A/N: Not much to say here unless it's enjoy chapter 2 and please review! :D
Chapter 2
The Greasers were all concerned about Sondra now, but none of them knew the fact of her being abused, or about her little sister being blind because Dally didn't bother to bring up the fact that Iris was blind, and that was because he actually felt sorry for her. She'd never be able to see the starry nights or the beautiful morning sunlight each and every day, unless it's a beautiful rainy day, so she couldn't see the raindrops sparkling and dancing their way down from the sky. Heck, the poor seven-year-old girl wouldn't even be allowed to see her own sister...and understand life clearly because she can't see anything but the pitch color of snow white.
Nevertheless, the clear thinking with absolute concern was smashed when Jocelyn started crying for no reason, and she kept reaching her arms up towards Johnny's direction, and being the kind and loving, protective brother that he was, the eldest Cade caringly picked Jocelyn up and cradled her close to his chest, keeping her warm in their little snuggle. However, Jocelyn still didn't stop sheding tears, considering that she was only a little six-month-old baby, and she berried her face into his T-shirts shoulder, crying and whimpering loudly.
"Come on, Joce...please stop crying," Johnny softly pleaded, it being fifteen minutes later of the oldest Cade doing nothing but snuggling and consoling the youngest Cade the best he could as he paced back and forth across the Curtis's living room floor with the Greasers all just looking at them. Johnny could tell that they were all getting annoyed and tired about hearing Jocelyn's ceaseless crying, but he couldn't help it. "Carla," Johnny spoke up to his first little sister, who instantly perked her head up after hearing her brother say her name.
"Yeah, Johnny?" Cassidy asked
"Can you please attempt calming Jocelyn down? I've tried for about sixteen minutes or so," Johnny sighed in defeat, and Cassidy tiredly nodded her head as she stood up from where she was seating.
Cassidy then reached her arms out and carefully and gentle took the youngest crying Cade, as Johnny's arms fell straight down to his sides, releasing a deep breath as a hearable sigh for everyone to hear. The rest of the gang continued watching as Cassidy gently placed Jocelyn against her chest, pushing her head down with a loving touch afterwards.
"Shh...oh, shush, shush...please, Jocelyn...please stop crying..." Cassidy pleaded in a sighing tone as she playfully and consolingly bounched Jocelyn in her arms to attempt to calm her down that way. However, it still didn't seem that it worked. Jocelyn was still bursting out tears, her face bright red and covered with wetness of her steaming hot tears.
Johnny began searching through Jocelyn's baby bag for her pink binky, but he just couldn't find it, so he attempted giving Jocelyn her rattle for her to playfully shake and have fun with, but Jocelyn only cried and cried even more, not wanting to take the toy from Johnny-cake, while she berried her face into Cassidy's shoulder, drenching her shirts sleeve with her hot tears.
The two older Cade's stared at each other with complete sorrow pouts showing off both of their faces, and you could tell that they were in desperate need of both help, and some fun, because the two of them technically raised Jocelyn with Mr and Mrs. Cade being abusive drug attics and alcholics and all, and like all babies did, Jocelyn got rough from time to time for questioning reasons. At that moment, she wasn't hungry. She didn't want any of her toys. She didn't need to be changed. None of the Greasers, nor Johnny or Cassidy for a change, knew what to do to help Jocelyn cheer up and stop her loud, echoing cries.
"What's wrong with Jocelyn?! She's been crying for nearly twenty minutes straight! Nobody cries for at least twenty minutes straight!" Two-bit objected with his voice exclaiming for the others to hear what he just said, his hands pressed over his ears for him to attempt to tune out Jocelyn's loud cries, but it wouldn't work. Dally narrowed his eyes at the wisecracker of the gang in an angry manner as he stood up from where he was sitting, then he thumped Two-bit over the back of his head. After that, Two-bit obviously let out a "Ow!" from his lips, and Dallas walked over to Cassidy, taking Jocelyn out of her arms and snuggling her up close to his chest. Surprisingly to the whole gang, Jocelyn had stopped crying and started only whimpering a bit as she laid her head peacefully on Dally's chest and started sucking on her thumb.
Johnny and Cassidy both exchanged releaved expressions as they released deep, releaved sighs from their mouths, which echoed along with the rest of the Greasers releaved deep breaths. Seriously, Darry hasn't heard that much crying since his two kid brothers were first born, and Dallas never heard crying that loud either since his and Amanda's baby sister, Hope, was born, too, but however, she past away at the age of three from an accident that neither Dally or Amanda ever enjoyed bringing up one bit. Seriously, who would actually want to talk about their little dead sibling?! Nobody!
"Man, Johnny-cake! Cass! How in the world are you guys used to all of this baby stuff? Ya know, all of the crying, bottle feedings, dirty diapers, and all of that?!" Two-bit questioned
Cassidy just bit down on her lip and shrugged her shoulders as Johnny stuffed his hands into his jeans jackets pockets and just flashed his questioning look at everybody in the room, meaning that he didn't know how to respond with for Two-bit's question.
"Well, Johnny's had tons of practice and experience after I was born, technically raising me and all, but as I grew up and Jocelyn was born, Johnny's been technically raising us both while I helped along with Jocelyn's love, care, happiness, and just her life in general," Cassidy explained
"And not only that, but considering that our folks adore makin' 'em more then raisin' 'em, Carla and I have had plently of years with the same process and whatnot," Johnny added onto what his first little sibling just spoke.
Steve shrugged his shoulders. "Haven't you two ever considered taking a break?"
Cassidy grinned. "You're kidding, right?" she laughed at Steve's comment, and Johnny couldn't help himself to chuckle a bit himself while he cracked his small, handsome grin, too.
Steve cocked an eyebrow in a confusing manner, as he crossed his arms across his chest and gazed at the two oldest Cade's with complete concern, while the rest of the Greasers went on with whatever they were all doing, but they continued listening to every single word that came out of both or either of the Cade's mouths. Ponyboy went on doodling a neatly drawn picture of the gang on a piece of paper, while Darry flipped through the newspapers pages, and Kitten watched Soda and Two-bit arm-wrestle. Lastly, Dallas was busy now holding and playing with little Jocelyn, making her giggle adorably as he playfully and gently tapped her nose and gave her a few kisses on the top of her head.
