~Emily~
The next morning I woke up with a bitter taste in my mouth. The stupid ruble was today. And stupid Ponyboy was still gonna fight.
I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt after our argument yesterday. Maybe it was the drugs talking. He did say he was going to take a lot of Advil. That's so stupid of him cause can't you die from overdose?
Whatever.
I climbed out of bed and got in the shower.
Once I was done, I brushed my hair and teeth and picked out an outfit. It was pretty warm out so I decided on some plain jean shorts and a black t shirt.
***
Later that night I knew it was getting closer to the rumble. The sun had just started to set, and a light drizzle of rain pattered against the windows.
Alice and I had just been sitting around all day at my house. She came over and asked me to tell her some drama to distract her from her worries about Johnny. I thought it would be okay to talk about Ponyboy to her then, so I told her about the night we came back from the hospital. How we cuddled all that night. Everything we'd talked about.
She started gushing about how cute it was, but I immediately cut her off and explained our fight yesterday.
Suddenly, the phone rang. I walked over to the counter and picked it up, holding it to my ear. "Hello?"
"Is this Emily Winston?" A male voice on the other line stated.
"Yes?" I was confused.
The man explained how he was one of Dally's doctors, and somehow, he'd escaped the hospital without being discharged.
I slammed the phone down in the cradle. I knew exactly where Dallas was headed.
"Get your shoes on," I breathed while running to the door. I grabbed hers and tossed them at her as I hurriedly slipped on mine.
"What is it?" She asked.
"Dally," I said as I threw open the door. "He snuck out of the hospital. He's going to the rumble. We have to stop him.
~Ponyboy~
As evening fell, the gang was all at my house preparing for the rumble. I popped three more Advil's when no one was looking. I was feeling a little dizzy, and lightheaded. But the pain soon subsided.
The other guys were in the living room, drinking, yelling, getting hyped for the rumble.
I heard the front door slam open, and everyone ran out. I took a deep breath, and ran to follow them.
Two Bit and Darry pushed eachother around, laughing. Steve did a backflip off the car. Then we all ran to the area where the rumble would be.
Once we got there, I recognized a couple other gangs. The Shepard's, the Brumly Boys.
I took a good look at all the other greasers around us. I remembered stuff about them. The crimes they'd committed, fights they'd started, all the times they had been in jail.
It suddenly hit me. I wasn't like them. I wasn't like these people, I don't belong here.
I looked back at my gang. None of us were even like them, only Dallas, maybe. But none of us deserved to be grouped along with these true hoodlums. So why were we? Emily was right. Fighting's no good. I looked around at everyone again, feeling even more helpless.
