A/N: This chapter's a little bit longer than normal. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Outsiders or the song Cats in the Cradle.

So please believe in me when I say I'm spinning round, round, round, round. Smoke glass stain bright color. Image going down, down, down, down. Soap suds green like bubbles. Oh, Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man

"Cherry, what about him?" She pointed to a muscular guy standing at the counter, flirting with the waitress. "He's on the football team. Randy knows him. He can set you two up."

Cherry took a drawn-out sip of her soda. "Not now, Mar."

"Come on!" she whined. "We can double then!"

One of Cherry Valences worse nightmares was to double date with Marilyn James and Randy Adderson. If the sloppy spit swapping wasn't enough, she knew old feelings and memories were going to arise. She couldn't handle that. She just couldn't and she wouldn't.

"I've only been single for a week," Cherry pointed out. "I need some time."

She focused on the bubbles gathering up around her straw. She wasn't in the mood for this. It was Marilyn's idea in the first place. She insisted on Cherry getting out and meet new people. Cherry knew enough people.

Marilyn reached her hand over and took her best friend's. "I'm sorry 'bout Ponyboy. I really am. But you need to get yourself out there. The break-up was for the best anyway."

She'd been saying that for a week. Over and over again, that was all Cherry heard from anyone. The break-up was for the best. She'd been hearing that for too long. She was sick of it.

"No. Just no, Mar."

Marilyn looked at her, dumb founded by her coldness. "Cherry, it'll be okay." Cherry didn't say anything. She'd heard those words too much as well. Hell, she'd been saying them herself. "You know my house is always open...you know, if anything else happens."

Cherry began to spin her straw in the bubbly liquid. It was just too fucking much. She wanted to go home. She wanted to lock herself in her room and never come out. Ever.

"Did you like him?" she decided to ask. She lifted her head up. "Ponyboy, did you like him?"

"I don't know."

"Why?"

Marilyn huffed and dug around in her purse for some lipstick. "I don't know, Cherry. I didn't really know the guy. He seemed alright, yeah sure."

"But you didn't know him," Cherry said at a whisper. "You...you didn't even talk to him, did you?"

Marilyn grabbed her compact and began applying the red lipstick to her lips. "He was in my American History class. We were partners once. He seemed nice, Cherry. What more do you want me to say?"

Cherry thought for a moment. She didn't know what she wanted. She'd been so excluded from Marilyn for a while and she didn't know what she was going through.

"Do you think I did the right thing?" she stammered out. "Calling it off like that."

Marilyn closed her compact and stuffed it back into her purse. She reached over like she'd done before and took Cherry's hand into hers and look straight into her eyes, saying: "You did the right thing. You're here now, Cherry. Welcome back."

Ronnie Winston had moved in fast. He'd informed us all that he was taking the semester off from school to stay with his aunt and take care of her since her husband just left her. He said he was going to be around for a while.

And as for his brother, he could give two fucking shits what he was doing and who he was doing with. Though he hadn't uttered a word since the kid arrived. Not one damn word.

"I'm goin' to the shop." Soda grabbed his shoes and laced them up. "We're gonna make Steve's truck faster than Two-Bit's car."

Darry entered the room, a piece of toast in his hand. "You know how to do that?"

"Ron's showin' us," Soda said. "Apparently the kid's good with cars."

Darry nodded and finished eating the bread. "Whatever you say, little buddy. Be home by five will ya? I gotta get this place clean."

"Sure thing, Dar."

Ponyboy flipped a page in his book. It was quiet. It usually was when Soda's gone. It's not too much fun around here without him or Kat running around. They kept everyone entertained most of the time.

"That not bother Dal?" Darry entered the room, exchanging a look.

I peered up. "Yeah. He won't say nothin' but you know Dal, it's killin' him."

He started looking around the room, flipping over magazines in hunt for something. "Pone, you feelin' alright?"

"Yupp."

He placed a hand on his forehead to be sure. "Fever cleared up this morning," I informed him. "Soda and me checked."

