Thankfully, I got this chapter done faster than the last. Anyway, the previos version of this chapter was one of my favorites. I felt that I did better on it than others I wrote. However, that didn't stop me from trying to make this version better. Although, I admit I didn't change much with the Dallas section because I felt I actually got his character right.
I do not own the Outsiders.
Andromeda glanced over that her Aunt's tense expression as the older woman. It would probably be wiser for her not to speak, but she felt that she had to say something. After she gathered up her courage, Andromeda said, "Thank you for picking me up, but don't you think you were rather rude to that one boy?"
Her Aunt gave her a sharp look that made her flinch as she snapped, "No. If you don't treat vagabonds like the trash they are, they won't learn to leave you alone." Aunt Cristy turned her gaze briefly on Andromeda as she snapped, "And what in the world were you thinking, associating with a person like that?" Andromeda lowered her head as she said, "I was only thanking him for leading me to the DX after I paid him." Her Aunt scowled as she snapped, "You paid that trash!? You idiot, now he'll start bugging you for money! Don't you ever think!?"
Andromeda flinched as she opened and shut her mouth. She knew what her Aunt Cristy had said was completely possible, and the thought had crossed her mind, but there hadn't been time to fully consider the effects of her actions. And perhaps she was making assumptions, but Dallas seemed like the type of guy who would avoid meeting her than try to extort money.
Andromeda glanced over at her Aunt as she murmured, "I understand, Aunt Cristy." Her Aunt Cristy snorted and turned her head toward the road. Andromeda watched the scenery pass by outside of her window, and noted to herself that her Aunt was heading towards the East side of Tulsa. As she watched the houses they passed get bigger with the distance, she remembered what Dallas had said. The socials lived on the east side of Tulsa.
Andromeda couldn't help but wonder if that made her a soc as well. That though brought up the question of what exactly Socs were. Dallas' description did not shed much light on the subject, other than to highlight their rivalry with the greasers, which he was a part of. After giving it some thought, Andromeda decided that she would reserve her decision on whether to be a part of the socials until she had met a greater amount of both groups. While it was clear that Andromeda couldn't be a greaser, she could still choose not to be a soc. Until that point, Andromeda would just be a girl who just came from California.
For some reason, her mind took Andromeda back to Dallas again. When she shook his hand, she noticed that his was large, callused, but surprisingly warm against her own. The warmth if his had was an interesting contrast to the ice in his eyes. Andromeda shook her head lightly, his hand might have been warm, but he had a cold, sharp demeanor to go with it. She genuinely hoped she wouldn't see him again.
Eventually, Aunt Cristy pulled up to a long driveway and Andromeda blinked suddenly. She knew that out of her entire family, her Aunt Christina was by far the richest as she was the CEO of a massive company, but she hadn't really thought about what that would mean when it cam to the place that she would live. The house was less a house and more a massive mansion.
Andromeda swallowed lightly at the white neoclassical style house will pillars, a grand entryway, a balcony, a perfectly manicured lawn, trimmed topiary, a immaculate flowerbed, and a driveway that circled around a large statue. perhaps it was because she had never seen her Aunts home before, but the building had a proud, oppressive feeling to it. Andromeda felt herself sit a bit straighter as they approached the building. Once they got to the front, she and her aunt stepped out of the car and a man, someone who served her Aunt, got in and drove the car to wherever it was supposed to be parked.
Once Andromeda stepped into the building, her cardigan was whisked off of her shoulders by a maid, and hung it up on a coat rack. Her Aunt turned toward the maid who took her fur coat as well and said, "Show her the house, I don't have any more time to waste on her." The maid curtsied politely as she said, "Yes, Madam." Aunt Cristy promptly walked off and the maid turned to Andromeda and said, "Please follow me, Miss Campbell."
The woman turned around, and Andromeda scurried after her. The maid lead her around the mansion as she showed her each and every room. Andromeda only felt more overwhelmed as she saw more of the mansion. Every room was decorated in the same, stiff neoclassical style. Her Aunt also had more people serving her, and everyone of them was more serous than the people who worked for her parents.
The last room that Andromeda was shown, was her own room. Like the every other room, her bedroom was decorated in a neoclassical style and was all white. The room was large with a balcony and a bay window that included a nice seat. Inside the room was two large bookcases, and a queen size four poster canopy bed with curtains, a chaise lounge, and a large chair. There was also what appeared to be a walk in closet as well as a attached bathroom.
Andromeda could barely hear the maid as she said, "Madam wants me to tell you that dinner is served at 8 pm sharp." The maid promptly left the room after she gave the message. Andromeda looked around the room as she felt vastly overwhelmed. She wasn't at all surprised by the way she had been receipted at her Aunt's house. But that didn't mean it had any less effect on on her.
Her feet carried her over to her bed where sat down. To her displeasure, the firm looking been was actually overly soft and sunk where she sat on it. The overly starched sheets didn't make the bed any more comfortable. It was at that moment that the enormity of the situation overwhelmed Andromeda and she buried her head in her hands as she wept softly. She missed the familiarity of her old room, the comfort of knowing that she could talk to someone if she ever needed to, She even missed her suck-up friends who only accepted her because she was rich and her name started and ended with the letter 'A'.
