Evermore | Sodapop Love Story | The Outsiders

Chapter 1 | Friends

"Aw man, are ya alright, Elle?"

Late Spring of 1954

"Come on Elle, you can do it." Soda said to me.

"I don't wanna, I'm scared." I said, quivering a little bit.

"I guess that makes you chicken." He teased, smirking at me.

"Oh yeah?" I hopped on the bike. It didn't have training wheels. I thought I would fall. Our parents surprised us with them last week so we could hang out in the yard or the lot with them.

His bike was a shiny, dark red. It shined bright in the sunlight, and it was almost black at night. It still sparkled in the moonlight.

Mine was Royal Blue. It was just as shiny in the sunlight, and it was navy in the dark. Just like Soda's, it still sparkled in the moonlight. It had hot pink and silver streamers on the handle bars.

Neither of the bikes had training wheels on them. I still haven't ridden mine because I'm scared I'll fall off.

I started to ride around the lot near our houses. Soda and I are neighbors. People dropped trash off there a lot and there was an open field behind there, where Soda, me, and some of our friends will go to play games. Usually, we will toss around a football. 

Soda has two brothers. Darry is older and he's nine. He likes to roughhouse with us a lot, but he's responsible when he needs to be. He likes football a lot and Mr. Curtis has been teaching him to play. He's really nice and protective of us since he's the oldest out of all of us.

Soda has a younger brother named Ponyboy. He doesn't hang with us because he's still a really really little kid. He is about to turn three. He's already learned his abc's, numbers 1-10, and can walk. Sometimes he'll even run.

I'm still learning my abc's and I'm two and a half years older than him.

Soda is doing better than me in class. He knows his abc's and he can name numbers 1-14 all in order. He tries to help me, but I can't remember the numbers or letters. I'll get it eventually.

Soda and I have another best friend named Steve Randle. We just met him this year. He's crazy like us so now we're a group of three. I hope we can always be together. He's a little older than both of us. He's already six.

The last one of us is Keith. He's the second oldest. He's seven. He's really funny. He loves school, but not for learning. He's like me, he couldn't tell you his abc's if he tried. Darry, Steve, and Soda have been trying to teach him. Darry once told him that they should get Ponyboy to tell him his abc's. He also isn't very fond of his name and kids make fun of him for it. He keeps trying to think of nicknames.

That's our group of friends. Maybe one day, we'll have more friends. Maybe that kid who lives a few houses down the street from Soda and I. 

He's a really shy kid. I always hear yelling down where he lives. Whenever we try to talk to him, he runs away. Maybe he will be our friend one day. He seems like a nice kid.

He goes to the same school as us, but he isn't in our class. During play time, I see him outside, against the wall. Usually sitting down and hugging his knees like he's scared.

I was finally able to ride my bike, Soda was cheering me on. I was happy and I was starting to go slightly faster. I started to sing my abc's a little bit.

"A, B, C, D..." I already forgot the next letter.

"E." Soda said.

"A, B, C, D, E, F..." I was having a hard time remembering the next few. Soon, I lost control of the bike.

"Soda, I'm gonna crash!" I screeched. He ran over to the bike and tried to stop it, but it had already fallen over. My knee started to bleed, and it hurt. I started to cry. 

Soda knelt down beside me and tried to comfort me, but it hurt. Darry must've heard the commotion because he came out to see what was wrong.

"Aw man, are ya alright, Elle?" He asked me. Soda was still trying to comfort me.

"It hurts." I cried. Darry walked over and helped me up.

"Come on, let's go find our moms alright?" He asked. I nodded. Darry called his parents mom and dad, not mommy and daddy. Soda grabbed both of our bikes and started dragging them closer to the house, so mean people wouldn't steal them.

Darry was holding my hand so I would feel better. He was like an older brother to me. He was as caring as he was crazy. Soda went in the garage and put the bikes away. Darry brought me to our mommies. I was still crying.

"Oh, sweetie, what's wrong?" Mommy asked me. I let go of Darry's hand and ran over to my mommy.

"I fell off my bike and I'm bleeding." I cried.

She picked me up and brought me to the bathroom. She put the toilet lid down and sat me down on it. She calmed me down a little so I wasn't crying anymore.

While she was getting the rubbing alcohol and a big bandaid, I started singing abc's. Mommy and Mrs. Curtis said it would help me learn.

"A, B, C, D, E, F..." I forgot the next letter.

"G." Mommy said.

"G...H, I, um... K-"

"J, then K." Mommy said. I nodded. She turned to me and started putting on the rubbing alcohol. If I get hurt, she usually looks focused, but she looked sad for some reason.

The rubbing alcohol stung and I tensed up a little, trying to ignore the stinging. She then put a bandaid on it and smiled. "Good job sweetie."

"Thanks mommy." I was wondering why she seemed sad. She wasn't said earlier, just worried about me. I kissed her cheek and ran back out so I could keep playing with Soda.

"Are ya okay?" Soda asked.

"Yeah." I dragged him back outside, "I think mommy is sad because of me." I said.

"Why would ya think that?" He asked.

"She didn't seem upset until she was trying to help me." I said.

"I'm sure it's nothing." Soda said.

"Alright." I said.

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I've been so excited to publish this. A month ago, I found this again because I hadn't done anything with it since August, so I decided to do some serious editing, now it's ready to be published.

Happy birthday nana, hope you can see my writing from up there :)

Stay Shining! <3

Published January 26th, 12:00 AM
1097 Words