A/N: OK, so here's another chapter I fired off this evening. I'm actually kind of proud the way it turned out. Needs editting in bad way, I'm sure, though...
Just a little heads up, for anyone interested, the next chapter will have more Johnny actually in it... and I do actually have a plan for where this is whole story is headed... a climax, so to speak. So bear with me and I'll try not to make it too boring between there and here. I know some of you are eager for a love scene, and I can promise you you'll get one...And it'll be epic. Hahaha. Well, I'll let you be the judge of that.
Incidentally, if I could get a little feedback on what kind of epic love scene you want, that would be great. I have something in mind, images and ideas, really, so I can easily accomodate the masses should you all lean toward a particular feel. Specifically: kissing? Sex? More innocent stuff? Let me know, please!
Thank you very very much to everyone who reviews. I can't tell you how much I love and appreciate it!
disclaimer: I think you know what I'm going to say. I don't own The Outsiders.
Ponyboy turned around in his chair, and stared at Ava. She was muttering under her breath while alternating between punching numbers into her calculator and writing the results down on the page in front of her.
"You know, when the teacher leaves the room, most people stop working." Ponyboy pulled the pencil from between her fingers, and cocked an eyebrow at Ava's cry of protest.
"I'm right in the middle of -"
"Yeah, well, your grades aren't going to suffer from taking five minutes out to talk to me." He dangled the pencil in front of her, while Ava pursed her lips in frustration and glared at him. "Why haven't you come 'round lately, anyway?" Ponyboy got straight to the point.
"I've just been busy." Ava shrugged, nervously glancing at the classroom door, as though the teacher would appear at any moment to yell at them for not working.
"Too busy to stop by and see Johnny?" Ponyboy leered suggestively.
"Yes, as a matter of fact." Ava snatched the pencil from where Ponyboy dangled it. "School has been crazy and…" She let her sentence trail off.
"And, what?"
"And I guess I don't see much of a point in coming around anymore. I only came by to help Johnny with your mother's garden, but now that he's working at the nursery, I doubt I could teach him anything new. He could probably teach me a thing or two now, though, I guess." Ava tried to return to her calculation, but Ponyboy whipped the worksheet from under her. She glared at him again, and tried to snatch it back. Ponyboy was too quick, though, and held it just out of arm's reach.
"So you're not interested in going out with Johnny, huh?" He teased, bringing the paper closer only to pull it back again just as she reached for it.
Ava, after making a third and final attempt to snap it from Ponyboy, let her arms drop on the table and looked at him with a sigh of resignation.
"I think you'll find, Ponyboy Curtis, that Johnny isn't very interested in going out with me. Now can I please have my worksheet back?"
Ponyboy opened his mouth to protest, but was interrupted by a deep voice and a shadow falling over the two. Both Ava and he looked up to see Carl Kirk standing over them.
"Hey Grease, you wanna give her the paper back?" This was no request.
"His name's Ponyboy." Ava rolled her eyes. "And he's a friend of mine, so I appreciate your help but it's really unnecessary."
"This grease's a friend of yours?" Carl motioned to Ponyboy, but was looking at Ava, who nodded. "OK." He backed away, still staring at Ponyboy, who returned the look unafraid. Finally, Carl had to turn to get back in his seat. Ponyboy looked back at Ava, an eyebrow cocked and smirk on his face.
"Looks like you've got some muscle." Before Ava could reply, the door opened and the teacher came back in. Ponyboy quickly slid the worksheet back under Ava's arm and turned round to face the front of the class.
Ava couldn't concentrate on the rest of the lesson. What did Ponyboy mean by that comment about muscle? Why did Carl Kirk take such an interest in her conversation?
She did not get the chance to have these questions answered, however. Once the bell rang, Ponyboy was up, out of his seat and gone before the last echoes died away, while she was still gathering her things. She started to rush toward the door, but just as she was about to pass through, the tall figure of Carl Kirk was in the way again.
"Hey Ava." He smiled. She looked at him with a mixture of confusion and annoyance.
"Hi, Carl. Can I just -"
"So you really friends with that Ponyboy Curtis?" He asked, shuffling nervously from foot to foot.
"Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I've been to his house a few times with Cathy. But we don't -"
"So, he's not like, your boyfriend or anything."
"No. He's not like my boyfriend… or anything." Ava wasn't entirely sure what this meant, or why Carl was acting so strangely, but she knew she couldn't get by him without physically moving him. And seeing as he was so much taller and larger than she was, that really wasn't an option.
"So, you maybe, wanna go out with me sometime?" Carl took a deep breath and let the words come tumbling out, while simultaneously successfully avoiding eye contact.
To say Ava was surprised was a bit of an understatement. Flabbergasted was more apt a word. Do I want to go out with you? Not even remotely. "Uh…" She paused. "What were you thinking, in terms of, a date?" She really didn't know how to get out of this without being rude.
"I dunno. We could go to a movie… or even, that dance which is coming up in two weeks."
"There's a dance coming up in two weeks?" Ava asked incredulously. This was the first she had heard of it. Carl looked at her strangely, his eyes slowly moving toward the classroom wall. Ava followed his gaze to a large poster advertising the dance as being only a month away and the social even tof the semester. Clearly this dance she had just heard about had been the talk of the student body for two weeks or more.
There really was no way to hide her ignorance now. "Right…" She attempted lamely. "I thought you meant… another dance."
"Is there another dance?" Carl smiled excitedly.
"Well, I-"
"When is it? Do you want to go to that one?"
"Carl, I was just -"
"Because we can go to that one instead, if you prefer. Or both, even. Is it sooner than two weeks?"
"No, I just-."
"No one mentioned it to me. And the guys and I are usually all over goin' to dances. Hey! Jack, you hear anything about another dance coming up?" Carl called over her shoulder to his buddy, standing in the hall talking to some brunette.
"No, where'd you hear about it?" Jack replied.
"Ava said there's another dance. And it's this weekend."
"I didn't say-"
"Really? I gotta ask Kelly. I'm surprised she didn't say anything. Usually she's the first one to know about dances." Jack called back, not hearing Ava's attempt to break into the conversation.
"There is no other dance!" Ava yelled. Nearly everyone in the hall stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at her. This outburst seemed uncharacteristic of the usually quiet Ava Lamont.
"Why'd you say there was another dance, then?" Carl looked confused.
"I didn't say - look, it doesn't matter now. You want to go to that dance?" She pointed forcefully to the poster on the wall.
"Yeah." Carl nodded.
"Fine. I'll go to the dance with you." If it'll shut you up.
"Great!" Carl beamed and seemed to stand up a bit taller. "You wanna grab a coke or something now?"
"Um. No." She said, once she had calmed down enough to reflect on what had just happened. "I mean, I-I can't. I've got something I have to do for my aunt."
"Sure. You want me to drive you home?" Carl offered, pulling his car keys from his pocket.
"Thanks, but, I have my car." She explained, pulling her own from her pocket. "But I'll see you tomorrow."
Carl nodded and stepped aside to let her pass.
XXX
Ava slammed the driver's side door shut forcefully and dumped her books in the back seat. Ordinarily she would have arranged them in an orderly fashion on the floor, where they wouldn't slide around and fall over, but she hadn't thought to do it in her current state-of-mind.
Shit. How do I get myself into these messes? I didn't even know Carl Kirk knew I existed until half an hour ago, and now I'm apparently going on a date with him. She turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of her parking spot suddenly, nearly crashing into another car. After being flipped off and now signalling and waiting her turn, she pulled out into traffic.
As she drove down the road leading out of the high school she saw a familiar figure swaggering down the street, school books under arm. She honked and pulled over, remembering to signal this time. Ponyboy appeared at the passenger window, but did not jump in the car.
"Where you headed?" She asked, leaning over the seat toward him.
"Home." Ponyboy shrugged.
"Get in. I'll take you." Ponyboy hopped in the passenger seat and they took off down the road. "I thought Two-Bit usually gave you a ride home." Ava said absently while checking her rear view mirror.
"Yeah, well, I guess ol' Two-Bit was taking some girl out for a shake or something." Ponyboy stared out the window as the scenes of the street flashed by.