"Soda and I," Pony corrected.

He'd gotten sick right after it happened. Diagnosis: Heartbroken. Doctor and tear wiper: Sodapop Curtis. Nurses and words of wisdom givers: Danielle Curtis and Kathy Henson.

The dangling caught both of our attentions. The red keychain flopped back and forth with the keys hitting it. "Feel up to it?"

"Driving?" Ponyboy sat all the way up, closing his book. "You serious?"

Darry grabbed his coat from the hanger beside the door and nodded, hand still clenching the precious keys only him and Soda were allowed to touch. "You two have got to learn sometime. I'd rather do it then get a phone call saying Two-Bit let ya'll run into a tree or someone."

We stared, mouths still open. Darry loved his truck. A lot. He was even cautious of Soda driving it. Dad had taken Darry when he was our age out to drive and then Soda. But we never thought-

"Come on. Ain't got all day now."

"Watch out!"

I huffed and jerked the wheel. "Darry I'm fine!"

"There's a tree right there!" He pointed at it. "You're going to hit it."

"I see it Darry!"

Thirty minutes. Thirty freaking minutes. That's all it took. Darry was clinching the dashboard and Ponyboy was in the backseat, hands over his eyes and silently praying to himself.

We were in a parking lot.

"Danni, you have to use the break," Ponyboy stated, eyes still glued shut.

I hit them. "I know."

The parking lot was by the old middle school. It'd been abandon since 1957 and they were thinking about turning it into a plant or something but some hippies camped out in front of it so now they don't know what to do with it.

No one was around so Darry said it'd be safe for us to take a couple of laps, just to get the feel of the car. He said Dad took him and Soda somewhere like this. It was perfect.

"Shit."

The car made a squeaking noise as I rounded the curve. Pony moaned and mumbled out a please God and Darry just groaned, trying not to scream.

"Danni, stop the car." Darry leaned forward on the dash. "Stop the car."

"Why?"

He rubbed his head and tried to breathe through his mouth. "It's Pony's turn. Just shut the car off and give the keys to him."

"I'm-"

"Now, Danni!"

I hit the brakes and put the car into park, taking the keys out after I did so. "You...okay?"

He didn't look up. Just kept breathing, over and over again and then waved. "Just give the keys to Pony. Please."

Both doors opened and Pony eagerly raced up to the driver's seat. "Was I really that bad?" I asked.

"Oh yeah."

"Alright, Pone." Darry raised back up and rubbed his face. "Turn on the car and put it into drive the same way I showed Danni. This time take it slow."

I went slow.

He carefully started the ignition, pressed his foot on the break, and slowly pulled the stick into drive.

"Good," Darry said. "Now take a lap. Real slow."

He took the truck around three times. Darry didn't scream once. I sat in the back and clung to the door and watched. Kid was a natural. He was just going in circles but it was better than what I did.

"How come you're so good at this?" I asked.

He turned the wheel. "'Cause I'm a Curtis."

I sneered and leaned on the window. "And what am I?"

"Adopted."

I sat up and hit the back of his head. "Jerk."

"Danni," Darry growled. "Sit down. Don't touch the driver. He has to concentrate."

"Yeah," Ponyboy said. "No touching."

I leaned back and stared back out the window. There was nothing but white lines and concrete. "Concentrate on what? We're in a parking lot."

Darry didn't answer. He sat up and pointed and told Pony to take a few more circles around.

I rested my head on the window and listened to the motor run. This used to be Dad's. Darry took it over after he died. Every Sunday we'd pile up in here when we were kids and had nothing else. I'd lean on this window all day and-

"What did you just do!"

"Well I'm sorry Darry!" The yelling continued into the house. "I didn't mean to hit it!"

Darry slammed the door shut. "You weren't paying attention! I don't know what in the world you were doin' Pone but it wasn't focusing on the road!"

"We weren't on a road." Pony smarted off. "We were in a parking lot."

Darry's eyes got wide. "It doesn't matter! You still have to pay attention. How are you going to drive on a highway? You have to watch the road every minute!"

