Tangled Up In Me
Chapter Two
Meeting the gang
It's been a few weeks since Darry came for dinner. I've been thinking about him a lot. I may have only talked to him for a few minutes but, I feel like I could tell him anything. I was dieing to see him again. I stayed up in my room a lot more now. No one really cares. Sometimes Daddy comes up to ask me what's wrong. I haven't told him that I want to see Darry. He'll get the wrong idea. I sat at my desk and did my homework. I didn't have much. Just some math. I was bad at math. I got a tutor and I had to go see him today at six o'clock. I just couldn't wait to go to the school again. I was wondering all day who my tutor was so, I was a little excited to know. I decided to make my way to the school around five thirty. I grabbed my math book and left. On the way Mr. Thomas, a book store owner, asked me to take a few math books to my math teacher, Mrs. Hatchet. I was up to my forehead in books as I walked down the hall way of the school. Before I knew it, I was on the floor with the books all over the floor. I looked around and saw that I'd ran into someone and they were holding their nose. I ran over to the man. It was Darry. Oh what a way to see each other again.
"Oh no! Darry, I'm sorry." I said, kneeling in front of him. He looked up to me and smiled.
"Hey Molly…" He said with his hand over his nose. I moved it and there was blood all over it and his upper lip. I helped him up and took him to the nurse's office. There was a key under the door, just incase the nurse locks herself out. I unlocked the door and sat Darry down on the bed. I got some water and a cloth. I kneeled down and began to clean the blood away. "Is this the first time you ran into you dad's boss and almost broke his nose?" He asked looking up to stop the bleeding. It really wasn't. One time I had a broom and I swung it back and hit my dad's boss in the face when I was ten but, I wasn't going to tell him that…
"Yeah…" I lied, finishing up. I knew he didn't believe me. "So, what are you doing here?" I asked standing up.
"My brother has to tutor someone and I was dropping him off." He explained as we left the room. I blushed and put the key back. "Why are you here?" He asked, leaning against the wall.
"I'm the one he's tutoring…" I said, standing back up. He grinned.
"Do you want me to help you carry the books?" He asked looking at the books on the floor. I nodded and bent down to pick them up. He got on his knees and began to pick them up as well. His arm bumped mine as we tried to pick up the same book. We looked at each other and smiled. "I'll take it." He said trying to pull it away. I didn't let it go.
"You already have a lot." I said, pulling it back. He chuckled and pulled it back to him, harder.
"I'll take it." He said again. I rolled my eyes but, pulled it back. Soon we were both on the ground. I was under him as he pulled the book upward to him. I just held on to it. The hall was full of our laughter. Somehow, I got on top of him and sat on his chest. I was so thankful that I wore jeans. Suddenly I heard footsteps behind us. I looked behind me and let go of the book. I saw the principle and his daughter, Emily. Emily is the coolest girl in school and we had every class together. I blushed when she gave me a smirk. Darry propped himself up on his elbows. "Uhm… Hello, sir…" He said to the principle. The principle gave him a weird look. "It's not what it looks like…"
"I'm sure…" He said walking away, dragging Emily along. I buried my face in my hands out of embarrassment.
"This is going to be all over the school." I said, standing up and grabbing a pile of books.
"I'm sorry." Darry said, grabbing his pile of books. I shook my head.
"It was fun while it lasted." I told him, grinning. We walked to my math class quietly. Not much to say after that. When I opened the door I saw a blond kid that I'd seen in my literature class. He looked at us and smiled.
"Darry, I thought you were going home." He said, taking the pile of books from him.
"I decided to help Molly bring these books." He said going to the door. "See ya when you get home." He said to the blond kid before leaving. The kid turned to me, with the same smiled.
"I'm Ponyboy Curtis." He said holding his hand out for me to shake.
"I'm Molly Jacks." I said shaking his hand. We finished the math lesson early so; we sat on a desk and talked.
"So, how come Darry had to get a job?" I asked, thinking it was because he didn't want to go to college. Ponyboy looked at the floor.
