Dakota was waiting for Juliette and I under the street light at the corner of Pickett and Sutton, and since we got there early, we had time to go over the boutique in the shopping center and goof around. We bought hairspray cans and threw bobby pins at each other -- sometimes at other people -- like they were darts, and walked around eyeing things that were lying out in the open until the manager had enough of us and suggested we leave. She was too late, though; Dakota walked out with two packages of curlers under her jacket.

Then we went across the street and down Sutton a little way to The Dingo. There are lots of drive-ins in town -- the Socs go to The Way Out and to Rusty's, and the greasers go to The Dingo and to Jay's. The Dingo is a pretty rough hangout; there's always a fight going on there and once a girl got shot. We walked around talking to all the greasers and hoods we knew, leaning in car windows or hopping into the back seats, and getting in on who was running away, and who was in jail, and who was dating who, and who could whip who, and who stole what and when and why. We knew about everybody there. There was a pretty good fight while we were there between a big twenty-three-year-old greaser and a Mexican hitchhiker. We left when the switchblades came out, because the cops would be coming soon and nobody in his right mind wants to be around when the fuzz show.

We crossed Sutton and cut around behind Spencer's Special, the discount house, and chased two elementary kids across a field for a few minutes; by then it was dark enough to sneak in over the back fence of the Nightly Double drive-in movie. It was the biggest in town, and showed two movies every night, and on weekends four -- you could say you were going to the Nightly Double and have time to go all over town.

We all had the money to get in -- it only costs a quarter if you're not in a car -- but Dakota hated to do things the legal way. She liked to show that she didn't care whether there was a law or not -- she liked being a badass, put it that way. She went around trying to break laws, proving to the boys and other hoods that she was as tough and reckless as they were.

We went to the rows of seats in front of the concession stand to sit down. Nobody else was there except two boys who were sitting down front. Dakota eyed them with a devious smirk, then walked down the aisle and sat right behind them. I already knew she was gonna start flirting with them. She likes playing around with boys, and I was right that she was gonna do it then. She started talking, loud enough for the two boys to hear. It was an overly girly voice she used with all men, and she giggled and chewed her gum like a cow. Dakota could flirt awful dirty if she wanted to and I guess she wanted to then. I felt my ears get hot. Tiny-Bit or Steph or even Lolli would have gone right along with her, just to see if they could annoy or pick up one of the guys, but that kind of kicks just doesn't appeal to me. I sat there, struck dumb, and Juliette left hastily to get a Coke.

I wouldn't have felt so embarrassed if they had been greaser boys -- I might even have helped Dakota. But those two boys weren't our kind. They were tuff-looking guys -- dressed sharp and really good-looking. They looked about sixteen or seventeen.

One had short dark hair, and the other had muddy brown hair. The brunette was getting annoyed, and he looked to be scoffing off whatever Dakota was saying. He sat up straight and nudged at his friend, who was pretending not to hear Dakota.

Dakota was getting impatient. She crossed her legs like a lady and put her feet up on the back of the brunette's chair, winked at me, and pushed.

The brunette turned around and gave her a stare.

"Can you stop and take your feet off my chair?"

Hot damn, he was good-looking! Wait, did I just say that . . . whatever. I'd seen him before; he played football at our school. I always thought he was stuck-up jock.

Dakota kept her feet where they were. "No. But now that I have your attention"--she leaned close to him, propped her elbows on her knees, rested her head, and smiled, "Wanna get to know each other a lil' bit?"

The other one turned around and laughed. "Oh my God, that's the slut on the greasy side of town," he said, as if we couldn't hear him.

I've heard the same tone a million times: "Greaser . . . slut . . . whore." Oh yeah, I've heard that tone before too many times. Dakota's been called that more than any of us, but it's happened to Tiny-Bit, Lolli, and even to Juliette.

"Fuck off," Dakota spat bitterly. Then she went back to her sweet, conniving voice: "I know you two. I've seen you in rodeos."

What are they doing at a drive-in without a car? I randomly thought, and then the brunette said, "Yeah, and it's a shame we can't ride bull half as good as you can talk it."

