"All merely graceful attributes are usually the most evanescent." -Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
Cathy was happy for her new friend Ella Mitchell, she really was. Before art class started, as Mrs. Girdlé wiped down the windowsill, the model hands having mysteriously vanished, Ella leaned over to Cathy. Her excitement was palpable, and her blue eyes sparked with happiness, stirred with a not small serving of disbelief.
"I'm going to Homecoming," Ella whispered almost as question than a statement.
Well, of course Ella was going to Homecoming, they already talked about having Ella's friend Evie do their hair. Wait…
"You got asked to Homecoming?" Cathy asked warmly. At least she hoped she sound warm and not incredulous. Or jealous.
"Mmm, by Craig Bryant." Although Ella kept her voice low as the buzzing hum of the light fixture that hung above them, her pale face glowed with joy. Cathy didn't know Ella real well, but she had never seen the girl this happy before, certainly not over a guy. Although granted, the only guy they ever talked about was Dallas Winston and well, he wasn't exactly a pocket full of sunshine.
But now looking at Ella, Cathy noticed not only how happy the girl seemed, but beautiful. Her eyes were an unusual, almost almond shaped. Cathy didn't really notice them before, but they had an almost exotic cast, like Myrna Loy's. That was it, Ella Mitchell, with her freckled soaked pale skin and bushy brown hair had the eyes of a Hollywood starlet.
Excitedly, Cathy finally began to envision how she would draw Ella for their class project, she would focus on her eyes, a sensual curve of a blue lake cutting through the dusty, dry, barren landscape.
How did Cathy never notice that before? Maybe it was because Ella, a sweet girl, never really smiled the way she did right now, with her eyes.
She wondered if Ella knew just how pretty she was under all that triple canopy jungle of brown hair?
"So, have you found a date yet?"
Her heart stopped. Itching limp hair, Cathy shrugged.
No, Cathy did not have a date yet. Bridget had promised to find her a date, but so far, nothing. Cathy knew she shouldn't be picky, and heavens, it was just a stupid high school dance not a forced betrothment. Cathy couldn't figure out why this dance made her feel so nervous, then looking into Ella's eyes she found her answer.
In that moment, Ella's eyes contained an entire world. Ella's world. There was no barrier between her outer and inner world. Cathy wanted to strip naked and dive in head first, to tell Ella that she was scared.
Not so much of having a bad date, or even not having a date, but of putting herself out there. To ask Bridget for a favor, to admit that even with go-getter attitude she didn't have the answers. That even with something a simple as a date, she needed help. That maybe there was something wrong. With her.
But Cathy didn't like swimming on an empty stomach. Looking down at the table, Cathy pressed her lips into the closest approximation of a smile she could manage.
"Nope, still looking." Smile. Cathy had a nice smile, when she wanted to, she could light the stars on fire with her grin. It just wasn't always easy to start that first spark.
"Oh," Ella looked genuinely sorry for a second, but then she perked up, "I still really hope you come Cathy, even if you don't have a date, it's going to be a lot of fun, you're always welcome to join Craig and me."
Covering her mouth, Cathy 'coughed' to hide the snort that emitted from her mouth. Yeah right, that's just what Ella wants, a third wheel on her date with this Craig Bryant. Cathy knew that Ella was only being polite, extending an invitation whose RSVP was never meant to be returned.
Cathy shook her head, "no I don't want to get in the way." There was an awkward pause. Ella opened her mouth, as if she felt obligated to tell Cathy that she wasn't going to be a burden. She seemed almost relieved when Cathy reached for her hand, "I'm serious Ella, you're going to have a wonderful time with Craig, there are probably going to be a lot of kids there without dates, it will be fine. I'll be fine."
Ella grinned. She had a beautiful smile as well, it was almost as if something had been unlocked within her. Confidence? People assumed Cathy was confident, she had the posture of someone who knew what they were doing, she was quiet, but steady, like a rudder. But inside, Cathy never felt as confident as the image she projected.
Not Ella, not today, it was almost like she was a different person, or maybe this girl was always there, finally swimming to the surface.
Cathy smiled at Ella, a genuine one, "do you want to come to my house after school? I promise you, my parents made Bonnie put away her skates," Cathy laughed.
Ella looked genuinely conflicted, "I really wish I could, but I have to tutor Dallas and then I'm working, but maybe after work? Or tomorrow?"
