Style | Dallas Winston

Chapter One

She made her way down the streets of Tulsa, passing the playground and the lot. The lot was where kids went to drink, party and hookup. It was also where her friend Johnny slept most nights. When she finally made it to the Curtis family home, she could hear yelling and music blaring before she even got off the sidewalk.

"You cheated!"

"No I didn't! You're just mad that I won!"

"Oh whatever! I'm getting sick of this 'you cheated' nonsense HOW DO YOU CHEAT A WAR!?"

She was already getting sick of Sodapop and Steve arguing, but opened the door nonetheless.

Darry was in the kitchen, cooking something over the stove while barking orders at everyone else.

"Hey, turn that radio down, I can't hear myself think! Pony, you done your homework yet?" he yelled over the music.

"I'm going to!" Ponyboy called back from somewhere deeper in the house.

"You're going to do it now, and I don't want to hear another word about it!" He yelled back, more agitated than before. Maeve stifled a chuckle as she thought he looked like an annoyed, busy mom.

"Hey Maeve," Johnny greeted her from the couch.

"Oh, hey Maevey," Two-bit said, taking a sip of his beer and barely looking away from the TV. He was totally enthralled by the Mickey Mouse cartoon

"Hey Johnnycakes, Two-bit" Maeve said, plopping down on the couch next to Johnny.

"I didn't see you in math today," remarked Johnny when she sat down.

"Yeah, I bailed after the fight over Jane during lunch. it was pretty stupid honestly, fighting over a girl," She responded.

"Yeah, they must've really cared about her or 'somethin," Johnny said, looking at the ground.

"More like they wanted to protect their egos," Maeve scoffed.

Just then, the door was flung open, followed by Dally Winston dramatically walking in. A chorus of "Hey dally" rang throughout the air.

"Dally, quit smoking in the house," Darry grumbled. Dally looked annoyed, and made a big show of putting out his cigarette on the side table ashtray.

A good couple of greaser girls would love to be the girl he's making out with in the corner of a party, or the girl he would walk around with, grabbing her ass for the week. But he never really appealed to Maeve. It wasn't that he wasn't good looking, with his ungreased dark brown hair, sharp cheekbones, and tall, looming figure. It was the fact that he was a cocky asshole that has a taste for cheap girls that would cheat on him any chance they got. Maeve had no interest in being that girl.

"What's up with your lip?" Maeve asked, noticing a cut on his lower lip. He sighed, subconsciously rubbing his thumb over it.

"Just Tim being an asshole, you know how it is," he said, avoiding eye contact as he sat down on the armrest of the couch.

"So, what are we doing tonight?" Two-bit interjected, now paying attention since the Mickey Mouse episode was over.

"Any good parties? Darry won't let me have any of his beers after I cleaned him out." He chuckled.

"I heard Dave and his boys got somethin' going tonight," Steve chimed in.

Dave and his 'boys' were a bunch of 20-somethings that liked to host parties as a way to attract girls. They weren't picky- their group probably slept with 25% of the girls in Tulsa. Maeve of course had no interest in going. It wasn't the place for a 16 year old girl to be- at least one with common sense.

"Yeah, I might swing by. What about you, Soda? Are you going?" asked Dally. Soda glanced up as he tucked the deck of cards back into its box.

"Nah, not tonight. I've got a shift in the morning," He replied.

Two-bit, Steve and Dally headed out then, leaving the rest of them to talk. Maeve played a couple games of speed with Pony, and eventually got it out of him that he liked a girl one grade above him at his school. Though since he's a grade ahead, I guess all of the girls are older.

"It doesn't matter, it's not like she'd actually go for me anyways," he said, trying to act like it wasn't a big deal. Maeve could tell he was upset.

"Why do you say that?" She asked as she re-shuffled the cards.

"I'm younger than her, and she's not the type to go for greasers," Pony muttered, "There's loads of guys in that school she'd choose before me."

Maeve frowned.

"Ah, don't say that. Any decent girl wouldn't care that you're a greaser. Don't worry about it Pony, you're a good kid," Maeve said, trying to be supportive.

"Dinner's ready!" Darry yelled from the kitchen. "Yall can stay if you'd like, I made lots," He said, glancing between Maeve and Johnny.

"That's alright, I've gotta head home," said Johnny, getting up off the couch.

Maeve frowned as she watched Johnny leave. She was always worried about him. He didn't have a good homelife. His parents both drank, and if they weren't screaming at each other, they were screaming at Johnny. He often showed up to school with dark bruises on his face.

"Yeah I need to head home too, but thanks for the offer," Maeve said. She needed to get home before dark. She also didn't want to burden them. She knew that they didn't need the extra mouth to feed.

Not to say that she and her mom were socs. It was just the two of them, but her mom had a decent job. The Curtis' didn't even have their parents to help take care of them.

Maeve and Johnny headed out of the house after they said their goodbyes. They walked down the street together, making light conversation.

"Johnny, you know you can come to my house anytime and stay if you need to," she said when they stopped at the street corner.

"Yeah... I know," He said, a sad smile crossing his face before he turned and walked off.

As she watched him leave, she got the feeling that even if things did get bad, he still wouldn't stay with her. Even so, she wanted him to know that he could, if he needed to.

She walked quickly home after that, since Tulsa wasn't a great place for a young greaser girl to be alone walking the streets.

She finally got to her house, checking over her shoulder before quickly unlocking the door and walking in.

"Hey sweetie, how was your day?" her mom greeted her from the kitchen.

"It was good. I stopped by Bernards' for a bit, then hung out at the Curtis house the rest of the day," Maeve replied, hanging her bag by the door.

"Oh how's Mrs. Norris, is she still doing ok?" she asked with a little concern in her voice.

"She seems alright," Maeve said, hopping up on the counter. "I saw a fight today. It was a good one." Hopping up on the counter.

"Really? Was everyone ok?" Her mom said, draining the pasta she had been cooking.

"Yeah everyone was fine. It was two boys. I think they were fighting over Jane," Maeve responded, picking a noodle from the colander and eating it.

"Stupid reason," Maeve said.

"There's never a good reason to fight," Her mom muttered, pouring the noodles back into the pot. I guess she had to say that, given that she was a parent. It's not like she could encourage fighting.

They ate their pasta and watched whatever was on TV. Their favorite show didn't come on until Tuesday, so it was some sort of game show. Afterwards, Maeve took a shower and got in bed.

It was still a bit early, so she decided to finish the book she was reading earlier. An hour or so later she had finished it. The gardener went to prison and everyone lived happily ever after. Although it was only 9:30, she was tired from all the excitement, so she decided to go to bed.

She turned off her lamp and laid down, staring at the ceiling. She thought about how quiet life had been lately, and she hoped it would stay that way.