𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧 , 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬

four .

SODAPOP CURTIS

"quit staring at her, soda." steve reminds me as i watch madeline through the window of the gas station.

"sorry," i shake myself out of it. "i just—i didn't know dallas had a sister."

"yeah, none of us did." he scoffs. "come to think of it though, she does resemble him a lot ... the dark hair and the thick eyebrows." now he's staring at her from where we stand out front of the dx.

she has a sucker in her mouth and her head is tilted down, staring at the register we taught her the basics of. there aren't any customers inside, but she appears to be fully concentrated on her task anyway.

"i don't know if dally's a good fit for a brother, you know?" i turn to my best friend as my fingers begin to tap against one of the gas pumps. "i mean, he practically left as soon as he saw her—didn't even talk to her much."

"we don't know her enough yet. who knows, maybe they'll be the best siblings out there or one of them will kill the other." steve laughs. "the best winston lives."

i chuckle, "survival of the fittest winston."

madeline turns to face us and i quickly blink away, hoping she can't tell i was staring at her.

"i wonder if they're even alike." steve continues. "dally's so rough, she seems so ... sweet."

i look at him; he's zoned out, facing the road where no cars are driving past. a loud crash suddenly hits the glass windows behind us, and our heads fling around.

"QUIT TALKING ABOUT ME, I CAN HEAR EVERYTHING YOU'RE SAYING!" madeline yells with a bottle of water in her hand.

"DON'T THROW WATERS AT THE WINDOW!" i yell in response.

she lets out a huff, her shoulders dropping quickly before she places the pink lollipop back into her mouth.

"nevermind. they're definitely alike." steve's eyes are wide.

•

MADELINE WINSTON

i make it through the day helping steve and soda out. they told me to think of it as take your friend to work day when they realized i won't be getting paid for anything i do.

i don't do much though, only a few customers actually come in to buy something. the rest are girls stopping by just to drool over soda like steve said they would. i wanted to tease soda for it, but i remember seeing how defensive he got over it this morning; how he works just as hard as steve with or without the compliments from girls.

once the day shift is over, we head back to soda's house only to pick up pony and johnny to make the showing of a movie.

they make me crawl my way under a broken gate instead of paying to get into the drive-in. with the lack of money in my pockets, i don't complain.

there's rows of seats closer to the movie screen, and that's where we end up; the order being johnny, pony, me, soda, and steve.

"so, did i miss anythin' this morning after i left?" johnny asks, rubbing his hands together in attempt to warm them up.

"yeah! madeline's dally's sister." ponyboy fills him in.

johnny leans down the row to look at me, "no way..."

"i'm afraid so." i sigh.

"well i sure as hell wasn't expecting that, not for a million years!" johnny says.

my attention is pulled to two girls walking up the aisle the wrong way. they're chatty as they take a seat directly behind our row. one has short, red hair with pretty, elegant features. the other has even shorter brown hair and i took notice of the dark makeup around her eyes.