You Make Me Real

CHAPTER TWO

Curly watched out for Tim as he made a deal with some middle class kid. This was the gang’s newest thing, selling marijuana and LSD. LSD wasn't illegal in Oklahoma yet it was hard to find if you weren't one of those "flower childs", but marijuana was and if Tim was caught trafficking it he could have two years to life, normally. But now he was selling ten grams of it to a minor, which could get him at least double the years. So Curly was a lookout.
"Hey man I just want my fifteen bucks and I'm out of your hair."
Curly looked at the other teen. He appeared to be worried. "I only have ten." He said quietly.
Tim's face turned from calm, to pissed off. "Alright. Gimme it. I want the other five by next week, ya dig?"
The boy nodded.
"Good." Said Tim. "If ya don't got my cash by then I'll be lookin' for ya but with the rest of the gang, ok?"
"Okay." Replied the boy and then he ran off.
Tim came back to his brother and he looked less pleased than when they had first arrived. It seem frustrated which was out of character.
"These kids don't know shit about responsibility," Tim harshly mumbled. "You may be a pain in the ass Curly but ya know the meanin' of responsibility. Kids get dumber every year."
Curly nodded agreeingly, a second later Tim was gone.
The streets were dead. The only people in sight were a couple Negroes and a few kids younger than him, they must have been on the skip. It was a Monday afternoon, couldn't be much past one. Tim always did his deals at times like these; when most people were busy doing something else. It was smart, but it made him miss more school which was never good.
His mother didn't have many rules but passing school was a must. He had to get his grade twelve or he was out. Tim had gotten his and ran a gang at the same time, if Curly didn't pass this year he'd be ashamed of himself. But no one would be that surprised, Tim always outdid Curly. He got the hotter chicks, he got the better reputation, and was overall more respected. If he dropped out or flunked, it would not be a shocker. He was trying his hardest not to though.
He chose to go into Benny's, the gang usually hung out here if they weren’t down in the warehouse or actually attending school.
Inside was Dean, Ricky and Steven. Dean was closer to Tim's age, he didn't talk much but he could sure give a beating and when he did talk, it was like ice; cold and rough. Ricky was a year younger than him, he was obnoxious and always had a weed on him; he was a real good business man, though. That's why Tim kept him close. He could get the stuck up priss Eleanor Cohan to drop some acid if he really tried. Steven was a good friend of his, one of the only in the gang Curly actually didn't mind being around. He was right on, and always down for a drink or a poker game. Tim liked him for different reasons, Steven was loyal and took orders well.
Curly pulled over a chair and sat outside the booth.
"We were just talkin' about ya, man." Was Ricky's greeting. "You hear about Nancy?"
Nancy Reynolds was Curlys ex-girlfriend and the only one he ever felt anything for at all. That was a mistake, she was a two-timer. She fooled around on him with Johnny while Curly was stuck in the reformatory for six weeks. She didn't even apologize when he found out, just shrugged. He decided then she was a bitch and nothing else.
"What about her?" He said coldly. She was far from his favourite topic."
Ricky smirked. "She's knocked up, I tell ya! And not by Johnny, it's Wayne's kid."
It didn't surprise him that Nancy had fooled around on Johnny, but it surprised him that it was Wayne Ackerman. That was a good kid if Curly ever knew one, he once got mixed up with the River Kings back in the day and got locked up but other than that everything Wayne did was model citizen worthy. Someone should have warned him about Nancy.
"Poor kid." Curly said.
"Hey, Benny," He called out to the man at the counter. "Can ya get us some cokes?"
The man rolled his eyes. Benny pretended to dislike them all, except Tim. He was always nice to Tim. But either way they all knew was an act, Benny liked them all and even if he didn't, he liked them in here because they boosted his business.
"Why ain't you at school?" Dean asked Curly. He'd never admit it but Dean made him uneasy.
"Tim needed me for some drug shit." Curly said lowly, not wanting anybody to here outside of their group. There didn't seem to be anyone else in Benny's but he wasn't taking a chance on getting him and Tim caught.
"He should've asked one of us. You should be in school." Dean spoke again. It wasn't often he talked to Curly but things like this were important to him.
"Eh, I guess he was runnin' late. I'll just go tomorrow."
Dean was quiet again but it was easily seen that he was displeased by Curlys answer. Deans jaw clicked and his eyes were misty. He always got like that when he was ticked off. He never said anything about it again though.
Tim had Curly brought into the gang stuff since he was just thirteen. Dean was against that all together. He didn't think you should bring your baby brother in stuff like that, especially so young and he had held a grudge over it since. They were seventeen then, now they were twenty one.
Dean also said that Tim should have let his little brother make his own choices, not drag him into a certain kind of life. Curly had thought that was funny; he thought it was set from the start what kind of life he was going to have. But he sort of appreciated what Dean was trying to do, it made him feel good.
Steven sparked up a cig. "Let's get out of here guys."
"Where ya wanna go?" Ricky asked.
"I'm hungry," said Steven. "Let's go to that grocery store up the street."
The grocery store sold sandwiches, subs, stuff like that. The boys usually walked there from school to eat at lunch, but now it must have been past three.
"Yeah, sounds good." Curly agreed.
They abandoned their half empty cokes and left.

