Faith is Spelled R.I.S.K

Chapter 8

Let's Get Ready To Rumble!

Tuesday night rolled around a lot faster than I think any of us expected it to. I wasn't prepared at all for the rumble and my stomach was in knots the whole day. I really had no choice in the matter however, because I already had told Darry that I was going, and I couldn't back out now.

I realized that Alyssa had made Soda a deal. He was allowed to fight on one condition : She was allowed to stay at our place for the night and wait up for us. Just so she could patch us up and all those other things women do when men get beat up. I guess since Soda's birthday was the next day, it was perfect timing.

I wondered if Soda had even thought about buying her an engagement ring, or if he was just going to wing it. I didn't think that he had enough extra money for something like that, but with Soda, you never know. He always has something up his sleeve that you never expect.

All through the day, I noticed that Soda was staying extra close to Alyssa. He never seemed to leave her side, and I also noticed that he was really jumpy. At first I thought it was because of a rumble, but I've never known Soda to get nervous about fighting. Soon, I figured out it was because he was planning on proposing. Soda may be a hopeless romantic, but he still got nervous about stuff like that. Not that I blamed him, I would've been nervous too.

The night came quickly, and as time rolled on, I got more and more butterflies in my stomach. I wasn't one for violence, but even I wasn't that afraid of fighting.

I decided to go into my room and lay down for awhile. I thought it may make me feel better. I guess I must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing I knew Darry was shaking me awake.

"Pony, ten minutes until we leave. You still wanna come?" He asked.

"Absolutely." I said, and rolled out of bed.

I changed my clothes in a hurry, and wandered out into the living room.

Two Bit, Steve and Soda were all waiting in the living room, and all three of them looked like they were ready to go. Steve was jumping up and down and Soda couldn't sit still without shuffling his feet around. Two Bit was sitting on the very edge of the chair, like at any moment, he was ready to jump.

"Ok, listen up guys." Darry said. "This is going to be a lot tougher fight than the last one. This time, the Socs want revenge, and they'll do whatever they can to get it. They're gonna be a lot tougher, a lot colder, a lot meaner. They're not going to show you any mercy, so don't show them any."

"Darry man, you make it sound like we're going to war or something." Steve said.

"We may as well be. They want to get even, but so do we." Darry said.

"I thought we beat them last time though." Soda asked.

"Well…we did… but this time we're getting even because of what happened to Curly."

I sat there, and finally figured it out. Last time, we fought for Johnny. This time, we were going to fight for Curly. We were always fighting for someone. It made sense.

"Are you guys ready?" Steve yelled.

"Sure as heck are. We're going to kick them clear to Ohio." Two Bit said.

We all shouted, and I could see Alyssa sitting there beside Soda, her arms crossed, not saying a word. The look on her face was not one of happiness. She looked more nervous than any of us. Partially, I think it was because in the back of her mind, she was fearing that Soda wouldn't come back home. She knew it wouldn't happen, but there's always that one possibility that plagues the back of your mind.

I knew that Soda was aware of how afraid she was, and that's part of the reason he was staying extra close to her all day.

In about five minutes, we were all standing by the door, grabbing our shoes, and walking around in circles, filled with a mix between excitement and anticipation.

Just before we left, Alyssa came over to where Soda was standing. She whispered something in his ear, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She wasn't crying, nor did she look near tears, but the expression on her face gave away her feelings.

Soda leaned over to her, and stroked her cheek, and kissed her. He smiled a little at her, and she forced a smile as well. He gave her one last quick kiss, and headed towards the door.

We started walking down the street towards the vacant lot. The whole mood of the group this time was different than the last. We were all quiet, because in all honesty, we really didn't know what to expect out of this. I looked back at Soda, and I knew that his mind wasn't on the rumble at all. All he was thinking about was Alyssa. He almost looked like he felt guilty for being here and leaving her alone to worry.

We reached the lot and saw Tim Shepard and his crew waiting for us. They looked as bouncy as we felt. There was another huge bonfire in the middle of the lot, and they were feeding it with whatever they could find.

I didn't know if I expected Tim to look any less tough than he usually did, considering that he had just lost his little brother, but I guess it either didn't affect him that much, or he was really good at hiding it. I hoped it was the second one, because I don't know how anyone could not care about losing someone in their family.

I looked up at the sky. It was black and foreboding, just like my thoughts about this whole thing. I didn't know how we were going to win this fight, with me, a little weak scaredy cat, and Soda, not even paying attention to what was happening. My only hope was that Steve and Darry were feeling strong, which I knew they always were.

It wasn't that I was scared, cause I wasn't…much. It was more a feeling of anger, mixed with revenge, mixed with, I don't know what. I was mad at the Socs for killing Curly, but I was also angry at Curly for getting caught up in the whole thing in the first place. But, it's not good to speak bad of the dead, so I shut my thoughts out, and concentrated on not getting my head kicked in.

We waited with Tim and his gang for almost ten minutes, until we saw the Socs pull up with their Mustang headlights piercing the darkness not occupied by the blaze of the fire, and their loud, honking horns putting an end to the eerie silence I had been listening to. Leave it to them to be late for their own rumble. As they got out of the car, I knew that half of them were drunk, and the other half were even more drunk. I heard their forced laughter, as if everything said by someone was the world's greatest joke.

