DISCLAIMER: Characters from 'The Outsiders and the lyrics to used songs do not belong to me, they belong to the respective authors, songwriters, performers, publishers, etc, and so on.
(A/N: Based on Anita Cochran's 'Wrong Side of Town' from the 1996 album 'Back To You'. Lyrics have been changed in order to fit the story.)
The Wrong Side of Town
Johnny Cade lives on the other side of town
He's got a picture of a girl in a gown
Tells his friends "Someday you'll see, she will be with me."
His buddies tell him, "Kid it's just not right.
She comes from money man, she's not our kind.
Don't even call she'll just turn you down
We're from the wrong side of town."
"Johnny man, we gotta go." Dallas drags me out through the parking lot of the Dingo, (why it's named that I have no idea) away from the screeching and shouting emitting from the building. That fight started and we beat it out of there. Normally if it was just Dally he'd join in, and if it was only me, (which it hardly ever is) I'd probably have watched. But I guess being around me makes him mighty nervous. Ever since I got beat up… man, these people just couldn't let anything go could they? The only reason I was there in the first place was because I saw her… well, maybe I should start from the beginning. I'll confuse myself along with you if I don't.
Every Sunday after Sunday school
Dressed in his finest hopin' she never knew
He'd walk her home then he'd say goodbye
With fear in his eyes
She lives uptown in a big white house
He knows someday but he don't know how
Lord it's not what he prefers
He'll have to break the news to her
He doesn't have money
No he doesn't have fortune or fame
And he doesn't understand why
He has to live his life in shame
But he knows that he loves her
Can he make her see somehow
It shouldn't matter if he's from
The wrong side of town
I started going to church last year, when I was sixteen. I had just gained legal independence from my parents, whom had abused and ignored me since I was about three. I never told anyone but the gang. We're not a real gang, of course, just a bunch of friends. 'Us greasers, we gotta stick together.' That's what we always say, but really it's cover for 'We friends, we need to be there for each other because we're all sensitive, caring people deep down who desperately and passionately want to fit in and one of us could break at any moment.' Even if no one would admit it. Church helped me open up. Sometimes I'd take Ponyboy, my best friend and the youngest in our group, and he liked it real well. Dally never went, but I wish he would, just once. I fell in love with a girl there. She lived on the North Side, the wealthy side, the Soc side. But she wasn't a normal Soc. She had feeling. A greaser's heart in a Soc's lifestyle.
Her name's Laleela Ruschenka. I love her choppy black hair, which she cut herself for the sole purpose of upsetting her parents. It reaches to her chin, with random pieces falling into her crystal green eyes and framing her heart-shaped face. She's a year younger than me, but she hardly looks it, for she's five feet, eleven inches tall and… well let's just say she's 'developed', to put it into acceptable terms. I really hate it when guys get crude with a girl, so I try not to do it myself. She's sweet and quiet, yet rebellious and loud too. I hate to say it, but I think after thinkin' about her so much… I know what I have to do. It just ain't right, makin' her go to all that trouble for a silly lovesick greaser like me. I know what comes next.
Next Sunday it's the same routine
Oh but this time he's wearin' his jeans
He thinks it's the last time he'll walk her home
Then he'll be alone
He takes her by the hand, the truth he'll face
He knows in his heart she's gonna walk away
But she takes him by surprise
She looks into his eyes and says
"You're from the wrong side of town."
We meet out front where we usually do, me nervous as ever and her not knowing how I'm about to hurt her. We start walking, like we do every Sunday. I'm staring at my converse covered feet, thinking how I'm gonna say this. "And… Johnny, are you ok?" She's stopped and looking at me, clinging to my hand. "I'm alright. Sorry Lela. I was just thinkin'." I recover myself. We stop at her driveway. "Laleela, I – there's somethin'… we can't be together. You don't want me. I'm just a – a pathetic, sorry – " She silences me with her lips pressed to mine softly. "I don't want anyone but you. I love you, Johnny."
"I don't need money,
No I don't need fortune or fame
And I don't know why
You have to live your life feeling ashamed
Don't you know that I love you,
Well I hope you do by now
It doesn't matter if you're from
the wrong side of town."
I'm relieved. I though I was going to lose her forever. I was foolish. I know better now. "I love you too." I reply, still staring at her. "Come in and meet my parents." She leads me into the house.
Johnny Cade lives on the other side of town
She stands beside him in a wedding gown.