Chapter 9
I woke up feeling extremely hot with all the covers on me. The window poured sunlight onto my white covers making them heat up like an electric blanket. I felt like I wouldn't be able to get up for the life of me. I don't think I will ever get up, I thought. Maybe I can just stay in bed until 11:00 at night then I can just go back to bed again. I sighed; I knew that was just my imagination running away with me. I threw the comforters off and I squinted in the sunlight that was in my eyes as I shifted. I let my face sink back into the pillow but this time I heard a muffled crinkling noise. I reached up with my eyes still closed and felt around until I found the piece of paper that was causing my sudden feeling of awake. I widened my eyes and tried to focus the neat handwriting in front of my eyes.
Pony,
Thanks for everything last night, even though I only remember after I threw up. I don't know what I did, but I was really drunk...sorry if I did anything...knowing me I probably did. I hope it doesn't make anything uncomfortable between us now. I borrowed a pair of your jeans, my skirt was really dirty. I put my shirt in the wash, because it was in the tub. I didn't need a shirt because I wore my DX shirt I left here. Call me later at Two-bits.
Thanks again,
Shelby xoxo
I read it over a couple of times before I put it down on the bedside table. I sighed feeling more awake now and got up. I wasn't going to call Shelby yet, even though she would probably act like she didn't mind. Or just hang up and tell me it's too early. I walked out of me room and into the living room. It was empty which was surprising. It's not usually empty. I walked to the table looking for maybe another note explaining why our living room is empty. But there wasn't one.
Sodapop and Darry were at work. I remembered. It didn't seem like Monday but it is. Steve would be at work and hung-over and Two-bits probably still hammered from the night before. In bed with a girl who isn't Cathy. Cathy lets Two-bit get away with murder. They have been on again off again for almost 2 years. But you can't tie Two-bit Mathews down; it was like trying to tell Dallas Winston what to do. Cathy knew Two-Bit slept with other girls all the time. But Cathy wasn't that innocent herself, I have seen her with her fair share of guys even when they were going together for real. I think it's kind of turned into a fling now. Something that is there in case you need it. For Two-Bit there were too many blondes and not enough time.
I thought maybe I could go down and see Sodapop for a little bit then come back and call Shelby. Yeah that's what I'll do. I said and put a shirt on before walking out the door not grabbing a coat. Not thinking about a coat either. That is, until I got halfway down the street and realized I was shaking like a leaf.
I walked into the store and saw Sodapop with his head against the counter. There was no one else in the small store and it was deathly quiet.
"Hey Soda!" I yelled jolting him from his sleep. He sat up and I gasped. His hair wasn't as perfect as it usually was. Stray hairs were sticking out behind his ears and the crick of his neck. He was rubbing his eyes and I saw the bruise on his arm. His lip was split open and slightly purple. He pulled his hands away from his face and put them on the counter top to hold him up. He had a black eye and his eyes were as dull as Steve Randle's. He shook his head and didn't wave or smile just nodded.
I felt my eyes become extremely wide and scared. I had never seen Sodapop like this. He didn't get drunk; Sodapop was the sober driver, who took care of everyone. Soda didn't drink.
"Sodapop...what...what did you do?" I asked kind of like I was a small child who was lost at the park.
"Nothing!" He snapped. "I didn't do nothing!" I just looked at him.
"Soda then what happened? Come on you can tell me!" I exclaimed, almost in tears. Why had he yelled at me?
"I'm sorry Ponyboy. Things just got really wild last night." He said with his head hung low.
"Did you drink?" I choked out.
"No Pony, I didn't drink. But I was the only one last night who wasn't hammered. We went to Dale's last night. Dale's the bar. When we were leaving to take Evie home and I saw this guy beating up a girl. I knew no one at that bar was going to give a damn. They were all smashed, so I walked over to the guy and told him to get out of here. But he just kept hitting this chick and she was crying and all that and then...I don't really know why but he hit me. I fought back and it turned into an all out fight. This guy was jumping bad with everyone. So now look at me. I got kicked out of the bar and that's when we went home. Ponyboy you can't tell Darry." He finished. Adding the last part as an after thought.
"Did you come home last night?" I asked him, feeling a little bit better.
"Nup...I crashed at Bobby's" He said.
"You mean...you aint gonna tell Darry? Isn't he wonderin why you didn't come home last night?" I said hoarsely
"No Pony its ok, I got it all planned out, but you gotta swear to me that you aint gonna tell Darry." He said quietly to me.
"Alright, I promise." I said giving him a grin. He tried to grin back. "You should've seen Shelby last night...man was she hammered. She had so much to drink." Sodapop said after a few minutes of silence.
"I did.When you guys brought her to our place." I said as a matter of factly.
"What were you doing up then?" He inquired.
"I wasn't up, I was going to lay over on the couch but Two-bit came in and tossed Shelby to me." I said bitterly.
"Yeah, we felt real bad for her. She was really sick a couple of times too." Soda answered taking a bite of a candy bar.
"She musta lost her coat. She was freezing. She threw up after about half an hour of being at our place." I assumed.
"Well was she ok? I didn't know what else to do with her. I thought maybe Darry would take care of her not you. But thanks anyways. I know taking care of drunk's aint easy too." He said, as if he was ten years older than me instead of three.
I sat around there just watching Soda until about 12:30. That's when it was starting to get boring. So I grabbed a Pepsi and started the walk home. As I walked in the door no one was there again.
"I'm home!" I said out of habit, even though I knew no one was there.
I walked in and sat down on the couch. The news was on TV. I always thought watching the news was kind of depressing. There was something about it that brought down my mood.
I walked over to the phone and dialed the numbers of the Mathew's number fast from memorization. The yellowish plastic phone case was cold when I pressed it against my ear. I noticed the numbers on the buttons were worn away so only the 6 and the 8 were partially visible.
"Hello?" I heard Ms. Mathew's hardened loud voice through the receiver.
"Hi Sherri is Shelby there?" I said loudly.
