*Me, The Greaser Girl*

once we got to Janes's i brought the boys inside. Janes let them stay, then me and Ponyboy explained what we had explained to Dallas and Johnny. at first they thought we were kidding but then i showed them the book. thats when they believed us.

the siguiente día i was with my best friend, Julie, and away from the boys. Julie and i were takin a walk, in the direction of the park. i was debating in my head wether to tell her that the boys from our favorito! book were HERE.

"so, Amber," she started. but i wasnt listening. i was staring at the ground, thinking--no, worrying about the boys. were they doing alright? i thought. maybe i should go see them. i was mostly worrying about the one and only Ponyboy, though. of course i was worrying about him the most. its only natural for me to. im pratically in amor with him...

"hey, Amber!" Julie shook my arm.

i snapped my head up. "yeah?"

"are tu listening?"

"uh...y-yeah. sure i am, Julie." i was so out of it today. Julie stopped walking and grabbed my hand to stop me. she looked at me in the eye. i looked at her's too. she had dark eyes. they were so brown they were almost black. part of her bangs fell in front of her face. she had dark hair. it was thick and black and cut into a bob. i dont like bobs but it looked good on her.

Julie was a skinny, tall girl. she was taller tan me; about two o three inches...then again she IS a año older than me. (she'll be 16 on september 24. im gonna be 15 on august 27.) she also had tanned skin. it wasnt necissarily dark and it wasnt light. if youve ever seen Ralph Macchio--its a bit lighter than his. Julie was a Mexican-Asian...or and Asian-Mexican. she looked liked like an Asian and a Mexican at the same time. and she WAS both. tu dig?

to be honest, she wasnt the most gorgeous girl on the planet. she was pretty, sure, but--you know what i mean.

"what are tu not telling me?" she asked me. "i know when youre keeping something from me."

damn, i thought. i hate that.

"well," i started. "i kinda met someone"--

"you did?!" she asked, over-joyed. "does he have a brother? if he does is he ANYTHING like Sodapop?!" Julie was obsessed with Ponyboy's brother, Soda. she loved him alot.

"you have no idea."

"so, who is he? whats he like? whats he LOOK like? is he tall? how old is he? do tu like him? does he like you? can i meet"--

"slow down!" i shouted. "one at a time!"

"sorry," she dicho sheepishly. "so?"

"well." i didnt know what to say. i didnt wanna give Ponyboy away THAT quick. "he is taller than me"--

"how much?"

i grunted. "does it really matter, Julie? just a couple inches; like 3 o 4 inches maybe. he has light bown hair that looks like its almost red, greenish-grey eyes, a pretty good build"--

"thats just like Ponyboy!" she cut me off again. "is he cute?"

"yes, i know its like Ponyboy, Julie. shut up, will ya? uh, sure, yeah hes cute. actually, hes pretty good-lookin. in other words: hes actually pretty hot. how old is he?" Julie nodded her head. "hes 15 going on 16; he'll be 16 siguiente month, in July. and i dont know if he likes me. he acts like it sometimes. sometimes it seems like he flirts a little. and, yes, i DO like him. im pratically in amor with him."

Julie's excited face turned to one of confusion. "wait, tu amor him? i thought tu just met him!"

"not exactly," i said.

"so youve known him long enough to fall in amor with him? that means tu never told me when tu first met him! Amber!" she smacked my arm.

"ow!" i dicho quietly. she was looking at me angry.

"i EXPECT to know these things!"

"uh, Julie," i started. "you rememebr when we read 'The Outsiders' in seventh grade?"

"of course. why wouldnt i?"

"and...you remember Ponyboy, rite?"

"yes, Amber. how could i forget the book character that tu are madly in amor with? what are tu getting at?" i giggled when she dicho i was madly in amor with him. it was true. i loved him and EVERYTHING about him.

"well, the guy i met IS...Ponyboy Curtis."



Julie started laughing crazily. "oh, Amber, thats a good one!" i looked at her seriously. "why would tu joke about anything like that?"

"i wouldnt," i dicho seriously. Julie looked at me, amusement still masking her face. then suddenly, almost instantly, her face became shocked.

"OH, MY SODAPOP!" she screamed. i shushed her. people were staring. i brought her over to the side of a little store.

"shut your trap!" i shouted. she did.

