"He'll be out soon." I smiled widely at Johnny making him grin. Sodapop and I had the same smile, at least that's what everyone always said. I probably looked the most like Soda, just much shorter. My hair was a little lighter. We also had similar personalities. We were adrenaline junkies and loved just about every person we met, well greaser that is. I can't stand the Socs. None of us can.
"Morning." My best friend Opal said as she walked through the door. "You almost ready?" She asked referring to the little adventure we were going on.
"Where you girls going?" Darry asked.
"Just a day on the town." Opal said with her charming smile of hers. Opal looked innocent, but she wasn't, not even the slightest. She was wild and dangerous, but good. She was out going and happy all the damn time, even though life hadn't dealt her great cards, she didn't care. She threw the cards into the wind and commanded to play a different game. And I admired that about her amongst many other things.
"Just be careful all right." Darry said giving me a very stern look. Darry was very over protective. Especially with me, but I guess in a way I loved it. It just showed he cared.
"Pinky promise." I said skipping to him with my pinky out. He chuckled and wrapped his pinky around mine and then kissed my cheek.
"Come on! Let's get ready!" Opal said pulling me into my room.
After about half an hour, I finally found an outfit we both agreed on. "You like it?" I asked while spinning in the mirror. I wore a soft yellow cold-shouldered top. It had small blue flowers printed on it. The light blue flowers matched my denim blue skirt that cut off around my mid thigh. I had black high tops on to finish my outfit and my long blond hair fell down to my waist in its naturally straight fashion.
"Yes it's perfect!" Opal wore a breather skirt with a red tank top. She had bright red lip stick and red cons that matched perfectly. Her soft brunette hair was braided down her back in a messy fashion. She had small strands of hair flying everywhere making her look even tuffer than she already did. Her makeup was dark, but not too dark. She pulled it off, her face was so innocent that dark makeup didn't make her look sluttly the way it did most people. Dani Jane, another friend of ours, loved dark makeup. I wished she didn't. She is so pretty but when she covers herself up like that, she doesn't even look like her. Dani's hair is even lighter than mine. Her hair is platinum with streaks of white. Her bright blue eyes are cold and dangerous. She's the most reckless person I know. The difference between Opal and Dani is Opal is wild and loving. Free and kind, and Dani is just wild. She's loyal, she'd do anything for Opal and I, but when it comes down to it, she doesn't love anyone. Maybe because once upon a time, she loved too deeply.
"Are we meeting Dani?" I asked leaving my thoughts and entering the real world.
"I went by her place, but she wasn't there. Just a half a naked guy." She replied awkwardly. Opal loved Dani. She cared about her and I knew that it hurt her to see Dani going down this road. Dani was only 15, Opal was 16, and I was the mother of us all even though I was only 17. Dani reminded me of Dallas, but even Dally wasn't quite as broken as Dani.
"Oh.." I responded quietly. "Let's get going, maybe we'll run into her in town, okay?" I reassured her. She had Dani and I had the gang. I knew that if one of the gang was as broken as Dani, I'd worry too. And Dallas was close, and I worried.
We were almost out the door when Dally stopped us. "Where y'all going?" He said looking at us up and down and grimacing.
"Out. Geez what's that face for?" I was slightly offended. I thought I looked pretty decent but he was looking at me like I was a piece of trash.
"Skirt's a lil short don't ya think?" His voice was sour. He leaned against the wall beside the door and looked back at the TV. Two-bit was watching Mickey and Darry had gone in his bedroom to change. I wanted to leave before he saw us but Dallas was trying to prevent that.
"It's not that short, Dal." I pleaded, begging him to move out and let us go. I could hear Darry exiting his room. "Dal!"
"I'll let you go if you promise to hang out with me tonight. I gotta talk to ya."
"Deal. Move." I pushed him and we were out the door. I heard Darry on the other side asking if we just left.
"Yeah man, hey can you help me with something?" Dal asked Darry leaving the door, I grinned at myself. Dal always had my back.
"Let's go!" I whispered to Opal and we took off. We ran for a while as fast as we could, not because we were worried about Darry catching us, but because I loved running. I was on the track team when I was in school. I graduated early so I could around at him when our parents died. I loved running. It was exhilarating and painful, but in a good way. A way I can't explain.
"Wait." Opal finally stopped me. "I can't breath man." She stopped and took long fast paced breaths. I was breathing hard to, my heart was pounding, I reveled in it. I loved it.
We walked around until we arrived at the diner. We had a little bit of money and I wanted coffee so I made her stop. "Come on, I could use some good coffee."
"You can always use coffee, Caffeine." She replied sarcastically. "Hence the name."
"Kathleen. My name is Kathleen." I replied opening the door to the diner.
"Ain't nobody but Darry call you that. Hell, even he calls you Caffeine sometimes." She laughed slightly. We sat at a booth beside the window. Tulsa wasn't the most beautiful city, but for some reason I loved the way it looked. It reminded me of myself, I didn't find myself pretty, even though I was told I was, but I wouldn't trade my looks. I was who I was. Tulsa was who it was. And I loved it.
