I rolled my eyes, but inside. Outwardly I calmly looked on.
"I told you, Bob! I'm not staying with you if you're drinking!"
Cherry's face was nearly as red as her hair. Everything had to be so dramatic with her. Bob's mouth hung open comically and he clutched his ever present flask of whiskey. Randy's confusion was beginning to give way to anger and he looked at me. I calmly looked away.
Truth is, I'd been getting a little sick of Randy lately.
"C'mon, Marcia, let's go," Cherry flounced off, not waiting to see if I'd follow her. Of course I would, she was CHERRY VALANCE, head cheerleader, class president, Bob's girlfriend. I rolled my eyes again and this time, because her back was to me, I really rolled them. Then I ran to catch up with her.
"You sure this is a good idea?" I said. She was heading for the seats.
"I said I was coming to see a movie and I'm gonna see one," she said.
She was heading toward the seats. The greasrs from the east side sat there. Let me explain a bit. Our city was fairly divided by social class. Cherry, Bob, Randy, and I were from the west side. Rich.
But the east side boys. They were wild, dangerous, dark, exciting. They were hoods. And Cherry wanted to go sit right in the middle of them.
I could feel Bob and Randy scowling at us as we walked toward the seats. Cherry's face was set, determined, it was her principles again. I just thought it would be fun to flirt with the east side boys.
To be truthful Bob did have a problem with drinking. I didn't mind drinking once in a while but that Bob was a lush! A couple of months ago he'd drank himself into a frenzy and went and beat up one of those poor east side greasers. A small kid, too, 14 or so, and he had been all alone. Bob, Randy, and two others beat him so badly that Randy confessed he thought they'd killed him. He watched the paper for days to be sure there was no dead kid on the east side. Bob barely recalled the incident.
We sat in the first row and right after we did Dallas Winston sauntered over with two hoods in tow.
Dallas Winston, Dally, everyone knows him. He used to live in New York City and he was a hardened criminal at 17. He just got out of jail.
He and his two friends sat right behind us.
They started talking dirty, well, actually, Dally started talking dirty. The other two, who looked substantialy sweeter than Dallas Winston, turned red and told him to cut it out.
He didn't listen and started talking even dirtier. Cherry stiffened as he leaned close to her and fingered her hair.
She liked it, though, of course. Bob is just as much of a jerk as Dallas Winston. Cherry likes jerks.
I eyed the other two. They looked to be a lot younger than Dallas. They must be tough to be hanging out with the likes of him.
The one sitting next to Dally was a real cutie. Long reddish hair slicked back, big green eyes. Everytime Dallas said something off color to Cherry he looked at him with sharp annoyance and would snap, "C'mon, Dally,".
The one next to him was also cute. Black hair that was greased so heavily it gleamed in the flickering light of the movie screen. He had big dark eyes that darted fearfully to Dallas when he said things to Cherry and he too would say, "Cut it out, Dal,".
Dallas got worse and worse. Cherry was snapping her gum and I could tell she was about to tell him off.
"I'm going to get a coke," the dark haired kid said and got up quickly.
"Why don't you leave us alone, be nice and leave us alone?" Cherry said. Us. Huh. He was only talking to her. The kid with the reddish hair was looking at Dallas, a thoughtful and worried look on his face.
"I'm never nice," he said, and leaned close to her, whispered something in her ear.
"Get lost, hood!" Cherry screamed at him. I smiled a little. It amused me to see Cherry so ruffled.
"O.K., fine. I know when I'm not wanted," He got up and stalked off. Cherry turned around quick and glared at the kid.
"Are you gonna start in on us, too?"
"No," he said calmly, quietly, looking right into her eyes.
"You don't look the type," she said, smiling softly, "what's your name?"
"Ponyboy Curtis," Curtis. I immediately thought of Sodapop Curtis, my God that boy was to die for. Bleached blond hair and dark eyes and this look he had, like a movie star or something. He worked at the DX that all the girls flocked to. And he was so friendly, so magnetic . Ponyboy. What a weird name, like Sodapop. He had to be his brother. I had to ask.
"Your brother Sodapop, he works at a DX, I think,"
"Yeah," He ducked his head and said it softly. Poor kid, that Sodapop must always get all of the attention.
"I should have guessed you were brothers, he's a doll," He blushed a little and I smiled.
"How come we don't see him around school anymore, he's what, 16?" I said, this just occurring to me. Of course I didn't have any classes with him because I was in the college prep courses but I used to see him in the halls.
