🩰Amy🩰

UNLIKE many other kids, Amy Golding hated being home.

The reason: Her parents.

Mr. and Mrs. Golding were Socs and they loved it. They were upper class people and they were very concerned about their money and their social class. Leading them to decide the people their children hung out with. The reason why Amy wasn't grounded because of her friendship with Kimmy Curtis, is because she was a girl.

"And because she isn't like those hoodlums." Mrs. Golding had said, referring to the gang that Kimmy had grown up with since she was a baby. When Amy told Kimmy her secret, she hugged her and told Amy that she and her siblings were always welcome in the Curtis residence.

Amy didn't mind the gang at all, she liked hanging out with them. Even though they could be a little chaotic sometimes. On weekdays, Kimmy, George, and Amy (and sometimes Cassie) would go to the DX with Kimmy's brother Ponyboy and Johnny Cade to wait for Sodapop to be done with his shift.

Kimmy and Amy would take whatever they wanted from the store because Soda let them, George, Ponyboy and Johnny would just be talking about books and movies and other stuff while helping Soda's friend Steve with the cars, and Cassie would be watching Soda while running the cashier. She wouldn't get paid, though.

"Are you going to the Nightly Double with me, Pony, Dal, and Johnny?" Kimmy asked her friend as she munched on a Hershey's Chocolate Bar. "When's that?" Amy replied.

"Tomorrow."

"Let me ask Cassie."

Amy made her way to the counter where she found George and Cassie counting the money in the cashier. "Can we go to the drive in tomorrow?" "Yeah, Cherry and Marcia are going with Bob and Randy, they already invited me and the rest of us if you wanted to come."

"Will Ponyboy be there?" George asked Amy. His sister nodded, knowing full well of George's crush on Kimmy's brother. "Yeah, and DALLAS WINSTON will be there, am I right or am I wrong Henry?" Amy yelled the words Dallas Winston for her brother Henry to hear. Henry poked his head from the door of the DX, there was a cigarette in his hand,

Henry did indeed smoke, but never at home and he only smoked once a month. Mother and Father would kill him if they found out. "Yes, you are right, Ames. I can hear you saying that from a mile away!" "Why, can Cassie confess her feelings to MR. SODAPOP PATRICK CURTIS, over here?"

"Okay, that's enough for today." George told his sister, covering her mouth. "YOU CALLED?" Soda's voice rang out from outside. "NO!" Kimmy yelled back as George took his hand off of Amy's mouth.

"OKAY!"

The Golding siblings and the Curtis girl started laughing.

"Oh, we have to go." Cassie reminded, checking her watch. The siblings grabbed their stuff and were about to leave. "Can we walk you guys home?" Soda asked them. Amy looked behind him to see Steve, Soda's best buddy, trying to act normal, Kimmy was whistling, and Pony and Johnny were smoking cigarettes. "Yeah, sure." Henry said.

The Golding mansion was only a few blocks away from the DX, it wasn't a long walk and Pony and Kimmy wouldn't miss curfew.

☀️Time Skip☀️

🎀Cassie🎀

By the time they arrived at the Golding mansion, Mrs. Golding was at the porch, eyeing the Greasers with a stern look. "You wanna go to the Dingo, Cass?" Soda asked her. "Can't we go somewhere else?" Cassie suggested since she couldn't come up with a better explanation of why she didn't want to go to the Dingo. "Like...the movies or the park or something?"

"You know Sodapop can't sit still through a movie, Cassie." Ponyboy reminded her. "We can do that, but you have to try those milkshakes, other time, Cassie, they're amazing." Kimmy said, trying to make the situation less awkward. "Why do you guys care what your folks think if you went to the Dingo?" Steve asked.

Everyone except for Johnny and Kimmy turned to look at them. "Because...if they found out what we were up to...doing all of that...they won't let us see you guys again. They said we'd have to move somewhere else with people that have good manners and class...like England or France." Cassie admitted to them guiltily while holding back tears.

Soda put a hand on Cassie's shoulder. "Don't listen to them, Cassie. Just have fun once in a while. Don't let them take control over you guys. Stand up for yourselves." Cassie glanced at her mother sitting on the porch looking at her eldest daughter with a stern look. She had never felt so conflicted.

Instead of taking Soda's advice and appreciating him for his help, Cassie had to obey her mother. She cleared her throat, lifted her chin up, and shook Soda's hand, making his eyebrows furrow in confusion. Everyone looked confused but Kimmy, who was suddenly interested in her sneakers.

