Ahhh, sorry if it took me a little while to update.
(insert lame excuses here)
It took a while but I got to sixty. Wooh!
Thank you to those who reviewed. And those lurkers who just read and don't review. *waves to the lurkers* Kidding.
A super big thank you to my beta reader Independence Undervalued. She's soooo helpful and she made this story and my writing 100xs better.
Drum roll please. On to chapter 11. :)
I listened to Cassie's shrieks thinking that, if I didn't know better I would think there was an actual spider. I stuck my head out the door looking this way and that before slipping all the way out of the room. I had done what Cassie advised and counted to one hundred before attempting my escape.
I crept down the hallway slowly, feeling like I was escaping from somewhere far more dangerous than a chic's house. I realized there wasn't much I could do if I did get caught, so I started to walk normally. I would just have to hope they'd believe I was here to see Ponyboy.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief as I made it out of the house. Stuffing my hands into my pockets, I started to walk down the sidewalk. I was feeling pretty good about myself. I not only spent the night with the female Curtis, but I also managed not to get the tar beat out of me by her older brothers.
Sure, nothing happened, but still; it was a good night. I wasn't far from the Curtis house, when I saw Dally approaching. Dally was one of the scariest guys. He wasn't all that big and it wasn't his reputation that scared me; it was just him. He didn't care. He didn't care if he went to jail. Hell, I don't think he even cared if he lived or not.
I mean really, who wants to mess with someone who doesn't care if they live or die?
A lot of hoods around here are a lot of talk before they do anything, while Dally won't waste time in threatening you before taking you out.
"Hey, kid," He greeted me his voice friendly enough for him.
"How's it going?" I asked in return, stopping alongside him.
"Tuff enough," He responded holding out the cigarette he just lit up.
I took it gratefully, not having one all night. "Thanks," I muttered, taking a few long drags. "You're out early," I commented.
"Have some business with Darry I have to take care of."
I nodded, wondering idly if anything would have happened if he caught me sneaking out of that house five minutes earlier. .
"What are you doing out?" He asked after we passed the cigarette between us a few times.
"Just had to borrow some notes from Ponyboy," I replied with a indifferent shrug. "He left them at school." I added, realizing that I had nothing in my hands. "I better get going. See ya around."
I started to walk away, when I heard a voice behind me.
"She's not your type man, just let it go." Dally's voice was filled with amusement as I turned to face him.
"Don't know what ya talking 'bout." I answered, slouching.
"Sure, you don't." He said wearing a wolfish grin.
"What's it to you?" I knew there was no use in denying it at this point.
"Means nothin' to me," He answered, flicking the butt of his cigarette away. "Just offerin' up some friendly advice."
I gave in. "How isn't she my type?"
He shook his head, grinning. "You're jokin' right?"
I refrained from scowling, not wanting to piss Dally off.
"You're not gonna get anywhere with her."
"Oh, and why's that?" I didn't bother to try to cover up the sarcasm.
"Don't play dumb, kid. I know you ain't the sharpest tool, but you know what I'm talkin' 'bout. Quit actin' like you don't."
"You don't know what you're talking about, man," I said, not caring if I got flattened or not.
He obviously had a false view of Cassie. She was no better than me, or anyone in this town. She's the same breed. Maybe her parents were different, but she was still raised in this neighborhood, and her parents couldn't change that.
I could still kind of see where Dally was coming from though; she still was able to hold on to some of that innocence you're born with.
Cassie was more like Darry – simply born on the wrong side of town. But she was still born on this side. That makes her no better than any of the greaser girls.
I knew Dally didn't actually care about what happened with her and I; he just liked fucking with people, get inside their heads. But even though I knew that's what he was doing, he still succeeded.
Cassie would probably figure eventually she's too good for me. She'll start to think she's too good for anyone on this side and she'll start to date some middle class jerk. I was probably just an experiment to her. I wasn't even her first choice for the experiment, my brother was.
If she thinks she's gonna be the one to dump me she has another thing coming, I thought angrily. I was an idiot to think this could have worked out in the first place. Even if she did stay interested, Darry would never let us be a couple. He thought he was better than the rest of us.
I don't even know why I went after her in the first place. She ain't that good looking. Her kissing isn't all that great either. Okay so that kiss earlier was pretty great, but there are tons of girls who know how to kiss and who do other things that are greater than kissing. Cassie probably wouldn't even be willing to do those things, or even know how to do them.
We were over before we even really started.
As I thought that, I felt a pang of something in my gut and I knew staying away from her wouldn't be easy. I would just have to make her stay away from me.
Completely forgetting about Dallas standing in front of me, my mind went into high gear. I had to head home to change my clothes, deciding I should probably go to school that day.
I was walking down the hall when I caught sight of Cassie. I could feel a smile starting to tug at the corners of my mouth and my body started to relax until I remembered we were heading nowhere. I allowed a frown to replace my smile and felt my body tense up as she started coming towards me.
"You're here," Her voice came out happily.
"I figured I should make an appearance," I replied to her greeting with a shrug of my shoulders, making my voice come out indifferent.
"Good. Now I get to see you."
"Lucky you," My voice came out a little harsher than I intended, but it seemed to sting her anyways.
"What's wrong?" I turned my head away not being able to meet her concerned gaze.
I ached to tell her nothing was wrong now that she was here. I wanted to tell her what was bothering me and for her to tell me that I was wrong. I was pretty sure that wasn't going to happen though.
In the long run we were still from two different worlds, even if we lived a couple blocks apart.
"Nothing," I was able to turn my eyes back on her, staring at her coldly. "I just don't think this thing is going to work out between us." I kept my eyes icy, my posture slouched, and my voice cold.
"Why is that?" She kept staring at me forcing me to meet her eyes.
"It's complicated," I said, hoping she'd leave it at that. No such luck.
"I'm sure I can understand. If someone like you can, than I'm sure it's not that difficult to grasp."
Her basically calling me dumb was worse than ten people calling me that.
"All my life I had to follow in my brothers footsteps. The great Tim Shepard. That's all I'm known as – his kid brother. I'm nothing like him though. I'm not a leader. I'm not smart like him. You're just with me because you couldn't have Tim, but I'm sick of always being the backup, second best. I have to live with that in every aspect of my life, but I'm not gonna live with that in a relationship." I drew in a deep breath afterwards, feeling slightly embarrassed.
I wasn't even sure where that came from. I sure as hell wasn't planning to say any of that.
She was shaking her head slowly. "It's not like that at all..."
I cut her off before she could finish, wanting to get away. "Oh yeah? Then why weren't you interested until Tim kicked you to the curb." The expression on her face made me want to start apologizing.
"I gotta go," I mumbled not wanting to see the hurt look in her eyes.
I turned and walked off without looking back and I didn't stop walking until I reached the front door of my house.
I leaned my forehead against the hard door, wondering if I made a huge mistake.
It would be really awesome if you took the time out to leave a review. I live a sad life and it makes my day. xD