D:

Short chapter, and probably not really worth the wait. It's more of a filler than anything, but I needed to write something. I'm trying to figure out how to write the end, which is proving harder than I thought.

Sorry for the wait and the lame update.


Ambivalence

Seven

Cherry was lounging on the floor of her living room as she flipped through a magazine, dressed in one of the few pairs of jeans she owned and a long sleeved shirt. She had been so upset about Bob that she hadn't wanted to go to the movies anymore. She and Marcia went their own ways; Cherry to home, Marcia to the movies with another friend. She felt bad, but, lounging around the house with no makeup and her hair still damp from a shower... she felt better than she would have at the movies.

She heard the phone ring and was up off the floor by the third ring. Cherry snatched up the phone before it could ring again.

"Sherry Valance speaking," Cherry said automatically as she put the phone to her ear. She began fiddling with the cord.

"Cherry? Cherry it's Jackie... have you seen James?"

"No... I haven't seen him since I walked by him after school. Why, is something wrong? Is he missing?"

"I can't get a hold of him. He needs to come to the hospital right away."

Cherry noted the slight waver in Jackie-lynn's voice and stopped playing with the phone cord.

"I'll try to figure something out, all right? I'll send him right over to the hospital and call you if I find him," Cherry said. Jackie-lynn muttered an okay and hung up the phone. Cherry trotted up to her bedroom and ran a hair brush through her hair again and pulling it up in a ponytail. She pulled on a pair of sneakers and looked out her bedroom window. Maureen and James lived further down the block, across the street from her house. It didn't look like their father was home, but she knew their mother was. She was debating on telling her about James, but she probably already knew.

But something else caught her eye, something that made her hurry back down to the living room for a better look. She hadn't been seeing things. Two greaser boys were walking to the Kleins' house.

xxxx

"I think you lucked out, Steve. It doesn't look like both parents are home," Soda said as he sauntered up the driveway before turning onto the walk way to get to the front door. Steve trailed behind. It would have been better if no one was home. He didn't want to talk to Maureen's parents.

Maureen's house was small compared to the others on the street, but it was still a pretty good size and he didn't feel right, standing in front of her door. He wasn't sure how Soda had known where her house was and he was about to ask when the front door opened.

Mrs. Klein stared at them, her eyes darting between the two and her grip on the door tightened, like she was getting ready to slam it shut.

"Hi Mrs. Klein. I'm Sodapop Curtis. I helped your son mow the lawn once, a few months back."

Mrs. Klein seemed to relax a bit. "I remember. He had to clean up the house and he had waited too long. He was lucky you had stopped by after school. Did you get a good grade on that project?"

"Sure did," Soda said with a grin. Steve knew he was lying. He never got good grades on his projects. He usually didn't do them.

"Steve, right?"

Steve looked up, now that Mrs. Klein had finally decided to acknowledge him. She smiled a bit as he nodded.

"I think I know why you're here. And I looked like I didn't believe you because I didn't," she said simply. "I was a bit upset and I'm sorry... I wasn't sure why you were there and... well I didn't think that you'd be the person to save Maureen's life. I grew up on this side of town and, believe it or not, there was a bit of a tiff between the North and South side back then too. It's not as bad as it is now, but it was there. It's sad to know that nothing's changed.

"But I shouldn't leave you standing outside. Come on, you can come inside and we'll talk, though I think we've already cleared most of this up."

xxxx

Cherry was chewing her bottom lip as she drove her car to the other side of town. Someone had seen James in Randy's car heading in that direction and, determined to find that boy, Cherry had abandoned the South side search for the North side search. She wished her dad hadn't bought her such a nice car. It made her nervous driving it, because she didn't want to do something stupid and total the thing, but it labeled her pretty clearly as a Soc. which wasn't something she was always proud of.

She slowed down as she reached a stop sign, looking around anxiously for the familiar blue car or for James. She didn't see him or the car so she continued on her way. She wished she was friends with more people up here; she would have been participating in a long game of phone tag instead of driving around aimlessly. She wasn't even sure if she was on a time limit.

"Hey Cherry," someone called and she slowed down and looked over. James was there, but he hadn't been the one to call her over. Cherry quickly unbuckled herself and climbed into the passenger's seat.

"James I've been lookin' all over you," Cherry said irritably. James didn't look up at her from his place on the sidewalk. He looked so pathetic, sitting on the sidewalk with his head down, leaning against a rusty fence. "Jackie-lynn says you need to get to the hospital right away, I think somethin's goin' on with your sister."

He looked up then, and before Cherry could figure out what was going on, she had James and three greasers in her car. And one of them had taken a place in the driver's seat.

"Hey-"

"Curly, get outta the damn car. You don't got any business at the hospital," He said irritably as he turned to look at what Cherry guessed was his younger brother. Grumbling, Curly got out and his older brother started the car and took off down the street. A sharp turn caused Cherry to hit her head on the window.

"Watch it! I gotta pay for this damn thing if you wreck it," She snapped. She recognized the boy who had hijacked her car as Tim Shepard, and the other greaser in the back seat as Two-Bit Mathews. Cherry was pretty sure he was a Junior or something close to it.

Tim smirked a bit as he got comfortable. Cherry buckled herself in and scowled at him. "Don't you mean Daddy's gotta pay for it?"

"No. I meant what I said. I wanted a cheap car, but he bought me this... thing. I just started driving not long ago, I don't need a car like this."

"I'm surprised," Tim said.

"I'll take it off your hands if you want," Two-Bit said with a grin as he leaned forward and looked between Tim and Cherry.

"Sure, an' you can explain that one to my dad too."

"Hurry up Tim," James said anxiously from the back seat. "If somethin's goin' on I need to get there. Fast."

"Don't worry," Tim said with a smirk. "Fast's my thing."