"Oh, you're serious," Johnny then said to Steve, his black eyes now widened from finding that surprising, and he stuck his hands back into his blue jeans jackets pockets again. Steve continued gazing at the two oldest Cade's with his cocked eyebrow and confused expression as he nodded his head three times. Feeling sort of embarrassed now, Johnny could feel his cheeks starting to heat up, and he gazed down at his sock wearing feet, the embarrassment now eating away at him. Cassidy started feeling a bit blushed up herself from feeling so awkward after she just laughed at Steve's comment, but she knew that Johnny wouldn't say anything back, so she decided to speak up.
"It ain't that easy to have a break when you're raising a baby, Steve. Johnny and I go to school all day, go home and feed and take care of Jocelyn without our folks even paying attention, wake up at least four times each night to take turns comforting Jocelyn, and many more things," Cassidy explained as she placed her hands on her hips and released a deep breath before going on with her speaking. "Johnny and I just don't have much time at all to spend time for relaxing when we're busy with Jocelyn,"
"She ain't any trouble or anything," Johnny came into the conversation then, breaking through the embarrassment that was still draining inside of him the best he could, while he shook his head to fit in with what he just promised about the youngest Cade. "It's just that...all babies are difficult at many points, but at other points during different times, it's all different, as if the roughness never exsisted,"
"Good heavens, Johnny! Cassidy! When is the last time you two ever got any sleep?!" Soda asked, trying his best to push Two-bit's arm down the opposite direction and force it to the top of the coffee table, but since Sodapop was so caught up in Cassidy and Johnny now, he finally allowed his arm to fall with Two-bit's grasp still gripping his fingers, claiming the wisecracker of the Greasers gang the winner of the his and Soda's arm-wrestling match.
Cassidy and Johnny both exchanged ordinary expressions as the two of them thought heavily about Sodapop's question, shrugging their shoulders at the same time, while they both spoke out at the same exact moment with sighing tones, "...Three days ago..."
Okay, seriously, just hearing those three words come out from Cassidy's and Johnny's mouths just instantly made the Greasers all widen their eyes as they completely dropped what they were all doing before without any moment of hesitation, and everyone's full attention was completely undivided on the two oldest Cade's, who looked still embarrassed, and you could tell that they were tired by the yawns that they were holding back as they rubbed their eyes a bit.
"Three days?! Dang!" Dally exclaimed "how in the heck do you two even get through school?!"
"...You just get used to the wake-up calls," Johnny answered with a single shrug of his shoulders, and the gang instantly knew that he was referring around him and Cassidy being completely used to, or at least they were getting used to waking up all the time from Jocelyn's whimpers and cries during the very late nighttime or very early morning hours. At that moment then, the Greasers gang convinced Johnny and Cassidy to just head out and get some fresh air, having time to relax with each other at the park or at the movies, the Dingo, anywhere that was on their sight of town with no Socs and not many worries in the darkness of the fall hour of 6:35 P.M. At first, Johnny and Cassidy attempted turning the gangs kind offer down, telling them thanks afterwards. However, the two of them recieved smirks from everybody in the gang, and Darry informed the two oldest Cade's that they wouldn't take no for an answer, because they've haven't had any relaxation time to just kick back and enjoy themselves for a long while now.
"Don't worry, Johnny-cake. You don't worry either, Carla, ya hear? We'll watch Jocelyn while the two of you just head on out and have some times to yourselves," Ponyboy promised the exact same promise that came out of Darry's, Soda's, and Dally's mouths already, but still, Cassidy and Johnny objected it. Nevertheless, after taking in the promises for about a million times, or what at least felt like a million times, Johnny and Cassidy gave in, slipping on their shoes and giving their youngest baby sister two small family kisses on her lips, right before they thanked the gang for doing this even though they didn't have to, and the two Cade's slipped their way out the front door of the Curtis's house, Cassidy catching the door and carefully closing it all the way until it was completely shut after she departed with Johnny.
"So, where do you want to go to just hang out, Johnny-cake?" Cassidy asked as she quickly trotted over to where Johnny was waiting for her at the bottom of the Curtis's driveway with his sweet, warming, small grin plastered on his face, and his black eyes shined handsomely under the moon and starlight.
Johnny simply just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head two times after Cassidy made it back over to his side, which is when he took a hold of her hand so the two of them wouldn't part in the darkness of the fall evening. "I don't know," Johnny then shrugged again while he thought heavily about Cassidy's question. "Wherever you want to go, I guess will be fine, as long as it ain't in Soc territory, of course,"
Cassidy smiled back up at her brother as she held herself close to his side, completely loving the warm and love that was bonding around the two of them as they caringly held each other close with an absolute embrace of two loving siblings. Cassidy then started questioning to herself in her mind on where she and Johnny could hang out and just kick back to relax and releave themselves like their other fellow Greasers told them to do. Hm...it was too dark and chilly to hang out outside, so the park was absoluetly not going to be the place...and all of the movies that were playing in the movie theater were all movies that Johnny and Cassidy had already watched with the rest of the gang. The Dingo didn't feel like such a great place to just hang out and relax either, because during that time of the evening, there's usually beer-blasts and wildly dangerous bar fights that break out of the bloom. Finally though, after about twenty seconds of careful and heavy thinking and considering, a lightbulb flicked on in Cassidy's mind as her pretty grin grew even more beautiful and bright.
"How 'bout the bowling alley? It seems like a good place to releave stress and whatnot, rolling a ball down at pins that can resemble Socs," Cassidy explained with complete cheerfulness as she giggled a bit at her own wordplay.
