The Outsiders: A Girl in the Gang

Chapter 3

Note to Readers: Sorry if my other chapters were a little long, I'll try to make them shorter but that just means there'll be more.  And also more cliffhangers........ ;) Hope you like it so far, please comment.

        Since I was grounded, apparently, Dally wouldn't let me leave the house all weekend.  Which really sucked because we were not on speaking terms.  And seeing as how I had just moved here, I had nothing to do and nowhere to go anyway, so grounding wasn't doing anything for me in the first place.  I just locked myself in my room all day and was bored.  So bored that I actually did my homework for once, to the extent of checking it over, more than once.  At least I got caught up with all the other kids in class. 

        But after that, I had nothing to do, so, just like That Kid couldn't stop looking at me, I couldn't stop thinking about him and his friends, of which my brother was one of.  I just couldn't understand, cause I always thought that my brother didn't have any friends.  He was bitter and cold and hard-hearted and an outlaw for god's sake.  There were months where I wouldn't hear from him because he was in jail, and all the police hated him, and they'd do anything they could to get him thrown in the slammer.  But Dallas hated them right back, and actually almost enjoyed, it seemed, getting in trouble with the law.

        The only time I came downstairs was when Dally was outside because in order to make sure I didn't go anywhere, he couldn't go anywhere either.  I wouldn't have come downstairs at all except for that eventually I was hungry, so I quickly grabbed something out of the icebox or the cupboard before heading back upstairs when I heard Dally slam the screen door.

        The only good thing about not talking to each other and both of us technically being forced to stay home is that I got my homework done once in a lifetime and Dally fixed up the house some more, so now at least it looked a little less like it had been picked up in a tornado and deposited wherever.  Funny thing is I never knew Dally was actually capable of fixing something, cause usually he's the one breaking it.

        What really bugged me though, more than anything else that weekend was that I could barely remember what had happened Friday night, and then Saturday morning when I had woken up at whoever's house.  For a bunch of guys, they had done a pretty good job of cleaning me up, but when I got home I had taken off and replaced all the bandages, gauze, and Band-Aids all over me.

        I put myself to sleep both Saturday and Sunday night thinking about it because some of the boys looked related and then some of them were complete opposites, so I don't know how they ended up friends.  But I never had any real friends, not that I needed them, so I wouldn't know.

        On Monday morning, knowing that Dally had to work and that he had to let me go to school, I came downstairs while Dal was still in the house at least.  I thought we still weren't speaking, or at least I had no intent of talking to him, so I was surprised when he muttered a grumpy,

        "Morning."

        Like I said, I still didn't feel like talking, so I gave a grunt of acknowledgement before heading into the kitchen for some breakfast.

        On my way out the door, he warned, "I expect you home right after school.  And I'll be here, so you better not try anything smart."

        "Whatever," I mumbled, barely loud enough for him to hear as the screen door clattered shut behind me.  I didn't really have anywhere to go after school anyways.

        Apparently it only took a week for everyone to figure out who I was.  Because that day at school, everyone was looking at me, watching me, whispering about me behind my back.  Most of the teachers actually seemed scared of me, though I was always quiet in class.

        Things sure got around this town fast, almost everyone had made the connection that I was somehow related to the notorious outlaw Dallas Winston due to the fact that we share a last name and I kind of look like him. Back in New York, even the cops who really had it out for Dally didn't know who I was.   Sure, there were the select few, but here everyone had figured it out, though no one came directly up to me to ask about it, of course.

        The word had gotten around to the cops too.  On my way home from school, one of them who was helping the grade school kids cross the crosswalk caught sight of me and gave me a steely, menacing glare like he knew I was gonna try robbing a store any minute.  I just rolled my eyes and kept going, not wanting to be late for fear that Dal might yell at me.  Yeah, right. 

        When I walked in the house, Dally was pulling his leather jacket on.

        "Come on," he demanded.

        "I thought I was still grounded," I said snootily.

        "You are.  Which is why you're coming with me," Dallas said.  "Let's go," he ordered.

        I hated listening to him, but it's not like I was gonna make up an excuse that I had homework, cause I wasn't planning on doing it anyway.  And this was an excuse to get out of the house besides having school, so I went along, tossing my books on the couch before following Dally out the door.  I don't even know why I brought home my schoolbooks in the first place.

        I followed Dally down the sidewalk, no clue of where we were going or why.  But I doubted it was a trip to the DX to buy more cigarettes, because for one thing it was the wrong direction, and for another he could have done that on his way home from work rather than now.  That still made me laugh, thinking of my brother with an actual full-time paying job.

        We had walked about three blocks in silence until I couldn't stand not knowing anymore.  I didn't even recognize this part of town, so I asked, annoyed, "Where the hell are we even going anyways?"

        "Uhhhh.......friend's house," he replied, hesitating a little.

        Was I actually going to meet some of his friends now, rather than not being allowed to even talk to them?  What a surprise, coming from my brother.  I just hoped they weren't those same guys from Saturday morning, cause not meeting them ever again would have been just fine by me.

        Dallas slowed his pace as we neared a vaguely familiar house, but I couldn't quite place why it was so familiar.  "Whose house is this?" I asked as Dally pushed open the chain link gate and started up the worn dirt path to the creaky porch.

        He didn't answer, but I followed him into the house anyways, a butterfly collection going crazy in my gut.  The butterflies flew up my throat and jarred my heart into my esophagus as I recognized the interior of the house I had ended up in on Saturday morning.

        And all the guys who were there that morning were there now, every single eyeball turned to watch me come through the screen door behind my big brother.  I wished the butterflies would fly me right down into the floor.