THREE MONTHS LATER . . .
My alarm wakes me at six in the morning. "Ugh. First day of school. Yipee." I say sarcastically as I get out of bed. I blink as I pull on my black skinny jeans, a tight/loose pink shirt, black combat boots and a black leather jacket/hoodie.
"Excited?" Aunt Alice asks me as I eat breakfast.
"Kinda." I reply. "I hope it's different from last year."
"Every year is different." Aunt Alice says.
"Not a Will Rogers." I groan. "Bye!" I give her a quick hug and climb into my car. Rumor has it that Angela's dropped out and got married. Oh, and she's got short hair now. That, and there's a new kid in school. Name: Nick Sheldon. Bob Sheldon's cousin. Soc through and through. He probably has the same bad blood as his cousin.
As soon as I get to school, I don't even bother looking for Two-Bit and Ponyboy. I just rush to Mr. Syme's classroom. "Mr. Syme!" I call.
Mr. Syme looks up from his desk. "Hello Arizona. Do you have-"
"I got it!" I hold up what i had been working on over the summer. I hand it to him.
He takes it from me. "Very good. What's the plot?"
"It's basically 'West Side Story' except I incorporated some of my own ideas in it."
"Interesting. Perhaps we can perform it this year." Mr. Syme says.
"Thanks!" I reply and almost skip out of his classroom.
"Hey Dr. Pepper!" I look around, confused. Who? What? When? I see Soda and another girl standing in the empty hall. I walk up to them and give him a hug. "Hi." I say with a smile.
"Arizona?" the girl steps forward, her blue eyes nervous and she's wringing her hands.
My eyes widen in shock. "Sandy?"
Sandy nods. "I'm back in Tulsa." she sighs. "You've grown. But you're the same, yet different at the same time. You did get prettier though."
"Thank you." I say. "So . . . how's the baby?"
Sandy laughs. "Baby? I had a miscarriage. So, I got the courage after two years to come back."
"Cool." I reply politely. I cock an eyebrow. "So are you and Soda back together?"
"Yeah." Sandy says with a smile at Soda.
I throw up in my mouth a little. Then my eyes widen and my jaw drops to the ground. Past Soda and Sandy, I see another figure. "Chevy?" I whisper.
"Chevy?" Soda repeats, and I see hurt and love flash in his eyes.
"Who's Chevy?" Sandy asks.
I drop my bag. "Chevy!" I scream and run to the figure. Sure enough it's her. She wraps me in a hug. "Hey Dr. Pepper."
"I missed you." I tell her. "When did you get back? Why?"
She shrugs. "I heard Aunt Alice's is running the place and Marie's in jail and I missed Tulsa . . . so I came back."
"You'll never guess what I've been up to!" I tell her.
"Tell me!" she asks.
"I've been in Phantom of the Opera as Christine!" I say excitedly.
"No way?" Chevy asks, her eyes widening. She sings out a line from 'Angel of Music' I reply and we kinda get carried away until I remember Sandy and Soda. "Sandy's back." I croak out as quietly as possible. We walk over to them. Something flashes in Soda's eyes and I smirk. Yep, Chevy's a beauty. She had grown an inch taller and she looked like those supermodels in the 21st century except she's my cousin. She's prettier than Sandy. And I'm not just saying that.
"Hi Soda." she greets with a soft smile. She turns to Sandy. "You must be Sandy. I'm Chevy, Arizona's cousin."
"Chevy?" Sandy stutters. "Like the car?"
"Exactly." Chevy says. "The Chevy Chevelle made in 1964. How well do you know my cousin?" she asks.
"Not that well." Sandy says.
"Well, we'll have to do something about that. Do you want to take a walk?" Chevy asks.
Sandy glances at us. "Um . . . sure." Then she and Chevy walk out. As soon as they're gone, I let out a groan.
"This can't be happening!" I exclaim. "No. No. No. This can't be happening!"
"You're telling me." Soda groans. "Why didn't you tell me that Chevy would be back?"
