Stay Gold {The Outsiders}

Chapter 8: When I'm Gone, Don't Forget About Me

     By the time we got home, we were late for supper. We had parted ways with Two-Bit and AJ a few minutes before. Two-Bit had gone home to drink a little before the rumble, I assume, and AJ had left to tell Tim about the no weapons rule. She and Tim were good friends but she couldn't stand Curly or Angela. Angela was Tim and Curly's kid sister and she wouldn't be fighting in the rumble. I was okay friends with Angela and I got along real well with Tim and Curly but Darry didn't like to see me with them.

     Shortly after we left Cherry, Zack woke up and walked the rest of the way home with Pony and I after AJ went to the Shepards' house. Theo was still on my hip and it wasn't until we reached our street that he stirred and woke.

     When the boys and I finished dinner, Darry, Sodapop and Ponyboy took quick showers and changed clothes. They always got spruced up for a rumble. They wanted to show the Socs that we aren't trash, that we're just as good as they were.

     "Soda," I heard Ponyboy call from the bathroom, "when did you start shaving?" He was standing in the bathroom examining his jaw.

     "When I was fifteen," Soda yelled back.

     "When did Darry?"

     "When he was thirteen. Why? You figure on growing a beard for the rumble?" I giggled quietly, trying to picture Ponyboy with a beard.

     "You're funny. We ought to send you in to the Reader's Digest. I hear they pay a lot for funny things." Soda laughed and went right on playing poker with Steve in the living room. Darry had on a tight black T-shirt that showed every muscle on his chest and even the flat hard muscles of his stomach.

     I'd hate to be the Soc who takes a crack at him, I thought as I pulled on a clean dark blue T-shirt and a fresh pair of jeans. The shirt that once fit me perfectly, hung loose on my body. I used to have a solid build, I wasn't fat, but I wasn't skinny. I'd lost a lot of weight in Windrixville, though, and it just didn't fit right. I had gotten Dad's broad shoulders so my weight loss wasn't as noticeable as Pony's. It didn't really matter anyway; I was just going to visit Johnny. I didn't know why I was worrying so much anyway, I never cared before.

     Soda and Steve and Ponyboy had put on more hair oil than was necessary, but they wanted to show that they were greasers. Tonight we could be proud of it. Greasers may not have much, but they have a rep. That and long hair. What kind of world is it where all I have to be proud of is a reputation for being a hood, and greasy hair? I don't want to be a hood, but even if I don't steal things and mug people and get boozed up, I'm marked lousy. Why should I be proud of it? Why should I even pretend to be proud of it? I'm not proud of it; I'm proud of my friends. No, my family. They can be real bad sometimes but they are good people when you get to know them, even Dallas.

     Darry never went in for the long hair like the rest of the gang. His was short and clean all the time. I didn't grease my hair either, it made my hair about two shades darker and it looks like I have brown hair. I don't like brown hair on myself, just like Ponyboy didn't like the fact that his eyes were partially green. The only difference was that he didn't have a choice.

     I sat in Darry's armchair in the living room, waiting for the rest of the outfit to show up. But of course, tonight the only one coming would be Two-Bit; Johnny and Dallas wouldn't show. Zack and Theo were sitting on the floor watching TV and Soda and Steve were playing cards and arguing as usual. Soda was keeping up a steady stream of wisecracks and clowning, and Steve had turned up the radio so loud that it almost broke my eardrums. Of course everybody listens to it loud like that, but it wasn't just the best thing for a headache. I hadn't been feeling well since we had gotten home.