Disclaimer: I don't own the Outsiders.
Adrianna's Point of View
I got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around myself. I opened the door to the bathroom and cracked the door open to make sure no one was in the hallway. I sprinted to my room and locked the door.
I sighed and thought my dad must not be home.
I got changed and sauntered downstairs into the kitchen for breakfast and smirked at the sight that met my eyes. My seventeen year old brother, Steve had his best buddy Sodapop Curtis in a headlock.
Steve is my older brother and practically my guardian. My mom was a night nurse who worked a lot. My dad used to work as a construction worker. We weren't rich but we weren't exactly poor either. We were a pretty happy family.
That all changed when my mom died. I was six so I really don't remember her that well but, my brother tells me stories about her and how great she was. My dad lost it when she died. He started to drink a lot and never showed up to work so he ended up getting fired. Not long after he started to beat Steve. He never touched me though. I don't know if it was because I was a girl or because Steve would kick his sorry ass if he ever touched me. Whatever the reason my father never laid a hand on me.
With no income coming in we had to sell our house and move to the other side of town. Our new house was old, small, and looked like it could easily fall apart. Steve got a job when he was thirteen working as a caddy for a rich business man, Elliot Lowe. Elliot was always very fond of Steve and asked him to come along with him and his family to some country club up in Denver. Steve was partly excited because he'd never been out of Oklahoma before but, he was nervous leaving me alone with our dad. Steve had second thoughts about going on the trip but I assured him I would be fine and Steve was convinced because my dad had never touched me before.
That is until that night.
I came home only to find that my dad wasn't there. I figured that he was probably out getting drunk somewhere. Happy that my father wouldn't be back till late, I walked over to Johnny Cade's.
He is adorable and his dad beats on him too but, he is my best friend. That night I met him outside his house where I could hear his parents hollering at each other. Johnny is only a couple of month's older than me and it pains me to see the scars that he covers with his long black hair and signature jean jacket.
We walked to the Curtis's household where we are always welcome. Back then, Mr. and Mrs. Curtis were alive and Steve was friends with all the brothers so they accepted me as well. We stayed for dinner and chatted with Ponyboy, Darry lifted weights, and Two-Bit and Soda cracked jokes. It was real late and Johnny and I decided to walk by the lot. We both fell asleep talking and Johnny woke me up hours later. He was freaking out that his dad would hit him and he was scared for me and what my dad would do. I convinced Johnny that my dad wouldn't care so he ran off to calm his parents down; that is if they even noticed he was gone. I took my time to walk over to my house.
No lights were on in the house so I thought I'd be safe from having to talk to my dad. But just as I shut the front door a lamp came on and my father was livid, and drunk.
"Where the hell have you been? You little shit!" my dad yelled.
He threw a bottle at me but I ducked and it hit the wall.
"I was with Johnny," I mumbled, trying to not get him riled up.
"Oh, you were with Johnny!" he said mockingly. "Just what exactly were you and Johnny doing?"
"I…we fell asleep in the lot," I managed to squeak.
"What? You little slut! Giving it up to that son of a bitch!" he yelled.
No, dad we didn't do anything. I swear dad, I'm only eleven," I begged.
"You've never been good for anything, you worthless piece of trash! All you do is take up space and comfort that brother of yours. He doesn't care about you! No one does! He's going to leave this place when he's older and leave you here with me. And you don't show respect to me, you bitch," my dad roared.
Now, I was scared and I was mad. He usually ignored me. But, I refused to believe that Steve didn't care about me. He would never leave me in hell.
"Fuck you!" I screamed. "You don't know anything about me! If you want to receive respect why don't you start doing something to deserve it? Act like a father god damn it! Steve loves me and he would never leave me. Hell, Johnny cares more for me than you ever have. I have friends that would be worried if something happened to me! You don't give a rat's ass!"
"What? It sounds like you've been passing yourself around to all these boys? Huh? I didn't raise a whore! They at least better be paying you! Well, if you're going to act like a whore I'm going to treat you like one!" he said.
And with that he turned off the light and tackled me to the ground.
After what seemed like hours he stood up; zipped his pants, grabbed his keys, and left the house.
And I, I was never the same.
"Give it back Randle! Or I swear I'll tell Evie Hastings about what happened Saturday night," Soda said threateningly.
I snapped out of my thoughts and I saw Steve waving around a crumpled, hand-written letter that he had stolen from Soda.
"Tell Evie, it's probably time for us to break up anyway. But, what's so important about this letter Curtis? Are you hiding something? Maybe I'll just take a peek at it!" Steve taunted.
I came up from behind and snatched the letter from Steve. Soda let go of him and he fell to the floor and took the letter from my hand; stuffing it in his back pocket.
"Whoa, someone really doesn't want that letter to be read," I said questioningly.
"It's personal, as in none of your business little one," Soda retorted opening the fridge until his hands rested on a carton of chocolate milk.
I rolled my eyes and helped Steve up.
"By the way, you look hot Adri!" Soda said, earning him a slap on the head from Steve.
I'm sure my ears were as red as a tomato.
"You know the rules Soda!" Steve said.
"Yeah, yeah eyes and hands off your little sister," Soda said rolling his eyes at the well-practiced words.
I smiled and let out a sigh. "So what's up with you and Evie, Steve? What happened Saturday night?" I asked, taking a go at the milk.
"Well don't tell her this but I'm kind of seeing another girl behind her back," Steve muttered.
