Hello! I am so sorry about the wait! Here's another chapter for you! Let's see what Dakota Winston's up to.

Chapter 6 Big Trouble

DAKOTA POV

I was so happy when I heard that Anakin got out of the hospital yesterday! Honestly, I was pretty much relieved because I was so convinced that she was gonna die any day. Luckily that didn't happen. This is all I can think of when I get out of bed this morning.

Going downstairs, I figured out no one was awake since it's really quiet. Sure enough, I was right. The television's off, dad's seat's empty, and no one's in the kitchen. Ha, I have the whole downstairs to myself for now. There's no way I'm waking anyone up. A bit of bliss down here sounds great.

Sure, I love my family. It's just nice to be alone for a little bit at times. No one's hassling you to do anything, and you can do whatever.

I turn on MTV to watch some music videos. "Sister Christian" by Night Ranger is on. I absolutely love this song. It's slow, but good.

After a few videos, I get a little bored. I get up and head to the first person I'd choose to hang out with in the morning not caring if I wake them, my dad. I'd wake John, but he's really grumpy if he gets waken up at eight in the morning. My mom's the exact same way.

I enter the master bedroom and find my parents sleeping peacefully in the bed. My dad's closest to the door, so I walk straight across to him.

"Dad," I say poking him in between the eyes.

He opens his eyes and scrunches his face up.

"What's wrong, Dakota?" he asks sitting up.

"I'm bored," I say smiling.

"I'll be down in a minute," he says and heads to the bathroom.

I go downstairs and find that "Physical" by Olivia Newton John just started. Dad loves this song, so he better get his ass down here quick.

"Let's get physical, physical. I wanna get physical. Let me hear your body talk, your body talk. Let me here your body talk," dad sings along with the refrain as he comes down the steps.

"That was a quick pee," I tell him.

"Shhh, the song's on," he quiets me.

I shake my head and silently roll my eyes at him. The guy's nuts at times. I think he tries to relive his teenage years. He told me he regrets the way he was between the ages of ten and eighteen.

Finally the song ends and the two of us eat Frosted Flakes for breakfast. We finish and go up to get ready for the day.

We come back down and set up a game of poker at the kitchen table. Dad and I love to play poker with coins even though we don't win the money we end up with.

Fifteen minutes into the game, mom comes downstairs tightening her bath robe. Her hair is soaking wet. She must've just gotten out of the shower.

"Hey, honey," dad greets her as she comes over and kisses him.

"Hey," she says standing straight up. She comes over to me and kisses me on the head. "Morning, Dakota."

"Morning, mom," I tell her as she goes over to the pantry and gets out the box of Cheerios. She also gets the milk out of the fridge, a bowl out of the cupboard, and a spoon out of the drawer before she comes over to eat.

About an hour later, John comes down, or I should say hops down the steps. The boy's in a good mood this morning obviously.

"Dad! Dad! Guess what?" he asks energetically.

"Let's see. You had a magnificent dream that you defeated Captain Hook," dad takes a wild guess.

"No, but that was last week sometime. Anyway, I had a hilarious dream that you and Two-Bit were dancing to 'What Makes the Red Man Red' from Peter Pan!" he laughs. He loves Peter Pan. There again, I do too. I shouldn't be saying anything, so I'll shut up now.

I burst out laughing. John's laughing too. Mom joined us. Dad looks quite amused, but he joins in the laughter, too.

"Don't give the guy ideas," he orders John.

"I won't," John says seriously as he tries to calm down.

"Oh, you missed dad dancing to Olivia Newton-John this morning, John," I tell him.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" he asks incredulously.

"It was eight fifteen," I answer simply.

"Oh, thanks for not waking me then," he says scrunching up his face.

"No problem."

He eats a bowl of Frosted Flakes and gets ready for the day. Dad and I get bored of playing poker, so we put up the cards.

"What time do you go on duty?" I ask him.

"Seven tonight," he answers.

"Why do you like night shifts?" I ask him curiously.

"More action. Plus, I get to hang with you three during the day," he answers simply without thinking.

"I see," I say.

"Oh really? Can you see this?" he asks and quickly picks me up and throws me over his shoulder.

"Dad! Put me down!" I laugh.

"Don't think so," he says walking to the phone since it's ringing.

"Hello," he answers. "I don't know, Rayne, but she's hanging over my shoulder."

"Dad, give me the phone and please put me down!" I yell.

"Fine," he says going to the couch and drops me on it.

"Thanks," I say sarcastically and he gives me the phone. "Hey Rayne. Sorry about my dad being a dork."

"No problem. Hey wanna come hang out tonight? There's a party going on tonight at my cousin Bret's house," she tells me. "Uncle Curly and Aunt Vanessa are out of town for the weekend."

"Okay. I'll ask if I can come over," I say.

"Okay," she says and I take the phone away from my ear.

"Hey dad. Can I go over to Rayne's later?"

"Yeah. What time?"

"What time?" I ask.

"Four," she answers.

"Four," I tell dad.

"I don't see why not," he says.

"Hey, I can come over," I tell her.

"Cool! See you at four!"

"See you at four," I say and hang up.

"I swear you two are conjoined at the hip," dad smirks.

"We're not. We're just best friends."

"I know, but Tim and I were somewhat close and not conjoined like you two are," he tells me.

"You and Tim were at each other's throats at times. Rayne and I never fight for fun," I tell him.

"True."

The rest of the day goes on with the four of us just hanging out. It's quite fun playing games with the family. We also went on a bike ride around the neighborhood. That's always fun too.

Four o'clock rolls around real fast and dad takes me to Rayne's house. They live on the bad side of Tulsa.