The boy sat forward.

Dakota sighed, she looked bored. "Oh, my, my, I might as well just motha fuckin' cry. [A/N: Twaimz reference lmao] You clowns should see my record sometime." She grinned slyly. "Y'all should see what I've been in for."

The brunette groaned. "Look, why can't you just be a good girl and leave us alone?"

Dakota softly smiled. "I'm never a good girl. Want me to get you somethin'?"

He was mad by then and snapped his head around. "Get it for yourself because you're a hell of a thirsty. Get lost, skank!"

Dakota dropped her mouth. She muttered something as she got up and strolled off.

The boy looked at me. I was half-scared of him. I'm half-scared of all boys, especially Socs. "Are you gonna start hitting on us too?"

I shook my head, wide-eyed. "N-No."

Suddenly he pursed his lips and smiled. Gosh, he was hot. "Thanks. You don't look the type, anyway. What's your name?"

This is the part where I wanted to die. I wished she hadn't asked me that. Finally a cute, hot as fire boy talks to me, and it gets ruined when I have to tell him my name. I hate to tell people my name for the first time.

"Ponygirl Curtis."

Then I waited for the "You're kidding!" or "That's your real name?" or one of the other remarks I usually get. Ponygirl's my real name and personally I like it sometimes and hate it other times.

The brunette just smiled. "Oh. That's cute."

I had to hide my blush. "Thanks . . . my dad was a cute person," I had to say. "I've got a sister named Lollipop, too, and it says so on her birth certificate."

"My name's Theodore, but I go by Teddy. Teddy Valance."

I bit my lip. "I know. You're a football player. We go to the same school."

"You don't look old enough to be going to high school," the dark-haired boy said.

"I'm not. I got put up a year in grade school."

Teddy was looking at me. "Hey, what's a nice, smart girl like you running around with a skank like that for?"

He was talking about Dakota.

I felt myself stiffen. Awkward, I thought. "Um, well I live on the East side, same as Dakota. She's one of my friends."

"Oh. Sorry," he said softly. Then he said briskly, "Your sister Lollipop, does she work at a salon? Barry Maddox, I think?"

"Yeah."

"Man, she's a doll. I might have guessed you were sisters -- you look alike."

I grinned with pride -- I don't think I look one bit like Lolli, but it's not every day I hear Socs telling me they think my sister is a doll.

I tried sparking up more conversation. "Don't you guys ride in rodeos sometimes? Saddle bronc?"

"Yeah," Teddy grinned.

"Sometimes me and my friends hang around there. You're good."

"Thanks," Teddy said.

The other boy, who was named Mark, said, "How come we don't see your sister at school? She's not any older than sixteen or seventeen, is she?"

I winced inside. Another thing I hate to bring up. I still can't stand it that Lolli dropped out. "She's a dropout," I tried mumbling. "Dropout" made me think of some poor dumb-looking hoodlum or greasy girl, wandering the streets being a nuisance to society -- it didn't fit my happy-go-lucky sister at all. It fitted Dakota perfectly, but you could hardly say it about Lolli.

Juliette came back then and sat down beside me. She looked around for Dakota, then managed a shy "Hi" to the boys and tried to watch the movie. She was nervous, though.

Juliette was always nervous around strangers. Especially Socy boys.

Dakota came striding back with an armful of Cokes. "I'm back!" she said in a sing-song voice. She sat right next to Teddy, and I knew this wasn't going to end good.

Teddy tried to look away.

Dakota began, "So I thought about what you said earlier, and it's okay. I forgive you. Accept my peace treaty and we can start over, okay baby?" She handed a Coke to each of the boys and sipped hers by the straw, sitting as close she can get to Teddy.

It got really awkward then; Dakota was paying attention to the movie and drinking her soda while Teddy just sat there, holding his drink, dumbfounded.

In seconds Dakota peeked over at him and realized he wasn't drinking his Coke. "Oh, not thirsty for that, huh?" she sat up straight. Then she threw herself on him to steal a kiss.

"Get off me!" Teddy said, throwing his Coke in the air and splashing onto Dakota before her lips touched his.

