Where am I?
Who are these guys?
What happened, and why does my body ache so badly?
Then it hit me.
I'm not dead.
That Soc didn't kill me...and I think it might have something to do with the 6 strangers lurking down on my face.
"She's awake!" One of them yelled out.
I winced at the suddenness of him yelling and started flinching at everything I saw and heard. Somehow, it always feels like the person who raised their voice intended it for me... like they were going to hurt me. And unfortunately so, the one who had yelled noticed me starting to panic.
"Shhhh, doll, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you..." he smiled.
"I'm Sodapop Curtis. Um, these are my two brothers, Ponyboy and Darry, and my best buddy Steve...a-a-and Two-Bit Matthews and Johnny, J-J-Johnny Cade...and Dal isn't here but..."
"Soda!" A blonde one interrupted, "you're spookin' her"
Soda said something after that, but I wasn't listening. I was looking up at the blondes eyes. I saw so much, I couldn't help it. Tragedy, intelligence, compassion, pain, love...
"I'm Ponyboy," he said, "Ponyboy Curtis, the hyper one's kid brother."
"Hate to break up your nice lil' meet and greet..." a new boy spoke, casually strolling into the house, "but do we know anything about the kid yet?"
It was then did I realize I was lying on a couch in some strangers living room.
How calming of a thought...
"Reckon Soda was gonna ask what her name was, till he went off a mile a minute." The one I remembered to be Two-Bit said.
"Alright, alright," Soda sighed, "if you're up to it, could you tell us something about yourself..?"
What's something about myself? 'I'm a girl', I thought. They probably knew that, stupid.
"Grease..." I tried to say, although my voice came out cracked, hoarse and raspy.
"Greaser..." I cleared myself up, although I could barely get out that one word.
"You're a greaser?" Johnny asked.
I nodded.
"Hell kid, we knew that the minute we heard you a hollerin' for help," the new guy chuckled.
What's something else I could tell them?
"Got jumped...name's Kat..."
I coughed in an attempt to clear my voice. Big mistake. It felt like someone had poured acid down throat, and I felt tears welling up in my eyes.
"Kathlee," I managed.
"Pony, stay with her, me 'n the gang will get her things to help with her throat. I reckon the Soc's tried makin her drink, must've been like flames to her," the big one, Darry, said.
"Can do," smiled Pony.
And with that, they were gone.
"If you want, I could tell you what happened, and how you got here, and who we are, if that'll ease ya down..." Pony offered.
I nodded.
"Well you got jumped by a group of Soc's but I think you knew that..."
I nodded again.
"The tall one was try'na do somethin' awful to you...somethin' I'm not sure I wanna mutter. He cut your jacket and a bit of your shirt up bad, but don't worry, we covered you up good when we brought you here..."
The sides of his cheeks rose into a deep pink as he hid a smirk.
"Anyway, we heard you hollerin' and came running," he continued.
"Drove them Soc's out and trashed 'em up real good too. Then we carried ya back here to me and my brothers house, since you were unconscious and all..." He then looked me straight in the eyes for the first time, and smiled.
"...Um, what else...we uh..."
He was stammering and blushing like mad, and I got worried. There's something wrong with me, I thought, I'm not good enough to even be around him.
"Gosh, I'm sorry, but uh, you're real pretty, and I uh...I dunno, I feel like I'm makin' a fool of myself in front of such a looker like you..." he murmured.
A what? Me, pretty? No way, not me. And definitely not coming from him.
"Me?" I mouthed.
"Yeah...I'm sorry, I just, sorry..." he stuttered out.
I didn't know what to do. Smile? No, he mustn't be serious... Look away? Well it's always worked before, so...
"Right, okay, right, where was I...uh the gang." He continued after I pretended to be very content looking at the houses off-white ceilings.
"Okay, well there's me, Soda and Darry; we're brothers. And Two-Bit and Steve, and Johnny and Dally. We're all greasers, and stick together like a family, and for most of us, I reckon eachother are the only real family we got..."
Sadness filled the perfect boys greenish-grey eyes as he stifled a frown. Man, he sure was fine featured; like a china doll that had been sculpted, refined, perfected and re-perfected, into the most incredible boy looking down on me.
"Kathlee...?"
He's talking to you, stop getting distracted. Focus. Ponyboy.
"Kat?"
I groaned, and he acknowledged I was paying attention.
"I'm sorry about what I said earlier, I wasn't meanin' to make you feel uncomfortable..."
I then had an idea like a strike of lightening. If it hurts to talk, write.
I motioned for a pen and paper and Ponyboy was off in seconds, only to return with a stack of notebooks and a box of colored pencils.
"Um...you can use whatever you'd like, I thought you'd like a choice..." he blushed.
I grabbed the closest notebook and coloring pencil.
'Thank you.' I wrote, and to my surprise, he picked up his own notepad and pencil crayon, following suite.
'You're very welcome'
'Can I ask you something?'
'Of course Kathlee'
'Why did you say what you did, when you obviously didn't mean it (and you can just call me Kat, or Kath)'
'What do you mean "didn't mean it"? You're very beautiful Kathlee'
He winked.
'Stop lying, it's not funny anymore'
'I'm not lying, or try'na be funny. I reckon every boy in this neighborhood would testify to it, if they had the guts'
I smiled at the last bit.
'You're crazy' I wrote.
'Nup' he smiled. 'Outta my mind'
