1961 // louis dimucci

Chapter 1

Back to school. Again. Ugh. 

I stroll into Rydell High and sigh. Senior year. 

I pass all my classmates, waving to a few, ignoring most, and head to my locker. My locker is Pink Ladies property, which means it's painted pink and probably the most coveted locker in the whole school. 

"From the front, this is the perfect nose. From the side, this nose does not belong on this face," Rhonda Ritter, my best friend, complains, looking into her mirror from the side.

"So dump the face and keep the nose," Stephanie Zinone, the leader of the Pink Ladies, comments.

"What's the new look, Sharon?" Paulette Rebchuck looks at Sharon Cooper's outfit. I think it's kind of ridiculous-looking, but I'm not gonna tell her that.

"Jackie Kennedy! It only landed her a president," Sharon replies.

"Yeah? Well the movie magazines say that JFK secretly prefers the Marilyn Monroe look," Paulette says. She's obsessed with Marilyn Monroe. Ever since we went to see The Prince and The Showgirl, she's been 100% obsessed with looking just like her. She even dyes her dark brown hair blonde.

"Hi Johnny!" Paulette cries out. She likes Johnny Nogerelli even more than she likes Marilyn.

"Yeah," He says casually, walking up to Steph and leaning his arm against her locker. Goose McKenzie follows behind him, like he always does.

"Gee," Paulette stares at him, "I really like your hair in the back, it looks really cool."

"Really, really, Paulette?" I make fun of her.

Johnny winks at her, "Thanks."

I bet she's about to faint.

"Oooh! I see you're still giving lube jobs at the old man's service station!" Goose pulls Steph's jacket from her hands.

"Stuff it, Goose," She yanks it back. 

"So, what's the story, Steph?" Johnny asks.

"Yeah, what's the story?" Goose mimics Johnny.

Johnny smacks Goose on the chest and he finally walks away. Honestly, I don't know how Rhonda puts up with him. Maybe it's because he's good in bed. I would know, because she never stops talking about it.

"You know the story, Johnny, it's over," Stephanie says.

Wait. What? It's over?!

When did this happen?!?

We all start to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Yeah? Yeah? Well, maybe that's not good enough!" Johnny's voice starts to get louder.

He's always been like that. Overprotective, always jealous, always paranoid that Steph was gonna get bored of him.

Looks like she finally did.

"Don't make a scene, okay?" She says. You can see that she's already getting annoyed.

"What? What? There's no scene!"

"Hey! Johnny!" Davey Jaworski comes up and pats him on the back.

"Hey! What's the scene?" Louis DiMucci appears, smiling.

Johnny grabs Louis's white shirt and shouts, "There's no scene, alright?!"

"Geeez, sorry," Louis's eyes widen and he walks over to Sharon's locker.

"Hi, Louis," Sharon smiles. They've been dating for over a year.

"Hello," He grins, "To you," and starts to make out with her so hard that her head starts to lean back into her open locker.

"What's this?" Goose stares at Rhonda's locker, "The Vince Fontaine National Liberry?" 

"Shh! Quiet, please!" Louis shouts, laughing.

"Laugh, you jerks. But just wait till I turn up on National Bandstand," She says, obviously trying to ignore them.

"Yeah," Goose wraps his arms around her shoulders, "You may turn up on the Bandstand, but your beak with still be turning-" 

Both Goose and Louis gesture to their noses and say, "Down!!"

Sharon giggles, "You're mean!"

"I've got to do it. The nose goes. Bandstands, here I come," Rhonda says, slamming her locker.

I laugh, too, and the boys start to leave, but Louis playfully pushes my shoulder before turning away.

Louis has been my friend since eleventh grade. We met when Rhonda introduced me to Goose, and the whole gang was with him. He was already dating Sharon, but we hadn't met her yet. It was just Rhonda and I for a long time, but we slowly started to add on to our little group. First Sharon, then Paulette and then Stephanie.

We've been pretty close-knit since then.

"Rhonda, I wouldn't fool around with Mother Nature if I were you," Paulette warns.

"You fooled around with everyone else, Paulette," Sharon retorts.

"Ah, shut up."

The bell rings and we start to head to homeroom. This year, I've got Miss Mason.

"You know, Rhonda," I say as we walk down the hallway, "I heard that Vince Fontaine tried to slip Aspirin in Marty Maraschino's drink two years ago."

"That was just a rumour, Chloe," Rhonda replies, "And anyways, even if it isn't, he wouldn't even have to slip something in my drink to get me to go home with him."