"How was I supposed to know?" I ask. I begin pacing. "She just showed up! Like Sandy!"
"Does she have a boyfriend?" Soda asks me.
I stare at him disbelief. "Why? You want her back?"
"No." he says. "I was just wonderin',"
"Watch out for Sandy." I warn him. "She's back. And I won't resist beating her up this time, if she hurts you like that again. No, I'll let Chevy do it." I say firmly.
"Ponyboy's got a new girl." Soda tells me.
"Who?" I ask. I feel like I'm supposed to be jealous and mad, but I feel nothing. Well, I did outgrow this kind of jealousy when I was fifteen.
"Cathy Carlson." Soda informs me. "To be honest, I don't really like her."
My jaw hits the ground. "Cathy Carlson? As in Bryon Douglas's girlfriend? Ex-girlfriend." I correct myself. "Does she know about . . ."
"No." Soda tells me. "Pony never told her. And Bryon broke up with her when Mark went to jail for selling acid."
"Ouch." I mutter under my breath. "Messed up. Messed up. Said he's too quiet . . . I shipped them. I saw this coming. I read the book."
"Don't tell me that this was in another book." Soda groans. "Seriously . . ."
"It was." I complain. "So . . . Sandy's really back huh?"
"Yeah." Soda says. He glances at my hand. "Still wearing the ring?"
"What ring?" I ask in confusion.
"That ring." Soda says, pointing to my hand.
"I'm not wearing any ring." I say. The bell rings. "Gotta go."
"Not so fast." Soda takes me by the shoulders. "Just because you and my brother broke up doesn't mean that you still aren't one of my best friends."
"I know." I say as he gives me another hug. "See ya after school!" I call as I wave.
After school I drive by the concert hall for Drama. Then I stop by the DX where everyone is.
"Guess what?" I ask excitedly.
"What?" Sandy asks, stopping her conversation with Evie. The rest of the gang looks at me in wonder.
"We're doing Rough All Over for the musical!" I squeal as I open a Dr. Pepper.
"Rough All Over?" Chevy asks. "Never heard of it . . ."
"It's basically West Side Story." I explain. "But . . . you can't know of anything because it's as surprise."
"Seriously?" Steve asks. "You know that we want to know."
"Fine." I say. "But Dally and Cherry can't know."
"Why not?" Cherry asks.
I smile slyly. "Because . . . it's a surprise."
"Do I have to beat it out of you?" Dally threatens. "I still can."
"No." I say with a laugh. "But . . . you just can't know right Marcia?" I look at Marcia. "Right?" I ask.
"Right." she confirms. "I'm in on it too. So . . . we can't say a word." She does the lock-you-lips-and-throw-away-the-key gesture.
"But . . ." I say I jump up. "I can give ya the Introduction!"
"No!" Marcia says. "No. No. No."
I smirk and begin dramatically, "It started one day in Tulsa Oklahoma, on a good old Friday. When I smelt the aroma of Love. Let me set the stage. It was 1965 in Tulsa Oklahoma. Two rival gangs, separated by money were tired and hunting action at a dance. This led to love from the unexpected . . . " I let my voice trail off. "And I have to end there." I wink at Marcia. "And you know why."
Marcia just laughs. "I can't believe I'm playing Anita!"
"I can't believe I'm the one who gave him the idea!" I exclaim. "The Greasers are gonna have their day, tonight." I sing.
"That's the wrong one!" Marcia says. "But don't mind if I do; The Socs are gonna have their way, tonight."
"I thought Socs and Greasers don't exist anymore." Sandy says.
"They do. You just can't tell." I say. "The Greasers stopped wearing grease and the Socs are tryin' to look poor."
"Not anymore." Marcia says, looking at the blue mustang identical to Bob's drives up.
"Welcome to Tulsa." David smirks as they get out of their car.
"So, this is the DX I've heard about." Nick Sheldon gets out of the car.
"Of course you have." I snap.
"Shut up Greaser." David snaps and advances . . .