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The next day after school, I headed over to DX just as I did any other day. The only difference this time was I wasn't going to grab a Pepsi and mess around with my older brother. This time, as insane as it sounded, I was going to talk to Steve.
It was a long shot, I had to somehow convince Steve to tell Soda that dropping out of school wasn't good. I knew that if I told Soda myself he would only take what I said into consideration but if his best friend had something to say about it too, he would for sure listen. Soda's like that when you take the two most important people in his life and use them against him.
Saying that Steve wasn't happy to see me was an understatement. The glare he was sending made me anticipate him asking why I hadn't knocked. I may have had a little power yesterday in my house but this was his gas station.
"What do you want? Soda's working the pumps."
I rolled my eyes. "I know, I saw him when I came in. I ain't blind, ya know."
"Then what the hell are you doing in here?" He sneered.
"Look," I said, trying my hardest to sound calmer than I was. "I need your help, okay?"
"You need my help? What on earth gives you the idea that I would want to help you do anything? Especially after you woke me up at 3 in the morning for nothing."
"It's about Soda," that caught his attention. "He wants to drop out of school but we can't let him do that-"
"And why the hell not?"
"Something bad is going to happen if we let him go on with this idea of leaving school. Something awful and you have to trust me on this."
Steve mulled this idea over. He knew I was serious; I wouldn't just go around nagging him to talk to my brother for me if it wasn't. "How do you know that?"
No, no, no, don't be stubborn Steve, just let it go. Do what I ask you this one time. "I just know."
He was getting angry again. This wasn't good, not at all. "Get out of here, kid. You may be Soda's kid brother but I'm not against beating the tar outta you." I stood staring at him. I'd lost him in my equation. "Can't you hear either? I said get out of my shop."
My legs turned on their own accord, leading me further from the shop counter and closer to the door. I glanced back one more time, waiting for him to call me back and say he was just messing with me but I knew that wouldn't happen.
xXx
My new plan was perfect, it was fool-proof. It came to me as I was walking home: if Steve didn't want to hear it, he had to see it and what better way to show him than to draw it myself.
I busted through the door and tossed my bag on the couch barely missing Dally's head. There was no time to waste, I had a sketch-pad and some art pencils that I never used unless I was assigned some kind of project or if something caught my eye. Dad bought this set for my birthday one year and it was one of the many things I had left to remember him by. I didn't want to use it on anything I found less than important.
There was lots of stuff in it: sunsets, stars, a couple horses but I needed a blank page.
I'd definitely underestimated the difficulty in drawing a picture of my brother dead. The toughest thing without a doubt was drawing his eyes, those lively, chocolate pieces, rolled up in his head. I'd almost lost my lunch at that point. The nightmare in which everything seemed real was hard enough but putting it down on paper was like a step into reality. The truth hit me: if I didn't get Steve on board, Soda would be gone forever.
The door burst open and slammed against the wall. "There ya are, kid. Where did you go? I waited for you in the parking lot forever." Two-Bit asked.
"Forever? Two-Bit, you can barely wait 10 minutes."
"I can wait twenty when Darry's kid brother is on the line and I'm responsible for him." Yeah, that all was true. Darry would have killed him if something happened to me whether it was his fault or not. "Seriously though, you couldn't have told me you were gonna walk?"
"Sorry, Two-Bit, I forgot."
"Yeah, yeah, go make me something to eat. I'm hungry."
Quickly, I detached the sheet of paper and folded it in my pocket. "Lazy bum," I mumbled as Two-Bit ran giddily to the kitchen.
xXx
The idea was to show Steve the picture and get him on my side without having Soda see it but since they were together in our room again, this proved almost impossible. I had two options. Either I could sit and wait for Soda to kick him out so he could go to bed or wait for Soda to go to the bathroom. I didn't know which one would come first until the door opened and Soda stepped out.
"I'll be right back, buddy," he announced, then upon seeing me staring at him from the couch, waved. "Hey, Pony."
The bathroom door closed and I leaped into action. I didn't have much time. The fire that licked at my patience whenever Steve was around flared when I saw him sprawled across my bed. I have to sleep there.
"Did you talk to him about staying in school?" I asked though I knew he hadn't.
"What's it to ya? It ain't none of your business what we were talkin' about."
I reached into my pocket, unfolding the picture I drew a few hours ago. Careful to avoid looking at the artwork, I handed it over to the boy leaking idiot-juice all over my pillow.
Immediately his expression turned pained and his face drained color. That must have been the face I had when I first looked at the final product myself. Steve was gonna take it the hardest of us all. My vision was correct, though I hadn't doubted it.
"What the hell, kid! What happened to those half-assed sunsets you drew?" He threw the picture and it floated to the floor, landing on one of Soda's mountainous heaps of dirty laundry. "Jesus, you are a real nut-job!"
"Listen Randle, that's what's gonna happen in two years if we don't convince Soda to stay in school, got it?" He tried to say something else but I spoke louder. "I don't want my brother dead and I know you don't either. Tell him to stay in school or he will be."
He was quiet for a while staring at the picture on the floor. "Fine kid, I'll help."
