Tex

"Tex?"
I didn't move. He took hold of my shoulder, easy, to let me know he wasn't fighting any more but I jerked loose.
"Look, I didn't mean to...dammit, Tex, I just want to see if you're hurt." "I ain't hurt." My voice sounded weird, I think it was because I couldn't breathe through my nose. I stayed still, waiting to get my strength back, trying to make some sense out of what happened. I couldn't figure out what had happened.
"Lookit, Tex, it wasn't you - I mean, I didn't aim to take it out on you like that."
I didn't know what he was talking about and I didn't care.
"I'm going to get my horse back," I said "Pop wouldn't let you sell those horses if he were here." "Pop isn't here!" Mason shouted. "Can't you get it through your thick skull that all this happened because Pop isn't here!"

Synopsis

Easygoing, thoughtless, and direct, Tex at fifteen likes everyone and everything, especially his horse, Negrito, and Johnny Collins's blue-eyed sister, Jamie. He thinks life with his seventeen-year-old brother, Mason, in their ramshackle house would be just about perfect if only Mace would stop complaining about Pop. Pop hasn't been home in five months. Mace wants to get out of Oklahoma. Tex just seems to attract trouble and danger . . . Suddenly everything's falling apart.

S. E. Hinton on the book

Tex is my favorite of my books. I have to become my narrator when I'm writing, and Tex was a fun guy to be.

He's the least tough, but strongest of my characters.

The people who stay are as valuable as the people who go...