I swear I have a direction for this fic but even though it's planned out I have no clue how to overcome writer's block. Not entirely happy with how this chapter turned out but we all gotta start somewhere right?
"Heard you and a certain Miss Monica Wells got well acquainted over the summer."
Steve slammed his locker shut and scowled at his buddy, Two-Bit Matthews, who was way too delighted in the first week of school. This entire week had been nothing but literal bullshit and Steve yet again questioned why he hadn't dropped out yet.
"Yeah, what's it to you?"
Two-Bit shrugged nonchalantly with a telling smirk. "She's just easy on the eyes that's all. And I wouldn't mind getting to know her a bit better...if you know what I mean."
Steve raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to be seeing that broad from Riverside?"
"What Kathy don't know, won't kill her!"
He didn't mean Kathy, but the other blonde he caught his buddy with at the Dingo last weekend. Shaking his head, Steve didn't correct his wise-crack of a friend and looked out for the annoying twerp he had to escort around campus. The first week of school was nearly over, but the youngest Curtis brother still needed to have his hand held in the oh-so-big-and-scary world of Will Rogers.
If his best buddy Sodapop didn't ask him, Steve would've straight up kicked the 13 year old to the curb and let him find his way around the shit-show of a school. If the kid wanted to survive in the real world, then learning how to by yourself was the best way to do so.
Steve half-heartedly listened to Two-Bit brag about his successful (or failed, whichever term you preferred) feat to be in the Junior year for a second time, and all the plans he had planned. He didn't understand what the laughs and kicks were about high school that compelled his rusty haired friend to remain in Will Rogers for as long as he could, because Steve just wanted to get out.
He had thought about dropping out and working over at Texaco full time with Joe Caisley, who was pretty impressed with Steve's work on the old pickup that had been lying around at the DX, rusting away. It was a much steeper deal than what the DX offered him now, and Caisley was rumored to have connections down with people from NASCAR in Daytona. If that was the ticket to get Steve out of here, then that was it. He could see himself in Florida, working on all those sleek new cars and maybe even making one himself; that way he'd never want for nothing again. But again, Steve's common sense always brought him down to earth and he doubted Caisley actually did have those connections. If he did, why the hell was he running an auto repairs shop in fuck-all Tulsa?
Too deep in his thoughts, he missed how a blonde Soc a few lockers down stuck out her foot and tripped over a small scrawny auburn haired boy who yelped as he fell on his face. The pack of girls burst into shrieks of hysterical laughter as the blonde ring leader spelt out feigned apologies but made no move to help Ponyboy up or help him collect his books.
Steve threw his eyes to the ceiling.
Honestly, that kid wasn't going to survive high school if he kept his head up in the clouds. And Steve wasn't planning to suffer under Superman's wrath if the kid died under his watch. He was planning to make it to his Senior year unlike his old man, thank you very much.
"Honestly what's her damage?"
Two-Bit looked over to where the cluster of Socs stood and slyly smiled in response. "Killer figure, innocent eyes. The kid should be honored to be tripped up by uppity von Walderberg. His first interaction with a hot member of the opposite sex, can you believe it?"
Steve raised an eyebrow. "You forgot one thing. That's Paul Holden's sister."
Two-Bit held up his hands in mock surrender. "I'm just saying even if she is a harpy, she's the finest one out there. Even you've gotta admit she's easy on the eyes."
There was no doubt about it but Katherine von Walderberg was gorgeous. She had pale blonde hair she always kept up with headbands or ribbons and had large icy blue eyes. Her flawless white skin was never marred with the pubescent curse of acne, and she always wore pale pink lipstick, giving her smooth complexion a soft burst of colour that made her look even more innocent. It was a shame that such a pretty girl's lips were always curled into a malicious smirk, rather than the sunny smiles she gave to the teachers.
Girls like her were worth more trouble than they were worth dating, and she was a Holden to top it off.
"Blondes aren't my type," he chose to answer.
"But they are mine!" Two-Bit proclaimed just as Ponyboy finally made his way over to them panting and fidgeting all over the shop.
"You're late, kid," Steve told the scrawny twerp irritably.
His best pal's younger brother glared at him and scowled at the ground. "Thanks for helping me back there."
