The Fox and the Flower

All three of the boys look toward the voice and a sliver of surprise passes over their faces. The boy on top of me squints at the group and watches them closely, like they'll pull out a gun and start shooting at any moment. Which to be honest, from what I've seen tonight, wouldn't actually surprise me all that much.

"Oh really? As if one of you Greasers wasn't enough in our territory." He spits at them, knife still firmly pressed to my throat.

The four advance towards us, all wielding some sort of pocket knife. I swallow as a new fear starts to rise in me. Is this really happening? Am I having some kind of weird bad dream that I'll wake up from in a couple of minutes? A part of me hopes so, because I can feel it in my gut that somethin' real bad is gonna happen tonight.

"What was that? Did you say your territory?" The one who spoke before says, bristling.

"Did I stutter? This is Soc territory, now beat it."

That was enough to push the guy over the edge. The group of four, which I guess I can call the Greasers, attack the pricks which gives me a chance to break free. I watch wide eyed, not exactly sure what to do with myself, as they all wrestle each other for dominance. Eventually I do come to my senses and pick myself up off the ground, dust off my clothes, and look about for somewhere that might be safe to run. But I can't make sense of that. My earlier experience has made me a little paranoid at where I can and can't go without being beaten into the ground and so I just stand there like an idiot. Indecisive, and nursing my ribs as I look about every which way.

"Don't just stand there, come on!" a voice says roughly.

I turn around to find one of the Greasers that I recognize, the one who was with my uncle, and he's looking at me like I'm a deer in headlights. Which I'm pretty sure is how I look anyway. He makes a motion for me to come with him, but I hold back. You've got to understand, I was just beaten by a group of preps who I've never even met before. I'm not exactly in the trusting mood right now. He lets out a frustrated breath, grabs me rather harshly by the wrist, and takes off running. I do my best to keep up, but he's really fast and I find myself stumbling after him. He drags me out of the park and through the town until we finally stop at the old gas station that I saw on my way from the airport. I remember because of the big chipped sign that says 'DX' on it. He lets go of me to look around for a key under the newspaper stand and I take this moment to catch my breath. Popping up once he finds it, he wastes no time opening the door. Another wave of distrust comes over me as I watch him walk into the dark building. He stops and looks back at me when I don't follow.

"I ain't gonna to hurt you." he says, a slight hint of softness in his voice. His eyes look at me with a sort of innocence that I think I'd feel kind of bad if I turned him away.

He takes my other wrist, not as rough as before, and leads me inside. Once we're inside he doesn't flip on the lights like I expect him to, but rather takes a flashlight off one of the shelves and clicks it on. He tells me it's so that we wont draw any unwanted attention and I just silently nod. There's a stool behind the cashier counter and that's where he leaves me while he goes rummaging about the shelves. After a couple of minutes he returns with a bottle of aspirin, some ice, and a box of band aids. He hands me two of the pills to take, then gives me the pack of ice once I've swallowed. Taking out some of the band aids, he unwraps a few and starts placing them over cuts on my knees that I didn't even know I had.

"I-I can do that." I say, slowly beginning to find my voice again.

"You need to keep the ice on your face, I can do this." his voice comes out blunt and he doesn't look at me when he speaks.

The flashlight is angled on the counter top just so that it shines on my knee and it illuminates his face a little as well. For the couple minutes of silence I sit there, watching him treat my knee, and study his seeming very concentrated expression. This was crazy. Here I am in a town I've never been to, running out by myself late at night, getting beat up by people I don't know, and then getting my wounds treated by a cute boy who I've only seen once out my window. Who is he anyway? I'm positive we've never met face to face before and I doubt he's heard of me or knew that I even existed.

"Who are you?" I more state then ask.

He stops what he's doing for a second, like the question surprised him, then continues.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking that? I've never seen you around here before."

"I guess you could say I'm new."

The ever so slightest smile reaches his lips as he finishes up on my knees.

"It isn't hard to tell." That time, when he spoke, I caught the undertone of a southern twang in his voice and it made my heart skip a little.

"What's your name?" I more blurt out than ask.

I can feel my cheeks starting to tint pink at my rashness, but I doubt he can see. It's still dark and his backs turned to put the band aids away.

"Ponyboy Curtis." He says simply, like it doesn't matter all that much.

Ponyboy? That was definitely... different. I was expecting to hear something like John or Mark, but Ponyboy?

"Why are you helping me, Ponyboy?" I ask, putting my thoughts aside.

"Hold on now," He says as he pulls out a fold up chair and sets it down across from me "Ain't it your turn to tell me your name?"

"My names Charlotte."

"Nice to meet you Charlotte." He holds a hand out to me and I shake it.

"To answer your question, I don't think it's right to beat on someone who doesn't know what they're getting into. Call me what you want, but I don't think it's right for guys to beat up on a girl neither."

I watch him as he grabs a cancer stick out of his pocket and lights it up with one of the discount lighters on the shelf. He takes in a big drag, lets out some smoke, and I feel something kind of twinge inside me. And it wasn't a good something. But I push that back. Pony has nothing to do with that person so I shouldn't criticize him for smokin'.

"What am I getting into exactly? What's with all this Soc, Greaser stuff?"

"You don't know?" he says, kind of shocked.

I shake my head in response and that earns an amused smile from him.

"That explains a couple things... You're in for quite the ride then, Charlotte."