Sandy?
Sandy took a deep breath as she walked up the front steps to the Curtis house. She used to come here all the time to see Soda. It used to make her happy to come here, but now she felt like a ball of nerves. She wasn’t sure Soda would even want to see her, but she felt like she had to do this. She had to tell him she was back and that she was sorry. She knew she would never be able to have him again. Not the way she used to, but she could at least take accountability for her actions. She took another deep breath and knocked on the door. A pretty dark haired girl answered the door. Sandy was surprised, she didn’t expect a girl to answer, especially someone she didn’t know. Was she Soda’s new girlfriend? Of course he had a new girlfriend. She should have expected as much. She looked older too, probably some cool older lady that he met at the DX.
“Hi, Can I help you?” The woman said with a smile.
Sandy opened her mouth to speak, to ask for Soda but nothing came out and then she heard what sounded like Steve yell, “Curtis! Go give your girl money for the pizza!”
His girl. Sandy thought. Not her. She wasn’t his girl anymore. She didn’t deserve to be his girl anymore. It wasn’t fair for her to feel jealous of Soda’s new girlfriend. The woman was still looking at her and Sandy knew she had to force words to come out of her mouth. ““Oh um, uh, n-n-nno one… I-I must h-have the wrong h-house.” Of course her old stutter was coming out, it always did when she was nervous. She turned around and walked away as fast as she could. She shouldn’t have come here, this was a mistake. She started making her way down the sidewalk. aAfter a moment she heard footsteps running behind, her heart swelled with nervous hope for a moment, maybe Soda had heard her at the door and was coming after her. But then she heard a familiar voice that didn’t belong to Soda.
“Sandy?” Evie asked. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Sandy stopped walking and turned around to face the girl who was once her best friend. If looks could kill Sandy is sure she’d be lying dead on the ground. “I came to see Soda… But I shouldn’t have… I’m leaving.” Evie continued to stare at her, arms crossed. Sandy looked down at her sneakers. “I… I’m back.”
Evie scoffed, “Clearly.”
Sandy looked back up at Evie, “The girl who answered the door… is she… I mean what’s her name?
Evie realized immediately what Sandy thought and she was about to correct her. But part of her wanted to punish Sandy for leaving, at least for a little bit. “Her name is Elsie.” Sandy nodded. “When did you get back?”
“My train got in this morning. Is she Soda’s girlfriend? ” Sandy said quietly.
Evie scoffed. “Not that it is any of your business, but no, Sandy, She’s not. There are three Curtis brothers, remember?”
Sandy wasn’t sure how that made her feel. Relieved? A little, but at the same time she wanted him to be happy. He deserved to be happy. Sandy nodded and turned back around. She started towards the alley next to the Curtis's house. Evie was still following her. “So, you get into town and the first thing you do is go to your ex-boyfriend’s house.” Evie said disdainfully. Sandy thought that made her sound pathetic. The girls turned down the alley next to the Curtis House, and stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Soda’s kid brother, Ponyboy, on top of the youngest Shepard boy. “Sandy?” Pony said in a shocked tone once he was standing.
Sandy didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t really surprised at what they just walked into but seeing Ponyboy made her chest feel tight. The last time she saw Soda, he had been so worried about his little brother. “Um, hi Pony.” It was all she could think to say.
Suddenly, the Shepard boy (Curly?) blurted out, “We were just wrestling, right Pony?”
“Yeah, wrestling. Besides, what are you even doing here?” Pony agreed.
Sandy’s heart sunk even deeper, he knew. Of course Soda told Pony about what she did. He told the boy just about everything. “I just got back to town.” She said nervously, “Do you think you could tell Soda something for me when you see him?” She wasn’t sure why she added that last part. She didn’t even know what message she wanted him to pass along, but it didn’t matter because Evie spoke before Pony was able to respond.
“No, he can’t tell Soda anything for you. He’s not your messenger boy.”