"Our parents died not to long ago. Darry kept Sodapop and me. He had to get a job or two so that we could live with him. Sodapop even has a job to put me through school." Ponyboy told me.
"I'm sorry…" I said, feeling bad for bringing it up.
"Don't be… You didn't know..." He said, getting off the desk. He looked at the clock. "Well, let's get outa here. You wanna come over?"
"Okay." I said, grabbing my book.
"So, Ponyboy. Do you like living with Darry and Sodapop?" I asked. He nodded.
"Yeah. I don't really just live with them. I also live with some of my friends. You remember Johnny Cade?" He asked. I did. He was in my class in the forth grade.
"Yeah." I answered.
"He comes over a lot. He's my best friend. The gang doesn't know how we're such good friends. Him, not saying anything and me, keeping my mouth shut. I don't really know how it works but, it does." Ponyboy told me with a smile. "Darry keeps the door unlocked at all times. So that if anyone needs a place to crash or cool off. You know they might be in a fight and need somewhere to go. Or the fuzz might be after them. Or maybe they're just hacked off at their old man."
"What about robbers?" I asked. Ponyboy shrugged.
"Nothing to take. And, ya know, if they knew who lived there they wouldn't even set foot in our house. Darry'll knock their lights out. Sodapop wouldn't be too nice, either." Ponyboy explained, smiling to himself when he said Sodapop.
"You really like Sodapop, huh?" I asked as we walked outside of the school. The sun was going down. Ponyboy stood there, watching it. I watch the sunset every day from my bedroom window.
"Yeah. He's really my favorite person. I love him more than anyone." He told me, putting his hands in his pockets. "Who's you favorite person?" He asked, not taking his eyes off the sunset.
"My dad." I answered, smiling. He really was. He understood everything. Ponyboy grinned.
"Darry's favorite person was our dad. He won't admit it but, me and Sodapop know it was." Ponyboy said, beginning to walk again. I walked beside him.
"Who else is in your gang?" I asked to make conversation. He thought for a minute.
"Uhm… I'm trying to think of someone you might know… What about Two-Bit?" he asked.
"Yeah, I know Two-Bit. I mean I've never talked to him but, I've seen him in school." I told him. Two-Bit looked like a Greaser.
"Okay, What about Steve?" he asked. I thought for a minute.
"No, I've never heard of him."
"Well you'll meet then when we get to the house. They were there when I left." Ponyboy said, turning onto a street that looked rough. The houses were broken down. There were old, rusty, cars everywhere.
"Hey, Curtis!" Ponyboy spun around. Some really greasy guy was running over to us. He had some other guy with him.
"Oh, hey Tim, Curly." Ponyboy said, calming down.
"Looks like you picked yourself up a broad" Tim said, looking at me. He put his hand on my shoulder and looked at me weird. Ponyboy put his arm around me and pulled me away from the older Greaser. He gave me a small wink, to let me know what he was doing.
"Yeah I did. Now you better keep your hands off or I'll clobber ya." Pony said, putting on a tough voice. Tim backed away.
"Okay man. No reason to get hacked off. You need a weed or something?" Tim asked getting out a pack of cigarettes. Ponyboy took one and flipped out his lighter. Tim offered me one, but I refused. He shrugged and put it in his mouth. "You headed home?" He asked lighting it. Ponyboy took a long drag.
"Yeah. We better get goin." Pony said, not taking his arm away.
"Okay. Tell Superman I said hi." Ponyboy nodded and walked away. When they were out of sight Ponyboy took his arm away.
"Sorry bout that. If you ever come around here on your own, stay away from them." Ponyboy said, tossing the cigarette down and stomping it out.
"You smoke?" I asked. He nodded.
"Yeah. It calms me down and makes me look tough." He told me. "Darry smokes sometime, too. So does Sodapop and everyone in the gang. I have to say, Dally smokes more than everyone put together." Ponyboy said, chuckling lightly. I smiled at him.
"You guys are more than a family than a gang." I stated. He looked at me.
