when I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house I had only two things on my mind Paul Newman and a ride home I was wishing I looked like Paul Newman he looks tough and I don't but I guess my own looks aren't so bad I have light brown almost red hair and greenish gray eyes I wish they were more gray because I hate most guys that I have green eyes but out to be content with what I have my hair is longer than a lot of boys wear their squared off and back and long at the front and sides but I'm a greaser and most of my neighbourhood rarely bothers to get a haircut besides I look better with long hair I had a long walk home and no company but I usually loan it anyway for no reason except that I like to watch movies undisturbed so I can get into them and live them with the actors when I see a movie with someone it's kind of uncomfortable like having someone read your book over your shoulder I'm different that way I mean my second oldest brother soda who's 16 going on 17 never cracks the book at all I'm eldest brother Daryl who we called Derry works too long and hard to be interested in a story or draw on a picture so I'm not like them and nobody in our gang digs movies and books the way I do for a while there I thought I was the only person in the world that did so I loaned it soda tries to understand at least which is more than Derry does but then so does different from anybody he understands everything almost like he's never hollering at me all the time the way Daria's or treating me as if I was six instead of 14 I love soda more than I've ever loved anyone even mom and dad he's always happy-go-lucky and grinning while dearies hard and firm and rarely grins at all but then there he's gone through a lot in his 20 years growing up too fast soda pop will never grow up at all I don't know which way is the best I'll find out one of these days anyway I went on walking home thinking about the movie and then suddenly wishing I had some company greasers can't walk alone too much or they'll get jumped or someone will come by and scream grease or at them which doesn't make you feel too hot if you know what I mean we get jumped by the sotius I'm not sure how you spell it but it's the abbreviation for the socials the jet-set the Westside rich kids it's like the term greaser which is used to class all us boys on the Eastside we're poorer than the so she's in the middle class and I reckon were wilder too not like the so shows who jump greasers and wreck houses and throw beer blasts for kicks and get editorials in the paper for being a public disgrace one day and an asset to society the next greasers are almost like hoods we steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in a while I don't mean I do things like that dairy would kill me if I got into trouble with the police since mom and dad were killed in an auto wreck the three of us get to stay together only as long as we behave so soda and I stay out of trouble as much as we can and we're careful not to get caught when we can't I only mean that most greasers do things like that just like we wear our hair long and dress in blue jeans and t-shirts or leave our shirt tails out and wear leather jackets and tennis shoes or boots I'm not saying that either so she's or greasers are better it's just the way things are I could have waited to go to the movies until dairy or soda pop got off work and they would have gone with me or driven me there or walked along although soda just can't sit still long enough to enjoy a movie and they bored dairy to death dairy thinks his life is enough without inspecting other people's or could've got him one of the gang to come along one of the four boys dairy and soda and I have grown up with and consider family we're almost as close as brothers when you grow up in a tight-knit neighborhood like ours you get to know each other real well if I had thought about it I could have called Derry and he would have come by on his way home and picked me up or two-bit math he was one of our gang would have come to get me in his car if I had asked him sometimes I just don't use my head and drives my brother dairy nuts when I do stuff like that because I'm supposed to be smart I make good grades and have a high IQ and everything but I don't use my head besides I like walking I about decided I didn't like it so much though when I spotted that red Corvair trailing me it was almost two blocks from home then so I started walking a little faster I had never been jumped but I had seen Johnny after four socials got ahold of him and it wasn't pretty johnny was scared of his own shadow after that Johnny was 16 then I knew it wasn't any use though the fast walking I mean even before the Corvair pulled up beside me and five so sheís got out I got pretty scared I've been kind of small for 14 even though I have a good build and those guys were bigger than me I automatically hitched my thumbs in my jeans and slouched wondering if I could get away if I made a break for it I remembered Johnny his face all cut up and bruised and I remembered how he cried when we found him half conscious in the corner lot Johnny had it awful rough at home it took a lot to make him cry I was sweating something fierce although I was cold I could