"Yeah...she's getting over her mighty hangover I guess. Hold on one second Ponyboy." Sherri said laughing and I heard the phone fall down to the table loudly.
"SHELBY! SHELBY GET UP ITS PONYBOY ON THE PHONE!" I heard Sherri yell distantly.
"Hey Ponyboy," Shelby said loudly into the phone. "What's kicking?"
"Nothing much, just got back from the DX. You feel any better?" I asked. I felt myself smiling, so I cleared my smile feeling ridiculous.
"Yeah I'm feeling a lot better than I did when I came home this morning. This hangover wasn't so bad you know...better than most." Shelby said happily.
"Awesome...can I come and call on you then?" I said knowing that I would be able to.
"Hell yeah...its boring down here come as soon as you can!" Shelby said and I heard her pop a bubble with her gum.
"Kay, I will be there soon." I said happily.
"See ya soon!" Shelby said and I heard her drop the phone as she hung up.
I was too happy to see Shelby again to wait another minute; I grabbed a sweatshirt and ran out the door. I found myself running all the way to the end of my block before I slowed down to a jog. Then to a fast walk as I turned onto their street.
I stepped up the steps I stepped up so many times before. But before it was for my best buddy and now it was for the girl of my dreams. The girl I always wanted to be with. The girl I...loved?
I pushed the door open and took just a one foot step in. I bent over so I could see in the kitchen Two-Bit's mom.
"Hey!" I hollered and I saw Shelby come downstairs. She flicked her hair behind her shoulders and jumped at me wrapping her legs around my waist. She leaned into me and I spun her around. She dropped down and smiled at me. She gave me another hug. She was still wearing my jeans I noticed because I had only seen her in skirts.
"Come on...we can go out in a second I just have to get changed." She said and turned to go back up stairs. She ran into her room which was the second door on the right and she started searching through her drawers. Her room was bigger than Shannen's but not by much. Her walls were a dark blue colour; they were chipped and cracked though. She had a black and wooden guitar in the corner of her room. Her floors were as cluttered as Shannen's but with hair brushes, makeup and clothes. Her bed wasn't made but it was comfier that way. There was a garbage pail beside her bed and I figured she had probably vomited about 6 times in there and decided not to look.
"I will be right back" She said slowly as she picked up her newly folded clothes and makeup bag. She hurried across the hall and into the bathroom.
I sat there silently looking around her room. She had Tiger Beat Magazines littering the floor as well. She had about 6 posters of Elvis all hanging crookedly on her rundown walls. She had pictures of actors and models cut out and littering the floor. I sat there getting to know Shelby better just by looking around her room. I could've sat there all day on her bed by myself but Shelby ran into the room. She threw her makeup bag onto the dresser but she missed so it hit the floor. She just looked at it then at me.
"Alright let's cut out." Shelby said and I stood up to walk out. She followed me and shut her door behind us. She hopped off the three steps and then ran into the kitchen while I got my shoes on. I heard Shelby talk quietly to Sherri then she ran out of the kitchen and into the door.
"Ouch" She squeaked. But that didn't stop her she still ran out of the door and jumped off the porch but not at the steps she made it so she would land in the grass. It was a real nice day out, a summer day. She lied down and screamed loudly for no reason at all.
I walked over to her and I bent down,
"What are you doing?" I laughed. She didn't answer because her eyes were closed but she opened them and grabbed my shirt collar. She pulled me down and rolled over top of me. She stopped so she lying beside me, half on top of me and we just sat there. We didn't talk, just sat there soaking up the sunlight. I looked down at Shelby, she had her eyes closed and her chest was rising and falling to an unheard rhythm. Déjà vu, I thought. After watching her for a little bit I felt my eyes get heavy and I too fell into a light sleep with the sun beating down on us like a blanket.
I wasn't asleep for very long before a truck passed us on the street so we were both jolted awake from our peaceful sleeps. Shelby sat up rubbing her hair on the back of her head. She looked at me and I smiled. We both stood up and brushed ourselves off. Then Shelby took my hand and we walked down the street. Shelby's hair was blowing wildly in the light wind. She wasn't smoking a cigarette even though she usually was when we walked. Today wasn't that type of day though...it seemed too nice out for a smoke.
"We are going to your place?" Shelby asked me after we had got to the end of her street.
"I dunno you want to?" I asked her, I didn't want to go home, no one was there anyways but it didn't really matter.
"Well what time is it?" She asked me.
"You're the one that has the watch..." I smirked at how ditzy she could be sometimes. She nodded frowning and looked at her silver watch.
"Its...quarter to two." She said leaving her mouth in the perfect "o" shape as she looked around the street. There wasn't really anywhere else to go except our house. "Yeah I guess...its going to be mighty boring..." I said slowly to her.
"What isn't boring around here?" She said rhetorically and took out a smoke. She sat down on the curb and laid back.
"Let's just tool around all day...its pretty nice out." Shelby said with her eyes closed and exhaling.
"Yeah sure." I said but I didn't sit down beside her.
"Damnit!" Shelby yelled and pulled out a small tube with a gold band around it.
"Pony can we go to Angela's? I forgot I had her lipstick and mirror still and she needs them back for her date tonight." Shelby said putting them into her pocket and standing up. She didn't need an answer she knew I would come. I stood up and followed suit turning the opposite way to the Shepherds house. The Shepherd's house was real run down. It had peeling paint and lifting shingles. The steps to the porch were no longer strong enough to stand on for long. You also had to the third step of five because it was barely there.
Angela opened the door and when she saw Shelby she put a smile on. A smile I had never seen on Angela.
"I'm glad you came or else I would have been forced to smack you!" Angela said playfully and opened the door farther to let Shelby in.
"Dream on Ang." Shelby said and took my hand to lead me in. Angela's goofy looking smile was wiped clean when she saw me and she looked at our hands like we had just grown a third. She looked at Shelby with her regular look and then walked into the living room slamming the door. When we sat down she sat between us and put her hand on my thigh. I just looked at her but she was talking to Shelby, things were kind of weird.