"wait so tu mean that--and he is---and tu know---hes HERE?!"

i nodded.

"THE Ponyboy Michael Curtis?"

i nodded again.

"oh, my"--

"no más 'oh, my Sodapop's', Julie. hes really here." i looked past her. i saw the park. it was a nice park. there were lots of trees and bushes and flowers. they were tended very well. there was a fuente in the center. it was a clean fountain. it was nice too.

it was a pretty park. i mean, it should be. i live on the poor/middle-class side of town, better known as the east side. we deserve a nice park since everything else looks shabby.

i dont get why there is sides where i live. i live in a town. sides for the poor and rich are más common in cities. so i didnt understand why there was sides. but whatever. i just went along with it.

i scanned the park again and saw two girls sitting on a wooden park bench. they were nice, good-lookin girls dressed real fine. it took me a moment to realize who they were. "what are they doin here?! this aint their territory!" i dicho to myself, but loud enough for Julie to hear.

it WASNT their territory, and it didnt matter if they werent from this town. they should know better. and when i dicho "they" i meant cereza, cerezo and Marcia.

"wait, what?" Julie asked. "who?" i didnt answer. all i did was grab her hand and stomp over to the two Socys. i put on a nice, bright smile and faked politness.

"hi, Cherry! hi, Marcia! what are tu guys doin here?" cereza, cerezo looked up at me. she seemed the slightest annoyed for a breif second, but then she masked it with the same fake happiness i was using.

"oh, hi--Amanda, right?" she asked.

"Amber," Marcia corrected her, before i could. i smiled at her. Marcia was a real nice girl. she really was. i felt Julie tug on my arm.

"what do tu mean 'Cherry and Marcia'?!" she frantically whispered in my ear.

"theyre here too," i said. Julie turned away from me, to the two Soc girls. her eyes were wide.

"you guys are cereza, cerezo Valance and Marcia...im sorry, whats your last name?"

"Mitchelleck," Marcia said.

"you guys are cereza, cerezo Valance and Marcia Mitchelleck?!"

"yes," cereza, cerezo dicho slowly. she seemed a little irritated. "why?"

"well, cause tu guys are"--

i fake coughed. then i fake cleared my throat. "uh, Julie, dont. i'll tell them."

"we are what?" cereza, cerezo asked. i turned back to them.

"well," i started. "you guys are--oh, how do i put this? tu both are...from...a book." then they started laughing. i put on my serious face. "im serious!" but they didnt listen. so i pulled out The Outsiders from my chaqueta and shoved it in Cherry's face. she stopped an stared at it.

"The Outsiders? thats the same título as Ponyboy's paper." again with that boy's paper. i was tired of hearin about it.

i noticed somehing in Cherry's voice when she dicho "Ponyboy." it sounded higher and...almost "love-struck" seeming. that irked me.

"thats cause it IS his paper, Cherry. see, it even talks about you." i opened the book and flipped to page 21, where it mentiones her and Marcia at the drive in. i even read some parts out loud. "'One had short dark hair, and the other had long red hair. The redhead was getting mad, o scared.' that was when Dallas Winston was harrassing tu both at the drive in, two years ago."

"oh, yeah, i rememeber that," Marcia said. "he really liked you, Cherry."

i read out loud some more: "'My name's Sherri but people call me cereza, cerezo because of my hair. cereza, cerezo Valance.' tu see?"

"oh, my goodness, we're from a BOOK!" she dicho quietly, to herself. then, out of the blue, she looked at me and sized me up. she kinda smiled. but it wasnt a soft, nice smile. it was más of an irritated smile, if thats even possible. i dont get it, i thought. cereza, cerezo seemed so nice in the book. i still thought that even if i did hate her. but i dont get why she is actuación to rude to ME.

