I Secretly Liked It (A Sodapop Curtis Love Story)

Greasers Aren't Trash

By the time we arrived at Soda’s house, it was getting dark. He opened the gate and led me into his house. It was small and unorganized. But it had a warm feeling to it.

“Sorry the house is a mess.” Soda says.

“Oh it’s fine.” I say with a light smile. There was a tall, buff man sitting on the couch, watching the television. When he heard Soda and walk in he turned to us.

“Hey Darry, this is Marie. She needs a place to stay tonight. She’s gonna crash here.”  Soda says to the buff man.

“Hello.” I say smiling.

“That’s fine and hi, nice to meet you Marie.” He shook my hand.

“Where’s pony?” Soda asked.

“I was just about to ask if you’ve seen him.” Darry replies.

“No, I’ve been at the DX all day.” It was now completely dark and the front door opened. A boy with brown hair walks in.

“Pony! Where ya been?” Soda asks.

“Where were you? Do you know what time it is?” Darry yells.

“I was with Johnny and its 7:30.” Pony says.

“You need to be careful. I ain’t gonna have no Soc snatching you up!”

“Alright, alright.”

“Go do your homework and go to bed.” Darry demands. Pony looks over at me.

“Wait who’s this?” Pony asks.

“This is Marie, she’s staying here tonight.”  Soda says. I smile and do a little wave.

“Hi Marie. I’m Ponyboy.”

“Hi Ponyboy.” I say. He smiles back and walks to his bedroom. Darry says goodnight and heads to his bedroom too.

“You tired?” Soda asks.

“Yeah, it’s been a long day.” I say laughing.

“Do you mind sleepin on the couch? It’s no bed or anything.”

“It’s fine.” I say with a smile. I lay down on the couch and Soda leaves to his room. He comes back with a blanket.

“Here,” He says, covering me up with the blanket.

“Thanks.” I said.

“Goodnight Marie.”

“Wait. Soda, come here.” He turned around and knelt beside me. I kissed him on his cheek.

“Goodnight Soda.” I whispered. He smiled and began walking to his room. He stopped and said,

“You’re alright Marie, you know that?” I just smiled to myself and drifted off to sleep. I woke up to the smell of chocolate cake.

“Good morning sunshine.” Soda said laughing. I got up and walked into the kitchen. There was a big chocolate cake sitting on the table. “Cake for breakfast?”  I thought.  Soda walked into the room and saw my puzzled expression.

“Darry makes us chocolate cake for breakfast.”

“Geez, I can’t remember if I like chocolate cake or not.” I say laughing.

“Then try some.” Soda hands me a plate with a slice of cake. As I ate my cake, I heard the front door open and new voices.

“Did he make the cake?” An unfamiliar voice says. A boy with a Mickey Mouse shirt walks into the kitchen.

“Well, who might you be?” He says to me.

“I’m Marie, one of Soda’s friends.”  I reply.

“I guess we got that in common. I’m Two-bit.”

“Hey! Stop flirtin with my friend.” Soda says jokingly.

Another boy walks in and grabs a slice on cake and eats it with his hands. It was the other boy I saw at the DX. He must be Steve. He looked at me and wiped his hands on his shirt. Then he stretched his hand out for me to shake it.

“Hi I’m Steve.” He says.

“I’m Marie.” I say trying to ignore the fact that he’s still chewing cake as he talks.

“Hey Marie, do you want to come to the DX with me and Steve?” Soda asks.

“Sure.” I say. The boys and I got ready and left for the DX. At the DX, Soda showed me how all the gas pumps work and I helped him with cars. Time flew by. A blue Mustang pulled up. Soda and Steve walked up to car.

“What’re you Socs doin here.” Steve says.

“We heard there was a new girl and she doesn’t belong with the greasers.” A guy in the car says. I walked up to the car. There were three guys piled in the back and two guys in the front.

“What do you mean she doesn’t belong with us greasers?” Soda asks. The boy ignores him and turns to me.

“Hey, what are you doing hanging around this trash?”

“Trash? They’re my friends.”

“Look around. This part of town is trash. The people here are trash and that’s all they’ll ever be. But you, you don’t look like no trash.”

“If you ask me, you’re the only trash I can see. Why don’t you and your trashy friends leave.” I snapped.

“Excuse me?” He looked surprised. I looked over at Soda and Steve. They looked surprised too. I guess I was too.

“You heard her. You better leave or we might have a problem.” Soda says.

“Whatever greaser. We’re not afraid of you.” The boy says. He spit at us and drove away.

“Sorry about that.” Soda apologizes.

“It’s alright. Who was that?” I ask.

“That’s Bob. He’s the leader of the Socs I guess. They live on the other side of town. The rich side. My friend’s and I are Greasers. They call us that because of the grease in our hair.”

“Why do you guys hate each other like that?”

“I don’t know. I guess they think they’re better than us cause they got lots of money.”

“That’s stupid.” There was moment of silence.

“That was pretty brave of you to say that to em.”

“Thanks.” I smile.

“You gotta be careful. If they get you, they’d probably do stuff to ya.” I knew what he meant. I would not want to be raped by one of them. Wouldn’t want to be raped by anyone...I mean, who would? It was time to leave. Soda and Steve closed up the DX and we began to walk home. Home. I knew it wasn’t my home, but it was starting to feel like it.