Chapter Nine

"I-I shot him, I shot the kid I was holding as a hostage. I shot Soda." Roger stammerred at Keith's question.

"You what? You shot him, how could you?" Keith fired back charging towards his father.

I stepped in between, I knew Keith was angry. Hell, I was too, but after what Roger had just told us, I wasn't sure if he would hurt Keith or not and I wasn't willing to take that chance.

"I promise you son that I didn't mean to but the big guy Darry he grabbed me from behind and the gun went off. I didn't go there to intentionally hurt someone, honest."

"Oh yeah well then why'd you take a gun?"

I decided that I needed to get Keith out of the situation as quickly as possible so I told him to go down to the hospital and see what he could find out about Soda. He left fuming with anger.

"You son of a bitch," I said turning to Roger as soon Keith had left, "How could you do something like this? That boy is just kid, the child of someone you once called a friend. And you shot him. Whether you meant to or not you still shot him. Not to mention the fact that our son and all three of those boys are so close that they consider each other family. I bet you didn't even see if he was alright before you hightailed outta there. No you didn't you ran just like you always do. Get the hell outta here you bastard, get out and don't come back!"

That was it I had had enough of Roger Matthews. He better not ever come back here again. I wanted nothing more to do with a man who could shoot a child and then run out as if it were nothing.

Steve's POV

I sat in the waiting room waiting for any more word on Soda but the doctor said he still hadn't regained conciousness yet. I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. All I knew was that I wanted my best friend to wake up. I wanted to hear him talk that way I would know for sure that things could get back to normal. I hoped Soda didn't react to this the way Pony had when Johnny and Dally had first died. The kid was a wreck. Hopefully that won't happen with Soda, hopefully he'll just get better and go back to the way he was before. I was so happy that the doc had said he was gonna be fine cause I didn't know if I could function if I lost him. We'd been best friends almost our entire lives and it just wouldn't be the same without him. I looked to my left and Pony was asleep with his head on Darry's shoulder. I wish Soda could see this, I thought, he'd be bouncing off the walls. That was one thing he was always telling him he wished for that Pony and Darry could be close to each other, as close as he was to both of them. Now it looked like it was starting to happen only bad thing was that it took Soda getting shot to make it happen.

"I wanna know about Soda, where the hell is Soda?" I heard a voice yelling from around the corner and I immeaditely knew it was Two-Bit.

"Young man calm down," I heard the nurse answer back, "If you want a soda you can go to the cafeteria and get one."

Dumb broad, I thought, she thinks he wants something to drink. I got up to get him before he said something to her and got himself thrown out.

"Hey Two-Bit"

Two-Bit's POV

I turned upon hearing my name and Steve was standing there looking tired and ragged. Any other time I would have made some silly wisecrack about it but right now I was focused on finding out how Soda was. I couldn't believe my dad could do this. How could he shoot one of my best friends and then try to blame it all on Darry claiming that if he hadn't have grabbed him the gun wouldn't have gone off. That was bull shit. I hated that man right now more than ever and if Soda dies I will make sure that he pays for it, I promised myself.

"Steve, how's Soda? Where was he hit? How are Darry and Pony doing, are they alright? " I was screaming questions at him not waiting for him to answer one before I asked another.

"Calm down, Two-Bit. Darry and Pony are fine they're just around the corner. Soda was hit in the shoulder, the doc said that there wasn't any permeant damage but the bullet did nick a major artery so he lost a lot of blood and they're having to give him more. He passed out before the ambulance got there and he still hasn't woken up," Steve told me and I could hear the worry in his voice.

"Have y'all seen him yet does he look alright?"

"No we haven't seen him. The doc says it'll be a few hours before we can. How'd you find out about this any how?"

"That bastard showed up at my house right afterwards. He kept saying that he didn't mean to shoot nobody and that it was all an accident, that the gun was only meant to scare y'all and that he never intended to actually use it, crap like that. Where did you say Darry was, I need to talk to him. "

"He's around the corner but-" he said more but I didn't hear it cause I had my back to him by then walking to where he said Darry and Pony were.

I found them asleep and I was debating on whether or not to wake them when Darry opened his eyes. I couldn't help but think he was gonna hate me. He probably wouldn't want to see me anymore and who could blame him my dad had come back to town after years of being away and shot his little brother.

"Two-Bit?" he asked still half asleep.

"Yeah Darry it's me. Look if you want me to leave I will. I just came by to see how Soda was and all?"

"No Two-Bit I don't want you to leave and I'm sure Soda will be glad that you're here when he wakes up,"Darry said standing up and putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Have the cops been by yet?"

"Ya why?"

"You need to call them, tell them you know where the guy that did this ran off to."

"Where's he at, Two-Bit?" Darry asked his whole body tensing up with anger.

"My house."