Chapter 1- The Square
Kelly Daton was the town trash. She grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and hung around the wrong people. She was seventeen and slept around with all of the gangs, palled around with some of the guys when they were robbing or hustling the Socs. Hell, she'd even slept with some of the Socs, though none of them would ever admit it. She once caught Bob Sheldon alone in the school parking lot once and convinced him to buy her a pack of cigarettes in exchange for some explicit favors.
Not many people liked her, if we were being honest-- most, like the Curtis gang and even some of Shepard's boys got squirmy at the sight of her. She was 5'7", red headed--but like a dirty dark and unappealing red color-- and had bright blue eyes. She was bare of freckles or blemishes except for a tiny beauty mark above her lip to the right. Many of the women in her family possessed one just like it. She wasn't a bad looking girl. In fact, she was quite attractive. But she thought she was tuff, and she sort of was. She carried a switchblade anywhere she went; claiming she'd probably need it in case any of the boys in town would try to take advantage of her, though she was more likely to take advantage of them.
Kelly was once exclusively with Tim Shepard, but slowly lost the title of being his "old lady" once started messing around with a member from the Curtis gang. She liked younger boys; maybe because they made her feel mature, and like she had a lot to teach them. But one boy she could never get over was Johnny Cade, or Johnnycakes, as they called him. He was impish, skinny, dark haired, olive skinned. He always had a scared puppy dog look to him that really made her swoon for some reason. But once he died, she quickly forgot why she even liked him at all. She had heard about his death through the grapevine. All of the information came so fast. First there was a knife fight, someone was killed, then Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny ran away, then saved some kids but Johnny got burned bad, and then he was gone. She heard almost all of this information in one sitting when she was at Buck Merril's for a night of cards with him and a few of Dallas Winston's friends. It was also in the same night that she learned Dally had been shot by the police. While he survived, he was in critical condition for days until they got him stable enough to move him to a county jail to be prosecuted for robbing a grocery store. He'd been in prison for about 2 years now and was getting out in a couple weeks. Kelly often wondered if he'd gotten over Johnny Cade's death as well as the others.
For now, Kelly was dealing with her own type of crisis. She'd been 15 when all of this excitement had happened in her little town, and things had seemed to cool off quite a bit since then. She was still the town trash, though Johnny's death made it hard for her to get into an intimate mood with many people these days. Mind you, she was almost as promiscuous as before, but this time was different. She used to feel no guilt about who she slept with, but now all she felt was guilt. Hell, she'd just laid Two-Bit a few weeks before and all she could think about was how bad she felt about herself.
Not to mention, she now had to start sharing her room with her cousin who was coming to stay with her family. Kate had lost a lot of her belongings in a house fire, which crippled her mother's expenses. So, the both of them were coming to live with Kelly and her parents, Roy and Jan. Kate's stepfather, Arnold had just recently left her mother, which made the house fire that much more devastating to go through. And not that they were straight up Socs, but they had money, and morals, and all the boring and self righteous things that come with having a fat bank account. And Kelly hated them both for it.
As she pulled on her jeans and chucks, Kelly wondered what her bedroom might soon look like. Probably filled with girly clothing and frilly accessories and posters of James Dean. But then again, the fire probably took everything. The thought made her chuckle.
She bounded down her stairs and into the kitchen where her parents were both sitting at the table, smoking a cigarette each and eating their eggs and toast. She swiped the Marlboro pack off the table and flipped it over, dispensing a cancer stick into her hand. She took one of the matches from the pack and struck up, puffing a deep 'O' into the air.
"So when's the square comin to town?" She asked her parents between drags.
Her mother glanced up at her, giving her an incredulous look and shoving a mouthful of toast into her mouth. "Your cousin and Aunt Susan are coming tomorrow afternoon. Might be a good idea to start smoking outside, they're not used to this smoke hangin around like we are. They're clean folk," her mother retorted. Kelly laughed almost sarcastically.
"I'm gonna have to change my life for some know it all punk and her stuck up mother just because they ain't used to some smoke?"
Her father scowled. "Susan may have had it better than we ever will but she ain't stuck up. Your mothers sister is a nice lady and that Kate ain't so bad either. You might learn to be more of a lady that way."
Kelly sneered, turning on her heels toward the fridge. She opened it: bare. Wonder how the prissy cousins will take to an empty fridge, she thought to herself. She slammed it shut and headed toward the door. "Well I'm going to see if the Curtis' have grub over there since y'all don't ever have a thing here."
The redhead walked down the road absentmindedly, only half noticing the occasional honk from passerby's who knew her nature.
