CHAPTER ONE
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1966
"Dammit, Danny," Lisa Carter growled at her older brother. "Shut the window, would ya?" Rolling her eyes, she continued to grasp at her blonde curls which were flying all over the place due to the amount of wind circulating inside the old beat up J-100 Kaiser. Letting out a low groan, Danny turned into Will Roger High School's parking lot and pulled into an empty spot.
"Why didn't you just get a ride from Sally like you usually do?" Danny asked, pulling the keys out of the ignition. His upper lip was slightly curled and Lisa could tell that he was praying that her riding with him to school in the morning wasn't going to be a daily occurrence.
Kicking the passenger side door open, she jumped out of the vehicle and adjusted her hair. "Kelley left for college yesterday, remember?" Lisa snapped. She was still bitter about how her best friend, Sally Myers's, older sister wasn't going to be in Tulsa anymore. Danny moaned as he let himself out of the driver's seat.
"You're kidding me, right?" He wasn't at all bitter about his ex-girlfriend's departure (maybe a little but he wasn't going to let anyone know that), he was just damn annoyed that he was gonna be left with driving his kid sister to school. Joey he was alright with, he wasn't even thirteen yet, and he wasn't a girl. Plus, he dropped him off at the middle school it wasn't like he was gonna deal with having to drive him home, he'd just take the bus. But with Lisa, it was a whole different story. He'd just wished he hadn't been held back in eighth grade and maybe just maybe, he'd be off at college too.
"Don't leave without me after school or I'll bash your head in." Lisa threatened, just before turning around to make her way towards the entrance of the school. Danny silently cursed himself and made sure he didn't slam his car door shut no matter how mad he was, and then stalked off to go find his good friend Two-Bit Mathews before homeroom started.
XxX
"Just look at him," Kathy Devier scowled. She was propped up against her cool metal locker with her arms crossed and wishing the daggers she was staring at Two-Bit's back were real. "He's such a jackass."
Evie Sanders almost laughed; instead, she decided to mess with her a little. "Oh, I know," She cooed. "You should hear what Lisa says about him." Clacking her teeth, Kathy gives her smart-ass friend an evil glare.
"You know very well that I am not talking about Daniel Carter." Kathy returns her vision back to Two-Bit and his annoyingly cute best friend, Danny. "And we all know Lisa would never talk shit about her brother to anyone no matter how pissed she was at him, she's way too loyal if you ask me."
"If only your boyfriend had that quality," Evie couldn't help the smirk that had applied itself to her face.
"Ex- boyfriend." Kathy corrected, angrily. She hated how Evie always took her and Two-Bit's fights as a joke, but then again practically everyone always did. They were such an off-again-on-again couple no one seemed to know the score with them half the time.
"Yeah, for the next two days." Evie reminded her. She seemed to know the deal, and Kathy hated that. Letting out a loud obnoxious sigh, Kathy kicked herself off her locker and grabbed onto Evie's forearm.
"The bell's about to ring, let's get going." She huffed. Grinning, Evie nodded, and followed her friend to their first hour class.
"Get Keven to beat him up." Evie joked, but when Kathy didn't answer she decided to leave it alone. For all she knows Kathy would get her brother to beat her up!
XxX
Curly Shepard didn't mind sharing a class with Ponyboy Curtis. What he did mind was that he was the only sophomore in the whole damn class. Was he really that stupid to be the only freshmen to have failed Global History? It's been twenty days and Curly still didn't want to accept the fact that maybe he was. Leaning back in his chair, itching for a cigarette, he chomped hard on his inner cheek wishing he was anywhere but sitting in that classroom. Sitting next to Pony wasn't much fun because he wasn't the kind of greaser to joke around with in class, so he was really all to himself.
Curly sighed loudly just as Mr. Arlington had begun to speak and earned himself a stern look from the teacher. He stifled his smirk and leaned forward letting his chair smack down with a loud CLACK! A few snickers filled the air and Mr. A rolled his eyes. He was used to Curly's antics but he never was soft with him about them.
