As Two-Bit and Sodapop watched Shelby fly out the front door, they stared back at each other, jaws opened wide, and glanced back at Dallas. Dallas made his way back into the living room and sat on an arm of a chair. "This broad, man. Somethin's loose with her, got some loose bolts in her head." Dallas muttered toward the guys, as if he knew they were awaiting an explanation.

"I didn't know you still talked to her, Dal." Sodapop responded. Dallas took a drag from his cigaret and nodded. He knew that Shelby had never really been in her right mind, but she still made him upset, the way she acted towards him. He always thought that Shelby took him for a fool, acting so open and caring around him, and then turning around and bad-mouthing him for the others to hear. Although he had always felt partially upset and partially careless about it all, he sort of felt sorry for how pathetic she was.

Dallas drove up to Cherry's house, hoping that she would still be there during the day. He hadn't spoken to her since morning, however, they had barely talked. He got out of his car, walked his famous tough-guy strut over to her porch, and rang the doorbell.

After only a moment, Cherry opened her door in surprise, smiling as she saw Dallas standing in her doorway. "Hey," Dallas raised an eyebrow. Cherry was glowing, loving every movement that Dallas made, and smiling at every sound that he had spoken. It was the contrast between the two that made the relationship its own; there was something about the way Cherry had looked at Dallas, and the way Dallas looked back at her. There was something about the way Dallas had acted towards her. It was almost as if every move they had made towards each other was unexpected, or of some sort of rare expectation.

"Come inside." she finally responded, tilting her head to motion towards the inside of her house.

And that's exactly how it went on. For days and days, Dallas and Cherry grew closer and closer as the days went on. Cherry, every now and then, would go out with Dallas and the boys; and Dallas loved this. He loved a girl who could take on the quirky and stupid tactics of him and his friends. Although Dallas had rarely possessed the time to do so, he would also tag along with Cherry when going out with her friends. And by friends, of course, we mean the friends who accepted the fact that Cherry was going out with a greaser. This meant Marcia and about two of her other friends. Dallas had always felt a bit discouraged when Cherry had suggested bringing him along with her to hang out with the girls; he often grew annoyed of the conversations that carried on when he tagged along.

"So he didn't even bother calling me, which is what I assumed would happen. Dallas, where are the gentleman around her nowadays?" Michelle asked as she rambled to the girls.

Dallas slightly jumped and sat up straight in his seat, as if he woke up from a day dream and responded, "What? Where are the what?"

"Nobody 'round here acts like a gentleman anymore."

Sophia laughed, "Michelle, I don't think you're talking to the right person."

Dallas cringed through his teeth and lifted his chin slightly, staring at the two as they giggled. Dallas never possessed any desire to put himself through these types of situations.

One thing about Cherry's friend, Michelle, was that she never took hints very well. More specifically, hints that pertained to whether or not someone was becoming upset or annoyed due to a discussion topic. Of course, with this trait occupying a large portion of Michelle's personality, she continued on.

"So Dally, where are you taking this one tonight?" she asked as she nudged Cherry next to her. "There better be a good reason why you both have to leave early."

Dallas looked back at her from glancing at the clock. "Just my place. Is that a good enough reason?" Cherry could sense some tension within their booth. She grew slightly annoyed that Dallas was already beginning to have an attitude towards her friend. But at the same time, she was also annoyed that Michelle would immediately start acting like a smart-ass towards Dallas. She knew that Michelle was already aware of how short-tempered Dallas was.

But Michelle didn't stop.

" You know," she leaned forward at the table as she raised an eye brow, "I've had a decent amount of boyfriends in my years…". Cherry began to look back and fourth between Michelle and Dallas, waiting for reactions. As each word passed through Michelle's mouth, she could hear the time bomb ticking inside her head, waiting for Dallas to blow.

Finally, Michelle dropped the bomb. She looked back up from the table into Dallas' eyes and spoke, "Some of them were assholes, and some of them were gentlemen….But at least they all took me places."

Sophia's jaw dropped as she smiled, and Cherry immediately scolded, "Michelle!" Cherry tried to force out a laugh as an attempt to imply that Michelle was only joking, even though she probably wasn't.

Dallas continued to stare into Michelle's eyes. He remained serious, picking at his teeth with his tongue, twirling a nickel between his fingers. There was a very long pause, which was interrupted once Dallas finally spoke up. "Are you done?" he asked through his teeth.

