The Outsiders: A Girl in the Gang

Chapter 15

Note to Readers:  I wasn't sure where I was going with this part, but I hope you like it! Please comment and tell me what you think!

        I had been up in the tree for a good twenty minutes, at least, listening to people walking past and cross the lot, and every time I thought it was one of the guys, come to bug me about something, or Dally, come to yell at me.

        The sun had sunk lower in the sky, but it wasn't sunset yet, probably about five in the afternoon.  I heard the crunch and rustle of vegetation and footsteps as someone crossed the lot, and the noise got louder as whoever it was came closer to the tree I was hiding in.  I froze.

        A familiar voice calling my name echoed through the air that was getting cooler as the sun went down.  It was Pony.  Not him, I thought to myself with a sigh.

        Of course he would be the one to come looking for me, not my brother or anything, which would make the most sense.  Actually, I take that back.  Obviously my brother wouldn't be the one to do that, which was fine by me.  I would've preferred that no one had come after me, like I've said a million times before I don't need anyone, but Pony had obviously heard my sigh.

        "Tara?  Come down here, I want to talk to you," he called up to me, figuring out where I was hiding.

        "Nope," I replied, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning back against a tree limb.  Through the leaves, I could see Ponyboy's hair.  It looked red in the sunlight.

        "If you won't come down then I'm coming up," he replied.

        Wow, he must really want to talk to me, he was even enforcing the look-at-someone-when-you-talk-to-them rule that our parents- his parents-  taught him.  I didn't really want to talk to him, and he was still waiting for an answer from me, but I didn't say anything.

        Within seconds I heard him climbing up the tree.  I watched him amusedly, when he was halfway there, I decided to be really annoying and I scrambled down the other side of the tree, jumping the last six and a half feet to the ground and landing smoothly in a crouched position.

        "Hey!" Pony shouted, surprised.

        I gave him my best innocent smile and couldn't resist watching him climb back down, his foot got caught on a branch and he ended up falling the six and a half feet to the ground.

        "Ow," Pony groaned as he got to his feet, but I was too busy laughing my head off to ask if he was okay, not that I really cared in the first place.

        "Well, aren't you just the meanest person ever," he remarked when I stopped laughing.

        I couldn't help but smile and reply cockily, "No one ever called me nice."

        He grinned, and then the smile fell off his face.  He was silent for a moment before looking at me, and saying in a serious tone, "You know you don't always have to be like that."

        Confused, I asked, "Like what?"  I already didn't like where this conversation was going, but a part of me couldn't help but wonder.

        "You know.  You're just like Dally," he said, leaning against the tree and sliding down to the grass.

        I knew what he meant, my brother and I had the same attitude and tough ways.  I still couldn't help but resent the comment, in no way did I try to be like Dally, and I definitely didn't freak out over every little thing someone did like him.