A/N

I have no excuse for this very, very late update, and for that, I apologize. Please do not hunt me down because of my laziness and neglect. Please enjoy my attempt at a piece offering.

Kudos to those who will have a vague notion of what's going on in this chapter, but don't give it away in the reviews, please :)

It was the day before the start of school, and Two-Bit and the gang were going to take the time to enjoy it thoroughly. They all piled into Darry's truck and drove down to a lake that was just out of town. They had had Elizabeth gather bunches of food into a basket to snack on when they started to become hungry, and plenty of beer (it's five o' clock somewhere) for those of the group Darry thought of as "old enough," which basically meant anyone could have some as long as your name was not Ponyboy or Johnny.

It only took five minutes for the first water fight to break out, an twenty minutes for it to end. (What happened was Steve accidently splashing Dally, who specifically said to leave him out. Dally chased Steve around for maybe five minutes as everyone else watched, laughing as Steve called for help.)

(Yes, they all were a bit sadistic.)

After Dally was done with nearly drowing Steve, they all sat down for lunch, and discovered that Elizabeth had packed them chocolate cake for their meal. Various cheers went up, all praising the greatness that was Mrs. Curtis, and they all ate happily. Their ecstasy continued all throughout the remainder of the day, laughter ringing everywhere around them. When the clock hit six, Darry made them all load into the truck and drove them back into town, as he was the only one that was sober-he didn't miss seeing Soda sneak a beer to Johnny, who got his license just a week ago. One by one, they were all dropped off at whatever place they were staying that night.

When Two-Bit was dropped off, he walked into the kitchen, wanting just a snack so he could go to bed early for a hopefully restful sleep. To his surprise, his dad and Mark Jennings, another greaser that bummed around with the Douglas family.

"Uh, dad?" He didnt know he spoke until they looked up at him.

Mark quickly put his hands in his pockets and slouched, looking very suspicious to Two-Bit. He raised his eyebrow in askance. "What is Jennings doing here?"

"I was asking him if he could fix your truck," his dad said smoothly, copying his son's movement with his eyebrow. "I heard he was good with cars."

Good at stealing them, maybe,Two-Bit thought to himself. Everyone knew that not only was Mark Jennings a hustler, but he took cars for joyrides, too.

"Yeah, he was," Mark said, bringing his hand up to scratch at his golden hair. "I told him I'd take a look at it."

"You think you can fix her?" Two-Bit asked.

"Maybe," Mark said, letting his hand fall, "I'll see what I can do."

"Right," Two-Bit snorted, and then grabbed an apple from a bowl on the table. "I'm going to bed." He didn't wait for response and just quickly left for his room.

At the doorway to his room, his sister stood with her arms crossed. "They tell you they were talking about your truck?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"You believe them?"

"Not at all."