Johnny continued smiling his kind, heart-warming grin as he playfully cocked an eyebrow at Cassidy, then muttered to himself, "No more being the first at our Greaser sleepovers with Dallas,", as he playfully rolled his eyes. Obviously, Johnny wanted Cassidy to hear him at least a bit, and Johnny instantly knew that she did hear him because she had playfully battered his arm with a couple of slaps, right before the oldest Cade playfully snatched her up from the ground and hung her over his shoulder, the two Cade's laughing and already feeling completely relaxed by just being with each other, and getting a chance to just calm down to talk instead of worrying about Jocelyn doing something if they're not keeping their eyes on her, or if even Two-bit busts yet another lamp of the Curtis's. Nevertheless, it was official to the two oldest Cade's that their next stop would be the bowling alley.
Meanwhile while those Greasers were up to their usual stuff at the Curtis's house, and with Cassidy and Johnny heading to the boweling alley, it just so happens to be that time to see what's going on with Sondra and Iris Prescott, who were both back at Charlie's house now. The two Prescott girls weren't supposed to see Charlie and/or Rebecca again until the next day, but it just so happened that Charlie had suggested Rebecca to just stay the night at his place so the two of them could have another lesson with Iris and her blindness that night. And so, that was what was done.
Sondra was resting back on the black couch in Charlie's family room, sitting up with her legs properly crossed and her head resting on her right arms clenched fist, its elbow resting just a little below her right knee, as her pale blue eyes watched Rebecca, who was dressed in her white plush robe that was decorated with light pink roses, along with a pair of hot pink, silky pajama pants and a matching tank-top, and her beautiful dark hair was tied back in a glorious ponytail. Rebecca gently took a hold of Iris's hands and pulled carefully, helping her up from the light tan carpeted floor after she had stumbled over and fell. But still, the seven-year-old girl didn't need to blink at all...
"It's okay, Iris. You almost had that one," Rebecca complimented as she carefully and lovingly patted Iris's back a few times, which still didn't make her blink once, and Rebecca then took another gentle hold of Iris's little hands again so she could help her regain her balance. Charlie was there in his living room, too, dressed in his solid white nighttime T-shirt and a pair of gray pajama pants, and he had just recieved Iris's guider, or her cane, from the carpeted floor from where Iris dropped it after she stumbled over and fell.
Charlie and Rebecca had came up with this idea for Iris's guider lesson by placing some soft, or some small things, while others were medium-sized and maybe a little hard or rough objects on the carpeted floor so Iris could learn to tell what certain things were when she knocked into them. But this was more household common stuff, like a pillow, an empty soda can, or just even the couches and wooden stands. Iris would learn to use her guider on the street by Rebecca and Charlie sooner then later. On the other hand, if Iris didn't bump into anything, which was difficult obviously, she would then be learning how to actually avoid hitting into things.
"Try it again, Iris," Charlie ordered kindly, as he carefully and gently clenched the little seven-year-old girls fingers around her guider, and then he and Rebecca backed off to leave Iris be so she could continue her lesson.
Iris began slowly walking around the living room, being very careful so she wouldn't trip over her own feet again, and she tried her best to keep her guider on the floor, but she sometimes had this bad habit of picking it up from the ground and swinging it around in the air so she could attempt guiding herself that way. However, if she did do that, she could instantly hit someone or possibly drop her cane and she wouldn't be able to find it, due to her blindness.
"Remember to keep your guider on the ground, Iris," Charlie reminded, standing close by Rebecca's side while the two of them stayed back from Iris, who placed her guider back down on the floor instantly after she heard Charlie's kind and handsome voice ask her to do so from a little back behind her.
"Okay...Charlie...I got...it..." Iris assured, her brain damage still causing her to stutter with her words once again, and it was painful for Sondra, Charlie, and Rebecca to all understand that Iris would always have to live with her words stammering from her mouth and blindness contained in her whitish-grayish eyes.
The youngest Prescott continued tracing her guider around on the carpeted floor as she slowly walked, and she felt then the guiders top gently tap against something. Iris froze still as she confusedly tilted her head slowly, her glowing eyes still remaining open the entire time, as she brought her guider back a couple of times and gently tapped it against the object that she gently banged into.
Sondra, Charlie, and Rebecca watched and listened quietly with their full, undivided attention on the seven-year-old blind girl, who lifted her head back up and turned around towards the wall, thinking that was where Rebecca and Charlie were standing because since she's obviously blind, she can't tell which direction is which.
"...A paper...plate..." Iris fumbled out her words, and she was correct, but Charlie, Rebecca, and Sondra were frowning now because they hated seeing how Iris couldn't see them, nor see anything at all...and if either of them ever got to grant a wish...they'd wish for Iris to have her eye sight that she always dreamed about having.
"That's correct, but..." Rebecca sighed "...we're over here, Iris,"
Iris's eyes remained opened as they always did, as she slowly turned her body over to the direction where she heard Rebecca's sweet and kind voice informing her that she and Charlie weren't there at the wall. Sondra, Charlie, and Rebecca realized how red Iris's face was looking now, but it was out of embarrassment, because she made a mistake by thinking she was facing Rebecca and Charlie when she was truly facing the wall.
"...I'm sorry..." Iris apologized, her voice soft and ordinary, which most people would think was creepy, as if Iris was one of those blind people from the horror movies that always spoke with the same tone and whatnot, but Iris wasn't completely like that. She wasn't even creepy one bit according to Sondra, Rebecca, and/or Charlie. She was just blind.
Charlie then formed one of his handsome, innocent smirks as he walked up to the seven-year-old girl and started tickling her, which made both Rebecca and even Sondra grin a bit their beautiful smiles, while Iris smiled her pretty, adorable, little smile, and she giggled her adorable laughter until Charlie finally let up, chuckling along a bit with the adorable little girl.
"There's no need for any apologizes, Iris," Charlie promised as he gave her a little gentle, playful tap on her nose, which made Iris giggle a bit more, and she threw her arms around Charlie's neck, giving him a sweet and loving, bright bear hug. Iris was a smart, but yet curious little girl. She knew how to hug Charlie without any hesitation because she knew when she felt when Charlie tapped her on her nose, it gave it away that he was right in front of her, resting on his knees in front of little Iris. Charlie connected his arms around the little girls back and smiled his own bright, handsome grin, while Rebecca felt happy tears fill her eyes a bit when staring at the scene, and she walked over to the two of them. She placed one of her hands on Charlie's shoulder, and the two of them exchanged smiles, right before Rebecca moved down and kissed the top of Iris's head.
