Chapter 2
Disclaimer: S.E. Hinton beautifully constructed The Outsiders and all rights go to her, I only made Charlene, her family, and most of the plot.
When I went back to school on Monday I don't see Will and just about give up at ever seeing him ever again when I run into Ponyboy at lunch.
"Hey Charlene!" I hear Ponyboy say.
"Oh hey, didn't see ya there", I say as I sit down at the lunch table. "Wanna sit down?"
"Thanks, I normally don't eat in the lunch room. Steve was already gone by the time I got outta class and I haven't seen Two-Bit all day." Ponyboy says.
"Oh, well I normally sit alone so no one else isn't gonna sit here." I say.
"Where do your friends go then?" he asks while biting into a sandwich.
"Most of them go somewhere else to eat, some stay here but sit with other people. I don't mind. It's a good way to study or read." I say.
"Well looky here, Ponyboy's got himself a little girlfriend!", a guy says while walking up to our table. He plops down and takes part of Ponyboy's sandwich.
"I'm guessing you're Two-Bit?" I ask him and Ponyboy.
"The one and only" Two-Bit says and steals some of Ponyboy's chips.
"Will you quit stealin' my food and go get your own? And this isn't my girlfriend, this is Charlene." Ponyboy says while taking back some of his chips. "Charlene Two-Bit, Two-Bit Charlene."
"Well nice to meet you Charlene. So why are ya here instead of with Steve Ponyboy?" he asks going back to Ponyboy.
"He left without me; it was my fault though I took too long." He replies. Then Two-Bit pulls out a flask.
"Two-Bit, put that up! 'Sides I'm pretty sure Charlene don't wanna see or smell any of that." Ponyboy says while shoving the flask back under the table.
"Come on, it ain't that bad. Here try some; it'll grow hair on your chest." Two-Bit says while offering me the flask.
"No thanks, I prefer my chest hair-less." I say while stifling a laugh.
"Well the bell is about to ring any moment. I need to go to the library." I say.
"You barely touched your food though." Ponyboy says. I look down at my plate and realize that I only took one bite of my sandwich, only ate a couple of chips, and left the rest untouched.
"I'm really not all that hungry. Ya'll want to split it?" I ask them both and slide the plate to Two-Bit and Ponyboy.
"I ain't gonna pass up free food." Two-Bit says while taking my plate.
I went to the library hoping to see Will there, but when I got there no one was in there. I got the book I needed and left. I went to class hoping I would see him later that day, I never did though.
XXX
When the bell rang for school to get out I ran into Ponyboy again.
"Hey Ponyboy!" I said as he walked out the doors of the school.
"You know, I'm beginning to think that you're following me" I said smiling hoping he doesn't think that I'm serious. People tend to think that I never joke and I'm always serious
"Caught my red-handed," he says holding up his hands like he's surrendering, "just kiddin. Whatchya doin here still?"
"I needed some help on my Algebra homework, can you help me? I don't understand it at all. I'm lousy at math." I admit hoping he'll help me.
"Sure, I have to go to the DX first though. Do you mind going there first?"
"No I don't mind. I could go for a Pepsi." I say. "I can't get anything lower than a B or my mom will kill me." I explain hoping he doesn't think I'm stupid or something since I was on the honor roll already.
"I know exactly how you feel. Darry is the same way to me about my grades." Pony says and I can tell it's true.
"I don't know why my mom is like that. We have enough money to send me to college without scholarships and grants." I say cause I'm pretty sure I know the reason Darry is like that towards Pony. Ponyboy doesn't say anything and I know I hit the nail on the head with the reason for Darry's stress on grades.
We get to the DX and there are two guys outside fighting. One of them has black curly hair, tall and extremely mad. The other is about the same height, with blonde hair that's so light it's almost white and icy blue eyes. He has a nonchalant facial expression, almost like he doesn't care.
"Winston I warned you not to mess with her!" the one with black hair yells at him.
"Shut up Sheppard, you know she came onto me." The one with light hair says to him and goes to turn and walk away when the one with black hair punches him square in the jaw and knocks him on the ground. The one with light hair jumps up and starts pounding on the one with black hair.
