Dally and I walked around the perimeter of an old, abandoned church, where Ponyboy and Johnny had been staying. He tapped on the wooden planks that boarded up each window. I sighed and gave him a look. "Ya know, there's probably an actual entrance," I remarked. Dally just shushed me as he started to pull off some planks on a window. I rolled my eyes and walked towards the other side of the church. I found a door on that only had one board on it, so I was easily able to pull it off. I made my way into the dirty church and found Pony and Johnny peacefully sleeping. I was shocked to see that Ponyboy now had blonde hair.

As I leaned onto one of the beams that held up the church, I had a plank being ripped off of a window. Then, Dally appeared inside of the dilapidated building. I smirked. "Told ya."

"Whatever," Dallas huffed. He rolled his eyes before turning towards the two younger boys who were still sleeping. Dally ruffled Ponyboy's hair as he woke him up, "Hey blondie."

Ponyboy stirred in his sleep before opening his eyes. "Hey Dal," he said tiredly.

"Wake up," Dallas replied, chuckling softly.

Ponyboy rubbed his eyes as he sat up on the bench he was laying on. He glanced my way and smiled. "Hey Diana. How have you been?"

I shrugged and sent him a smile back. "Pretty good," I replied simply. I was relieved and thankful knowing that Ponyboy and Johnny were doing okay. They've been alone for quite some time, so it was nice to pay them a visit. "How about you?" I asked Ponyboy. "Watch any sunsets recently?" Ponyboy laughed softly and nodded.

I watched as Dally walked over to Johnny now. "Hey Johnny, rise and shine, man," he said, waking the younger boy up.

Johnny looked more relieved to see to us than we were to see them. "Hey guys! How are ya?" He beamed. Despite what's been going on and what has happened recently, I had never see him sound so happy.

"How's Soda doing?" Ponyboy asked. "Is he pretty upset?"

"Are the fuzz after us?" Johnny chimed in. The two of them were filled with questions and talked over each other.

"Wait. One thing at a time," Dallas said, cutting them off. "Are you guys hungry? Ya wanna get something to eat cause I'm starving, man."

"You're starving?" Johnny remarked. "Try baloney for four days!" Dally and I laughed at that.

"You got a cancer stick, Johnny?" Dallas asked.

Johnny nodded. "Yeah," he said and gave a cigarette to Dallas. I pulled my lighter out my jacket pocket and lit his cigarette for him.

"I got somethin' for ya, Pony," I said, remembering the letter Sodapop had given me. I pulled it out of the pocket of my backpack and handed him the piece of paper.

"Who's this from?" Ponyboy asked.

"The president of the United States of America," Dallas remarked sarcastically.

Ponyboy rose his eyebrows and shook his head. "Yeah, right!" He claimed in disbelief.

"I'm serious, man," Dally said.

I rolled my eyes at the two of them. "It's from Soda."

"How did he know I was here?" Ponyboy asked curiously. He began to unfold the paper.

"He doesn't," I said. "Soda just wanted me to make sure this got to you."

"Hey Dal, what's going on with the cops?" Johnny asked suddenly. "Did you hear anything?" Johnny stood up as he put on a plaid flannel.

"How come you guys got hauled in?" Ponyboy added. He also put on a flannel. It was the same blue, oversized one that he was wearing the last time I saw him.

"Those boys down at the station know me by now," Dallas said. He wandered over to a broken down chair and sat on its arm. "While I was down there, they beat it out of me that you guys were—get this one—that you guys were headed for Texas, man." I laughed softly. I still couldn't believe that the police fell for that one. "Look at this guy with his hair, man. I can't believe that," Dally joked. Everyone stared at Ponyboy's hair. "Blondie, man."

"I know I look lousy, but don't rub it in," Ponyboy defended himself.

I shrugged. "I actually like it," I said. "The blonde kind of suits you." I thought that Ponyboy looked fine either way. Ponyboy sent me a small smile. "I'm just confused as to why you dyed your hair instead of Johnny, ya know." Johnny was the one who actually killed Bob, not Pony. It would've made more sense for Johnny to dye his hair. I can't even picture him with blonde hair though.

"Well, it's too late now," Ponyboy sighed. He threw on a brown jacket as he walked out of the church.

"You guys wanna get something to eat?" Dallas asked again. We all started after Pony to leave the building as well.

"Hey, you better believe it," Johnny spoke excitedly. "Let's get out of here."

