Chapter 9: Turning Away
Danny gulped. The other teenagers were behind him frozen.
"Do you know why we're all here?" asked Ponyboy with a stern face.
The teenagers just shook their head.
"I'll give you guys five seconds," started Sodapop. "Five seconds to tell us something."
The teenagers didn't say a word and Soda just sighed and said
"We know about your friend Danny. Alex Miller."
Danny couldn't believe what he had just heard. How could they have found out? The answer was kinda obvious.
"Shepard told us everything," started Trix. "He thought the Alex was a little suspicious so he called us asking on some information. He thought we knew everything about what was going on. Why didn't we know about everything that was going on?"
They all just stood there. Jack was wiping his face, Houston was looking at his feet, Keith just kept looking around the room and Rachel was sighing a lot. But Danny was different. On the inside he was nervous but didn't show it on the outside. That was one specialty he had.
"We'll talk to each of you," started Cathy. "Houston, you're going to talk to your father. Rachel, you're going to talk to me. Keith, you're talking to your uncle and Steve. Jack you're talking to your dad. And Danny, you're talking with your parents."
'Talk'. Danny hated those. He looked at his dad. He thought he would never see this expression on his dad. He looked so angry. He was always so cool, tough, playful and relaxed. But now he looked just like some guy who was just put out of jail. Any other thug on the streets. Danny then thought. Is that what he looked like when he was angry?
"C'mon," started Trix. "We're all going to our homes."
That meant that Trix and his wife would talk to Danny alone. Danny looked at Houston. Houston wasn't a troublemaker. He could tell that his parents were real disappointed in him.
Danny walked outside with his parents and got into his dad's car. Keith got into Two-Bit's car and Steve and Two-Bit followed. As they were driving off, Keith looked at Danny. He looked like he was going to sentenced to death row. I guess he had never seen Two-Bit mad at anyone. It was weird. Danny had never seen Two-Bit mad at all. He'd seen him sad when he heard about Trix's arrest, but never angry.
Danny's parents got into the car and they drove off to the house.
"Your girlfriend is in trouble too, y'know," said Trix still keeping his eyes on the road. "I called her mother and she picked her up from our house."
Great. Now he had even gotten Maria in trouble. He had never seen everyone so depressed. Is this how everyone had felt after they saw how depressed he was over is father's arrest?
It seemed like seconds before they reached the house. Danny was hoping it would take long, because he wasn't up to what his dad had to say to him.
When they got inside, Trix slammed the door. He looked like he was trying to contain himself.
"Calm down, Trix. Just try to stay…calm."
Danny looked at his mother. He could tell she was very upset too. She hadn't even known he was connected with drug dealer. This was a real big surprise for her.
"Do you know what you've got yourself into?" Trix almost shouted.
"I was just trying to help out a friend," protested Danny.
"You have a drug dealer after your friend. Why didn't you tell us?"
"You wouldn't have understood!" yelled Danny.
"What make you think I wouldn't have understood? I'm your dad. I would have understood! I was just like you when I was around your age!"
"Then what are you so mad about?"
Danny was getting angrier and angrier.
"That you didn't trust me enough! And you should know that I regret half the things I did as a teenager! Why do you think I ran away? I was still reckless when I came to Atlanta. Look where it led me! To jail for six years! I don't want that to happen to you!"
"I'm not stupid!" yelled Danny. He then
stopped. He couldn't believe what he had just said.
"Did you
just call me stupid?" yelled Trix. "Listen. I may have been
reckless. But I was no where near stupid!"
This was getting personal. Trix kept yelling and yelling until finally Danny yelled out,
"Just shut-up!"
Danny ran out the door and down the street. He felt like his uncle the night the soc was stabbed. Only he was hit emotionally. Danny kept running and running. He ran towards Merril's old place. Alex was sitting on the steps. He ran up to him panting.
"Danny!" said Alex looking up. "What's wrong?"
"I'll tell you later. We're getting out of here."
"What!"
"Just come on."
Alex got up and followed Danny. Danny wasn't sure where he was going. But he just didn't want to turn back.
