Chapter Eleven: In Denial

"What? Two-Bit, is this one of your dumb jokes? Cause if it is…" Soda began.

"Soda, I'm serious. She's gone." Two-Bit's face gave away no sign of a prank, and his gray eyes were like the sky before a storm.

"Where?" was all Soda could say.

Two-Bit's face twisted in annoyance. "Well, if I knew that, I wouldn't be banging in here asking if you'd seen her, would I?"

"No. What'd she write?" Soda asked. Two-Bit handed him the note.

Dear Seamus, Hannah, Anne and Two-Bit,

In case you haven't figured it out by now, I'm gone. For good. There isn't anything you can do to make me come back.

I'm sorry to run off like this, but I can't live in Tulsa. I don't belong here. I'm going back to Philly.

Don't worry about me. Things will go back to the way they were without me. Please don't come after me. It's better this way.

Say goodbye to Sodapop, Ponyboy, Cherry and Steve for me. I love all of you and won't ever forget you.

—Sonali Ganguli (Sonia)

Soda handed the note back to Two-Bit. "Where does she come off running away like this?" he said quietly. Anger filled him, coursing through his veins.

"Soda, the gauge's out on—Two-Bit!" Steve had come in. "What's the matter?" he said, noticing the looks on their faces.

"Sonia ran away," Two-Bit said, crumpling the note in his hand.

"About time," Steve said.

Words cannot describe the looks Soda and Two-Bit gave him. Steve noticed and hurriedly added, "I don't mean nothing by it. I just mean that…she was out of place here. She was talking about moving away as soon as she gets old enough, getting out of here, that kind of stuff."

"When?" Soda demanded.

Steve shrugged. "We were talking. She's quiet, but when she kind of gets to trust you she's a motor mouth."

"What's wrong with Tulsa? Nobody was giving her a hard time or anything," Two-Bit said. "Were they?" he added uncertainly.

"No," Steve said. "She just missed her friends and stuff."

"We're her friends," Soda said defensively.

"Think about it, though," Two-Bit said. "She's lived there all her life, known those people all her life, probably trusts them with her life…then her mom dies and she's sent down here."

"How different can it be?" Soda wanted to know.

"Southwest versus way out East. Very different," said Two-Bit.

"Shut up," Soda said moodily, and stomped out to go back to work. Just before he slammed the door behind him, he saw Two-Bit shake his head sadly and mouth "denial" to Steve.

He was not in denial. He was just…he didn't even know.

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Sonia fell asleep on the bus and nearly missed her stop. Luckily she woke up in time and groggily pulled the chain. The bus screeched to a stop in West Philadelphia and Sonia staggered off with her bags.

From a payphone, she called Lakshmi. "Lakhs?" she said once her friend had picked up. "I need a favor."

She had a plan. She would stay at Lakshmi's until she could find an apartment, then get a job, work part-time and go to school. Then, she could work throughout college to pay for tuition. Maybe if she were lucky she would get a scholarship and wouldn't have to work. But she would anyway, to save for when she got out of college. Then maybe she would go to medical school, and become a doctor.

It was foolproof. But she knew it would never work.

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