Chapter 3: Midnight Walk
Trix walked up to his door and walked on through. Two-Bit had just dropped him off. They only kept the door unlocked if someone was there. If no one was there, the door would be locked.
Trix walked through to see everyone except Danny asleep in the living room. He noticed this. He walked towards Danny's room and snuck a peak in. Danny was dead sleep. Trix looked at him for a while. He had really been keeping a close eye on him. He was pretty worried when Danny was being quiet for a moment. After the accident, Trix had to remind Danny a couple of times that he didn't have his dog-tags on.
Trix went over to his room and fell asleep instantly. About fifteen minutes later, Houston woke up to see his sister's arm around him. He looked around to see everyone else asleep. He looked in Danny and Trix's room to see them asleep. He then walked outside. He did this every night.
It was a way for him to think about stuff. He remembered how it was before Danny came to town. He never talked at all. He had no friends either. Everyone was afraid to get on Matt's bad side. But Danny took care of that, and now people started talking to him. Rachel had even calmed down more. And now Jack and Keith had another companion. Keith's mom would be moving in pretty soon. Actually, it would take a year, so she let Keith stay at Two-Bit's.
He walked over to the park and sat down on the bench. He remembered this place very well. He could sometimes imagine how bad it had been when Johnny and his dad came here and the socs found them. He almost fell asleep on the bench thinking. Houston guessed he was more tired than he thought he was. He walked back to Danny's house and occupied the other side of the couch.
The next morning, everyone woke up as usually. Rachel had to wake Houston though. Trix was still asleep so they decided that they would go play pool at Two-Bit's bar. Two-Bit would let the kids in only if there were no plain-clothes cop in there. He kinda treated them like Charlie did to Mark and Bryon. Except he didn't charge them for cokes.
Jack walked up to the window and caught Two-Bit's attention. Two-Bit looked over and shook his head. That meant that there was a plain-clothes cop in there. They all decided to just sit on the curb and talk.
"Things have kinda been quiet haven't they?" said Keith kicking a rock around.
"Yeah. For the better," said Alex, remembering how much trouble he had gotten Danny and Houston in.
Everyone accepted him in quickly since they knew his situation. Danny was pretty happy. Alex never really had the best life. His mom really was the only one who cared for him, but she died and his dad just acted like a jerk.
"Has the adults ever told you about stuff going on outside Dad's book?" asked Houston.
Everyone looked at him.
"What do you mean?" asked Jack.
"I mean. All I've heard about was stuff that had to do with Dad's story. No one really told us anything, the furthest they've gotten is with Mark and Bryon."
"Now that you mention it, no one's told me?" said Rachel.
"Me either, what about you guys?" asked Jack.
Keith and Alex shook their heads.
"What about you Danny?" asked Jack turning his head in his direction.
"Danny? Danny? Danny!"
"Huh!"
Danny turned his attention to Jack. Danny had just been staring straight ahead for a while. Like he was in another state of mind.
"You okay?" asked Alex.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Um, I've got to use the bathroom, be back in a minute."
Danny got up and walked over to a restaurant to use the restroom. Rachel spoke up when he was out of site.
"I'm worried about him."
"Me too," said Jack.
Everyone noticed how weird Danny was acting. It just about reminded them about when Trix was about to go to jail. But Danny was just blank back then. Now he was just quieter. No one knew what was wrong.
At one point, Houston thought it was his fault that Danny was so quiet. Ponyboy had to explain to him that it wasn't his fault at all. That Danny was just nervous. And not to blame himself.
As Danny walked into the bathroom, he locked the door to let someone know that it was occupied. Danny poured water into his hands and washed his face. He wondered if anyone was nervous about the way he was acting. He didn't want anyone to worry, he was just trying to stay out of trouble. His grades had been brought up a little. And he hadn't been forgetting things lately.
Meanwhile, Trix had just gotten up. He was walking down the hall in his jeans and white beater. He didn't know why, but he always felt comfortable that way. It was probably because of the time he spent in jail.
The phone rang and Trix answered it.
"Hello."
"Trix. This is Soda."
"What's up?"
"Meet us at the house this tonight. We're having a little poker game."
"I'll be there."