"Anyone can make a mistake like that, Iris. Charlie nearly does it every time he wakes up in the morning," Rebecca giggled at just the plain thought of remembering how Charlie was talking to her one early school morning, but he was staring at the wall.
"Hey! I'm not a morning person!" Charlie objected as he released Iris from his arms and stood back up on his bare feet. He then gazed back down at the little seven-year-old girl, seeing how she was now looking up at him because she followed the tone of his voice when he stood up. Charlie and Rebecca were both now feeling the same thought in their brains, thinking that just looking at the blind little girl brought the song "Special Death" by this lady named Mirah into their heads. It was a soft and gentle tune, followed by this Mirah persons soft voice singing about whoever the song was about. It was actually a very good song, but it was sort of creepy at the same time at the timing that Rebecca and Charlie were both in.
"Let's try your cane again, Iris. You're doing very well tonight," Rebecca complimented, and Charlie nodded his head with absolute agreement, but since Iris couldn't see how he was nodding, he said the exact words, "Rebecca's right. You're improving big time,"
Iris grinned again. "Okay, Rebecca...okay, Charlie..."
Charlie and Rebecca backed away from the little seven-year-old girl again as Sondra continued sitting where she was on the couch, watching everything while she desperatly wished that Iris wasn't born with blindness or any brain damage thanks to Spring and that she could've taken her place if she could've, but Sondra was the one who was born without any issues or problems. Iris had traced her guider around on the floor for about another two minutes, and after she passed at guessing what everything was, Rebecca started cleaning the stuff and objects up from the floor as Charlie took Iris's guider away from her and told her to sit down. The reason why Charlie took her guider away from her was because since Iris was such a curious little girl, she'd keep tracing around if she could, so Charlie or Rebecca would take her cane away from her and tell her to sit down on the floor so she wouldn't attempt to walk around by herself with or without her guider.
"Okay, Iris, we're going to do the brail cards again, alright?" Rebecca asked as she collected up the small box of brail cards, and Iris only nodded her head as she ran her fingers through her hair, wishing that she knew how she looked.
"Um, Rebecca? Charlie? I'm going to go out for a bit," Sondra told her and Iris's only two friends as she stood up from the sofa and snatched up her light blue jeans jacket from the coat rack that was in the corner of the living room.
"You're going where?" Charlie asked, sort of bewildered at what Sondra just said.
"Out," Sondra answered, slipping on her light blue, worn out, slightly dirty jeans jacket and fixing its collar around her neck a bit better.
"Baby, I don't think that's such a great idea," Rebecca informed the eldest Prescott, as she handed the box of brail cards over to Charlie, who then opened the box and handed the brail cards down to Iris so she could study the brail herself for a few moments.
"Why not?" Sondra asked as she stuffed her hands into her jeans jackets pockets and innocently stared at Rebecca and Charlie, who were both staring right back at her with concern looks on their faces, and Iris just went on with rubbing her right hands pointer finger around on the brail cards one at a time, muttering and mumbling herself with her adorable tone what the word was.
"We just don't think it's that safe for a kid like you to walk 'round town by yourself in this shade of the dark," Charlie explained
"I'm fourteen, Charlie! I'm not a little child anymore!" Sondra objected as she slipped on her worn out tennis shoes that were resting beside the couch.
Charlie shrugged his shoulders at Sondra's comment about her age. "Still, you're a young teenaged girl walking all by herself down the street in the darkness of Greaser territory. We're Regulars here, remember?"
"How could I forget?" Sondra mumbled with a single roll of her eyes. "I was already reminded of it by some Socs in a yellow Mustang earlier today when I was walking home from school...yeah...Mustangs are tuff,"
"Yeah, yeah, Baby. Socs drive Mustangs, Greasers drive old souped-up cars, and we drive SUV's. We're still Regulars no matter what, so we better get used to calling ourselves tuff one way or the other," Charlie informed, and even though that Sondra hated being known as a Regular, she agreed with what Charlie just said, just like Rebecca and even Iris did. Yep, Iris does know what Greasers and Socs are, and she knows everything about them, just like Sondra, Charlie, and Rebecca do.
"Hey, I'm not saying that we aren't tuff, but were just not as tuff as the Greasers and the Socs," Sondra explained "but I don't want to talk 'bout that now. I just want to go take a fresh walk in town and hang out maybe in our lot, or just stop by the Dingo. Maybe go fetch some fun at the bowling alley, I don't know. I just want to get out and enjoy the darkness of the night, ya dig?"
Rebecca pouted a bit as she walked up to Sondra and placed her hand on her shoulder, but the exact second that she did, Sondra's pale blue eyes shot big as she released a "Ow!" from her lips. The outburst was so unexpected that it made Iris yelp a little, and made Charlie jump a little bit. Rebecca immidiately took her hand away from Sondra's shoulder, but then she gently peaked under her long sleeves of her light blue jeans jacket and black and red checkered shirt to reveal a new, nasty, red slash mark, which was from where Dominic swung his leather belt down earlier that day and the leather echoed off a loud, painful SMACK sound after the belt slapped right off of Sondra's shoulder, and the fourteen-year-old girl used her tears to wipe on the terrible slash mark that formed on her red slash part of her skin that was over the top of her shoulder.
Rebecca's eyes grew big as Charlie's mouth fell open to form a big 'O' shape, the two of them completely shocked in the new terrible wound that was now printed on Sondra's right shoulder.
"What the heck happened to your shoulder, Baby?!" Charlie blurted out in shock after ten or so seconds of the silence danced around in the room, awkwardly.
"Nothing! Nothing at all happened!" Sondra exclaimed, her tone sort of nervous as she hid the nasty red slash underneath her long sleeves fabric again. Iris didn't need to see the scene, nor could she even if she wanted to, to know about Rebecca and Charlie finding out about Sondra's recent injury from their father. Iris remembered the loud SLASH that was heard from the whistling of the leather belt coming down in the opposite room across the hall on the second floor of the Prescott's house...followed by the loud, echoing SMACK...and then Sondra's loud and painful, crying scream.