Dakota yelped and she yanked herself away.

Teddy said, "That better have cooled you off, greaser."

Dakota hurriedly wiped the Coke off her face with her sleeve and pushed back her hair behind her ears. She gave Teddy an incredulous look, then smiled dangerously. If I had been Teddy I would have beat it out of there. I knew that smile.

"You like to play dirty, huh? Fine. I like that in men."

She scooted up and went to attack him, but Juliette reached over and stopped her.

"Leave him alone, Dakota."

Dakota was taken off guard. "Excuse me?" She stared at Juliette in disbelief.

Juliette swallowed hard. She couldn't say "Boo" to a goose. Juliette got a little pale, but she said, "Y-You heard me. Chill. Leave him alone."

Dakota scowled for a second. If it had been me, or Tiny-Bit, or Lolli or Steph, or anyone but Juliette, Dakota would have flattened her without a moment's hesitation. You just didn't tell Dakota Winston what to do. One time, in a dime store, a guy told her to move over at the candy counter. Dakota had turned around and belted him so hard in the balls it made the poor guy cry. A complete stranger, too. But Juliette was the gang's pet, and Dakota just couldn't hit her. She was Dakota's pet, too.

Dakota scowled bitterly at Teddy. "Fucking asshole." She got up and stalked off, a frown on her face and her feet stomping against the ground. She didn't come back.

Teddy sighed, 'That's a relief. I was kinda scared what she was gonna do to me."

Juliette managed a soft smile. "Well, you sure didn't show it. Nobody talks to Dakota like that."

He smiled, "From what I saw, you do."

Juliette's ears got red. She tried sinking into her seat. I was still staring at her. It had taken more than nerve for her to say what she'd said to Dakota -- Juliette worshiped the ground Dakota walked on, and I had never heard Juliette talk back to anyone, much less her idol.

Mark grinned at us. He was a little smaller than Teddy. He was cute, but that Teddy Valance was a real looker. "Y'all join us down here. We like the company."

Juliette and I looked at each other. She grinned suddenly. Would we ever have something to tell the girls! her eyes said plainly. We had friended two boys, and classy ones at that. Not any greasy hoods for us, but real Socs. Lolli would flip when I told her.

"Okay," I said, "sure."

I sat between them, and Juliette sat next to Teddy.

"How old are you guys?" Mark asked.

"Fourteen," I said.

"Sixteen," said Juliette.

"That's funny," Mark said, "I thought you were both--"

"Sixteen," Teddy finished for him.

I was grateful. Juliette looked fourteen and she knew it and it bugged her something awful.

Juliette bit her bottom lip in hopes to cover her grin. "How come you guys ain't scared of us like you were Dakota?"

Teddy sighed. "You two seem too sweet to scare anyone, put it at that. You didn't join in on Dakota's way of trying to make out with us, and you made her leave us alone. And I've heard about Dakota Winston . . . compared to her, you two don't look like trouble."

"Right," I said tiredly, "we're young and innocent."

"No," Teddy said slowly and carefully, "not innocent. You're from the East side -- you've seen too much to be innocent. You're just not . . . dirty."

"Dakota's okay," Juliette said defensively, and I nodded. You stick up for your girls, no matter what they do. When you're in a gang, you stick up for the members. If you don't stick up for them, stick together, make like sisters, it isn't a gang any more. It's a pack. A snarling, distrustful, bickering pack like the Socs in their social clubs or the street gangs in New York or the wolves in the timber. "She's tough, but she's a cool girl once you get to know her."

"She'd leave you alone if she knew you," I said, and that was true. When Steph's cousin from Kansas came down, Dakota was decent to him and controlled her urge to flirt, watched her swearing. We all did around nice boys we see once in awhile, like cousins or the boys in class. However, certain boys didn't do the same back. They'd watch a nice girl or a girl like one of us go by on a street corner and they'd say all kinds of lousy stuff about her. I don't know why we're so different in how we treat people of the opposite sex. It baffles me.

"Well," Mark said with finality, "I'm glad she doesn't know us."

"I kind of feel bad for her," Teddy said softly, so only I heard, and then we settled down to watch the movie.

