Chapter Text
Jane Cade was the first girl to interact with the Curtis’s — outside of their family, of course.
It started when they were all at a playground, with Sodapop drawing in the sand, Darry playing football with his buddy, Paul, and Ponyboy with his mother on the bench. Being freshly four years old, he wanted nothing more than to be with his mother.
It was peaceful, mainly because there were no other children around. Ponyboy wasn’t fussing as much recently, and Mrs. Curtis was starting to wonder if he was growing sick. However, thinking deeper into it: Pony would’ve gotten way more stubborn in illness.
Mrs. Curtis had a small basket near her feet, filled to the brim with fruit and other tasteful snacks for her children (minus Paul).
A loud yelp interrupted any peace happening inside of the park, and then said yelp was joined in by a girl crying.
“Oh, shit!” Darry squeaked, quickly sprinting over to the young child — who couldn’t have been older than six — that was knocked down “Are you okay?”
God, was this girl dramatic. After crying for a full ten minutes, she kicked Darry in the shins and ran off, giggling. The older child was inclined to chase back after her and give her a peace of his mind, when he soon realized he was in the middle of a game.
“Sorry,” he sighed to Paul as he picked up the ball — the same one that hit that little girl in the face.
Paul gave him a lopsided smile — the best a ten year old with crooked teeth could do. “Don’t be,” he assured, catching the ball smoothly. “Hey, where the hell did my apple go?”
—
While Paul and Darry were back in their old little world, Soda was still staring at that little girl. She ducked behind a bush — one that was covered by a short tree with thick foliage — seemingly doing something suspicious. Being the curious child he is: Soda decided to investigate.
Peering over the thick bush, he seen that little girl with a little boy — they looked exactly the same, save the fact the boy was littered in bruises and healed scars. The little girl had somehow split the apple in half (not perfectly, obviously) and gave the bigger half to the boy.
Wanting to confront her about stealing his brothers’ friend’s apple, Soda stood back onto his normal height, and walked so he could see them clearly now, making sure they heard his footsteps.
“Aha— huh?” Soda’s attempt to scare them fell flat as he soon realized there was only the girl there now, with no apple in sight. “What!? But—But he was right there!”
“Freak…” the girl muttered under her breath before drifting her soft gaze to the dirt below her. Despite her purple and white polka-dotted dress being all cute, she didn’t care about getting dirt on it.
The blonde huffed and stomped his foot angrily, whether it was at her rude remark or the fact he was proven wrong; that there was nobody there, and nobody stole Paul’s apple.
So, he stomped back to the park like some sort of toddler, although he was only six.
Mrs. Curtis was definitely hearing about this tonight.