Something New: Ponyboy edition
Note: Hey, this is my first "Outsider" fanfiction! In this story, Ponyboy meets a new girl at school, and quickly falls for her...problem is, she's black, and interracial relationships are looked down upon at this time in Tulsa. What will happen to them?
Disclaimer: I, of course, am not S.E. Hinton, so I, of course, do not own "The Outsiders"
Note # 2: Sorry for the title of my fic. Couldn't think of anything better. Oh, and Johnny and Dallas are not dead!
Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1967...
(Pony's POV): This was going to be the worst day of my life. The first day of the new school year. I was starting 10th grade today, along with my buddies Johnny and Two Bit Matthews. Man, how many times is that for Two Bit? He's been in high school for four years, and he's only in the 10th grade! I don't ever say anything, though, because Two Bit would put a mighty fine hurting on me if I did.
Anyway, what was going to be so bad about this year? Well, Darry has been ridin me hard to get more than great grades this year, and I all 10th graders have this big test we had to do, and pass, to graduate...even though, if we fail, we can do it over. But Darry, as soon as he heard about this test, he told me I gotta pass it the first time around less college recruiters catch that and regard me as stupid or somethin. Well, I got a whole year to learn what I need to know for the test, so I guess it isn't TOO bad...I guess it's because I don't have any classes this year with Johnny or Two Bit, and knowing my rotten luck, I'll get stuck in classes with a bunch of Socs. Hopefully, some of my middle class school friends will be in there. I know a few guys that aren't Greasers or Socs, and they are pretty cool. I just don't hang out with them outside school.
Soda dropped me off on the way to work with Steve. I insisted on walking, but Soda, being my always caring brother, overtly insisted that I ride with him and Steve. Steve didn't like that too much. We aren't the best of buds. He thinks of me as a little kid and tag along, even though I'm fifteen going on sixteen. Steve thinks the same of Johnny...I think. I got up to the front of the school where Two Bit was already trying to hit it up with some girls. I don't know what he said to them, though, because after standing a ways back and watching him talk to the girls for about thirty seconds, one of them seemed to get...ah, angry, and slapped him in the face. They stormed off, and he stood there dumbfounded for a second, then just started laughing. That's Two Bit for ya. I couldn't help but smile as I walked up to him.
"Hey, Pony! Good to see ya here!" Two Bit said loudly as I came up to him. He threw his arm around my neck when I got close enough. "Ready for a new year of...uh, learning, I guess?"
"Not really. I don't have any classes with you or Johnny this year." I said with a sigh. Two Bit had a fake grimace, and I knew he was about to crack a joke.
"Well, look at it this way...maybe you'll get new friends!" He said with a laugh, then added "maybe even with some Socs!"
"Shut up, man." I said with a laugh of my own. We walked inside the school itself, and started looking for Johnny. We passed up some of the middle class guys we know, and we stopped a few minutes to talk with them. After a minute, Two Bit happened to look down the hall, and saw Johnny; but, it was already trouble. Johnny was walking down the hall alone, and a few Socs were behind him, and we could see they were messing with him.
"Pony, we gotta go help out Johnnycake real quick." Two Bit said. We bid farewell to our friends, and walked down the hall towards Johnny. He looked up and saw us, and I saw suddenly get a hopeful grin. The Socs saw us and stopped in their tracks.
"Having any trouble, Johnny?" Two Bit said, his eyes on the leading Soc behind Johnny.
"No...not yet." Johnny said quietly. Johnny turned to face the Socs, and we three focused on the eyes of the Socs. There were four of them, but that wasn't any trouble for us.
"You wouldn't wanna get into trouble the first day, would you greaser?" The leading Soc sneered. He was talking to Two Bit, I knew that for sure. "Wouldn't be the first time, would it?" He jeered at Two Bit. Two Bit was starting to get angry, I could tell. Two Bit is pretty tuff about ignoring taunts, though. He was just wanting to defend Johnny, not start anything. Two Bit stared down that Soc, though. After a mintue, the Soc backed down.