Pony glanced at Evie, then back at Sandy, “Yeah… and Honestly Sandy, I don’t think he wants to hear from you…” Sandy sighed, of course he didn't, why would he? She felt her eyes welling up and she didn’t want to cry in front of them. That was like rule number one of being a greaser girl, so she kept walking down the alley, past Curly and Pony. Evie didn’t follow. It let out the next street over and she decided she didn’t want to go back to her mom’s apartment. Instead, she started walking towards the stables that her brother worked at. Everyone knew her down there and didn’t mind if she hung around and said hi to the horses. She needed to be away from people for a minute.
When she got there, she waved to some of the farm hands who she knew and walked over to where she knew Buck’s horses were boarded. Her brother knew Buck and she knew nobody would say anything to her petting his horses or even going into those stables. Some rich folks boarded their horses here, so it always made her nervous to go up to horses she didn’t know. She was always afraid some Socy West sider would show up and yell at her for touching their horse. She walked up to a brown and white quarter pony who had their head hanging out of the stable. She placed a hand on its snout and smiled. “Hi, baby. You’re so pretty.” She cooed at the animal. She didn’t even notice that there was someone in the stable behind the horse.
“Well, thank you. That is very sweet of you.” A feminine voice responded, surprising Sandy. A girl with green eyes and a sweet smile appeared next to the horse.
Sandy’s face turned the same shade as the girl’s bright red hair and did her best to fight off her stutter. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
“It’s okay, I was cleaning out this girl’s back hooves. We went on a big ride earlier.” The red head responded. Sandy couldn’t help but think she had the sweetest smile she’d ever seen.
“I-I’m sorry f-for touching your horse. I- I thought these were Buck’s horses.” The girl seemed nice but still, something about her screamed Soc.
“Don’t worry about it. I think he owns most of the ones in this barn. I just started boarding Cassie here a couple months ago, but I’ve had her since I was ten.” The red head responded, still smiling at Sandy. “Do you want to brush her?”
“Um.. Sure…” Sandy said nervously. She liked being around horses. Her family never had their own, but her dad had been a stable hand just like her brother and she grew up going to the stables with them. They made her feel calm, not anxious the way most humans made her feel. The red head gestured for Sandy to join her in the stall and grabbed a brush from the wall. Sandy opened the door carefully and slipped into the stall. A comfortable silence washed over them as she brushed Cassie.
“I’m Cherry, by the way.” The red head said after a moment.
Sandy stopped brushing the horse and turned to face Cherry, “I’m Sandy. Thanks for sharing Cassie with me, she’s a sweet girl.”
Cherry’s brow furrowed for a moment before she responded, “Anytime. Sandy? That sounds familiar. Do you go to Rogers?”
Sandy felt knots form in her stomach. She probably heard rumors about her. She knows they spread like wild fire when she left, mainly in greaser circles, but she couldn’t even imagine what rumors had been passed around the Soces. “Um.. I used to. I’ve been gone for a while… Living with my aunt.”
Something clicked in Cherry’s head when she said that, but she didn’t let it show on her face. She just took the brush that Sandy was handing her. “Well it was nice to meet you. I need to get going, but you can stay with Cassie as long as you want.”
Sandy smiled at Cherry, “Thanks. I’ll maybe see you around.” Cherry nodded before she walked out of the stall.
Cherry sat in her T-bird for a moment before pulling out of the gravel parking lot. That was Sandy. Soda’s ex-girlfriend. At least she was pretty sure it was. He had mentioned when they were at Buck’s together, back in November when their friends tried to (not so) secretly set them up. He hadn’t said much, just that she had been sent away to live with her aunt. Soda and Cherry had seen each other a couple times since then, but only in groups. Marcia invited her to hangout with her and Two-bit and his friends a handful of times and Cherry had gone twice. Both times Soda was there, and Cherry and him sat comfortably next to each other, talking a little but mainly just enjoying each other's company. Their friends kept making eyes at them and she knew they wanted the two of them to be more than just friends, Cherry couldn’t let her mind go there. Still, she liked Soda, he seemed like a nice friend to have. Cherry turned her car and put it in gear. Before she could talk herself out of it, she started driving towards The Curtis house.