Inside the Outsiders
Chapter 11
Gold, Frankenstein and Myrrh
Christmas was soon right around the corner, and Soda came home from school one day with news. He rushed over to the kitchen table to where his mother was standing, and handed her a piece of paper.
"Mom! Guess what! I'm going to be in the Christmas pageant at school. They want me to play Joseph!" He said.
Mrs. Curtis put down her washcloth and looked over the paper.
"That's great, Soda. I guess I have to make you a costume then." She said.
"Yeah, but my teacher said that it can be a bathrobe." Soda replied.
"Well, I'd give you your father's but you'd swim in it." His mother said, smiling.
"Why would I go swimming in daddy's bathrobe?" Soda asked.
" It's just an expression." Darry said, coming in from the living room. "And why would Soda where dad's bathrobe? I missed that part of the conversation." He said.
"Your brother is playing Joseph in his school's Christmas pageant, and he needs a costume."
"Oh, I remember doing those. I was always the Shepard or something. Who's playing Mary, anyway?" Darry asked.
"Alyssa is. She was the only girl who volunteered." Soda replied.
"Oh, what a perfect pairing." Darry said, rolling his eyes.
"Okay, that's enough." Mrs. Curtis said.
"I don't mind Alyssa being Mary." Soda said.
"Of course you don't. She's your best friend." Mrs. Curtis said, ruffling Soda's hair.
"I thought she was your girlfriend, Soda." Darry said.
"Well, she is, but she's also my best friend. That can work right?" Soda asked.
"Of course it works. Don't you ever think it can't. The best relationships are formed from good friendships." His mother replied.
"Do you have any good friends, Darry?" Soda asked.
"Sure I do, why?"
"Well, you can get a girlfriend then." Soda replied.
Darry turned red. "Let's not talk about this, okay?"
Soda giggled, and his mother threw him a look, all the while trying to hide her own smile.
"Okay, that's enough of this conversation. Let's get back to talking about your costume, Soda."
"What color am I going to wear?" Soda asked.
"I don't know. Whatever color we can find. Why?"
"Cause I don't want to wear pink." Soda said, shaking his head in disgust.
"Well, don't worry about that. I'm sure we can find you a nice blue or something. Besides, Alyssa will probably be wearing pink."
"I don't think so, she hates pink more than me." Soda said.
"I guess her father will have to find her something else then." Mrs. Curtis said.
"How much time do you have before the pageant, Soda?" Darry asked.
"One week. We're having practices everyday in school now." Soda said.
"So, you won't be doing any schoolwork for a week?"
"No, just not all day." Soda replied.
"That's cheap." Darry said.
"What's cheap?" Pony asked, coming into the kitchen. "And what are we talking about?"
"WE are not talking about anything. The three of us were talking, and then you came along." Darry said.
"Well, excuseeee me." Pony replied, sticking his nose up in the air, and walking back out of the kitchen.
"Go easy on your brother, okay Darry? He's young yet." Mrs. Curtis said.
"Fine, whatever." He replied.
"Mommy, how long till Christmas?" Soda asked.
"Oh, still awhile yet. About three weeks."
"That's too long though." Soda said, pouting.
"Well, there's nothing I can do about that. You'll just have to be patient, and worry about other things for the time being." Mrs. Curtis said.
"Do I need to buy presents for everyone? Cause I don't think that I have enough money for that." Soda said.
"I think you could get by on making presents. Darry used to do that."
"I did?" Darry asked.
"Yep. You would sit in your room all day making things out of paper, and then wrap them up in more paper. I remember this one time, you made your father a paper tie, and you were so disappointed that he wasn't going to wear it to the New Years Eve party, that you started to cry until he promised he would." Mrs. Curtis said.
"Did he actually keep it on during the party?" Darry asked.
"No, but he kept it with him, and showed it off to everyone."
"I'm so glad I have a regular income now. I can actually go to the store and buy stuff." Darry said.
"But I can't do that." Soda said.
"You can make stuff, like I said. Believe me, your father and I love homemade presents just as much as store bought ones."
