Characters
Jessie "Jess" Hale (17) portrayed by Jennifer Connelly
Dallas "Dally" Winston (17) portrayed by Matt Dillon
Mike "Slick" Reed (17) portrayed by Christian Slater
Billy Hale (13) portrayed by Sean Astin
George "Ace" Hale (37) portrayed by Gary Sinise
Alan "Colt" Hale (34) portrayed by Kurt Russell
Vincent "Vince" Griffin (39) portrayed by Fred Ward
Lori Walsh (16) portrayed by Phoebe Cates
Paula Milton (16) portrayed by Winona Ryder
Eric "Mouth" Milton (12) portrayed by Corey Feldman
Kathy "Kat" Douglas (17) portrayed by Christina Applegate
Scarlet "Mama" Douglas (38) portrayed by Glenn Close
Tim Shepard (18) portrayed by Robert Rusler
Sylvia Briggs (17) portrayed by Elizabeth Shue
Craig Porter (17) portrayed by Judd Nelson
Rick Shaw (18) portrayed by Keith Sutherland
Kevin Ford (17) portrayed by Keanu Reeves
Everyone else as themselves
Chapter 1
When I looked at Mom's picture in the frame by my bedside table, all I thought was how much she's prettier than me in every way. Her hair was a vibrant reddish-brown color. It's the kind I often saw when the sun set over Tulsa. Those curls always framed her delicate rosy cheeks, making her look angelic. As for that smile, there were a hundred ways, maybe more, I could say about her smile. Whenever I was having a bad day, all I needed to do was see her happy expression, and I felt like I was home. Safe and relaxed.
I wished I said the same about myself. I ain't like her. I'll never be like her. Those big bushy nests hanging above my eyes could make room for a bird to fit in. My two front teeth were too big that it made me look like a beaver. And, don't even get me started on my hair. It's too slick and shiny but not in a good way. All it took was one look at my hair and everyone knew I was a Greaser. Only one good thing I inherited from Mom, drawing.
Mom drew some of the best sketches I've ever seen. I remember her sitting either on the porch or on the living room coach with a sketchbook in her hand and a pencil in the other as she got to work. Her movements were so swift and accurate that she got every detail on paper. She even taught me herself how to draw and taught me the two most basic rules: Rule 1, Remember that the fillers are just as important as the details, if not, more. And Rule 2, Always be calm and don't let any emotions show in the work. I followed her rules every night before I went to bed just like tonight.
I was already in a smooth cotton broadcloth with short sleeves, and the lamp was beside Mom's picture so that I could see what I was doing. Dad always had to come in my room and tell me to shut the damn light off so that I went to bed. That's why I left my closet door open so that if he tried to barge in, the door would get stuck to my closet. I don't think I have to worry though since he's passed out in his room from working too long, but that didn't stop the small bumps forming on my forearms when I heard my window tap. Probably a branch or something that fell off one of the trees.
When I heard the glass tap again, I threw my covers to the side and set my sketchbook and pencil on my bed to see what it was. As soon as I moved the curtains in one swoosh, all I saw was the pitch black road and the neighbor's house. I unbolted my window and opened it to see what the noise was, but there's nothing. Must've been a branch after all.
Right when I was about to shut the window, a hand grabbed my arm, and I screamed until I saw my boyfriend with his signature toothy grin, leather jacket, and two piercings in his ear. His name's Mike, but everyone called him Slick because he never got caught by anyone for stealing especially when it came to running a pool hustle with his gang. That was even how I met him. He tried to hustle me, but I got him back by socking him in the face. I thought he was crazy at first by following me out of the room later that night only to ask me out, but hey, I ain't complaining now.
Slick kept laughing while apologizing to me, but I didn't think it's so funny since he scared me to death, so I gave him a good punch in his shoulder. "What are you doing here?" I whispered. When I backed away a bit, he made his way inside through the window with his boots landing on the floor with a soft thud. "You know you can't be in here."
"Come on. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't see you?"
He then took my chin and was about to lean in for a kiss until we heard stomping heading toward my room. I told Slick to leave, but he quickly hid on the other side of my bed so that he wasn't visible to Dad when he tried to open the door.
My closet door trick worked like a charm as usual as he tried to get in but the knobs were stuck against each other, so he only saw my face a bit. "You could knock, you know," I told him.
His cold, green eyes stared into me as he said in a gruff voice, "I heard screaming."
