the great pretender.

“Sounds like a peach,” personally, small dogs weren’t his favorite. He had a small run-in with a chihuahua when he was a little kid, never liked the tiny mutts ever since. He pulled up to the curb, as soon as he parked he took a good look. It was a nice house, definitely not something you’d see on the north side. 

“She just wants love,” Tess insisted. “I’ll be right back,” Tess ran into her house to scoop up the mutt and take her into her arms, grabbing her papers that her mom had left on the kitchen counter. As she rushed outside, she noticed Kota’s car, a stark contrast against their picket white fence and expensive house. “We should go before uh, someone thinks we’re getting robbed. But this is Lady,” she held the dog out to Kota, who was excitedly squirming around. “I’m pretty sure she had a run-in with a few fire ants - like, look at her ear - and that my mom is nuts, but I gotta take her over anyway or else my mom’ll have a fit.”

His eyebrows scrunched together, never hearing that type of breed before. “Is that one of those types that has an inferiority complex?” Usually when Kota is in the south side, he’s in someone else’s car, a car that almost looks like it belongs. His rusted up ‘72 Mustang was definitely not inconspicuous at all. He typed against his steering wheel, feeling only slightly nervous that one of the old timers were gonna call the cops on him. 

“Oh yeah, Lady’s got a crazy inferiority complex, she loves to pretend she’s all that. And she needs attention or she’ll go nuts, she’s always pushing between people on the couch and she nips if you stop petting her,” Tess laughed, shaking her head. She pointed out the house as they neared it, “It’s that one on the left.”

He nodded, heading out into the street. At the mention of her dog, his lips pulled into a tight line, as if he didn’t feel bad enough. He shifted gears as he took a glance over at her, “What type of dog do you got?” He always wanted a pet, it just was never really an option in his family. Jim said they had enough mouths to feed, with a “mouthy dick head, the minx, and the town idiot” all living under one roof.

“Lady is a toy poodle,” Tess explained. “Ah, that way,” she directed, knowing how out of place Kota’s car looked amongst the white picket fences, trimmed grass, and upscale Cadillacs parked in the driveways. She’d just have to run in her house and run out and hope that no one one saw Kota’s old beater and gave him trouble. It was really pointless, but that was how things were.

“Nope. Wanna pat me down to make sure?” He peaked over her shoulder to check the other Socs, see if any of them have noticed his trespassing. Just because he was on good…ish terms with one didn’t mean the rest weren’t ready to jump him as soon as they saw him. “That’s fair.” He looked back at the other Greasers, not sure if she’d be able to make it to his car unseen. “I’ll meet you the exit of the parking lot? It’s probably uh, safer.” She already had her tires slashed, he didn’t think letting her get heckled by a bunch of Greasers would help. Without really saying much else, he moved to his car, digging out his keys and ignoring Mousy’s calls to him, most likely wanting to know what just happened. As he pulled up to Tess, “So where to?”

“Fine,” she huffed, gathering her things. It was an irritating situation and although she had found a solution, it didn’t fix that greasers had started the problem. Well, the entire feud had started the problem. She climbed into the front seat of the car, placing her backpack at her feet. “Uh, my house, 32 Belmont, if you just go north I can direct you.” Her parents would absolutely kill her if they knew she was providing a greaser with directions to her house, but she didn’t have much choice. “We have to uh, get Lady - she’s our dog. Mom thinks she might be sick or something and I want to get her to the vet before it closes.” She looked out the window. She wasn’t ready to thank him just yet.

The reaction was unexpected but not all that surprising. “Hey, I didn’t have anything to do with this.” He gestured to the tires, not backing down. “I don’t even carry a knife!” Which is something his friends ragged on him for but he didn’t see a point. Letting out a humorless laugh, he shook his head. “Trust me, if your friends try to start something again, you won’t have too.” It’d just make the whole situation worse. He took a step back, starting to regret ever checking up on her when something she said dawned on him. He figured he could make one last effort to play nice before he gave up. “If you have somewhere to be, I could give you a ride.”

