Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, only Derrick O'Connel. The rest belong to our most beloved S.E. Hinton.
Chapter 4
As we walked toward the movie theater, I looked around. It was a drive-in, but we weren't headed for the main entrance. We were going toward a chain link fence.
"Guys? Where are you going? The entrance is that way," I jabbed my thumb over my shoulder to indicate the direction.
"Yeah, that's the bum's way in. This is our way in." Dally said, gesturing toward the fence. I noticed a spot underneath where it looked like someone had dug a deep hole in order to get under the fence. Sure enough, Ponyboy knelt down and got on his back as if he was working under a car, and slid under the fence, pulling himself up on the other side. He glanced around, then nodded. Johnny went next, then Dally. I followed them uncertainly, pulling myself through, but not nearly as smoothly as they all had. We continued walking toward the seats where people could sit. Dally saw two girls sitting in the front row, and went to sit right behind them. Pony and Johnny exchanged glances, and I got a bad feeling in my gut. Dally propped his feet up on the red-head's chair and leaned forward, whispering something in her ear. She shook her head impatiently, then turned around and glared at him. She turned back toward the front rapidly upon seeing who had whispered. I had heard from Johnny that Dallas Winston was a name everyone around Tulsa knew, and knew to stay away from. I vaguely wondered what I was doing, sitting there next to him. I tried really hard to concentrate on the movie. He leaned forward once again, and this time I heard what he said. I sucked in a sharp breath, fixating my eyes on the screen, determined not to listen. But no matter how hard I tried, I felt my eyes get wide, and my breathing ragged.
The girl turned around angrily. "Get your feet off my chair and shut your trap." Dally looked surprised. Suddenly a smile crossed his face.
"Can I interest you in a Coke?" He asked, burying his face in her hair. She shrugged him off.
"Leave us alone or we'll call the cops!" She burst out, looking as if her eyes were on fire.
"Oh my my, the cops! Baby, you ought to see my record sometime. Why don't you just guess what I'm in for?" He smiled maliciously, then got up and walked off. I thought maybe he had left, but he came back about 15 minutes and handed us all a coke, including the girl. He sat down next to her, sipping on his coke.
"Thought this might cool you off," He said, smiling at her. She glared back, then pulled her arm back and flung her coke all over him. He wiped his face off.
"Maybe that'll cool you off, greaser, and when you learn to talk and act decent, maybe I'll cool off too." She said, turning back to the front. He attempted to wrap his arms around her.
"Firey, huh? Just the way I like 'em." She struggled under his arms, and Johnny stood up angrily.
"Lay off Dal." His face went white when Dally glared up at him.
"What did you say? What did you say to me?" He asked, practically shouting. A few people shushed him.
"You heard me, lay off." Johnny said, more quietly this time. Dally took his hands off of her and stood up quickly. He looked like he was about to explode. He stalked off, with all of us gazing after him. The girl looked at Johnny and smiled.
"Thank you. You had me scared to death." She said appreciatively.
"Sure didn't show it. Ain't nobody talk to Dal like that." Johnny said, sitting back down.
"From what I saw, you do." She said, smiling again. Ponyboy introduced us all to her, ending with himself.
"Ok. I'm Cherry. Ponyboy…that's an original name." She said, her eyes kind as she looked at Pony.
"Yeah, well my father, he was an original person. I got a brother named Sodapop. Even says so on his birth certificate." Ponyboy, shifting uncomfortably. I wondered briefly why he was uncomfortable, but brushed the thought away when Cherry asked us if we wanted to sit up by them to protect them. Ponyboy and Johnny at each other and shrugged and then looked to me. I nodded in agreement, and we all moved to sit up by the girls. A little bit more small talk later, we sat in silence watching the movie. I looked down the row of people to the end where Johnny was sitting. Suddenly a hand came down on his shoulder and another on Pony's. When Johnny's face went white and he closed his eyes and Ponyboy looked like he was about to pop with fear, I figured maybe it was one of the Socs they had told me about. I dared to look over Ponyboy's head to see who it was. I let out the breath I hadn't realized I was holding in when I saw that it was Two-Bit.
"Two-Bit, you old fool! What are you doing here scaring us all like that?" I asked, rubbing my knee like I always did when I was nervous.
"Sorry Johnny, forgot." Two-Bit said, taking his hand off Johnny's shoulder and ruffling his hair up. Ponyboy looked down the row at him.
"Come on Two-Bit you know better than to scare ole Johnny like that." Johnny still did look sort of white. Two-Bit shrugged nonchalantly, and the movie proceeded with a little bit of small-talk between Marcia and Two-Bit. Cherry and Pony got up a little while later to get some popcorn, but other than that, it was almost silent until the movie was over.
Author's Notes:
I know I didn't have everything in there that S.E. Hinton has in the Outsiders, but I figured you'd all read the book anyway, so you sort of know the dilio. OK well, R&R please! I need more reviews to know if this is going in the right direction or not.
TC