Ponyboy: Now What Did I Do?
Disclaimer: No I don't own anything….sheesh…tell me something I didn't know…
Thanks to Burnin' Church Gal: YOU ROCK!!! And I think you're just being a little too generous about my writing…it's not that great…
Blatty: hehe…I don't think this will ever stop…lol
And to everyone else who reviewed! I love you all!! So anyways….on with the story!
The next morning, I woke-up before Soda because my eye was really bothering me. I wiggled out under Soda's arm and went into the bathroom to see what was wrong with my eye. When I looked in the mirror, I didn't like what I saw at all.
There was a boy with ruffled up blonde hair with some brown roots growing back in (thank god!!) and his left eye just looked tired but his right eye was something else. There was a huge black and blue mark making his eye seem almost swollen shut!! And his once bloody nose was a little bruised up too. He looked as if he'd been in a rumble with 5 socs against 1. And that boy…was me.
My surprise soon turned into red hot anger towards Steve Randle. That guy was going to make me explode. I hated him so much, it wasn't even funny. I hated him for out bursting like that when we confessed that we'd been put in the same group, I hated him for fighting me, I hated him for hurting Soda, I hated him for hurting me…I just hated him!
"Soda, Pon…Soda, where's Ponyboy?" I heard Darry ask as he went to wake us up, probably prepared for a fight from me. I heard Soda sit up, "I…I don't know…"
I stepped into the room, "I'm right here, Darry." They both turned around and the second that they saw me, their faces changed from sleepy to surprise in Darry's case and shocked in Soda's case. I saw Soda's eyes widen when he saw me. Darry tried not to laugh at Soda, but he couldn't help it.
"He…He did…that?" Soda gasped, snapping out of his somewhat daze and rushing up to me. He gently touched the area around my eye where it had turned purple. As soon as he did, I jumped away, "OW!"
"Sorry."
Darry shook his head, "What were you two thinking? Going at it like that?"
I rolled my eyes and thought 'This is going to be a big repeat of before Windrixville.' But surprisingly enough, it wasn't.
"Darry…lay off of him." Soda told him.
"Sorry…I guess you were both too mad to be thinking anyway," Darry sighed, giving in faster than he would normally. There was a slam of the door and we knew that Two-Bit had arrived. Who else slams the door like Two-Bit? He was whistling cheerily and stopped short when he saw me, "Man, you two should see each other!" he laughed.
"Who me?" I asked, confused.
"Yeah, you! You n' Stevie! You two beat each other up pretty bad!" For some reason, this started Darry laughing. Him and Two-Bit couldn't stop laughing hysterically. I grumbled, "Yeah, yeah…Go ahead…laugh. It ain't funny…"
We were all in the living room now and Steve was on the couch. I raised my eyebrows. I beat him up pretty bad. His cheek was swollen to the size of California and his lower lip was bruised, along with dried blood caked on his upper lip. Soda gasped again. I swear, he was gasping every two minutes that day. I ran away to get dressed before they woke Steve up. I thought maybe then, he wouldn't hurt me too much.
When I stepped out of the bathroom and walked into the kitchen ten minutes later, Steve and Soda were dressed and Steve shot me a look of death as soon as I walked in. I returned it, although he did seem surprised to see that he hurt me like he did. Before we could start anything, Darry ordered me to eat. I sat down in the only seat left, which happened to be across from Steve. Suddenly, he yelled, "PONYBOY MICHAEL CURTIS, YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE!!" I jumped when he yelled that because the only person that ever used my full name was Darry, mom, dad and maybe occasionally Soda. But that was it. I had even forgotten that Steve knew my middle name.
"Wh-why am I in big trouble?" I asked him, sorta scared by now.
"You are the sole reason that Evie broke-up with me. You are the only thing that stood in my way of having the best relationship ever with Evie. It was all you. You!" he said quietly and dangerously. I shivered and slowly stood up, "Steve, I don't care if you hate me; I really don't. I don't care if you beat me up, I don't even care that you're my brother's best friend. But I do care if you blame me for things that I DIDN'T DO!!!!" I screamed the last part. I'm sure Two-Bit, Soda, Darry or even Steve had ever seen me talk this much in the course of two days in front of the gang.
"Don't tell me you didn't do something that you did do!"
"I DIDN'T DO IT!!!!" I yelled. Steve looked like he was about to punch me. I flinched then said to Darry, "Dar, is it okay if I walk to school today?"
"Uh…yeah…sure…" Darry answered uncertainly. I picked my books up and left the house with Steve boiling mad. Today was Thursday. I only needed to get through one more day of school after today and then the weekend would come…but then…there was the trip…on Monday.
I was so close to tears, I had to beat it out of there. I took the short way to school, but I walked slowly. I walked even slower when I went near the lot we all used to hang-out in. The place where Johnny and I talked, where we would look at the stars. Johnny…Oh god, I missed him. If he were still there, he would have comforted me in the lot. And he would have told me to ignore Steve and not to let him get to me and he'd just always be there when I needed him.
"I need you now, Johnny," I whispered as a tear slipped down my cheek. I sat down in this little corner of the lot where we would always be. I hadn't been to the lot in so long. Our football was still there where we last left it: underneath some shrubs beside the big tree I used to climb.
I'm not sure how long I sat there. I thought about all the good times Johnny and I shared. Like the time when we went to the movies on Saturday and saw Gone With the Wind. And after the movie, he asked me to explain it to him. So we sat right here in this lot and I explained everything to him. Of course, I missed my curfew by 15 minutes, but when I told Darry, even he let me off. That day was fun.
And then there was this other time, when we went with Dally to the Nightly Double…and we met these chicks, they were even Socs, and Dally dirty talked them, but Johnny stood up for them…and told him to leave. And then Two-Bit came and we hung-out. That was tuff. And then I remember that very same night we sat right here in this lot and looked at the stars and dreamt about the country and fell asleep…
But after that, I stopped remembering because that's when everything went wrong. I tried to keep from crying, but I couldn't. When I finally looked up into the sky, I knew it was around lunch time and that I had missed school. But I was too miserable remembering to care.
"Ponyboy, stop it," I told myself, "They're gone and you know it. So pick yourself up and go to school. Tell them you were sick or something. Do it. That's what Johnny would have wanted you to do." I told myself. I got up and looked back at the lot, "I'll be back, Johnny." I whispered, then left on a run for school.
The secretary bought my story about being sick and all and I headed to my gym class, the class after lunch. Two-Bit was in my class and I knew that he would question me…but I would deal with that later. I passed Steve on the way…and he gave me another dirty look….the kind that I was used to getting from him by now. Sighing, I mumbled, "What the hell did I do now?" All I got was a punch in the face…
*cool! That was longer than I expected!!! I hope you guys all like it! I'm going to be away for awhile starting Friday, December 20, 2002 okay? But I promise that I'll write while I'm on the plane, while I have any free time and anything. I'll upload it if I get access to the internet but if not, you'll all be hit with at least 2 chapters when I get back! MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!*