"He's a drop out," Ponyboy said, and I saw a look of shame on his face. Just then the other kid came back, sucking on the straw to his soda. He glanced around nervously, probably looking for Dally.
"Hi," he said so shyly I almost giggled. He was a nervous kid, that one. His shoulders were tensed up and his eyes were round, darting from Ponyboy to us to the movie screen and back.
Dallas came back with an armful of cokes and handed one to each of us except
the dark haired kid, who had one already. I thanked him softly but I don't think he heard me. He wasn't interested in me. Everyone's always all over Cherry like flies on shit. I knew how Ponyboy must feel with his brother.
"Here, I thought this might cool you off," He said to her as he sat down next to her. She looked at the coke in her hand and then threw it in his face. Cola dripped down his face and his tongue licked it slowly from his lips in an oddly seductive way.
"Maybe this will cool you off! Once you learn to talk and act decent I might cool off, too!" She screamed again, that girl was always screaming. I rolled my eyes. Ponyboy and the other kid watched with wide eyes.
"Firey, huh?" Dallas said, leering, putting his arm around her and leaning toward her, "that's the way I like 'em," He started to kiss her and grope her and we were at the movies! A public place! What was he gonna do, attack her in front of everyone?
"Leave her alone, Dal," The dark haired kid had stood up and put his arm between Dallas and Cherry. I'd only been near this kid for about a half an hour but I could tell that this was out of character for him. Ponyboy was starring at him as though he had grown two heads.
"What?" Dallas said sharply, his eyes narrowed in anger, "What did you say to me, you little shit?"
"You heard me, leave her alone," He didn't back down against the toughest kid in the whole city. We all looked at him in awe.
"Punk," Dallas growled but he stopped, stood up nearly knocking his chair over, and left. Ponyboy's mouth was open in frank astonishment.
"Thanks, he had me scared to death!" Cherry said, but she didn't look scared to death. She looked like she was having fun.
"You sure didn't show it. Nobody talks to Dal like that," he said.
"From what I saw you do," Cherry always had sassy little comebacks like that. It grated on my nerves a bit. The kid looked kind of sad when she said that. Funny.
"Why don't you two sit up here with us, you can protect us," I said, smiling, batting my eyes at the dark haired kid. He smiled a crooked smile at Ponyboy and said, "what do you think, man?" That Ponyboy was cool. He shrugged and said, "Might as well,"
They sat with us. They looked young.
"How old are y'all?" I said.
"14," Ponyboy said slowly. The other kid answered fast so maybe we wouldn't jump to the wrong conclusion, "16," I was kind of in that mood to tease them,they were so cute.
"That's funny, " I said, "I thought you were both fourte" I started to say 14 but Cherry cut me off, "16," she said.
"How come y'all aren't scared o f us like you were Dallas?" the dark haired one said. Cherry explained, they didn't join in the dirty talk and all that. Well, they didn't have to. Dallas did admirably all by himself.
"He's a cool old guy once you get to know him," he said. I'd heard that about the east side kids, they're loyal to each other. I kind of envied that. If Cherry was being rude like that I wouldn't be sitting here defending her.
"Well, I'm glad he doesn't know us," I said, and then we were quite for a bit, watching the movie.
"All right, greasers, you've had it!" A deep voice said from behind the two boys. My heart started hammering, Bob sent one of his lackeys over here to beat them up and haul us back. I turned and laughed, it was obviously one of their friends, a smiling guy with greased light brown hair and Elvis sideburns. He had a hand on each of them.
"Glory, Two bit, scare us to death!" Ponyboy said, laughing. The other kid wasn't laughing. His eyes were shut and he was barely breathing. Then he opened his eyes, "Hey, Two bit," he said in a shaky voice.
"Sorry, kid, I forgot," Two bit said, ruffling his hair. He handed him a beer in a brown paper wrapping, "have a beer, it'll settle your nerves," The kid held the beer awkwardly.
Two bit shifted his attention to me and Cherry.
"What's two classy girls like you doing with two greasy hoods like Pony and Johnny?" He said. Cherry looked wary but I smiled my wide smile.
"Actually, we picked them up. We're really Arabian slave traders and their worth two camels a piece," I said. Now Cherry rolled her eyes. She never liked my sense of humor. Two bit laughed, and I liked him immediately. I wanted to stick my tongue out at Cherry but somehow didn't dare.
"Naw," he said, laughing, "they don't speak Arabian, I don't think. Their worth only one camel. Say something in Arabian, Johnnycake?"