»»——⍟——««

Loose strands of hair from my ponytail were whipped around in the air from the wind as Dallas drove the four of us to the nearest restaurant. It was cold but not too bad now that winter was coming to an end. I was excited for the warm weather, specifically summer. In New York, my friends and I would take a trip to the beach in Queens and try to surf the waves there. Summer was when I had the most fun with my friends in New York. There was just so much to do. Everyday was a new adventure. Now, I was excited to spend my summer with Dally. If we decide to leave Tulsa, maybe we could travel to California. I've heard great things about that place. It was another state that I wanted to visit, besides Alaska of course.

Dally's driving skills were questionable, considering most of the driving he had ever done was during races on the tracks. He drove extremely fast and ignored the other people on the road. I made sure to use the seatbelt this time.

I sat in the backseat with Ponyboy, deciding to let Johnny and Dally catch up. Pony wore a nervous expression,
most likely because of Dally's reckless driving.

"Where did you get this car?" Johnny asked.

"It's Buck's," Dally replied. Buck seemed to have a strangely large number of cars in his possession. I doubt he really owned this many vehicles.

"Dal, don't!" Ponyboy pleaded worriedly as Dallas let go of the steering wheel.

"I got it," Dally assured but I wasn't too sure that he had it though..

The car swerved a bit under the rocky road below us. Johnny's eyes widened as he turned to Dally. "What are you doing?" Johnny shouted.

I held onto the side of the car, growing a bit nervous myself as the car neared the road. In the distance, I could see a truck that we were about to hit. "Jesus Christ!" I exclaimed. I ducked my head under the seat in front of me before the collision.

Suddenly, Dallas turned the car right into a Dairy Queen parking lot. The black truck immediately hit its breaks, and the man driving shouted out his window angrily, "Jerk!"

"Are you trying to kill us?" Johnny yelled.

I felt my nerves calm down again as I slowly picked my head back up. "A blind person could drive better than you, Dal," I remarked, rolling my eyes.

Dally chuckled. "Doubt it."

After going through Dairy Queen's drive-thru and ordering food, Dally parked the car off to the side of the lot. Everyone got a burger and a soda, while I just ordered fries and a milkshake. Ponyboy and Johnny looked like starved kids as they quickly ate their food.

"That kid you killed had plenty of friends," Dally spoke up. "It's all over town. Soc against grease." After Bob's death, the feud between the two social classes became even worse than before. Fights started up all around town. I could tell that a rumble was going to happen sooner or later. "Look, I started carrying a heater." Dallas pulled out a small pistol.

"I didn't know you were carrying a gun now," I said, a bit surprised. I didn't like the idea of Dally carrying a gun around. It wasn't that I didn't trust him, I just didn't trust the weapon. When I was robbing that bank in New York and had to use a gun, it made me feel some sort of way. I felt uncontrollable..

"How else am I gonna protect you?" Dallas reasoned. I understood that he just wanted to make sure I was safe, but I know how to take care of myself. I guess he was just feel a bit overprotective now that chaos has broken out between the socs and greasers. It reality, it was everyone for themself as the fights worsened.  

"I don't need protecting," I remarked. I was perfectly capable of watching out for myself. You'd think after all this time, I'd proven to everyone that I can fight. "Carrying a blade is one thing, but carrying a gun is completely different."

Ponyboy nodded in agreement. "Dal, you kill people with heaters."

"Don't worry," Dallas sighed. "It ain't loaded anyway."

As two young kids approached the car, Dally quickly tried to hide the gun. He picked up a random pair of black sunglasses and threw them over his eyes.

"Hey, mister, do you have fifteen cents?" A little girl asked. Ponyboy and Johnny attempted to hide their faces as casually as they could by turning away. I rolled my eyes at all three of them.

"Nah, I don't have any money, man," Dallas said to the girl.

"Are you sure?" She asked. Jeez, she was persistent.

"Could you go away?" Dallas asked, becoming irritated. "We're busy here."

"Do you have a dime?" The little girl asked.

I huffed dramatically and faced the girl. "Take a hint," I spat.

The girl ignored my comment and turned to me now. "Do you have a dime?"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What is with you and dimes?" I asked sarcastically. She shrugged and I could tell she was about to ask again so I cut her off. "Fuck off, kid!" The girl's eyes widened. She quickly grabbed the other boy's hand and ran off. I turned back in my seat and gave Dally a look. "Nice disguise."

He sent me a smirk as he took off the sunglasses. "A bit harsh, don't ya think?" Dally asked, referring to my words with the little girl.

I shrugged. "Maybe just a little bit," I replied, chuckling softly. My patience was pretty much nonexistent by now.

"That was a close call," Dally said.

