𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐈𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐚𝐧𝐠 // The Outsiders

Chapter 14 - The Rumble

"What do you mean your gonna have a rumble on Sunday morning!" I shout. I can see Soda instantly regrets his choice of words.
"Rumble? What rumble? On Sunday? No, no." He stammers. I raise an eyebrow, clearly not convinced. Steve lightly hits his arm.
"Yea, we gotta rumble on Sunday."

"Why?" I quiz, following behind Steve as he begins to stock shelves. He shrugs.
"Everyone needs a rumble once in a while."
"It's like a rodeo, or a drag race, or a dance, you know?" Soda adds. I shake my head, I don't want my friends to get hurt in a meaningless fight, not like they did last week.
"No. No, I don't know."
"We have too much energy." Steve chuckles. "Need a good thrill once in a while."

I sigh, partly giving up as I take my usual seat on the stool behind the counter.
"Well, I'll be at your house then," I mumble.
"For before or after?" Soda asks, spinning around to face me.
"I'll be at your house," I repeat. "So once you've gotten all busted up, you have someone to put you back together."

Soda chuckles and I drop the subject. But I promise myself I will be there for the boys if they need me. And I keep my promise, on Sunday I rush over to the Curtis house early in the morning. The family's truck isn't there, and my heart starts to race as I knock on the door. I am the only one who bothers to knock.

"Hheellloo," Two-bit says, sticking his head out the door. I sigh in relief.
"Hey, Two," I say.
"Hi, Win, should have known it was you."
I roll my eye, stepping inside as Two moves aside. Everyone is here, they all look jittery but at the same time excited.

"Hey, Win." Soda greets and hugs me. "Thought you weren't coming till later."
"Well, I got here early," I say. "Where are your parents?" I add out of curiosity.
"They went out for the morning." He says, leading me over to the couch.

The second tick by. The boys do their hair. Two-bit drinks a few beers, Soda and Steve cheat at card, Pony reads, and the rest of us think. Eventually, Darry stands up and announces it's time to go. Before I can say goodbye, all the boys run outside. Screeching and howling as they do flips and cartwheels across the lawn. I can't help but laugh, and then they're gone.

– Sodapop's POV –

The gang and I rush out of the house, doing acrobatic tricks across the lawn and out the gate. We can all do acrobatics because Darry took a course at the Y a few summers ago, and thought it might come in handy during a fight. It did, but it also got me and Two jailed once.

Before we leave, I glance back at the porch, where Winnie stands with her arms crossed. Her bright red hair wavers in the cool breeze, and even from a distance, I can tell her green eyes are glued to us. I know she's less than happy about us fighting. If I was her, I would be too.

On our way to the vacant lot, we yell at the top of our lungs, getting our adrenaline up. Halfway, we meet up with Tim Shepard's gang. The rumble shouldn't be too big, all things considered, I just hope the numbers are roughly the same.

"Hey, Curtis!" Tim yells.
"Which one?" I yell back, but I know he's looking for Darry, probably gonna ask him to start the rumble. Darry would start a fight any day, he likes to show off his muscles I think.
"The big one." He yells. Yep, what did I say?

When we get to the lot, everything is still, no socs, no trouble. Yet...
Then they came, right on time in two carloads. Just a little over a dozen I think. They line up, facing us silently, probably waiting to see who will start the fighting. I can't help glancing around at the group.

Pony stands with Johnny on his left and Curly on his right a few feet away. Steve stands beside me, wearing the jacket Winnie and I got him for Christmas over a leather one. It's become his favorite. Darry stands in the middle of the Shepard gang, next to Tim. And Dally and Two look like they're just itching to get their hands on a soc.

Further away from everyone else is a small girl with long dark hair, she's practically shivering from the cold. I'd never seen her before yet she looked familiar, Shepard must have a new member. I kinda feel bad for her, but before I can think about it I get slugged in the cheek. The rubble was on...

I jump on the soc that slugged me, kicking and punching. He reaches up and flips me off his back, slugs me good a few more times, then I slug him right in the jaw. He topples over in a daze and I get him a few more times before finding someone else to fight.

I caught the next guy by the shoulder and delivered a sledgehammer blow to his face. He drags me down with him and we go rolling, gasping, cussing, kicking, and punching.

Suddenly someone plucks me off the ground and steadies me. I almost punch her in the face, thinking she's a soc. But It's just the dark-haired girl, not a scratch on her. Though her knuckles are busted wide open and her charcoal eyes shimmer in the moonlight.

"Watch it!" She hisses, blocking my attempted punch with ease before hurrying off. I'm dazed for a second before I jump back into fighting. Punch after punch and kick after kick we eventually win, jumping up and down in celebration. Darry hauls me to my feet, though I'm laughing. I know the pain will set in later.

"We won!" He announces. I grin, jumping for joy as the rest of our gang joins us. We're all kinda busted up, but it's the norm, cuts, and bruises. But it's a great day so far. The morning sun is shining, and we chased the socs straight out of our neighborhood. I can't wait to tell Winnie.