Chapter 6

I was already dressed and ready by the time Jen had woken up the next morning.

"Morning Sunshine," I said with a grin.

Jen groaned as she rolled over.

"Kate?" she said obviously still not sure where she was or why she was here, "What the hell happened?"

I laughed, "You seriously don't remember?"

Jen shook her head, "The last thing I remember was walking down the street with those Soc guys. And they were passing me a beer. I took it and then-"

Jen paused for a second as I managed another laugh.

"I got drunk didn't I?" she asked her head held low.

"Afraid so. You were a little wasted to say the least. But you seriously don't remember going to Dingo's, seeing Lee with that waitress?" Jen looked at me blankly, "You don't even remember beating that girl up?"

"I did what!" Jen asked clearly she didn't remember.

"Never mind I'll explain it all later," I said as I walked out of the room.

"Where are you going Kate?"

"One second," I yelled back.

I walked downstairs to the kitchen and whipped up a hangover remedy. Jen would definitely need it. It was a little weird having Jen, the smart girl who always did everything right, upstairs in my room with a hang over. Usually it was Dez sitting up there, sometimes Angela. I didn't like Angela but I wasn't the type of person who could leave her wandering down the streets wasted beyond belief. I looked at the clock and realized I better hurry up. We both had to get to school. So I went back upstairs and handed Jen the drink.

"Drink this."

"What on earth is it?" Jen asked as she took the glass and looked at it.

"Don't ask questions. Just drink."

Jen nodded her head as she managed to drink the entire glass. I don't know how she did it though. That stuff it the nastiest stuff I've ever tasted. But it sure helped.

"Come on. We've still got school."

Jen nodded her head slowly and got up. I passed her some of my clothes. She took them and went and got changed.

"Oh god what are my parents going to say?" she asked as she came out of the bathroom.

"Don't worry I've got it covered. I called Allison up. Your parents think you spent the night over there. So no worries."

"Thanks Kate. You're the best."

"Yes I know. I try not to brag," I said with a grin as Jen laughed, "Come on we better go."

As we walked to school I explained to Jen what had happened last night. She seemed rather disgusted with herself. I tried to tell her not to worry. But I knew that word would be all around school by the time we got there. Any little thing happens round here most people knew about it the next day. I was used to the rumors though. I've heard things about me before that have never even happened, though everyone else seemed pretty convinced. But I've gotten to the point now when I just don't care anymore. I could try to explain that the rumors weren't true, but no one would believe me. So I simply just didn't care. But I knew Jen would care. Especially since Jen was a good girl. She hardly did anything wrong. But she had managed to get drunk and beat up some chick. And I knew everyone at school wasn't about to let little miss Jen walk by without some comment.

"Listen Jen," I said as I was thinking, "There's a question I've being wanting to ask you."

Jen nodded her head, "What is it?"

"Why did you slap Lee?"

After I said it I figured that probably wasn't the most tasteful way to come out and ask it. But it was a question that had been bothering me. Maybe Lee was just being a jerk and trying to get her to do something Jen wasn't comfortable with. But Lee had seemed pretty hurt that morning. I looked over at Jen who seemed real ashamed of herself.

"It was stupid. I shouldn't have even done it. He was being a real sweetheart to me and we were getting along just fine," Jen paused, "But then I saw Allison. And I knew I shouldn't be, but I was embarrassed to be seen with a well…"

I looked over at Jen I knew the word she was looking for. And I guess it kind of shocked me. I didn't think Jen was like that.

"A greaser," I finished her sentence.

She slowly nodded her head. I was about ready to spit at her. How could she say something like that? Lee was a great guy. So what if his parents weren't rich? They didn't make him lesser then everybody else. Hell I was a greaser. I also made sure Jen was safe and I looked after her when I could have just as easily left her outside, wasted, and let some guy have his way with her.

"Listen…" Jen started but I stopped her.

"What ever. We're all use to it. It ain't fair but I'm use to it," I said coldly, "Look Allison's over there. You should probably go. I wouldn't want to embarrass you."

Jen looked hurt but she didn't say a word. She walked over to where Allison was without looking back. I shook my head in disgust but kept on walking.

"Hey there pretty lady!"

I stopped and turned to see my friend Garrett standing at the corner waiting for me, as usual.

"Hey Garrett!"

