Signe: Amazing you say? Thanks, I'm flattered!
Lovetoread75: Charater devoplment is a big thing this chapter, hope yo like it!
Happier than most: Thank yo very much, I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.
Emolichi1: Will do!
Chapter III
S*S
With nothing else to do, Wendy found herself trudging back over trampled, hay covered ground, back to the stands, head down and fingers fiddling with themselves, feeling like a solider headed back to the front. She only stopped when she remembered her brothers' request for popcorn, and obediently found herself standing in line at the nearest vender. Sam and Eric had been good today after all, and kept their antics well below the limit that lead to cardiac arrest. They deserved the treat.
So she was content wait in the molasses moving line, rocking back and forth on her heels a bit, until it came her time to step under the white canvas tent and face the thunderous mountain of a cashier. Though his eyes were like were mellow as butter he poured over the popcorn bags.
"Hello there little Darlin'," he drawled out easily to her, differently than he had spoken to the two men who had stood before Wendy. With them he had been polite, but crisp. Now he leaned forward a bit, arms dripped in tattoos of dancing Spanish ladies and swaying palm trees resting on the counter as grinning gold teeth flashed in the light. "What will you have?"
"Two bags of popcorn, please," she requested, offering the proper mount of money. "Extra butter."
"Coming right up," he nodded. With a gleam of showmanship in his gaze, the man swirled the mug of butter so it whipped over it's target like liquored amber, making a star like pattern before it sunk between the spaces.
"It is fineto," he proclaimed, pressing three of his fingers together to bless the air with a kiss. Delighted, Wendy giggled, and his eyes glinted, pleased. He passed the bags over with air of dignity.
"Nice to know someone can appreciate art," he praised. "Enjoy hon."
Feeling lighter, she hugged the bags to her chest, and began to thank him when a eruption of shouts and accusations came from behind her. Startled good, Wendy and the cashier turned their heads at the same time, Wendy's eyes widening while the cashier's narrowed into cat like slits, his entire body straightening. The line was shattering, giving the players a stage for their show. A gaggle of boys Wendy's age stood nose to nose. The were nearly the same height, but that was about the only think they had in common. Elsewise, there was a sharp divide between them, palpable in the air. One side looked like the kind of kids Wendy had hung out with all summer; nicely clothed, neat hair, and a air of having been taken care of all their life.
The other side...was a bit different. They looked like Lost Boys, ready to fight both the Pirates and the Indians, or anything else that threatened them. Their hair was shinny, slicked back with a dangerous feel to the way it sharped their faces. Their forms clothed in leather that made lanky figures into harder, rougher forms. Both sides were shouting, accusing the other of cutting in line.
"Back of the line Greaser," one of the well dressed kids sneered, to the agreement of his crowd. "Only paying customers up front."
"Then your daddy ought to be up front," the lead leather wearer returned, eyes glowing, glowering. "He's the one paying for all his baby boy's needs, right Soc?"
That made the other boy turn all kinds of interesting shades of red, before returning to an intense coldness. "Least I know for sure who my daddy is Shepard."
Things went down hill after that, resulting in all seven boys in a rolling brawl. The crowd that had gathered in morbid curiosity scrambled out of the way, mothers and their kids making the quickest escape, sheathered by male family members.
Wendy would've just stood there, her mouth open in a perfect "O", if the cashier's hand didn't settled on her shoulder, giving her a gentle shake out of her stupor.
"Get going hon, this is get a lot worse 'fore it gets better," he warned her as he started making his way around the counter, his gentle manner molding into that of a ringmaster working with lions. "HEY! BREAK IT UP!"
Jumping, Wendy didn't hang around to see of any of the combatants would obey the command. Hugging her merchandise to her, she turn tail and scadattled, the boy's insults to each other echoing after her steps.
S*S
And she didn't stop until she had nearly ran clean passed her siblings, not recognizing them until they called out to her, halting her feet.
"Where were you off to?" Connie asked, eyebrow arched. "Rate you were going, you were bound to hit the speed limit."
