Morning's always start out the same way. Going to school is routine. Coming home is no different than the day before. The next day starts out the same as the previous. That was all there was to it. Three sections of the day: morning, afternoon, and night. It was simple. But I liked it. It felt good to be able to know almost exactly what was going to happen tomorrow. Boring and predictable was a nice change. But it wasn't going to last forever.
You know that there is something wrong when school is the highlight of your day. You know that if you don't own a house then you should be absolutely miserable. People tend to think of people on the streets in tattered clothing as people who don't have a house. They call them 'homeless'. I didn't have a house, but I wasn't 'homeless', just 'houseless'. I had a home. It's called an abandoned run down building that has been long forgotten in a dark alley. Honestly, the place gave me the creeps and I'd never go far back into it. I hung out near the windows. I stayed near the light.
I was enrolled in school. People there didn't know where I lived. They didn't care either. I didn't think that anyone did. I didn't ever talk to anyone at school. People that lived here were divided into groups depending on their wealth. Well, actually they're more like gangs. There was the West Side, the Socs. They had all the breaks, or at least that's what everyone thought. Then there was the East Side, the greasers. The poorer side. Life was rough for them. The greasers and the Socs constantly fought each other.
But of course there was one more group. My group I suppose, or at least it used to be. They lived in the middle of town and had no name. They weren't even a gang. They weren't wealthy. They worked hard to just get by. In my mind, this was the most dangerous 'group' of all because they didn't have anyone to depend on. Just themselves.
Unless you are a Soc, you couldn't look into the eyes of another Soc at school without getting beat up. Unless of course you are a girl. Then you might get pushed over or slammed into a locker. Then they might still beat you up. If you ask me, I think that it's pretty stupid and I'm not afraid of any of the Socs at school. I planned to look directly into the eyes of the next one that I saw. Maybe say a few words to him. That was one of the best and worst decisions of my life.
When morning came I rushed off to school. Somehow, even without a car I managed to get there on time. School always goes by quickly for me. Even though I enjoyed getting out and going to it, I still got bored listening to the teacher ramble on about things that no one will ever need to know in life, nor cares about in the first place. So I started doodling. I'm always quiet at school so the teacher never expects me to be doing anything wrong. Ha ha. It works in my favor.
By the time the bell rang, I had almost finished drawing a pack of fighting wolves surrounded by flames. I still have no idea what possessed me to want to draw it. I just did. I slid the paper into my notebook and took off for the lunch period. They gave us an entire period for lunch. I just need a little over five minutes. Sometimes I didn't even bring lunch. I ran low on food and just a little when I got 'home'.
I just took out my book and started reading until I heard a group of Socs talking to one another right behind me. I had told myself that I was going to look in one's eyes directly. I wasn't afraid. I'd even try to start a 'nice' conversation with him. See how tough he really is. I gingerly placed my book back in my bag and walked over to him, smiling sweetly.
"Hi," I said. He whipped around to get a good look at me. Man, he was bigger than I'd thought! He must have been a football player, if not a wrestler too. In fact, it didn't appear that there wasn't an extreme sport that this guy couldn't play. He looked kind of like a refrigerator with legs. But I continued smiling at him. He grimaced as he looked me over and lifted his fist as if to punch me. I raised my eyebrows slightly and inclined my head as if to say 'do you really want to be doing that?'. He did but I was too quick. He swung and I ducked and moved to the side.
"I think that you missed," I said dryly and smiled again. His lip curled.
"Excuse me?" he growled, taking a few steps towards me. I crossed my arms.
"Oh, sorry." I flipped my hair absent mindedly. "I forgot who I was talkin' to." I looked back into his eyes and said slowly, "I—think—that—you—missed—." I heard him grunt and take off like a bull charging a matador so I side-stepped. One of his friends caught my arm and before I could do anything, threw me to the ground. I rolled to the side as the guy that I was taunting tried to take off at me again.
"How dare you!" he snarled at me but his last word was caught off as he was punched in the stomach. I jumped to my feet and looked to see who it was. I couldn't get a very good look at him before the Soc jumped at him but from what I could tell, he had greased hair and appeared to have rusty colored sideburns on the sides of his face. Why does a greaser want to help me? I thought, confused.
Whoever he was, he wasn't holding up to well with the Soc. Or at least that wasn't what it looked like. The Soc kept knocking him to the ground but as quick as anything, the greaser was back on his feet and at him again. I started this, I thought, I have to help him. I walked towards them slowly, like a mountain lion eyeing how she was to make her kill, head held high. As the Soc pushed the greaser to the ground and held him there, I kicked him in the side.
"Hey, you!" I said. "Get offa 'em. This is my fight." I kicked him again. Hard. He rolled off of the greaser and glared up at me.
"You," he snorted. I smiled at him again and bent down slightly.
"Well who'd ya think it was, genius? Your grandma?" It almost surprised me how quickly he was able to get his feet under him and leap. I caught him with a punch to his face in midair. He kicked me in the stomach on his way down and knocked the air out of me.
