The Lost Outsiders

Night on the Boardwalk

It was a cloudy night. Bright lights flickered, illuminating the store fronts where groups of teens were gathered, much to the owner's distaste. The group of boys strolled around, feeling slightly under-dressed in t-shirts and jeans, when everyone else seemed to be crazed punks or fashion icons. A few looked like both.

Johnny tugged on Ponyboy's shirt,
"Hey Pony, there's a comic book store over there. Wanna go 'ave a look?"
Ponyboy nodded, motioning to Darry that he was leaving the group. To his surprise, he followed.
"What? I like comic books! Not too old am I, Pony?" He laughed, and the three squeezed through the crowd and into the shop.

The remaining four looked around, eventually noticing a band playing on the beach.
"Hey, should we watch the band for a bit?" Steve motioned towards the crowd. Soda and Two-Bit nodded, but Dally seemed to be distracted.
"Hey, Dal, wake up!" Two-Bit laughed.
"Yeah, um... you guys go, I'll find you in a minute. I need a smoke."
The others decided to shrug it off and head to the band, fronted by a muscular saxophone player, without him.

Dally lit a cigarette quickly, then began to walk towards what had captured his attention. She was stunning, with long brown hair that fluffed out in just the right places. She had a very pretty face, with a petite nose, large eyes, and a gentle smile. Unfortunately, she was standing with another guy, about Dally's height and age. He was relatively good looking, with curly brown hair and an athletic build. Fortunately, he left after seeing Dally approach. He looked her up and down once more. He hadn't noticed how detailed her skirt was, with gold embroidery criss-crossing the airy blue fabric. She also wore a simple white corset top and bedazzled sandles.
"So, darlin',  what's your name?" He grinned, laughing as she rolled her eyes.
"Star." She muttered.
"A pretty name for a pretty girl," he snickered, "Who was that asshole you were standing with?"
"He's not an asshole."
"Oh... are you like, boyfriend girlfriend type deal?"
"Why don't you leave me alone?" She mumbled sharply. Dally laughed, noticing her beginning to ignore him.
"Are you ignoring me? I said, are you ignoring me? Good luck with that. You couldn't ignore me if you tried."
The roar of motorbike engines filled the air around them.

Hippie music blasted out of an old TV, where the two store owners lay, either asleep or super high. Comic books plastered the walls in bright colours, threatening to cause headaches to anyone stupid enough to enter. Johnny and Darry immediately started to rummage through various books, Johnny favouring super heroes, and Darry horror. Pony carried on wandering through the store, not keen on comics, but grateful to Johnny for thinking of inviting him. He noticed two teens watching him intensely, and smiled slightly before rifling through some books. He heard footsteps and almost jumped out of his skin when he looked up and one of them was inches from his face.
"We haven't seen you around. You're new here, aren't you?"
"Um... hi, I'm Ponyboy." He stuttered, confused to why the two boys, probably brothers, were so interested in him.
"I'm Edgar Frog. That's my brother, Alan Frog. We keep this boardwalk safe."
"I'm pretty sure the security guards do good enough of a job." Ponyboy laughed, the Frog brothers becoming angry.
"No! You don't understand! Tell me, Ponyboy, what do you know about... vampires?" The other brother, Alan, spat.
"Vampires? I could tell your parents were junkies, but I didn't think you were."
Alan started forward, but was held back by his brother.
"Calm down, Alan. He's just a silly little boy," Edgar handed Pony a comic titled 'Vampires Everywhere!', "Take this if you want to survive. Our number is on the back, and pray you never need to call us."
Ponyboy smiled and backed away, taking the comic in hope that Darry would enjoy it.

Fivw dirtbikes pulled up, circling Dally and Star. One of the bikers, a teenager with a short blond mullet motioned to the girl, who climbed on the back obediently. Dally noticed one of the bikers was the guy that Star said was 'not an asshole'.
"Hello there," the blond teen called out, "I'm David. You've met Star already, I believe. Over there is Dwayne," he pointed at an intense looking man with long, black hair, "That's Paul," he motioned to a younger looking teen, who smiled cheekily, "Marko," Another boy, a smaller build than the rest, waved, "Micheal," Dally grinned at the 'not an asshole', who looked confused at the sudden attention. "Oh, and who could forget little Laddie?" David finished, smiling at a young boy who had poked his head out from behind Dwayne.
"Cool. I'm Dally." Dally answered, after David looked at him, questioningly.
"Well, Dally, why dont you hop on the back of Michael's bike and come with us. I've got something you might like to see."
Dally nodded, climbing onto the back of the man's bike, unaware of who these boys really were.