Chapter Five: Common Ground

Pony POV

Two-bit ended up being too hungover to go to the movies at 10:00 in the morning, but Cam seemed to enjoy it. I didn't hear a word from her. While walking home, she was really quiet.

"Did you like the movie?"

"Oh, I loved it, Ponyboy. Watching a movie on the tv is nothing like watching in a movie house."

I smiled. She didn't even move during it.

"I love movies, I have since I was little. My mom used to get on to me for watching them all the time."

Her face turned sad at the mention of her mom.

"What was she like?"

"She was great..."

"And...?"

"I... I kind of don't wanna talk about it right now..."

I frowned. She noticed.

"I just... It just happened, and I don't really know you guys that well yet. I've only been here a day..."

She had a point. I nodded.

"But, you can tell me about your parents if you want. I don't mind that a bit."

I thought about it for a second. We didn't talk about our parents at home, and I couldn't stand that.

"Well, Darry's the spitting image of my dad, but he doesn't act like him. Soda acts just like him."

"And how is that?"

"Sodapop's happy go lucky. He's a goofball. He's the perfect mixture of mom and dad."

She smiled at that.

"What about you?"

"Well, I'm actually not really like either of them. I'm quiet. I don't talk much."

"Could've fooled me."

"Huh?"

She chuckled.

"You've talked to me the most out of everyone."

I thought about that. It was true.

"We call our little group a gang. We're like brothers."

"Anyone else in your gang?"

I stopped dead in my tracks. She turned to look at me.

"Ponyboy, are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm... I'm okay... I need to show you something."

She nodded. I didn't know why I felt so comfortable with her. I think it was because she was Soda's sister, and since I couldn't talk to him, I could talk to her. I took her to the graveyard. Dally and Johnny were buried right next to each other with no headstones, but I knew where they were.

"These are recent, aren't they?"

I nodded.

"That one's Johnny Cade, and that one's Dallas Winston. They were the other two in our gang. They died almost three months ago..."

I was expecting the questions that I didn't wanna answer about how they died. Instead, she just nodded and walked closer.

"What were they like?"

"Well, I didn't care for Dallas. He was... A character, that's for sure. The only thing he ever loved was Johnny since he was the pet of the gang."

She nodded again. I got closer, too, where I was right next to her.

"And Johnny was... Johnny was my best friend... The only person I could really talk to besides Sodapop..."

Again, I expected the questions that I wasn't ready to answer. I didn't get questions, though. I felt her arms go around me. I broke right then and started bawling. She never said a word. She was just there for me. It was like she knew that saying nothing was the right thing to do.

Cam POV

We went back to the house, and watched some tv. I felt bad for Pony. The only thing I knew to do was hug him. I only talked when I was ready, and I was starting to see that he was like that, too. I got bored with watching tv and went out on the porch. Pony joined me and lit a cigarette.

"Can I have one?"

"You smoke?"

"Yeah. My parents didn't know, but they both smoked, so I'd kind of picked it up."

He handed me one and a lighter. I hadn't smoked in a couple of weeks, and it was definitely making me feel better. Around 2:30, Soda got home and we headed for the stables.

Soda POV

"Do you know where they are?"

"Yeah, I used to work there. Got really close with a horse named Mickey Mouse. Some guy owned him, but he was my horse. Would come when I called and everything. He was mean to everyone else."

"Sport's like that. That horse never liked me, and I sure don't like him."

That confused me.

"Then why'd you keep him? You said y'all had more horses."

She looked down.

"He was my dad's... I wouldn't trust anyone else to take care of him."

When we got there, the owner told us that they had settled in nicely, and that we could ride them through the trails whenever we wanted. When we opened the stalls, Sport walked right up to me and Crystal to Cam. You could tell that was her horse. She looked at me funny.

"Well, I'll be damned. I've never seen that horse go to someone except my dad."

I grinned. Sport was a real fine horse, and I could tell we'd be buddies.

"I guess you're a horse whisperer."

We sattled them up and went riding. We ran for a long time, but finally started just walking.

"Crystal's fast."

"She's the fastest horse I've ever had."

"How many horses have you had?"

"Well, only three have ever been officially mine, but we had twelve. I liked them all, except for old Sport here."

I chuckled and patted him on the neck.

"He's a good horse."

She snorted.

"Yeah, you wouldn't think that if he was mean to you. That horse has bitten me more times than I can count."

I laughed again.

"Well, I guess one thing we have in common is our love for horses."

"A good step in the right direction, I'd say."

We took the horses back, and put them in their stalls.

"Bye, Sport. See you next time we come. I love your horses."