The next few hours were a blur of girl talk and giggles. I felt out of place and like I shouldn't be there. They barely looked at me the whole time. Except once when they were talking quietly and they both stared at me for what seemed an eternity and then looked at each other nodded and giggled. I reddened and I didn't speak the rest of the time.
After Shelby and Angela were done doing Angela's hair and make-up for her date Shelby and I left. When Angela went to give me a hug goodbye she giggled in my ear. It was the sort of giggle someone like Shelby gave not Angela. She ran her finger down my spine and then let go and I walked out the door after Shelby.
It was almost 5:30 when we finally left Angela's house. The sun was preparing to set in the West towards my house.
"Ugh...my mouth tastes like a rotten ash tray!" Shelby said out of character spitting on the concrete. No wonder the way she smokes, I thought to myself.
"Can we go get some bubble gum at the corner store?" Shelby said, her wide eyes pleading with me. I loved the way her eyes widened and looked into me.
"Yeah," I said monotone.
"Kay," She smiled and bounced down the street beside me.
"My feet hurt!" Shelby complained leaning on my arm and pouting.
"That's cause of those damn shoes you wear," I said as a matter-of-factly with a serious expression on my face. Shelby looked at me hurt that I didn't offer to carry her. She stuck her bottom lip out over dramatically. She jumped on my back and I didn't object. She wrapped her arms around my neck and leaned her head against mine, slightly nuzzling my neck. I felt her tiny breaths on my neck and she whispered quietly into my ear,
"Thanks" I felt her smiling against my neck which was real cute. I smiled in return forgetting she couldn't see me and continued walking to the store. When we got there Shelby hopped down off of my back and leaned into the door to open it. It didn't open and I immediately felt a smirk play across my face.
"Pull" I said shortly and she looked at me and then the door. To her embarrassment the sign indeed said 'pull'.
"Ha-ha" She said sarcastically and jerked the door open, trying to make it as though she was stronger than she was. She obediently walked to the gum aisle and started picking out her favourite gum silently. I walked and stood beside her and looked around. I saw the old store clerk on the phone. It was the same clerk who was here only a couple of nights ago when we were drunk and at the store.
Shelby stood on her tip-toes and whispered into my ear, "I don't have any money..." She went back down and looked up at me. I shrugged I didn't have any money either. Shelby looked at the clerk who wasn't paying any attention and shoved the gum into her jean pockets. I tried to act casual because I had been with Two-Bit a million times when he stole and I knew the best way to not get caught is act normal. Shelby took my hand and walked casually out of the store as if she had actually bought the gum herself.
When we got down to the end of the sidewalk Shelby stopped and took all her gum out shoving it into her mouth. It was way too much gum and she had a hard time chewing it. I laughed and she just stared me down smiling while trying to compress her wad of gum. Finally the gum seemed to have gone down a bit and we started the walk to my house.
"I don't want to go to your place." Shelby huffed after a little ways there.
"Fine princess," I said sarcastically, "Where do you want to go then?"
"Let's go to the park for a little bit." She said looking up at the dimly lit street light that was the only source of light for the calm street. I nodded to her request and we began our walk to the park. I didn't want to go to the park where me and Johnny had the encounter with the Socs. I had way too many memories of that place that I didn't want to be unburied. So I took her over to the park near the vacant lot that was a bit more popular. But it was deserted none the less.
Shelby and I sat on the old wooden bench and she looked at me. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her lightly on the lips. I had become slightly more confident over the past few days with Shelby. I was still nervous every second I was with her though. She leaned back into me and gave me the same passionate kiss that we had shared on the swings that night. That kiss that kept me thinking about her every second and left me wondering what she was doing every hour. Suddenly head lights blinded us as we pulled away from our kiss. We both jumped when a loud honk came from behind the head lights revealing that it was a car.
I saw on the grill was the Mustang symbol that no greaser had ever owned on their cars, except if they stole it.
"Hey grease!" yelled a hard cruel voice also from behind the blinding headlights. They stepped out to reveal three Socs of about 17 years of age. The tall dark haired soc was the one who had yelled the friendly greeting and they came towards us.
"Yo Jack, Jack you gotta see who it is!" The dark haired boy yelled to a boy with golden blonde hair.
"Shelby isn't it? "He laughed harshly, "Shelby I thought we told you to stop hanging around with these dirty grease balls? We don't like it when greasy broads don't take our advice!" Said the one I assumed was Jack.
"I don't remember this chick, who is it?" Asked the other dark haired boy who was extremely tall and buff.
"Dave, you moron that cause you weren't there!" Yelled Jack who smacked him over the head laughing through his cigarette that was blazing in his mouth.
"I thought I told you guys to leave us alone and get a real life" Shelby growled. "I don't like it when ugly soc guys don't listen to me. I hang out with him because he's my boy friend!" She said mocking Jack who had said something similar. Then she wrapped my arm around her waist and looked angrily at them. Was I her boyfriend? I didn't recall this...
"So first it's the dirt bag Curly Sheppard and now you moving onto...who is this anyways?" Asked the dark haired boy who yelled at us first. He leaned in closely and peered at me and I put on my tough face that we always used with Socs. "Well if it isn't Ponyboy Curtis...the one who killed our good friend Bobby. Your quite the legend there Curtis, you and your filthy dead friend." I felt my eyes fog up with tears of sorrow and rage swirled into one.
"Yeah well you're quite the legend too...you and your trashy gang of Socs. Because everyone on the East side knows you're the ones who couldn't defend themselves and left their dead friend at the park. You're the guys who didn't call the fuzz until 3 days later because you didn't want to get caught being drunk. You left your friend dead on the street, and you don't care about nothing but yourselves." I spat every word that I had been thinking about for the past year, everything that has been bottled up inside me. I looked at the guys face and I could tell it had hit him hard. Like the secret had gotten out and they all knew it was true.
