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“I’m leaving!” I called up the staircase pulling his backpack over his shoulder. I grabbed the house keys and some cash from the piano no one ever used, waiting at the bottom step. “Goodbye!” I called again without any more answer than the first time. I sighed and left, locking the door behind me. It wasn’t like I expected my folks to answer him. Dad was always working and Mom was always out at a garden club or book club or PTO meeting or whatever else she filled her days with. Even when they were home they barely talked to me. It was especially unlikely they would bother seeing me off since they had stayed up late drinking with some business partner his father wanted to impress.
So, no, I wasn’t surprised at their indifference but admittedly it would have been nice if they cared, just a little. I didn’t need them to smother me with kisses like a baby…but if they would acknowledge me just every now and then, I wouldn’t complain. Though the freedom was a well enough exchange for a little parental interest.
I climbed onto the bus, lucky enough to get a seat on my own. I didn’t really feel like talking to anyone else right now. I shivered a little in the cold early October air, having forgotten my jacket again. I rubbed my goosebump riddled arms and flipped through a library book just to have something to do with my hands. Once the bus pulled into the parking lot, I scrambled out into the courtyard to wait around until school started.
Girls met up with their friends or walked around giggling. Guys met up too but with less giggling and more roughhousing. Some girls and guys intermingled to make out or make plans for later dates but no one crossed the invisible line separating the Greasers and the Socs. Just as I moved to disappear into the intermingling Soc crowd someone banged into me. I tripped landing roughly on the ground. My palms burned. “Hey, watch it!” I looked up to meet the gaze of a face that was smiling down at me cheekily with one eyebrow raised. I recognized him as Two-Bit. Everyone in school knew him.
“Sorry, twinkle toes. Didn’t see ya there”
“Watch it, Matthews.” Bob Sheldon growled, appearing in front of him and shoving him a little. It wasn’t that Bob was protective over me. I hardly knew Bob. Our parents knew each other but we were three grades apart and that was only because the principal moved me up a year. ‘Sides he was a drunk and a football star, not exactly my sort of buddy. But I gave plenty of reason enough to fight with the Greasers, a task he was always looking to do anyway. Plus he wouldn’t want to miss a chance to exude his superiority to a hood.
Two-Bit just laughed and sauntered off to greet whoever, hands raised in surrender. I grumbled, standing and hurrying into the building, brushing my stinging hands off on my shirt. I exchanged my book for the textbooks and pencils in my locker. Two-Bit threw his arm around the shoulder of a smaller jumpy kid whose name I remembered from my math class as being Johnny. Johnny grinned and slammed his locker shut, laughing at something Two-Bit said and walking to class with him. I tore my eyes away and sped to class, arriving just before the bell rang.
I made it through homeroom and first period without issue. Second period was gym so I went off to get changed in the locker rooms. Three Greaser guys were laughing and roughing each other up. Two of them were Two-Bit and Johnny but I didn’t know the name of the third guy. They were all friends though. They looked happy. I shook my head when I caught myself staring and left for the gymnasium.
“Ponyboy!”
I looked up at the voice. Mr. Kraig walked toward me.
“Hey, Mr. Kraig”
He stopped in front of me clipboard in hand
“You were interested in trying out for the track team, right?”
“Oh, um. Yeah, probably” I answered, rubbing the back of my neck.
“Nice, good for you, kid. Make sure to grab a permission slip off the desk in my office on your way out. You’ll need it signed by tryouts on Thursday.”
I nodded, “Thanks, Mr. Kraig.”
He clapped me on the back and sent me to line up into teams for dodge ball, a game Two-Bit and company excelled at, teaming together flawlessly to slaughter my team. Two-Bit happened to be in my fourth period, Biology, too. The class was split down the middle, Greasers on the left, Socs on the right. Two-Bit sat in the middle left, feet on his desk, chatting to anyone who would listen. I sat in the second row decidedly on the right. I should have kept my book with me.
Mrs. Steffens stood up, “Alright settle down. Listen up, guys. I’m assigning you a group experiment project. You will choose your own experiment, research it, and collect all your data together. I already assigned partners so I don’t want to hear any complaining.”
There were various groans but I zoned out until I heard my name.
“Finally, Keith Matthews and Ponyboy. Okay, disperse.”
I pulled myself out of my seat and sat at the desk next to Two-Bit. “Hey.”
“Hey, kid,” he answered leaning back so his chair only left two feet on the floor and two dangling in the air. He folded his arms to pillow his head.
I just stared, “Um… so, what do you want to do the project on?” hoping I didn’t sound as awkward as I felt.
He just shrugged, not seeming to notice, “Doesn’t matter to me.”
I sighed. Ok, not very helpful. I remembered an experiment a kid did in some books. I rubbed the back of my neck again, voice hesitant, “We could study crystallization. I…have a book about it."
“On purpose?” he seemed utterly baffled, dropping the legs of his chair down with a slam. Mrs. Steffens glared in our direction.
I stared, “Well…yeah?”
“What, you read science textbooks for fun?”
I just shrugged.
“Alright, kid.” shaking his head as if reading about crystallization was a choice he simply couldn’t wrap his head around. “Sure, whatever. Sounds like a good project.” He went right back to balancing his chair. He kept on the rest of class until he inevitably fell backward with a much louder CRASH. Mrs. Steffens stood and scolded him but he just laughed his head off and sat back down, feet back on the desk.
I packed up my stuff once the bell rang and went to eave but Two-Bit grabbed my shoulder and turned me around before I left. He held out a slip of paper for me to grab, the other hand casually in his pocket.
“Here. Call me and we can work on your crystals or whatever sometime. It’s my number.”
I took the number, shoving it into my pocket nodding. I waved back at Two-Bit who was moving his hand in the call me sign overdramatically before I left the room. Nothing much happened the rest of the day. I picked up another book about crystals at lunch before sitting at the end of some Soc boys’ table. We didn't really talk much. I used the time to finish the bit of homework I still had. My last two classes went off without incident until I climbed back onto the loud bus home to the much too quiet house.