The Outsiders: A New Place

Chapter 3

i stared back at the seven guys in front of me. maybe they were all staring at the bruises that still covered my face slightly, or they were just really happy to meet me. they all seemed to crack a small smile, and im pretty sure i did the same. then, one of the boys came up to me.

"well, well, well, this is the girl we heard about from soda and steve here." he said, walking up to me slowly. i noticed he had a mickey mouse t-shirt on. "you were right soda, she is pretty cute."

i was a bit taken aback, and i turned to soda and saw his face grow as red as a tomato.

"two bit, cut it out!" soda said nervously laughing and turning away.

two bit introduced himself. "as you may have heard, im the famous two bit, and im a big fan of mickey mouse and chocolate cake. and you must be ash. so ash, how old are you?"

he gave me a big grin, and i immediately noticed that his personality was almost like steve's. he was silly, but could be serious when he had to be.

"i just turned fourteen a month ago." i said in a smooth, quiet voice.

his eyes went from surprised in a good way, to now elated as he ran over to one of the boys sitting on the couch, grabbed his arm, and dragged him over to me.

"why, ponyboy here just turned fifteen about a week ago! so i guess you are both roughly the same age, huh?" two bit said, putting an arm on the boy's shoulder. the boy known as ponyboy turned red like soda had, and his eyes went from looking down at the floor to my eyes.

"im ponyboy, or you can call me just pony, either one is cool."

"is ponyboy your real name? its very unique." i said, giving him a smile that showed i meant well.

"yeah, says so on my birth certificate. same with my brother sodapop, thats what his birth certificate says too."

my eyes widened at "brother." as soon as he said it, i immediately noticed the similarities i hadn't before. turning red easily, the welcoming smile, the high cheekbones, and now i could easily tell they were brothers. two bit and steve had now gone to the couch, bored with our conversation, and sat on the couch with the other boys i had yet to meet.

"speaking of brothers," soda said, walking over to us. "we got another one of us, his name is darry."

darry stood up from the couch. he looked older than the other boys, and more serious too. i had more trouble picking out similarities between darry and his other brothers, but you could still tell that they were related in some way.

darry had to lean down a bit and as he shook my hand, he said, "im darry, nice to meet you ash." darry didn't smile, but you could tell by the glimmer in his eyes that he was happy to meet me. despite his lack of smiling, i smiled at him and said, "its nice to meet you too darry."

darry sat back down while another boy approached me, ponyboy, and soda. he looked younger than the rest of the boys, and i could tell he had seen a lot by the look of fear, confusion, yet hopefulness in his eyes. quietly, he said,

"my names johnny cade. nice to meet you."

"hey johnny, how old are you?" i asked, really questioning how old he was."

"im sixteen." he replied quietly.

HE WAS SIXTEEN? i swore he looked younger that the rest of them.

sodapop spoke up suddenly, saying "hey johnny, ash's parents have beaten her too."

i looked at johnny, and realized he had the same look in his eyes as i did after my parents would beat me. that would explain why i thought he had seen so much. a new sign of hope showed in johnny's eyes, and he spoke again.