PLEASE READ: In my FanFic, Johnny and Dallas are still alive. After the fire, Johnny made an unexpected recovery. He is also still able to walk.
There was only one thing on Ponyboy's mind on his first day back to school: everyone thought he was a killer.
It didn't matter that it was Johnny who stabbed Bob or that it was in self-defense. Everyone saw Ponyboy differently now. They used to see a smart, quiet, and dirt poor boy. Now they saw him with his hands stained red by Bob's blood. At least, that's what Ponyboy is thought as he sat on the hood of Two-bit's beat up car.
It was the first week of school in Tulsa. Darry didn't make Ponyboy go back to school after the fire. There was only a week or two left, and Ponyboy was sick anyway. But now that Autumn had crept into the air, it was time to face the horrors of public opinion.
"I had this hot brunette in the back of my buddy's car," Dallas said as he leaned up against the driver side door. The whole gang had gathered to shoot the breeze before school, work, and general mischief. "I'm just trying to play a full game of baseball, if you know what I mean. All of a sudden, she starts talking about commitment. Man, I beat it out of there. Ain't no filly gonna tie me down."
"I heard she left you for one of the Shepheard gang," Steve commented as he cleaned his nails with a switchblade.
Dallas smacked the back of Steve's head, a fire kindling in his wild eyes. "Ain't no girl leave me for one of those no good for nothing wanna be's," he growled.
"Gee, Dally, she was the fourth girl this month," Soda said. Ponyboy heard the hint of sadness in his brother's voice and knew he was thinking about his ex-girlfriend. Soda really loved her, and it tore him apart when she had to leave. He hadn't been able to move on and find another girl, and it bothered him that Dally could jump from chick to chick while his heart was still bleeding. Soda wished he could move on that quickly.
"Shut your mouth, Soda," Dallas barked. He took a step toward Soda like a cat might towards something it was stalking. "You couldn't make your girl stay neither."
Soda looked like someone had punched him in the gut, but Pony felt the pain just as keenly. Willing to do anything to help Soda out, he offered himself as the sacrificial lamb. "Sure don't seem like you've had much luck with the girls, Dally," Pony muttered.
"What was that, you little puke?" Dallas spat.
"Cool off, Dally," Darry cut in. With his sixth cup of coffee in hand, he still looked exhausted. A twinge of guilt flickered in Pony every time he saw that tired look in his brother's eyes. Pony knew that the hospital bills from the fire were making things even harder on Darry. "You're just pissed cause you didn't get some," Darry added.
Pony laughed. Darry must have been tired to say something like that to someone as dangerous as Dally. Of course, laughing wasn't too smart either.
Dally closed in on Pony, his weasel-like face twisting with anger. "You think that's funny, huh? You haven't even had a date with a girl yet. You probably would trip over your tongue trying to kiss one. What do you know about girls? What do you know about making them stay when you can't get one in the first place?"
"Oh, boy, he got you there," Two-bit said with an obnoxiously loud laugh. Even at seven in the morning, Two-bit had enough enthusiasm for a dozen teenagers.
Pony could feel his ears growing red as Steve chuckled. He waited for one of his brothers to defend him, but they stayed silent. Finally, Pony boy shot back, "I know plenty about girls."
"Yeah?" Dallas mocked. "Prove it."
"Leave him alone, Dal," Soda weakly mumbled. He didn't have the emotional strength to put up a strong fight.
Pony swallowed. He could feel the anger in Dallas' eyes burning a hole in his own. "How?"
"Ask a girl out. Go ahead, try to get a girl to go out with a baby-faced, brainiac, little kid like you," Dallas said.
"Knock it off," Darry grumbles. Pony got the impression that Darry was more angry about their arguing this early in the morning than about what Dally was actually saying.
As the gang started joking about which girl Pony should date, Pony's eyes drifted towards a girl in the school yard. Her name was Lucy Hawthorne and she lived on the rich side of town. Her father owned almost everything in the neighborhood, including the business Darry worked for. She was bright-eyed and full of life. Pony had been watching her closely ever since he skipped a grade and landed in the same high school as she did. She was the only other kid he knew that had jumped a grade. He watched her from across the room in history, and he often stole glances at her during lunch. There was something different about how she walked and talked. She looked confident, yet not cocky. Bold, but not arrogant. Beautiful, but not conceited.
"Who you looking at, kid?" Steve asked, emphasizing the word 'kid'.
"Lucy Hawthorne," Johnny piped up. He didn't talk much, especially after the fire, but a smile crossed his face as he ratted Pony out. "He is always lookin' at her."
Pony's face burned red as the rest of the gang made teasing remarks and laughed at him. Soda actually looked proud. Darry just raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't know you had started to like girls," Darry commented dryly.
"It's about time," Soda said as he slapped Pony on the back.
