Baby’s POV

I woke up the next morning to the haunting memories of last night’s ‘experience’. I am the daughter of a highly esteemed doctor, who was proud of his daughters and what do I do? Go dirty dance with a guy I barely know. Then I thought about how handsome he was and how everything about the guy just attracted me to him and made me feel alive. It was like I got a burst of energy every time I saw him. This guy was addictive because I just wanted to keep seeing him and I right now I just wanted to be last night, dancing with him but I knew I couldn’t I needed to get over it, I mean I didn’t even really meet him, I don’t even know his name.  “Baby, Lisa come one we need to go have breakfast.” Mum said as she poked her head in the door. I threw the blanket off and threw on a white singlet and button down over the top with blue jean three quarters and white converses.  We went up to the main building to the restaurant and had breakfast, the boy I thought was Soda’s brother was serving us. “Hello my names Ponyboy and yes that’s my real name- he sighed like people had been bothering him about his name- and I will be serving you today, Now what can I get you?” He smiled politely and put his notepad up ready to take our orders. “Well I will have the BLT and an orange juice thanks.” And I handed him the menu, the rest of the family ordered while I just looked out the window. I wondered how many times in Ponyboy’s life he had people bother him and ask questions about his name.  Mum and Dad talked the whole time about topics I really wasn’t interested in so I tuned out and just thought about last night. Ugh! Why couldn’t I get it off my mind? Finally our meals were bought out by Ponyboy and he was very polite to us more than most waiters were.  I started to eat when I was nearly sick Lisa, my sister, was flirting with one of the waiters, they kept staring at each other every time he walked past he would wink at her and somehow my parents didn’t notice. My sister and I looked nothing alike, I had short brown hair that most of the time was just in waves, my eyes were hazel with green flecks through them and I had red rosy lips that I inherited from my mother along with my high cheekbones. Lisa had straight black hair, blue eyes and pale lips, really the only thing our looks had in common was our pale skin.  “Hey Baby?” Lisa put her hand on my shoulder trying to get my attention. “Yeah Lisa?” my eyes were trained on a tree just outside the hotel that was nothing special but I just had the stares. “I heard about a wig stall want to go have a look?” I didn’t really want to but I thought maybe it would get my mind of last night so I agreed to go. Once everyone had finished breakfast Lisa went down to the wig stall but I stayed behind for a minute to talk to Ponyboy, I don’t know why but I just felt bad for him because of his name. “Hey Ponyboy, can I ask you something?” I asked him he looked at me confused and I realised he didn’t know who I was, too him I was just another guest at the resort. “uh Sorry let me introduce myself first, my name is Francis but most people just call me baby.” I smiled at him and extended my hand. He took no time to accept and shook my hand. “I just served you didn’t I?” He asked. “Yeah you did, I uh just wanted to say that I like your name and your brothers names and I gather people must bother you about it but I personally think they are pretty cool.” His face lit up and he thanked me but then saw Mr Kelleman walk in and quickly said he had to go back to work, I understood. I walked down to the Wig stall and saw Lisa trying on a black wig which made no sense to me seeing as she had black hair already. I took up a seat next to her and put on the first wig I saw, it was one that looked like Cleopatra the wig looked pretty good but not on me. “I’m going out with Robby tonight, cover me?” Lisa demanded more than asked and I knew I had no choice so I just agreed to and sighed. I looked to my right and saw my “dance partner” coming towards the table I quickly ripped the wig off making sure I looked ok before he saw me.  He looked at the table and commented that we all looked good, I smiled at him but I don’t think he saw me. He then walked up to the pretty blonde who was running the activity and quickly and quietly talked to her before stalking off.

Penny’s POV

I was running the wig stall looking at all these girls that were trying to change their appearance with a wig, like their appearance was their biggest issue. I wished to be them, to be able to have their issues, their small problems. My problem was huge, it was a big mistake that one way or another I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I looked up and saw Darry coming towards the stall and smiled at him, he smiled back but I could tell it wasn’t genuine. He commented to the women and then gave me a kiss on the cheek and a hug.

Darry: Soda told me that there is a doctor coming in on Thursday that can get rid of your problem.

Trust Darry to get straight to the point, he said your problem with such bitterness he didn’t agree with me wanting to get rid of the child but I couldn’t keep it not with my life the way it was…in a big uncontrollable mess.

Penny: How much?

Darry: $250

Penny: Damn it Darry, you know neither one of us has that kind of money.

Darry: I’m sorry Penny but that’s that. The gang want to see you too.

Penny: The gangs here?

I was astonished I really didn’t think of the rest of the gang being here until I thought back to the first night here, I had got blind drunk and forgotten most of it but I had some flashbacks and vaguely remember seeing them there.

Darry: yeah, I got a dance lesson I’ll see you later.

Then Darry stalked off. I decided to close up the stall a bit early so I could go see the gang. Most of the ladies scurried off except for one she had short brown wavy hair and just seemed so happy it made me a little bit annoyed.  “I just want to say I think you’re an incredible dancer, I envy you so much.” Her voice was full of hope. I just laughed this chick had no idea what I had been through and she envied me just because I could dance? Wow she was naïve, “yeah well my mum kicked me out when I was 16 so I didn’t have a choice.” Her smile quickly faded away and I walked off with the wigs before she could try and console me on my terrible childhood. I walked quickly to my room and dumped the wigs by the door then wondered off to find the rest of the gang. I hadn’t seen Two-Bit, Steve, Dally or Johnny in years. I found them all hanging out at the lake they all looked so much older and before I went up to them I decided to keep my little secret a secret.

