Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders!
I was debating whether or not I should go to school. I just wasn't feeling it when I woke up and especially after seeing Keith. Normally I'm okay, but normally he wakes up at the Curtis house. Keith likes school but I think he's crazy. School is a waste of time and effort if you ask me. And it's obvious the whole school feels the same way about me. See, as someone who comes from the East side, I'm nothing but trash, and as a girl, I'm even more worthless. They expect me to fall in line with some crappy 50's sitcom, don some pearls, marry some guy and have the whole 2.5 kids and white picket fence. It's bullshit, really.
I ain't ever gonna get married. What's it ever done for anybody? Two high school sweet hearts fall in love or all that gushy crap. He puts on a suit and says 'I do' to working a 9-5 of a minimum wage you can hardly live off of and she puts on a pretty white dress and says 'I do' to giving up her passions and dreams to stay home with 2.5 whiney ass brats. At least that's the sitcom version. Truth is, if you ain't got money, you ain't got much of a family. That's the way it is on the East side. Everybody's yelling and sometimes yelling turns to a black eye. Or someone breaks that "now and forever" promise and ups and splits. Then the woman who gave up everything for that bastard is stuck on her feet all day with little to nothing to show for it but a tired smile. Every rule has an exception, though, right? Well, that one exception might have been the Curtis's, but see where that got them? Even the exceptions never last.
I ain't gonna get stuck here. I ain't gonna be like them. I ain't gonna be ma.
But then I think of Minnie. She's got this mousy hair and twitchy mousy eyes and she's small. I don't mean she's actually small. I mean she seems small. She's only a month or two younger than me, but I like to think of her as a little sister. I like the way she looks up to me and follows me around and thinks I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread. She practically worships the ground I walk. I like that she needs me and it makes me feel important or something.
If I didn't come to school, they'd tear her apart. My near spotless attendance record is mostly due to her. She's one of the only good people I know in this dead-end town.
I cook up the egg and put the plate on the counter with a lid to keep it warm and scribble a smiley face on a nearby napkin. I'd take a shower, but we ain't got no hot water and I figure gym class is at least good for one thing, especially in the morning. I dig through my laundry basket for something that I can pass off as clean and slip on Keith's hand-me-down sneakers.
I hate those shoes. They're comfortable and everything, but when you get nothing but crap for them, it makes it hard to appreciate them. Once in art class, I tried to paint them pink with these little flowers so the girls would lay off, but I was dragged to the office and they wound up calling my ma and she had to come from work and her boss weren't too happy. She gave me the same tired smile she normally gives Keith and I felt like shit. And the rest of the day she had this guilty look and talked about finding some money to get me new shoes, but I knew we needed the money for more important things like food and hot water and keeping a roof over our head, so I told her to forget it and whether she wanted to or not, she kind of had to. The paint washed off the next time it rained.
Running my hand through my hair, I sigh in even more frustration at the greasy feel of it. It looks even greasier. The boys on this side of town thinks slicking back their hair and putting all that grease in it looks tuff and for some, like Sodapop Curtis, it looks real good on him. But on a girl like me it makes me look like the trash the rest of the dead-end town thinks I am. Kids on the East side don't have much to be proud of, but the boys at least got their titles or turf or whatever, and their long greasy hair. As a girl, though, you ain't got nothing. You can't fight like them 'cause they won't let you. So we stick to packs like hyenas, laughing and hissing with sharpened claws ready to attack the moment we feel pushed to the wall.
That's why I gotta get to school. They'd eat a girl like Minnie alive. I'm late enough as is and probably going to drag Minnie down with me because I know she'll wait for me. I feel even shittier about that. I appreciate it, though. I wouldn't want to walk into that place alone. It's a little easier to face down the scowls and glares of teachers and so-called peers with someone by your side.
She's leaning against a tree, smoking a cigarette, trying to look all tough and cool. I have to laugh and she looks up and does a little head nod as a greeting, all part of the act. It makes me laugh harder. "What? You think I ain't tough?" She puffs out her chest and tries to stand a little taller. "I'm damn tough!"
I try to stifle the laughter because she looks offended and the last thing I want to do is hurt her feelings, but words like 'ain't' and 'damn' don't fit her mouth the way they fit mine. "You're damn tough alright. Where'd you lift the kools?"
She shrugs like it's nothing with this little grin that she always wears when she's trying to impress me. "The old man."
"Hey, speaking of which," We head to gym, our second class. We might've ditched homeroom and our first class, but we'll be early for our next. "You ain't gonna catch hell for this at home, are you?"
The grin wanes slightly. "Probably more for the cigarette." She studies it a moment. I throw my arm around her shoulders 'cause I know that look. The truth is she's really going to catch hell about it and come back to school all quiet and mousy again. Every once in a while she's like this, mouthy and real, but that's only when things at home are going really well and that don't happen too often.
"Want me to come over after school? I can distract them for a little while." Her parents ain't too bad when they ain't giving her a hard time, but when they want to, they can do this fake nice that just really kills you on the inside. Her mother's probably the worse of the two I'd say, but they seem not to mind me too much. Minnie says it's the old Mathews charm, but I think with her parents its just pity. I kind of hate going to her house because her mother lays it on thick. It's a whole bunch of looking down on my ma because she's got to work and I don't got a dad around and today it'll be because my hairs all greasy and my clothes are all wrinkly. I don't mind Kelly's family or Susie-Ann's or even Tiffany 'cause I can take their turned up noses at me, but when you drag my ma into it, it's all I can do to not deck you.
"I'd like to not go home at all." She whispers and she does this turtle thing, where her shoulders scrunch up and her head lowers. Her eyes turn all twitchy and mousy again.
"Well, hell." I flash her a toothy grin. "I could go for a soda and a movie tonight, but you're paying." I hate to make her spend her money. I know she's been saving up for something. Her sock is always full of lunch money she never uses, but I figure a buck or two for some soda won't be too much a dent in her wallet and we can probably sneak into the movies no problem. Nobody ever gets caught doing that anyway.
She nods and though she's pretty much all good now she's got an excuse to go home a little later, she remains quiet for the rest of the day.
AN: Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the reviews! I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate it! I hope you all continue to enjoy it and I hope you don't mind the OCs!
