This story is based on the movie, with a few changes. Johnny still dies in the fire, but Dally didn't die at the end. Explanation of what happened to Dally will come later in the story as it unfolds. Being as it is based on the movie and not the book, I refer to the North and South sides instead of East and West.
Summary: Picking up in the middle of life, two Soc girls have their lives turned upside down by boys from the wrong side of town. AdelleLandry has to choose... the life that forces her to fake a smile or Steve Randle. Emma Stratton, Adelle's best friend, has followed her into this world with the hope that finally something will make her feel alive, as opposed to being the Soc automaton that she's been since puberty.
While the two young women were both anxious as they crossed from the greener pastures into the land of the downtrodden, their ways of expressing that anxiety were completely different.
Adelle Landry practically bounced in her seat. Her manicured nails bit into her palms as she held the steering wheel of her brand new Thunderbird tightly. She could have used the music that floated from the radio as an excuse for her energy, but the soft ballad that crooned its way to her ears wasn't something that one typically bounced to.
On the other hand, Emma Stratton was perfectly still. She clutched her tiny box purse tightly in her hands as she stared forward. Her hair was back in a perfect roll, held tightly with pins. She looked neither frightened of what was ahead, nor excited. She seemed to be indifferent, but inside, she was running. Her feet were taking her as fast as they could back to the security of her home, afraid that she would enjoy herself too much where she was going and find herself in an even worse predicament that she was already in. And yet, another part of her was running forward, too.
Both girls also had very different reasons to be so anxious.
Adelle couldn't stand to spend one more minute in that house. She had said it more than once since picking up her friend. In fact, it was the only thing that she would say. Her parents were steadily forbading her from going to hang out with those "greasy hoods" and she was steadily telling them that she didn't care. It was only a matter of time before they put her out, and she was almost positive that she would be glad to go. She just had to get away from them, and she had to get to the reason that she was thrown out of the Soc class. The man that stroked her black hair and told her in the worst English imaginable that she was absolutely beautiful.
Emma wanted to feel alive. She wanted to play in the fantasy world that she knew could never be hers. She wanted to pretend, at least for a little while, that there was no difference between her and the guys they were about to see. She was tired of feeling empty, sitting in an empty house, with parents that gave her empty stares and friends that handed her heaping servings of empty promises on their own silver spoons. She was leaving her own world far behind as she delved into this one that her best friend took to more easily than she would have ever imagined and that she, herself, both feared and loved.
"Okay, when we get there, we're not talking about my latest fight, alright?" Adelle bounced in her seat as her eyes scanned the street. She slowed the car down as they grew closer to the house. "We're not telling Darry anything, because he can be extremely parental at times. I think he forgets that he's just an older brother, not everybody's dad."
"Alright." Emma turned to look out the window. Everything looked the same, overgrown lawns and houses in disrepair. It wasn't that much unlike her own neighborhood. Just the yang to its yin. On the other side of town, all of the houses were in perfect shape and all of the lawns were perfectly mowed by Mexican labor.
"Emma?" Her head turned quickly to her friend, then back to the road. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Adelle."
"Are you sure? Because you're not usually this quiet when we're coming here. Most of the time, it's Soda this and Soda that. You do know that he likes you, right? Even though Two-Bit can be a bit of a jerk sometimes… I mean, that's how you know he likes you, because he's real quick to give Two-Bit one in the side when he starts messing with you."
Though there were definite endings to each sentence, it still sounded like Adelle had said it all in one breath. She was a bouncy sort of girl naturally, which had made her a perfect cheerleader until she was thrown off of the team for being too un-Soc, so her agitation wasn't always a clue as to her excitement. The real signifer to her exhuberance and anxiety was how fast she spoke. The quicker the words, the more anxious she was.
"Sodapop is a very nice boy. Greaser or not."
"We don't use that word, Emma." Her voice was very stern, and suddenly, she was sitting completely still. "We don't say Greaser or Soc or any of that, because none of it matters. He's not nice for a Greaser, he's just nice."
"I'm sorry." Emma turned to her and raised a curious eyebrow. Adelle always got upset when others said something about Greasers, but she rarely ever said anything to her. "What's wrong? Did something else happen at home?"
"They're throwing me out soon. I know it." She had said that they couldn't speak about it at the house, but they weren't there yet. One more block to go. "I know I always say I don't care, and I still have my money that Grammy left me, but I don't know where I can go. I can't just live with Steve. I may not be Soc anymore, but I still have propriety, and I can't just live with someone. And there's nowhere for me to live on the South Side. No one over there is going to take me in."
"My parents are never home. You could live with me."
"That's sweet, Emma, but they come home sometimes. They don't even know you still talk to me. If they did, you'd be thrown out, too. I just…" She slowed as the house came into view. "I don't know what to do. I really like Steve. I might even… you know." She sighed. "I don't want to give him up, but I don't want to be thrown out of my home, either."
The car came to stop in front of a house that looked in a little better shape than the ones on either side of it, but still definitely on the North side of town. The wind blew and as it pushed the gate open a little, its unoiled hinges creaked. Adelle sighed and looked at the gate. "We're here," she said, "so we can talk about this some more later."
"I really think you should tell Darry. He would know what to do."
"I'm not telling Darry, and neither are you. So… no more talking about it until we leave. We're going to put on smiles and have a good time. Everybody promised to be good, especially Two-Bit. And Ponyboy even said that he'd help us with that English paper coming up, so we can pretend like it's just a normal night and then we can be depressed when we get back in the car." She thought for a second, then said, "Maybe I should dip into Mom's Prozac. It helps her, right?"
Emma watched wordlessly as Adelle jumped out of the car, slamming the door shut. Her smile was bright and the wind blew her dark hair into her face. As she walked towards the gate, full bounce in her step, it was as though nothing had happened and she hadn't said a single word. Emma didn't know how she put herself into such an excited place so easily, but she wished she would share the secret.
With a sigh, Emma got out of the car and gently closed the door. Her South side upbringing instantly made her reopen the door and lock it, though she made it look like she had dropped something inside, so as not to offend the gathering of somewhat dirty young men that sat on the porch. She turned back in time to see one of them jump over the gate and throw Adelle over her shoulder. Emma looked past them until she saw Sodapop Curtis. He sat straddling the railing, his eyes on her.
Emma took a deep breath and walked forward. She forced the corners of her mouth up into a smile. If Adelle could be happy, then so could she. Or at least she could pretend. She was here to lose the emptiness, after all, and she couldn't do that with a frown or a worried look. She wasn't allowed to say anything about Adelle's situation at home, and she didn't want to talk about her own. So, she put on the smile and walked to the gate with her back straight and head held high. It was the only thing, at the moment, she could think to do that wouldn't send her running in the other direction.