Chapter 3

Finally, the third chapter is up. This is the big epic chapter where...well...you'll see. . Holy crud that was intense to type. whew Maybe the longest yet but the best. Please review.

Disclaimer: I should own Darry. I should own Steve. But I don't. I don't own any of the guys...I do own, in fact, Becca (that's my friend), Jess (that's me), and Ms. Runyan (that's my 3rd period teacher. lol.)

Have fun!

Jess ushered me out the lot in front of the building where this tuff red convertible was sitting.

"Are we going in that?"

She beamed at me,

"Oh, yeah. That's my baby."

I laughed and told her,

"They're probably gonna think we're a couple of Socs and beat us up."

She laughed and ruffled my hair as we jumped in. Oi, this car was tuff. I felt completely out of place just sitting in it. Especially since I was used to cars like Steve and Darry's that were beat up and desperately needed a paint job.

"Got a weed?"

I asked trying to remember if she smoked. But before I could recall, she reached in her pocket and tossed me a pack of Marlboros. Those at least made me feel more comfortable. Jess wasn't much different from what I'd remembered. A bit taller but still short, around 5'3". Everyone always teased her for being so short and called her things like dynamite (because she was short and red was what they said). She had dirty blonde hair that went just below her shoulders and curled naturally in every way possible. Jess didn't dress like the other girls at school and she was much different too. She was a greaser girl but not a greasy girl. She wasn't the type of girl like Sylvia who'd where short skirts and hit on every guy but more like us. Jess just wore some nice jeans a plain T with a nice jacket. And of course, she always had the switch in her back pocket. She was awful good looking and she knew it, too. Whenever Steve saw her, he always said she had a nice rack. Personally, I don't look at those kinda things…

When we pulled up in front of my house, I could see Darry standing in the window looking stern. Uh-oh. He left view and the whole gang came out, spare Soda interestingly enough.

"Get outta here, Socs! 'Fore we kick your asses into next week."

Two-Bit called. Jess smiled and hopped out of the car. Soda ran out past Darry and the rest of the gang and stopped in front of the car. I jumped out and he hugged me. I was home and it was great. Darry gave me a great big bear hug. It was stupid to think he didn't love me.

"I missed you."

I whispered to him and a tear ran down his cheek.

"And I'm sorry."

A few minutes later, he let me down and started talking to Jess. The rest of the gang was marveling at her car. All of us went inside and ate the lunch Darry'd made an hour ago. I heard Jess comment, reaching for the corn,

"Sodapop Curtis, you get cuter every time I see you. There must be ladies bustin' your door down."

He blushed slightly and flashed her his famous grin. All of us laughed at him.

"I guess bein' cute runs in this family."

Darry blushed such a deep red that I had to tease him. It was fun seeing Jess again since I'd forgotten how much fun she was. Everyone seemed happier tonight, even Darry. No, especially Darry.

It was strange, 'cause for the next few days, Darry kept comin' home later and later. Usually, with coffee or some fancy dessert or something. But everyday he was in a good mood. He stopped yelling at me and I found this as a welcome change. The one day Darry came home on time from work, I found out that Dally had been in the cooler since he knocked over the U Tote Em. He got out today and stopped by the house. Dally had been different ever since Johnny died. Now Dal barely laughed and he stopped making his little jokes. He was always in a dangerous mood or at least on the edge of one. This worried me…

"Where've you been goin' after work, Dar?"

Soda asked curiously. Where had he been going? Dar looked up from his newspaper.

"I stop by that café on Brewer's street."

Café…Brewer's street…where was that familiar?

"Who works there?"

Darry blushed again,

"Uh, that's Jess's second job. She's a waitress down there."

Soda cocked an eyebrow as the door slammed behind me,

"Hey y'all. What's hangin'?"

Definitely Two-Bit. Soda felt that he had to answer,

"Dar's got a girlfriend."

Again, Darry blushed and tried to read his paper. Mr. Matthews loved the oppurtunity,

"As a matter of fact, I did see you walkin' awful close to Ms. Runyan."

"SHE'S 83!"

Darry yelled as he threw a shoe at Two-Bit. Ha!

"No, but seriously,"

Pah! Like he ever did anything seriously,

"Who is the lucky lady?"

Hiding behind his paper, Darry mumbled,

"It's Jess, alright."

Two-Bit grabbed a beer,

"Jess! That gorgeous woman? I'm just glad she'll be hangin' around more, if you know what I mean. But somebody oughta tell Steve. He's been hitting on her all week. Hell, even I've taken a few shots."

The next afternoon, Dally called. He seemed strangely serene.

"Um, I'm ok, Pony. Can I talk to Darry?"

