Ponyboy's lips were as soft as I had remembered them. I didn't want to leave the safety of his arms, but it was getting late, and if the both of us didn't leave soon, we'd get in trouble. I felt so many things, I was happy and sad at the same time. It didn't make any sense to me, it really annoyed me that a guy could make me think so much.
"We've gotta go, Kim. C'mon, I'll walk you home." His arm wrapped around my waist, and I let him guide me back to my house. The inside was dark, meaning my mother was sleeping or passed out. Pony leaned against the door. "Don't walk alone, Kim, it's real dangerous, and you ain't that tuff lookin'." I punched his chest playfully, still adding in some strength to show him I was serious.
"Don't you walk alone, then? Gosh, you tell me one thing and you don't do it yourself!" I exclaimed, crossing my arms.
"I'm meeting Two-Bit at the Dingo, he's gonna walk home with me." I sighed.
"Okay. Be safe." It had been such a long time since I had been in Ponyboy's presence; I guess I didn't want him to leave just yet. I wanted to talk to him a little longer, but I guess he had to get home. "I'll see ya later."
"Yeah." He leaned forward, placing a kiss on my lips before stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking away. I stood there, dazed, but with a smile. Maybe things would get a bit better now that me an' Ponyboy had made up. I sure hoped so, I need a bit of sunshine in my life.
"Ugh." I groaned as my alarm clock screamed in my ear for me to wake up. I unhappily slammed my hand against it, groaning tiredly and turning over. "I don't wanna go to school." I rolled over, burying my head in my pillow. What time had I come in last night? I knew I was out late, talking with Ponyboy, getting hugged by Ponyboy, getting kissed by Ponyboy...I sighed. Ponyboy was going to be at school... I pushed myself up, stretching.
"Mom's still drunk I bet, I'll have to walk today..." I walked over to my closet, looking through my closet to find the best thing to wear. I hadn't been this concerned about what I was going to wear since I...went out with Ponyboy. I frowned. He changed the way I thought, the way I felt about things, the way I wanted to dress, I don't know, he just changed everything. I grabbed a skirt and a sweater, quickly throwing it on and slipping on my shoes. I looked at the clock in my room, quickly brushing back my hair before picking up my book bag. I looked at myself in the mirror, sighing again before exiting my room.
My mother was still on the couch, a bottle of beer in her hand. She was softly snoring, her chest rising and falling slowly. I watched her for a few seconds, my frown increasing as I walked outside. The sun was shining brightly, showing it was time for school to start soon. I crossed my arms, my eyes glancing at the Curtis house. The door was open, as usual, but I smiled as Ponyboy walked out. Darry said something to him, Ponyboy looked annoyed and replied, and then he started to walk. I flushed. Did I really wanna walk with him after everything that had happened last night? What if he pretended in never happened? Man, I was beginning to act like a...like a...girl! What was it about Ponyboy that made me feel so weird. I just couldn't figure that out.
"Hey, Kim, what're you just standin' there for?" I jumped as a hand clapped on my shoulder. Christ! What made me so jumpy?
"P-Ponyboy..." I smiled weakly, "I-I'm sorry..." He laughed, giving me another one of those cute little smiles. It made me squirm a bit and turn away from him in embarrassment. I could tell that confused him, but honestly I felt like such a girl. Was I in love? I don't know. He was the first guy I've ever really loved, or felt I loved, but maybe I was just clinging to the first guy who showed any love or care for me, wasn't I? I didn't want to use Ponyboy like that. But I felt like he was more important to me than just that. This weird butterfly feeling I get whenever his name is even said, I don't know, it made me feel like I was just giving myself away. I didn't like that, I never wanted to feel so unprotected.
"C'mon, you're walkin' to school today, right?" Ponyboy asked, taking my bag from my shoulder. "We don't wanna be late, do we?" I flushed as he slung my bag over his shoulder, too, something he hadn't done in awhile. I guess missed that about him, too.