Lungs sore from her sprint, Wendy had to wait a moment before she could even wheezy out an answer. And even then she had to moderate it, for the boys' shake, even as she handed them their popcorn.
"I was..."
"Hey Allens!" a cheerful voiced saved her from answering, in the voice of Marica. Looking up, all four of the siblings watched as the perky girl zipped her over to them, ranchers hat resting daintily on her head.
"Which Allen?" Connie called back.
"Well, each of y'all are so fine looking today, I wouldn't know which to pick for an apple Allen pie," Marcia beamed, and to Wendy's amusement, her brothers actually blushed, looking down with the tips of Sam's ears turning red and Eric drawing in the dirt with his shoe. "Did ya see Cherry in the barrel race?"
"We did," Wendy confirmed. "Surprised the heck out of us though. She's really good. Shame she didn't win anything."
Marica shrugged. "Well theirs's always next year am I right? I'm headed to meet her. Wanta come?"
"Sure."
The walk back to the stands passed with the silence munching of Sam and Eric's popcorn, which the girls pillaged without mercy, much to their horror.
"Hey, these are ours!" they protested, attempting to shield it with their hands.
"Than you should have paid for it," Connie told them drily, after snagging another handful.
"And you boys wouldn't really begrudge a lady now would ya?" Marica insisted, holding a hand to her fluttering heart, though her eye held a mischievous gleam. They blushed again, but Sam stood his ground, chin lifted defiantly.
"Maybe not a lady, but all I see here are sisters."
S*S
"Who may just leave you here if you don't watch it," Connie warned idly, tossing her curls. This earned a bark of male laughter from up ahead, calling their attention as a tall figured rose to meet them.
"What, Connie Allen leaving someone out in the cold? Say it ain't so Joe!" Randy teased as he lead them to Cherry, Bob, and the rest of the gang as they where they were lounging on a couple of barrels.
"What's up little mans?" he greeted the twins, smirking with amusement as they arched backwards to take in his massive height.
"You are," Eric said honest, shielding his eyes in the lowering sun.
Bob snorted. "Kid's got you their Ran."
Randy rolled his eyes. "Whatever Bob." But his lips twitched in amusement.
Jack Pescare took it upon himself to rise from his laze perch on a barrel and make his way over to Wendy's space.
"Hey Wen," he greeted lightly. "Did you enjoy the rodeo?"
She shrugged up one shoulder, arms rising to loosely fold over her chest as he stepped a few pace's closer than she was comfortable with, considering that her younger siblings were present. She frowned. Actually...than she was comfortable with it period. She scooted sidewise a bit, sitting on the edge of a fence rail to try a have some space of her own. But the subtle rebuke was lost in translation as Jack merely crossed the space with her, leaning against the fence in such a fashion that she had to crane her head back to look at him as he smiled down at her.
She could feel her face heating up some, and against her will her eyes flittered to the boys. Sam and Eric were stupefied, heads titled like they were watching the interaction of a strange pair of animals in a zoo. Which was better than Connie, who only smirked, before immediately engaging in conversation with Lilian and Peggy regarding the latest fashion for the return to school. Cherry and Marcia were watching though, one eye on her while the other conversed with their boyfriends. That helped steady her.
"Yeah, I enjoyed it," she answered him with a brief nod, hoping that would be the end of it.
But it wasn't. That grin only grew wider and his hand reached out to tug at her hair.
"I rode bronc saddle," he boasted, and she supposed that explained his somewhat dusty attire. "Did you see me? I was the best in the ring-"
"No you weren't," Sam interrupted, and just like that, he was suddenly in the running for best brother of the year, in Wendy's eyes. "Sodapop Curtis was the best!"
Eric nodded eagerly, stepping forward to stand besides his twin. "Yeah, did you see him?! His horse was wild!"
A gleeful laugh burst out of Randy and Bob, the older boys nearly doubled over. "Ah man, you hear that Jack? The kids think that a Greaser the better rider."
