Janie's POV
I slammed my gym locker shut. I had just barely finished putting on my clothes. I sighed. The start of high school wasn't as elegant as I expected it to be. But on the bright side, I had at least four classes with my best friend.
I glanced over at her. She was finishing lacing up her Steve Madden boots, biting her lip and narrowing her eyes once the one minute bell rang. Our last and final class was English, and I really didn't want to be late. I hated having P.E. We only had 5 minutes to shower and get dressed. I just chose not to shower. Lottie and I hardly did anything anyway.
I grinned when Lottie stood up. She glanced at me and smiled, fixing her hair. I envied her - it was long, blonde, and thin so it was easy to style. Mine was a darker brown, thick, coarse, and heavier so it made it harder for me to style and made me sweat more during gym because it wouldn't stay up in buns or ponytails long enough.
"You didn't have to wait for me," Lottie said as we quickly rushed to our last period. It was upstairs and practically all the way across the school. I spotted a lot of other kids rushing to their next periods. I grinned at her.
"Well I wanted to. You would've done the same for me," I added as we quickly ran up the stairs. We zoomed down the hall and finally reached English class. We were panting from running and being out of shape, and almost all of the seats were filled. I glanced up at the board - the projector was illuminating a seating chart. I grinned when I saw that Lottie was sitting right behind me. But my grin faded when I realized who sat near us.
My ex-crush, Jordan Porter was sitting in front of me, whilst my guy friend, Michael Terrence to my right. The only awkward thing about it was that my other ex-friend, Marie Drake had told me that Michael and Jordan both liked me, but then she ended up saying that Jordan didn't really like me and that Michael was head-over-heels in love with me. So it was kinda awkward.
I took my seat, biting my lip as I took off my bag and set it down next to my chair. The others took their seat and I tried not to snap a stinging retort at Jordan when he scowled at me. Michael on the other hand made eye contact and grinned at me and turned around to talk to his other friends.
Lottie tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around to look at her and she gave me an awkward smile. It basically said 'don't let that jerk get to you, he isn't worthy of your attention.'
I sighed, nodding and giving her a look that said, 'thanks, I know.' I then turned back around, resisting the urge to stab Jordan's head with my pencil. Instead, I gripped it tightly and tried not to act abnormal as our new English teacher, Ms. Collins, began teaching.
I practically dozed off during the lesson, daydreaming about a different life. Not like I didn't like living in the 2013s, it's just that I wish I was born in the 1960s. Sure, back then they had troubles with smoking, and drinking and all, but at least there wasn't anything creepy like internet pedos and stuff like that. I sighed, looking to my left. A window was nearby and I found myself gazing lazily at it.
Not only did I adore the 1960s because of how "tuff" it was, but because of the lovely book The Outsiders. A lovely novel written by S.E. Hinton. It really is a work of art. I remember reading it in 8th grade with the rest of my class. At first I found it boring - just the name of it bored me - but once I started reading it, I found myself ahead of my class.
Never underestimate the saying, "never judge a book by it's cover", because it honestly is true.
Ms. Collins was going on about something I wasn't really sure about - maybe what we were gonna do for the rest of the week? - while I was still in my daydream. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Lottie was leaning down in her desk, using my back as a shield to hide that she was reading during class. I smirked, then turned back around. That was so Lottie.
I also gave up on paying attention when Jordan began to purposely block my view. He used to be one of the shortest kids in our grade in 7th and 8th, but apparently he got his growth spurt during summer because now he was like a towering building in front of me. I tried leaning to the left, but he'd look over his shoulder at me, smirk, and then lean to the left to block my view. I'd lean to the right, and he'd purposely lean to the right to block my view again. It got really annoying after a few minutes, so I just decided to give up.
I hate him. I don't understand why I ever liked him to begin with. I narrowed my eyes, huffing irritably and leaning back in my chair. Something poked my right shoulder blade and I saw Lottie hand me a note. I casually took it when Ms. Collins wasn't looking and opened it;
Class is almost over in 2 minutes. Meet me at my locker? My dad said he'll drive us home today. :) love you!
I looked back at her and grinned, nodding, and looked at the clock. She was right. Exactly 2 minutes left of school and we'd get out soon. I bit my lip, leaning forward, resting my cheek on my hand. The longer I stared at the clock, the slower the second hand seemed to be moving - and it was supposed to be the faster hand too! I groaned inwardly, resisting the urge to shout at the clock to hurry up. My gaze flickered towards the back of Jordan's head and my fingers grazed my pencil. I pulled my hand back when Jordan shifted position in his chair.