Of course he hadn’t had anything to do with it. Tess knew, and trusted, that he’d never slash her tires, but she was still upset. “You don’t carry a knife? Wow, you’re a real angel among them. That doesn’t fix anything, I’m still -- “ She didn’t say what she was thinking. She was wondering how she could’ve been so stupid, thinking that maybe lines and labels didn’t matter when greasers would always see socs as the enemy. And vice-versa. Obviously those things mattered. She took a deep breath, eyeing the asphalt. “A ride would be really helpful right now,” she paused, “but I’m still mad, just so you know.”

Dakota couldn’t lie that he didn’t feel a sort of satisfaction at seeing that Soc that called his brother a retard turning red. A smirk found it’s way onto his face - though it only lasted a short while. Then his eyes caught Tess, looking the opposite of angry. “Why’d you slash her tires?” The question left his mouth before he could stop it, he didn’t exactly tell anyone his little run in with Tess after the incident and it’s not really like the night at the drive-in really meant anything to the guys. “You gotta get ‘em in a collective.” Was his friends reply, slapping Kota on the back. Shaking his head, “Yeah, but…” He shook his head before daring to make his way over to the Soc’s side - “Kota! Kota! What the fuck are you doing?” - hoping most where to distracted by the slashed tires to notice him.

“Hey…” he looked at her car before glancing back up. It was than that he noticed her eyes were filling up with tears, “You okay?“ Guilt fueled inside him, even if he had nothing to do with the actual crime.

Tess glanced up at the voice, locking eyes with Kota. She wiped her eyes quickly, trying not to be perceived as weak, or even worse, give him and his friends the sort of satisfaction they must have been aiming for. “I’m fine,” she hissed. “No thanks to you and your greaser friends. It didn’t occur to anyone that I might have somewhere to be?” She turned away from him, trying to look somewhere - anywhere but his eyes. Tess could hear laughter in the distance and it only fueled her rage and humiliation.

“I don’t know what you think you’re doing on this side of the lot anyway. So just, back off, okay? Run back to your tire-slashing friends or whatever. Because I don’t have the time to save you again if someone sees you. ”

Jamie gave her a look of disapproval, “The crystal dogs were cooler.” Kota let out a laugh, not believing how easily it was for Jamie to interact with someone he didn’t know two hours ago. “I thought the puffin dog thingies were cool too,” the oldest Anders added, ruffling his brother’s hair. He decided to ignore the other two that seemed apprehensive about Tess being with them - not that he could really blame them, but for once it almost seemed like the rivalry didn’t exist. “Yeah, no problem. I mean, any friend of Jamie’s is a friend of mine.” 

She held her hands up in surrender, “Didn’t say the crystal dogs weren’t cool, just my preference.” She flashed him a quick smile, turning to Kota. It was certainly an odd scenario, one that Tulsa might have never seen before, but she didn’t mind hanging out with a handful of greasers. And she had no stab wounds. “Alright, well, see you guys around,” she added, waving as she turned on her heel and crossed to the other side of the drive-in.

He gave her a smile in appreciation before looking at Mousy, pushing him off them. “Friend huh?” Mousy played it off as if he was implying something else, but when Tess turned away to acknowledge the youngest Anders, he turned to Kota with raised eyebrows, a silent question. His response was to shrug before looking down at his little brother as he told Tess how great he thought it was, trying to do an impression of Yoda and BB-9, getting so excited that some of the popcorn left in his container started to pop out. “Obviously he hated it,” Kota joked, getting a look of shock from Jamie. “No! No! It was the best thing ever!” He looked at the others rubbing his chin, “Hmmm. I’m not so sure I’m convinced.” Jamie glared at Kota again before looking at Tess, “It was great, wasn’t it Tes?!”

She nodded, flashing Kota a quick smile. “Yep, it was great. Loved those little...puffin-dog thingies? They were super cute.” Tess almost felt like a deer in headlights, caught around a lot of people she didn’t know that she was sure were judging her. Sure, not Jamie, but Allie was looking at her with a certain scrutiny that made her nervous. She met Allie’s eyes briefly and Allie looked back, as if she was trying to figure out what was wrong with her, what her intentions were. It was awkward at best.  “Anyway, uh, thanks for letting me sit with you guys for a bit. I better find my ride before it leaves without me.”

