Chapter 3: Attack of the Socs
March 11, 2003
A/N: Hey y'all. I apologize for the slow moving bit of the last chapter. This one should be a bit more exciting. ^_^ I do hope everyone is enjoying my story. I've already started working on a sequel, so if you're tired of Niko and Nina, you're going to see more of them. Hee hee hee, my muses have returned! ::starts petting muses:: Good muses, nice muses, no more abandoning me, 'k? Cabbages all around!
Oh, yes, and thanks to Rockabye and Aaliyah-Charity for your reviews on my second chapter!
Disclaimer: I'm still a poor student/musician living off of Top Ramen and Cup-o-Noodles. I don't own the Outsiders, so don't sue me, please!
**Two-Bit**
The next few weeks we saw Niko and his sister around some. Niko seemed reluctant to talk to us much, plus he got a job, so he wasn't actually around that much. His kid sister seemed to like us though; she frequently could be spotted watching us from up the street or actually coming up to us to talk. That girl didn't have a shy bone in her body.
"Hey, kid," Steve asked one day when she had approached us in the lot, "don't you have any friends your own age?" Nina shook her head.
"The boys won't play with me and the girls don't like me," she said cheerily. It obviously didn't bother her much. I could kind of see why though. Nina was a total tomboy, always dressed in too big dirty jeans and a plain t-shirt.
"What do you do at school then?" I asked curiously.
"Read."
"Really?" Pony asked, sounding surprised. "What's your favorite book?"
We'd lost them. The two of spent the rest of the time chatting excitedly about books they'd read. They only stopped when Niko came by and called for Nina to come home with him. She reluctantly left, waving happily at us as she skipped up the street after her brother.
"What a weird pair," I said, shaking my head.
"Yeah," Pony said, rejoining us. "I asked Nina why they'd moved here and she just said 'Because.' She said her parents died a couple years ago, but she won't say how. And Niko won't talk much about it either."
"You've talked to Niko much?" Steve asked, sounding surprised. Pony shrugged.
"Just a bit, at school."
"They probably just don't like to talk to people they don't know well about it," Darry said sensibly. "C'mon guys, it's getting cold."
**Niko**
In the couple of weeks that had passed since our arrival in Tulsa, Nina and I had more or less settled in. I had found a job as a bag boy at a nearby grocery store, and Nina, I noticed, was making friends with the older boys in our neighborhood.
"Why don't you try making friends with some kids your own age?" I suggested one day as we walked home from the park. She frowned.
"They don't like me," my kid sister said simply. She hooked her thumbs in her pockets and slouched a bit, imitating the posture of every male non-Soc under the age of 25.
"Why not?" She shrugged.
"The boys won't play with me 'cause I'm a girl, and the girls only want to play with dolls and play hopscotch and jump rope," Nina said passively. "You know, girlie stuff."
I hid my smile. Nina was definitely a tomboy, through and through. Growing up, she had been my constant companion, since both our parents had to work and I was enough older to be trusted with watching her. From the time she was three, Nina had accompanied me and my buddies on every adventure. Consequently, she never played much with other girls. Mom had given up buying Nina dresses by the time she was six. Not that it mattered anymore; all the clothes Nina had now were hand-me-downs, either from myself or one of our two cousins, both of whom are boys.
"Besides," Nina continued, "the guys on our block are nice. You should get to know them." I shook my head.
"They act weird when I'm around," I said. "You can hang out with them if you like, but don't bug them."
We were just a block away from the house when a white Corvair pulled up next to us. I was instantly nervous, having overheard horror stories from other greasers at school.
"Be ready to run if I tell you to," I murmured to Nina. She looked scared, but nodded her understanding.
"Dallas Winston, back from the dead," the guy in the passenger seat drawled, a dangerous tone to his voice.
"I ain't him," I said as I continued walking.
"Maybe not, but I figure you must be related to him somehow. I owe him a few things and it looks like you get to take them for him." The car stopped and that was all I needed to turn and tell Nina, "Run!" She did, and for some reason, the Socs let her go. I guess they didn't think there was anything she could do anyway, and I heard they don't usually beat up on little kids. Five guys were out of the car in an instant, and I was quickly surrounded.
"Look, I don't know this Dallas guy," I tried. The blow to my stomach was unexpected. I bent over, clutching my now aching stomach. Someone tried to knee me in the face, but I grabbed his leg and shoved him backwards. Suddenly I had all five of them on top of me, fists swinging wildly. I was knocked to the ground as I did my best to fight back.
My ears picked up on the sound of feet running towards us, and I assumed it was more Socs coming to join the fight. I'm gonna die, I thought, a bit surprised. There was hollering and shouting as one by one the Socs were pulled off me. Tires squealed as Nina's tear-stained face came into my field of vision.
"Niko, you okay?" she asked worriedly, voice steady despite the tears falling from her eyes.
"I've been better," I responded wryly, struggling to sit up. Hands helped me into a sitting position. I looked up at my rescuers and was somewhat surprised to see that I had been rescued by all three of the Curtises and their two friends.
"Hey, thanks guys," I said as Darry and Two-Bit pulled me to my feet.
"They were really whaling on you," Steve commented as the whole group started up the street. I could tell that the whole thing had really scared Nina, since she was walking as close to me as she could without actually walking on top of me.
"They called him 'Dallas Winston'," Nina piped up. I glared at her, willing her to keep her mouth shut. She just glared right back at me.
"Well, if you're going to get jumped for looking like him, you may as well have his gang there to back you up," Two-Bit said easily.
"Yeah, good thinking kid, coming to get us," Soda told Nina. My little sister grinned.
"Why don't you come inside to get cleaned up?" Darry invited when we reached their house.
"Sure," I said, realizing that my aunt would go nuts if I left so much as a speck of dirt in her bathroom. Once we got inside, Darry pushed me to the bathroom, while Nina took off after Soda without a second glance, enticed by his offer of chocolate milk.
I did a double take when I looked into the mirror. My face was banged up worse than I'd thought. The area around my left eye was darkening, my lip had been split open, and I had a nasty looking scratch on my temple. The rest of me was just as bruised.
After washing the blood off my face, I went back to the living room to find Nina sitting between Soda and Two-Bit on the couch, looking at pictures.
"Hey man, how ya doing?" Steve called from a chair on the other side of the room.
"I'll live," I responded with a wry grin.
"Niko!" Nina exclaimed, looking up. "You've got to see these pictures, you really do look a lot like that Dally guy." I took the picture she held out to me and almost laughed aloud.
It was a snapshot, obviously intended to be a fairly serious picture of the gang as it existed then. However, someone must have said or done something funny, because they were all laughing. It wasn't hard to pick out Dally, since I knew five of the guys and the other one didn't look a thing like me. I had to admit that the remaining guy looked a bit like me, and I said so.
"You're crazy," Nina said, her attention still focused on the photos in her lap. "He doesn't look 'a bit' like you. You and him could be identical twins." She studied the picture she held. "'Cept he looks mean. Hey, who's that?"