"Oh, so you don't know how you suddenly got this new mark today?" Rebecca asked, her tone in that kind of way that was asking her if she was kidding.
"I rode my bike again today, okay?! I ended up falling off once again and my shoulder slid across the concrete, scraping my shoulder with this long, tender slash! That's how I got this terrible mark, okay?! Now, if you guys will excuse me, I'm guessing I'll head out to the bowling alley! I'll be back in an hour or so!" After that, Sondra stomped right out of the room and left out the front door of Charlie's house, slamming the door shut behind her instead of catching it behind her or closing it gently herself like she'd usually do it.
Iris went on reading and feeling the bumps of her brail cards, as if she didn't hear what her older sis just did and said, and Charlie walked up to Rebecca's side, the two of them still looking completely surprised after Sondra's departure.
"You think something is going on with Baby, Charlie? Like...she's hiding something from us?" Rabecca asked in such a soft whisper so only Charlie could hear her words.
"I don't know 'bout you, Becky, but I have a feeling that something is wrong," Charlie whispered back.
Rabecca shrugged her shoulders. "Really? How? Is it because of her and Iris's injuries?"
"Well, yeah, there's that," Charlie did what Rabecca did and shrugged his shoulders. "But also...it just hit me that Baby doesn't have a bike,"
Meanwhile with Sondra, she was walking and walking all by herself in the darkness of the night in Greaser territory, the soft, cool breeze whistling through the air as the colorful leaves scraped against the gray sidewalk and some crunched under her tennis shoes. Sondra kept her pale blue eyes looking down directly at her old, worn out tennis shoes, as a single tear formed in her right eye and it dripped down her cheek. She was remembering how awful she hollered at Charlie and Rebecca right before she stomped out of the house, and not only that, but the horrible memories of Dominic's and Spring's painful beatings and horrible words being thrown all around at her more then Iris, but Iris still got the same terrible treatments. Sondra though just attempted shaking it off as she continued walking for ten minutes straight, which is when she arrived at the boweling alley. Just as the fourteen-year-old girl was about to enter through the front doors, she froze still when she gazed through the glass to see...Socs...and two Greasers...
Sondra's eyes shot huge as her mouth dropped open. Those Socs weren't just Socs...they were the Socs that followed her home in their yellow Mustang! And one of those Greasers Sondra remembered from her classes in her new school. He had dark tan skin and greasy black hair, along with an innocent pair of black eyes...Johnny Cade. Sondra could see those Socs all gathering around Johnny, who was holding Cassidy close to him so she wouldn't get grabbed or anything like that by any of the Socs, who were laughing and mocking them, trying their best to kick them down with horrible foul language, but Johnny and Cassidy just wouldn't let them have what they wanted that easy.
Sondra knew Johnny Cade, even though they never talked. She's seen how shy and kind he was around with the other Greasers, and how bright and funny he got when you got really close to him. All Sondra was thinking about at that moment was that...she wasn't going to allow those Socs to hurt Johnny and whoever Cassidy was to him.
"What are you two grease-heads going to do?! Huh?! Answer me!" that redhead Soc with white skin, who just so happened to be named Nick, exclaimed at Johnny and Cassidy, while his best friend with the black hair and dark skin named Blake, laughed along with their other three friends, Jake, Jerry, and Tom.
"Look, we don't want any trouble. We just came to hang out with a simple game of bowling..is that too much to ask?" Johnny asked, his voice in its usual soft and innocent stage that was now filled with some trembling fear.
"And considering that this is our territory, you five shouldn't even be here," Cassidy added on to what her brother just said to the Socs. "So, you guys better watch it!"
"No, girly, you better watch it, ya hear?!" Nick threatened as he shot his pointer finger furiously at the second oldest Cade, who flinched a bit while she released a little yelp from her lips. To the five Socs surprise though, just as they started laughing, Johnny created a glare on his face as he smacked Nick's hand away from Cassidy...hard!
The four male Socs released gasps together as their leader, a.k.a Nick, pulled his hand back and rubbed his skin from where it was starting to turn red from Johnny's hard and stinging slap. Nick narrowed his eyes in a blustering way as he angrily clenched his teeth, and he snarled while he scrunched his nose up, as if he was some upset junkyard dog, and his cold and heartless marble-like eyes looked back up and met Johnny, who was still glaring, but on the inside, he was more scared then ever before.
"Who do you think you are?!" Nick angrily exclaimed at Johnny, nearly spitting with every word he proclaimed from his lips.
"You don't threaten my sister like that!" Johnny demanded, his voice filled with angry bitterness to protect his little sister.
Nick then angrily grabbed a hold of Johnny by his shirt with both of his hands and yanked him hard until the two of them were directly in front of each other. "I asked you a question! Who do you think you are, Grease?!" Nick exclaimed
"Cool it! Let me go!" Johnny bellowed, his voice now starting to panic, but the five Socs just laughed at the sixteen-year-old Cade as Nick pulled back one of his hands, which was now clenched in a tight fist. Johnny's black eyes grew big as Cassidy cuffed her hands over her mouth and let out a terrified gasp. It seriously felt like the color had rushed out of both of their bodies color, but before Nick could even fling his fist back foward, a female voice was heard hollering out a loud "Hey!", followed by one of the front doors of the bowling alley squeaking shut.
Johnny released a deep breath of relief when Nick let him go to turn around and see who it was who ordered him to technically release the eldest Cade.
"Johnny! Are you okay?!" Cassidy asked
"Yeah, I'm okay, Carla," Johnny whispered as he wrapped his arms back around his little sister to protect her. Cassidy could feel how hot Johnny now was, and that was all because he was afraid of the Socs that were jumping them. But now, Johnny and Cassidy were both peaking to see who was it that just hollered out that loud, echoing "Hey!" and then...it happened. Just when Johnny didn't think he could get any hotter...he caught a glimpse of that golden blonde Regular. Sondra.