"You got quite the mouth on yeah for a pile of skuzz you know that?" Jack said bitterly and shoved Shelby into Dave. Dave grabbed her arms and she started screaming and kicking like mad. I jumped at him but the other two held me back. I fought all my might but they had me down in a second. I was going wild too kicking and punching thin air and feeling cigarette ashes being dropped onto my skin stinging like wasps. I sat there pinned to the ground gasping and wheezing. My hand was gripped tightly on Jacks wrist and he couldn't get it off because he was holding me down with the other arm. They were hitting me non stop and I felt my cheeks beginning to swell and my lip being split.
The golden haired boy swung madly at my face and I felt his knuckles hit me with a hard blow jerking my head back and giving me whiplash. I wiggled my one arm loose and punched Jack so hard that I saw the blood spurting out and onto his light blue sweater. He cursed loudly and smacked me across the face and I felt it heat up where he had hit me. I sat up because of all the commotion with the bloody nose and my adrenaline rush had given me the heads up. I saw a quick glance of Shelby and Dave. Dave had one hand up Shelby's shirt while Shelby fought madly to get loose. She smacked him non stop and eventually he swung his hand hard so it collided with Shelby's face. She began to cry and he did it repeatedly. That was it, I exploded with anger. I stood up and kicked the golden haired boy in the face twice then I pulled him up and gave a hard upper cut to his stomach. He crouched over for a split second and then punched me again. I staggered backwards but caught myself before I fell down. I punched him hard enough to knock him backwards and then he landed on top of Jack who was nursing his arm and nose. He hit him and cracked their heads against each other. I stepped on Jack so he was knocked out of his breath and then kicked him in the ribs.
I didn't waste any time I ran over to Dave and Shelby. Dave already had Shelby pinned against the wall groping her and I saw her face drenched with tears and redden from the slaps. I punched him square between the eyes. When he fell backwards I got on top of him and punched him non stop. Not caring whether he would live or not. I just kept punching, not knowing if I should stop. He got a few punches in making me taste the blood in my cheeks again but I finally punched him hard enough to let him know we wanted the out of here. I grabbed the smashed bottle that was lying too close for comfort to us. I raised it and stepped off him gingerly.
He stood up and staggered over to his friends he helped Jack up and then he took a hold of the dark haired boys light blue sweater. He pulled him up and they walked back to the car.
"DON'T THINK THIS IS OVER GREASE!" He yelled as he pulled away. I turned to Shelby and she was on her knees crying into her hands. I hated them for doing that to Shelby; I walked over and flopped down beside her.
She looked up at me, and I must have looked horrible because she gasped and started bawling again. She grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me in closer and practically on top of her. She kissed me more and more passionately even though sobs were making her breathe heavily and difficultly. I wrapped my arms around her waist while we were practically lying down. I could taste the blood in my mouth and I wondered if she could. She probably wouldn't have continued kissing me, Shelby didn't like blood much.
"Ponyboy...Pony?" She sobbed after pulling away but not sitting up. She was crying and I looked into her eyes. This time more deeply than ever. Her eyes we like a sunset of green and honey. Her eyes were a vivid green but from far away appeared brown because of the freckles of brown that dotted her eyes close the pupil. Her eye lashes were stuck together from crying and she fluttered them softly.
"Pony... I do want you to be my boyfriend." She smiled through her tears and we kissed again just as long as last time. That was our first kiss as boyfriend and girlfriend. I knew when she said that that we were going together now; just by the way she said it. Of course she didn't need an answer from me; she was Shelby, the girl I loved. After our extra long kiss she stood up with me and looked over my cuts sweeping away blood and kissing bruises. Her face was red and slightly bruised from the slaps but besides that she was fine. I however was a different story.
When we walked into the house the whole gang was yelling at us immediately demanding things we weren't ready for, firing one question after another. When they actually took a good look at us though everyone stopped except Darry who was turning an odd shade of red from the rage he was exposing.
"What the hell did you two do?! Do you know how long we have been waiting for you; you could have gotten yourselves killed! No one has heard from either of you since two o'clock and now its 1:00! Where the hell have you been?!" Darry yelled slamming his fist upon the table about six times. Two- Bit also looked slightly mad and it was his turn now.
"Shelby what the hell have you done?! Every friggen time you go out with Pony one of you get hurt and it's usually you! Why are you spending so much god damn time with him anyways?! You'd think you were attached by the hip! You can't stay out of trouble for more than a god damn day after mom takes you in and everything!" Two-Bit was raging now, I didn't feel safe with a mad Two-Bit because I had never seen it before. He was as mad as Darry and he had stamped his foot for a substitute of Darry's fist.
"Pony what the hell did you let anything happen to her for?! You two are never going out any where alone again unless one of us is with you! I'm tired of all this god damn crap that's being pulled! That's it you hear me? No more!" He yelled so loud that I felt like crying Shelby wasn't crying but she was on the verge. Her eyes were cloudy and glazed, she looked at me and then back at Two-Bit.
"Jesus Christ Two-Bit! You shouldn't have the god damn guts to yell at Pony! After he just saved me from a couple of Socs. Look at him compared to me! I'm fine, he's not! You wanna know why me and Pony spend so much god damn time together now?" Shelby screamed loudly and when it was silent she continued but she screamed even louder this time, "BECAUSE PONYBOY' S MY BOYFRIEND!" Shelby yelled. Everything in the room was silent. I looked at Soda and Steve who had both stopped in the middle of eating to stare with wide eyes at me and Shelby. All eyes were on us and I hated it.
Shelby was crying now and I looked at Two-Bit. His face was blank; his eyes were a plain old gray that you see everyday on plain old ordinary people. He looked at Shelby one last time, then at me. He opened his mouth and raised his hand. But instead of saying something he stopped closed his mouth and walked out the door, slamming it shut behind him.
Oooh a sort of cliff hanger! Thanks for reading, sorry it took me so long to update but I was having a lot of trouble writing this chapter even though I already had it planned out. Hey listen guys I REALLY NEED A GIRL FOR SODAPOP TO DATE! So if you have any characters, any at all, I would love it if you could review and give me all the info on the girls. She needs to be nice too, cause Sodas too good for a mean girl. So thanks a bundle and please review for me!
