Chapter 10

Darry stood there for a good five minutes, just staring at my message the colour from his face had faded away until his frozen eyes were blazing in contrast to his pale skin. Five minutes passed, a thousand emotions flickered through Darry's face, and it was like I could practically see his brain searching for the right words to say. He sighed and pushed away from the table, pushing his hair out of his eyes, everyone in the room was watching him, waiting for him to talk. Soda looked like he wanted to cry for him, Steve, Two Bit and Dallas just looked lost, to them Rebecca was just a name; Darry never mentioned her before.

"Rebecca-" he paused, swallowed and tried again, eyes fixed on the ground. "Rebecca was probably the love of my life, no that's not right; she was the love of my life."

Soda walked over and put his arm around Darry's shoulders, Darry's eyes stayed fixed on the ground, it was like no one was in the room, Darry was living in his own memory, he took another breath

"Here's what happened"

4 years earlier….

"Three years today" I whispered, the words gave me chills. Three years ago today I worked up the courage to ask out the girl who made my heart do summersaults. Rebecca and I had been best friends since we were eight years old, and I had had a hopeless crush on her for years, then finally I grew a pair and asked her to be my girlfriend and she said yes. I smiled at my reflection, I was going to take Rebecca to her favorite spot, the small creek in middle class territory, she loved the soft grass, and the small river that stretched across the land. It was the place we met, the place I asked her to be my girlfriend, and the place I planned to propose to her. I felt the small bulge in my jeans pocket, I kept touching it to make sure it was still there, and didn't run away. Before I lost my nerve I ran out the door, hollering to Soda as I left. He was left at home to watch Ponyboy, I felt bad I never mentioned Rebecca to him, but he was too young to understand love. Besides if all went well, he would meet her soon

I knocked on Rebecca's door; behind I could hear Jet and Blake, her two little brothers running around, screaming "I'll get it! I'll get it!" and then Rebecca "Beat it pests!" I felt a smile tug at my lips, the relationship Rebecca had with her brother's was laughable. They hated each other, but would take a bullet for one another without a second thought. The door opened and Rebecca's smiling face appeared, her long golden hair was flowing, her green eyes sparkling brighter than the sun.

"Hey Darry" she leaned against the door, trying to keep her brother's out, but failed.

"Darry! Hey man! Want to play games with us? Come on today's the day we're going to beat you!" Jet yelled, his little face stretched into a mischievous grin. I laughed shaking my head

"Sorry buddy, I'm taking your sister out for a while, maybe later alright?"

Jet nodded and ran back inside to find his brother to play games with him instead, Rebecca shook her head and closed the door and slipped her small hand in mine. I loved holding her hand, it was so small in mine, but it felt secure, like I could protect her from anything.

"The boys never stop talking about you" she said shaking her head, "It's like you're their big brother or something!"

I smiled down at her, it was amazing that everything clicked so perfectly she loved me and her brothers did too; and they had the same personality as Ponyboy, so they would be fast friends. We walked hand in hand to the park, I helped her down to the creek, the water rushed by us, the sun made the water sparkle, the fish were racing below our feet, cutting past the rocks. Becca and I sat down on the large rocks and let our feet dip into the cool water. I found myself staring at Rebeca, her face was titled up, soaking in the sun, her skin so white and delicate, and she was wearing a pink sundress, which wrapped around her figure like if it was custom made for her. She opened her eyes and looked over at me, and smiled blushing a little.

"I love you" she whispered to me, I felt my heart stop, it happened every time she said that o me. Like my mind couldn't possibly believe it.

"God Becca, I love you too"

She beamed, she scooted over until she was sitting on my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck, and I titled my face up and kissed her gently. Her soft lips brushing against mine, her hands holding me tight, like she never wanted to let go. At that second I knew it was the right moment. I pulled back, an inch and looked into her eyes.

