Gold - The Outsiders Fanfiction

The strip

1963

Today we were all planning to head down to The Strip, Darry's idea. The Strip is basically two miles of food stands, drive-ins, and supermarkets on the West Side where the Socs lived.

"Pony, you and Charlie can take this money," Darry said, handing us ten dollars.

"Are you trying to get rid of us?" Ponyboy asked.

"No, I thought you guys might just want to do your own thing for a bit," Darry suggested.

Pony and I looked at each other.

"Might as well," said Pony, taking the money from Darry.

"Where should we go to eat?" I asked.

"Let's just go to a supermarket, everything's cheaper than the stands, and we can get way more stuff," Pony suggested.

"Sure, there's one over there," I said.

So that's where we headed.

As Pony and I approached the door, a man came up to us.

"Hey kids, want me to get you some booze?" He asked.

"No, we're fine," Pony said.

"What did you say?" The man growled.

"We said we don't want booze," Ponyboy repeated.

The man stepped forward, a look of pure anger on his face. Ponyboy pulled me inside.

"Let's get some of those mini hot dog things, what're they called?" Pony asked.

"Cocktail sausages," I told him.

We made our way over to the deli, where a plump lady was working.

"What can I get for you youngsters?" She asked.

"Two cocktail sausages," Pony stated, handing over a dollar.

In return, the lady handed us a wrapped package.

"Let's go get some soda," I said.

"What type?" Pony asked.

"What do you want?" I questioned.

"Let's get a coke and a creaming soda," I confirmed.

"Hey, I've got an idea," Pony said as I grabbed the drinks from the shelf. "Let's buy the biggest, most chocolatey cake we can find and go eat it in front of Steve!"

"Good idea!" I exclaimed.

As we made our way to the bakery aisle I saw Tim, Curly, and Angela Shepard. Tim was holding a backpack while Angela was stuffing candy into it and Curly was standing guard.

"Hey, Angela," I greeted.

Angela jumped in fright and turned around.

"Oh, hey Charlotte Bailey," she said, stuffing more candy into the bag.

"What are you doing here, Curtis?" Demanded Curly.

"We just thought we'd come over and say hi," Pony answered.

"Hi," greeted Curly.

"Hi," I said.

"Oh, hey!" said Curly to me flirtatiously. "You're in my gym class, aren't you?"

"Yeah I am, I'd love to carve my name into Coach Raymond's cheese," I laughed.

"You're telling me. He gave me a detention for leaving my hat in my locker," laughed Curly.