I do not own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton does :)
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Soda woke me up at 11 am the next day. I yawned and then rubbed my eyes, and smiled at my older brother who was grinning at me.
"Come on, time to get up," he chuckled, tickling my stomach. I squeaked and ran into the kitchen before he could tickle me even more.
Darry was sitting at the table with a mug of coffee in front of him. He had a frown on his forehead as per usual, and he was staring into his coffee as if there was a poisonous bug floating around in it.
"Hey," I greeted, sitting opposite him. He didn't even acknowledge me, as normal. Soda sat down next to him, and as if by magic Darry's frown disappeared and he had a smile on his face. That's just the way it was: Soda and Darry made each other happy while I was the annoying little boy who needed comfort and guidance.
We sat and talked…well, Darry and Soda talked. I just drank my chocolate milk and acted as if I was part of the conversation. Darry noticed this and told me to stop eavesdropping, even though I was sitting at the table with them.
I don't know what came over me. I think it was a mix between all of the hateful notes I had found in my locker to Darry's uncaring attitude towards me, and the angry and sad emotions caused me to snap.
The glass which contained my chocolate milk was slammed on the table, and it smashed. I didn't mean for it to smash, but it did: spilling chocolate milk everywhere as well as scattering glass all over the place.
Soda was shocked while Darry had pure anger in his eyes. It didn't take an idiot to know that when Darry was mad, you should leave immediately. I ran to mine and Soda's bedroom and shut the door quickly since I heard Darry's boots right behind me.
"Ponyboy, if you don't come out now, then I will break this door down," he threatened, knocking on the door.
I leant against the door and kicked it, leaving a black mark on the white wood.
"Go away!" I pleaded, sliding down to the floor.
"One…" he started. I got up and made my way over to the bookshelf. "Two…" It was really heavy, but I managed to push it in front of the door. "Three!" Darry yelled, and shoved the door harshly, but it didn't budge.
Smiling, I climbed on top of the bookshelf and put my ear to the door, where I heard Darry fuming.
"Ponyboy Michael Curtis, open this door right now!" he yelled, but I just smirked.
I waited and waited and waited, and then I eventually heard his footsteps fade away. Knowing it wouldn't be best to leave my room just yet, I waited a few more minutes before pushing the bookshelf back to his rightful position and walking out.
Darry and Soda were sitting on the sofa watching TV. When Darry saw me he stood up, but to my surprise he didn't start yelling.
"Go get ready; we're going to Aunt Lydia's," he declared in a calm tone. I sighed and started walking back to my room, however a certain lover of Mickey Mouse, beer and his switchblade stopped me.
"Well look who it is!" Two-Bit exclaimed, throwing me up in the air. I growled, hating that he had picked me up; everybody did it, and it was annoying and made me feel like a baby.
After Two-Bit had put me down, I dusted my pajama shirt off and pouted. Scanning around the room, I saw that Steve and Dallas were also accompanying Two-Bit - Johnny must have been at home.
Steve was smirking at me, and I suddenly felt unease flash through me.
"Can I go out for a walk, Darry?" I asked, swivelling my eyes over to Steve who was now talking to Soda. Still, I wasn't about to take any chances.
I noticed that Darry looked as if he was about to refuse, but then he nodded.
"Okay, but take one of the gang with you," he ordered, and I scowled.
"But Darry, I'm thirteen; I ain't a baby," I protested.
"You sure about that?" he teased, and I groaned before deciding that going out for a walk with the gang wouldn't be the best idea, especially since it angered the socs a lot when one of the gang defended me.
Instead I got dressed into a pair of jeans, a blue plaid shirt and black boots. We had run out of hair grease but I didn't really mind; Aunt Lydia usually makes me take a bath at her house anyway.
As much as I love Aunt Lydia, I can't stand going to her house. For one, it's a long car ride from Tulsa to Houston, and by the time we get there we're all annoyed with each other. Secondly, I can't stand my cousins.
June's probably the cousin I hate the most; she's just mean and horrible to me in general. She loves making me feel like I'm nothing, and she tries to get her other siblings to gang up on me. She's your typical greaser girl, however she likes to act sophisticated around people older than her, excluding her brother.
Then there's Georgie. He's fifteen, a year older than June and a few months younger than Soda, and he's a lot like June, though he's a little more mature and stops teasing me when he gets bored. From what I can guess, he's a mommy's boy, but when he's not around Aunt Lydia he can be a total jerk to everybody.
Finally, there's Stripes (his real name is Leo, but everybody calls him Stripes because of his old obsession with tigers) and I don't honestly mind him, but he's too childish for me. He's a year younger than myself, yet a few inches taller (which is embarrassing) and more muscly than me. Mom and dad used to always make me play with Stripes whenever we went over to Aunt Lydia's house, and it was annoying because literally everybody just cooed at us while we sat in front of the fire playing with the building blocks (which was Stripes' idea, not mine).
I dreaded visiting them, but then decided that it would be better than staying at home; at least there weren't any socs there.
The note that Nelson, Cody, Danny and Cal left me the day before came back to my mind, and I couldn't stop myself from picking it up off the floor. I had stuffed it under mine and Soda's bed after I had found it; I didn't want Soda knowing that I was getting picked on.
