Saving Winston

Chapter One

The school bell rang. School was finally over. I let out a sigh of relief. I gathered my things from my locker and closed it up. The first step out of that torture felt amazing. It was warm, the breeze was blowing and teenagers were running all around. I spot my crush, with a ton of girls huddled around him. His name is Ponyboy Curtis. He lives right across the street from me and we've been best friends since we were both born. I've had a crush on him for the past year but I don't think he feels the same way about me. So best friends it is. I took out my yearbook and started walking over to him to ask him to sign it, but a car pulled up and someone called him over.

"Pony, hurry up will ya?" I studied the face. I recognized him, it was Dallas Winston. He's the worst man in town, or used to be. He was a true JD before, but something changed him. Something changed him for the better.

"Ok, ok, I'm coming just quit your jabbing," Ponyboy answered.

Dally winked at me. Pony got in the car and before I knew it, they were gone.

"Did the, Dallas Winston, just wink at you?" Sam Halde asked. She was a year older than me, but we say hi to each other in the halls. "Speechless, huh?"

I realized I was clenching my books to my chest. I relaxed my arms.

"No? I have no interest in him." I said, and that was the truth. I was such a good girl. Straight A's, never skipped a class, never once in trouble. And he was exactly the opposite, doesn't go to school, robs stores, picks up girls. How could we ever be together? How could I ever fall for a guy like that?

"Ok, if you say so. Bye, Claudia!" Sam exclaimed, bringing me back to reality.

I found myself thinking about Dallas a lot the rest of the day. No one's ever liked me before, well, no one's ever told me. Is it even possible Dally could like me? Could I like Dally? No, I couldn't. I liked Pony, for all.

I got home and while I was opening the door, I heard someone call my name.

"Clauds, I have someone here who wants to see ya!" Sodapop, Ponyboy's older brother called out.

I turned around to see Soda pushing Pony across the street. Right towards me.

"Hey," Ponyboy almost whispered.
"Hey," I responded, blushing.
"Umm," his eyes met Soda's and then back to me.
"I just wanted to say you look good today," he finished, and sprinted away.
"Chicken, such a chicken!" Soda screamed and followed him.

My heart was pounding uncontrollably. Ponyboy thought I looked good today? All I was wearing was faded jean shorts, a pink ribbed tank top and my hair was curled. Nothing fancy about it, but he thought it looked good? I couldn't control the smile on my face. I went back to my house and opened the front door. I threw away almost all my school books, not wanting anything to do with that topic anymore.

"Claudia, you should probably keep those for the future, high school comes in handy."

I swung around, scared to death, but it was only Pony. I forgot to shut the door. In this neighborhood, girls need to be careful if they are alone. I'm glad it was Ponyboy though. If it was anyone else, I would be in some trouble.

"Pony, you scared me," I almost laughed.
"Sorry about running away before, I wasn't thinking," Pony said.

I just nod my head and turned around to take the books out of the trash. I place them in a table and turn to face Pony again.

"What are you still doing here?" I asked a little too harshly, but it didn't seem to bother him. In fact, he leaned in closer. I could feel his body heat against mine. I stared into those greenish-grey eyes and all I wanted was him. For him to love me, to want me. Our lips touched for a few seconds and then he was out the door. I followed him out to the porch and he turned around and smiled. He waved as he started running back to his house backwards across the street and almost got hit by a car. The man driving honked really loudly and I giggled as Pony waved a sorry to the man and got into his house. Shoot, this guy was sure confusing. I couldn't tell if he liked me or not. The kiss obviously showed he liked me but running away like that? I didn't know what to say about this.

"Clauds, I'm home!" Drew, my older brother yelled.
"Hey, how was work?" I asked, walking into the kitchen where he was. Drew worked at the DX with Steve and Sodapop.
"Good, Soda told me Pony was gonna ask you something," he smirked.
"He didn't ask me anything, and probably never will."
"How's mom doing?" Drew asked.
"I couldn't see her today," I lied. I totally forgot I had to go see my mom in the hospital. My dad died years ago right after I was born. Mom said it was a heart attack but I knew she was lying. Drew told me later Dad killed himself because he couldn't handle life anymore. My mom got hit by a car a couple days ago and she is in stable condition. The doctor said she will be out in the next two months.

"For dinner we're going over to the Curtis house and the gang is coming over," Drew exclaimed.

I nodded and raced upstairs to get ready. I put on a nice shirt, high waisted shorts and re-curled my hair. I put on the tiniest amount of makeup and made my way back downstairs. We walked across the street and went into the house. I recognized the boys sitting on the couch. Two-Bit, Steve, Johnny, Ponyboy, Sodapop, and then, there was Dally.