The Outsiders x male reader

Chapter 2 (3/3)

P.O.V Ponyboy

       I had nearly forgotten that Cherry was listening to me. But when I came back to reality and looked at her, I was startled to find her as white as a sheet.

"All Socs aren't like that," she said. "You have to believe me, Ponyboy. Not all of us are like that."

"Sure," I said.

"That's like saying all you greasers are like Dallas Winston. I'll bet he's jumped a few people."

I digested that. It was true. Dally had jumped people. He had told us stories about muggings in New York that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. But not all of us were that bad.

Cherry no longer looked sick, only sad. "I'll bet you think the Socs have it made. The rich kids, the West-side Socs. I'll tell you something, Ponyboy, and it may come as a surprise. We have troubles you've never even heard of. You want to know something?" She looked me straight in the eye. "Things are rough all over."

"I believe you," I said we'd better get back out there with the popcorn or Two-Bit'll think I ran off with his money."

We went back and watched the movie through again. Marcia and Two-Bit were hitting it off fine. Both had the same scatterbrained sense of humor. But Cherry and Johnny and (M/n) and I just sat there, looking at the movie and not talking. I quit worrying about everything and thought about how nice it was to sit with a girl without having to listen to her sweat or to beat her off with a club. I knew (M/n) and Johnny liked it, too. They didn't talk to girls much. Once, while Dallas was in reform school, Sylvia had started hanging on to Johnny and (M/n) and sweet-talking them and Steve got hold of her and told her if she tried any of her tricks with (M/n) and Johnny he'd personally beat the tar out of her. Then he gave Johnny and (M/n) a lecture on girls and how a sneaking little broad like Sylvia would get them into a lot of trouble. As a result, (M/n) and Johnny never spoke to girls much, but whether that was because they were scared of Steve or because they were way to shy, I couldn't tell.

I got the same lecture from Two-Bit after we'd picked up a couple of girls downtown one day. I thought it was funny, because girls are one subject even Darry thinks I use my head about. And it really had been funny, because Two-Bit was half-cricked when he gave me the lecture, and told me some stories that about made me want to crawl on the floor or something. But he had been talking about girls like Sylvia and the girls he and Dally and the rest picked up at drive-ins and downtown; he never said anything about Socy girls. So I figured it was all right to be sitting there with them. Even if they did have their own troubles. I really couldn't see what socs would have to sweat about — good grades, good cars, good girls, madras and Mustangs and Corvairs — Man, I thought, if I had worries like that I'd consider myself lucky.

I know better.

——————————
562 words

꧁☾ℍ𝕚 , 𝕚𝕞 𝕤𝕠𝕣𝕣𝕪 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕞𝕒𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕨𝕒𝕚𝕥 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣. ℍ𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕒 𝕟𝕚𝕔𝕖 𝕕𝕒𝕪/𝕟𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥☽꧂