After allowing herself to cry for a while longer, Andromeda wiped her eyes as she felt embarrassed. She felt it was rather childish to cry over problems such as this one. After all, Andromeda was nearly sixteen, not six, and sixteen were supposed to be more grown up. After a minute, she picked out one of the few books in the bookshelf and read it. It wasn't a particularly interesting book, but she read it anyway.
some time later, she glanced casually at the clock on her bedside table and froze. It was one minute to eight. Andromeda stood quickly, and rushed through preparing for dinner before she scurried to the dining room. Once she neared the room she slowed to a walked and entered the room. She could feel her Aunt's sharp gaze as she took her seat on the opposite side of the table.
Andromeda glanced up at her Aunt Christy who frowned and snapped "I can only guess that you care too stupid to read a clock, because you are ten minutes late. "In the future I expect that you will be seated in the dining room at precisely 8 pm. Your parents sent you her so that you would be learn punctuality, and to grow a spine for once in your useless life. While you are in my house you will follow every rule exactly, or you will be punished."
Andromeda ducked her head as she whispered, "I am sorry, Aunt Cristy. I promise to do better." Her Aunt scoffed, and gestured sharply to a nearby maid to serve them their meal. Once dinner was finished, Andromeda hurried to her room and shut the door after herself. By this time, it had began to rain hard outside, and the sound of the drops hitting the window matched her mood perfectly. She sighed lightly and slumped against it as she thought to herself, "It's just a little while, I just have to bear with it until I can go back." After all, Andromeda could not honestly say to herself, 'this is home'.
Dallas smirked as Two-Bit finished telling his joke. Naturally, it was dumb blond joke. This particular one was about a blonde who tried to fix a dent in her car by blowing air in the tailpipe. The whole gang had met up at the Curtis house for once, considering how hard it was raining. Dallas had considered staying at Merril's but had changed his mind and decided to crash at the Curtis house. Apparently, he happened to come over at the same time as every other member of their gang. At times like these, they would retell stories, make jokes (mostly crude ones), smoke cigarettes, and just plain enjoy themselves.
Dallas leaned forward to brag about his latest arrest. It had been because he'd slashed the tires of a police car and some soc had seen it. Not that it mattered, He'd beaten the idiot up once he'd gotten out of the cooler. At that moment, Steve and Soda shared a look and got twin evil glints in their eyes as they smiled at each other. that, Dallas noted, was never a good sign.
Steve turned to smirk at him as he said lightly, "Hey Dally, I never gotta ask, but what were you doing with that socy girl?" Dallas glared as the rest of the group turned to look in curiosity. Soda leaned over with an identical smirk on his face as he said, "Yeah, Dally, what were you doing?" Dallas glanced over at the other members of the gang and noticed Johnny leaning forward with an interested look in his eyes. Damn, there was no way he could avoid telling the story now.
Dallas smirked lightly, if he had to tell the story, he'd tell it good. After all, it had to be worth being retold at least. Dallas slumped back in his chair as he started, "So, The boys at the station had cut me loose a hour before, and I was walking around *minding my damn business* ..." With the last words he gave both Steve and Soda a hard look as they got an uneasy look in their eyes. Once he was satisfied, Dallas looked away and said, "I was just about to go do something, when somebody ran right into me."
There was the sound of someone scoffing, as Two-Bit cheerfully called the person a clumsy idiot along with some choice cuss words. After ha had waited for an bit he continued, "the person was small, so it wasn't a big deal, but I still yelled at them. You have to keep up appearances at least. Before I know that girl who ran into me starts apologizin' and calls me sir."
Dallas hesitated again as the gang howled with laughter at the idea of a sane person calling Dallas 'sir'. Once the laughter had subsided Dallas said, "An' that's when I notice that she was a soc. I was starting to get after her for calling me 'sir' when she suddenly ran behind me." There was the sound of disbelieving sounds, "She says she's just hiding from a guy, but I wasn't gonna help a little socy broad. So I moved, and this socy boy comes 'round the corner an claims her. I woulda left, but then the boy decided to say I was just 'a weak little greaser'."
Dallas watched Johnny's mouth drop in shock before he said, "So then it was a matter of pride. I had to beat the guy up, let him know not to underestimate me. I only got a few good hits in before he ran like the coward he was. So then the girl had to thank me for helping her." There was the sound of more laughter and Dallas said, "I set her straight, and started to walk away, but she asked me to take her to the DX and promised me fifty bucks."
Dallas grinned as he said, "I saw no reason to say turn my nose up at that, so I bore through her stupid questions and took her to the Dx. She thanked me, I got paid, and her stupid Aunt yelled at me." Dallas didn't see the point in mentioning that he shook hands with her, and Steve didn't say anything either, so Dallas supposed he didn't see it.
Johnny leaned forward with wide eyes as he asked, "You got her name, right?" Dallas shrugged as he said, "I did, can't remember it though it was just some long fancy name that started and ended in 'a'." Now that the story had ended, Two-Bit launched himself into yet another dumb blonde joke. Dallas grinned casually for a moment. "This", he thought, "This is home."
So that was it. As you obviously, know Dallas and Andromeda will meet again. However, the next chapter will be entirely new. Also, I will be introducing another member of the gang. Want to guess who?
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