"You take your tutoring job seriously, don't you?" Cathy was impressed with all of the extra effort Ella was going through to help Dallas Winston. Dally was lucky, Cathy thought, possibly the first time in history Dally and luck was ever used in the same sentence.
Ella touched her math book, slowly drawing her fingers across the binding, her eyes lost in thought.
"He's trying."
Cathy could finally see why Ella was chosen to be Dally's tutor, despite blonde's rude behavior (at best) and downright hostility, Ella wouldn't give up on him. Ella, Cathy decided, was a fighter.
Cathy had one more question to ask her friend, "So, tell me all about this Craig, is he hot?" Cathy opened her mouth, as if she wanted to bite into Ella's experience and digest it as her own.
Ella sighed happily, "like you wouldn't believe."
XXXXX
Walking down the halls of Will Rogers, the sun forming prisms of shadows and light through the Art Deco windows, Cathy thought about Evie Martin. The name sounded vaguely familiar, like an echo of a memory that you aren't sure belongs to you or to someone else.
There was something about Evie that made Bridget uncomfortable, but Ella seemed to like her. Cathy wasn't the type of girl who made up her mind based on other people's views, she needed to figure out the answer for herself.
Cathy watched with rapt attention as a dark haired girl with a too tight blouse and a guy with swirls of thick, greasy hair kissed by the water fountain. It was the same couple she saw earlier in the school year, the couple in the lobby.
She couldn't see the girl's face, but she watched as his fingers ran up her back.
Cathy's own heartbeat sped up and all those life lessons her mother gave her about not staring at others in public flew out the gorgeous Art Deco window. For the life of her she couldn't stop looking.
And wanting.
XXXXX
Evie Martin still felt the warm push of phantom fingers from last night. He was good, real good. Steve was Evie's first everything and she didn't have much to compare him to, but there wasn't nobody in the world who could make Evie feel both like a wild cat and a lolling kitten at the same time.
She closed her eyes for a brief second, feeling the linger throbs of Steve's fingers pushing deeper and deeper. When she opened her eyes she saw Vickie and Bridget, her two favorite people in the entire world, put up a poster for Homecoming.
"Midnight in Paris?" Evie rolled her eyes, because if there was one place that reminded her of Paris it was Tulsa, Oklahoma.
If Evie was on the Homecoming Committee, not that you could pay her enough money to spend time with those bitches, she would never agree to something so corny. Nope, Evie would decorate the gym like an old garage, using hubcaps for chandeliers, exposed metal beams and engines. Even Steve would want to go, and he wouldn't even care if Evie bought their tickets.
XXXXX
Vickie Harper may have fancied herself a blonde Jackie Kennedy, minus the blood stained ensemble, but it was LBJ who provided the real inspiration to Vickie Harper. Like the Texan, she was the master greasing palms, cajoling, charming, and if it came to it, threatening, to get what she wanted. Unlike LBJ she drew the line at forcing her underlings to follow her into the bathroom for meetings while she sat on the porcelain throne. For now.
She and Bridget had spent part of their lunch period putting up posters for Homecoming, and that didn't include all of the politicking Vickie was doing behind the scenes to win Homecoming Queen.
Some would say Vickie was going overboard, that there was no need to make homemade posters and plaster them on the lockers of her friends. 'Free advertisement' she told Bridget brightly when the New Yorker wondered why in the world a glamour shot of Vickie greeted her when she arrived at her locker one morning.
"I didn't think you'd mind," Vickie said cheerfully, "I put one on Cherry's locker too, oh and that little friend of yours, the one who went to private school."
Bridget swallowed the urge to roll her eyes and shrugged her shoulders, "you're putting a lot of effort into this."
Vickie was smart, she could pick up a slight edge of sarcasm that burned through Bridget's otherwise polite tone, but Vickie didn't have time to get mad, she had a campaign to win. Then there would be time for score settling.
"Oh," she handed Bridget a bunch of posters, "put these up around the girls' locker room," when Bridget looked at the blonde with an incredulous stare, Vickie merely smiled, "and I already got permission."
Bridget looked like she wanted to say something, but before her own mouth could open, Vickie opened hers, "you know, I really appreciate it. You're the best campaign manager."
