"Sissy? Sissy?" I lifted my heavy eyelids and found Darry standing above me. "Come on rise and shine. You got school in 30 minutes and you're going, I don't want any arguments." I rolled my eyes and rolled away from my brother. It was then that I noticed the surroundings and realized I was in Darry's room.
I sat up and rubbed my eyes while Darry stood at the end of the bed and pulled his boots on. "Darry… did I sleep walk again?"
"Yeah, you were crying too." Darry spoke gently and turned to look at me. "You kept babbling something about not wanting to ride the train, that you'd rather be home."
I thought hard. "I don't remember that at all."
Darry figured I didn't as he threw a flannel shirt over his shoulders. "Come on now, get on up outta bed. Steve and Two-Bit will be here any minute."
I climbed out of bed and walked back to my bedroom to find clean clothes for school then headed to the shower. Once I was clean and dressed I walked out into the living room to find Two-Bit and Steve waiting for me. The mood of the room was somber and I noticed Soda leaning over the dining room table reading the morning paper. 'Ugh', I thought to myself as I realize the story was hitting the papers this morning. I walked to the table and read the article upside down. I could read words upside down as good as I could right side up. Sodapop thought that was amazing even though I told him is wasn't that uncommon of a skill.
The paper told little about the murder other than stating the dead boy's name was Robert Sheldon and all the wonderful things he did at school and in the community. As I read, bits and pieces of events from yesterday popped into my mind. I remembered the officer told us he had a witness that knew Ponyboy was in the park and all he wanted to do was speak to him. Darry let the officer know Pony was missing and we hadn't seen him, but I wasn't sure the officer believed him. The article went on to say the police had a list of suspects, two men in questioning; one probably Dallas, and further investigation to do. It didn't ever mention that Ponyboy or Johnny were suspects, or even missing.
"Further investigation?" I asked Darry. "I guess that means they still don't know what happened, huh?"
"I don't know?" Darry lifted his tool belt onto his shoulder. "Let's get on with our day now, if Pony comes home he'll know where to find us."
I didn't think anything about going to school but I wished I had as I got closer to my locker, dead in the middle of 'soc's row'. Everywhere well dressed girls were crying and holding each other as the news of Bob's death spread through the school halls. Groups of boys gathered together and were staring at me as I passed. I wondered if they knew who I was. I opened my locker hung my coat up and grabbed my books.
"That's his sister." I heard a boy's voice yell out. "Hey greaser!" I looked straight ahead into my locker. I didn't want to turn around. I hoped that if I just stayed still everyone would go away and ignore me. "I'm talking to you!" I felt a shove at my shoulder that pushed me into my locker. I was trapped. I took a deep breath and turned around to find a dozen socs staring back at me, boys and girls. I felt my lip begin to quiver and my knees trembled.
"Yeah that's the Curtis boy's sister. I had her in one of my classes." A good looking soc with dark brown eyes hissed to his friend.
"Your brother killed our friend… and you're gonna pay for it." Then the tall blond boy grabbed my wrist and pulled me away from my locker. I could feel my heartbeat pounding through out my body as I pulled backwards. The soc lost his grip on my wrist causing me to fall onto the cold concrete floor.
I looked up at the socials laughing at me. My emotions filled with anger. I pushed myself up off the floor and lunged toward the blond soc knocking him down. I knelt on his chest and threw a hard, solid punch to the left side of his face. The boy's friends grabbed my arms and pulled me backwards. I flailed my legs and managed to kick the boy a few times before the fight was broken up. I tried to wiggle free of the grips on my arms, but I was stuck so I screamed. "You socs think you know it all just because you have it all! Well you don't! You'd be nothing without your daddy's money and your mamma picking your clothes out!"
Most of the boys laughed at my ranting and the girls had looks of shock and disbelief. I heard one of them comment. "Greaser girl!"
Before I could tell them I didn't care about their opinion of me two teachers came out of their classrooms to see what all the commotion was about. One of the teachers I knew from the last semester, Mr. Phillips. He had been my chemistry teacher. He knew me, and my life, due to the passing of my parents. He slightly pushed the boys away from me and his eyes widened. "Scout Curtis?"
I stared back at him but felt no shame for my behavior, why should I? The socs never did. "Yes sir." I answered as I tucked my loose hair back behind my ear.
Mr. Phillips looked at the soc who had a small trickle of blood coming from the side of his mouth. "Both of you! To the Principal's office!" The other female teacher led the soc down the hall and Mr. Phillips walked with me.
"He started it." I told the teacher letting him know I would never behave that way without being provoked first.
Mr. Phillips looked down at me. "Justin Fisher? I'm sorry Miss Curtis but I couldn't see him doing anything like that. He's the school vice president!"
