AN: Hello, everybody! As always, I thank yawl for reading this far and I'm very greatful that you guys adore this story as much as I adore writing it for each and every one of you! I thank every single one of you for reading this far, please review, and now sit back, relax, and enjoy reading chapter ten of "Welcome to the New Home". Onward with the story! *Leaves virtual popcorn and Coka Cola* :D
Chapter ten
Soda, Steve, Jazz, and Cassidy continued their walk in town for five minutes until they finally made it to the DX station. The minute that they entered through the main glass door, first of all they were relieved to be out of the cold, and Steve and Soda were looking around the store for Kitten, but they couldn't find her. That meant that she must've been in the garage.
"Steve! Soda! Good to see you lads again today!" Mr. Henderson greeted, popping out from where he usually was, behind the counter. "Ready for another day of succsessful working?"
"Yeah, we're ready," Soda replied with a single bow of his head and a proud, handsome smile on his face.
"Alright, because a couple of young men already dropped off their cars. A few mustangs, in particular," Mr. Henderson informed
The minute that Soda, Steve, and Cassidy heard that the cars that were recently dropped off were mustangs, their eyes widened as their hearts leaped up. Jazz was just looking at them, now confused in what shocked them.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Henderson, but did you just say...a couple of mustangs were dropped off for fixing?" Steve asked
The elderly man nodded his head, saying the words, "Yep. Mustangs,", afterwards.
An angry glare formed on Cassidy's face as she placed her hands on her hips, while Soda and Steve exchanged their looks. Both of their eyes were squinted in both angry manners.
"...Socs..." Soda and Steve mumbled to each other in upset tones, before they wiped their angry expressions off from their faces, and focused back on their boss.
"Kitty's already in there. She's working all by herself since she got here, and I don't know if you kids noticed, but she stomped in here and didn't even say anything back when I greeted her. Instead, she just stomped straight into the garage, slamming the door shut behind her," Mr. Henderson explained
Steve bit his lip and tugged on his shirt collar a bit while Soda closed his eyes, took in a deep breath through his nose, then released it.
"Um, yeah...she's pretty upset today," Steve admitted, even though it was obvious that Mr. Henderson already knew that as a solid fact.
Mr. Henderson pushed his glasses back up over his eyes and just as he was about to talk about Kitten again, his eyes realized Jazz, who was standing still besides Cassidy, a nervous expression on his face.
"Soda, Steve...who's this young man here next to Carla?" Mr. Henderson asked, smiling at Jazz.
Soda and Steve snapped out of thinking about Kitty and turned their attention around to Jazz, who was still remaining as shy as can be.
Sodapop cracked one of his famous movie-star grins. Steve wanted to smile, too, believe it or not, but he was too upset in still thinking about Kitten's behavior towards Jazz to even force a smile to cross his face.
"Mr. Henderson, this is Jazz. He's a great friend of ours," Soda informed
"Jazz, eh?" Mr. Henderson asked, giving the twelve-year-old boy his friendly smile as he reached his hand over the counter. Once again, Jazz was hesitant, giving his three Greaser buds his shy look before he finally took a hold of Mr. Henderson's hand, shaking it, and taking his hand back to his side.
"Y-yes, sir," Jazz stuttered as he looked down at the winter boots that was on his feet, connected his hands behind his back while his shy expression became a nervous one again. It might've been really okay for the Greasers to know his actual name, but he'd rather get called 'brown-haired boy' or 'blue eyes', or anything for that matter as long as it didn't reveal his true name. Jazz didn't seem to adore much about himself, properly because he hardly knew anything about himself. It was obvious that something must've shocked him in his whole life to make him the boy he was right then at that time...a lot of shocking things happened to him, actually...like for example...
"It's very nice to meet you, Jazz. I'm Soda, Steve, and Kitten's boss," Mr. Henderson introduced with a single bow of his head, stripping his DX cap from his head for a second to reveal his snow white hair, then placed his cap back on top of his head.
"Such a great boss, might I add, Mr. Henderson," Steve said, being able to pull off smiling a phony smile that actually looked real for a second, but vanished not so long after.
