Ponyboy POV
We finished washing the dishes and I was going to find something to read, but Soda stopped me.
"Pony, I was thinkin'. Ya think we should just forgive Darry? He sounded awful sorry to me, and I don't think staying mad at him is gonna help anything. Heck, I think that it hurt his feelings when I said I would do the dishes instead. What do you think?"
I almost objected, but Soda was right. Staying mad at Darry really won't help anything. Besides, I don't really hate him or anything; I just get frustrated with him sometimes. Dad never yelled at me so much. Darry did have a point, though. What did I expect him to do? Praise me for breaking a window? I caused this mess, not him. And he was right. I need to start using my head more. I guess I really shouldn't have gotten so mad at Darry. I feel like a jerk. Darry didn't deserve the way Soda and I had treated him. We had hurt him. I hurt him. It was time to apologize.
I walked with Soda to Darry's room. I told him I would go first. I opened the door and walked in. "Hey, Dar…" the words died in my throat. Darry was sitting there on the bed, crying softly into his hands. That absolutely destroyed me. We made him cry? It takes a lot to make Darry cry. We'd really hurt him. Tears welled up in my eyes. This was all my fault!
I looked at Soda and he looked as upset as I probably did. I slowly walked over to Darry and sat down quietly beside him. Soda sat on the other side. I gently put a hand on Darry's shoulder. He looked at me and I accidentally locked eyes with him. He was broken. I'd never seen him like this before. I tore my eyes away. I didn't want to start crying too. That would just make him feel worse, and that was the last thing I wanted. Darry sniffed.
"I'm really sorry, guys. Ponyboy, I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. I just got mad because the window… I mean… I know it was an accident..." I stopped him before he could go any further.
"Darry, no. Don't be sorry. You didn't do anything wrong. It was me. I broke the window, and you were right. I need to use my head more. I was being stupid, Darry. I should be the one apologizing, not you. And I didn't mean that stuff I yelled. I love you, and I would miss you if you lost us. I'm sorry we made you cry." I felt a little corny saying all that stuff, but Darry needed it. Soda spoke up.
"I'm sorry too, Darry. I love you, big brother." Darry smiled.
"I love you guys, too."
We all hugged, and then Sodapop said, "No more fights?" Darry and I nodded.
"No more fights," we said at the same time, and we all laughed. I suddenly noticed that there was a scar on Darry's cheek.
"Hey, Darry, what happened?" He looked at me funny.
"What do you mean?"
"How'd you get that scar?" His smile faded and he looked down.
"There was a nasty guy at work." Soda and I listened as he told the story.
XXX
Darry was taking a short break when a Soc came up and said, "Hey greaser. Why don't you get off your butt and get to work?" Darry narrowed his eyes.
"Mind your own business, Soc."
"I don't have to listen to a piece of white trash like you. Your good for nothin' little brother and his stupid friend killed Bob Sheldon. He was a good friend of mine. You low-life. Why are you even keeping your brothers? They're nothing but a couple of hoodlums!" Darry was really mad now. He punched the Soc, hard.
"You'd best shut up that big mouth of yours before I knock your head off!" The Soc got back off the ground and pushed Darry down. The Soc kneeled over him, pulled out a blade and held it to his throat.
"I should just kill you now, that's one less stupid greaser to worry about." Darry didn't move. This Soc could kill him. Luckily, their boss came by.
"Break it up!" The Soc didn't move.
"I said get off Curtis, Williams!" The Soc knew he was fired anyway, so he cut Darry's cheek and got up. Darry cried out in pain and he sat up, rubbing his throat.
"Williams, you're fired! Now get out!" The Soc scowled and stormed away, leaving the worksite. "You okay, Curtis?" Darry didn't answer. He was lost in thought. That Soc could've killed him! What would his brothers do then? And the gang? He was kind of the unofficial leader. "Curtis?" Darry shook his head.
"Yeah, I'm okay."
"You'd better go get cleaned up, then." Darry nodded, still mad about what the Soc had said about his brothers.
XXX
I gaped at Darry. He could've died today! Soda and I could've lost him! Why can't those Socs just leave us alone? We left them alone. We didn't walk around looking for one of them to come by so we can jump them. Why do they just feel like they have to do that? Did that guy not care that he would be taking Darry away from us? But then again, most Socs hardly really even have feelings. They just are looking for something to do, but why did that something have to involve nearly killing my brother? Why? I'll probably never know.
Now I felt really bad about how I had treated Darry. He went through all that, just to come home and find out that I did another stupid thing, and then I turn it on him like it's suddenly his fault, and make him feel horrible. Then I realized: I do that to him a lot. He scolds me for doing something wrong, and then I yell at him and tell him to get off my case. And then Soda sticks up for me. Of course, Darry sometimes would yell at me too much, like I thought before: if I was playing football, I should be in studying, and if I was reading, I should be out playing football. It wasn't always like that, though. It's just unfair to Darry when I get mad at him for yelling at me when he had a good reason to be yelling at me, and then Soda tells him to lay off.
What Soda and I did to him today was the worst thing to do. Darry gave up a lot for us, and he's trying hard to keep us together. I know he's doing the best he can. I had realized this a couple months ago, but I hadn't really thought about it until now. He could be in college right now instead of having to roof houses, but he decided to keep us anyway. He knew we were all we had left. And today, we got all mad at him and made him cry, when all he did was scold me for something I did that was going to cause problems. I looked at Darry's eyes. Most of the time they were stone-cold, but now, there was a soft touch to them. I remembered what he said earlier today:
"I would die before I lost one of my brothers."
He meant that. If I walked outside right now, and a Soc put a gun to my head, I bet, no, I know, that Darry would tell the guy to shoot him instead, no matter how much I might protest. Darry would never forgive himself if one of us was killed. Especially if there was a way he could've prevented it, even if it meant death for him. Darry saw it like this: if he were to die in place of us, it was better than one of us dying, even though it would mean the boy's home for us. He may have told me that you don't stop living because you lose someone, but if he lost me or Soda… well, he might not stop living, but he would be an awful wreck and the guilt would eat him alive, even if it wasn't his fault and there was nothing he could've done. He tends to blame himself like that sometimes, like he had today, even though it was my fault.
I vowed right then that I would do something for him.
There was an uncomfortable silence. Then Soda cleared his throat.
"Hey, Darry, are you gonna call Holly back now?" Darry nodded.
"Yeah." He left the room and I looked over at Soda.
"How much does a window cost?"
A/N: Yes, I just cut it off there. Oh, and there's that line that says: "if I was playing football, I should be in studying, and if I was reading, I should be out playing football." That line was in the book, so it belongs to S.E. Hinton, not me. I just want to make sure you all know that! And, I hope you liked this chapter as much as I did because I'm really happy with how it turned out. You get a hug from Darry if you review! ;)