feel my palms getting clammy and the perspiration running down my back I get like that when I'm real scared I'm glanced around for a pop bottle or a stick or something Steve Randall sodas best buddy had once held off four guys with a busted pop bottle but there was nothing so I stood there like a bump on a log while they surrounded me I don't use my head they walked around slowly silently smiling hey Greece once said in an over friendly voice we're gonna do you a favor greaser we're gonna call that long greasy hair off he had on a Madras shirt I can still see it blue Madras one of them laughed and cussed me out in a low voice I couldn't think of anything to say there just isn't a lot you can say when you're getting waiting to get mugged so I kept my mouth shut need a haircut greaser the medium sized blonde pulled a knife out of his back pocket and flipped the blade open I finally thought of something to say no I was backing up away from that knife of course I backed right into one of them they had me down in a second I had my arms and legs pinned down and one of them was sitting on my chest with his knees on my elbows and if you don't think that hurts you're crazy I could smell English leather shaving lotion and stale tobacco and I wondered foolishly if I would suffocate before they did anything I was scared so bad I was wishing I would I fought to get loose and almost did for a second then they tightened up on me and the one on my chest slugged me a couple of times so I lay still swearing at them between gasps a blade was held against my throat how'd you like that haircut to begin just below the chin it occurred to me then that they could kill me I went wild I started screaming for Soda dairy anyone someone put his hand over my mouth and I bit it as hard as I could tasting the blood running through my teeth I heard a muttered curse and got slugged again and they were stuffing a handkerchief in my mouth one of them kept saying shut him up for pete's sake shut him up then there were shouts in the pounding of feet and the so she's jumped up and left me lying there gasping I lay there and wondered what in the world was happening people were jumping over me and running I me and I was two days to figure it out then someone had me under the armpits and was hauling me to my feet it was dairy are you alright pony boy he was shaking me and I wished he'd stop I was dizzy enough anyway I could tell it was dairy though partly because of the voice and partly because dairies always rough with me without meaning to be I'm okay quit shaking me dairy I'm okay he stopped instantly I'm sorry he wasn't really dairy isn't ever sorry for anything he does it seems funny to me that he should look just exactly like my father and act exactly the opposite from him my father was only 40 when he died and he looked 25 and a lot of people thought dairy and dad were brothers instead of father and son but they only looked alike my father was never rough with anyone without meaning to be dairy is six feet two and broad-shouldered and muscular he has dark brown hair that kicks out in front and a slight cowlick in the back just like dads but dairies eyes are his own he's got eyes that are like two pieces of pale blue green ice they've got a determined set to them like the rest of him he looks older than twenty tough cool and smart he would be real handsome if his eyes weren't so cold he doesn't understand anything that is not plain hard fact but he uses his head i sat down again rubbing my cheek where I'd been slugged the most dairy jammed his fists in his pockets they didn't hurt you too bad did they they did I was smarting and aching and my chest was sore and I was so nervous my hands were shaking and I wanted to start bawling but you just don't say that to dairy I'm okay soda pop came loping back by then I had figured that all that noise I had heard was the gang coming to rescue me he dropped down beside me examined in my head you got cut up a little hump pony boy I only looked at him blankly I did he pulled out a handkerchief wet the end of it with his tongue and pressed it gently against the side of my head you're bleeding like a stuck pig I am look he showed me the handkerchief red and as if by magic did they pull a blade on you I remembered the voice need a haircut greaser the blade must have slipped while he was trying to shut me up yeah soda is it's more than anyone else I know not like dairy so does movie star kind of handsome the kind of people stop on the street to watch go by he's not as tall as Darien he's a little slimmer but he has a finely drawn sensitive face that somehow manages to be reckless and thoughtful at the same time he's got dark gold hair that he combs back long and silky and straight and in the summer the Sun bleaches it to a shining weak gold his eyes are dark brown lively dancing recklessly laughing eyes that can be gentle and sympathetic one moment and blazing with anger the next he has dad's eyes but soda is one of a kind he can get drunk in a drag race or dancing without ever getting near alcohol in our neighborhood it's rare to find a kid who doesn't drink once in a while but soda never touches a drop he doesn't need to he gets drunk on just plain living and he understands everybody