THE OUTSIDERS

Chapter One.

"I'm so bored," my best friend, Steve Randle, moaned. "No one's been in here for, like, two hours!"
I grinned at him as I sat on the counter near the till in the DX Station where Steve and I worked. "We might as well bail."
Steve laughed. "Mm," he muttered absent-mindedly, staring out of the window. "Well, I'm outta here," he said after a minute. "No one's coming and I'm bored. You coming?"
"Sure," I said without hesitation, happily jumping off the counter as Steve headed for the door. As we stepped out of the DX carpark, we saw my older brother, 20-year-old Darrel (we all call him Darry) hurrying towards us. Steve absent-mindedly rubbed his jaw. Darry's got a load of muscles that are usually visible (he likes it that way). We all call Darry 'Superman' or 'Muscles' occasionally – they're kind of our pet nicknames for him. But once, a couple of years ago, Steve called Darry "all brawn and no brains." Darry whacked him one so hard, Steve had to go to hospital. Turned out that, although Darry hadn't shattered Steve's jaw, he had broken it. That's the only time I've ever been mad at Steve. I mean, Darry could've gone to college. But even before Mom and Dad died in an auto wreck eight months ago, we didn't have enough money for him to go. And when Mom and Dad died, he gave up every opportunity to go to college so he could look after me and our fourteen-year-old brother, Ponyboy. Although Steve's never called Darry that again, and we made up after a couple of days, I don't think they've got over it. Darry definitely hasn't forgiven Steve. Yet. Anyway.
"Have you seen Ponyboy?" Darry asked, grabbing my arm as he reached us.
"No," I replied, frowning as Steve shook his head. "Isn't he at home?""No," Darry said, letting go of my arm as the rest of our Gang reached us. Darry, me, Steve and Ponyboy have grown up with three other guys. Dallas Winston – Dally – is probably the toughest out of us all. He'll hit anyone for any reason. I guess it's because he hates everything and everyone – except the Gang. I've kinda noticed that everything he loved or really liked – like my Mom – has been taken away from him. I figure that's why he's the way he is. Then there's Johnny Cade. Johnny's really had it rough. I mean, his Dad beats him and his Mom ignores him. I guess that's what makes us all act like his big brothers. We all look out for each other, but Johnny gets special treatment. He needs it. And then there's Keith "Two-Bit" Mathews. He's pretty funny. I think he gets on Dally's nerves sometimes, though. I mean, he can only take one thing seriously – his buddies getting hurt.
"Darry, you need to relax," Steve told him seriously. "Knowing Ponyboy, he's probably gone to the movie house or something."
"Yeah," Darry agreed absent-mindedly, staring down the street. Steve rolled his eyes. "Hey," Darry said suddenly. "Is that Ponyboy?"
We all looked in the direction of his gaze. There was four Socs - short for Socials - standing in the best circle they could make. In the middle of the "circle" was another Soc, sitting on top of a Greaser - one of us. And the Greaser had started yelling for Darry and me. Darry and me looked at each other before racing towards the Socs with the rest of the Gang right behind us.