Disclaimer: I don't own the Outsiders or the song "Jar of Hearts".

A/N: This song fits well and it's one of my favorites. Please read the lyrics.

No, I can't take one more step towards you. 'Cause all that's waiting is regret. Don't you know I'm not your ghost anymore? You lost the love I loved the most. I learned to live half alive. And now you want me one more time.

Two weeks have gone by. Two weeks of school, Peter, and Darry's vomit. Every day of those two weeks, I'd spent them with Peter. He had sat on the bathroom floor with me, waiting for Darry's stomach to settle. He had taken me to the park to clear my head. He brought us dinner when no one was in any mood to cook.

Peter had been there. He'd been by my side every day for two weeks. I'd expect to be annoyed. Get tired of him eventually if anything. That was far from the case. In those two weeks, I'd gotten to know Peter. I'd gotten closer to him than I ever thought. He'd shown things to me.

Being Peter around made me forget things. When I'm with him, I laugh. I forget about everything in the world. It brings back old memories of feelings I used to feel - happiness. A feeling of a cool summer breeze coming in. The butterflies that gather up in my stomach every time I saw him. The smile I now where when his name is mentioned in a conversation.

It's new love, and it's all in the air.

I'd met his friends, and his parents. He introduced me as his girlfriend. He kissed me on my neck, showing them that we were real and he was proud to have me stand beside him.

Peter made me feel good about myself. That was a feeling I don't know if I ever had. It's one I enjoy most.

"He's pretty good lookin'." Jennie leans against the counter, blowing a bubble from her gum and letting it pop on her face. "I like him. You two look alike. You're cute together. He seems like a good guy."

Dingo's is slow today, as it has been for the past few months. It's just Jennie and I working. "Darry's in love with him. Every time he's over all they talk about is football and poker."

"He's plays?"

"He's a linemen or something like that."

She nods, flipping the page in her Cosmopolitan. The magazine cover is hidden by the Times cover that currently holds the Cosmopolitan. It's Jennie's favorite magazine. It's funny to see her read it. This is the same girl who if afraid to have sex with her boyfriend. There's a whole different reason for that though.

"Sodapop likes him I think," she says. "Him and Dal have been hangin' out a lot lately though. It's weird."

"How?"

She shrugs, flipping another page. "They got kinda distant for a long time. It'd be weird for me to be best friends with my sister's ex. I dunno. I guess it's just me. I mean the way he treated you..."

"They were friends before we dated," I point out. "I don't care. It doesn't bother me at all really."

She smacks her gum and grins. "'Cause you got a man."

I wink, going by her to take drinks to table six. "I do."

The bell above the door rings. I don't turn around but there's something that I hear that makes me lean up. A sound I'm very used to hear, or once was. A smirk. A signature smirk that only one person could pull off.

I can hear Jennie's gum from here. She's chewing it harder. I can't see her but I know she's glaring at him, no longer interesting in her magazine because this is just as good as it can ever get in there.

I only see the back of his head as I go behind the counter. I wipe my hands off on my apron and grab a pen.

"Let me take them."

"It's my table." I pull my hair back into a bun. Peter got me into straightening my hair. It's slick and slippery in the bun. "I don't care. I got it...Cover for me though."

Jennie eyes them. "You sure? Those guys he's with look like real asses."

"I don't know them," I say, examining the crowd. Two boys and a girl. A girl who's sitting beside Dally in the booth and fixing her top so at least you won't see her nipples. "At least I get the pleasure of doing whatever I feel like to their food."

Jennie snickers. "I got this."

I grab the pen that's behind my ear and make my way over to the red table with blue leather seats. I keep my eyes on my shoes and the scuff marks on the toes. This is the easiest way to do it. No eye-contact. Just act like it's just another normal day and they're just another table. I've waited on hundreds of tables. This one is no different.

I sigh. Once I reach the table I stare into my note pad and barely tap the point of it on the paper. "Can I get you something to drink?"