he looked at me more closely I looked away hurriedly because if you want to know the truth I was starting to bawl I knew I was as wide as I felt and I was shaking like a leaf soda just put his hand on my shoulder easy pony boy they ain't gonna hurt you no more I know I said but the ground began to blur and I felt hot tears running down my cheeks I brushed them away impatiently just a little spooked that's all I drew a quivering breath and quit crying you just don't cry in front of Derry not unless you're hurt like Johnny had been that day we found him in the vacant lot compared to Johnny I wasn't hurt at all so it'll rub my hair you're an okay kid pony I had to grin at him soda can make you grin no matter what I guess it's because he's always grinning so much himself you're crazy soda out of your mind Dairy looked as if you'd like to knock our heads together you're both nuts soda merely cocked one eyebrow a trick he'd picked up from 2-bit that seems to run in this family Derry stared at him for a second thin cracked a grin soda pop isn't afraid of him like everyone else and enjoys teasing him I'd just as soon to use a full-grown grizzly but for some reason dare he seems to like being teased by soda our gang had chased the Scioscia to their car and heaved rocks at him they came running toward us now for lean hard guys they were all tough as nails and looked it I'd grown up with them and they accepted me even though I was younger because I was dairy and sodas kid brother and I kept my mouth shut good Steve Randall was 17 tall and lean with thick greasy hair he kept combed and complicated swirls he was tacky smart and sodas best buddy since grade school Steve specialty was cars he could lift a hubcap quicker and more quietly than anyone in the neighborhood but he also knew cars upside down and backward and he could drive anything on wheels he and soda worked at the same gas station Steve part-time and so two full-time and their station got more customers than any other in town well that was because Steve was so good with cars or because soda attracted girls like honey draws flies I couldn't tell you I liked Steve only because he was sodas best friend he didn't like me he thought I was attacked along at a kid soda always took me with them when they went places if they weren't taking girls and that bugged Steve it wasn't my fault so two always asked me I didn't ask him so it doesn't think I'm a kid two bit Matthews with he was the oldest of the gang in the wisecracker of the bunch he was about 6 feet tall stocky and build and very proud of his long rusty colored sideburns he had gray eyes and a wide grin and he couldn't stop making funny remarks to save his life you couldn't shut up that guy he always had to get his two bits worth in hence his name even as teachers forgot his real name was Keith and we hardly remembered he had one life was one big joke to bit he was famous for shoplifting and his black handled switchblade what she couldn't have acquired without his first talent and he was always smarting off to the cops he really couldn't help it everything he said was so irresistibly funny that he just had to let the police in on it to brighten up their dull lives that's the way he explained it to me he liked fights blonds and for some unfathomable reason school he was still a junior at 18 and a half and he never learned anything he just went for kicks I liked him real well because he kept us laughing at ourselves as well as at other things he reminded me of Will Rogers maybe it was the grin if I had to pick the real character of the gang it would be Dallas Winston dally I used to like to draw his picture when he was in a dangerous mood for that I could get his personality down in a few lines he had an elfish face with high cheekbones and a pointed chin small sharp animal teeth and ears like a Lynx his hair was almost white it was so blond and he didn't like haircuts or hair oil either so it fell over his forehead and wisps and knocked out in the back and Tufts and curled behind his ears and along the nape of his neck his eyes were blue blazing ice cold with a hatred of the whole world Valley had spent three years on the wild side of New York and had been arrested at the age of ten he was tougher than the rest of us tougher colder meaner the shade of difference separates a greaser from a hood wasn't present in dally he was as wild as the boys in the downtown outfits like Tim Shepards gang in New York dally blew off steam in gang fights but here organized gangs or rarities they're just small bunches of friends who stick together in the Warfare's between the social classes a rumble when it's called is usually born of a grudge fight and the opponent's just happened to bring their friends along oh there are a few named gangs around like the River Kings and the Tiber Street Tigers but here in the southwest there's no gang rivalry so dally even though he could get into a good fight sometimes had no specific thing to hate no rival gang only sotius and you can't win against them no matter how hard you try because they've got all the brakes and even whipping him isn't going to change that fact maybe that's why Dallas was so bitter he had quite a reputation they have a file on him down at the