Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders.
~*~
It was a Friday night; the gang was all heading to the Drive-In to catch the nightly double.
The gang minus Johnny and Dallas, of course. The once seven member group was now down to five members. After that one fateful day in Windrixville, at the burning church, the life wouldn't be the same for the group of teens who hung out in the vacant lot.
Especially for Pony. I, Ponyboy Curtis was the only other one there at the church, when so many things changed. He and Johnny broke into their hideout to save the children, but in doing so the roof came crashing down on Johnny. Dally had jumped into save him, earning them both a stay in the hospital. Me and Dally were fine, but Johnny wasn't. When later Johnny had died, after a rumble between the Greasers and Socials, Dally hadn't been able to take it. He had run off and robbed a convenience store, getting purposefully shot by the police.
Two friends dead in one night.
The hideout was theirs because Johnny had killed a Soc, Bob, in the park. He had done it out of defence, because some other Socs were drowning me, and were going to beat up Johnny. When the Socs had inevitably ran, the two boys had gone to Dallas. He had led us to Windrixville, on Jay Mountain, to the church.
So only me, my two older brothers Darry and Sodapop, Steve and TwoBit were left.
Darry had finally gotten a night off, so he had agreed to join me in going to a couple movies. He had formed a new bond with me after the week his younger brother was hiding out in Windrixville. He now tried to do more things with him, to show he wasn't the heartless jerk that I had previously thought.
Soda had wanted to come along, and Steve had wanted to come with his best friend. Soda and I had always been close, but Steve had gotten himself a reputation for not liking the 'tag-along'. Keith Matthews, aka TwoBit wasn't one to be left out either.
So the whole gang snuck into the Drive-In. One after another they jumped the fence, then slouched over to where some seats were.
I remembered doing the exact same thing, about a month ago, with two other people. Johnny and Dally.
As they sat down in the seats, Darry, my oldest brother and legal gardian glanced over at his, a strange look on his face.
"Hey, you ok Pony?" He asked, glancing sideways at his me from his seat down the row. I guess I must have looked pale or something, because he was looking at me with a worried expression.
The rest of the guys turned to look at the now-uncomfortable me.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." I muttered, some colour returning to my cheeks in embarrassment.
I could remember sitting behind two girls, and Dally talking dirty to them. Cherry and Marcia.
Sherri Valance, the Soc who had befriended me. The beautiful redhead who was a spy for the Greaser gang. The only Socy girl who dared to drive up to the Greaser gang in the vacant lot.
Speaking of the Socs, the guys and I were getting some drinks and popcorn when a crowd of the better off kids came up. I realized with a surge of memory that these were some of the same guys that we fought at the rumble.
A big muscled, blonde eighteen year old stepped right up into Darry's face. He was wearing a red football jacket, and seemed to be the leader of this little group.
Darry didn't even flinch when the big guy stepped up. He just stared coolly at him while slouching down a tiny bit and looking tough. His sleeveless muscle shirt was thin, so you could plainly see his well- developed muscled beneath it. He had slicked hair grease over his long hair like the rest of up before leaving home, thus our name the Greasers.
The blonde guy was getting impatient with no reaction from Darry. He glared at him with hatred. Than he glanced back over at the rest of us, sizing us up. His gaze finally came to me, and he narrowed his eyes.
"Hey, aren't you that bastard who killed Bob?" He sneered, than turned back to Darry.
That shook me. It had only been a month, I guess I wasn't fully over it yet, 'cause that made me blink. I wanted to go over and sock that big Soc, even if he was almost twice my size. How dare he say that? It wasn't me, it was Johnny, and he only did it outa self defence.
I must have looked like I was hit with baseball bat or something, because Soda put a hand on my shoulder. He somehow managed to do this still looking tough.
Man, my older brother Sodapop was on tuff Grease.
The guy was still having a staring contest with Darry, but his gang of Socs were crowding up behind him, trying to surround us.
Finally, the blonde Soc said something.
"You Greasers are goin' down. We want a rematch, whether you want one or not." He said smoothly. He reached back and punched Darry across the jaw. Hard.
My older brother didn't even stumble. He was turned back to the Soc.
"Hand to hand. Only our two groups, not just anyone." Darry said calmly to the big Soc. "Darryl Curtis."
The Soc looked like he wasn't expecting that, but shook his head.
