A/N: This is probably the only part in my story that I will actually try to make almost exactly like the movie. The Drive in movie scene was one of my favorite scenes.
Disclaimer: as always, I own nothing in S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders, I only own Katherine.
Chapter Four:
We slipped under the fence to get into the theater, and found some seats in the back to sit in. We had just sat down when two Soc girls sat in front of us.
"Are you sure about this, Cherry?" The girl with short, dark brown hair asked.
"I came here to see a movie, and I'm gonna see a movie," the other girl said - Cherry, her friend had said. She had red hair, and she sounded annoyed.
Just then, Dally leaned forward when he lit his cigarette. When he leaned back, he looked over at Ponyboy and Johnny (I chose to sit on Johnny's side farthest from Dally) and said, "That's some cute red head." I rolled my eyes. He leaned forward, and said to Cherry, "Are you a real red head?" Are you real?" Dally laughed a little and grinned.
"Hey, come on, Dal," Johnny said, trying to stop him.
Dally ignored him, and put his feet up on the seat in front of him and feel completely off his chair. I wasn't sure if he was trying to show off or if he was just that lame. It tried to ignore him and watch the movie
"Hey, how can I find out if this is you're real red hair? That this," he lifted a few strands of her red hair, "Is the same red hair that you have on your, your," he looked down, and then back up at her face, "Your, these eyebrows here?"
He leaned back and laughed.
"Cut it out, Dal," Johnny said.
Dally seemed to not hear him, and leaned back and put his feet on her chair.
"Get your feet of my seat, and shut your trap, would you?" She asked angrily.
"Who's gonna make me?" Dally asked,
"I'm gonna get a coke," Johnny said, getting up. Dally moved his feet so Johnny could get out.
"Leave her alone, Dal," Ponyboy said.
"Who's gonna make me?" Dally asked her again.
"Leave us alone, or I'll call the cops," she said.
"Oh my, my, the cops," Dally said. "You got me scared to death."
"Why don't you leave us alone?" Cherry asked. "Be nice, and leave us alone?"
"I'm never nice," he said, then leaning close to her, he asked, "Could I interest you in a coke-a-cola, or a 7 Up?"
"Get lost hood!" She yelled.
"I'm sorry, I, uh, I didn't know you had a problem with yelling in my face," Dally said.
"Well, Dallas, maybe if you stayed out of her face, she wouldn't yell at you," I finally spoke up, and I glared at him.
"Hey, I'm staying out of your face, Princess," he said, grinning at me. "Tonight, at least." He got up and went off to Lord knows where.
Suddenly, Cherry turned around, looking at Ponyboy. "You gonna start on us, too?"
"No," Ponyboy said pointedly.
"You don't look the type, anyways," she said. "What's your name?"
Ponyboy sat up tall, and said, rather proudly, "Ponyboy Curtis." I realized he was bracing himself for her to laugh at him.
"That's an original name," she said.
"Yeah, my dad, he was an original person," Ponyboy said. "I got a brother named Sodapop, even says so on his birth certificate."
"My name's Sherri, but my friends call me Cherry 'cause of my hair," she said.
"Yeah, we go to the same school, you're a cheerleader," Ponyboy said.
"Yeah," Cherry said.
"You don't look old enough to be going to high school," her friend said.
"What's a nice boy like you doing hanging out with that trash?" Cherry asked.
"Dally's my buddy, I'm a Grease too, we're all friends," Ponyboy said defensively.
"Your brother, Sodapop, he works at the gasoline station, the DX, right?"
"Yeah," Ponyboy said, as Johnny came back.
"Ah, Soda's the cute one," her friend said.
"He's a doll, shoulda know you was brothers," Cherry said.
Just then Dally came back and started handing out drinks.
He sat down next to Cherry and handed her a drink. "Here, I thought that might cool you off."
She looked down at her drink, took the straw out, and tossed the drink in Dally's face. "Maybe that'll cool you off, Greaser. When you learn to talk and act decent, maybe I'll cool off, too."
