I decided to post because its my birthday and I'm happy (though I have to work, Happy Sweet 16 to me).
Thanks for the favs/follows/reviews guys!
CHAPTER TWELVE
he's a rebel and he'll never ever be any good;
he's a rebel because he never ever does what he should.
"You okay, sugar?" Jimmy asked. Amara didn't know what to say. She should be scared. She should be shaking like all the other girls. She had no idea why she wasn't. She hadn't been immune to the fright the others had been in; she had been scared as hell when that man had been hollering at her, swinging his gun around. Now, she did not feel scared feel scared at all.
Maybe it was because she knew the guy on the opposite side of the diner. She had tried to pretend she hadn't made the connection but she had. It was obvious now to her that it was him; his loose, curly, raven-colored hair fell from the back of his hat, his overly tall lanky figure – but it was the voice that made her realize. The voice that was always sarcastic and full of humor. Inside the diner his voice had been mean, cold and dangerous as he told the people inside the restaurant to give him money. It had hit her now how much of a hood he really was. He wasn't just a greaser, he could be dangerous. Amara had somewhat always known that, but now she had saw it. It made him different now.
"I'm fine." Amara told Jimmy and he grinned widely.
"Good, let's go?" His smile didn't leave and he threw his arm over her. She had said she was fine, but she appreciated the gesture.
"Yeah." She hadn't been paying attention, her mind had been clouded with Curly. Now she clued into her surroundings. "Where's Freddy and Kathryn?"
He shrugged and continued you to open up her door. "They left around ten minutes ago."
"Oh." She said. She wouldn't let it bother her – it's not like she and Freddy had a thing. She had always just had a big crush on him since she was twelve. But that was it – a crush. They didn't mean much; it was all okay. She would get in this car with Jimmy and she would get over it.
"Thanks for the ride, Jimmy." She said politely. He waved her off and she slammed the door shut.
Inside her mother was already waiting, alongside her brother. Helena Robinson was frantic and when she saw Amara, she wiped the tears from her eyes. Henry wasn't as extreme, but he still wrapped her in a hug.
"I was at the corner store when some guys were talkin' about what happened at the Way Out," Henry told her, she could hear the relief in his voice. "I'm glad you're okay, Mar."
She cuddled into his arms; she was glad he was home.
Amara didn't realize she was crying until her mother pulled her gently into a hug. She could now see Henry's light grey sweater was now black where her head was laying. She wiped her hands across her face. Her finger tips were black, stained with mascara.
"I'm sorry about your shirt." It was a nice one on him. It was new, too. An early Christmas gift – now it had unwanted black stripes.
"Shut it, Mar." He smiled.
Mom ruffled her hair. "You okay, my baby?"
It was perfectly alright. There was no harm done to her. She had lost $2.50 in total; that was nothing. She was okay.
"Yes, ma. Just a bit shook up."
She nodded and squeezed her tight. "You go wash up and get to bed. Rest."
She made her way up the stairs and into the bathroom. She looked like a wreck. Her hair was flat and frizzy, and her cheeks had black runs. She had puffy bags and blotchy cheeks. She was mess.
The shower felt nice and calming, the heat was relaxing. It made her stop thinking of Curly. It was disappointing to see who he really was. She had known it all along. She wasn't clueless like she wanted to be. Curly Shepard – it was in his name, he was a hood. It just took him to prove it to her for it to set in. He was bad news.
He had watched someone hold a gun to her head and didn't even flinch. That was not a person she needed to be around.
Even after the shower, that was bothering her. She was curled into her sheets and wide awake, a mind full of thoughts.
She never stood a chance with Freddy, she had always known that. It didn't upset her as much as she thought it would. But Curly – she thought maybe they had a shot not just romantically, that wasn't the issue. She thought they could be something. That thought itself now was silly. She had had a better chance with Freddy Wheaton than Curly Shepard. He wouldn't want her either; he was thug. He was the next Tim. She was timid and meek.
It wasn't until Henry laid down next to her and curled his arms around her that she drifted off to sleep. At first he had tried to talk to her, but she was not quite sure what to say. She wanted to tell him how frightened she was to have a gun to her head but she didn't want to worry him and she couldn't say a thing about the Shepard's, he would just lecture her on staying away. She already knew that. So, instead they went to sleep.
The next morning was suffocating. Her mother was anxious about everything. Even Amara walking to the corner store to get milk like she had done every day since she was ten. Helena sent Henry instead. And when she asked to go to the mall with Cherry and Heather, she could see in her mother's eyes all that woman wanted to do was tie her to a chair and make her stay. She probably would of too, if her father hadn't butted in. Surprisingly, he was agreeing with her. He thought it was best if she went to the mall. The glare her got from her mother was fierce but Amara was happy to get what she wanted.
The mall wasn't too good. She liked Cherry and Heather well enough but it was exciting.
"You girls want to go to a drag race?"
It was something different. All these girls usually did was bowl, party and go eat out. A drag race was thrilling. Buying clothes was not.
Heather's brow shot up the second it was out of Amara's mouth. "Aren't those dangerous?" She bit her lip, "And it's not really our people that go there…"
She smiled warmly up at Heather. She really did look nervous. Heather would stick out like a sore thumb at a drag race but no one would be paying attention to that. The boys all worried about what greasy girls they could chat up or who was going to win the next race. The girls were too caught up in themselves and their next date. There might be a couple whispers but that would be the gist of it.
Amara would stick out, too. Amara had only been to one race. She had been ten. Henry and Eric Wheeler had brought her along. She had been ecstatic – one: because she was seeing a drag race, and two: Eric had actually seemed like he wanted her to come. She had thought he was cute when she was younger. It had been fun and she wanted to go to one ever since but Henry never invited her again and after that she was too worried with being rich and popular.
