Sunsets and Train Tracks

Chapter 3

          The day went by slower than I would've thought, but the day went to shit just by one lunch period. I sat at the table with the gang obviously, as they were my only real friends.

          Linda was trying to crack jokes and Wendy was messing around with her sister's food. Barb was tuning her new guitar she got a few days ago. Barb is good at guitar.

       We started singing as Barb started playing, and it was quite fun. That's when it happened. Anna.

           Anna and her friends showed up out of nowhere from the back. Anna grabbed me by my jacket and one of her friends picked up Wendy like she was a rag doll.

        "What the hell Anna?!" I shouted as she swung me around aggressively. Someone suddenly dumped my tray on my head. "Hey!" I yelled out.

         "What the hell man?! Why did you do that?" Barb asked with an aggressive tone. "You're not in this orphan." One of Anna's friends said.

           "Don't fucking call me that." Barb said as she walked up to her. "Let go!" I'd yell at Anna. She pushed me onto the floor and told me to shut up, like usual.

           "Stop it Anna! What the heck!" I shouted as I tried getting up. Anna didn't care. She punched me square in the face, and I splattered on the floor.

           My nose started bleeding. Great.

         Barb got mad enough to where she punched Anna in the face really hard. Anna, like me, splattered on the ground, but I think she was knocked out.

        Many emotions were in my head as Barb helped me up. The teachers finally noticed what was going on and took Anna to the nurse's office and Barb to the front office. I was also taken to the Nurse, but I got out of their grasps and ran.

         I ran to the bathroom, where I splashed water on me, hoping the blood would come off of my face. I grabbed some of the paper towels in there and stuck it up my nose, hoping the bleeding would stop.

         It bled so much my head was racing, and eventually it started hurting. I stayed in the bathroom for a while, close to weeping. How could she have embarrassed me in front of the whole school?

        Once the bell rang, and I put myself together, I headed out the bathroom with a piece of paper towel stuck in my nose. I showed up to English class with silence in my throat.

        Everyone was looking at me, which didn't excite me. I got into my seat with a glare in my eyes. It stung. The teacher talked, which made my head hurt even more.

        I wanted to go home.

       No.

      I wanted to go to Linda's.

     Her parents can fix me up.

     Not mine.

     Not Peggy's.

     There was a young boy beside me. His hair was a dark brown, and his eyes seemed a bit green. He looked like he felt bad about something. He leaned over towards my desk.

    "You okay?" He asked. I got out of my trance and looked towards him. "Uhm, yeah. I'm okay." I said. "You don't look okay. I'm sorry about what happened back there." He said with a bit of tint in his eye.

       "I'm fine." I said again but with a tone. He flinched and sat back in his seat. We didn't talk for the rest of the class.

        As I was going back to my locker, Barb showed up. "Hey bud, you doing okay?" Barb asked me. "Yeah, I'm good. What about you?" I asked. "Detention, but that's normal." Barb said with a chuckle.

        "Well, thanks for standing up for me." I said. "Yeah man, your sister is a bitch by the way." Barb said with a smirk. "I've seen." I responded. "You gonna go to Linda's later?" Barb asked.

       "Yeah." I responded. "Good, I'll see you there man." Barb said with a wink. She walked off with a slight grin. Why does she get hyped everytime a fight happens?

       She's so much different compared to me.

      Barb is an interesting figure. She plays basketball AND she plays guitar. She's cool as hell. She's good at what she does, and people like her for it. Everyone is mostly scared of her though, as she puts up with no shit.

       The Soc girls never get near her. Except for my sister. She acts and dresses like a Soc, but she's super tough. Not as tough as Barb though.

        My gang usually gets trouble with the Socs, but I just get trouble with my own blood. It's odd.

        Once school ended, I walked with Wendy and Wanda to Linda's house. "You doing okay Peggy?" Wanda asked. "Yeah, I'm fine." I said with despair in my eyes.

        "You sure?" Wanda asked again.

        "Yeah. I just didn't expect Anna to embarrass me so hard though." I responded with a sigh. "I'm sorry about that Peggy. Barb really did help though." Wendy said.

          "Yeah but she is in detention now because of me." I said. "She gets it all the time, don't worry." Wendy said with a chuckle.

         "That doesn't really help much." I said with a sigh. "Sorry Peggy. C'mon, let's go and see Linda's parents. Maybe they will help you out." Wanda said.

         "Yeah." I responded.

        Linda's parents are great. They are helpful, funny, and sweet. Linda's mom is a great listener, and she cracks the funniest jokes. Her dad likes to fix things, and you can ask questions all day and he will answer them.

       Linda has a good family, and I'm really proud of that. No divorce, no abuse, no siblings, and no negativity. They even approve of us and what Linda does.

      She doesn't tell them about fights and stuff though.

       Even if one of them figured out about the fights, it was her mom. She would patch us up after fights that we randomly have in school or in other places.

       She understood the pain of being a greaser.

      Not my parents.

      Not mine.