Michelle smiled, "No hard feelings, Dally. I'm just saying, as a friend of Cherry's, I want what's best for her, you know?" She continued to laugh as she looked back at Cherry, who was flashing her the "why-did-you-do-that" face.

"Yeah," Dallas narrowed his eyes and nodded, as he began to exit the booth to stand up. With all girls looking up at him, he took out his wallet, slammed down the money to pay for his meal onto the table, and muttered towards Michelle, "Don't call me Dally." He walked out of the restaurant, not saying a word to Cherry.

"Don't let the fool change you, Cherry." Michelle said as she took out a lighter from her coat pocket. Michelle, one of Cherry's more reckless types of friends, was also a Soc. She had dated a few greasers in her past, but none of them were as extreme as she had viewed Dallas Winston. Michelle, Sophia and Marcia had now arrived at Cherry's house from the restaurant; even though, Cherry had felt hesitant towards allowing Michelle and Sophia into her house due to causing tension between her and Dallas. Cherry grew a slight frown on her face when hearing Michelle's words of advice. She finally went ahead and responded, "And why would I let him do that?"

"Because you're like that." Michelle snapped back.

"I am not! Besides, how would he even change me? It's not like he's trying to."

Sophia decided to cut in, "Cherry, have you seen the girls that Dallas had gone out with before you? It's insane. Like that Shelby girl, you even said it yourself. She's constantly all over him. She's with those greasers twenty-four seven. She's one of them. You, on the other hand, are not."

Michelle nodded in agreement, "Uh-huh. It's only a matter of time before Dallas is gonna start shaping you into one of those-"

"STOP!" Cherry interrupted. She hated what she was hearing, and she was sick and tired of constantly having to defend Dallas every single day.

Cherry crossed her arms as she sat on her bed, glancing out her bedroom window. Michelle and Sophia were sitting on the floor in front of her, and Marcia sat cross-legged in the chair next to the bed.

Finally, Cherry continued to explain, "If you really have something to say about Dallas, then deal with it on your own, because I'm sick of having to explain this to you. Just because he's had a past, it doesn't mean you can go on every day about it like it's your business." The girls grew silent. Michelle shrugged her shoulders and began to light herself a new cigaret. Cherry gave her an odd look, "Michelle? What are you doing?"

"Huh?" she stared back at Cherry.

"You can't smoke in here, my parents will be home soon."

Michelle continued to blow smoke as she stared into Cherry's eyes. She had a possessed look on her face, like she couldn't find out exactly who Cherry was. Ever since she had started seeing Dallas, Michelle and Sophia had noticed that Cherry had been becoming more and more careless of her decisions, including taking advice from her fellow peers. Michelle hated the idea of dependence, and it killed her to see that Cherry was doing nothing short of living up to Dallas' expectations.

On the other hand, however, Cherry's perspective was of an entirely different aspect. In reality, Cherry had dodged many bullets in which Dallas could have changed her immensely. Dallas had taken her to party's, bars, friends' houses, you name it. But Cherry Valence was still Cherry Valence. She was as true to herself as she could ever be. And the truth was, Dallas wanted Cherry, no one else. That was what made her so different from the rest, the fact that she never changed for anybody else's expectations.

Michelle was tired of hearing Cherry's annoyed tone and attitude, and she finally lost it. "Look," she stated, "if you're gonna be like this, then I'm not stopping you anymore. I'm out." She got up and made her way towards the doorway of Cherry's bedroom.

"Uh, Michelle, wait up?" Marcia spoke up.

Michelle turned around, "Yeah."

"Well, you were kind of my ride here. Mine and Sophia's."

Michelle only gave a slight nod, and the two were out of there in no time along with her. Cherry sat on her bed, feeling annoyed and furious simultaneously.

As Michelle and the girls exited out the front yard, they were surprised to see Dallas pulling up in his car, parking in Cherry's driveway. Michelle did not bother to look over at Dallas, she had enough of dealing with both him and Cherry. Dallas completely disregarded the fact that they were there, and walked right past Michelle's car. The girls looked back at him as he walked towards her porch to ring the doorbell.