Bridget didn't say anything but she gave Vickie a slight smile; after all, Vickie was her friend.
"Simply the best!" Vickie Harper flounced her way down the hall, leaving Bridget and the homemade posters behind.
XXXXX
Ponyboy Curtis had no idea why there was a picture of a Socy girl on his locker. She was a good looker, but weren't they all? Pony didn't think he'd ever seen a bad looking Soc. It must be a requirement, like the English Leather their boys wore.
An invisible hand pushed on Pony's chest, his throat burned and his eyes stung. Once again he was back on the street, lying on the ground, the smell of English Leather suffocating him.
"Need a haircut greaser?"
Feeling a clammy shiver, Pony blinked his eyes and like that the English Leather and the boys wearing it disappeared back into memory again, ready to pounce out like a panther without warning.
He looked around, none of the other lockers had a "Vote for Vickie!" poster written in neat calligraphy. Vote for Vickie for what?
Two-Bit, Pony thought with a chuckle. Not that he thought the nice handwriting belonged to Two-Bit, but he had to have something to do with the poster on his locker. The freshman couldn't believe that somehow Two-Bit AND Dally both landed on the Homecoming Committee, "do y'all know what you got yourselves into?" Pony asked the stocky teenager.
Two-Bit only lifted his eyebrow, "shoot kid, the question should be do they know what they got themselves into? Besides, they always talk about school spirit at those pep rallies, feel like I should pay ol' Will Rogers back for all the good times I've had over the many, many, many, years here."
That was another thing about Two-Bit, Greasers usually didn't attend pep rallies, or get into all that corny school spirit jazz; hell, greasers hated spending any more time at school than they absolutely had to.
Not Two-Bit. The 18 year old junior was a rare bird. Two-Bit would attend the rallies, worst of all, he would make Johnny & Pony attend with him. Of course Two-Bit's version of 'school spirit' was different from most peoples. While almost everyone sang "Ride on Ye Ropers" Two-Bit loudly added his own creative twists to the lyrics which included an ode to another rope like contraption the girls of Will Rogers could ride.
Glory, did Pony's ears turn all sorts of red. He reckoned Johnny's would have as well, but the boy's deep, tanned skin did a far better job of masking his emotions than Pony's milky white skin which revealed everything the younger boy was thinking, like a transparent window.
But when Two-Bit stood up, placed his hand over his heart and gave a beaming grin and the thumbs up to Principal Vernon, all while loudly mouthing his dirty lyrics, Pony just about wanted to die. Darry was gonna have to plan another funeral.
Turns out a few weeks later Darry did have to plan another funeral. Johnny's.
Looking at the photo Pony groaned silently, remembering the last 'prank' Two-Bit played, the one that ended with a busted a school window and ol' Dal being hauled down, cocky and loyal as ever, to the police station.
Pony didn't have time to worry about what his buddies were up to, he had enough worries of his own. Soda was acting strange, not just normal person strange, which was par for the course for him, but odd for Soda. He and Darry were still redefining their relationship with each other. He and his buddies were still trying to find their footing after the heart of their gang died. Pony couldn't afford the luxury of trying to figure out what Dal and Two-Bit were up to. He only could pray that the school would still be standing by the end.
Shaking his head, Ponyboy ripped the photo off his locker.
XXXXX
"Catherine!" Cathy looked up, Bridget was the only person who called her Catherine, but the honeysuckle voice did not belong to the New Yorker. Can we talk?" It was a statement not a question, and the black haired sophomore shrugged and looked at her watch, "um, sure."
Cathy looked Vickie Harper in the eyes; she had blue eyes that oozed confidence. No, ooze was the wrong word, she gleamed confidence. If Ella's eyes were a welcoming pool in the desert, Vickie's eyes were a tempestuous flood, drowning everything in sight.
"Catherine! That's such a cute outfit you have on, I had a similar outfit when I was in junior high. It's SO perfect."
Cathy looked down at her yellow jumper and matching yellow knee socks. She didn't think the outfit was too young for high school. She had seen an identical adult version in the Sears catalogue.
She tried to match Vickie's condescending smirk-turned-grin. But even as her coldest, Cathy Carlson had nothing on the blizzard in plaid.
"I hope you didn't mind, I put one of my campaign posters on your locker," Vickie said with a smug expression.
