Billie feels herself being pushed around as the classroom door opens. Billie doesn't fight back as elbows are nudged into her back and sides. She waits as the impatient students enter the classroom before entering it herself. She notices she is one of the last ones to enter the classroom as she takes a seat on the bench at the back of the class.
On the board, the lesson plan has already been written up on the board. Mrs Whitten stands patiently at the front as everybody takes out their belongings for the lesson. Billie sees that today the class will be conducting an experiment and Billie's stomach coils tightly. This means pairing up with somebody who is scared of her. Somehow that is much worse than somebody not wanting to have anything to do with her.
Mrs Whitten clears her throat and the chatter dies down, twenty pairs of eyes watching her, waiting for her instructions. "As you all know by now, today we are doing an experiment. And no, Wayde, you will not be choosing your partner," Mrs Whitten sharply adds as a black-haired boy puts his hand down and scowls.
Mrs Whitten continues speaking. "I will read out your pairs and then I will go through the experiment." She puts on her reading glasses and begins reading off a piece of paper, going through the pairs.
Billie lowers her head as Mrs Whitten goes through the names, but she raises her head once she hears Ponyboy's name. He is paired up with a Wayde Kirkpatrick - the poshest name she's ever heard and most likely a Soc. She looks to see the black-haired boy roll his eyes and whisper something to his friend while pointing at Ponyboy while Ponyboy keeps his head down at his bench near the front.
Billie hears her name being called out and she is paired with a Lauretta Harden. Billie sees a brown-haired girl wearing a preppy rose coloured dress staring at her. When Billie looks over at her, she looks away, colour rising in her cheeks at being caught. Billie assumes she is her partner.
Mrs Whitten instructs the class to sit in their pairs and Billie sits awkwardly in her seat on the bench as her partner gathers her belongings and slowly makes her way towards Billie. She sits down beside Billie, leaving a good amount of space between them. On the bench beside them, Ponyboy and his partner sit down, his partner not bothering to hide his displeasure at being paired up at Ponyboy.
Once he sees Billie's partner, he gives her an easy smile, his features softening. She gives him a sweet smile back and Billie realises that it's clear they are both sweet on each other. Ponyboy's partner flicks his eyes over to Billie.
"Can we swap? You go with Curtis and I'll go with Lauretta." As he says her name, he gives her another easy smile which causes Billie's partner to blush.
Billie nods her head and moves over to Ponyboy's partner's spot as he moves into Billie's spot. He whispers something into her ear causing her to giggle. Billie turns to face Ponyboy, who's head is lowered, his cheeks a light red. Billie assumes that he is embarrassed that his partner wanted to swap and Billie wants to tell him it isn't personal. To the Socs, he is just another Greaser in a sea of countless Greasers.
Billie turns away from Ponyboy to face the board, where Mrs Whitten is explaining the experiment. She says that they will be dissecting a frog, which earns squeals of protest from several Soc girls.
Once Mrs Whitten has finished explaining, the class begins the experiment. Ponyboy and Billie haven't uttered one word to each other as Billie went and got the frog, placing it on a pile of newspapers wordlessly.
Suddenly Ponyboy pulls his switchblade out of his jacket pocket, causing Lauretta to flinch and gasp. Her and Wayde stop what they are doing to watch Ponyboy with wide eyes. Under that playboy facade, Billie can see that he is scared.
Ponyboy's eyes are still lowered, but his cheeks are red again. He lowers the switchblade down in embarrassment as Lauretta and Wayde are still frozen in fright. Once Lauretta and Wayde have recovered and go back to conducting the experiment, Ponyboy slowly picks up the switchblade again. He starts to dissect the frog and once he has finished, Billie hands him a tissue to clean his switchblade.
"Thank you," Ponyboy mumbles, washing and drying his switchblade before putting it back in his jacket pocket. Billie gives him a small smile in reply.
The bell rings, signalling the end of class and Billie gets up, placing her books and stationary into her backpack. She goes to walk out of the classroom when she hears her name being called. She turns around to see Ponyboy walking towards her, one hand on his backpack strap.
