Ok so this is a chapter from another outsiders book I was working on a year ago. I edited one of the chapters up and thought you guys might like to see it so here it is! Sorry if some is confusing a lot of things are out of context :)
Hands. Someone's hands were on my neck. But they weren't choking me this time.
"She's got a pulse so I guess that's good."
"Obviously" said another voice, exasperated. "She was alive when we found her." I could almost feel this person rolling their eyes.
"But look at the bruises..." someone's fingers jabbed harder into my neck. I sat up fast, yelling out.
I must have surprised who ever these people were, because when I sat up I met five shocked faces.
"Golly, I didn't mean to hurt you." Said a green eyed boy, looking nervous. I looked around the room with wide eyes. I was on a couch, and five pairs of eyes watched me. They were all tough looking guys in leather jackets and greased hair. If I knew anything from being on the streets, it was to avoid people that looked like this.
I scooted as far back on the couch as I could. I wasn't going to try to run for it because I could guarantee they were faster than me.
"Hey- " one of the boys came closer "we aren't going to hurt you." He glanced at the green eyed boy. As I looked at his face I recognized him as one of the boys who'd found me. The dark haired one.
I leaned in a little. "I-i know you." It came out as more of a whisper. "You drove the car..." I furrowed my eyebrows and looked up at him. "Where am I?"
"Tulsa, Oklahoma." Said an older looking man, also coming closer. He was bigger than all the rest, and he looked like he would be the leader of a gang. "A long way from home I'm guessing." He crouched down in front of the couch so now there were three boys in front of me. I figured if they wanted to hurt me, they would have by now. I relaxed, but only a little. Something on head itched but when I reached up to scratch it the older boy pulled my hand away.
"Woah woah don't touch those-" he said putting my hand back in my lap. "Stitches.." he clarified, putting his finger on them. I winced, what did I need stitches for?
"Yeah that's going to hurt for a while.. Soda would you get some aspirin?" He turned to the dark haired boy. The dark hair boy nodded and headed off to the kitchen. The older boy turned back to me.
"My names Darrel Curtis, but you can call me Darry." He held out his hand for me to shake. I didn't shake hands much so it ended up with him shaking my hand while I watched. My hand fell limp back into my lap while he introduced the rest of the strange boys.
"Right here is Ponyboy. He's one of my kid brothers." He pointed to the green eyed boy who had jabbed me in the throat earlier. Ponyboy waved shyly. He looked about my age, if not more.
"And I'm the other one!" Said the dark haired boy, returning with two aspirin in his hand. He handed them to me along with a glass of water. I swallowed them and gulped down the water. I hadn't realized how thirsty I was. He took the glass from me and set it on the floor. "Sodapop Curtis, nice to meet you again." He smiled and I couldn't help but smile back. "Dally and I were the ones who found you earlier, thanks to Pony and Johnny." He said.
"Gee, I didn't have anything to do with it." Said another boy from the back of the room. He had jet black hair and jet black eyes to match. He had a scar along the side of his face.. then I remembered what "Dally" had said earlier. "Do you think it's as bad as Johnny?" Surely I didn't have it as bad as this boy.
"Don't be so humble Johnny!" Said the last boy beside him. "This here is Johnny Cade, and he doesn't take credit for anything!" The boy joked, lightly pushing Johnny. "And I'm Two-Bit Matthews!" He beamed. "Nice to meet you." He outstretched his hand, almost like a cartoon character.
He wore a Mickey Mouse shirt that looked like it had been around for eons, but it suited him. He was drinking beer and by his huge smile, I didn't think it was his first that day.
"Nice to meet you too.." I smiled. Then I remembered- "Steve!" I said out loud. All heads turned to the door, as if they expected him to walk in right then. "You said you knew Steve...When you found me.. and speaking of, where is the other boy- Dally was it?" I rushed.
"Ok kid, slow down." Darry said. "One thing at a time." I nodded, but a million questions ran through my head. Where was Steve? Were these the boys Steve had always talked about?
Darry answered my questions. "Dally went to find Steve. As you probably found out, Steve owed some.. bad people.. money. He couldn't pay them so they went after Steve, and they found out about you in the process. " he paused looking at me sympathetically. "They knew that if they threatened him with things he cared about, he would pay up."
I considered all this. I hadn't known how much Steve cared about me. And his situation sounded serious. Who were these bad people and just how dangerous were they? Obviously I had come face to face with some of them, but were there more? The thought scared me more than I cared to admit.
"Steve has been hiding out somewhere. Only Dally knows where." Said Soda, answering my next question. "Dally is sneaking him back as we speak, hopefully. He knows we found you and he wanted to see you."
