HEY, SORRY ABOUT IT TAKING SO LONG. THIS CHAPTER DOESN'T HAVE A TON OF ACTION, BUT IT NEEDS TO BE THERE!! HOPE YOU LIKE IT, AND TELL ME IF THERE ARE ANY GRAMMICAL ERRORS.
Bri
We headed out of the movie theatre into the dazzling sunlight, our heads full of the movie we had just seen.
"That was great." I said cheerfully, as we munched on popcorn. "I haven't been to a movie theatre in a long time.
"Really?" said Johnny quietly, grinning at me. "Cause it seems like Pony lives here. The only other place that he is at more is the library."
"You have a library?" I asked gleefully. "Oh can we go there next, please?"
"You like to read?" Asked Ponyboy, sounding shocked.
"Yes, I love to read." I answered. "It's all I did after Dallas left; I didn't do much else except school, and avoiding my aunt and uncle. Why do you ask?"
"Well Dally hates to read." Said Ponyboy thoughtfully. "He's always going on about how I read way too much." I snorted.
"Well that's a little hypocritical for him; he was the one who always used to read to me when I was younger." I said.
"Really?" Said Pony? He laughed. "Sorry, it's just, Dally reading to a little girl is pretty funny." I smiled.
"So can we go there?"
"Well," said Johnny. "Why don't we go to a department store so you can get a new shirt, its on the way and you do need a new one."
"Yeah," Agreed Pony. Suddenly he smiled. "And maybe we could stop by the Shepards house. Angela is your age, but taller, so maybe she has some clothes that don't fit her anymore that she could give to you."
"Well," I said cautiously. "I don't want to just take her clothes without payment…" But Pony laughed.
"Oh, the shock of Dallas Winston having a little sister will be enough payment." He said. "When this gets around, people will be flocking to see you." My cheeks reddened. Johnny saved me just in time.
"There's the department store. You can go in there to buy a shirt." I eyed the department store. Everything looked frilly and pink and expensive.
"Are you two going to come in with me?" I asked smiling. They both suddenly looked very uncomfortable.
"Well its kind of a women's clothes store," said Johnny awkwardly.
"Yeah, and it is kind of….you know…" Added Pony. I laughed at them.
"I'm only kidding you two, don't worry I'll be fine." With that, I wandered into the store.
The store looked even more girly from the inside. Everyone in there seemed to be of middle class or higher, and I felt very conspicuous in my jeans and baggy t-shirt. It seemed the store clerks thought so too, as they sniffed at me as I walked by. I wandered to the back, where the least expensive clothes were. Everything seemed to be covered in lace and frills. It was disgusting. I moved a whole pile of clothes on the clearance table aside and pulled out a sky blue v neck t-shirt, and checked the price. Only three bucks. I smiled happily. And It was just my size too. I was usually a medium, and even though this would be sort of big on my thin body, I would be back to my usual shape in no time.
I headed back to the front of the store, bought the shirt and a couple of elastics for my hair with the extra change. I went back to the back of the store and changed into the blue shirt in the dressing room. I was just heading out when two girls stopped me. They were both around my age. Onr of them was a tall brunette, while the other was a stout blonde. They were clearly upper class, and I was confused at why they would be talking to me.
"Hello." Said the blonde. "Were sorry for bothering you, its just you don't look like you are out of school, and we've never seen you before."
"I know its kind of rude to be asking you who you are, its just you look kind of familiar." Said the brunette. "My name is Marcy, and this is Lizzie." She said pointing to the blonde.
"Well, I gues you could say I just moved here, and I've never seen either of you before." I said confused. "My name is Brianna Winston." Both girls drew a sharp intake of breath and jumped back. "What?" I said, utterly bewildered.
"Do you happen to know Dallas Winston?" Asked the brunette cautiously.
"Yes, he's my brother."
"I knew it!" Yelped the blonde. "Those eyes are exactly the same, I would know!" I stared at each of them.
"Could someone please tell me why you are screaming?" I said.
"Well," Said the blonde. " Honestly, praticlly everyone has heard of Dallas Winston, but we actually met him. He hit on me and Marcy once."
"Yes, remember lizzie?" The brunette turned to her friend, now completely ignoring me. "You had a boyfriend at the time and he got really angry. There's been a huge commotion over this, it isn't the first time a greaser has hit on a soc. And most of the time its Dallas Winston." They both nodded at each other, not even glancing my way.
"But we had no clue that he had a sister." Said the blonde, eyeing me thoughtfully. "Just wait till Rick here's about this. With that the two girls hustled out of the shop and down the street. I stared after them, utterly bewildered and slightly apprehensive. This whole commotion thing didn't sound that good, and why had the girls been so excited to know that Dallas Winston had a sister? I was still pondering what had happened when I walked out of the store, when I saw Pony and Johnny with three chocolate ice creams and bright smiles on their faces and I promptly forgot the whole thing.