I woke up feeling extremely hot with all the covers on me. The window poured sunlight onto my white covers making them heat up like an electric blanket. I felt like I wouldn't be able to get up for the life of me. I don't think I will ever get up, I thought. Maybe I can just stay in bed until 11:00 at night then I can just go back to bed again. I sighed; I knew that was just my imagination running away with me. I threw the comforters off and I squinted in the sunlight that was in my eyes as I shifted. I let my face sink back into the pillow but this time I heard a muffled crinkling noise. I reached up with my eyes still closed and felt around until I found the piece of paper that was causing my sudden feeling of awake. I widened my eyes and tried to focus the neat handwriting in front of my eyes.
Pony,
Thanks for everything last night, even though I only remember after I threw up. I don't know what I did, but I was really drunk...sorry if I did anything...knowing me I probably did. I hope it doesn't make anything uncomfortable between us now. I borrowed a pair of your jeans, my skirt was really dirty. I put my shirt in the wash, because it was in the tub. I didn't need a shirt because I wore my DX shirt I left here. Call me later at Two-bits.
Thanks again,
Shelby xoxo
I read it over a couple of times before I put it down on the bedside table. I sighed feeling more awake now and got up. I wasn't going to call Shelby yet, even though she would probably act like she didn't mind. Or just hang up and tell me it's too early. I walked out of me room and into the living room. It was empty which was surprising. It's not usually empty. I walked to the table looking for maybe another note explaining why our living room is empty. But there wasn't one.
Sodapop and Darry were at work. I remembered. It didn't seem like Monday but it is. Steve would be at work and hung-over and Two-bits probably still hammered from the night before. In bed with a girl who isn't Cathy. Cathy lets Two-bit get away with murder. They have been on again off again for almost 2 years. But you can't tie Two-bit Mathews down; it was like trying to tell Dallas Winston what to do. Cathy knew Two-Bit slept with other girls all the time. But Cathy wasn't that innocent herself, I have seen her with her fair share of guys even when they were going together for real. I think it's kind of turned into a fling now. Something that is there in case you need it. For Two-Bit there were too many blondes and not enough time.
I thought maybe I could go down and see Sodapop for a little bit then come back and call Shelby. Yeah that's what I'll do. I said and put a shirt on before walking out the door not grabbing a coat. Not thinking about a coat either. That is, until I got halfway down the street and realized I was shaking like a leaf.
I walked into the store and saw Sodapop with his head against the counter. There was no one else in the small store and it was deathly quiet.
"Hey Soda!" I yelled jolting him from his sleep. He sat up and I gasped. His hair wasn't as perfect as it usually was. Stray hairs were sticking out behind his ears and the crick of his neck. He was rubbing his eyes and I saw the bruise on his arm. His lip was split open and slightly purple. He pulled his hands away from his face and put them on the counter top to hold him up. He had a black eye and his eyes were as dull as Steve Randle's. He shook his head and didn't wave or smile just nodded.
I felt my eyes become extremely wide and scared. I had never seen Sodapop like this. He didn't get drunk; Sodapop was the sober driver, who took care of everyone. Soda didn't drink.
"Sodapop...what...what did you do?" I asked kind of like I was a small child who was lost at the park.
"Nothing!" He snapped. "I didn't do nothing!" I just looked at him.
"Soda then what happened? Come on you can tell me!" I exclaimed, almost in tears. Why had he yelled at me?
"I'm sorry Ponyboy. Things just got really wild last night." He said with his head hung low.
"Did you drink?" I choked out.
"No Pony, I didn't drink. But I was the only one last night who wasn't hammered. We went to Dale's last night. Dale's the bar. When we were leaving to take Evie home and I saw this guy beating up a girl. I knew no one at that bar was going to give a damn. They were all smashed, so I walked over to the guy and told him to get out of here. But he just kept hitting this chick and she was crying and all that and then...I don't really know why but he hit me. I fought back and it turned into an all out fight. This guy was jumping bad with everyone. So now look at me. I got kicked out of the bar and that's when we went home. Ponyboy you can't tell Darry." He finished. Adding the last part as an after thought.
"Did you come home last night?" I asked him, feeling a little bit better.
"Nup...I crashed at Bobby's" He said.
"You mean...you aint gonna tell Darry? Isn't he wonderin why you didn't come home last night?" I said hoarsely
"No Pony its ok, I got it all planned out, but you gotta swear to me that you aint gonna tell Darry." He said quietly to me.
"Alright, I promise." I said giving him a grin. He tried to grin back. "You should've seen Shelby last night...man was she hammered. She had so much to drink." Sodapop said after a few minutes of silence.
"I did.When you guys brought her to our place." I said as a matter of factly.
"What were you doing up then?" He inquired.
"I wasn't up, I was going to lay over on the couch but Two-bit came in and tossed Shelby to me." I said bitterly.
"Yeah, we felt real bad for her. She was really sick a couple of times too." Soda answered taking a bite of a candy bar.
"She musta lost her coat. She was freezing. She threw up after about half an hour of being at our place." I assumed.
"Well was she ok? I didn't know what else to do with her. I thought maybe Darry would take care of her not you. But thanks anyways. I know taking care of drunk's aint easy too." He said, as if he was ten years older than me instead of three.
I sat around there just watching Soda until about 12:30. That's when it was starting to get boring. So I grabbed a Pepsi and started the walk home. As I walked in the door no one was there again.
"I'm home!" I said out of habit, even though I knew no one was there.
I walked in and sat down on the couch. The news was on TV. I always thought watching the news was kind of depressing. There was something about it that brought down my mood.
I walked over to the phone and dialed the numbers of the Mathew's number fast from memorization. The yellowish plastic phone case was cold when I pressed it against my ear. I noticed the numbers on the buttons were worn away so only the 6 and the 8 were partially visible.
"Hello?" I heard Ms. Mathew's hardened loud voice through the receiver.
"Hi Sherri is Shelby there?" I said loudly.