"Aw, cut it out!" Johnny said, and he looked a little mad, "Dally was bothering them and when he left they asked us to sit up with them to protect them, against wisecracking greasers like you, probably,"
"Speaking of Dally..." Two bit said how someone was looking for Dally because he slashed their tires. That's not surprising. Dallas was trouble.
"Ponyboy," Cherry said quickly, standing up, "come with me to get popcorn and soda," He stood up obediantly. Most people obeyed Cherry. It made my raw nerves sing.
We watched them go into the little snack booth. The line was outside, they'd be awhile.
"Hey, can I have this?" I reached for the beer Johnny held. He sure wasn't going to drink it. He barely nodded and I took it from him and swigged it. No wonder Bob drank with Cherry and her damn drama.
Johnny just watched the movie and didn't say anything.
"So, Dally was bothering you, huh?" Two bit said, leaning close to me. He was in the seat behind me. I shrugged, he hadn't been bothering me. Johnny glanced at us and finished his soda. I finished the beer and felt a little better, a little less aggravated with her highness, miss Cherry.
"Hey, got a cigarrette?" I said. Both boys dug in their pockets for one. Two bit had offerred cigarrettes before but with Cherry starring at me I felt like I couldn't have one. Forget that. I'd do what I wanted whether she approved or not. Johnny handed me one and Two bit lit it, just like Carey Grant in the movies. I giggled.
I could still see Cherry and Ponyboy waiting in line outside the snack stand.
Two bit joked and teased in a steady stream of words . It got so that I couldn't stop laughing. Even Johnny laughed a little. I liked these two, they weren't snotty and too cool like Bob and Randy, afraid to let down their guard. But I was a little wary of them, not really nervous but just aware of things. Aware of the bad neighborhood they lived in, not like my neighborhood with the manicured lawns and winding driveways and guest houses. On a lark we'd driven through the east side neighborhoods. I'd seen the junk on the porches, the rotting shingles, plastic toys littering yards. It was just different, more visceral in a way.
Two bit got to the punch line of an elaborate joke he'd been telling and I literally could not breathe, it was so funny. In the distance I saw Cherry and Ponyboy returning with their arms filled with the snacks.
"Hey, Marcia," Two bit said close to my ear, "I'd like to have your phone number," I gave it to him, smiling at how that would bug Randy and probably Cherry, too.
"I told you, Bob! I'm not staying with you if you're drinking!"
Cherry's face was nearly as red as her hair. Everything had to be so dramatic with her. Bob's mouth hung open comically and he clutched his ever present flask of whiskey. Randy's confusion was beginning to give way to anger and he looked at me. I calmly looked away.
Truth is, I'd been getting a little sick of Randy lately.
"C'mon, Marcia, let's go," Cherry flounced off, not waiting to see if I'd follow her. Of course I would, she was CHERRY VALANCE, head cheerleader, class president, Bob's girlfriend. I rolled my eyes again and this time, because her back was to me, I really rolled them. Then I ran to catch up with her.
"You sure this is a good idea?" I said. She was heading for the seats.
"I said I was coming to see a movie and I'm gonna see one," she said.
She was heading toward the seats. The greasrs from the east side sat there. Let me explain a bit. Our city was fairly divided by social class. Cherry, Bob, Randy, and I were from the west side. Rich.
But the east side boys. They were wild, dangerous, dark, exciting. They were hoods. And Cherry wanted to go sit right in the middle of them.
I could feel Bob and Randy scowling at us as we walked toward the seats. Cherry's face was set, determined, it was her principles again. I just thought it would be fun to flirt with the east side boys.
To be truthful Bob did have a problem with drinking. I didn't mind drinking once in a while but that Bob was a lush! A couple of months ago he'd drank himself into a frenzy and went and beat up one of those poor east side greasers. A small kid, too, 14 or so, and he had been all alone. Bob, Randy, and two others beat him so badly that Randy confessed he thought they'd killed him. He watched the paper for days to be sure there was no dead kid on the east side. Bob barely recalled the incident.
We sat in the first row and right after we did Dallas Winston sauntered over with two hoods in tow.
Dallas Winston, Dally, everyone knows him. He used to live in New York City and he was a hardened criminal at 17. He just got out of jail.
He and his two friends sat right behind us.
They started talking dirty, well, actually, Dally started talking dirty. The other two, who looked substantialy sweeter than Dallas Winston, turned red and told him to cut it out.
He didn't listen and started talking even dirtier. Cherry stiffened as he leaned close to her and fingered her hair.
