Thanks to those who read and reviewed the last chapter. Hope you are enjoying the story as much as I enjoy writing it. Please let me know what you think if you read it. Thanks!
Chapter 4
Rosie went to school with a heavy heart the next day. Darry took her in, as they had to go and see the Principal first to make sure she was still allowed back if she apologised. Mr Harper seemed pleased to see them.
"Mr Curtis, Primrose, come on in." he said holding the door of his office open for them.
"Good Morning Mr Harper. Primrose has had a change of heart and she would like to apologise to the other girl if that is still okay with you?" Darry explained, once he had sat in the chair opposite the Principal. Rosie sat next to him, her legs dangling, since the chair was far too big for her. Mr Harper glanced at her with a smile.
"That's really good to hear. I will call and get Miss Finch to bring Lillian up here." He picked up the phone and made the call straight away.
"Rosie also has something to say to you Mr Harper." Darry prompted his little sister once the Principal had got off the phone.
"Erm.." Rosie hesitated and began in a quiet voice looking down at her hands, "Sorry for being rude yesterday Mr Harper."
"Thank you for your apology Primrose. I am glad you had a change of heart and decided to say sorry to Miss Wilson because I would be sad if you had to be suspended and stay away from school for the rest of the week."
Rosie nodded, glancing up at Mr Harper who was looking at her kindly. "I hope you understand that when you say sorry it means you are going to try not to do that same thing again. So after today I want you to think before you react when someone is mean to you. The first thing to do is tell a teacher and it is never the right thing to hurt another child, even if they have been unkind to you."
"Yes Mr Harper." Rosie said meekly. She did understand that it was not a good thing to hit other children, though in her mind that was just because if she did she would get into trouble, not because it was the wrong thing to do. As far as she was concerned Lillian had got what she deserved but she knew the only way to get herself out of trouble was to pretend she was sorry and she really didn't want to be in more trouble with Darry or with the school, so she was just gonna have to do it.
Lillian arrived in the office looking very smug and smiled sweetly at Mr Harper.
"Hello Principal Harper." She trilled in her sweetest voice. The voice which accompanied with her sweet looks, managed to fool many adults into thinking she was a good, nice child who could do no wrong. Mr Harper was not so easily fooled and was a good judge of children, having worked with them for many years, so he had the measure of Miss Wilson and was not going to let her get away with playing the totally innocent party in all this.
"Hello Lillian. Primrose has explained what happened yesterday and she would like to apologise to you for hurting you, but I would also like you to apologise to Primrose for the spiteful things you said to her. We will not tolerate that kind of behaviour here Miss Wilson and if I hear that you have been bullying other children in that way again you will find yourself back here and in a lot of trouble, do you understand me?" he spoke to her very sternly and in a much colder tone than he had used with Rosie.
Rosie was shocked that he was telling Lillian off too and she couldn't help a smile spreading across her lips as she saw the surprise on Lillian's face too. She had come expecting to be fawned over and made a fuss of because of the terrible thing that Rosie had done to her and was very surprised to find herself instead being scolded and asked to apologise to her. Her face had turned bright red and her mouth hung open. "Yes, Principal Harper." she stuttered, looking thoroughly uncomfortable.
"Rosie, what would you like to say to Lillian?"
Rosie sighed and stood up, readying herself for the words which it would practically choke her to say. She looked over at Lillian and shoved her hands in her pockets. "Sorry for hitting you yesterday Lillian, I won't do it again." She said and even managed to make it sound genuine. The better she behaved the worse it made Lillian look, so that was an added incentive.
"Thank you Primrose. Now it's your turn Lillian." Mr Harper prompted.
Lillian looked like she was going to be sick and Rosie enjoyed seeing her squirm. She smiled at Lillian and Lillian glowered back at her. "Sorry for saying mean things to you." She ground out through gritted teeth her fists clenched. Mr Harper raised his eyebrows at her to indicate he wasn't that impressed with her apology, but he let it go.