Cherry could not help but feel sick to her stomach, thinking merely of the fact that her friends had literally walked out on her. As she heard her doorbell, she walked over to her door and opened it, only surprised to see that it was Dallas. The two remained silent in reaction to seeing each other's faces once again. Cherry stepped aside, motioning towards him to enter. As she closed the door behind him, she noticed Dallas almost pacing around the living room, picking up picture frames and looking at them, then putting them back. It looked as if he was trying to keep himself occupied as a distraction from being so upset. Cherry would have been sure that Dallas was upset, if only she hadn't noticed that his face remained calm.

He picked up another photo off of the shelf by her window and looked at it. "This you?" he asked, holding up a photo of Cherry when she was five years old. He could see that Cherry had the same exact face, only mature of course. But the way he saw her face in the photograph, it made him feel different.

Cherry nodded, "Yes.". Dallas then managed to allow a small grin form through his lips, then put the photo down as he returned to his normal expression. Cherry walked over to Dallas and began to wrap her arms around him. He then allowed his arms to wrap back around her. "What, something' wrong?" he asked. Cherry continued to hug him, her face pressed against his chest. She said nothing.

"Huh?" he continued to ask, then he let his head down and kissed her on her forehead. "Ay, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing." Cherry said, slightly annoyed. She was still upset from the way Michelle had been acting earlier. Dallas hated when people were so obvious when lying about how they felt, and of course being who he was, he could see right through Cherry when she said this. He immediately pulled himself away with his arms still around her and said, "Ay, don't get wise, you tell me what's botherin' you."

"I said it's nothing, alright? Don't worry about it!" she raised her voice slightly. Cherry then turned around to walk away from Dallas. Cherry wanted to tell him everything she had felt. Se wanted to tell him that she didn't believe in anything that Michelle had said to him, and that he had every right to walk out of that restaurant earlier that afternoon. She wanted him to know that he didn't need to take her places, because all she had wanted was him.

"You're mad I walked out on you and your little friends, aren't ya?" he finally said as he watched her walk towards her couch. "No," Cherry quickly responded, "I just wish that things would work out on both sides of the fence. It's easy for me to talk and converse with your friends."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Dallas asked.

"Nothing, I'm not saying it's you. I'm saying-"

"Maybe it's because my friends aren't fuckin' stuck-up Soc's, you'd ever think of that? Maybe that's why they're so easy to talk to?" Dallas cut in.

"My friends are not stuck-up! They're just have shallow judgement, just because of your past. They'll get used to it." Cherry felt like the discussion was going nowhere. She knew that Dallas had already become upset by now.

Dallas raised an eyebrow and sarcastically said, "Oh, so I have a past? Tell me, Cherry, what do they know about my past? Did they write my autobiography, too?"

"No Dallas," Cherry became more annoyed, "just the stuff about Shelby, and they think that I'm not acting myself."

Dallas nearly cringed at the sound of Shelby's name. You've gotta be fucking kidding me, he thought to himself.

Cherry had noticed that Dallas was not responding to this statement for a long time, so she decided to face him once again. She got up from the couch and walked towards Dallas, who at this time was standing and facing one of her glass shelves that held her childhood photos. She stood behind him, hesitant to mention anymore about what her friends had thought.

Then, she heard Dallas' voice, low leveled and calm. "You're still upset about Shelby." Cherry's heart pounded as she heard this, only because she did not know how to respond.

"Not upset, more like uncomfortable." she replied.

"Yeah, how come?"

Cherry took a few seconds to think about this. What was she so uncomfortable for? Clearly Dallas was not interested in Shelby at the party, but the stories she had heard, all of the stories; what was it that made her feel so insecure? She knew exactly what it was. She knew that clearly she was not Dallas' type to begin with. Shelby, however, was.

Finally, she came clean. Cherry sighed, "Look, I just-I know I'm not you're type of girl. The fact that Shelby is just makes me feel-"

Dallas interrupted Cherry with an angry grunt, "Stop saying that fucking name, would ya?"

"She's just a living reminder that I'm not good enough for you, and it annoys me."

Dallas hear Cherry's voice, but he could not stop thinking about Shelby. All he could really hear in his head was the way Shelby had that obnoxious sweet-talking voice that she turned on when the boys were around. He could smell her overpowering cheap perfume. He could visualize her standing behind him in her small shirt and short skirt, nagging him all of the time. The sound of Shelby's name brought her into the room with him, and it made him furious.

Cherry continued, "The only reason I distance myself from guys like you is because I don't want to change for anyone else, and I never plan to."

