Marie and Mr. Darksme load Randy into the car and Mr. Winston drives them away.
"Hey lovebirds!" Two-Bit calls. We pull away. "Sorry, did I ruin the moment?"
"Kinda," I reply. "What's going on?"
"Umm, I spy a blonde." Two-Bit says humorously.
I look where's he's looking. I wriggle out of Pony's arms, give him a quick peck on the cheek and run to the figure. "Tiffany?" I ask.
"I'm back!" she squeals and give me a hug. "So tell me! What's been going on?" I lead her to DX. "Wait? Is this blood?" she kneels down to examine the blood on the concrete.
"Yeah." I say, standing above her. "I got into a fight right before you showed up."
"Really?" Tiffany asks, standing up and brushing off dust from her shorts. "You didn't get hurt, did you?"
"No." I shake my head. "He got pretty beat up. I cut his face with my switch." I throw my knife in the air. Tiffany screams as I catch it and return it to my pocket.
"Don't ever do that." Tiffany gasps. "I could get killed!"
"Relax," I smirk. "Come on, I'll introduce you to the gang. But they don't know that I'm from the-"
"I know," she says. "Hey!" she greets them.
"This is a friend of mine, Tiffany." I tell the gang. "She's been here before, and I told her-"
"She tells me a bunch about you all." Tiff interjects. "I'm surprised that there aren't any girls around here. Unusual, don't you think?"
"Yeah." Steve says. "Usually they're all over him." He winks at Soda.
"So what happened? Why is there blood over there?" Tiffany asks.
"Care to explain?" Steve shoots me a look.
"Marie kidnapped me to New York and she . . . well, I . . . Randy . . ." A shudder goes down my spine. "I don't like to talk about it." I say quickly. My mind flashes back to when Randy kissed me. I shiver.
"Are you cold?" Pony whispers in my ear.
I sit down. "I just don't like to talk about New York. It's too many bad memories."
"I know!" Cherry exclaims suddenly. "Why don't we go camping! Tiffany, you could come!"
"Good idea." I reply. "When was the last time we had any fun?"
"Too long." Soda says.
"Tomorrow?" Emily suggests. "We can bring the kids and I know a great place. It's near this lake."
"Tomorrow?" Tiffany asks.
"Spontaneous." I say. "I like it. All in favor?" I raise my hand along with the rest. I set it down. "All opposed?" No one raises their hand.
"What about Darry?" Pony asks.
"He's going out with Ivy tomorrow. I don't think he'll mind." Soda says.
"Okay. We'll meet here two o'clock?" Emily asks.
"Okay." I reply and take a deep breath.
"Ahhh!" Tiffany screams. "Help me!" she throws a pillow at me.
"What?" I groan. "Aren't you going to pack?" I'm standing in front of my closet and trying to find what to pack. It's for a whole weekend . . .
"I'm trying to! But I don't know! I can't pack anything . . . because . . . I'm . . ." Tiff's voice trails off.
"Oh Tiffany," I groan. "Are you on your period?"
"NO!" Tiffany protests. "No, I'm not on my period! I mean I don't know the style here 'cause I'm from the 21st century!"
"Okayyy." I say. "Well, what do you want to focus on?"
"Swimwear. Show me what ya got." Tiffany demands. I show her everything. And finally, finally we get packed Tiffany packed up.
"What about you?" Tiffany asks.
"Um . . ." my voice trails off. "Well, I don't know. I just have to organize it."
Tiffany gets up. "Let me check. I am a fashion expert!" She gets up and runs her tiffany blue nails through my suitcase. "Okay, you're good."
We all meet up at the DX the next day.
"Ready?" Cherry asks.
"Ready." We reply. As I drive, Tiffany pulls out some CDs and a CD player attached to a speaker. "What is that?" I ask. Tiffany doesn't reply. She just slides it in, presses play and presses the skip button until it lands on the song of her choice. I smile as I recognize the vocals. "My Inside Out album!" I exclaim. "How did you know?"
