(A.N. Woohoo! Sorry it took me so long to update since last time, I had to get a new charger for my laptop, but now I'm back in buisness! Please reveiw!)

DISCLAMER: I do not own the Outsiders or any characters but Danielle!

Chapter 6 – It's my Buisness, No One Elses

Danielle's POV

I awoke with a jolt to the sound of my little alarm clock ringing throughout the attic, I would have to get up and get ready for school. I rolled over and went to get up but as soon as I did I felt someone's arms pull me in closer, it was Ponyboy. I rolled over so that I was facing him and shook him,

"Hey Pony, get up, we have to go to school," His eyes quickly opened and he smiled at me, but the smile quickly faded into a look of concern,

"Hey, are you feeling okay Danny? You woke us all up in the middle of the night." I thought back and remembered the dream, I heard the gunshots ringing through my head and quickly tried to shake off the thought.

"Yeah I'm alright," and then I quickly remembered I wore only my underwear to bed!

"Hey get up, you have to take a shower before we leave," He was clad in only a pair of blue jeans, but I wasn't going to just go running around in my underwear in front of him!

"Yeah, I'll meet you downstairs," He just luaghed since he probably knew I sleeped like that, considering the fact he was just sleeping in the bed with me! I idn't even remember how he got there.

As soon as I heard the door click shut and Pony's feet hit the bottom of the stairs, I hopped out of bed and ran over to the dresser and pulled out a denim mini skirt, an old green t-shirt, Pony's old blue sweater, and his white converse. I covered myself in a towel and ran into the bathroom to take my shower. After about ten minutes Ponyboy poked his head into the bathroom.

"Are you gonna sit in here all day?"

I covered myself with the curtain and looked over at him, he was smiling like crazy, probably because I looked like I was about to kill him!. I threw a bar of soap at him to get him to leave and shut the door.

I quickly turned the squeeky shower knobs until the water stopped coming out of the shower head. I slipped on my clothes and went over and opened the bathroom door too let the steam air out. I poked my head out of the door,

"You can come in now!" I yelled at Pony, he just smiled,

"Well I suggest you leave cause' I really have to piss!" I rolled my eyes and ran back up to my room. I didn't bother to put on any makeup, I left my wavy hair down and didn't even bother with putting it into a ponytail like usual. I grabbed my bag and stuffed my sketchbook and all of my school stuff inside. This time when I walked downstairs everyone was awake, Soda was cooking breakfast, Darry was reading the paper and Ponyboy was busy greasing back his hair.

"You guys need a lift to school today?" Darry asked me as he looked up from his paper, I just simply shook my head,

"Nahh, were going to walk today, even if it's cold," I smiled as I snuck and apple passed Soda, I wasn't prepared to deal with his cooking!

"Pony! Hurry up or we'll never make it to school on time!" I shouted from the doorway,

"Im coming, I'm coming," He ran out the door and I followed him. The high school was a good half hour walk so we had plenty of time to talk to each other. As soon as we were out of earshot of the house, Pony asked me,

"What was that dream about? You had me pretty shaken up, I had to lull you back asleep, you woulden't let me leave," I looked into his eyes and then peered at the ground, trying to avoid stepping on the cracks in the concrete.

"If you left you would be just like her," He looked at me questioningly,

"Like who?" He asked

"My mother, she left us when we needed her most, but now I know you won't leave me like she did," I smiled up at him. "The dream was just a flashback to when my mom left, when my dad belted me with the bottle, I also saw the last time I saw Johnny, when we kissed. I also remember watching Dally being shot down over and over again, like a broken record, thats what woke me up. I have that dream every night, but it's gotten worse." I felt like I was about to break down but I wasn't going to let it happen in the middle of the street.

Pony stopped walking, forcing me to stop as well. I turned to face him, I was still looking at the ground. He lifted up my chin and I felt the tears forming in my eyes. I wiped them away with my sleeve.

"Don't cry now, there is nothing we can do but move on," He pulled me into a hug and kissed my forehead. He smiled at me and we continued to walk to school, I didn't even notice our hands were intertwined. It was an okay walk except for when the socs would slow down and scream "Greaser!" at us, but that is a regular thing for all of us. As soon as we were at the school Pony turned me around and gave me a kiss, I knew that every single greaser girl in the school loved him so I was now public enemy number one for them.

