You.

Confessions.

After I kiss Pony goodnight I go home and decide to tell my dad about Pony and me since he likes him.

"Hey can I talk to you really quick?" I ask him as he watches football and he nods without looking at me.

"Well you know Ponyboy already so.. I guess that you could say that you like him, right?" I ask and he nods.

"Okay well that means that you would trust him." I continue.

"Yeah I guess." He says and I know I'm in the clear.

"So um.. I guess I should just say it. Me and Pony are going out." I tell him happily and his head snaps from the tv to me quickly.

"What did you say?" He asks, lowly and I start slowly walking to the door in case I need to make a run for it.

"Me and Pony are going out." I repeat and he stands up.

"No you're not." He says.

"Yes I am." I retort.

"No you're not because the next time I see him I'll call the police so fast they'll have handcuffs on him before he can say 'hello.'" He threatens and I shake my head.

"What are they gonna arrest him for?" I ask and he shrugs.

"I'm a thirty five year old man and you're a seventeen year old girl.. Who are they gonna believe while they're charging him with stalking?" He questions.

"He's not stalking me!" I exclaim.

"They'll believe me more than you!" He shouts.

"You may have more authority but you have a criminal record now!" I shout back and he looks pissed. Before I can even think I can't breathe.

"Don't you yell at me. I'm the adult not you." He tells me angrily as I try to pull his hand off of my throat.

"I make decisions and my decision is that you never see him again or this isn't the last harm that's coming to you." He seems to talk for as long as possible so that I pass out, which it's working. He stares at me as I squirm around in his grasp, trying to get some air.

"Do I make myself clear Annabelle? Or do I have to tell you that 'boyfriend'-" That's all I heard as my surrounding went black and all I hear is my dad's voice.

-10:38 p.m., three hours after passing out-

I wake up to the greeting of the dark ceiling and bruises on my neck. I slowly sit up and look around for my dad. I stand up and walk over to the door and open it, I wince. The cold air hurts my head.

I walk down to the Curtis household which seems to take forever, I don't know why. It's snowing and I'm not wearing a jacket. How smart am I? I knock on the door and Two-Bit answers.

"Glory kid put on a jacket once in a while!" Two-Bit exclaims as he lets me into the house and everyone stares at me.

"Where's Pony?" I ask and they all shake their heads.

"He went to a party a while ago. He's supposed to be back at eleven though." Soda tells me and I nod. They make space for me on the couch and I sit down. Everyone just kinda stares at me for a full minute before Dally finally says something.

"Now those are either bruises are hickeys and neither of them are good so tell us who we need to fight, princess." He tells me and I shake my head.

"I'm fine." I say as Soda wraps a blanket around my shoulders.

"Well are they bruises?" He asks and I sigh.

"It's really not important. I'll tell Pony and he'll tell y'all and it won't be important." I snap as I lay back and rub my temples.

"What you don't trust us or something?" He continues on and Two-Bit punches his leather jacket.

"Leave her alone." Soda orders but Dally just laughs.

"Am I not trustworthy? I can pass a lie detector test just fine." He says and I try not to focus on him.

"If you don't believe me we can take this down to the boys at the station and they can prove that I'm the most trusting guy around." He jokes and everybody laughs except me.

"Seriously kid tell us what happened." He orders seriously but I shake my head.

"It's none of your business." I snap and he just laughs.

"I think you're underestimating me. Everything that goes on in this damned town is my business now you might as well tell us before we have to read it from your obituary in the paper because that's where you're gonna end up if you don't let us help you." He tells me and I finally look at him.

"You're scaring her Dallas." Steve says protectively but I just shake my head. I laugh and I question if I've gone insane.

"You want to know what happened? You really do?" I ask and he nods.

"Here's what happened, okay? I finally got up enough courage to tell my dad about Pony and me. He didn't like it. So he tells me that if I don't tell him to never see me again then I'm gonna get hurt a lot more than I already have. The marks? Their bruises smart one. He tried chocking me and he won the fight. You might think that i'm weak and a baby because I can't take a couple hits but I haven't experienced this because my dad raised me to be a better person than that. The last thing I want right now is for some guy from New York, yeah Pony told me you're from New York, to tell me that I can't handle the real world." I rant and he stares at me.

"Smart girl." He mutters as he smirks and goes back to watching tv.

After a while Pony finally stumbles into the house, laughing. He stumbles around for a while before he looks at me.

"Hey you're that one girl what's her name? What's her name?" He snaps his fingers and I stare at him.

"Are you drunk?" Steve asks and Pony laughs.

"Are you drunk?" He laughs, holding onto 'you' for a really long time. We all look at each other for a really long time, debating on what to do. Darry is gonna be home soon and he's gonna be pissed.

We we're quietly figuring out a plan when we hear a noise. We all turn to see Pony passed out on the ground and we all sigh. We get Pony to the couch, only because Soda wanted the bed to himself for the night, and that was it. I laid down next to Pony and hoped that he would have a really big hangover because karma is a bitch.