S.E. Hinton owns the Outsiders, I do not sadly. I do own Paula and Sam though. Enjoy!
May 1966
"Ponyboy! Over here!" Paula waved her hand back and forth wildly, hoping to catch the eye of her best friend. He'd just arrived, followed by his quieter friend Johnny. It was a usual night, busy night at the drive-in and she was itching to get away from her brother and his obnoxious friend.
The drive-in was the only place in all of Tulsa that was considered neutral ground. Both the west side and east side kids, the Socs and Greasers gathered here. It was no means a truce; it was just an understanding – no fighting while on drive-in property. It didn't mean you couldn't take it outside, which seemed to happen without a doubt every single night.
"Curly, ain't that the broad you were trying to pick up the other night?" Curly's idiot best friend Danny mumbled in between mouth full's of popcorn, kernels flying every which way. Paula couldn't help but roll her eyes in his direction. Danny wasn't the brightest of the bunch, and if he hadn't been Curly's friend since grade school she was sure Tim would've kicked him out of his gang long ago.
"Where at?" Curly jumped to his feet whipping his head in the direction that Danny was pointing.
"Aren't you boys supposed to be keeping your eyes open for something of the opposite gender?" Paula muttered under breath. It shouldn't be such a surprise to Curly when he only got the shit jobs from Tim. He could keep focused long enough to handle a simple task like surveillance.
"Shouldn't you be off gettin' busy with that Curtis kid," Danny scoffed in her direction.
"Shouldn't you be minding your own business," Paula huffed, "And we are just friends."
Out of the corner of her eye, Paula seen Curly elbow Danny in the side. He muttered something Paula couldn't quite make out but whatever it was it warranted a glare from Danny.
Since Pony boy hadn't noticed Paula when she had been waving to him she decided to leave the two idiots she'd arrive with behind and move into the crowd until she tracked down her friend. But it was easier said than done when she only stood around 5'2 and couldn't see where she was going, lost in the crowd of teenagers.
If there was one thing that Paula hated most about herself, it was her height. When she went to the store she could never reach the top shelves among countless other things that irritated her to know end. Even from a young age her siblings had constantly poked fun at her shortness. All three of them were taller than she ever hoped to be.
Using her intuition Paula pushed her way through the maze. Exasperated and almost ready to turn around she felt a tug on her elbow and let a sigh of relief slip through her lips.
"Hey," but to her complete displeasure it wasn't Ponyboy. It wasn't anybody that she expected, or wanted to see. The smirk he was giving didn't help her mood.
"What are you-you have to leave. We can't be seen talking to each other." For a moment Paula felt as though her heart had stopped beating as she whirled around wildly to make sure that no one she knew was looking on.
"Calm down, it's so crowded in here nobody will even notice us havin' this little chit-chat." He didn't seem to be breaking a sweat which ticked Paula off.
"What do you want?" Paula asked quietly but defiantly.
"I just got some new stuff, just thought I'd be polite and as if you wanted the first crack at it."
Paula couldn't help but roll her eyes, "yeah Sam, you're real gentlemen. Smoking some grass in the park is one thing. We aren't friends."
"Well, what the hell are we then?"
Paula groaned inwardly, this was not what she wanted to be doing on her Friday evening. Why was he being so difficult? Then again, they hadn't ever had to deal with situation in public before. Lord knows they ran in completely different circles.
"Sam," Paula started but trailed off when the crowd began to thin and she saw Ponyboy walking over to her with Johnny, "I don't have time for this right now."
"So what? I'm just your dealer?" Paula thought she might have seen a glint of hurt flash in his eyes.
No, she must have mistaken it for something. She didn't have time to play nice, her friends were steps away and Sam was about to blow her secret.
"Sure," Paula muttered. This time however, when she looked up into his eyes, she couldn't ignore flash of anger. Before anything else could be said Ponyboy was at her side, his face scrunched up in obvious confusion.
Breaking the uncomfortable silence, whoops and hollers erupted from behind the small group of teenagers, just beyond the entrance of the drive-in.
"C'mon," Paula grabbed Ponyboy's elbow and pulled him toward the action, not bothering to give Sam another look.
Breaking through the circular crowd Paula took in the sight that lay in front of her. She knew she shouldn't be surprised to see Curly tangled up with some dark haired greaser, one that she didn't recognize. Curly was a tough kid, one that could usually hold his own, but it was obvious he was getting the snot beat out of him which is what surprised.