Then Soda and Steve comes running out of garage.
"Dallas! Tim! Stop it!" they both yell at the boys fighting.
Soda grabs the one with light hair and Steve grabs the one with black hair, but before they could get them broke apart the one with black hair grabs a busted pop bottle and tries to hit the one with but the one with light hair but blocks the bottle from hitting him in the face by raising his arm and the bottle hits his forearm creating a huge, deep gash.
"Dammit! Sheppard I'm gonna kill you!" the one with light hair yells at the one with black hair and tries to go after him again.
By then Steve had the one with black hair shoved back in his car and was yelling at him. Soda takes the other one in the store, the one with the light hair yelling and cussing the whole time.
Ponyboy and I had already walked inside to get a drink and try to avoid both of the boys fighting.
"What the hell was that for Soda?! That was none of your business!" the one with light hair was yelling at Soda when they both were inside.
"Dallas you know me an' Steve will get in trouble for ya'll fighting when our boss gets back." Soda says in a calm voice. Soda tries to get Dallas to sit down but he won't.
"Fuck Curtis let me go! I ain't goin anywhere." Dallas snaps at Soda and jerks his arm back.
"Looks like you got yourself a nice cut there." I tell Dallas pointing to his arm and the blood dripping on the floor.
"Who the hell are you?" he retorts at me, giving me a subtle the up and down look.
"Charlene. You might wanna get that looked at, it looks pretty deep."
"Charlene will you get me, Pony, and Dallas a Pepsi? I'm sure ya'll are parched." Soda asks while looking at Dallas the whole time.
"Uh sure." I reply knowing he doesn't want me there for a moment.
When I walk out of earshot I see Soda get closer to Dallas to whisper something to him.
"Hell no I ain't goin to a hospital! I'm fine if ya'll will just leave me the hell alone." Dallas yells very loudly.
Then Soda starts whispering something again to him and still is when I get back.
"You know I can stitch that up for ya." I tell Dallas handing him a Pepsi.
"Well, Princess I don't need your help." Dallas snaps and doesn't take the Pepsi.
I start drinking the Pepsi myself and tell him, "Well you're gonna bleed out if you don't get that stitched up. You already spilled at least a pint on the way in here and just now, it has to be at least a few inches deep."
Dallas gives me a look for a while then inhales deeply. "Well whatchya waitin' on? Like you said I'm losin' blood!" he says.
"Ok, uh, I need ibuprofen, rubbing alcohol, a needle, and thread." I say turning to Soda. While my brain kicks into nurse mode.
"We don't have that here. We have all that besides ibuprofen at my house though. Pony, take them to our house that way they can use all that. Here Dallas, hold this over it 'til ya get there." Soda says and throws him an old rag.
Then Steve comes storming in cussing under his breath and then I hear tires squeal outside.
"Put even pressure on that and don't let up. I don't know how to get to your house Pony, so lead the way." I say trying to make the situation as calm as possible. No one is panicking but it's a habit I have when situations like this occur.
We walk to Pony's house which isn't very far, maybe a few blocks, from the DX. Pony blushes a little and ducks his head in shame when we reach his house.
"Sorry about the mess. We aren't the best housekeepers I guess." Pony says when we walk into the house.
"It's fine. I've seen worse. Now do you by chance have a first-aid kit, a needle and thread, and ibuprofen?" I ask while Dallas leads me to the bathroom.
"Yeah I'll get the first aid kit and I think there's an old sewing kit somewhere around here. We don't have ibuprofen but we have aspirin in the medicine cabinet." Pony says while walking around grabbing stuff while I scrub my hands.
"No, I need ibuprofen or something stronger. Aspirin thins your blood and at the rate Dallas is bleeding, he'll never clot and then he'll bleed out. Do ya'll have any beer or some sort of alcohol?" I ask while I lift up the rag to inspect the gash.
"I think Two-Bit left a few beers in the fridge, I'll go check." Pony says and hands me the first-aid kit and the sewing kit.
"I don't guess you'll mind drinking some beers this early in the day?" I ask Dallas already knowing what his answer will be.
