Beyond the Horizon [OPEN/Casual]

[thenerdherd]

This was the time the world was peaceful. There were little to no sounds surrounding Cherry as she sat upon the wooden dock, her head resting against one of the wooden poles holding the dock up above the water below her. She loved times like this, she just took in the sights and sounds around her, it gave her a large surge of comfort and she felt like she never wanted to leave. Cherry had a faint smile on her face as she stared at the sun setting below the horizon, she kicked her bare feet back and forth slightly and listened to the sounds of the waves rolling in and out.

The redheaded girl brushed her hair behind her ear and reached her hand into the gray messenger bag beside her, feeling around for her notebook and pencil. She could hardly sketch anything but the scene before her intrigued her so much that she felt the need to try her hand at drawing again. Cherry pulled out the pencil and notebook before flipping through the pages to find a clean one, she then began to draw the scene before her. Soon enough, she was finished with the…drawing and she returned the book and pencil into the bag. Again, she began to enjoy the setting sun, the sound of footsteps behind her made her turn around to see who had joined her on the dock.

[eastsidesunset]

It had been a couple months since I'd last been to the pier, a couple months since I'd met Mark and found some perspective. Some thoughts worth thinking about. As I found myself walking slowly to the same pier, at the same time of day, even, I remembered his story and tried to find the same idea he'd made me realize- That even on the worst days, I was so much luckier than so many people. It was a hard thing to believe sometimes, a hard thing to remember, but I had a feeling revisiting this pier at this time of day would help. And help it did.

The distant cries of seagulls and the calm sloshing of the sea seemed to rush through my body as I walked towards the dock, and bring with it a peaceful serenity that only this place could bring. That's when I knew I'd done the right thing by coming here again. It was definitely worth it. I breathed a deep breath of the slightly-salty air and it was like smoking a cleaner, deeper, healthier version of a cigarette.

I should probably quit before it's too late, I thought vaguely. But then I had arrived at the dock, and all thought of that disappeared from my head. The sunset was reaching it's brightest at this point, and it nearly took my breath away. If sunsets were beautiful in even the east side of Windrixville, they were a spell here. And I was so caught up in the sight and the smell and the sounds and everything the sea and its companions had to offer that I almost didn't notice the red-headed girl sitting at the edge of the dock, notebook in her lap.

I started in surprise, backing up automatically. I didn't expect anyone would be here- it was a Sunday and almost no boats left on Sundays from this comparatively tiny dock. She turned, and I recognised her instantly. It would've been hard not to remember a face like hers. Cherry. A smile rose on my face almost unconsciously and I said a quiet, "Hey," before sliding beside her and sitting down a few feet away on the wooden dock. At least I wouldn't have to worry about Socs seeing us talking here. It was close to deserted.

"How are ya, Cherry?" I asked, then motioned at her sketch and said curiously, "You draw?" My voice was real quiet for most of that- even though the pier was empty that just felt like more of a reason not to be too loud and crack the serene sounds of the sea.

[thenerdherd]

Cherry felt her lips break into a smile when she saw who had joined her on the pier. Ponyboy! It seemed only yesterday when she met him at the movie theater. ”Ponyboy!” she grinned turning her head to face him, ”What are you doing here?” she asked, ”I mean, not that I’m not happy to see you. ‘Cause I am, I just mean-” she cut off, now the girl just wasn’t making any sense. Cherry took a deep breath and gave a relaxed smile at him, ”Hi.”

It was partically amazing to the teenager that the two ran into each other again. Of course Cherry hadn’t expected to see him again like this(though she silently hoped she would) since they lived on the opposite sides of town and she didn’t go out much. She felt guilty that she didn’t say hello at school now and again but there were just some things Cherry couldn’t do. ”I’m sorry I don’t tell you hello at school or something.” she apologized, ”I mean to but…you know.” she trailed off meaning that the people she hung out with wouldn’t approve that she even considered ‘friendly’ terms with a Greaser.

”I’m quite good, thank you.” she said, ”How about you? How have you been since we last saw each other?” the girl followed his gaze to her sketch and laughed heartily, ”No, not at all. But I tried my hand at it, not too bad if I do say so myself, though.”