Mr. Henderson smiled, doing another bow of his head when doing so.
"So, Jazz is going to company you two and Kitten at work today?" Mr. Henderson asked
"Yes, sir. Him and Carla both. That is, if it's alright with you," Sodapop pointed out. His handsome smile flashed across his face again, already knowing on the inside what Mr. Henderson's answer was going to be.
"Of course it's alright with me! Since it doesn't look like there's a lot of people buying things today, and since winter is the time of month people hardly come into the store, I'm going to go relax in my office if you kids need anything, alright?" Mr. Henderson asked
Soda and Steve nodded their heads, then looked back around at Carla and Jazz as Mr. Henderson turned his attention to them also.
Jazz's eyes were now like two pieces of China blue ice...frozen from feeling so shy, nervous, and a bit scared now even, all on the inside, but you could tell by the way he looked that he wasn't feeling so hot.
Cassidy smiled and nodded her head at Mr. Henderson, telling him thanks afterwards, but when she realized that Jazz wasn't replying, she gazed over at him, since he was standing right by her side, and noticed that he was completely nervous. Seriously, his face was starting to turn bright red. Carla looked back and forth from Mr. Henderson, who was waiting patiently with his sweet smile still on his face, to Jazz, who remained not looking too hot. It was a pure solid fact that Jazz needed help...so, there one one person getting ready to do so.
Steve and Soda exchanged confused expressions, Steve's looking more confused then Soda's that was more concerned, but when they looked back down at Jazz, Cassidy stepped up in front of him a little.
"Is the lad alright?" Mr. Henderson asked
All together, he got three different responses from his two workers and Cassidy.
"Yeah, he's fine!" Steve assured
"He's just shy around new people!" Sodapop explained
Nevertheless, Cassidy's was longer and drew all of the attention over to her, which she kind of hated, but knew she had to do to help Jazz out. If there was one top thing that Cassidy hated, it was to be the center of attention with others eyes all on her.
"Jazz is fine, Mr. Henderson. Sodapop's right, and so is Steve. Jazz is just a very shy guy at first, but he really does grow on ya. He just needs to take time to get to know this place a bit better and everything. He's truly fine...and I got to tell ya...he's certainly a great friend that you can never let go after getting to know him," Cassidy lectured
Wow...that was the longest thing that Carla Cade has ever said before in her entire life. If Johnny was there, he would be trying to believe it all with his own eyes and ears, trying to take in that it was actually happening because Cassidy doesn't have many things that she's fond about with herself. She's very shy and gentle, but very caring when you get to know her, and when you become her friend, she'll never let you go and leave you through the thick or thin at all. She'll always have your back...and at that moment, she certainly had Jazz's.
"Oh, I see, and I can very much relate. I understand, and, Jazz, don't worry. You'll get used to the DX station before you know it!" Mr. Henderson promised
"...Thank you for believing that, sir," Jazz hesitantly spoke
Mr. Henderson was a very kind and sweet old man, who loved everyone for who they are, no matter if they were a Greaser, a Soc, or just an ordinary person. However, Mr. Henderson brought back memories to Jazz...someone else who was sort of like the great man that he was very close to...this other man was also close to Jazz, until something terrible happened to him, too. The final chapter in life was not exactly what Jazz thought was thrilling or exciting...
That was the only reason that Jazz was hesitant to shake Mr. Henderson's hand, because he brought back so many memories that Jazz missed dearly, but knew he had to let go.
"Anywho, Sodapop, Steve, you two better get in there for another great work day. Kitten sure needs all of the help that she can get. As for your two little friends here, they can join you in the grage if they like, or they can wander around the store and if they want, they can buy things," Mr. Henderson lectured
"Sounds good, Mr. H!" Steve said, giving his boss a thumbs up before he quickly slipped into the garage through the door behind the counter, wanting to be the first to get to Kitten for their 'little' chat.
"We'll just walk around in here," Cassidy told Soda, who nodded with his famous grin on his face, then walked around the counter, entering the grage.
