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I walked down the street, the day was nice, the sky was blue and the sun was shining. It felt like a joke, like the universe was laughing at me. I wanted to go home, crawl into bed, and preferably stay there till I passed on, then Pony or Soda, maybe mom or dad could bury me somewhere no one would find. Today was the day I would go to my first day of high school. I always heard from older greasers of how much it sucked, especially with the Socs around.
“Darry!” I spun around and suddenly I’m face to face with my best friend, Paul Holden. He is a Soc, technically. See Paul was way too nice to do all those Socy things like jumping greasers, but I know he probably fights with older greasers, that's just how life is.
“Hey Paul, what are you doin’ on this side of town?” Paul grinned, Paul smiled a lot.
“It's our first day of high school! Of course I'm going to find you, we need to walk together.” I smile, Paul made me smile a lot.
“I guess that's true, but did you walk over here? I know your dad would never drive you over here.” Paul's dad hated me, something about me being dirt on the bottom of his shoes or something similar, I didn't really care, most rich folks thought the same thing.
“Yeah I walked, I woke up at five A.M. so I could get here in time.” I looked at him like he was crazy, 5 am?
“5 A.M.!? Are you crazy? You should've asked your mom to drive you or something.” Paul's mom was nicer than his dad and she could never say no to Paul.
“My dad wouldn't let her take any of the cars, he hid all the car keys from her.” My eyes widened, he hid the keys?
“He hid the keys just so she wouldn't take you? He sure does hate me.” Paul winced slightly.
“He doesn't hate you exactly…he just…doesn't think you're a good influence on me.” I let out an amused huff at that.
“Yeah, he doesn’t hate me, he just thinks I’m the scum of the earth. I mean, I don't even smoke and I barely ever even grease my hair.”
“Yeah, my dad is…isn’t very nice” I could tell he was about to swear but a woman and a little boy walked past right as he was about to.
“We should probably get going, school starts in 30 minutes and it's a 20 minute walk.” Paul nodded.
“Why isn't your dad driving you?”
“He has to work early today and mom needs to get Pony and Soda ready and drive them to their schools, so I just decided to walk. Plus now I don't have to help Pony get ready for the day.” Paul hummed and we began walking again and after about 20 or so minutes of comfortable silence Paul began talking again.
“So are you excited for high school?” I let out a snort.
“You sound like my mom, but yeah, I'm excited.”
“Did she ask that exact question this morning?” I nodded, hiking my backpack on my shoulders and before I can say anything I trip over a crack in the sidewalk and almost face plant on the floor. Thankfully Paul catches me but then I fall back into his chest and we both fall onto the concrete. It was silent for a moment before we both burst out laughing. I roll off of his chest still gasping for air. Paul slowly sat up still laughing, he tried to glare at me but it didn't really work.
“You’re about as graceful as a baby deer Darry” Paul said as soon as he stopped laughing, that made me laugh even harder.
“Yeah! And you're so much better!” I say sarcastically still trying to tone down my giggles. Paul always seemed to make me laugh more than anyone ever could, even Two-bit, though the kid was more annoying than funny. We both sat up and Paul stood. I grin up at him, Paul’s golden hair shining in the soft morning light. I let him help me up.
“You’re the most idiotic guy I know, I can’t believe I’m even friends with you” Paul said with a grin, I loved making Paul smile.
“Are you talkin’ to a mirror, soc?” I elbow him.
“Yeah right, greaser, I’m talking to you, you no good clumsy hood” He shot back, grabbing my hand and dragging me to school, we spent too much time fooling around and we were probably going to be late now. We ran as fast as we could, my head was aching and my feet hurt worse, but I honestly didn't feel it, not when I was with Paul. We finally arrived at school as the late bell rang out. I let out a soft groan, mom and dad weren't going to be happy when they got the call that I was late.
“Aw man…My mom ain’t gonna be happy!” Paul looked at me.
“Ha! Shouldn't have messed around so much then!” I glared at him.
“You made me mess around!”
“No I didn't! I didn't make you do anything!” A teacher eventually found us arguing about 10 minutes after school started, we both got scolded but only my parents got called, typical. Then we got our schedules and I'm pretty sure my heart started beating a million times faster, Paul and I had the exact same schedule! We got to our first class which was science, and I thanked God that we could choose where we sat. The rest of the day was pretty good and Paul and I were walking back to his house after school when Paul's older brother, James, a 17 year old Soc who was probably the meanest kid alive to anyone but Paul and sometimes me, came up to us.
“Hey kiddo, Darry.” He nodded to me before turning back to back to Paul. “I'm gonna go on a drive to the other side of town with my friends, wanna come with?” I knew that was the codeword for when James was gonna go jump a couple of greasers, he probably only said the codeword cause I was there. I looked at Paul, he was thinking about it. Dread began filling my stomach, was he going to accept? Was he going to jump someone like me or worse one of my friends? Paul stayed quiet for what felt like forever, my stomach was doing triple back flips by the time he finally answered.
“Nah, I think me and Darry are just going to hang out, I don't feel like going to the other side of town” Anxiety drained out of me and I relaxed, though I tensed up a little bit as James looked at me, he was quiet for a moment, silently regarding me before speaking.
“Yeah of course, just, don't go home, dad isn't happy at the moment and if he sees a greaser in his home he'll blow his top.” Paul nodded but we both knew he was just going to sneak me in through the window. I relaxed as James left and Paul and I were alone once again. We silently walked the rest of the way to his house and when he arrived Paul went through the front door while I went around the back and climbed the tree that led to his room on the third floor. Seriously, who needed three whole floors? I reached the window ledge and tapped on the window. About 20 seconds later Paul opened the window and removed the screen. We stay silent for a few seconds before a grin finds its way onto my face.
“What took so long, soc?” Paul grinned at me, why did it feel like such a victory to make him smile?
“I was debating on whether or not to let a no good greaser into my perfect home.” I stifled a laugh as I climbed in.
“One day that's not gonna be funny anymore.” I promised him as I narrowly avoided face planting onto the floor when he caught me. “Alas, you continue to be my knight in shining armor.” I grinned.
“I wouldn't have to be if you weren't so clumsy” that made me elbow him in the side and we continued to bicker. Suddenly the shining sun and beautiful skies didn't seem like a complete joke at least not when Paul was right there. I wished that it would never end. Too bad my wishes never come true…