Teasing Fate |The Outsiders|

03. Katie Made Me Do It

"SHE WANTS TO KNOW WHAT YOU WERE DOING WITH MARLEY CURTIS, TOO!"

***

  I met Patrick Macrorie back when we were in the sixth grade. He was new to the neighbourhood, and I was new to the feeling of a broken nose. I don't really remember how it happened, all I remembered was hearing the gravel crunch behind me and my fists balling on instinct. He's a pretty lanky kid — we all are on this side of town, but I could count damn-near every bone in this kid's chest — and was only a few hairs taller than I was. I found out later that day he was from Europe, that's why his accent sounded so weird. It was the same reason his hair was red. The only kids I knew with red hair, was the Mathews kid running with the Curtis gang and a couple of Socs.

Pat was laying on the floor at my feet. He was holding his English textbook over his face, tryna read while Katie kept babbling nonsense. Mrs. Macrorie was behind me in the kitchen, I could hear the cupboards slamming shut as she cursed under her breath. She was nice enough, but I didn't talk to her that much. I didn't know if she liked that I had turned her kid into a hood, even it was impossible to escape, but she had yet to slam the door in my face when I didn't feel like going back to my place. I was running my tongue back and forth over my teeth.

We'd stopped at the tracks once school let out, there was always a couple bottles left over the latest party, maybe a pack of cigs or a fight to watch if we were lucky. When we got there, the only thing we found were empty bottles of Schnapps and the entire yard abandoned. I picked up the bottle by its neck and angled it towards the sun. Inside, I could still make out a few leftover drops, but it was nothing worth drinking. The only people who drank fucking Schnapps over here were the old ladies who couldn't get their wrinkly witch hands on the real stuff. I knew right then and there this shit came from some rich guy's cabinet, and that his rich, stuck-up kids were gonna be right back on our territory the second they could get outta the house. Pat didn't say anything when I chucked the bottle. Not a damn word. He just stood beside me and kicked at a few of the rocks surrounding us, his backpack sliding off his boney shoulders every so often.

I guess I can't really call him boney anymore. Since we'd met back when we were thirteen, Pat had really filled out. His jaw was harder and square and his hair had finally darkened to red instead of godawful ginger. He could finally hold his own in a fight, too. He had always been able to fight, but now he just had a better chance of winning. Christ, I swear the guy's bicep was thicker than some kids' necks, even.

The most that changed were his eyes. Back when we first met, he looked around every corner twice and couldn't go a minute without looking over his shoulder. He was always worried, and he had every reason to be. A new greaser in town — and one without any friends or gang to watch his back — was a shiny new target. Over the past three years that I'd known him, his eyes turned cold and harsh, just like I knew they would eventually. The only times I ever saw the guy worried now was when we were hanging out here.

I looked down at the shaggy carpet when I felt something — someone pull my shoelace. Just as I was expecting, Kaite had crawled across the floor once she realized her daddy found Robinson Crusoe more interesting than she was.

When Pat called me up nine months ago, saying he knocked a girl up, I called bull. There were enough lying, cheating broads creeping around Tulsa and trust me, those girls had a lot of tricks up their skirts. I told him to just lay low for a bit and wait for the whole thing to blow over, but he never did listen to me. I didn't think he had really knocked her up, none of the guys we hung around with seemed to believe her, either. Skip ahead a couple of months, and her big brown eyes were all the proof we'd ever need. There was no chance in hell Katie was anyone else's little girl, and there wasn't a chance anyone was taking her away the second Pat held her.