There was a long pause in which neither spoke. Finally Ava broke the silence. "Why are you so interested in me and Johnny going out?"
"Why are you so not interested in it, all of a sudden?" Ponyboy parried, not taking his eyes from the window.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, the way you been hanging on him, over at our house nearly every day for a month. And now, you haven't been by in two weeks and no explanation. I thought you were fixed on marrying him, and now you're going to the dance with Carl Kirk."
Ava was shocked. "How on earth did you hear about that?"
"My locker isn't far from the Math class."
"Bull, Ponyboy Curtis. You're locker is clear to the next wing. And 'sides, from the look of the books you're carrying, you didn't even stop at your locker after leaving class." Ava put two and two together. "You were listening in on my conversation."
"So what if I was? Why were you pretending to like Johnny?" Ponyboy was genuinely angry, his voice shook and rose with each word. He had forgotten the scenes passing by on the street, and had turned to face her, his cheeks burning.
"I wasn't pretending. I do like Johnny."
"Then why are you going to the dance with Carl Kirk." The dislike oozed from Ponyboy's words.
"Because I got sick and tired of making a fool of myself over Johnny Cade. We both know Johnny was never going to ask me out, Ponyboy." Ava's own voice rose, and she could feel the flush rising in her cheeks too. A loaded silence descended on them. This time it was Ponyboy's turn to break it.
"He might have." He muttered.
"Yeah," Ava scoffed, slowing to stop at a red light. "And I should get old and grey waiting for something that might happen."
"He really likes you. We all thought you liked him, too."
"Yeah, well… I thought I did too. But then, I thought I knew him. Knew all about him."
Ponyboy stared at her, genuinely confused.
"What does that mean?"
Ava turned to stare at her passenger. "Nothing." She said, turning back to the road. The light changed and she accelerated.
"Ava, what does that mean?" Ponyboy reiterated.
"It probably means what you think it means, Ponyboy. You think I knew that Johnny killed Bob Sheldon when I first saw him sitting on that swing on your porch? You think, in a million years, I would have looked at him and thought 'Now there's the face of a killer'." The second the words crossed her lips she knew she hadn't phrased it the way she wanted too. She couldn't look at Ponyboy, but she could feel his eyes on her. She accelerated a bit more, hoping he'd know better than to jump out of the car at the speed they were going.
"Ponyboy, that didn't come out the way I meant it." She said. He was silent still, but his eyes were burning into the side of her head. "I meant that… I just wish he had told me. I had to hear all about it from my aunt and uncle. And then all I could think about was how… how I'd spent all that time with him, telling him things about me and how he had just stood there listening… and I didn't know a thing about him. I know he has his reasons, but how do you think that makes me feel? Like a fool. Like a little fool."
She could feel the burning intensity diminish, and she knew she had explained it right this time.
"That why you haven't come around? You're embarrassed?"
"Yes." Ava's voice was small, quiet. But for once, her face did not turn beet red.
"You're embarrassed for that? Shoot, Ava, I've heard you say some pretty dumb stuff, and do some pretty dumb stuff. Like jumping into rose bushes and making up stuff about… about root rot for Pete's sake. That's way more embarrassing than this."
"Thanks, Ponyboy. I feel so much better now." Ava deliberately made her voice void of emotional affect.
"What I mean is, you don't have anything to be embarrassed about." He paused for a moment. "You still like Johnny, right?"
"Yeah." Now the colour rushed to her face.
"Well, I know Johnny 'bout as well as anyone, and I bet he didn't tell you because he likes you too. And I bet he was afraid to tell you. You gotta remember that when most people find out about this, they either want to beat him up or think he's scum or something. You never thought that, and he was probably afraid you'd stop hanging around so much if you did know about Bob Sheldon."
"And I guess I did." Ava shrugged. She turned down Ponyboy's street.
"Yeah, but not the way we would have expected." Another silence engulfed them. When Ava pulled up to the curb in front of Pony's house, she geared into park and turned to look at her friend.
"How am I going to get out of this date with Carl Kirk?" She asked lightly. Ponyboy grinned.
"We'll figure something out."
