Chapter 11

Nothing changed for two weeks. The weather was starting to get shitty and so was the gangs' attitude. The number of rumbles between Brumley and the Tigers was rising. Tim was losing his mind, both Sophie and Brandy had dropped off the face of the earth and Geoff was getting on my ass about school. I'd been couch hopping and now, I was hoping that Darry would take pity on me and let me stay a night. If that didn't work, I'd whine to Soda and he'd let me stay.

"Nikki, my dear, my doll," Two-Bit drawled. I rolled my eyes fondly and sank into the couch between him and Steve, who didn't glance up from poker. I didn't blame him. Soda had an awful poker face and way too many chips. His hand twitched and a shit-eating grin curled up on his lips. "What's up?"

"Everything's gone to shit," I muttered. The three boys looked up and I heard Darry come out of the kitchen. "Brumley and Tigers are killing each other, the River Kings can't find their leader and I'm down a friend. Tim's at the end of his tether. Angela wants to get married. It's such a shit show." I slumped onto Steve's shoulder and he glanced at me amused. I wasn't going to even go into the argument this morning.

I had walked downstairs to hear my mom and Geoff arguing. I sat on the stairs so I could listen properly. The school had called, I hadn't been turning up. They were 'concerned'. Geoff was complaining that I wasn't getting an education. My mom told him it didn't matter that the 'stupid bitch' wasn't going to go anywhere. He had called me in, grilled me and then kicked me out when I told him to fuck off. Told me I could come back when I was gonna apologise.

I couldn't just do that. Even if I was fond off Geoff he didn't understand that I simply wasn't interested in school. I was good with the horses and Slash J said I could work down there. I had a way with the skittish guys that came in. I could get a lot of money for that. I didn't need school to work with horses, or animals at all. Besides, I think he meant for me to take a walk and think about what I had done. I wasn't going to make it easy on him.

"You staying for dinner?" Darry asked and we all nodded. I hopped up but Darry pointed in my direction, without even looking. "Sit down Nikola Reed. I ain't letting you near my kitchen." I sat with a huff, ignoring Two-Bit's cajoling and Steve's jeering. I wasn't a great cook but I wasn't as bad as Tim. I could cook pasta… kind of.

"You haven't seen Tim in the past few days?" Soda asked and the way he was looking at me made me freeze up. It was almost guilty like he had seen something.

"What was he doing?" I growled and Soda shuffled back a little, looking at anything but me. Two-Bit was scrambling to the kitchen and Steve was subtly trying to move away. I didn't even have to make Soda tell me what had happened. Soda's face said it all.

My week was going from shitty to downright catastrophic. I sat back and stared at the ceiling, my eyes burning. A hand wrapped around my shoulders and I was pulled into a chest. Soda shushed me gently and rocked slowly back and forwards, while I bit my lip, chewing on it, blinking out tears. Steve patted my back and then stood up to be replaced by Two-Bit, who petted my hair and then leaned back.

"It's not fair," I mumbled and Soda muttered. "I busted my ass to get Sophie here. For him, to help him. She disappears, Tim is fucking some whore again and where am I? Couch hopping."

"Stay here," Darry said gently. I shook my head and scrubbed at my eyes, sitting up slowly. "Soda will give you a ride home." I didn't give an answer. I let myself be stood up and walked out of the house, into the truck. I caught Dallas out of the corner of my eye and I tapped Soda's hand to get him to stop. We pulled up beside Dally, who looked me straight in the eye.

"Buck's?" I asked softly and he nodded. I looked to Soda and he nodded. However, when we got to the turn off, he turned the opposite way and started to drive towards East.

"You're going home," he told me gently. "Sleep this off. Duke it out with a clear mind. Don't do something stupid." He parked up and slid out, crossing to the front door, where Eli was sitting. Soda walked me up the path and Eli let us in. I walked straight to my room. Geoff emerged from the kitchen and opened his mouth but I pushed past him and settled on to the bed. I could hear muttering and when Geoff walked in, I curled into a tight ball. He settled against the door and his next words surprised me.

