Ponyboy: The Beginning of Life as Livng Hell
*Thanks to all who reviewed!
Blatty: YOU'RE BACK!!! I was getting worried here. I thought you really DID drop off the face of the earth! But you're back!! YAY!!!
When I found out that I was in Steve's group for everything, all my hope for anything good out of this trip totally vanished right before my eyes. It was like I had nothing to hope for anymore. Nothing worked…I couldn't get away from him! Dropping down into the sleeping bag of my tent (that I shared with Steve as well), I lay there staring at the top of the tent. I heard Steve come in and pretended to be asleep. He dropped (literally) onto the sleeping bag and two seconds later, I heard easy breathing coming from him. I sleepily thought that maybe I should take my shoes off, but didn't have much of a chance to take that thought any further because I fell asleep immediately after that.
I woke with a start and looked at my watch. It was only 4:30 in the morning and I knew I probably should sleep. But I couldn't. Maybe it was homesickness or maybe it was this weird feeling I had in the pit of my stomach. Whatever it was, I couldn't shake it. Trying to fall asleep again, I counted sheep, but that never worked and I knew it for a fact. Finally, after an hour of tossing and turning, I fell into a very uneasy sleep.
"EVERYONE UP!!!" the loud and shrill sound of Mrs. Penning's voice called out only a short two hours of rest. I groaned and sat up slowly, only to lie back down as Cherry rushed to pull a sweatshirt over her head. Randy shook me gently, "Pony come on. We gotta be ready in half an hour. Breakfast and everything." I sat up again and looked at Randy tiredly. He sighed and left to get changed as Cherry, Isabelle, and Dana stepped outside to wait for us to get changed. I knew I had to get out there soon so that the girls could change so I pulled sweatpants on then my snow pants that were really Soda's, then a sweatshirt over my head. I put a coat on and stepped outside. Not surprisingly, I was the last guy out there before the girls all rushed in to change.
At breakfast, they served us bacon, eggs, and oatmeal. I wasn't hungry at all so I pushed around the food until Coach Tyson came over, "Curtis, what's wrong?"
"N-nothing, Coach," his loud booming voice wasn't pleasant to hear in those early morning hours.
"Well eat up then. We can't have our star runner miss out this first day. I think you'll like this first day, Curtis. Your partner needs you." Yeah, right. Him needing me? That would be the day. Steve wouldn't be happier if I had just dropped off the face of the earth. I slowly ate the bacon and oatmeal but I didn't dare touch the eggs. I knew my stomach wouldn't like that since it protested even after the last bite of oatmeal.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen! Our first day will be our first activity. Today we'll be doing steppingstone sprints." Coach yelled. Steve and many others groaned, but I didn't really care. Sprinting was my thing and coach was right. I was going to have fun today. Boy, if I had only known…
After breakfast, Coach started us on setting everything up. First the teachers were on the other side of the bank and had set up our "steppingstones" that we would later have to sprint across. They were shaky and we had a chance of falling in, but that's why our partner and the teachers each had a rope that connected with the person crossing. We had to tie the rope in a certain knot at one end on a rock or branch nearby. Then we had to throw it across to the teachers and do that with another rope. We had to then start thinking of the position the one partner would be in to ensure the safety of the other. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be.
"That branch looks good," Steve muttered, although he did seem to be in a better mood than he was in the day before.
"No, it's too thin. The roe will snap it if we have our weight pulling on it." I regretted saying that immediately because Steve's face contracted into a mix of restraint and anger. I flinched, thinking that if he got mad enough, maybe he'd punch me right then and then kill me and then he wouldn't have to deal with me and I wouldn't have to be so scared of him all the time.
"Then do you have a better idea, smarty?" He glared at me instead, balling up his fists. I looked around. We'd wasted so much time staring and arguing that there wasn't really any other choice but to take the flimsy branch/twig that Steve suggested in the first place. I sighed, "No. Fine. You tie the knot while I throw this end to the teacher."
"No, why do I have to tie it? Besides, if you throw it over, you'll probably miss."
"I will not. Just because I don't play baseball or basketball or anything doesn't mean I can't throw!! Running works out your arms too!" I yelled back. It was true. Pumping your arms as a warm-up was something Coach made us do a lot. Also, before the first meets, he always made us lift weights or something at the gym at least once a week.
"Yeah, you will!" The teacher saw us arguing and came over, "Is there a problem, boys?"
"No," we both answered instantly. There was definitely no need to get a teacher involved in this. He walked away and finally, Steve and I got into such a huge shoving match that the teachers had to break it up and tell us to work or fail. We glared at each other and somehow got the work done. During lunch, he told me that I had to go first. I rolled my eyes, "What makes you think that I'm gonna listen to you?" I shot back at him. All the kids looked curiously over at us, since I'm sure that they knew we hated each other by then.
"Because I'm sure you wanna pass. I'm sure that perfect little Ponyboy Curtis doesn't want a failing grade on his perfect little record." He sneered at me. Did I ever tell you how much I absolutely hate Steve? I sighed. He won. Of course, when did Steve ever lose in an argument with me? Yeah, that's what I thought. Never.
After lunch, everyone got ready to cross the river. I had to go first because Steve said so. Tying to rope around my waist, I thought about what might happen if the branch snapped? "Curtis, Randle!" Coach called from across the river. We nodded at him, me more apprehensive than Steve, and I started across. I sprinted two steps and nothing happened. I thought, 'Okay. Nothing bad yet. Just go a few more steps and you'll be there.' Few was an understatement. By the time I reached the midway point, I felt a snap and my last thoughts were 'Oh no…' and I plunged underneath the cold and icy water…
*Did you like that? Was that expected to happen? I don't really even know what's going to happen in these next few chapters…I'm making it up as I go along. But do you like it?!?!*