"Nah, now where's those beers Pony?" Dallas says nonchalantly.
"There's only two. You'll have to make do with that." Pony says as he walks into the bathroom before I turn around to wash my hands.
"So which color you want- blue, green, black? There's quite a few colors here ." I ask Dallas with a grin on my face holding up a few deals of sewing thread.
"I don't care, just hurry up." He says leaning on the doorpost.
"I'm not gonna be able to see the gash with you sitting there, move over to the bathtub. The light's better over there." I say quickly, in an almost demanding tone.
Dallas sighs and says "Sure, you're just too short to do it while I'm standing." And smirks at me.
I roll my eyes. "Just get that first beer down and sit still."
I turn back around to the sink to disinfect the needle and cut the thread.
"So do you know what you're doin or are you gonna screw me up?" Dallas asks
"Yes I know what I'm doing; I've done it more times than I can count. My Aunt is a nurse and when I would stay with her in the summer she would show me how to do stuff like stitch people up, put an IV in, take vitals and all sorts of stuff. She worked in just about every department in a hospital." I say trying to concentrate on his arm and to make sure he doesn't pass out on me.
"Oh little Miss Princess sounds so official and serious." Dallas says and makes a stern face.
I ignore him cause him calling me Princess is starting to irritate me.
"Hey Pony would ya hand me the scissors?" I ask finishing the last stitch.
He hands me the scissors quickly and steps back to where he was standing in the doorway of the bathroom. I wrap up his arm in gauze and tape it with medical tape.
"There that should do it; you'll have to keep it clean and not let any dirt get in it. Try and put some antibiotic ointment on it as much as possible. I know it's kinda hard to get it on there without ripping the stitches, but if you bring it to me I'll do it for ya. In a couple of weeks I'll take the stitches out for you" I say making a mental checklist in my head.
"I'll be fine. Now where's that other beer?" Dallas says while walking into the kitchen.
"Is there something you can't do?" Pony asks as Dallas walks past him.
"What?", I ask grinning while washing my hands.
"You just seem like you can do everything." he says while his ears and face turn a deep shade of pink.
"Yeah Princess, is there anything you can't do?" Dallas appears in the doorway with the new beer half gone.
I ignore the question and in turn ask him a question.
"So which girl was you not supposed to mess with that got you that gash in your arm?" maybe I can get him to quit calling me Princess. I know he's trying to get under my skin.
Dallas just looks at me like I was speaking in a foreign language. I grin at him knowing I finally got him to quit tormenting me.
"None ya. 'Sides I gotta get going anyways. See ya Ponyboy." He says backing up while talking then heads out the door.
"Wow, I've never seen anyone talk back to Dallas like that." Pony says impressed.
"Well, if you spent any time around my brother you'll see he acts just like that. Except Scott does it just so I'll snap at him that way he can get me in trouble. I know how Dallas is. Sandy and Kathy have warned me about him." I say remembering how they tried to warn me but didn't explain very well.
"Well, we probably need to get started on my homework. Is it ok if we go to the library? I told my mom I would be there and I don't want her going there and me not be there." I ask hoping he doesn't get offended.
"Sure, I'll need to leave a note." He says not noticing the nervousness in my voice. I hope he doesn't think I'm embarrassed about him. The guilt was tearing me up.
"Pony, I didn't mean to offend you. I'm not embarrassed about being here or being friends with you. I just don't want to get in trouble from my mom for being somewhere other than I said I was goin to be. The wrath of my mother is not something anyone should have to see." I start blabbering.
"It's fine Charlene. I wasn't offended, I completely understand." Pony says reassuring me.
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in. I didn't want to offend him and run him off. He was a good friend, even if no one approves of greasers and socs associating with each other. We went to the library talkin and havin fun the whole time. We got our work done and my mom never found out that we were hangin out. Things were finally startin to look good, or so I thought.
XXX
Sorry it took so long for me to update! Sorry it's a little shorter than the first one too! I kinda lost hope in it cause I thought no one was readin this. PLEASE REVIEW! Even if only one person reviews, I'll be so glad! Please tell me if finishin this is even worth pursuin! Criticism is welcome (constructive of course)!