A Day in the life of Dallas Winston

All belongs to S.E. Hinton! Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy this fan-fic told in Dally's POV!

The man behind the bar handed me another beer as I tapped my empty glass. My gang was sitting on the rundown stools next to me all doing the same thing. Celebrating a victory over beating a rival gang. Ours had several, but I think that's mainly because we enjoy causing trouble. There was nothing better than beating the tar out of no good hoods-that weren't us! New York can be rough, but it was a good thing I was just as tough if not more so. Same with each of the ten members of our gang. My buddy, Charlie, was sitting closet to me and leaned over, about to say something-

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Time for head's to roll! Who's knocking on my door, waking me up? I growl at the person at the door to come in and show their ugly mug. Sure enough, the ugly mug of Buck opened my door. I liked him well enough, but his Hank Williams was driving me crazy! I looked at the cracked clock on the nightstand: 5:30 in the morning. "What, Buck?" I asked curtly. It was never too early to bark.

Buck hesitated, but he said, "Yah gotta work. Took a bet and I need yah to jockey early today."

Surely he was joking. I looked at his face and I knew he wasn't. Also, I knew that if I wanted the money, I'd have to actually do what he wanted. I threw the closet thing to me, the battered clock, and it hit the closed door. Buck sure could be smart when he wanted to, but that didn't come often. I wanted to hit something and, more importantly, I wanted to hit Buck. Sometimes, mainly in the mornings, I hated that dimwitted cowboy. I swung my legs off the bed and got up, kicking anything that landed in front of my feet with venom. I was grumbling a few choice words to describe how I felt about jockeying this early. It wasn't hard work, and I sure enjoyed it on my own terms, but nobody tells Dallas Winston what to do without getting hurt. I pulled on my riding jeans and boots as well as a faded t-shirt.

Buck was locking up the bar just in case any of the other tenants made an early rise when I came down the stairs, still growling and fuming. I saw him and I just let a little of the red haze called anger take over, just enough to slug him hard in the face. His face followed the blow to the ground where he sat holding his jaw. He spit on the floor in front of him and I saw it was bloody. Then he calmly reached in his mouth and pulled out a back tooth I'd knocked loose. Serves him right. Maybe next time he'd remember never to wake me up for no good reason other than to save his own skin.

It didn't take long for us to get to the Slash J and for me to win. There was nothing fair that I liked better. Buck fixed every race, but I still gave it my all which is why I always won. I 'accidentally' whipped him with the lead when I was handing it back to him. He looked up bitterly from counting out my money and handed the lead off to another guy that took the horse back to the stalls. It was 9:00am and I wanted out now. Buck slapped eighty bucks in my hand and I stashed it in my back pocket that didn't have my blade as I was striding off. It was summer so I knew the Curtis house would be the best place to find the guys. Darry and Soda were probably at work already, but Two-Bit, Ponyboy, and Johnny should be there soon if not already. It was too early to do anything, but I was bored.

I hitched a ride there and walked right in letting the door slam shut behind me. They always left it open for us, but I would have either way. I do what I want, when I want. Two-Bit was asleep on the couch with the TV on and a half empty bottle of beer in his hand. He must have stayed the night. I reached down and plucked the bottle from him and what was left. It tasted warm and stale. Definitely from last night. Ponyboy stumbled in from down the hall looking like he just woke up. "Hey Dal," he mumbled, wiping the sleep from his eyes. Lucky kid, I bet he didn't get woken up for some stupid bet. The thought made me mad again. Nobody touches my sleep.

"Well if it ain't Mr. Sleeping Beauty. Good morning to you," I said a little harsh. He didn't deserve my biting growl, but I didn't care. I just wanted to vent.

He just blinked at me and turned to go to the kitchen. He was probably used to my mood swings by now. I heard a faint hollering down the street, it sounded like a severely hacked off lady. It was probably Johnny's mom yelling at him again. I hated that women. My blood boiled and I stormed out the door, not real fast, but sure as hell violently. I nearly took the screen door off it's hinges and I know the slam woke up Two-Bit. I cracked my knuckles as I made my way to Johnny's house, like a tiger stalking his prey. I didn't know what I was gonna do once I got there, but if Johnny had one more bruise, it wasn't gonna be pretty. I'd do anything for that stupid kid.

