Disclaimer: I do not own the Outsiders.
Dealing—Part One
Who am I kidding? thought Sodapop Curtis as he surveyed the scene laid out before him, Darry and Ponyboy are gonna crush us! Of course, Soda didn't voice his thoughts to his own team-mates, who were already looking doubtfully at their opponents. Instead, he scrambled over to them and huddled with his two buddies.
At nearly eighteen now, Sodapop still looked the same as ever—wild brown eyes, laughing recklessly at the world, long silky hair lightened by the sun and his famous grin. Movie-star handsome.
Steve Randle rolled his eyes. "What's the big plan this time, Soda?"
Soda merely grinned. "I'll take out Darry. You two can focus on Ponyboy. Think you can handle him by yourselves?"
Steve merely snorted confidently, but Two-Bit Matthews had something to say. He always had something to say. Cocking one eyebrow to emphasize his statement, he asked incredulously, "Sodapop, do you honestly think that Stevie here and I aren't able to take on a fifteen-year-old kid? I am shocked and wounded."
"Yeah, right." Sodapop couldn't wait to see their faces after Pony finished with them. They were sure in for a surprise if they thought he'd be easy to catch.
Steve strutted, cocky as always, over to his starting position. Soda let out a loud whoop and charged at his oldest brother Darrell. Unfortunately, Darry was expecting this and was ready for any attack from his younger brother. It wasn't too difficult to prepare for this, seeing as Sodapop used the same method each and every time they played football like this. But that never stopped him from trying again.
Soda rushed at Darry, the energy pumping through his body and focusing on his objective—tackling his brother for once in his life. This time he did something a little different, though—he dove for Darry's feet. Darry, realizing too late what Soda was up to, barely managed to toss the football to Ponyboy before crashing to the ground in a heap beside his triumphant brother.
"Yes!" Soda whooped, not even bothering to watch his teammates take on Pony until he saw his younger brother streaking down the lot basically unchallenged by Two-Bit, who was too darn lazy to make an attempt to stop him. Steve, flashing his useless team-mate a glare and setting a defiant expression on his face with a grim, bitter smile, stood his ground as Ponyboy charged down the field toward him.
Soda burst out laughing as Steve tried to mimic the move he'd pulled on Darry and ended up falling flat on his face. Pony, a gleeful grin on his usually anxious face, gracefully sidestepped Steve and hopped onto the touchdown mark.
Steve pulled himself up and marched over to Sodapop, who was still killing himself laughing at his team. "Aw, shut up, will ya?" Steve growled, kicking him roughly.
Ponyboy loped back over to his brothers and collapsed onto the grass beside Soda.
Two-Bit strode over and looked in disbelief at the youngest Curtis brother. "Who are you, you football genius and what have you done with our Pony?" he cried.
Soda slung his arm across his brother's shoulders and said proudly, "Two-Bit, meet my brother the track star. I don't believe you've crossed paths in football before."
"I say it again: will you shut up Soda?" complained Steve, rubbing his head.
Darry laughed at all of them. "No wonder y'all never went out for football! You're awful at making plays and as soon as ya get hurt, you sit down and cry about it!"
Soda smiled. He knew how seriously Darry took his football deep down. He knew his older brother was proud of being the best player of the gang. Or what was left of it.
They were all adjusting, but some days it just seemed to get harder instead of easier without Johnny and Dallas around. Ponyboy had taken it the worst—he still wasn't the same as he'd once been. Maybe it had all really started after their parents died. Soda wasn't sure when everything had started changing, but none of them were the same as they used to be.
"Well, I'm bored of this sitting around," Sodapop announced. "Say Darry, we got anything to eat around here?"
"You just had lunch!" Darry reminded him. Soda rolled his eyes at Ponyboy, who smiled and shook his head. At least some things never changed.
"Sure, but what does that have to do with anything?" he protested. "C'mon Dar, I'm a growing boy. 'Sides, the animals are hungry too," he pointed to Steve and Two-Bit, who were trying not to look too hopeful and greedy at the mention of food.
Darry sighed, but he was chuckling. "So now I know why they're always hanging around. All they want is the chocolate cake."
"Cake! Great idea, Darry!" Soda said enthusiastically. "Why don't I go get some?"
He jumped off the grass and headed back to the house in search of said cake. Darry noticed that his shoes seemed to have magically disappeared.
"Hey, you're gettin' those socks all dirty, Soda! Where are your shoes?" he hollered.
With a grin, Sodapop called over his shoulder, "Over there somewhere! I dunno, I kicked em off before we started the game!" Soda hated shoes.
Ponyboy grinned. So much for keeping those socks clean. They never stayed that way for long, since his older brother wore shoes as little as possible. "So I guess we win, huh Darry?" he asked.
Darry grinned. "Yeah, I guess so, little buddy." Game over, thought Ponyboy.
To Be Continued
Please review! Am I getting the characters right?