Darry looked equally worried as he listened to the oddly hushed tones of Dallas Winston. The phone went down on the ringer and Darry told us,

"Dal wants us all to go meet him at the vacant lot across town to talk."

Well, if that ain't the weirdest thing I'd heard all week. That was awful suspicious; why didn't he just talk on the phone or come over and tell us?

"When?"

I asked him.

"Around seven."

Dar told me. Soda came in and we explained the strange call to him and he didn't get it either. I was appointed to call the rest of the gang and tell them about the meeting. Everyone was just as worried as I was.

At 6:45, we piled into the truck and drove off to the lot. Dally's blue pick-up was parked there when we arrived. He was leaning against it smoking and studying his shoe. Steve was there already but he apparently just got there. Dally checked his watch and walked over. Man, he looked terrible. His eyes were bloodshot and it seemed as if he hadn't taken a shower in awhile.

"All of you, stand over there."

He ordered us. This was just getting weirder and weirder. Slowly, we walked over and obeyed. He chuckled and threw down his weed,

"Dally?"

His smile faded as he pulled out a heater and pointed it at us. In turn, we all took a step back. What was going on! No. This was a dream. Or a joke. Or something. This wasn't real. He would n-never do it. But his face was dead serious. As if he read my mind,

"Yeah, this is really happening. And the gun's loaded, too."

He took a second to show us the bullets before aiming it at us. Please, Dally, tell me it's a joke.

"I'm sick of this."

Dallas started,

"Darrel Curtis has the perfect life: A loving family, a gorgeous girlfriend, a nice job. You don't know what tough is. Your life is heaven compared to mine. I got nothin' but still Darry's the tough guy. Everyone thinks Darry's the big bad boy but he's not. He's got a great life. God fucking damn, his life is easy. And then there's the runt."

That stung.

"little boy, Pony. The wimp cries every time he gets a wittle bitty paper cut and there's his big brother Sodapop to kiss him 'til he stops crying. You people make me sick. You go around whining about your terrible lives, well you have no right to be cryin'!"

He faltered in his balance and started chokin' up.

"Johnny…Johnny had a tough life. He had a right. He knew what it was like. But he's gone. The one person in the world I cared about and he's gone. The one person I could relate to. Who cared about me. But he's dead. And I got no one. YOU DON'T KNOW! So I'll give you a taste of what it's like to have a tough life!"

Dallas moved his aim from Darry to me. I clenched and squeezed my eyes shut. One shot sounded then…two? It was silent. Either getting shot didn't hurt as much as I'd thought or he'd missed. Slowly, I opened my eyes and I was standing alone. Where was everyone? Straight ahead, Dally was on the ground, bleeding…twitching. My vision adjusted to the dark and there was…Two-Bit! Two-Bit Matthews was standing along holding a gun, shaking and crying. Darry. What'd happened to Darry? Was he ok? Looking around wildly, I noticed Jess's car parked a little ways away but I had to find Darry. The next thing I saw was Darry on the ground and my heart sank. But he was kneeling and sobbing next to someone else. Who was it?

…

No.

That wasn't Soda. That was someone else. Anyone else. Soda's not here. My eyes clenched again and the tears flowed. Through the stream, I saw Jess carry the person that wasn't Soda to her car. It couldn't be Soda. It was someone else with tuff brown hair.

"No, no, no…"

I screamed as Jess burned rubber with Darry riding shotgun. Steve was sitting on his knees staring blankly at the ground. Two-Bit stared at the gun still in his hand and just stood there. Dallas had hurt my brother. Because of him, Soda was hurt. Because of him, Soda was going to die. Because of him…

I took out my switchblade from my back pocket and approached the body of my former friend. In quick, fluid motions, I cut up and slashed the body. Tears flew from my eyes as I screamed.

"Soda's going to die…You killed my brother you bastard! You son of a bitch…I love Soda. You killed my brother. Damn you!"

Blood oozed from my cuts but he didn't stir. My slashes became more frantic but he killed Soda.

I calmed down a bit and looked at my surroundings. Two-Bit and Steve were deathly silent as they sat on the ground.

"I didn't know what else to do."

Two-Bit broke the silence,

"He was gonna kill you, Pony. He was gonna kill someone. It was like a dream and I want to wake up."

He sobbed into his hands.

"I want to wake up. I want to. But I can't. I can't. The trigger pulled itself and he fell. Now he's dead and Soda's hurt."

"This is a nightmare."

Steve mumbled. I lay down on the hard black top and closed my eyes,

"When I wake up, Darry'll be cookin' breakfast, Soda will be wrestlin' with Steve. Dally will have turned up the radio so loud I can think."

For the first time in awhile, I smiled and drifted off to sleep.