"If you kids need anything, you know where your friends are, and I'll just be in my office, okay?" Mr. Henderson asked
Jazz, once again, was too shy to say anything back to the elderly man, so like usual around certain people like Mr. Henderon...he kept his mouth shut.
"Okay, Mr. Henderson," Cassidy spoke up, having Jazz's back once again as she placed her arm around his shoulder, keeping her heart-warming smile on Mr. Henderson. "Thanks," Carla added
Mr. Henderson smiled again, then excused himself as he left the DX store through a different door in the corner, which was his office, closing the door all the way behind him.
The DX store was then filled with complete silence as the two twelve year olds remained next to each other, Cassidy's arm still resting around Jazz's shoulder until ten seconds of the silence went by...Cassidy quickly realized what she was doing and didn't take anymore time to remove her arm from Jazz's shoulder. She moved her arm away so quickly that Jazz quickly looked at her, thinking that something was wrong, but he found Cassidy looking normal...her face blushing up for some reason.
"Are you...okay, Carla?" Jazz asked, his tone now sounding nervous from fearing that he did something that startled or just made Cassidy mad at him. "Oh, no...God, please...not her, too"
The twelve-year-old boy remained nervous as he and Cassidy continued just staring at each other. Jazz could swear at that moment that Cassidy's eyes were as beautiful as a sunset. That's why Jazz wished that he had her eyes. He thought hers were beautiful, considering that dark, dark brown were Jazz's favorite eye color.
"I'm fine, Jazz," Cassidy promised. However, Jazz didn't seem so convinced in her assurence to him...that is...until Cassidy smiled again at him because she could tell that he wasn't feeling so confident at that moment.
It was the first time since their walk and arrivel to the DX station that Cassidy actually witnessed Jazz's full movie-star smile, his eyes starting to sparkle in the light like two beautiful crystal clear lakes of China blue.
"How about that Pepsi now, huh?" Cassidy asked, giving Jazz a playful punch on the arm, making him let out a yelp as his handsome smile quickly vanished. Cassidy immidently wiped her smile off from her face as well, as she touched his shoulder, startled only from thinking that she hurt him on accident. "Jazz! Are you alright? I'm so sorry!"
Jazz gazed back up at her, forcing himself to open his eyes as he took away more dark memories from his mind the best he could, remembering scary screams and terrifying people...but he truly knew in his heart...that Carla Cade was nothing like that.
"I-I'm fine, Carla...that Pepsi you were speaking about sure does sound good right now," Jazz said, starting to chuckle a bit when he brought up the Pepsi.
Hearing his sweet, little laughs just made Cassidy's stress quickly flee away, as well as her nervous frown and the fear from her eyes. Feeling absoluetly relieved and joyed once again, Cassidy smiled back at Jazz and gently jerked her head, meaning that she was telling him to follow her. Jazz, being confused at first, finally understood her message when her gentle and soft voice whispered to him, "Come on. Follow me,"
At that moment, Jazz knew if there was one person in the whole world that he could trust...it was Cassidy.
MEANWHILE IN THE GARAGE
Sodapop and Steve both bellowed and marched after Kitten as she walked around the garage, picking up and dropping down tools and rags from one of the two tool boxes, but she just tuned them out the best she could with her face still beating red from pure rage and a wrench in her hand that was covered with oil, considering that she was working under one of the hoods of one of the three mustangs.
"What was that all about, missy?! Seriously, the kids twelve and nearly died on the street!" Soda exclaimed, looking right over Kitty's shoulder as she began twisting some bolts in tighter under the hood of the blue mustang that she was working on.
Nevertheless, Kitten just rolled her eyes, not allowing Soda's, nor Steve's words to interrupt her working. Seriously, she needed that job at the DX. It was all that she had, that and the Greasers gang. Without those things in her life, she might as well just be some lonely teenager walking up and down the street with no place to go in life. However, Kitten wasn't realizing that, THAT was the spot that she was in her life right then. After treating Jazz like a piece of trash, she didn't notice that what he was saying was actually very tuff and true. If you don't try in your life, you never meet your goal, and if you never reach your point in life that you want to climb to, you might as well be nothing because you're not even trying. Kitten was one of those girls. A typical Greaser girl...a tomboy...an outsider...a lonely, single teenager who wants to find somebody to date. But even Greasers need to try in life. Just look at Ponyboy with writing, he's gotten WAY, WAY better. Darry with roofing is another great example. If he wasn't doing a great job with all of his trying and putting all of his energy into it, his boss wouldn't have given him that raise of his. Trying was the main thing that Kitty lacked, only because that she was afraid to fail.