"are tu a greaser girl?" she asked. then i knew why she was so rude. she thought i was a greaser girl. i guess she thought that cause of my clothes. i had white Converse, a blue jeans jacket, worn out, holey Levis jeans, and really long hair. my hair only went to my mid back though. maybe a bit longer. but it wasnt greased.

thats kinda how greasy girls used to dress. and then they would also wear short skirts and dresses, as Ponyboy dicho in the book: 'i thought of Sylvia and Evie and Sandy and Two-Bit's many blondes. they were the only kind of girls who would look at us, i thought. tough, loud girls who wore too much eye makeup and gigled and swore too much. i liked Soda's girl Sandy just fine, though. her hair was natural blond and her laugh was soft, like her china blue eyes. she didnt have a real good inicial o anything and was our kind--greaser--but she was a real nice girl. still, lots of times i wondered what other girls were like. the girls who were bright-eyed and had their dresses a decent length and acted as if theyd like to spit on us if dado a chance. some were afraid of us, and remembering Dallas Winston, i didnt blame them. but most looked at us like we were dirt--gave us the same look that the Socs gave us when they came por in their Mustangs and Corvairs and yelled "Grease!" at us. i wondered about them. the girls, i mean...did they cry when their boys were arrested, like Evie did when Steve got hauled in, o did they run out on them the way Sylvia did Dallas? but maybe their boys didnt get arrested o beaten up o busted up in rodeos.'

that paragraph kinda saddened me. the greasers were treated so badly por people above them, a.k.a. the "classy" girls. it wasnt right. but i was different, and still am. i was never afraid of the greasers. i never found a reason to be afarid. they were just people who made some bad mistakes and were wild and such. thats all. and they could be real nice and sweet if tu got to know them. like Ponyboy dicho on page 26, Dallas would have left the girls at the drive-in alone if he knew them. but i was never afraid of them. honest to God, i wasnt.

i could see why cereza, cerezo didnt mistake Julie for a greaser girl. Julie didnt dress like one. she dressed in expensive clothes that other stupid girls dressed in, name brands like Aeropostale, Abercrombie and Fitch, Gilly Hicks, and etc. i hated those brands. they were so expensive and all their clothes were so girly and shit. i could never afford anything from those stores. too expensive.

Julie is sorta a rich girl, and she likes it. thats why she can afford those stupid name brands and i cant. she lives on the west side of town, with all the rich people in their big houses. it disguested me. but Julie is my friend, and im not gonna let her class of being a "Soc" change that.

"i guess tu could say that," i dicho to Cherry. "im más middle class, though. but i dress like them."

"youre middle class and tu dress like greasers?" Marcia asked. the tone in her voice made it sound like it was a crime.

"yeah. so?"

"well," cereza, cerezo started. "its just, no one dresses like that unless tu are one. dont tu know that?"

"yeah, i knew that. but i didnt know there was a law against dressing like a greaser if youre not one."

"well, there isnt"--

"so, i dont see the problem here. and, i just wanted to know: why are tu guys in this park?"

"what do tu mean?" Marcia asked.

"well," i started. "this is the "east side park." this park is on the east side. last time i checked, rich girls play on the west side."

"oh, we didnt know we were on the east side. sorry," cereza, cerezo dicho quietly.

there was silence. and then another thought occurred to me. "why are tu guys here? i mean, its such a coincidence that tu both are here the exact same time that Ponyboy and his buddies are. but why are you?" Marcia piped in, "Cherry wanted to come cause Ponyboy was here. She wanted to follow him and she dragged me along."

"Marcia!" cereza, cerezo screamed.

"you...FOLLOWED him?" i asked, stunned.

"yep," Marcia said. "cause she likes him...no, más of she loves him. she never stops talkin about him, but only to me. NEVER to our other friends. ever since after the trial two years ago, she payed más attention to him and then couldnt give him enough attention."

cereza, cerezo just sat there. she looked in front of her, her eyes serious. not a single feeling masked her face. but even if there was no feeling visible i could tell cereza, cerezo was mad at Marcia. then i dicho something that i would never say to her. i hate Cherry. but Julie has taught me that if youre nice to your enemies, theyll be nice back...most of the time. and like its says in the Bible, amor your enemies. but i still hated Cherry: "i wont tell no one, Cherry. tu can trust me. Ponyboy will never know--at least, not from me." she looked up at me and smiled. this time the smile WAS soft and nice. she wasnt irritated with me this time.

"thanks, Amber. its just, Marcia has such a big mouth"--

"hey!" Marcia shouted.

--"and i really dont want him to know. and then when i saw that he barely payed any attention to me when tu were with us, on the bench, i got mad...and jealous. i was afraid tu liked him too."

"oh," i dicho nervously. "well, actually, i DO like him too. i have ever since i first read the book."