It was so tempting to stab his head. His dirty blonde hair was styled differently than usual - slightly wavy, but this time the haircut was better than usual. And he had lifted up his front bangs so it looked sort of like a quiff in a way. I rolled my eyes and huffed, blowing out as I entertained myself with a loose strand of hair. It flew up in the hair when my blown out hair would hit it. It was actually entertaining.
With one minute of class left, a note fell on my desk. I glanced down at it, and opened it. It wasn't from Lottie;
It's fun to watch you make different facial expressions. :) something wrong? maybe I could help ;)
I furrowed my brow. It wasn't from Lottie, and surely wasn't from Jordan. I glanced over to my right. Michael was focused on the last few minutes of the presentation. He ran a hand through his light blonde hair and then his gray-blue eyes flickered towards me. He smirked when he made eye contact with me and his gaze went from me, to the note, to me.
I gave a small smile, then turned the note over, writing;
Nah, everything's good. And thank you, I worked hard to get my face to look those ways.
I folded the note up and then tossed it onto his desk. He grinned, opening it and reading the message. He looked back at me, about to say something when the bell rang. Immediately everyone emerged from their desks as if there were a hurricane brewing outside. I gathered my stuff, slinging my bag over my shoulder. I looked around to see Lottie quickly bookmarking her spot in her book she was reading The Mortal Instruments. I rolled my eyes. "Isn't that your fifth time rereading it?" I asked her.
Lottie looked up, huffing. "So what if it is?" she asked. "You've never even touched the first book of this series, so you're not one to talk."
I rolled my eyes, laughing. "Oh, I'm sorry," I started as we began to walk out of the classroom. "I'll be sure to check it out at the library next time."
"That's what you said last time," Lottie groaned. "And then you insulted the picture! So what if the dude is shirtless! Don't judge a book by its cover!"
I laughed. Was it coincidental that I was thinking about that saying earlier? "Fine, fine, I promise the next time we go to the library, I will check it out."
We exited the classroom, walking down the crowded halls to mine and Lottie's lockers. Since our last names began with J and L, our lockers were pretty close. I left Lottie at her locker, and headed to mine. I pulled out my math binder, then closed the locker, heading back towards Lottie's. She grinned at me, taking out her math binder as well. First day of school and we already got our gym clothes and had to do athletic stuff, and we had math homework. Luckily I had both P.E. and math with Lottie, so it was fine.
"My dad just texted me that he talked to your mom and she said it's fine that you come over to my house for a little while," she said as we began walking towards the exit. "My dad's gonna be a little late though since he's coming and getting us right after his work."
I shrugged. "It's fine," I said.
Lottie sighed as we walked into the fresh salty air of Utah. She groaned. "Ugh, sometimes Utah is lovely, and then other days it stinks like horrible pollution."
I sniffed the air. It was salty, and mucky. Obviously coming from the lovely Great Salt Lake. I nodded in agreement. "It's terrible. I hate it when the air smells like this."
We sat on the steps of the school, waiting for Lottie's father. Almost all of the kids were gone, and his car was nowhere in sight. I groaned, leaning back on my hands. The sun was in my eyes and I squinted. I saw kids walking back to their homes, and others getting into their cars.
"Lottie, when exactly does your dad's work end?" I asked.
Lottie shrugged. "Soon," she answered.
I looked at her. "You're telling me that you don't know?"
"Sorry! But Dad texted me that he would be early this time!"
"Lottie, tell me, how early is early for your Dad?"
Lottie groaned. "I'm really sorry, Janie. We should've carpooled with your mom."
I shrugged. "It's fine. At least your dad doesn't yell at us to finish our homework straight away."
Lottie nodded. "Yeah."
Silence followed. We were practically the last ones on school grounds. Except for teachers, and maybe a few students staying in late for after-school tutoring. I sighed, getting up. Lottie looked at me. "Where are you going?" she asked as I started for the school door.
"Back inside. I left my book in my locker. I want to be able to read something while we wait," I said, heading into the building. I heard Lottie's hurried footsteps behind me as she rushed after me. I reached my locker, doing the combination and opening it. I took the book, then turned to Lottie, who gave me a look.
"Really? Outsiders? Again? Are you kidding me?" Lottie asked as we headed back outside. I looked at her, glowering as I sat back down and opened the book.
"It's really good! Not like you would know," I huffed irritably. Lottie sighed.
"It just doesn't look interesting..."