She had everyone believing her lies now. She might as well have some fun.
Heather still looked nervous; her fingers rapidly tapped the table but she saw some excitement in her eyes and Amara knew she was in. "That kind of sounds fun… What do you think, Cherry?"
Cherry shrugged. "It's different. It could be fun."
"Let's go." Said Heather.
Behind the Ribbon was an empty paved road. It was most likely commercial land that would be filled up with stores and diners at some point, but now it was the perfect stretch of asphalt for teenagers to use for drag races.
The three girls stood out. If the greasers were white, they were black; they contrasted completely. Their hair wasn't as high, they had little to no make-up on, and their skirts were below the knee.
"I hope no one sees us." She heard Heather whisper to Cherry. Heather had nothing to worry about, if a Soc saw her and Cherry here they would think "fitting in with the poor," was a new trend. It was Amara who was risking anything if anyone was.
"Who's racing now?" Asked Cherry. She didn't know why, it wasn't like Cherry knew any of these people.
"I'm not sure, I'll ask someone."
"Be careful." Heather advised. It would have made Amara mad if it had been anyone else; but Heather wasn't being snobby. She genuinely thought the greasers were dangerous. "You don't know what these people will do."
Amara pushed herself further into the crowd and searched for someone she knew even the slightest bit. She would have a better chance of getting an answer out of them if they knew her, if they didn't they would probably just give her a look over and walk away.
All around her greaser girls laughed too loudly and snapped bubble gum while boys touched them a little too much and cursed wildly.
The only two people she could recognize was Angela Shepard and that guy from the Dingo. There was another guy there, too. He had his arm around Angela.
"Hi," She felt awkward. She had only talked to these people once.
Angela's eyes drifted over her with judgement. It made Amara fidgety. She already knew Angela thought she was better than her.
"Oh, hi." She finally said. She still made Amara uneasy. "Did Curly invite you?"
"No, I was just wondering if you knew who was racing…?"
"Ricky Wheeler and Steve Randle. Ricky's in blue and Steve's the red." The guy from the diner answered for her.
"Thanks…" She had forgotten his name.
"Mark." He chuckled. "Don't tell me you forgot my name already, sunshine."
Amara laughed nervously. Angela rolled her eyes and snapped her gum.
"Do you want to tell Curl you're here?"
She did not want to see Curly tonight. Not after last night. It made her anxious just knowing he was here and there was a great possibility of running into him. It wasn't a guy to be around or even want to be around.
"No." She let her eyes wander and look for him. She didn't want to stay and have a run-in with him. "Please don't."
All she got was a shrug from Angela but that was good enough for Amara. She walked back to the girls. Some guy was hitting on Cherry. From what she could hear it wasn't the type of flirting Cherry was used to.
"Hey, sorry I took so long." The guy left then. Amara thought it was because he must of felt out numbered.
"Gosh, that guy was terrible." Heathers cheeks were flushed. "I couldn't believe how vulgar he was being with her."
Cherry didn't comment on it. "Did you find out?"
Amara nodded. "Ricky Wheeler and Steve Randle. Ricky is blue and Steve is in the red car."
The girls moved up closer to the strip to get a closer look. Some girl waved a flag and the two brightly colored cars roared down the road.
She heard his name and begrudgingly glanced that way. She locked gazes with him and her stomach dropped. Yet again, she had caught him in the middle of something she wished she hadn't saw. But this wasn't something she could really be angry about; it wasn't her business that he wrapped around some girl and it was getting heavy. She still didn't want to look at it. She shook her head and turned away. She was convinced she was made about how laid back and happy he seemed to be, like he didn't have a care in the world. She didn't know how she expected him to be- but seeing him like this seemed wrong. Amara thought maybe he might just be bothered in the slightest about the other night.
"I'm just going to go up on the Ribbon and get a drink and redo my make-up. I'll be back."
She didn't wait for either of them to ask to join her. She didn't want them to. She wanted to get far away from Curly, but she did not want to ruin their fun.
He was horrible. He was a hypocrite. He was dangerous.
She went into Rusty's and bought a Coke and sat at the bar by herself.
"What's your problem, huh?" His voice was rushed and harsh. She could tell just from him standing behind her he was drunk. She could smell it.
"I don't have a problem." She sipped her Coke. Amara didn't even turn around.
"You ran off awfully fast." He said. "Am I not even worth a hello now?"
She spun her stool around and finally stared into his eyes. "No, you're not."
That didn't sit well. There was fire in his eyes. "What do ya mean, I'm not?"
"You are a good for nothing hood. You're not even worth the time I'm spending here talking to you now."
What she was saying happened to be the hard truth but she still felt bad saying it. Two days ago they had been friends.
"Is this about you kissin' that girl? 'Cause that's nothin'. And it ain't nothin' to you."
She had come up here because she didn't want to watch it. But that wasn't what had upset her. Hell – maybe on normal circumstances she could be okay standing there, watching him fool around with a girl. She was sure she could. But Amara couldn't see him acting so normal, when he had watched her get threatened and just let it go.
She thought about letting everything go and pretending that she did not know it was him at the Way Out the night before, only for a brief second. Then she remembered that he had just watched as she gave all her money to a guy willing to kill her if she didn't. He was not a friend. That's not something friends did.
"You know what this is about. I'm not clueless." Amara watched his face as her words sunk in. He realized she knew and the second he did he ran out of there; the door slammed shut so hard she felt herself shake.
He didn't have the right to be angry. He didn't have the right to feel anything for her. Just like she didn't have the right to feel anything for him.