Reaching into her bag again Cherry pulled out the book they had been assigned for English, since they had last met the report was long since due but she had ended up reading the book. ”You were right.” she told him waving the book slightly, ”It was better than the movie.” just then the book slipped from her hands and dropped into the ocean. Cherry let out a groan and hung her head, ”I was in the middle of reading that again too.”

[eastsidesunset]

"Hi to you too." I laughed at little at her enthusiasm like it was no big deal, but I was honestly ecstatic she was glad to see me. I shrugged, and said, "No real reason. I think I've made a habit outta wandering the streets, to be honest. This place's stuck on me I guess." I took another breath of the cool air. "And ain't it just beautiful," I murmured, more to myself than to Cherry, staring at the breathtaking sunset. 'Course, the fact that she was here made it even more beautiful. I'd drown myself in this water before I'd admit it though.

"I’m sorry I don’t tell you hello at school or something. I mean to but…you know.”

"Yeah, I know," I said, trying to keep the bitterness out of my voice. "I'm a greaser. Always have been. You don't gotta apologize for something you can't change." One of the first things I'd ever learned was that greasers and Socs didn't mix. Ever. This was the first time I really wished things were different.

"I've been alright," I answered to her question distractedly. Taking the notebook carefully from her hands, I told her after a moment, "It's good. Real good. Especially if ya don't draw a lot." I grinned, thinking about all the sunsets I'd drawn and painted over the years. I'd die if someone from the gang saw the pictures but for some reason, I wouldn't really mind showing Cherry.

I grinned when she showed me the book that had started everything, and the grin only widened when she said it was better than the movie. It disappeared when she dropped the book into the water, though. It was quickly floating away as its corners sunk, and I had a split-second to decide. But there was really no choice at all. As quickly as I could, I leaned over the dock (thankfully only about a foot from the water) and grabbed the paperback up out of the water, setting it down on the wooden dock.

It was soaking wet, and the salt would make it even worse, but a book saved was a book saved... it would dry. Cherry probably wouldn't even care- Her family had to have enough money to buy out a whole bookstore without breaking a sweat. But I looked up at her and a corner of my mouth lifted into a crooked grin. "Hope that wasn't a library book," I half-joked.

[thenerdherd]

”That’s a good thing in a way,” Cherry said “you get out of the house at least. It doesn’t matter where I am I’m almost always in a building.” she sighed a bit. She did love to be outside, it gave her inspiration for writing things, mainly poems though. “It is beautiful.” she said quietly lifting her legs to her chest and resting her head on her knees. “Glad you’re here to share it with me.”

She stared at the sunset for a few minutes, just watching it and admiring all the colors of the sky. “I’m gonna get out of my house someday,” she whispered, “go be a teacher or a famous author. Get married, have kids.” she faintly smiled, “It’s going to be good. Every evening I can watch this sunset, and just admire it’s beauty.”

Cherry shook her head, “You may be a Greaser buy you sure don’t act like it. You’re different, Ponyboy, and I like that.” she smiled at him, “I really wish the people we were with weren’t rivals. It would it so much easier…” she sighed and leaned her head against the pole again. That was an irrational dream though, Socs would always think they were better and Greasers would always get tired of Socs crap. It was a never ending cycle and sometimes Cherry just wanted to cry.

“That’s better than being horrible.” she told him and fiddled with her fingers as he looked at her drawing. “Thank you, Ponyboy. I mean…it isn’t great but-” she said turning her body to face him, “Do you draw?” she asked "The drawing...you can have it. If you want it that is."

Cherry watched in amazement when Ponyboy leaned over and grabbed her book. “My hero.” she smiled reaching out for the book before biting down on her lip, “No actually, I ‘borrowed’ it from English class.” the girl used her fingers to make quotation marks around borrowed. “Hopefully I can find some way to make it look like new again…or you know, desecretly put it back but that would be lying and then I would die of guilt.” she sighed and shrugged her sweater off, wrapping the soaked book in it to hopefully dry.

[maggiewritersblock]

Bob Sheldon had never been dumped. He had been with over a dozen girls and only one had the gall to dump him. Bob was the one who usually did the dumping and it was usually a paraphrased version of the same speech. He had used it on three girls since he had been dumped, but the speech that she had given him wasn't nearly as put together as his.