Pony picked up his things off the floor. "I told you I was sorry. I'll pay for the stinking car to get fixed myself."

"With what?" Darry huffed.

"I'll get a job."

"Oh yeah, right," he shouted. "You aren't responsible enough to have a job. You actually have to work. And another thing..."

I closed the door to the bed room where Soda and Pony slept. Soda was conked out on the bed. Forty-five minutes. Forty-five freakin' minutes and they have not stopped. So much for fun family time with good ol' big brother Darry.

"Soda," I called. "Soda, wake up."

He groaned and rolled over. His extra-large tee-shirt got tangled up around his body and he moaned trying to get loose. He licked his lips and then went still again.

"Sodapop." I shook him lightly.

He moaned and rubbed his eyes. "Huh?" He looked up at me.

"Soda-"

"And what's with the attitude? I'm sorry Cherry's gone Pone but there ain't nothin' I can do about it!" Soda fully sat up on the bed, his ears pealed for the sound of yelling that wasn't hard to miss.

"I'm sorry, Dar! What do you want?"

Soda groaned and moaned some more, running a hand through his hair. "What are they going at it about?"

"We weren't driving," I said mater-of-factly, taking a seat on the bed. "Pony wrecked."

He turned and looked at me, his eyes popping out of his head. "He did?"

I rubbed my head. It hurt. It was too loud. I need a nap in a room...a padded room. "We were in a parking lot. Darry was talking, Pony wasn't looking, and he hit a fence. Car has a big dent in it."

"Are ya'll okay?" He scanned me for any bumps or cuts.

"Yeah, we're fine."

"Well if you'd just get your head out of the clouds for once blasted second maybe it wouldn't of happened!"

Soda sighed. He looked rough. Him and Steve had gotten into another fight last week. Both had matching black eyes and cuts on their arms and face. They wouldn't say what the other guys looked like. Soda had also been working a lot more lately to save up for a car of his own.

He had a lot on his plate and the world just kept piling more.

"How long they've been at it?"

"Fifty minutes." I swallowed and leaned back. "Maybe more."

"I'm sorry, Dar! I didn't mean to, okay?"

I shut my eyes and tried to picture a beach. One with no one on it but me. "He's stressed."

Soda shifted in the bed. "Yeah, his boss has been makin' some cuts. He's worried his job may be next." He got up and slipped on a new tee-shit. "Guess I better go ref this one."

I opened one eye. "I'm sorry."

He nodded and slowly slipped out the door, preparing himself for even more work than he needed. Than all of us needed.

October was my favorite. Mom's too. She and I would always go get apples and make a bunch of stuff with them. Apple pies, apple cider, apple cake, just plain apples sometimes.

October always smelled like apples to me.

"Fancy meetin' you here." He blew smoke out to the side and stuck in the blade into his shoe, cleaning the mud out.

I grinned. "Well hey to you too. Long time no see."

He snorted and I took a seat on the table top beside him, his tongue stuck to the corner of his mouth as he dug in farther in the shoe. I knew what he wanted to say. What he was thinking more or less. Long time no see.

"So why'd you need out?" he asked. "Life in paradise ain't all it's cracked up to be?"

I snatched a cigarette from the box creeping out of his back pocket and lit it. "Ponyboy wrecked Darry's car."

He gazed up. "Seriously?"

I look a drag and breathed out smoke. "Seriously."

He chuckled, digging back into his shoe. "Fuck."

"Yeah."

He cleaned the side of the blade on the table. "What'd ol' Dar do? Run 'im over with the rest of it?" He laughed. "What I'd fuckin' do."

I shrugged. "They're fighting. Don't know what Dar will do. It was an accident."

"Uh-huh, yeah."

I looked up at the sky. There wasn't a cloud anywhere. I blew out smoke, making my own. "Accidents happen."

"Didn't say they didn't."

He flicked more dirt on the table, and starting digging again. He kept focusing on it, not bothering to look at anything else or even thinking about it. Just kept digging away like a little kid in the sandbox.