"Okay now I want you both to shake hands and then you can go back to class with Miss Finch."
Rosie stuck her hand out and Lillian reluctantly gave it the briefest of squeezes before wiping her hands conspicuously on her skirt. Darry gave Rosie a quick hug whispering in her ear "Well done Rosie, I'm proud of you." making Rosie grin from ear to ear as she gave him a wave and went off to class. Lillian followed her out of the office, still glowering and looked very disgruntled about the whole way that things had turned out.
Rosie had a much better day at school and managed to stay out of trouble the whole rest of the week. She was really happy it was the weekend because that meant she got to play with her best friend Freddie, a little boy who lived 2 houses away from her. He was 7, so in the grade above her at school and she never saw him at school since the older class had recess at a different time. Sometimes she would play with him after school, but often he had to go with his Mom while she did her cleaning jobs since there was nobody else to look after him.
Freddie had lived next door for 2 years now and he and Rosie had become firm friends almost the moment they set eyes on each other. He, like her, was bright, inquisitive and had a talent for getting into trouble. The two of them together was a recipe for mischief and Darry tried to discourage her from spending all her time with him. Not that he didn't like Freddie, he did, but his sister didn't need any encouragement to misbehave and he knew that between her and Freddie they would always manage to cook up something either dangerous or messy or just plain silly.
This particular Saturday Rosie spotted Freddie playing outside in his front yard. She had had breakfast and her room was mostly tidy, except for a few books and some dirty laundry on the floor, but Darry didn't need to know about that.
"Darry?" She asked her brother as he was just finishing up the dishes from breakfast.
"Yes Rosie." He half turned to look at his sister who he saw had jumped up to sit on the kitchen counter. "Hey, get down off there, I've told you not to do that. You're gonna break the kitchen and I ain't got the time or money to be fixing stuff just cos you've been clambering all over it."
Rosie rolled her eyes and jumped down. "Can I go play with Freddie?"
Darry sighed "Okay, but stay in our front yard or his, don't go anywhere else and please stay out of trouble."
"Okay." Rosie said brightly, giving Darry a quick hug around the waist and then skipping happily out of the door.
"Be back for lunch!" he called after her.
"I will!" she yelled back. Darry watched her as she ran over to Freddie's yard and they began digging together in the dirt. Freddie was probably being a pirate digging for treasure or looking for dinosaur bones or something. He always seemed to have a plan and Rosie always loved his plans too. Darry smiled fondly as he watched them playing. It was nice that she got to do innocent kid's stuff and just play. Too often she was stuck in with all the gang and with nobody to just be a kid with, although Soda or Two-Bit would sometimes indulge her and play house or whatever she wanted to play. Not all the time though. These were tough, teenaged greasers and as much as they loved Rosie they also loved hanging with their friends and weren't always available for a tea party.
Rosie and Freddie had dug a hole about a foot deep and not found anything interesting. The only good thing she had found was useful drawing stone which she slipped into her pocket ready for drawing on the sidewalk later. Freddie had told her he was looking for skeletons cos he had heard that the people who lived there before him had killed someone and buried them in the front yard. Rosie wasn't too sure if that was true since old Mr and Mrs Gregory always seemed like a real sweet old couple, but it sounded like something to do so she kept her mouth shut and dug along with Freddie.
"I'm bored of digging." She complained, wiping her muddy hands on her skirt.
"Me too." Freddie replied dropping the piece of broken plate he'd been digging with. "I know, we could go on over to old Mr Fisher's place. Ya know the deserted house? I heard it was haunted. Maybe we could go and see the ghost for ourselves."
Rosie shook her head "I can't, Darry told me not to leave our yards and anyhow he said I ain't allowed in the old house cos it's about to fall down and it ain't safe."
"Yeah, that's just what all the grown-ups are saying to keep us kids out cos they know it's haunted and they don't want us to get scared. Well, I ain't scared of ghosts, are you?"