"I remember when you told me that you were playing Christine and I remembered your Emmy Rossum albums." Tiffany informs me. We sing along to some of our favorite songs, like A Million Pieces, Slow Me Down, Been Too Long, and Anymore.
"Wait," I ask Tiffan in the middle of the replay of Slow Me Down, "When did you like Emmy Rossum?"
"A few years back. I just never told you. Her voice has that warm, soothing tone." Tiffany replies.
We drive on for the next fifteen minute until we reach the site. "I think this is it." I say.
"Hey! It's Cherry and Dally." Tiffany points out an arriving car.
"Hey." Cherry says, getting out.
"How'd you get here before us?" Dally asks.
"Hey big bro!" Emily calls as they come in her red truck. Johnny and Piper come out and wait.
"That makes six of us." I comment. I put up the cover and lock my car. "I'm walking out to the lake." I walk to the lake and jump on the rocks. It's almost evening and the sun's about to set. "Nature's first green is gold . . ." I whisper silently and walk back. Everyone else has arrived and I help Tiffany set up the tent. It's supposed to hold eight people, but Tiffany insists that it meant two girls. And I can see why. Tiffany loves her makeup. And her space. If that's one thing we have in common before time travel, it's our love for space. And big houses.
"Hey," Emily peeks in. "We have the bonfire going."
"Great." I reply. "Why don't you go Tiffany?"
"Okay," Tiffany says and exits. I close all windows in the tent and pull off my sweater which reveals a high-cut tank top. I pull on a hoodie, grab my polaroid and walk out. Our tent is farther from the circle and you can get out without being seen. I walk over to the part of the lake that's rocky and look for a tree to climb. I find the right tree and and make my way up. I sit atop a high limb and sigh. The sunset looks better from up high than on the ground. "Stay gold," I whisper to myself, fingering my necklace. I feel slight tears. That was the saddest part of the movie. But then, the real Outsiders don't look anything like the movie. I lean my head back and close my eyes. "Nature's first green is gold . . ." I say and open my eyes. I watch the sun sinking. The blur of purple, gold, red, orange, pink and white. Perfect for a picture. I raise my camera and snap a few pictures. I slip them into my pocket and just breathe watching the sunset. "Even the best days have their sunsets," I quote from a picture I saw on the internet once. "But that's the best part." I add.
"Best what?" a voice rasps, growling.
I jump and scream, falling off the branch. My hands grasp it though and I'm hanging off it. "Who is that?"
"Hello Dr. Pepper!" Soda calls cheerfully from the ground, waving my polaroid which he thankfully caught.
I look down. I look like I'm only seven to eight feet off the ground. I look up. I could climb back up . . .
"Steve!" Evie calls. "What are you-" then she spots me. "What the heck!? Why are you in a tree!?"
"I'm okay!" I call. "Just an expert tree climber!" I try to climb back up to prove it and realize my hands are tired. They start slipping . . . and slipping.
"Here!" Soda calls handing my camera to Evie. "Just let go! I'll catch you."
"Um . . . okay." I say. "Ready!?"
"Ready!" Soda calls.
I let go and fall into . . . Pony. The impact throws us backward, landing us on the grass a few feet away. "Are you okay?" I ask him.
"Fine. You?" he asks.
"I'm okay." I nod. "Well, someone left me." I glare at Soda who grins sheepishly.
"I thought you'd prefer Pony." he says with a shrug.
"I did. Thanks." I reply. Pony helps me up and kisses my cheek as a camera clicks. I blush when I realize it's my polaroid.
"Got it!" Steve says, handing it to Soda.
"What was that for?" I ask.
"Payback for what you did two years ago." Steve replies.
"Ha, ha, ha." I say sarcastically. I lunge for my camera but he swipes it away and tosses it to Soda. I lunge for Soda, tackling him and snatching my camera. "I'll take this thank you."