I shook my head and looked to the ground and realized how untouchable the socs were in this school and in the community. From that point on I chose to keep my mouth shut tight. Even in the presence of the Principal I refused to speak. He asked me what happened, why I would feel the need to attack an innocent boy, etcetera etcetera. I kept my reasons and comments inside the security of my own mind.
Principal Leary leaned over his six foot two body across the desk one last time. "Miss Curtis you have an obligation here to tell us what you were thinking!" I looked over at the soc who was grinning ear to ear because he knew he was getting away with his deviant behavior. Then I looked directly at the gray haired principal and rolled my eyes. I had hoped he would get the picture that I didn't want to speak about the incident, but he didn't. "Well you've left me no choice but to suspend you for three days."
"Three days?" I yelled out. "Are you serious? You let these rich kids practically get away with murder and I'm the one with the suspension?"
Principal Leary leaned back in his chair and eyed me closely. "Miss Curtis, you might want to choose better words about who is getting away with murder around here."
Instantly I knew he was referring to my brother and my friend. I felt hot tears well up in my eyes. My body began to shake with anger and the need to flee the office. I briefly considered what appropriate behavior would be then I realized how much I just didn't care. Without warning I stood up and stormed out of the Principal's office. Behind me I could hear him commanding that I return, but I wouldn't. For the moment I didn't care if I ever set foot in school again.
The Principal tried to follow me but I lost him the crowded halls of passing time. I slipped out the front door of the school and searched for a destination. I had nowhere to go and no money to take me anywhere so I opted to find Steve's car and wait in the backseat until lunch. For hours I sat and laid in the backseat thinking about everything that had gone wrong in the past eight months. Once again I started to regret my poor behavior. I was laying on my back in the middle of cursing myself out when a familiar face pressed up against the window.
"Well, well what do we have here Steve?" Two-Bit sang out as he and Steve pulled open their respective doors to the car.
"Looks like we found the reason we got called out of class and sent to the Principal's office!" Steve shared as he climbed into the front seat.
"Yep and looks like the reason ole' Darry had to be called and told about that suspension his little sister got for bustin' a soc's lip!" Two-Bit was grinning with pride as he envisioned me taking on the boy the way I taught Cindy a lesson last spring.
"Doesn't pay to be Sissy's friend anymore. All she does is get us in trouble." Steve laughed then turned to me with a look of concern. "Ya know Darry and Soda are gonna skin you for getting suspended and skipping out of school."
I knew they would and I knew their disappointment in me was going to hurt, but I didn't tell that to Two-Bit or Steve. Instead I stayed on my back and stared silently at the headliner. Steve put the car into drive and headed to the grocery store for lunch. The whole ride I stayed quiet.
"What? You aint gonna say nothing?" Two-Bit asked me and then looked at Steve. "She flattens a soc and teaches those bastard a lesson about pickin' on our women and she aint gonna say a thing." Two-Bit turned around to beg. "Come on Scout! Tell us what happened, what did the soc say?"
He was right, I wasn't going to say a thing and I didn't. Not even when we arrived at the grocery store. Not even when the greasers there talked about the rumors they had heard at school about the murder. I listened, but I didn't say a word.
"…I heard a group of them socs were set to jump those two boys." A dark haired greaser lifted his chin toward me. "A soc got pushed into the park fountain then your brother came up and stabbed that boy."
A shorter, thinner greaser spoke up. "Nah that aint it at all. I overheard some soc say he was there." The greaser's words caught everyone's attention. "He said he'd been talking to the cops all day yesterday. He and his friends were trying to drown Ponyboy in that fountain and the other kid stabbed the soc. He probably would have killed them all if the socs hadn't run away so fast."
"Yeah I heard that too." A third boy confirmed the final rumor. "It was right from the soc's mouth, he's in my math class, Randy somethingorother."
Steve and Two-Bit looked at each other then Steve clarified what had been said. "So them socs jumped Pony and Johnny, and Johnny stabbed one of them?"
"Yeah that's what I heard." The skinny boy said. "Stabbed him to save his friend."
"Sounds like something Johnny would do." Two-Bit said quietly. We all knew how much Johnny loved Ponyboy and vise versa. Those two would have done anything for each other.
I leaned up against the corner of the building and thought of how terrified Johnny and Pony must have been that night. Slowly I began to convince myself it had been my fault that no one was able to rescue them. If I would have kept my mouth shut maybe Darry and Soda, at least Soda, would have gone after Pony and brought him home. The guilt just furthered my resolve not to speak again. Silently I slipped away from the crowd of boys. I headed down the street and walked myself home the long way. I didn't want Two-Bit or Steve to track me down. All I wanted was to be alone… all alone.
