Times Are Changing


Disclaimer: I own nothing that belongs to the Outsiders


"I'm not a miracle worker! I can't change what has been done! I'm useless!" The brown haired teenager cried as she kicked the car seat in The Lot.


It seemed to never change, the fight between upper class and lower. Did anybody have any idea how hard it was to be in between? To be both a Soc, and a Greaser? Most people would wonder how that could even happen, how two totally different worlds could be mixed into one.

I live on the Line, as I like to call it, the half way point between south side and north side, east side and west side. I have friends who are Socs, Hoods, Greasers, J.Ds, I'm pretty much a social butterfly. I know that sounds kinda, well, what are you guys calling it these days? Mary Sueish? Yeah? Well, it's the truth, not to say that I have some faults within my trust with some in those groups. Well, actually, I have many faults.

I'm not pretty, with or without makeup. The only other person other than my own parents and very close friends that have called me pretty, was my best friends grandmother.

Which she is a nice lady by the way, but come on, how lame is that?

I have messy, wavy brown hair that curls on the ends, sometimes resulting in small ringlets when I haven't brushed it, or left it in a pony tail for a day or so. My eyes are hazel, a mixture or brown and green that shifted colours every day. Green when I got up in the morning, brown by the time I went back to bed at night.

I'm a freak.

I have an impossible amount of freckles on my skin, mostly covering my arms and face. Then there is the odd one that suddenly appeared in the palm of my hand one day. I know for a fact it isn't a birth mark.

Told you I am a freak.

My attire consists of, usually, baggy pants and baggy sweatshirt and/or t-shirt, due to my curvaceous figure. HA, curvaceous my ass! I am fat and proud of it! Well, maybe not that proud of it, but you get the drift, I wouldn't change my size for anyone. Plus it's not like I haven't tried...and failed miserably.

Freak!

"Lisa-Marie! Stop day dreamn' and get your butt down here for breakfast! You'll be late for work!" My mother called from the bottom of the stairs as she shook her head angrily.

"Sorry Ma! Be right down!" I shouted back as I ripped my gaze away from the mirror, charging down the wooden stairs that lead directly to my room.

Our house was very small, and unique in a way that I could hardly describe. Our house was jammed right between two large apartment buildings, one of a lower income and one of a higher.

You thought I was joking when I said I live on the Line? I live right where the Greaser neighbourhood ended and the Soc neighbourhood began.

As I was describing, our house is very small. It was one floor, the kitchen, and the dining room that overlapped into the livingroom. That was it, other than my Mom's bedroom to the one side of the house, and all that was, was a blanket hanging loosely from the ceiling, cutting off part of the livingroom for her makeshift bedroom. We didn't even have our own bathroom, so we'd have to use the community one in one of the buildings next door. For bathing we had a rather large wooden tub that we would fill with the rain water that collected in our barrel outside the door. During the colder winter months I would visit my friends, Sherry's and use her shower.

Sherry was one of my friends that was part of the Soc clan. She's an extremely nice girl, though her views on things can often times, at best, be a little skewed. Her boyfriend, what's his face, made her scared to be friends with anyone outside of their group, he controlled her, it would seem. That was only an outsider's point of view though, for there had to be something good about him for a girl like Sherry to continue to see him, I had always reasoned.

For heating in the house during the winter, we had a fire stove, which luckily the pipes ran up through the attic where my bedroom is so that I could get some of the warmth coming from the heated steel during the winter months. Yes, my room is the attic, my mother had insisted I get a room to myself when we moved into this house, after, after the incident.

I swear to god that I'll never drive another car again.


I only like to work on them now, at the station across the road from the ever popular DX station. My station I work in is called Cheeseburger Paradise, because it's a food joint and a garage all in one. What's really nice is that most of my co workers are female, I mean, don't get me wrong, I love to talk to the Greaser gang, but it's nice to have a feminine touch in a car repair shop if you ask me. Looking down the road at the many fast food joints and other stations I smirked.

It's no wonder I like to refer to this road as Heart Attack Highway.

Laughing I shook my head as I looked around at Heather, the head mechanic in the shop.

"So, what's up for today?" I asked as I slammed my back pack on her desk, slouching down in the chair across from her.

"Just the usual, putting on new window shield wipers, putting on new sets of breaks. Maintenance stuff." She replied in a bored tone as she threw the tennis ball against the opposite wall, then bouncing back to her as she continued to process.

Real hard to please, this one, I'll feel sorry for her boyfriend is she ever has one.

"Well, since we're not open for another twenty minutes, I think I'm going to head over to the DX to have a chat with some friends." I answered as I stretched while sitting up. Heather shook her head laughing.

"You know, you got all the girls jealous around here." She stated with amusement in her voice. "Even me once in a while." I probably looked like a gaping fish.

"What? Why?" I stuttered as I flushed slightly. Why would anyone have a mind to be jealous of me?

"Don't tell me you didn't see it coming." Heather stated with a pointed look as she smirked. "You hang with some of the hottest Greasers around. Everybody around here is jealous." Heather stated as she looked at her nails non coherently. "They say a mighty bit about you."

"Like what?" I asked, my curiosity getting the best of me.

