[Chapter Two: A Snap Decision]
"Steve," Ellie declared smugly, smirking in Carly's general direction. "He's our only chance, now, and you know it."
"No! I refuse to believe it! He can't be! No," Carly shot back, her intense green gaze cutting into Ellie's confident blue one.
"Oh, believe it." Gabby's sharp, satisfied facial expression mirrored her sister's, so they really did seem like exact carbon copies of each other… minus the eyelid freckle, of course. "If we don't find him, we're not going anywhere."
"No!" Carly yelled again, clenching her fists and glaring murderously at the twins. "You know I hate that hotheaded, dirty, no good…" She went on, mumbling insults that really shouldn't be printed until Melanie finally cleared her throat, cutting the rant short. "Why is he-?"
"Oh, sure you hate him…" the sisters interrupted her, chiming in at the same moment; it seemed they had intentionally waited until she'd begun a separate sentence before arguing with her. They proceeded to high-five without even glancing at each other, both their gazes still trained on Carly. Her face was slowly reddening with both anger and frustration.
"Yes. I do," she hissed in a barely controlled tone that was straining to rise in volume. "So, why don't you tell me again exactly why—?"
"Okay, what are you talking about?" Melanie chose precisely this moment, right when Carly looked ready to explode should she not receive an answer to her question, to jump into the conversation. "I think I'm missing something."
Carly clenched her jaw and turned around slowly to face Melanie, her features contorted into an expression far passed what could be classified as 'murderous.' "Yes, Mel. Yes, you are. You're missing—"
"Don't finish that sentence," Ellie warned quickly. "Unless it isn't insulting."
Carly shot her friend an annoyed look, but had to be content to just whip around and dramatically storm off towards a nearby bench, yelling over her shoulder, "Just so we're clear, I left because I wanted to!"
After her friend was out of hearing range, fuming in solitary, Melanie rolled her eyes. "She really needs to give Steve a chance. They're both such hotheads, they'd clash with anyone besides each other."
"I know, right?" Gabby agreed, shaking her head ruefully. "Anywho, you have no idea what's going on, right?"
Melanie shrugged. "Nope. Haven't got a clue."
Apparently, she'd said it louder than she'd intended, because Carly hollered from farther down the park's leaf-littered path, "As usual!" It was a fairly biting remark, but the others were already accustomed to it, and simply ignored it.
"Okay," Ellie began, pausing a moment to collect her thoughts. "When we filled out that notebook's form, it had a section for how we got to meet the characters from the book."
Melanie nodded slowly, the different parts of their plan already forming in her head. "Let me guess: you wrote that Steve would pass by this park shortly after we got here? So that we'd have to talk to him to meet everyone else?"
Gabby nodded. "Yup!"
"But I guess he could come with anyone else, too; we only specified him, but I don't think that means he'll necessarily come alone," Ellie reasoned, stooping to pick up the notebook. It had fallen to the ground, forgotten in their excited daze.
"Could be," Melanie agreed. "And before they get here, is there anything else you guys asked for specifically that I should be made aware of?"
"Um, we got an apartment for all of us to live in," Gabby offered, scrunching her eyebrows together as she tried to recall the information.
"That's it?" Melanie asked in a surprise tone. The twins were known for their overly-complex, well-thought-out plans.
The sisters exchanged a glance, but it was quick as a flash and scarcely gave Melanie a chance to notice it at all.
"Well…" Gabby trailed off, wringing her hands.
"What?" Melanie prompted.
"We kinda—"
"Brought Dallas Winston back from his grave?" All three girls turned to Carly, who had apparently decided the conversation was worthy of her astoundingly amazing commentary.
Ellie scratched her shoulder awkwardly. "Well, when you say it like that, it sounds kinda-"
"Obsessive?" Carly suggested, smirking.
"Would you quit interrupting?" Gabby snapped in response.
"Wait, you really brought Dally back to life?" Melanie had been gaping at her friends throughout their entire exchange, and had only just found her voice.
"Of course!" Gabby declared gleefully, bouncing in place slightly. "Well, him and Johnny..."
"You think this crazy fangirl could last more than a few hours here knowing he was dead?" Carly inquired, jerking her thumb towards Gabby.
"Hey! Since when am I-"
"Don't deny it," her sister cut in. "You know it's true."
Gabby balled her fists, unable to form a defense. "Fine. But I'm not the only obsessed fangirl around here!" she declared, shooting Ellie a pointed look.
Ellie rolled her eyes, unfazed by the (true) accusation. "Sure. You keep thinking that."
"It's true," Gabby muttered defensively. "I'm not the only one who-"
"We're all obsessed!" Carly yelled suddenly. "Didn't we already agree on this?"
The twins glanced at each other, turned their attention back towards Carly, and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I guess we did," Ellie said, all complacence evaporated from her tone.
