The Outsiders: Before My Time | Sodapop

The Slap

Now I really wish I brought the book with me. I needed to know exactly what is supposed to happen, and how it happens. I don't want to change the story too much, so I have to know what not to do. I haven't read the book in years, so I was a little rusty on the exact events of the novel.

I almost felt like a psychic. I was planning on living through the events of the book, while doing the least amount of damage as possible. I'm just really scared of screwing up the space-time continuum. There are many movies that prove that is a very bad thing.

Every chance I got, I always went back to the field and tried to find little parts from the Time Machine that fell off. When I collected them, I put them back in the car and tinkered with them, trying to get them to fit and work. I'm still missing a lot of parts so it hasn't worked yet. I need a metal detector or something.

Since I've been here for a few months, I was starting to get a little homesick. The culture shock was greater than I was expecting. As a way to make myself feel more at home, I made the room that Soda gave me feel more like my room. I found a cheap full length mirror I put up against the wall, and I got myself new white bedsheets with a white comforter. My pillows have a feminine floral print, and I got a lamp for the bedside table and another in the corner of the room. I put up some photos and posters that Soda had lying around, and some that I have collected over the past few months of bands and singers or actors I liked. I put down a nice shag rug over the old carpet, which was now littered with magazines of Vogue with photos and articles of Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton, and Sharon Tate, a record player, and some records.

Soda actually taught me how to use the record player. I mean, I never had one back home so it was new to me. He was walking past my room and heard the screech when I was trying to put the needle on the vinyl I got at the record store earlier that day. It was Meet the Beatles! by The Beatles. Soda chuckled a little and teased me about it lovingly, and sweetly said, "I get it, this technology junk can be a real headache." I smiled at him as he got down on the floor beside me and taught me how to put the needle on the spinning record.

I keep going to little stores in town and finding cute little knickknacks, so Darry helped me with putting up shelves in my room for them. I have a few colorful throw blankets to bring some color into the room, and I use Soda's old school desk as a vanity, where I keep my makeup, skin care, a small mirror, and perfume.

Skin care here in the 60s is not nearly as complex as it is in my time. Moisturizer doesn't even exist. I went scavenging up and down the isles of different stores just trying to find something that would help my dry skin, and that's when I found out that face cream was the closest I was going to find. I tried Nivea, but it made my face sting. Dove Beauty Bar is apparently the best thing to cleanse skin, and I cannot find any sunscreen that would actually block out the sun rays. A friend from school recommended Pond's Cold Cream at night, and Albolene cleanser to take off makeup. Don't get me started on deodorant, it is not used nearly as much as it should. I started getting Sno-Mist, and it smells like roses. My skin tends to get really dry so I use Palmer's Coco Butter Cream for my arms and legs, which is perfect because I used this a lot back in my time. And of course, Vaseline. I always love finding products that I actually recognize and I have used it before.

Finding makeup too has been a pain. There really aren't very many options, so I have just been using a cream Angel Face foundation that comes in a Tiffany blue packaging, a shade of blush from Revlon called Clear Red, powder, mascara and lipstick. I put the rouge up on the high points of my cheeks, because no one has bronzer or even highlight yet. I have to put everything on with my hand, brushes and sponges are practically nonexistent. For powder, I use a translucent one from Airspun, only because I recognized the orange package. I have definitely seen this at the store in my time. The best mascara I could find was from Maybelline. It comes in a small, red plastic case with a sliding lid. Inside is a tray of hard black cake mascara and a small brush with one row of black bristles. Some people spit on the brush, but I just use tap water to activate the mascara. I used a spoon to curl my lashes before I could get my hands on an eyelash curler, and I have been using a brown eyebrow pencil to line my eyes, either with a subtle thin wing or using my finger to smudge it out. Most of the greaser girls wear a thick black cat eye wing, but I didn't really like the way it looked with my downturned eye shape. My eyebrows are already dark and thick, so I don't fill them in but a lot of girls at school will have high arches from filling in their brows. I got the Revlon Fire and Ice lipstick, I think it's cool because it comes in a gold toned metal tube, in the bullet style. A lot of girls will wear it thickly, but that's not really my style. I just rub a little lipstick on my finger and I dab it on my lips for a more natural flush. I'm more of a natural makeup girly, which greatly differs from the actual greaser girls in town. Their style reminds me of Amy Winehouse.