Garrett smiled at me. He was a really great guy. He was pretty middle class. His family was real nice. He had a pretty nice house. Though those types of things didn't matter to Garrett. I still remember when I first met him. It was back in 5th grade. Sure I knew of Garrett but I always thought he was a little weird. We had never talked or anything like that. Until our 5th grade teacher, I can't remember her name, deicdes to put me and him together for a science project. I wasn't to pleased about that at all. But neither was he. Which was kind of odd. Most guys liked me, or at least liked to look at me. But Garrett didn't care about looks, he cared if I was smart enough to actually help him on the project. He figured I was stupid, I figured he was a nerd. But turns out we were both wrong. One day after school I had went over to his house to work on the project. He told me I could sit and watch TV while he worked on the project. I was completely insulted by that and told him I was just as good as he was, even better. We argued for a while until both of us had just burst out laughing. Since then we've been friends. Teachers still loved to make us partners for project. I guess they were always amused by what we came up with. But I enjoyed spending time with Garrett he was a smart guy, and a funny one at that. We got along real good.

"Hows it hangin?"

"I've had better days," I said as we both started walking, "How bout you?"

"Pretty good actually. Until little Jenna decides she's gonna wake me up at six in the morning to try and get me to help her with her science project."

I laughed, "But I bet you did anyways."

"You know me to well," he said with a laugh, "Heard you had quite an eventful evening."

"Word travels that quick eh," I said shaking my head.

"Yeah who would have thought little Miss Jen had it in her."

"Well she does," I said simply.

Garrett looked at me kind of funny but shrugged it off, "Also heard you and Curtis have been hitting it off lately."

Garrett knew that most of the things he heard about me weren't true. So I guess that's why he must have been a little shocked to hear my answer.

"Yeah we have," I said with a grin.

"Really?" he said with a raised eyebrow, "I thought Curtis was just dreaming. But I'll be. Finally found a guy worthy enough to be seen around Princess Kate."

I laughed, "Finally."

"Well remind me to talk to Curtis would ya."

I shook me head, "Leave 'em alone Garrett. He's a good guy alright. And I like him."

Garrett nodded his head with a grin. I knew he was going to talk to Ponyboy anyways. He most likely wasn't going to drill him the way Lee and Dez had. But I knew he was going to get his word in. I gave him a playful punch in the arm and he did the same as we reached school.

"Well I'll seeya at lunch then Princess."

I laughed, "Later Joker."

Sometimes we called each other joker and Princess. Mainly because of our 7th grade Medieval project. It's a long story but let's just say we've never been able to live down the names. Though I only called Garrett joker every once in a while he called me Princess almost as much as he called me Kate. But I didn't mind. I liked being called Princess.

Garrett headed off towards a few guys standing by the stairs and I headed off towards my locker. I didn't mind school. Sometimes I actually like it. Which kind of creeped some people out. Especially Lee. He had dropped out of high school once he was old enough to get a job. He had hated school. But he always encouraged me to go. He still calls me nerd every once in a while but in a joking manner. I managed to get pretty good grades. Mostly B's sometimes A's. I actually really liked math. I know it sounds weird but I was good at it. And I liked it. I think it's because there's always a right and wrong answer. There was no maybe. I liked knowing things were either right or wrong. But life isn't that simple.

Once I grabbed my books out of my locker the bell rang and I headed off towards my English class. I did pretty well in English most of the time that is. There was this one guy in my class, James. I really hated the guy. He was a cocky bastard. So full of himself I was surprised he didn't just float away. He thought I was in love with him or something. But I truly hated the guy. And he always made it a point to sit right behind me, and kick my seat. It annoyed me so much sometimes I'd just loose it on him in the middle of class. Which resulted in me going to the principal's office and missing the rest of class. But I don't know why they keep sending me to the principal's office. I didn't have a real legal guardian. Sometimes they'd call Mrs. Hannigan but she could never make it to school. Once they had tried calling Lee. And when he had shown up he just started giving me a high fives for telling James off. Sometimes the principal use to give me a short lecture. But we both knew it wasn't really doing anything. So instead he made me help out around the office till my next class. It wasn't much of a punishment, but our principal had much bigger problems then me telling some guy to stop kicking my seat.

But today when I went and took a seat and class started I saw that James wasn't there. Part of me wanted to stand up and start doing cartwheels but I didn't. Turns out James got sent to the reformatory. He got caught stealing and gave the cops some attitude. But he was only in their for a few months. I wasn't really that surprised but James was a smart guy when he tried to be. But in James place there sat another guy. I didn't know his name, but he was making a real effort to know mine. I tried to ignore him but soon his little friends had joined in. I turned around giving them a smile and twirling a piece of my hair.

"Hey guys. I swear if you say one more word to me, I'm more then sure my boyfriend would love nothing more to sit down and teach you how to act around a lady. Or he might just pound your faces into the ground," I said smiling sweetly then I rolled my eyes and turned back around.

Needless to say those guys didn't bother me for the rest of class. After English I went to Math. Nothing exciting happened there. So when I heard the bell for lunch I quickly headed over to the parking lot. Once I got their Garrett was waiting for me.