He let out a laugh, nodding, “Maybe.” He kept the fact that it probably would have helped if she had watched some of the originals too to understand some of the other stuff that happened, like Yoda’s cameo. “But if Jamie asks, lie and tell him you loved it.” He said it quietly so his brother wouldn’t hear, though he doubts Jamie was really aware of anything that was going on around him, smiling. He wasn’t really sure if her telling the truth would do anything, his brother did take a liking to her and he really didn’t want to risk it.

It was than that Mousy decided to make himself known, throwing his arms around Kota and Tess. “Hi-de-ho neighbros! Who’s this pretty bird?” Kota rolled his eyes, both of them knowing he knew who Tess was. Before he could answer, Jamie seemed to be out of his Star Wars daze, exclaiming, “Tess!” with a large smile on his face.

“i wouldn’t do anything less,” she acknowledged, prepared to spin whatever fib she had to keep from upsetting the kid. also, she enjoyed being liked -- by anyone, a nine-year-old or not. before she could duck out to go back to her friends, one of kota’s pals rushed up, throwing his arm around her. she sidestepped slightly. “i’m tess,” she smiled. “i’m, uh, a friend of kota’s.” she didn’t know if she was allowed to say that, or if it was even true, but it was more truth than a lie so. she went with it. luckily, jamie broke whatever ice she felt and rushed over and she turned her attention toward him. “hi jamie! did you like the movie?” 

He nodded, planning to open his mouth and ask what that was about when Mousy shh’d them. So loud in fact, the people behind them smacked the dark haired kid in the back. He left out a laugh but kept quite the rest of the movie, only opening his mouth once to make a vine reference during Kylo’s shirtless scene. “Hi, welcome to Chili’s.” As the credits rolled he looked back at Tess, eyebrows raised, “So what’d you think?” He didn’t want to ask Jamie just yet knowing what he’ll get in a reply is when would be the next time they’d go see it again.

Tess watched quietly, allowing herself to actually get absorbed in the movie. She felt bad about talking through the beginning so she made an extra effort to hold in all her questions and just go with the flow. Which was fine, because there were a lot of action scenes. About halfway through, she could feel herself growing sleepy and it took a lot of effort to stay awake, flicking herself, holding her eyes open. She might’ve nodded off for a minute or two. Finally, the ending credits rolled and she realized just how long she’d been gone from her friends. Oops. Hopefully she could come up with a creative excuse. “It was...okay? Probably should’ve watched the first one more closely. But cool lasers.”

He looked at the scene to see who she was talking about, nodding. When Poe appeared, he pointed out, “The guy on the screen is Poe, that’s who Jamie loves. After the druid.” He shrugged, giving her a small smile, “It’s cool. Like I said, invite stood.” He turned back to the screen watching the movie progress a bit before turning his attention back to Tess, “You said you got dragged here, what would have you chosen to watch?”

Tess nodded, paying attention to the screen and trying to absorb the information Kota was giving her. Droid...robot...whatever, same thing, right? Right? “Okay, cool,” she nodded, a slight smile crossing her face. She was sort of shocked at how welcoming he’d been. From her experience, greasers were the opposite - the type to flash you dirty looks in the hallway. “I wanted to see The Greatest Showman. I really like musicals. And Zac Efron.”

He watched her walk away after paying for the Reese’s, not holding his breath that she’d take up the offer. As he and Jamie started making their way to their friends the older Anders couldn’t help but ask, “So why could you hold her hand but not mine?” He watched as his little brother shrugged, “She’s pretty.” Not that Dakota could argue with that statement he knew that wasn’t the reason. He stopped, placing a hand on Jamie’s shoulder. “Serioulsy Jam.”

He could tell his little brother was starting to fill uncomfortable and wanted nothing more than to have his BB-8 and squeeze it in comfort. But because he had the popcorn, he couldn’t and that seemed to just make him more anxious. Without thinking, Kota switched the popcorn for the BB-8 and waited for the reply. “Kayden says,” Jamie was doing everything to not make eye contact, “Kayden says having to hold hands make you a baby.” Dakota nodded, of course Kayden said that. Dakota knew Kayden wasn’t a bad id, he lived down the street and without Kota or Allie asking he decided it was his job. “Kayden’s right, but I don’t hold your hand, you hold mine.” Jamie tilted his head, “I feel safer when you hold my hand.” He seemed to understand after that and reached out to take hold of Dakota’s hand.

