Author's Note: Yeah, this took WAY longer than I had hoped to, but I had to help my little brother with his account. R&R for "hunter rubyblade", cuz that's him. He's on my favorites list, if you want to read what he's written so far.
Disclaimer: No, I do not own The Outsiders, but I do own Kim's crew, Macy, James, and Amy Curtis, thank you very much.
"Who's this?" Onyx asked curiously. I don't think he's ever seen a horse in person before.
Jeremy smiled brightly; talking about horses was probably his second favorite thing to do besides riding them. "Ah, this is Butter. I know, funny name… but it just fits 'im, you know?"
Onyx and I nodded in understanding. I knew what he meant; Jeremy was crazy like that.
Lea just yawned and said, "Well, I'm gonna go inside and look for a bathroom. Emergency," before dashing off.
Yeah, the road definitely did something to her.
January 30, 2012; 4:10pm
We had all gathered around the marble island in Jeremy's kitchen in the tall, black bar stools, waiting for his parents and Sodapop to join us. Jeremy's little sister, Macy, sat on his lap, grinning at me and asking me, in my opinion, far too many questions. I wasn't in the mood to answer, but we seldom saw each other, much less even talked.
"Are you in any of Uncle Ponyboy's books, Kimmie?" I shrugged. Not so far.
Macy's gaze shifted from me to Lea. "Do you and Lea really live together?" I nodded.
Her brown eyes focused on me again, this time with glee. "Do you guys really live in an old people house?" I wanted to pinch her. A senior center wasn't an 'old people house'. I didn't care that she was three; she should at least know that.
She then pointed to Onyx. "Is he your boyfriend?" she asked with an entirely straight face.
I wanted to bag her in with some horse feed and toss her into the stables right then and there, but Jeremy gave me that look. I felt myself blushing, and Onyx shook his head no, also beet red. He was my friend, and even if I liked him, there wouldn't be any time for romance. Onyx wasn't supposed to be alive right now.
Much to my relief, Jeremy's parents and Granddad's brother walked in.
Sodapop Curtis's looks were easily visible in his son, James. They both had that Hollywood look to them, and they had the same reckless brown eyes. James's wife, Amy, had soft brown curls and warm hazel eyes. Jeremy was so obviously a perfect mix of his parents, because he had his father and grandfather's eyes, his mother's hair, and a smile all his own. Macy had her father and grandfather's movie-star looks, her mother and brother's hair, and big, green eyes which I figured came from our great-grandparents, but were only visible in my grandfather somehow. They were such a perfect-looking family, I thought to myself. I, on the other hand, looked nothing like Lea, and all I shared with Granddad was our eyes, because his hair was now silver. At least they looked like a family.
"So, Kimber-ama, I hear you came all this way to tell us something?" Uncle James asked me. I noted his use of my childhood nickname, Kimber-ama, which was back from my blowing-up-my-barbie-dolls days.
I cleared my throat. "Yeah. I need Jeremy's help with something, and I need your permission," I answered truthfully, wondering how they'll possibly believe my crazy story.
Aunt Amy looked concerned. "And what do you need Jeremy for?"
I hesitated, trying to use my words wisely, but then Lea spoke up. "We need Jer-bear here to help us get this time machine in Paris so we can save Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston from dying so Onyx and whoever Dallas's grandkid is from burning up," she said nonchalantly, almost a bit annoyed, as if we were just asking permission to go to the mall or something, and we were just told no.
After a long, uncomfortable silence, our eyes all drifted to Soda and James. They glanced at each other, and then Soda spoke. "Jeremy, you can go with Kim and her friends, but there's no sitting on the fence with this. This is life or death, and in order to be of any help to 'em you gotta fully commit, okay?"
Jeremy solemnly nodded, which surprised me. Jeremy Curtis, growing up… impossible.
"Well, Kim, it looks like we got our fourth member of team 1967," Onyx announced, trying to stifle a grin, but epically failing, of course.
"Team 1967?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow like Granddad did. "Really?"
Lea snorted, and said, "Yeah, really, Kim; we gotta have a cheesy team name before we all try to save lives," her voice dripping with sarcasm.
We all laughed at that.
Ah, one down, three to go… then we're off to France. I was beginning to think this was starting to look like some silly piece of fiction…
…Impossible, and 100% imagination.