I rolled my eyes and shut the door so that I could move the closet door out of the way to let him see my room, but I made sure he didn't get past me since I was in his way, so he just stood in the doorway looking in to check anything out of the ordinary.
"There wasn't screaming."
He breathed in through his nostrils and looked over my bed. "You know you got school tomorrow." I then turned back to my bed when he nodded over to my sketchbook and said, "I don't want you workin' on that all night. Last thing I need is me waking you up when you should get ready in the morning."
"Yeah, Dad. I'll go to bed."
He stared at me for a good minute, and my palms were caked in sweat. Please don't tell me he figured it out.
"You sure you're alright?" he asked.
I tried to cover up Slick by smiling. It was a little too awkward though, but I didn't think he noticed. Still, I knew that face. The furrowed eyebrows, the tightened jaw, and the intense eyes were all signs of Dad being suspicious.
"Yeah, Dad."
"You sure you're-"
"I'm fine." I said cutting him off.
"I could've sworn I heard screaming."
I gave him a quick peck on his cheek before shutting the door and telling him goodnight. I waited by the door on purpose so that I could see his shadow leaving and listen in to hear him go back to his room.
As soon as he was gone, I let out a sigh of relief and turned back to my bed where I saw Slick popping his head out from the other side. "Whoo, that was close."
"The hell you doing?" I whispered while making my way over to him as he stood up just to lay down on my bed. It creaked from the springs when he plopped on it. "Careful. You want my dad to come back?"
Of course Slick thought it's a joke as his grin stretched from ear to ear when I tried to control his behavior. He then took my sketchbook and held it up while flipping through the pages carelessly.
"Always workin' on your sketches, Jess."
"Well, it's the one thing that keeps me close to Mom," I replied, sitting on the edge of the bed.
When he set my sketchbook aside, he took a carton out from his jacket pocket and put a cancer stick between his lips. Just before he was about to light it from his lighter, I snatched it from him. He narrowed his eyes at me, but I didn't care.
"You know the rules."
Slick huffed out an annoyed breath when I gave the cigarette back to him before heading over to the window and sat on a stool to light up his smoke. He inhaled deeply before puffing it outside. I always have to remind Slick to smoke near the window since Dad can't stand the smell of cigarettes in the house. He said it smelled like gasoline. Not the good kind where Greasers get a thrill of hard powered engines but the kind that hangs in the nose. Musty and dead. Still, that didn't stop Dad or me from smoking as Slick offered me his stick so that I could puff one out the window before handing it back to him.
"Tim Shepard dropped by the lot."
That got my attention since Tim and Slick were from rival gangs. Tim was the leader of Shepard's Gang, and Slick was the leader of Slick's Crew. "What happened?" When he didn't say anything, I got a little nervous as I looked him over to check for any bruises or cuts. "You got in a fight with him?"
"No. No. Nothing like that. Just a few questions he wanted to ask me is all."
"Like what?"
He puffed out more smoke before saying, "he wanted to know who put sugar down his gas tank. So, I told him it's that jailbird, Winston. He's headin' over to Buck's now to pick a fight with him."
Everyone knew Dallas Winston. He was part of Darry's Gang, and Dallas was one of the most violent Greasers anyone's ever seen. Nearly three months ago, I heard from one of my friends that Tim Shepard's tires got slashed by Dallas since Tim screwed around with Winston's girlfriend while he was in jail. It's no surprise that Tim would think that Dallas messed up Tim's gas tank since they couldn't stand each other, but still, something told me differently when I saw the gleam in my boyfriend's eyes.
"Did he?" I asked.
"What do you think?"
Slick stared me down but had a cool expression with that cheeky grin on his face. That's when I knew that he lied to Shepard. Still, that didn't mean I couldn't play his game.
I wrapped my arms around him and sat on his lap. His hands held me, and I instantly got hot from his cold hands especially when he traced circles on my thighs that were covered by the fabric. My face leaned in with our noses barely brushing against each other. I smelt the burning tobacco come out of his mouth from how much he inhaled off his cigarette. I then grabbed his cigarette and stubbed it off the window sill, leaving a mark, but I didn't care since there were many already.
"I think you're full of shit," I whispered in a sultry voice.
His grin grew wilder as he muttered, "that's what I always liked about you, Jess. Not just a pretty face."