Back at the house I crawled into bed and tried to sleep. I felt almost as bad as I did when my parents passed away. I had lost all interest in school, eating, speaking and having any contact with anyone. All I wanted was to totally shut myself down so I couldn't be hurt anymore. I spent a few hours convincing myself it was a good idea, then Darry came home and tried to change my plans for me.
"Scout Marie Curtis!" He bellowed as he came through the front door. I could hear his boots purposely stomping on the floor to let me know he was mad. "You better be in the house!" I stared up at my bedroom ceiling as my brother came to my doorway. "What the hell is going on in your head? Huh?" Darry walked into the room, his large arms tensed for an argument. "Suspended for fighting! What the hell were you thinking? Are you crazy."
In my mind I answered all of his questions, 'not much, I said not much! I wasn't thinking, duh. No I'm not crazy, I'm mad. I am mad that everything bad seems to happen to me all the time. It just aint fair and I'm not dealing with it anymore'!
"Listen up little lady! We all have our share of problems right now and I didn't need you adding to them! Did you know I had to leave work early to go to the school and talk to Principal Leary? I can't believe you would get in a fight at school! At home here in the neighborhood is one thing, but there is no place for fights at school." Darry began to pace because he wasn't getting any reaction out of me. I think inside he wanted to grab me and shake me till I spoke, but he knew better now. He knew what the consequences of that action could lead to. After a minute worth of stand off and being ignored Darry chose to leave but paused in the doorway. "Geez Scout! Why would you get into a fight at school anyway? Huh?"
Even though tears were seeping out the corners of my eyes I didn't speak. I didn't tell him anything even though he certainly deserved an answer.
Darry eyed me laying on my bed and staring into space. "This silent treatment thing is only gonna get you in more trouble! You better tell me what happened!" Darry demanded and barely paused for an answer. "By the way your welcome! After a long talk with Principal Leary your suspension is revoked. You can't have a suspension on your record and get a scholarship! Keep that in mind next time you wanna go poppin' off on someone." With that Darry turned to stomp out of the room. He was a few feet down the hall when he turned around yelled back to me. "I'm sending Soda back there to talk to you when he gets home. You're not out of the woods yet little darlin'."
I pulled the pillow out from under my head and laid it on top of my face. 'Not Sodapop!' I thought. I hadn't considered him into the equation when I decided to keep silent. Soda may have been the one person who could break me, so I decided to spend the next hour working on good reasons to ignore responding to him too.
Later I heard the front door creak open and Sodapop walked into the house with Steve and Two-Bit in tow. Darry wasted no time in leaving dinner on the stove to confront Sodapop with the problem he was having with me. Slowly I tip toed down the hall to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"Did Steve tell you what Scout did today?"
"Yeah… " Sodapop slumped his posture a little. "…but right now I got something else on my mind."
"What's the matter?" Darry asked as he glanced at the dark cloth hanging in Soda's hand.
"At lunch time I went by Buck Merrill's place to see if Dally was out of jail. I found this in Dally's room on the floor." Soda handed the sweatshirt Ponyboy was wearing on Saturday over to Darry. "At first Dally said he had no idea how it got there but I wasn't leaving without an answer. He said he didn't know anything about this. Only mentioned that he and Johnny had once talked about a good hiding place if there was ever trouble." Sodapop sighed then looked up at our brother with those hurt puppy dog eyes. "Dallas says Ponyboy and Johnny would likely have headed to Texas."
"Texas?" Darry asked knowing Ponyboy had never been there.
Soda looked ill and I could tell he was on the edge by the tone of his voice. "That's what Dally said and that's what he told the cops too."
Two-Bit's eyes showed a plan building in his head. "Ya'll if they're in Texas we'll just head on down there and get'em."
Steve rolled his eyes. "Two-Bit! Texas is the biggest damn State in the country! They aren't just going to be hanging out at the first city you go to."
"I didn't say it was going to be easy." Two-Bit barked. "Besides I aint got nothing holding me here. I'll just gather up some money and head down there to look for them. They're walking so they won't be getting to far to fast."
"Two-Bit your crazy." Steve poked at him.
"Well it beats just sitting around here and doing nothing!" Two-Bit shot back.
"Two-Bit you aint going nowhere." Darry interrupted. "Steve's right you've got little chance of finding them. Besides Dally's probably lying anyway. Since when have we known him to tell the truth to the fuzz?" Darry was right and no one argued.
"So what are we gonna do?" Soda asked our brother and made a motion toward the sweatshirt.
Darry looked around the room trying to make a logical decision for the group. "I don't rightly know Soda! I guess we just do what we've been doing and wait."
"Wait?" Soda questioned and furrowed his brow in anger. "Wait for what?"
Darry answered his little buddy. "Either wait for Ponyboy to come home or Dally to tell us where the hell he is!"