Finally got another chapter finished! Okay, so it was a 'little' longer that a week, but it was shorted than most of the time. In any case I had fun writing this.
I do not own the Outsiders.
Andromeda hurried down the staircase. It wasn't an easy thing to do, being quiet while taking the stairs two at a time.
She released a shaky breath as she took hold of the doorknob. She hadn't so much as begun to turn it when a voice behind her her asked, "Just where do you think your going?" Andromeda turned about with a fake smile on her face as she said, "Aunty, how are you?" Her Aunt glared at her as she snapped, "Answer the question." Andromeda's expression became innocent as she replied, "The library. I was going to study for at least a couple hours." Her Aunt's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "Is that so." Andromeda nodded and gave her Aunt a swift smile before she hurried out the door with the words, "I'll be back by dinner!"
Andromeda sighed once she was outside. A minute later, she headed toward the empty lot where she'd meet up with her friends. Technically she was used to lying to her Aunt, but it still made her nervous.
A smile came naturally to her face as her friends came into sight. She waved in response to her friends greeting and nodded in response to Steve's half-hearted wave. After she'd left the week before, he'd followed after her to apologize reluctantly. His mood seemed to get better though, when they both spent a few minutes ranting at the socials. That said, she interacted less with Steve than with the others.
Andromeda drifted over to where Pony was talking to Darry. Neither of the pair looked too pleased as Darry said, "... And that is why you need to get started earlier on your projects. If you had even another day you could have had a B+ instead of a minus." Pony looked ready to shoot back a retort when he spotted Andromeda and called out to her. Andromeda smiled in response and stated, "It wasn't as hard sneaking out today. My Aunt caught me but I managed to get away. I'll probably have to put more effort into my homework though."
Andromeda made a face at the thought and Ponyboy chuckled. Darry however, raised an eyebrow as he asked, "What sort of grades do you usually get?" Andromeda blinked in momentary surprise before she replied, "Generally B's and C's I guess." Andromeda shrugged as both of Darry's eyebrows raised as he repeated, "B's and C's. Andromeda gave a quick, "Yep!" Darry's expression looked less than pleased as he stated, "Both of you are going to be studying a lot more in the the future." Ponyboy looked less than pleased while Andromeda nodded slightly. During the last week, Darry had decided that Andromeda needed more guidance and direction and elected to take the position himself. Not that Andromeda minded, she actually liked the idea that someone was interested in her wellbeing.
Andromeda was about to continue the conversation when Two-Bit suddenly rested his elbow on her shoulder with the words, "Hey, A.C.."
She greeted him with a simple, "Hey." as she carefully slipped her shoulder from under Two-Bit's elbow. It wasn't that it was irritating per se, but he didn't always realize that he was leaning a bit too hard.
If her moving bothered Two-Bit, it didn't show in the grin he directed at her as he asked, "Ever been to a drive in movie? I heard there was this really cheesy chick-flick and thought you'd want to see it together."
Andromeda sighed melodramatically, as she replied, "I can't it's a school night tomorrow and my Aunt would kill me if I stayed out late. She'd probably have my body dumped in a desert so far away that the police would never find me!" Two-bit shrugged as if to say 'I tried' as Ponyboy groaned in exasperated amusement.
She and Two-Bit had already come to the conclusion that she wasn't his type, not that either of them were interested in each other. Two-Bit just found it irresistibly funny to pretend that he was flirting with her outrageously. And Andromeda didn't mind enough to tell him to stop doing it.
Once she'd relaxed slightly she admitted aloud, "I've never been to drive in theater before though. What's it like?"
The guys shared a look and Johnny, who'd come over without Andromeda noticing, asked, "There weren't any in California?" Andromeda shrugged as she replied, "I don't know. My parents either insisted that I watch the movie at home at our, um, private ... theater." Andromeda's voice got quieter as she finished her sentence. She couldn't help but shift uncomfortably at the fact that while the Curtis family only ha a small TV and used VHS player, Her family had a whole room dedicated to watching movies.
Despite her concerns, nobody seemed to care enough to mention the private theater, they were busy deciding when she should go to the drive in with Darry insisting it not be on a school night.
She had just left the conversation for a bit when she heard a sound a turned to see Dallas standing a few steps away. She smiled in greeting and he moved two fingers in what she assumed was a wave. Neither of them said much for a minute before, "Gonna be here a while, huh?" Andromeda nodded in response, "I guess you could say that you're stuck with me." Dallas' lips seemed to pull slightly upward at the joke.
Andromeda smiled back as she said, "At this point, I don't have enough motivation to go back to Cali and resume my old life. So far, nobody's mentioned my moving back, so I think they want me to stay." Dallas made a small noise before the pair lapsed into silence.
Dallas broke the silence a while later as he questioned, "You seriously haven't been to a drive in?" Andromeda scoffed in pretend annoyance as said in a 'superior' voice, "Different lifestyles, Mr. Winston." Dallas snorted in response, "Yeah, right." Despite his words, Dallas seemed to be amused. Andromeda smiled again as she said, "I didn't grow up here, remember." "Neither did I." Andromeda blinked in surprise before Dallas added, "I'm from New York, and not the good part of it." Andromeda uttered a small, "Huh." Up until that point, she hadn't given much thought to where Dallas had come from. But now that she did, she noted that it did explain why he was slightly different from the rest of the Curtis crew. As she thought about it, Andromeda realized that was ... interested in learning more about him. About why he did what he did among other things.
Andromeda shook her head surreptitiously. It didn't take a genius to realize that getting involved with Dallas wasn't a wise idea.
Ah, another scene with Andy directly interacting with Dallas even though she's wary of getting to close at that point.
Next chapter will unique as we'll be staring a character who's technically a from the Outsiders story although she's never actually been physically present in the story. You can try guessing who it is if you want. In fact, let's make a game out of it. If someone guesses correctly, I write a cute one-shot chapter with a plot of their choosing. Although, I'm thinking of a character many wouldn't expect.
Again, I hope the next chapter will go up sooner (I've honestly been looking forward to writing it for a while.)
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