"Was it really?" I said sardonically. Dallas rolled his eyes at me, ignoring my sarcastic comments.

"Tim Shepard's gang and our outfit are gonna have it out with the socs in a vacant lot tomorrow night," Dally said, changing the topic of the conversation. I knew that there was going to be a rumble. Although I was looking forward to all the fighting—surprisingly—I was excited to go. Last time, I got a concussion and Dally handcuffed me onto the Curtis' fence, but he promised that he'd take me to the next rumble. "Hey, I didn't tell ya we got a spy," Dally said. I raised my eyebrows curiously. This was the first time I was hearing about this.

"A spy?" Johnny repeated. "Who?"

"Remember that redhead the night you wasted that kid?" Dally asked. Immediately, I knew exactly who he was talking about. "What's her name? Cherry something?"

"Cherry Valance," Ponyboy and I said at the same time. His response was way more excited than mine though.

"Cherry, the soc," Johnny added.

"More like Cherry, the priss," I mocked under my breath. Even though her boyfriend was killed, I still hated her. I only felt a bit of remorse towards Cherry. I just couldn't get past how fake and ignorant she was.

"She said that she'd testify that the socs were drunk, and they were the ones looking for a fight. She said that she'd say you guys just fought back strictly on self-defense," Dally explained. I was a bit shocked by this. Cherry had always been so keen on keeping her reputation in the soc world that she was rarely seen with greasers. To be sticking up for two of them by testifying against the death of her own boyfriend, was something that I didn't expect out of her. Maybe this would gain her a small amount of my respect.

"We're gonna go back and turn ourselves in," Johnny said suddenly.

Dallas gave him a look that I couldn't read. "What?" He asked in disbelief. He leaned over and tapped his ear, thinking maybe he heard Johnny wrong.

"I got a good chance of being let off easy," Johnny said. I thought that maybe that could be true, but I wouldn't risk it all just because a soc is testifying for him. "It was self-defense. You just said, Pony and Cherry could testify. Diana could too after all Bob's put her through." Dally shook his head. He was becoming frustrated by Johnny. "We won't say that you helped us. I'll give you back that gun, so you won't get into any trouble, Dal."

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Dallas asked. "This is what you really wanna do?" I could tell that he didn't support this idea, but I think he just wanted to make sure that there was no chance Johnny could be charged with Bob Sheldon's murder. I could see both of their perspectives, but I felt like there was hope that Johnny would be okay in the end.

"Yeah, I'm sure, man," Johnny exclaimed. "It ain't fair for Darry and Soda to worry about Ponyboy all the time.. I guess my folks aren't worrying."

"Hey, man, the boys are worried," Dally reasoned with him. "Did you know that Two-Bit wanted to go to Texas to hunt for you?"

"Dallas," Johnny sighed. "I asked if my parents asked about me."

"No, they didn't ask about you!" Dallas snapped. "Do you think my old man gives a hang if I'm dead in a car wreck or drunk or in jail or something?"

"Dal, don't take it there," I warned. He was starting to scare Johnny a bit.. and me too. I didn't want to think about our careless parents, or how no one would care about us if something terrible happened.

"Oh, come on, Diana," Dallas huffed. "You said it yourself, your mom's just a drunk. She never cared about you and she still doesn't." I glared at him, completely taken aback by what he had said. What he said was true and I did say that but the truth still hurt. My mother never cared about me, but there wasn't a day where I wished things could have been different. I could keep up my walls and tough front, acting like nothing ever bothered me, but deep down I knew that my life was a mess. "It doesn't bother me none, so I don't know why it bothers you two."

I wasn't sure why the mention of my mother bothered me now all of a sudden. She was never there for me. There was not a single moment in my life where she cared, but I didn't need someone else telling me something I was already well aware of. I didn't like how Dally brought my own personal life into the conversation. "Ya know what," I said, still keeping my eyes narrowed at Dallas. "Screw you."

Without much thought, I hopped over the car door and started walking away. "Diana!" Dallas called after me. "Where are you going?"

"Wherever I want!" I shouted back. I didn't turn around as I left my boyfriend and two friends. I just needed some space. All of the stress of my own situation, along with Ponyboy and Johnny's problem now, is just weighing down on me. Just when I thought I could let go of all of everything, I'm being pulled back down again.

"Can you come back to the car?" Dallas called out again. "Please?"

"Don't go!" Ponyboy exclaimed.

"Yeah, come on, Diana!" Johnny added.

I ignored their shouts of protest and just kept walking away. Maybe if I walked long enough, I would be able to leave my problems far behind me. At least, that was what I was hoping for.