The Outsiders- Back in Time

Chapter 16

Fresh

                It was inevitable that I would be entangled in Emma's drama. I would have to subdue to the inescapable one way or another. This was already made known not by preconceived thoughts, but actual experience. Emma is a great friend, that's undeniable. She is understanding and caring. Still, her flawed area would have to be oversharing. It is understandable that some people are naturally outspoken, but she is a bit too vocal about her life.

      I knew that somehow, Emma would involve me in her drama. Being involved in drama had its ups and downs, and it was looking pretty downhill for me.

          I tried to ignore the whole ketchup situation. 

        A girl that looked around my age walked in my direction. She was doing the walk that, I  say with a heavy heart, a lot of girls do at my school. It's the walk where you sway your hips slowly side to side while you take small steps, one foot in front of another. She leaned over the booth.

       "Hey Ponyboy!" she said in a dramatized high pitched voice. She looked over at me like I was a piece of fungus on the wall.

       "Oh hi Cassandra,"he said shakily. "Cassandra, this is my friend Ariana. She's staying at my house right now. And Cassandra over here went to my old school."

        A poignant smell stung my nostrils. I felt like coughing from the amount of perfume she had on. It was like all the guys in my grade did with Axe. It was the perfect day to have an asthma attack, ya know?

       "You were just too smart and had to move up a grade, didn't ya?" Cassandra squealed while lightly hitting him on the shoulder. I was under the impression that there was some tension between them (and I'm referring to the love kind if you couldn't tell.) 

        Keep in mind that the booths were circular, so Cassandra was leaning over the booth in order to talk to Ponyboy, so she was near my head. I had to turn around to see her, so if I was sitting normally, Cassandra wouldn't be able to see my face. 

        I  turned to Ponyboy so she was not able to see, and mouthed the words "do you like her"to him. His eyes got so wide it made all of his other body parts seem abnormal in size in comparison. He immediately shook his head. You could almost hear a pin drop.

        "Uh, I think my sister's calling," Cassandra chirped up, as if it would fill the silence. 

        As soon as she took off, I began speaking to Ponyboy very quickly in a pretentious voice.

       "She's obviously flirting with you. I mean the body language, the way she spoke, she was wiggling her hips for crying out loud!"

        As soon as these words escaped my lips, I felt a wave of regret course through my body. The tone it came out in is not one I meant to give off. I apologized to him for the way it came out.

      "I know she likes me," Ponyboy mumbled. "She's liked me since 6th grade. There's nothin' I can do about it. Besides, I l-" 

       He caught himself mid-sentence. He looked up as if he were inspecting the ceiling, pretending that he was not about to say something. After a few seconds he looked at me to see my arms crossed against my chest with a smug look plastered against my face. He shrugged and raised his eyebrows as if he was oblivious as to why I was appearing so pompous. He opened his mouth, but I raised my index finger right in front of his lips in opposition.  There was a growing suspicion that was manifesting with me. 

       "Oh my gosh. You like someone!" I blurted. A smile spread across my face as his face turned a light shade of pink. "Well by the way you're blushing, I'm obviously wrong. But seriously though, tell me. I mean if you want to. I swear I won't tell."

       He began to feed me lies. I nodded in agreement, but that nod didn't reflect my actual beliefs. I was almost positive that he liked someone, and nobody could derail me from finding out who.

                                                                                           Ellie        

 Two times four equals eight. The square root of eight equals sixty-four. I busied myself with math problems. I didn't want to get involved in Dally and Emma's personal lives. I decided to pretend to not know what was happening, which is difficult considering it was happening approximately 10 feet away from me. 

       I didn't know what to do. This was so unlike me. I always had a plan. I kept on asking myself how to help get Emma out of her situation, but came up with no results. Unless, I thought to myself. No I shouldn't!  I couldn't! But before I could stop myself, like I normally do, I began talking. I wasn't myself. I rose.

       "Emma did it! She spit the ketchup at you!" I announced. Sylvia looked over at us. "Remember us? We're the girls that defended Dally when you broke up with him."

        "Why you-"

         "Ah." I cut her off. "We're gonna make you a deal."

        Emma gave me an 'are you crazy?' look. I didn't know what I was doing. For once I wasn't thinking. I was just living life.

       "Choose any skill. If  whoever I pick beats you at it, then you can never go creeping up on Dally, Emma, or any of us again."

       "What's in it for me?" Sylvia asked, while loudly chewing on some gum. She had a hand on her left hip.

      "Ponyboy will go out with me!" a girl screamed. She looked similar to Sylvia. I assumed it was her relative. Ponyboy looked up.

       "What? N-"

        "It's a deal," Sylvia announced. We shook hands.

        "So, choose your category and person," Emma commanded. 

         "I choose my sister and... singing."