Chapter Eight: Chase Alan

The jewelry store was still opened when I got there, thankfully. I rushed in, bought the locket, and quickly beat it out of there before Angela Shepard turned around after admiring some earrings. When I was a couple miles away from the jewelry store, I took the little white box out of the bag and opened it up. The locket looked as good as new. On the box was a little "To, From" tag. I took a pen out of my pocket and wrote: "To: Taylor, From: Ponyboy." I really hoped Taylor was going to like it. I put the box in my pocket, then started for home. It was getting dark real quick.

Just then, a black Mustang started to pull in next to me. I tried walking a little faster. I've never seen this Mustang around here before, but it looked so familiar. I think eight Socs were inside. The Mustang was speeding up, so I walked a littler faster, which didn't help. I was getting a sick feeling in my stomach. Now I found myself running. It was useless, too. The Mustang circled me. Eight Socs did get out. Wait a second, the one up front looked like...a greaser.

...His black hair was slicked back. He was wearing a white t-shirt, a black leather jacket, blue jeans, and blackish-brown boots...

Behind him was Angela Shepard. She was wearing those earrings she was admiring—silver hoops.

"So this is the greasy little punk who stole my girl?" the Soc/greaser muttered. "Huh, not much of a ladies' man, but I don't like little punks like you pickin' up on my girl. Not..one...bit."

That sent chills up my spine. Then it hit me—the guy in the nightmare saying "I don't like you pickin' up on my girl" when he was referring to Taylor. This guy was her ex-boyfriend Chase Alan, the one who threw the brick at her bedroom window!

"You got a name or what, grease-ball?" Chase asked. He pulled out what I thought was a switchblade at first, but was just a comb that looked like a blade. He started combing his hair, waiting for me to answer.

It took me a while to answer. "Ponyboy Curtis."

"Ponyboy Curtis?! That's a dumb name." Chase spat at my feet. "Why the heck would Tay wanna go datin' a guy with a name like Ponyboy Curtis?"

"Well, I'm wonderin' why the Curtis kid is datin' that little slob," Angela muttered.

"She is not a slob," I said angrily. "And I am not going to let you get anywhere near Taylor, Chase Alan! You've already hurt her enough. Now why don't you just get on outta here and leave her alone or else?"

That only made Chase mad. "'Or else' what?" he muttered, giving me a hard push. "Huh? What'cha gonna do about it, grease-ball?" He pushed me again, much harder. "I guess Tay's already told ya a little bit about me."

I fell to the ground, and the Socs laughed at me. I was about to run off, but Angela grabbed my ankle and made me fall flat on my face. She pulled me closer and pinned my arms down.

"Let me go!" I yelled.

Just then, Chase sat on top of me. This time he did have a blade and pressed it against my throat. I swore under my breath. "I'm not gonna let you hurt her," I muttered, trying to fight my way out of Angela and Chase's grip. Suddenly I felt a very sharp pain in my leg. Chase had stabbed me in the leg. I screamed in pain.

"Darry! Soda!" I shouted.

"Shut it, grease-ball!" Chase demanded. He kicked my head in five times until I saw stars. I felt rain pouring down my face and heard thunder crackling and saw lightning flashing. The lightning nearly struck Angela.

Chase punched me in the stomach. Using all my energy, I tried fighting back and ended up kicking Chase in the groin. Hard. He fell to the ground, swearing. I was too weak to run off. When he got his strenght back, Chase continued beating the tar out of me. The Socs helped punch and kick me. I was punched, slapped, kicked, and stabbed numerous times. My vision was getting very fuzzy as Chase grabbed my shirt-collar and continued kicking me.

"Okay, Chase," Angela was saying. Her voice was echoing in my head. "Chase, he's had enough. Man, lay off! He's had enough!"

"Fine." Chase threw me to the ground. I think I hit the back of my head on a rock. "You got what you deserved, grease," he quietly muttered, then spat at me. "C'mon. Let's get the heck outta here."

"Chase, I think you've taken this a little too far," Angela said.

"Can it, Angel! I don't care if you like that Curtis boy or not. I was gonna teach him a lesson for pickin' up my girl. Now let's beat it outta here." I was half-conscious as he, Angela, and the other Socs got back in their Mustang and drove off.

I wasn't so sure how long I laid in the grass in pain for. It felt like forever. I was more scared for Taylor than I was of my own life. What would happen to her if Chase found her? He could probably kill her!

The rain soaked through my clothes. It stopped in like ten mintes, and I was chilled to the bone. I was freezing to death, probably dying. I couldn't even stop the bleeding in my leg.

"Ponyboy...?" said a familiar voice. "Ponyboy!" The voice belonged to Taylor. She ran toward me. All she had on was a nightgown, her purple jacket, and sneakers. I was glad she was okay. "Ponyboy, what happened?" she sobbed.

I tried to get the words out of my mouth. "The...the Socs..." My voice sounded very weak.