I smirked and gave him a slow kiss. I never liked kissing Slick while Dad and my kid brother, Billy, were sleeping in their rooms, but it's kinda hard when my boyfriend's lips were so soft and firm. He always took it slow, but I didn't mind. I actually liked it when he did it because it tended to build up into something more. He even took it one step further by parting my lips with his tongue. They molded together, and it was almost impossible to resist especially when he stroked my neck and held me against him.
He then stood with my legs wrapped around his hips and brought me to my bed where he carefully lowered me onto the covers with him on top of me while our mouths never left each other. I gripped onto his leather jacket and played with the nape of his hair while his hips bucked against mine, making my whole face flush from the heat. His hand wandered along my curves to slowly slipping underneath my top. It was too much already, and I couldn't let Dad or Billy hear me, especially when I let out a soft moan.
I couldn't let this go on, so I gently pushed Slick's hand away from me. "Okay. Okay. Time's up," I said, sitting up.
Slick pressed his forehead against mine and muttered, "see what you do to me?"
I smirked and nodded over to the door as I whispered to him, "you know what'll my dad do to you?"
"It's not like we didn't get away with it before."
"Yeah, and we almost got caught."
He wiped his mouth and looked lost in thought, because he knew I was right. If it hadn't been for my closet door, Dad would've barged right in when he came home early from work one day and saw me getting hot and heavy with Slick. If Dad found out Slick was in my room at night, he'd go nuts.
Thankfully, my boyfriend understood the situation, so he got off my bed and headed to the window. "Alright. I'll split. See you tomorrow, alright?"
Before he had a chance to leave, I thought of something for him to remember me by, so I went over to him when he went through the window as he stopped to look at me through the sill when he made it out. "Hey, it was great seeing you tonight."
"Babe, I'm your man. I should check on you to see how you're doing."
Right before he was about to walk away, I said, "hey, don't you want a preview for tomorrow?"
He stared at me hard with the corners of his mouth rising up as I unbuttoned my top and spread it open to show off my breasts quick before closing it. We both then started laughing as Slick shook his head at me.
"Such a tease," he said, chuckling.
I pulled him in for a quick kiss before sending him away as I watched him go down the dark road. I smiled watching him go, and when he was a few feet away from my house, I shut the window and bolted it before heading to bed.
The next morning I tied a red bandana on my head to match the red and white striped crop top. I then put on a pair of jeans, sneakers, and a jean jacket. For the final touch, I put on bright red lipstick and some eyeliner. Normally, I couldn't stand putting that gunk on my face since it made us Greaser girls look like raccoons with all that eye makeup. That's why I only focused on the top lid so that my green eyes popped a bit.
Satisfied with my look, I headed out of my room and went into the living room that connected to the kitchen and the dining room. It's small, but it's enough to fit at least ten maybe twelve people inside.
Billy was on the coach munching on a bowl of cereal while watching Popeye, and Dad was ironing his shirt on the dining table. Dad and I said out good mornings to each other. I then headed over to my kid brother and flicked his nose before sitting down next to him.
"Hey, watch it," Billy said.
Dad didn't have to turn around to give us his stern warning. "Cut it out. Both of you."
"She started it."
"I don't give a hick who started it." Dad told him turning to us. "I'll finish it."
When he went back to finish ironing his shirt, Billy rolled his eyes at me when I smirked at him before looking back at the t.v. to watch Popeye. Billy and I often messed each other around, and Dad always got in the middle whenever we fought. Dad never liked it whenever we rough-housed each other as he always had to break us apart. He's always so serious and hardly lets us get away with anything. I think he was just worried that we'd get out of hand by hurting each other one day, but I'd never do that to my kid brother, and I know he'd never do that to me.
Despite how much we fooled around with each other, we always stuck up for one another. If I found out someone messed with my kid brother, I'd kick their teeth in before they'd even blink. That's what happened to a Soc jock when he picked on Billy a year ago. He definitely wasn't expecting me to bash his face against the wall and send him to the infirmary. I got suspended for a few days after what happened. Dad, at first, was pissed as he told me how stupid I was for what I did, but then he told me that the damn Soc got what he deserved. Nothing was more important than family to us.
We all turned our heads to see the screen door open and saw two male figures made their way inside. I recognized them right away since they often come here. My uncle Colt and Vince, Dad and my uncle's friend. I never knew Uncle Colt's real name, because no one ever called him by his real name like Dad too. All Uncle Colt said was that they gave him the nickname Colt when he was eleven because he was a sharp-shooting Greaser. He hit seven bottles in a row from a long distance range like he was one of them cowboys from those old western movies. He looked like Billy if Billy got older except that Billy had Dad's green eyes like mine and Uncle Colt had pale blue eyes. Still, Uncle Colt was real popular with women, especially the Soc ladies. They couldn't resist his southern charm or his dashing smile.
