Chapter 7
I saw Crutchy the next morning. He didn't look any worse than I still felt, which I figured was a good thing. I mean, man, I thought the guy was going to die or something. Jack had come for us. Everyone else had stayed home. He told us that Spot wasn't back yet and that Blink and Milkshake were going to stay with Sparrow. I could tell he was really worried about her. I felt that maybe if it weren't for me and Baby he would stay with her. I hated thinking about it so I just decided not to think about it anymore. I had had enough over the past two days. I was going to relax.
I leaned back in my seat. The whole back of the car smelled like nasty soap. There was a dull stain on the back seat, and I realized it was from my arm. Man, it looked like blood had gotten everywhere. COOL! The doctor told me to keep the bandage on for a while, but I wanted to show Crutchy.
"Hey, man, look at that," I pointed to the seat.
"Yea, what's that from," he asked.
I took off the white bandage to reveal my arm swollen, red, with stitches in it. It was awesomely gross.
"Cool, man!" I knew he would appreciate it.
"I know," I smiled proudly at my war wound. But Jack looked in the rearview mirror.
"Racetrack! What are you doing? The doctor told you to keep that on," Jack sounded like my dad, geez!
"Aw, come on, Jack," I slumped down. But to my surprise I could see a smirk spread across his face in the mirror.
That night as I lay in my bed I heard the front door open. I was scared it was an East Sider so I just lay in my bed listening. But it wasn't an East Sider, no it was Spot Conlon. I heard him and Jack talking.
"Where were you?" Whispered Jack. To my astonishment he didn't sound mad at all.
"I just had to get out, Jack. I didn't know how to handle it then. Plus, just in case of the police. They will be coming soon. You know that don't you, Jack," Spot sounded tired. But it didn't seem like either of them felt like going into it much.
"Just stay here for a while, till we can sort things out," said Jack, "Want a beer." I laughed at the bluntness of it. I think they heard me.
"Hey, Racetrack," I heard Spot yell. I smiled to myself. It seemed everything was normal...for now.
The next week at school was pretty normal, I guess. I still wore my same old jeans and greased hair. But it did feel a little weird. I kept getting looks and heard from Crutchy, Sparrow and Baby that it was the same for them. It started to get so bad that I would hide whenever I saw an East Sider coming around a corner or out of a door. But we all did our best to ignore it and we did for the most part.
In fact, by that Friday we hadn't heard anything about it and we all felt pretty good. The girls wanted to go see a movie at the drive-in. Jack actually let them, although, he wouldn't let any of us guys go. Me, Spot, Kid, Crutchy, and Jack all settled around our living room having some beer and cake. I guess he just thought that girls were not as likely to draw attention and get into fights as boys were. At the time I thought he was right, but man were we ever wrong.
They came home bruised and bloody and that's when we knew that it wasn't back to normal as we thought.
Oh, sorry you probably want to know what happened that night. Well I won't tell you. But I will let you hear what my sister, Baby the storyteller, told us.
She sat on the couch and began, "Me, Milkshake, and Sparrow were just sitting there, minding our own business," now why is it that fight stories always start like this, "and Milkshake decides she wants a milkshake. We all got up and when we got back that East Side girl and the one guy with dark hair, Bumlets, were sitting in out seats. That girl Kathleen and the guy were kissing when we asked them to give us back our seats. The guy looked up at us and was all, 'Excuse me but you're interrupting,' really nasty. Kathleen started laughing. I think we were just getting kind of annoyed because Milkshake spilled her drink all over the girl.
"The guy sprang up and shoved Milkshake. It was really tense and I was so mad that I kicked the guy right in the shin and boy, did he yell. The girl looked right at Sparrow, boy was she pissed, and said, 'It was your brother who stabbed Dave wasn't it. You know Dave is still out of it. He lost so much blood he hasn't been fully conscious since then,' and she started to get up and stand over Sparrow, 'but I can promise you one thing. Weather it is one of us or Dave himself we're going to get all of you white, trash, scum...and then...we'll...kill...your ...brother.' Me and Milkshake were really still just staring at her, but Sparrow blew up.
"She jumped on her and the girl fell. Sparrow was just sitting on top of her punching and kicking and pulling her hair. I swear I saw clumps of it flying. So, anyway, I turned around to see Milkshake get up and punch the guy in the nose. I kicked him again, but he grabbed my leg and I flipped onto the ground. He shoved Milkshake down next to me and then the three of us just watched Sparrow and Kathleen. It took the guy a second to realize what he was supposed to do. Bumlets pulled them apart and threw Sparrow down. She had a bloody lip and she'll probably have a black eye. The other girl's hair looked like she had been electrocuted and her nose and lip were bleeding.
"The guy, Bumlets, put his arm around Kathleen's waist and said, 'We're coming for you dirty Westies.' They walked away. Milkshake, Sparrow, and me just sat in the dirt for a while. Sparrow had angry, hot tears running down her face. I put my arm around her. We all got up and came back here. Well, except Sparrow went home. She said she just felt like lying down."
I looked up to see Jack walk out of the house.
Kid Blink explained, "He's going to Spot's. To see Sparrow. Yea, come on Milkshake, lets go to Spot's."
He helped her up and they left too. I looked around slightly stunned.
"Baby, go take a shower. You have dirt all over you," I said staring at the wall. She got up and left for the bathroom. I looked at Crutchy.
"Hey, pal, I'm going to go home tonight, okay," he said.
"Yea," I said slightly dazed.
"Just remember to come here if you need some place to go, ok, Crutch," Spot was always protective of him. Crutchy nodded and left. I finally looked at Spot.
"You should go see Sparrow, you know, if you want," I ventured.
"Nah," he said, although I could see in his usually cold eyes that he did want to, "I need to stay low for a while, remember, Race. Plus, I can't just leave you and Baby," he winked at her as she came out of the bathroom with only a towel around her, "here alone. Maybe, I'll go real quick when Jack gets back."
I nodded, but I didn't hear the door open at all that night.
Right before I fell asleep all I could think was this: Things hadn't gone back to normal. They had just been waiting and planning to get us. And their next move would do just that. I could tell.
......
Shout Outs:
Va-finest-harley: well, I kept my promise...here is my next chapter..woot....and spot's back...I cant keep spot away for too long....;)
Padfootismyhero: ok yea spot=dally, but shhhh! We need to keep it on the D.L. ok.....lol...and yes crutchy=Johnny but you'll just have to wait and see what happens there
Ershey: yes everyone is ok...for now at least........keep reading
Moonlights Sundance: there the girls get their fight on!....and spot is back...he was gone for like 5 seconds....well not really but still it wasn't long
Ireland O'Reily: yea hospitals and swing......hmmmm good times, good times...anyway, yea crutchy is fine and dandy...oh yea I am sorry for making your character seem like such a bitch....love you!
CiCi: shhhhhhh! Don't say it and get everyone all upset. I mean I love spotty as much as the next person....although I'm more of a Race person myself.......mmmmm cigars and poker...god I love him...ok I'm going to stop babbling now
Ok, so I'm back to my daily routine. Let's see how long it lasts this time. Well, I do my best. Oh man, I've been having a Beatles listening to marathon while I was writing this. Mmmmmm, Ringo. Mmmmm, drummers. MMMMMMM, my drum teacher. Yes well...
We Can Work it Out,
Eleanor Rigby...I mean Cat