Blood for Blood - Chapter 2
“So, what is there to do here in Tulsa?” I heard Rena ask Pony while we were walking to the Dingo.
“Well, it’s a pleasant place to live if you don’t want to do much. But if you want do somethin’ fun, there’s not much to do ‘ere except for the movie house, drive-in, or a few hangouts on this side of town.” He explained to us. Johnny nodded in agreement.
“Just need to be careful ‘bout who you stumble on.” Johnny whispered. I looked at Jewel, who was next to me, confused; what did he mean by “who you stumble on”?
“I’m sorry?” Jack asked him. “Yeah, what do you mean by that?” Ryan asked him. “Well, there’s this ‘divide’, if that’s how you’d say it, ‘ere in Tulsa. Johnny can explain the rest; I’m not gettin’ all riled up for nothin’.” Pony started.
“Okay, there are three groups, b-basically; there are the kids known as ‘Socs’, short for ‘socials’. They’re just rich kids who depend on their parents’ money and act like they own the place.” Johnny’s statement kind of made me shift on my feet; the gang and I just got here on Ryan and Jack’s inheritance, if you would even call it that. Does that make us Socs? I shook that thought off and listened to Johnny.
“Then, there’s the middle class. Nothin’ wrong with ‘em though, it’s as if they’re just there, y’know? They’re all lucky stiffs. It’s all as if they’re on the sidelines watchin’ a game.” Johnny continued, becoming sure of himself around us. That was a good thing; he didn’t really need to be scared of us.
“And then there’s us. Greasers.” Ponyboy finished, he seemed to have blown off some steam. “Why’re you guys called that?” I asked them. “‘Cause we slick our hair back with gel; people just call the gel ‘grease’.” Johnny said. I nodded in response; at least it wasn’t a tragic reason like ours.
Minutes passed, and we were still walking. Pony must have read our minds, since he assured us that we were almost there. We were all having fun; we were joking around, taking in the mediocre scenery, and enjoying each other’s company, until a fancy-looking car started to follow us. I saw that Pony and Johnny stiffened a little, and I looked back to the car only to see four guys dressed in varsity jackets hop out.
“Hey, should we be runnin’ right now?!” Jewel whispered, noticing the same thing I did. “No, don’t run just yet.” Jack hissed. “If they want a good fight, then we’ll give ‘em a great fight.” I said. “You sure?” Rena asked, knowing that this wasn’t going to be the best idea. “I don’t want to get hurt just yet.” Ryan said, seeing that the guys were walking behind us, yet gaining on us.
“Just keep walking.” I told them all, trying to keep my nerves hidden. “We’re almost there, right Johnnycake?” Pony nudged Johnny, but he looked pale and scared out of his wits. We hustled to a building with a big sign that read “The Dingo”. It was really full, so I guess that this place must be really good or something. We were about to reach for the door when a hand slammed onto the door.
“And where do you think you’re goin’? I haven’t seen you around here.” I heard a gruff voice muse. “Get out of ‘ere, Paul! You’re on our side o’ town and you know it!” I heard Pony yell.
“Get your hands away from her while you’re at it.” I heard Ryan growl. If our looks could kill, this Paul guy and each of his gang would definitely be dead ten times over. I looked up at this Paul guy; he was pretty cute, but he was a total jerk. He also seemed to be a few years older than me, so I wasn’t going to be interested any time soon.
I looked inside of the Dingo, and saw that everybody inside had paused their conversations to see what was going on outside. That’s when I looked down; I didn’t really like when all of the attention was put towards me.
“Johnny, go inside and get help.” I heard Rena whisper to him. “Not so fast!” One of Paul’s morons laughed and grabbed Johnny by his collar, and I saw that Jewel was cowering into Ryan’s side. “Let go of him!” I heard Jack yell as he pulled out his switchblade.
I noticed that Paul was distracted by what was going on around us, so I reached into my pocket for my switchblade and took the chance of targeting Paul’s hand. “Ow! Why you little b-” He started to cuss at me, not after raising his hand to hit me. I shut my eyes and waited for the impact, forgetting that I had a weapon and my friends with me, but the impact never came. I opened one eye and saw a large hand holding Paul’s wrist. I followed the arm that the unknown hand belonged to, and saw a tall guy with icy dark-brown eyes, brown hair with no hair gel, and a cancer stick in his mouth. Needless to say, he was gorgeous; and my sisters seemed to notice that too, but I guess they backed off because he looked a lot like a no-good hood.
“Don’t even try, alrigh’?” The mystery guy said coolly, with a heavy New York accent that may or may not have killed me inside. I looked behind this guy to see Johnny and four other guys behind him. Paul and his friends seemed to falter, but somehow kept cool. Honestly, if I was Paul and I saw who Johnny and Pony hung out with, I would have been peeing my pants before running back home to Miami.
Paul and his morons just turned around and jogged back to the car. “I swear to God almighty, if you don’t leave me and my gang alone, you’ll be sorry. Get lost!” I yelled at them. I turned back to see the mystery boy looking at me with a smirk.
“You don’t seem that tough.” He chuckled. I looked at him like he just insulted all I believed in. “You want to run that by me again?” I threatened, a little amused but offended by his attitude.
“Spike, it’s okay. Don’t listen to him.” Johnny chuckled. “Yeah, trust me. Don’t bother.” Pony smiled, along with the others that stood with Johnny.
“Well, I do-” I started, obviously mad with the nerve of these kids, especially after this whole episode. “Spike, don’t.” Jewel squeaked. “Oh no, here we go.” Rena groaned. “I swear to God; Spike, if we end up with broken bones, I will kill you.” Ryan said. “This is going to be fun.” I heard Jack chuckle to Johnny.
“I’m Dally. Now, what’s a pretty girl like you doin’ with a tough nickname and a bad attitude like that?” This guy said, putting his arm around me. I promise you, if he gets any closer, I will faint. I noticed that my gang looked at me with a knowing smirk; it was always one that read: “You so like him!”. I glared at them all, unhappy that they were making it obvious.
“I got that nickname for a reason; sometimes, I think people wouldn’t want to know that reason.” I smiled fakely. "I only have this bad attitude when pretentious jerks like you are around. Wait, do you know what ‘pretentious’ even means? I didn’t think so. Not so tough now, huh?” I continued, getting his arm off of me. He looked shocked, but his expression was soon covered up once again with an icy glare.
I heard a chorus of laughter from my gang, Johnny, Pony, and their friends. I walked over to Ponyboy and Johnny and hugged both of them.
“Thanks for giving us a tour, or at least a little tour. Want to hang out tomorrow?” I asked them both, eager to see them again.
“Yeah, that would be great!” Johnny smiled. “Cool! Can we meet here tomorrow, at 12 o'clock sharp?” I heard Ryan ask us.
“I’m down for anything.” Rena answered. “That’d be cool.” Jewel piped up as Jack nodded.
“We’ll join you guys!” I turned around to see one of Pony’s friends say. He had a Mickey Mouse shirt on, and he had a grin that never seemed to leave his face. All of the other guys seemed to agree, except for Dally
“You bozos are really goin’ to hang out with this nobody?” Dally asked, obviously shocked that some other gang seemed all high-and-mighty for once.
“Well, you know what they say; it takes a nobody to know a nobody.” I smiled at him cheekily as my gang and I started to walk away. When I turned away from Dally, I knew my face heated up instantly. How much longer was I willing to keep this tough façade up? Who knew. Was I going to fall for Dally soon enough? Maybe.
Did I know that I was getting myself into the biggest adventure of a lifetime?
Nope.