"You're right. Let's go..." He smiled at me, making that butterfly feeling I had early act up again. It felt so weird to be talking to him again, after about two years. As we walked, we did another thing that we hadn't done in awhile, we talked. I never realized how many things we had in common. I never realized how long it had been since we've talked about our family life, and about our siblings. I hadn't talked to someone that liked the same things as me for a long time. Pony's arm was wrapped around my shoulder, making me flush as some of my fellow classmates glanced at me. Oh god, I was gonna hear it from Justina and Mikayla.
He stopped at my locker, handing me my bag and standing with me for a few seconds. A few greasers passing by looked at Pony, murmured a good job, and walked away. That made me turn pink as I turned towards my locker and quickly entered the combination and took out my books. Pony's lockers was only a few down from mine. That made me wonder, how had I been so good at avoiding him? He even sat real close to me in English and Science. How could I have seen him, growing up and becoming more mature and handsome, and not have been able to pay attention or talk to him, or even give him a second glance. Was I that afraid of getting beat by my father, that I had blocked out the one person who had meant the world to me?
"I'm so confused." I rubbed my head, slamming my locker closed and walking over to Pony's. He was sorting through it, looking for his books. I laughed at him, earning myself a small smile. He finally found whatever he was looking for, stuffed it into his bag, and wrapped his arm around my shoulders and led me to class. Everyone kept looking at us, especially my friends that had been with me when I broke up with Ponyboy, but also when I was with him. They said we looked good together, even though in a lot of ways, our personalities clashed. Only they, my closet friends and the one girl I regarded as my sister, knew of my reputation in my old school as a fighter. I wasn't nice to people I didn't know, I didn't get good grades, and I was a generally dark and troubled teen. Not that Ponyboy's completely innocent, but when he didn't understand what popping someone's cherry meant, I knew he wasn't anything like most guys in this school were.
"I'll see ya later, Kim, I gotta do somethin' for Mrs. Hoffman this morning." Mrs. Hoffman was our English teacher. I hated her, and she hated me. She said one day my name was gonna be in the papers under the 'Most Unwanted' list. Yes, she didn't like me. Plus, I chewed gum in her class, talked back, and rarely did my homework on time. I kissed his cheek, making him blush and grin as he walked away towards the English room. I walked into my homeroom, with the Science teacher. Justina and Kelsey were waiting for me at my seat, and I knew as soon as I sat down, I was gonna get a lecture.
"Kimberly Ann Wingate! What's wrong with you? You said you were over him, ain't no way in HELL am I letting you make another mistake of giving him a second chance!" I flushed. She was acting like he had beaten me up, or cheated on me, or something real bad with him.
"C'mon, Justina, I broke up with him because I was afraid of what my dad would do to him!" I hissed quietly at her. I hoped she wouldn't make a scene in front of Ponyboy when he came in, I was trying to rekindle our friendship. He needed someone there for him besides his older brother, you know, like a good girl friend. Not that way, it would be awkward, but like in a way that I'm a girl, and just a friend. Yeah, with benefits and a lot more feelings than one should have for a simple 'friendship'.
"Mhm, don't make excuses, he's done something to you that made you break up with him, you can't do nothin' to make me believe otherwise." She pushed back her long, braided hair, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at me. Now, she's not a normal, African American, she was treated with respect because of the way she could insult someone so fast, they'd be left with whiplash. She's just that intimidating like that.
"Justina, shut up!" Of course, she never intimidated me, I wasn't one to get yelled at. In fact, I'm pretty sure she was pretty afraid of me. She told me about her dream she had a few days ago, where me and her were in a classroom, alone, and than a small black spider showed up on the black board. Apparently I pulled out a gun and started to shoot at the spider, and Justina woke up laughing like crazy. I laughed at that, it sounded like something I would do, after all. The door to the class swung open, and Ponyboy entered with a few of his friends. Justina glared at him, swinging her hips as she walked over to her seat. I smiled again, laughing as Pony looked nervously at Justina as he sat next to me. Boy, this day was going to be interesting.