Campaign? What the heck was she talking about?
Cathy must have looked has confused as she felt, because Vickie, her voice heating up with impatience, sighed, "for Homecoming." When the dark haired girl still looked confused, Vickie continued, "it's a big deal around here."
"I bet Homecoming was a big deal at Graves Academy," Vickie's smile seemed almost genuine and Cathy's body relaxed, her shoulders melting back, a small smile forming on her lips.
"Well, there were a lot of Sadie Hawkins dances; of course, we were missing one really important factor-the boys," Cathy said dryly.
Vickie's lips puckered, not unlike that of a fish gasping for its last breath. "you went to an all-girls school?"
Cathy shrugged a nod, "yeah, I liked it." She really did. She loved everything about Graves; the teachers, the classes, the friends she made. It was peculiar, most of the girls who went to Graves were wealthy, but with few exceptions, Cathy got along famously with everyone. Maybe the fact that there were no boys around and everyone wore the same uniforms like teenage Madelines, made the difference. No matter where they came from, at Graves they were all the same.
Here? Even when Ella told Cathy her good news of being asked to Homecoming what was Cathy's first reaction? Was it happiness? Unbridled joy? No, it was the nauseous tingling of envy. Cathy hated that. Cathy wasn't an envious person, she didn't compare herself to others. Cathy had a lot to be grateful for, but in that brief second, what she wanted more than anything was a Craig Bryant of her own.
Vickie only shook her head and crinkled her nose, "my God, I think I would die. Wait, did your parents force you to go? Did you have to leave town?" There was a dangerous glint of ice in her eyes and Cathy felt her cheeks burn.
"No, I wanted to go," Cathy external voice was stronger than her internal voice. No wonder people always thought Cathy was confident. Besides, how the heck was this Vickie's business anyways?
"Oh, well. Anyways Catherine, I wanted to talk to you about Homecoming."
Of course.
"You know dear, I was talking to Evie…" Vickie sounded like she swallowed a rotten fish, "and I'm not sure if she's really the best person to do your hair," she leaned over conspiratorially.
Part of Cathy felt amused that Vickie even cared about her hair. She didn't expect everyone to be like M&M, worrying about the plight of coal miners in Kentucky, but could hardly believe that her hair was that important to Vickie Harper. Or anything about her.
Part of Cathy felt angry and awkward that Vickie would find it her business to tell Cathy what to do with her hair.
But her overwhelming feeling was that of curiosity.
"Um, why?" She was hoping to sounder cooler, more casual, but her curiosity popped out in the high rise of her voice.
"Because," Vickie leaned forwards, "you aren't like her. You aren't like them." She smiled so beginginly she almost looked serene. A calm, gentle body of water; whose river teeth were jutting out for the kill.
"No? What am I like?" Cathy tried to keep her voice even but she felt herself stiffen, Cathy wasn't use to having people flat up tell her what they thought of her. There was a part of her that wanted to lean in, eager to hear what Vickie would say, and a larger part of her that wanted to run away.
"You're nice Catherine, and decent. I liked you from the moment I met you," Vickie's words dropped enough sugary-sweetness over Cathy to decay every one of her teeth.
At this Cathy stifled a giggle. What? She hardly spent more than 3 minutes with Vickie, including this ever enjoyable conversation.
Cathy did not do a great job of stifling her giggle because like a storm cloud, Vickie's face darkened, her brows furrowed and her lips pressed together.
Then the flood gates opened.
"Listen to me Catherine, I don't know how things were done at Graves, but this is the big leagues, you may only be a sophomore, but the reputation you get will follow you for the next three years."
"What do you care about my reputation?" Cathy didn't quite know how everything worked at Will Rogers, but she could hardly believe that Evie Martin was such a bad influence. Man, she really needed to finally meet this Evie…
With a frozen glare, Vickie looked at Cathy, "I don't."
"Just remember that who you choose to hang out with will say a lot about the kind of girl you are." Vickie sneered as scanned Cathy's outfit, "do you really think you fit in with those girls? Do you really think they'll accept you?"
Cathy was wrong, Vickie's eyes weren't a flood, they were a damn tsunami.
"I got to get to class," Cathy said and walked away, her head held high, but her eyes worried, her mouth slightly open.
She shook her head and continued to walk.
