The new outsider

Chapter eight: Ride Hard

The next morning Jessica's nerves were high. Her stomach was clenched and her mouth was dry. She didn't tell the guys though, she kept her face calm and tried to act as normal as possible.
Steve, Soda, and Two-Bit were going to be coming to the rodeo with them. Pony and Johnny were going to a football game at the school and Darry didn't really want them down there anyways.

It wasn't as rough down there as Buck's party's but it was nutorious for its rough fights. There were alot of tough hoods down there. Jessica was just going to wear a pair of jeans and a long sleeve shirt. She had her hair tied back and held there with a bandana. She didn't bother bringing her blade since there weren't going to be any Socs, she was with the guys and it was too hard to ride with them on her.

At ten to 5 Dally pulled up with Steve and Two-Bit. They jogged up the steps and opened the door.

"Everyone ready?" Dally called.

Jessica just nodded not trusting her voice. Dally looked her over and shook his head.

"Nope, not gonna work. Try this." Dally said throwing her a black shirt he had in his hand.

It was a black halter top. It has a high neck and the back a mass of ties and strings.

"What is God's name is this?" Jessica asked looking it over.

"A shirt, now put it on." Dally said impatiently.

"Like hell I will." Jessica said tossing it back to him.

"Come on. You wanna get the crowds to like you. So if your riddin' sucks they might like you for other reasons." Dally said throwing the shirt back to her.

"I can't ride in this! Look at it." Jessica said, exasperated.

"I swear it will be comfortable and it will be cooler then a t-shirt. Just trying it on." Dally pleaded.

"Thats sad, you sound like a little kid." Jessica said.

She went into the bathroom to change. She finally gave up trying to figure out the strings so she opened the door and called into the living room.

"A little help here." Jessica yelled.

Two-Bit jumped to his feet but Dally shot him a dirty look. Soda went instead. With his help and a good five minutes. All of the strings were securly tied and in place. Tia did have to admit that it was pretty comfortable. She went back into the living room.

"Ready, lets go ." Jessica said.

"Glory." Two-Bit whistled, when he saw her.

"One more word out of you Matthews and you won't even be able to whistle." Jessica said threatenly.

Two-Bit bit held his tongue for one of the few times in his life and they all piled into Dally's car. With the way that Dally drives it only took 20 minutes to get there. There were all eager to get out of the car after Two-Bit talking about this new blonde who moved in down the street from him, the entire drive there.

Steve and Soda went to talk to some girl's and agreed to meet up with the gang later. Two-Bit went off in search of either blondes or boo's, which ever he found first.

Jessica just followed Dally around who seemed to know where he was going. They found Buck and gave him the money for riding. He still seemed skeptical about Jessica riding but wouldn't argue with Dally.

Next they went to take a look at the horses. There were a dozen horses and none of them looking very happy to be there. As 6 o'clock came closer, more and more Hood's and Greasers were getting there.

At six o'clock the 15 and under's rode. There weren't very many and they were finished before 7.

"The broncs are wild tonight." Dally said to Jessica as they watched a kid who looked about 13, get thrown to the ground and landed painfully on his back.

Jessica's group was next and Dally went to wait with her. There were five other guys riding with her and she was riding third. None of them seemed very happy to be riding with a girl but since Dally was with her, they didn't bother her that much.

The first guy was pretty good and stayed on for about 10 seconds. Although it doesn't sound like much it is an okay time for bronc riding. The second guy barely stayed on for a second. He was thrown to the ground. He was stayed down for a second, he seemed stunned but as the horse came back, bucking towards him, he got up and ran for the fence.

Jessica was next and Dally took her over to the pen. She climbed in and onto a big bay horse. He was snorting and pawing impatientently. In the extremely small pen, he could not move and was growing more and more nervous.

Dally was leaning on the fence next to her giving her some last minute pointers while she tied her hand onto the rope that was around the horse.

"Dally, it's okay, I can do this." Jessica said to stop his babbling.

"Okay, sorry." Dally said "I will be over by the gate with the guys and we will be waiting for ya. Ride hard."

With that he hoped of the fence and ran towards the gang.

"Ready?" Buck asked her.

She nodded and Buck pulled the rope and the door swung open. Everything went so fast but she rode the best she could. The crowd was cheering loudly and the horse was spinning faster and faster.

Finally she knew she couldn't hold on any longer so she slipped her hand out of the rope. She landed on her shoulder and rolled to her feet. The bronc calmed down now that she was off of his back and trotted out of the pen to where the horses were being kept.

Jessica dusted herself off and hopped over the fence to where the guys were waiting for her. Soda pulled her into a hug as soon as she was close enough.

"Glory, you scared the crap outta me." Soda said releasing her.

"Did I ride hard enough for you Dallas?" Jessica asked a smiling Dally.

"Yeah, you did pretty good kid." Dally said.

Two-Bit was trying to congragulate her but he was too drunk for her to make any sense out of what he was saying.

"15 seconds." Buck hollered.

The crowd cheered louder and Soda hugged her again. Jessica just laughed in disbelief.