Everyone relaxed about the whole thing with my parents. It took about a week for them to relax, but slowly but surely, they did. Well, that's if you don't include the fact that they all said that they forbid me to go back to my own house where they were, for at least a month, and that if I had to go back to get anything from my room that I needed or anything, I should sneak through the window and lock my bedroom door- which I had done in the past so that worked out.
The Curtis had said I could sleep on their couch for a while during that month. While I had tried to protest against it, Soda tackled me to the ground, laughing his head off and said, "It wasn't an option and that I had no choice either way." That was one of those I was happy we were a lot like brother and sister in our relationship, otherwise I probably would've killed him.
The main reason that I tried to say no was cause I knew that they were still dealing with a lot. Darry had started to get more stressed out ever since their parents died and he got a job, and slowly, I could tell the stress was eating him alive. Plus Ponyboy found at that he'd be skipping the eighth grade and going straight into his freshman year in high school, so he was probably nervous about that, considering everyone would then be a year older than him in that class.
"Whether you like it or not, you're stayin' with us for that month. You know Soda would either drag you in here until you finally caved, or he'd throw you over his shoulder and bring you in here himself. You know he's done that before," Ponyboy laughed.
"There's just… there's just a lot going on right now that I kinda feel bad about the whole thing," I shrugged.
"It was Darry's choice to let you stay with us for a while, and you know he won't let you say no either, whether it's crazy around here or not."
"Well, then what do you think about it?"
He thought for a moment. "I'm cool with it."
"That's it? You're just cool with it?" I teased.
He laughed. "Well, that's not it. And even if it was, I mean it in the best possible way."
I nodded. "Ok, then what else?"
"Well, you're one of my best friends so of course I'm happy about it."
I smiled. "Aw Pony." My voice was still in a way that I was teasing him.
His cheeks got pink a little bit and he chuckled.
We just sat there talking for a while. It seems like we would do that a lot. A lot of the time, he would start talking about something, say something I didn't understand, I would ask either what he was talking about or what he meant, he would explain it to me, then we'd continue on with our conversation like we never even stopped for that moment for him to explain it to me.
While we talked, Johnny, Two-Bit and Dallas came into the house. It was still summer, so it's not like Dallas or Two-Bit had a job, and at the moment, the other three of us were too young for anyone to really hire us. "What're you two up to?" Johnny asked sitting down with us on the couch.
Pony and I looked at each other then back to the other three standing in the room. "Just talking really," I shrugged.
"That's it?" Two-Bit asked in a sort of confused time.
Ponyboy nodded, "Yeah."
"So y'all have been just sittin' here, just talking, for how long now?"
The two of us just shrugged.
"Ya see," Dallas started, "This is one of the reasons I always go out and do somethin' that'll get me in trouble."
"I don't get the connection." Johnny gave a confused look.
Dallas sighed a bit. "There ain't always somethin' to do 'round here, ya know? But even where there is, y'all just sit around readin' or somethin'."
I rolled my eyes. "Then what's there to do, almighty Dallas Winston," I mocked, starting to get a little annoyed with him- my tone and actions earning the satisfaction of watching the other three hold in laughter.
He glared at me and I grinned innocently at him. He shook it off and continued, "Rodeo's tonight, we always go early cause I compete with Buck, and Sodapop and Steve always meet us there."
"Then let's go," Ponyboy shrugged and we stood up. The rest of us nodded and we all left the house.
Before we left the house, we left a note for Darry telling him where we were going and how long we'd be out. On our way, we also stopped by the "head-quarters" of where he worked and asked his boss to tell him where we were when he got back. The note at the house was basically there in case his boss forgot to tell him. After we stopped there, we stopped over at the DX, making sure Steve and Soda were still gonna meet us there later like they always did.
When we got here, there wasn't anyone there yet, which was expected. It didn't officially start till about six in the evening, and it was barely even five yet. We always went early, and for a few reasons. One: Sometimes we would help Dallas and Buck with the horses and sometimes the bulls- more the horses- which took a little while. Two: there was usually nothing better to do before it started, considering some places in town would close early due to the fact that even they were getting ready to go. Three: if no one was there yet, we could get better seats to watch.
Dallas went off to the stables. Two-Bit went off to… to do whatever he does at these things to meet up with us later. So I stayed with Ponyboy and Johnny. "Did y'all hear that last time we were here, someone accused Dal of cheating? It was 'bout a week or two ago I think," Johnny said as we walked.
Ponyboy and I shook our heads and gave looks of disbelief. Johnny nodded, "It wasn't too long ago. But someone really did say that he cheated."
