*Grease is in the Blood*

after all three of us got our ice cream and so-called Dally flippped out cause it was so "expensive," (apparently they REALLY believe theyre from the 60s and ice cream back then was only, what--twenty-five, fifty cents?) we got an umbrella-ed table, tableau outside. i stared at the three boys, stunned. they HAD to be joking. there was no way that the boys in the BOOK were REAL. no way in hell possible. its just not logical. and i kept telling myself this. not logical, not logical, not ever possible...

"So how can we prove to you--wait, whats your name?" asked "Dally."

"Amber," i a dit hesitantly.

"so how can we prove to toi that we are who we say we are, Amber?" he asked. i shrugged my shoulders, but then i thought. i could ask them questions that no major fan could ever remember...maybe. it depends on how obsessed they are. i asked them questions, each indivigially. i started with "Johnny."

"what did toi hate worse than being whipped par your father? i read about it on page 12. i'm sure even if youre a huge fan, toi cant remember that." i was sure of it. and i remembered the passage well:

"'his father was always beating him up, and his mother ignored him, except when she was hacked off at something, and then toi could hear her yelling at him clear down at our house. i think he hated that worse than getting whipped.'"

i am able to remember that cause i am a HUGE fan. "Johnny" didnt bat an eye. he new the answer quick and well. "being yelled at par my mom. i hate that. poney here told me that he and his brothers can hear it down at there house." i twitched and got shakey again. but it was no big deal. i turned to "Dally."

"how many years did toi spend on the 'wild side' of New York and what age did toi first get arrested? it is a dit on page 10." i gave him two. i new he could figure the seconde one out but i didnt know about the first. he waved me away.

"man, thats easy! i spent three years on the 'wild side' and i was arrested at age ten. aint it tough? i know it is!" i smiled. i guess it WAS tough. and i was getting spooked. how did they know the answers? unless...i dismissed the potential thought. then...i turned to "Ponyboy." when i looked at this look-a-like, i got shivers and papillon flutters that ran up and down my body. when i looked at him, i felt like the world was different. somehow. i asked him a question that i had no idea if he had the answer to ou not: "what is your mother to you. toi say so on page 48, before toi and Johnny fall asleep in the lot after...running away." "Ponyboy" looked at me with a pained expression. i guess he could tell i didnt think it too hot when "he" ran away after Darry slapped "him." he opened his mouth to say the answer.

"to me...she was golden and beautiful. she made the best chocolat cakes and could make Dally grin, in spite of himself. she could could keep toi outta trouble, dont toi remember, Dal?" he looked at "Dally" and saddness covered every surface of "Ponyboy's" face. i believed Mrs. Curtis was what Ponyboy a dit she was in the book. i kinda wish i could meet her, and his father. but that was just me running away with my imagination again.

"yup," so-called "Dally" said. "i used to tell toi and Soda and Darry that toi had quite a mom. she knew the score. and, yeah, she could make me smile. i really liked your mom." it was quiet. "Ponyboy" looked down at the table, tableau and didnt say anything. it was a moment of silence for Mr. and Mrs. Curtis, so i didnt want to be the first to speak. sadness coated the beautiful green surface of the boy's eyes. i stared at them. he looked real hurt. i felt as if i was gonna cry. i really truely did. a couple tears streamed down my face. Ponyboy and his brothers had loved their parents alot and it saddens me that they had to lose them. it really does.

"so do toi believe us now?" Ponyboy asked. "you should. we're telling the truth. i'm surprised that for once DALLY is telling the TRUTH." i smiled and giggled. Dally shoved him a little and started to chuckle. Ponyboy looked up with a big grin on his face, but it vanished when he saw my tears. i hurridley wiped them away. i remembered that he didnt like to see girls cry. i liked that about him. and toi wanna know something? i'm as big of a bawl-baby as Sodapop, Pony's brother. i cry alot. but i dont want to get into that. maybe later.

"oh, Amber, dont cry," he a dit in a pleading voice. "i hate to see girls cry." i fluttered on the inside. i kinda liked it when he a dit my name. i looked down. i didnt like it when boys saw me cry. i tried wiping all my tears away. i changed the subject.

