Author's Note: I do not own any of The Outsiders characters. But I do own Mark and Tish.
" Cherry, I will see you tomorrow at school. I gotta go. Bye!" Marcia waved as her new boyfriend, Mark, pulled her toward his car.
"Sure, see ya," Cherry answered back, although she knew Marcia couldn't hear her, and even if she could she wasn't listening. She was too wrapped up in "love". Marcia had ditched her again for Mark. She sighed and leaned against her car looking back up at the theater just as the lights inside were turning off. She watched as an old man dressed in red and gold uniform stood outside the theater locking the double doors.
He turned to leave and Cherry caught his eye. "Oh, good night miss. You're not having car trouble are you?," the sweet old man asked. "Oh, no, thank you, sir," Cherry smiled and waved as he walked away. "Good night, then," he replied.
Cherry looked around her. Nobody was in sight. Suddenly it seemed eerily quiet. She felt her heart beat faster as she turned and got into her car. She put the key in the ignition and turned it….nothing. A wave of panic washed over her. She tried again and heard the car turn over, but nothing. Cherry turned and looked behind her, nobody was around. "Shit. Where is there a payphone around here?" she spoke to herself. Cherry racked her brain trying to remember the last time she saw a payphone when she was on her way to the movies with Marcia. "Oh, I know where there is one," she said aloud with relief, " just a few blocks away." Cherry looked in the direction the phone booth was supposed to be in. Greaser territory.
Dallas Winston knocked on the Shepard's door and then took long drag of his cigarette. The door opened and a blue eyed beauty stood behind it. She smiled and Dal's heart stopped. "Well, if it isn't Dallas Winston," she spoke in a haughty tone. Dallas smiled back and tried to summon the words.
He had had a crush on Tish since he first saw her a couple months before. His heart broke, however, when he found out that she was dating Curly Shepard. He couldn't stand Curly, so it was just perfect that they were dating.
Curly pulled the door open wider so that he could see who was there. "Hey, Dal. You lookin' for Tim?," Curly asked, annoyed.
"Yeah, you seen him?," Dallas said, looking more at Tish than Curly.
"Yeah, he just took off, toward the drive-in," Tish pointed in the direction that Tim had gone in.
"Alright, Thanks, Tish," Dallas smiled and winked at her as he turned and left. Trish smiled back and Dallas could hear an argument ensue as he walked away.
Dal had a smirk on his face and was feeling pretty triumphant at making Curly jealous. He paused on the sidewalk for a second and began to light up another cigarette when he heard what sounded like a fight in the alleyway nearby. He jogged over to the alley and peeked around the corner.
He recognized Tim Shepard's leather jacket. He seemed to be struggling with someone, but Dallas could not see who it was. "Tim, what are you doing?," Dallas asked as he walked toward the other greaser. Tim turned his head abruptly and Dallas saw who Tim was messing with. It was Cherry Valance. Dallas recognized her from the drive-in. Ponyboy had talked about her before, too. Dallas knew Pony liked her. She was a cheerleader, though, and a Soc.
"Hey, Winston. Will ya get lost? I'm busy here," Tim spoke in a strained voice as he tried to hold Cherry still. He turned back to her. Cherry's face was white with fear.
"Dallas! Please, Help me!," she cried out, just before Tim clamped his hand down over her mouth. "Shut up!," Tim yelled at her.
Before Dallas knew it, he had grabbed Tim's shoulder, turned him around and punched him in the face, hard. Tim fell backward and onto the ground letting Cherry go. She stood very still as if she was stunned and looked at Dallas. Tim seemed to be knocked out cold. Cherry grabbed her purse off the ground, looked at Dallas one last time and then ran past him and out of the alley.
Dallas stood in the alley for a moment and shrugged. He was realizing what he had done. He hit Tim Shepard to save a Soc. "Oh, shit."