Inside The Outsider

As the girls and I rode the bus in the morning, I laid my head against the window. Staring out at the passing buildings," What's wrong Diana, did dinna go well?" Clarice stated sarcastically. I glanced at her and rolled my eyes," It went well actually." Clarice raised her eyebrows," So he passed the test?!"
"Yes Clarice. He passed the test." She intertwined her hands together and put them on her lap," Well if ya family thinks he's okay, then I won't give him such a hard time." I looked over at her, she was facing forward. Still looking ahead, her eyes followed my gaze," Really?!" A smirk crept onto her face," Really."

Without hesitation, I grabbed ahold of her arm and squeezed her tight," Okay okay, don't kill me now." Once we unfortunately got to school, we all parted ways and went to class. The start of the day was like any other. I sat in my regular seat, close to the front and behind the devil himself, Danny McCord. Ever since I first came here, he's been giving me hell. As I wrote in my notebook, I could feel a pair of eyes burning at my sight," Why are you even at this school," I looked up from my notebook and glared at the blonde hair, green-eyed devil," After you graduate—if you even do that, you're gonna find a poor nigga and be a slave for him anyway." A hard chuckle escaped his mouth," Right now I'd rather be that than to listen to you."

He clenched his jaw," You think ya so smart huh?" I shrugged my shoulders," I guess i'm not too smart," A devious smirk formed onto his devilish face," I still choose to sit behind a dummy like you."
His expression immediately contorted into disbelief," What you call me?" I was about to repeat my statement but the intercom interrupted our pointless conversation," Goodmorning Students!"

As we stood for the Pledge of Allegiance, Danny swatted my notebook off my desk. It landed on the floor beside the desk next to mine. I rolled my eyes at his childish behavior and retrieved my notebook. What was wrong with this boy? It seemed like his only mission in life was to torment me. During the lecture in class when the teacher wasn't looking, he would swat my notebook off my desk repeatedly.

Once class was over, I quickly gathered my things and rushed out of the classroom not wanting to deal with that nerve racking boy. I was nearly down the hall, clutching my bag close to me. When suddenly, me and my stuff were on the ground. I turned behind me, to discover a laughing deviled Danny. Abruptly, he was grabbed by his collar and pinned against the locker." Don't you touch her again!!" I quickly got off the ground, once I seen who had him pinned," Michael stop."

"What you gonna do nigga?" Michael's jaw was clenched and his teeth gnarled like a wild animal. He tightened his grip on Danny who was starting to get more agitated then amused now. Suddenly, the other negro and white students were arguing back and forth, causing ruckus in the crowded hall," HEY!! Everyone break it up!! NOW!!" One the school authorities marched down the hall. Michael finally released his deadly grip on Danny and walked over to me," You okay?" I nodded my head," Yeah."

Lunch rolled around and the cafeteria was more silent than usually. I sat with Clarice and Ponyboy at our usual table. Lisa and Cheryl joined us as well," What the hell is goin' on?" Clarice questioned as she scanned the whole cafeteria. "Michael almost got into a fight." Clarice, Lisa and Cheryl clutched their chest like they had on pearl necklaces," What!? What happened?"

On queue, the green-eyed devil stormed into the cafeteria," That evil bastard pushed me on the ground." They all turned their attention to him and scoffed. Clarice rolled up her sleeves," He did what!?" She was about to get up but I grabbed her arm," Clarice sit down." She sat back down but continued to glare him down.

"Aaaww." Lisa cooed unexpectedly.
Clarice switched her attention to her and so did everyone else," What are you awin' about?" Clarice questioned disgustedly. "Michael came to rescue you Diana. That's so sweet." Ponyboy and Clarice glanced at me knowingly," He was lookin' out for me. He would've done the same for anybody." Lisa shrugged her shoulders," I guess girlie."

After the final bell rang, I rushed out of the school building. I never wanted to escape school so much in my life. I skipped down the stairs and out towards the parking lot where I saw Dally posted up on someone's car. I rushed over towards him and wrapped my arms around his torso squeezing him tight. I could feel him about to wrap his arms around me until i remembered yesterday. I quickly snatched myself from him and crossed my arms tight," What was that you pulled yesterday?"

