The Other Side - The Outsiders in a different perspective

Chapter 1

I rushed out of the plastic screen door. The only thing that crossed my mind was, where would I go? It was a cold night. I thought of walking back home, but I hated being there. My parents always drive me out of the house whenever I'm around. When I'm at home, I think I like it better when my old man's belting me every time I turn around. At least he knows I'm there, unlike my selfish mother who didn't care that I existed. My life was hard with my parents. I wished I would've ran away a long time ago, but I do care for them even though they don't care for me. In my opinion, I don't think I look anything like my parents.

I have long, jet black hair that was combed to one side, and heavily greased. I have dark black eyes, showing years of hurt. I wish I was taller and had a better build because people assume that I'm 14 instead of 16. It drives me nuts when people assume I'm younger than I am, but people only go by looks.

I must've ran for hours before I finally stopped to catch my breath. I knew that I shouldn't walk alone or I might get jumped by the Socs. The term Socs is the abbreviation for the "Socials."The Socs were the richest people in town. They throw fancy parties, own nice clothes, and like to jump us Greasers and even the other Socs for kicks. Greasers are like hoods; we're poorer than the middle class and the Socs. We steal, fight, and wear lots of grease in our hair. That doesn't mean I do any of that, I try to stay clear from that kinds of stuff. I don't ever want to get arrested for doing anything, and I hoped not to.

I walked to the vacant lot. The lot was an open field where the gang and I play football and hang out. The lot was a pretty rough place to be at this time of night. It was getting dark, so I started to walk home when, I heard a loud "honk" right behind me. I knew right then that something bad was going to happen.

I started running, but they had already gotten out of the car and were right behind me. One of them jumped at me, caught me in a flying tackle and threw me against the ground, hard. The strong scent of English leather and whiskey was hovering around me. I looked around for a weapon of some sort, but there was nothing. I lay flat on my back. I looked over next to me to see the guy who tackled me was laying flat on the grass, swearing and gasping for breath. He was a Soc all right, with his Madras ski jacket and a similar kind of haircut like the other Socs, but his hair was dark blonde. Another Soc was unsteadily walking towards my limp body. I made a kind of squeak when he approached me.

"Hey greaser," his slurred voice yelled, scaring me to the core, "we're going to make sure you don't ever see daylight ever again."

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I didn't bat an eye when he pulled me up and ripped off my jeans jacket. The only jacket I had. He threw my jacket across the wide open field. I was cold without my jacket. I hadn't realized     it before because my jacket protected me from the world. The Soc picked me up and a guy with rings started cutting up my face, badly. I looked down and to my surprise, my shirt was splattered with blood. My face was throbbing, my bones were cracking. I'd never felt this much pain in my life. I felt my face to find a large gash that started at my temple, and ended at my cheekbone. Before I knew what was happening, one of the other Socs grabbed me from behind and started kicking me as hard as he could. If you don't believe that hurt, you're crazy. Finally, I went down in a peaceful darkness.

I heard footsteps nearing towards me.

"Johnny?" I heard a voice call my name.

"Soda?" I replied in a quiet tone.

"Yeah its me, don't talk, you're going to be all right," Soda said worriedly.

"There was a whole bunch of them," I went on, ignoring Soda, gasping for breath.

"A blue Mustang full... I got so scared..." I tried to swear, but I couldn't control myself. I started crying.

The tears were running down my cheeks like cold rain. I couldn't hold it all in. All of my anger, all of my sadness from 16 years of living a hard life on the streets. I just wish I could get away, and go do the things I want to do, see all the things I want to see, but I just can't. My family wouldn't care anyway, but I wouldn't want to leave the gang behind. They were like brothers to me. Even though they weren't actually my brothers, they still cared for me like I was. I just wish my parents cared for me like the gang.

I looked over my shoulder to find Dally faced in the opposite direction with a sickening look on his face.

Darry came running into the lot and crouched next to Sodapop. He just sat there trying to figure out what to do with me. Finally, Darry picked me up and carried me to their house and gently laid me on the couch. I fell asleep once my head hit the pillow.