Tana and June drove together to Tana's house. Tana remained quiet the whole drive there while June went on about Joel.

"He wants to take me bowling tomorrow night. Isn't that sweet?"

"Uh huh," Tana agreed, not really caring where Joel took her.

"Do you think your mother will be home?"

"Why?" asked Tana, as she turned down Timber Lane.

"She's great at sewing and I've got this tear in my favorite blouse and my mother can't sew to save her life. I was hoping your mom could teach me."

"She might," Tana shrugged as she pulled into her driveway.

The two girls got out of the car and headed toward the front porch steps. The house was a huge blue two-story with white shutters and bay windows. It was one of those houses with the nice yard and a white picket fence, with a white mailbox to match. There was a porch swing and a two-car garage, which housed Tana's Corvette and her parents' Mercedes. 

Tana unlocked the front door with her house key and led June inside. June closed the door behind her. Just as Tana had assumed, the house seemed to be empty. It usually was. The only other beings in the house were Tana's German Shepard and her mother's overfed Persian cat, Delilah.

Sunny, Tana's dog, came bounding down the stairs to greet her and June.

"Hi, baby," Tana said, giving him a nice scratch behind the ears. "You wanna go up to my room? No one's home."

June nodded and the two girls, accompanied by Sunny, climbed up the stairs.

Tana's room was big. There was no need for a single person to need so much space, but Tana had it. On one side of the room was Tana's bed. Next to her bedside was a record player, a box full of records on the floor next to it. She was a big fan of the Beatles and the Cordettes.

On the other side of the room was all of her art stuff: an easel, a box full of paint, several paintings lined up against the wall and a pile of unused canvases on the floor. Her painting smock was hanging up on the back of her door, along with her fluffy pink robe and her favorite jacket. Not many people knew it, but Tana was an artist. And, as humble as she was, she was a damn good artist.

While Tana hung her purse and cardigan up on the hook next to her door, June plopped down onto the bed. She grabbed up a magazine that had been thrown on the floor and started flipping through.

"You can put on a record if you want," Tana told June, who immediately sat up and walked over to the turntable.

Help! began blasting through the speakers and June quickly turned it down to save their eardrums.

"Any new paintings?" June asked excitedly, as Tana unwrapped a new canvas and plopped it on the easel.

"Nah, you saw the last one."

"Oh, that one of Sunny in the Corvette. I love that painting." June walked over and began rifling through all of her friend's artwork. "You're so damn good at art. I'm so jealous. All I can do is make brownies and cakes."

"Hey, you're gonna make a guy extremely happy with your ability to bake," Tana said, giving June a smile.

"I guess. Maybe I should open a bakery. That'd be fun."

"You'd make a killing. Everyone and their mother for miles would be coming to buy your treats."

June blushed and turned back to the paintings. "What about you? You gonna sell your paintings?"

Tana shrugged. "I don't know. I kinda just like keeping them. They're all of important things to me." This was true. The sad part was that most of her paintings were of Sunny.

"You know who you should paint then?"

"Who?" Tana asked, fearing what she was going to say.

"Us," June said, her tone making it sound like duh!. 

"Yeah, yeah, I should," said Tana awkwardly. "I need a good reference picture first."

"We should do that this summer. Go on a road trip or something. Then we'll have the perfect photo of the group. Oh, my god, I can just imagine. I'm gonna look so good in a painting. You'll make my cheeks nice and rosy like those girls in Woman's World, won't you?" June had that dreamy look in her eyes. As much as she loved baking, Tana knew June's one wish in life was to be famous. 

Tana didn't mind June's company, but she was really happy when June left to head home for dinner a few hours later, leaving Tana alone with her Help! album and Sunny. Her parents weren't home by dinner, which was normal. She knew her father was working on a huge case. He hadn't had this big of a case since the autumn before when Bob Sheldon was killed by that Greaser kid. She and Bob had mutual friends, but she could never stand the guy.

"What should we make for dinner, Sunny?" Tana asked her dog as they walked into the kitchen together. All the dog did was cock his head to the side. "Well, you're no use. You wanna go on a walk instead?"

Sunny wagged his tail and ran for the front door. The girl grabbed her dog's leash off the coat rack next to the door and clipped it to his collar. She slipped on her blue Keds and opened the door, allowing Sunny to lead her down the porch steps on onto the sidewalk.

The two walked for about an hour until they decided to stop at the bridge, which went over a creek. She didn't know how, but they'd made their way over to the Eastern side of town. This was Greaser territory. She wasn't scared. She knew the Greasers wouldn't bother her so long as she had Sunny.

Tana sat down, her legs swinging over the side and Sunny took a seat next to her. It was so quiet and peaceful, the only sounds being of distant cars and bullfrogs chirping in search of mates.

"What the hell are you doing here?" a gruff voice asked, making Tana jump visibly. Sunny began to growl. She turned to see none other than her savior from the previous night, Dallas Winston.

"Can't stay away from me, huh?" she asked.

"More like, this is my side of town. You're on our turf."

"You were on my turf last night when you interrupted me."

Dallas scoffed. "A simple thank you would suffice." Despite sounding overall annoyed with Tana, Dallas took a seat next to her, totally disregarding her overprotective canine friend. Sunny wondered over to Winston and gave him a few sniffs before deeming him okay by his standards. "Hey, buddy," Dallas said, giving the dog a gentle pat on the head. Sunny, admiring this newfound friend, took a seat in between the man and his owner.

