"hey, who's that?" soda asked, standing up and walking towards the picture. i smiled, forcing myself to stand up and stand beside him. "she looks a lot like you."
"right. she should, she's my little sister." i laughed as he looked taken aback.
"really? how come she's not here with you now?" it was an innocent enough question, he didn't know what happened to her after all, but it suddenly brought a strong feeling of despair. i bowed my head.
"she would if things had gone my way." i murmured. soda turned, sensing my sudden despairing mood. talking about lise never came easily, i guess it was a big deal for me. it would be a big deal for anyone. i pushed some dark hair out of my eyes, turning to face soda. he looked sad now, like he could read my mind or something.
"she's...with your parents?" he guessed. i scoffed and turned away. i would never leave lise in that hell hole. never. i wouldn't let her be exposed, and if she cried and cried when i took her away from them, i wouldn't care. she would've grown up, become a doctor and found a cure for cancer. there were so many things she could've done, and thinking back, i realized there were so many more things that i could've down to protect her. oh, lise, why couldn't you see how bad they were? they're your parents, but why?
"no. she...died awhile ago." there was an awkward silence, my heart was beating so fast i thought he could hear it. i stood still, my arms crossed as i stared at the picture. my house was sure cold. i lifted my hand, gently tracing lise's face. "she could always see the good in people. she still loved our parents even though they did so many bad things. it was the way she grew up i guess. but she...she just didn't understand. not everyone is good, i told her, but she refused to believe that." i choked back a sob, biting my lips as it quivered. i had the sudden urge to cry hysterically.
"kaylyn, maybe you should sit." soda's hands rested on my shoulders as he tried to push me towards the couch. i shook my head, looking up to meet his gaze. oh, his eyes were so beautiful, as was his face. his smile could make the iciest people melt. i don't know what it was, maybe it was pity, or maybe he even slightly like me, but we were getting closer, his lips were centimeters from mine, and i just couldn't seem to control my body. three loud knocks broke the silence, and the moment was destroyed. i shuddered under his touch, hastily backing away. we both turned red, looking away from the other.
"i guess that's darry...i-i'll see ya later, kaylyn." i nodded without looking at him. a hand softly brushed against my shoulder. i turned to face soda. his left arm wrapped around my waist, his right hand pushed lightly on my head, and all i could think was 'wow'. i was really in heaven. i leaned forward, hugging him back with a small smile on my face. he was so sweet, wasn't he? somebody i could really love...oh boy, my self-esteem just dropped. i felt bad for sandy now, i was putting moves on her boyfriend and she would never know. unless soda told her, but i doubted he would want too much more drama going on between them. he pulled away, trying to smile cheerfully.
"get some sleep, 'kay? you need it. visit me an' steve at the dx tomorrow, alright?" i nodded. "it's a date then." my heart raced as he said that, and for a minute i found myself dreamin'. maybe for once, i'd have a good dream tonight. i highly doubted it.
"right. bye soda," i watched him walk towards the door and open it to reveal a soaked darry. it must be raining out, but i hadn't noticed that at the time, i guess. darry looked pale and tired, worried even. they left, though, and i watched the car disappear before i could tear myself away. it was raining, hard, and it made me nervous. i hope they'll be safe, and darry didn't look too good. i brushed back my hair, sighing tiredly. it was getting later, but thankfully i only worked on the weekends. but, i did have to go to school, too, so i might as well get some rest. i locked the front door, slipping up the stairs to take a short nap. i didn't change out of my clothes, i was just that tired.
ugh. the obnoxious ringing of my alarm buzzed me awake, and i would've loved to toss it out the window at a random bystander. but that wasn't ladylike, so i just smashed it against a wall. man, i didn't have that kind of money, i couldn't just buy a new alarm clock. oh well. i groggily sat up, rubbing my eyes and yawning. ugh. school. i put on my skirt, and a nice plain black, short sleeved shirt. i posed in the mirror, putting on some cover-up, eyeliner, and mascara while i threw my hair up into a ponytail. it was long enough to put up, but my bangs were too short, so they fell into my face. i fluffed my hair up a bit, turning in the mirror before grabbing my schoolbag and leaving my house as it was.
i was only a few miles from the school, and still stupid enough to walk alone. i guess it never really sunk in, when i got jumped that is. i walked with my head down, the bag slung over my shoulder. did i even do my homework?
