Darry's truck rattled up right on schedule, with Pony in the passenger seat. They both came through the gate with somewhat astonished looks on their faces.

"Holy crap," Ponyboy said, looking around the yard.

"I didn't think it would make this much of a difference," Darry added. "I forgot, I guess… I mean, Scout, this place looks almost…"

"Respectable," Pony finished for him.

"Yeah," he said. "Where'd you get the flowers?"

"Well, that's a funny story," I started, and proceeded to tell them how I ended up meeting Dr. Bryant's wife and she had given me all the plants and flowers for free. "She's gonna save some more for me, too."

"Cool. Seriously, I forgot what this place looked like, cleaned up. Great job, Scout." Darry tossed his toolbelt onto the porch and peeked around the side of the house.

"Actually, Ben did the mowing."

"Really?" Darry sounded glad. "You still got all your toes, Ben?"

"Yeah." He laughed.

"Well, seriously, it does make a huge difference in making this place not looking like an abandoned property or something. I guess we needed a girl's touch around here," Darry said, as he tugged on a braid.

"Well, you boys stay out of my flowers," I said, and they laughed, quietly, all of us remembering Mom saying that.

"She'd really like it, that you did this," Ponyboy said, smiling. While I had been closest with Dad, he had always been closer to Mom. Not that we loved one or the other better, or that they favored any of us – we all just tended to gravitate more towards one or the other.

"I hope so," I said softly, and everyone was quiet for a minute.

"So, what's for dinner, Soda?" Darry asked. Soda had actually volunteered to make dinners while he wasn't working. Soda immediately took on the same expression that he'd had earlier when I asked him about the mower.

"Soda! What the heck did you do all day? I wouldn't have made you help me out here if I knew you hadn't cooked anything!" I fake punched him, but he easily stopped my fist with his good hand.

"That sounds like my signal to leave," Ben said, standing up and giving me a quick peck on the cheek, while I whispered a thank you in his ear. That whole tongue business wasn't going to go over well in front of my brothers, we both knew that.

"I forgot," Soda said, standing up. In his case, forgetting was believable. "I've been so bored I can't even think. What do you guys want?"

"Something fast," Darry said. "Like, by the time I get out of the shower fast. I'm starving."

"All three of you are always starving," I said, following Soda into the kitchen. Darry headed for the shower, and Pony dropped onto the couch.

Knowing that Darry was going to be in the shower, I climbed up on the counter to see what was in the cabinets while Soda was looking in the refrigerator. I hadn't been up there more than ten seconds when Darry's voice came booming down the hallway from the bathroom.

"Scout! Get down!"

"What the heck?" I turned to Soda and he grabbed my arm as I jumped down. "How does he know that?"

"You're getting predictable, Scout," Pony called from the living room. "Time to learn some new tricks."

"I think tricks is the last thing Darry wants to see, coming from her," Soda said, and they both laughed as I tried again, unsuccessfully, to punch him in the gut.

"Looks like pasta again, my friends," Soda said, pulling out a box of pasta and a can of sauce. I grabbed some meatballs I had stuck in the freezer the last time we made them, and dumped them into the pan where Soda had set the sauce to simmer. I was just grabbing a spoon to start stirring when the phone rang and I heard Pony answer. He yelled for me.

I knew before he even told me that it was going to be Anna. I had been able to put her out of my mind with all that had happened since the night she dragged me to that party – the babysitting, changing rooms, the call from Social Services – but there was no more putting off talking to her.

Pony handed me the phone and had the good sense to go into the kitchen with Soda and leave me alone. I dragged the phone as far away as I could, to the far end of the couch, and, for the first time ever, I was glad to have a brother like Sodapop who just constantly created noise. Pans and spoons were banging away. Hopefully they wouldn't be able to hear me in there.

"Hello?" I acted like I didn't know who it was, though I was sure she'd heard Pony tell me it was her.

"Scout? It's Anna." She sounded sincerely upset, but I wasn't going to give her the benefit of any sympathy. Not then, anyway.

"Hi."

"I'm sorry, Scout. I'm really sorry." The minute she said it, she started crying, and I had to struggle not to cry myself. I didn't answer right away.

"Please don't hate me," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"You really messed up, Anna," I said, my voice unsteady. I could deal with problems between Anna and me, but I couldn't deal very well with the idea of what could have been permanently changed between me and Darry because of what she'd done.

"I know. I know. What can I say… to make you forgive me?"