Johnny didn't live real far away from the Curtis house, just a few blocks. I hadn't gone half way yet when I saw a dark haired kid limping down the street with his head down and his hands buried deep in his pockets. I couldn't see him clearly yet, but I knew it was Johnny. That witch was gonna get hers. I picked up the pace and saw red. Whenever I'm real mad, all I can see is red and I lose control, nothing gets in my way. The kid looked up to see me storming his way and jumped a little, paling. He calmed down a little when I brushed right past him until he saw that I was heading to his house to beat some deadbeats. He grabbed my arm and pulled me back. If it'd been anyone but Johnny, I would have knocked him flat without hesitation, but I just couldn't. I shrugged him off roughly, but I didn't hit him. Not even when he tried again to stop me, a little more forcefully. "Don't Dally!" he said real panicky. I looked down at him and the haze slowly faded.

I was still mad as hell though. "Johnny, you let me go right now so I can kill that good for nothing -" I was cussing up a storm. He paled a little more, but the pull on my arm increased. I let him drag me back, still looking at his house, ready to let the red take over the second he let go. He didn't though and dragged me a whole block that way before I calmed enough to walk straight. I knew we were going back to the Curtis's. He only ever went to the lot to cool down when he was by himself, otherwise he always went to where the gang was. Not to mention he was still afraid I'd run back to kill his lowlife mother. He was still limping, but I couldn't see any fresh bruises, just a couple of fading ones.

He caught me looking and said quietly, "I'm fine Dally."

I wanted to say, 'And you'd be a whole lot better if you'd let me go,' but something told me that would hurt Johnny more so I just grumbled. I don't know what it was about that kid that go me so worked up. For some reason though, I just felt like he was my little brother. Hell, he was everyone's little brother, the gang's pet as Pony once said. Nobody messed with Johnny because everyone knew they'd have to deal with me, and nobody messes with me.

We walked in the door and they looked a little more awake now. Two-Bit was sitting up watching Mickey Mouse again with a fresh beer in hand. Ponyboy was in the kitchen doing the dishes, he was all dressed with hair greased. His hair didn't look right without it, his and Soda's was tuff.

Two-Bit saluted me with his beer and said, "Welcome back, Dally. I oughta thank you for waking me up so early, but I think I'll pass." If anyone needed a job, it was that lazy bum. He thought this was early? Not nearly as early as me. That calmed me down though, hearing that I made at least one person grumpy at least.

"Welcome to the land of the living, Two-Bit. Just wanted to make sure you weren't late for work," I said coolly.

He cocked his eyebrow, "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, for being the resident drunken babysitter!" I chuckled and he grinned.

Ponyboy came in from the kitchen, drying a plate in his hands. The day I do dishes is the day I die. "Hey Johnny! How you been? Welcome back, Dally. You didn't stay gone long. Did you go get Johnny?" He looked happy to see Johnny, until Johnny limped over to go sit down. Pony looked angry and a little sad at that. He should have known that Johnny never came back from home without some token like that. He covered it up though, before Johnny could see. I don't think I was supposed to notice, but that's how we all felt whenever we saw Johnny beat up.

Johnny put up his injured foot on the coffee table next to Two-Bit, trying to look nonchalant even though we all knew. My brother- I mean, that kid could be so stubborn sometimes! If he just didn't go home, like I suggested, he wouldn't get hurt. If he just accepted the boys love instead of waiting around for his useless parents to change, he'd be happy. But did he listen to advice? No sir, not even from me or Pony and he's closer to us than anyone.

Still in his quiet voice he said, "Hey Pony. I'm doing alright man, you?"

I didn't answer Pony's question to me. I think it was pretty obvious that I went to go get Johnny. He didn't look to surprised by that, but then he had to have heard the hollering too. Maybe I was the only one who knew it was Johnny's mom. I could usually tell when something was wrong with Johnny, it was like a sixth sense or something. Not that I'd ever tell anyone, I've got a rep after all and it ain't as a softie.

They chatted for awhile, Two-Bit not alive enough yet to do more than laugh at Mickey. Noon came and went and I was bored. I didn't want Johnny and Pony to come even though it'd be a blast because I was looking for some action and I suspected it might even involve the fuzz. Why the hell not? I grabbed a beer from the fridge, chugged it, and said, "Well I'm bored out of my mind. I'm gonna go hunt some action. See y'all later!" Then I left, looking for something to do, looking for trouble.