"Kitten, listen to us! Why did you treat Jazz like that?! Not only is he twelve and was found on the street by Ponyboy and Two-bit, but he has some bad scar on his right shin and he said he came from a garden! It's obvious that he's hiding something from us and the rest of the gang, but we just don't know if he'll tell us about it sooner or later!" Steve bellowed
"Oh, just shut up and hand me a screwdriver!" Kitten ordered, angrily, her head remaining hidden under the hood as her hands dug around in the engine with the wrench, which she threw down to the concrete ground instead of handing it back over to Soda or Steve to put it back in one of the two tool boxes since being so upset was overwhelming her.
Soda and Steve exchanged annoyed glares with each other as Sodapop rolled his eyes and let out a deep sigh, heading his way over to pick up the wrench that Kitty impatiently and angrily threw down. Steve, on the other hand, uncrossed his arms and snatched a screwdriver up from the closest tool box that was next to his foot.
"Here you go, Miss Drama Queen," Steve smartly spoke as he handed over the screwdriver while Soda placed the wrench that Kitten used back into the tool box that she got it out from.
All Steve got in response was a view of Kitten's ginger-hair that was now tied up in a ponytail, and the sound of her upset toned voice letting out an annoyed groan, right before she snatched the screwdriver out of Steve's hand and continued working under one of the three mustangs hoods.
"Aren't you two going to help me out or not?" Kitten asked, her voice now sounding like it was trying to remain calm all the sudden.
"No, not until you listen to what we have to say," Soda replied, shaking his head a few times before he crossed his arms.
"I've heard enough," Kitty mumbled, annoyingly
"Obviously you haven't, because you're still all negative and rude,"
Surprisingly, that was coming from Steve Randle.
"Maybe that's because I don't want to talk about that little-" Kitten snarled, but before she could finish what she wanted to say, Soda grabbed her by her shoulder and yanked her around so she could see him and Steve, who didn't look very pleased at all.
For the first time in God knows how long, Steve looked so surprised in Kitten's behavior, while Soda was showing a really heavy amount of anger.
Kitten was actually starting to get scared...starting to get a hold of herself. The thing is about Kitty, though, is that, when she gets very upset and filled with rage about something, she would blurt out things she doesn't mean, and when it's all over, she has a hard time rethinking everything that was just said and done. When she realized what was going on, Kitten thought to herself that she was nothing but a monster. Soda and Steve were right...Jazz was such a poor twelve-year-old boy who didn't know much about his future, but was stalked by his past that the Greasers figured were dark...but they didn't know for sure.
With her oil dripping hand, Kitty gently pushed Sodapop's hand off from her shoulder, her red face now starting to light up on a lighter shade of red from embarrassment.
Steve stopped flashing his surprised look as Soda wiped his very, very rare mad expression away from his face. The two Greasers took one last look at their female Greaser friend, noticing her now looking down at the concrete ground with the rag she was holding now swung over her shoulder, covered in greasy oil stains. Tears started welding up in Kitten's emerald green eyes, making Soda and Steve both feel like they were about to get sick from hating to see her cry, just like how they hated seeing each of their other fellow Greasers in any kind of pain. Sure, Kitten mouthed off big time to Jazz, but Steve and Soda both knew that she didn't mean it. Not only that, but the two male Greasers knew just how hard of a life Kitty had. Even though she wasn't abused like Johnny, Jocelyn, and Cassidy...or for a fact that she wasn't hurtfully yelled at all the time like Two-bit...and she wasn't kicked out of her own house by her parents and forced to get a home for herself to live in all by herself like ol' Dally...however, what Kitten was telling Jazz about her parents was the truth. Each word she spoke wasn't false. Believe it or not, the Curtis brothers could relate their folks to Kitty's parents. It was obvious that Mr and Mrs. Curtis were no longer alive after their horrible car crash, but Kitten's folks never even realized that she was around, nor if she was talking to them, they wouldn't listen. Even if her parents did talk to her...they would always talk about things that she hated, like school, meeting new friends when she was just happy with the Greasers, and the thing that Kitty hated the most...her folks informing her about yet another upcoming date that they sat up for her, blindly.