It was kind of a hard thing to believe. Everyone knew what Dallas did and how much he got in trouble, he was one that the Soc's knew about good and well. But even with everything that he did, nearly everyone knew that he never, and I mean never cheated at these things when we he would compete. Competing in rodeo's is something, that I believed, he truly loved to do and enjoyed doing, and I mean more than causing trouble around town.
"That guy must've wanted to die earlier than planned, and have a painful death at that too," Ponyboy said.
"I think the guy was drunk, but either way, Dal was reading to kill the guy. You were here that day, Rain. Remember? You were here, cause I remember talking to ya, but you went off somewhere else before the fight happened."
I thought for a minute till it clicked, "Oh yeah! I was walkin' around lookin' for y'all once it was over and I saw a huge crowd near the stables. Figured somethin' was going on and I didn't wanna get into trouble so I kept on walking."
"Good move," Johnny chuckled.
We eventually went over to the stables to see if Dallas and Buck needed any help. By then, Soda and Steve had gotten there, and I we weren't shocked to see Soda already by the stables, considering how much he loved horses. I understood that, I actually loved horses too, almost as much as him. There was one horse that I really liked to see, his name was Sport. He was kinda wild, but he was calm around me and a few other people. The only reason he was wild was cause he had been in a bad home when they bought him, and he would get nervous around other people and it seemed like he had trust issues if you asked me. Dallas would let me in sometimes after the rodeo ended or during the week before people came and just let me ride him around.
When we got to the stables, I went right to where Sport's stall was. Just like he always did, he jumped when I first walked up to his stall, but he calmed down when I stepped to the side of his head where he could see me. I took a sugar cube from a bucket near the whole stables and fed it to him then stroked his head slowly and gently. "You really like Sport don't ya?" someone said behind me, making me jump. I turned and saw a smiling Soda.
I chuckled a bit and looked back at Sport. I nodded, "Yeah. He's been here a while, what's it, two years?"
He shrugged. "That's a question for Dallas. Anyway, seems like Sport really likes you too."
"Yeah, I guess so. He's pretty calm around me."
"Well then why don't you compete?"
My eyes widened a bit. "Compete? Like, in the horse races?"
He nodded. "Sure, why not?"
I continued to stroke Sport. "I… I don't know, Soda. I mean, I've seen those guys who compete, they're pretty rough. I mean, I've never even seen a girl compete in those races!"
"All the more reason for you to compete in it! Besides, you're the toughest girl I know, and you're the best person who can even tame Sport, just ask Dallas or Buck, they'll agree with me… c'mon, why don't ya just go see if ya can. No one ever races Sport in this thing, so it ain't like he'll be taken, so it's not like ya gotta learn to ride another horse."
I bit my lip. "But Soda-"
"C'mon, I'll race with ya," he offered, "It'll be fun."
I looked at Sport then down, then sighed in defeat, "Fine, I'll go ask if it's too late to sign up for the race."
He smiled in victory and pulled me over to where Buck was, since he knew more about how to sign up for these, while I could feel my heart pounding outta my chest out a million miles an hour.
Ok, most of this chapter was not how I wrote it down in my notebook originally, I kinda had writer's block when I was writing this but then I was typing this, and I didn't like how I originally wrote most of it, so I changed a little more than half of the whole chapter. But honestly, I'm pretty happy with this chapter so it worked out I guess cause mostly before I changed it, this was gonna be a "filler chapter" or whatever the heck those things are called, but somehow I made it work for the next chapter so that worked.
ANYWAY! VERY IMPORTANT!
I now have five stories that I'm currently working on. Five on fanfiction. net, and three on wattpad.
Before the Love (This one, both)
Cherry Flavored Soda (fanfiction. net)
The Nighthawks (both)
Loyalty (recently requested, fanfiction. net)
The Power of Love (soon to be both)
The Power of Love is a collection of one-shots/short stories of what happens based on the second bonus chapter in To Love a Greaser. It will take place over however many years, and will include things that I said happened in the future for them all. Cherry Flavored Soda and Loyalty are both requests for fanfiction. net that are Cherry/Soda romance stories. Nighthawks is an Expendables stories( for those on wattpad, you know it is the spinoff from The Teenage Mercenary series which has Carter Ross, Lauren Christmas and Krista Jensen)
Because of these stories, I will not update too quickly, I will try to update every week for each story or at least every other week, I apologize in advance for any late updates. Also, because I am currently reading a series right now, the North and South series (which is what the 1985 show was based off of with Patrick Swayze and James Read) so that is also a factor in updating.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and sorry for the long author's note. Peace from all the hippies of the world! =^-^=