Johnny's eyes grew a bit big again as he watched Sondra just stand there in front of one of the lanes, behind some of the bowling balls with her face now beating red and her pale blue eyes narrowed at the scene. Johnny knew who she was, but he never talked to her and he didn't even know her name. All he did know about her was that she was a tomboy Regular...and even though nobody called her pretty or beautiful or anything like that...Johnny actually...thought that she was a very nice girl. He didn't need to talk to her to just know how sweet and shy, and not to mention goldenly sensitive she was.
Nick suddenly bursting out into his fits of handsome, but yet annoying laughter, as his eyes watered from laughing so much. Blake clenched his stomach from laughing a whole lot, too, and Tom and Jake gave each other a high-five while Jerry slapped his hand down over his own knee, laughing away with their leader and Blake.
"Well, well, well, look at what we got here, boys. It's that Regular we were following earlier this afternoon," Nick snickered, placing his hands on his hips. "How ya doin', broad?"
It had only been one day and Sondra has heard herself been called a broad too many times. She had enough of it. Her eyes flooded with pure anger, as if they were going to turn from their sweet and pastel color of pale blue, to deadly blood red.
"Leave them alone, you bunch of-" Sondra went on and on calling the five Socs every word in the book, as Johnny's eyes grew big all over again and his mouth dropped open, his hands now remaining over Cassidy's ears. Dang, Sondra's language was so foul (because she picked it up from Spring and Dominic) that it could even make Dallas Winston and Tim and Curly Shepard blush from being so surprised. "You have no right to jump 'em just because they're not like you *beep*! Why don't yawl take the last of your *beep* pride and leave us the *beep* alone!"
Blake clenched his teeth angrily as he snarled, snatching up a bowling ball and throwing it right at the oldest Prescott, who released a gasp after realizing what all she just said, and she quickly dove to the ground before the ball could smash into her. The bowling ball flew over her body and smashed into the wall, right before it fell to the wooden floor without any other motion.
"Girl, look out!" Johnny called out to Sondra, and when she quickly stood back up on her feet, she was greeted by her arms getting grabbed and pinned around her back by Jerry, right before Tom nailed her hard in the stomach. Sondra hollered out a great howl of pain as her pale blue eyes shimmered with pleading tears, and Johnny began to tremble to the point that you could just see him standing there, his whole body shaking as tears started dripping out of his black eyes at the horrible sight. Johnny wanted to yell out for the Socs to back off from her, but he was too scared to even get a word out, so he just continued crying as he held Cassidy, who was now crying also, close to his side.
Suddenly though, the doors of the boweling alley flew open, and here came running in...Charlie, Rebecca, and Iris.
Rebecca and Charlie were now wearing their jackets over their pajamas with their tennis shoes being worn on their feet, and Rebecca was holding Iris's hand, while Iris's other hand clenched her pink and white guider. Charlie and Rebecca instantly formed ticked off scowls upon their faces that were now red when their eyes met the five Socs that were now around Sondra, trying their best to knock her down on the floor and physically hurt her, but with Rebecca and Charlie there now, they weren't going to let that happen.
"HEY!" Charlie bellowed out, which instantly won over all five of the Socs full, undivided attention. "LET HER GO!"
"Yeah, ya heard him, let me-" Sondra began, but she was cut off by her getting dropped to the floor with a loud 'Bang!' being heard after she landed flat on her back on the wooden floor. "Gently, people, gently," Sondra then muttered to herself as she stood up from the floor and rushed over to some of the chairs, diving behind them because she knew when Charlie and Rebecca got mad about protection, it wasn't going to be pretty.
"Stay here, Iris," Rebecca whispered into the little seven-year-old girls ear, before she released her hand and walked away from her, until she was now by Charlie's side, the two of them now glaring furiously at the five Socs. All Charlie and Rebecca were doing in town that night was teaching Iris for a little bit to use her guider outdoors, and when and if she banged the top of her guider onto something, like a pole or a bench, Charlie and Rebecca would take turns explaining what it was and what it was used for to the little, blind seven-year-old girl. But since they were heading past the bowling alley, Rebecca and Charlie decided to see through the glass windows to see how Sondra was doing, and the exact moment that they saw those five Socs all going after her to harm her, their protective sides kicked in and they immdiately bashed into the bowling alley.
Nick placed his hands on his hips as he released his laughs from his mouth, taking two different gazes from the bottom of the two teenagers feet to the top of their heads.
"Boys, look what we got here! Two Regulars coming to the rescue in their pajamas!" Nick burst out into his hystarical laughter as his four friends followed his example, but his laughter was cut off when Charlie stomped up in front of him and grabbed him by his shirt with one heck of a tough grip.
"We live in Tulsa! We've seen crazier things!" Charlie nearly spit in the Socs face on purpose, but before Nick got a chance to even string foul words back together in any kind of sentence, Charlie flew his other hand back in a rock-hard fist and then swung it foward, connecting it under Nick's chin and sending him down to the floor.
"Nick!" Blake gasped, and just as he began cursing Charlie out, Charlie nailed him right in the nose, which instantly gave Blake a bloody nose when he fell straight down onto the floor also.
Just as Jerry was about to kick Charlie hard with Tom for back up, Rebecca bolted towards the two of them and karate-kicked Tom straight in the gut, right before she felt Jerry tie his arms around her waist from behind, but Rebecca instantly slammed her foot down onto Jerry's, making him release a howl of pain, and then Rebecca used his arms to slide herself around, which is when she nailed him hard in the cheek, forcing Jerry to release her, right before Rebecca then hopped down on top of him and began fighting. She fought Jerry and Tom while Charlie handled Nick and Blake, and Sondra hid behind the little row of chairs crying, Johnny and Cassidy also sheding many tears as they held each other close. But there was still one more Soc that needed to be handled with. Jake. However, Charlie and Rebecca were too busy fighting the other four Socs that they didn't pay any mind to realize Jake as he began snickering and walking over to...Iris!
