Vicki's Rewrite

The Outsiders (by S.E Hinton) Rewrite
By Vicki Johnson

A white picket fence, a one and a half acre backyard, two and a half kids, a cat and a dog, a diamond ring and a husband that loves me with his whole heart. Not only is it the American dream, but mine too. I dream about it every night…
Bring briiiiinng, bring briiiinng
…and I daydream about it in class too.
“Lucy! Come on lets go. We have got to get to Country Club for our lessons”
Sarah and I are learning equestrian. We love horses, but I don’t really enjoy it that much. There are too many rules –“keep your back straight”, “fix your hair” (fly-a-ways are a no go), “Lucy you are not wearing matching socks!” Rules and I do not mix. I am a good girl, I always do what I’m told and I follow the rules. I hate it.
“So I’m going to wear my red dress to the dance tomorrow, I think? The ‘rents won’t give me money to go shopping and get a new one,” Sarah said frowning. She loves shopping and would go everyday if she could, but there aren’t very many shops around here and you’d have to drive for a couple of hours to get to a place that has more than one dress shop. The truth is though, I’m not totally interested in going to this dance, and Sarah is practically making me go. She’s going on this date with this Soc Liam. I guess she wants me to go for moral support or something. He’s sooo not my type.
Our school is the only school in area, so it has the kids from both sides of town. The Socs and the Greasers. It causes a lot of trouble. Both think they’re tough, but the Socs have money and the Greasers don’t. So they have to find entertainment in other ways. There’s this one Greaser who works at the Country Club where he looks after all the horses. I don’t feel comfortable around, in fact I don’t feel comfortable around any Greaser. I feel that they hate me because my parents have money and drive nice cars.
After my lesson I go put my horse Pluto in the barn and that guy is there again. He’s not in any of my classes, but I’m pretty sure he’s in the same year as me. He’s never talked to me or looked at me and todays no different. He’s kind of cute though I guess, in a dirty, greasy, shy kind of way. I don’t know what his name is, I don’t really care I guess. I’m not too interested in boys at the moment, all my friends are. But from what I can see they are a lot more trouble than their worth. I’d rather spend my time doing other things.
I drove Sarah home and the whole time she kept on talking about Liam and the dance. I talked with her to keep her happy and after a while I got pretty excited about the dance.
“So Liam is picking me up at seven, then we are going to the dance and then to the dairy queen, “ Sarah went on, “What are you doing?”
“I was just going to drive there at around 7.30 and then drive home when I get bored”
“Lucy this is practically the highlight of the school year, until the next one, why are you not excited?”
“Because it’s the exact same thing every time. The girls stand on one side of the room and the guys on the other pretty much the whole night. Until the last 10 minutes when all the couples start dancing and then they start complaining that’s been too short and stuff” I replied, possibly too harshly. But it’s true. And there’s usually this big brawl afterwards between the Greasers and the Socs. I swear that’s the only reason they go. We arrived at Sarah’s house and she got out of the car.
“I'll see you tomorrow still, yeah?” She asked.
I laughed “Yeah. Cause if you weren’t making me go, my parents would be.”
She smiled as she walked off and I knew we were alright so I drove off.
When I got home I had dinner myself. Dad was at work and Mum is never home. After dinner I did my Math and English homework and then went to my room to try and figure out what I’m going to where tomorrow to the dance. The theme was Winter Wonderland, probably because we don’t get real winters here. It was alright though because I already wear a lot of blue and white. I don’t have that many dresses though except for my dresses I wear to church. Eventually though I narrow it down to two dresses. This light blue flowey sort of dress or this white more fitting dress. I suppose I should wear heels, even though I can’t really walk in them.
At school the next day all everyone was talking about is the dance tonight. It’s quite cool though, everyone’s real happy. It’s a cool atmosphere. Most people ditched fifth period so they could go home and get ready. The teachers do not really seem to care. I wonder if they are excited too? I doubt it. It can’t be fun being a chaperone. Because of the dance Sarah and I cancelled our equestrian lesson for today, so we have more time to get ready. I stayed for fifth period but afterwards I drove to Sarah’s to get ready. We talked about it at school –we were going to help each other get ready, do each other’s hair and makeup and then I would leave before Liam was supposed to pick her up. It would have been cool to go with her, but it would have sucked more to get ready by myself.