Vince, on the other hand, was completely different from Dad and Uncle Colt. Vince told me that he wasn't the brightest bulb in high school. He got held back twice before dropping out since he didn't think he'd graduate. Despite all of that, he was one of the hardest workers I've ever seen. Whenever Dad needed a strong pair of hands, he always called Vince to help him out. Vince even got Dad and Uncle Colt their jobs in construction where he works since they all looked out for each other in high school. Even though Vince wasn't our family through blood, I always thought of him as an uncle since Dad and Uncle Colt treated him like a brother.
"Hey, Ace." Vince made his way over to Dad. "You're ironin' your shirt now?"
"I got too tired from yesterday, so I forgot. Just give me a minute, and I'll be done."
As Uncle Colt sat in-between Billy and me, he spread his arms behind us and gave a cheeky grin to his big brother. "Yeah, Vince," he said. "Don't you remember that the world revolves around him?"
Billy and I couldn't help but smirk at Uncle Colt's comment as Dad turned to him with a sneer and pointed a finger at him. "And I'll make sure your whole world spins if you don't keep that smartass mouth to yourself."
When Dad's back was turned back to set the iron to the side, Uncle Colt looked at me and winked, so I chuckled and shook my head. Dad then took his shirt and put it on before buttoning it up. We all then headed outside where Vince's pickup truck was parked in front of our house. Uncle Colt climbed in the back, while Vince went to the front wheel, waiting for Dad to get inside.
Dad turned to us, ready to say something, but I was a little distracted by my neighbor. The door screeched before it slammed behind her while she trotted down the few steps leading to the entrance of her shabby house. She's my best friend, Lori Walsh.
We've known each other since we crawled around in diapers even though she was only a year younger than me. Her outfit was sweet just like her, but there was still a little edge to it from the jeans and sneakers that she wore. She also never had any makeup on her face. It made her look more innocent with her natural beauty for a Greaser girl.
As soon as she came near me, we both smiled at each other and grabbed each other's hands to give them a quick shake. "How you doing, Lori?" I asked.
She avoided eye contact by looking at the ground, but she still nodded her head by saying, "I'm doing alright." Lori and Billy greeted each other before she finally noticed Dad as she nodded at him. "Hi, Mr. Hale. How are you doing?"
"I'm fine, Lori. Thanks for asking."
Vince then peeked through the window to look at us as he said, "you kids wanna ride to school?"
"No thanks, Vince. School's just a mile ahead," I told him.
He nodded his head and turned to Dad as he rushed Dad to get inside the van already since they were going to be late for work, so Dad backed away from us while giving Billy and me the same lecture. "Billy, no fighting with the Socs or with any other Greaser, and Jess, stay out of trouble, will you? Last thing I need is to get called into the principal's office 'cuz you picked a fight."
"Yes, sir," I said rolling my eyes.
Dad finally got in the passenger seat and turned his head back to us, almost telling Billy and me to remember what he told us. Vince then started the car before driving away, while Uncle Colt was chilling in the back and giving us a wave as Billy, Lori, and me headed off to school.
As we walked down the neighborhood, I looked over at Lori and noticed that she was staring at the ground. She often did that whenever she was uncomfortable about something. And, I had a pretty good idea on what it was, so I addressed it. "It's Johnny Cade, isn't it?"
Lori's head snapped at me, and her eyes widened. She then sighed and looked at the ground with her hands shoved into her pockets. "I just...I still can't believe it's been almost three months since he died."
"You gotta stop thinking about that. You're gonna drive yourself crazy, you know?"
"Yeah, I know."
It's no surprise that Lori's still thinking about Johnny. She was his girlfriend after all. I didn't really know him personally, but Lori said nothing but good things about him. He was awfully nice to her and treated her well just as Lori did with him whenever he needed a place to crash after getting into a fight with his parents. I met him a handful of times, but I never actually sat down and talked to him. He was a real quiet guy and incredibly shy by looking away a lot, but then again, Lori was the same. It was like a match made in heaven. But, then Johnny killed a Soc and rescued those kids from that burning church.
