Dally walked up to Soda and tried to rest his hand on his shoulder, but Soda coldly shook it off. He turned and walked out of the house. Darry turned, watching him, and then followed after him; the gang just watching every little secret about their beloved Sodapop unravel.
"Hey! Where the Hell do you think you're going?" Darry yelled as he stormed out after his kid brother.
Soda violently turned around and yelled, "I'm leaving, what does it matter where? I can't handle everything like this. I just can't, Darry." He got quiet as he turned around and walked away, "I'm sorry."
The oldest Curtis brother stood there in shock, not sure how to handle this problem that fell at his feet. Standing in the doorway, Dally stood watching Soda walk down the street and Darry standing there letting him leave. Darry walked back to the house, walking past everyone and into his bedroom.
'I need some damn sleep.' Darry thought as he fell backwards onto his bed staring up at the ceiling. Sure enough, his eyes got heavy and before he knew it he was off dreaming.
"Hey, Dar, can I play with your football? I promise I won't pop it." Eyes like puppy dogs, the older brother just couldn't say no. Darry smiled down at his baby brother, "What are ya gunna bargain with me for it, hmm?" He watched as the kid stuttered trying to think of something to trade.
Darry picked Soda up over his shoulders with their mother laughing, "I'm just messing with ya, Pepsi-Cola." Their father and a small Ponyboy walked in the door to see the tickle fight that had started. Pony jumped into the pile up as Mr. and Mrs. Curtis stood there watching with a smile.
"Darry!" His laugh so warm and contagious, "Please, I can't breathe!" The poor kid was bursting out laughing on the edge of tears before Darry stopped, laughing just as hard.
He rubbed Soda's head and smiled big as his baby brother snuggled up to him, "Love you, Sodapop."
"Darry, wake up. The cops are here." The words broke through Darry's dream.
His eyes shot open, "What?" He sat up quick looking at his kid brother, Pony, and then looking past him to see Two-Bit and Dally standing in the doorway. Darry got up and walked to the door to find two police officers at the door.
Clearing his throat, he spoke, "Evening, officers. Can I help you?" Darry was still in a daze as the police spoke to him.
"Yes, are you Mr. Darrel Curtis?" The first officer asked. The second officer looked behind Darry as if looking for a parent behind him.
"Uh, yes sir. That's me. Can I help you with something?"
The first officer seemed compassionate and looked back at the cruiser worried before saying anything. Before he could speak, the second officer piped up, "Sodapop Curtis your responsibility?" The officer was cold about it, almost annoyed, as if they were wasting his time.
"I guess you could say that. The kid's not eighteen yet, so yeah I guess he is. Why?"
The first officer signaled to the second officer to go to the car as he spoke gently to Darry. "We have your brother in the back of the cruiser. Normally, we'd just hall them in and lock 'em up, but he seemed like a nice kid. A good kid just a little lost, hanging with the wrong crowd, ya know?" He took a small breath before continuing, "I know his place, and I've been there. He didn't do anything terribly wrong, so I thought we'd just bring him home and let you handle it."
The second officer man handled Soda out of the car, practically throwing him out of the vehicle and on to the ground. Two-Bit and Dally witnessed from the window, and Dally stormed out of the house towards the second officer with Two-Bit following behind. "Hey, what the Hell you think you're doing ya damn pig?" Dally yelled.
The officer drew his weapon and pointed it at Dally and Two-Bit, "You damn JD's just get in the damn house and we won't have a problem, you hear me? I can easily bring all of you to the station and lock you up, throw away the key."
Soda lay there on the ground coughing and looking as if he'd gotten into a fight and lost. Grabbing Soda to his feet, the officer put his gun away and had Dally and Two-Bit walk inside the house. The second officer looked at Soda as he took the handcuffs off, "You're lucky this time, boy. Next time I see your ass, it's mine."
Soda kept his head down, out of the light, as he stood next to the first officer. "So you can handle him?" he asked Darry, who just nodded his head and thanked the officers before grabbing Soda by the arm, pulling him inside the house.
Once the door was closed, Darry turned around to look at his sickly, beaten, baby brother. He wasn't sure whether to be furious, or to be heartbroken. Where did his innocent, sober brother go?
"Sodapop?" Before responding to Darry, he broke down. Soda dropped on to the couch, his head fell in his hand, and he bawled. Dally sat next to him and rubbed his back, embracing the sobbing boy into his chest.
Darry crouched down to face his brother and spoke softly, as if to a child, "You're safe now. Just tell me what happened, I promise I'm not angry."
Soda could barely keep himself composed as he spoke between sobs, "I'm sorry I'm broken, Dar." The words fell from his lips as if a child had spoken them. "I'm so sorry. Please don't hate me. Please, Dar. I want to be better, I do." He continued to sob.
Darry sat on the couch next to his brother as he put his muscular arm around the small boy. "I don't hate you, Soda. None of us do."
Soda looked up at Darry with bloodshot, watery eyes. "Mom and Dad hate me, huh?"
You disgust me, you know that? You're a disgrace, not only to me, but to Mom and Dad. Darry's stomach turned hearing his own words rerun in his head.
"I'm sorry, Darry. I'm not using my head these days." Soda sniffled, "I'll leave if you want me to." You will not be doing that filth in my house, you hear me? If you want to waste your life, then get the Hell out of my house.
He couldn't question Soda about why he would feel this way; Darry was the one who told him all these things. He practically beat it into him. Tears slid down Darry's cheeks, he didn't even realize he was crying until he felt the moisture.
"I don't want you to leave, Soda." Pony said, sitting on the floor in front of his brothers, tears filling up in his eyes. "Yeah, So. I don't think I could keep on being the way I am if you weren't around." Two-Bit spoke up, his voice nearly cracking, trying to hold back his own tears.
Darry wiped his tears away as he asked, "What happened tonight? After you left." Soda froze, closed his eyes tightly, as if trying to erase a memory, than another tear fell.
"What does it look like," Soda hid his face, "I got into a fight." He was ashamed in a fight, that wasn't like Soda. The boys knew this, and while no one really wanted to push it any farther even though they were curious, Darry seemed to need to know more.
"Why? Who'd you fight? Why'd they fight you?" After Darry asked, he got a response he never would have predicted. Soda looked at him, tears gone, and spoke calmly.
"I fought because I'm in dept. I fought a drug dealer's goons. They fought me because I owe them money, money I don't have, Darry. Money I don't plan to give them, because it's money I give you for bills, food, and Pony." He stopped and continued as he looked away at the wall. "I'm gunna work it off instead of giving money. It's easier and quicker."
"What do you mean work it off?" Dally spoke up, curiously concerned. Soda looked at him with an expression that was filled with sorrow and remorse.
"Please don't ask, baby. I don't need you hating me." Soda spoke, resting his hand gently on Dally's cheek. A soft smile broke through Soda as he stared into Dally's beautiful blue eyes, which started to fill with tears.
"Soda…" Two-Bit's voice was soft, as if talking to a lover, "who was the dealer?"
Soda turned his attention over to Two-Bit who by this time was sitting on the coffee table in front of Dally. "He goes by the name Suga."
Two-Bit stood up and walked away into the kitchen than walked back. "Dammit, Soda. Why him? There're other dealers, one's who don't… Are you really gunna work for him, Sodapop?"
From the words he heard Two-Bit say; Darry had become more concerned, mainly for his brother's safety. "What's wrong? Who the Hell is Suga? What do you have to do to pay him off, Soda?"
"He has to prostitute." Two-Bit said softly.