That may not have been true because Bob was too shocked and furious that he had been dumped, that he didn't hear a word she said. All he heard was, "We need to break up." or something of the sort. It was usually, "I think we're growing apart" which Bob could easily grovel to fix.

Bob didn't like to grovel, but it worked with girls. "Come on baby, I love you" usually did the trick, but with her it didn't work.

He had ignored her for weeks, giver her angry glares, but eventually grew to have almost civil conversations. Those almost civil conversations reassured him that it was a good thing they broke up. She was far too opinionated for his liking. The only reason he was with her was that she was the most attractive girl in school. There were plenty of other pretty girls, but her fiery, red hair and brown eyes made her more of a unique beauty. Strong football player and a beautiful cheerleader? The perfect, all-American match.

Now, he was seeing the beautiful cheerleader he dated for a long time sitting on the dock with a greaser and she was smiling. It even furthered his assurance that breaking up was for the better, but it got Bob mad. The bitch didn't know what she was doing to her reputation--to his reputation. He could just see his friends on the football team, "Hey! Sheldon, I heard your ex is going around fucking greasers."

He couldn't stand for this. He hurried over there with a fake, friendly grin on his face and his letterman jacket on his arm.

"Cherry, why are you so far from home? It's getting dark, do you need a ride home?"

[thenerdherd]

Cherry had turned away from Ponyboy and watched the sunset again, brushing her hair back with her fingers she heard footsteps on the dock behind them. It felt as if ice covered her heart, she sure didn't want Ponyboy to get in some sort of mess because he was sitting with her. The redhead hated fights with every fiber of her being, she couldn't stand them!

But the question was, was it another Soc or another Greaser? Perhaps, if they were lucky, it would be a normal person who didn't know-slash-care about the rivalries their town had. The thought pushed away a tiny bit of Cherry's anxiety but not all of it. Unsure of whether to move closer to the boy beside her or move farther away she decided to just stay where she was at.

Then she heard a voice behind them and it startled her quite a bit. Out of anyone that could have seen the two of them on the dock it was her ex-boyfriend, Bob. The teenager turned her body to face the other boy, giving him a warm smile(though hiding the fear deep in her chest). "It is getting late isn't it?" she asked, "I came to enjoy the sunset and I was joined by a friend, Ponyboy." Cherry added emphasis on the 'friend'. "Why don't you watch the sun set the rest with us? I think I'm going to stay here a bit longer." her eyes trailed back to Ponyboy and she smiled gently

[eastsidesunset]

I jumped up as soon as I heard the voice, my stomach dropping in an instinctual fear before I even fully turned around to see who it was. I didn't even really need to turn to know who it was, or at least what kind of person it was. The cold, yet carefully sophisticated voice gave it all up. My blood seemed to turn to ice and I froze for a second before I felt automatically for my switchblade. Relief flooded my body for a moment when I realized I hadn't forgotten it at home this time.

The Soc looked familiar. It was a long, painful moment before I realized why. I remembered seeing him around school before, the football player Soc that at least, a month or so ago was a whole heck of a lot more than a friend to Cherry. I ground my teeth together and clenched my fists when they started talking, knowing that nothing good could come out of this, knowing he was not gonna settle that easily. In one way or another, there'd be trouble.

Sucking in a silent breath of air, I slouched and glared the Soc in the eye with as much bravado as I could muster up. "Anything wrong?" I asked him sarcastically. Through the corner of my eye I could see Cherry smiling at me, and as much I was glad she was on my side, I suddenly wished she'd just go with him. There was too much at stake and deep inside, though I ached to get to know her better, I had the horrible feeling that this would never happen again.

I was starting to think that maybe there was really nowhere a Soc and a greaser could even just sit and talk without something going awful wrong.

[maggiewritersblock]

"There's nothing wrong. I just know her mother and she wouldn't want Cherry far from home at night." Bob slid his tongue along the bottom of his top teeth. His hostility towards the greaser wasn't unjustified. Greasers were most of the reason Mrs. Valance didn't want Cherry out at night. Who knows how many of them are muggers, rapists, and murderers? Bob assumed the majority were.