"Do you want to go smash his headlights in?" Geoff asked. His cool blue eyes were lowered to the floor and I stared at him, not comprehending what he had just said. Oli and Eli popped their head around the door and Oli held up a baseball bat. I felt the smile curl on my lips and I was tempted. Sorely tempted.

"Come on Nikki," Oli said, his grin so wide, it was splitting his face in half. "Let's go show that scumbag greaser what we're about." I froze and felt my anger curl up again. Tim was a lot of things but I refused to let him be called a scumbag.

"Out," I managed through my teeth. There were no questions. Eli pulled his brother and father out of the room. I sank back onto the sheets and fought the urge to get up and grab the bat out of Oli's hand and kicking the shit out of Tim. I had worked my ass off to get Sophie here to form an alliance with the River Kings. It was the lack of appreciation that annoyed me more than anything. Tim hadn't acknowledged anything I had done and it was giving me a headache. I crawled into bed, pulling the covers up over my head and curled up tight in the way that annoyed Tim very much. He always complained I took up too much room when I did this. I felt like I could spite him from where I was in my nest.

_..._

When I woke up, the house wasn't completely quiet like I thought it would be. The muttering was coming from upstairs. It sounded like Ben was ditching with a few friends. I glanced out the window that looked I stole out to the bathroom to take a shower but cursed myself when I realised I'd forgotten my clothes. I held my breath and listened. There was still banging and voices coming from upstairs so I did the natural thing.

I snuck out of the bathroom, humming the James Bond theme tune and almost slipped and landed on my ass at the wolf whistle. Ben was bright red and looking anywhere but at me while the three other boys were almost falling over the railings. I was embarrassed about the theme tune thing but I wasn't shy about my body. I was more concerned about the fact that the guy who was arrested for beating the shit out of Withers was in my hall.

"Wanna drop the towel babe," he jeered and I threw a cool look over my shoulder.

"Which of you cats owns the sweet wheels outside?" I said coolly loosening my grip on the towel so it slid down my ribs without giving anything away. Ben cursed and clapped his hand over his eyes, while the others' eyes widened. This was fun. Especially because of my tattoo.

Tim had bought it for me for my 16th birthday. It had hurt like fuck but it was pretty. I had gotten a swallow on either side of my ribs, beside my boobs. They were colourful and eye catching. The right was Tim's favourite. The guy in the shop had let him pull some shaky lines so it was his favourite through love.

"They'd be mine," the main guy smirked and his eyes raked up and down me. If he had been anybody else, I probably would've enjoyed the attention but I felt a little sick. I pushed it down and winked.

"Let me slip into something more comfortable," I winked and sauntered into my room. I locked the door and pulled my clothes on, before grabbing the baseball bat that Geoff had left by the door. I ran out the front door and saw that they were all standing there, talking to Rosie. And beside Rosie…

I ignored Tim and strolled past them swinging the bat back and letting it crack again the left headlight. I could feel their eyes were on me. It wasn't until I had smashed the second light in, that all hell broke loose.

The Soc lunged towards me. At the same time, Tim lunged for him, as did Ben. A car door slammed and Dallas and Curly were in sight. I closed my eyes as the hand wrapped around my throat and pushed me against the car.

"I'm going to fucking kill you," the Soc hissed in my ear. There was a click and I held my breath as he pressed a knife to my side, hidden by our bodies. Ben was holding Rosie back who looked shocked and the three greasers were circling us.

"Try it," I muttered, reeled my head back and smashed it forward into his nose. I grunted in pain as the knife skimmed my ribs and the pain that blossomed in my forehead.

"Christ Nikki," Curly muttered in awe, his eyes sparkling. Although, that could have been the tears that were cropping up in the corners of my eyes. He helped me sit on the curb, while Dally and Tim wrestled the Soc into his car.

"Bye," Dally drawled, slamming the door. From the yelp, I guessed the Socs fingers almost got trapped in the door. The others got in the car and we watched as they peeled out.

"That went well," I muttered and slumped onto the ground to watch the day fly by.

A/N: And another one done. I enjoyed writing this one as well, even though it is a little all over the place.

I hope you enjoyed and please R&R