I remembered later that everything got sort of hazy after that. As if I were seeing and hearing things thru a veil or

something. It's hard to explain. I knew I hadn't drank any beer, so it couldn't be because of that. I'd refused it at least three times, from different kids who offered it to

me. The only contact that Bonnie's parents had after that was for her father to yell down the stairs for us all to get quiet, and turn the music

down.

It didn't seem to bother Bonnie or any of the other kids. They went right on drinking and listening to the music on the record player at the

same volume as before. I was hoping that Robbie would ask me to dance again, but that never happened. He did sit by me alot, and rested

his arm around the back of the chair I was sitting in. I drank two bottles of Coca-Cola, and some fruit punch that one of the girls handed to me.

Later the kids were laughing about that punch, and what a 'punch' it really had. I was having fun. Even though I did feel sort of

weird. Then it went from somewhat wierd-feeling to feeling sick. Not really throw-up sick, but more dizzy and woozy. I got quiet. Or quieter, I guess,

because Robbie leaned over, his face close to mine.

"Whatsa matter?" he asked me.

I shook my head slightly in answer, not wanting to tell him I felt so darn wierd. I kept hoping it would pass. Maybe it was the air down here, in Bonnie's

basement.

When the next yelling came from upstairs, it was to say that 'June Curtis's brother was there to pick her up!'

Robbie raised a hand in a half-wave, as I got slowly to my feet, and said, slurring his words slightly, "See ya."

"Yeah. See ya," I managed.

"You hafta go already?" Rhonda asked, sidling over to me, a bottle of beer in her hand.

"Yeah," I said.

"Ya shoulda told the Warden ya were spendin' the night with me," Rhonda said, and giggled. "Then ya could have stayed."

I didn't think she should call Darry 'the Warden' like that, but I didn't say so to her. I was still feeling light-headed as if I was

floating. I said that to Rhonda and wondered aloud to her about why I felt that way. She laughed again. "You're such a baby, June," she told me.

I was so floaty that I didn't even get mad at that. Not really.

"Why? Cause I gotta go home early?" I mumbled.

Rhonda shook her head at me. "Never mind," she said. "I'll call ya tomorrow-if ya can get out of bed."

Huh?

I went up the stairs, real slow like, thinking that the colors Bonnie's mother had chosen for the stairway walls was sort of -well, too green, or

something. I wondered why I hadn't noticed how hideous the walls looked earlier when I'd come down to the basement.

At the top of the stairs, I stood still for a couple of moments, trying to steady myself. I could hear Bonnie's mother's voice, and then, just a bit,

I could hear Darry's voice, but I couldn't hear what they were saying.

I worked my way toward the voices, and the front door. Darry stood, inside, but only just, while Bonnie's mother stood nearby.

"Here she is," Bonnie's mother said.

"Ready?" Darry asked me, looking relieved to see me appear.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"I hope you had a good time, June," Bonnie's mother said.

I didn't say yes or no. I just said, 'thanks', and went towards Darry.

"Where's your jacket?" he asked me.

I looked down at myself, as if I was going to see the jacket in question. I hesitated, trying to think.

"Perhaps you left it downstairs," Bonnie's mother suggested.

Faintly, I remembered that I had, at some point earlier, gotten very warm, and tossed my jacket into a corner onto a heap of other jackets.

I was still standing there, as if I was off in la-la land,and Darry gave me a sort of a puzzled look. "Go grab it," he said.

Now, I knew, and I understood, that the jacket I'd worn was a fairly new one, and that money, which was never plentiful in our

household, had gone to purchase it. Therefore, it was supposed to be taken care of, and last a good while, and all of that-so that another one didn't

have to be purchased again anytime soon.

But, I really, and I mean really, did not want to go back downstairs to retrieve it. I wanted to get outside, in the fresh air-and close my

eyes. I was so tired all of a sudden.

But, Darry looked-well, sort of intractable, I guess is the word. He wasn't gonna go until I had my jacket back in possession, I could tell.

So, I sighed heavily, and trudged back down the stairs, past those awful green walls, to the basement. There was smoke curling thru

the air, and I went towards the pile of coats that had been tossed from a chair, into the corner. I leaned over to sift thru them, and that made me

feel super woozy, or woozier, and so I perched on my knees, still sifting. But I couldn't find my jacket. So, I stood up, and looked around the

room, thinking maybe one of the other girls had put it on.

Bonnie, who was lip-locked in the nearest corner with a tall boy with black hair, took enough of a breather that she saw me standing

there.

"I thought you left, June," she called out to me.

I went over closer to her, and told her I was looking for my jacket.

"That blue one?" she asked, and then added, "I dunno. I'll keep a lookout for it."

I said okay, and then I made my way back up the stairs. Again. Darry was still in the same spot, but Bonnie's mother had

moved slightly. Closer to Darry, actually. She was smiling at him. Like a really big smile.

"I wouldn't mind at all-" she was saying to Darry.

What it was she wouldn't mind I don't know, but Darry looked even more relieved to see me than he had the first time

I'd appeared. Then he frowned slightly.

"Where's your jacket?" he asked, again, looking irritated.

"Can't find it," I mumbled. "Bonnie said she'd look for it-"

"Oh sure," Bonnie's mother chimed in. "We'll locate it," she said, super sweetly, and smiled at Darry again.

"Thanks," Darry said, and then he ushered me out the door. Once out on the sidewalk in front of the house, I drew in a really

deep breath of the fresh air. Too deep a breath, I guess, cause as Darry headed on towards the pickup, I stood where I was. Feeling

floaty as hell.

He paused beside the door of the truck, looking back at me. "Let's go," he said, sounding impatient.

I convinced my feet to walk, and went to the passenger side, tugging the door open, and hefting myself in.

By the time Darry was pulling out onto the street, I was rolling the window down on my side, letting the cool air zap my

face.

"Everything okay?" he asked me.

"Uh huh," I answered, still keeping my face to the air.

After a couple of minutes, I rolled the window up mostly, and leaned my head back against the seat. I couldn't even pretend to

hide how out of it I felt.

"You have fun?" he asked me then.

"Uh huh," I said. Again. Keeping my eyes closed.

There was silence again for a few minutes. The radio had been on, real low, but then Darry reached over and turned it off. I still had my eyes

shut, but I knew he did, because Elvis stopped singing right in the middle of his song.

"What was goin' on down in that basement?" Darry demanded. He sounded mad, and it was enough to make me open my eyes

and look towards him.

"Huh?"

"You promised me ya wouldn't drink," he said. Sounding madder.

That startled me to a total upright sitting position. "I didn't," I protested.

"You absolutely did," he said, flatly.

I didn't feel floaty now. I felt misunderstood. Maligned. "No, I didn't!" I denied, again.

"Alright, June Marie," he said, and then he went silent, and, even though I couldn't see his profile all that great, with just the

passing streetlights to go by, I figured that his jaw would be set tight.

It wasn't an 'Alright, June Marie' as in 'I believe you'. It was an 'Alright, June Marie' as in 'You're lying, and I know it'.

"Darry, you're wrong!" I said, raising my voice.

"I was wrong, alright," he said. "I never should have let you go-"

"Don't say that!"

"We'll talk about it at home. I need to think," he said, sounding grim.

"There's nothin' to think about!" I hollared.

"Quiet," he ordered.

"I won't be quiet, because you're wrong!" In frustration, I raised my foot and kicked at the truck dash. It felt so good to do it that I did it

again. It made me feel better. I raised my foot a third time.

"Knock it off!" Darry roared, and it was such a roar, that I did. Knock it off, I mean. I hugged my knees to my chest the rest of the

way home.

Outsiders