So, this chapter actually does have some meaning. :) Surprise!
Chapter Three
By the time Cherry was ten she'd already heard the word "greaser" floating around the playground.
When she asked Marcia about it her friend told her that it was basically a derogatory term for someone from the poorer side of town. Of course, there was also some literal meaning to it because Cherry had seen some of the older kids who greased their hair back.
She was split half and half on this subject. No doubt the kids who were getting taunted now would one day be just like the hoodlums who went around earning their name. But it seemed kind of mean, setting them up as failures before they even got a chance to decide.
Either way, no one bothered her. She was content staying neutral in this matter.
Even back then Cherry could have foreseen that, just based on who her friends were, she wouldn't be able to just leave the issue alone forever. But a certain someone dragged her into it far before she ever thought she would have to make any sort of decision about it.
Danny had taken to showing up every now and then. Sometimes it worked out like at recess. Others it was terribly inconvenient. Cherry would find the younger girl mysteriously outside in the hall after she'd been excused from dinner or up in her room when she was trying to do her homework.
Overall, Danny complicated everything. But Cherry had to admit to herself that she had come to enjoy her company.
However, not so much this time when Cherry turned around to find Danny standing right behind her.
Cherry gasped and Danny snickered, a sly smile on her face. Cherry considered getting angry with the eight-year-old for sneaking up on her, but decided it wasn't worth the energy. Besides, today was too nice a day.
The sun was shining, and it was unbelievably warm for early spring. The only disturbance was small, just a speck in the back of her mind, but unfortunately it wasn't nearly as small to Danny.
Across the playground one of the older boys was taunting one of the younger ones. Cherry always had wondered why the adults considered it a good idea to put all the grades out for recess at the same time. It just seemed to make problems and inevitability.
After looking further into the issue, Cherry saw that the older boy was Bob Sheldon and his victim was Curly Shepard.
Now, if anyone was destined to one day be a hood it was Curly. At eight he was already following in his brother, Tim's, footsteps. Tim had been a dropout by the time he was thirteen.
Bob Sheldon on the other hand came from an extremely well-off family. His father worked closely with Cherry's, and even at twelve she could tell how good looking he was.
His last words reached their ears. "Why don't you just quit now, grease? You're never going anywhere in life anyway!"
His buddies laughed while Curly Shepard steamed, clearly ready to belt the older boy. The only problem being that Curly was alone. Not for long though.
"Who is that?" Danny asked in a tone that showed that she clearly did not see Bob the same way Cherry did. But she didn't even give Cherry time to answer before storming over there to deal with him herself.
"Hey!" she called out to the arrogant boy.
He looked at her with about as much care as he looked at Curly. In his eyes she wasn't worth much more. "Yeah? What do you want?"
"What gives you the right to talk to anybody that way? On top of being rude, it's immature! You learn in PRESCHOOL not to say anything if you've got nothing nice to say. You think he's not going anywhere? Even the three and four-year-olds are ahead of you!"
Having made her speech, Danny stalked off, leaving Bob glaring at her back and Cherry with her eyes wide open in horror at the spectacle she'd just made. Cherry had quickly stopped doubting Danny's existence and her intelligence. Though young, the little girl could be quite smart when she wanted to, and she had a talent for stringing words together. But even though she could be a little defiant, Danny rarely caused so much outright damage. In fact, she usually made a point of staying away from anyone in this time that wasn't Cherry.
She pulled Danny aside as soon as she was close enough. "What do you think you're doing?"
Danny pulled her arm away angrily. "The better question is why aren't you doing anything? This is your time; do you really want people like that ruling the grounds?"
Cherry thought Danny was blowing things way out of proportion, but she stayed silent. She could totally see Danny getting picked on in her own school so she shouldn't be too surprised that she wouldn't tolerate it here.
In a quieter tone Danny continued, "Just standing up for yourself gets you nowhere, Cherry. Things don't start to change until you start standing up for other people."
Cherry found this touching, but would it really change anything? It seemed that here if you were on the bottom there was only so much you could do. And in most cases even those that prevailed stayed pretty darn close to where they'd started.
And it didn't come with much credit, considering there were no doubts which rung of the ladder Danny resided on.
Review please!
Hooray for meaningful chapters. I don't own the Outsiders.
Officially updated 8/4/14. (I added a little to this one. I felt it was needed, because I definitely wrote Danny to sound too old or wise for her age.)