Dad and I walk up to the Sheppard's door and walk in. They always have their door unlock despite the fact that they live in a dangerous neighborhood. Tim always says he can beat the shit out of whoever breaks in. I have no doubt he can.

"Hey guys," Tim says from the couch putting down the newspaper.

"Hey Tim," we say as he and dad shakes hands.

"Dakota!" Rayne yells running into the room wearing a short skirt and a tank top as usual.

"Rayne!" I yell hugging my best friend.

"You two act like you haven't seen each other for a year, and it's only been a few days," Tim smirks.

"Yeah. I was telling Kota after Rayne called that they're conjoined at the hip," dad laughs.

"They probably are," Tim laughs.

"We are not!" Rayne and I say at the same time.

"Well, I should probably head back home. Be good Kota," dad tells me giving me a hug.

"I will. Bye dad," I say hugging him back.

"Bye," he says and leaves.

As he gets out the door, Rayne drags me back to her room. She sets me down on the bed, heads to her little vanity, and pulls out her make-up box. She comes back over and opens the box to reveal tons of make-up.

We do each other's make-up and hair. She scares me when she does my make-up since she puts a lot on. I think she'd make a great barber though. She's really good with hair.

We get done and turn on MTV in the living room. We dance and sing to the songs that come on. Right now, it happens to be "Heaven's On Fire" by Kiss.

Before we know it, it 's six o'clock. The party starts in an hour.

"Hey, girls. Time for dinner," Tim says.

Tim's a single parent. It's quite cool actually. He does a pretty good job with Rayne. When Rayne was two, her mom caught a bad case of pneumonia and died. Tim hasn't found anyone else since she died.

We sit down at the table and enjoy Tim's chili. He makes the best chili ever. I don't know if it's the spice, but it's pretty dang good. He's a pretty good cook over all, though.

"Hey, we're going to get some fresh air, dad," Rayne tells him after we put our bowls in the sink.

"Okay, not too late," Tim says.

"Okay," she says and we start walking to Bret's house.

We walk and walk. Luckily, they don't live that far away. It's still a pretty good walk though.

"Is your dad on duty tonight?" Rayne asks nervously.

"Yeah," I answer.

"Let's just pray that no one calls the cops or nothing bad happens," she says still nervously.

"Definitely."

We get to the party and there are people already there. Going inside, we get hit by the aroma of beer and smoke. That smell won't be easy hiding when I get home.

"Hey, Bret," Rayne greets a tall, lean, brunette, curly-haired teenage boy. He's really cute.

"Hey, Rayne," he acknowledges her giving her a hug. "This must be the famous Dakota Winston."

"Yup, that's me," I say smiling. "I don't think I'm famous though."

"Rayne, here, is always talking about how a great friend you are," he says squeezing her.

I smile.

"Hey, Bret. Wanna dance?" a slutty looking black-haired girl asks him.

"Sure," he answers her and leaves with her.

Rayne and I go off. All of a sudden, two boys come up to.

"Hey, babe," the brown-haired boy says to Rayne.

"Hey," she says blushing.

"Wanna dance?" he asks holding out his hand to her.

"Sure," she says and they go out to the dance floor.

"Hey, wanna dance?" the blonde-haired boy asks me.

"Sure," I say blushing.

He leads me out to the dance floor as "These Dreams" by Heart comes on. We dance and I feel as if I'm in a dream. The guy is really handsome and graceful.

We continue to dance the night away. Then, a fight starts between two teenage boys. They go for each other throats. Punches are being thrown and they wrestle all the way outside. Cops sirens can be heard. I'll guarantee they're coming here. Hopefully dad's not part of the group.

The sirens get closer and closer. The police cars come into view and four police officers get out. Two of them arrest the fighters and the other two come inside.

"Everybody evacuate the house!" I hear a familiar voice yell. It's my dad.

I try to sneak out, but he catches me.

"Dakota Nichole Winston! Get in my car now!" he hollers. He's beyond angry.

I swallow and go out to his car. Getting in the back is the smart thing to do. I watch everyone scatter out of Bret's house and speed away in their cars.

A couple minutes later, dad comes in and slams the door shut.

"What the hell do you think you were doing?" he spits at me.

"Having fun," I answer looking down at my shoes so he doesn't see the make-up.

"Look at me when I talk to you!"

I slowly look up. This will be interesting.

Dad shakes his head in disbelief. He doesn't like the loads of make-up caked on my face. He turns around and starts driving.

"I'm sorry dad!" I cry to him.

"You wouldn't have done it if you thought of the consequences," he says sternly.

"I know, but I wasn't thinking," I say.

"I can tell," he says.

I go quiet and neither of us talk for a while. Dad's sigh breaks the silence.

"You know how I said I didn't like my teenage years?" he asks me.

"Yeah," I answer sniffing.

"Well, I went to parties like that. I got drunk, Tim and I would get into fights for the stupidest reasons, and we'd sometimes get arrested. Actually, I'd go around looking for fights and trouble. I never cared if I went to jail. I rolled drunks, too. Do you know how long my record was at the police station?" he asks.

"No," I answer feeling a little better.

"A mile long. Man, I was proud of it. Now whenever I come across that record at work, I feel like an idiot. I regret everything that I did. I was so mad at the world, that I didn't care about anyone," he says.

"Except for Johnny, right?" I ask.

"Yeah, and I cared a bit about Ponyboy, too," he confesses. "Will you promise me something?"

"Yeah, anything," I answer.

"Never hate the world. It's a beautiful thing. Don't do anything that I did. Promise?"

"Promise," I say.

"Okay. By the way, you're grounded for a month."

I've never been so happy to be grounded in my life.

There you go. I hope you enjoyed! Please review!