Taylor sniffled. "Hang in there, Pony," she murmured. "You'll be okay." She took her jacket off and wrapped it around me, then hugged me. Taylor seemed to be quietly praying for me to be okay.

Just then a car pulled in. I was afraid it was the Socs again, coming for Taylor, but then I heard Two-Bit's voice say, "Taylor?! What happened to Pony?"

"He said it was the Socs who did this," Taylor answered. "Oh, gosh. Two-Bit, Pony is bleeding really badly."

I coughed. "Ch-Chase Alan," I said.

Taylor's face turned pale like Johnny's. "What did you say, Ponyboy?"

"It was Chase Alan who stabbed me."

She covered her face and gasped.

Two-Bit wrapped his leather jacket around my wound. "Hang in there, man," he said. "Taylor, are you alright?"

"DO I LOOK ALRIGHT?!" Taylor shouted. "The person who jumped him was my ex-boyfriend from my hometown, Two-Bit! Oh, god, no!"

Everything was starting to spin. Two-Bit and Taylor's voices were now echoing in my head, and I could barely understand what they were saying. I had a feeling Two-Bit was helping me up, but I couldn't remember. I felt like throwing up, but wasn't so sure I did or not. Suddenly everything went black...

***Everything was hurting. My leg felt the worse. My face must've had a lot of cuts and bruises. I slowly opened my eyes to find myself in my bedroom. My shirt was off, revealing a big gash on my stomach. But my heart was aching more than my leg was.

"Taylor...," I said. My voice sounded very scratchy and weak.

"She's alright, Pony," Soda murmured. "Taylor's okay. She's just a little rattled. C'mon, get to sleep."

I was nearly half-asleep. "I want to see her."

Soda was quiet for a moment. He walked out the door and said, "Taylor, I think you should come in here."

There was a long silence until I heard Taylor say, "Oh, my gosh. I can't look at him. This is all my fault. I did this to him." She was crying. I could tell by the sound of her voice.

"Taylor, he wants to see you. Listen, it ain't your fault. None of it is. Just go see him, for his sake."

Another silence. My vision was finally coming back. Taylor walked in. She looked real exhausted; her greenish-blue eyes were now red and puffy from crying. She looks like she barely got any sleep at all.

"Ponyboy?" she murmured. "Pony, are you okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." I tried sitting up, then felt a sharp pain on my side.

"Careful." Taylor laid me back down. "Try not to move so much. You don't look so good."

"I don't feel so good. How long have I been out?" I asked.

"Like ten hours," she answered. "You threw up on Two-Bit while me and him were trying to get you to the car, then you just blacked out." Taylor tried holding back her tears, but without much success. "Darry nearly had a heart attack when Two-Bit and I brought you in. Soda started bawling, too."

"Where're the other guys?"

"Dally, Steve, and Johnny are in the living room. Two-Bit's taking a bath to clean the vomit off."

"Oh. Remind me later on to apologize for puking on him."

Taylor tried to smile, but she turned away. When she looked back at me, her eyes were welling up with tears. "Ponyboy, I am so sorry this happened to you. I really didn't think that Chase Alan would find out I was here. I don't even know how he knew that. This is all my fault."

"Taylor," I said, "it's not your fault. None of it is."

"Don't even say that, Pone. It is my fault. You could've died because my ex-boyfriend wanted to hurt me by hurting you."

I tried sitting up again. "Taylor, don't blame yourself for this. You had nothing to do with it, and none of it is your fault."

Taylor was silent. Her eyes were even puffier and redder. After a while, she nodded. "Sorry. I just...I'm still a little freaked out about this and I didn't get any sleep for like ten hours."

"You look real exhausted," I said. "You should go get some sleep."

"Okay." Before leaving the room, Taylor kissed me on the cheek.

Darry called the fuzz while I was unconscious. We still haven't heard back from them yet. I laid on my bed, trying to go back to sleep. It was hard trying to get some sleep with all that commotion going on in the living room.

"Hey, what's that son-of-a-gun's name again, Tay?" Dally asked.

"Chase," Taylor muttered.

"What's got you all fired up?"

"What do you think, Dallas?!" Taylor was yelling now. "My boyfriend was jumped by my ex-boyfriend! He could've killed Ponyboy, you know!"

I had a feeling Dally was about to swear at Taylor since she yelled at him. No one should yell at Dallas Winston. If you did, he'd punch the light out of you. "Hey, listen, girlie―"

"Dally," Darry warned him, "she's hurting, so lay off."

"You feelin' okay, T?" Steve asked.

Taylor sighed. "I don't know," she said through her tears.

"Don't worry, Taylor," Soda said. "The cops will find him soon."

It was quiet now except for Two-Bit's singing in the shower and Taylor's quiet sobbing. The guys were trying hard to comfort her. I wanted to be in there with her, to let her know I was okay. I just hoped the cops would catch Chase fast.