"Oh, fiery, just the way I like them," Dally said, wiping his face, and then going for Cherry.
"Get off of me!" Cherry said, pushing at him.
"Come on," Dally said.
"Get off!" Cherry was still struggling.
I was getting ready to punch Dally into next week when Johnny stood up. "Leave her alone, Dal.
"What'd you say?" Dally asked.
"Come on, you heard me, leave her alone," Johnny said.
"What'd you say to you little shit? What'd you say to me?"
"Come on." Johnny's voice sounded week, and he looked scared as hell.
"Wise ass," Dally said. Without another word, he kicked his chair over and left.
"Thanks for that," Cherry said. "He had me scared to death."
"You sure didn't show it," Johnny said. "Ain't no one talk to Dal like that."
"From what I saw you do," Cherry said.
"Why don't y'all come sit up here with us?" Her friend asked. "You can protect us.
"What do you say, man?" Johnny asked Ponyboy.
"Might as well," Ponyboy said with a shrug, but then they both looked over at me.
Johnny opened his mouth to speak, but I spoke up first. "Just go, you don't gotta worry about me."
The two boys shrugged and joined the girls, but Cherry was still looking at me.
"What's your name?" Cherry asked.
"Katherine," I said. "Who's your friend?" I nodded at her friend who was talking with Johnny.
"I'm Marcia," she said, looking back and smiling.
"You new around here?" Cherry asked.
"Yeah, I just moved her, from New York," I said.
"That sounds nice," she said. "What are you doing hanging out with Dallas?"
"I'm here 'cause of these two," I said, nodding at Ponyboy and Johnny in turn. "I don't want anything to do with Dallas."
"I don't blame you," Cherry said. "I know about Dallas Winston, he's always looking for trouble." She turned forward and started to talk to Ponyboy and Johnny, and I was so into the movie, I didn't even see Two-Bit show up and sneak up behind Johnny.
"Hey, whatcha doing, Greaser?" He cried, grabbing Johnny. Poor Johnny looked terrified.
"Hey, what are you two doing sitting with these grandmas when you got a beautiful, young girl back here?" Two-Bit asked.
"They wanted us to protect them from Dally," Ponyboy said.
"So you leave this young lady all alone?" Two-Bit asked, indicating me.
"For the record, Two-Bit, I can take care of myself," I told him.
"Yeah, that's what I heard from Darry," Two-Bit said. "I swear, if he ever tries to do that again, just let me, Soda, Steve, or Darry know, we'll take care of it."
"Thanks, Two-Bit," I said.
Once the movie was over, we all headed over to the fence, making our way to our own little exit.
Cherry, Ponyboy, and Johnny were talking, and Two-Bit and Marcia were talking, which left me lingering behind to my own thoughts and observations, which I was fine with. That was why I saw the car first.
"Hey, who's that?" I asked.
Cherry looked up. "Marcia!" She called, and the two girls reconvened together.
"Oh no, it's them, what are we gonna do?" Marcia asked.
"Stay cool," Cherry said.
The car stopped, and Cherry and Marcia turned to face it, with me, Ponyboy, Johnny, and Two-Bit standing behind them.
"Cherry, what're you doing?" A Soc asked when he got out of the car. "Just 'cause I got a little drunk-"
"A little? You call reeling and passing out on the street a little drunk?" Cherry asked angrily. "Bob, I told you I'm never going out with you when you're drinking and I mean it!"
"Yeah, but that's no reason to go wandering the streets with these bums," his friend said.
"Who you callin' bums, pal?" Two-Bit asked.
"You," Bob's friend continued. "Look, Greaser, we got four more of us in the back seat."
Two-Bit spun around breaking his pop bottle against the fence, handed it to Ponyboy, and took his switch blade out, opening it when he face the Soc again. "Then pity the back seat."
"If you're looking for a fight…" Bob's friend said, sounding scared.
"I am lookin' for a fight!" Two-Bit cried.
"Just-just put the knife down, man, come on," the Soc said. I grinned, and changed my stance a little bit. If there was a fight, I wanted to be ready to defend myself or run, whichever came first.
