Forbidden

1.

Vin's POV

I was walking out of the book store by myself. I shouldn't have been, but I thought I was tough enough to do it. Besides my brother is Dally, one of the tuffest guys in town. But the socs travelled in packs. I couldn't take on a pack by myself if they ever show up.

Let me stop for a moment and introduce myself. I'm Vincent "Vin" Winston. I'm 15 years old. I have black hair that I keep slicked back with oil and blue eyes. My brother is Dallas "Dally" Winston. But don't call him Dallas unless you want to get the snot beat out of ya. Dally's got blonde hair hair, he doesn't like grease and he doesn't like to cut it so it hangs in his face and he's got blue eyes.

Dally and I ain't much alike. While Dally is tuff and cold with hard muscles and a glare that can kill. I'm tough, I'm strong and I guess I have muscle. But I'm not much of a fighter. I fight when I have to, but if I don't gotta I don't do it. Unlike Dally. Dally's always itching for a fight.

We also aren't much alike in blood. We share the same dead beat father, but different mothers. My mother died. So I live with Dallas. We used to live in New York, but moved here to Tulsa, Oklahoma after a while. I don't really live with Dallas now though since he's always at Buck Merril's place and I don't care much for that guy.  So I usually crash at the Curtis house like Steve and Two-Bit, and sometimes Johnny does. The whole gang really.

The gang consists of about 9 of us. The eldest is Darrel "Darry" Curtis. He's 20 years old. He's a hardworking and good-looking guy. He's the legal guardian of Sodapop and Ponyboy.

Then there's Keith "Two-Bit" Matthews, we all just called him Two-Bit. He's the wisecracker of the group. Think he's funny, but really he's just a bit annoying. He's 18, and still a junior in high school.

Then there's Steve Randle. He's an honest to god jerkface. He's real mean to Ponyboy. And sometimes to me. Because we apparently steal Soda away from him. Lie. Sodapop probably gets tired of the shit that always comes out of his mouth.

Then there's Dally.

And then Sodapop Curtis. He's 16 going on 17. He's Ponyboy's older brother, but Darry's younger one. He's really nice. He never said nothing mean to me and whenever I needed someone he was there. He protected me from Socs and bullies. And he was just an all around great guy. Which probably explained why I sorta had a crush on him.

Then there's Johnny Cade. He's the "gang's pet". Pretty small for a 16 year old. He was physically and emotionally abused at home. Dally and I was always looking out for him. He was like another brother to us. He thought of Dally as his hero. He was my best friend.

And then finally there's Ponyboy Curtis. He's 14 years old, but a real know it all, ya know? I mean I'm smart, but Pony's a genius. He skipped a grade. He's a Freshman in the High School. He liked school, which was cool and running.  Pony was also my best friend.

Johnny, Pony, and I were like three peas in a pod. You never really saw one of us without the others.

This was actually the first time I had been alone in a few weeks. Because up until the other day, Johnny, Pony, and I had spent every waking moment together until Johnny had to start going home and Pony had to start focusing more on school, due to Darry's request.

I was banned from the Curtis house for the next week, so Pony could "focus." I was mad not only because I couldn't see Ponyboy, but also because I couldn't see Sodapop unless I walked all the way to the gas station and that's a walk away.