SE Hinton owns The Outsiders and the Shepard family.
Dropdown
Eight-
Two-Bit told Curly to time him, but Curly got distracted by a rat coming and going under a dumpster, and he forgot what time the dashboard clock was at when Two-Bit slipped inside an unlocked window in the hall next to the shop classroom behind Will Rogers. So, Two-Bit might have been inside the school for five minutes or fifteen when Tim's car pulled up next to Two-Bit's and Tim wrapped on the window.
Curly was rummaging around in the glove compartment. The knock on the window sent him scrambling.
"Don't hurt yourself," Tim grumbled as he opened the car door, allowing Curly to tumble out into the parking lot.
"Jesus, Tim!"
Tim reached down and gave Curly a hand up. He clapped his brother on the back and then took a step away from him, signaling that any further show of affection wasn't going to happen.
"Two-Bit said you were out," Curly said. "Said he drove down and got you this morning."
"Yeah, it would appear that he was telling you the truth," Tim replied. "What the hell are you doing here? Didn't get enough school today?"
Curly let his head drop. He looked away from Tim, and that was the first time he noticed Hazel sitting in Tim's car.
"Who's she?"
"A former associate of Billy Simon's."
"Tim…" Curly stopped for a moment to choose his words. Questioning his brother on anything always brought trouble down on him. Questioning his brother on his choice of women typically resulted in a biting monologue about how Curly couldn't catch himself a girl if he had a net and so what did he know?
"Former associate, fool," Tim repeated. "As am I, at this point."
"Me too, then. He put a gun to my head this morning."
Tim nodded, as though this didn't come as a surprise to him. He didn't show any outward sign of being worried about Curly's safety. Inside, he was seething, but he knew better than to show it. Curly fed off of the emotions of others. Any show of anger from Tim was bound to bring on an ill-planned and stupid display of vengence from Curly. Tim asked him again:
"Why are you here?"
"Ain't she one of Two-Bit's girlfriends?" Curly asked.
Now Tim was sure that Curly was dodging something. He shifted on his feet and began patting down his pockets for a cigarette.
"Ask her that, fucker," he said. "Ask her exactly like that...if she's one of his girls...I dare you. Right after you tell me what the fuck it is you're doing here. I'm guessing Two-Bit is here too? When you're done questioning Hazel about the nature of her relationship with Two-Bit, you can check his answers against hers. It'll be fun."
Curly's eyes brightened somewhat. That did sound fun to him. The light went right out of them again when the shop classroom fire exit opened and shut behind them and the alarm went off.
"Hey, Timmy," Two-Bit shouted over the sound of the alarm. "Fancy meeting you here. Did you come for this?"
He held out the .357.
Tim raised his eyebrows. Otherwise, his face was stoney. The sound of the alarm was rattling him something awful though. It reminded him, now, of the lockdowns at Mac. If there was a lockdown at Mac, it meant that someone had taken a beating and someone else was about to at the hands of the guards.
Curly squirmed.
Two-Bit said, "How's about we discuss it around the corner, maybe at the park by Curtis'? Crutchfield? I'd say we have about three minutes before things get a little hot around here."
Tim nodded in agreement and reached for his gun. Two-Bit pointed towards Hazel, still in the front seat of Tim's car, with his chin.
"Trade ya," he said.
Tim smirked at Two-Bit. He should have expected jealousy. That Two-Bit made girls jealous either never dawned on him or he didn't care. Perhaps he found something useful in it. He didn't wear jealousy well himself, though. Since they were all going to the same place, Tim figured that Two-Bit wouldn't be able to do much more than cuss Hazel out in the car on their way, and that was nothing she couldn't handle.
He turned back to his car. As he slid in behind the wheel, he said to her:
"You're riding with Two-Bit, sis. Let Curly in."
"What the hell…?"
"I found my gun," Tim said. "Two-Bit just brought it out of the school."
"You were missing a gun? Does Two-Bit still have it?"
"No, baby, I have it. You think I'd let you get in a car with him and a gun? One of you wouldn't make it across the parking lot."
She shot him an icy look and mumbled something like you're goddamned right, and got out of the car.