As they finally made it to the other two, they received looks of confusion. “What took y’all so long?” Jamie pointed at the popcorn in Kota’s hand. “Popcorn!” He found his seat next to Allie, giving her BB-8 and holding his hands out for the popcorn. Mousy looked at the popcorn before looking at Kota, “Didn’t you get anything for us anything?” Plopping down in his chair next to his brother, Dakota shook his head. “You’re dreaming big if you think I’d buy you anything.” Jamie repeated him with a laugh. Mousy let out a huff right before Allie handed him one of the soda bottles they snuck in.

As the movie started, Dakota pulled his hood up and slumped in his chair, closing his eyes. He knew that he’d be watching his another eight times at least with Jamie, he didn’t really seem a need to pay attention. He was almost asleep when he heard a familiar voice. Cracking his eyes open, he was shocked but it wore of quickly as he answered the question, “The token black dude.” He sat up straight, “Don’t tell Jamie but he’s my favorite.”

She turned toward the movie, setting her eyes on the character that Kota had described as Finn, nodding. “Seems like a pretty good favorite,” Tess agree, “I really like this character so far.” She pointed at the screen, to a struggling Paige Tico. “She seems super brave.” Tess was unaware that 1) Paige was not a major character and 2) Paige was literally about to die. “Sorry to bust in on you like this, by the way, I wasn’t planning on it,” she whispered softly, “but I just like...needed a break from my friends for just a moment.” 

Kota nodded, not that surprised. He looked down at Jamie who didn’t seem to really understand what her answer was. Jamie was still looking at them hopeful at them. “Hey buddy what if I get you some Reese’s Pieces too?” A smile appeared on his face, nodding vigorously. Kota looked back over at Tess, “I hope you enjoy the movie, hopefully you’re able to follow alone.” He turned his attention to the guy behind the counter, ordering a box of Reese’s. A second paused before he changed his mind, “If you change your mind, offer stands.”

“Right, thanks,” she nodded, heading back in the direction of her friend’s truck. She maneuvered her way into the backseat, handing out snacks and drinks as she went. “So, uh, who’s going to give me a rundown of what the heck Star Wars is about?” she asked her friends with a grin. The majority of them groaned, unable to believe she’d just asked when Logan launched into a full-scale analysis of the plot that left everyone yawning and Tess even more confused. 

“And that’s why I think the shape of his lightsaber is a metaphor for his character,” Logan finished as the intro started to begin. He fell silent and turned his attention toward the movie, as did the rest of the group. 

Joey respectfully waited about ten minutes into the movie before attempting to make a move, wrapping his arm around Tess and pulling her close. She could feel his eyes on her when she excused herself to go to the bathroom. She made her way across the yard to the gas-station-esque bathrooms attached to the concessions and was only inside long enough to splash some water on her face, take a breather. 

Could a soc and a greaser ever be friends?

She felt like some sort of traitor for hoping, wondering, but it wasn’t unlike her to let her curiosity get the best of her. She made her way over to Kota’s rust bucket, tentative, but hoping it was dark enough that no one would stare. "Hey,” she greeted softly, “which one’s Finn?”

The one thing he thought was great about his little brother is that he was never bothered by the rivalry that plagued this town. Kota wish he was that way, it was just harder for him to be that way than his brother. So naturally, Jamie wouldn’t really understand the dilemma of Tess joining a bunch of north siders for a movie. If she did decide to join, not many people would say anything - to their faces anyways - as long as Jamie was around. A lot of them learned early on not to do anything to upset Jamie. You upset Jamie, you upset Kota, things dont go well from there.

Dakota shrugged, “No worries.” He looked down at his brother to see a pout start to form, damn kid. “But if you did, we’re sitting over in seats they have set up a little bit in front of the concessions.” “Dakota has a rust bucket!” Jame piped in as a reason why. Looking unamused at his brother, even though a smile was spreading across his face, he shook his head, “That’s, yeah. You wouldn’t be imposing. Jamie likes you so, y’know…” he trailed off, feeling awkward.