"You got a problem over there, Mr. Shepard?" Curly crinkled his nose. Mr. Shepard? What was he, his father? He shook his head and the teacher turned his attention away from him.
Curly sat still for a few more minutes while Mr. Arlington put some notes up on the chalkboard. Maybe the reason why he failed last year was because the lack of notes he copied. Looking around the classroom he realized that he was also the only one without any sort of supplies for the class. He cleared his throat then turned to Pony and gave him a big smile. "Mind if I borrow a pen, and a piece of paper?" He asked.
"I've got some paper, but only one pen." Ponyboy told him, handing him the white sheet. Curly nodded and whipped around in his seat and eyed the pen and pencil lying on the girl's desk. Without even asking, he picked up the pen and turned back to the board, and wrote his name at the top of his paper. He heard the girl gasp and grumble a little. Not-so-gently, she tapped on his shoulder. He turned back around and winked at her, wishing he knew her name.
"What can I do for you, baby?"
With a disgusted scoff the girl shot her hand out to grab the pen back, but Curly threw it forward and it hit the boy that was sitting in front of him in the head. The boy instantly shot Curly a dirty look. "The hell is your problem?" He accused, loudly. Mr. Arlington looked up from his desk and wasn't surprised when he saw Curly staring right back at him.
"What's going on over there?" He said, like he didn't even care.
"Well, sir -"
Before Curly could come up with a smartass response, the annoyed girl stood up from her seat, "Curly took my pen and threw it at Michael." Curly almost wanted to laugh at the way she presented the story. Mr. Arlington looked over at Michael, who nodded his head and held up the pen that was the cause of the altercation.
"Mr. Shepard," Mr. Arlington sighed. Curly rolled his head around his neck and sighed back. Again with the Mr. Shepard. "If you can't control yourself I suggest you leave." This time, Curly didn't even hold back his grin.
"Alright, fine with me." Picking up his piece of paper, he crumpled it up, threw it at Michael's head, and started towards the door. Mr. Arlington jumped out of his seat and ordered him to the principal's office.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Curly replied. But hell if he was actually going to where Mr. A wanted him, it was second hour and he was going home.
XxX
"Would you stop pickin' at my fries, girl," Debbie Maloney snapped at her friend that was sitting across from her. "Get your own."
Sally Myer's rolled her eyes and leaned back in the red leather booth at the Dingo. "You know I ain't got no money." She told Debbie. Pulling a dollar bill out of her pocket, Lisa handed it to her desperate friend.
"Go get yourself some fries."
Sally's eyes glistened and she squealed. "Thank you so-so-so-so-so-so much, Leece!"
Debbie frowned and popped a fry in her mouth. "If you keep giving that girl money you'll be just as broke as she is."
Lisa shrugged and picked at the seams of her old blue jeans. She didn't mind loaning Sally a dollar, and it's not like her family was broke. Sally's actually sort of was. Looking over at Debbie's light blue skirt, and pretty white blouse Lisa scowled a little. She knew she shouldn't be jealous of her middle-class friend, but she was. To make herself feel better, she stole a glance at Sally, who was also wearing a skirt. Her's had been pink and a little shorter than Debbie's, but it's not like it was high fashion or anything.
A few seconds later Sally was sitting next to Lisa enjoying her fries with a big smile on her face. Lisa wished she felt that happy. She was still mad about what had about earlier that day with her brother.
"I wish Kelley was still here." Lisa blurted. Sally looked over at her and nodded in agreement.
"Me too, the bus I take to the school is just as horrible as the school itself is."
"That's why I have my parents drive me." Debbie added.
Sally shook her head, shoving a heap of more fries into her mouth before speaking again. That was Sal for you, not really much into table manners. "Both my parents work in the morning, they couldn't drive me even if they wanted to."
