People Don't Change (Dally Winston)

Chapter 2

"Jenny!" Keith shouted when he got closer to me. He took my duffel and placed it in the trunk of a beaten-up, old car. He climbed into the drivers seat, and I sat on the other side.

"It's nice to see you Keith," I said, attempting to make conversation. I hadn't seen him in years.

"It's nice to see you too. Oh and, everyone calls me Two-Bit now," he said, grinning.

The drive to his house was mostly in silence. He tried to make a few jokes to get me to talk, but I'm not good at carrying on a conversation, so he eventually gave up.

Once we arrived, he opened the door and led me down the hall to a small bedroom with light blue walls, the color of a cloudless sky, which I assumed I would be staying in.

"This is your room. I'll give you some time to unpack, and then I can introduce you to the rest of the gang," he said.

"The gang?" I asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Yeah. They're my buddies. Greasers, just like us. Didn't I mention them to you before?" he questioned.

"You might have, I don't remember. Anyways, that sounds nice." I answered. Two-Bit left me alone to unpack. I didn't have much work to do. I hadn't packed a lot.

~~~

Two-Bit opened the door of a small house in need of a coat of paint, just like all of the other houses in the neighborhood.

"Pony, is that you?" a deep voice asked.

"No. It's Two-Bit. I brought my cousin to meet you guys." he replied.

Two boys walked into the living room. The one was tall and muscular, and the other one was amazingly handsome.

"I'm Soda," said the second boy, grinning at me. The other boy introduced himself as Darry. I didn't even have time to form much of an opinion on Soda and Darry before two more boys walked into the house.

"Who's this?" one boy asked.

"My cousin, Jenny," Two-Bit answered, smiling, "strait off the streets of New York City."

"I'm Pony, and this is Johnny," the boy said, motioning towards the other boy, who avoided eye contact when I looked at him. I smiled at the boys, a bit overwhelmed with the new people and faces.

As if four new people wasn't enough, a fifth boy walked out of the kitchen, wiping cake crumbs off of his face. He didn't take much notice of me, and I figured that he either already knew who I was or didn't care. Two-Bit leaned over and told me that his name was Steve.

"Anyone seen Dal?" Johnny quietly asked. The boys shook their heads.

"Who's Dal?" I asked.

"He's a greaser, like us, except he's meaner and always gets in trouble." Pony answered.

"Is he part of your gang?" I asked, trying to learn as much about the gang as I could. Pony nodded.

Suddenly, the front door slammed open and someone walked in. I looked up at their face, and recognized it immediately.