Caroline's
"What're you doing here?" James asked, pushing Dallas aside and now focusing on me. I looked down at my shoes, not knowing what to say
.
"Your parents came back from a gala thirty minutes ago and noticed you and Rose weren't home. You had them scared to death." James told me with concern etched across his face. I knew I had probably scared him too.
I looked up at Dallas, and then back to James. I was really nervous now, knowing that my father had warned me not to go to another party last time I had been caught two months ago.
"I wanted to come, so I did. How did you find out I was here?" I asked.
James stared at me intently, raising his voice.
"Your folks called Archie and me, and since you have this weird obsession with parties, we figured you would be here. It was stupid and reckless what you and Rose did. To make things worse you're also talking to this nimrod."
"Nimrod huh? Is that it, ya lil pansy?" smirked Dallas, blowing a puff a smoke right in his face. I couldn't help but let out a small laugh, but in the end I received a glare from James.
"You wanna go greaser?" James scowled, turning around completely so that he was facing Dallas.
"Maybe," Dallas responded with a straight face, completely unnerved. He obviously hadn't heard of James before, and that made me nervous. Dallas put his cigarette to his mouth, waiting for James to make a move. He looked real tuff, I had to admit.
"Come on hood, let's go," James jeered, taking off his thin brown jacket and tossing it to me. I was so tempted to just let it fall on the floor, but I caught it anyways, knowing it was James' favorite jacket.
"James, let's go home." I suggested, placing my hand on his arm to hold him back. I didn't want a fight to happen all because of me. I already knew I was going to get it at home.
"Not before I teach this greaser where his rightful place in this world is," James told me loud and clear, just so that Dallas could hear too.
Dallas tossed his cigarette onto the floor and stepped on it.
"Tell your girlfriend to leave 'cause I don't want her to see her boyfriend getting his ass kicked." Said Dallas. Dallas sounded very tough.
By now, all the people who had left the living room were coming back. More and more people were gathering around us, bored and looking for something interesting… like a fight between a greaser and a Soc.
When I looked over at Dallas and noticed he looked dead serious, I started to panic. James pushed me away and tried to lunge at Dallas, but once again I cut in, this time stepping in between the both of them. They were both dangerously close, glaring at each other.
"James, it's not worth it, can you please just take me and Rose home?" I pleaded, hoping he would realize how scared I really was.
I had never seen James in a fight, I had only heard about his fights from his friends, and they always told me that he would win within the first few seconds. But then again, I had never seen Dallas in a fight, and he was dangerous. I had a feeling someone was going to get hurt real bad, and it would all be my fault.
The anger was instantly gone from his eyes when he saw how frightened I was. But knowing James, he would never let himself look weak in front of others. He pushed me aside.
"Shut your trap and get into the car if you don't wanna watch this fight."
My mouth hung open in shock. James had never spoken to me that way before, even throughout our three-year relationship. I stepped back to let them have their fight, not even knowing whose side I was on anymore.
"Some boyfriend you are, don't worry sweetheart, after this fight I'll show you a good time." Said Dally.
I ignored him and saw James lunged towards him.
I looked away, feeling guilty every time I heard a sickening thud of fist-against-face mixed with the sound of people cheering. Throughout the whole fight, I could only make out that James had punched Dallas in the face, but Dallas had quickly punched back. There had been plenty of cussing, and they both had charged at each other like angry bulls. Dallas tackled James to the ground and started throwing punches at him. I had the urge to break them apart, but I quickly reminded myself that James had wanted this to happen. Telling myself that James would be cross if I stepped in again saved me from the guilt. Somehow James took the lead and started beating the tar out of Dallas. He pushed Dallas off of him, and grabbed his switchblade from the pocket of his khaki pants. Dallas saw the blade when they both quickly got up, and he backed away.
"Really need a weapon to beat me?" Dallas asked wryly.
I saw Soda and two other greasers who I recognized from school coming towards Dallas to back him up. I also saw Archie, Blake, and four other Socs I didn't recognize coming to help James.
"What's going on?" Soda asked.
"You greasers need to stick with the whores from your neighborhood," Archie replied, smirking at Dallas.
I scanned the room for Rose, knowing she was last with Soda. My eyes widened when I saw her standing right behind Soda. Was she stupid? Why was she standing with the greasers at a time like this, especially when her boyfriend was right there?!
My question was left un-answered when I saw a look of shock spread over Archie's face, and soon over James' and the four other Socs. They had spotted Rose too.
James went after Dallas again, and Archie charged at Soda with his fists ready. The two greasers from school were taking on James's friends. A couple of guys from the crowd also got involved. All hell broke loose. I made my way over to Rose, who was hiding at the back of the room, and grabbed her hand. I led her out of the large living room and away from the fight, and towards the double doors of the mansion. It didn't help that there was an open window in the lobby that was connected to the living room, letting you see everything that was going on.
"We're leaving," I muttered.
"We can't leave. Cherry, Marcia and Marcia's brother gave us a drive here, and they're still at the party, how are we supposed to leave? Our only option is Archie and James." Rose muttered back.
Some older boys who looked like they were in college broke up the fight. James and Archie had scrapes and bruises but the greasers had more wounds. It was probably from the blade that James had. Dallas had cuts on his right cheek and few bruises. I almost felt bad for him, considering this was my entire fault. I looked over at Soda who was hurt pretty bad, but didn't show any signs of pain. He looked ticked off more than hurt. He had a gash on his arm that he was pressing a piece of now-bloodied cloth to, plenty of deep cuts, and a bruise on his cheek. Looking at Rose's face, I knew what she was thinking.