When Lori found out he got hurt, she visited him everyday in the hospital. I'll still never forget when she found out he died. One of Darry's boys, Two-Bit, visited her the next day when she was over my house, and he broke the news to her. I never saw her cry my whole life. She was the type that kept everything in, but she couldn't hold it anymore as her knees gave out and completely broke down in front of us with her eyes getting red and puffy from the tears flowing down her cheeks and her shoulders shaking from the shock. I never want to see her like that ever again.
About a mile down the road, we reached the school building. A few Soc boys drove in a mustang and nearly ran us over while they were hooting and hollering at Lori and me. I flipped them off and cursed at them to mind where they were going. When people said that Soc boys had manners, they were dead wrong. Then again, Greaser boys were probably worse. They often messed with Soc girls by pulling up their skirts like what one of them did near the entrance, so she slapped the hell out of him and headed inside.
At least Soc girls don't have to worry about going out at night since their rich parents never wanted them out at night. That's why Dad always warned me whenever I went out with my friends to never be alone with boys, especially with the Socs, since they often harassed girls to take them to their car's backseat or in some alleyway so that they all had turns feeling her up or worse. Greaser girls like Lori and me were like slices of cake just waiting to be eaten by them.
"Mouth!"
Billy didn't bother saying bye to Lori or me as he ran over to a boy a few feet away from us and fist bumped him. The boy had an impish face and a pointed chin with a mouth so big that you just want to sew it shut because it aggravated everyone. He's Billy's best friend, Eric Milton, but we called him Mouth because his mouth gets him in trouble a lot. If Mouth was here, then that only meant-
"Jess. Lori."
Speak of the devil.
My best friend and I turned to see a girl strutting her way towards us. She wore jean shorts to show off her long legs, and her naval was completely exposed for all the guys to see. She licked her red lips before sucking on a loli in her hand. She's Mouth's older sister, Paula.
Paula's in Lori's grade. I met Paula through Mouth when she came over to my house to pick him up years ago when he hung out with Billy. If anyone knew Paula, it was definitely the boys. She sunk her claws in almost all of the Greasers and Socs in school. All it took was for her to get up close and personal with them while whispering something hot in their ear before she reeled them in. And, if those boys had girlfriend, they'd better hope that their girlfriends wouldn't find out what they did with Paula.
"Hey, Paula," I said with a small smile. "How you doing?"
"Ugh, horrible."
"How come?"
"Craig wouldn't leave me alone all night. He was like a puppy dog chasing me around."
"So, what'd you do?" Lori jumped in.
Paula shrugged her shoulders and replied, "what I could do. I just gave him what he wanted. Man, though, he was like a dog in heat. He nearly crushed me after he finished, and let me tell you, he really smelled so bad that when I went down on him, I came right back up." Lori and I couldn't help but laugh hearing this, but Paula clearly wasn't having it. "It's not funny."
Both Lori and I calmed down and apologized to her. "Please tell us you used protection at least." I asked.
She scoffed as if she was insulted by my question. "You think I'm an idiot? I ain't tryin' to have a kid. He didn't wanna use one at first, but I told him he had to or he wasn't gonna get this ass." When a red T-bird drove by and parked in the lot, Paula clicked her tongue and muttered, "speaking of asses." I smiled when I saw Slick get out of the front seat with three other Greasers: Craig Porter, Kevin Ford, and Rick Shaw.
Craig wasn't the most intimidating Greaser I met, but he sure knew how to ruffle someone's feathers by giving them a good smack talk. He had an obnoxious smile that always crossed his face whenever he looked for trouble. He moved very sluggish with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders hunched.
The mousiest of the group was Kevin. He never said much, but there was a strength behind his posture and intense stare. On top of that, he was very good with his hands, especially when it came to fixing a car up or giving someone a good beating.
I think out of everyone in Slick's group, though, the scariest one was Rick. His hair was so blond that it almost looked white under the sun. His eyes were blazing blue and were so cold that they held hatred for the world. He always got into violent fights, and the switchblade he tossed around to catch in his hand was proof of it.
When Slick saw me, he smirked, and I couldn't help but smirk back. I knew he was taking in my appearance as my friends and I walked past him. Good. That's exactly what I wanted. My thoughts were immediately drifted away when a strong arm wrapped around my shoulder.
"Hey, guys," a familiar female voice said next to me. "What's up?"