XXXXX
Ponyboy Curtis decapitated Vickie Harper. At least, he decapitated the photo of her, her neck in his left hand, her head in his right hand.
A girl with jet black hair, and a sly grin leaned over, "ah, I think that was supposed to be on my locker."
Ponyboy looked at the ripped poster and back at the girl, she didn't seem upset, if anything she seemed rather amused. But still, Pony felt sort of bad for ripping up the girl's poster.
"I'm sorry," he muttered.
But the girl rolled his eyes, "oh, don't be."
With a sigh she looked around, pictures of Vickie Harper adorned almost every free space in the hall. Wow Vickie was taking this seriously. Maybe Homecoming was as big of a deal as Vickie said?
Below a poster of a frog (the Biology department ordered too many for dissection and in an attempt to teach the Freshmen of Will Rogers about the 'joys of the free market' and earn extra money for a new microscope, they were trying to sell the excessive frogs to students) was a full sized photo of Vickie, they both had the same expression.
This was ridiculous and Cathy couldn't help but burst out laughing, "my God, it's like A Face in the Crowd."
It wasn't a dramatic moment. It wasn't a moment where time stood still, where the earth stopped moving, where the only thing alive in that moment were the fast beat of two teenage hearts. But Ponyboy Curtis grinned to himself; no one, not his brothers, not the gang, digged movies the way he did, and no one made obscure movie references off the cuff, until this girl.
A few months ago even talking to a cute girl would have made Pony nervous, the memory of that girl in yellow still stung in the backlog of his mind. But maybe it was losing Johnny, maybe it was being separated from his brothers, maybe it was Dally's miraculous survival (not that the towhead would ever use the word 'miracle' to describe what happened to him), maybe it was even meeting Cherry and Marcia; but Pony wasn't nervous. If anything he sort of wanted to get to know this girl better.
"Hey, my name is Ponyboy Curtis," he said extending his hand out. He waited, internally cringing for the inevitable wide eyed, muffled giggle response he always got when he said his name for the first time.
But the girl, she didn't giggle, didn't look shocked; she didn't even try to tell him what a 'creative and original' name he had, like Cherry did. She just shook his hand, as if nothing about him could throw her off.
"Cathy Carlson," she said with a slight smile; "nice to meet you."
She had a surprisingly strong grip and long eye lashes. Real long eyelashes.
XXXXX
Ponyboy Curtis didn't expect to see Cathy at the grocery store where he and Two-Bit were killing time, and in Two-Bit's case, acting like a general nuisance, before meeting up with Steve and Evie for Cokes at the drug store next door.
Glory, but Steve looked as irritated as a wet alley cat snatched in the power line when Evie invited Pony to join her and Steve for an afternoon bite. But ever since Johnny died, though Ponyboy wouldn't call Evie Martin a friend, she was trying to reach out to him more, saying hi to him the hallways, asking how he was doing.
He appreciated that about Evie.
Though Steve acted like he had no idea what Evie was up to, in the back of his mind Pony wondered if Steve told Evie how hard he was taking Johnny's death. He tried, mostly because Darry told him too or else, to stop living in a vacuum. But there wasn't a day that went by when something or someone didn't remind him of his best friend.
Pony couldn't help but notice that while Steve could still be his jolly temperamental self, in between his scowls, his sarcastic mutterings and explosive temper was something approaching genuine admiration and concern for the youngest greaser.
Aw hell, he must be in bad shape if even Steve was going soft over him.
Two-Bit invited himself. "Don't you have anything better, or anyone better to screw?" Steve asked, as if he didn't already know the answer.
Two-Bit cheerful as always, just shook his head, "nope! You know Kathy would rather get run over by a freight train than to see my face right now."
"You sure she'd be able to tell the difference?" Pony piped up. Two-Bit smacked him playfully against the side of his head. For a 'playful' smack it sure did smart.
Pony shook his head, Kathy and Two-Bit had a strange relationship, they broke up and got back together so often, it made Pony dizzy, but still he couldn't imagine Two-Bit with anyone but blonde preacher's daughter.
Two-Bit with anyone but a blonde? Just wouldn't be natural.
Two-Bit was walking up and down the aisles, moving objects around; going on some rambling story about something that Bee Stevens did that pissed him off. For someone who Two-Bit professed not to like, he sure did talk an awful lot about Bridget Stevens.
