Steve: Another Long Day

*Oh yeah, and Burnin' Church Gal: Like I said before, Steve'll get mean. But you know…after sometime…as the story comes to a close…I think he and Pony are in for something unexpected…Steve and Pony wise…*

*Thanks to Stormy 1x2, Burnin' Church Gal (of course), Blatty (even though she didn't review it. It's just for the sake of the chain. I feel wrong not continuing it…hehe), Chase M. Dakota, and Ruth! Thanks for reviewing you guys!!! I feel so loved…people are reading and actually enjoying this!!*

            The bus started moving. I knew I was really in for it now. I was going up into the mountains. And as if that wasn't bad enough, I had a little tagalong that I had to "watch out for". Like hell I would. He was 14 freaking years old. It wasn't like he couldn't take care of himself. I slumped lower into my seat. This was just great. It was like nobody even cared about what I felt like.

            "Steve?" Ponyboy asked me from two seats over.

            "What?" I snapped, trying to block his voice out.

            "Um…never mind…" he turned away. Well at least he had friends on this thing. I had nobody, nobody at all. I guess it wouldn't be so bad if Ponyboy weren't on this trip. He still had the countless amounts of bruises on his face from me and personally…I was kinda proud of it. It was like I had justified my feelings and I had finally declared it as a fact that I hated that kid. He was such a baby. Always running to Soda or Darry when something didn't go his way.

            After a very long four hours up to the mountains, we finally got there. I stood up immediately, just itching to get off of the bus. When I stepped off of the bus, relieved for the fresh air, I also got a nasty wet shock. There was snow on the ground. Snow that went up my jeans leg. It was cold and it sure woke me up. I jumped up and hopped over to the side of the bus where they were unloading bags. Ponyboy stood there with his friends, laughing and pointing at me. I glared at them and they shrunk back.

            "Okay! We'll be splitting up in the next few days. This is to get your grade. It will be counted as a semester grade for what you have accomplished here. There will be five activities, one each day. You have to be able to get at least three out of the five done correctly and cooperatively with the person assigned to be your partner. Understood?" the teacher supervisor asked us. Everyone mumbled a sleepy "yes". I looked around at the people in our group. To tell you the truth, I didn't even know half of them.

            "Uh, I have a question!" Randy the Soc raised his hand.

            "Yes?" the teacher asked.

            "Are we allowed to sleep in whatever tents you want to sleep in?"

            "Well, this group will be split into groups of six to be roomed. The person you are working with for these activities will be one of the five, but since you all gave us lists of people you might want to be with, at least one of those will be in there as well."

I tried to think back to who I put onto my list. I remembered writing Randy and Cherry on because they were the only people I knew there other than Ponyboy. And I definitely wouldn't want to "room" with him.

            "When do we find out?"

            "Now. Let's see…I'll start out with the tents. In Tent 1, Jake, Henry, Nancy, Harriett, Greg and Rachel. In Tent 2, Sherry, Ponyboy, Randy, Isabelle, Steve, and Dana. In Tent 3, Kathy…" he droned on and on. I glared at Ponyboy again. Why did the kid just have to pick Cherry and Randy too? I mean, it wasn't like those were his only friends! And why did they have to put him with me?! "Man, things will always turn out right for a greaser these days huh?" I muttered to myself. Ponyboy turned towards me,

            "Yeah, well this ain't no picnic for me either, Steve."

            "Shut up. I wasn't even talking to you."

            "Yeah? I never said I was talking to you!"

            "You wanna make something outta it?"

            "What if I do?"

            "Well come one then. Right here, right now."

            "Alright."

            "Alright."

We were just about to swing at each other when the teacher spotted us, "Boys? Is there a problem?" We both shook our heads, "No."

            "Good. Now for the group activities. Harriet and Jake, Dana and Randy, Kathy and Ian, Sherry and Isabelle, Ponyboy and Steve…" and he droned on and on and on. I felt like slamming my fist into the bus behind us. Why the hell was he everywhere with me?

            "Is this a punishment for stealing those hubcaps last week?" I whispered quietly to myself. I looked over to Ponyboy, who was groaning and moaning in spite of himself. He looked over at me and he had this ice cold look in his eyes. "Totally matches the scene…" I muttered to myself again. I was going to be talking to myself a lot for the next week.

            Our "dinner" was baked beans and filet fish that the teachers caught while ice fishing or something. Everyone was happily eating and talking to each other. I just sat there eating, but not tasting. Hearing, but not listening. Just like the rest of my life, this was miserable. The one week that I was actually away from that bastard of a dad, I was stuck here with Ponyboy Curtis. This, in many ways, would actually end up being even worse than my dad for me. Of course, for Ponyboy, it was miserable coming here anyway because he'd have to leave his home. He'd have to spend a whole five days away from Soda and Darry. 'Steve, you're being unfair.' I told myself, 'What about Windrixville?' my good conscious asked me. The other side…the bad conscious I guess said 'What about it? He was barely able to survive that.'

            'But didn't you get lonely without someone to be mad at? If I re-call correctly, you missed him too.' The angel part said.

            'Yeah because Soda was so upset.' The devil snapped back.

            'You were worried too when he passed out in the lot after Dally died!' 

            'Right…because it was a very emotional time for all of us!'

            'YOU'RE MAKING EXCUSES!'

            'YOU'RE MAKING UP STORIES!!'

I sighed, shaking my head. Was I going crazy? Why was I even listening to these stupid voices in my head? Devil and angel in my head…ha! This trip really was making me go crazy! Everyone knew that there weren't really voices in your head. Were there? "Okay, okay. Steve, you're just freaking yourself out. It's probably just you not being used to being up here without any friends. That's all." I muttered to myself. That's it. That's what it was. I wasn't going crazy; it was just that I wasn't accustomed to this yet. I calmed down, laughed at myself, then quickly finished the dinner.

            "Lights out at 10 PM no later, ya hear?!" another teacher suddenly called out. 10? That was practically impossible for me to do. That was way too early. Apparently the other kids thought so too because I heard snickers and saw eyes rolling. So maybe I wasn't the only one who planned to sneak out after lights out. But when I went into the tent in time for lights out and plopped down onto the nice warm sleeping bag, I realized how sleepy I was. By the time the teachers left, I was fast asleep as was everyone else. Little did I know that I'd need all the energy for the next few days to come…

*I'm sorry this is such a boring chapter. It's just that I need this one to be able for you to understand the latter ones. More soon!*