Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders, S.E Hinton does.
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"Rule one: you are not to stay out passed curfew, which will be eight. Rule two: You are to come straight home on the bus afterschool, and I will supervise you and make sure that your homework gets done before you go out," Sandy's grandmother, Eugenia, said coldly. "Your mother just had to run off and marry that good for nothing hoodlum…" She grumbled. "Rule three," she started again, "You are not to have your bedroom door closed, or be alone with any boy. Your mother has informed me that you and that perverse boy are no longer in contact, and won't be ever again, which I'm very thankful for. But to make sure that you forget him, his name is banned from my home. If you are to break any of these rules, you will be sorry."
Sandy swallowed back tears and nodded her head. Eugenia scowled at her trembling lips. She squirmed uncomfortably in her wool skirt, and felt her legs burning through her stockings. She was fine with decent clothes, but the thickness and coverage in Florida seemed a bit insane.
The taxi took a turn, and Sandy's eyes widened at the neighborhood. They weren't mansions, but they certainly were a lot more than her leaky-roofed, peeling paint, poor home she'd grown up in. They looked like houses you'd see on television, and inside she could imagine wives preparing dinner for their husbands, just arriving from work. She saw little girls playing with dolls on their porches, smiles on their face. Everything was picture perfect. Sandy wondered if she'd eventually grow to like it.
The car pulled to a stop, and Eugenia quickly paid the driver after stepping out. Sandy carefully stepped out and rubbed her eyes groggily, realizing how exhausted she was. She hurried after her grandmother, not wanting to make any mistakes on her first day.
"Your room is upstairs, second on the left. You are to unpack your things and organize them neatly in your closet, and come back down for dinner." Eugenia stated, and then spun on her heel and headed off to the kitchen. Sandy readjusted to a better hold on her luggage, and walked up the stairs. She saw a room on the right that she assumed to be her grandmother's room, and couldn't help but stare. The furniture was antique, and the high quality showed how well taken care of it was. She quickly remembered what she was supposed to be doing when her stomach grumbled. She turned around and entered her room, and immediately noticed how the bed was obviously cheaper than the bed she'd seem in Eugenia's room. She sat down on it, and cringed at the hardness. Her own bed had been softer.
Sandy dropped her things on the floor, and opened the closet doors. There were clothes in it- ladies clothes. She examined then closer, and recognized a few from her mother's old photos that she'd taken with her when she came to Tulsa. She concluded that this had been her mother's room.
After hanging up her clothes, she decided that she needed to ask her grandmother for some more weather appropriate outfits. She smelled food downstairs and felt her stomach lurch, and ran to the bathroom.
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Waking up cold was normal, but felt odd this time, considering the rest of her surroundings. Sandy sat up and groaned, feeling her back aching from the hard mattress. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, feeling awful.
Eugenia had found her curled up on the bathroom floor and had demanded that she scrub the toilet immediately, and wore a look of utter disgust as she handed her the cleaning supplies. Sandy had her no longer warm dinner as soon as her stomach was settled again, and went to bed exhausted.
The bedroom door opened, and Eugenia stood in the doorway.
"You slept in passed breakfast. Get dressed immediately; the bus will be here shortly." And with that, she shut the door again. Sandy hurried over to her closet and slipped on a blue shirtwaist dress, and headed to the bathroom. She combed her hair quickly and tied in a bow in her hair, and quickly applied lipstick. She ran down the stairs and to the door, and froze when her grandmother stood in front of the door.
"Wipe that makeup off, and take out that horrendous bow. I'd expect that you would have learned the effects of using your looks to allure young boys, Sandra." She scowled. Sandy wiped off the lipstick and took out the bow, and walked out the door with her head down as the bus honked the horn. She felt sorrow deep in her heart, and found herself reminiscing on the bus. She closed her eyes and pictured Sodapop's arms around her, his lips softly joining hers, they're fingers entwined…
She felt a thud beside her, and opened her eyes.
"Hey, I haven't seen you around here. You new?" A girl with big blue eyes grinned, and giggled, and continued. "I'm Betty Anne. Those are my friends over there," she gestured to the kids across her seat. "What's your name?"
"Sandy," she responded quietly. She glanced at the group of girls and felt her pulse quicken nervously. They wore the hippest of clothes, and had movie star hair. Girls like that would spit on her shoes back in Tulsa, she thought. Did they have Socs in Florida?
"Betty…" One of Betty's friends nervously looked behind her. Sandy tilted her head to try and find what she was looking at, and saw a boy making crude gestures. Betty's eyes narrowed, and her cheeks flushed.
"Get bent, hood!" Betty glared, and the boy leaned back in his seat in a fit of laughter. Sandy noticed that he did stop, though. She also noticed that she'd used the term "hood", and felt her heat sink. There was no way she'd fit in here. They'd find out about the real type of girl she was…in only a matter of months, her body would be showing it.
The girl who'd asked Betty for help thanked her, and smiled at Sandy. Betty smiled the same way, and turned to her.
"Sandy, you should eat lunch with us. You seem pretty boss."
"Sure, thanks," Sandy said shakily, waiting for them to realize any second that she herself was a hood. Betty didn't seem to notice anything, and continued chatting with another friend in her bubbly tone. The bus came to a stop, and Sandy took a deep breath before taking her first steps onto her new school ground.
