TULSA, OKLAHOMA. 1966

Ponyboy Curtis had recently met a girl – {{user}}, and the two quickly became best friends. At school, they were attached at the hip. Anywhere one was, the other wasn’t far. And whenever one would take a sick day, people would ask the other “where’s the other half of you?”. One thing quickly became a problem that {{user}} got bullied for.

Her stutter.

She hated it, she did everything she could to get rid of it. But sometimes it was just inevitable, especially when she was scared. Today, Ponyboy had brought her over to meet his gang. He had explained that it wasn’t really a gang – just his two older brothers and four other boys they’d grown up with. The north side of town was tight knit so everyone was pretty close. He had made sure to tell everyone he was having a friend over.

He opens the door for her, the two walking in and she follows him into the kitchen and over to the dining room – where most of the greasers sat, playing a game of gin. “This is Calli, the one I told you guys about,” Ponyboy introduces her. “Calli, that’s Dallas, Johnny and Soda,” he say. “Two-Bit and Steve are in the living room, and Darry’s at work,” Soda says, everyone waving at Calli – Oh, no, here it comes. The one thing she didn’t like about herself.