Kate Randle

Chapter 1: New York

" G-L-O-R-I-A Gloooooriaa," I yelled. I was driving on a back road at 2:00 a.m  listening to " Gloria"  by Van Morrison headed to who knows where. Some small town called Tulsa. Now, you may be wondering why the hell I'm leaving New York for a little trash town , short version of the story is 16 years ago I was born and my mom couldn't afford me so she sent me to Brooklyn, New York to live with my uncle so I could be "raised right" , but if you ask me, I probably would've been better off living under a bridge then at that hellhole, and I'm trying to find my brother Steve. You may be wondering why mom my ever had me if she couldn't afford to have another kid, well let's just say I'm something called a "Bar Baby" , which basically means my mom got pretty boozed up at a bar, screwed the bartender and nine months later little Kate came and ruined the day. But New York wasn't really as bad as i make it sound, yes my Uncle Chris was a drunk and got pretty messed up at times, but there was some pretty special about the people there. My whole gang in New York included, the twins, Saige Smith, really shy, but the sweetest girl you'll ever meet and Jake Smith,  which was a big time player and a total ass, Kayla Gordon, that was literally a fashion icon and always got what she wanted, Luke Worthy, from Texas, but moved for kind of the same reason I did and had a little crush on me. And last, but definitely not least, my best friend Dallas, Dallas Winston. He was tall, brown hair, with cold, dark brown eyes, and had a criminal record about a mile long, but he had a soft spot, he just never let anyone see it. No one but me. We would always get into trouble on the Brooklyn streets, because that's just what we did, we stole beer, had lake party's, and fought, not that we wanted to, but it's just how things worked around there. Well, how they worked before Dallas left. I still remember the day I woke up and found that note on my dresser.

        Hey doll, look, I'm really sorry about this,but I have to go and I just couldn't say it to your face. Please, take care of yourself and watch out over the gang alright? I don't want y'all getting in any trouble without me. I'm going to miss you Kate and I wanted you to have this. See you another time, 
                                                                      Dally Winston

I looked beside the note on my dresser and saw one of his rings that he always wore and I cried, no ones ever seen me cry, I haven't cried since Dally left and I've never took that ring off, but I always wondered, why did he just jump up and leave without telling us goodbye and where he was going? I jumped quickly out of my thoughts as I pulled into a gas station to get gas because I was on "E" and it was about 4 a.m. As I walked into the door I saw two teenage boys sleeping at the cash register, one with a playboy magazine laid over his face. I kind of chuckled at that. Then, I saw one of them wake up and look at me and yawned. He gave me a big smile and said, " Well hi there what can I get ya?" " Just some gas and a pack of Camels please," I replied smiling. " Hmm, I'm sure I'd remember a pretty face like yours coming around here if you were from here, so you must not be huh?" He questioned still smiling. " Umm, no, my name is Kate,I'm actually from New York just heading into town, looking for my brother actually." " Well I'm sure I know him, Tulsa ain't got too many people," he said looking back up at me from what I think he was still checking me out from a few minutes ago. " Steve, Steve Randle." All of the sudden the guy with the magazine bolted up and looked at me. " Uh, Kate this is-," " KATE!", the guy yelled as he jumped up and hugged me tight. " Steve?!?", I returned the hug even though I didn't really know him, and it was different, different from all the hugs I've got before, it had warmth, passion, love, this hug had love. "Kate, oh I've missed you how've you been?", Steve asked smiling at me. " Good, I've been good, getting by I guess," I laughed. "Kate, this is my best buddy, Sodapop." " Hmm, that's original," I gave a friendly smirk at Soda. He gave me a small wink when Steve wasn't looking. Before anything else was said Steve yelled dragging me out the door and soda following along, " Oh man Kate, I've got so much to show you!" " Steve you know it's like 5 in the morning right?", I asked him laughing. "Shit," I heard soda mumble under his breath, " Darrys gonna kill me when I get home," he said. " Let's get going then, we can sleep at the Curtiss, I'm sure Darry won't mind," Steve said as we drove that direction. I looked at Soda who was smiling at the idea of me staying over. " Ok, that's fine with me as long as everyone's ok with it," I said. " They will be," Soda said looking at me with adoring eyes. Then, we drove to the Curtis household singing every word to "Heart Break Hotel" by Elvis Presley and that's when I thought that maybe small town Tulsa won't be too bad after all.