The Outsiders: A New Place

Chapter 13

its the day of the rumble, and i couldn't be more excited. this was my first real fight, and i was ready to show what i could do. i even got a leather jacket just for the occasion, to make me look even more tuff. i woke up in my bed at two bits house, my room still disheveled from when my dad broke in. i jumped up and ran out of my door, finding two bit sitting on the couch.

"two! its the day of the rumble!" i said while tackling him.

"damn, someone's excited." he replied while laughing.

"oh yes i am, i couldn't be more excited! WOOHOO!" i jumped up and started running around. for the rumble, i wanted my hair wavy so i took a shower and braided in two french braids. i ate breakfast and headed to the curtis house with two bit. when we arrived, the whole gang was already there.

"ITS RUMBLE DAY!!" i yelled when i walked in. shouts saying "YEAH, WOOO!" followed, with me joining in.

the whole day seemed to go by extremely slow, probably because we were all looking forward to what would happen later. but finally, it was time to start getting ready for the rumble. i brought my clothes to change into, so i changed into my black leather jacket with a black tank top underneath. i had black ripped jeans on and my black converse.

the whole house was mad with excitement. the boys were jumping with joy, i was putting my wavy hair into a high ponytail with a black scrunchie (i guess you can say that black is the theme,) and the overall mood was just amazing. steve and soda were arm wrestling, darry was reading the paper, two bit was finishing his beer and me, dallas, johnny, and ponyboy all sat on the couch.

"now, if any of you are seriously injured, just flee back here. sneak out and don't let anybody see." dally said, pointing at us.

"we best be headed out." dally continued, lighting a cigarette and standing up. cheers started as the boys all ran out of the door, me following close behind. darry did a handstand over the fence along the house, and steve hopped onto the top of his car and did a backflip off. since i could do all of those flips, i didn't even need to get onto the car to do one. i went into the middle of the road, did a backflip, and got very loud cheers in return.  

some of the boys patted my back as we all did no handed cartwheels down the road. it kind of annoyed me that they called it "no handed cartwheel" when the correct term was "aerial cartwheel." but hey, they're boys. what else do you expect?

"soda, johnny, ash, and pony, beat it out of there if the fuzz show up. don't want y'all taken away from me," darry started. "and ash, what i want you to do is hide behind us until the rumble starts, then join in. its your first rumble, don't want you to be a direct target."

"but why? i can hold myself up!" i protested.

"no means no."

we continued walking until we got to the location. tim shepherd's gang was already there, and darry and tim shook hands.

"got a girl i see." tim said, smiling at me unsurely.

"tougher than she looks, she's real good in a fight." soda said turning to me. i smiled as i heard engines roaring and shouts coming. darry pushed me behind him as mustangs came into view. everyone stood looking tuff as the cars rolled up besides us. there were about six cars with four socs in each, which would make the ratio of socs to greasers 24:28.

even though i wasn't visible, i stood with my arms crossed behind darry and soda. the socs lined up in front of us, crossing their arms too. in front of where i was standing, there were two boys whispering to each other. they weren't really whispering though, it was loud enough for everyone to hear.