"That you're their slut, each of them have had a piece of you." Heather stated as she smirked looking up.

Right here and now, I want to set the record straight, you know how I said that I liked working with females. Well, Heather isn't one of them, she's the Devil Spawn.

"Not that there isn't enough to go around." She added nastily as I tried hard not to flinch at her words, sighing. It was best to just not let anything that she said get to me. "Do you want to know what I think?" She stated slyly.

I really want to say No, I've about had it with you sarcastic, nasty, peanut gallery, but hey, she's my boss. I can't exactly tell her no.

"What?" I asked, not really caring to keep the bite out of my voice. I could see it only fuelled her on.

"That they wouldn't even touch you, if they were in their right minds, am I right?" She asked, even though I knew it was a rectorial question...and warning.

She was five years older than me, and it kinda disgusted me that she thought of my much-younger -then her friends like that.

I quickly stepped out of the office, wiping some stray tears that had fallen once I closed the door. Sniffling on accident I caught the attention of Gloria, who was at the till.

"Lisa, hey girl, you okay?" She asked in concern as I nodded.

"Yeah, Heather's office is just really dusty, and it's getting to my allergies." I quickly explained. "I'm going to step outside for awhile to get it out of my system." I added as I quickly headed out the door, silently praising my good acting skills. Taking a few deep breaths to calm myself I headed across the street, smiling as I saw both Steve and Soda jump out of Steve's truck.

"Hey guys!" I yelled as I waved my hand, catching their attention.

"Hey Baby Girl!" Steve answered with a wave of his hand before disappearing into the store.

"Hey Leese." Soda greeted with a star awarding smile and I had to stop my heart from fluttering.

Yes, I do have a crush on Soda Pop Curtis. Yes, I know it's pathetic, and yes I know I'm just being a typical teenage girl, but how the hell can I not have a crush on him?! Half the female population does! I'm female! I'm part of the population! Therefore I deserve the right to ogle!

Oh dear god, I'm sounding like her.

Sandy, one of the few girls that I didn't get along with, and it wasn't because of jealousy either, it was principle.

I had caught her cheating on Soda on a number of occasions, but every time I would go to tell him, I'd chicken out. I mean, he was always so happy with her, he loved her. What right did I have to ruin that? I mean what he doesn't know can't hurt him.

Once again I'm sounding like her and I'm hating it.

"When do you guys close today?" I asked, having planned on visiting everyone over at the Curtis household today.

"Since it's Sunday we get off at Noon, and you?" Steve stated as he came out of the store with a bag of chips, munching on them.

"Around four, do you think I could come over and visit?" I asked as Soda smiled brightly.

"Hell yeah, everyone misses you over there you know, you hardly come over to see us anymore." Soda stated, a tinge of regret in his voice, making me feel incredible guilty.

I'm just a festering wound of emotions.

You see, Soda, Steve and I had been best friends in public school, and part of high school. We were the Troublesome Trio, or that's how the teachers on yard duty refereed to us as. I would always visit Soda's place, talk to Ponyboy since we have so much in common. We're both dreamers, and sometimes, when Soda isn't around, Pony would talk to me about his dreams, fears, even crushes once in a while. I felt extremely proud to know that I was someone of good conversation to him, since he seemed to have little to no one else that truly understood where he was coming from. Darry and I got along alright, he was more like the big brother I used to have, always looking out for me, and trying to make sure that Soda and I stayed out of trouble in our mischief days. We loved to play pranks on him, almost to the point where I feel ashamed and guilty for the poor guy now. He has so much going on for him right to handle alone. Thank god for the Gang.

"Well, if you guys are really missing me that much I think I can swing by for a hour or so." I replied with a smirk, before being nearly trampled over by Steve who grabbed me from behind and began to whirl me around in circles, much like a tag doll.

"I swear to god Steve, you're going to hurt yourself if you don't put me down!" I yelled, but couldn't help laughing at the amused look on Soda's face. Steve grinned as he set me down.

"You're-" He began before me cutting him off. Day to day it's the same thing.

"I'm not heavy, ya, ya, I know. Let's just be on the safe side, huh?" I stated as I laughed, shaking my head. Looking back over to the station I sighed as I saw a car pull into the garage. "Well, looks like we're open." I stated as I turned around to look at Soda and Steve.

"That Heather girl still giving you problems?" Soda asked as he looked at me concerned.

I hated it when he did that, made me feel, ugh, dare I say it, giddy?

"When is she not?" I tried joking to brush off their concern. "Well, I better go, Two-Bit said he was going to come around after work and we were going to walk to your house together."

"Ohhhhhh." Both Soda and Steve teased as I sent them an evil glare.

"That, my friends, would be near incest for me to even consider such a thought." I replied as I shook my head. "You know that Two-Bit and I are pretty much family."

"We know, we were just teasing you Leese." Steve relied smirked as Soda sighed.

"Well, you had better get to work." Sodapop sighed as my breath nearly hitched. Was that regret in his voice?

NO! STUPID FAN GIRL GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!

"Yeah, see you guys later." I replied calmly as I think I could've at the moment and raced back across the road.


There we go, love to see some reviews!!!! Thanks!