"Do you really?" Darry asked.
"Of course, it's the thought that counts, not the price tag."
"Well, then what am I spending money for?" Darry said to himself, and walked out of the kitchen.
"Mommy, are we going to play Christmas music?" Soda asked.
"Well, your father has some old records downstairs. I'm sure he can bring them up if you want to listen to them."
"Okay, I want to hear my favorite song."
"Really? Which song is that?" Mrs. Curtis asked.
"God Arrests The Merry Gentlemen."
Mrs. Curtis stifled a laugh.
"I think you mean, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen."
"Isn't that what I said?" Soda asked.
"Not quite, but I think I like your version better." Mrs. Curtis said.
"Maybe I should just stick with Jingle Bells instead. It's easier to say." Soda said.
"Maybe so."
"Can I help daddy bring the records up?"
"I think he would love your help." Mrs. Curtis said.
"Okay." Soda replied, and ran out of the kitchen to find his father.
"Daddy!" He called, as he approached him.
"What's up Soda?" He asked.
"Can I help you bring up the Christmas music from downstairs so we can listen to it? Mom said you had a box of records." Soda said.
"You want to help me bring them up?" His father asked.
"Yeah, so I can listen to my favorite song."
"Which song is your favorite?" Mr. Curtis asked.
"Um…Jingle Bells." Soda said, not daring to say the other song.
"Ah yes, that's quite the popular tune."
"And it's easy to say." Soda replied, as if putting in a good word for himself.
"That it is. Well, let me just finish putting up these lights, and then we can go downstairs and find those records." He said.
Soda waited patiently, and then he and his father went down to the basement.
"Ah, here they are. Watch yourself, there's a lot of stuff down here." Mr. Curtis said, picking up a dusty box.
"Wow. There's a lot of records in there. Are they all yours?" Soda asked.
"They sure are. I've had a lot of these since I was a little boy, just about your age." He said.
"Wow, they're really old then." Soda said, examining on of them.
"Hey, your old man may be brittle, but I still got a lot of spunk left in me yet." Mr. Curtis said, smiling.
Soda laughed, and picked up about five records, letting his father take the rest in the big box.
Once they got it upstairs, they sat it down in front of the record player.
"What are we doing?" Pony asked, coming into the living room.
"Playing old Christmas records." Soda replied.
"What kind of Christmas records?" Pony asked.
"I just told you, old ones." Soda said, rolling his eyes.
"Why don't you give us a hand, Ponyboy?" Mr. Curtis asked.
"What should I do?"
"Take out four or five of those records, and put them on the player to make sure they still work." Mr. Curtis said, handing Pony a handful of records.
Needless to say, the house was full of very interesting sounds all afternoon. Darry confined himself to his bedroom, and covered his ears.
Soda practiced for his Christmas pageant all week, and finally, the big night arrived. His mother gave him his costume, which she had made out of one of his father's old, blue bathrobes. She had also cut it down to his size.
"Did you memorize your lines?" Darry asked, as they waited outside the school.
"I don't have any lines. Only the narrator has lines, and that's a kid in grade six. I just have to stand there and look at the manger." Soda replied, taking his staff in his hand.
"Break a leg kid." Two Bit said, coming out of nowhere.
"Why would I want to do that?" Soda asked.
"Soda's not gonna really break his leg is he, Two Bit?" Pony asked, his eyes wide.
"Nah, it's just an expression. It means good luck." Two Bit replied.
"Well, I think they're waiting for you, Soda. You'd better get going." His father said.
"We'll be watching." His mother called after him.
Soda went backstage and found the rest of his class in their various costumes. He went over to where Steve, Alyssa and Johnny were standing.
Steve was dressed as one of the three wise men, Johnny was a Shepard, and of course, Alyssa was Mary.
"I like your costume, Soda." Alyssa said, looking at his bathrobe.
"Thanks. I like yours too. You look really pretty." Soda replied, flashing Alyssa a grin.
Steve held up a box. "This is supposed to be Frankenstein." He said.
