The Insiders (The Outsiders Fanfiction)

Chapter 5

I was jolted awake in the middle of the night. "Wh-wha...who is it?" I asked drowsily.

"I could ask the same of you," someone said, while looking at me from above. It was the voice of a girl. "What're you doin' on my lawn?" she asked.

"Oh my goodness." I immediately sat up and checked my watch. It was 11:00 P.M. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize it had gotten so late, I-"

"That's fine. Just go on and get back home, your folks are probably worried about you," she responded nonchalantly.

"Thank you, Miss. Again, I apologize." The girl didn't say anything and just nodded.

I stood up and began to walk away when I heard the sound of a car. I continued on my journey, but the girl ran up to me and grabbed my arm. "Hey, what are you doing?" I asked somewhat loudly.

"Shh! If you know what's best for you you'll shut your trap and come with me right now!" she hissed.

"Hey, I don't know what's goin' on here, but I don't have to go anywhere with you! I don't know you!"

"Gee, kid, do I have to paint you a picture?" She sighed when I didn't respond. "Ya' see that blue mustang over there? A few of them nasty socs are in that car, and-" She was cut short. The man driving the car locked eyes with us and started driving faster toward us. "What are they doin' over here? This is our turf," she grumbled. "Come with me. Now that they've seen you with me, there's no chance you're gettin' outta this one if you leave now."

I sucked my teeth and began to run with her into her house. She quickly bolted the door once we had gotten inside and let out a relieved breath."Gosh, that was a close one," she whispered.

"What's going on here?" I demanded. "I need to get home, my dad's gonna kill me when he sees me home at this hour!"

"Would you rather be killed by them socs?" she snapped. We both stared for a moment. I glared at her quizzically, with a look that asked, "who are you?"

"You got a name?" I asked.

"Diane Randle," she replied. I thought to myself for a moment, trying to remember something. The name Randle rang a bell, but I couldn't put my finger on who it was. "I'm Steve Randle's sister," she said, noticing the look on my face.

Then I realized. "Oh, you're a Grease," I said.

Diane's face immediately went cold. "Yeah, what of it? You a soc or somethin'? 'Cause if you are, you better bolt."

"I ain't a soc and I ain't a greaser. Gee, I never thought I'd have to say that so many times in one day," I said, shaking my head. "I'm a plain, ordinary girl who," I stared at her menacingly, "wants to go back home now."

"Well, you ain't gettin' back home until them socs leave. You may as well make yourself comfortable," she said as she plopped down on the couch and turned on the TV.

I was nearly fuming. "You really ain't gonna let me leave, are ya?"

"Well, you do what you want, but don't come cryin' when you get jumped," she said, without looking away from the TV.

I grunted and weighed my options. I realized there wasn't much else I could do other than wait this thing out, so I sat down on the couch next to her. "So, what are we watching?"

"Eh, I don't know. Right now we're watchin' ads," she said. "I don't really care, I'm just gonna try and fall asleep." She leaned her head back against a pillow.

"So where is Steve, anyway?" I asked.

"Shoot, kid, didn't I tell ya I was tryna get some sleep?" She glared at me and put her head back on the pillow.

"Well, where is he? Once you answer I'll leave you alone, I promise."

She sighed and finally spoke. "He hasn't been around lately, just hanging out at the park. Not since...."

My face fell. "Oh...yeah...."

"Yeah. Well, you can look out the window. If that mustang's gone, you can go, too."

I got up and walked over to the window, and gasped when I saw the scene outside.

"What is it?" Diane asked, sitting up from her comfortable position on the couch.

"Shh," I said, and I slowly opened the window. We were greeted with some arguing amongst a group of people surrounding the blue mustang.

"I'm sick of you socs comin' over and jumpin' us in our own territory!" It was Steve.

"Yeah, apefaces!" Of course, Two-Bit.

"Well, what're you gonna do about it?" One of the socs asked, chuckling.

There was a long silence. I couldn't make out many people's faces, but all the greasers were looking at each other, seemingly making a silent decision amongst themselves. Someone finally spoke.

"Then let's settle this. When Pony and Johnny get back, we're all gonna rumble at the park." That was Darry.

"And when the greasers win," Soda said teasingly, "you socs leave us alone for good."

"Tuff enough," one of the socs said. "And when we win, we're gonna keep comin' through your neighborhood whenever we please."

"Then it's settled," Dally said, sticking his hand out. One of the socs shook it and they all hopped back into their mustang and drove off.

All the greasers looked at each other, some with looks of triumph on their faces and others with sadness. They all turned to sadness, eventually.

"Well, then, let's get ready. I'm gonna go home," Steve said, turning toward the house.

"Shoot," I said, and slammed the window shut.

"What are you thinking?" Diane asked, jumping up from the couch and running over to the window. She made sure Steve didn't hear anything. "I guess I'll just have to explain why you're here," she said defeatedly.

"I guess so. But I'm leaving soon," I said, annoyed.

Steve opened the door angrily, but didn't slam it. He just walked in and put his head in his hands.

"Hey, Steve, I missed you today," Diane said, walking over to him and giving him a hug.

"Missed you too, Annie," he said as he hugged her back. He looked up and saw me; his face immediately hardened. "Who is this?"

I assumed Steve was protective. "I'm, uh, Julie." Steve looked at Diane quizzically and then looked back at me. "It's a bit of a long story."

"Well, I don't have time for it. You should probably go home," he said coolly. Diane shot him a death stare and looked back at me.

"Yeah, you can, uh, leave now if you want," Diane said as she opened the door.

I walked past Steve and said, "Well, I guess I'll see you around," then left. The door slammed behind me and I began my walk home. But as I was about to exit the gate, I heard Diane talking to Steve.

"You know, you shouldn't talk to my friends like that," she said. "Especially Pony. You scare him away when you do that."

"Well, I don't want my sister hanging around with the likes of him."

"He's the nicest boy you know! You don't want me hanging around with anyone! At least give him a chance."

"The nicest boy I know?" Steve scoffed. "Please, he's a suspect for murder! I'm just looking out for you!"

"You know it was Johnny!" Diane snapped. There was a long silence, and I heard a door slam in the house. "Steve, I'm sorry, I-"

"Don't you talk about Johnny again!"

I heard a light sob and nothing else. My eyes widened and I realized: it was Johnny. Somehow...it was Johnny.