The One (Dallas Winston/The Outsiders)

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 (please, please, please read the important A/N below!)

School is probably the dullest thing I've ever attended.  The teachers only ever talk in that horrible monotone voice that always makes the lesson feel longer than it actually is. 

Math is probably more painful than shoving pins in my eyes.

God, how I hate it.

We've been learning the same topic for about six months now and I still have no idea how to calculate the slope of a straight line, it was only last week that I finally memorized the equation y=mx + c.  I can't tell whether my teacher is the worst, or I'm just stupid.

Probably the teacher.

When the bell rung I'm pretty sure I smashed the world record for the fastest human alive.  I was some how the first one into the hallway, not for long though.  The hallway was immediately flooded with kids trying to get out the door or get to their locker so they could get away from this temporary prison on a Monday afternoon.

I made my way to my locker where I was supposed to meet Kelly so we were able to walk home together.  She was always organized and the first to be ready, so it sort of became a routine for her to wait at my locker for me. 

I made it to my locker in one piece and as I expected Kelly was already there waiting for me.  I greeted her as I opened my locker and put away my books before grabbing the things I would need to bring home with me.

We quickly left the building afterwards and started to walk back home.

"So Stella was telling me about how you got in another fight with Dallas Winston?  Are you sure you're not turning into a full on hood Sid?" She asked me.

I sighed and looked over at her. "No Kelly, I'm not a hood," I laughed.

"So you got in a fight with him?"

"I punched him, but that's about as far as it went before I walked out,"

"Why'd you punch him in the first place? He didn't punch you, did he?"  She stopped and grabbed a hold of my face, checking to see if I had any signs of a bruise on my face.

I smiled and pulled her hand off my face, "No Kelly, he didn't punch me at all, he called me something that I'd rather not repeat,"

"Oh... did he apologize?"

"Matter of fact, he did.  I nearly died when he did, I never would've expected it,"

"I wouldn't either," She smiled and carried on walking, "You didn't forgive him did you?"

"Well..."

"Sidnee, you know you shouldn't have done that.  I swear you're the biggest pushover I've ever met,"

"It was the least I could do for punching him in the face Kelly,"

"Okay then," She carried on walking.

We were about halfway now and the sun continued to shine down right on us, the heat was beginning to give me a headache.

"You're okay right Sidnee?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine.  What's that supposed to mean anyway?"

"I mean, are you really okay?  You've been hanging out with those guys a bit more recently and I'm just scared they're going to start to have a negative influence on you," She said, stopping in the middle of the footpath once more so she was able to have a proper conversation with me.

"Do you think I'm acting differently or something?"

"Maybe a little.  You know it's not the fact that they're greasers Sidnee, 2 of our best friends are greasers, you know I'm not that low,"