"How would you guys feel like getting set up on unwanted blind dates by your own parents when you kept telling them over and over again that you didn't want them to do such a thing in your life, but it's like they don't even hear you?" Kitten asked "I mean, every blind date that I've had always turned out more like a job interview,"
Soda and Steve exchanged sorrow frowns, realizing what was the real problem that Kitty suddenly had on her mind that caused her to treat Jazz so blindly. When Jazz brought up Kitten's parents, all that Kitty mainly focused on was the ridiculous blind dates that she hated. Yes, Kitten very much wanted a boyfriend, but she also wanted her parents to stay out of it. Not only were the blind dates bad, but half of them were with SOCS, considering that Kitty's parents didn't like accepting the fact that their only daughter was a hood.
"Why would THEY care?" Kitten would keep asking that question over and over again in her head, it getting angrier every time her parents asked her to do something about herself that she simply didn't approve of or disagreed with big time.
"We're so sorry about all of those blind dates that you've gone through, Kitty," Steve apologized, not feeling comfortable to answer the question that Kitten just asked.
Kitty kicked back on the front of the mustang, the hood still open, and crossed her arms, angrily scowling again, but she wasn't mad at her friends...she hated her parents. It was already bad enough that they hardly realized her home or not, not to mention listen to what she has to say, or pays attention to what she's interested in. Even when her parents did notice her, it was never over anything nice or good. Literally, one morning in the fall, Kitten walked downstairs in her worn out jeans, pointed toe boots, and black tank-top that had a skull printed on it with flames surrounding it, along with her hair combed with some hair grease and a bandana pulling back her bangs, and a dark green hoodie, unzipped all the way so you could see the skull with flames of fire around it on her tank-top, her parents quickly said something to her before she left out the door for her next blind date. That's when Kitten decided to share with Soda and Steve that dark memory from four months ago...
FLASHBACK FROM FOUR MONTHS BACK...
"Um...our daughter!" Kitten's father, Kevin, hollered out before she could reach for the main doors doorknob to leave for her fifth blind date that week in the park just to get it over with.
Kitten jammed her hands in her dark green hoodies pockets and angrily rolled her eyes, not even daring to look back around to see her parents, who were completely dressed like Socs. Actually, that's the thing...her parents WERE Socs, but they sure didn't act like them with all of the drinking and going around jumping Greasers, considering that their daughter was one of 'em hoods.
"My name is Kitten for the millionth time, Dad," Kitty moaned, rolling her eyes again.
She could hear Kevin snapping his fingers once, still not daring to turn around to know that he was smiling.
"Oh, yes! Kitten! Darling, what on earth are you wearing?! You can't wear that on your double date with Greg!" Kevin exclaimed
"I thought you said that his name was 'Craig'," Kitten groaned, uncaringly, only saying that in hope of changing the topic. However, it didn't work.
"Potato, potatto," Kevin shrugged his shoulders before he placed his arm around Kitten's mother, Cindy.
"Your fathers right, Mitten," Cindy spoke up, agreeing with Kevin's statement on their daughters outfit.
"It's KITTEN!" Kitty bellowed, her face starting to heat up from anger, thinking to herself that she and her parents always have the same conversation when they actually do speak with her. "And I'm a GREASER! This is my style! Besides, I'm thirteen years old!"
She hesitated, thinking that her parents would stop her before going any furthur, but when she stopped talking, she could hear Kevin whispering to Cindy, "She's thirteen?", then Cindy replying with, "I guess...oh, wait! That's why the nanny kept bothering me during Joey's story time saying to me, 'Birthday party! Birthday party, Ma'am!"