If there was one thing Bob knew about Cherry was that she hated fights with every ounce of her being. He thought it was fun to get in fights just to see her face heat up to be a similar shade to her hair, but, in this circumstance, he thought it would be a good idea to hold off on throwing a punch. So, Bob put on his "This is why you love(d) me face" and turned his attention to be solely on Cherry.

"Angelface, it's freezing, why don't you put your sweater on?" Bob lifted the sweater from the dock and a book rolled out. It was then that he noticed the sweater was soaking. "Oh, Cherry, you're going to ruin this sweater. This book isn't worth it." Bob tossed it carelessly into the water before placing his letterman jacket on the shoulders who had sported it many times before.

[thenerdherd]

Cherry rolled her eyes, "What mother doesn't know won't kill her. She throws too many hissy fits over me as it is and besides, Ponyboy would be able to protect me if anything bad happened." she said at the mention of her mother. Cherry loved her mother she truly did, but just like her father, both of them were too overprotective of her and it made her want to be away from home as long as possible.

Her eyes turned away from Ponyboy and back to Bob. As much as she hated it she could feel her heart skip a beat at the look on his face, it was that look that always tied her up. It was just so...adorable she couldn't find the will to deny something from him. Cherry shook her head slightly and then looked at him, "But I'm not c-" she watched as the book hit the water once again, "My book." she sighed.

With it's pages already heavy from the previous drop it began to take up more and more water before slowly sinking past the surface of the water and down under. "Well at least the fishes will have some good reading material." then she felt something around her shoulders and Cherry looked down at it. Bob's letterman jacket. Sighing, she shrugged it off her shoulders, shook her head and held it out to him. "I don't want to go, Bob. I want to stay here and watch the rest of the sunset with Ponyboy. You're more than welcome to finish watching it with us and then we can go home but I don't want to leave before then. But if you want to go I'm sure I can get home perfectly fine on my own, I'm a big girl, Bob."

[eastsidesunset]

I listened quietly to the conversation and slowly distanced myself from the words being said, even as Cherry told the Soc- Bob?- that I would be able to save her if 'anything bad happened'. I stared at the slowly darkening water, different emotions battling inside of me. I mean, I was thrilled to hear her say that but then again, who was I kidding? If she got in trouble, it would probably be because of me being here in the first place. I was nothing but a fifteen-year-old kid grease without even the pride of being a greaser some of us had.

As the sun set slowly beneath the pier, a kind of sad resignation settled deep within me at the same speed. In silence, I watched Cherry's eyes move away from me to look at Bob once more. I watched her features soften as she did so and I knew then and there that this- whatever this was, the make-believe possiblility I wished could happen between us- was nothing but a dream, a shadow.

I knew she still loved Bob, to a certain extent. That much was obvious. And it was enough to make me react with nothing but a dull glance as the book I'd 'rescued' from the water landed with a splash back into its grave. Ah, well. I hadn't been stupid enough to expect anything less, had I? The sad thing, I thought as I tried in vain to ignore everything that was going on around me like I didn't even exist, was that I had. I kept watching in silence as Bob put his letterman jacket on Cherry's shoulders, my thoughts turning into a grey blend of disappointment.

Then something unbelievable happened.

She shrugged off the jacket, held it out at Bob and told him without even blinking that she didn't want to go back. That she wanted to stay here, with me.

It was like the wind itself stood still.

I sure did. For a fraction of a second, the impossibility of what she said stunned me and a ridiculous amount of happiness rushed into my body. Then I remembered who was still standing there beside her. And I held my breath without really being conscious of it, waiting for the boulder Cherry had just dropped to land.

[maggiewritersblock]

"Seriously, Cherry, let's go." Bob gripped her wrist and tugged lightly for her to get up.

He was getting tired of her attitude. After all, Bob was just trying to keep her safe. Who knew what that greaser would do to her in the dark. He looked young, but he also looked strong. He could over power her delicate frame easily.

Cherry had always been stupid, but she used to know her place. Now, she was going to get herself mugged--or worse because she trusted Horseyboy to save her. Bob had half a mind to just let it happen. No one could prove he was there. Better yet, he could say he tried to save her and get some more editorials written about him. Everyone would believe it too because he was Bob Sheldon and could do no wrong.