Wendy squinted her eyes before looking over at Connie, who was doing a good job as masking her own confusion. Greaser. That word had popped up a lot during the summer, with such casual dismissal and contempt that the Allen girls had figured it was some sort of southern slang for some unwanted varmint. Like a racoon or a coyote. Or rats. Wendy had never considered the thought that it was a term for people.
Her wrist begun to itch.
S*S
Sam merely looked annoyed, and whole lot confused. "Well he was!"
Eric nodded fiercely beside him.
Jack wasn't grinning anymore, and turned scowling eyes from the boys to Wendy to the boys, back to Wendy again. His fingers returned to her hair, ignoring the twitch her head gave from the shock of contact.
"You know Wen, you should teach your brothers to be careful about who they look up too. You don't want them picking up bad habits."
Incredulous, Wendy reach up and gave his hand a firm eviction from her hair. "If you mean saddle bronc, rest assure I don't approve. But you just said you do it too. What habits are you talking about?"
Jack's eyebrows rose up, like she was one talking nonsense. And he wasn't the only one. Suddenly, everyone in their little group had their eyes on her. Wendy blinked, and her stomach dropped to somewhere around her feet.
"Come on Wen, you really want your kid brothers following after Greasers?"
"I think that would depend on one thing," Connie drawled out, eyelids dropped in an impressive show of boredom. "What is a Greaser everyone's so fascinated with?"
Lilian whipped her head around to the other girl. "Are you joking?"
Connie matched her you're-so-stupid-stare look for look. "It's not like we've lived here that long."
"Greaser's are hoods," Lilian sniffed, nosed in the air, seeming to think that was sufficed information.
"Delinquents," Bob added, like it was a fact. Like two plus two. That itch was getting worse.
Sam goggled, gaze whipping around from person to person. "You mean like bad guys? Criminals?"
"Of course not," Wendy interjected hurriedly. "If they were criminals, they would've have been allowed to compete."
Jack snorted. "They shouldn't be allowed to compete anyways. Cheating trash from the east side. Hell, they should even be allowed to come at all! All they do is get drunk and start fights."
"And win saddle bronc contrasts," Connie observed softly, "And look darn good doing it."
Lilian took the bait. "You can't mean you liked the Greaser!?"
Con lifted that eyebrow. "Like is too strong a word. I don't know him. But I sure like looking at him."
"Sodapop Curtis is good looking," Cherry mediated, ignoring the fiery look Bob sent her, in favor of sending one of her own to Lilian. "And he's polite enough in school for you to talk to Lil."
That made Lilian's face flame red, but she wasn't done.
"But he's the exception. Most of the Greasers are real trouble for us Soc's Wendy. We could tell you stories that would make your hair curl"...not that you needed it, she added silently with her gaze. But Wendy had a more important question.
"What's a Soash?"
Eyebrows were raised again, from the same parties. Jack let out a low whistle.
"Lordy, you're a babe in the wood, aren't ya?" he said, reaching up a hand again.
"She doesn't like that," Sam snapped. "Would you stop it?"
It was only after it had left his mouth that Sam seemed to remember that he was talking to someone eight years his senior, and twice his head height; and he faltered a bit as Jack scowled at him, swallowing what must have been a suddenly dry throat. He nearly stepped back when Eric tossed an arm around his shoulders. The silent reminder than is his twin was in his corner steady Sam enough to hold his ground, as best a ten year old could. Nervous and fidgeting, but still.
Wendy would have to remember to ask Dad to raise their allowance.
Without acknowledgement, Jack dropped his hand and poindtly moved back to his own barrel. Apparently the twins were too small to fried. Though Wendy thought she saw a spasm in his leg like it was aching to give her little brothers a good kick.
Whatever charitable thought she might've had towards him when the way of the dodo bird by that point. She doubted they'd return.
"Well, we're Soashes, Wendy," Cherry said, waving her hand around to the group at large, looking as though she really wished they weren't having this conversation.
Con nodded. "Alright, but what does it mean is what she's asking."
"It means that all of us behave in socially acceptable ways...when we want to that is."
