Chapter Ten

"Oh my ... what do we have here?" A greaser from Sheppard's outfit said under his breath as a slender young woman climbed out of the car. Her beauty radiated through the darkness as her hair was tossed by the wind.

"Who is that?" Sodapop strained to see through the darkness and hopped to his feet. The edges of his open blue DX shirt waved in the wind and he fixed his hat for a better view of the gal.

"That's the dead soc's girlfriend, Cherry Valance." Jon Weston called out and slammed his fists together, "I say we work her over for all the trouble she and her kind have caused."

"Yeah!" Skibby agreed, "Let's drag her down to the park and drown her in the fountain!"

"Come on boys!" A greaser I didn't know spoke the final battle cry. "Let's mess her up!" The crowd growled their agreement and Tim Sheppard elected himself to throw the first punch.

A few feet away I was mortified to hear the suggestion and even more shocked that half of the crowd was ready to go along with the plan, even Dally! I stood up and threw a glance to Soda. We seemed to share the same opinion that pulling a girl into the fight between the socs and the greasers just wasn't right. I grabbed my brother's hand hoping he would stay back. In my head I wondered what Sodapop would do if the boys did jump her. I knew he wouldn't dare throw a punch at a girl, but he also wouldn't dare speak out against the crowd either.

"Ya'll just leave her outta this." Two-Bit's voice of reason rang out trying to calm the forming mob. "Let's just hear what she's come for."

The redhead confidently walked up to the greasy group of strangers and looked into the crowd. Jon Weston stepped forward and barked. "What are you doing coming around here? You already caused enough trouble. These aint your parts."

The soc had no idea, or care, about how close she was to getting jumped. If at anytime Two-Bit changed his mind in fending off the wolves she would've been beaten but good.

"Hey Two-Bit." The girl spoke to the familiar face she knew and pulled a few strands of hair out from in front of her face. "I'm looking for Ponyboy and Johnny's family, wondering if they were around here."

Sodapop stepped forward into the firelight along side his friend. His face was serious as he stared down the visitor. "I'm Ponyboy's brother."

A wide smile graced the young lady's face as she seemed to recognized my brother. "Hi, you must be Sodapop. I'm Sherry Valance. I met Ponyboy at the movies last Friday night." Sodapop didn't acknowledge her comment and the silence between the two was uncomfortable. Cherry stuffed her hands into the pockets of her sweater jacket. "I just wanted you to know that I spoke with the cops again today. I told them I'm going to testify that Bob and the boys were drunk that night…" Cherry looked past Sodapop noticing me as I slowly walked to my brother's side so I could hear her speak.

I wondered if she knew I was Ponyboy's twin sister.

Cherry flashed a small nervous smile at me then continued. "When the boys dropped me off they told me they were going to find the boys and teach'em a lesson. I told them to just go home and forget about it. I didn't ever think they would have found them, not at that hour…" Cherry looked away as the emotions welled up inside of her. She didn't want to let the gang see her cry so she took a deep breath to steady herself. "And afterward when they came by to tell me what they had done and what had happened… I … I couldn't believe it. I felt so guilty that I didn't do more to stop him or that I shouldn't have ever talked to Ponyboy and Johnny to begin with." Cherry looked to the darkness then back to my brother as she quenched her emotions. "Anyway … I'll testify Bob was the one looking for the fight. I'll tell them Johnny and Ponyboy most likely acted in self defense." Cherry smiled lightly.

"Thanks, that's real nice of you." Soda hitched his thumbs in his belt looped and smiled back at her. "Hopefully Ponyboy'll come home if he hears about that."

Seeing an opening in the conversation Dally slyly stepped close to Cherry and tried to act sympathetic. "I sure can tell how upset you are, how'bout I take you down to the Dingo for a Coke." Dallas tried to put his arm around her and she politely told him to 'go to hell' then headed back towards her car. Sheppard's gang quietly laughed at him being shot down.

"Wait a second Cherry!" Two-Bit called to stop her. She walked back near Two-Bit, Soda and I. "Whaddya know about this rumble."

"Not much." She said simply. "Just that it's going to be this Saturday and it's suppose to settle all the trouble between everyone."

"Do me a favor and talk to your side," Two-Bit mediated, "we want this to be a fair fight, no weapons. You'll ask'em for me, right?"