I chuckled and leaned back. "Would you stop that?" I took a drag. "You know for a guy who has been lonely for two months, you're not much for talkin'?"

He pushed the tip of the blade farther in. "I think I'm gonna be a born again virgin. That what them things are called?"

"Really now?"

He shrugged and cleaned the knife on his shirt. "Made it two months."

"Your girlfriend must trust you an awful lot to let you go that long."

He sneered and shook his head. "Nah, she's a real bitch, looker though. Easy on the legs."

I leaned in closer to him, resting my hand on his he had on the knife. "Well she must be pretty tough to be with a punk like you, huh?"

He stared me up and down, taking his time. "You like to talk, huh?" He took my cigarette and took a drag.

"Yeah. I do. So talk." I took it back and breathed in his smoke.

He raised his eyebrow and took the stick again. "Ain't we?"

"Something other than sex." I took it back. "How's work?" I asked. "Still goin' alright?"

He smirked and watched my smoke rise up, half-nodding, half-smiling. He turned and grinned at me. "Curtis."

"Winston."

He turned his attention to the kids starting to gather around the swings. That'd be the first thing I'd run to every time we went to the park. Soda would push Pony and me and then we'd have to promise to push him. It took both of us back then just to do it. Soda was a hefty kid.

I took the blade from his grip and watched him stare at the kids, a smirky grin still on his face.

"Fucking hate kids."

I threw what was left of the stick on the ground and stomped on it. "You don't. You just say that."

"Hey kid!" he shouted at one of them. "Let me see that Barbie thing."

The kid clenched it and slowly walked over. "It's not a Barbie. It's an action figure."

Dally held out his hand and snapped his fingers at him. "Whatever the hell it is. Give it here. I wanna see it."

The kid timidly stared at Dally and then back down at the doll. He had really curly hair all over his head and these big weird brown eyes. He couldn't have been more than ten and he was scared to death.

Finally he gave it up, looking up at us with hopeful eyes.

Dally flipped the thing around and around, looking at every part of it. "You know, I always wanted somethin' like this." He twisted its head all the way around and laughed.

"Can I have it back now?" The kid asked at a whisper.

I stared at Dally, trying to hide a smile.

Dally spun the doll around and smacked his lips together. "Never got one. Old man told me only fags carry around dolls."

The kid bit his lip. Not taking his eyes of Dally.

"One day," he sneered, "I went to this shitty comic store. One right there in the window. Bastard told me it was ten bucks. See kid, I didn't have ten bucks. You know what I did?"

He bit his nails and shrugged.

"I shot, 'im."

He gasped and his bottom chin began to quiver as he finally began to realize who exactly took his doll.

Dally leaned back and licked his lips over. "Yeah. Blood everywhere. Brains got all over the counter." He twisted the head around to where it hung by a thread. "You ever seen a dead guy, kid?"

He shook his head and pointed to the doll. "He...He-he's a superhero."

Dally held his hand up to his ear and leaned in. "What was that?"

He pointed to the doll. "Him. He...he's a superhero."

"So?"

Tiny tears were seeping out of the child's eyes. "He...saves people."

Dally stared at the kid for a minute. I don't know if Dally truly took in what all the kid was saying. Dally doesn't understand superheroes. "Kid you think I give a fuck if-"

I took the toy from him and handed to the kid before the real tears came through. "Here, don't let anyone touch your stuff." I grinned and placed it in his hand. "No one. Got me?"

He nodded, took the doll, and ran for the hills.

I crossed my legs and listened to Dally start to laugh. "You're an ass."

He got up off the table and began walking, lighting another weed. He spun around. "Comin' or what, Curtis?"

I shook my head and slowly slipped down off the table. Following Dallas Winston. It's what I do best.

But Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man that he didn't, didn't already have. And Cause never was the reason for the evening. Or the tropic of Sir Galahad.

A/N: Pony and I shared the same experience when driving for the first time. For those of you who have asked about Ronnie, he's coming back around. Reviews are nice. :)