The Outsiders: A Girl in the Gang

Chapter 20- The End

Note to Readers:  Sorry it took so long, but here's the last chapter.  Hope you like the ending, please comment and tell me what you think!  Also, please check out my new fanfic, Quiet As A Mouse and tell me what you think!

        "I knew it!" someone shouted from behind us.

        Pony and I whipped around to see Sodapop and all the guys gathered around the door, listening to our conversation through the screen door.

        I was going to kill them, I thought as I glared at them, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Ponyboy's whole face flush bright red.

        I wondered how much they'd heard, but before I had a chance to ask, Two-Bit jeered, "Ha!  You owe me ten bucks, Steve!"

        Now I was mortified.

        "You actually bet on us getting together?" Pony asked, shocked.

        For some reason, I wasn't surprised, but I was mad.

        Johnny was smiling slightly, but I could see a look of triumph in his eyes.  Two-Bit, with his palm outstretched, had such a huge grin on his face I thought his head would split in half.  Steve was unsuccessfully trying to look depressed and hide a smile as he handed over a crumpled five and some ones to Two-Bit.

        Soda, also grinning, jeered, "What did I tell you?" at Pony, who was embarrassedly staring at the ground.

        Darry grinned, ruffling Ponyboy's hair, and said, "I knew it'd happen someday."

        But Dally was glaring at me and Pony, a frown on his face.  Oh shit.  I knew this was going to happen.

        As everyone else started going back into the house, the drama of Ponyboy finally asking me out officially over, I caught Dally glaring menacingly at Pony.  He shrank away from Dally's steely gaze, a quick look of apologetic, sympathetic, and mortified understanding crossing his face before the screen door slammed shut.

        As I started for the door, hoping to escape the conversation I was about to have with Dally, he stepped in front of me, blocking my path, and said sternly, "I need to talk to you."

        I glared at my brother, not saying anything.

        Dally sighed and then asked, "He seriously asked you out?"

        He didn't seem all that mad, not yet, and it was weird.  I was wondering if I had missed something that there was currently not a screaming match going on between us, but I just retorted, "No, we were practicing for a rendition of Romeo and Juliet."

        Dally glared at me. Well, he was mad now.  This I could deal with.

        "You'd better watch it, Tara," he threatens.

        I roll my eyed, annoyed.  I may be able to handle him yelling at me a lot better than him asking about my, until just recently, non-existent love life, but I was still sick of it.

        "Watch what?" I asked, my voice rising.  "Honestly, what do you think will happen between Pony and I?  You should know both of us well enough to have figured out that this won't be one of those treacherous heartbreaking scandals in movies!  We haven't even gone on a date yet, so just cool it Dal!" I shouted accusingly.

        Dally just looked at me, his face expressionless.  Without saying anything, he just stared at me, long enough that it was starting to creep me put.

        Finally, he said, "I don't trust him."  His voice was even, like he was stating a fact and knew he was right.

        What? A confused look crossed my face, he and Ponyboy had been friends forever.  How could he not trust him?  But then again, this is my brother we're talking about.  It was probably more of a matter of him not trusting me than Pony.

        "Just-" he starts but then stops, getting mad again.  He jabs a finger at me and shouts, "If he does anything to hurt you, I'm gonna beat the shit out of him, all right?"

        I smirked at him, figures that he'd be worried about that.  "You might want to save the death threats for him then," I replied, only slightly worried about the safety of my sort-of-maybe-boyfriend.

        Dally stared at me, shocked by my smart-ass response to his blow-up, most likely, but then grinned.  "You might be right on that one," he says, not even mad anymore.

        That was definitely weird, it was probably the first actual conversation I'd had with my brother that didn't involve too much screaming.

        "Wow, he does have a brain," I say monotonely, entirely sarcastic.

        "You're the craziest kid I've ever met," Dally says with a shake of his head.

        "Look who's talking. And don't call me kid," I replied evenly.

        I headed back in the house, and Pony snapped his attention to me with a nervous expression on his face the minute I walked in the door.

        Before I could say anything though, Dally pushed past me and went around the back of the couch, and said in a low but loud voice, "You do anything to hurt her, and you won't live past fourteen," he threatened Ponyboy.

        A scared look emerged on Pony's face, but it changed to surprise and confusion after Dally said, "Be good to my sister, all right kid?" in his normal voice and knuckled Pony's head, messing up his hair.

        Ponyboy turned to me with a confused do-you-know-what-the-hell-is-going-on-here look.

        I shrugged and plopped down next to him on the couch and said, "It looks like he isn't going to kill us yet."

        Pony grinned, and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw Johnny trying to hide a hint of a proud smile on his face.