I was thinking on my drive over what I was going to do with her hair. Curl it probably. Maybe do an up do? But I would go simple on the make up front. Although Sarah’s not a simple kind of girl. She would want bold make up, she would want to be the star of the show. But she was going to wear a red dress, and with the theme, I think she would stand out enough.
When I got to Sarah’s (she had left before fifth period) she had everything set out already –the makeup, hair accessories our dresses as well as some chocolate and sparkling grape juice (so we could pretend we were drinking champagne). It took us hours to get ready, although to be fair, we were getting quite distracted by the songs on the radio and we would start dancing and singing. It was so much fun. Once we were both complete we looked at ourselves in the mirror and we actually looked pretty good. If I do say so myself.
On my way to the dance I changed my mind. I really didn’t feel like going, probably because I was now by myself and it’s really hard to get excited about something you don’t want to go to when you’re by yourself. I turned around once when I was about 10 minutes away, but I turned back because I didn’t know where to go. My parents wanted me to go, and I felt that Sarah probably really did need my support.
Walking in, it was exactly like I told Sarah –girls on one side boys on the other. And the enjoyment begins…! Sarah and Liam weren’t there yet so I went to the punch bowl to get some punch. I wonder if it has already been spiked? Every dance at some point, someone spikes the punch bowl. There was quite a long queue, but when I eventually get some punch, I take a sip. So far it doesn’t seem to have been spiked. I went to find a seat. I was looking over at where the guys were to see if I could see Liam and maybe Sarah. When I felt a pair of eyes on me. So I look around and see that the horse keeper is staring at me. I give an awkward smile and then look away. But I still feel those eyes on me. Sarah then walks through the door and I race over. The starring is making me uncomfortable. I grab her arm and drag her to the bathroom.
“I only just got here. What’s going on?” She said.
“Nothing, I just wanted to check my teeth and touch up my make up,” I replied kind of flustered.
I did a big grin in the mirror and there’s nothing in my teeth, so that’s not why he’s starring. My make ups fine. My face is a little bit oily but it’s nothing to stare at. But I powder it anyway. I check my dress and it’s not caught in my underwear or anything. Hmmm…weird.
“Are you alright Lucy? You’re acting a little strange”
“Yeah I’m fine. It’s just…you know that Greaser…who works at the Country Club, and looks after the horses...?”
“Yeah”
“Yeah well he was staring at me, I was trying to figure out why,” I said.
Sarah giggled “well maybe he fancies you”
“Why would he fancy me? We’ve never said a word to each other”
We went back inside the gymnasium, where the dance was being held. We went to where all the girls were standing. I could feel his eyes on me again. His eyes are very intense, which is making it uncomfortable. But I’m not creeped out. It’s making me feel safe almost.
“What’s his name?” Sarah asked, I could tell she had been watching us.
“I don’t know I just know he works at the Country Club and he’s in the same year as us.”
A girl from the year below us, who must have been eves dropping suddenly piped up and said that his name is “Shaynne Curtis.”
Huh Curtis sounds like a first name not a last name. Sarah goes to go hang out with Liam. Leaving me all alone sitting on the bleachers. I’m pretty sure she is the first girl to go over to that side of the room, all the guys stare as she walks over. Like she’s some sort of goddess. Except Shaynne he seems to have disappeared. Liam and Sarah look awkward. Everyone’s watching and Sarah’s laughing way too hard at his jokes. It’s kind of cute. I start to smile.
“What are you smiling at?” said a male voice.
“Liam and Sarah..,” I reply before I turn around and see that it’s Shaynne Curtis. The whole time I was looking at Sarah and Liam, everyone was looking at me and Shaynne. I just didn’t notice. No wonder they were staring. He’s a Greaser and I’m practically a Soc, sort of, it’s just because of where I live and who I hang out with.
“…Oh…um hi… I’m Lucy Hopkins...”
“I know,” he replied
“Oh ok”
“Would you like to dance?” Shaynne asked.