At that moment, Kitten could've sworn that she felt the blood rush and boil up like a volcano all throughout ever vain of her body, as if her eyes were about to turn red themselves.
"I just need to get this UNWANTED and UNPLEASANT blind date with this Craig guy over with. I know for a fact that he's not going to be the one I'm going to end up with, but it's not like you two care," Kitten smartly pointed out, taking one of her hands out from her dark green hoodies pockets to grab the doorknob of the front door, but once again, her parents stopped her, making her feel like she wanted to bust their heads together.
"Kitten, or whatever your name is...um, baby..honey, you need to make an impression to give our family a continuous great name! Now, why don't you go back upstairs and take a quick shower to get rid of all of that nasty hair grease from your hair, and then you should give your hair some curls with your mothers curling iron," Kevin spoke
No matter how much Kitty just wanted to stomp out of the house right then at that moment to just get the stupid blind date over with so she could go hang out with the gang, she knew that she wanted to get the last saying between her and her folks. So, Kitten forced herself to turn around and stare at her Soc parents.
Cindy was dressed in a floral dress, each flower designed on the fabric a different color, making her look just like she was wearing a rainbow. Polished, bright purple heels were being worn on her feet, along with a pair of dangling golden earrings that were pierced in her ears, and a diamond necklace (or at least LOOKED like real diamonds) was clipped around her neck. Cindy's hair was all soft, silky, long, and in thick, ginger-colored, bouncy curls and her red lipstick truly did bring out her hazel eyes.
Kevin was wearing an ordinary pair, but high priced jeans with a leather belt locked around his waist, and a fancy white sweater that was only made tight so you could see his tough muscles, which he truly had, but in Kitten's opionion, they weren't as strong and tuff as all of her male Greasers buds. Being worn on Kevin's feet were an extra fancy pair of leather boots, and his black hair was neatly brushed with no knots or tangles in it.
"Complete Socs," Kitten mumbled under her breath. "I'll pass!" she then exclaimed, not taking her fathers words into any consideration.
"Darling, you can't just go out there and show yourself in public wearing those RAGS. Calling those RAGS 'CLOTHES'? Are you kidding me?!" Cindy asked, scowling at her daughter.
Kitten placed one of her hands on one of her hips and rolled her eyes again, not giving a crap about what her mother was saying to her.
"You call 'em 'rags', I call 'em my style. Back off, would ya?!" Kitty spoke up, and with that, her mom stomped up to her with her angry glare still on her face and she smacked Kitten upside her head...HARD.
Kitten let out a single yelp of pain as she gently placed her hand on the side of her head where Cindy angrily slapped her. It seriously hurt so bad that tears were starting to slightly form in Kitten's eyes.
She glanced back up to see her mother now standing beside her dad again, who didn't look shocked or startled or...anything for that matter for what Cindy just did to their daughter.
"Maybe that'll teach you to listen to me and your father when we order you to do something!" Cindy bellowed
"...Smack me as much as you want...I'm never becoming a Soc whether you guys like it or not!" Kitten exclaimed, slapping her hands, that were now clenched into fists, down to her sides.
"Aw, come on, hun!" Cindy began sounding like she was begging, as if she was never upset at her and Kevin's daughter at all. "Why don't you wear that new orange, red, and yellow sundress that I got you? It's very expensive and way more fashonable then those rags that you're wearing,"
Kitten sat one of her hands back in one of her hoodies pockets before she grew another upset glare upon her face.
"Wear it yourself, snob!" Kitty proclaimed, upsettingly, before she quickly grabbed onto the main doors handle and forced open the door.
Not giving her folks any chance to reply, Kitten stomped out the door, allowing it to slam shut with a loud 'BANG!' after her depart, leaving Cindy and Kevin looking at each other with surprised looks now on their faces.
That day, Kitten had her blind date with Craig Rochester, who happened to be a Soc, but he was a very good looking guy. Nevertheless, Kitten wasn't in the mood to fall for any of his pathetic tactics on winning her over. Even though she was a Greaser, Craig still had a thing for her. That being a problem for Kitty, it got worse when she told Craig after their blind date that she wasn't interested in dating a Soc, only because it would cause tons of problems between the two gangs. That just left Craig upset and of course like any other Soc would do to a Greaser, promised to seek revenge.
