The Insiders (The Outsiders Fanfiction)

Chapter 1

It had been a long day. School was awful, as it usually was. I decided I'd go to the drive-in with Christine that night.

"Gee, science today was awful. I can't believe they made us dissect a frog," I said, grimacing.

"Shoot, it nearly made me sick," Christine said. "That frog probably didn't do anything wrong, either."

I chuckled. Christine always felt bad for everything, even frogs.

We eventually found a place to sit down for a while. I relaxed for the first time that day and watched the movie. You see, even with all the bustling at a drive in, it's one of the few places where I can really focus. I can just forget about the rest of the world and get sucked into the movie.

But I guess that night was an exception, because in the middle of the movie, Christine tapped my arm and I nearly jumped out of my seat. "Shoot, Christine, you scared me half to death." Christine just stared at me and smiled. "Hey Christine, what's with you? What are you looking at? Do I have somethin' on my face?" Christine simply pointed in the other direction.

"Oh no," I said, scared.

I couldn't stand Greasers. I couldn't stand Socs, either. I didn't have anything against the people in those groups, but I just couldn't stand how much they fought. But there was one Greaser I hated and loved more than all of them.

Two-Bit Matthews stood, drunk, hovering over a couple of girls. He was standing next to a few small kids, presumably Greasers, too.

"Gosh, Christine, why'd you have to tell me he was there? I can't think about the movie now," I said angrily.

"I know you could care less about the movie now that you've seen him," she said mockingly, keeping that smile on her face.

I rolled my eyes and looked back at the screen. But when Christine wasn't looking, I stole a glance or two back at Two-Bit. I didn't know why I liked him so much. He couldn't take anything seriously and, although he was eighteen, he acted like he had never aged past infancy. But maybe that was also what I loved about him.

When I was about to turn my head back to the movie screen I saw Soda sneaking up behind Christine and me. He motioned for me not to tell Christine he was there, and I didn't. He ran up to her and hugged her from behind. Christine screamed and everyone else at the drive in glared at her.

"What do you think you're doing? Don't you dare touch me ever again-" Christine stopped talking when she turned around and saw who it was. "Soda! I thought you'd still be at work!" She hugged him and he gave her a peck on the cheek. He pulled a bouquet of flowers out from behind his back.

"I thought I'd surprise you for our anniversary! You didn't think I'd miss it, did you?" Soda flashed his movie star smile and pulled a seat between us.

"Gee, Soda, you really didn't have to," Christine said, as she took the flowers and inhaled their sweet, fragrant scent.

"I wanted to, Doll," he said. He smiled again and Christine blushed. Soda looked at the screen and was about to speak when he heard a girl across from us yell.

Everyone turned to look at her. She was one of the girls sitting with Two-Bit.

"Oh my gosh, I don't know how I didn't notice it before," I said, squinting at the girl and then turning back to Christine and Soda. "That's Cherry Valance! And she just splashed a Coke into Dallas Winston's face!"

Soda turned to look at them and his smile faded. "Oh no. That's Ponyboy, and he'll probably be home soon if he knows what's best for him. Darry'll kill him if he's home late. I gotta be there to help him before he gets back to the house." Soda looked around and cursed under his breath. "I'm sorry, Christine, I gotta go home. I'll see you tomorrow, all right?" He kissed her, stood up, and left the drive-in.

Christine looked sad. "What's wrong, Christine?" I asked. "Soda just gave you the prettiest flowers I ever saw."

"Yeah, I know, but he seems so busy nowadays," Christine said, looking down at the ground.

"What do you mean? He's as busy as he's always been. He's gotta take care of two brothers, you know, and one of em's fourteen."

"Yeah, but now that-" Christine cut herself short and looked down again, a fearful look in her eyes.

"Yeah, but what, Christine? What's goin' on?"

"I'll tell you later. I don't want to talk about it right now. Let's just go home," she snapped, piercing my eyes with her own and then leaving her chair.

I was dumbfounded. Christine never talked to anyone like that, especially not me. "Okay, I don't know what's goin' on, but we can go home for now," I said, as I stood up from my chair and stretched my arms.

"Sorry about that," Christine said. "Somethin's been going on between me and my folks. I don't wanna talk about it, and you can't say a word of this to Soda. He...he might know, already...." Christine trailed off.

"Tuff enough," I said, and we walked back home together.