Dallas, still turned away, raised his voice. "Look Red, stop doin' this alright? Stop." This upset Cherry a little. The boy could have had at least the decency to listen to what she had to say from the heart. She almost forgot of the day when she had first met him, the day she realized that Dallas was far from a gentleman.

"Wow, are we back to 'Red' again? And stop what, talking? Dallas, you're being a real prick today, you know that?"

Dallas was losing it. "Just stop talking for like two minutes, just two fucking minutes, alright?"

Cherry grew more upset, more defensive of her own feelings. She was mad. She couldn't stand the fact that Dallas wasn't even looking at her. She walked around to stand beside him, and got right in his face.

"Fuck you, Dallas. You want to treat girls like this, go back with Shelby." And just like that, Dallas lost it. As soon as the name Shelby ran through Cherry's mouth, a virus ran through Dallas like no other. The image of Cherry rummaged through the corner of his eye as she stood on his left side. All under one second, Dallas could feel the blood rushing through his veins, the anger going to his head, the pounding voice of Cherry through his left ear; it was like he was hypnotized, or under a rotten spell.

He heard her words, Fuck you, Dallas. And he then heard, Shelby. And just like that, like a reflex, Dallas reached to grab Cherry's shoulders, and pushed her right into the shelf in front of them. Like a flashed image, he watched Cherry fall back into the shelf as the glass began to shatter. After he had blinked his eyes once, he had suddenly realized the horror of what he had done. Terrified, he stared down at Cherry, who was on the floor, her arms and her face slightly cut with glass.

Cherry could not even believe what had just happened. She tried to talk, but her voice shook. She tried to move, but she was afraid. All this time she knew that Dallas, no matter what, would never hurt her. Now she didn't know what to believe anymore.

Dallas immediately said, "Cherry, oh God, Cherry." He bent down on his knees and lightly grabbed one of her arms to see how badly the cuts were. His eyes began to water.

Cherry only looked at Dallas' face. She couldn't quite make out what was going on, she had been completely caught off guard. With tears leaking from her eyes, she became furious. She was hurt. Cherry finally managed to raise her voice, "Don't-don't touch me." She quickly got up, and amped with anger she snapped, "Get out."

Dallas panicked, "Cherry, I'm so, so, so sorry. I don't even…I don't even know what just happened."

"Get the hell out of my house, now!" she screamed. Dallas slowly backed away towards her door. He could barely speak. Did he just hit Cherry Valence? The girl that he fought for? The girl that he had promised to protect for as long as he lived? His heart suddenly grew heavier, and a pain formed at his side. He almost felt as if his heart was falling through his stomach, and he was about to throw it up. He quickly opened the door and stormed out. Dallas had never felt so confused, so upset with himself; he was so ashamed and filled with guilt.

He stood outside of Cherry's door as he continued to pace back and fourth alongside her porch. Finally, he knocked on her door.

"Cherry," he spoke aloud through the door, "Please, please don't make me leave, let's talk about this. Please?"

Cherry stood in her living room, leaning against the back of her couch. She listened to Dallas' voice intruding through her front door, and it made her feel ill. Her cheeks were bleeding slightly, and there were still small flakes of glass wedged into the sides of her arms.

"Cherry!" Dallas raised his voice, but this time in a concerning manner. "Please, please open the door. I didn't mean to hurt you, baby. I didn't. Somethin's not right with me, you know that?"

Cherry began to cry. And for the first time since after Cherry and Dallas' first date, she had genuinely felt frightened by Dallas Winston. Just hearing the repeated knocks at her door made her shake, and she began to cry even harder when realizing that their trust, their trust that they had worked so hard to build over the weeks; it was all broken, ruined.

Dallas paused, and then realized that Cherry was never going to speak to him again, ever. He backed away from the door and ran. He ran, and ran, and ran, until he had made his way all the way down the hill towards the busy streets. He immediately went straight for the pay phone he had seen on the street corner. You're a scumbag, you worthless piece of shit Dallas thought to himself as he picked up the phone, dropped in fifty cents, and dialed.

"I'de like to report an accident, a girl's been hurt." he scratched through the phone with his raspy, weakened voice.

Cherry wiped her tears, only to notice the sound of ambulance sirens leaking through her opened windows. As she peaked outside her window, she saw an ambulance truck pull into her drive way.

And Dallas' car was gone.