"Don't you dare," I told her through clenched teeth, my voice low and serious.
Rose ran towards Soda and tried to help him but Archie stormed over and grabbed her arm roughly.
"What the hell are you doing?" Archie yelled.
Rose shrunk back and tried to free her arm from his grip.
Archie and James came over to the doorway, both of them holding on to Rose to make sure she didn't run away again. She looked more pissed off than ever.
"We're leaving," James stated as he nodded for me to lead us out the door.
"Y- your face, you need to get cleaned u-"
"I can wash the blood off when I get home, just get out, dammit!" James yelled, cutting me off.
"Don't raise your voice at me!" I yelled back.
He muttered several unpleasant and shocking things under his breath before pushing me aside, and heading out the door with Rose following behind him. Archie stayed behind, waiting for me to leave already. I looked through the window one last time, searching for Dallas. When I found him, our eyes connected. He gave me a small smile despite the blood drooling out of the corner of his mouth, and then turned back to his friends.
I walked out the door with Archie following behind me, thinking about what that smile from Dallas could've meant.
I got in the back of the mustang and sat beside was trembling, her eyebrows furrowed and her lips pressed in a tight line. She looked bitter only because her first party had been a disaster.
"Everything will be okay." I whispered in her ear as Archie got in the front with James and shut the door.
But really, 'Everything will be okay' was a big lie. Mom wasn't that scary, but dad... he was a Chief Police Officer. He was the one I was worried about.
Rose's POV
When we were almost home and done with the boring car ride, I built enough courage to ask something that Caroline or my parents never answered.
"Why do you guys hate the greasers? I mean, they're humans, just like us. It's not their fault that they're poor."
Archie turned around in his seat and looked at me with a blank expression "They're idiotic bastards who k-"
Caroline held up a hand to silence Archie. "I'll tell Rose myself later."
"You still haven't told her, Caroline?" James asked. "She's fifteen. How hasn't she heard about it from anyone else?"
Caroline didn't respond to him. The entire car ride home James would ask her questions about what she and Dally talked about, but she had ignored him. I didn't know Dally that much except for that he was always in jail, but I had noticed the way he was looking at my sister earlier. There was a soft side to him, deep down.
I couldn't help but think about Soda as the gatekeeper opened up the gates to our house and we drove down the large driveway and past the leisure pool. He was so sweet to me, and respected the fact that I was already taken. We had talked about the most randomness things in the short time that we were alone, and we had so much more in common other than our different wealth classes than Archie and I ever did. I really wanted to see him again.
James parked the car in front of our mansion. They followed me and Caroline up the steps, ready to give our father a full report on what had happened, hoping a punishment would scare us into never sneaking off again. Caroline sighed and opened the door. We saw our father and mother waiting in the living room of the mansion.
"Where was the party at?" Father asked, stepping forward. I was certain he was glaring down at us, but I couldn't be sure because his peaked cap created a shadow over his eyes.
Both of us remained quite, looking down at our feet.
"Answer me!" He yelled, making me jump.
"We went to Lizzie Hartman's party." Caroline confessed.
"James, honey, was there any boys there?" Mother asked.
"Yes Mrs. Kendall," James responded in a respectful manner.
"Did Caroline and Rose talk to any boys other than you two?" She asked.
"Yes Mrs. Kendall," He responded again. Mother and Father turned to look at us at the same time, a look of disapproval and rage across their faces.
"Thank you for bringing them back home, Archie, James. You two are dismissed." Father said.
"You're welcome, sir," They both said in unison. Archie and James left.
"What are the names of the boys you spoke with?" Father demanded suddenly, his lips now pressed in a tight line instead of a scowl.
"Dallas Winston was talking to Caroline-" I was going to add that I had talked to Soda, but Caroline was quick to cut me off.
"Rose didn't talk to anyone. When Dallas came to talk to me she went to the bathroom."
Why did she lie? What was the purpose of her taking all the blame? I could handle some of the blame too.
"Oh, Dallas Winston, I see. You weren't only talking to a boy, but a hood." Father said, gloweringly. "Should I go on and tell you all about his record back at the police station? We can stand here for hours going over everything. How would you like that? I thought I raised you better than to talk to hoods!"
"Dallas Winston. That disrespectful juvenile boy." Mother chipped in, shaking her head in disapproval. "You snuck out of the house with your little sister, and to a party, even after your father and I warned you there would be consequences if you ever went to a party without permission. Caroline, you know that to go to a party you have to ask us. And there can only be girls from our class, no others. What were you thinking, going to a party with dirt-poor and middle-class girls and boys? Do you know what dirt-poor boys do at parties? Bad things, Caroline, bad things."
I couldn't help but think about Jack and the way he had convinced me to drink from that bottle of beer, after mother finished her lecture.
"I know and it will never happen again." Caroline mumbled, still looking down at her feet.
"It won't, because the next time I catch the two of you sneaking out to parties or talking to hoods or 'greasers', you both will be homeschooled eight hours a day, seven days a week. And just to top it all off, the both of you are grounded for two months." Father ordered, giving us a small nod and then walking up the grand staircase to retire for the night.
Mother gave us a sympathetic smile. "Get ready for bed, girls. Goodnight." She leaned forward and gave us each a kiss on the forehead.
She then followed after father, walking up the staircase.
"Why do we hate greasers so much?" I whispered to Caroline.
"Get ready for bed, and then I'll come over to your room. It's time for you to know." She replied.