SE Hinton owns The Outsiders.

Femaile Lead

Two-

It becomes clear soon enough. Another boy and girl- a little younger than they are- are out of the car and shouting at one another in the middle of the road. The girl glances at Two-Bit's car when she hears the brakes, but the boy doesn't look away. Whichever one of them was driving- Two-Bit guesses the boy- has left the door flung open wide. It is shaking in the wind.

"Christ," Honey says under her breath.

Two-Bit chuckles. "Thought I was having me a flashback to a former life for a second. Y'all bailed out of the car on me a time or two."

"Never stuck around to argue with you though. I wonder what he did."

"What did I do?" Two-Bit asks. "All of those times you tried to get out and walk home?"

"Christ, Two-Bit, if you still don't know, that's half the problem right there."

Two-Bit knows. It was always the same things: he'd been in jail, he'd stood her up, or he'd stepped out on her. Back then, she actually wanted him around and, it seemed, he'd done his damnedest to wear out her good will. He tries to redirect the conversation.

"Goddamn, I'd be working like the devil to get you back in the car. If you'd ever made it home on foot, your daddy'd had my hide. Don't look to me like our boy here is trying too hard. Looks like he's making it worse."

"Well, it's a bit of a learning curve, as I remember it. Took you a while to figure out how to get me back in the car. I think I at least made it back to 36th a time or two. Jesus-"

She leans forward in the seat. The boy in the road has made a grab at his girl's arm. In response, she's shoved him away, and he's taken ahold of her by the back of her neck and is steering her back towards the car.

"Two-Bit," Honey begins.

Two-Bit is already yanking back on his door handle.

"Yeah, I got it," he says as he steps out of the car.

Honey gets out too. Two-Bit charges forward like a bull, and she follows him at a distance. When Two-Bit shouts out, "Hey, fucker," at the boy in the road, the boy lets the girl go with a shove.

"What?" The boy shouts back. "You want her? Fuckin' have her!"

That was not what Honey was expecting. She would've erred on the side of the boy telling Two-Bit to mind his business or moving up on him. But Two-Bit is big- bigger than this guy. Maybe he figures the best course of action is just to abandon his girlfriend- to leave her there humiliated and save himself a beating.

Honey steps out from behind Two-Bit and takes a closer look at the girl. She's been crying, and her makeup is a mess. She's young enough that Honey doesn't recognize her from a year ago when she went to school. What's more- she is not the kind of girl who Honey would have socialized with. She and her boyfriend are Soc material. The car was the first clue: a black, ragtop MG with red wheel rims, not more than a year or two old. Inside the car, the radio is still playing, and Honey can hear The Beach Boys singing "Don't Worry, Baby". Honey has never liked The Beach Boys.

Two-Bit steps around the car to intercept the boy before he gets inside. The girl snaps to life, and says, "No, don't," to him.

"Why the hell not?" Two-Bit asks her.

Honey knows why. Because if the boy gets beat up over this, that ends it. It's out of the girl's hands. If her old man takes a beating over her, he'll never take her back. The girl is still young enough or insecure enough or dumb enough to think there could never be another one after him. Honey has been there.

"Let him go, Two-Bit," she says. She looks at the girl. "If he lets it go, will you let us give you a ride?"

"You aren't getting in the car with that trash," the boyfriend says.

Honey looks around Two-Bit at him and smiles.

"Which car would that be now?" She asks.

The boyfriend grits his teeth. He's furious, but he isn't going to return Honey's insult with Two-Bit standing within swinging distance.

"Let us give her a ride, Romeo," Honey tells him. "Then everybody can cool off, and you and her can take it up again in the clear light of day. Alright?"

Boyfriend sputters, but comes up short of an answer. The girlfriend nods and steps towards Honey and Two-Bit's car.

"If you get in that car, Corrine…"

"You'll what?" Two-Bit says. He backs away from the MG and towards his own open driver's side door.

Honey and Corrine stop on the passenger side. Honey offers Corrine the front seat, but she opts for the back. Once inside, she scoots to the middle of the back seat where she can look back and forth at Honey and Two-Bit.

Honey turns around to face her and says, "I'm Shelby. Everyone just calls me Honey."

"I know. I know who you are. I know your boyfriend. I go to school with him."

"He ain't my boyfriend," Honey says, and then figures that must look sketchy to the girl- Honey and Two-Bit unattached but driving around the lake together with night coming on.

Two-Bit slams his door shut and puts the car in gear. He steers around the MG.

"I think you have English just before me," the girl says to Two-Bit. "You're going as I'm coming in."

"What's that? Third period?" Two-Bit asks. He isn't completely sure when he has English. It's not like he goes on a daily basis.

So, Corrine is a sophomore or a junior, Honey figures. Two-Bit is still taking mostly 11th grade classes, but he may have failed 10th grade American Literature as well. That would make the girl sixteen-going-on-seventeen, and that cinches it for Honey: there's going to be no discussion or imparting of advice. This girl is too young. She's not going to listen. Plus, whatever advice on walking away from a useless boyfriend Honey has comes mostly from her experiences with Two-Bit.

She asks Corrine: "Where are we taking you?"

Safely away from her boyfriend, Corrine looks around Two-Bit's car for the first time and takes it in. Honey can see it beginning to dawn on her exactly what kind of shit-heap she's about to show up to her daddy's front door in.

"It's kind of far," Corrine says.

"I can about guess," Two-Bit says. "It ain't Texas. She and I was just screwing aro...driving around. We got all the time in the world."

Honey fights the urge to roll her eyes. She doesn't have all the time in the world. She's tired. Her hair smells like the diner. She wants to go home. Two-Bit is working up to something here, and a drive across the city plays into his plans nicely.

Still, Honey figures it was her who offered Corrine a ride.

"Where do you live?" She asks.

"South of the country club."

"No shit," Honey mumbles.

Two-Bit pokes her in the arm and says, "be nice".

Corrine says, "But I got a friend who lives downtown...at the Mayo. I'd rather just stay there. I can call home and tell them I'm staying over."

"Your friend lives in the hotel?" Two-Bit asks.

Honey smiles ahead at the windshield. Living in a hotel means something very different to Socs than it does to people living north of the Mother Road. Two-Bit's dad lives in a hotel from time to time, when he's too drunk to come home. Honey guesses what Corrine is referring to is some kind of suite. It ain't no flophouse, to be sure.

"It's up to you," she tells Corrine, and then to Two-Bit, "We could go get that drink afterwards."

She has no idea why she said that. Maybe to keep Two-Bit from insisting on driving the girl all the way home. The Country Club neighborhoods give Honey the creeps. She feels open, exposed, and like they're begging to get pulled over.

"Mayo it is," Two-Bit says.