Chapter 7
Daly never showed again that night. After being made fun of for a while, Two-Bit decided that they should probably leave. His mother had gotten home early and called to tell them that she was making dinner for them. And as it turned out, Two-Bit's mother was a great cook. After dinner, Rae did her homework while Two-bit talked and talked. She just blocked him out. After homework, they both went to sleep.
In the morning, Rae got up early and hopped in the shower. When she was dried off, she put on some underwear, then a bright green, baby toll t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and white socks. She went back to Two-Bit's room. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, waiting for her. They both slipped on their shoes and grabbed their jackets. Two-Bit took their jackets and set them on the couch in the front room while Rae went into the kitchen to cook eggs for them both. They sat down, ate quickly, then left the house, grabbing their jackets and books.
Morning classes were usually; nothing new. Some Socs threw spit balls at her. Before she met Two-Bit, Ponyboy, and Johnny for lunch, she fished the balls out of her hair. Then, she met up with her friends, went to grab some lunch at a near-by convenience store, and went to see Steve and soda. While Soda took Two-Bit and Pony to the back, Rae sat, Indian-style, on the hood of Two-Bit's car, to eat. Johnny leaned up against the back bumper and sipped his soda. Steve walked up to Rae and leaned on the front of the car.
"Heard 'bout you and Curly," he said, with a wide grin. Rae blushed, but didn't say anything. His smile disappeared. "Anyway-" He looked over at Johnny. "Hey, Johnnycake, could you go out back with the others for a few? I wanna talk to Rae." Immediately, Johnny got up and left them. "I've been meanin' to talk to ya, Rae."
"If it's about what happened to me, don't even-"
"But, I'm worried," Steve persisted. She sighed, but let him go on. "When something like this happens to one of us, it affects us all. And- Oh, I don't know. You've probably heard all this before." Rae lowered her sandwich from her mouth and stared at Steve. He moved to the side of the car and repeatedly kicked the tire of the car. Not hard, but not gentle, either. "I just can't believe this has happened."
"Why do you all care about me so much?" she asked. Steve stopped kicking the tire and looked at her as if she were insane.
"You're everyone's sister, Rae. Mostly younger sister, but you're a great role model for Ponyboy and other young kids. You're and awesome person and one the the toughest girls I know," he explained.
"A great role model? I'm not great role model!" she argued. "I'm no great role model, Steve."
"Tell me why! You're one of the few of us who don't smoke. You're a good student. You keep your hands pretty clean. Tell me why you're not-"
"I was running away," she answered as calmly as she could. But, she got off the car and lost it. "I was running away, Steve! I bet no one told you that!" she yelled and punched the backseat window of Two-Bit's car, with all of her strength, which was, for a girl, a lot. The window cracked, and then suddenly shattered. Some pieces of glass got stuck in her hand, which started to bleed profusely. She stared at the broken window in shock, standing still, as if she was frozen in place. Some blood from her hand dropped onto the car. Steve ran over to her and grabbed her hand. Rae wrestled with him for a few minutes, in a daze, and pushed him over, onto the ground. Her eyes widened. She couldn't believe what she'd just done to her friend. Rae gasped, and then ran off, out of sight. Steve sat there for a second, dumbfounded, and breathing hard.
"Soda!" he yelled, at the top of his lungs. Thirty seconds later, Soda appeared with the others. First, they saw the broken window, and then Steve, on the ground.
"Damn," Soda began. "You okay, man?" He pulled Steve to his feet. He nodded. "Where's Rae?"
"She- she just ran off," he stuttered. He made himself regain his composure quickly. "Can hold up here, Soda?"
"Yeah, sure. You gonna go after her?" Steve nodded and took off in the direction Rae had gone. The first place he went was the Curtis house. No sign of her there. He searched around the town for an hour. Finally, Steve went back to the gas station. Two-Bit, Pony, and Johnny had cleaned up the glass and went back to school. Soda ran outside when he saw his best friend run back. "Any luck?"
"No," Steve said, out of breath. Soda started to go back in.
"I'm going to call Darry," he said, over his shoulder. Steve nodded. Darry decided that they would all get together after work and school to look for her.
As soon as school was over, Two-Bit, Ponyboy, and Johnny were back. They were disappointed to hear that Rae hadn't been found. As soon as work was over, everybody rushed over to the Curtis house. When they all got in, they found Rae, on the floor, barely conscious, and Dally trying to tend to her. There was a long cut on both sides of her face, from her cheek to her temple. It was a knife cut. Whoever it was, was trying to leave their mark. Her clothes were a wreck- dirt all over her shirt and jacket, grass stains on the knees of her jeans. The glass had been removed, probably by herself, from her knuckles, but the dry blood was caked on all over her hand. Dally only looked up for a brief second when his friends walked in.
"Help me," he ordered them. Steve was the first one to move. Dally threw a wet dish towel at him. "Clean her hand." Steve sat down on the floor and tried to gently ash all of the dry blood off.
"Anything I can do, Dally?" Soda asked.
"You can try to keep her awake. I'll be right back," he answered, wiping the last of the blood off of her face. Soda nodded and knelt in Dally's place when he got up. Dally went into the kitchen. Soda took Rae's good hand and peered down at her with a gentle expression.
"Rae? Rae, darlin'?" Soda said, quietly. She didn't move at first. "Hey, little sis? Come on, wake up." Rae opened her eyes and looked up at Soda. Her vision was kind of blurry. And her head hurt like a bitch. She moaned.
"My h-head." She hadn't even realized that her voice escaped from her mouth. It sounded distant, for some reason. She tried to lift the hand that Soda had.
"No, hon. Stay still," Sodapop whispered.
"But, my head got hit," Rae said, weakly.
"What did they hit you with?" Soda asked. Rae didn't want to have to think. It hurt too much. What was it, though? Something long and cold. Not a usual Soc weapon. Her head throbbed, fiercely. She winced.
"A pipe, I think," she answered. "Please don't make me think anymore."
"Alright, hon. I won't ask you anymore questions," Soda said, looking at his best friend, who was looking at him as well. They were both thinking the same thing: concussion. Soda put his free hand under Rae's head. It was wet, with a warm liquid. He drew his hand out and there was blood on it.
"Christ!" Steve exclaimed. "Dally!" Dally immediately came back in. Steve put Rae's cleaned hand down. The punch had busted wide cuts in her knuckles. He pointed at Soda's bloody hand.
"Damnit!" Dally yelled.
"What happened to her?" Darry finally spoke up.
"Found her lying in an alley just inside our turf. She was all beaten up, but the blood on her hand had already been dried. Why was she alone in the first place?" Soda looked at Steve, who sighed.
"She ran off after she broke one of the back seat windows of Two-Bit's car, with her fist," Steve said, summing it up. "I was trying to talk to her, but she just lost it. Tough little one, to break the window of a car with one punch."
"I-I'm sorry, Steve," came Rae's weak voice. He looked down at her.
"Don't talk, Rae," he said. But she didn't hear him. She had passed out. He grabbed the collar of her jacket and lifted her up. "Rae!" She shook her. "Come on, Rae!"