Cathy Carlson looked at the row of candy; she was waiting for Ella and her brother to get off work. Cathy wondered why Ella never wanted Cathy to come to her house. Cathy didn't mind having Ella over, truthfully she was surprised that frizzy haired girl even wanted to step back in their house after she fell flat on her face, but Ella seemed to like the chaos of the Carlson home.
Cathy watched her brother put cans of Campbell soup in the bottom of the brown paper bag. He was a good kid, he was Cathy's favorite sibling, but well, she couldn't sometimes help but feel that there was something off about him. She didn't quite know what it was or why she thought that way; M&M was a smart kid, polite and quiet, but he was also naïve. Cathy knew she was sheltered, even more sheltered than girls like Ella Mitchell were. But M&M was the type of kid who would hitchhike a ride with a stranger without a second thought.
A shiver came over Cathy. She reminded herself that M&M was doing just fine, besides it was the prerogative of big sisters to worry about their little brothers since time began. When she and M&M were old and grey, when they both had spouses and children and grandchildren, Cathy would still be worried about her little brother. It was the natural order of things.
Cathy picked up a Mars bar and as she stood up she found herself face to face with that stocky boy with the weird name, Two-Bit was it?
He waved at her "well hello Miss. Carlson."
"Oh, hey Two-Bit," she said cheerfully. Standing next to him was Ponyboy Curtis. It was amazing for a school as large as Will Rogers everyone seemed to be connected.
She looked up at Pony and smiled, he was a good looking boy, a very good looking boy. He had eyes that were an unusual shade of green, green with a hint of grey. They reminded Cathy of a March morning, but there was a spark in them, a promise of spring through the fog.
Cathy felt her heartbeat speed up.
And his dimples. Even when he only gave her a polite smile his dimples were noticeable. For a moment, Cathy was grateful that Two-Bit stood as a buffer between the two of them, because she was sure she was a nervous wreck.
Cathy brushed her hair behind her ears and looked down at her jumper. Vickie was right her outfit did make her look like a little girl. The butterflies flapped in her stomach.
"Y'all know each other?" Two-Bit asked, his eyebrow raised. Pony shrugged, "locker buddies," and Cathy laughed, but a small part of her felt like the butterflies had all dropped dead.
This was crazy, it was one thing to feel nervous about a boy that she liked, but Cathy hardly knew Ponyboy Curtis.
XXXXX
Evie Martin was still determined to go the Homecoming, on Steve's arm. She only had one problem: Steve. Evie loved her man, and no one could make her feel the rush of a passionate panic, the tingling shiver that rose from deep inside of her like Steve. Just thinking about him, Evie felt a rush of excitement.
Evie still wasn't sure how, Steve was pretty damn adamant about not letting her pay for the tickets, but that only made Evie more determined to solve the issue, after all Steve did for her, this was the least she could do. It would be a challenge, trying to convince the stubborn mechanic to give up some of his pride, but Evie never backed away from a challenge.
She welcomed it.
Killing time before Steve got off work, Evie decided to visit the store where she heard Ella Mitchell worked. The girl was quiet, but Evie liked her well enough, even if she was a bit of nervous wreck. Evie finally saw Craig Bryant and well, she still couldn't believe he had asked her to Homecoming.
Really? Ella? There had to be something up about that, good looking guys like Craig didn't just date girls like Ella for no reason. Evie didn't want to be mean, but hell, she knew the score. She hated it though. Ella was a nice girl.
But whatever was taking place between Craig and Ella wasn't none of Evie's business. Besides, between her part-time job at the hospital, school and doing Ella's hair, Evie didn't have time to keep up with Tulsa's version of Search for Tomorrow.
Then there was Cathy. It bothered Evie real bad that this Cathy girl just assumed that she would do her hair, assume that she would do Bridget's hair. She could picture Cathy perfectly, a Soc princess, the type with a tight asshole and loose mouth. The type of girl who thought everything revolved around her.
Steve wasn't very sympathetic, "so," he flicked his cigarette butt away from the angry-heat that emitted from Evie like dragon's breath, which secretly turned him on, "don't do her hair."
Walking into the store, Evie spotted Ella at the checkout counter, her brows furrowed as she was adding up a customer's total.
"Hey Ella," Ella waved and though she seemed tired, there was a small smile on her face.
