Dallas Winston Has A Sister? (Outsiders Fanfic)

In Paint

        I stopped in the middle of the lawn to look at Soda, who was scrubbing at something black on the door.  I took a step closer and saw that it was a word.  Greaser, scrawled in black spray paint on the white door.

        "You know that's not gonna come off, Soda," I said, remembering how in New York, someone had broken into my parents apartment building and spray painted stuff all over the place.  I had tried washing it off the door, and then ended up repainting half the building cause it wouldn't come off otherwise, but at least I got paid for it.

        "Well it better.  Darry's pissed, they threw a rock through the window too and we don't have the money to replace either," Soda said, for the first time in my life sounding angry, because we all knew who they were.  I suddenly remembered what time it was, and I stuck my head in the house to make sure.

        "I'll fix it.  You have to be at work in fifteen minutes," I said, and Soda swore, jumping up and dropping his wet rag into  a bucket of soapy water and dashing in the house.

        Before I even had the chance to go into the house myself, Darry came rushing out, and then Steve drove up and beeped the horn.  I heard Pony shouting at Soda from inside, and just as Steve lay on the horn again, Soda came out, wearing his work shirt with his shoes in one hand and a piece of cake in the other.

        I went in the house, and Dally and Two-Bit who had walked here with me followed.  Two-Bit immediately turned on the T.V. to Mickey Mouse, and Dally plopped down on the couch next to Johnny.  I went in the kitchen to get some cake and Pony was in there, cleaning up from breakfast.

        "Hey, Tara," he said as I grabbed a piece of chocolate cake and then put the rest in the icebox before Two-Bit could eat it all.

        "Hey yourself," I replied, taking a bite of cake.  I could tell Soda made it, the icing was really sweet.

        "Yeah, yeah Matthews," he joked, because I did sound just like Two-Bit.

        "What's the deal with the Socs?" I asked, even though Soda had already half-told me.

        "They came by at like four in the morning and spray painted the door, and then threw a rock through the window that Two-Bit broke the other day.  Happen to have an extra hundred bucks laying around to fix it?" he asked.

        "Nope.  But I promised Soda I'd fix the door," i said, heading back outside.

        Ponyboy followed me, calling, "What?"

        I looked at the door and figured I might as well just repaint all of it, cause it was peeling pretty bad anyways.  I headed around back and was surprised by how neat their back shed/ garage was compared to ours.

        Along one wall all the tools were hung up, rakes and shovels and ropes and a few other random things, and along the other a bunch of cans and buckets were neatly stacked on the shelves.  Along the back wall were a few bigger things, I caught sight of an old sled and broken swing set from when the Curtis's were younger, no doubt.

        I searched along the shelves until I found a nearly full can of white paint and grabbed a brush from the wall of hanging tools and then headed back to the house.  Ponyboy followed me again, and I told him to go tell Johnny, Dally, and Two-Bit that they were locked in the house until further notice.  I taped up the narrow rectangular windows on the upper half of the door so I wouldn't need to scrub paint off of them later, and by then Pony was back outside to watch me.

        I did two coats on the whole door, but then you could still see the faint outline of the cruel lettering on the door.  I took a break and went into the house to get a Pepsi, also checking to make sure that I hadn't painted the door shut in the process, and then came back outside to do a third coat on the lower half and get rid of the ugly letters for good.

        I went around back and rinsed off the brush and my hands and then closed up the paint can, banging the heavier end of my switchblade on it to seal it up, cause I had used the blade to pry it open in the first place.  I put the stuff away and then came back and peeled the off the tape and newspaper over the windows, crumpling it up in a ball.

        "Voila," I said dramatically, gesturing to the freshly painted white door.  Pony was staring at me rather than the door, though I don't know why.  It might have been cause I probably looked like a dork standing there in a white T-shirt and jeans, the cuffs rolled up to my knees so I wouldn't get paint on it.  I had taken my plaid button-up shirt, that used to be Dally's but had gotten to small for him a while ago, off before I even started.

        And Pony was still staring at me, so I chucked my wad of newspaper at him.  He snapped out of his trance and then said,

        "You have paint on your nose," and leaned forwards to wipe it off.  I took a step back and wiped it off myself, I hated other people touching me.

        Pony then disappeared inside the house, and I shook off the awkward situation and went in myself, flopping on the couch that both Johnny and Dally had vacated by now.  Dally was on the floor, wrestling with Two-Bit who was still trying to watch the end credits of Mickey Mouse.  Wow, I spend three hours painting a door and Two-Bit was still staring at the television.