"hey, kaylyn, wait for me!" i stopped short after hearing my name be called, and turned to face my best friend in the entire world. kimberly. she had shoulder length black hair, with orange strips in the front. she had chocolate brown eyes that always glowed happily, whether she was insulting someone or giving someone a compliment, which happened rarely. her personality wasn't the best, in fact, she was a pretty violent person when she didn't get her way. kim had a short temper, and her fists would do all the talking when someone talked down on her. i knew a few socs who made that mistake, and i can say i've never seen them anywhere near kim or her friends again. she was, over all, a good friend. she was only fourteen, though, a lot younger than me.
"kimberly," i chirped happily, "guess who i saw a few days ago?" did i mention that she had the biggest crush on ponyboy curtis? oh god, she had the biggest crush on him, but they were just about exact opposites. she hated any kind of literature, while he read poetry, she loved fighting, while he hated it. it didn't stop her from liking him, though.
"don't make fun of me," she raised her fist, making me laugh and playfully push her away. we would walk to school together sometimes, then we'd talk about the latest movies in the theatres and other things. she was one of the people i really enjoyed talking to, i guess you couldn't really find people like that now. she was wearing a skirt, she hated them more then i did, and a plain shirt just like me, with her converses. she looked exactly like a greaser girl, with her leather jacket and thick eyeliner. this morning, we talked about boys. boys, boys, boys, boys. she talked about ponyboy, about how dreamy he was, while i talked about sodapop, for the same reason. it was kinda funny, we liked brothers and we were just about sisters.
when we got to school, well, we went our separate ways. we had lockers near each other, hers was under mine, so we could meet up later, but we now had to go to homeroom. something had happened, most likely greasers getting caught smoking in the hall, so now we were escorted by our teachers to our lockers. it was inconvient and annoying, we're kids, still, we wanted to go at our own pace. as i walked into homeroom, i was greeted by the most obnoxious laughter. oh, two-bit was at it again. and indeed he was. he was sitting on a desk with kathy by his side, and he was laughing at a few soc's in class. they did not appreciate this.
"hey kathy," she smiled and turned to me.
"hey, kaylyn, what's up?" i smiled. kathy was an all around nice girl, who understood a lot of things. she had two-bit's sense of humor, so i kinda saw why they really loved each other. i got to know kathy after two-bit brought her around my house. he said something about, making sure she wasn't jealous or something. well, she had nothing to be jealous off. she had that greaser girl look, her dark brown hair was short, and curled out at the ends, her chocolate brown eyes were coated thickly with eyeliner, and she wore a leather jacket around her shoulders.
that was probably two-bits, though.
"nothin' much, kathy. what's he up to now?" i took a seat beside her. she turned to face me.
"well, it looks like he's messin' with a few socs. i don' t think he likes 'em much." i rolled my eyes. like i said, two-bit's sense of humor.
"not what i meant." i started, but i was interrupted by the teacher.
"let's go," he started boredly, "to the lockers we go." two-bit and the socs turned away, packing up their bags and heading out the door. i waited for two-bit and kathy. i had a bad feeling about today. a very bad feeling. i tried to shake it off, i didn't like this feeling, but it wouldn't leave. all through the day, even when i was fooling around with two-bit and kathy, teasing kim about her crush on pony, or worrying over a test. i can't stand it anymore. something bad is gonna happen.
"hey there, kaylyn." this was that bad thing. i turned to face sandy, and her two best friends. now i was nervous. i had kim behind me, glaring, and kathy on my other side, her arms crossed. they were both fighters, so i knew i was safe, but i hated fights. why did i have to be involved. "leave soda alone." i was shocked. i was...mad. i wasn't doing anything with the kid, why couldn't i talk to him? sandy was a jealous little whore.
"why? he's my friend." i replied, holding my head high. i couldn't show signs of weakness now, sandy would thrive off of that. her arms went to her hips.
"no. you're not. he'll stop talking to you in a second if i tell him to." she smirked. she really thought she had won.
"uh huh. then do it. you think you're the best, sandy, but honestly, you've gotta be lower than low. you re just jealous because maybe i have a chance with him, and that tears you up on the inside, doesn't it? knowing someone as unpopular as me can steal a boy from ever so popular sandy? well, i'm done." i don't know where this bravery came from, but i knew i was fed up with sandy's attitude. i was always walked all over by her, but not anymore. "know your place sandy. you're just like me, a greaser, and nothing is gonna change that. no matter what you say or think or do, you'll still be a greaser. we'll always be on the bottom. so if you're more popular than me, a soc is a lot more popular then you. don't pin your petty little problems on me and soda's friendship got it?" she was as speechless as my friends. i had just stood up for myself.
"let's go." sandy turned around. "don't talk to him." she then left, and with that, so did the bad feeling. she wasn't going to stop me from seeing sodapop. i liked him a lot, and even if we would never be a couple, we could always be friends. sandy wasn't going to get in the way of that.