God was this kid ever not doomy and gloomy? Steve rolled his eyes and ordered the little shrimp to follow him. They both headed to the labs, where the kid had biology and he had chemistry. He'd just dump the kid in front of his lab, then be on his merry way. No sweat.
That was if the kid had properly read his class schedule that actually said he was calculus on the third level. Not biology in fifth period which was appointed for the next day. Not listening to the kid's pathetic excuses and half-hearted apologies, Steve hauled his ass all the way up two flights of stairs and ran all the way back down to the labs, cursing in his mind why he ever accepted to play baby-sitter. Soda owed him big time.
Heads lifted and all eyes were on him as he burst into his lab for the first time this semester. None of his buddies shared the class with him and he noticed how there were more Socs than usual in his class, but that didn't bother him too much. Well… not as much as his asswipe of a teacher who had his hands on his hips, looking awfully too much a sour Mrs Matthews with a schlong.
"Late again for the third time are we, Mr Randle?" the old prick Harris sneered as soon as he stepped in the room. "And in just the first week. You're lucky I can't give out tardies this early."
Steve refrained from rolling his eyes and instead chose to salute sardonically at his least favourite teacher. There wasn't any point at being sent to the principal's office so early in the year and it was his last period of the day anyway and he didn't fancy the idea of going back up another flight of stairs to the office.
The balding teacher's eye twitched. "Go sit on bench number three, your lab partner's waiting."
A chorus of giggles and gasps erupted from the right side of the room where bench number 3 was and his heart stopped at who his lab partner was. Lord, the universe just loved fucking him over didn't it?
Stricken with the face of a deer caught in headlights, the blonde brat herself protested instead.
"Um...Mr Harris," Katherine von Walderberg said, with a syrupy smile and false politeness. "I was waiting for Cherry to be my lab partner. I'm sure-"
"Nice try, Miss von Walderberg," Mr Harris interrupted her without lifting his eyes from his textbook. "But Miss Valance has joined Mr Benson's lab this semester. Maybe if you focused less on your hair and more on your grades you wouldn't be in this situation now, would you?"
More chuckles followed and the blonde cheerleader ducked her face down as her cheeks flushed brighter from the barb she surely didn't expect from her chemistry teacher. Like the teacher said, all the other seats in the lab were filled and he wondered why the spot next to hers was empty. He considered just saying "screw it" and put a lid to all this. School, Will Rogers, and his chance of getting a diploma. He'd just go to the DX and do what he did best without dealing with all this additional bullshit that everyone placed on him for no logical reason.
It sounded all good, but then the picture of his old man always came floating back as it did whenever he always thought of dropping out. The useless old man, sitting on his bum all day drinking booze without any qualifications to do something more in his life. Is that what Steve really wanted?
"We don't have all day Mr Randle," Harris commented snootily and the class chuckled in response. With a scowl, Steve stormed his way over to bench three where he swore the blonde little priss flinched as he sat down next to door.
Screw her and all this. He needed that diploma and no spoiled brat was going to get in his way of getting what he needed to get out of this crummy old town.
Boy was he in for a rough year.
The moment he was chosen as her lab partner, Katherine von Walderberg knew her life would never be the same again. Call it instinct or whatever, but Katherine knew that as soon as Steve Randle sat down next to her in sophomore chemistry, he would forever ruin her life.
Ginny and Lisa giggled not so discreetly behind her, and Diana shot her a pitiful look from across the room. All eyes turned to her as with painful dignity, she straightened her posture and waited for him to sit next to her.
Her lab partner. For her entire sophomore life.
Mary, Jesus, and Joseph, what did she ever do to deserve such a cruel punishment?
It wasn't as if Randle was a dork, or ugly, or annoying as Marissa Carraway (who didn't seem like a bad lab partner option now). But... he was Steve Randle. Katherine had never spoken to him in her entire existence, but he was one of those kind of guys that girls like her shouldn't hang out with.
A greaser.
A dumb poor JD with no prospects in life apart from a life sentence or resting 6 feet under before the age of 20. The movies made greasers seem so tuff and gallant, like James Dean and Marlon Brando. But in a hole like Tulsa, Oklahoma you could only find third-hand, poor imitations of them. Stupid rednecks were all they were. The whole bunch of them. All from the East side of town, unlike the civilised West side where Katherine resided.