"Happy birthday, for Saturday," Ponyboy tells Billie, shyly. "Wish Curly a happy birthday from me, also," he adds.
Billie smiles at Ponyboy. "Thanks, Ponyboy. I will."
Billie closes her book and puts it into her bag as she stands up. She dusts off dirt from her legs before putting her rubbish in the bin. She knows that lunch will end soon and wants to beat the rush of students getting to class.
She hoists her backpack onto her shoulder and walks off in the direction of her next class. She tramples on the grass as she leaves her spot behind the cafeteria. She found this secluded spot after the cafeteria incident with the Soc senior and has sat there ever since. Billie can read her book without any disturbances and best of all, nobody can see her, which means that she won't have all eyes on her as she does when she walks to class and when she is in class.
She walks past the cafeteria, the large double doors wide open. The cafeteria is always loud; students talking over one another in an attempt to drown out the noise of the other students as they talk about the latest gossip on the high school rumour mill. However, the cafeteria is louder than it normally is.
Billie gets the sense that something isn't right, and before she knows what is happening, she steps inside the cafeteria.
In the centre of the cafeteria, Billie can see five Soc boys ganging up on a dark-haired Greaser girl. The girl has her fists clenched tightly as she yells at the Soc boys, who are laughing in her face. All around them, people are cheering them on. Billie feels disgusted that people are cheering on the fight instead of stopping it.
The Soc in the middle says something that Billie can't quite make out, but it enrages the girl even more. Her fists start flying angrily and the blonde Soc who spoke looks frightened before masking his fright.
"Fuck you, you piece of shit!" the girl yells, taking several steps forward so that they were hardly any space between her and the offending Soc.
"Hey -" a redheaded girl stands up abruptly from her seat.
"Shut up!" the girl gives the redheaded Soc a poisonous glare which caused her to be quiet.
"And what are you going to do? Get your brother and the rest of his mates to jump me?" the blonde Soc boy taunts, his lips curling into a cruel smirk.
"Maybe I'll do just that," the girl replies, smirking cruelly.
The Soc laughs in his face. "And get your brother's dirty Greaser ass thrown into jail? What will happen to the rest of your dirty Greaser siblings then?"
In a flash, the girl grabs her tray of food and flings it at the Soc boy. "Don't you ever bring my siblings into this, you son of a bitch!" she roars, her voice so loud it pierces through the cafeteria.
The girl turns around, looking around the cafeteria and after seeing blue eyes cold as ice, Billie realised that the girl was Angela.
Suddenly a group of teachers burst into the cafeteria, pushing past Billie as they rush over to the scene. Angela drops the tray on the floor and it makes a loud sound as it clatters with the ground. Billie tears her eyes away from Angela to see that the teachers have rushed over to the Soc's side whilst giving Angela dirty looks.
Billie exits the cafeteria before Angela sees the disappointed look in her eyes.
Billie hears the hushed whispers of her classmates as they gossip about the fight in the cafeteria. Billie feels the scrutinised stares of her classmates as they gossip about the fight in the cafeteria. Billie sinks further under the desk, wishing for the ground to swallow her whole. She wishes that her sister didn't have to be so hotheaded and start fights with Socs. She wishes that she didn't have to walk around school being ogled at like an animal at a zoo. A small part of her wishes that she wasn't a Shepard, but she ends that thought as soon as it began.
Billie feels uncomfortable and she senses that her teacher knows that, because when she asked him to be excused from class he said immediately yes. She makes her way to the restroom, passing by classrooms filled with students. She lowers her head in order to make herself less recognisable.
As she rounds the hallway, she sees Tim and Angela. She freezes and turns back, leaning her head against the wall. She peers into the hallway to see that Tim and Angela have stopped at the front entrance of the school, their backs towards Billie as they argue in hushed tones.
"... the one time you actually go to school and you get into a fight. You know, if all you're going to do at school is to cause trouble, don't bother going," Billie hears Tim say. Billie can hear the disappointment laced in Tim's tone and she knows how much it will affect Angela.