As they approached, I got this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. I felt like I had been here before, which was blatantly obvious. But, suddenly, something came over me that made me feel like this was one huge mistake on our part for being here at all. I figured that this wasn't going to be some pleasant little grudge match. I mean, what if the Socs were so keen on revenge, that they had broken the rules of the rumble, and brought heaters with them or something? I realized that we could all be dead in about two minutes flat, and I started wishing that I was home with Alyssa. Screw being brave. I'd rather be alive.

Once all the Socs were standing in front of us, the silence started to creep back over the lot as we stared at each other, face to face, with looks of anger, and loathing that would make any normal person run to the nearest underground shelter.

One tall Soc stepped out from behind another. I recognized him right away. It was Paul. I saw Darry's eyes flash, and I knew it was because he wanted nothing better than to rip Paul's eyes out of his sockets. The worst part was, I could see even in Paul's glazed over eyes, that he wanted the exact same thing.

I was really hoping someone would say something. This silence was creeping me out. Normally, I would have welcomed any form of silence, but I wasn't trying to read or write now, so I really wanted noise.

It seemed like Paul and Darry stared each other down for hours, but finally Darry spoke.

"Hello again. Long time no see." He said, not breaking eye contact.

Not long enough, I was thinking, but I kept my mouth shut.

"Ah, Darrel, I see you've brought your little…Greasers with you again." Paul said, his eyes staring each one of us down.

I felt Steve move behind me, and Two Bit's eyes blazed with fire beside me. Soda didn't move, just kept the tough look on his face. I knew perfectly well, that he was thinking about Alyssa, and absolutely nothing else. It was like he was glued to the spot he was standing, relying only on the tough look on his face. But his eye would've given him away. Usually, when he tries to look tough, his eyes will blaze, but now, they were solemn, and almost concerned, and filled with compassion. I knew he wasn't feeling compassionate about the Socs.

Darry didn't answer, he just nodded.

"I supposed I'll take you again, Greaser." Paul said, with a look of disdain.

I half expected Dally to jump out from behind the garbage can and help us out, but I knew he wouldn't and I knew we were on our own.

Before I knew what was happening, the first punch had been made. No heaters or knives were brought out to my relief, but I got punched in about five seconds.

I got up and shook it off. I went after the smallest Soc I could find, which wasn't easy, cause to me, they were all huge, towering giants, which I had no chance of defeating. My goal was to basically weaken them, so the other's wouldn't have too hard of a time once I was no longer useful to them.

Once I had found my target, I caught him off guard, and jumped him, kicking and punching until my legs and arms were numb. It didn't last long, however. He threw me off of him in about a minute.

I caugh glances of Soda, Steve and Two Bit fighting around me. Steve looked a little beat up, but he wasn't backing down at all. He currently had a Soc's head under his arm and was hitting the living daylights out of him.

Two Bit was punching two guys at one time, and not only did he look like he was enjoying it, he looked like he was winning.

Soda, on the other hand was punching, kicking, and whacking everything in sight. I was amazed he didn't accidentally get one of us at the rate he was going. I figured he just wanted to get this thing over with, and get home to his girlfriend as soon as possible. Maybe not because he missed her, but maybe because he didn't want her to have any reason to worry about him.

I couldn't find Darry, but I didn't get a chance to look for him, because I got whacked in the face. I didn't know who hit me. It could've been someone on our gang, because I was just sitting there on the ground, and they were passing by real fast not paying attention.

I stood up immediately, and found someone else to punch. He was tough, but I got him down, which amazed me. I ran on to the next person, and then the next, and the next. I was a non stop, punching machine.

Just when I thought I couldn't be stopped, some guy knocked me down so hard, I got the wind kicked out of me. I grabbed his foot, and dragged him down with me.

I scarcely heard Soda say "Pony, you okay?"

"Fine!" I shouted back, and kept on punching.

I found a few more people to punch, and one of the last people I found was huge. I knew I shouldn't have gone after him, but at that point, I was so pumped with adrenaline that I couldn't help myself. No sooner had I thrown a punch his way, that he threw about ten at me. Needless to say, I went down, and I think I blacked out for about five minutes, because the next thing I knew, Soda was kneeling beside me, and I could no longer hear many people.

"What…happened?" I said, opening my eyes, and squinting up at him.

"We beat them. Really bad too. They didn't know what hit them. I saw you go down, Pony. What in the world were you thinking throwing a punch at someone twice your size?" Soda asked me.

"I dunno. Just trying to be the hero I guess." I said, starting to sit up. My head was pounding, but other than that, I thought I was okay.

I figured out pretty quick that I had at least twisted my ankle, because I could barely walk on it.

Darry walked over to help me.

"How're you feeling?" He asked.

"Not bad." I lied. I didn't want to let on how much my head hurt, because right now, I felt like one of the toughest guys there, and I didn't want to spoil that.

"We'd better be getting home. Alyssa can patch us up when we get there." Soda said, starting to walk towards the house.

Two Bit and Steve said goodbye, and went their separate ways, and the three of us started for home.

Soda walked really fast, and I figured he was really anxious to get home to Alyssa.

I just took my time. Firstly, because my ankle hurt too much to walk fast, and secondly, because I didn't want to spoil the moment of glory. As I looked back at the lot, I felt like I was staring at the remains of a battlefield. Luckily for us, there were no left over bodies.

Man, I haven't updated this story for a long time. Oh well, one of my New Years Resolutions is to update all my stories more. Please R&R

Jess

P.S HAPPY NEW YEAR!