Chapter 10: In Chicago at Last
Disclaimer: See any one of the previous chapters.
Soda stepped off the train onto the platform, listening to Steve and Ponyboy bicker in the background. Something about politics or something else Soda didn't understand or care about.
A grimy guy rammed right into Soda, almost knocking him over. "Hey, watch it, man!" he snapped. The guy turned, his eyes wild and crazy, and grabbed Soda by the shoulders. "They're after me!" he yelled.
"W-who's after you?" Soda asked, feeling a bit scared. The guy just kept shaking him and yelling, "They're after me! They're after me!" He finally let go and kept running.
That was weird, Soda thought. Two men wearing white suits ran by. "Excuse me, sir," one stopped and asked him. "Did a crazy man just run by here?"
"Uh, yeah," Soda said, confused. "He went that way," he said, pointing. The men in white ran on. One of them was holding a syringe. That was even weirder, Soda thought.
He looked around. Um. Where were they supposed to go? "Pony?" Soda tried, turning to Stave and Pony. Ponyboy ignored him and continued arguing with Steve.
"Pony?" Soda was annoyed. He didn't appreciate being ignored. "PONY!" he finally yelled, attracting the attention of Ponyboy and more than a few passengers. Soda couldn't have cared less, as long as he had his brother's attention.
"Pony," he said desperately, lowering his voice. "Where are we supposed to go?" Ponyboy stared at him. "Why're you asking me, Soda? Just check the tickets."
Soda blinked, a horrible feeling settling in his stomach. "Y-you mean, you don't have the tickets?"
Ponyboy shook his head, looking almost fourteen again and in trouble. Soda swallowed. "We're screwed," he said with some finality.
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Steve rolled his eyes. Honestly, Soda just hadn't grown up and Ponyboy still didn't use his head. "Guys," he said, irked.
"What?" Soda finally freaked, jumping half a mile at the sound of Steve's voice. Steve held up the tickets. Soda's jaw dropped and Ponyboy started sputtering. "But-what-why-HOW?"
"You left them on the table. I saw them just before we left," Steve explained. Soda sighed in relief. "Man, Steve, what would we do without you?"
"You'd be stranded in Chicago is what you'd be. Now let's go, we're gonna be late!" Steve was right. They barely had an hour to find the center and take their seats for Two-Bit's show.
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"Whew, we made it!" Soda said in relief and exhaustion. Ponyboy just shook his head. "Chicago's waaaay too much for me. Give me Tulsa any day," he groaned.
They had spent ten minutes trying to hail a cab. They finally got a girl to get one for them, and Soda practically had to shake her off. They had been thrown out halfway because they discovered that they didn't have two cents between them for cab fare, so they had walked the remaining eighteen blocks.
"Soda! Pony! Steve!" The three of them whipped around at the sound of that familiar voice. "Darry!" yelped Soda, practically throwing himself at Darry.
"Ouch! Soda, cut that out," Darry said without much reprieve in his voice. He was grinning widely despite himself.
"Darry? You're here too?" Darry turned at the sound of that voice. His eyes widened. "A.J.?" he said, astonished. "What're you doing here?" he asked, rather stupidly.
"I'm stalking you," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "No, I'm here with some friends," she said, jerking a thumb back at a bunch of college kids. "My cousin's performing. Tanuja Patel." She turned and yelled to them, "Hey, guys! Over here!"
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A.J. turned to Darry. "So, why're you here?" she asked curiously. "I'm here because one of my old friends is performing tonight. Two-B—I mean, Keith Matthews," he said. "We used to call him Two-Bit."
A.J. nodded understandingly. "I see," she said. "So, who was that guy who practically tackled you?" she asked, glancing behind Darry at them. She wasn't tall enough to look over his shoulder.
Darry turned and called to them, "Guys! Over here!" The three of them wandered over, looking kind of curiously at A.J.
He introduced them and A.J. introduced Darry, Soda, Steve and Ponyboy to her friends, Skate, Lucky, and Sunny.
People started heading in. "We'd better go in," Darry suggested. Steve and Soda were just being themselves, Ponyboy and A.J. were deep in discussion about a book called To Kill a Mockingbird, and Lucky was goofing off with Skate, throwing paper wads at Sunny.
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Darry's ribs hurt and tears were sliding down his red face. He had never laughed so hard in his life. He had no idea Two-Bit could be so funny.
Ponyboy was practically choking, and A.J. was trying to get him to take deep breaths between giggles.
Soda and Steve were falling all over themselves in their seats, trying to keep control. And they weren't alone, either. Darry could barely hear himself think in all the ruckus.
"…And then he says, 'Man, that was my last tomato!'" Two-Bit delivered the punch line. He waited for the erupting laughter to die down before he announced, "Alright that was my last one. I gotta go, see ya'll later!" He bounded energetically off the stage to tremendous applause.
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Two-Bit waved to Darry over his fans' heads. Darry towered over most of them, so he was spotted easily.
"Two-Bit, meet Lucky, Sunny, Skate and A.J. They go to college with me," Darry introduced them. He looked around. "Hey, where'd A.J. go?" he said.
Soda shrugged. "Beats me," he said. "Pony, did you see-? Hey. Where'd he go too?" A look of perverted realization spread across Steve's face.
"Don't even say it, because you're way off course," a voice snapped from behind him. Steve turned to see an irate A.J. and a blushing Ponyboy. "We were just meeting my cousin, Tanuja."
Steve shrugged, unabashed. "Whatever."
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Late that night, Darry collapsed on his bed, exhausted. It was four a.m. and Soda, Steve, and Ponyboy had just caught the late night train back to Tulsa.
Flashback: The train whistle sounded. Ponyboy and Soda hugged Darry one last time. Soda turned to Darry with a pained expression. "Couldn't we have stayed with you one last night?" he pleaded.
"Soda, I already told you, there's just no room!" Darry protested. "Yeah," Ponyboy interjected with an expression similar to Soda's. "But it's three a.m. and usually only J.D.'s are out in Tulsa. This is Chicago. Creeps and weirdoes are out at this hour."
Darry just shook his head. "Don't let it slip, but I room with one. So shut up and get going before the train leaves without you."
The train pulled out of the station. A.J., Lucky and their friends had long gone back to the dorms. Darry turned to Two-Bit, who was waving back to Steve in the window.
"Well, see you around, I guess," Darry said. "Man, you were good. You weren't so funny when I saw you last."
Two-Bit grinned. "I was nineteen," he reminded Darry. "I'm twenty-eight now. I've finally grown up."
Darry smirked. "About time, too," he teased, and ducked Two-Bit's swing before saying goodbye until who knows when. End flashback.
Darry buried his head in his pillow and fell asleep, dreaming happily until the alarm rang at six the next morning.
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Kind of a stupid chapter, right? I didn't know what else to put up.
Many thanks to the reviewer who explained calculus to me. I didn't understand a word of it. Not surprising, since I'm failing Geometry. But thanks anyway. :
Review, and the next chapter will come up.
