Ponyboy POV
Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders
Stone Heart
Chapter One
It was about three months after Dally's death and Sodapop, Darry, and I sat on the couch watching the television. It was really sort of awkward because Darry and I were sitting regularly, but Sodapop was laying the full length of the couch. On top of us. Though somewhat comical, we were all under pressure. They had threatened to put Soda and I in the orphanage. It was like being a tightly coiled spring. There was a knock on the door. Darry and I pushed Soda off of us and raced to get the door. Soda pulled himself off the floor and came to stand next to me and behind Darry. Darry sighed somewhat shakily and opened the door to a pissed looking teenage girl who happened to have her hands held behind her back by Steve. Steve had a cut across his cheek.
"She was sleeping out back and has been snooping around for the past few days. I came to talk to her and she cut me." Steve said as the girl lifted her head and smirked. "Dude all I was doing was looking for a place to stay and you scared the living crap out of me." The girl replied."Bring her in" Darry said. I sighed, Darry always let people who needed a place to crash in. Especially Greasers. Steve pushed the girl through the door and tossed a stiletto switchblade to Soda.
Soda looked at the knife and tossed it to Darry. We all looked at the girl who was standing there in a white cutoff t-shirt, ripped jeans, and was barefoot. She had shoulder-length, layered brown hair and ice cold blue-gray eyes. They reminded me of Dally's haunting eyes. The girl had a scar stretching the full length of her left arm. She had the ghost of a smirk on her face and she had some of the longest legs I had ever seen. "How can we help?" Darry asked. He tossed her knife back at her and she caught it without blinking. "Thanks bro. But I don't need help." She said, the ghost of a smirk tugging at her lips. That's when she turns, rips open the door, and runs like the hounds of hell were after her. I tore after her quickly, followed by the others. What the hell was wrong with her? We just wanted to help.
She leapt of the porch like the boys and I usually did. The girl glanced behind her quickly as she continued to run. Unfortunately for her, I was also a good runner. We were running right towards the park where Johnny had killed Bob. A park that brought back horrible memories. About a block away from the park, I was able to tackle her. We both slammed to ground, but my weight was obviously not enough to keep her down. She shoved me off of her and sprung to her feet. I pulled myself up quickly and saw that the boys weren't far behind. Her eyes hardened and she slugged me across the face. She missed my nose by a hair. As I doubled over backwards, she took off running again and made it to the park. I shook the slug off and ran with the guys toward the park. I could tell that Soda and Steve were pissed.
The park, unfortunately, was currently inhabited by Socs. David, the Soc that had nearly drowned me, was among them. The girl had run blindly until now. She stood paralyzed in front of the Socs. She turned to see us standing right behind her. I saw Steve cracking his knuckles and noticed that Two-Bit had joined us. David hopped off the edge of the fountain and walked up to the girl. "Tori" He said, throwing his arm around her shoulder. "David." She said, softly. "Jeez girl, never thought I'd see you back here. Ever since you and your brother skipped out to the New York I haven't seen you. How you been, babe?" David said, cockily. Tori sneered and said, "Just because I dated you once doesn't mean you own me." She shook David's arm off her shoulder. "C'mon Winston. Don't be like that." David said in a mock whine.
"Winston?" I heard Darry ask from behind me. "Yeah, Dallas' little sis." David said, "You didn't know?" Suddenly, everything about Tori made sense. She was a girl Dallas.