ETHEREAL | OUTSIDERS

･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ sᴇᴠᴇɴ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

♪ : sunday best — surfaces

❝ but you gotta know it'll all be fine. ❞

"ELLIE, ITS TIME to wake up." Ponyboy lightly shook me to wake me up, paired with his sleepy voice. I could tell that he also had just woke up, now trying to wake me up. I groaned because of how tired I was.

"Mhm, yeah I'm awake." I muttered to him, then I turned to face him. His hair wasn't greased back, so it looked soft and fluffy. I smirked at the sight, then giggled quietly.

"What is it?" He asked in confusion, his voice still sounding groggy.

"Oh, nothing." I hinted at, while messing up his hair.

"Oh shut up." He smirked, and grabbed my hand. He then messed up my hair as well, then got up. I realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt and turned a shade of pink. He obviously wasn't as muscular as Darry, but did have toned abs.

I got up as well, walking out of his room. I saw the whole gang at the house, and I looked at the clock which read 12:11 pm. I guess Ponyboy and I were asleep for a long time.

"Hey, what'd you in bed with Ponyboy?" Two-bit asked teasingly. I could feel myself turning red already, so I cupped my face to slightly cover the red emerging onto my cheeks.

"Nothin', just slept." Ponyboy spoke, walking out with his messy hair, sweatpants, and still no shirt. His appearance didn't help my redness, so I looked down, making my hair cover my face.

"Hey Darry, is it okay if I sleep here for a few days? I just don't want to go back to my mom and you know-" As soon as I started to ramble on, he stopped me.

"Of course, El. You're always welcome here." He softly spoke, looking towards me. I smiled back and thanked him. After a while he spoke loudly, directing to everyone.

"Alright, we're leaving to the lake in about 15 minutes guys. Hurry up and get ready to leave, El do you have any clothes?" Darry asked, turning around to me. I shook my head, and was thinking of what to do.

"We can stop by your house, get some clothes for the lake and when you're staying at our house." Darry replied, relieving me. I did have to sneak in though, my mom would never let me leave the house again from how I ran away from her.

We all loaded in two cars, one was a car Dallas borrowed from Buck, and another was Darry's truck. I was in Darry's truck with Ponyboy, Johnny, and Sodapop. We stopped by my house, so that I could sneak in by my window. I climbed up to my window, and quickly changed into a bikini, and layered a shirt and some shorts on top. I also packed a backpack with some extra clothes and some sanitary items, like a toothbrush, some face wash, and some makeup.

I jumped down from my window onto a small roof-like platform, and jumped down from that too, running back to Darry's truck. We then drove off to the lake. Dallas, Steve, and Two-bit were already there, since they didn't have to make a stop.

Everyone was getting ready to jump in, since today was one of the hotter days. I felt a bit insecure to take off my shorts and shirt, since I only had a bikini and not a one piece swimsuit.

"C'mon, it's pretty hot, you should go in." Sodapop said, motioning me to come over. I nodded and started to take off my shirt and shorts, then I put my hair up into a ponytail. I spotted everyone but Darry whispering to each other, then walking over to me.

"Oh, no no no." I said while shaking my head, then running off. It was kind of hard to run off because there were six guys chasing me, and at least one had to be faster than me. Ponyboy ended up catching me, being the track star that he is, and held me in place so that I couldn't keep running. After the rest of the guys caught up, Dallas and Sodapop grabbed me and threw me into the lake.

I wiped my face off, which was now completely wet along with my hair. I splashed water at them as they jumped in as well. We played in the water for about an hour, until we got out to dry ourselves off. I wrapped a towel around my body and sat in between Johnny and Sodapop. That's when my mind started to run.

I really was thankful for this group that I had found, and I know I say this a lot. These people are so kind to me and accepting, even though I feel as if I'm a burden on them. Like how Darry is letting me stay over and how Ponyboy helped me calm down. I never thought I would ever be extremely happy. Although I am sad or feeling down a lot of the time, but I do have my happy moments. It made me come to the conclusion that there will be hard moments at times, but you gotta know it'll all be fine.