police station he'd been arrested he got drunk he rode in rodeos lied cheated stole rolled drunks jumped small kids he did everything I didn't like him but he was smart and you had to respect him Johnny Cade was last and least if you can picture a little dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and has lost in a crowd of strangers he'll have Johnny he was the youngest next to me smaller than the rest with a slight build he had big black eyes in a dark tanned face his hair was jet black and heavily greased and combed to the side but it was so long that it fell into shaggy bangs across his forehead he had a nervous suspicious look in his eyes and that beaten he got from the so sheís didn't help matters he was the gangs pet everyone's kid brother his father was always beating him up and his mother ignored him except when she was hacked off at something and then you could hear her yelling at him clear down at our house I think he hated that worse than getting whipped he would have run away a million times if we hadn't been there if it hadn't been for the gang Johnny would never have known love and affection are I wiped my eyes hurriedly did you catch him nope then got away this time the dirty two but went on cheerfully called the so she's every name he could think of or makeup kids okay I'm okay I tried to think of something to say I'm usually pretty quiet around people even the gang I changed the subject I didn't know you were out of the cooler yet dally good behavior got off early Dallas lit a cigarette handed it to Johnny everyone sat down to have a smoke and relax a smoke always lessens the tension I had quit trembling and my colour was back the cigarette was calling me down too bit cocked an eyebrow nice-looking bruise you got there kid I touched my cheek gingerly really too bit knotted sagely nice cut too makes you look tough and tough and tough for two different words tough is the same as rough tough means cool sharp like a tough-looking Mustang or a tough record in our neighborhood both are compliments Steve flicked his ashes at me what were you doing walking by your lonesome leave it to good old Steve to bring up something like that I was coming home from the movies I didn't think you don't ever think dairy broken not at home or anywhere when it counts you must think at school with all those good grades you bring home and you've always got your nose in a book but do you ever use your head for common sense no siree bub and if you did have to go by yourself you should have carried a blade I just stared at the hole in the toe of my tennis shoe me and dairy just didn't dig each other I could never please him he would have hollered at me for carrying a blade if I had carried one if I brought home bees he wanted a z' and if I got ACE he wanted to make sure they stayed A's I was playing football I should be in studying and if I was reading I should be out playing football he never hollered it soda pop not even when soda dropped out of school or got tickets for speeding he just hollered of me soda was glaring at him I leave my kid brother alone you hear it ain't his fault he likes to go to the movies and it ain't his fault the socials like to jump us and if he had been carrying a blade it would have been a good excuse to come to ribbons so it always takes up for me Darry said impatiently when I want my kid brother to tell me what to do with my other kid brother I'll ask you kid brother but he laid off me he always does when soda pop tells him to most of the time next time get one of us to go with you pony boy two-bit said any of us will speaking of movies dally on flipping away a cigarette but I'm walking over to the nightly double tomorrow night anybody want to come and hunt some action Steve shook his head me and soda are picking up Evie and Sandy for the game he didn't need to look at me the way he did right there and I wasn't gonna ask if I could come I'd never tell soda because he really liked Steve a lot but sometimes I can't stand Steve Randall I mean it sometimes I hate him dairy side just like I knew he would dare he never had time to do anything anymore I'm working tomorrow night and I looked at the rest of us how about y'all two bit Johnny cake you and Pony want to come me and Ronnie he'll come I said I knew Johnny wouldn't open his mouth unless he was forced to ok Dairy yes and stay in a school night Dairy was real good about letting me go to places on the weekends on school nights I could hardly leave the house I was planning on getting boozed up tomorrow night tube it said if I don't I'll walk over and find y'all Steve was looking at Dolly's hand his ring which he had rolled a drunk senior to get was back on his finger you break up with Sylvia again yeah and this time it's for good that little Broad was two-timing me again while I was in jail I thought of Sylvia and Evie and Sandy and two bits mini blondes they were the only kind of girls that would look at us I thought tough loud girls who were too much eye makeup and giggled and swore too much I like soda girl sandy just fine though her hair was natural blonde and her laughed was soft like her China blue eyes she'd never real good home or 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 eyes and had