"No, blades only. No heaters." He said back, just as calm. "Scott Pearson."
Darry nodded, and before the Soc could react, he punched the Soc in the nose. Blood flowed steadily down Scott's face, and with and expression of hate he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a switchblade. The fight was on.
I glanced at the approaching Socs. There were seven of them, on five of us. Didn't matter. We could still take 'em.
Steve and TwoBit immediately yanked blades out of their pockets. Soda turned and yelled at the scared lady behind the counter to give him a knife. She did. I had no blade, and was starting to get a bit worried.
"Uh, TwoBit?!?" I yelled. He glanced over and reached over the counter and grabbed a Coke bottle. He broke it over the counter than tossed it over to me. He grinned as I fumbled to catch it without dislocating my hand. "Thanks."
I glanced over at the door; a crowd of people were pushing to get out of it. The fuzz would be here soon. Damn.
Apparently Darry was thinking along the same lines, because he yelled something at the Soc he was fighting and we took it out side.
I guess we looked pretty tough, 'cause the Socs still hadn't touched us, except for Darry and Scott punching each other.
We ran into an ally, and the fight really started. Steve was taking on two Socs; so was Soda. Darry had the leader, Scott. TwoBit was in a pretty dense situation with some tall thick guy, which left me with the other Soc.
He was swaggering over to me; I could already smell the booze on his breath. He hid it though, being subtle with his drunkenness. Great. If the other guys had known he was drunk, they wouldn't have left him to me. Socs kill when their drunk.
Oh shit.
I circled around him, but he still came on. I held my broken bottle in a loose but firm hold like Tim's, much like that day at the gas station a couple weeks ago. Suddenly he leaped forward and sliced his blade across my shoulder. It was only a fairly deep cut, and blood streamed down my arm. I was too pumped with adrenaline to feel the pain at the moment, so concentrated on the Soc.
He came forward again, but slightly stumbled. I couldn't bring myself to cut him. I know I said I could before, but I couldn't. So when he tripped over his own feet, I took the smooth bottom of the bottle and cracked it over his head. He slumped down, out cold.
I glanced up to see mine wasn't the only Soc on the ground. We were kicking their sorry butts right outa Oklahoma. Darry was still going at it with Scott, but Soda was down to only one. Steve was still fighting his two guys, so I went to take on one of them.
The new guy was much larger then the guy I fought before. He held his knife with confidence, and looked like he could take on anyone.
Before I could do anything, he had reached over and slugged me across the face, sending me reeling back. The ally spun, and the colours faded into one another. I felt another punch hard across my jaw, and then another one to my stomach. I doubled over in pain, the bottle falling limply from my hands.
I tried to shout, but got kneed in the ribs. The knife slashed across my chest, but I flinched away, so the blade only made a shallow cut.
My voice somehow wasn't under my control, but I forced myself to call out.
"SODA!" I screamed as he slugged me across the face again. Fireworks were exploding behind my closed eyelids.
I forced my eyes open, willing the dizziness to go away. The Soc stood grinning over me, a wild glint in his eyes. I vaguely saw the rest of the gang in the ally. TwoBit had downed his Soc, and was helping Darry with Scott. They both glanced over at me while fighting, obviously wanting to help, but not able to. Steve and the Soc he was fighting had both dropped their blades and were beating the crap out of each other. Randall seemed on the better end of it though. Than I saw Soda. As I watched he jabbed his knife into the arm of the big guy he was fighting. He was running over to me.
"PONY!" He screamed, but he still wasn't close enough to help.
My eyes were getting fuzzy again, and I could no longer see clearly. I heard a shout of victory from who I thought was Steve, he must have finally felled his Soc.
Than another sledgehammer blow came to my head, and I was pulled up and slammed against the ally wall.
The hit against my head cleared my vision again for a short while, and I could see briefly my surroundings again. Soda and Steve were almost at the Soc holding me, and Scott was running from the ally. We had won. Darry and TwoBit joined Soda and Steve in sprinting towards me.
Funny, this wasn't that big of an ally. My mind felt all fogged up, I couldn't think clearly.
The Soc glanced behind him at the four Greasers surrounding him. I guess he must have felt like he had nothing to loose, surrounded and going to loose to a fourteen year old.
He pulled up his blade and placed it against my throat.