Tess couldn’t help but crack a smile at the fact that the kid seemed oblivious to the social lines, to the rivalry, to the things that divided soc and greaser. He’d come up to her like he didn’t know the difference and like those differences didn’t even matter. Sure, it shocked her, but it was also a point of view that she’d never experienced in her life. Most young children knew where they stood, accepted the social cues without question. This sort of left her wondering what was real at all.

“Oh,” she smiled softly. “Well, I like him too.” She wanted to stay, say fuck it to social norms and avoid her friends for just a little while, escape into somewhere that maybe she didn’t belong -- become somewhere else, but unlike Jamie, she was unable to ignore social obligation. “I’ll see you around though. Thanks for the invite, but uh. Gotta deliver the snacks back to home base,” she nodded. 

He only ways behind him but he couldn’t stop the small smile crossing his face watching the reaction between the blonde and his brother. Most of his friends don’t even bother interacting with Jamie and when they do, they only act nice out of fear of what Dakota will do. But seeing Tess interact with Jamie, not showing even a little annoyance as his brother ranted about Star Wars, it was something else. Maybe all Socs weren’t that bad.

As soon as she went to hand the popcorn to Jamie, the little guy thrust the plush toy Kota before excepting the popcorn, his smile still in place. It only flattered a little bit and Dakota was pretty sure that had to with the fact that he couldn’t hold Tess’s hand anymore. He let out a laugh. It got even better when Jamie pointed at Tess and were Kota’s rust bucket was parked. “Come watch with us!” Shaking his head, “She came with her friends Jam, I don’t -” Jamie glared again, Kota held up his hands. He looked at Tess with an amused smile. “You did it now, he’s attached.”

-- “Uh...” Tess paused, unsure of how to respond to the boy’s request. On one hand, she could go back to the all-to-eager arms of Joey Dupont, but on the other, she could spend the evening on the side of the theater where she obviously didn’t belong and be the object of weird looks for the duration of the movie. Not that she thought Jamie saw her as different - that wasn’t part of the equation - but there were a whole lot of other factors.

Not to mention what her friends would do if they caught her ditching them for a few greasers that seemed nice. She’d only first spoken to a greaser a few days ago, this was like, a huge step.

“Oops,” she laughed softly. “I, uh, I’m not sure, I got these snacks for my friends so...and I don’t want to impose on anything.” 

Kota gave Jamie a nudge, “What do you say?” Jamie pointed at the popcorn, “No butter!” Kota shook his head, “Thanks,” he supplied to Tess instead. As he saw her extend her hand to his little brother, instead of shaking it again, Jamie gave her a high five and turned back to watching the popcorn pop. “His name is James.”

He let out a laugh, “Yeah, that’d be Rogue One. That was sort of a stand alone film?” He looked at Jamie, “Jamie, isn’t that right?” Kota only knew anything about Star Wars because of his little brother. Usually Sci-Fi stuff wasn’t really his thing. Instead of answering Jamie just pulled on Tess’s hand as the line moved. “Yeah, that’s true I guess.” He waited to see if his little brother would actually answer or keep his attention on the food in front of him. Surprisingly enough, Jamie started talking. Not everything that came out of his mouth really made sense, he started talking to fast that the words started to form together.

-- “No butter,” she confirmed. Tess furrowed her brow. “Oh. Okay,” she nodded, trying to make sense of the movie briefly. She listened intently to Jamie’s explanation, although she understood very little of it and probably no knowledge of the movie could have helped her. “Oh, wow, the force? Sounds pretty crazy,” she nodded attentively. “Hopefully this one’s as good as the last.”

Tess turned to the counter briefly to order the snacks from the concession stand. She tucked the Mike & Ike’s into her purse and they gave her a tray for the sodas. When they passed her the popcorn, she passed it on to Jamie. “Here you are, James,” she smiled, “no butter.” Tess always wished she had siblings, someone to be a uniting force against her parents with. Or just someone to relate to her in that way.