"Pony, hurry up!" Darry called from the living room. I smoothed my shirt with my hand and then ran out to the gang, however somebody decided it would be funny to trip me up. Steve's shoe came out of nowhere, and I ended up sliding on it and then crashing into the coffee table. Everybody laughed except for Darry, but even he was smirking.
It reminded me of the week before: when that greaser kid tripped me up and everybody started laughing at me, including fellow greasers. It was a greaser who had tripped me aswell – my own kind.
Greasers weren't supposed to laugh and make fun of each other; they were supposed to support each other: like a family. And here were my friends and brothers: laughing at me and making fun of me when they weren't supposed to be. The situation upset me terribly, so terribly that I felt tears leak out of my eyes. They all stopped, but none of them were happy.
"For goodness sake, Ponyboy. Quit crying like a little kid," Darry demanded. I sniffled and wiped my eyes, and then analysed everyone's faces.
Dallas was shocked, as was Two-Bit. Steve had a recognizable glare on his face, and Darry was frowning again. I was expecting for Soda to act sympathetic towards me, but he looked rather…annoyed.
"It was just a joke, Pony, no need to take it personal," he affirmed with raised eyebrows. I shook my head at all of them and pushed myself up on the floor. They were probably expecting me to say something, but I didn't.
The room was silent for a few minutes, until the phone started ringing. Darry got up to answer it while the rest of us stared up at him expectantly. I heard a high female voice on the other end of the line, and realized that it was Aunt Lydia. Well, that's just great!
"Pony and Soda, we need to get going now," Darry said after he had put the phone down. Everybody, including myself, and excluding Darry who was already standing, stood up. Two-Bit, Steve and Dallas said goodbye to Darry, Soda and I. We returned the farewells and went to our rooms to get our stuff.
We never took much to Aunt Lydia's; we all knew that if Stripes got hold of it then we'd probably never see it again, and if June knew it belonged to me then she would just burn it. Darry and Soda knew that mine and June's relationship was very tense, yet they never defended me against her. Well, Soda just placed his hands on my shoulders and led me out of the room, but even then he'd just tell June to stop being so excited.
If my cousin could hurt me, what's to stop anyone else from hurting me?
XXX
We'd been driving around for four hours, and we still weren't anywhere near Houston. I pressed my forehead against the glass window and groaned while Soda put his head in my lap. We had been arguing the whole car ride which was strange; we were usually friendly to each other on long car rides, but I guess he was still annoyed that I started crying over Steve tripping me up. I told him that if he liked Steve so much then maybe he should swap me for Steve, and that's how the whole argument escalated.
Darry put his foot down after Soda and I cussed at each other, and said if he ever heard us talk to each other like that again then we'd regret it. We both shut up after that, and after a god twenty minutes we were back to our usual selves.
Soon the car stopped and I hoped that we were in Houston, however I knew that we probably still had three more hours in the car so I quickly pushed the thought out of my head. Darry turned around and handed me some money and directed his head to a small grocery store.
"Go get some drinks; we haven't had any for a few hours," he said, and he was right.
Since Darry was a responsible adult, he remembered to pack food for the trip and told Soda to get the drinks on the way out of the house. Soda being Soda completely forgot about the drinks, and we only realized when I complained that I was thirsty. Darry yelled at Soda when he said that he forgot, however he forgave him quickly; he always did.
I nodded and slid Soda's head out of my lap before opening the door and trailing off to the grocery store. It was raining, and by the time I reached the store my shirt was soaked and my boots were all muddy.
"Bad weather, huh?" the man behind the counter commented, and I sighed and smiled at him.
The drinks were cold which I was thankful for; even though it was freezing outside my mouth was awfully dry. Putting the cool soda against my forehead, I shivered and closed my eyes.
The cashier coughed, and I handed him the money then went back to soothing myself with the cold soda. I could tell the man was staring at me with a confused expression on his face, but I didn't care.
"I think you dropped somethin'," the man said, pointing to a slip of paper on the floor. I gazed at the paper; it didn't look familiar.
"It's not mine," I replied, but the man shook his head.
"It just fell out of your pocket," he argued, and I groaned before picking it up.
Gathering up the drinks, I made sure that the slip of paper was clenched securely in my hand. The weather had gotten worse when I left the store, but since I was already drenched I wasn't too bothered.
When I returned to the truck, Soda was wide awake and Darry was yawning. I handed each of my brothers a drink and then settled down in the back seat. Before Darry started up the truck again I had already drank half of my drink. Soda told me to slow down, to which I did.
Curiosity got the best of me, and I couldn't stop myself from opening up the white slip of paper that I swore wasn't mine. When I saw what it said however, my opinion changed.
Hey Ponyboy, have you ever heard of this thing called a knife? It's what people like you use to end their pathetic lives, and let good people like us live better lives. Everybody hates you, and nobody would be better off with you here, so you might as well just go. Don't worry; if you come and find us, we'll give you a knife, though we assume you greaser trash already have billions of knives that you can use to end yourselves. Love from Nelson, Cody, Danny and Cal.
The note had fallen out of my pocket. Why did I keep getting these notes? Was it a sign…that something had to end?
AN: I know this chapter wasn't as good as the last one, but I wanted to update for you guys since I haven't updated for nearly a week. I hope you enjoy the chapter :) I felt offended yesterday; my friend told me that he thinks I'll forget The Outsiders in six months…ha! Like that would ever happen!