The Outsiders - Valerie Cade

chapter uno

My black Converse are caked with mud from walking around some field near town. Johnny, my little brother, wanted us to come out here and look for his football, but I'm starting to wish I hadn't agreed to it. 

Johnny is only a year younger than me. He's sixteen, I'm seventeen, though we both often get mistaken for being younger than we are. We're pretty much spitting images of each other. We both have dark brown, pretty much black eyes. We both have the same tanned complexion. We both have black hair, only mine's shoulder length and his is shorter and greasier.

Greasers. That's what we are. The low-lives, the hoods, the criminals. We often get jumped by the Socs, or the Socials, 'cause they don't really like us. I sometimes wish I was a Soc, with money and a tuff Mustang or maybe a Corvair. I think those Corvairs are real cute, I'd die for one. Well, not actually, but you know what I mean.

Maybe if Johnny and I had been born into a different family, we would be Socs. Anything would be better than staying with my parents--they're drunks, and I'm pretty sure they hate us. They hit me and Johnny both, but Johnny usually gets the worst of it. Maybe because he's younger. I don't know. 

Since that's what we have to go home to, we're usually out of the house. That's how we met the gang. There's the Curtis brothers, Darry, Sodapop, and Ponyboy. They've got it real tough right now, because their parents died four months ago. 

Darry has been working himself to the bone, roofing I think, and it makes me sad because he's only twenty and has to look after his two teenage brothers. He worries so much, and it often comes out as him being strict or mean. He's real tall, and has broad shoulders and a muscular frame. He's got dark brown hair and pale blue-green eyes. He used to be real popular in school, I think, and he used to be a lot more free-spirited before his parents died.

Sodapop is real handsome. Movie-star handsome. He's got a slimmer frame than his older brother, though that's probably because he's only sixteen. He has long, silky dark gold hair that he combs back and dark brown eyes. He understands everyone, and can be a real sweetheart. He dropped out of school and works full-time at the DX, and often girls will go in even if their cars are fine, just to talk to him and see him. 

Ponyboy is tall and well-built for fourteen, and is also a really fast runner. He does track at school. He's got greased-back light brown hair and green-grey eyes. He looks a lot like his brother, Sodapop. He's also super smart, and does well at school. Better than me, at least. I suck at school.

There's also Two-Bit Mathews, who can make a joke out of just about anything. He's one of the oldest, aged eighteen, second only to Darry. He's about six feet tall, and has rusty-coloured hair with long sideburns. He's got grey eyes that seem to permanently sparkle with mischief, and a wide grin. His real name isn't actually Two-Bit, but if I'm gonna be honest, I can't remember his real name to save my life. That's probably why I'm so bad at school, I can't remember anything.

Oh, and then Steve Randle, Sodapop's best friend. He's seventeen, tall, and lean. His hair is thick and greasy and he always combs it back in the most complicated swirls. He's cocky, but also smart, though he sometimes pretends he isn't. He's real good at cars. That's his favourite thing in the world, I'm pretty sure. He could probably fix a car with his eyes shut and hands tied, and can drive just about anything on wheels. He works part-time at the DX with Soda.

Finally, there's Dallas. He's tall, muscular, and tough. His hair is such a light blonde it's almost white, and it falls down messily to his shoulders because he doesn't like haircuts or hair oil. His eyes are blue, ice-blue, and they blaze with a fire that could scare a grizzly bear from a fish. He spent three years in the not-so-nice part of New York, and went to jail at the age of ten. He's more similar to a hood than the rest of us Greasers, and is just as wild as the boys in the downtown outfits, like Tim what's-his-name's gang. Shepard? Probably close enough. He's got a hell of a reputation. He's been arrested, gets drunk, rides in rodeos, lies, cheats, steals, rolls drunks, jumps small kids. He does everything, but... wow, he does it while looking good. I've liked him for a long time, maybe even since I first met him, but I was too nervous to admit it back then and I certainly am now.