He huffed, rolling his eyes as he threw his finished cigarette on the ground," I had dinner with your family. Isn't that what you wanted?"
He got off the strangers car and made his way to the sidewalk. I closely followed beside him, trying to match his fast pace," My family did not have dinna with you," He huffed again picking up his pace," that was someone completely different." He ignored me and kept walking," Dally!?"
He halted his steps and faced me."What Diana!? Why are you gettin' wise with me?"

I glanced at the ground and back up at him," Because that wasn't you." He shrugged his shoulders," They like me didn't they?"
"But I didn't." He straightened his lips annoyed at the conversation," Yeah, so?"
I shook my head and shifted my weight to one leg. He straightened his posture waiting for me to say something," You looked like the rich assholes that go to my school. Ponyboy calls them uh socs?" He put his hands in his coat pockets," You looked like the boy who torments me at school." His brows knitted together." And you certainly, looked like the guys that jumped me."

I could see his body slump and his head hung low. I felt a warm tear trickle down my cheek as my arms stayed crossed against my chest. Dally glanced at the ground, taking his hands out of his pockets. His arm reached around me and he reeled me into a warm embrace. He laid his chin on top of my head and held me firmly," I didn't mean nothin' by it Doll." He pulled me back a little and wiped the tear from my cheek and placed a small kiss there," You forgive me?" A small smile crept onto my face," If you buy me dinna?" He rolled his eyes as he snaked his arm over my shoulders and led us down the sidewalk.

We walked down the sidewalk to my part of town or the Negro part of town. We made our way into a diner. Dally opened the door and led us in. We found a booth near a window, Dally got in first and I sat on the outside. Some of the people inside glanced at us, but nothing threatening. One of the waitresses came up to our table and took our order. Dally kept his arm snaked around my shoulders,"This place isn't too bad." I nodded my head," Clarice and I came here all the time 'til we got bored of it." "Diana Robinson gets bored?" I glanced up at Dally, he had his eyebrows knit together as if he was really confused. I smacked his chest and smiled," Shut up."

Dally laughed to himself until he abruptly stopped,glaring up at something. I turned to what he was looking at and was greeted by a towering figure standing near our table," TJ, what you doin here? Aren't you suppose to be at work?" He bent down and embraced me in a hug," I'm on my lunch break...What you doin' here with this knuckle head?" He stood up firmly. Dally unwrapped his arm from me and scooted me over, trying to get closer to my brother," What you say?" TJ chuckled humorlessly at Dally," I know about you. Dallas Winston. I hear about you goin' in an outta jail, robbin' folks. You real tough." He put up air quotations on the word tough. Dally was stiff as stone," TJ stop, you don't know him—"

TJ glanced at me questionably," Mama and Daddy know about him?" I nodded my head, clenching onto Dally's tense body. TJ shook his head and rubbed his chin in disbelief," Our old folks don't know nothing." He placed his hands on the table and leaned closer to Dally," She tell you I'm in the army?" Dally inched closer to my brother," Yeah,so what?"
I could see TJ's biceps flex as he moved in deathly close to Dally," So What!? So what you hurt my sister in any way I'll hunt ya down an kill ya myself!"

They stared each other down, neither giving up their dominance. I was about to dismiss my brother from our table, but another voice interrupted," M'am? I have your orders." The waitress peeked around TJ and over at me. TJ finally snapped out of it and glanced at the waitress," Sorry Janet, I'm all up in ya way." She swatted her hand and smiled," Ya fine TJ." She set our food on the table and I thanked her. TJ glanced down at his watch and looked at me," I see ya later Diana," He quickly gave me a hug," watch ya self around this knuckle head." He pointed at Dally, giving him the scariest mug I've ever seen; and exited out the diner.

I looked over at Dally, his fists were balled up tight. His jaw clenched with a stern look on his face. I reached my hand out to his chest, I could feel his heart racing," Dally.." His leg was tapping rapidly underneath the table," You see?" He continued to stare blankly ahead of him, i rubbed small circles on his chest. He clutched my hand and pulled it away from him. He turned his head to look at me," You see?" My head lay low as I fidgeted with the fries on my plate," I see."