I have always been told that a woman must never decline a man when he asks her to dance. They never really went into much more detail than that and but I know how much trouble I could get into. But if I say yes, everyone will stare. I don’t really have any options though. “Um, sure.”
So he took my hand and led me to the dance floor. We danced to Bill Haley & His Comets Rock Around the Clock. I was righty, everyone was staring. Shaynne's a good dancer, and I was actually having a good time. I caught Sarah staring and smiling at us. I knew she would love this. It was going to mean more attention at school and that’s something Sarah loved and always wanted.
After the song was over Shaynne held my hand again and we went outside, not saying a word. Once we were outside we sat on the bench, still not saying a word. We sat there together, not touching until everyone came out. The dance must have finished. Everyone was in high spirits' and they were all talking about getting some alcohol and then going to the lot and drinking. Sarah found us, she grabbed my arm and pulled me away. I resisted for a second.
“Well I had a good time, I’ll see you round then?”
“Yeah, I’ll see ya round,” and he walked off.
For the rest of the night I could not stop thinking about him. Those intense grey eyes, his tall frame and his dark brown hair. Monday was the start of the last week of school. For the whole week I didn’t see him once, not at school or at the Country Club. Everyone was talking about what happened. People kept on asking me all these questions, that I just didn’t have the answer too. I tried ignoring them all. Sarah got her wish though, everyone was talking to her. I’m not sure how she was answering the questions she was getting about me and Shaynne. But there was a rumour going around that we were dating now, and sleeping together. By Friday though everyone was talking about the upcoming winter holidays and the fact that Shaynne was not around, it died down the rumours.
The holidays went by pretty quickly. I spent most of my time hanging out with Sarah. Although over the two weeks, she and Liam became an official item. I thought of Shaynne the whole holidays. I think I may have a crush on him. I hope not.
On the first day back at school after the holidays, was the first time I saw him since the dance, which was over three weeks ago. He just walked straight past me in the corridor. He didn’t acknowledge me, he didn’t even look at me. I started to think he forgot about the dance, or maybe it was just a dare or something.
Sarah and I had our equestrian lessons again after school. I assumed he wouldn’t be there again, so I wasn’t worried about bumping into him or anything. But that’s when I did. When I was putting Pluto in his stall, Shaynne came up to me.
“Hi,” he said with a funny grin on his face.
“Oh, hi,” I replied.
“Sorry I haven’t been around for a while, I’ve just had some stuff to deal with”
“Oh that’s alright, I’ve been pretty busy too,” I lied, I haven’t been. But I don’t want him to think I’ve been sitting by the phone waiting for him to call or anything. That’s not a good look.
“So I was wondering if you wanted to go to the drive in movies this Friday?” he asked.
“Yeah sure,” I tried to contain my delight. I don’t want to seem too eager. I guess I really do like him, my parents probably wouldn’t approve. But it’s not really any of their business, is it? No.
“It’s Alice in Wonderland and it’s on at eight. So I’ll pick you up around seven?”
“Yeah Ok. It sounds like a plan. I’ll see you then,” I replied smiling
“See you,” he smiled too.
My first date, this Friday. It was all I could think about all week. I was in a surprisingly good mood too. Sarah kept on commenting on it, it’s like I’m never in a good mood or something to these people.
The day finally arrived. I went for a slightly dressy casual look, with only a small amount of make-up. I wanted to look like I put some effort into my appearance, but not too much. He arrived exactly on seven. As soon as I heard the doorbell I went down stairs and answered the door. He looked exactly like he always does, his hair was greased back, and he wore his denim jeans and black shirt with a leather jacket. Somehow he looked better though. We didn’t say a word, we just smiled. Shaynne walked me to his pick-up truck and opened the door for me. There was something about this guy, I could almost tell that we would one day marry. A Soc and Greaser, together. My parents definitely wouldn’t be happy.

Two years later Shaynne and I got married. Mr and Mrs Shaynne Curtis. Shortly afterwards I fell pregnant with our first son –Darryl Shaynne Curtis. After Darryl we had two more sons Sodapop and Ponyboy. Shaynne chose their names.
The End