I looked to see a girl my age with long golden hair, a leather jacket, and smokey green eyes. She's my good friend, Kathy Douglas, but everyone called her Kat because of her eyes and her impulsiveness. I met Kat through Paula when she invited Lori and me to a party. I'll never forget how she scared off a Greaser by pressing a broken bottle against his cheek, marking him with a thin red line, after he wouldn't leave Paula, Lori, and me alone. She was one of the toughest Greaser girls I ever met by packing a mean punch and having a sharp tongue.
"We're fine," I replied. "Paula's just telling us what her night with Craig was like."
Kat turned to Paula with a disgusted face. "Ew. Why Craig?"
"Shut up. You know it's the only way for a guy to leave a girl alone."
"Not always. You could just kick his face in and see if he'll leave you alone then."
"Whatever. Did Shepard drive you?" Paula asked. "I didn't see even him in the lot."
Kat was Tim's girlfriend. Their relationship had always been rocky though. Whenever Tim slept around with some girl, Kat always gave him a piece of her mind before she screwed him over whether it's stealing his mattress, pocketing his money, smashing his car's windows, and the list goes on. Tim and Kat were more on and off than a light switch. One day they barely leave the bedroom, and the next day, they're screaming their heads off at each other. It's a repeated cycle to no end.
"Nah. He didn't. Apparently Dallas poured sugar down his tank, so Tim and Dallas went at it outside Buck's."
"Damn," Paula said. "Didn't Tim sleep with his girlfriend though?"
Kat's tone took a big bite at Paula. "Don't remind me. I don't even want to remember what that asshole did back then."
"Sounds like you got in another fight with him, Kat, if you're calling him an asshole." Lori jumped in.
"If I did, I'd call him something worse," Kat said, making all of us grin from ear to ear. "Besides, I don't think Dallas did it."
Lori and Paula looked at her, confused, while I tried to hold back my smirk as I asked, "what makes you say that?"
"'Cuz I know Dallas Winston got over his girlfriend. I saw him sucking on a broad's neck near a drive-in over a week ago."
I smirked, because I knew Kat was right. She may not look it, but Kat was a lot smarter than what people gave her credit for. She even got higher grades than me in school.
"Yeah, you're right. It's not Dallas Winston."
The girls then turned to me, taking in what I said, as Paula asked, "you know who did it?"
Kat rolled her eyes as she figured it out. "Ain't it obvious, Paula? Slick did it."
I had no problem telling my girls about it. If there's one thing we stood by, it's our code. Never rat out our secrets to our men. Whatever was said always stayed between us.
"But why'd he do it?" Lori asked. "I thought Shepard and Slick don't have any problems with each other."
"Doesn't matter," I answered. "They're from rival gangs no matter what. They'll do things to each other for no reason."
Paula barely held in her laugh as she replied, "wow. Still amazing to me how Slick barely gets caught. Did that boy ever get arrested for anything?"
"No. You know, Slick. And even if he did get caught by the cops, Slick would find a way to make sure he got out easy with a warning."
"Yeah, that's true."
We then headed inside the school building and split when the bell rang. I had English, so I went into the classroom and took my seat in the back of the room near the window before anyone's claimed it. The teachers never cared where we sat. Just as long as we paid attention.
Before I knew it, Craig and Kevin came inside. As soon as Craig saw me, he tapped Kevin's chest to gesture to follow him. They made their way over to me and I really didn't want them to. It wasn't that I had a problem with them, but I knew I wasn't going to like what was going to come out of Craig's mouth especially with the way how he never took his eyes off of me while taking his seat purposely in front of mine with Kevin sitting in front of him. I did my best to ignore them by taking my sketchbook out and drawing in it.
They both turned to me with Craig saying, "you can try if you want, sweets, but you couldn't ignore us even if you tried."
I rolled my eyes and put my pencil down, facing him head on. "If you wanna talk about Paula, then forget it, Craig. She wouldn't even care if you die and rot in a hole."
His sly grin quickly vanished as he said, "wow, charming. Makes me wonder what Slick saw in you."
I slowly stood up and pressed my hands against the table before leaning in, challenging him. "You know, if we weren't in school right now, I'd waste you."
"See this?" he asked, holding his hand out before shooting me the middle finger as he said, "you want me to turn it up?"
Kevin finally got between us as he put a reassuring hand on Craig. "Easy, Craig. Just sit down. She's Slick's girl, remember?"
