Through The Looking Glass

Disclaimer: No, silly, I never have nor will I ever own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton owns The Outsiders. *sighs* :( I simply borrow them for my own creative enjoyment purposes.

Summary: Linda Marie Williams thinks she has everything figured out, until the hot-headed new kid, Darrel Curtis, comes to town and rocks her world. A coming-of-age story about the girl we never got to know in The Outsiders. Features excerpts from her journal.

Friday, January 1, 1943

The day is the first of January, which makes it exactly one week since my father gifted me this journal, an enjoyable gift for someone who loves to write as much as I do.

Contained in this leather-bound notebook is enough pages to last me years, and I plan to write in it as much as I can. Even as Micheal tries to interrupt me to play with him, or Robert calls me names about having a "diary" which according to him is something only girls do. Which works, because I am a girl.

I guess it would be appropriate to start off with a bit about myself. I'm sixteen, almost seventeen, and I'm in the eleventh grade. My best friend's name is Claire Blake. She's the outgoing one, while I'm more reserved and studious. She's always begging me to accompany me to parties with her, although I usually decline. Parties aren't my thing.

In terms of family, I have to brothers. The youngest is Micheal, who just turned nine, and I have an older brother named Robert, who is in the twelfth grade. He just turned eighteen, so he's an adult now. But he doesn't act like it most of the time, which gets on my nerves, but I love him anyway. He's pretty protective, and smart like Dad. The five of us live in a town right outside of Austin, Texas, and have all our lives. I couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

I have to go, I'll write more once I get some more time. Dad is calling me to start making supper.

Tuesday, January 5, 1943

I can already tell this is going to be a very eventful semester, and it's only the first day.

It all started off in second hour Chemistry. As I took my seat, in walked a muscular, unfamiliar guy in slacks and a plaid shirt. I found out later that his name is Darrel Curtis, it's his first day, and he's my new lab partner.

I'm not too sure how to feel about him. He's from some little town back in Oklahoma, and even though he's a few states over now in southern Texas, he acts like he owns the place. He has a loud mouth and doesn't seem to care too much about school, but he's nice enough to me, so I can tolerate him. I have to, being that I'm stuck sitting next to him for the rest of the year. Despite all this, at least he has better manners than half the males in my class.

"My name's Darrel Curtis, ma'am," he said politely, sticking his hand out for me to shake. Smiling, I took it as he sat down in the seat next to me.

"Looks like you have the honors of bein' partners with me," Darrel joked, giving me a wink. I rolled my eyes as the teacher began talking, but I kept stealing glances at him as he began spitting spit balls at the guy in front of us. His name's Joseph Sheldon, and although he's a class-A jerk, Darrel didn't need to be throwing spit balls. He's seventeen for crying out loud! He's going to graduate in a few months. I kept my mouth shut, however, until Mrs. Ledman yelled at him and threatened to give him the ruler. With a carefree grin, he apologized, but he sounded more fake and sarcastic than anything. When she turned her back he gave her a joking salute.

I found at later that he's a year older than me, and due to his lack of interest in school, he's in a lower level science class. Which, as Mrs. Ledman pointed out to me right before I left class, is why he's my partner. But when I had more free time, before Mom got sick, I used to tutor, so it wasn't a big deal to me. Hopefully it wouldn't be to him, either. I didn't need him mad at me for the next five months.

A/n: Hey, guys! No, I'm not abandoning my other story, but I did want to start this one. Fair warning: a few mentions of mental illness will be included. More to foment soon, and hopefully longer chapters, so I hope you guys enjoyed!

Stay Gold,

~ Alee XxX