Lisa pouted her lips and stole a fry from Sally's tray. "I hate how Danny drives," She complained. "Plus, he hates driving me – maybe I'll just start walking."
Debbie spit her coke back into her cup, and the girls made a face. "You can't walk are you crazy!?" Lisa cocked an eyebrow and gave Sally a questioning look.
"I don't see anything wrong with it." She said, answering Lisa's non-verbal question.
Debbie rolled her eyes and took a sip out of her pop. "Hello! Your house is like two miles from the school!" She reminded Lisa. "Plus, you could get jumped and double plus Danny would never let you do that!"
"He let me walk all the way here didn't he?" Lisa assured her worried friend.
"I doubt he even knows you come here for lunch." Sally interjected, finally agreeing with Debbie.
"Like he'd even care – he's over at Jay's with Two-Bit and the rest of his friends, why would I even cross his mind?" Lisa bantered.
"You are his sister, Leece, it's not like he hates you…" Debbie began. She was about to say something else was Lisa cut her off.
"Whatever guys, can we just drop this." Lisa was feeling drained and arguing with her friends wasn't helping her mood. "Lunch hour is almost over and I can't be late to English." Neither of her friends said a word, they just followed her out the door.
XxX
Dallas Winston hated how packed the Dingo was around 12:00pm. He especially hated how the kids from Will Rogers High School would decide to have their lunch hour there. Sure, he had done the same thing when he was a freshman for that one week he survived of high school, but that's because the Dingo was for greasers like him. Not for little school girls to giggle and talk about boys and shit. The Dingo was a rough hangout and those kinds of girls didn't belong there. That was exactly why that girl got shot a few years back.
Dally chose the red booth all the way in the corner of the diner so one, Sylvia Jones, his ex-girlfriend wouldn't be able to find him, and two, he was able to scope out any unsuspecting kids that looked like they needed to be messed with. But no one mess-worthy ever came because it was always those three prissy lookin' gals who would always end up fighting about something while they were there.
Today it was about her brother Danny and Dally almost fell out of his seat when he realized they were talking about Danny Carter. He knew him, knew him well. In fact he's hung out with him a couple of times, but he hadn't seen him since after he bailed him out of jail a week ago.
Taking a drag of the cigarette he had just lit up, he stared at Danny's kid sister and chuckled a little bit at how curly her hair was compared to her older brother's. It was amusing finally to be able to put a name to a face in that joint that was crowding with kids he probably would hate if he knew them, even it was only her last name.
He watched them as they finally stood up and made their way out the door, and leaned forward, smashing his cigarette into the table. Dally actually kind of wished he could go back to Will Roger's just to see how fucked up it probably still was. He was bored to tears and since Buck wasn't hosting a rodeo anytime soon Dally was gonna be broke to tears too. Grumbling to himself he lit up another smoke and rested his head on the wall beside him. If he knew life was gonna be this dull when school started up again, he would've just had Danny leave him in the cooler. He needed something excited – he needed a fight. And he knew exactly how he was gonna do it. Three words: Tim Shepard's car.
XxX
Steve Randle loved his seventh hour Mechanics class. What would make it even better if Sodapop Curtis was still enrolled in school so they'd be able to do it together, but he wasn't too upset because he still had Two-Bit and Danny. He didn't get why it was required for all boys to take the class at least once in their high school career, and apparently neither did Danny because he was the only Senior taking it last minute.
It's not like he was complaining though, Steve loved anything that had to do with fixing and making shit. Especially cars, Steve loved cars. And so did Jason McCoy because he was a sophomore and he was sitting on the stool right next to him. Not many underclassmen did the class and Steve never knew why. He was kind of impressed with the kid because of how well he was.
Steve had talked about Jason with Soda a while back when school first began; he was thinking that maybe when Jason was a Junior that he would recruit him to work at the DX with them. Sodapop got right on board with the idea; he loved meeting new people and wouldn't mind another fresh face over at Ellis Grant's place.