"Come on! Come on!" Two-Bit yelled, sounding riled up.
"Stop it! Just stop!" Cherry said. "I hate fights, we'll go with you, Bob, just stop, okay?"
"Fine, just hurry up," Bob said.
She said something to Ponyboy, but I was looking at Johnny, who was staring at the Bob, and he looked scared out of his mind. I walked over to him as Cherry left, and put my hand on his shoulder. He started and looked up at me.
"You okay?" I asked, as the car drove away.
"Yeah, it's just…" he trailed off, staring at the car as it drove away.
"Hey, that ain't the guy that jumped you, is it?" Two-Bit asked.
Johnny stayed silent, looking at the ground.
"Johnny," Two-bit said.
"Don't worry about it, 'kay?" Johnny asked.
Two-Bit was silent for a bit before he nodded. "Fine, let's head home."
We walked in silence back to our houses.
We got to Johnny's house, and heard his parents yelling. "I hate it when my parents fight," Johnny said. "Wanna go to the lot, Pony?"
"Sure," Ponyboy said.
"I'm heading home," Two-Bit said. "I'll walk Katherine home, first, though.."
"Alright," Ponyboy said. "Night!" He called after us.
"Night!" I waved.
Two-Bit and I walked in silence for a while, before I finally asked, "What was that about a Soc jumping Johnny?" I asked.
"A couple months back Johnny got beat up pretty bad by a group of Socs," Two-Bit said. "Nearly killed him. One of them had rings on, and that's how he got that scar on his face. Plus his dad hits him a lot. But the big scar is from the Soc."
"Oh man," I said. "I remember my bro- er, one of my friend. He got beat up pretty bad. It was awful."
"He got beat up by Greasers?" Two-Bit asked.
"Actually, no, by a couple of Socs," I said.
"But weren't you a Soc?" he asked.
"Yeah, it's kind of a long story, but I did have a Greaser friend," I said vaguely.
I felt Two-Bit's eyes scrutinizing me, but I ignored him. "Well, thanks for walking me. Night." I said quickly, running into my head.
"Night!" He called after me.
I closed the door behind me, and slid slowly to the floor. My eyes closed, remembering watching Kyle from behind the dumpster.
It really had been awful, I thought to myself. There had been so much blood. I was surprised he survived that night.
As I drifted off to sleep, sitting in front of my door, I wondered where Kyle could be…
I jolted awake suddenly when I heard yelling outside.
"Ponyboy! I didn't mean to!" That was Darry. I got up and peaked out.
I saw Ponyboy running down the street, and Darry and Soda standing on their porch helplessly.
"What happened?" I asked, walking over to their house.
"I hit Ponyboy, but I didn't mean to," Darry said.
"Well, aren't you going after him?" I asked. "You make such a big deal about me walking alone in broad daylight, and it's the middle of the night.
Darry and Soda just looked at me.
"Well, fine, then," I said. "I'll go." With that said, I ran down the street following Ponyboy's steps. I didn't look to see if Soda and Darry were following me, I just ran. "Ponyboy?" I called. "Pony! Where are you?" That's when I heard yells from the park. I sprinted there, and froze for a second when I saw the scene. Two guys (Socs, I assumed) were kicking Johnny to the ground, and two more Socs were trying to drown Ponyboy in the fountain. Without thinking, I charged at them. "Let him go!" I cried, as I rammed into the Soc drowning him. I vaguely recognized him as Bob from earlier. I pushed him off of Ponyboy, and I punched him in the face, but that was the only punch I could get on him before he was on top of me.
"Johnny! Go get help!" I cried right before Bob punched me in the face.
"Stupid bitch!" He shouted. He flicked out a switch blade. Fear encased me, but I suddenly heard Kyle's voice in my head, teaching me how to fight.
As a girl, if you get in a fight with guys, you'll most likely be weaker than them. But guys have one huge weakness. Right in the groin.