Cherry smiled because she liked Two-Bit. "Sure, I'll find out for you." She turned and looked me in the eye. "I hope ya'll find Ponyboy soon. I'm so sorry…" The beautiful young woman couldn't finish her thought without crying so she just turned and left. I watched her walk away into the darkness knowing how she felt. I had something in common with that soc. She felt broken hearted and alone, just like me.

Her Corvette pulled away from the dirty vacant lot as the boys drooled over how great it would be to have just one opportunity to drive that car, or sniff the interior. My brother and I stayed with the group for another hour talking about plans for the rumble and other random topics before Sodapop walked home with me.

Once we were out of earshot from the guys in the lot I started the conversation. "How long do you think it's gonna be till Dally tells us where the boys are hiding?"

Soda shrugged his shoulders and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his blue jeans. "I don't know, maybe now that Cherry is willing to say it was all in self defense they'll come home."

I looked ahead at our house The living room lights glowed peacefully through the darkness and the home looked warm and inviting. "Yeah but Ponyboy and Johnny won't know that unless someone tells them."

Soda's voice had a hint of anger to it. "Well someone better hurry up and tell them," his voice cracked, "if you know who I mean."

We climbed the porch steps and I looked over at my brother, tears streaming down his young face. I could only muster a whisper as we walked into the house. "Yeah, I know who you mean."

Once secure inside the seclusion of our house Sodapop stumbled over to the sofa and collapsed in a pile of sobs and tears. I rushed to his side and threw my arm around him. "Shhhh, come on So, it's gonna be alright." I found myself vainly trying to mend his pain while I fell into the same emotional state. "Don't cry now… it'll all get better."

Soda's face was red with pain as he picked his head up from where it was buried in his hands. "That's what I thought… when mom and dad died." Soda paused to breathe then sobbed again. "But now look, I've lost Ponyboy, Sandy…" The girl's name was too much to hear spoken and Soda cried out loud trying to release the pain of heartache from his soul. "Nothing seems to get better." I couldn't disagree with my brother and no words of comfort came to my mind to make all of his pain go away. "I'm just lonely… I guess." Sodapop sat back on the couch and breathed in trying to calm himself. "I aint used to being so lonely. I just have always had Dad, or Ponyboy … then Sandy to help make everything better."

I pulled away from my brother trying to bring humor to the situation. "Hey! What am I? Chopped liver?" I cocked an eyebrow just like he and Two-Bit liked to do.

My brother looked over at me and a smile graced his face. He wiped his eyes with his shirt sleeve and laughed a little. "Nah I aint saying that. It's just that you're my sister, and that's different then a brother or a girlfriend. You know?"

Still smiling I looked back at him through my teary eyes. "Yeah, I know. I lost that kind of friend when Casey had to go."

"See I damn near forgot about almost losing you. What if…?" Sodapop held back from talking about memories of waiting outside in the street for me to come out of Casey's house. "You know they always say life is never easy." He took in a shaky breath and calmed himself. "I just never figured it'd be this hard."

I nodded my head in agreement. "I hear you there!" I looked up at the clock and it was well after ten. "Tell you what, how bout I sleep in Ponyboy's place tonight. Then you won't have to be so lonely. Would you like that?"

Soda sniffled and smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that a lot."

I went back to my room and put on my pajamas and noticed Pony's sweatshirt sticking out from under my bed. I knelt down and picked up the article of clothing and tried to speak to my brother. "Oh Pony… why can't you just come home?"

I heard Sodapop come back from the bathroom and flip on the bedroom light. I stuffed the sweatshirt into my dresser drawer and went to be with my brother. I climbed into the bed on Ponyboy's side. I liked being there, in some way it made me feel closer to my brothers. Soda liked it too because he threw his arm over top of me, buried his head in his pillow and cried himself to sleep. Once he was quiet, I closed my eyes and drifted off as well.

Author's note: I wanted to say thanks to all my readers and reviewers! You have made this writing hobby of mine a lot of fun.

I also want to explain that I will be gone for two weeks so there will be a small delay in the posting of the next few chapters. I do promise to take a notebook and pen so I can keep the story going! (I may be able to post one more chapter after this before I leave.)