Oh yeah, we found out why they were without a car. They'd come with their girlfriends, but walked out on them when they found out the girls had brought some booze along. I guess Teddy and Mark's idea of having a good time differed from their girls' ideas. The boys had gotten angry and the girls stole the car.

"I don't care if they did." Teddy sounded annoyed. "It's not my idea of a good time to sit in a drive-in and watch people get drunk. I thought they weren't the type to do that . . ."

All four of us were sitting there in silence when suddenly a strong hand came down on Juliette's shoulder and another on mine and a fast voice said, "Ring-a-ding-ding bitches, Tiny-Bit's in the house!"

I almost jumped out of my skin. I looked fearfully over my shoulder and there was Tiny-Bit, cracking herself up. "For the love of God, Tiny-Bit, scare us to death!"

Then I looked at Juliette. The color was coming back on her face and she was trying to hide how scared she had been through an odd set of giggles. Tiny-Bit knew better than to scare Juliette like that. I guess she'd forgotten. She's kind of scatterbrained.

Juliette said weakly, "Hey there, Tiny-Bit."

Tiny-Bit patted her shoulder, "Ooh! Sorry, Jul," she said, "My B, my B."

She climbed over the chair and plopped down beside Mark. "Ooooh, who's this, your hunky great-uncles?"

"Great-grandfathers, twice removed," Teddy said smoothly, and with a soft laugh.

I couldn't tell if Tiny-Bit was drunk or not -- or maybe high on chocolate, but it's kind of hard to tell with her -- she acts 'out of it' sometimes even when she's sober. She cocked one eyebrow up and the other down, which she always does when something puzzles her, or bothers her, or when she feels like saying something smart.

"Well dang, you're ninety-six if you're a day."

"I'm a night," Mark said brightly.

Tiny-Bit stared at him admiringly. "Wow, you're a sharp one." She bit her lip playfully and lightly punched Mark's arm playfully. She looked back at me and Juliette. "Where'd you two ever get to be picked up by a couple of Socy dudes like these here fellas?"

"We really picked them up," Mark said. "We're actually Arabian slave traders and we're thinking about shanghaiing them. They're worth ten camels apiece at least."

"Five," Tiny-Bit disagreed. "They don't talk Arabian, I don't think. Say somethin' in Arabian, Juliepie."

"Aw, cut it out," Juliette broke in. "Dakota was flirting with them and when she left they wanted us to sit with them 'cause they like us. They don't go for wisecracking greasers like you, probably. So they chose us instead." She finished with a soft smile.

Tiny-Bit grinned, because Juliette didn't usually get sassy like that.

"Hey, where is our dear Dakota, anyways?"

"She went hunting for some action, I'm guessing. I hope she doesn't get caught again. She was just let loose."

"She'll probably find a fight 'round here," Tiny-Bit stated cheerfully. "That's why I came over. Mrs. Tammy Shepard and Squad are looking for whoever so kindly slashed their car's tires, and since Mrs. Carly Shepard spotted Dakota doing it . . . well . . . does Dakota have a blade?"

"Not that I know of," I said. "I think she's got a sharp end of a nail file, but she busted her blade this morning."

"Alright. Tammy'll fight fair if Dakota don't pull a blade on her. Dakota shouldn't have any trouble."

Teddy and Mark were staring at us. "You girls don't believe in playing rough or anything, do you?"

"A fair fight isn't rough," Tiny-Bit said. "Blades are rough. So are chains and heaters and rumbles and purses if ya swing them at lighting speed. Skin fighting isn't rough. It blows off steam better than anything. There's nothing wrong with throwing a few punches and pullin' some hair out. It's the Socs ya gotta watch out for. They're rough. They gang up on one or two, or they rumble each other with their social clubs. Us greasers usually stick together, but when we do fight among ourselves, it's a fair fight between two. And Dakota deserves whatever she gets, 'cause slashed tires ain't no joke when you've got to work to pay for them. She got spotted, too, and that was her fault. Dakota was getting fun out of it. She got caught. She pays up. No sweat."

