Sophie And Lane

Chapter 8

Lane's POV

School...awesome...I sat in my first period class trying the ignore the stares and whispers.  My friend, Angela Shepard, sat next to me.  Angela was Tim Shepard's younger sister.  Tim and his gang was friends with my brother's gang.  Angela, or Angel, as she likes to go by is 14, like me.  She has long, black hair that goes to the middle of her back and dark blue eyes.  "Heard 'bout your parents," she blew a bubble with her gum, "sorry Lane".

"Yeah," I muttered, pretending to be interested in my text book.

She wanted to say more, but our teacher walked in.  She started handin' out a pop quiz before calling me up to her desk.  I rolled my eyes at Angel and walked up front.  "You must be Elaine Curtis?  I'm Ms. Andersen."

"I go by Lane."

She marked that down, "You missed the first two weeks." I shrugged, "here", she handed me a piece of paper.  "This is a review of last year Algebra.  It's not graded, but it'll show me what you remember."  I started to head back to my desk, "Lane, I'm really sorry about your parents."

The day dragged on, by lunchtime, I was done with the pity stares and whispers.  I met up with Pony at lunch.  He was just as annoyed as I was, "this sucks," he grumbled, picking at his food.

"I'm ready for the day to be done."  I moved the mush on my plate, "you have a lot of make-up work?"

Pony shook his head, "naw, at least not yet, anyway."  We dumped our lunch and I followed him outside.  He lit a cigarette and handed it to me.  We smoked in silence until we had to back inside. 

I walked to History class and took a seat in the back by a few of the other greasers.  I figured I would stay hidden back by them.  I was wrong.  The teacher made me stand in front of the class, introduce myself, and tell them something fun I did over the summer, "name's Lane and I hung out with my friends."

"And became an orphan..." I heard a soc girl comment from the other side of the room. I glared daggers at her as I dug my fingernails into the palm of my hand. The socs laughed and the teacher, ignored the comment, while he settled the class down. 

I don't even remember what the class was talking about, but the teacher started handing out a permission slip for a field trip, "just get a parent to sign this, bring it back before Friday."

Patricia, the stupid soc who called me an orphan, raised her hands, "so what happens if you don't have parents?  Who signs it then?" She asked in a sickly sweet tone that made me want to punch her lights out.

"A legal guardian can sign it," he answered.

"Elaine, do you have one of those?" She sneered at me.

"It's none of your damn business," I shot back, angrily.

The teacher held up his hands, "alright, that's enough." 

The bell rang and I couldn't get out of there fast enough.  I was so pissed.  My heart was pounding in my ears, all I saw was red.  I beelined into the bathroom, pulled out my blade, and sliced into my upper arm.  As soon as the pain set in, I began to feel calmer.  I wrapped paper towel around my arm and pulled down my sleeve.  I headed to my last class of the day, just one more hour and I can go home.  Unfortunately, for me, my last class was Home Ec; the only two greasers in the class were me and Angel.  We shot each other an irritated look and took our seats.  She leaned over, "I give her five minutes before the ol' bat is a totally bitch to us."

"I give her three," I muttered, laying my head on my desk wishing I could disappear into the floor.

Sophie's POV

"C'mom Steve! It ain't fair! I hardly ever went to school back home."  Man, I sounded whiny.

"Look, you're going to school and that's final." Steve pointed his finger at me, "end of discussion!"

"Fine, sign me up!" I yelled, "doesn't mean I have to go!"  I crossed my arms and stood my ground, "why do you care anyway?"  I was acting like a child.

He was getting irritated with me, "because I'm your brother!  Can ya get that through your thick skull?"

"Can you get it through your thick skull that you aren't the boss of me? You can't tell me what to do!"

Steve and I heard laughter, Soda and Two-Bit were cracking up, "hey Two! Stevie here has met his match!"

"I didn't think anyone was a stubborn as Steve, but damn!"

I glared at Steve's friends, which only made the laugh harder, "Whaddya all fightin' bout anyway?"

"Steve says I have to go to school!"

Soda nodded, "well I agree with him on the one."

I snapped, "seriously, you're a fuckin' drop out!"

Steve grabbed my shirt collar, "you ever talk to him like that again, you won't be able to sit down for a week!"

"Fuck you too!" I stormed outside and lit a cigarette.  Why do you always have to be such a bitch?  This is why nobody likes you.

I heated the top of my lighter and stucked it against my arm, burning my skin.  Once I waa settled down, I went back inside, "I will go to school, but don't expect me to do anything."

"Yep," Two-Bit clapped Soda on the shoulder, "she is definitely a Randle."