Chapter 3: Sadness
I walked outside the next morning. Tyler was picking me up like I asked. My mom leaves for work early and I usually don't see her when I wake up. I got into Tyler's car.
"You're not going to pick up Rick?" I asked.
"No. I went to his house and rang the doorbell three times and he didn't answer."
"He was probably still asleep."
"That's his problem."
I walked into my first classroom. Actually. I had a class with the Ponyboy kid. I really didn't pay attention to the greasers in my class. Actually. He was the only greaser in my class. I really didn't notice until I saw his picture in the newspaper. He was taking a couple of glances at me. I shot a look back at him, and he turned his attention to something else. I put on a smirk. I loved being a soc.
When lunch began, Tyler, Rick and I were walking towards the lunchroom.
"Do you want to try jumping that greaser again?" asked Rick.
"Nah. I don't think anyone knows where he is now. Plus, his brother might jump in," I answered
"Oh yeah. The big one."
I thought about the rumble. His brother was killing everyone in the fight. That guy Paul couldn't even take him. I remembered his other brother. This soc named Chris kicked the Pony kid in the head and Soda whooped him good. I never talked about it though. I wouldn't want to disrespect my side.
When school ended, we went with Rick. He was looking for a girl to take to the party and I was just there to watch. He tried his luck with all of them turned him down. We just sat down in the car and decided to talk for a while.
"You want to get a drink?"
"You know I don't drink alcohol," I said.
It was the truth. I really had no reason to. I wanted to impress my mom. She always impresses me so I guessed I should do the same. Plus, a lot of greasers drank. Actually, socs drank too. But I wasn't thinking about them.
"Oh yeah. That's right. Sorry. I just know a lot of people who do it. You're the boy I know that doesn't drink. You don't smoke either."
"Right."
"Man. Could you imagine being a greaser. Always living the bottom life."
"Shoot. I couldn't. I too much of a soc."
"It could happen."
"Whatever."
I decided to just head on home. I walked into the house. It reeked. That was the first thing. My house never smelled bad. I followed the stench into the living room and I froze. My mom was sitting there. No she wasn't dead. But she looked a mess. Her hair wasn't done. Her clothes were torn and there was alcohol all around the house.
"Mom!"
She looked right at me. Her eyes looked terrible. It looked like she had been smoking. Her eyes were bloodshot red.
"Dean," she said weakly.
"Mom! Are you okay? What
happened?"
"I-I have some bad news."
"What?"
"I lost my job."
"What?"
I couldn't believe what I had just heard. My mom lost her job. We would lose our money. And what about her? She loved that job.
"I don't know what to do," said breaking into my thoughts.
"It-It-It'll be alright, mom," I said trying to calm her and as well as myself.
"No. No it won't."
She then jumped up and pushed me out of the way. I crashed into the vase table. The vase fell and broke but I didn't pay any attention.
"Mom. Wait!"
She jumped into her car and I grabbed the door handle. She seemed like she didn't care. The car peeled off and the car pulled me. I tripped over my own feet and fell into the dirt on the road. I looked up to see the car speeding down the street. I couldn't believe what had just happened. My mother had snapped.
I lied there for a moment. I finally got up and didn't even bother to dust myself off. I walked up to the door and it was locked. I didn't have my key with me. I had no way of getting in.
I decided to just walk around for a while. I really didn't know where I was going. I walked past some unfamiliar houses and lied down in an alley later on. I was awfully tired.