"Come on, guys. Let's hit it." He said to his friends. They walked away, looking at us with distain in their eyes. Two Bit breathed easy, as did Johnny.
"Well, that didn't go too bad, did it now?" Two Bit said in his usual good attitude. A smile crept across Johnny's face. Two Bit could lighten anybody up, even Darry and Dally. A bell rang, which meant we had only five minutes to get to class.
"Whoopsie! Well, we better get hopping. Johnnycake and I got our first class together." Two Bit said. I rolled my eyes.
"Lucky you guys. Well, I got to get halfway across the school to my first class, so I'll catch you guys later." I said. Johnny and Two Bit headed off one way, and I the other. I had to pratically run around six halls to get to my first class, which was English. I got to the door, and skid to a halt in front of it. The hall floors were kinda slippery! My teacher was the same English teacher I had last year, Mr. Bassett. He smiled as I skid to his door.
"Well, Mr. Curtis, good to see you this year again. And you made it by thirty seconds," he told me, checking his watch. I couldn't help but smile. "Go ahead and find a seat inside, sir," he said with a smile of his own. I walked inside, and saw one of my middle class friends, Jeremy, sitting near the back. My smile faded pretty fast, though. I looked over and saw TWO of the Socs that were messing with Johnny just a few minutes earlier...and one was the guy who was trying to get Two Bit to fight. Great, I thought, just great. They saw me, too, and I saw them have these mean smirks creep on their faces. I just went and sat next to Jeremy.
"Hey, PB," he said. He usually calls me PB. I don't mind it too much; reminds me of that British gas station.
"Hey, man. So, you had a good summer?" I asked.
"Yeah, just a bit bo..." Jeremy was cut off by the bell. And we knew to be quiet when the bell rang, cause Mr. B was tough on us being quite when it rang.
"Ok, I am glad to see everyone on time. I am Mr. Rick Bassett, your teacher. Some of you have had me before and some of you are new, so I'll just pass out some information sheets for you to fill out so I can learn more about you." He passed out some sheets all around, the same sheet we get every year in every class from every teacher. You could practically close your eyes and fill it out. It had questions like "what is your name" and "how old are you" and questions I never understood why they ask like "what is your favorite movie". Well, I just focused on the sheet and started filling it out. A minute into doing it, there was a knock at the door. Everyone just glanced up but quickly went back to the sheet, including me. Mr. B opened the door and I heard him quietly talk to someone. Then I heard a girl's voice. It was really sweet sounding. I glanced up when I heard the voice and looked toward the door, but went back to my sheet. I heard Mr. B invite the person inside. I suppose she's a new student. I looked up when she came in, and looked back down at my sheet...but quickly looked up again.
Alright, I have seen some good looking girls before, but man oh man, you should have seen this girl! My eyes kinda opened up wide; I couldn't help it! She was absolutely beautiful! She was 5'2, great looking slender body, black hair that went a bit below her shoulders, and...she was black. I didn't really pay attention to that fact at first. I know it sounds mighty stupid, like I would notice it right away, but, and I can't really explain it, I didn't even think about her skin color for a minute. She sat down, and I just shook my head. I mean, I am not a racist by any means, but...I mean, I don't know if I should take an interest in black girls...man, what am I talking about?! Interested?! I just saw her! I can't already be interested! I didn't realize it, but while I was sitting here thinking, I was still looking at her, and she happened to look back and see me looking at her. I blinked for a second, and then blinked again, and shook my head. She just smiled at me, and all I could manage was this stupid looking grin back. Man, I felt like an idiot! My grin was might stupid, too! She turned back around to the front before Mr. B saw us. I blinked again, and my stupid grin disappeared. I shook my head, and went back to my paper. I tried to finish writing the answer to the simple question "what is your time of year: fall, winter, spring, or summer", but couldn't! I kept glancing my eyes up to the girl. I would glance up, and down for a second, and up again, and down again, and up and down...it was getting pretty annoying. She was sitting a few rows ahead and across, so I could see her pretty good, and our class wasn't too awful big. Anyways, I finally forced my eyes back to the sheet, but I just scribbled fast in order to finish it real quick. With that thing done, I was able to just sit and look at her...now, she was turned around, but I could still see her back, and arms, and hair, and...and...and am I a pervert? I felt pretty dumb. I mean, I wasn't trying to be perverted, I just FELT that way, but...anyways, she was doing a sheet, too; after a minute, Mr. B announced it was time to be finished.