"Hey Princess."

"Hey."

We stood their for a while debating where to go for lunch. I hated eating in the cafeteria. It wasn't so much the food though. It was mostly the fact that when anything went wrong they blamed it on us greasers. But we hardly ever ate in there. Most guys thought it was pretty fun. I tried to act like it was funny but I didn't really think it was. It was just another thing to add onto the long list of things not fair. I saw Jen and Allison walked by but Jen didn't even so much as look at me. I felt like yelling something at her but I didn't. I don't know why I didn't; I guess I just didn't think she was worth the effort.

"Hey Curtis!" I heard Garrett holler, "Over here!"

I turned around to see Ponyboy heading over to our direction.

"Hey Garrett," Ponyboy said as he walked over and then he saw me, "Hey Kate."

"Hey Ponyboy," I said with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah. Enough of this little love fest I'm hungry," Garrett said as he took another drag of his cigarette, "Why doesn't Curtis come with us?"

Ponyboy nodded his head, "Yeah sure."

"Alright lets roll," said Jeff.

Pony and I hopped into Jeff's car and we all headed off towards the store. I guess I had forgotten that Ponyboy knew Garrett, Jeff and Scott. They were school friends I figured. Garrett and I were buddies but Jeff and Scott were school friends to me too. But any ways every one was getting along good. We stopped at the store and bought some food. Pony, Garrett and I sat on the bumper of the car while Jeff and Scott wandered about looking to pick up some chicks. But they were looking pretty unsuccessful.

"Guys why don't you just give up already," Garrett said with a laugh, "You're attracting the flies not the honeys."

Pony and I both laughed.

"So how's Jen?" Ponyboy asked.

"Let's just not talk about her," I said taking a sip of my coke.

"What happened Princess?" Garrett asked.

"I'll put in nicely. She's a bitch," I said simply.

"Wait I'm confused," Garrett said, "I thought we were pissed off at Lee for being an ass."

I laughed and shook my head. I wasn't much into the drama around these parts. I didn't really pay to much attention to it. So when I actually called someone a bitch I meant it. I wasn't a real bitch, but I could be when I wanted to.

"Well we were pissed of at Lee for being an ass. Well we still are. But were more pissed off at Jen for causing the whole mess," I explained.

"How did she start it?" Garrett asked.

"I guess she's just embarrassed to be around greasers," I answered.

Garrett slowly nodded his head. He didn't really know what to say about these types of things. He wasn't really classified as a Greaser or a Soc. I use to wonder what that would be like. I looked over at Ponyboy he understood. I didn't really mind being called a Greaser most of the time. But when someone says there embarrassed to be seen with you just because of that. Well then it hurt. Ponyboy put his arm around me and I tried to stop thinking about it. Garrett had changed the subject to something else anyways but a lot of the time I was left wondering.

Jeff and Scott had finally given up their attempt to pick up some girls and came and sat with us. We had been talking when I saw Angela walk by. She gave me an evil glare and walked over to Ponyboy.

"Hey Ponyboy," she said with a smile, "What are you doing?"

I looked up at Angela who took the time to touch Ponyboy's arm. I kind looked at her in disbelief. Did she not notice his arm around me? So I got even closer to Ponyboy and rested my head on his shoulder.

"Hey Angela," I said with a smile.

"Oh hey Kate I didn't notice you there," she said with a smile still staring at Ponyboy.

I honestly couldn't believe her. What did she think she was doing?

"Oh hey," Ponyboy said almost as shocked as I was, "I'm just hanging with these guys and Kate."

I appreciated how he emphasized my name by Angela didn't seem to care. She was seriously flirting with him and I was sitting right there! His arm around me! And my head on his shoulder! Finally Garrett piped up.

"Well it was nice meeting you Angela but we ought to go," Garrett said as he and Jeff hopped into the car.

"Well I'll see you around Ponyboy," Angela said with a smile as she walked away.

Ponyboy looked at me kind of confused but I was right pissed off. We both got into the car and drove off. Then we remembered Scott was inside the store but he was already chasing after us. Jeff drove around for a bit before even I felt bad for Scott and we let him get in. So the ride back to school was mostly listening to Scott yell at us but we all found it pretty funny, even Scott. Once we got back to school Ponyboy kissed me good-bye.

"I'll see you after school then?" Ponyboy asked as he kissed me again.

"Of course."

Ponyboy kissed me again before I heard Garrett holler at me. I smiled at Ponyboy and walked over towards Garrett. I guess I should have felt better by now. Ponyboy was trying to make it really clear that he liked me and not Angela. But I was still mighty pissed off at her. And I guess Garrett could tell.

"Calm down Princess you can take all of your anger out on the frog."