"You and me's gonna talk about that gun," Tim told Curly as soon as he got his door shut. "We're going to talk about it later. Right now, tell me about Billy."
Curly slouched down in the seat. He wished to God that Tim would share his cigarette, if only because taking a drag would give him a split second more to think.
"He picked me up," Curly said. "He was waiting here when I got out of school. Drove me out to the salvage yard. Got all creepy on me. Told me he was going to put me and Angel to work in your absence."
"He said that about Angel?"
"Yeah, what'd he mean in your absence? You going back down south?"
"He means when I'm dead. Listen to me, Curly, you and me both know more about Billy and his operation than he's comfortable with. He was cool with me being locked up, but me getting out surprised him. He must've figured he could rattle you into keeping quiet until I got out. We got about six blocks here to figure out what his game is, and which side of it Hazel is on."
"Two-Bit's girl?"
"Yeah," Tim slowed down to cross the railroad tracks. The whole car rattled. North of the tracks, they both relaxed a little.
"You think she's playing you...or Two-Bit...or someone?"
"She's definitely playin' someone. I get the feeling it ain't me, but...shit…"
Curly smirked. He sat up a little straighter in the seat, shaking his head.
"But you like her. You're all sweet on her, and now you can't tell what she's up to. You bangin' her yet?"
Tim punched Curly's shoulder.
"I've only been out of the joint since noon, dumbass. Can't say it's been enough time to get to know her well."
"But you'd have had time to bang her," Curly said.
"Shut up. We had a couple of drinks, and she told me some shit, and now...Shit, she needs to keep her head down. So does Two-Bit. If we're going to get out of this, we'll need them to play nice with each other and fly low on the radar. Billy don't know that we know her, and he don't know Two-Bit at all. Christ...we got five minutes, anyhow. Tell me about the gun, stupid."
"You look nice," Two-Bit said to Hazel. "You get all dolled up like that for Timmy?"
"Shut up and drive."
"I mean, I get it, Haze. You're a free agent. I'm a free agent. Let's just said I'm concerned...as your friend...about your choice of company this evening. I mean, Tim's...shit Tim's fresh out of the joint and- according to Curly- people are trying to kill him."
Hazel smiled and shook her head.
"Yeah, I'm aware."
"How aware are you of the whole Billy Simon situation?"
"I'm more aware of my situation with him."
"You have a situation with him, too?" Two-Bit squirmed in his seat. He leaned his forearm across the steering wheel so that he could turn to face her. "I'm starting to feel a little left out here. How come I don't have a situation with Billy?"
"I'd say you're going to have one pretty quick here, if you don't ditch me and Tim and his little brother."
Hazel was frowning. Up ahead the red lights signaling an oncoming train were beginning to flash. Two-Bit cursed and gunned the engine to try to outrun the descending crossrails.
Hazel put her hand on his arm.
"Stop," she said. "Just stop at the crossing."
Now Two-Bit frowned. Against his better judgement, he stopped the car. The train flew by and made the car shake as though by a strong wind.
Hazel picked up her purse from the floor and jerked up on the door handle.
"Go home, Two-Bit," she said.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to the park to meet Tim. Go home. You got nothing to do with Billy. Let's keep it that way."
"The fuck I will. Get back here," Two-Bit said. He took a swipe at her arm and missed. She could have made a run for it, but the train still stood between her and Crutchfield Park. Two-Bit got out of the car on the other side and caught up with her.
"If I got to pick you up and put you in the trunk, Haze…"
She turned back to him and gestured at his car.
"There's already three cars backed up behind you. How's that going to look?"
"Just get back in the car."
She shook her head. The last car on the train flew past, and the signal bell stopped. The cross rails began to rise. Hazel turned again and started to jog across the tracks. One of the cars behind Two-Bit's laid on its horn. Two-Bit gave the driver the finger.
A window came down and a head popped out.
"You gonna move your car, or am I going to need to give you a shove, asshole?"
Two-Bit looked toward Hazel disappearing down the street. He shook his head and went back to his car. Any other day, he would've sat in it for a long a minute to mess with the other driver, but today was not that day.