Chapter One
Disclaimer - I do not own The Outsiders.
This fic is being posted as part of "Good Fic Day," an effort to raise the quality of writing here. We hope to encourage more writers to improve the quality of their own fan fiction - spell check, grammar check, keep the gang in character, outline, plot and don't use Mary Sues. Good fan fiction requires effort, and we would like to encourage other writers to rise to the challenge of producing better fan fiction, not only for our readers, but for S.E. Hinton, who created the wonderful book we are trying to honour.
XxXx
Curly Shepard stood at the end of Trenton Avenue staring across the expressway that separated the two worlds that existed in his town. The south side, with it's big houses, expensive cars, and spoiled kids, and the north side, with it's run down houses, stolen cars, and juvenile delinquents. Curly stood on the north side.
He didn't watch the south side with envy or jealousy, as some people in his position might, because he didn't want to be like the people over there. No, instead he stared across the expressway with hate-filled eyes. He hated the south side and everyone who lived there, for the mere fact that they were from the south side. South-siders, or Socs as they were called, lived and breathed for the sole purpose of making life hell for north-siders, or greasers. At least, that's the way it seemed.
Curly turned and made his way deeper into the north side, his footfalls the only sound in the deserted neighbourhood. It was about ten minutes before he reached the tracks where he took a left. He followed the train tracks until he came to the familiar break in the trees that lead to Easton Street and home.
He hadn't even reached the small house in the middle of the street when the shouts reached his ears. He thought about turning around and going somewhere else, anywhere else, but he had no where to go and no money to get there, so he continued.
As he began up the front walkway, the door banged open and a girl, Curly's sister, stormed her way out of the house. "Where you goin'?" he called after her.
"Aw, whatta you care?" she yelled over her shoulder as she crossed the lawn.
He just watched her go. He considered calling out to her again, but he knew it wouldn't make a difference, it never did. She never listened to him. She never listened to anyone except Tim. But Curly wasn't Tim - not even close. As much as he wanted to, he would never be like Tim.
Tim was cool and collected all the time. Tim could lead a gang into battle and come out on top. Tim held the respect of almost everyone on the north side, and those who didn't respect him, feared him.
Curly didn't hold that kind of power over people. Curly was just dumb.
He continued up the front walk, slowly climbing the porch steps when he reached them. He pushed the screen door open and was suddenly in the middle of a war zone. His step-father was bellowing. His mother threw something that exploded into a million pieces as it hit the wall. Curly cringed, they already had next to nothing, the last thing they needed was his mother destroying things.
He looked up as Tim came out of his bedroom at the back of the house. "Hey, Tim," he called over the commotion.
"Hey, kid," his brother replied without even looking up. Curly ducked around his mother and joined Tim in the kitchen.
"So, what'cha doin' tonight?" he asked, trying to sound casual.
Tim gave him a sideways glance, obviously not fooled by Curly's tone. "Me and the boys got somethin' planned."
"Yeah? What?" Curly mentally kicked himself for sounding so eager.
Tim shook his head. "You ain't comin', kid."
"Aw, c'mon, Tim, why not?" Curly hated how whiny he sounded.
"'Cause I said so, that's why," his brother replied as he ducked his head into the fridge, coming out a second later with a bottle of beer in his hand.
Curly sighed as he dropped into one of the kitchen chairs. There was no one in the world he looked up to more than Tim, though he'd never admit it. And he loved being a part of the Shepard gang. Being in the Shepard gang gave him a sense of pride and entitlement, it gave him power, it made people look at him differently.
But Tim saw him as nothing more than a bother. He got in the way too much and was next to useless for anything besides a brawl. And Tim did a lot more than just brawl. Curly didn't have the brains to keep up and everyone knew it.
When Curly looked back up, Tim was staring at him with an unreadable expression. The two boys did look a lot alike, it was obvious they were brothers. They had the same blue eyes and greased back brown hair. They were both good looking, and they knew it, though Curly seemed to have more trouble attracting girls. He attributed this to his intelligence.
"What?" Curly asked, starting to feel uncomfortable under his brother's gaze.
Tim took a long drink from the bottle in his hand. "Curly, you can't come."
"Yeah, you said that already," Curly replied, a slight edge of anger in his voice.
"I know, but you still want to." Tim was completely calm, as always.
"Why can't I come? What is it that you're doing that I can't know about?" Curly pressed, desperate to have his brother involve him in some way.
Tim sighed. "Where'd Angel go?"
Curly almost growled as his brother changed the subject. "I dunno. She don't tell me nothin'. Probably got it from you." Curly rose from his chair and made his way for the front door again.
"Where you goin'?" Tim called.
"I dunno," Curly yelled over his shoulder. "Thanks to you I don't got no plans for the night. Hell, I can do anything I want."
He was out the door before Tim could get another word in. Tim was going to be busy with the boys tonight; that took most of the guys he hung around with out of the running. He decided to go over to the Curtis place, hunt up Ponyboy. He was an alright kid. Maybe they could get into some trouble.
It didn't take Curly long to get to St Louis Street and as he neared the Curtis house he could see Pony sitting on the front porch with the Cade kid and some chick he didn't know. She had long brown hair and green eyes. She was wearing a skirt that was too long for Curly's liking, it went all the way down to her feet, which were bare, he noticed. She wore a form fitting t-shirt with a pink heart on it. She wasn't bad looking at all. Curly decided he might not need Pony to be able to have fun tonight.