"Nuh-uh." Rosie shook her head "No, I ain't scared of ghosts but I am scared of Darry. He'll be real mad if I go over there."
"He won't find out. What time you gotta be back?"
"For lunch."
"Well you got a couple of hours before they'll come looking for you, let's go on over there now and they'll never know. We just need to take some salt with us in case the ghost gets mad. They go away if you throw salt at them."
"How do you know?!" Rosie said in awe.
"Bobby Schultzman told me. His brother saw a ghost and they got rid of it by throwing a bag of chips at it. It was the salt that did it."
"Tuff enough" Rosie said, trying to be cool like her brothers. "You got any salt?"
"Yeah, Mom keeps some under the house for when it gets icy. I'll get a bucket full so we can protect ourselves."
"Okay." Rosie was getting pretty excited now. She had never seen a ghost and it would be cool to tell her friends at school if she and Freddie saw one. She was a bit scared but they'd be okay with their bucket of salt.
"Let's go." Said Freddie, heading back with a small pail filled with salt. Rosie looked cautiously around to make sure none of her brothers could see her as she and Freddie headed over to the next block where the deserted house was. It had been empty for the past 4 years since Mr Fisher had died and even before then it had been in bad repair. The boards on the outside were broken and peeling and the floors were rotten. The only reason it hadn't already been torn down was that it was in such a rough part of town nobody really cared enough to get around to it. It had a high metal fence all round it now with signs on it saying 'Keep out!' and 'Awaiting demolition' and 'Do not enter, unsafe building.' Of course kids had ignored that and found a way in under the fence where one of the panels was loose.
Freddie had seen some older kids going in that way a week ago and that's when he got the idea to go and look himself. He knew Rosie would happily go with him. Freddie pointed out the broken fence and they both crawled underneath. Rosie was interested to see what a haunted house looked like inside, but she was also a bit scared as she and Freddie climbed the porch steps to the door. Her heart was beating faster than usual and she was almost wishing she had stayed away. Just as they were about to go in Rosie heard a familiar voice calling her name.
"Hey Rosie, is that you?" yelled Two-Bit who had just been walking past the old house on his way to the Curtis residence when he spotted little Rosie and her pal Freddie about to go into that old condemned house.
Rosie turned around in surprise, relieved to see it was only Two-Bit so she wasn't in trouble. She grinned and waved at him.
"What are you two doing in there?" Two-Bit asked.
"Just going to see the ghost." Rosie stated plainly.
"Come over here and talk to me." Two-Bit said. He wanted to get her out of there, but knew if he made it an order she would probably be stubborn about it and refuse to come out of the fence.
"Okay." Rosie said lightly and came back out under the fence followed by Freddie. "What do you wanna talk about?"
"Rosie, you know you ain't meant to be in there cos it ain't safe." Two-Bit said to her in a serious voice.
Rosie was surprised, Two-Bit was usually the fun one, not the one telling her what to do. She shook her head "Nuh-uh Two-Bit, it ain't dangerous. The grown-ups just put the signs up to stop us seeing the ghost." She stated as if it were a known fact.
"The house is about to fall down little Rose, it ain't safe to go in there, I'm sure Darry has told you that. Come on with me, I'll walk ya home."
Rosie was annoyed, she and Freddie had been about to do something exciting and now Two-Bit, who was meant to be her friend too, was trying to stop her. She shook her head "No, I ain't going home, I'm going in there with Freddie. I wanna see the ghost." She said stubbornly.
"Rosie, you ain't going in there. You'll get hurt and there ain't no ghost anyway."
"There is so!" she yelled stamping her foot. "You can't stop me going in there, you ain't the boss of me Two-Bit, you're just silly." And she poked her tongue out at him and made to go back under the fence again. Two-Bit didn't know whether to laugh or get mad at her antics, but either way he couldn't let her go back in there. It really wasn't safe and he would hate for anything to happen to her. So, he grabbed hold of her arm and held onto her with one hand and Freddie with the other.
