The Sunset is Better on the East Side

Chapter 1

(Written by @OutsidersWriter aka Sarah and Edited by Me aka Alyssa)

I walked into school with my purple t-shirt on, blue jeans, and a worn down black backpack. I'm different from my whole school, just because I dress casually. All the girls here wear pretty clothes and four pounds of makeup. I go to a private school where you have to pay about one hundred dollars a month. I bet you're thinking, 'If I'm rich, why don't I just fit it or wear pretty clothes?' The answer is, I can't. I'm here because of a scholarship, the only person that has one, too. Every one else is dumb and pays the outrageous price a month.

One big reason I'm here is because I skipped a grade in elementary school. Now, I'm in tenth grade, and stuck in this preppy school. Suddenly, as I was taking my last folder out of my locker, it slammed shut.

"How ya doin' nerd?" Asked Alexandra, then shoved me so I fell and all my folders went flying and scattered out. She started to laugh as her boyfriend, Landon, walked over to us, he glanced at me lying there, and copied the same evil laugh that haunts me.

"Come on guys, let's go!" He cackled, and his friends joined him by his side and began to kick me. Finally, the bell rang, saving me from this nightmare. 'Saved by the bell' as I would say. I stood up and gathered my things, papers ripped, folders with shoe marks. I stumbled to the bathroom, dizzy.

My jet black hair was a bird's nest, covering my blue eyes. I realized I had a black eye, bruises on my face and neck, and some on my stomach. I had to go to class, no time to pity myself and worry about appearance. When I walked into English class, the teacher stared, looking confused.

"What happened this time?" She sighed.

"I, uh, fell down the stairs at home." I had to lie, if I ever told someone what they did to me, they said I wouldn't live to see tomorrow. She frowned as I sulked to my seat in the back of the room.

The rest of my classes were trash, with the occasional teasing from Alexandra's allies, but I made it somehow. When I got home, I ignored my mom even when she said hello. I walked to my room to escape the world, wanting to forget today. My favorite book was waiting for me on my bed, The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. I smiled as I opened up the familiar cover and read the words on the first page.

'As I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.'

Out of nowhere, I was wearing a red flannel, with the same jeans and a white undershirt. I looked around, I was outside, and there was Ponyboy walking out of the movie house.