Too caught up in her own humiliation, she sat for the rest of the class in stony silence, glaring furiously down at the pages of her textbook as she painfully waited for class to be over. The boy next to her didn't even bother trying to strike up a conversation and sat scowling in silence, as if just being near her was a burden.
As soon as the bell rung, she hurried away, without bothering to give him a second glance. The other girls waited for her by her locker, and as soon as they spotted her, they exploded in a confetti of laughter and empty, condescending sympathies.
"Oh, Katherine, honey," Ginny pulled her into a hug and not doing her best to stifle her laughs. "I'm so sorry! You didn't deserve that!"
"Did he smell?"
"Could he even write?"
"He didn't try to mug you did he?"
"Do you reckon he can give us discounts?" Lisa laughed cruelly. "Working as a gas station attendant has to have their perks right?"
"He works at the DX not Texaco," Ginny reminded the girls patronisingly. "We can't just take charity from those who actually need charity."
"Maybe you could talk to Mr Harris about switching partners," Diana, ever the Saint, suggested in her gentle tilting voice. "Surely he-"
"As if he's going to do anything," Katherine all but snapped. She immediately regretted it as soon as she saw the brief flash of hurt on Diana's face, but all Katherine could do was sigh. Giving her friend's hand a squeeze as an apology, she just looked at her friend glumly. "It's just not fair. You know how much that bore hates my guts. I swear he did this on purpose. He just wants me to fail."
Diana just gave her a sympathetic look and squeezed her hand back in reassurance. "Well, it won't be so bad. He was in my calculus class last year and he's not as dumb as those other hoods. I'm sure you won't fail."
"Besides," Diana added. "He keeps to himself and I don't think he's ever bothered anybody that bad."
"He's always around that Dallas Winston, though," Ginny said in a badly hushed whisper. "Remember last year what happened to that girl-"
"That's just a rumor," Diana cut back with a small frown. "And besides it's none of our business. Her friends said she's helping her sick aunt."
Katherine scoffed. Even if it had been a rumor that had circulated like wildfire, Katherine couldn't help but feel like there was some aspect of truth to the lie. Afterall, that girl did go to hospital and jet right out of town without a moment's notice to "visit her dying aunt in Minnesota". A dying family member, visiting family members down south, a holiday to Europe, these were the stories used when girls got into trouble. Society expected it and everyone just accepted it and looked away. The truth was never spoken of in public and when the girl came back, no one acted like anything had happened… even if the girl was never looked at the same way again.
"Even if it was true, she was asking for it," Katherine added in. "It's a miracle as to why it didn't happen sooner."
"Everyone could see the grass stains on her back," Lisa agreed. "Dressing like some cheap hussy… She should- Shoot!" she checked her wristwatch. "I'm late to pick up Heather!"
Heather was her younger sister who went to the elementary school a few blocks away. "My mother's going to kill me if I'm late again! See y'all later!"
She rushed off and Ginny and Diana made their goodbyes and they all sped off, going their own ways.
Finally having a moment to herself, Katherine let herself slump. Now what was she going to do? She slowly started to put her chemistry books away as her mind sweated through her anxiousness.
Steve Randle. Steve fricking Randle. Just some random Greaser she's never even spoken to was her lab partner for the rest of the semester. And he's gonna drag my grades down.
How was this even possible? If he made her fail chemistry then how was she going to live? No decent guy wanted a girl with no brains! And she needed her grades to get out of this cheap town. College was never an option with her mother, but If the Miss Blue Ribbon Crown somehow didn't land on her head by the time she was seventeen… Katherine cringed at the horrible thought. She should stop torturing herself with such stupid thoughts but with the way her life was going, she knew anything was possible.
With a final breath she decided what she was going to do. She was going to talk to her mother about it. Yes, that was it. Her mother would never allow such things to happen. She would talk to Principal Ronson and then he would have to make Mr Harris change her lap partner to someone smart. Simple!
She slammed her locker shut and hurried her way off with a smile. Her mother would fix all of this and her life would be back on track!
Her mother wouldn't let the likes of Steve Randle ruin the perfectly planned but dull predictability of her life.
She just wouldn't.