"Neither of you is going anywhere. Rosie, you are coming home, now do as you are told."
"No!" Rosie yelled trying to wriggle out of his hold.
"Okay, you asked for it." Two-Bit said and letting go of Freddie he heaved Rosie over his shoulder in a fireman's lift and started walking back to her place. Freddie followed on behind. He didn't want to go into the haunted house alone anyway. Rosie kicked her legs and beat her fists on Two-Bit's back, but she was so little he barely felt it.
"Get off me Two-Bit! Put me down right now!" She demanded.
"No can do. If you ain't gonna walk home I'll have to carry you there myself."
"I don't wanna go home. Let me go! You can't make me!"
"Looks like I can." Said Two-Bit, who was half-amused by the whole thing but he was serious about not letting her go into that condemned house. He knew Darry would be really mad if she went in there and for good reason. They finally reached the Curtis house and Freddie trailed back to his place with a small "See ya Rosie." To his upside-down friend. Two-Bit carried Rosie up the porch steps and in through the door and dropped her unceremoniously onto the couch.
"Hey Two-Bit, what's going on, why you hauling my baby sister around?" asked Darry looking up from his newspaper. Rosie was glaring at Two-Bit and looked close to tears. "What's up Rosie?" Darry asked with concern.
"I found Rosie here and her little friend about to go into that condemned house down on Birch street. I asked her nicely to come with me, but she refused so I had to carry her back. I wasn't gonna let her go in there Darry."
"Course not, Two-Bit, thanks for bringing her back." Darry turned to look at Rosie slamming his newspaper down, his anger rising. "Primrose Curtis can you explain to me what you were doing over on Birch street when I told you not to leave the yard?"
"Freddie made me go, he said there was a ghost there and so we went to see." She explained matter of factly.
"So not only did you disobey me by leaving the yard, you ignored everything I told you about that house. Don't you remember? I told you never to go near it and certainly not to try and go inside it! There ain't no ghost, but even if there was you still shouldn't go in there. You could have really been hurt or even killed if you did, that house is about to collapse any day now!"
Rosie felt herself going red. She didn't like being told off, especially in front of Two-Bit. She knew she had been bad to go there with Freddie and she knew that Darry was right to be mad at her, but her pride wouldn't let her admit that.
"Well, nothing happened and the house is still standing there right now, so even if me and Freddie had gone in it wouldn't have fallen on us would it? That's just stupid!"
"Excuse me?!" Darry bellowed standing up making Rosie unconsciously shrink back into the couch. His size made him quite intimidating even when he wasn't mad and right now he was furious. "Don't you dare talk to me like that! You know that you were wrong to go there and then not only were you rude to Two-Bit, who is your friend and was only trying to help you, then instead of saying sorry to me you answer me back and call me stupid?! Just who do you think you are young lady?! Go to your room and think about your behaviour and I will come in there in a minute to deal with you. Go!" Darry yelled, pointing a finger towards Rosie's room. Rosie's heart was pounding and she jumped up and ran to her room, terrified at the prospect of Darry coming to 'Deal with her'. What was he gonna do? She wished she had just said sorry in the first place, but she always got herself into more trouble instead.
Darry could not believe Rosie's behaviour and the way she had spoken to him. He would never have dared to answer his parents back like that. He couldn't believe that in the space of a few days he was having to spank his sister twice. She couldn't be allowed to get away with behaviour like that, not only putting herself in danger but being rude to Two-Bit and to him. He took several deep breaths to calm himself down.
"Woah! She's real stubborn ain't she?" Two-Bit exclaimed.
"As a mule!" Darry replied and gave a huge sigh. "I guess I need to spank her again."
"Well, I know it's what my folks would have done and probably yours too. I know Mrs Curtis would never have let you boys talk to her that way."