He shrugged off Kevin as he did what he was told and turned back around. As soon as he calmed down I sat back down in my seat. Craig was such an ass. If it hadn't been for Kevin, I would've squared Craig right in the jaw and got into a huge fight in class. I didn't care if he was a guy. I knew I could take him. He was all bark and no bite after all. It's definitely not the first time I've been in a brawl before.
By the time the second bell rang, everyone rushed to take their seats. There was maybe one or two empty seats, but that didn't seem to matter as the teacher came inside and set her bag down to get ready to start her lesson. But, before she did, my eyes widened to see none other than Dallas Winston strolling into the room. Last I heard of him, he was in jail for pointing a gun at some cops. He got shot a few times. It's still a miracle to me how he didn't wind up dead. Must've been a stronger Greaser than I thought, and he must've got out of early for good behavior I'm assuming or he wouldn't be standing here.
Dallas looked like a typical Greaser: dark greasy hair, brown leather jacket, and jeans. He also had a cut on his cheek, a minor split lip, and two bruises: one on his lower jaw and the other on the other side of his forehead. It told me that he really got into it with Shepard last night. There was also a Saint Christopher's pendant shining around his neck and a skull ring on his finger. Never thought he's the jewelry type. He definitely didn't look it.
I only knew Dallas from our classes together, but we never said one word to each other. We just knew of each other's existence. The only person in my group who actually talked to him was Lori a few times since him and Johnny were very close according to her. She kept telling me that Dallas was misunderstood since he gets a bad rap, but all I knew that if a guy gave a toothy grin like that, it meant that they were nothing but trouble, and I sure as Hell knew it when he tried to look for a seat only to stop where I was.
He completely ignored me by putting his hand on my desk, which I rolled my eyes over, and on another before leaning in to some Soc girl in front of me. "Where'd you get this beautiful hair, baby?" he asked her, touching her golden locks.
She scoffed at him, which I wasn't surprised by. Almost all of the Soc girls couldn't stand Greasers like Dallas Winston. She pretty much slapped his hand away and faced the front as she told him Kmart. I couldn't help but snicker when I heard her answer to him, and Dallas didn't like it one bit when he heard me as he cocked his head in my direction and sneered down at me.
"What's so funny?" he asked.
Thankfully, the teacher stepped in as she got his attention by saying, "excuse me, Mr. Winston. Are you having trouble finding a seat?"
I narrowed my eyes at him when I heard him say, "yeah, I had one, but this broad swiped it from me."
"I was here first," I jumped in.
"Bullshit-"
"Mr. Winston," the teacher cut him off, "if you can't find a seat back there, I'd be glad to have you upfront sitting here with me."
That definitely did the trick as he gave up by clicking his tongue and made his way over to two seats across from me. It was taken by some guy, but all Dallas Winston had to do was tell him to move over to another seat as my classmate rushed to let him sit there.
When our teacher was taking attendance, I raised my hand when she called on me, and I heard Dallas Winston say, "now we know who to put a bag on so we won't have to see those rats growin' on her face."
Almost the entire class laughed, and all I did was glare at Dallas. I admit I wasn't the prettiest girl with my bushy eyebrows and buckteeth, but I couldn't stand it whenever people talked about my appearance. It made me feel too self-conscious, and I hated every moment of it.
"What? What did you say, Mr. Winston?" the teacher asked.
He smirked at our teacher before answering her, "nothin', Clarice."
There were a set of "oohs" in the classroom as a student's not supposed to call a teacher by their first name. Makes it seem like something went on between them. And, when I looked over at my teacher, she didn't appreciate what he did.
"Alright then, Mr. Winston," she began. "How about this? You call me Mrs. Myers, and I'll call you...what?"
It took him a minute, but he finally opened his mouth to say, "D. Big D. I like that."
As soon as I heard him say his "name," I still wasn't over with what he said as I continued to glare at him. Finally, I had enough of him, so I spoke up. "Is that what you have to tell girls 'cuz you don't measure up."
Everyone laughed again, and this time, the one who glared was Dallas Winston. While the teacher told the class to be quiet, I noticed Dallas's eyes. They were cold as ice, and his jaw tightened when I made my little comment. Looks like I made a new enemy, but I didn't give a damn. There wasn't a chance in Hell I was gonna let him get away with what he said about me.
There's the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! Please let me know what you think by giving me a review. My story is also available on Wattpad. My username is InspireTimes66 on Wattpad