Chapter 15: Untrustworthy

I thought Soda would never get off Mickey Mouse that day. He rode him around for the rest of the night. Ponyboy later told me he fell asleep in the car. Steve and Two-Bit caught a ride with the Curtis. I was riding with Les'.

"That was a real nice thing you did, Dean."

"Thanks Les'."

"I mean it. I told you things would be okay."

She was right. Everything wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

The next day, I was with Ponyboy and Two-Bit. He left his car at the house, so we were all just walking around.

"Don't you have a job?" I asked Two-Bit.

"I would ruin my rep!" he yelled aloud.

"He's right," started Ponyboy. "His house wouldn't be any clean if it wasn't for his mom."

We walked on and I saw another group of greasers walking towards us. I recognized one of them. It was that Tim Shepard guy. I didn't like his looks. I don't think he likes me either.

"Hey, Shepard," said Two-Bit.

"Two-Bit," said Tim in a cold voice. "What are you and the ex-soc doing?"

I took that as an insult. I was a complete greaser now. I had the looks (my hair had grown a lot); I lived on the North side of the town. What was wrong now?

"What's your problem?" I asked in an annoyed voice.

"You!" said Tim aloud. "I still don't think you're greaser enough. You've been a soc and I don't like socs. I don't care if you've changed or not."

We stood there staring into each other's eyes. I didn't like this guy at all. He was getting on my nerves. He didn't even know me and he was judging me. I don't care if they said he was the true hood, I don't like him. He was being stingy about this.

I guess Two-Bit sensed a lot of tension. He stood in between us and tried to find a solution.

"Hey. What's this all about?" he said.

"It's about this wannabe right here."

I went around Two-Bit and pushed Tim and he nearly backed into one of his friends. We were about to go at it. But one of his friends held him back and Two-Bit blocked my path.

"Let's go," said Two-Bit dragging me away. I didn't bother to fight back. It surprises me, but I can calm myself very quickly sometimes.

"I'll get you!" yelled Tim as him and his friends walked away.

When Two-Bit, Pony and I were far away, Two-Bit stopped my path.

"What was that about?"

"He's been acting like that ever since he first laid eyes on me," I said.

"Well, try to stay away from him. He's dangerous with a lot of stuff."

I cut my eyes over to Ponyboy. I guessed I could calm down. He looked nervous and scared. I guess he feared he would lose another friend. I would calm down for his sake.

"Okay, Two-Bit. I'll stay away from him. Listen, I'm going to go on home. I'll meet you guys later on."

"Alright. Stay outta trouble."

I went home and decided to call Cherry. That would calm me down even more hearing her voice.

"Hey Cherry."

"Hey Dean. What are you doing?"

"Not much. I don't have anything to do right now."

"Want to hang out. We can go to the movies again."

"Okay sure. I'll meet you there."

We got to the movies and talked the whole way through. I loved talking to her. She had pretty interesting topics. After the movies, she went ahead and got into her car and drove off. But then I noticed that she left here sweater outside.

I had to think a little. I could just sneak into the soc neighborhood and drop it off at her house. I could still remember my neighborhood and I knew all the hidden ways. Plus, I needed a little excitement.

I snuck into the neighborhood. It was dark and the streetlights cut on. So I couldn't just walk down the street. I had to cut across a couple of backyards, and in between houses to reach Cherry's. I forgot though, she lived in a two story house. Luckily, I noticed her in the kitchen. I tapped on the window. She smiled when she saw me and opened the window.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"You forgot your sweater."

"Oh, thanks."

"Well, um…I'll see you later."

"Okay. Um. Call me tomorrow."

I left her house happy. Suddenly, I saw a car roll down the street. I ducked behind a house. The car stopped and a bunch of socs got out. I couldn't get a good look at all of them. Then they dragged something out of the car. I squinted my eyes. It was a kid! And it was a greaser. The kid had a black eye and they were about to jump him. I ran from behind the tree. I decided that I would just punch the other three socs and run off with the kid.

I tackled one of them. It was like I came out of no where.

"Run!" I yelled to the kid and he obeyed.

I was holding off the socs, but a fourth came and knocked me in the back of my head. It was a hard hit too. I looked up to see all four of the socs standing above me. One of them was Chris.

"Look who it is," he said a smile. "I told you that you won't be a greaser until you get jumped."

I looked behind them. My eyes widened. Tyler and Rick were sitting in the car, just looking. They couldn't help me at all. The socs then began stomping on me and I passed out later on.