"I guess so." Pony said, thinking about it. I was one of those people that pointed stuff out. Stuff like that. We finally got to his house. It was small but, looked better than the other houses. We went in and saw Two-Bit, Johnny, and Darry on the couch. There were other guys at the coffee table, playing cards.
"Hey Ponyboy. Who's the broad?" Two-Bit asked looking at me.
"That's my boss's daughter, Molly." Darry answered for him. Two-Bit shook my hand.
"I'm Two-Bit." He said. I nodded. Sodapop smiled at me. He must have remembered me.
"I'm Steve." One of them said.
"That's Dally." Two-Bit told me. Dally. Wow. I then knew how Christina fell in love with him when he just winked at her. He was so good looking. I stayed there a while, talking to everyone. No one was really that mean, even if they looked mean. I really got along with Darry, Dally, and Ponyboy. Johnny was really to himself. He would sometimes say something to Ponyboy but, that was it. When I finally looked at the clock it was ten. I jumped up. Dad was going to kill me. My curfew was nine.
"What's wrong?" Dally asked, lighting up.
"I have to get home. Now. My curfew is nine. Dad's going to kill me." I said going to the door.
"I'll drive you." Darry said grabbing his keys.
"I'll go too. I want to meet this Christina." Dally said. We went to the truck outside. I sat in the middle and was shoulder to shoulder with Dally and Darry.
"Did you learn anything from Ponyboy?" Darry asked, accidentally hitting my knee when he went to shift gears.
"Yeah, he really helped." I told him. Darry smiled.
"The kid's smart, but he doesn't use his head." He said with a grin. Dally had his hand hanging out the window. Dally shifted a bit. Darry looked over to him. "What's wrong Dal?" he asked, looking at the road again.
"I don't know Darry. I've just been thinking about what happened to Johnny and Ponyboy." Dally answered, putting his head in his hands.
"Dally… That happened…"
"I know… a month ago." Dally finished for him. "But, you don't know how it felt. When I was watching them run into the fire, I didn't know if they were coming back. When I pulled Johnny out of that fire just in time, I could have cried. If I didn't grab him right then, he might have been killed…"
"Dally… It's okay… It's all over." Darry said. I sank into my seat and leaned toward Darry.
"No Darry! It's not over! Not in my head! I told them they'd be okay! I lied! I was scared and they thought I knew what I was doing! I almost got them killed…" Darry didn't say anything more about it. He just kept his eyes on the road. We finally got to my house. Dad was sitting out on the porch. I got out of the truck after Dally. I followed to two big men to the porch.
"Molly. Where have you been?" Dad asked firmly. I looked away from him.
"She was at my house." Darry told him. He nodded and looked at Dally.
"I'm Dallas." He said, shaking my dad's hand. Dad looked him over.
"I'll get Christina…" He said. Before Dad went into the house he looked at me. I knew he was upset. Darry put his hand on my shoulder and smiled at me.
"I'll talk to him. Don't worry." He told me, putting his arm around me. I smiled up to him. Christina walked out of the house and looked around. When she saw Dally she froze. Dally chuckled and put an arm around her.
"How ya doin?" he asked, no helping. Christina's face turned bright red. When Darry and Dally left, Dad took me up to my room.
"Darry explained everything to me. I'm not as mad as I was but, don't do it again. Darry won't be able to get you out of it next time. No off to bed with you. You have school in the morning." I hugged Dad and silently thanked Darry. I went to bed and thought about Ponyboy, Sodapop, and Darry.
"Our parents died not to long ago. Darry kept Sodapop and me. He had to get a job or two so that we could live with him. Sodapop even has a job to put me through school." Darry must really love them. He gave up school and everything. Sodapop is just sixteen and works full time too.
"No Darry! It's not over! Not in my head! I told them they'd be okay! I lied! I was scared and they thought I knew what I was doing! I almost got them killed…" Dallas wasn't just a hood that got jailed a lot. He loved Johnny and Ponyboy. The gang I saw tonight was a family. Not just a bunch of Greasers…
