Chapter 7:
As predicted, Two-Bit cracked up when he heard what had happened at the gas station. He rolled off the couch laughing, and kept shouting things like "beat by a girl" and "Randy got it bad". June leaned against the closed door, looking at me quizzically.
"Does this happen often?" she asked, gesturing toward the heap of laughter on the floor.
"With him?" Soda said. "All the time. Just never this much."
"He looks like he is going to faint," Shing Hwa said.
"I think he might," June told her. "But hey, at least we're all still in one piece."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I inquired, half joking, half curious. "Ya hit Randy on the neck."
"Yeah, I was a little worried about that," she replied. "I wasn't sure if I could reach the right spot on the neck." Another burst of laughter came from our friend below the couch, along with a "giant wimp". Soda frowned.
"Did you?" he asked.
"Yeah," she told him. "At least, I'm pretty sure I did. Either way, he wouldn't be paralyzed."
"You sure about that?"
"Yeah. I didn't use nearly enough force to hurt him that much." At that point Darry came in from the kitchen to beckon us to dinner. The conversation ended, and we ate in relative silence. Of course, on occasion Two-Bit burst out laughing until Darry gave him a look that said pretty obviously, "Cut it out, we're eating!"
After dinner I found June sitting on the railing on the porch by herself, leaning against a pole with one foot dangling and the other flat on the railing. She had untied her hair and it was waving in the breeze. She was staring out into the distance, as if looking for something she left behind. I walked over quietly.
"You look good with your hair down," I said. She turned when she heard me.
"Ponyboy!" she exclaimed, startled by my presence. "I didn't see you there."
"I know," I replied. "May I join you?" She nodded, and I climbed up onto the railing. "Whatcha lookin' at?" I asked.
"Nothing," she said. "I'm just thinking."
"About what?"
She shrugged. "My parents. Shing Hwa. You."
"Why me?" I questioned.
"Oh," she started, "no real reason. It's just—I didn't expect this."
"Expect what?" I asked. "To beat up a Soc twice in one week?"
"You ask a lot of questions, you know that?" she joked. "No, it's not that. I didn't expect you to take us in like this."
"You're our cousin. That means you're one of us. Why wouldn't we take you in?"
"Because we're different." She looked at me. "How often do you see a Chinese girl in Oklahoma? Or a girl who can knock a guy out? Back home, all we had was each other. Nobody wanted to be around us. And then we come here and you take us with open arms."
I smiled. "June, we're greasers. We stick together as a family, and you're part of our family. You knew Darry before, remember?"
"Not that well," she laughed. "The only time I saw him before this was about 13 years ago. I was two."
"Yeah, but he recognized you. How do you explain that?" We both laughed.
"I don't really know. I guess he just figured I'd come back some day." We sat there in silence for a while. June's hair continued to blow in the wind. She looked out over the street and smiled.
"I like talking to you, Ponyboy," she said after a while. "It makes me feel like I'm home again. Do people say that a lot about you?"
"Not really," I replied. "But it's good you feel that way. After all, you are home. And I think it's safe to say we're not going anywhere." I jumped off the railing. She followed, and I headed inside. She hesitated, and from the door I heard her say,
"Home."