She liked it, though, of course. Bob is just as much of a jerk as Dallas Winston. Cherry likes jerks.
I eyed the other two. They looked to be a lot younger than Dallas. They must be tough to be hanging out with the likes of him.
The one sitting next to Dally was a real cutie. Long reddish hair slicked back, big green eyes. Everytime Dallas said something off color to Cherry he looked at him with sharp annoyance and would snap, "C'mon, Dally,".
The one next to him was also cute. Black hair that was greased so heavily it gleamed in the flickering light of the movie screen. He had big dark eyes that darted fearfully to Dallas when he said things to Cherry and he too would say, "Cut it out, Dal,".
Dallas got worse and worse. Cherry was snapping her gum and I could tell she was about to tell him off.
"I'm going to get a coke," the dark haired kid said and got up quickly.
"Why don't you leave us alone, be nice and leave us alone?" Cherry said. Us. Huh. He was only talking to her. The kid with the reddish hair was looking at Dallas, a thoughtful and worried look on his face.
"I'm never nice," he said, and leaned close to her, whispered something in her ear.
"Get lost, hood!" Cherry screamed at him. I smiled a little. It amused me to see Cherry so ruffled.
"O.K., fine. I know when I'm not wanted," He got up and stalked off. Cherry turned around quick and glared at the kid.
"Are you gonna start in on us, too?"
"No," he said calmly, quietly, looking right into her eyes.
"You don't look the type," she said, smiling softly, "what's your name?"
"Ponyboy Curtis," Curtis. I immediately thought of Sodapop Curtis, my God that boy was to die for. Bleached blond hair and dark eyes and this look he had, like a movie star or something. He worked at the DX that all the girls flocked to. And he was so friendly, so magnetic . Ponyboy. What a weird name, like Sodapop. He had to be his brother. I had to ask.
"Your brother Sodapop, he works at a DX, I think,"
"Yeah," He ducked his head and said it softly. Poor kid, that Sodapop must always get all of the attention.
"I should have guessed you were brothers, he's a doll," He blushed a little and I smiled.
"How come we don't see him around school anymore, he's what, 16?" I said, this just occurring to me. Of course I didn't have any classes with him because I was in the college prep courses but I used to see him in the halls.
"He's a drop out," Ponyboy said, and I saw a look of shame on his face. Just then the other kid came back, sucking on the straw to his soda. He glanced around nervously, probably looking for Dally.
"Hi," he said so shyly I almost giggled. He was a nervous kid, that one. His shoulders were tensed up and his eyes were round, darting from Ponyboy to us to the movie screen and back.
Dallas came back with an armful of cokes and handed one to each of us except
the dark haired kid, who had one already. I thanked him softly but I don't think he heard me. He wasn't interested in me. Everyone's always all over Cherry like flies on shit. I knew how Ponyboy must feel with his brother.
"Here, I thought this might cool you off," He said to her as he sat down next to her. She looked at the coke in her hand and then threw it in his face. Cola dripped down his face and his tongue licked it slowly from his lips in an oddly seductive way.
"Maybe this will cool you off! Once you learn to talk and act decent I might cool off, too!" She screamed again, that girl was always screaming. I rolled my eyes. Ponyboy and the other kid watched with wide eyes.
"Firey, huh?" Dallas said, leering, putting his arm around her and leaning toward her, "that's the way I like 'em," He started to kiss her and grope her and we were at the movies! A public place! What was he gonna do, attack her in front of everyone?
"Leave her alone, Dal," The dark haired kid had stood up and put his arm between Dallas and Cherry. I'd only been near this kid for about a half an hour but I could tell that this was out of character for him. Ponyboy was starring at him as though he had grown two heads.
"What?" Dallas said sharply, his eyes narrowed in anger, "What did you say to me, you little shit?"
"You heard me, leave her alone," He didn't back down against the toughest kid in the whole city. We all looked at him in awe.
"Punk," Dallas growled but he stopped, stood up nearly knocking his chair over, and left. Ponyboy's mouth was open in frank astonishment.
"Thanks, he had me scared to death!" Cherry said, but she didn't look scared to death. She looked like she was having fun.
"You sure didn't show it. Nobody talks to Dal like that," he said.
"From what I saw you do," Cherry always had sassy little comebacks like that. It grated on my nerves a bit. The kid looked kind of sad when she said that. Funny.
"Why don't you two sit up here with us, you can protect us," I said, smiling, batting my eyes at the dark haired kid. He smiled a crooked smile at Ponyboy and said, "what do you think, man?" That Ponyboy was cool. He shrugged and said, "Might as well,"
They sat with us. They looked young.