Man, Tiny-Bit really understood things.

"Yeah, boy," Teddy said sarcastically, "Real simple." And then low enough under his breath, but I could hear, "Though it was only this way with the guys."

"Sure," Mark said, unconcerned. He took out something from his pocket. "Anyone want a weed?'

Juliette and I shook our heads at his offering of cigarettes, but Tiny-Bit and Teddy reached for one.

"Teddy, will you come with me to get some popcorn?" I asked.

He jumped up. "Sure. Y'all want some?"

"I do," said Mark and Tiny-Bit synonymously, and the two looked at each other after saying it. Tiny-Bit giggled.

Tiny-Bit flipped me a fifty cent piece. "Get Julie some, too. I'm buyin'," she added.

Teddy and I went to the concession stand and, as usual, there was a line a mile long, so we had to wait. Quite a few kids turned to look at us -- you didn't see a young girl grease and a Socy football player together often. Teddy didn't seem to notice.

"Your friend -- the one with the dark hair -- she's okay?"

"She's the least dangerous out of all of us, if that's what you mean. She's okay."

He smiled and his eyes showed that his mind was on something else. "Juliette . . . she's been hurt bad sometime, hasn't she?" It was more of a statement than a question. "Hurt and scared."

"It was the Socs," I said nervously, because there were plenty of Socs milling around and some of them were giving me funny looks, as if I shouldn't be with Teddy or something. And I don't like to talk about it either -- Juliette getting raped, I mean. But I started in, knowing that it was a serious subject so I kept quiet and talking a little faster than I usually do, because I don't like to think about it either . . .

It was almost four months ago. I had walked down to Barry Maddox to get a bottle of hairspray and to see Steph and Lolli, because they'll always buy me a couple of bottles and let me help do people's nails. I don't like to go on weekends because then there is usually a bunch of people getting their haircut and girls getting their nails done -- all kinds of girls, Socs too.

It was a warmish spring day with the sun shining bright, but it was getting chilly and dark by the time we started for home.

At the corner of our block there's a wide, open field where we pretend we're princesses frolicking in the daisies, and hang out. It's often a site for rumbles and fist fights, though. We were passing it, kicking rocks down the street and finishing our last bottle of lemonade, when Steph noticed something lying on the ground. It was Juliette's sky-blue hoodie -- the only thing close to a jacket she had.

"Looks like Juliette forgot her jacket," Steph said, picking it up.

Suddenly she stopped and examined it more carefully.

There was a stain the color of fresh blood on the ends of it. Steph looked at the ground. There were some more stains on the grass. She looked up and across the field with a stricken expression on her face.

I think we all heard the low moan and and the quiet cries and saw the dark motionless body on the other side of the lot at the same time.

Juliette was lying face-up on the ground. When Lolli reached her first, she turned over on her side, and sobbed.

"Julie?" Lolli asked, soft as a mouse.

I nearly got sick when I noticed that Juliette's shorts were casted away from her -- her underwear was on though, but it was soaked by a deep shade of blood where her private was.

We were used to seeing Juliette banged up -- her father beat her around a lot, and although it made us madder than heck, we couldn't do anything about it. But those beatings had been nothing like this.

Some fucking bitch had raped my best friend.

She'd been traumatized, and she would carry that fear and damage all her life; surely no girl could be assaulted like that and not have it haunt her. I just stood there, trembling with sudden cold. This was real. It had happened. But to Juliette. Sweet, innocent Juliette. She wasn't asking for it! She didn't want it! She didn't deserve it to happen to her! And all the suffering she had went through . . . was only to please some asshole they call a man.

Steph closed her eyes for a second and dropped on her knees beside Soda. The gang sensed what had happened with no questions needed to be asked. Tiny-Bit was suddenly there beside me, and for once her comical grin was gone and her dancing blue-gray eyes were stormy and daring to rain. Dana had seen us from our porch and ran toward us, suddenly skidding to a halt. Dakota was there, too, covering her gasps, swearing under her breath, and turning away with a sick expression on her face. I wondered about it vaguely. Dakota had seen people killed and assaulted on the streets of New York's West Side. Why did she look sick now?

