The new outsider

Chapter 14: Stupid Socs

Monday morning, Darry was giving Jess some last minute intructions before she left for school. Jess was quickly eating a piece of chocolate cake while she was listening to Darry and nodding.
"Go to the main office as soon as you get there and they will get you set up with a locker and someone will take you to your first class." Darry said, finishing his coffee.

The screen door opened and Dally came in, the door slamming behind him. He noticed that Jess was wearing the halter top he had giving her the night of the rodeo but Darry didn't notice because she already had her jacket on. From the front it just looked like a normal black halter.

"Ready to go?" Dally asked, grabbing a piece of cake for the road.

"Whatever." Jessica said as she followed Dally to the car, they were driving Pony to school too.

"Bye, Pony see you later!" Jessica said as Ponyboy got out of the car.

He waved back and Jessicaclimbed in front to take Pony's place in the passengers seat. Four minutes later, Dally pulled up infront of a large brick building. The windows were dark and it certainly didn't look very friendly. She peered at the kids that were around the school. Hoods walked in groups, Socs walked in groups, Jessica realized that she was going to be walking alone, she was going to be a target.

"See ya at three." Dally said as Jessica climbed out of the car. "Do you got your blades on ya?"

She nodded, knowing that even though blades were band from the school, Dally wouldn't make her leave them.

"Good." he said and slammed his foot on gas as soon as Jessica closed her door.

The car took off and the tires squeeled. Jessica smiled to herself, Dally was really something else. She walked up the steps with her head held high. Alot of eyes were on her, Dally was well known all over the place and word of Jessica had spread since the last rodeo.

Jessica took off her jacket as she walked up the steps. She had managed to get all of the ties done up this morning but it had taken a good 20 minutes.

A group of greasey girls were giggling in a group by the doors. When Jess passed by, one of them yelled to her.

"So your Dallas Winstons new toy?"

Jessica didn't bother wasting any breath on her and just gave her the finger and kept walking. She found the main office easily and pushed the door open. An older woman looked up from behind a desk.

"You must be Jessica?" she asked.

"Yes, Jessica C. Chase." She answered.

"Someone will be here in a few minutes to take you to your locker and class room. Please have a seat while you wait." the older woman said and went back to her work.

Jessica didn't bother sitting down, she just leaned against the wall and watched the clock. Five minutes later a tall dark haired man came in. He spotted Jessica and smiled.

"Jessica, right?" asked.

"Jess, please." Jessica said and followed him out the door.

After following him through a maze of halls and stairs, he stopped in front of an empty locker. She stuck her jacket in it and he gave her a lock, she wrote the combination (45-28-10) down on the palm of her hand.

She then followed him into an empty class that had his name marked on the door.

"This is your homeroom class, you will come here every morning before going to your other classes." explained and pointed to a desk in the back where she would be sitting.

He gave her a schedule and said that the teachers would give her books as she went to their classes. When he finished talking kids began to come in. Most of the Socs didn't pay much attention to her but the Hoods kept starring and whispering. Boy, this was going to be a long day...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

At three o'clock Dally was parked outside Jessica's school, he already picked up Pony who was fiddling with the radio dials. He caught sight of Jessica heading towards the car. Something was wrong, she had her jacket over on arm and the other full of books but she had her head down and her hair was blocking her face.

She opened the door to the back seat and slid in. She mumbled a quick 'hi' but kept her head down. Dally turned around in his seat and Pony did too when he realized something was wrong.

"Look at me." Dally ordered.

"Do I have to?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah." Dally said.

Jess slowly lifted her head and pushed her hair away from her face. She had a black eye and a split lip.

"Glory." Dally whispered. "Socs?"

Jessica nodded grimly.

"How many?" Dally asked, he knew they must have been guys because Soc girls were not into fighting.

"Three at the start, six at then end." Jessica said, not meeting Dally's eyes.

"Why?" Pony asked worriedly.

"They kept getting in my face all through lunch. I figured they would leave once they got bored with me. When one tried to untie the back of my shirt I took a swing at him and the rest joined in. Don't worry, some older Hoods broke up the fight before I could do any permanent damage to the Socs."

"Its not those stupid Socs I am worried about, its you." Dally said scowling.

"Did any of the teachers see?" Pony asked, Dally was still to furious that someone had hurt Jessica.

"No, I don't think so and if they did they certainly didn't care." Jess said shrugging.

"Can we go home now? I would like to ice my face before it starts to look any worse." Jessica asked Dally.

"Sure thing Little-J."