They all look to each other, all sneering and smirking. They hide their grins with their hands as if they need to. It's only to show off the point that they are laughing.

"Sodas all around, ma'am!"

I scribe the order down on my pad and turn on my heel feeling a bit relieved. Once I'm completely turned though, I can feel sugar packets pelting me from behind and I pause. Jennie rises up from the counter as she sees it too. She blows another bubble and waits until I reach her before she can attack.

I ignore the laughs I can clearly hear as I fill up each cup slowly. I pretend like I don't hear the whispers that are being shared behind me. "What are they, like five?"

I fill up the last cup and place it on a tray, watching the bubbles go away. "Apparently."

She leaves to go wait on the next table that came in. She's not longer watching as I take a deep breath and go back over to Dally's table, trying to keep my feet straight and planted. The less I struggle, the better off this will all be.

It's just Dally. The same Dally you've known since you were eight. He's nothing to you.

"Cute uniform," it's the girl who says it. I can feel her eyes on me as I hand out each drink. They center just above my chest. They rest there, not looking to move. "I like the pink."

I sit the last cup down in front of her. I get a chance to really look at her as our eyes come into contact. It's a pause I take to really take in the effect of her. The smile she's wearing as she watches me rise up. Her eyes are dark yet they glow. Her hair is a dark shade of brown and it's slick and smooth. Not one strand is frizzed. It's perfect just like her body – her chest.

"Thanks." I stand up straight, still observing her and trying to pin-point an occasion where I've seen her before. She's from here. She's made that obvious...along with her hand perched on Dally's thigh. "You ready to order?"

The guys are the ones who look at me now. I only notice this because I don't fix my eyes on my right where Dally and his new girl sit. I can feel him staring at me, from front and behind. I pretend like I don't notice the glares or the way he looks at his friends after he's sneaked a peek at me from behind.

"Are you ready or not?"

"Hey, Curtis."

Another set of laughs. I let my shoulders slouch as I hastily turn to look. He stares up at me, his icy eyes turned lighter because of the lights. He's smirking, like he has been since he got here. He doesn't bother looking at my eyes for long. He's too busy trying to impress his new friends for that.

"Dallas," I say quietly. "Are you ready or not?"

He leans back in the booth, crossing his arms over his chest. "Is that any way to talk to paying customers?"

More sneaky snickers. I glance at each of them but find my eyes back to Dally. "Shut up and just tell me."

The three of them make an o with their mouths as they turn their laughter over to Dally who is still sitting as calm and cool as a cucumber. He's not even bothered because he knows I can do worse and he knows I know he can play this too. He knows he's better at it and so do I. He's came prepared for this though.

Let the games begin.

"My, my. I'm greatly offended by such language."

I put my weight on one leg, prepared to stay for a little longer. "Cut the shit and just tell me what you want, Dallas. I wouldn't piss me off too much seeing as how I'm going to be handling your food and all."

He raises an eyebrow - just one that's cocked up. "Is that a threat?"

"Maybe," I say, putting my hands on my hips. "You're the one who'd know what that is though, right?"

He sneers a little, looking from side to side. He leans forward. "C'mon, Curtis. Why don't you just share with the class how you really feel? You're the one who's in touch with your feelings, correct?"

The girl passes out cigarettes to all of them. Dally dangles his between his fingers while it smokes and he waits.

"Can I take your order?"

"I'll take you." The guy beside the window stares at me, looking up and down just the way Dally did. He smokes from his stick and admires me from below and stops in the middle of my chest. He nods.

He's darker than the rest of them, more of Johnny's shade yet his eyelashes are as white as day. They match his bleached hair. His eyes are blue and pale and his black pupils are ten times larger than they should be. He's heavy set with a double chin. He's not beautiful by any means but he carries himself well. There's something more to him than pretty can withhold.