their dresses a decent lift and acted as if they'd like to spit on us have given a chance some were afraid of us and remember in Dallas Winston I didn't blame him but most of that does like we were dirt they have a same kind of look that the so she's did when they came by and they're 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 Evy did when Steve got hauled in did they run out on them the way Sylvia did Dallas maybe their boys didn't get arrested or beaten up or busted up in rodeos I was still thinking about it while I was doing my homework that night I had to read great expectations for English and that kid pip he reminded me of us the way he felt marked lousy because he wasn't a gentleman or anything and the way that girl kept looking down on him that happened to me once one time in biology I had to dissect a worm and the razor wouldn't cut so I used my switchblade the minute I flicked it out and I forgot what I was doing or I would never have done it the girl right beside me kind of gasped and said they are right you are a hood and that didn't make me feel so hot these were a lot of so she's in that class I get put into a classes because I'm supposed to be smart and most of them thought it was pretty funny I didn't though she was a cute girl she looked real good in yellow and we deserve a lot of our trouble I thought Dallas deserves everything he gets and should get worse if you want the truth and 2-bit he doesn't really want or need half the things he swipes from stores he just thinks it's fun to swipe everything that isn't nailed down I can understand why soda pop and Steve get into drag races and fight so much though both of them have too much energy too much feeling with no way to blow it off rub harder soda I heard dairy mumbling you're gonna put me to sleep I looked through the door soda pop was giving Gary a back rub Gary's always pulling muscles he roofs houses and he's always trying to carry two bundles or roughing up the ladder I knew soda would put him to sleep because soda can put about anybody out when he sets his head to it he thought Derry worked too hard anyway I did too Gary didn't deserve to work like an old man when he was only 20 he'd been a real popular guy in school he was capturing the football team and he'd been voted boy of the year we just didn't have the money for him to go to college even with the athletic scholarship you won and now he didn't have time between jobs to even think about college so he never went anywhere and never did anything anymore except work out at gyms and go skiing with some old friends of his sometimes I rubbed my cheek worded turn purple I had looked in the mirror and it did make me look tough but dairy baby put a bandaid on the cut I remember how awful Johnny looked when he got beaten up I had just as much right to use the streets as the so sheís did and Johnny had never hurt them why did the sotius hate us so much we left them alone I really want to sleep over to my home work trying to figure it out soda pop who had jumped into bed by this time yelled sleep Lou for me to turn off the light and get to bed when I finished the chapter I was on I did lime besides soda stared at the wall I kept remember in the faces of the socials as I surrounded me that blue Madras shirt the blonde was wearing and I could still hear a thick voice need a haircut greaser I shivered you cold Ponyboy a little I lied soda through water arm across my neck he mumbled something drowsily listen kiddo when Derry hollers at you he don't mean nothing he's just got more worries than somebody his age ought to don't take him serious you dig pony don't let him bug you he's really proud of you because you're so brainy it's just cuz you're the baby I mean he loves you a lot savvy sure I said trying for sodas sake to keep the sarcasm out of my voice soda yeah how come you dropped out I never have gotten over that I could hardly stand it when he left school cuz I'm dumb the only things I was passing anyway we're auto mechanics and Jim you're not dumb yeah I am shut up and I'll tell you something don't tell dairy though okay I think I'm gonna marry sandy after she gets out of school when I get a better job in everything I might wait till you get out of school though so I can still help Terry with the bills and stuff tough enough wait till I get out though so you can keep dairy off my back don't be like that kid I told you he don't mean half of what he says have you in love with Sandy what's it like hmm he sighed happily it's real nice in a moment his breathing was light and regular I turned my head to look at him and in the moonlight he looked like some Greek god come to earth I wondered how he could stand being so handsome then I sighed I don't quite get what he meant about Derry Terry thought I was just another mouth to feed and somebody to holler at Derry loved me I thought of those hard pale eyes soda was wrong for once I thought Derry doesn't love anyone or anything except maybe soda I didn't hardly think of him as being human I don't care I lied to myself I don't care about him either so does enough and I'd have him till I got out of school I don't care about Derry but I was still lying and I knew it I lie to myself all the time but I never believed me