"Who's the woman that just told me "Don't judge a book by its cover."?" I demanded, laughing slightly, looking up from the first page to give her a disappointed look. "I expected more from you, Lottie, I honestly did."
Lottie groaned. "I just don't want to read that book, is my opinion really that invalid?"
I laughed, then pretended to be angry at her again. "Yes, because now I'm not going to read The Mortal Instruments!"
Lottie gasped, looking at me as if I had just kicked an innocent puppy into the road. "What's your problem? The Mortal Instrumentsis the best!"
"I won't read it until you read the Outsiders," I retorted, smiling defiantly. Lottie huffed irritably, and crossed her arms over her chest, glowering at me.
"You're incompetent and impossible, you know that right?" she told me.
I shrugged, looking back at my book. "I know. Which is why you love me!"
Lottie groaned. "Sure."
I looked at her, hitting her with my paperback book. "Shut up!" I laughed. "You know I am your best friend!"
Lottie sighed, "Sure."
I glowered at her. "Not funny."
Lottie smirked. "Sorry that my sense of humor is too collaborate for you to understand."
I huffed. So if this was a competition about the finest vocabulary, I will prove her wrong! "I'm sorry, but you seem to not be understanding me. After all, I do use gargantuan idioms to fabricate intelligence." I smirked once I saw Lottie glare at me. I had to teach her what those words meant since she didn't really know. She had gotten her enormous vocabulary from reading a dictionary in her past time. I got it from reading dictionaries, writing stories, and reading regular books.
When almost everyone was out, Lottie's father appeared with his car. He honked at us, gaining our attention, and we quickly gathered our stuff and clambered into his car. He looked over the seat, grinning at us. "Heyy! Janie!" He held his hand out for a high-five and I high-fived him. He grinned even wider. "You girls got homework?" he asked as he started the car and began driving.
"Yeah," responded Lottie. She was fiddling around with her backpack. Probably stuffing her math binder back into it. I did the same thing, then sighed, leaning back in the chair, watching as the familiar trees and buildings flashed by. Lottie lived closer to the school than I did, so we were at her house at no time. We immediately went to it, and walked inside. They never locked their door.
We immediately went upstairs to their "loft", as Lottie likes to call it. It's kinda like an attic, but it's not really. It has their tv, wifi, and computer where Lottie and I would play Sims and eat junk food. The good old days.
I groaned, plopping down on the sofa in front of the tv and throwing my backpack to the floor. My Outsiders book fell with a loud thud, and I winced, picking it up immediately. Lottie looked at me, her jaw agape.
"How dare you drop a book?" she exclaimed. Lottie and I were major bookworms - Lottie more than me though - and she shook her head.
"Oh, so now you care about the Outsiders huh? Will you read it now?" I asked, waving the book in front of her face. She rolled her eyes.
"Fine," she said, plopping down next to me. "Read me the first page, and I'll see if it's interesting."
I groaned. I don't know why Lottie liked reading books aloud, but it's not like we were 2nd graders. We were in the 9th grade. We could read by ourselves. But I didn't to challenge her - at least she was finally showing an interest.
I opened the book to the first page, then cleared my throat;
"When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I only had two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home..."
I groaned, opening my eyes. Bright light shone in from the curtains. I shook my head, sitting up. I looked to my left and saw a twin bed, with Lottie in it. My eyes widened. I didn't remember her attic having twin beds. I immediately started panicking. I looked down and noticed my attire. It wasn't the previous green tank top with a deer picture on it, denim vest, and olive-green skinny jeans I was wearing before. Instead, I was wearing a simple white button-up blouse and regular blue jeans with a brown belt. I went over to Lottie, shoving her off the bed.
"Wake up!" I screamed in her face. Her eyes snapped open.
"What? Janie? Huh?" she exclaimed, looking around. "This is not my house!" she exclaimed. I noticed what she was wearing - a paler pink blouse with a khaki skirt that went down to her knees and sandals. I was wearing similar sandals.
"Obviously," I stated. I looked around. It appeared to be a motel room. Before Lottie and I moved, the door opened and revealed a middle-aged woman and her daugher. Her eyes widened and she glowered at us.
"Get out!" she screamed. Lottie and I cringed at her tone, and quickly ran out. I felt her handbag hit my back harshly as we scrambled into the hallway. We fell to the ground, and behind us the woman slammed the door shut. I shook my head. We were definitely in a motel. I spotted somebody walking by. A boy with slicked back black hair and white shirt, with a dark black leather jacket and faded dark blue jeans. He hadn't noticed us and walked right on - whistling and snapping to some sort of tune in his head.