Iris just stood there, not moving a muscle or blinking at all, as her whitish-grayish eyes glew under the light of the different ceiling lights. But what Jake didn't expect was, just because the youngest Prescott was blind, that didn't mean that she didn't know how to use her other senses.
Iris knew how to use her sense of smell to understand that the Greasers usually smelt like cigarette ashes and beer, while the Socs smelt heavily of whiskey, shaving-cream, and all kinds of different colognes. The little seven-year-old girl also used her sense of hearing to listen carefully to anything that came her way, and at that moment, Iris could hear Jake's snickering and heavy boots coming in her direction, which is when she remembered what Rebecca taught her about health and the different parts of the body. Rebecca had stroked Iris's hand over her own body to tell her what the the body parts were, just in case she was ever alone and needed to fight for herself, so she would know where to aim. Taking in all that she has learned, Iris clenched her hands over each other on her pink and white guider, which was still on the ground, and then she heard the sound of Jake's heavy boots stop, right before she felt his hand grip her shoulder. Iris didn't show any sign or fear or sadness though. She was a mighty brave, little, young blind girl.
"You can't see me," Jake chuckled, finding it actually funny that Iris was blind, but right after he said that, there was a little pause of nothing but silence between the youngest blind Prescott and the brunette-haired Soc...but before Jake could even see it coming with his own eyes...WHAM!
Iris struck him hard on the side of his head, which instantly caused him to fall over to the ground with a loud "Ow!" being released from his lips. Jake could now swear that he was hearing this ringing sound echoing throughout the few brain cells that he actually had within his head, but before he could leap back up, Iris had followed the sound of his thump to the ground and his voice when he said "Ow!", and the seven-year-old girl began hitting the Soc over and over again with her cane, clenching it tightly with both of her small hands every time she swung it back up and dashed it back down all over different parts of Jake's body, while Jake just howled in different moans and groans of individual pains. Still, Iris didn't blink a single time, while her eyes glittered and glew under the lights, and she followed Jake's painful howls of pain as she continued beating him down with her cane, not saying a single word and still not needing to ever blink a single time. WHAM! WHACK! BANG! WHAM! WHACK! BANG!
Jake kept his hands cuffed over his head as his body began stinging and feeling completely sore from Iris's strong hits and whips of her guider. Hey, just because she was blind and only seven, didn't mean that she wasn't strong. Iris was a mighty tough girl for her age.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Stop it, little girl! I'm not a pinata!" Jake exclaimed as he quickly rolled away when Iris had swung her cane back up, and she instantly stopped when it swung down and she heard it hit the wooden floor. That instantly gave it away to Iris that she had taken care of Jake when he was on the ground, but now she didn't know where he was when he was standing up. Jake was right in front of her, quietly moaning to himself as he rubbed his head, neck, arms, and ribs from where Iris struck him the most with his guider as he glared down at the blind girl.
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" came Charlie's voice as he bashed over to Jake and tackled him back down to the wooden floor before he could get the chance to even touch Iris.
Sondra didn't take any hesitation to quickly come out from her hiding spot and take a hold of one of her little sisters hands, which is when she told her to follow her, and the two Prescott girls trotted back over to behind the single row of chairs, which is when Sondra told Iris to sit down, which she did, then Sondra took away her cane so she wouldn't wander away, just like Rebecca and/or Charlie would do.
Sondra watched, her heart racing rapidly in her chest like a wild horse, as she stared at how scared the Socs were now of Rebecca and Charlie as they continued fighting them off with painful kicks and strong, striking punches, while the two protective teenagers started cursing them out with every word they could think of, and Sondra instantly commanded Iris to cover her ears, which the youngest Prescott did after hearing her older sisters order. As Sondra continued watching, she felt a hand touch her shoulder from being. Sondra's eyes grew a bit as her heart took one major leap in her chest, and without any hesitation, the eldest Prescott shot herself around. It was Johnny and only Johnny, who had Cassidy standing a little furthur away from him, but Sondra immdiately swung Iris's cane around in order to protect the two of them that she didn't get a chance to see who it was. Nevertheless, Sondra instantly knew who it was after Johnny's hand flew to his nose, which was now bleeding a bit from where she had striked him with the cane.
"Oh my god!" Sondra exclaimed to herself in her head as she covered her mouth that was now hanging open with her free hand that was no longer holding onto Iris's guider with her other hand. Sondra allowed her eyes to grow bigger from feeling so embarrassed, shocked, and startled all in one, as she waited for the worse that would come to her from this Greaser. "What did I just do?!"
"Um...hello to you, too," Johnny greeted, holding back his stinging pain as he kept the hand he was covering his slightly bloody nose with actually up and covering his slimly bloody nose.
"Johnny, are you alright?!" Cassidy asked, nervously
"I'm alright, Carla, don't worry," Johnny answered his little sister as he playfully patted her head a couple of times, as if she was a little puppy-dog.
Wow, Sondra thought to herself, as if she was completely alone with Johnny with nothing else being heard but the sweet and completely innocent, soft sound of his voice speaking to her, and no one else was in sight. He was surprisingly being very gentle and caring towards the girl who just swung him hard in the face with Iris's guider.
"I-I'm s-so..." Sondra stuttered out the best she could, but she instantly shut herself up when Johnny's kind, loving, and innocent black eyes made contact with her pastel, light, pale blue eyes. She was so quiet that Johnny could hardly even hear what her voice sounded like, and he deseratley wished to himself that he did know her voice...and not to mention her name.
"It's cool. Don't worry 'bout it. It's just a little bit of blood," Johnny assured the fourteen-year-old girl as he wiped away the red liquid from his nose with his jeans jackets sleeve. That's when Sondra realized that his jeans jacket matched hers exactly, except his was darker blue and hers was light blue.
"..I-It's n-not..." Sondra muttered under her breath, but Johnny could still tell just by the way she looked that she was still really bugged 'bout it, hitting him in the nose on accident and all.