"Frankenstein? Why would you have that in a box?" Johnny asked.
"It's not Frankenstein, it's frankincense. It's one of the three gifts that the wise men brought the baby Jesus." Alyssa replied.
"Boy, for being one of the three wise men, you're not very wise." Soda said to Steve, laughing.
"Very funny." Steve replied, sarcastically.
Soon, they went on stage. Soda and Alyssa were standing in the far corner around the manger, and Johnny came in as one of the Shepard's. When it was Steve's turn to come in, he followed two of the other wise men, but instead of looking serious, he grinned the whole way over.
The audience laughed, but Alyssa just shook her head at him and Soda rolled his eyes.
Darry was sitting in the audience not letting on he knew any of them, but Pony was laughing his head off the whole time, and Mrs. Curtis was trying her best to keep him quiet.
Once the pageant was over, Soda met his family outside the school.
"Did you like it?" He asked.
"It was very well done. You all did a fabulous job." Mrs. Curtis said.
"Hi Darry." A voice said from behind them.
Darry turned around to see Kaley standing right behind him.
"Kaley, what are you doing here?" Darry asked.
"I saw Soda in the play, so I figured you'd be here as well. If not be choice, by force." She said smiling.
Darry laughed. "Go with the forced part."
"We'll meet you out in the car, Darry." Mr. Curtis said.
Darry and Kaley walked around to a bench outside the school and sat down on it.
"So, how have you been? I haven't seen you in awhile. Why haven't you been in school?" Darry asked.
"Oh, my dad insisted that I stayed home for awhile. He hasn't been well. If you ask me, he's been drinking too much, that's what. Anyways, other than that, I've been fine. I'm a little tired, but I'm okay. How about you?" Kaley replied.
"I've been okay. It's been pretty crazy around home for the last little while. Pony's been asking all these questions." Darry said.
"Ah, so he's in the question asking, always be included, all about me stage?" Kaley asked.
"That's about it. I don't remember Soda being in that stage, but maybe that's because he was always hyper, so I just got to the point where I just tuned him out."
"Anyways, I'm coming back to school in the New Year." Kaley said.
"That's great. It's been really weird without you there. I don't really talk to anyone else." Darry said.
"Yeah, well I miss being around all of my friends. Dad won't let me out of the house. He always needs something, and never wants to have people over. Thinks that the house is too messy for that. I offer to clean it up, and say we won't bother him, but he won't even give into that. He's getting worse all the time."
"I wish there was something I could do to help you." Darry said.
"You already have." Kaley replied.
There was silence for a few seconds.
"Darry, there's something I have to tell you." She said, turning to face him.
"Sure, what's that?" Darry asked.
"It's something that I've wanted to tell you for a long time, but never could, because I was afraid it would ruin our friendship."
"It can't be that bad, can it?"
"No, but it's important, and very serious." Kaley replied.
Darry didn't answer, just listened intently.
"Ever since the first time I saw you, I thought that you were the nicest, sweetest, toughest guy I've ever met. I never let on before, but I've liked you for a long time. A long time. I didn't know how you'd respond to something like that, so I never told you, and just kept my feelings in." Kaley said.
"Do you still feel that way?" Darry asked.
"I guess so. I've been holding so many feelings in for so long, that I'm not sure which ones are real and which aren't anymore. But, I just really wanted you to know that, Darry, before I can't tell you anymore."
"What? What does that mean?" Darry asked.
"I can't tell you now, but you'll find out in time. Right now, all I can tell you, is that I have a whole bunch of feelings for you, and I want you to know that." Kaley replied.
"Kaley, do you think, you'd…want to…go out with me?" Darry asked.
Kaley let out a sigh, and smiled.
"I'd love to." She said.
Darry reached down and took her hand, and then leaned over to stroke her cheek.
A light snow started to fall, and they walked hand in hand across the school yard.
I'm soooo sorry, I haven't updated this forever. Hopefully now that I'm on Christmas Break I'll have a little more time.
Please R&R!
Jess