END OF FLASHBACK
Soda was now holding Kitten close, having her head resting on his shoulder while Steve stood on Kitty's opposite side, listening, but having a hard time believing all that he and Sodapop were listening to.
"Nevertheless, I've never witnessed Craig anywhere else around since our blind date assigned by my freak folks four months ago," Kitten sighed, finishing up her story.
Soda and Steve exchanged their sorrow frowns again, but this time, they looked a lot more emotionally upset.
"Craig Rochester? Hm...where does that name sound familiar from?" Steve asked himself under his breath, biting down on his lip when trying to think about all of the details that Kitten gave in her short story.
"Kitty...your mom actually hit you?" Sodapop asked, sounding very shocked, but at the same time, angry from thinking about somebody actually harming one of his best friends.
"...Yeah, she did...but it was just a once in a life time thing that I went through. I wasn't really ever abused or anything like that," Kitten replied
"Oh, Kitty! I'm so sorry!" Soda exclaimed from so much sadness, as he started stroking Kitty's hair to help comfort her if she cried, which was starting to happen a little bit.
"I am, too, Kitty cat. You don't deserve that kind of life," Steve said
"Well, Johnny, Cassidy, and Jocelyn don't deserve their home life with their dark parents, but this world is cruel like that," Kitten sniffled, not wanting any of her tears to fall on Soda's DX jacket, but he kept whispering to her that it was absoluetly fine for her to cry on his shoulder.
"You know what'll make you feel better, Kitten?" Steve asked
Kitten picked her head up from Sodapop's shoulder and wiped away the tears from her eyes, then she and Soda looked over at Steve to see him suddenly smirking. Kitty and Soda both knew what that smirk meant, and when Kitten glanced back over at Sodapop, she realized that he was now smirking, too.
"Date Ponyboy!" Steve and Soda cheered, giving each other a high-five, then playfully started throwing punches at each other, making Kitty crack a smile and start to chuckle a bit.
"Very funny, guys!"
"We weren't kidding!" Steve exclaimed, still laughing a bit
Kitty rolled her eyes in a playful way as she pushed herself back up from resting back on the mustang, grabbing the rag that was swung over her shoulder and used it to wipe the oil from her hand away.
"Well, we might as well-" Soda began speaking, but he was cut off when he, Steve, and Kitty heard the door open. When the three of them glanced over to the door, they saw Jazz, who was carrying three cans of pop. Two were Pepsi, and the other was a cherry coke.
"Hi, Jazz. What's going on?" Steve asked
"..I just thought that you guys might be thirsty...so, I got you and Soda Pepsi's, and...Kitty gets the cherry coke," Jazz told Steve, his voice becoming very nervous when he said Kitten's nickname.
Kitten and Soda exchanged looks, Soda looking like he was telling the female Greaser, "You know the right thing to do here,". Kitty grinned and nodded her head, tossing the greasy rag over to Sodapop as she walked over to Jazz, who was now looking very nervous when he noticed Kitten approaching him.
Steve took the two Pepsi's out of Jazz's hands, handing one of them to Soda, then they walked over to the mustang that Kitten had been working on before they came in, getting ready to take their part and fix up the car.
Kitten gently placed her hand on Jazz's shoulder, making him let out a yelp of fear, but Kitty quickly started whispering to him that she was so sorry and didn't mean to be so rude towards him on their way to the DX station.
"Why were you so mad at me, Kitty?" Jazz asked, his voice still remaining nervous a bit.
"I wasn't mad at you, Jazz...it's just that...when you brought up my parents, old memories stacked up in my mind, but I shouldn't have allowed them to get the best of me. I'm so sorry, Jazz...I can understand if you hate me, but-" Kitten said
"Don't say that, Kitten!" Jazz's voice echoed out, interrupting Kitty's full apology. Kitten didn't expect Jazz to just blurt out his voice like that, but when he did, she sort of jumped. "I could never hate such a great friend! You are certainly one of my best friends! Same with Ponyboy, Soda, Darry, Steve, Two-bit, Dally, Johnny, Jocelyn, and...Carla,"
Kitten's smile appeared on her face, feeling so happy to hear Jazz say that to her. Before she got a chance to say anything back, Jazz handed over the pop can of cherry coke, a small grin perking at his lips.