The other guy he's with is better looking - more like the model out of the group. He doesn't score above Dally though or he'd have that girl on his side of the booth. He's skinnier than the other guy who's eyeing me. He's got a scar just above his eyebrow that's pretty fresh. His teeth are gaped and stained with a yellow tent.

I roll my eyes, looking towards Dally who shrugs. "Told him I'd give 'im a good deal."

"A good deal?"

The girl breathes out a cloud of smoke before she speaks. She taps her overgrown nails on the table top with the beat of the song that's playing in the background. "He's talking about sex, dear. It's a joke. Like a prostitute?"

"I know what he meant," I growl. I turn my attention back to Dally. "You're a real ass."

The model snorts. "A real ass with a pinch of coke in his pocket thanks to Mega here. We've got a room across the street. Real classy. Dal here tells us you like it that way. Kinda a leave and go sorta thing. Mega's got it all set up for ya."

I can feel my face turn hot with either anger or embarrassment. I'm not sure which but they've all noticed it none the less.

"Look at her," the girl says, her perfect pointed teeth flashing. "She's so red. Can you not take a joke, honey?"

"I can take a joke," I tell her, slowing my breathing down a little so they can't hear it. "Can I just get ya'll order already?"

Dally hasn't stop staring at me. I don't know what he's looking at. My face, the way I get angry. He's trying to get his satisfaction by making me squirm. He knows how to play this. As I've said before, he's a pro. It's the point of him coming here. He wants to play; he wants to show off his friends and his new beautiful prize.

I, myself, can't even stop staring at her beauty. She's not like me and she's not like Sylvia.

"Aye, what's eatin' ya, Curtis? We just came to make conversation is all," he says. "Maybe you could be a little nicer, seeing as how we're payin' customers and all?"

I huff. "Please order something so I can get this over with. I got better things to do than play with you losers."

"You were right, Dallas," the brunette says, propping her feet up on the other side of the booth. "She is a bitch."

I narrow my eyes at her. I've never seen her before but I've seen her type. I've been friends with her type. I know just the kind of girl she is - or wants to be, I should say. "I take it you're the new chew toy?"

"You better control your girl, Dallas before she says something she may regret."

"I'm not his girl."

The guy closest to me, the model, is the one to make himself known. "I'm hungry." His hand sits on my hip bone, slowly inching down. I stare at it and watch it slowly move. "Why don't you go make me a sandwich, sugar?" He squeezes my cheeks tightly with his grimy little hands.

The coke from the cup runs down the table. It lands on his pants near his crotch area. I take a step back as he jumps up from the booth and gasps. He stares down at the big stain on his jeans and gapes at the site.

"You fucking bitch!"

"Don't touch me."

"Danni!"

I didn't see her behind the counter watching the whole scene. I can feel the wind as she rushes by me with a dry rag. She immediately gets down and starts to wipe up the mess and helps the guy clean himself off.

My knees start to sweat as I wait for her to come back up. Everyone in the diner is watching now. The group is mainly hiding their heads from this attention that's unwanted. The girl is laughing at everything though. She's elbowing Dally and they are whispering. Their heads are side by side, their lips are almost touching.

"I am so sorry!" I say, trying to get down at help.

Mrs. Adderson stands up, eyeing me. She pushes me away. "Go to the back."

"But-"

"Now!"

There's no time to answer. All these faces are watching and there's no need for arguing. I do as I'm told, passing by Jennie and slamming into the kitchen to wait. I sit on the counter top and cover my face with my hands.

"I think you should take the rest of the day off." Mrs. Adderson enters, not skipping a beat. "You need to cool down."

I put my hands in my lap. She's fuming mad and there doesn't look like there's any room for arguing. "No. Please I really need the money. It won't happen again I swear! Take the meal out of my pay. Anything!"

"Go, Danni," she says sternly, pointing towards the door. "Jennie will cover for you."

I slip off the counter top slowly. I undo the back bow of my apron and lay it down. She doesn't say anything to me as I exit the kitchen and venture out into the main dining area where all eyes sit on me until I'm out the door.