~*~
It was a Friday night; the gang was all heading to the Drive-In to catch the nightly double.
The gang minus Johnny and Dallas, of course. The once seven member group was now down to five members. After that one fateful day in Windrixville, at the burning church, the life wouldn't be the same for the group of teens who hung out in the vacant lot.
Especially for Pony. I, Ponyboy Curtis was the only other one there at the church, when so many things changed. He and Johnny broke into their hideout to save the children, but in doing so the roof came crashing down on Johnny. Dally had jumped into save him, earning them both a stay in the hospital. Me and Dally were fine, but Johnny wasn't. When later Johnny had died, after a rumble between the Greasers and Socials, Dally hadn't been able to take it. He had run off and robbed a convenience store, getting purposefully shot by the police.
Two friends dead in one night.
The hideout was theirs because Johnny had killed a Soc, Bob, in the park. He had done it out of defence, because some other Socs were drowning me, and were going to beat up Johnny. When the Socs had inevitably ran, the two boys had gone to Dallas. He had led us to Windrixville, on Jay Mountain, to the church.
So only me, my two older brothers Darry and Sodapop, Steve and TwoBit were left.
Darry had finally gotten a night off, so he had agreed to join me in going to a couple movies. He had formed a new bond with me after the week his younger brother was hiding out in Windrixville. He now tried to do more things with him, to show he wasn't the heartless jerk that I had previously thought.
Soda had wanted to come along, and Steve had wanted to come with his best friend. Soda and I had always been close, but Steve had gotten himself a reputation for not liking the 'tag-along'. Keith Matthews, aka TwoBit wasn't one to be left out either.
So the whole gang snuck into the Drive-In. One after another they jumped the fence, then slouched over to where some seats were.
I remembered doing the exact same thing, about a month ago, with two other people. Johnny and Dally.
As they sat down in the seats, Darry, my oldest brother and legal gardian glanced over at his, a strange look on his face.
"Hey, you ok Pony?" He asked, glancing sideways at his me from his seat down the row. I guess I must have looked pale or something, because he was looking at me with a worried expression.
The rest of the guys turned to look at the now-uncomfortable me.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." I muttered, some colour returning to my cheeks in embarrassment.
I could remember sitting behind two girls, and Dally talking dirty to them. Cherry and Marcia.
Sherri Valance, the Soc who had befriended me. The beautiful redhead who was a spy for the Greaser gang. The only Socy girl who dared to drive up to the Greaser gang in the vacant lot.
Speaking of the Socs, the guys and I were getting some drinks and popcorn when a crowd of the better off kids came up. I realized with a surge of memory that these were some of the same guys that we fought at the rumble.
A big muscled, blonde eighteen year old stepped right up into Darry's face. He was wearing a red football jacket, and seemed to be the leader of this little group.
Darry didn't even flinch when the big guy stepped up. He just stared coolly at him while slouching down a tiny bit and looking tough. His sleeveless muscle shirt was thin, so you could plainly see his well- developed muscled beneath it. He had slicked hair grease over his long hair like the rest of up before leaving home, thus our name the Greasers.
The blonde guy was getting impatient with no reaction from Darry. He glared at him with hatred. Than he glanced back over at the rest of us, sizing us up. His gaze finally came to me, and he narrowed his eyes.
"Hey, aren't you that bastard who killed Bob?" He sneered, than turned back to Darry.
That shook me. It had only been a month, I guess I wasn't fully over it yet, 'cause that made me blink. I wanted to go over and sock that big Soc, even if he was almost twice my size. How dare he say that? It wasn't me, it was Johnny, and he only did it outa self defence.
I must have looked like I was hit with baseball bat or something, because Soda put a hand on my shoulder. He somehow managed to do this still looking tough.
Man, my older brother Sodapop was on tuff Grease.
The guy was still having a staring contest with Darry, but his gang of Socs were crowding up behind him, trying to surround us.
Finally, the blonde Soc said something.
"You Greasers are goin' down. We want a rematch, whether you want one or not." He said smoothly. He reached back and punched Darry across the jaw. Hard.
My older brother didn't even stumble. He was turned back to the Soc.
"Hand to hand. Only our two groups, not just anyone." Darry said calmly to the big Soc. "Darryl Curtis."
The Soc looked like he wasn't expecting that, but shook his head.