"Come on, knock it off, guys," Pony mumbled.
"He sure has expensive taste," Two-bit said as he eyed Lucy. "She sure ain't from our side of the tracks."
"Go on, smart-aleck. Ask her out and see how far you get," Dally said, cruelty gleaming in his eyes.
Pony looked at the ground. How could he ask a girl like Lucy out on a date? He didn't have any money to take her to the places she was sure to be used to going. He wouldn't fit in with her friends. He wasn't even dressed well enough to ask a girl like her out. She would probably be embarrassed to be seen speaking to him.
"Go on," Dally prodded him.
"Shut up, Dally!" Darry orders. "It would just embarrass him."
"He thinks he knows so much about women, let him prove it," Dally counters.
"Leave him alone. I mean it. He hasn't ever been rejected by a girl before, and it shouldn't happen by some uppity girl he really likes. I don't want him hurt like that, so just shut up." Darry glares at Dally, but it doesn't seem to faze him.
"Come on, Pony. Go ask her highness out on a date. Man up, Pony. You can't be such a wussy forever," Dally mocked, his eyes shining with the unmistakeable joy of causing pain to someonelse.
Pony only had two options. Option one: continue to sit there with that embarrassing redness covering his face. Option two: prove Dally wrong.
In a moment of youthful stupidity, he chose the second option.
Pony jumped off the hood of Two-bit's care and made a bee line to Lucy. As he headed in her direction, Darry threw his empty paper coffee cup violently at the ground. "If Pony gets hurt, I'm gonna kill you, Dally," Darry snapped. Ever since the fire, he had grown even more protective of Pony. Darry blamed himself for what happened. He felt guilty when he saw the pain in Pony's eyes the day they picked him up from the hospital. Pony was more quiet and reserved after the fire. He cared less about school. He laughed less. He read less. He was… less. When people looked at Pony like he was a killer, Darry felt responsible. He knew that it was killing Pony on the inside, and therefore, he felt like he had killed Pony. And if Dally's stupidity caused Pony to be set even further back, Darry would kill him.
Pony could feel his heartbeat speed up as he crossed the street and entered the school yard. He felt butterflies invade his stomach as he approached Lucy. And when she looked at him, his entire body seized up.
She smiled softly at him, her eyes constantly darting to the ground as if she was nervous. She waited for him to speak, but he didn't. Finally, she spoke up. "Hey, Pony."
She knew his name? Pony could have died from surprise. "Uh, hi," he mumbled.
"I'm Lucy. We had history together last year, remember?" Lucy shifted the books in her arms and smiled wider.
"Yeah, I know," Pony boy managed to say without stuttering.
An awkward pause followed until Lucy spoke again. "I'm glad to see you are feeling better. Your friend, too. I heard about what happened."
Pony felt his cheeks blushing again. "Yeah, everyone did."
"They must all treat you like a hero," Lucy added.
"Nah, more like a killer," Pony huffed.
"Oh," Lucy said. Her face went a shade paler. "I guess people see things differently. It's all about perspective."
Pony was shocked that she was even speaking to him, but he still didn't believe for a moment that she would go out with him. She would lose her friends if she did. Her father would probably be furious. Her reputation would go down the drain. But he couldn't face Dally again if he didn't at least ask her.
The bell rang before he could get out the question. Hordes of kids began to fly past them and into the school. Out of the corner of his eye, Pony could see the gang was still watching him closely.
"I have to go," Lucy said quickly. "I'm supposed to see the principal before the first class." She pulled a pen out of her bag and grabbed Pony's arm. Carefully juggling her books, she wrote a series of numbers on his arm. "If you ever want to give me a call, this is my number. We could study together or something."
Suddenly, a few of the snobby rich girls who always gave Pony disgusted looks showed up behind Lucy.
"What are you doing?" one asked.
"Lucy! You can't talk to him!" cried another.
Lucy looked stunned. "Why not?"
"Don't you know what kind of boy he is?" one of the girls asked. "He lives on the other side of town."
"Oh," Lucy said. She took note of the way Ponyboy's shoulders drooped and his eyes turned to the ground. She hated that the other girls had embarrassed him, and she longed to make him feel better. "That's okay. I don't mind the walk." As Pony looked up in surprise, Lucy winked at him and then took off towards the school's entrance.
Her friends huffed and gasped and looked generally disturbed. They shot nasty looks at Pony before disappearing into the school building.
Pony stood in the school yard, his heart frozen with shock. He couldn't believe that a Soc wasn't embarrassed to be seen with him. Even Cherry Valance refused to acknowledge him in front of her friends. But Lucy was special.
She was the kind of special that changed things.
That changed people.
And after Lucy entered Pony's life, nothing would ever be the same again.
Feel free to leave a review with constructive criticism or comments. Thanks for reading!