I walked in the house, dropping my bag on the floor, and flopped onto the sofa. The boy sitting at the table looked up at me in surprise, a cigarette tucked behind his ear.
"Hey Jo," he said.
"Hey Soda," I replied, irritated.
"That bad, huh?" He asked.
I huffed. "Mr. Hetherington got mad at me for answering a question. Said that I needed to be more respectful and sent me to the principal's office. Like hell. He's just mad that a greaser like me wasn't caught unawares. He just loves preying on us because the Socs fund his paycheck. I'm sick of it. Just because I live on this side of town, doesn't mean I'm dumber than some Soc on the "right" side of town."
Soda looked amused for a moment, until I mentioned being dumb. I knew he felt like he was stupid; that was part of the reason he had dropped out. However, he soon covered up his expression by reprimanding me. "So little miss studious, if you're so much smarter than the Socs, how come you didn't go to the rest of your classes?"
I suddenly felt horrible for leaving school so soon. It was only noon, and I was going to miss four of my classes—two of which were my favorites. I slumped back and sulked, crossing my arms over my chest. "Killjoy." I muttered under my breath. He just chuckled and walked into the kitchen.
At that moment, the door opened, revealing a sluggish Two-bit, whom I assumed was hung over from last night. "Hey Two-bit," I called. He just frowned even further and muttered something unintelligible under his breath. Soda came out of the kitchen with a plate full of chocolate cake and offered me some before he relinquished the rest to Two-bit, who then plopped down in front of the TV set and started watching Mickey. I rolled my eyes at the common occurrence.
I nearly jumped out of my skin as the door slammed open. I was ready to sneak past the pissed off figure who entered when I realized that Steve wasn't even mad at me. I breathed a sigh of relief and then I silently reprimanded myself when I realized how selfish that thought was.
Soda was up in a shot. "What's wrong Steve?" He asked worriedly.
"Don't worry about it," Steve growled.
Soda glanced worriedly at me, but I shrugged with a clueless expression, meaning that I had no idea what was going on in that boy's head. He then shook his head, and glanced from Steve to me, and then the door, telling me that I would only make things worse if I stayed. Understanding, I silently stood up and grabbed my bag as Steve marched into the kitchen, quickly slipping out the door. I nearly took off running when I heard the door bang. I cringed, knowing that Steve might come after me now.
Sure enough, I heard Steve's voice ask what it was, and then the door banged again. I took off running, faster than I ever had in my life. I knew I shouldn't look back, but I couldn't help it. Steve wasn't the nicest person when he was angry, and I didn't want to be on the receiving end of his wrath at the moment. When I did look back, though, I immediately regretted it; Steve was gaining on me, and he looked even more pissed than before.
You might be wondering why Steve Randle would even care about some girl not going to school, but let me tell you, we go way back. Once my parents died, I was shipped off to my Granny's house in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That's where I met Steve. His house was next door to mine, so we eventually ended up meeting each other and raising hell. Steve and I were like brother and sister growing up. He looked out for me, especially when my Granny died. He was the only one in the gang that actually cared about what I did, besides Darry. So when I skip school, Steve usually isn't too happy with me, mainly since I'm so smart, but also because I have to maintain my good grades and my good attendance in order to stay in Tulsa. It wasn't like I had that much longer till I became a legal adult, but he still worried.
"Jo!" Steve yelled from behind. "Get your ass back here, now!"
"Like hell!" I yelled back.
I kept running as fast as I could, but when I tried to cut across the park, a huge force knocked into me, crushing me into the grass. "Why the hell aren't you in school," Steve growled into my ear.
I tried to answer, but I couldn't breathe. Steve understood and got off of me, but he squeezed my wrist in his iron grip so as to keep me from running away. When I caught my breath, I said, "Why are you so angry?"
Steve's eyes darkened. "Answer my question."
"Answer mine and I'll answer yours," I quipped back childishly.
His grip tightened on my wrist. I hissed in pain. "Ok, ok!" I cried. He released my wrist. "I was in Mr. Hetherington's class and he asked me a question. I answered it, correctly I might add, and then he sent me to the principal's office for being disrespectful. It's always me, too! Why can't he pick on someone else for once? I'm sick of being bullied for being a greaser! I'm just as smart as one of those precious little Socs, if not smarter—"
"Jo," Steve said gently. I had been raising my voice as I was getting heated in my anger, but now, as Steve grasped my hand, I was completely silent, just staring at our hands. His touch did things to my stomach that I wasn't ready to admit. As if sensing my inner turmoil, Steve withdrew his hand. My own felt suddenly cold without it. I looked up at his face, and instead of the anger that had been there before, I saw pain and sadness.
