Bad Reputation||Brooklyn Winston

Chapter 9

Johnny, Ponyboy, Dallas, and I ended up being the only ones who went to the drive in. I had spent the day at the Curtis' house. Dallas, who probably knew that I'd be there, stayed away. About an hour before it got dark, Johnny came over and we left to find my brother. We found him in front of a drug store, and we walked around town for awhile. Dallas did a phenomenal job at pretending that I wasn't there. When it was finally time to go to the drive in, Dallas announced that we were sneaking in.

"We don't need to do that," I said. "I have money."

Dallas rolled his eyes at me.

"He likes to sneak in." Ponyboy explained. He sarcastically added, "It helps him keep his reputation as an outstanding citizen."

"Oh." I turned to my brother. "Well, excuse me. Lead the way then."

Dallas turned to Johnny. "Did you hear something?"

It was my turn to roll my eyes as I said, "Real mature. Just jump over the fucking gate already."

Once we had all sat down on the other side of the gate, two socs girls came over and sat in front of us.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" One of them asked.

"I came here to see a movie. I'm gonna see a movie." The other one asked.

I recognized that red hair from somewhere...

"Cherry?" I asked.

The two socs turned around. Sure enough, it was Cherry Valance and that other girl, Marcia.

"Brooklyn! Hi!" Cherry said.

Marcia smiled shyly. I had the feeling that she was still scared of me.

"How do you guys like your shirts?"

"Oh, the entire squad just loves them. You have some real talent. I saw that Courtney Miller had a shirt with a blue bird on it. Do you think you could make one like that for me?"

I nodded. "Totally."

"Brooklyn." Dallas interrupted. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?"

I glared at him.

Either Cherry didn't notice, or she didn't care. She held out her hand. "I'm Cherry, and this is Marcia. You must be Dallas."

Dallas shook her hand. "I am. Did Brooklyn ever tell you that I have a thing for redheads?"

I couldn't believe he was doing this right now. "Ignore him." I told Cherry. "He also has a thing for being an asshole." I pointed to Johnny and Ponyboy as I said, "This is my friend, Johnny, and my boyfriend, Ponyboy."

"I've seen you around school." Cherry told Ponyboy. She looked at the two of us sitting next to each other. "You two make a real cute couple, don't they Marcia?"

Marcia nodded. "Have you two been dating long? Because I thought Brooklyn just moved here?"

Ponyboy put his arm around me. "We've been going out for a week. This is our first date."

I smiled, half at him, half to myself. Tommy had always been embarrassed to talk about that kind of stuff. Around most people, he liked to pretend that I was just one of the guys.

Cherry and Marcia both did that "Awww" things that girls do. Dallas rolled his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Johnny asked him.

"I can't take any of this stupid couple stuff. I'm out of here."

Cherry smirked as she said, "It was nice meeting you, Dallas."