Chapter 6

Dallas walked back to the Curtis's house, just now realizing that he left Ponyboy. By now everyone was back at the house, eating some snack that Mrs. Curtis always prepared for them after school, no matter how old they were.

"Dallas, I thought you were going to walk Ponyboy home from school today?" Mrs. Curtis poked her head out from the kitchen as Dally walked inside. She hated when the boys walked alone, it always worried her. She wished they had enough money to live in a neighborhood where she wouldn't constantly have to worry about her kids' safety. But she also knew she'd never leave her other kids behind, all four of them. Two-Bit was the only one with a stable mom, and she felt responsible for them.

"Sorry, ma," sometimes Dally would call her that. He knew she wasn't his mom, but he sure wished she was. "I met up with someone," he sent a smirk in Ponyboy's direction.

"Who?" Two-Bit piped up from his spot on the floor, the living room was not built for 7 rambunctious boys. Dally didn't answer. Most of the time he didn't like the boys in his business, other times he just liked to watch them squirm. Ponyboy wondered which one it was this time.

"Pony, who was it?" Two-Bit changed his tactic. Ponyboy couldn't keep a secret, the older boys usually took advantage of that.

"I don't know," Ponyboy shrugged, he was still in middle school and easily only knew two of the high school girls' names. "A blonde, she was walking with that girl Steve likes." One night Soda let it slip to Ponyboy who Steve liked, he was even worse with keeping secrets. You couldn't miss the glare Steve was sending him.

"Oh c'mon, we all know Stevie's got a crush on Evie," Darry chuckled from the recliner. Everyone knew that was his chair when his dad wasn't home.

Two-Bit knew all the cliques in school, and who was friends with who, and who was dating who. It was part of the reason he loved to go to school, he liked knowing everyone's business. "Sylvia?" Two-Bit sent Dally a grin, and he knew he was right.

Dally nodded, keeping his cool like usual. "Taking her out tonight." The boys always liked to hear about who Dally was on to next, he seemed to be one of the only ones with some real interesting stories.

Dally departed a few minutes later, not one to stick around too long. However, he didn't leave without ruffling Johnny's hair and grabbing two cookies from Mrs. Curtis for the walk.

Before going back to Buck's to get ready, he decided he'd unwelcomingly stop over Tim's. He was hoping Tim liked Sylvia, after all, he did meet her while she was with Angela. Part of his reason for even asking the girl out was to get back at Tim. He didn't know for what, but it was something the two always did.

"Hey Tim," Dally walked right into the Shepard's house. "You know that blonde chick, Sylvia?"

"What did you do to her?" Angela sent Dally daggers from across the room. She was extremely protective of her friends, and she was determined to keep them all away from the Dallas that she knew.

"Go take a nap, kid," Dally shooed her away. Dally was eating up the confusion etched into Tim's face.

"Yeah, I know her. She's Angel's friend." Tim knew Sylvia pretty well, she'd spent a couple weekends at their house. She was nice enough, but also a spitfire, which let him and Curly have fun messing around with her. He considered her a sister at times. Angela couldn't date any of his friends, so to make it fair he couldn't date any of hers. Not that he'd want to, Tim usually liked girls his own age, maybe even a little older.

"Taking her out tonight," Dally smirked. "Maybe I'll even get a little lucky." He loved getting a rise out of Tim, and he usually had the upper hand by dating Angela's friends that Tim knew. Tim would just get back at him by screwing his exes, it was a never ending cycle.

Angela sent Tim a helpless look. "I'll kick your ass," Tim stood up, eye level with Dallas. He hated the way Dally was with girls. Sure they were similar, but both parties knew what they were getting into on Tim's side, it was all for a good time. Dally took the innocent, the broken, the drunk, the alone; he didn't care. Tim was nicer with girls than Dally, it was probably due to the fact that he had a sister.

"Better go get ready," Dally shot Angela a wink before exiting the house. He loved messing with people, and if he could get a girl on top of it, he truly was the winner.

Dally went downstairs at 8, he had a habit of always being late. "Buck, can I borrow your car?"

Buck let him borrow his car from time to time, he didn't really care to think that Dally didn't have a license. In fact, Dally had taught himself how to drive on Buck's t-bird. "Not tonight, Dal."

"I got somewhere to be, I'll put some gas in it," Dally grabbed the keys from where he knew Buck hid them. Dally could always get his way, Buck was a pretty easy-going guy and it didn't take much for Dally to boss him around.

Dally pulled up to Sylvia's house, giving the horn a little honk to let her know he was there. He was never one for romantics. A few seconds later he saw the porch light go on and the little blonde walk out onto the porch. He smirked inwardly at the length of her skirt.

"You're late," she plopped into the passenger seat. She knew Dally didn't have a license, and that this wasn't his car, but she didn't ask. Dally always liked that about her.

"You just expected me too early," Dally floored it out of the driveway before she even had a chance to put on her seatbelt. He was a terrible driver, fast and obnoxious.

"What's wrong with you?" Sylvia gasped, her stomach dropping to her ankles. She was suddenly regretting agreeing to this date.

It was finally starting to get warm out again and Dally had the top down of Buck's car. Sylvia couldn't stop her skirt from flying up a little, and Dally had the rear view mirror adjusted to just the right spot. She punched his arm.

Sylvia was sassy, she could hold her own against any boy. She always found herself constantly on the defense with boys, she hardly ever went out with any. She blamed that on her father.

Both of her parents worked long hours, she could probably be considered middle class because of that. She didn't like labels. Her father worked on a ranch, grooming and feeding horses most of the time. She'd gone with him a couple of times and had grown pretty fond of riding horses. It's not that he was abusive, he just didn't give her the time of day, it was like he didn't care about her. Lord knows he always wanted a son.

She remembers seeing her dad helping one of girls at the rodeo one day, she couldn't have been much older than herself. She'd never seen him look at her like that, like he was proud. Sylvia went home and cried. She dyed her hair the same color as that girl, platinum blonde. He still ignored her. She still dyed her hair.

She hated men because of him, she thought they were all the same. It wasn't until she met Dally that that all changed. It was then that she realized how unexperienced with boys she was. It was then that she realized how much she was craving some male attention.