When she reaches the Curtis house, she wasn't surprised to see it full; most of their gang hung around all day every day. She saw Two Bit and Steve wrestling out on the front lawn, the front door wide open, and Soda and Pony sitting side by side on the porch steps. They were pointing back and forth in the paper. She quietly admired the younger two Curtis boys. They were both so handsome and cleaner than most greasers. And Ponyboy had turned into quite the strapping fella. Kelly remembered when the boys' parents had passed. It was awful. Even Tim Shepard, her then boyfriend, offered his condolences.
She strolled past the blubbering idiots wrestling in the grass and leaned over the railing of the front porch.
"Well hey there Soda. When you gonna take me out sometime? You ain't bein much of a gentleman ignoring me all these years. I'd say you're the only boy in town who hasn't taken me to the drive-in yet…" she smiled coyly at him.
He returned a playful smile and winked at her. "Oh Kelly shucks you know I'm awful busy at the gas stop. I wouldn't ignore a pretty thing like you on purpose, but hey, Pony will take ya out for me," he joked, tussling his brother's hair. Ponyboy had a look of annoyance and panic plastered on his innocent little face. Soda pop was always such a good sport with her. She knew he was too good for the likes of her, but she liked messing around with him and he always humored her in return. It was a part of his charm.
"Is Darry inside? Mom and pops didn't wanna make me any breakfast I suppose and there's hardly a lick of anything to eat around my place."
Soda nodded and jerked his thumb toward the door. Kelly took the invitation and skipped into the house. Inside Darry was finishing up in the kitchen. He had made such a womanly job look so damn masculine. He caught sight of her and turned the stove back on and put the pan back on the burner. "Mornin Kel. Regular pancakes alright? The guys ate up the rest of the blueberries…"
She shrugged and muttered an acceptance. He quickly whisked her up a small stack of pancakes and doused them in syrup from the fridge. Placing them in front of her, he sat down with his own plate, which had now gotten a bit cold. He was always putting everyone else before him.
"So are ya heading to school today Daton?" He questioned, forking a rather large amount of food and shoving it into his mouth.
Kelly huffed. "Puh! I already went to school once this week."
Darry shook his head. "You and Pony are graduating this year Kel. Don't mess this up now. I've waited a long time to see my little brother graduate high school and I wish I could've seen Johnny do the same."
She quivered at the mention of Johnny's name.
"He would've wanted to see you get your diploma and do good for yourself. You're a girl. You don't gotta be tuff, even though you sure as hell are." He shoved another monstrous bite into his pie hole.
"This ain't about Johnny if that's what ya tryin to say Darrell…" she was curt, finishing her own plate. "I ain't like them other girls. School ain't for me and I ain't wanting to go all day every day, just wasting away there. I could be out havin fun."
He shrugged. Darry had tried with this girl over and over again to influence her to stay in school and work hard. He hated to see a girl get nowhere in life. They were supposed to mature much faster than the other half of the species, but Kelly Daton just didn't seem to get it. He collected both of their empty plates as Pony and Soda walked in. Soda headed straight for the bathroom, probably to fix himself up before he headed off to work. Pony came and sat across from Kelly, obviously uncomfortable being close to her. Darry turned and leaned against the counter with his arms crossed.
"So Pony tells me you have a cousin coming into town. We're having a big fire down at the lot tomorrow night. Why don't you bring her by. Might be good for you to hang around some other girls. Girls should hang around girls, ya know? Hanging with guys gives them a bad reputation."
Kelly smacked her lips and smiled. "Darry I like my reputation just fine. And yes I do have a cousin coming to town. And no she will not be comin by." She kicked Pony under the table, who reacted immediately and glared at her.
"Now what'd you do that for?" He demanded, rubbing his shin.
"Ponyboy I told you not to tell anybody about her. You know I don't like her." She folded her arms and threw her feet up on the table top, crossed.
Darry leaned over and knocked them down. "Kelly I don't know where your shoes have been. Could ya keep em away from where we eat? Now anyway Pony just mentioned it to me because all us guys been thinkin how you don't need to be palling around with us all the time. It ain't good for ya. And believe it or not, it's making ya think about Johnny too much."
The redhead sank in her seat, immediately regretting coming to this house. Her face turned at bright as her hair and she almost couldn't bare to sit there any longer. But she was tuff and she could take any criticisms these boys had against her. She decided to ignore almost entirely everything Darry had said, to try and make it seem like it didn't affect her. Though, she was still a girl, and deep down she got her feelings a bit hurt, but she'd never admit it.
"Well she ain't comin and I'll tell ya why. She's not like us. She ain't from around here and she's got money-- well she had money and things are different where she comes from." She sat up straighter now, acting a bit more confident.
"You mean she's a Soc?" Pony chirped.
