Steve was glaring at me as we all walked back to the Curtis home. He never asked questions like I just did. To him socs were socs and greasers were greasers and there was nothing similar between the two. He believed in the facts. His facts.
"Steve, quit giving Chris those looks." Darry spoke up from behind us.
"Yeah," Soda agreed linking his arms with me and Steve, "we're all buddies. Besides, there's nothing wrong with wondering about things."
"Socs have money to spend it. They have tuff cars because they can. They wear madras because they can. And we can't." Steve said matter of factly.
"Well, okay." I said with a sigh. I wasn't in the mood to argue.
But I allowed my mind to wander as we walked across the front yard and into the Curtis home. I still had questions. I still wanted to know why the socs spent money the way they did. And why did us greasers envie them so much? It seemed to me it was more than money or anything else. It was almost as if both groups were constantly searching for something. I wondered if we were all searching for the same thing. Which led me to wonder if maybe greasers and socs weren't so different after all.
Soda unlinked his arms from mine and Steve's. Steve said bye to us and left with Two-Bit. He'd return later. Soda looked at me carefully. "You have a lot on your mind, don't you, Chris?"
I looked at him, surprised. "How did you know?"
He laughed. "I live with Pony, remember? I know these things. So, what's bugging you/ Still wondering why socs spend money like they do?"
"Yeah." I admitted. "But, I'm also wondering if maybe we're all more similar than we think. And, I'm wondering if maybe we're all just searching for something but none of us knows what it is."
Darry shook his head. "You and Pony both have wild imaginations."
"Maybe he's on to something." Pony said. "I mean, I talk to Cherry and Randy. They're socs but their not so different from us."
"True." Soda agreed.
We stayed up and talked for a while. But we didn't stay up too late. Pony and I had scool the next day. Also, Darry and Soda had to work. But even as we talked, I still wondered about what greasers and socs could be searching for.