Ok here is the next chapter, enjoy=)
It was close to midnight when I got home, but neither Soda nor Darry were asleep. They were sitting in the living room waiting up for me. They still do that - they always wait up for me to get back home before they go to sleep. I walked in and squinted my eyes from the bright light in the room. "Ponyboy, what a hell happened to you?" Soda literally jumped up from the couch and was next to me in a second, "did you get jumped on the way home?"
"No," I said quietly. I felt really weak and just wanted to crash on my bed.
"Tell us what happened Ponyboy," Darry said firmly, "if you didn't get jumped then what happened? Did you get into a fight with someone?"
"Yeah, you can say that," I replied weakly, taking a seat on the couch, "it's a long story."
"Ok, you'll tell us later, but first we need to clean you up and bandage you up."
So I went to the bathroom to clean myself up. Then Soda gave me ice for my black eye. I sat down on the couch holding the ice. "So tell us what happened." Soda said. So I told them the whole story, leaving nothing out. "Bastards!" Soda said through clenched teeth when I finished my story. "Don't you worry Ponyboy the bastards are not getting away with this. They'll be sorry they ever messed with you. As for the girl, I feel your pain, man. After what Sandy did to me I understand what it feels like to be betrayed by someone you loved and thought that they loved you back."
"Will you do me a favor?" I asked.
"Sure," Soda replied, "what is it?"
"Will you tell the rest of the guys what happened so that I don't have to repeat it again? I really don't feel like retelling this story over and over again."
"Sure thing Pony," Soda replied.
I went to my room and crashed on my bed. I couldn't fall asleep though. I was still thinking about what just happened. I couldn't believe that Jessica would do something like that. But just like Johnny had said, the whole thing seemed too good to be true to begin with. I was just a fool to fall for it. And I thought that I loved Jessica, but then I remembered our conversations when we were on a date. How she was saying that it was fun to fire people and how she said she wasn't going to go to college, because she had enough of her daddy's money so she wouldn't have to work. I remembered how she thought watching sunsets was boring and how her and Lisa were comparing their diamond earrings. They only cared about expensive vocations, cars and bikes and parties at the country clubs. All material things, and Jessica fully participated in those conversations. I should've known right there and then that she was just a regular soc, just like the rest of them. I should've known that her whole speech about how she didn't care if a person was rich or poor and how she wouldn't stop being friends with someone just because they were poor, was just a trap for me. I should've known that.
At this point I realized that I wasn't really in love with Jessica. I mean, she was beautiful and all, and that was part of it, but the main reason was that I was in love with the idea that a soc girl paid me any attention. That for once I was treated as equal and she didn't look down on me. I was in love with the fact that things were fair for once. And I have to admit it felt nice when socs said 'hi' to me in the hallways instead of shouting insults, so I thought that they were not so bad after all. Again, I should've seen it all along that it was a trap. Like socs would actually be nice to me - Yeah, right. So I was unable to fall asleep, and was thinking about all this stuff. Then I remembered April. Man, did I screw up by breaking up with her.
I remembered how nice of a time I had with her when we went out. She was everything that Jessica was not. She was beautiful and understanding, and she always tried to see good in people. I realized then that I was in love with April all along. I just got carried away by this idea of a soc girl liking me. I'd always wondered about soc girls. I wondered about Cherry Valance too. At that moment I knew that I had to make it right with April, but how? I was sure she wouldn't just take me back.
I wanted to call her right then, but it was after midnight so it obviously had to wait till the next day. Besides, I didn't know what I would say to her. I mean, I was the one who broke up with her. What could I possibly say to get her back? So I kept turning in bed unable to fall asleep and thinking what I would say to April.
Finally, it was morning. I had a huge headache. I always do after not sleeping well at night. I grabbed some aspirins and went to the kitchen to grab something to eat. I didn't have much appetite though. It was 7 a.m. and it was too early to call April. I just wanted it to be 10 or 11 already so I could call her. Time went by so slowly, and I was getting impatient.
At 10 I finally dialed April's number. She picked up the phone. "Hello."
"Hi April, It's Ponyboy. I know you are probably mad at me, but I need to talk to you." There was uncomfortable silence. Then she spoke up. She sounded like she was forcing herself to talk, "what do you want to talk to me about Ponyboy? I think you made it clear that you don't want anything to do with me."
"No, I never said that," I protested. "Look I screwed up, can I just pick you up and we'll go to the lot and talk?" There was another pause and then she finally said, "Fine."
"Ok, I'll be there in a few," I said, "bye." Like I said before, April's house wasn't that far from my house so I was there in about ten minutes. April opened the door. "Ok, let's go." She said matter of factly. She was still mad at me I could tell. And I deserved it too.
"What happened to your face?" April asked.
"It's a long story," I replied, but I was glad she asked. That meant she cared, she still cared about me. We walked the rest of the way in silence. Finally, we were at the lot. "So what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" April asked. I had prepared what I was going to say to her, but at that moment I felt lost for words for some reason. "Well," I started, "I screwed up, I screwed up big time when I broke up with you. It's just your cousin..." I trailed off.
"What about my cousin?" She demanded.
"She's a soc and she said some things that made me lose my head."
"What did she say?"
"She said she didn't care that I was a greaser. I just got carried away thinking that a soc wanted to go out with me. But it's you I like." I hurried to add. "Can you forgive me?" She thought for a while then said, "and how do you know, all of the sudden, that it's me you like? Maybe tomorrow you'll meet someone else and like her."
"No, I won't. I know now that it's only you. Please, I need you to believe me."
Then I decided to tell her about my experience with Jessica, thinking she'd understand me better and believe me if I told her everything. So I told her everything - how I didn't really like sitting with Jessica at lunch listening to the conversations about cars and diamond earrings, how I hated dinner with her parents who were humiliating me, how I didn't like when we went to Morino's and finally what happened at the party. "You see," I said to her, "I really didn't enjoy my time with Jessica. It was just a thought that a soc was going out with me. And she made all her soc friends treat me nicely and say 'hi' to me in the hallways, and that felt nice you know. It felt like I was equal to them, like I wasn't being looked down on." She was silent. "I know I should've realized it was a trap, but I was blinded by the idea of it, you dig?"
"I get it." Was all she said.
"So... will you go out with me again?" She was silent for a few minutes, lost in thought.
"I'll think about it." She said. I walked her, home and said, "I'll call you," before leaving. She didn't reply to that.