"So this is the library." Said Pony as we walked into the large brown building. The shelves were lined with books, and people moved around quietly. It had a very high ceiling, and in the corner there was a colorful carpet where children were reading picture books. One of the librarians looked up as we walked in, narrowed her eyes at the way we were dressed, but saw Pony, smiled and looked back down.
"So, where do we go now?" Asked Johnny uncomfortably.
"You can just look around the shelves Johnny, I'll show Bri where to find the books she wants." He set off with me along the wodden shelves. "So, what books do you like?"
"Pretty much anything in English," I paused. "Wait, if there's anything in French, that's cool too."
"You speak French?" Asked Pony.
"Oui mousieur." I said giggling. "I don't know it as well as English, but its enough." Pony shook his head at me.
"You really are full of surprises." I smiled and we continued along the shelves.
"I really like the classics, cause everything was so simple then." Said Pony. "You know books like Tom Sawyer, or Robin Hood. Especially Tom Sawyer." I nodded with him.
"Do you have some Charles Dickens here?" I asked.
"Oh yeah loads." He answered. We stopped at a shelf lined with Dickens books. I bent down and studied the titles, my smile getting bigger and bigger.
"I think me and this Library are going to get along just fine."
About twenty minutes later, Pony, Johnny and I headed back outside into the bright summer afternoon. I had gotten a library card, and Pony and I had both taken out about three books each. We had also tried to get Johnny to take a book out, and after much persuading mostly on my half, Pony had signed out a book for Johnny to read.
"Now you better have that book back in the right condition," Pony warned ferouciously, "Cause if its wrecked then I get the blame." Johnny smiled quietly.
"Don't worry Pony, I ain't gonna ruin the book."
"But you will read it right?" I asked, turning my hopeful eyes on him. His face melted at my glance.
"Oh god Bri, why do you have to be so good at making people do what you want?" Johnny whined.
"It's a gift." I said giggling. "Where to next?"
"Well, how bout we go to DQ for some late lunch, and then head back. Even though Dal said that you had to be back by six, I really don't want to push my luck, what with how he's acting lately."
"Hes acting different?" I asked. Dally wasn't the same as he used to be, I knew that, he was a lot more distant, and his eyes emptier. But, it was kind of odd that the gang would think he was different.
"Yeah," said Pony. "You see, Dal's like a rock. He contains his emotions and lets no one in. But then you come along and, well we all expected him to break open. You know, cause you're his sister and he would be more emotional?" I nodded and he continued.
"But it seems like when he's around you he has spurts of emotions that kind of overwhelm him. Like sometimes he's distant and frightening, and sometimes he's caring." Pony paused.
"But definitely still frightening. Dal's always kind of scared me. Its just kind of weird though. Its like he doesn't want let his emotions and feelings show, like he refuses to let anyone in, even someone related to him."
I pondered this as we walked along the sidewalk. When I had set out to find Dally, I knew that he would be different. Last time he had sent anything to me was when he was leaving New York and heading to Tulsa. I had heard from a lot of people who knew Dallas about how much he had changed. He had gotten involved in some pretty bad stuff there, so I knew when I found him he would be different. But when I looked into his eyes that morning, it felt like he was a rock. That he had built of this shield so no one could ever get close to him, and so ono one could ever see his true emotions.
"Here we are." Said Johnny, breaking the silence. We headed into DQ and ordered three cheese burgers and three chocolate shakes. We then headed outside, and sat on the grass outside the store, biting into our burgers. After a couple minutes, I couldn't stand the silence. I turned to Pony.
"Listen Pony, you don't think it was a bad idea for me to come, do you?" Pony opened his mouth, but Johnny interrupted.
"No Bri, every one is real glad you came. Dally is too, he's just having a hard time getting used to it all. It's only been one day. Things will change." He patted my back, and I sighed, relieved.
"Um Bri?" Asked Pony, after we had begun to eat our sandwiches again. "My name is really original, but I have never met anyone with a name like yours."
"Yeah, well my mother had wanted that name for her daughter since she was a little girl. She didn't even know where it came from, it just seemed like a nice name to her." I sighed. "It makes me stick out like a sore thumb." Pony laughed.
"I like it. Its no better then Ponyboy. And it's cool to have a different name." I took a sip of my shake happily. After a couple of minutes, we threw our trash in the garbage, and then headed back to the Curtis's house. As we walked, I sighed contentedly, but underneath all of the happiness, as sense of dread was still there. I don't know why but I had a feeling that my problems were not all over.
SO TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK. I AM OPEN TO QUESTIONS AND APPRECIATE THEM. THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS.