I knew that Steve was sorry he had left me, but part of me had always thought he never cared about me anyways. We were like brother and sister. We stuck together because we're all each other had.. or at least he was all I had. So part of me was surprised to hear that he wanted to see me. I couldn't help it.
"How did you find me anyways.. " I asked. Two Bit smiled like a proud father. I almost laughed at the way he looked at Johnny and Ponyboy.
"These two," He started, "like detectives!" He said, flailing his arms out. "We got the pictures early this morning..." he said in a darker tone. But he quickly bounced back. "Pony and Johnny looked at the pictures and figured out where you were, using the street sign in the picture!" Pony and Johnny both blushed. I could tell they didn't like to be noticed, and I liked them already.
So here I was, laying on a strangers couch. While Darry and Pony "talked" upstairs. Soda and Johnny sat on the floor, leaning against each other. And Two- Bit was in the kitchen doing Lord knows what. I guess it was decided that for now I would just stay on this couch. I later discovered that I had bandages on my ribs and my throat was pretty badly bruised. But for now I was on a couch in the middle of Tulsa, waiting.
We were all waiting for the same thing. For Steve to come home, wherever home was. And part of me wanted to see Dally again, when I wasn't blacking out every 10 seconds. He seemed nice when he found me, but things change.
I must have fallen asleep while thinking about him because next thing I knew, I was being set down on a bed.
I gasped and sat up, forgetting where I was for a second. In front of me was the green eyed boy, who had been in the middle of taking my shoes off before I'd freaked out.
"Woah- sorry I can leave these on if you want." He said shyly, looking down.
"No- it's alright.." I assured him. "I just forgot where I was." Being aware of everything was a habit from living on the streets.
I looked around the room I was in. It seemed like a pretty nice room for one person, but it also looked like it hadn't been used in years. I was sitting on a Queen sized bed facing a window.
Pony set down my green chuck Taylor's. "Cool shoes."
I smiled. "Thanks! Got them the day before I left." He looked at me, confused. Right. He didn't know me.
"Left where?" He asked.. "if you don't mind me asking." He laughed nervously.
"I'll make you a deal. I'll tell you my story if you tell me yours."
"Sure!" His eyes lit up like he couldn't wait. I could tell he liked stories. So did I.
"You might want to get comfortable though" I laughed. He was still sitting on the end of the bed. He crawled up and sat down beside me so we were both staring out the window.
"So-" I began, "my life started out pretty normal. I was an only child so I know how to make my own fun."
He laughed. "Wow, I wouldn't know what that's like. I've pretty much got 6 brothers."
I couldn't imagine that. I'm sure he was talking about the guys in his gang. "So.. you, Soda, and Darry are the only real brothers.." I asked.
"Yea. Our parents.. died in an auto wreck a while ago." It seemed like he'd told this story too many times to be affected by it anymore. "Ever since then, Darry's been raising us."
"Wow." That seemed awful. We were probably in his parents old room. "And how old are you guys?"
"Well- um Darry is 20, he's the oldest. Sodas 16 and so is Johnny. Two and Dallas are 18. You'll meet Dally again later. Steve is 17, you probably already know. And I'm 14.." he seemed embarrassed that he was so young.
"Hey I just turned 15, like 3 weeks ago! We're not too far apart." I said. He smiled.
"So.." I started again. "My mom died 3 years ago, in 2 weeks it'll be 4. My dad couldn't take it. He started drinking and... he didn't care about me anymore. So I left." I could talk about it without getting upset now. After all, this is what I had wanted anyway.
"Aw man. I'm sorry." He said.
"It's fine." I dismissed it. "I'm better off here."
"Sometimes I don't think I am." He looked at me sadly. "I guess you wouldn't know about Socs and Greasers, would you?"
"No.. I'm going to guess you guys are greasers." I judged by the way they dressed and talked.
"Yeah. The Greasers are lower class. The hooligans. We don't care much though, it's only the socs that bother us." He paused. "They.. jump us. For fun. Pick fights. We're the tough ones but they always win because they have money. That's the way things work around here." He sighed.
"Wait so they beat you up.. for no reason?" Maybe this place wasn't as normal as it seemed.
"Yup. You seen Johnny?" He said. I gasped. I figured he got his scars in an accident or something.
"They-" I couldn't find the words.
"Same guys who got you I'm guessing. But they just wanted to scare Steve, they wouldn't hurt you too bad. There was a silence.
"It's pretty late," he said getting up out of the bed. "Darry said you can stay here as long as you need, just try and get some sleep."
I laughed to myself. "Yeah I don't think I'll have any trouble." He started to walk out the door when I stopped him. "Wait -" he turned around. "It was nice talking to you Pony boy. Thanks.."
"No problem. It was nice talking to you too.." And with that, he turned and walked out the door.
