them. They were convinced that since it was her brothers that had done it, she did too.

But no matter how much she ignored me or whatever the guys said, I was still worried about her.

One night I was sitting at home with Darry and Soda. It wasn't a school night, but it was raining really hard so I stayed home. I sat on the couch reading my book, well trying to read my book. Soda was watching TV and he kept trying to get me to pay attention to whatever was on. Darry was reading the paper in his chair. The rain hit the windows hard and the sound echoed through the house. Then there was a boom of thunder so loud that all three of us jumped.

A knock on the door made us jump again, and we laughed at that. I put my book down and pushed myself off the couch to get the door since I was closest. I opened the door and felt my eyes widen in shock by who I saw.

Alex stood on our porch. She was completely soaked, small bits of her hair plastered to her face and water dripped off her chin. She was carrying a small bag in her hand and she had to keep fixing her grip on it because it kept slipping. The look she had in her eyes almost made me cry. She looked even worse than when she confessed what her brothers had done, because she looked desperate. Her eyes were wide as she looked at me and even though her face was wet from the rain, I could see that she was crying herself.

"Alex! What are you doing here? You're soaking wet, get in here," I said quickly, pushing the screen door open and gently pulling her in. Darry and Soda were on their feet in a second as I led her to the couch. Soda wrapped his arm around her as she tried to hold back her sobs and Darry left to grab a towel, draping it over her shoulders.

I sat next to her and watched as fresh tears slid down her white cheeks. "Alex what happened? I thought you weren't allowed to talk to me anymore."

She hurriedly wiped at her eyes, but she couldn't stop the tears. "I don't care about that right now. I couldn't think of anywhere else to go. Things have gotten a hell of a lot worse at home and I had to get out." She started to break, hiding her face in her hands. Soda rubbed her back gently.

Darry carefully sat on the coffee table in front of her and patted her knee. "Do you wanna tell us what's been going on?"

Keeping her hands over her face, she said, "I thought that since I was staying away from you guys that Jim would leave me alone. But Brian and Tyler kept lying and telling him that I was hanging with you. I tried to tell him they were lying, but he never listens to me. God, sometimes it was all I took to ignore the pain enough to fall asleep." Then she pulled off her jacket and all three of us gasped.

Alex's arms were covered with bruises, cuts, scars, and small burns that had to be from cigarettes. I ran my thumb over a long white scar on the inside of her forearm, trying to imagine how a man could do something like this to his own daughter. Alex broke then, turning to me and burying her face in my shoulder. I hugged her back, worried by how much she was shaking.

"Tonight was the worst. Jim and Momma got into a huge fight and he blamed me for it. Momma tried to stop him, but he just pushed her away. Then he picked me up and literally threw me into my room. I hit my desk and rolled on the floor, landing on the heater. He shut the door and I heard him lock it. It was too much, so I packed some of my things and climbed out the window. I understand if you guys don't want me staying here after what Brian and Tyler did, but I just had to get out of there."

I felt terrible. I felt like Alex getting beaten was my fault. I noticed that something was off about her, I should've done something. Even if she had been avoiding me, she was still my friend to me.

I looked up at Darry. "Darry, can she stay for a while?"

He sighed. "Ponyboy, she needs to go back home. She belongs there."

Alex gasped and grabbed his hand. "Darry please don't send me back there. Send me somewhere I can stay or out on the streets, anything but back there," she pleaded with huge eyes.

"Come on Darry," Soda said. "She shouldn't have to go back to getting hit for something she didn't do."

"I know Soda, but I can barely afford to keep all of us fed. I don't think we have enough for another mouth."

"I've got some money here Darry," Alex said, digging through her jeans pocket to pull out a small wad of bills. "Jim gave me grocery money a while ago and didn't realize he gave me way too much and I walk my neighbor's dog sometimes. I've got about twenty-five dollars here, I know it's not much but it's all I've got."

Darry looked like he was thinking really hard about what to do. I knew he wanted to help her because he hated people who hit their kids, but I also knew our money was tight. I just hoped the helpful part of his brain would win.

He exhaled slowly and a smile started forming on his face. "Okay you can stay here for a while, but you'll need to help us out with the chores around here. You'll have to sleep on the couch too."

"I'm fine with that. Thanks Darry. I'll help out wherever I can and I'll try not to get in your way," Alex blurted, visibly happy she didn't have to go back to her house. She flew forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, surprising him. He chuckled and patted her back. I smiled, glad that we were able to help Alex when she needed it.

I'm still hungry. Gonna go eat the rest of my Oreos now. (random life update)

Ciao,

Kris