"Juliette?" Lolli lifted her up and embraced her limp body in a hug. "Juliepie?" Lolli tried again. Suddenly Juliette's hands tightly gripped onto Lolli's shoulders as if she was hanging on for dear life.

"Lolli," Juliette said between her deep, choking sobs, "I--"

"Shh, don't talk, baby," Lolli said. "You're gonna be okay."

"Th-There was a whole bunch of them," Juliette said, ignoring Lolli's command. "A blue Mustang full . . . I got so scared . . . They all had at me . . ." She tried to swear, but suddenly started crying, fighting to control herself, then sobbing all the more because she couldn't. I was crying by now, along with her. Lolli just held her and pushed Juliette's hair back out of her eyes. "It's gonna be okay now, Juliepie, they're gone now. It's okay."

Juliette never managed to gasp out her story, so we never knew how she got raped. But I can tell you this: Juliette was high-strung naturally, a nervous wreck from getting belted every time she turned around and from hearing her parents fight all the time. But after the night of the rape, Juliette was jumpier than ever. She never got over it. Juliette never walked by herself after that. And Juliette, who was the most careful and law-abiding of all of us, now carried in her back pocket a six-inch switchblade. She'd use it, too, if she ever got attacked again. They had scared her that much. I had no doubt she would kill the next person who attacked her.

Nobody was ever going to hurt her like that again. Not over her dead body . . .

I had nearly forgotten that Teddy was listening to me. But when I came back to reality and looked at him, I was startled to find him stiffen as white as a ghost.

"All Socs aren't like that," he said. "You have to believe me, Ponygirl. Not all of us are like that."

"Sure," I said.

"That's like saying all you greasers are like Dakota Winston. I'll bet she's jumped a few people."

I digested that. It was true. Dakota had jumped people. She had told us stories about muggings in New York. But she hadn't went around raping people.

Teddy no longer looked sick, only sad. "I'll bet you think the Socs have it made. The rich kids, the West-side Socs. Hey, I'll tell you something, Ponygirl, and it may come as a surprise to you. Us Socs have our troubles too." He looked me straight in the eye. "Things are rough all over. You ever realize that?"

"I believe you," I said. "We'd better get back out there with the popcorn or Tiny-Bit'll think I ran off with her money."

We went back and watched the movie through again. Mark and Tiny-Bit were hitting it off fine. Both had the same scatterbrained sense of humor. I think I was shipping them in the back of my mind, but who would've thought.

Teddy and Juliette and I just sat there, looking at the movie and not talking. I quit worrying about everything and thought about how nice it was to sit with a boy without having to listen to him swear or brag about his tuff or toughness or beating him off with a club. I knew Juliette liked it, too. She didn't talk to boys much. Once, while Dakota was in trouble with the cops, Sawyer had started hanging on to Juliette and sweet-talking her and Steph got hold of him and told him that if he tried any of his tricks with Juliette she'd personally beat the shit out of him. Then she gave Juliette a lecture on boys and how a sneaking little manwhore (as Steph put it) like Sawyer would get her into a lot of trouble. As a result, Juliette never spoke to boys much, but whether that was because she was scared of Steph or because she was shy, I couldn't tell.

I got the same lecture from Tiny-Bit after we went on a random double date with two greasy boys downtown one day. I thought it was funny, because Tiny-Bit was half drunk when she gave me the lecture, and she told me some stories that made me want to crawl under the floor or something. But she had been talking about boys like Sawyer and the boys she and Dakota and the rest hooked up with at drive-ins and downtown; she never said anything about Socy boys. So I figured it was all right to be sitting there with them. Even if they did have their own troubles. I really couldn't see what Socs would have to worry about -- good grades, good cars, good money, madras and fancy dresses and Mustangs and Corvairs.

I thought that if I had worries like that, I would consider myself lucky.

I know better now.

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Now's your time to scream, and shout, and let it all out!!! *dances*

I've been meaning to update this story for a long time! It just takes sooooo long to write.

I really tried to make this amazeballs, so I hope you all liked it! :D

Until next update,

Amanda :)