Caringly, Kitty took the pop from him, which was when she of course said thanks, then asked Jazz if he forgave her. That's when Jazz gave her a full grown, handsome smile and nodded his head, right before he walked back out of the garage, announcing to his three friends that he'd be continuing to hang out in the store with Cassidy.
Kitten took in and let out a deep breath of relief, as she walked over to the mustang that Steve and Soda were standing by, the two of them smiling at her.
"We heard," Steve informed
"Yeah, we did. We're glad that you and Jazz are no longer in a rut together," Soda shared, taking a sip of his Pepsi after speaking.
"Me, too," Kitten agreed with a single nod of her head.
"Well, we better get started working on these idiotic Socs mustangs," Steve said as he sat his can of Pepsi down on the floor, so it wouldn't bother any of their work.
Kitten and Soda both let out annoyed moans, thinking that they would actually dig fixing up cars, like they usually love doing their at the DX station, but with Socs cars...nuh-uh. Nevertheless, that didn't stop the three Greasers from getting right on it, Kitten and Steve working under the hood of the car while Soda slid on the board under the car, doing some old fixing up under there. It was better to get it done then having to deal with some pathetic Socs later on.
MEANWHILE BACK IN THE STORE...
"Say, Jazz, what's your favorite singer?" Cassidy asked, walking down one of the aisles of the store once again with Jazz by her side, the two of them drinking cans of Pepsi that Cassidy paid for like she said she would.
"Elvis," Jazz replied as he took a sip of his Pepsi after replying to Cassidy's question.
"Far out! I love Elvis, too! The entire gang does, actually!" Cassidy informed
"Really? Wow...that's cool...I didn't really think anyone would be interested in knowing about me," Jazz said as he stopped walking when he and Cassidy got out of the aisle and leaned back against the wall, next to the magazine rack.
A confused expression wiped across Cassidy's face as she picked up one of the magazines from the rack and started flipping through it, questioning why Jazz just said that. "Why would you ever think that, Jazz? Why say that you thought that you think that nobody would be interested in getting to know you?" Cassidy asked
Right after hearing that question come out from Cassidy's mouth, Jazz's eyes shot big, remembering more dark memories that began flooding back into his mind, remembering different people saying certain things to him...doing certain things to him...doing and saying things like...
"I rather not talk about it," Jazz said, taking another drink from his Pepsi can.
"You know, Jazz...talking actually makes you feel better," Cassidy pointed out as she continued flipping through the pages of the old car magazine, keeping her eyes on the pages as she continued going.
"...S-sorry, Carla, but...no! It's part of my life story, and I'm not ready to speak about it with anyone yet,"
"Well, when will you be able to share it with the gang?"
Jazz shrugged, but since he knew that Cassidy wasn't looking at him, he said, "I don't know,"
Just as Cassidy was about to say something else, someone said her name, greeting her.
"Why, hello, Cassidy Cade. Long time no see, eh?"
Cassidy's heart dropped, realizing who's voice that was. She quickly looked up from the car magazine that she was flipping through and she could not believe who her eyes were meeting...she was right...it was exactly who she thought it was. She was so shocked that she dropped the magazine, leaving it to hit the DX stations floor.
AN: Dun, dun, duuuunnn! Ahahahah! I'm evil XD! Another cliffhanger! The suspense is growing a whole lot more, isn't it ;)? Who's this person saying Cassidy's name? What's Carla's story behind her nickname 'Cassidy'? What's Jazz's story? Will Kitten and Ponyboy end up dating at some point? Do they even like each other? Why do Cassidy and Jazz keep feeling different around each other? What's going to happen at the ranch and when the winter activities come along (which won't happen for a few more chapters!)? Find out many of these questions and many more in furthur to come chapters! Read yawl in chapter eleven! :D :D :D :D