Stay By Me

Chapter 7

Diana didn't know where she went wrong to end up in a foreign house surrounded by a bunch of greasers, but here she was. Her original plan had been to go confront her father for all the problems he'd caused her in life, but she'd encountered Sodapop. And that damn greaser talked her out of it, and here she was.

Now, to be fair, there was still an ample amount of liquid courage running through her veins, she wasn't fully there. There was a high chance that the details were going to be fuzzy the next morning.

Someone placed a glass of water in her hand. She looked up, confused.

"Drink it," Sodapop said firmly.

She frowned. "But I don't want to be sober."

He sighed. "Diana, as your friend, I'm concerned about you. Just drink the water."

"Since when were we ever friends?"

"I dunno, since you agreed to come meet the gang, you wouldn't do that with some stranger. Or would you?"

"Maybe," she admitted. "I've got nothing to lose."

Sodapop opened his mouth to refute that statement, but at that moment his younger brother joined them in the living room.

"Who's this?" He asked Sodapop.

"This is my friend Diana, I met her at the DX the other night."

"Friend," he said suspiciously.

"Oh, don't worry," she replied, stretching. "I'm sure there's enough teenage girls simpering over your brother without me being one of them. Hell, I didn't even know we were friends till he hold me we were."

"Diana, this is my brother Ponyboy," Sodapop said, ignoring her.

"Ah, the man of horses himself! Soda mentioned you."

"Oh, he did? What'd he say?"

"I won't get back into it, it was a long and depressing conversation aided by alcohol and marijuana, but the important takeaway was that we've both skipped a grade."

"You smoke marijuana?" Sodapop asked at the same time Ponyboy asked "What grade are you in now?"

The both stared at each other, thinking they'd both asked the important question.

"Yes, and I skipped eighth grade, I'm a senior now. Hey, no offense Ponyboy, you seem like a real neat person, but Sodapop, I met your family, can I go now?"

He just laughed. "You haven't met the gang yet, you haven't even met our brother Darry yet? No, you can go after you meet them, stay for dinner at least, I doubt you've eaten a decent meal in several days."

She scowled. "You're not wrong, but there isn't a reason you should care this much."

"Friends don't let friends make stupid choices."

"Soda, you're in a gang with Two-Bit Mathews and Dallas Winston. Cut the crap."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"We both know their entire beings are focused around doing dumb shit, don't lie. "Friends don't let friends make stupid choices" my ass, you're just weirdly concerned about me, it's weird."

Ponyboy was watching the two with an amused smirk. Even though they'd just become friends a few days ago, they already bickered like a married couple, or like siblings. Like family members.

"Ponyboy, why are you smirking like that? Is it this family, or is it a greaser thing or something?"

Ponyboy's face changed to a confused expression. "You're not from this side of town?"

She shook her head. "Nope," she said, popping the p. "No, I'm a soc, I guess."

"You guess?"

"Well I'm from the West side of town, and my dad has the money and shit to prove it, but he sure don't act like a soc parent. It's why I'm here. I couldn't live like that, not with it all..." She trailed off. "Y'all don't need to hear all my life problems, sorry."

"No, you're fine," Ponyboy dismissed. "You don't look like a soc."

She looked down at her scuffed up jeans and T-shirt and her high tops that were getting dirtier by the minute it seemed.

"Guess not. I really do sometimes, I dunno if I really like it, or I've just accepted the fact that people think I should like wearing pretty dresses."

They heard the sounds of footsteps coming into the house.

Two-Bit and Steve appeared, along with another boy. Diana thought she'd seen him around before, but she didn't recognize him well enough to really know who he was.

"Why's she here?" Steve asked, none too kindly.

"Diana! Never thought I'd see you here, messing up your pretty dresses hanging out with greasers!" Two-Bit said.

Sodapop gave her a weird look, that was an oddly pointed comment from Two-Bit. He rarely cared that much about anyone to say something like that.

She shrugged. "Expect the unexpected, I guess Keith. Besides, that was once. And it wasn't me who started crying."

Steve and Sodapop both looked confused, while Ponyboy looked like he'd just had a revelation.

"So that was you! Two-Bit said one day that he'd accidentally got food on a soc girl's dress, and that she'd said something about how it was new or something, and turned red and started cr-"

She cut him off. "He was throwing food at the trash, he missed. It ended up in my lap. And I wanted so badly to slap the shit out of them right then and there, but I waited till after class. And I do admit I sounded like a stuck up bitch, but coming home with a stain like that on my skirt got me a real thrashing. But that's not the important part, the girl behind me ended up with food in her hair, she was the one who started crying and squealed on you to the teacher. Besides, this was last year."

She turned around, realizing someone else had come in halfway through her story.

"Oh, hi Darry, this is my friend Diana," Sodapop introduced her again.

Darry looked immensely confused about what he'd just walked into, but he smiled and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, I'm Darryl Curtis, Sodapop and Ponyboy's older brother. You can call me Darry."

"Nice to meet you, I see you got a normal name, maybe you won't be as weird as these two," she said glancing at Sodapop and Ponyboy.

Darry laughed. "I don't know, we all grew up in the same house, I have a feeling we're all a little weird. Are you staying for dinner?"

Before she could refuse and make her escape, Sodapop answered for her. "She sure is!"

She groaned and put her face in her hands. "Not by free will, though."

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