I let the door fall back, only to have it caught by someone else who chases after me.

"Stay away from me! I mean it!"

A sudden window shakes me. Arms grab my shoulders and push me into the alleyway. The more I struggle, the more useless I feel. My kicks and punches do nothing. I don't know why I ever expected them to. I know who stands in front of me - the man who isn't moved.

His eyes are dark as I stop my struggle and surrender to him. He uses one hand to hold me in place against the wall. Neither of us says anything. We only stare.

"Are you happy?" I ask. "I just lost my pay for the rest of the day because of you! Do you know how badly I need that money? Darry doesn't work anymore and the doctor bill doesn't cut it on Soda's pay! I need the money!"

He rolls his eyes. "Oh don't give me a fucking guilt trip. That wasn't my fault! Don't blame that shit on me!"

"Nothing is ever your fault, is it?" I scream. "I probably just lost my job! Do you even realize that?"

"I didn't fucking do it!" he shouts directly in my face. He points in my face. "That was all you, sweets. You screwed that up yourself. I didn't do shit and you know it."

"You're disgusting!" I shout. "You don't foul me Dally. I know you! Just because you show up and out number me you think you can bully me into feeling whatever you want me to feel! Leave me alone already!"

He gets closer to me. I can smell the cheap bathroom cologne he's lathered onto his neck. "I thought you'd want to meet some of my friends since I've met yours...one of them anyway."

"You're pathetic!" I yell once he parts. "You think you can still control me and everything I do! You can't any more Dally! I'm not that stupid anymore and I don't listen to you! Look at you! You think you're such a big shot! A big bad man because you killed someone. How in your own self-diluted mind can you ever call yourself a man?"

I see his fist coming next. It's the first one. He takes a strong step forward with his already balled up fist. He charges towards me, making me take cover up against the cold, hard brick wall.

I breathe easily out of my nose. My hands are still covering my head as he swears and backs away.

Haven't we been in this position before?

He bangs his fist against the drain pipe and then kicks it a few times before I uncover myself and stand straight up. He throws his tantrum in the middle of the alleyway, knocking over trashcans and hitting anything that can't hit back.

I feel my chest go up and down as I breathe and watch. It's a sad site to see. Pathetic would be a better word but I've already used that one on him. He's given up now and is barreled over a trash can, breathing heavily.

"Why not me?" I ask softly once I've regained my breath. "Why didn't you kill me?"

He breathes in and out, still not able to quite catch it. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"Jason Riddle," I say. "That's what this is all about, right? He's the reason. You knew him or someone did. That's when you found out about Sam killing him and me and Randy and the twins. That's why you took out Sam, right?"

There's a pause between his heavy breathing where he begins to laugh. He pops his back as he stands up. He wipes the spit and sweat from his mouth and looks upon me. "What do you know?"

"How else would you have known what we did? The pieces seem to fit. There's one thing that I always found funny. Michael was perfectly fine the night before he died at the hospital. He was in perfect health actually."

Dally raises up an eyebrow like before. "Once again, we got it all figured out? I was in jail the night asswipe kicked the bucket, remember? Get your shit right before you start accusing me."

"I'm not saying you did it," I say quickly before he can blow me off. "Who are your new friends?"

He holds a hand up, stopping me. He takes a minute to smirk before telling me, "Save it."

"There's something that connects to that. Randy always told me it all connects and I didn't believe him. Just tell me how you know what we did. Tell me the two have nothing to do with each other then, Dally."

"I don't have to tell you shit," he says lowly. "You are playing a dangerous game with that little thought, Curtis. I will tell you something though since you've worked your little brain to death - did you ever wonder how Ronnie plays into this thing? Why his car was smashed too and why he showed up?"

I've thought of it before. Ronnie appeared out of the blue. Ronnie was with Dally when Sam and Martin died and when we found Emily with him, his car was torn to pieces. But it was Dally's car that hit Sam's. Where did Ronnie come into play?

