one of them

seven

DJ's POV
September 2, 1962

"Oh, my goodness!" Mom exclaimed. "You look beautiful, Donna. I wish I could keep you like this forever."

I laughed. "Come on, mom."

"I can only send my daughter to her first day of high school once. You know where all your classes are? Make sure you find Julia. Make new friends. Are you sure you don't want me to drop you off?"

"Ma, it's alright. I got her." Darry said. I laughed. "She'll be okay. She's strong enough to handle her first day of high school."

Mom sighed. "Alright. Darrel, if she needs anything, make sure she can find you."

"Mom, I'll be okay."

"We better get goin' or we're gonna be late. Bye ma, bye dad!"

We walked out the door and I wasn't really nervous. I was kinda excited. New school, new people to meet.

I saw Julia walking in and I caught up to her and Darry to his friends. "Ready for the first day?" She asked. "You look so cute!"

"So ready! And thanks, Jules! You look adorable."

We both giggled as we made our way inside.

The first few classes went by smoothly. A nice introduction to what the year was going to be like. Julia and I got in the same lunch as well.

It wasn't until after lunch that there became a problem...

"What class do you have now?" Julia asked.

I pulled out my schedule from my bag to double check. As I was doing so, I felt a hard smack on my ass. I let out a squeal and turned around. There was this kid with a large group behind him laughing. He had curly blonde hair that almost touched his shoulder. He looked messy.

I felt my face get red and Julia grabbed me and started pulling me away.

Their laughs echoed around me. I felt myself tense up every time I thought about it.

I know I should have probably told Darry, but I couldn't. It was embarrassing and I couldn't bring myself to tell him about my fucked up first day.

I found out the kid's name was Kellen. I heard a few people talking about him and what he did. He's also Darry's age. That was so weird for me to think about.

I got home and threw our stuff down. "How was school you guys?" Mom asked, picking our bags up and putting them on the rack.

"It was good. Gotta get my football stuff and head back." He said running and grabbing it from his room. In a split second, he was out the door again.

"What about you?" She asked hopefully.

I just shrugged and went to my room. I figured I shouldn't let it bother me, but it sure did.

Mom eventually knocked on my door. I rolled over and yelled, "Come in."

She opened the door and shut it behind her. I leaned on my side to face her and she gave me a sympathetic smile. "Hi, baby. It seems you didn't enjoy your first day as much as we all thought you would."

I sat up and broke eye contact. "It was fine. I think I just wasn't ready for it."

"Is it the classes? You can always drop the harder ones."

"No... it was the people."

She sat down on the bed next to me. "What happened?"

I was embarrassed to say it out loud, but I felt like I had to. She was my mom. Maybe she could help?

"It was some guy named Kellen. He's Darry's age. When I was walking out of lunch with Juje, he came up behind me and slapped my butt." I shuttered. I saw mom's face sympathize with me. "I get it, it happens to the best of us, but it was so awkward and uncomfortable. And all his friends were laughing."

Mom hugged me. "I'm so sorry, Donna." She paused for a moment. "I'm sorry that happened. But can I ask you something?"

"Yeah?" I asked. I was confused on what she'd wanna ask.

She took a breath to slightly explain what she wanted. "When guys are your age, unfortunately, they're gonna be immature and do crap like that. They think it's funny and they wanna please their friends and get a stupid reaction out of you. You're a real pretty girl, Donna. You are. And that's amazing, but the sad part about being a girl in this world is that you're going to be taken advantage of. Maybe sometimes more extreme than others, but it's bound to happen."

"Yeah I know..." I muttered.

"I will always be on your side. I am your biggest fan. But I want you to promise me one thing..." I was gonna say something, but I waited for her to finish. "Never turn into one of them."

I was taken aback by the question. "One of them? Who's 'them?' Kellen?"

"Sorta. I mean the greaser type."

My mom hardly ever used terms like that. She said it could make people feel bad and that was the last thing she wanted. "Wouldn't we be considered greasers?" I asked out of confusion.

"There's more to the term than just money. The greaser girls in this town could be trashy. Pounds of makeup, a lower class style. You don't need to buy nice clothes, you should buy presentable clothes. Back in my day, girls used to wear light makeup and dress appropriately. The girls in our side of town are breaking those norms. And something that comes along with that is throwing yourself away for a boy. And as you're getting to that age, I want you to respect yourself enough to not be like them."

"I promise." I said after a moment.

I wasn't sure if I entirely agreed with her. I like the makeup. I think it looks cool. And I never really looked at the way they dressed.

But I certainly did not want the reputation of a greaser like that. Sleeping around and changing for a guy.

So I gave her my word.

I would never be like one of them.