Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I actually wasn't entirely sure about the whole name thing, when I read the book I thought Ponyboy was his nickname and Michael was his real name. Thanks for straightening that out though, I was wondering myself. My bad. :) And, I don't want you guys thinking im making this story what is popularly known as, a "Mary Sue." This story isn't only about Pony meeting a girl and falling in love and all that mushy stuff, it's about some of the other characters too. Well, thanks again to everyone reviewed, and thanks for the constructive criticism, sometimes it helps, and I don't take it as a flame at all.
The past few weeks of school got me thinkin'. Just about Johnny and Dally, and everyone else. Soda
told me things would change and I'd meet new friends and new people and that Dally and Johnny would become
a memory. I didn't want to believe it, but I guess I had to. I can't describe it, but it's just I for a while I couldn't
believe they were really gone. Like I'd wake up one day and it would all be just a bad dream, and me, Johnny,
and Dally would go see a movie and laugh about it all. I hated reality.
But then Alice came. She
was different, and I didn't really understand why. She wasn't a
greaser, but she wasn't
a soc either. She was
somewhere in between from what I could see. She was pretty and
dressed nice, but she wasn't
afraid of anythin'. She
had that tone when one of the school bullies told her she was sittin
in his seat in math. She
went ahead and told him if
he didn't get outta her face she was gonna straight up punch him. I'd
never seen a girl like
that go and talk to one of
the biggest kids in school, ever. He said somethin' back to her, only
for her to say somethin'
that really got him back
in a bad way, and he just shrugged and sat in the last row. She was
Tuff.
"Ponyboy, can you help me with this?" she asked. I looked over at her paper and saw she was nowhere near as done as I was.
"Yeah sure. It's real
easy, you just gotta go on and subtract from this side, bring it
down, and then subtract again, and then there
you have it. Simple as
that." I smirked. It really wasn't that easy, I guess you could
say I was showin' off.
"Yeah.. that is
simple. I'm just not real good with numbers, you know. I'm more into
English than Math. I like poems and stories
and stuff like that. Math
is just numbers, useless equasions." she said.
"Yeah," I said,
tryin to think of somethin' else to say. She was hard to talk to,
almost like when it was hard to talk to Cherry sometimes.
I was always scared I was
gonna embarrass myself and make myself look dumb or somethin'. But
then again, she had that feeling
that even if I did say the
wrong thing, she wouldn't judge me. I liked that.
"So, what are you doin' after school today?" I asked. She tilted her head. I gulped.
"Well, I'm gonna go
home and do my homework, then probably nothin'. Why?" she asked,
with a big smile on her face. She knew I was gonna
ask her if she wanted to
hang.
"Uh, well, I was
wonderin' if your not doin' anythin' if you'd want me to show you
around. I know you've been here for a few weeks and all but you know
I could really show you
around. Like all the good drive-ins, or all the good places to eat,
or-"
"Yeah Ponyboy, I'd really like that," she said grinning. I was real relieved when she said she'd like that, maybe she had a little thing for me.
"Alright well, i'll
pick you up at your place around 7?" I asked. I knew where she
lived cause I'd walked her home a few times before when we
were at school late
studyin' and it was a little dark out.
"Sound's good. Why are you all red Ponyboy?" she asked, tilting her head again.
"I am..?" I asked.
"Nah, I'm just playin'. I'll seeya around 7 then Ponyboy. The bell rang two minutes ago and we're still not in class. Bye." she said smiling, and then she walked out.
"So stupid," I said, slapping myself.
I went on to my next 3 classes, that went by really slow might I add, and then started to walk home. I saw Alice leave to walk to her house with her bookbag. I smiled. She looked so cute. I went to turn around when I saw four guys followin' her home.
'Oh, man,' I said to myself. They were probably gonna bother her. I decided to follow them.
"Hey baby, you're not from around here, are ya?" It was Brett Masters, I knew who he was on accounta' he talked to Cherry when she was still around.
"No, I'm not," she replied cooly. "I'm guessing you are?" she said, with no tone in her voice.
"Yeah, I am. Whats a cute little girl like you walkin' home all by yourself?" he asked. I was getting annoyed, but I stayed far back.
"Well, that's really none of your buisness, now is it?" she said. I wasn't lyin' when I said she wasn't afraid of nobody.
"What if I wanna make it my buisness?" he asked, this time a little anger in his voice. Was he being rejected?
"Make it what you want, but I gotta go home, so you take your little buddies and go run off somewhere else, I don't have time for you guys anyways, goodbye." she said, walking a little faster.
I had a feeling she was getting scared.
"Come on baby, let me-"
"Knock it off, Brett." I managed to speak up. "She don't want any trouble. Now go on, beat it."
"What did you say to me you little shit?" Brett said, a little angrier than before. Oh boy, what am I getting myself into.
"Look, I don't want
any trouble. She's my friend and all she wants to do is go home. She
don't want any trouble and either do I. So can't we just
call it a day and all go
home?" I said, tryin' not to get him even more mad. He stared at
me.
"Yeah, I can do that. Come on boys, lets go. Mr. Incredible here says we gotta leave, so come on. Let's beat it." He said sarcastically. His friends looked at him, then looked at me, and then started walkin'.
Brett came up to me and whispered in my ear, 'This ain't over grease,' and left. I guess he was embarrassed. I knew he wasn't just gonna walk away that easy and I'd probably have to pay for it later, but I didn't care cause I saw Alice staring at me in awe. A girl's never looked at me that way before.
"Wow, Ponyboy,"
Alice said, "That was real nice of you. You saw they were messin' me and you went outta' your way just to make em' stop
without fighting. No one
back in Nebraska would
have done that for me. It was real sweet." she said, smiling
that million dollar smile. I was blushing.
"Well, it was nothin'. Keepin' you outta trouble. Besides, i'm sure your friends back in Nebraska would have helped ya just the same." I said.
"Well, i'm not too sure about that." she walked up closer to me and gave me a hug and kissed me on the cheek. "Thanks again Pony, I'll see you tonight," she said, and walked away.
"Wow," I said to myself. Now I knew what Soda was talkin' about when he said he always got this good feelin' everytime he was around Sandy. I was feelin' somethin a little bit like tha when Alice went and kissed me, even if it was just a friendly kiss on the cheek. I'm fallin' for her, I think, like Sodapop fell for Sandy.