I breathe in. "Why did Ronnie come here Dally? You obviously knew he was here when we met him. Why the act?"

"You figure it out." He smirks. "Don't you have it all figured out? That's the game, Curtis. It's all you."

I bite my bottom lip. "We're not even together and you're still playing me for a fool. Fine Dally, you killed Sam. Bravo. Is that what you want me to say? What do you want me to believe?"

"You tell me."

I push against his chest. "God I can't stand you!"

"It just eats you up you don't know!" He pushes me back against the wall. He presses his lips against my ear. "It's not always plain as day. I'm better than that. You gotta think a little harder, dear."

I don't struggle against him. I know it's effortless to even try. "I've got enough shit going on. I don't need this. Why did you come here? We've all got problems. I don't need you to come by once in a while and screw everything up again like you did three months ago when you made a selfish decision!"

"Oh boo fucking who! My name's Danni Curtis. My mommy and daddy died when I was little. My best friend died last year. My brother's got cancer. My boyfriend killed someone and lied to me. Oh poor me! Get the fuck over it already!"

I push against his arm that holds me in place. I beat against his chest, anything I can do to get away from him. "Let me go!"

He slams me back against the wall. His arm holds me there by my chest. His eyes are in my face, shooting at me. I can see the anger busting out of them. All this anger that's for me.

"What are you gonna do now, hit me? Show me how much of a goddamn man you are?"

"You're not worth the energy it would take to hit you. You are nothing. You are nothing without me!"

Standing in front of him, hearing these horrible words he shouts at me and remembering the things I said to him, I can't help but remember a time when I desperately wanted him back. I wanted to go back to what we had and have that feeling when I saw him again. I wanted it all back. I would have killed to have things the way they used to be.

At this very moment, I realize where I went wrong. I was trying to hold onto something that didn't exist anymore. That person, whom I once loved and was so desperate to love once more, doesn't exist anymore. People change throughout courses of life. It's why people say 'life happens'. The things and people we love, change. Feelings change.

We can wish this wasn't the fact of the matter all day long, but that never works. The truth is - it's true.

Things change, and sometimes, it's really for the better.

His arms fall, freeing me. "I've got someone who does think I'm someone. Someone who thinks I'm pretty damn special."

"Oh good for you. I saw you're little prince. Real scary. You think he's gonna protect you from me? I know you, Curtis. Don't think that I don't. I know everything about you."

I reach into the pocket of my uniform. I clinch the chain in my hand and take it out. "I can take care of myself just fine. And you don't know me. I've moved on Dally. I...I hate you. I don't care anymore about you and Sam. I've moved on...and that's what hurts you the most, Dally."

He smirks coolly. "Oh really? I've heard that before. You think you're my favorite person? I can't stand to look at you. You think you're better than me? You've got another thing coming."

I let the chain fall and pinch it by the top. I dangle it in the air, showing it to him. "This is the last time I'll say it then. You don't know me, Dally. You never did."

I let the chain fall to the ground, watching it splash in a puddle of water. The ring on the end glows as his eyes set on it.

I push him off so I can be freed from the wall. I walk down the wet pavement towards the end of the alley. I step on the chain - the ring. I dig my shoe into it, crushing it and everything it once represented.

"Stay away from me, Dally. I don't want anything to do with you. I've moved on. Stay the hell out of my life."

"You are nothing without me, Curtis! Nothing! Remember that!"

I walk away again this time, turning my back to him, only, I'm not crying...

I'm smiling.

And who do you think you are? Runnin round leaving scars. Collecting your jar of hearts and tearing love apart. You're gonna catch a cold from the ice inside your soul. Don't come back for me. Don't come back at all. Who do you think you are?

A/N: This was a hard chapter for me to write for many reasons. That's why it took a little longer to post. I started a new short story about Sylvia and it should be updated sometime this week hopefully.

Thank you for reading.

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