The greaser was on his feet now and standing next to me, facing the Soc. I looked over at him quickly and said, "Why'd you attack him? Thought he was my fight." His gray eyes twinkled.
"It looked like you need help," he said simply.
"I was fine. His friend just caught me off guard."
"It didn't look it."
"Right. It looked like you got your butt kicked," I said. He smiled but that was all he had time for because the Soc's little buddy came up behind him and the Soc we had just knocked to the ground came up to me.
"Well," he said coolly. "I've never seen a girl fight."
"Well," I said mockingly, "maybe you should get some glasses." He punched my chin and I took a few steps backwards. I shook my head slightly and then grinned at him. "You hit like a little girl!" I laughed and flung myself at him. I hit his weak point then did a few blows to his stomach, knocking the air out of him. I hoped that the greaser could handle his buddy.
"Holler uncle when you've learned your lesson," I said in a taunting voice. He kicked me in the face and I landed on my back. I rolled behind him and just as I was getting up, I saw a flash of movement move towards the Soc and looked to see a kid about my age helping with the Soc. I saw that is reddish hair was greased too. Another greaser? I thought. I launched my attack again, this time with the kid's help. It looked like the other greaser could handle his fight alone after all.
"Okay!" the Soc yelped as I landed a blow to his face. "Okay, uncle! Stop it! Uncle, okay?!" I stopped in mid blow and the kid and I took a few steps back. I looked him over. He wasn't bloodied up badly, hardly at all, but he did have a bruise on his cheek. I wondered what I looked like. I shrugged at my thoughts. It didn't matter anyway. Who was going to ask?
The other greaser wasn't too bloody either, though he had a few more bruises than we did on his arms as well as his face. He walked over to the kid in me, grinning happily as if he'd just had the time of his life.
"Well," he said, "that was the most excitement that I've had in a while." I couldn't help but smile too.
"Did any of the teachers see?" the kid asked. Was that what he was worried about? "Are we goin' to get in trouble?" I sighed.
"Nope!" the other greaser said, his eyes lighting up even more than before. "Not this time!" I rolled my eyes and snorted and he turned to me. "Hey," he said, "you fight pretty good for a girl." I flicked my chocolate brown hair.
"Yes and you get your butt kicked pretty good for a guy," I said jokingly. I held out my hand. "I'm Romy." He grasped my hand firmly, still smiling.
"I'm Two-Bit," he said, the motioned to the other greaser. "And this here's Ponyboy." I raised one of my eyebrows slightly and looked them over.
"Okay cool," I said. "But I thought I heard someone call you Keith." Two-Bit's grin vanished.
"Yeah, that's my name. But everyone calls me Two-Bit." I smiled slightly.
"The name suits you." He grinned again. I turned to Ponyboy. "You fight pretty good," I acknowledged. He smiled slightly.
"Thanks," he said and I could tell immediately that he wasn't as bold as his friend. He looked up at Two-Bit, something in his green-gray eyes making them dance.
"What?" I asked. Two-Bit shrugged.
"Nothin'. Why?"
"Dunno. Thought you were thinkin' 'bout somethin'," I said, also shrugging.
"I think Pony's just—"
"I'm just surprised that you didn't ask about my name," Ponyboy cut in. I furrowed my brow.
"People usually do?"
"Yeah. They think that's it's weird that it's my actual name," he said. I inclined my head.
"It's your actual name?" I lifted one of my eyebrows slightly again. He nodded.
"Yeah. And I have a brother named Sodapop. Even on our birth certificates." He shrugged.
"Very original," I said. He smiled. We were silent for a while, just looking each other over. Pony looked kind of young to be in high school. He was small but had a good build to him. His eyes were a green-gray color, more green then gray. His hair was light brown with a reddish tint to it. Two-Bit was tall and looked pretty much the opposite of Pony. He had rusty colored sideburns, gray eyes, and looked too old to be a junior in high school.
Finally, Two-Bit said, "Girl, you've got guts." I just smiled.
"So do you."
"You live around here?" I paused, my breath catching in my throat.
I just decided on saying, "Sort of." Two-Bit took a step towards me.
"Somethin' wrong?" I shook my head.
"Nah, that was just sort of a . . . random question. Caught me off guard." He didn't look convinced but I shrugged. It looked like he might have said something else but luckily for me, the bell rang.
"Gotta go," I told them, starting to walk. "Nice meetin' you. See you later." I quickly darted off to class.
After the fight at lunch, school was even more boring than usual. I usually enjoy history but that day I couldn't concentrate on it. I kept thinking about the fight. I kept thinking about moves that I could have and should have used that would have made the fight easier. I thought of words that I should have said to the Socs. I thought of questions that I should have asked Two-Bit and Pony. Meeting them was kind of a big deal for me. I hadn't had a conversation with anyone since the first day of school.
When the final bell rang, I made my walk home quickly and dumped my school bags in the building next to a couple bags of food and other necessities. I opened one of the bags and pulled out some cash from it. Pushing the bags so that they were out of view from the door and all the windows, I made my way back out of the building. I needed some more food. The grocery store wasn't far from my home.