"How old are y'all?" I said.
"14," Ponyboy said slowly. The other kid answered fast so maybe we wouldn't jump to the wrong conclusion, "16," I was kind of in that mood to tease them,they were so cute.
"That's funny, " I said, "I thought you were both fourte" I started to say 14 but Cherry cut me off, "16," she said.
"How come y'all aren't scared o f us like you were Dallas?" the dark haired one said. Cherry explained, they didn't join in the dirty talk and all that. Well, they didn't have to. Dallas did admirably all by himself.
"He's a cool old guy once you get to know him," he said. I'd heard that about the east side kids, they're loyal to each other. I kind of envied that. If Cherry was being rude like that I wouldn't be sitting here defending her.
"Well, I'm glad he doesn't know us," I said, and then we were quite for a bit, watching the movie.
"All right, greasers, you've had it!" A deep voice said from behind the two boys. My heart started hammering, Bob sent one of his lackeys over here to beat them up and haul us back. I turned and laughed, it was obviously one of their friends, a smiling guy with greased light brown hair and Elvis sideburns. He had a hand on each of them.
"Glory, Two bit, scare us to death!" Ponyboy said, laughing. The other kid wasn't laughing. His eyes were shut and he was barely breathing. Then he opened his eyes, "Hey, Two bit," he said in a shaky voice.
"Sorry, kid, I forgot," Two bit said, ruffling his hair. He handed him a beer in a brown paper wrapping, "have a beer, it'll settle your nerves," The kid held the beer awkwardly.
Two bit shifted his attention to me and Cherry.
"What's two classy girls like you doing with two greasy hoods like Pony and Johnny?" He said. Cherry looked wary but I smiled my wide smile.
"Actually, we picked them up. We're really Arabian slave traders and their worth two camels a piece," I said. Now Cherry rolled her eyes. She never liked my sense of humor. Two bit laughed, and I liked him immediately. I wanted to stick my tongue out at Cherry but somehow didn't dare.
"Naw," he said, laughing, "they don't speak Arabian, I don't think. Their worth only one camel. Say something in Arabian, Johnnycake?"
"Aw, cut it out!" Johnny said, and he looked a little mad, "Dally was bothering them and when he left they asked us to sit up with them to protect them, against wisecracking greasers like you, probably,"
"Speaking of Dally..." Two bit said how someone was looking for Dally because he slashed their tires. That's not surprising. Dallas was trouble.
"Ponyboy," Cherry said quickly, standing up, "come with me to get popcorn and soda," He stood up obediantly. Most people obeyed Cherry. It made my raw nerves sing.
We watched them go into the little snack booth. The line was outside, they'd be awhile.
"Hey, can I have this?" I reached for the beer Johnny held. He sure wasn't going to drink it. He barely nodded and I took it from him and swigged it. No wonder Bob drank with Cherry and her damn drama.
Johnny just watched the movie and didn't say anything.
"So, Dally was bothering you, huh?" Two bit said, leaning close to me. He was in the seat behind me. I shrugged, he hadn't been bothering me. Johnny glanced at us and finished his soda. I finished the beer and felt a little better, a little less aggravated with her highness, miss Cherry.
"Hey, got a cigarrette?" I said. Both boys dug in their pockets for one. Two bit had offerred cigarrettes before but with Cherry starring at me I felt like I couldn't have one. Forget that. I'd do what I wanted whether she approved or not. Johnny handed me one and Two bit lit it, just like Carey Grant in the movies. I giggled.
I could still see Cherry and Ponyboy waiting in line outside the snack stand.
Two bit joked and teased in a steady stream of words . It got so that I couldn't stop laughing. Even Johnny laughed a little. I liked these two, they weren't snotty and too cool like Bob and Randy, afraid to let down their guard. But I was a little wary of them, not really nervous but just aware of things. Aware of the bad neighborhood they lived in, not like my neighborhood with the manicured lawns and winding driveways and guest houses. On a lark we'd driven through the east side neighborhoods. I'd seen the junk on the porches, the rotting shingles, plastic toys littering yards. It was just different, more visceral in a way.
Two bit got to the punch line of an elaborate joke he'd been telling and I literally could not breathe, it was so funny. In the distance I saw Cherry and Ponyboy returning with their arms filled with the snacks.
"Hey, Marcia," Two bit said close to my ear, "I'd like to have your phone number," I gave it to him, smiling at how that would bug Randy and probably Cherry, too.