"You're right she wouldn't and my Dad would have been furious if we did. We didn't get whooped very often, but that was one thing he wouldn't stand for. I guess I need to step up to the plate and be the Daddy."
Two-Bit patted Darry on the shoulder with a nod "Yep, it looks that way. She knows she was wrong and she knows she deserves it. She'll just carry on like that if you let her get away with it. She's a smart kid."
"I know." Darry agreed. "And I need her to know that house is out of bounds. She really could get killed if she goes in there. 2 kids were hurt in there just a month ago."
"Well, I'll leave you to it. I don't wanna embarrass her by listening in. If she's worried, tell her I forgive her and she's still my pal. I'll be back later anyhow to babysit. You arranged that date didn't ya?"
"I did yeah, thanks Two-Bit. I appreciate it." Darry slapped Two-Bit on the back as he left, jumping down the porch steps as always. Darry ran his fingers through his hair and braced himself before going to knock on Rosie's door.
"Come in." Rosie said in such a quiet voice Darry could barely make it out through the door.
Rosie was sat on the bed and she looked nervously up at Darry. She had tears in her eyes and she looked very sorry for herself.
"I'm sorry that it's come to this again so soon Primrose, but I cannot let you get away with the way you behaved today. Do you understand why you're in trouble? did you think about your behaviour like I told you to?" Rosie shrugged but then nodded reluctantly.
"Well, can you tell me what you did wrong?" Darry prompted her. He really needed her to understand why he was punishing her so that she would know not to do it again.
"I was rude to you and Two-Bit, I went out of the yard and I went to the haunted house." Rosie said looking down at her fingers, which she was twisting and untwisting in her nervousness.
Darry nodded, pleased she had understood. "That's right. I don't ever want to hear you talk back to me or any one of us. You are younger than us all and we are all here to look out for you. Two-bit was not being mean to you or hurting you and he didn't deserve for you to be rude to him and refuse to go with him. I didn't deserve to be called stupid either. Most importantly you do not run off about the place without an adult or without someone knowing where you are and you definitely never go anywhere near that old house, ya hear me? If something happened to you none of us would ever get over it."
Rosie looked up at Darry surprised. She didn't think anyone would really miss her that much if something did happen to her, but apparently Darry thought they would. "I'm sorry Darry. You're not stupid and I will stay in the yard next time. I promise."
"I hope so. I still need to give you a spanking though."
"No Darry, I promise I won't do it again."
Darry didn't reply but just sat on the bed and pulled Rosie over his lap. She tried to struggle away from him but he held her firmly around the waist. "Don't struggle Rosie, you'll only hurt yourself."
"No, you're the one who's hurting me."
"Rosie, this is the only way I know to help you remember to behave differently next time. Believe me I don't enjoy it, I just want you to learn from it." With that Darry flipped up her skirt and without any further preamble he brought his hand firmly down on her backside.
"Owie!" she shrieked, but he hardened his heart and continued, spanking her hard enough to make an impression on her but not to do any damage. After the 12th smack he pulled her skirt down and stood her up between his legs engulfing her in a hug. She sobbed into his chest for a good five minutes then eventually it turned into hiccoughs and shuddering sighs.
"Okay Sweetie, it's over. Now, you are not allowed out for the rest of the weekend, so you're to stay in the house. I can't trust you out of my sight, so you play where I can see you. And remember Two-Bit will be looking after you this evening."
Rosie's face dropped as she thought about Two-Bit and how she had fought him that morning. She looked sad and sighed "I bet he hates me now."
Darry gave a small smile "Actually he told me tell you he's still your pal and he forgives you, okay? He's a big boy, it takes more than one little fight with you to hurt him. It'd be nice if you could say sorry to him when he comes round later though." Rosie grinned at Darry's words, relieved that her friend didn't hate her and was still coming to play with her later.
"I will Darry." She sat back onto his lap and winced slightly as her butt brushed against his leg. "Ouch." She said with a pout, rubbing her butt. "That really hurt me Darry."