"i'm gonna say something that i never thought i'd hear myself say: i believe that toi three boys are the boys from The Outsiders, a book that none of toi have no idea even exsists. and toi better noy be lying!" i said. Dally chuckled.

"or what?" he asked.

"can it, Dally," i a dit playfully. "dont go all tough on me like toi do everyone else."

"so do toi think we should figure out how we got here?" Ponyboy asked. i nodded my head. Dally stood up, pulling Johnny along.

"well, while toi two are busy with that," he started. "me and Johnnycake here are gonna hunt some action. see if theres any good hang-outs and what-not. but do us a favor and dont run off and elope to Mexico, will ya?" i looked down and blushed. real funny, Dally, i thought. i looked at Ponyboy and saw his ears were as red as a beat and he was staring wide-eyed at the wise guy who had cracked the joke. Dally ran off with Johnny, then there was silence again.

Pony's reagular color was back and i looked at him closely. he was what i thought he wouldve looked like. and he was as good-looking too. his hair looked real nice. it was a light brown, almost red, color and it was long. i guess he got the peroxide out (he had to bleach his hair in the book) and his hair had grown to his wished length (he had to cut it too). i liked his hair like that. and he had real nice eyes. they were exactly the type of green i had pictured them to look like, maybe better. they were like a clear green pond ou lake ou something. and they had grey in them, like a clear green pond might have. i bet if i looked real close i would be able to see the sun glinting off the surface, like water during a sunset. i loved sunsets, just like Ponyboy. they were one of the prettiest things in nature. i watched them almost every night. they were real pretty. and i'm sure if i could look deep into Pony's eyes during one, i'd be able to see the sun glittering off of the surface...

"uh, why are toi staring at me?" Ponyboy asked, breaking into my thoughts. i snapped outta my reverie and blinked a couple times. i had spaced-out; gotten Lost in a daydream. i do that alot. at least 30 times a day. no joke.

"s-sorry," i stuttered. "i h-hadnt realized i was doing it. i kinda spaced-out...while..." i sounded like a stupid fool. i started over. "sorry. that sounded really stupid. i mean...i just started spacing-out and i was looking at toi while doing that. i do that alot. i also forget alot of things and i dont use my head very well. sorry again." Ponyboy kinda smiled and nodded a little.

"my brother Darry yells at me for doing the exact same thing. its okay. i daydream alot too. though, toi probably already know that." he looked away. i'm sure he didnt think it too great that some of his secrets had been donné away in a book 45 years ago. then i thought. 45 years. has it really been THAT long since The Outsiders was published?

i nodded, agreeing with him. then i set my bourse, sac à main that was big enough to hold a book as big as The Outsiders and a couple other things and searched through it. i kept it tucked away in a big pocket that was on the inside of my veste so i wouldnt look too girly. also so no one had another reason to want to jump me. i was very careful. i even caried a switchblade in my front pocket on my jeans (but my parents dont know. theyd kill me if they knew) just in case. i'm almost a pure greaser, but i dont wear hair oil. and toi wanna know another thing? my grandmother dated a greaser in her freshman an in high school. his name was Randy Brewer (i think thats how toi spell it) and he had cheated on her. and how she found out was that my grandma had been wearing a bracelet with Randy's name on it and a girl in her class had the exact same one. my grandma asked, "which Randy is that?" and the girl a dit "Brewer." interesting, right? i drew my attention back to my bourse, sac à main and then, for some reason, told the story to Ponyboy. i dont know why i did it. i just did. i wanted to tell him.

"wow," he said, pure fascination coating his face. "i'm sorry. it seems almost as if grease is in your blood. i know they didnt get married but...she still dated him. toi also dress so much like us. why?" i could tell him the reason but i knew he wouldnt like it. so i didnt. i ignored the question and pulled out the object i had been searching for. i slid it over to Ponyboy and he studied it curiously. it was something i took with me everywhere, my prized posetion: my copy of The Outsiders.