"I don't know. You're messing up your own life, Anna. You were so drunk… that guy could have done whatever he wanted to you if I hadn't been there. I know how that is, and I don't want that to happen to you!"

"I know… Thank you. I was stupid."

"Yeah, you were. And as bad as it was for you, and besides what could have happened to you, did you ever think about how selfish you were being by getting me involved? You know what my situation is – you know what would happen if the cops had shown up!" Now I was having a hard time controlling the volume of my voice, and Darry came out of the bathroom and stood in his towel in the doorway, looking concerned.

"It's Anna," I heard Pony tell him, and he turned and went into his bedroom.

"I know, Scout, I can't say I'm sorry any more than I am. I messed up."

"Do you have any idea how upset I made Darry? Oh, right, of course you don't, because you were passed out, and he had to carry you home! God, Anna, he wouldn't even talk to me, he was so mad. I need him, and you made him not trust me. I trusted you, and you lied to me!"

"I'm sorry." She could hardly even talk.

"Well, it might be a while before you can tell me that in person, because Darry doesn't want me hanging around with you for a while. You're gonna have to convince him to trust you again, because he thinks you're a bad influence on me. And the way you've been acting, I agree!"

"Do you hate me?" She was still crying and so was I, by that point, thinking again about how bad it had felt to have Darry so mad at me.

I hesitated.

"Scout, please. You're my best friend." I felt bad not returning the compliment, but there was no question that Ben was holding pretty solid in his place as my best friend. I certainly trusted him completely, and I couldn't say that about Anna.

"I don't hate you, Anna," I said, "but I have to follow Darry's rules. I can't be hanging around you if you're doing dumb stuff – I could lose my whole family. I can't take that chance."

"I won't mess up again."

Darry came out of his bedroom, dressed, and stood in the doorway again.

"Look, Anna, I have to go, we're having dinner. I'll talk to you later in the week, okay? It's just really busy around here… the State is coming to check on us, so we're cleaning, and I'm babysitting for coach K.… I really hafta go."

"Okay." She sounded really upset, but I didn't know what to say. She was the one who'd made the dumb mistake. I was just glad it hadn't been worse, for me.

"Bye, Anna."

"Bye… Scout?"

"Yeah?"

"I really am sorry."

"I know. Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up the phone and sat back against the couch, wiping my eyes and sighing. Darry came over and sat on the edge of the couch.

"You did good," he said. "What I heard of it, anyway."

"It was hard," I said. "I'm so mad… she lied to me. She made you not trust me."

"I do trust you. It was my mistake, too. You know that. We're good, baby. It's not always easy, the whole growing up thing." He gave my braid another tug, and I leaned against him.

"She feels bad."

"She should. Hopefully she learned her lesson."

"I hope so."

"C'mon," Darry pulled me up. "Time to eat Soda's gourmet cuisine."

"Hey, Dar?" I asked as he dragged me into the kitchen where Soda and Pony were already sitting at the table.

"What?"

"We need a longer phone cord."

That was met with agreement all around, and we all dug into Soda's fancy Italian dinner.

……………………………

After dinner, Sandy came over, with Two-Bit again, and they were sitting around in the living room talking with Soda and Pony when the doorbell rang. I had just finished with the dishes and was drying my hands, so I ignored it, until the bell rang again.

"Is somebody getting that?" Darry yelled from his bedroom.

"I got a lady on my lap," Soda said.

"I'm injured," Two-Bit said. Pony said nothing; he just stared at the Western he was watching on TV. I threw the dishtowel in the sink, and grumbled about my lazy family as I climbed over all of their legs to get to the front door. Someone was knocking just as I got there, and stopped abruptly as I pulled the door open.

I had been expecting Ben – Kevin, maybe, or Tim… maybe even Anna, since I knew she was so upset… I definitely hadn't expected to be staring into the crying face of the person I found standing there on the porch. I stepped backward, not even sure what had frightened me… it certainly wasn't… her. Soda knew right away something was off.

"Who is it, Scout?" I saw him slide Sandy off his lap and move to stand up.

I couldn't talk; I just pulled the door open fully to reveal who was there.

"It's me," Evie said softly.

………………….

A/N: Finally, all of you who have been wondering about what became of Steve… stay tuned. Thanks as always for your comments. It's funny to me when some of you thank me in reviews… funny to get thanked for something I enjoy writing so much! Thank YOU for reading!