"So what are you doing over here anyway?" Dallas asked the young girl, lighting a cigarette.

Tana shrugged, not meeting Winston's hard gaze. He was really intimidating, but Tana showed no fear. "I was just walking my dog. I guess I wasn't paying attention. But I'm not scared."

"Well, if anyone else sees you over here, they'll think you've gone nuts. Are ya lost?"

"No," said Tana firmly. "Why can't I just go places? Why is it always 'that's greaser's turf' or 'it's not safe there'. We all own this earth. We should all be sharing it and enjoying it."

Dallas made a weird sound, causing Tana to whip her head around to look at him.

"You really are naive, doll," he said, taking a drag off his cigarette. 

"How?"  She was annoyed at the guy's choice of pet name. Doll. Who did he think we was?

"It's because of your people that we have to separate our town. You guys get all the nice houses and fancy cars while we get shit. We get to walk around all scared of getting jumped by your people. Just because we came to an agreement after the big rumble last year don't mean shit. Your people started this whole mess."

"They're not my people," Tana said, her voice low.

"Well, they ain't my people. So who's people are they? I see you driving that pretty little Corvette. You're one of those people."

"No, I'm not. My dad bought me that car."

"Woop-de-fuckin'-doo," Dallas said.

Tana glared at the blond. "You're really an asshole. You don't understand any of the shit I go through."

"What shit, doll?" Dallas asked with a smirk on his face. "I'll wait."

"I wish I wasn't them," she muttered, turning her head away from him shamefully. "I really wish I wasn't. I don't like any of the people I hang out with. All anyone on my side of town cares about is money. I just want to be free from it all." Tana paused for a minute before turning back to him. "Don't you want to get away, too? Everything here is about money. Anywhere else, who cares?"

For once in his life, Dallas almost felt bad for someone other than himself. Almost. He finished off his cigarette and flipped the butt over the side of the bridge.

"Let's get out of here, then," Dallas said, instantly regretting it. He couldn't believe the words that came out of his own mouth. Where was he going to run off to with a soc girl?

Tana seemed to perk up at this idea. "Yeah. Let's go on a trip. Let's run away."

"Now hold on a damn minute. You're really just going to run off with a stranger? Haven't your parents taught you anything?"

"If you wanted to hurt me, you probably wouldn't have shoved me out of the way of that train."

"Well, you got me there."

"So let's go. Go pack your stuff. I'll pack a bag. We can take my car so long as Sunny can come."

"Your dog?"

"I'm not going anywhere without him."

"I never agreed to go anywhere with you."

"Well, are you against it? If neither of us can stand being in this town, we should both just leave."

All Dallas could do was stare at her. For a pretty soc girl, she was really stupid. On the other hand, he'd never met a greaser girl with as big of balls as Tana had. Not even Sylvia would have had the nerve to just up and leave.

"When are we leaving?" Dallas asked.

"Tonight."

"Don't you have a curfew?"

Tana shrugged. "Who cares? My parents are working late. They probably won't even notice I'm not there. Not for a few days, at least."

"Wow. A social girl whose parents don't care? What year is it?"

"So are we going?" Tana asked, getting to her feet. Dallas stood up, too.

"If you're serious about this, meet me over at Buck's in an hour."

"Where is Buck's?" Tana asked. "In case you forgot, buddy, this isn't my side of town."

"You'll know it when you see it," Dallas said, turning and walking away.

Tana turned the other way and led Sunny back home. Was this really happening? Was she really just going to run off into the sunset with Dallas Fucking Winston?

As Tana pushed open her front door and was greeted by nothing but an empty house, Tana couldn't help but wish she was gone already. She could make it on her own. She didn't need Dallas.

But, in some weird way, she trusted him. Maybe it was because of the fact that he'd practically saved her life, which was more than any of her friends had ever done for her. The weirdest part was, she could hardly tolerate the guy. And yet she was really going to go and pick him up in her car and run off with him?

Dallas walked into Buck's. It was Friday, which meant the place was packed full of people. They were all drunk and partying and dancing around. Some guys who were shooting pool called over to Dally but he waved them off as he headed for the stairs. Dally pushed his door open and couldn't believe it when he started shoving random possessions into a duffle bag. He made sure he had his lighter and Kools and located his secret stash of money, which he hid under a loose floorboard in the corner of the room. It was all rodeo money and money he got doing illegal shit that he'd saved up for something important.

He guessed whatever the fuck he was doing with a soc was that something important. He shoved the money into a side pocket in his bag. He checked the alarm clock next to his bed. He had a half hour before the girl was due to arrive. If she didn't show up at eight on the dot, he was saying "fuck it" and going downstairs to party and play cards with a couple o' losers.

At ten til, he headed downstairs, dragging his duffle with him. As he reached for the door, he lit a cigarette. Before he could get outside, Buck stopped him.

"Where ya goin'?"

Dallas shrugged. "I don't know. Wherever my girlfriend decides she wants to go," he replied nonchalantly, taking a long drag off his weed. 

"You gonna be gone long?"

"I don't know. Probably."

"How long?"

"Jesus, is this twenty questions or somethin'? I've got shit to do, man. Whadya want?"

Buck put his hands up in defense. "I was just asking, buddy. No need to go all hostile on me." Buck turned around and started talking to a greaser girl who was beyond drunk.

Dallas continued outside.

At exactly eight o'clock, a baby blue Corvette pulled up.