Girls Don't Cry | The Outsiders

Two

The next morning, I was woken up by Darry.

"Time to get up. School starts in an hour and a half."

I made noises of protest, but Darry wouldn't listen. I complained as I got up and started to get ready. After folding up my blanket, I stuck it and the pillow back in the closet where it belonged. Darry made breakfast while the rest of us stumbled around.

Once we were all ready for school and had eaten and brushed our teeth and the guys had greased back their hair, Darry herded us into his truck. Somehow we all managed to fit inside. Darry stopped by my place so I could get my school bag and make sure the little kids were up and around. The bus came by our house, so I didn't worry about how they were getting to school. After making sure they were ready to go and that they were waiting on the front porch, I ran back to Darry's truck and hopped in, squeezing in next to Ponyboy.

Darry dropped us all off and then he went off to work.

"See ya, Ponyboy," I said, waving to him. He waved back and we parted ways. Sodapop and I went to math, the only class we had together. Coincidentally, our desks were right next to each other. In front of Soda was his girlfriend, Sandy, whom I was barely friends with.

We hadn't been too sure of each other when they first got together, but when I found that she was actually really good to Sodapop and she realized I was nothing more to him than basically a sister, we decided to give each other a chance. He was always nervous about me with  Sandy because, for the longest time, I was the gang's only girl. When Sylvia— Dally's girl— came into the picture, it wasn't pretty.

I'd even gone on double or triple dates a few times. Steve, Soda's best friend, and his girl, Soda and Sandy, and me and this guy named Ryan would occasionally meet up and go to the drag races or just go to the Dingo sometimes. Ryan was cool. He wasn't totally greaser like the rest of us, but he definitely wasn't a soc either. Although, he did own a cherry red '59 Monte Carlo that he had saved every bit of his allowance and paychecks to buy. He took me riding in it frequently and it was the most gorgeous car I'd ever gotten the privilege to ride in. It was pretty tuff and it made me feel real tuff, too.

Ryan and I had our fair share of makeout sessions and other kinds of sessions if you dig, but I didn't know if we were even dating. We were more into hooking up, but he was a lot more respectful about it. He didn't think he was ready for a full time relationship and I just knew I couldn't be committed to school and working and taking care of two kids and balancing a relationship on top of that, so we kept it cool. We were friends and we were respectful of each other and in times when we weren't up for sex or making out, we'd just kick it and watch a movie or something.

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Math class was the only class I actually felt smart in. I loved math and I was real good at it. The teacher never had to tell me anything twice and, most of the time, I was ahead of everyone else. I helped Sodapop a lot on his work, just because I was so good at it. There were a lot of socy kids in that class that gave me a lot of crap, but I just ignored them and went about my business. I knew a few of them weren't even passing because of all the hell they'd cause during class and then they'd come in the next day and act like they didn't even know we had homework.

I got along real well with my teacher, too. A lot of times I'd go in and I'd have bruises and a black eye. She always noticed and always told me that I could go to her if I needed anything. She never did that to any of the socs or other greasers when they got into fights, but I guess she knew this was different. This wasn't me getting beat on for flirting with another girl's boyfriend or stealing stuff or what have you. This was over nothing and for no apparent reason other than my mother was an abusive drunk. She didn't know a lot about my mom, other than she'd seen my mother on multiple occasions starting fights with other women at bars and stuff.