Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is a fanfiction to the Outsiders, written by SE Hinton. I claim nothing and am using this content solely for entertainment purposes only.
Goddamn continuity. Previous story: Subside – A Darry Curtis Love Story. If you want to read this, read that first! Or you'll be confused. It's a series!
Chapter 1
I live in absolutely the worst part of town, and I hate it so much.
My best friend, Mercedes Mathews, thinks that I don't have friends because I don't want to take them home. I think she's wrong, even though that rarely happens. I just don't like people. I'm ashamed when people pass me in their cars and call me a greaser, or a hood. I carry a knife for bluff, so I don't get jumped walking home from school. I'd never tell a soul, though. That's greasy.
A lot of my school friends don't even know I'm not middle class. But that's the thing. They're my school friends, not my real friends. My only real friend is Mercedes, since my brother ran off.
Every day, I wake up at six o'clock so that I can make everything about me nice. I don't wear makeup, ever, because I'm afraid even lip gloss will give people a reason to sneer at me. I make sure my hair is perfectly straight, and I get it cut every two months so it never looks ratty. I keep it long and clean, and I wear modest skirts every day. I do not want to be anything like the other people in my neighborhood. They're all greasers, headed for nowhere. But I hate Socs too.
Socs are people who think the world will be given to them on a silver platter, just cus they were born to parents with money. They cruise by with mediocrity, thinking that they don't need good grades or to work hard, because they're innately better. Well I think that's sheer foolishness.
I work every day of the week, at a childcare facility. I love kids. They're so innocent, and fascinating. The way they see the world is so different from someone older. It's wonderful, and refreshing. From three until five thirty, I'm with the kids. Then from six to ten, I'm a ticket-giver at the Nightly Double. It's hard, because I usually have so much homework. What I don't get done at school and during the children's naptime, I do at home. So on any usual night, I'm up until midnight. And that's just a week day.
On Saturdays and Sundays, I'm free in the mornings, but at twelve, I go to the daycare. I work there until six, and from eight-thirty until midnight, I give tickets. Mercedes doesn't get why I do this. But even though she's my truest friend, and tells me everything, I don't wanna tell her the truth.
If I'm home, Dad hits me for dizzyingly simple things. And Mam, too. If I'm at work, I don't have to see the worst, most run-down home in the neighborhood, know it belongs to me. I don't have to walk right through the door because we don't have a key, since the lock is broken and nobody would steal from us anyway.
I have to get out of there, and I'll do whatever it takes for that to happen. I don't remember the last conversation I had with my parents, the last time I haven't had to sneak out to avoid them. I'm ashamed of them. I'm ashamed of everything about my life. I'll break the mold. I'll escape.
Short first chapter, I know! But this is just an opening. The chapters will be longer from here on out: there's a plot with this story! That isn't just girl meets boy blahblah. But I decided I loved Ash, and what she meant for the Curtis family (a motherly figure, sort of) so I decided to make a series out of it!