"Soda, I don't need your advice, thank you. But...I'll be fine. we can handle them." She said to him, being sophisticated in front of her mother. Then Mrs. Golding motioned for her children to come home."We must be on our merry way. Good day...gentlemen and lady." George said to the boys as the siblings hopped on their bikes and rode back home. The Greasers reacted in confusion with shrugs and furrowed eyebrows.

What did I just do? Cassie thought to herself worriedly as she rode back home. The siblings parked their bikes and went inside the house. Mr. Golding was at work. "Cassandra? What were you and those hoodlums talking about?" Mrs. Golding asked Cassie in a stern voice. Cassie tensed once she heard her real name.

"Oh, nothing much, Mother. Just...about the wonders of the town and how excited we are for the weekend." She responded with a smile. "Didn't seem that way to me." Mrs. Golding responded while looking at her sternly. "Hm. I see that you've eavesdropped on our conversation with out friends sometime today. How typical." George sassed at his mother as he sat at the kitchen table and started eating toast with caviar for dinner, which Mrs. Golding made.

"You are not going to the Dingo tomorrow. Do you understand? That place is filled with drunks, and dropouts and delinquents. Who knows what happens in there?" Mrs. Golding scolded Cassie as she ate some toast that Henry had given her. "I do, Mother, I do. But I've known them since 3rd grade. You know them, right?" Cassie protested.

"I do know them, but, once boys start reaching adolescence...who knows what they might think of you. They'll draw you into something that you shouldn't. Or they'll replace you with another girl. Someone who would be approved to do the stuff they do. I don't approve of you hanging out with them anymore. The more distance you keep from them, the more they'll understand that you don't feel comfortable around them." Mrs. Golding said as she started tearing up.

She was putting lies in Cassie's head. It took her a moment to think about what she said...and it's true. She nodded in response, agreeing with her mother and understanding her worry. But Cassie fought back. "Why do you keep manipulating us like this?" She whispered angrily. "I'm not manipulating you and your siblings, my love. I'm telling you to do the right thing." Mrs. Golding corrected Cassie.

"And that is?" Henry asked her as he raised an eyebrow. "To be cautious." His mother responded. "I see." Cassie responded, looking down and keeping a brave face. Inside, she felt like she and her siblings were stuck and losing their balance in the middle of a rope during a tug of war, with people on different sides pulling then to choose which side to stick with.

One side was to obey their parents and please them, and the other side was to be loyal to their Greaser friends who they loved and trusted the most. And Cassie was afraid that both sides would be the wrong decision because she was afraid where it would lead her.

And Cassie knew that family always comes first...but she was always loyal to her friends. They accepted her in 3rd grade due to Cassie's social awkwardness and her prim and ladylike personality. Suddenly, Mr. Golding came home from work. "Hello, my people. What did I miss?" He asked curiously as his eyes had no emotion in them. He didn't care what he missed. That was the last straw.

"Excuse me." Cassie whispered as she got up from the kitchen chair and walked upstairs to her room. As she closed the door behind her, that's when Cassie revealed her real emotions that she was keeping inside.

"Soda...?" She asked quietly while breathing anxiously. Tears started forming in her eyes. "Soda?" Cassie asked again, even though she knew he wasn't in her room. He was in the East Side, probably eating dinner with Darry and Ponyboy and Kimmy.

Cassie looked into the mirror and noticed her reflection. She was wearing an elegant school outfit with a pearl necklace and hair that she had straightened herself. Mrs. Golding made her daughters wear corsets like in Victorian days. They were suffocating and uncomfortable. Especially for Amy, since she was forced to do ballet by Mrs. Golding.

Cassie was still breathing anxiously while struggling to take the corset off underneath her outfit. She yelped out, feeling helpless. Unfortunately, she couldn't take off the corset, but Cassie took off her pearl necklace while breathing anxiously. "S-Soda...?!" Cassie asked, still wanting the Curtis boy by her side. She wiped off her makeup which was light, natural, and nude makeup, but still visible. Her face needed to breathe as well.

Cassie grabbed some of her stuff that were on the bureau and threw them across the room, screaming her heart out as tears streamed down her cheeks, unleashing her fear and anger. "AHHHH! AHHHHH!!! YOU...YOU FUCKING...!" Cassie screamed while throwing her stuff across the room. Then, she breathed heavily while looking in the mirror.

She punched the mirror, breaking it and making Cassie's knuckles bleed in the process. She screamed in pain, looking at her bleeding knuckles. "Cassie?" It was Henry. He was greeted by a mess and his sister sitting on her bed, knuckles bleeding, sobbing.

Soon, George and Amy entered the room and snuggled with their siblings the same thing on their minds.

"Help us..."

Author Speaks:
I feel so bad for the Golding siblings at this point 😭😭😭😭 Things will get worse before they get better for them.