"Yeah...she's getting over her mighty hangover I guess. Hold on one second Ponyboy." Sherri said laughing and I heard the phone fall down to the table loudly.
"SHELBY! SHELBY GET UP ITS PONYBOY ON THE PHONE!" I heard Sherri yell distantly.
"Hey Ponyboy," Shelby said loudly into the phone. "What's kicking?"
"Nothing much, just got back from the DX. You feel any better?" I asked. I felt myself smiling, so I cleared my smile feeling ridiculous.
"Yeah I'm feeling a lot better than I did when I came home this morning. This hangover wasn't so bad you know...better than most." Shelby said happily.
"Awesome...can I come and call on you then?" I said knowing that I would be able to.
"Hell yeah...its boring down here come as soon as you can!" Shelby said and I heard her pop a bubble with her gum.
"Kay, I will be there soon." I said happily.
"See ya soon!" Shelby said and I heard her drop the phone as she hung up.
I was too happy to see Shelby again to wait another minute; I grabbed a sweatshirt and ran out the door. I found myself running all the way to the end of my block before I slowed down to a jog. Then to a fast walk as I turned onto their street.
I stepped up the steps I stepped up so many times before. But before it was for my best buddy and now it was for the girl of my dreams. The girl I always wanted to be with. The girl I...loved?
I pushed the door open and took just a one foot step in. I bent over so I could see in the kitchen Two-Bit's mom.
"Hey!" I hollered and I saw Shelby come downstairs. She flicked her hair behind her shoulders and jumped at me wrapping her legs around my waist. She leaned into me and I spun her around. She dropped down and smiled at me. She gave me another hug. She was still wearing my jeans I noticed because I had only seen her in skirts.
"Come on...we can go out in a second I just have to get changed." She said and turned to go back up stairs. She ran into her room which was the second door on the right and she started searching through her drawers. Her room was bigger than Shannen's but not by much. Her walls were a dark blue colour; they were chipped and cracked though. She had a black and wooden guitar in the corner of her room. Her floors were as cluttered as Shannen's but with hair brushes, makeup and clothes. Her bed wasn't made but it was comfier that way. There was a garbage pail beside her bed and I figured she had probably vomited about 6 times in there and decided not to look.
"I will be right back" She said slowly as she picked up her newly folded clothes and makeup bag. She hurried across the hall and into the bathroom.
I sat there silently looking around her room. She had Tiger Beat Magazines littering the floor as well. She had about 6 posters of Elvis all hanging crookedly on her rundown walls. She had pictures of actors and models cut out and littering the floor. I sat there getting to know Shelby better just by looking around her room. I could've sat there all day on her bed by myself but Shelby ran into the room. She threw her makeup bag onto the dresser but she missed so it hit the floor. She just looked at it then at me.
"Alright let's cut out." Shelby said and I stood up to walk out. She followed me and shut her door behind us. She hopped off the three steps and then ran into the kitchen while I got my shoes on. I heard Shelby talk quietly to Sherri then she ran out of the kitchen and into the door.
"Ouch" She squeaked. But that didn't stop her she still ran out of the door and jumped off the porch but not at the steps she made it so she would land in the grass. It was a real nice day out, a summer day. She lied down and screamed loudly for no reason at all.
I walked over to her and I bent down,
"What are you doing?" I laughed. She didn't answer because her eyes were closed but she opened them and grabbed my shirt collar. She pulled me down and rolled over top of me. She stopped so she lying beside me, half on top of me and we just sat there. We didn't talk, just sat there soaking up the sunlight. I looked down at Shelby, she had her eyes closed and her chest was rising and falling to an unheard rhythm. Déjà vu, I thought. After watching her for a little bit I felt my eyes get heavy and I too fell into a light sleep with the sun beating down on us like a blanket.
I wasn't asleep for very long before a truck passed us on the street so we were both jolted awake from our peaceful sleeps. Shelby sat up rubbing her hair on the back of her head. She looked at me and I smiled. We both stood up and brushed ourselves off. Then Shelby took my hand and we walked down the street. Shelby's hair was blowing wildly in the light wind. She wasn't smoking a cigarette even though she usually was when we walked. Today wasn't that type of day though...it seemed too nice out for a smoke.
"We are going to your place?" Shelby asked me after we had got to the end of her street.
"I dunno you want to?" I asked her, I didn't want to go home, no one was there anyways but it didn't really matter.
"Well what time is it?" She asked me.
"You're the one that has the watch..." I smirked at how ditzy she could be sometimes. She nodded frowning and looked at her silver watch.
"Its...quarter to two." She said leaving her mouth in the perfect "o" shape as she looked around the street. There wasn't really anywhere else to go except our house. "Yeah I guess...its going to be mighty boring..." I said slowly to her.
"What isn't boring around here?" She said rhetorically and took out a smoke. She sat down on the curb and laid back.
"Let's just tool around all day...its pretty nice out." Shelby said with her eyes closed and exhaling.
"Yeah sure." I said but I didn't sit down beside her.
"Damnit!" Shelby yelled and pulled out a small tube with a gold band around it.
"Pony can we go to Angela's? I forgot I had her lipstick and mirror still and she needs them back for her date tonight." Shelby said putting them into her pocket and standing up. She didn't need an answer she knew I would come. I stood up and followed suit turning the opposite way to the Shepherds house. The Shepherd's house was real run down. It had peeling paint and lifting shingles. The steps to the porch were no longer strong enough to stand on for long. You also had to the third step of five because it was barely there.
Angela opened the door and when she saw Shelby she put a smile on. A smile I had never seen on Angela.
"I'm glad you came or else I would have been forced to smack you!" Angela said playfully and opened the door farther to let Shelby in.
"Dream on Ang." Shelby said and took my hand to lead me in. Angela's goofy looking smile was wiped clean when she saw me and she looked at our hands like we had just grown a third. She looked at Shelby with her regular look and then walked into the living room slamming the door. When we sat down she sat between us and put her hand on my thigh. I just looked at her but she was talking to Shelby, things were kind of weird.
