I know this is a little late, but I just wanted to say that I'm happy I inspired somebody. I'll be looking out for your fic.
Chapter 15: Big Brother's Home!
School went by slow for Danny that week. He couldn't focus on what his teachers were saying. Ms. Richardson was very worried about him. He failed a test in History that day. On Friday, he walked out of school and Maria said she'd talk to him at the park that day. They weren't exactly gonna have a date. Maria was just gonna try to make him feel better. He was so much in a daze that Two-Bit had to honk his horn to remind Danny he had to catch a ride.
It was a good thing, the only homework he had was to study for an test three weeks ago, otherwise he wouldn't have done any written work. The only thing he remembered to do was to meet Maria in the park. He got there fifteen minutes early and just sat on the bench.
"Danny."
Danny looked up and saw Maria. That was a quick fifteen minutes. Maria just sat down beside him and Danny just kept crying. Maria put her arm over him.
"It's alright Danny. Let it out."
It was obvious that she cared for him deeply. At that time, Danny was glad he was around her and family. He would have been labeled as a punk if he was crying like this back in Atlanta. Maria kept comforting him, until Rachel showed up in front of them.
"Hey Maria."
"Hi Rachel."
"My dad said for Danny to come on home. Our uncle is back on his break."
Danny got up slowly and told Maria, he'd see her later. Both Rachel and Danny walked home in silence. Rachel knew better than to say something to Danny when he was like this. Over the time he was staying, she had really got to know him. She thought he was pretty cool. She knows they had a rough start, but she accepted him now. Espeacially after seeing how he stood up for Houston.
When they entered the house, Ponyboy and Sodapop were sitting on the couch with their eldest Curtis brother. Darry was home. Soda looked up and introduced him,
"Danny. This is your oldest uncle, Darry."
Darry looked up and said, "Hi Danny."
"Hi. You gonna get my dad out of jail?"
"I'm gonna try. I'm going to talk to him tomorrow in the jail. Do you wanna come?"
'Try' wasn't good enough, but Danny kept his mouth shut.
"Sure. I'll go."
Danny went to his bed. He cried himself to sleep.
The next day, Danny just stared out of the window as the car passed the many familiar scenes to the jail. When they got there, Danny just waited for Darry to finish asking his questions. When Darry finished his questions, Danny could talk to his father.
"So how are you holding up here?"
"I've been fine."
"What kind of questions did Uncle Darry ask you?"
"Some stuff about my last charge, where was I the night the kid said I attacked him, and some other stuff."
They kept talking. Danny didn't have long this time because Darry had used up majority of the time asking Trix the questions.
On the way home Danny had an urging question. Who better than to ask his brother.
"Darry."
"Yes."
"If my dad is found g-guilty…" Danny stuttered at the thought. "How long would he be in jail again."
Darry thought for a moment. Danny hoped that he would answer the question immediately.
"He was out on parole right for a ten year sentence?"
"Yeah."
"How long did he go to jail?"
"He did six years."
Darry sighed. I know he would hate for his brother to be in jail again.
"He would have to serve a fourteen year sentence."
Fourteen! Danny just about waited that long to finally meet him. No. He couldn't wait that long.
When they were back at the house. Danny just sat on the porch all day. He had even fallen asleep on the porch. He woke up when Jack asked him if he wanted some dinner.
Danny shook his head and Jack tried to cheer him up.
"Well. We got the blood test results back. Turns out, it's not my baby."
"That's good."
Danny had no emotion in his voice. He just sat there staring at the cars go by.
"Man. Danny. Everything's gonna be alright. We're here for you. Your dad is one tough guy. And you're tough too. Do you know how miserable we were before you came along. Socs just kept bothering us. It made it worse that the main soc is my former best friend."
Danny just sat there. Jack acted like he was going to commit suicide. Danny still had some sense in him. He hoped it wouldn't come to that.
Pretty soon, Ponyboy's car drove up. He noticed that there were three people in the car. One of them had red hair. When Ponyboy, Cathy and the other lady got out. Ponyboy walked up to the porch. Danny looked up.
"Danny," started Ponyboy. "This one of my friends. Cherry Valance."
"Hi," said Cherry.
"Hi."
'Cherry Valance'. That sounded familiar. Then he realized that this was the red-headed soc from his book. The three adults walked in and Danny just sat there. He fell asleep once again and Sodapop had to carry him inside.