Chapter 2 -The Walk
Cherry Valence was standing outside the school door, as we were leaving. Two-bit and I walked by. She is a social, and we are greasers. I was not supposed to notice she was there, especially on school property. That's what caused all the trouble last year. That's what killed Johnny and Dally. The thought of that made me shiver. Two-bit raised his eyebrow at me. He was about to say something but was interrupted.

"Pony, can I talk to you?" It was Cherry. I gasped as I turned to face her.

"Y-yeah" I stuttered. I dug Cherry, I really did. She is the only person left that understood sunsets. I couldn't talk to her though because of her status. I was looking around at the faces near-by us. The thought of being caught talking to her scared the crap out of me. I knew I was liable to be killed if I was.

"Look, I know this isn't a good place to talk. Can I come to your place tonight after supper?" I knew that it took her a lot of courage to ask me this, and I hated to turn her down. I looked over to Two-bit. He knew what I was thinking and he shrugged his shoulders. "It's not safe for you to be walking in our neighborhood." I replied as calmly and tough as I could. I still had my image to uphold.

"I already talked to Randy, and he said that he would give me a ride and pick me up." I was deep in thought. 'How would Darry and Soda take this?' I wondered. She looked nervous and was twisting her beautiful red hair between her fingers. "Would it be alright?" She finished.

"Yeah, come to my place at 6:30" I figured that would be the best time. We would have the dishes done by then and I would have plenty of time to break the news to both brothers.

"I better get going before." She didn't finish that sentence. I knew what she meant. I realized she was as scared of talking to me as I was of her. She turned and walked back into the school.

"Woohoo!" Two-bit grinned. "Somebody has a date tonight! With a pretty Soc!" He continued. I could feel my ears turn red. I could see that he could hardly contain himself.

"Aw Two-bit lay off. It's not a date and you know it. She needs to talk about something. It's business." I retorted.

"Hmm, I wonder what Soda and Darry will think about your 'business meeting'" He chuckled. His grin was from ear to ear with that remark. He thinks he's pretty darn funny sometimes.

Two-bit made a few more smart comments but I ignored him. I was too deep in thought. 'What would my brothers say?' and more importantly 'What did she want?' My mind was swirling with thoughts. I felt even dizzier that I did before.

We finally reached the DX. Thank goodness. Talking to Cherry made me forget that I wasn't feeling that well. But now I realized how exhausted and weak I felt. I sat down on Soda's stool with my pepsi. Soda and Steve were with customers at the moment, and Two-bit was sitting next to me on Steve's stool. He was smacking on his candy bar. I hate it when people smack, especially today. It was grossing me out.

"Must you smack?" I finally blurted out to Two-bit.

"Whoa, someone is cranky today!" Said a voice from behind me. I looked and Soda and Steve were there.

"I'm sorry." I said. "I didn't mean to snap."

"That's okay, I know you are worried about your business meeting tonight" Two-bit said.

Soda looked curious. "Business meeting? What's he talking about, Pon'?"

I felt my ears turn red. I was going to bring the conversation up in a much more subtle manor. "I uh.have company coming over after supper tonight." I managed to get out.

"Who?" Soda asked.

I was silent. My headache wasn't quite ready for the yelling that was about to take place.

"Who?" Soda asked again impatiently.

"Cherry." I said quietly.

"Cherry Valence!?" Both Steve and Soda shouted.

"The Soc?" Steve asked to clarify things.

"Yeah. She asked if she could come over after school. She said that she needed to talk to me." I looked at their stunned faces. "You know as well as I do that would be the safest place to talk." I continued.

"How is it going to work, without her being caught, huh?" Soda asked quietly.

"She said Randy would give her a ride and pick her up." I replied.

"I don't know about this" Soda sighed. He looked uneasy.

"I know this is awkward. I figured that since she and Randy both helped us out before, it would be okay."

They all were thinking about what I had just said. It's true. Randy gave a true testimony in court last year, and so did Cherry. Cherry was also a spy for us before the rumble. They were not evil like the rest of the socs. I hated the labels greasers and socs. Why did things have to be this way?

"I 'spose. I hope Darry doesn't blow his top" Soda finally replied.

I sank deeper into my chair. 'One brother down, one to go.' I thought. I took a sip of my pepsi. It caused my stomach to turn, so I put my pepsi down. I glanced up and noticed that Soda was looking at me funny.

"You okay, Pony?" He asked, looking at me worriedly.

"I'm fine." I sighed. 'Why do I have to have a face that reveals so much?' I thought. "I'm just thinking about tonight." I replied.