X X X

Amara got to Safeway and she flung the stores ugly red shirt over her pink dress. It didn't look very nice but she hadn't had time to change.
"Hey, Mr. Anderson." She greeted her boss. He was Randy's dad but no one had seen Randy for quite some time. He never even graduated, just disappeared. Mr. Anderson was just as pleasant as ever though.
"Afternoon, Miss Robinson."
Mister Anderson was one of the nicest social elite fathers she knew. The grocery store was on the East Side of Tulsa and she needed a job in order to afford her friends activities, not a single Social ever worked, it would be a give-away of her middle class life. Anderson promised to keep it a secret from his son when she first got the job back when she was fourteen. He had kept it well.
She worked over in the deli and hot and ready foods. All she had to do was serve customers and put frozen foods into an oven then and again. It was a slack job.
Amara wrapped her long blonde hair into a net and stood at the cash, waiting for her first customer.
It was a young woman and her little girl who came to her first.
The little girl was precious. She had gorgeous red hair and bright green eyes.
"We want two sandwiches please!" The young girl squealed excitedly. The mother smiled at Amara.
"And two Pepsi's." She added for her daughter.
Amara laughed at the girl’s cuteness. "Sure thing, sweetheart." She said.
Five minutes later the sandwiches were made and the girls were on their way.
"Thanks. Come again!" Amara said to them as she was supposed to.
Boys clad in worn leather jackets and blue jeans. She recognized him right away. She realized she had seen him here before but she never really paid any mind to him. Curly Shepard walked into her area.
He and three other guys pulled two of the small tables together. Amara hated when the kids came in and did that. The noise went right through her. It also left dark black streaks on the floor. She pretended she didn't notice.
"I'll order this time." She overheard Curly say. She hoped he didn't recognize her.
"Hey, can I get four barbecue sandwiches with fries and three cokes and a water."
"Sure thing." Amara said and rung him up. "That'll be twenty nine cents."
On Friday when she had seen him she never paid much attention. Now in bright day light she could see him perfect. He was actually quite handsome. He a pretty golden brown eyes and a crooked smile. There's one thing she noticed that hadn't been there on Friday. He had a bruise over his left eye and a long cut going down his right cheek. She guessed it was from a fight or something, those happened a lot on his side of town.
"So you ain't a Soc, huh?" Curly asked her as he counted up his change. It was out of nowhere, she hadn't even been sure he had knew who she was.
"No." She confirmed.
"Could've fooled me." He grinned widely and she found her heart racing. She had the same reaction when Freddy Wheaton looked at her, the schools stud.
"Uh- what do you mean?" She played dumb. She knew what he was talking about; she was fooling everyone.
Greasers could bring themselves to be friends with middle class but Socials never brought themselves down to that level, anyone with less money was shunned. But that weekend he had seen her hanging around them and now today he saw her working as a server at the East Side's most popular grocery store. She was a fake.
"You know what I'm talkin' about, doll."
She smiled warily and nodded.
He laughed. "What's so good about bein' one them you gotta fake it?" He didn't seem to be mocking her, he seemed genuinely confused. She didn't know the exact answer. Maybe it was just the way other girls looked up to her and if you were one of them you were automatically popular.
"I don't know." She answered finally.
"Well," Curly looked back at his friends. "This Thursday, come with me? I'll show ya why it's ok to be poor."
Amara wanted to say yes, surprisingly. Something about this guy intrigued her but she knew she couldn't, it wouldn't be right and it could ruin everything she had worked for.
"I can't," She declined. "I gotta work that day."
Curly wasn't fazed. "When do ya get off?"
"Eight thirty."
He grinned at her again. "Alright. I'll pick you up here eight thirty on Thursday."
She opened her mouth to say something but he had taken his sandwiches and was already half way back to his table.
One of the boys in the group looked her over suspiciously. Awkwardly she smiled and he smiled back shaking his head. She was confused but said nothing.
The boys left about a half hour later. She never talked to Curly since he paid for the food. He never even said anything when she came over to give all the boys their drinks.
He had probably been joking when he said that stuff about taking her out and she felt stupid for taking it so seriously.
She wouldn’t get her hopes up.