"No, blades only. No heaters." He said back, just as calm. "Scott Pearson."
Darry nodded, and before the Soc could react, he punched the Soc in the nose. Blood flowed steadily down Scott's face, and with and expression of hate he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a switchblade. The fight was on.
I glanced at the approaching Socs. There were seven of them, on five of us. Didn't matter. We could still take 'em.
Steve and TwoBit immediately yanked blades out of their pockets. Soda turned and yelled at the scared lady behind the counter to give him a knife. She did. I had no blade, and was starting to get a bit worried.
"Uh, TwoBit?!?" I yelled. He glanced over and reached over the counter and grabbed a Coke bottle. He broke it over the counter than tossed it over to me. He grinned as I fumbled to catch it without dislocating my hand. "Thanks."
I glanced over at the door; a crowd of people were pushing to get out of it. The fuzz would be here soon. Damn.
Apparently Darry was thinking along the same lines, because he yelled something at the Soc he was fighting and we took it out side.
I guess we looked pretty tough, 'cause the Socs still hadn't touched us, except for Darry and Scott punching each other.
We ran into an ally, and the fight really started. Steve was taking on two Socs; so was Soda. Darry had the leader, Scott. TwoBit was in a pretty dense situation with some tall thick guy, which left me with the other Soc.
He was swaggering over to me; I could already smell the booze on his breath. He hid it though, being subtle with his drunkenness. Great. If the other guys had known he was drunk, they wouldn't have left him to me. Socs kill when their drunk.
Oh shit.
I circled around him, but he still came on. I held my broken bottle in a loose but firm hold like Tim's, much like that day at the gas station a couple weeks ago. Suddenly he leaped forward and sliced his blade across my shoulder. It was only a fairly deep cut, and blood streamed down my arm. I was too pumped with adrenaline to feel the pain at the moment, so concentrated on the Soc.
He came forward again, but slightly stumbled. I couldn't bring myself to cut him. I know I said I could before, but I couldn't. So when he tripped over his own feet, I took the smooth bottom of the bottle and cracked it over his head. He slumped down, out cold.
I glanced up to see mine wasn't the only Soc on the ground. We were kicking their sorry butts right outa Oklahoma. Darry was still going at it with Scott, but Soda was down to only one. Steve was still fighting his two guys, so I went to take on one of them.
The new guy was much larger then the guy I fought before. He held his knife with confidence, and looked like he could take on anyone.
Before I could do anything, he had reached over and slugged me across the face, sending me reeling back. The ally spun, and the colours faded into one another. I felt another punch hard across my jaw, and then another one to my stomach. I doubled over in pain, the bottle falling limply from my hands.
I tried to shout, but got kneed in the ribs. The knife slashed across my chest, but I flinched away, so the blade only made a shallow cut.
My voice somehow wasn't under my control, but I forced myself to call out.
"SODA!" I screamed as he slugged me across the face again. Fireworks were exploding behind my closed eyelids.
I forced my eyes open, willing the dizziness to go away. The Soc stood grinning over me, a wild glint in his eyes. I vaguely saw the rest of the gang in the ally. TwoBit had downed his Soc, and was helping Darry with Scott. They both glanced over at me while fighting, obviously wanting to help, but not able to. Steve and the Soc he was fighting had both dropped their blades and were beating the crap out of each other. Randall seemed on the better end of it though. Than I saw Soda. As I watched he jabbed his knife into the arm of the big guy he was fighting. He was running over to me.
"PONY!" He screamed, but he still wasn't close enough to help.
My eyes were getting fuzzy again, and I could no longer see clearly. I heard a shout of victory from who I thought was Steve, he must have finally felled his Soc.
Than another sledgehammer blow came to my head, and I was pulled up and slammed against the ally wall.
The hit against my head cleared my vision again for a short while, and I could see briefly my surroundings again. Soda and Steve were almost at the Soc holding me, and Scott was running from the ally. We had won. Darry and TwoBit joined Soda and Steve in sprinting towards me.
Funny, this wasn't that big of an ally. My mind felt all fogged up, I couldn't think clearly.
The Soc glanced behind him at the four Greasers surrounding him. I guess he must have felt like he had nothing to loose, surrounded and going to loose to a fourteen year old.
He pulled up his blade and placed it against my throat.