The next few hours were a blur of girl talk and giggles. I felt out of place and like I shouldn't be there. They barely looked at me the whole time. Except once when they were talking quietly and they both stared at me for what seemed an eternity and then looked at each other nodded and giggled. I reddened and I didn't speak the rest of the time.
After Shelby and Angela were done doing Angela's hair and make-up for her date Shelby and I left. When Angela went to give me a hug goodbye she giggled in my ear. It was the sort of giggle someone like Shelby gave not Angela. She ran her finger down my spine and then let go and I walked out the door after Shelby.
It was almost 5:30 when we finally left Angela's house. The sun was preparing to set in the West towards my house.
"Ugh...my mouth tastes like a rotten ash tray!" Shelby said out of character spitting on the concrete. No wonder the way she smokes, I thought to myself.
"Can we go get some bubble gum at the corner store?" Shelby said, her wide eyes pleading with me. I loved the way her eyes widened and looked into me.
"Yeah," I said monotone.
"Kay," She smiled and bounced down the street beside me.
"My feet hurt!" Shelby complained leaning on my arm and pouting.
"That's cause of those damn shoes you wear," I said as a matter-of-factly with a serious expression on my face. Shelby looked at me hurt that I didn't offer to carry her. She stuck her bottom lip out over dramatically. She jumped on my back and I didn't object. She wrapped her arms around my neck and leaned her head against mine, slightly nuzzling my neck. I felt her tiny breaths on my neck and she whispered quietly into my ear,
"Thanks" I felt her smiling against my neck which was real cute. I smiled in return forgetting she couldn't see me and continued walking to the store. When we got there Shelby hopped down off of my back and leaned into the door to open it. It didn't open and I immediately felt a smirk play across my face.
"Pull" I said shortly and she looked at me and then the door. To her embarrassment the sign indeed said 'pull'.
"Ha-ha" She said sarcastically and jerked the door open, trying to make it as though she was stronger than she was. She obediently walked to the gum aisle and started picking out her favourite gum silently. I walked and stood beside her and looked around. I saw the old store clerk on the phone. It was the same clerk who was here only a couple of nights ago when we were drunk and at the store.
Shelby stood on her tip-toes and whispered into my ear, "I don't have any money..." She went back down and looked up at me. I shrugged I didn't have any money either. Shelby looked at the clerk who wasn't paying any attention and shoved the gum into her jean pockets. I tried to act casual because I had been with Two-Bit a million times when he stole and I knew the best way to not get caught is act normal. Shelby took my hand and walked casually out of the store as if she had actually bought the gum herself.
When we got down to the end of the sidewalk Shelby stopped and took all her gum out shoving it into her mouth. It was way too much gum and she had a hard time chewing it. I laughed and she just stared me down smiling while trying to compress her wad of gum. Finally the gum seemed to have gone down a bit and we started the walk to my house.
"I don't want to go to your place." Shelby huffed after a little ways there.
"Fine princess," I said sarcastically, "Where do you want to go then?"
"Let's go to the park for a little bit." She said looking up at the dimly lit street light that was the only source of light for the calm street. I nodded to her request and we began our walk to the park. I didn't want to go to the park where me and Johnny had the encounter with the Socs. I had way too many memories of that place that I didn't want to be unburied. So I took her over to the park near the vacant lot that was a bit more popular. But it was deserted none the less.
Shelby and I sat on the old wooden bench and she looked at me. I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her lightly on the lips. I had become slightly more confident over the past few days with Shelby. I was still nervous every second I was with her though. She leaned back into me and gave me the same passionate kiss that we had shared on the swings that night. That kiss that kept me thinking about her every second and left me wondering what she was doing every hour. Suddenly head lights blinded us as we pulled away from our kiss. We both jumped when a loud honk came from behind the head lights revealing that it was a car.
I saw on the grill was the Mustang symbol that no greaser had ever owned on their cars, except if they stole it.
"Hey grease!" yelled a hard cruel voice also from behind the blinding headlights. They stepped out to reveal three Socs of about 17 years of age. The tall dark haired soc was the one who had yelled the friendly greeting and they came towards us.
"Yo Jack, Jack you gotta see who it is!" The dark haired boy yelled to a boy with golden blonde hair.
"Shelby isn't it? "He laughed harshly, "Shelby I thought we told you to stop hanging around with these dirty grease balls? We don't like it when greasy broads don't take our advice!" Said the one I assumed was Jack.
"I don't remember this chick, who is it?" Asked the other dark haired boy who was extremely tall and buff.
"Dave, you moron that cause you weren't there!" Yelled Jack who smacked him over the head laughing through his cigarette that was blazing in his mouth.
"I thought I told you guys to leave us alone and get a real life" Shelby growled. "I don't like it when ugly soc guys don't listen to me. I hang out with him because he's my boy friend!" She said mocking Jack who had said something similar. Then she wrapped my arm around her waist and looked angrily at them. Was I her boyfriend? I didn't recall this...
"So first it's the dirt bag Curly Sheppard and now you moving onto...who is this anyways?" Asked the dark haired boy who yelled at us first. He leaned in closely and peered at me and I put on my tough face that we always used with Socs. "Well if it isn't Ponyboy Curtis...the one who killed our good friend Bobby. Your quite the legend there Curtis, you and your filthy dead friend." I felt my eyes fog up with tears of sorrow and rage swirled into one.
"Yeah well you're quite the legend too...you and your trashy gang of Socs. Because everyone on the East side knows you're the ones who couldn't defend themselves and left their dead friend at the park. You're the guys who didn't call the fuzz until 3 days later because you didn't want to get caught being drunk. You left your friend dead on the street, and you don't care about nothing but yourselves." I spat every word that I had been thinking about for the past year, everything that has been bottled up inside me. I looked at the guys face and I could tell it had hit him hard. Like the secret had gotten out and they all knew it was true.