"Meet me out here at luch, Steve and Soda are picking us up to go to the diner," He kissed me again,

"Okay, I'll see you later Pone," and then we both went to our opposite ends of the school, I had math class first period so I put all of my other stuff other than my notebook and my math textbook in my locker. I had this weird feeling the whole time that someone was watching me, I am kinda' hypersensitive, so I can sense these things. As soon as I shut my locker I saw about three girls in a group talking and pointing at me.

I started walking away when one of them piped up, She was a redhead, a really popular chearleader, and a Soc. Her name was Sherri Valance, and she was stuck up and mean to all greaser girls , we all try to keep our distance from her.

"Hey, why don't you go cut yourself somewhere else, we don't want to see your blood on the floor!" She giggled and all of her friends followed along. I was all for belting her right then and there, but instead I just decided that telling her off would be enough, I turned to her, stepped up close enough so that I was only inches away from her face,

"You better shut that little mouth of yours!" A small crowd of greasers and socs gathered around us and Sherri's friends left her side,

"Who's gonna make me?" I laughed and looked back at her,

"My fist! That's who!" I pulled back my arm and was ready to swing when I felt someone grab my hand, I shook them off and turned over to see who it was, it was just some random greaser who wasn't in the mood to have to defend a stupid girl from a crowd of socs. I pushed him away and ran down the hallway in an attempt to make it to my algebra class before the bell rang.

As soon as I ran through the door of the classroom the bell rang, all of the socs in the class looked at me as if I had killed someone right in front of them. I rushed to the back corner and sat down at my desk and took out my notebook to begin working on the problems on the board. The whole class I did my best to focus on my work but it constantly felt like people were staring at me, but I refused to look up to see who it was.

As soon as the lunch bell rang I rushed out the door and back to my locker, I dialed my combanation and quickly shoved the books away and shut the door. When I turned around I saw the greaser that kept me from punching Sherri in the face,

"Okay, what do you want from me?" I asked him, I had seen him around before, he was actually real good looking. The boy had black, curly, slicked back hair and bright blue eyes,

"You were really looking to get your self killed when you tried to tangle with little redheaded Sherri Valance!" I rolled my eyes,

"She deserved everything that I was gonna give to her, and you are?" He smiled and reached out his hand,

"Patrick, Patrick Mannor." I pushed his hand away, I finally had found out where I knew him from, he was another greaser all of the girls were hot for, except for me...

"I don't shake hands," I walked away from him but he just followed and turned me around,

"No thank you for saving your ass ?" I shook off again,

"How do you know who I am?"

"Everyone knows who you are! Your brother used to be a real badass!"

"I don't thank someone who stops me from doing something I wanted to do, and DON'T EVER talk about Dallas!" I just turned around and walked away from Patrick, hoping he wouldn't follow me again to where I was meeting up with Ponyboy.

I slowly snaked through the hallway to the front of the school building where I found Pony waiting for me,

"So how was your little fight with Cherry Valance Danny?" He asked me,

"How did you know about that?" I looked at him with confusion on my face,

"Two-bit saw ya, said you were about to pound her face in but some kid stopped you." I made a sound in disgust,

"Ugh, don't even mention that creep!" He laughed,

"Well you must not like him much!" I nodded my head in agreement,

"Are Steve and Soda gonna pick us up? If they are then they must be a little late!" Pony laughed again, he always laughs at everything I say, it is really cute when he laughs though so I don't really care.

"Nah, I guess they ditched us, let's just walk over there." I shook my head no,

"No! Let's walk to the DX to yell at them for ditching us!"

We were at the corner of the DX when I noticed something was wrong, Pony did too because he said before I got the chance to,

"Why is the truck here? There must be something wrong! Darry would never leaves work unless he has too!" We both took off running to the gas station. As soon as wqe got there we saw Darry getting into his truck, ready to drive off until he looked over and saw us. He leapt out of the truck and ran over to us.

"Danielle, I was just about to come to the school to get you!" I had a puzzled look on my face,

"Why Darry? Whats's going on? Why did you leave work early?" He looked at me with a look of sympathy before saying his next words.

"Your horse, Cracker Jack, the farm called me at work. He slipped in the feild this morning and hasn't been able to get up since," I started nodding my head no, This couldnt be happening! If I lost Jack I wouldn't have anything left of him!