I coughed up the milk in my mouth and groaned.
"Steve, she's one of my best friends! Come on; at least have the decency to break up with her!" I exclaimed.
"That's what I said," chimed Soda.
"Look, both of you keep your traps shut no one else knows about this. And I'm not breaking up with Evie until I see where things go with this other girl" Steve warned.
Soda and I shared a glance and rolled our eyes at Steve's womanizing behavior.
Sodapop Curtis is Steve's best friend and he is downright sexy. He's got raven black hair and piercing, electric gray eyes that could make anyone's heart melt. He's the funniest person I've ever met and he is also the nicest.
Steve and Soda are best friends. They met in grade school and the duo has been inseparable ever since. I've always shied away from Soda as a kid. My crush on him caused me to not be able to talk when he was around. But, as a teenager I've become more confident speaking in front of him. Last year he started dating this girl Sandy Dumont so I moved on and started dating some other guys too. But, recently Sandy moved to Florida and she and Soda broke up. I don't know why she left and when I asked Steve about it he changed the subject.
Just as Soda became single I went off the market. I'm dating this guy named Leroy Guinotte who is sixteen. He's smart, nice, and black. Whenever we're out together everyone stares and Leroy gets glares for being with a white girl. Once, we were at the movies and a white man threw a drink on Leroy for being with a white girl he told him to "date his own kind". Another time, the owner of a restaurant refused to serve us; Leroy for being black and me for associating with him. We try to ignore it as much as we can though.
Steve likes Leroy and his family too but, he doesn't like that he's dating me. I have to give my props to Leroy. He has the balls to be interrogated by my brother, Johnny, Soda and nearly everyone else. Since Sandy left Soda I hardly ever get to see him. So, I spend nearly all of my time with Leroy. Although, we haven't gone all the way he's really pressuring me to.
I never told Steve or anyone else what my dad did to me. Since then my dad's gotten his job back but wastes the money on gambling and alcohol. My dad has actually raped me four times in total. All when Steve was out of town. On a daily basis however my dad touches me inappropriately and gives me looks that makes me want to die.
I don't have the courage to tell anyone. I'm dirty and worthless. Plus who would ever believe me? Before Leroy, I've had a couple other boyfriends; mostly to get Soda's attention. I dated Jack Wattle who I almost got to third base with until flashbacks with my dad got to me and I made him stop. He dumped me the next day. My only other boyfriend was Ricky Carlton. He is a rich hot shot soc. We didn't even date for a month when I slept with him in the back of his mustang. That was the only time I'd been with anyone that is except, for my dad. When Ricky finished he left me on the side of the road by myself. That's where I ran into Johnny, Ponyboy, and Dallas. I was crying and they got the story out of me. I begged them not to tell Steve or anyone else which they reluctantly agreed to only because no one wanted to be the one to tell Steve or Soda. I couldn't blame them either I wouldn't want my head bashed in for being the one to give them the news. But, I couldn't get them to agree to not hunt Ricky down.
Johnny have dragged and half carried me to the empty Curtis household. Meanwhile, Dally and Ponyboy went looking for Ricky. I cried myself to sleep in Johnny's arms and when I awoke Dally came back with a black eye and a triumphant smile.
"I beat the shit out of that motherfucker," Dally said happily.
All of the boys are really overprotective of me. If they knew of have the shit I've done and what's been done to me I'd be dead and so would a lot of other people. Steve thinks I'm a saint who could still be considered for a job at the nunnery. Sodapop, Two-Bit, and Darry all think I'm a virgin but they figured that I must have done something with one of my previous boyfriends. Johnny, Dally, and Ponyboy know the truth, well except for the part about my father. The night Dally beat the daylights out of Ricky I knew that he cared about me. He never really showed it until that moment. Ponyboy was a little disappointed in me for bad judgment but he's younger than me and respects my decisions. However, I had never seen Johnny so mad in my life. As my best friend he felt like he failed in protecting me, little did he know that I'd take a Ricky Carlton over a Harrison Randle (my dad) any day.
"Earth to Adri," Sodapop said waving a hand in front of my face.
"What? Oh?" I replied coming back to the present.
"You're always in your own world Adrianna," Soda laughed. "But, as I was saying do y'all want to go to Buck's party tonight?"
"I for one am in," Steve said. "However, my little sister here is not going within earshot of that place."
"Hey, if you can go I sure as hell can and it's not like anything will happen at Buck's if I'm with you two!" I retorted. "Oh, and I'll invite Leroy to come along!"
Steve and Soda both groaned.
"Ah, do you really have to?" Steve said.
"I hate that guy!" Soda added.
Soda's reaction made me smile a little on the inside.
Was he jealous?
"Well, invite him if you must but we're going to work Adri. Stay out of trouble and we'll see you tonight," Steve warned.
Along with his caddy jobs for Mr. Lowe Steve also works at the DX gasoline station. I work as a waitress at the Dingo.
I nodded in farewell and watched Soda follow Steve to the front door.
"Hey Curtis, I still plan on finding out what's in that letter!" I hollered.
"You can try," he said turning around and winking at me before shutting the door behind him.
I was grinning like a fool when the carpet caught the attention of my eye. There, just a few feet away were three drops of blood, my blood. I turned away and went upstairs to take another shower and wash myself of that awful yet familiar feeling of pure disgust.
Author's Note: Well, what did you think? This is my first story ever so I'd really love some feedback! I plan on updating really soon!