"It will feel better soon. I hope it's the last time I have to do it, but knowing you it won't be." He said pinching her cheek and kissing the top of her head. "Okay Baby, come and help me get lunch ready. We're having hotdogs."
"Yay!" she said jumping up and holding Darry's hand as he got up and lead the way to the kitchen.
The rest of the day Rosie had to stay close to Darry. He was doing some odd jobs, fixing stuff around the house and she helped where she could, but really got in the way more of the time. Darry didn't get mad at her though, as she was trying and she was only following him around because he told her she had to. While he did some paperwork at the table she sat and drew. She made a card for Two-Bit, to say sorry, with a picture of her favourite Mr Giraffe on it and some flowers. She was pleased with the way it came out and Darry helped her spell the words to write on the inside.
All the gang were there around dinner time. Soda had finished work and come home with Steve, much to Rosie's chagrin. Pony had spent the whole day at the library, finishing up an English assignment and reading a new book. He and the other boys were sat playing poker before dinner when Two-Bit arrived. Rosie was laying on the couch, just killing time till he got there, plus Darry was still insisting that she stay in view so she couldn't go and play in her room. The moment that Two-Bit came through the door she jumped up and threw her arms around him. "Sorry I was mad with you Two-Bit, I made a card for you." And she even kissed him on the cheek as he picked her up.
"Why, I thought we said no kisses on the first date Miss Rosie. You'll be giving me a reputation." He teased and Rosie blushed bright red as he set her down on her feet again as the other guys laughed.
"That was just an 'I'm sorry' kiss. You still my friend?" she asked, looking up at him through her long eyelashes.
"Sure am. Looking forward to our Snakes and Ladders later, see if you can beat the champion this time." He said puffing his chest out.
"I won last time." She protested folding her arms across her chest and glaring at Two-Bit sternly.
"Only cos I let ya. This time I won't be so gentle." He winked and she poked her tongue out at him, Soda saw this out of the corner of his eye and admonished her
"Rosie, we've told ya not to do that Honey, it's rude."
Two-Bit put his hand up to hide his mouth and poked his tongue back out at her, making her giggle.
"Two-Bit you're such a bad influence." Soda complained.
"No he ain't, he's my friend." Rosie said loyally and took Two-Bit's hand leading him towards the couch.
"You in?" Steve asked Two-Bit, as he was just about to deal another round of Poker.
"Sure am!" Two-Bit said giving Rosie's hand a squeeze and letting go before pulling a chair up to the game. Rosie pouted and looked disappointed.
"Hey, I thought you were here to see me." She complained.
"Be quiet kid and let us play." Steve snarled. He had no time for Rosie and no patience with what he considered her babyish behaviour.
"I'm all yours after dinner Little Rose, just need some time with my buddies first."
Rosie wasn't happy about that, but she didn't want Steve to be mean to her anymore, so she shut up and went to help Darry in the kitchen instead.
She was pleased when all the guys finally went out and happy to have some time alone with Two-Bit. He had brought M&Ms as requested, as well as popcorn and a bottle of lemonade for her, which he told her not to mention to Darry, as he only let her drink water or milk after dinner normally. They played 3 games of Snakes and Ladders and Rosie won them all. Two-Bit really was not cheating or trying to lose, she just seemed to have the luck of the dice. Then Two-Bit said he'd read her Cinderella if she got herself ready and in bed. Afterwards he tucked her in and gave her a goodnight kiss on the head before heading out to the living room to watch TV.
He was pretty exhausted after his evening of entertaining Rosie, but he had had fun too. He really liked the kid and almost enjoyed it as much as going out on a date himself. She made him laugh and he liked that she was so honest and so innocent. It made a change from having to worry about his rep all the time, like he had to around the tough greasers the gang hung out with. He was asleep on the couch with half a beer rested on his stomach when Darry came back in. He had had a good date with Grace and they planned to go out again one evening the following week. All in all a very successful evening for all concerned.