The Outsiders meet elves: A Keeper of the Lost Cities crossover a Sophitz story

Chapter 84 - Linh

"Linh, wake up." Sophie shook me. "You and Tam are going to go to school with Tess and Pony. Johnny, Evelyn, and Alyssa as well."

"School?" I asked.

"Yeah, you're gonna go to Will Rogers with us." Alyssa said, "It's hell, but there's nowhere else to go."

"Not if you want to get a diploma. And a chance to go to college." Tess said, "I don't want to go, but I want my diploma. I want to go to college."

"You've got it in ya." Darry said.

"Yeah, you could really make it." Johnny said, kissing Tess on the cheek.

"Hey, Johnnycakes." Tess said, smiling. "Did your parents get ya?"

"Not too bad." Johnny said.

"Where'd they get ya?" Tess asked.

"Here." Johnny pulled up his sleeve, and I gasped. A large purple bruise was on his upper arm.

"How?"

"My old man threw a brick at me." Johnny said. He looked broken. "Why am I not good enough for them? Why?" He started crying, and Tess hugged him.

"Aw, Johnnycakes, they ain't good enough for ya. You're more than good enough for them." Tess whispered.

"Johnny, Tess is right. They're never gonna love us. We have each other." Evelyn whispered, hugging him from the back.

"You've got the gang." Dallas said, "Even me."

"Is the great Dallas Winston admitting a weakness?" Steve gasped. "I can't believe it!"

"Shut up." Dallas muttered, "You didn't see nothing."

"So what did we see?" Tam asked. "If we didn't see nothing, we had to have seen something."

"You saw me being cold and tuff." Dallas said.

"Oh, really?" Tam goaded him on.

"Tam! Can't you be nice for once?" I asked. I wanted to get to know Dallas. The boy underneath the walls he built. I wanted to know the real Dallas, not what he wanted us to think of him.

"Not really. The stereotype for Shades is, well, shady. Grouchy. Untrustworthy." Tam vented about all the injustices about Shades.

"Tam, please?" I asked. "Prove those stereotypes wrong."

"I'd love it if you weren't so grouchy, but you really need to get to school." Sophie said.

"Someone's missing." Tess said.

"Oh, no!" Evelyn exclaimed, "We forgot about Pony!"

"I'll wake him up!" Soda said.

"I'll drive ya." Two-Bit said.

"Um, I guess." I said. I really didn't want to get into a car, but I didn't know where the school was.

"I'll go in the car." Tam muttered. "I hate those things."

"I know. Just deal with it." I whispered.

"Cool. Come on." Two-Bit led us to his car.

"Oh, boy." Tam muttered.

"She's a real beauty on the inside, even if she looks a little dingy." Two-Bit patted it, the way one would pat a beloved pet.

"If you say so." Tam said, getting in the car. I slid in, and sat next to him.

"Buckle up, if ya feel like it." Two-Bit said. Tam and I both buckled our seat belts, because we didn't trust Two-Bit to not kill us.

The car shot forward, and raced towards the school.