"Where the fuck are we?" Lottie asked.
I bit my lip. I wanted to say a motel, but I thought about it. The way that the boy had dressed and the woman before, acting so hostile... It couldn't be the 1960s. We were in 2013. Lottie's father must be playing some joke on us. He'll come out of one of the rooms and say, "Happy early April Fool's!" Or something stupid like that.
"Please don't say Tulsa, Oklahoma," Lottie moaned, as if reading my mind. I looked at her.
"You honestly think we're still in Utah?"
"I hope we are!" Lottie exclaimed. "I still have homework to do! And I have to feed my dogs... oh my goodness... and my baby hedgehog! Violet! I forgot to clean her cage and refill her food dish! We have to get back!"
I looked at her. "We have to find out where we are first," I stated. I looked around, then pointed to the front desk. "We can ask him."
Lottie stood behind me. "I'd rather not..."
I looked at her. "Why not?"
"Well... he's fat... and he looks like a pedophile..."
"Lottie!"
"What? I don't want to go hanging around a pedophile! Let alone talk to one! I'm too hot for him anyway! I'm too hot for anyone!"
I rolled my eyes. Yep. Still same old Lottie.
"Fine, I'll go," I concluded, walking forward. I felt Lottie tug on my arm, pulling me backwards.
"No! I'm not risking you to be pedo bait! This might just be a dream!"
"Uh huh... I doubt it."
"But I swear it could be... Quick! Punch me in the boob!"
I gave her a look. "Excuse me?"
Lottie pointed to her chest. "Punch my boob. It'll help wake me up."
I shook my head. "No thank you," I said, raising my hands. "Now, I'm going to go talk to the front desk man, unless you want to-"
"No! Janie!"
I sighed. "Fine, we'll ask someone when they come out of their room." As if on cue, the man walking before peered his head out of his room. He spotted us, then narrowed his eyes.
"Could you broads put a can in it?" he demanded.
"Wait, sir, could you tell us where we are exactly?"
Slick-haired boy looked at me as if I were stupid. "You don't know where ya are?" he asked, an Oklahoman accent betraying his ancestry.
"Yeah..." my voice trailed off when I realized how stupid I sounded.
"You're in Tulsa, Oklahoma," was his response. He looked back into the room. "I'm trying to sleep, so please keep quiet!" He glowered at us again before slamming the door shut. From the noises coming within the room, he obviously wasn't sleeping. And he obviously wasn't alone.
"Dear Lord!" Lottie screamed, grabbing a hold of my hand and dragging me off. My arm felt like it was being pulled out of it's socket, but we were finally outside and greeted by the town. I spotted an old movie house, and more people wearing 60s style clothing.
"Let go of my arm!" I snapped, slowing down. I yanked my arm from Lottie's grip.
"What? You wanted to stay in there and listen to more sex noises?" she exclaimed. People walking by looked at us and I glowered at her.
"Keep quiet!" I hissed. "No! Who would?"
"I don't know, you apparently..." Lottie muttered.
"Lottie!"
Lottie smirked. "Kidding," she said when realizing how offended and embarrassed I was. "You know I love you."
"You know, I used to love you," I responded bitterly.
Lottie sighed. "Well... at least we know we're in Tulsa..."
"Yeah... in the 60s..."
"Janie, you can't be serious."
"What? Thinking that we're in the world of the Outsiders? I can tell you one thing - I am thinking that! Look around us, Lottie! There's the movie house from the beginning of the book!" I pointed to it. I pointed farther down the road. "And the drive-in!" I pointed to the park, a little ways off. "And there's the park! It's all here!"
"Yeah? So where are the characters?"
Her question made me pause. Where were they? I shrugged. "Somewhere."
"Uh huh,"
"Lottie!" I sighed. "You gotta believe me - I'm certain that this is the Outsiders world. I promise."
Lottie groaned. "Fine, I believe you. Can we just find somewhere to get some food? I'm starved!"
"That's your fault. Every time I stopped reading aloud and wanted to get some food, you kept yelling at me to read the book..." my voice trailed off. Maybe Lottie was right. Maybe this all was a dream. I felt slightly upset about the thought, but didn't let it get to me.
"Well, let's go adventuring!" Lottie exclaimed, taking off all of a sudden. She ran awkwardly, and I could tell she was as scared and nervous as heck - she usually does stupid things when she's scared.
"Wait! Lottie!" I exclaimed, chasing after her.
Of all the people I had to be stuck with in Tulsa, it had to be her.
