The new outsider

Chapter 18: Benj's Back

Jessica hung around the house the rest of the weekend. She knew she would have to go outside eventually but she wanted to put it off as long as possible. The guys didn't leave her home alone, someone was always there with her. She was gratefull for that.
When monday came around she made sure she had her blades in her pockets. She wouldn't let Evan near her, not again. Dally drove her and Pony to school again. He seemed just as nervous as she was.

"Don't worry Dally, I will be fine." Jessica said as she got out of the car.

"I will be here to pick you up when schools out!" Dally yelled to her as she walked to school.

Lisa came running towards her and fell into stride with her.

"I still can't believe what happened Friday." Lisa said breathlessly.

"Your not the only one." Jessica replied.

"KJ hasn't stopped talking about you, I think he has a crush on you." Lisa said smiling.

"What?" Jess asked, stopping dead.

"He thinks you are gorgeous and he really admires girls who can take care of themselves." Lisa explained.

"How old is he anyway?" Jessica asked, still in disbelief.

"Just turned 15." Lisa replied "I wouldn't be surprised if he asked you out soon."

Jessica thought about what Lisa said all morning. How could KJ like her? He was gorgeous and Jessica knew she wasn't all that pretty. Jessica stayed in the school at lunch time.

When the afternoon classes were finally done, she kept glancing around as she walked out to the parking lot. She would recognize her brothers car. It was a gorgeous white T-Bird. She was glancing over her shoulder when she ran smack into someone.

"Sorry, didn't see you there." Jessica mumbled as she picked up the books she dropped.

When she straightened up she dropped her books again in shock at whos face she was staring into. Benj looked down at her, smiling, it sent a chill up her spine. His dark brown eyes met hers and made her feel like running. His had his brown hair greased back.

"Nice to see you too, Baby." Benj said, smiling even more.

Jessica reached back to grab her blades but he grabbed her arms before she could.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Benj whispered in a mocking tone.

Jessica just glared at him, he kept a firm grip on one of her arms in case if she decided to run.

"Oh come on honey, you still can't be mad about a little thing like that." Benj said, tracing his finger over the scar on her stomach.

"Don't touch me you pervert." Jessica hissed and tried to pull away. "I have a life now, why don't you go get one?"

"Excuse me." a voice said from behind Benj.

"Can't you see we are a little busy." Benj said without turning around.

"Excuse me." the voice said again.

Benj whirled around to yell at the speaker who turned out to be Dally. He landed a hard punch to Benj's face and grabbed Jessica who was picking up her books. He pulled her along towards the car at a brisk walk.

Jessica slid into the front seat and put her face in her hands.

"God! I can't stand this!" She yelled in anger are Dally drove away.

"Was that Benj?" Dally asked when they pulled up infront of Pony's school.

"Unfortunately." Jessica said

"He is huge." Dally remarked.

She knew he was right, Benj was about 6'3.

"No kiddin'." Jessica said.

Once Pony was in the car they drove home. Nobody else was home except for Johnny so Dally stayed with them.

"How long did you have to go out with him?" Dally asked as they sat around the living room.

"A year and a half, it was hell." Jessica said.

"You guys didn't... you know?" Dally asked, clearly uncomfortable.

"No, he wanted to though, he really wanted to." Jessica replied "It use to scare the crap out of me the way he looked at me. He tried a couple times but I wouldn't let him."

"I will talk to Darry when he gets home, we will figure something out." Dally said. "You need to face your fear, you can fight them, I know you can."

"Thats easy for you to say. You Dallas Winston, the toughest Greaser around. Your not scared of anything." Jessica sneered at him, she hadn't meant to be mean but she was so angry.

"Yeah, there is one thing I am scared of something." Dally said.

"What? Losing a fight?" Jessica asked sarcasticly.

"No, what they did to you scares me and it scares me even more what they might do to you." Dally replied.

"I'm sorry, I hadn't meant to be so mean." Jessica said, what Dally said really touched her.

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

That night when Darry got home, Dally and Darry went outside to talk.

"We can't just ignore whats going on. One of them actually followed her after school today." Dally said.

"Your kidding me, who was it?" Darry said.

"Benj, the one she went out with." Dally replied, lighting up a smoke.

"What do you think we can do?" Darry asked.

"I say we should fight them. You know like an all out skin fight. We are out numbered but I could always talk to KJ, he might get a couple guys to come with him." Dally said, taking a drag.

"What about Tim Sheperd?" Darry asked, knowing Tim was good at fighting.

"I dunno, he might if Jessica asked him even though I don't want to see her near him. I kinda beat him up a while ago and I dunno if he gave up the grudge yet." Dally replied.

"How will we challenged them to fight?" Darry asked.

"They are following Jessica, we just need to go to a public place and they will show up." Dally replied.

"Jessica's gonna want to fight too." Darry remarked.

"I know, I don't want her too." Dally said, looking at the ground. "Even if it is a just a skin fight, she can get hurt, emotionally you know?"

"Yeah but she won't take no for an answer." Darry said.

"I know, I know." Dally replied.

He wasn't going to let anything happen to Jessica , not again. It made him feel like throwing up everytime he though about what she went through. It also surprised him that he, Dallas Winston, would ever have feelings for a girl and he didn't want to go out with her.