Chapter 9
"WHAT IN THE HELL DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?" the girl, Ash, hollered. Her lungs were made of steel. "YOU JUST GO OFF AN' BAIL ON US LIKE THAT, SODA? Gezus Kerist, dontcha know how goddamn worried we was 'boutcha? You like as gave us all heart attacks, 'specially Dare!" she paced around, and I was filled with guilt. Soda looked abashed, but not apologetic. "We can't even call the cops 'cause me and you and Soda would get swept off faster'na snappa the fingers," she rambled.
Her frizzy hair grew in wild tufts, and she was the skinniest girl I ever saw in my life. Her silver eyes flashed every time she blinked. A spray of freckles danced on the delicate bridge of her tiny nose as her nostrils flared with indignance. Darry put a huge hand on her shoulder, and she immediately calmed down. It was hard to believe she was my age, and he was only three years older. They both seemed so much older, so much more tired.
Her sharp gray eyes focused on me. "Whatchu gotta say for yerself?" she raised an eyebrow. "I aint gonna holler atchu, but still. What's the deal here, guys? You better got a good explanation."
"I gotta take her to Buck's," Soda said earnestly. "I'll explain when I get back, I swear it, guys. You believe me, right Dare? Dontcha?" he pleaded, his deep brown eyes apologetic.
"Little buddy, you aint going anywhere," Darry replied sternly. Ponyboy hung around in a corner, and I felt my face burn. They had been worried sick about him, and I had taken him away from his family like a crazy bitch. "Why do you need to go to Buck's place? You don't wanna show up there. It's not the safest place for a young, pretty girl."
I blinked back tears. "Need a place to stay," I mumbled. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I really am. It's all my fault that Soda ran off, he was just helping me out, and he said he needed to look at garage's anyway, and—"
Ponyboy put a hand on my shoulder, comfortingly, trying to stop my rambling. "Don't worry," was all he said, stepping back again. His bright green-gray eyes pierced mine, then were hooded by his long, long lashes. Darry looked from me, to Soda, to Ponyboy.
"Sodapop," he sighed. "You know, a couple months ago I would have hollered at you till my head exploded. But now…" he looked at the tiny girl standing with him. "What's your explanation?" he asked.
Soda looked at me, unsure. "Soda was going to give me a ride, but when we stopped at my fath- my mother's house to pick up my things, my step-dad caught me. He was roaring, blazing drunk, and he started to beat me. Soda ran in, just in time, and got me out of there. I asked him to take me to Texas. I just had to get out," I exhaled, terrified of the enormous man and his tiny girlfriend. He towered over me, or at least seemed too. The more frightened I became, the bigger he seemed.
Before I could analyze the expression on his face, Ash exploded. "Well what in the name of goddurned hell!" she raged. "It aint, never will be, an never was, right to hitta child." She paced around, and I felt embarrassed. I stopped myself from reminding her that we were the same age.
"I'm also pregnant with Dallas Winston's child," I confessed quietly, knowing they wouldn't judge me.
Ponyboy gaped and Soda grinned, hopping up and down like an overexcited child. "Innit great guys! Dally, of all people!"
Ash and Darry stared. Not judging: just shocked. Dallas Winston? I could hear it flashing through their minds, see it like a neon light.
"Welp," she said, wide-eyed. "Congrats, there. Hey, you wanna ride to Buck's?"
"There aint any way you're drivin'!" Soda yelled, laughing at how well this had gone over. "No way ever!"
She mocked offense. "Well, the fuck? I fixed that pieca shit, I should be ableta drive it! Darry, you been teachin' me real good, right, man?" she nudged him, and when he just grinned at her like a fool, she swung at him, a square punch to his stomach. He only laughed while she grumbled. "We're under appreciated, aint we, Pone?" she complained plaintively.
I smiled at their banter. "C'mon, Goldie!" Soda said cheerfully. Ash and Pony looked visible affected suddenly.
"What did you call her?" Ponyboy asked slowly, looking me over carefully.
"Goldie," Soda replied. "Mare-eee-gold. Gold, goldie. Goldie." He looked pleasantly oblivious. I was horrified. Had they heard any rumors about me at school, or something? I couldn't think of anything else that'd make them react like that.
But then Ponyboy looked solemn and Ash looked overjoyed. "Gold," she grinned. "C'mon Goldie, I'm drivin'!" she took off outside, in her bare feet.
"Dammit, Ash!" Darry half-yelled, half-laughed. "Don't even touch the front seat!"
I heard her distant cry: "If I can fix this heapa junk, I sure as hell can drive it! I'll fix it if we crash!"
"Who'll fix the rest of you?" Ponyboy mumbled, retreating into his room with a wave. Soda and I followed Darry out into the yard, where the moonlight shone on all of them.
Before, I hadn't understood why tiny Ash was with Darry. But he scooped her up, and she planted a wide, sloppy kiss on his cheek, laughing madly. He tossed her over his shoulder, fireman style, and she went wild, kicking and beating against him, until he set her down. She rolled her eyes at him, and I saw the spark they ignited in each other. She was firey and wild: he was reliable and constant. She needed a mature, strong man to help balance her wild impetuousness. He swiped the keys from her and hopped in the front seat, and Ash sat shotgun, leaving me and Sodapop together in the back. I was so completely glad to have him.