"What's up with you and Kathy, Two-Bit?" Danny's voice broke into Steve's thoughts and he looked up from the sketch he was drawing of a tuff car he'd been thinking about putting together.
"Yeah, Two-Bit," He grinned, adding in his two cents, "You guys broke it off again?" Two-Bit rolled his eyes and slapped me on the shoulder.
"I didn't, she did." We all oohed. Kathy was always calling it off with Two-Bit, and Steve didn't blame her. He was always flirting with other girls, but that was him and Kathy should know that by now. Breaking up with him isn't doing justice, if anything it's making him wilder.
"When you figure she's gonna take you back?" Jason piped up from behind them. He was working on some sort of wooden sculpture thing that Steve was pretty sure was some sort of clock project they were all supposed to be doing.
Two-Bit shrugged off his question. "Probably by the end of the week, I'm gonna ask her to come to the Drive-In with me on Friday," He let the guys know. "Hey, Stevie, you should ask Evie to go with you so I'll have a reason for Kathy to go too."
Steve curled his lip. "You mean like a double date?"
Danny chuckled. "What's wrong with double dates?"
Steve shook his head and went back to his sketch. He was remembering the time when he'd went on a double date with Sodapop and his girl Sandy. Boy had that not been so fun. "Ain't that big of a fan."
"Why?" Two-Bit teased. "You afraid Evie's gonna fall in love with me while we're all hanging out?" The caused a laugh from everyone, even from a few people who weren't in the conversation.
"Yeah," Steve nodded. "That'll be the day."
"Fine then," Two-Bit said. Then he turned to Danny and poked him with his pencil. "You should get a date for Lisa and then she could go on the double date with Kathy and me." Danny gave Two-Bit a look that told him he was crazy.
"You're kidding me, Mathews?" Danny smacked him upside the head and hopped off his stool, reaching over Steve's shoulder to get a look at what he was drawing.
"No, I ain't kiddin' you, Carter," Two-Bit was ready to get on his knees. "How about we get ol' Johnny to go with her, they're friends right?" He suggested. Steve grinned at that one. Their friend Johnny Cade wasn't the 'ask out a girl' type, and Two-Bit knew that too, he was just so damn desperate to get Kathy to say yes somehow. "I'm pretty sure we can convince Johnnycake and Lisa to just go together for my benefit…" Two-Bit continued, but when no one replied to him he got an idea. "Hey, Jason!" He shouted excitedly. "Why don't you ask Lisa to go with you? We all know you got all the girls head over heels for you."
Jason instantly turned red, and went back to working on his clock without saying a word. Steve wanted to roll his eyes at how much he reminded him of Ponyboy. Danny looked up at Jason and raised his eyebrows. Two-Bit clapped his hands and hollered.
"You got a thing with all the girls of Will Rogers, McCoy?" Danny joked. Jason didn't look up from his work; he just bit his lip and kept silent. It wasn't so much all the girls, it was Danny's girl. Well, his sister.
"Well maybe Lisa has a thing for him, I'm always hearing girl talkin' about how hot this kid is." Two-Bit gushed, pointing at Jason.
"Alright, alright," Danny looked grossed out, but turned back to the sophomore anyway.
"Well – I mean, I guess it'd be cool…" Jason finally spoke up. Lisa's brother looked like he wanted to rip his own heart out, but instead he just grunted and nodded. Two-Bit threw his hands in the air and smiled wide.
"Yes!" He cried. "Looks like I got a date Friday night!" He sang, throwing his arm across Jason's shoulders.
"You don't know if she'll say yes yet, Two." Steve reminded him. Two-Bit shook his head, he wasn't sure he Steve was talking about Kathy, or Lisa.
"Oh she'll say yes alright! I know she will!" And he prayed they both would.
So, what do you guys think?
Reviews would be swell :)