"All you do is think I'm going around causing trouble," Angela replies, hurt evident in her tone.
"Then change and maybe I'll think otherwise," Tim replies before pushing open the doors and leaving Angela alone in the hallway.
Billie tried to ignore the sob that Angela let out as she pushed open the double doors to the school.
Billie says goodbye to Scott as they reach her house. It has become routine for the two teenagers to walk together. Billie feels better knowing that she isn't walking alone and she knows that Scott feels the same way. No Greaser ever wants to walk alone, whether they admit or not.
Billie pushes open the fly screen door to see Curly sprawled over the sofa lazily, one arm draped over his face. When he hears the fly screen door open, he removes his arm from his face to see his twin. He mumbles something incoherently in greeting to Billie before draping his arm back over his face.
"Hello to you too," Billie says to her twin before she makes her way down the hallway and into her bedroom. In her bedroom is Angela, applying the finishing touches to her heavy makeup, completing the Greaser girl look. The makeup is a giveaway that Angela is going out but it was only four o'clock. This must be Angela's way of getting back at Tim for what happened at school. This is how Angela rolls. She parties in order to avoid her feelings instead of facing them, instead relying on alcohol and drugs to give her the recipe to forget about everything that is weighing her down.
"If anybody asks, I was never here," Angela tells Billie, not looking up. Billie knows that by anybody, Angela means Tim. Billie nods her head.
Billie watches as Angela looks at herself in the mirror, deeming herself as presentable before climbing out of the window. Billie leaves the window open slightly for when Angela inevitably comes home and drapes the curtains closed so she can get changed.
Billie walks out of her room and down the hallway to see that Curly is now sitting upright on the sofa, stuffing his face with Sugar Stars as he watches cartoons on the television. Billie hopes that there is enough cereal left for all of them tomorrow morning. Through the sliding door, Billie sees that Tim is home. His leather jacket is placed on the porch railing beside him as he smokes a cigarette, a packet of Kool's placed on top of his jacket.
"You've probably heard what happened with Angela and Bob Sheldon by now," Curly says from the sofa, his eyes flicking from the television to Tim, checking to see if he has heard what Curly said. Once Curly has seen that Tim hasn't noticed or is just ignoring him, he continues. "That son of a bitch was picking on a freshman Greaser girl. Angela stood up for her and she's the one who gets into trouble. It's fuckin' bullshit. All I want to do is jump Bob Sheldon and the rest of those Soc bastards."
Curly's eyes flick to Tim once more before he murmurs quietly, "Tim's angry at Angela because us three could go into foster homes if we get into trouble because we aren't under proper supervision now that Dad pissed off to Kansas."
Billie nods her head and tries to ignore the lump in her throat at the thought of being put in a foster home away from her siblings.
The fly screen door creaks open and slams shut, announcing Tim's arrival. He has finished his cigarette and the smell of nicotine follows him inside the house. Billie tries to school her facial expression.
Tim walks over to the table and grabs his car keys. It's so foreign to see that Tim now has a car, and Billie knows that it is foreign for Tim too, as he has gone to get a ride from Wesley and then realised he has a car of his own.
"I'm going out," he announces, not looking at his siblings as he puts on his jacket.
Curly leaps up, leaving the Sugars Stars discarded on the sofa. "I'm coming too."
Tim pauses and turns to face Curly. "No you're not," he says sharply, frowning at Curly.
Billie can see the surprise and hurt evident on her twin's face before he covers it up. "Why not?"
Tim ignores Curly as he walks out of the house, slamming the fly screen door shut behind him. Billie and Curly both hear the rumble of Tim's car as it reverses out of the driveway and drives down the street, leaving the twins for dust inside the house.
Curly turns to face Billie. She's shocked. Over the summer, Tim has had no problem with Curly joining him. She then realises that Angela's incident at school is worrying him more than he is letting on.
"Tim just needs space, that's all," Billie tells Curly, trying to soften the blow. Curly just snorts at her before storming off down the hallway and slamming his bedroom behind him.
Billie sits down on the sofa and sighs, resting her head in her hands.