The car ride was silent: the radio was broken. But it was warm, and only took about five minutes to get to Buck's.
When we got there, there wasn't a party. Too late. Everybody would've been asleep, or gone. So when we knocked on the door and Tim Shepard opened the door, looking tired as anything, I wasn't surprised.
"Marigold Pederson?" he mumbled, peering at me through bloodshot eyes. "Whaddya doin' here?" he shook hands with Darry and Ash and Sodapop, and propped himself up on the doorframe. "Well, mightaswell c'mon in." he gestured. "Big Red'n his gang've been hangin' out here."
"Wondered where those idiots went," Ash mumbled, but flew silently to see them. Darry nodded at Soda and followed Ash.
"So whaddya need," Tim asked, knowing this wasn't a social visit. I knew Tim pretty well, Curly and Angela too, and he knew I didn't really frequent Buck's place. I liked Tim best out of his whole family. Angela scared me, and Curly was too wild. Tim was crazy too, but he was smart, and street tough. Not to mention gorgeous.
He wasn't handsome the way Sodapop was handsome: Sodapop was the most drop-dead gorgeous boy in all of Tulsa. He was sweet and charming, with an easy smile and personality. Tim was hard and rough, with a broken nose and slicked back hair. Soda was handsome, but Tim was… sexy.
"Need Buck," Sodapop answered, friendly. "Gotta see him."
Tim nodded. "I can guess what this is about," he said, looking me over carefully. The night I slept with Dallas Winston, Tim had walked in on us getting dressed. He knew me, and my reputation as a good girl, and he knew my father. He was one of the only people who knew anything about me. "Need a place to stay?" he asked, lighting a cigarette. "You can take Dally's old room. You pregnant?" he demanded suddenly, and without shame, I answered, calmly.
"I'm going to name it Dahlia if it's a girl."
Tim nodded approvingly. He and Dally were known for their wild up and down friendship, but Tim had been Dally's partner in crime. "And iffen it's a boy?"
"Junior will work." I said seriously.
He grinned at me. "Guess you don't got much to unpack, do you?"
I rolled my eyes at him. Sodapop grinned at us both, looking a little loopy. "Wait until the guys hear 'bout Junior!"
The second I woke up the next day and quietly padded down the stairs, I had what felt like a million guys attacking me. Soda, Buck, Tim, Pony, Darry, Steve, Two-Bit, Ash, and the four guys from the party. Casey? James? Big Red, I knew was one, and Jackhammer was the black guy. Buck and Steve and Two-Bit were clambering about, demanding to know everything. Everyone was so excited about my baby. I was going on seventeen, and completely single, but the people I could barely call friends were overjoyed. Mercedes ran in right when I was feeling overwhelmed.
"A baby!" she grinned at me. "A real live, Winston kid. Yer accomplishin' what other girls only dreamt of."
I choked on a laugh. Two-Bit added: "An I bet it's your worst nightmare, now aint it?" he hooted with laughter at his wit. Mercedes smacked him, and he just grinned at her, taking a sip from a beer bottle.
"Beer for breakfast there, Two-Bit?" Darry asked drily.
Ash grabbed the can and drank some. "Did you eat?" Soda asked her, raising an eyebrow.
She raised her hands indignantly. "I fuckin' made pancakes, ocourse I had some. Jesus, whaddya think I am, man?"
Soda looked at her hard, and dropped the subject, and turned to me with a grin. "All of us are gonna keep you company all the time. You're part of the group now, Goldie."
Big Red rumbled a laugh. "Hey, me and the boys spend enough time here nowadays for us all to be a real gang."
Tim smirked at him. "Aint often we get a drug dealer 'round here in Tulsa, to join little old Shepard gang."
"We aint partta the Sheps," Steve rolled his eyes at Tim. "Neither is Buck."
"We're all pals, is all," Buck said slowly, a glazed look in his eyes. High? Drunk? Hungover? Plain dumb? "Don't need to bring nonnadat gang shit up in here, man."
"Goldie aint got nobody to protect her," Soda said earnestly, my greatest ally. We had bonded, in my crazed adventure. "He don't got Big Red, like you did Ash, or Darry. Or Two-Bit, like you, Mercedes."
"I don't need anyone to protect me," I protested futilely. Derek had proved that when he ran and left me. I'd survived this long.
"Shit kid, you're fucking accident prone, obviously." Steve said scathingly. "Beat up, knocked up, ran away, and living with Buck Merrill." He grinned at me. He was being rude, sure, but not unfriendly. "You need somebody to protect you, and Soda's always been keen on wounded animals, and Ponyboy aint ever been able to—"
"Shut up!" Pony answered furiously. Steve laughed meanly, and clapped him on the shoulder.
"Come on, Pone, just messin' around."
Darry looked at them sternly. "Come on guys. We're gonna take Marigold out. Be on your best behaviors, each and every one of ya, you hear me now?"
"What's the poin'na actin' our best, when the poin's to have her gedda know us?" Two-Bit asked sensibly.
Ash piped up: "Hey guys, I'll drive!"
"NO!" everyone shouted in unison.
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