I picked my brother up out of his crib, put him in his stroller, and went out; I had just moved in with my Aunt Becky in Oklahoma and I was going to introduce myself to my new neighbors. We walked to the house across the street; their mailbox said 'Curtis'

"Can I help you?" I heard a man say, I looked up and saw a man walking toward me he was tall, broad shouldered, and he looked about twenty.

"Hello, I'm Dinah Holloway…your new neighbor" I said with a smile, he smiled back and shook my hand.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Darry, who's the little guy?" Darry asked looking in the stroller

"My brother Nolan, he's a few months old" I told him. I looked and saw two other boys' walking toward us. One had brown hair and looked seventeen, the other's hair was a little blonde and he looked fourteen same as me, and I thought he was a real doll.

The seventeen year old turned to Darry and asked "What's going on Darry?"

"Soda, Pony this is our new neighbor Dinah and her baby brother Nolan, Dinah these are my brothers Sodapop and Ponyboy" Darry said.

I smiled and replied "Nice to meet y'all" I started telling them that I moved here from Mulberry/Kansas, and the whole time Ponyboy was staring at me, just staring and smiling; I could feel my cheeks getting red, I thought 'Why is he staring at me, does he think I'm pretty?' I was the classic farmer's daughter type, long brown slightly curly hair, and (like my whole family) blue eyes. I looked just like my mother. Soon Nolan started crying and I realized it was his nap time "Oh I'd better take him home he needs his nap, it was nice meeting y'all" I said as I walked home. The next few days I was acting kind of love-struck, I would just sit around with a dreamy look on my face and twirling my hair, the other girls were saying that I had it bad, oh yeah I forgot to mention my Aunt takes in foster girls; I have to share a room with four other girls . There's Tina, she has long black hair, is seventeen and is a bit sassy, then there's Layla she has long blonde hair with the ends dyed blue and is the best dancer I've ever seen. Next is Katy Ann, her hair is medium length with the ends dyed pink; she was a nurse who always wanted to be a happy home maker. Finally there's Hermione she as long red hair, freckles, is tones of fun, and is dating my cousin Kent. Their all really pretty and are like big sisters. They were able to tell if I was smitten; and I was…on Ponyboy. He's really handsome and he seems really sweet, I noticed him the other day watching the sunset. I bumped into him a few times and I found out we have a lot in common, we both like going to movies, reading books, and drawing pictures. He told me he heard me singing Nolan a lullaby and said that I have a beautiful voice. That made me blush. One day I found a rose on the front steps along with a note that read:

Dinah, look I've liked ya for a while now, your smart, charming, full of compassion; not to mention you're so beautiful you're eyes out shine the stars and you're more radiant then a sunset and I was wondering if you would be my…girlfriend. If you have a chance meets me in the vacant lot

Ponyboy Curtis.

After reading the note I blushed, smiled, and my heart was beating so load I was afraid folks could hear it, I couldn't believe it. I was so happy; my crush wanted me to be his gal. The vacant lot was a five minute walk from my house when I got there I saw Ponyboy sitting on the hood of an old car, "Hey" I finally managed to say, I was really nervous.

He looked up and said with a smile "Hey, did ya read my note?"

"Yeah, I did…" I said back as I sat down beside him "…and I would love to be your girlfriend". Ponyboy didn't say anything, he just smiled "So…" he said nervously "Should we seal it…with a…kiss?" when he asked me that I couldn't say okay fast enough, we slowly leaned our heads forward, we closed our eyes, and our lips met and we both shared our first kiss. His lips were so warm. I felt a spark and a warm fuzzy feeling fill my chest. I felt his hand snake to the middle of my back, and pull me closer, I could feel my cheeks heat up. I wrapped my arms around his strong neck tangling my fingers in his surprisingly soft hair. The kiss only lasted ten seconds when we broke apart we both had a bright blush across our faces. He held my hand and we started talking, he really got me to open up I even told him why I moved in with Aunt Becky…

FLASHBACK

It was a few days' after Mamma came home from the hospital with Nolan, he was so tiny I thought he could fit in some doll's clothes. I was with Daddy in the nursery, he was teaching me how to change Nolan's diaper and Mamma was cooking dinner. Everything was fine until an earthquake hit, and a beam fell on Mamma and killed her. My Daddy was devastated he died that night of a broken heart, me and Nolan stayed at the local foster home until our legal guardian was revealed. After the funeral they read my parents will and it said that they placed guardianship on my father's sister Rebecca. Katy Ann drove up a few days later to come get me and Nolan, I said goodbye to my parents' and to Mulberry.

Ponyboy held me as I cried on his shoulder "Shhh its okay, its okay" he said trying to comfort me.

"I just…I just feel awful one minute everything was fine, but then everything disappeared. My mom, my dad, and then I had to leave my home I never even saw it coming." I said in between sobs.

"I know how that feels."

My eyes widened and I looked at Ponyboy. I had remembered what Pony told me about his parents "Oh…if you felt this bad when it happened to you I'm really sorry."

"I know it hurts at first but it will stop hurting and the thing to remember is that they're in a better place now, and that they didn't leave this world wanting you to be unhappy." He replied in a soft, gentle voice.

I gave him a small kiss then snuggled into his chest "Thanks Ponyboy"

We dated for a few weeks, and we kept it a secret 'cause we didn't know how our friends and family would react; whenever anyone we knew came by we acted as normally as possible. After a while we decided it was time reveal our relationship, when I told my friends and family Aunt Becky, Tina, and Hermione were all thrilled for me; but Layla and Katy Ann looked like they didn't mean it when they said they were happy for me. Ponyboy told me he got the same reaction from Darry and Soda, we thought about it and realized that they had no idea what it feels like to be young and in love (yes I know we are too young to be in love, but we are we've even said it) that was because Katy Ann was so pretty that these city boys' were too intimidated to ask her out, and Layla wasn't allowed to date til she was sixteen; Pony said that Darry worked and never had time to do anything let alone date, and Soda had his heart broken by his last girlfriend.

We decided to set them up with each other remind them what young love feels like, first we invited Layla and Sodapop to go for a moonlight walk with us; Ponyboy and I walked ahead and left them alone, but we kept our eye on them. They started talking, laughing and smiling; it was getting cold so Soda built a fire they sat down on the grass and she snuggled close to him and he kissed her. An hour later we told them about our plan, they weren't mad in fact they agreed to help us with Darry and Katy Ann.

We had the Curtis brothers' over for lunch by then I had let Tina and Hermione in on the plan. We all mad excuses to leave the room, but we all hid and watched them. They started talking but then Nolan started crying. Katy Ann went to check on him and Darry offered to help, she started rocking him and Darry put his hands on her fore arms kind of holding her; when Nolan was finally asleep Darry still had his arms around her. Katy turned to him, looked up at him and threw her arms around his neck and their lips met, Katy Ann's foot even popped like in the movies. I gave Ponyboy a look as though I was saying mission accomplished. Everyone had been dating for months and love was in the air the whole time, Katy Ann came home once from a date freaking out because Darry had told her that he loved her, same with Layla. One day I was in our room playing with Nolan when Katy Ann came in to brush her hair and check her make up, "going out?" I asked

She turned a replied "Yep, I'm meeting Darry; he says he wants to ask me something" she took one last look in the mirror and left. I thought to myself 'Wants to ask her something' then I realized "Oh my gosh" I exclaimed happily, I guess I hear wedding bells.

A/N I wrote this last year as an English assignment, it got a 99 and my teacher told me that I should share my story so I figure I'd upload it. Hope you enjoyed it. I do not own The Outsiders' or its characters all credit goes to S. , I only own my characters.