Paula's eyes scanned the crowd for someone who could help, and her eyes landed on Danny. No, that wouldn't work. He was standing there looking like a deer in the headlights. Shaking her head she tugged on Ponyboy's elbow, her eyes pleading.
"Paula..." Pony whined, glancing back at the two struggling boys.
"Look at 'em Pony, he's getting his ass handed to him," Paula knew that Curly would be irritated that someone had to step in, but she figured he'd like it a heck of a lot better than having to nurse a broken nose and rib back to health.
"You know Darry will get after me Paula," but even so he took a few steps towards the two boys.
Before Pony could even attempt to intervene someone else strolled into the ring of people as casually as if there were walking into the diner to grab a coke. Sighing, Paula pulled Ponyboy back next to her and watched Tim as he yanked the dark haired boy off of her brother. She felt for Curly. Tim stepping in was ten times worse than Ponyboy if Pony had to help him out.
Beyond Curly and Time Paula could see another group of boys, none who she individually recognize. She knew who the boys were collectively though. They were the River Kings. All the boys had their eyes trained on Tim, but her intuition told her that there were two dark eyes staring straight at her, and when she scanned the gang she was proved right.
Paula felt uncomfortable and the blush the invaded her face was a sure giveaway. Was he trying to bring attention to the fact that she was going behind her brother's back. They weren't supposed to know each other; they sure as hell weren't supposed to be making eye contact. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Ponyboy glance back from her to across the lot at Sam.
Shit.
"Go to the car," her brother Tim pushed Curly towards the entrance, and motioned for her to follow. She was certainly not going home; it wasn't her that had caused the commotion. She had planned to spend the evening at the drive-in with Ponyboy and that's exactly what she was going to do. Thankfully, she didn't have to argue with her brother, someone else felt the need to take care of that.
"Shepard, where ya running off to," the voice rang out through the crowd, silencing the quiet chatter that had erupted. Despite the warmth of the evening Paula felt the hair stick up at the back of her neck. Outwardly Tim appeared like he'd rather just walk right on out with Curly but instead he turned to face Lee Vincent, the leader of the River Kings. "You're great escape don't have nothing to do with fact that my boy here just whipped your sorry excuse for a brother now does it?"
Those brave enough to stay in the crowd held their breath waiting for Tim's response. So far he had kept his cool but Paula knew that he wouldn't keep quiet for long.
"Or maybe it's because you're outnumbered, and don't want your own ass handed to you?"
"It sure ain't either of those Vincent, I'm just not interested in wasting my time on your sorry excuse for a gang," The fact that Tim was slightly rattled wasn't lost on Paula. Though, she was sure she was the only that could tell. Lee Vincent was right though, her brother's were sorely outnumbered. She didn't even count Danny in the mix; he was about as useless as a bump on a log.
She couldn't see her friends anymore which wasn't surprising. Ponyboy did his best to stay out of trouble. Paula could say she did her best to stay out of trouble too, but she wasn't quite as successful her friend. People were always shocked to know that they were such good friends, they were so different. Paula thought they balanced each other quite nicely.
"You should be interested there Timmy, you should be very interested," with smirk on his face he turned his back on Tim and walked away with the rest of his boys. The tone in his voice made Paula wonder if Tim really should be interested.
The lack of fighting seemed to bore the crowd as it dispersed leaving only Paula, her brother's and her friends.
Curly was on Tim in less than a few seconds, "Why did you just let 'em walk away like that Tim, he was embarrassing you on our own turf."
Paula groaned and for what felt like the hundredth time she rolled her eyes. She knew Curly was still amped up from his fight but she didn't understand why he had to always put his foot in his mouth and piss Tim off. Her eldest brother didn't look embarrassed but he did look bothered.
"Get in the damn car Curly. If you hadn't started a fight you couldn't finish than I wouldn't have had to talk to that asshole." Tim pushed Curly ahead again, Danny trailing slowly behind.
It seemed that the brief talk between him and Lee had left Tim rattled, so rattled he didn't even notice that Paula didn't follow to the car. She took the opportunity to head off in the direction of the candy corner where she had caught a glimpse of Ponyboy and Johnny.