She shrugged. "Not a Soc. Not full on Cherry Valance but she's just about as horrible." Kelly peaked at Ponyboy when she said this, and he looked miserable. He always had a thing for this girl but she seemed to always look at him as inferior while she day dreamed about hot and steamy get togethers with Dallas Winston. It probably made Pony angry just thinking about it. It made Kelly angry.
Soda popped in from around the corner and pulled up a chair beside Kelly, draping his arm across her shoulder. "Speakin of miss goody two shoes, Dally called us about a week ago saying he wanted us to meet him at the bus stop-- cuz he's got no one else to-- and he mentioned that Cherry sent him a pretty heavy letter a few months back." He nudged Pony, seeing him deflate, trying to lighten him up.
"Ain't she a ripe 19 going on 20 and about to be hitched?" Kelly inquired. Last she heard, Cherry was away at some big wig college and her new boyfriend had recently proposed to her. And to no surprise, she said yes. Pony and Soda both nodded, amusement on one of their faces and disappointment on the other.
Soda checked his watch and hopped up from beside Kelly, darting toward the front room and out the door. Kelly stood also, attempting to steer away from talk of sweet ol Cherry Valance. She scoffed to herself, nearly vomiting in her mouth. She was just as good looking at Sherrie but because she liked boys and liked doing things with boys she was never good enough.
Kelly punched Pony in the arm. "Cmon, let's get to school. Walk me Curtis…"
He stood with her and they walked out the door. Steve and Two Bit were laying across the torn up lawn, scuffled from where they had been wrestling. Kelly gently kicked Two Bit's leg as they passed and he fished out a pack of cigarettes and tossed them to her before her and Pony made it out of the yard. Kelly handed one to him and shoved the pack in her back pocket. She lit one with Pony's lighter and puffed on it gently.
"So what's so bad about yer cousin Kel?" He asked after a long drag. They trudged on toward school, no book bags on their backs, or text books in their arms.
She waved her hand dismissively in the air. "Ehhh she's just a square, man. Embarrassing to say the least."
Her companion nodded and kept quiet. He was good for that. Ponyboy wasn't her favorite person in the world but she liked him around when she wanted everything to be quiet. He had changed since Johnny died, and sometimes she thought it was for the worse. He didn't want to rumble as often, he wanted to learn more in school, and he grew even more shy of girls.
Before they got to the school grounds, Kelly started thinking about Johnny again. His sweet sad eyes haunted her. He liked to rumble. He didn't like school that much. And he liked girls. He might've been quiet but he definitely liked girls. There was one time Arnold Quigly had a party when they were all youngins. They had played spin the bottle for hours. Kelly knew back then that she liked to kiss. And she kissed everyone in that circle. Then the bottle landed on Johnny….
Kelly stopped in her tracks, Pony faltering ahead of her. "Hey Ponyboy, I uh, I don't think I'm going to school today.."
"Kel you probably should…" he warned. "We got a test in--"
"Yea yes Pony I know. I just don't wanna go today. That place ain't doin nothin for me. Just go ahead without me.." she turned and began walking away from him before he could talk again.
The bottle spun and spun and spun and the entire 30 seconds turned into a million. The nervous teens and preteens exchanged looks left and right, scared that they might have the unfortunate pleasure of kissing Kelly Daton. But then it slowed, and it stopped, on a younger than present times but still older than most in the room Two Bit, who rowled with laughter. He shook his head and tried to hold back tears.
"I ain't kissin 'er! Look at that mug!" He joked, laughing and rolling around within the circle. The others around them began to laugh along nervously, some of the girls glancing sideways at an angry Kelly.
Kelly's eyes welled but she was tuff then as she was now. She shifted uneasily, about to stand and run away. Or stand and punch one of them in the face. But then, she saw a meek and mild kid next to Two Bit lean over and flicked the bottle a tad, sending it spinning slowly toward himself. Johnny Cade nudged Two Bit anxiously and gave him a warning look. Two Bit surprisingly quieted, along with the rest of them. And then, Johnny leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on the corner of her mouth….
There were loud bangs on her door, and she woke with a start. Kelly shook her head to regain consciousness. She hated dreaming about Johnny. She heard muffled yells from the other side of her bedroom door.
"What?!" She yelled back, struggling to get to her feet from her bed. Her voice was crackly and dry. She exhaled deeply and pulled a cigarette out of the pack that was now laying on her bed. Striking up a match, she lit it and took a drag. She opened her door and there stood her mother.
"You missed school again and slept the whole day…" her mother said quietly. Kelly was surprised. She was half expecting daggers and slaps and screaming. But she noticed her mother was rather calm, though her face said otherwise. Before Kelly could respond, she continued. "Your aunt and Kate just arrived. I'm glad you're home. You can help her move in and get settled." She peeked in the room and looked around quickly. "And clean up some of your crap."
Shit. It was the square.