"Ok, now, I want to do something a bit different this year. This year, I want each student to pick someone in the class to "introduce" themselves to and share sheets with each other. And do TRY and share with someone you don't know. Ok, go at it," Mr. B said. I quickly jumped up and was pratically tripping over the desks to get to the girl. Jeremy tried to stop me. "Uh, PB, how bout you and me..." he said, but I shook him off. "Ah...uh, sorry man," I said. I wasn't trying to give him the cold shoulder or anything, I just really wanted to talk to that girl! I saw Jeremy shrug his shoulders and lean over to another guy, so I didn't feel too bad. I turned my attention to the girl. I came up to her side. She didn't see me at first. I just stood beside her. I didn't know what to say, so I did the dumbest thing I could do...I gave this stupid little cough and sounded like a little pipsqueak mouse or something.
"Ah...ahem," I went. Like I said, I sounded like a mouse. Man, I felt stupid again! She turned to me. Woof, that face is beautiful! And those beautiful brown eyes...wow. She just smiled at me. "Hi," she said. She had such a great beautiful voice! I stood there like a moron, staring right into her eyes. I had to blink twice to stop my gaze. "Uhm...er..hi," I said. Man, think of something else to say! "Uh, I just thought maybe you'd wanna...uh, trade papers with me or something." I said, and smiled. She smiled back. "That'll be great," she said. We handed each other our papers. Her name was Ashleigh. Cute name, I said to myself. She was fourteen, by what the paper said. I saw her look up from my paper. "Your name..." she started. I smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, it's Ponyboy. Ponyboy Curtis," I said. She smiled wider. "That's a very original and beautiful name," she said. I have to admit, I let out a sigh of relief. Some girls who learned my name in the past just laughed at me. Ponyboy ain't your regular everyday name. Neither is Sodapop. I wonder why Darry has the only..ah, "normal" name in our family. Anyway, she continued to check out my sheet. I went back to hers too. It was amazing! Her favorite book is "Gone with the Wind"! I like that one, too! I remember when Johnny and I were hiding out, and we read it in the Church. That wasn't too long ago...I saw her favorite movie. It was "The Ten Commandments" with Charlton Heston. I like that one too! Even though, I admit, I would rather have a Paul Newman movie most of the time, but...anyways, she was about to say something, when Mr. B announced it was time to sit down and that we should have had enough time to share. We exchanged papers back. She smiled at me and looked me in the eyes. "Maybe we can..uh, talk later, Ponyboy?" she said with that beautiful smile. Man, I couldn't help but smile back! "Sure, Id love to, Ashleigh," I said. I started walking back to my desk before Mr. B got mad, but I kept glancing at her. I almost tripped walking back! I kinda stumbled a little and almost fell. A few people giggled, and she did too. I hope she didn't think I was a moron. I don't think she did. I sat down, and Mr. B began talking about the class and what we would be doing, and then books were passed out down the rows...but I didn't pay attention too aweful much. I was paying attention to Ashleigh. The bell rang, and we all headed out. I deliberatly stood behind while Ashleigh was getting her things. I walked over to her, and was about to say something, but Mr. B then told me I should be getting along to my next class. I sighed and walked towards the door, still looking back at Ashleigh. She looked up from getting her book bag and smiled at me. I couldn' t help but smile back again. I got out the door, and started for my next class. It was, again, a few halls away, and I had to hurry to make it on time. As I walked, or jogged, down the halls, I couldn't get her out of my head...and that one fact kept creeping back to me...she's black. It's just an unwritten rule. A white boy like me couldn't like a black girl. I know it sounds dumb, but that's the way it is. And I don't know what a beautiful girl like her would have to do with a greaser like me anyways, so...I just shook those thoughts off and hurried to class.