"Rebecca, you've been part of my life for eight solid years, I remember when we first met, how your hair was in these little pig tails, and your face was covered in mud, cause you fell in the creek, and I remember helping you out and taking you home. By the time I had brought you home I was already in love, you're the one girl who makes me feel sure of every decision I make, and you're the girl who makes me better at everything I do. I'm better when I'm around you; just knowing that you're there makes me know that everything is going to work out. You're the most gorgeous girl I've ever laid my eyes on and no one ever comes close to comparing to you" I pulled the ring out, then whispered "Rebecca Andrews, will you marry me?"

She sat there stunned for a second, then started laughing and crying, nodding her head

"Yes! Yes Darry I'll marry you" she gasped out; I started laughing with her, sliding the diamond ring on her shaking finger. Then I kissed her lifting her into my arms she wrapped her legs around me and held on like she was never going to let go.

After that everything seemed perfect, like nothing in the world could go wrong, we agreed to wait until after graduation to get married, finish off one life and start another. However we never reached that new life, grade 12 was when everything started to go wrong.

Word spread that Rebecca and I were getting married, but no one took the news as two people in love getting married, when they heard the news they took that a greaser and a soc were getting married; and for a lot of people that didn't sit well. Rebecca started getting abused, some of her friends turned on her, and a lot of guys started shoving her into lockers. One day while Rebecca was walking to pick up Jet and Blake, a bunch of guys ganged up on her and raped her. She was able to run away before too much physical damage was made, but she was emotionally ruined. They left a scar on her head, a reminder of what happened that day, suddenly it was a rare occasion to see her smile, and it was hard to make her laugh. Her brother's picked up on it too, they tried their best but nothing worked.

One night I thought to take her back to our spot, to remind her of all the good memories we have together and it's possible to be happy again. I didn't care that it was late; I went to her house at midnight and took her with me. I didn't realize that her brothers followed me; they were supposed to be fast asleep. I sat her down in the place I proposed to her, we started talking, it was slow at first and then she started screaming and crying, letting everything out, I took her face and kissed her softly, reassuring her that everything was going to be already. She nodded slightly, and slowly stood up to leave, as we stood we heard a noise in the bushes, Rebecca jumped so high, she lost her footing in the water and fell knocking her head on the sharp rocks.

The two boys sprinted out crying freaking out, but I was listening. I jumped into the creek feeling her neck for a pulse, I couldn't find one, I tried CPR, blowing air into her lungs but nothing worked, I felt my entire body go numb, after what felt like hours, I lifted Rebecca's dead body into my arms, her brothers were huddled together screaming their heads off, crying.

"Come on boys, let's get you home" I whispered.

They looked up at me, eyes filled with hate, Jet's lip curled back into a snarl, his arms around Blake protectively

"It's your fault! You let her die!" he screamed at me "Why weren't you with her when she got raped? Why did you take her here at night! Why couldn't you leave her be until the morning! She's dead! She's dead and it's because you didn't protect her! You promised me you would always protect her! You lied! You're a liar! And I swear to every god out there you will pay! You will PAY!" he screamed, then holding Blake's hand ran off.

I don't remember how long I stayed at the creek, but the dark sky began to turn a light orange, with a hunt of pink. The sun was rising, I looked down at the one girl who made my heart beat, she was dead and I couldn't do anything to protect her. The sun shined down on her soft skin, I kissed her forehead and took her to the hospital, where they took her away.

"So that's what happened to Rebecca, Pony" Darry mumbled.

The entire room stood there in silence, no one but Soda knew that Darry was engaged, my heart pounded in my chest, so it made sense now. Jet wanted revenge for the death of his sister, for all these years he blamed Darry for taking her out at night, even though he startled her into falling. Darry shook his head and walked away from the kitchen, the door closing softly behind him leaving all of us alone, too stunned to speak.

"Did that help Pony? Cause I hope you had a really good reason about asking Darry about her"

I nodded, out of habit, then wrote on a page,

"Jet and Blake want revenge for Rebecca's death, they killed me thinking I was Darry, now they're after him to finish the job"