Oh. Soc, not Soash.
"What it means is we have futures, and they don't, outside of the penitentiary," Jack snipped slightly, face still dark and sore at having a ten year old stand up to him. Wendy thought about Sodapop Curtis and the boundless amount courage he's shown on that hell-beast. She thought about Ponyboy Curtis in his booth with his pencils and his guileless eyes.
She thought of the blue jean shadow who couldn't even hold her gaze. She wasn't omnipotent, but she was fairly certain whatever the future held for them, it wasn't the jailhouse.
Then she thought of the fight in the popcorn line. And she found herself wondering how it had ended. But now probably wasn't the time to bring that up. Any of it.
S*S
The Allens left soon afterwards, and the car ride home was unusually quiet. Sam insured that didn't last long when the reach the house, feeling it safe to vent his feelings since Dad was out with Mr. Valance.
"Holy moly guys, your friends are real jerks," he proclaimed as he and Eric climbed into the tall chairs of the island courter like a kings holding court. Or lawyers.
But Connie was ready with the defense, as she got a coke for herself from the refrigerator, popping the top dramatically as Wendy moved to make sandwiches for them. "Really? I'm surprised you think that...didn't look like you minded Marcia none."
Sam scowled, even as his and Eric's cheeks flared up. "You know what I mean! Cherry and Marica are nice-"
Eric nodded. "Yeah and their nice to you-"
"-but the others...their mean. And I don't think they care."
"Why would you be with people that don't like you?"
Wendy winced as she smoothed peanut butter and jelly on a second piece of bread. "It's not that they don't like us boys...but really, Cherry and Marcia our are real friends. The others we just have to be around."
Sam and Eric looked like they were mulling that over as she put the plates of sandwiches before them.
"That's dumb," Sam proclaimed, nodding like he was Elijah calling down fire. Though the image was ruined when he took a bite, and smudge jelly on his face.
"That's being a teenager," Connie informed then drily.
Sam made a face. "Then I don't wanta be a teenager. I want to like people cause I like them...or cause their the best. Sodapop Curtis was the best at what he did, wasn't he?"
"Looked that way," Wendy offered softly, running her hand through his hair.
"And he was the best cause he was the best...even if he had stripes like a zebra?*"
Wendy made a face at the funny image. "He was the best cause he did the best he could with what he had."
Than and he was crazy. But Sam and Eric nodded, looking satisfied. Then their faces furrowed with another matter.
"Do you have to be around that Jack guy Wendy?" Eric asked. "He's the meanest...like the bad guy that Flash has to fight cause he won't leave Iris alone, even when she asks."*
"And I though he was gonna pound me," Sam added.
There was something comically right about that comparison, and Wendy sighed as she sat down across from her family and looked the boys in the eyes.
"First thing: I'd never let him hit you. Either of you. Second thing...he's part of group. If I want to stay with them, I'll have to be around them. I don't want to be friendless going back into school."
"So find new friends," Sam said, like you could pick them up at the store. Life was so much easier when you were ten.
Connie snorted, fingers swirling her coke like a witch brew, like that could turn back time.
"It's not that easy boys," Wendy told them gently. "But don't worry about until your time comes, okay?"
She nudged them now, playful. "Thirdly...thanks for being my heroes today Flash Allen."
As expected that made her brothers flush and puff up all at once, pleased crocked smiles creeping up on small faces.
"Your welcome, Wendy," Sam said, trying to make his voice deeper, like all the hero serials they loved. She could almost see the caps flowing dramatically out behind them in a beam of light.
Reviews make me happy so tell me what you thought ad I'll update sooner. I tried to show the Allen kids personalities more as they confronted the greaser/soc conflict. How'd it go?
*1 I don't care if he's black, white or has stripes like a zebra, I'm the manager and I say he plays ~ Leo Durocher over the matter of Jackie Robinson.
*2 Iris Allen is the wife of Barry Allen in Dc comics. Amazing how kids loved those characters all they back then. Like American Mythology