The Outsider Experience

Kat's POV. Chapter 5

"So this is our home." Sodapop opened the door and plopped down on the couch. "Nice." I nodded and shook my head in acceptance. "So, Darry," I inquired. "You said we have some 'catching up to do'?" Darry sat down in a recliner with a stern look on his face. Ponyboy looked over at Mack. "You might wanna take a seat." Boy, were they right! We did have a lot of catching up to do! After we heard everything about their parents, Darry's job, and Soda being a dropout, Mack and I looked down at the floor. "I'm so sorry," I exclaimed looking at the Curtis boys. Soda tried to cheer things up. "So how have y'all been?" he questioned. We told them how our dad lost his job back in Texas, how we were broke, and that's why we came back. Dally interrupted. "Aw, come on! The only reason you guys REALLY came back was because y'all realized Dallas, Texas isn't as good as Dallas Winston!" Mack eyed him and said, "Or maybe Austin, Texas couldn't handle us, so we came here to see if Dallas could." Dally raised an eyebrow and bit his lip; the look he gave when he was into a girl. Soda jumped in with a question. "So Kat, do you like cars?" I smiled and replied, "Well, you tell me. Do cars have engines?" "I'll take that as a yes," he remarked. He asked me to come to a race with him the next day, and I eagerly accepted. After talking for hours with the boys, it was starting to get dark. Piece by piece, parts of our group were leaving. Johnny was the first to leave, hoping his parents had noticed he was gone. Two-Bit and Steve left together, hooting and hollering because they had one to many beers. Darry mumbled something about bills and went to go sit on the porch. Dally and Mack lingered out back together, still picking on one another. Finally, it was just me and Soda sitting on the couch. Soda sighed and looked over at me. "You sure are different Kat." His voice almost sounded disappointed. I fixed my hazel eyes on his brown ones. "Well, is that good or bad?" Soda sat there for a minute, looking me up and down. "I don't know. I think I like this new Katlyn." I smiled cautiously, unsure of what he meant. "You've changed too Soda," I replied. "You used to be a Coke: young, popular, innocent. Now you're a Pepsi-Cola: older, wilder, and more appealing." "Really?" he chuckled. "Well every Pepsi-Cola needs a good Kit Kat right?"