"Hey, Mel, you've been awfully quiet. Something wrong?" Gabby looked to her friend, changing the subject casually.
Melanie, however, didn't give a single indication that she'd heard the question. Her green eyes were staring intently towards the street, a slight unfocused quality evident as she absently twirled a strand of auburn hair around her finger.
"Melanie…?" Carly rapidly passed a hand in front of Melanie's face, causing her friend to start and jump back in surprise.
"What?" she asked, her gaze flitting aimlessly from friend to friend.
"What's wrong with you?" Carly asked bluntly.
Ellie shot her a look and rephrased the question. "What were you just staring at?"
Melanie's face brightened up instantly. "Oh! Them." She was pointing to a group of three boys that were making their way down the sidewalk at a leisurely pace. They were still too far away for the girls to make out any precise details (or much besides their height, really), but it was enough for the girls to all stop and stare, much as Melanie had; they were entering the park.
Gabby caught her breath. "Do you think it's…?" Her voice trailed off, leaving her question suspended in a heavy, tense silence.
"Well, who else would it be?" Carly demanded, but even she had a hint of doubtfulness to her tone.
"Anyone else in this town?" Ellie suggested, straining to get a better view of the slow-approaching group.
"Exactly!" Melanie exclaimed. "I was trying to be sure! Because you said it might be only Steve, but if it isn't…" She shrugged.
"There's only one way to find out!" Carly declared, her green eyes glittering with determination. However, she left it at that. She didn't elaborate verbally or by moving a muscle; she just stood perfectly still, squinting at the boys (who could be heard yelling quite clearly, at this point).
"Um… And that would be…?" Ellie prompted, raising one eyebrow expectantly.
"Ssshh!" Carly immediately reprimanded. The others all quieted down, squirming impatiently as the boys drew nearer still. Eventually, after a few painstakingly slow moments, she glanced back at her friends. "It's them."
The twins and Melanie looked questioningly from her to the group of boys.
"How can you be sure?" Gabby demanded.
"The two taller ones keep shoving each other off the path, and the smaller one is just following behind, lost in his own little world," she reasoned. Then, in a slightly disgusted tone, she added, "And did you see the way those girls over there swooned when they walked by?" She gestured towards a tight cluster of teenage girls that was making its way down the sidewalk in the opposite direction. "Who else could that be but Soda?"
That was all the convincing the others needed. They all immediately started chattering aimlessly, forgetting, in their excitement, that they had a maximum of about two minutes before the boys (who they'd now clearly determined to be Soda, Steve, and Ponyboy) passed them.
"WAIT!" Melanie suddenly shouted above her friends' voices. They all ceased talking to stare at her, so she continued at a much softer volume. "What are we gonna do now?"
They all stared at her like she was crazy.
"What are you talking about?" Carly questioned after a moment of this yielded no results.
"Well, they aren't just gonna walk up to us and say 'Oh, hey, it's four girls we've never met before! Let's invite them over to our house!'" She shot her friends a dubious look. "We'd be lucky if they even said hi to us!"
Realization was slowly dawning on her friends, whose confused expressions were quickly melting into ones of distress.
"Well, then, what are we supposed to do?" Gabby exclaimed.
"I just asked that!" Melanie replied. "I thought you guys had something figured out!"
"Well, we don't!" Ellie informed her. "We didn't have much time to think this one through!"
Melanie pulled her hair up like she was about to tie it behind her head, then let it fall back down over her shoulders, a nervous habit she'd picked up long ago. "We have to do something! I mean, they're right there! We can't just let them walk past us, knowing that they might've—" She cut herself short mid-rant to stare quizzically at Carly, who hadn't been taking part in the others' panic session. "What are you doing?"
She was stooped over, eyes narrowed and darting around as though she were looking for something. She ignored Melanie's question, instead straightening up in a sudden movement, yelling "AHA!" and clutching something in her right hand.
"Wait, what's that?" Gabby asked suspiciously.
"Carly," Ellie chided, "you know you can't go around stealing things from public parks."
But Carly only waved them off, again focusing all her attention on the greasers that were now a mere twenty feet away.
So, the others looked on in silence as Carly drew her hand back, her features hardened with concentration.
Too late, Melanie saw what she was holding and realized her intent. She took a hesitant step forward to stop her. "Carly! Bad idea! That won't solve anything…"
But she'd already launched the rock into the air, hurling it straight towards Pony's chest.
Notes: Alright, sorry about the delay, everyone! I'll try to be more consistent and frequent with my updates, but no promises... I'm a procrastinator. ;)
So, this next one's a little short, but I couldn't resist cutting it off where I did. Oh, and I do apologize if the beginning's a bit random; I was challenged by a friend to start this chapter with the word "Steve." How could I say no?
Stay gold,
~Rae