I wasn't thinking anymore, just reacting, as if Kyle were right there, instructing me. I brought my leg up quickly and hard, getting him right in the groin. He groaned in pain, and rolled to the side, but his blade still cut my face a bit.
The eyes are another good spot to hit, regardless of the gender of your opponent. Biting is fun, too. I could practically see his smile.
Before I could attack Bob again, he was coming at me. I tried to scramble away, but he grabbed my long hair, and slashed with his knife. I cried out in pain, not expecting that to hurt. I scrambled to my feet, and looked down at my hair that lay on the ground. Then I looked up at Bob. We stared at each other for a moment.
"You bastard!" I yelled, and I charged at him, punching him in the gut, but I guess it wasn't hard enough, because he punch me right back in the gut.
"Come on, girl, just stop fighting, I don't wanna fight no girl," he said.
"A little late for that, ain't it?" I asked, trying to land another punch on him. He grabbed my hands, blocking me, and I did the only thing I could think of: I bit, and I bit hard.
"Aaah!" He cried out in pain, and slashed at me with his knife, cutting my upper arm, and then he punched me in the face. I feel to the ground and saw him approaching me, but my vision was blurry.
Well, this certainly isn't how I expected this to end.
All of a sudden, Bob turned around, and someone picked him up and was yelling at him. I let my head fall to the ground, too week to keep looking.
I heard shouting, but my eyes were closed, and my brain wasn't comprehending what was being said, and who was speaking.
"Katherine?" Finally, words started to come through. Sort of. "Are… okay… therine?"
All I could do was groan, but I managed to flutter my eyes open. "…las?" I mumbled, looking into Dally's concerned eyes for a second before my eyes shut again.
"Shit… do guys? She's hu…" I didn't hear him finish because everything went black.
"Hey, Kit-Kat, you okay?"
I looked up to see Kyle. I smiled weakly. "I think so… I feel cold, but my head feels hot."
He felt my forehead. "Yeah, you're burning up." He sighed. "This is why you shouldn't stress yourself out so much."
"Mom and dad won't make you leave, will they?" I suddenly asked, bolting up into a sitting position, causing the room to spin around me.
"Hold up there, girl," he said, grabbing my shoulders and gently pushing me down. "Lay down and rest, so you can get better." He kissed my forehead. "Rest well, Kit-Kat." He stood and started to leave.
"Wait, Kyle," I said weakly.
"Rest, Kat. Please, for me?" He asked, looking over his shoulder, but still heading out the door.
"Don't leave me," I said. "Kyle!"
"Kyle!" I cried, bolting up right.
Light streamed into my room, and I was laying in my bed, and my head hurt. What happened? I tried to get out of bed, but someone put a hand on my shoulder.
"Stay down, Katherine," he said, trying to push me back into bed.
"Kyle?" I asked turning, and coming face to face with Dallas Winston. My face turned bright red.
"Who's Kyle?" He asked.
"N-no one!" I said, still red. What was Dallas Winston doing in my room? "A-a friend f-from N-New York."
"Okay, okay, just relax, quit stuttering, I didn't mean to freak you out," he said.
Reluctantly, I lay back down in bed. "Why are you being so nice?" I asked.
"Because, Katherine, you're the reason why Ponyboy and Johnny are still alive, or at least not bruised and battered," he said. "I might be mean and harsh, but I care about my gang. They're the only family I got. So I appreciate what you did."
I didn't know what to say to that, so I closed my eyes and whispered. "Call me Kat." I didn't know if he responded or not because I was asleep the second I said that.
This time I didn't dream about Kyle; I didn't dream about anything. It was really nice.
A/N: I kept adding more to this chapter, but finally decided to split it up when I hit around 3200ish words. I didn't want this chapter to be super long, and the next chapter to be super short haha.
After reading MewMewLollipop's review, I went back the chapter three and tried to fix it up a bit, so I'm hoping Dally's more in character.
Also, there's gonna be a new character next chapter. Also, the next chapter is when things will start differing from the book.
As always, let me know what you thought, and I hop you enjoyed this chapter!