"Crystal's my only horse. I think it's been said loud and clear that Sport's your's."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, I am."

Cam POV

The weekend had went by too fast. I'd never been to school before, and I was nervous. I smoked three cigarettes in a row, which only made me feel sicker.

We got to the school, and Darry got me registered. I was a sophomore, and in advanced classes.

"I'm off. You gonna be okay?"

I nodded, even though I wasn't sure.

"Two-bit will drive you home. Ponyboy has track practice, so he'll be home around 5:00. You'll be fine."

He gave me a hug, and I was off. My classes weren't so bad, and I felt relieved when I was at my locker and Two-bit came up to me.

"How's your first day going?"

"It's going."

"Well, we eat lunch at this store down the road. We meet at Steve's truck."

"Great, I'll be there."

In my next class, a boy that had been in several of my classes approached me.

"Why was that greaser talking to you in the hall?"

"That what?"

"Greaser. You're new, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Stay away from greasers. They're hoods and no good. Stick with Socs."

I was really confused.

"Thanks for the tidbit."

"Anytime."

I met Two-bit, Steve, and Ponyboy at Steve's truck and we went to the store. We were sitting on the bed of Steve's truck.

"So, what's a greaser?"

Steve cocked an eyebrow at me.

"The poor kids. The Socs are the rich kids."

They went on to explain to me everything about both sides. It aggravated me. I grew up with money, but I never thought I was better than anyone. Granted, I didn't go to school or anything, but my parents would've skinned me if I'd been mean to anyone because they didn't have money or had grease in their hair. A car pulled up while we were eating our candy bars and bags of chips. A group of guys got out, one of them being the kid that had talked to me in class.

"What do you want, Danny?"

"I wanna talk to her."

Steve hopped out of the truck.

"What about?"

"None of your business."

"It's sure as hell is my..."

"It's okay, Steve. I'll talk to him."

"Cam, I don't think you should."

"I'm not leaving the parking lot. I promise."

He nodded. Two-bit spoke up.

"We'll be watching."

I walked over to the other side of the parking lot with Danny.

"I thought I told you to stay away from them."

"And I said thanks for the tidbit. I didn't say I would."

"Look, they're bad news."

I started to put more pieces of the puzzle together. Even though I wasn't wearing a dress like a lot of the Soc girls, I was still wearing name brand clothes.

"They're not bad news. They're my friends."

"Look, you don't know how it is around here. You don't..."

"I guess I'm a greaser, too."

He gave me a look.

"Do you know Sodapop?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, well that's my twin brother. I live with them. On that side of town."

"So, you're their sister?"

"No. I'm Soda's sister. He was adopted. Look, are we done here?"

"Wait, then why are you...?"

I groaned and walked away. He walked back to his car, looking dumbstruck.

After school, I met Two-bit at his car and he took me home. He invited himself in, which was fine with me. Only one weekend in Tulsa, and I realized him and Steve practically lived there, too.

"So, what'd old Danny want?"

I explained to him what happened.

"He assumed you were a Soc, huh?"

"Yeah... So, what am I?"

"What do you mean?"

"Am I a greaser girl?"

He shook his head.

"No, you're a nice girl. That's all you need to be."

I nodded. I had seen some grease girls, and they were kind of scary.

After a week of living in Tulsa, I was really starting to like it alright. I got along with the boys good, and I actually liked school. Everything was going really great. That Saturday, I was walking through the hall when Two-bit jumped out and scared me. I didn't mean to, but I started wheezing really bad. Soda and Pony were by me in a second when Two-bit yelled for help.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?"

I pointed to my room.

"Top drawer... Inhaler..."

Pony ran to my room and brought back my inhaler. I took a couple of puffs from it and could breath again. Once I could, I realized everyone was staring at me.

Darry POV

When I got home, the boys told me what happened. I was lecturing her.

"Cameron, why didn't you tell us you have asthma?"

She winced at the sound of her full name.

"I didn't think it was a big deal... I don't really have asthma attacks anymore."

"Really? Cause you just had one!"

"I haven't had one in months, Darry! Honest!"

I sighed and sat in my chair.

"Any other medical problems we should know about?"

She shook her head.

"Alright, go to bed. We'll talk about this more later."

She sulked to her room. Ponyboy went to bed not long after her. Soda was still in the living room.

"It was kind of scary."

"I'm sure it was."

"I just didn't know what was wrong with her."

"She's fine. It's asthma."

He nodded and went to bed. I followed soon after. We'd all had a pretty long day, and I doubt that any of us even moved that night once our heads hit our pillows.