"How are you?" Ella asked while straightening the candy and gum display.
Evie sighed, between not going to Homecoming and this mysterious Cathy girl, Evie wasn't exactly in the brightest of moods.
She decided to ask Ella outright.
"Hey Ella, have you ever heard of this chick named Cathy Carlson? Apparently she's walking around telling everyone I'm gonna do her hair, and get this," Evie said with a barely contained snort, "she's telling that Bridget girl from our English class than I'm going to do her hair too. Where the hell does she get off? I swear, if I ever run into her stuck up ass, I'm going give her a piece of my mind."
Ella Mitchell's eyes widen, and her pale skin turned a pallor so white the color does not exist on the color spectrum. Evie could feel the shadow of someone standing next to her, she hated people didn't respect personal space. She turned around, and there stood a dark haired girl.
"Hi, I'm Cathy Carlson" the pale, dark haired girl said evenly.
Well, wasn't this just perfect.
Evie didn't feel bad, the girl shouldn't have been in her space, shouldn't have been making assumptions that Evie was gonna do her hair.
Then she remembered; this was the same girl from the hospital, the one who bought a teddy bear or something. So that was Cathy. Evie had to chuckle, after all this time wondering who the hell Cathy was, the big mystery was solved by being her.
Fuck. Well wasn't this just fine and dandy. Evie didn't feel too bad, after all, she was having a private conversation with Ella. But Evie never got her jollies from being the 'mean girl.' If Kathy was here she would have really made this girl suffer, but Evie just got down to business.
"You're Cathy?"
Cathy nodded, and Evie could see that girl was squirming, though she tried her best to maintain a steely eye focus with Evie.
"Yeah, we met before, at the hospital."
Ella butted in, "you two know each other?" She sounded a bit relieved, even though based on Evie and Cathy's facial expressions, she had no reason to be.
With a disinterested shrug Evie nodded, "we both work down at the hospital."
Something in Cathy seemed to soften, "yes, I guess we do." Her hair was jet black and shiny and really it was nice hair, but bland. Against her will Evie began to think of how she could make Cathy's hair look better, if Ella's was a challenge because it was so out of control, Cathy's was a challenge because it was so mundane.
Evie couldn't believe this and she knew that she should walk away, but against her better judgment she began to speak.
"Cathy, I don't have time to do a bunch of hairdos for Homecoming, but I can give you a style, but it's not going to be free."
Cathy nodded, "I never thought it would be free." Funny thing, she seemed almost more offended on Evie's behalf than anything.
Evie sighed, this was too easy, something was gonna give, "alright, I'll do your hair, but I'm not doing Stevens' hair."
Cathy moved her mouth like she had a toothache. Ella said nothing.
"Okay, should be fun." She said in a voice so devoid of anything approaching 'fun' that Ella smirked.
Two-Bit and Pony ambled down the aisle where they spotted Ella, Evie and Cathy.
"Well hello Evelyn, where's your uglier half?" Two-Bit said, trying unobtrusively to stuff penny candy down in his pocket.
"He's coming."
Then Cathy remembered, Two-Bit and Pony with Evie and her boyfriend in the school foyer. Was everyone connected?
"Good, because if he wasn't I was gonna have the kid play for our dinners," Two-Bit said with a wink, and Pony mindlessly shoved his friend. As Two-Bit battled with gravity, he yelled out to Cathy, "hey, you wanna come, Cathy?"
Part of Cathy did want to come. She liked Two-Bit and she wanted to know more about her locker buddy but she didn't want to push her luck with Evie, besides she had plans.
"Nah, no thanks Two-Bit; Ella and I are hanging out."
This time it was Evie's turn to look surprise. "Y'all know each other?" Two-Bit was a real friendly guy, but she couldn't picture him being friends with Cathy who seemed rather shy and closed off.
It was Cathy who spoke up, "I feel like I'm in the "Shadow Play" episode of The Twilight Zone," she said with an awkward chuckle. Ella laughed, Two-Bit gave an absent-minded but good natured shrug, Evie looked out the window impatiently for Steve. Pony smiled.
Thanks for reading. Hinton owns. We also do not own "A Face in the Crowd", "Search for Tomorrow" or "The Twilight Zone" although judging from the royalties, we probably wished we did. ;)