"I promise you that it's fine. It's alright. Trust me, I've been through way worse," Johnny told the fourteen-year-old girl, while Cassidy nodded her head with absolute agreement, but Sondra only looked at him as she thought to herself that she has totally been through way worse also, just like Iris, too...but Sondra didn't say a word back to Johnny. Instead, the eldest and the second oldest Cade watched confusedly as Sondra took a quick hold of Iris's hand and pulled her up to the floor, right before the two of them quickly trotted away until they were out in front of the bowling alley, where'd they'd wait for Rebecca and Charlie to walk them home.
"Was it something I said to her?" Johnny asked as he and his little sister exchanged confused expressions, and Cassidy shook her head at her brothers question, right before the two of them watched Rebecca and Charlie finish those five Socs off until they bolted out the door.
"Awesome work, Charlie! We got 'em good!" Rebecca cheered as she and Charlie gave each other a high-five as the two of them exchanged proud and satisfied grins.
Charlie nodded his head, then rubbed his knuckles from where he felt would become a mixture of black, blue, and purple because he nailed the Socs a little extremely too rough over and over again.
Rebecca battered her eyes confusedly as she cocked an eyebrow. "What's wrong, Charlie?"
"I might need an x-ray," Charlie replied, still rubbing his knuckles from where they crushed the Socs the most with Charlie's hurtful punches that were used completely for protection and self-defense.
"Hey..." Johnny's soft and innocent popped up, and Charlie and Rebecca turned their attention to the sixteen-year-old boy, watching him as he hesitated with every single small and slow step he took towards them, Cassidy following his example right behind him. Rebecca and Charlie could instantly tell that he was very shy and sensitive, just like Sondra was, same with Cassidy.
"Are you okay, boy? Did they hurt you?" Rebecca asked
Johnny simply stuffed his hands into his blue jeans jackets pockets and he shrugged his shoulders. "No, I'm alright. I was just pulled a little, but I'm okay. My sister is, too. I'm Johnny Cade...and this is my sister, Carla, but everyone calls her Cassidy,"
Charlie and Rebecca both looked at each other and smiled, right before they showed their kind and heart-warming grins, Rebecca's being beautiful and Charlie's being handsome, both as always, to Johnny and Cassidy, who both shyly grinned back.
"Well, Johnny, Carla, it's nice to meet you two. Say, I'm Rebecca and this is my best friend Charlie," Rebecca introduced herself with a single bow of her head while Charlie lifted his hand up to his shoulder and simply said, "Sup."
"It's nice to meet you guys, too, but uh...I was wondering who that girl was...ya know, the one with the golden hair and shimmering blue eyes," Johnny tensed up a bit when remembering how nice he thought that Sondra looked.
"Oh, that's our friend. We call her Baby," Rebecca shared
"And speaking of which," Charlie nodded his head. "We got to walk her and Iris home now,"
"Who's Iris?" Johnny asked
"Baby's younger sister. Baby's fourteen and Iris is seven," Charlie answered
Johnny paused for a moment, taking in what Rebecca and Charlie were calling Sondra. He touched his chin for about three seconds, and then he scratched the back of his head, thinking heavily about his question.
"That girl...the blonde one, I mean...her real name is Baby?" Johnny asked, confusedly
"Oh, no," Charlie replied with three shakes of his head. "But nobody ever calls her by her real name,"
The eldest Cade exchanged confused expressions with his little sister, and the two of them shrugged their shoulders as they looked back at Charlie and Rebecca, who were both still gazing right back at the two of them.
"Why doesn't anybody call her by her actual name? And what exactly is her real name?" Cassidy asked
"Well, we're sorry, but we can not tell you guys that," Charlie apologized "but, Johnny...you go to high school, right?"
"...Maybe...why?" Johnny asked
Charlie and Rebecca both smiled at each other, but then glanced back at the oldest and second oldest Cade's.
"Well...so is Baby...get to know her then properly. If you don't, heck, that's your choice," Rebecca giggled, and without another word, she and Charlie were out the front doors of the bowling alley, both laughing and smiling together, and they walked away with Sondra and Iris...but Sondra didn't walk away without taking one more small glance at Johnny through the glass, her eyes shimmering under the moon and starlight, before she walked away.
Cassidy cocked an eyebrow as she glanced up at Johnny, who now looked bright, bright red and his eyes were completely zoned out, a small, handsome smile tugging at his lips. Cassidy grinned a little herself as she tugged on her older brothers arm, which instantly made Johnny snap out of it, and he quickly gazed down at her.
"We better get going back to the Curtis's house and tell the gang what all has happened, and not to mention that this blonde girl is the charm that ran into Dally twice today," Cassidy snickered
Johnny's face grew redder. "Um...I'd rather not share about 'Baby' with the others, Carla,"
"You're only saying that 'cause you're sweet on her already," Cassidy nudged her brother as a couple of soft chuckles escaped from her lips, and Johnny's black eyes widened after taking in his little sisters words.
"I am not!" Johnny objected
"You are so!" Cassidy laughed as her older brother put her into a playful headlock as he started tussling up her hair, making the two of them laugh together.
"Not, not, not!" Johnny exclaimed, trying his best to sound stern as he released his little sister from his playful headlock, but he just couldn't pull it off. Not one bit. His laughter was getting the best of him.
"Yeah, you are! Let's just see what the others have to say 'bout this!" Cassidy quickly bolted out of the bowling alley, laughing her beautiful and joyful laughter as Johnny quickly bolted after her.
"Hey! Wait up! No fair!" Johnny objected through his laughter, but within his mind, he was absoluetly about Sondra...questioning why people called her 'Baby', and not to mention the fact what the other Greasers would say about this, especially Dally and Two-bit, who both absoluetly hated Regulars...aw, man...what will the gang say and/or do?
AN: Sorry for taking so long to update, but I spent my whole day writing this chapter for you all! Now, please review because I need them to keep my writing spirit strong and golden! What will the Greasers say and/or do when Johnny and/or Cassidy spill the beans about Sondra being a Regular? How about when they tell their gang about how Regulars actually saved them from five Socs? Yawl will just have to wait until chapter three! Read yawl in the next chapter! :D :D :D :D