Dally’s POV

I was glanced over at the main hotel after taking a break from playing Frisbee with the boys and saw her…Penny! I hadn’t seen her in years and I remembered our last conversation…

*flashback*

I had only just started hanging out with the gang, it had been about 6 months and during that time I had developed a serious crush on Penny but she had just broken up with Darry and I knew I shouldn’t make a move to soon. However during the six months before she left I flirted with her a lot.

I saw her sitting on the edge of the water fountain at the park, she was by herself. The sun was shining off of her golden hair making it look radiant and gorgeous. I walked up to her and sat down next to her she jumped a little but smiled at me. “Hey Dally, what are you doing here?” She was swinging her legs like a little kid well I suppose we were only 15. “I came to see you.” I winked and smirked at her but she just laughed until she saw my face go serious. “Penny I like you…a lot.” I admitted, it took me a lot of courage to ask tell her that so I hoped she returned my feelings because if she didn’t I may never be able to tell a girl that again in fear of rejection. It wasn’t like the fear you get when you’re in trouble with the fuzz or you got a blade held against ya. This fear was different all together it was fear based on emotion and mentality. “Dally-she sighed and looked down at her feet I knew this couldn’t be good.- why couldn’t you have told me sooner?” she asked looking up at me now with a single tear in her right eye. “I don’t understand.” I said feebly. “Dally I have liked you for a few months now I wish you had told me sooner so we could have had a chance.” The tear fell down her cheek I put my hand up to her face and wiped away the tear with my thumb. “We can have a chance Penny, tell me what’s the matter?”  I asked in a calm soothing voice. “Dallas my mother is making move to California…tomorrow.” More tears streamed out of her eyes. MY heart felt like it had been hit by a truck and my stomach felt like I was on a rollercoaster. “Dallas I’m so sorry” she sobbed, I pulled her into a hug so her face was against my chest, I rubbed her back and tried to calm her down by telling her everything would be ok.  Once she had calmed down she said something I will never forget “I had better be getting home now but Dally if we ever cross paths we should go on a date.” She kissed me and then skipped off.

*present day*

I stood there for a minute just thinking about the past and how after Penny left I turned into a womaniser not caring about any other woman but her. When I looked at her again the gang was surrounding her hugging her and laughing probably reminiscing about old times. I just continued to stand there, until she got sight of me and we both just stared at each other neither one moving just standing there probably both thinking about our last conversation. I eventually wondered up to her and tried to act cool in front of the gang, I couldn’t have them knowing I like Penny or liked her, I wasn’t sure If I still did after all that was a long time ago. “Hey Penny, how’s it goin?” I asked nonchalantly. “Dally! Yeah good, how about yourself?” She jumped up and hugged me and luckily the other guys had gone back to playing Frisbee and were too busy sucking at it to worry about me and Penny.  I hugged her back and twirled her around, she just laughed. I put her down and properly looked at her she still had her gorgeous blond golden hair and blue eyes that made Penny who she was…well in looks anyway. “Yeah I’ve been ok, in and out of the cooler….yeah let’s not talk about me but what about you? Tell me about yourself what happened in California?” I asked realising my hands were still on her waist so I quickly removed them and ran my hands through my hair. “Not much to tell really, mum kicked me out when I was 16 and ever since then I’ve been going from job to job just trying to survive. I tried to come back to Tulsa but I never had the money to go back and I wasn’t sure everyone would want to see me after I left without saying goodbye.” She was just looking at her feet, and the thought of her having to fend for herself like I had to, made me angry and sad. “We would have loved you to come back we all missed you, I missed you.” I said trailing off.  “I wish I had known that but I don’t know every thing’s just messed up now.” Her voice got shaky and I wondered what made her voice shaky. I grabbed her arm so she would look up at me, “Penny, tell me what’s the matter?”  She just smiled, I knew she remembered that is the exact question I asked her that day.  “Dally, I don’t know why I’m telling you this but I’m knocked up with some assholes baby that he won’t do anything about so it’s up to me to get rid of it.” She gazed off into the distance. I suddenly filled with rage, I didn’t know who this guy is but I was going to kill him for doing this to Penny! “Who is he?” I asked through gritted teeth. “Dally, calm down.” She put her hands on my chest and tried to look into my eyes but I was staring at the main building behind her. “No Penny no one does this to you and gets away with it. Now who is he?!” My voice was getting louder and I stared into her eyes. They were full of terror and fright, I calmed down a bit the last thing I wanted to do was scare her. “Penny I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you. But this guy deserves to be shot.” You could still hear the anger in my voice. “Dally why don’t you forget about it and take me on that date?” I just looked at her with total surprise, “you still remember?” I whispered. “Of course, when mum kicked me out all I could think about was going back to Tulsa to come find you so we could be together.”  I pulled her into a hug and stroked her hair then whispered in her ear “I will take you for breakfast tomorrow morning. Be ready by 8.” Then we walked back to the gang and acted pretty normal in front of them, I don’t think either of us wanted the gang to make fun of us and to be honest I was still pretty ticked off.