"You got quite the mouth on yeah for a pile of skuzz you know that?" Jack said bitterly and shoved Shelby into Dave. Dave grabbed her arms and she started screaming and kicking like mad. I jumped at him but the other two held me back. I fought all my might but they had me down in a second. I was going wild too kicking and punching thin air and feeling cigarette ashes being dropped onto my skin stinging like wasps. I sat there pinned to the ground gasping and wheezing. My hand was gripped tightly on Jacks wrist and he couldn't get it off because he was holding me down with the other arm. They were hitting me non stop and I felt my cheeks beginning to swell and my lip being split.
The golden haired boy swung madly at my face and I felt his knuckles hit me with a hard blow jerking my head back and giving me whiplash. I wiggled my one arm loose and punched Jack so hard that I saw the blood spurting out and onto his light blue sweater. He cursed loudly and smacked me across the face and I felt it heat up where he had hit me. I sat up because of all the commotion with the bloody nose and my adrenaline rush had given me the heads up. I saw a quick glance of Shelby and Dave. Dave had one hand up Shelby's shirt while Shelby fought madly to get loose. She smacked him non stop and eventually he swung his hand hard so it collided with Shelby's face. She began to cry and he did it repeatedly. That was it, I exploded with anger. I stood up and kicked the golden haired boy in the face twice then I pulled him up and gave a hard upper cut to his stomach. He crouched over for a split second and then punched me again. I staggered backwards but caught myself before I fell down. I punched him hard enough to knock him backwards and then he landed on top of Jack who was nursing his arm and nose. He hit him and cracked their heads against each other. I stepped on Jack so he was knocked out of his breath and then kicked him in the ribs.
I didn't waste any time I ran over to Dave and Shelby. Dave already had Shelby pinned against the wall groping her and I saw her face drenched with tears and redden from the slaps. I punched him square between the eyes. When he fell backwards I got on top of him and punched him non stop. Not caring whether he would live or not. I just kept punching, not knowing if I should stop. He got a few punches in making me taste the blood in my cheeks again but I finally punched him hard enough to let him know we wanted the out of here. I grabbed the smashed bottle that was lying too close for comfort to us. I raised it and stepped off him gingerly.
He stood up and staggered over to his friends he helped Jack up and then he took a hold of the dark haired boys light blue sweater. He pulled him up and they walked back to the car.
"DON'T THINK THIS IS OVER GREASE!" He yelled as he pulled away. I turned to Shelby and she was on her knees crying into her hands. I hated them for doing that to Shelby; I walked over and flopped down beside her.
She looked up at me, and I must have looked horrible because she gasped and started bawling again. She grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me in closer and practically on top of her. She kissed me more and more passionately even though sobs were making her breathe heavily and difficultly. I wrapped my arms around her waist while we were practically lying down. I could taste the blood in my mouth and I wondered if she could. She probably wouldn't have continued kissing me, Shelby didn't like blood much.
"Ponyboy...Pony?" She sobbed after pulling away but not sitting up. She was crying and I looked into her eyes. This time more deeply than ever. Her eyes we like a sunset of green and honey. Her eyes were a vivid green but from far away appeared brown because of the freckles of brown that dotted her eyes close the pupil. Her eye lashes were stuck together from crying and she fluttered them softly.
"Pony... I do want you to be my boyfriend." She smiled through her tears and we kissed again just as long as last time. That was our first kiss as boyfriend and girlfriend. I knew when she said that that we were going together now; just by the way she said it. Of course she didn't need an answer from me; she was Shelby, the girl I loved. After our extra long kiss she stood up with me and looked over my cuts sweeping away blood and kissing bruises. Her face was red and slightly bruised from the slaps but besides that she was fine. I however was a different story.
When we walked into the house the whole gang was yelling at us immediately demanding things we weren't ready for, firing one question after another. When they actually took a good look at us though everyone stopped except Darry who was turning an odd shade of red from the rage he was exposing.
"What the hell did you two do?! Do you know how long we have been waiting for you; you could have gotten yourselves killed! No one has heard from either of you since two o'clock and now its 1:00! Where the hell have you been?!" Darry yelled slamming his fist upon the table about six times. Two- Bit also looked slightly mad and it was his turn now.
"Shelby what the hell have you done?! Every friggen time you go out with Pony one of you get hurt and it's usually you! Why are you spending so much god damn time with him anyways?! You'd think you were attached by the hip! You can't stay out of trouble for more than a god damn day after mom takes you in and everything!" Two-Bit was raging now, I didn't feel safe with a mad Two-Bit because I had never seen it before. He was as mad as Darry and he had stamped his foot for a substitute of Darry's fist.
"Pony what the hell did you let anything happen to her for?! You two are never going out any where alone again unless one of us is with you! I'm tired of all this god damn crap that's being pulled! That's it you hear me? No more!" He yelled so loud that I felt like crying Shelby wasn't crying but she was on the verge. Her eyes were cloudy and glazed, she looked at me and then back at Two-Bit.
"Jesus Christ Two-Bit! You shouldn't have the god damn guts to yell at Pony! After he just saved me from a couple of Socs. Look at him compared to me! I'm fine, he's not! You wanna know why me and Pony spend so much god damn time together now?" Shelby screamed loudly and when it was silent she continued but she screamed even louder this time, "BECAUSE PONYBOY' S MY BOYFRIEND!" Shelby yelled. Everything in the room was silent. I looked at Soda and Steve who had both stopped in the middle of eating to stare with wide eyes at me and Shelby. All eyes were on us and I hated it.
Shelby was crying now and I looked at Two-Bit. His face was blank; his eyes were a plain old gray that you see everyday on plain old ordinary people. He looked at Shelby one last time, then at me. He opened his mouth and raised his hand. But instead of saying something he stopped closed his mouth and walked out the door, slamming it shut behind him.
Oooh a sort of cliff hanger! Thanks for reading, sorry it took me so long to update but I was having a lot of trouble writing this chapter even though I already had it planned out. Hey listen guys I REALLY NEED A GIRL FOR SODAPOP TO DATE! So if you have any characters, any at all, I would love it if you could review and give me all the info on the girls. She needs to be nice too, cause Sodas too good for a mean girl. So thanks a bundle and please review for me!