Never Enough Winstons |The Outsiders|

No Good Hood

All good things come to an end. Sometimes the end is peaceful and quiet, sometimes you understand that the ending is for the best.

Sometimes endings are like a car wreck. Loud, messy and just a disaster.

Maybe an ending was one you never saw coming. Maybe it was doomed from the start.

She was eighteen now, and things were finally coming to an end.

Hannah wiped down the bar as the door creaked open, and Ponyboy came into her line of view. A late Wednesday afternoon and Hannah had successfully avoided him for five days. Now her luck was running out. Pony stood at the door, staring at her. His eyes looked hurt, but he just looked uncomfortable as Hannah threw down the rag she was using.

"Buck, I'm going on break," she called into the basement.

"You're a bartender, you don't get breaks!"

"Then I guess I'm just leaving!"

"Five minutes."

She sent Pony a curt nod as she started towards the door. A warm afternoon in June, only one more week until school was out and Ponyboy Curtis was officially a high school graduate. He was the first to speak once they stepped out onto the front porch, Hannah sat down on the steps with Pony beside her.

"What's up with you?"

What was up with her? She had been avoiding Ponyboy for nearly a week. No going to the Curtis house, no talking to any of the gang, even talking with Curly was starting to be a struggle. Her mind was yelling at her, filling her ears as she stared down at her hands.

Pony doesn't deserve this. He doesn't deserve you.

She cleared her throat. It was hard to pretend you didn't care when your heart was breaking in your chest.

"It's not your fault, Ponyboy. You didn't do anything to push me away. I've just been thinking-" Biting down on her lip, Hannah glanced up to her boyfriend. Dressed in a track team sweatshirt and jeans, the freckles on his nose and cheeks were becoming more visible. He didn't look like a young boy anymore, nearly eighteen, Ponyboy looked more like Darry than she had ever noticed.

"What's up with you?"

Ponyboy smiled to himself. Hannah was always a little tricky, but that was part of the appeal. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach. It still didn't seem real, but it was.

"I got my application back," he started. "The one I sent to Oklahoma state?"

She nodded, knowing exactly what he was going to say. That youthful excitement was back, shining in the grey of his eyes.

"I got accepted. Well, I got in on an academic scholarship, and then another for my track performance. Put it all together, I got a full ride to university."

His smile was small, almost like he was embarrassed. Hannah just nodded while she played with her fingers. "That's great, Pony. Darry must be real proud of you."

I'm proud of you, too.

He agreed awkwardly before reaching towards Hannah's hands as they sat in her lap. "He is. Now, are you gonna tell me what's goin' on with you? I haven't seen you in days, neither has the gang. Is it because Dal's in the cooler again?"

She ripped her hands away and stood quickly, pushing her hair away as she did so. "It's because I'm not good enough for you."

"Hey! That's not true and you know it-"

She laughed bitterly. "Wake up, Ponyboy. You're a smart kid heading off to university in a month, and what am I? I'm a piece of New York trailer trash." She turned around to stare at the bar behind her, ignoring the pleading look in Pony's eyes.