"What's wrong?" I asked, shifting closer to him.
He stared out at the street, not speaking for a moment. "Evie—" He began. He swallowed. "Evie cheated on me. Has been cheating on me for four months. Ever since…" He trailed off. We both remembered what had happened four months ago, all too clearly.
A lump formed in my throat and my eyes filled with tears as I looked away from him. I drew my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on them. A tear slipped down my cheek, and I angrily wiped it away. I needed to be strong, not some sniveling mess. I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders. Steve pulled me close to his side, totally silent. I remembered what he had just told me.
"I'm sorry about Evie." I sniffed. "Never liked her anyway." Steve just chuckled. "What?" I said defensively. "She was mean to me! And she threatened me on more than one occasion."
Steve pulled away from me then. "What do you mean she threatened you?" He asked, his brow furrowing.
"Sometimes I think she thought you liked me better than her. Which is totally absurd, because, I mean we're like brother and sister. Sometimes, I think she never really thought things through." I looked at Steve. He was staring down at the ground with an odd expression. "Steve?" I asked, putting my hand on his arm. "Steve what's wrong?" A thought occurred to me then. "You don't think this is my fault do you?"
He bumped his shoulder into mine. "Course not Jojo." My heart fluttered at the childhood nickname. Usually when he called me Jojo, it annoyed me to no end. But now it just gave me butterflies. The way he said it made me feel safe and warm, as if nothing could ever hurt me again. But he was the one who was hurt. Not me.
I turned and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, resting my head against his neck. "I'm sorry she cheated on you."
His arm wrapped around my waist. "It was bound to come to an end at some point. All we did was fight."
We sat like that for what felt like hours. Finally, the sky turned gray and stormy, eventually spilling its contents over the park. I was a little annoyed, but then I realized that I still had my backpack on me.
"No!" I exclaimed. "My papers!" I heard Steve laughing as I ran back to the Curtis house. He caught up to me right as I reached the front door. We walked inside, and I half expected to see Dally lounging on the sofa after a tough fight, and Johnny sitting silently in the corner, but then I remembered what had happened. It still snuck up on me, the feeling that they never left us, as if they still be here waiting for me to pop in and tease them both. I looked down and went straight to the kitchen, where I knew Darry would be.
He was making chicken tonight. He was in the middle of breading the chicken when I rammed into him, burying my face in his side. He put his arm around me, careful not to touch me with his hands. "Hey little sister. What's the matter?" He continued breading the chicken with one hand while I silently cried into his shirt. I knew the guys would be peeking into the kitchen, and walking right back out once they saw the state I was in. They learned not to ask after the first couple of times seeing Darry and I like this. At first he cried too, but eventually he just stopped. Darry wasn't much for showing his true feelings, being a big brother and all.
"Hey Dar, when's dinner gonna be ready?" Pony asked quietly from the doorway.
"An hour or so. Why? You got somewhere you gotta be?" Darry half-joked.
"Nah, I was just wondering how much time I had for homework. You comin' Jo?" I nodded and sniffed, wiping my nose on the back of my hand. Darry handed me the dishcloth to wipe away my tears, and I smiled at him half-heartedly.
I followed Ponyboy to his room, keeping my head down around the guys, even though I knew there was no hiding my red, swollen face from them. They'd seen it too many times before.
"So," Ponyboy said, sitting down on his bed. "You missed math today."
I sniffled. "So?"
"So that's your best subject! You gotta keep up on it, otherwise it'll be your worst subject."
"I'll just copy off of you." I knew there was no way of getting out of this, but I didn't want to hear it right now.
"You know that doesn't work on tests." He said. I huffed, sitting down on his bed and pulling out my math stuff.
"Alright, what did I miss?"
Thank you for reading! I'm not entirely sure I'll ever finish this story, if I'm being completely honest with myself. However, I do have the next two chapters typed, and I would love if you all could give me constructive feedback. And I mean if it's shit call it shit, please.