Chapter 2: The Park

We arrived at the movies. Ponyboy or I didn't talk along the way. Benny just kept talking. He loves to talk like Mark. Once Mark and Benny had a talking contest to see who could talk longer. Tyler and I fell asleep. When we woke up, they were still talking. That contest never decided who could talk the longest. Both of them won. We looked at the movies and saw nothing good was playing so we went across the street to an art store. Benny went looking for a new coloring book. I promised him he could get a new coloring book once we got here is he didn't talk the whole way. Ponyboy and I just walked around. I just realized we're the same height. I walked down a sketch book section and grabbed a sketch book. Then Benny came running toward us with a big coloring book. We got in the line and I paid for it. Then he left.

"Where to next?" I asked.

"Park!" Benny yelled.

"It that alright Ponyboy?" I asked. I could tell he wasn't every happy.

"Sure," he said.

"If you don't want to go, just say so," I said.

"We can go," he said. We went to the park. Once we got there, Ponyboy and I sat on a branch while Benny went to play. Ponyboy then pulled out a cigarette, a match, lit the match, lit his cigarette and he began to smoke.

"What's it like living here?" I asked.

"Tough," he said. "We have two groups: Greasers and Socs."

"That's why you don't look happy," I said. "Because of the Socs?"

"Yea; they jump us Greasers," he said. "One of my friends got jumped once and he was hurt badly."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said. I was never jumped before. Things were totally different here. "I take it you're a greaser?"

"Yea." He said. He just stayed quiet after that. I wonder what is wrong with him.

"Ponyboy." He looked at me. "I'm sorry if I offended you. I didn't know. Could you talk some more please. It makes me feel that I did something wrong because you're not talking to me. You didn't talk much at my brother's house and now you just don't want to talk." I don't like it when someone doesn't talk to me to much. It makes me feel either bad or lonely. It makes me feel bad because I might have said something that offended them.

"It's not you," he said. "I have a lot on my mind right now." He threw his cigarette on the ground, put his foot on it and put it out. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I haven't been real nice."

"It's alright; do you want to go?"

"No; let him play for a while." We both looked over at Benny and saw he was having fun. Then I saw Benny get pushed off the monkey bars. I ran over to him and helped him up. Then I looked at the child that pushed him. He was Benny's age only meaner. I took Benny back over to the branch to look at his knee. His left knee was scraped. I took out a cloth from my jacket pocket and my switchblade fell out. I quickly grabbed it and put it back in the pocket. I went over to the water fountain and got water on the cloth. Then I went back over to Benny and cleaned his wound. Then I let him go play some more. "Why do you have a blade?" Ponyboy asked me.

"Something happened," I said. "I was defenseless and my brothers almost didn't come in time. I can't depend on my brothers saving me all the time. In addition, once Benny and I were attacked by a gang in New York. That was when Benny was about three or four years old."

"Oh; tell me about your brothers and yourself," he said.

"Well Mark was the leader of a gang when we lived in New York," I said. "He is JD. Tyler is the good one. I am in the middle of them. I'm not good but I'm not too bad like Mark. I fight if needed and I'll do anything to make sure my younger brother or sister doesn't get hurt. I also have good grades too. Tell me about you and your brothers."

"My grades are okay. Darry tells me I need to get A's though," he said. "Darry roofs houses and Soda works at a gas station. He dropped out of school so he works full time there."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said. "Tyler would never let me drop out of school. He understood why Mark did. Anthony might try and get him back in school I guess."

"Who knows," he said as he looked at the sky. "It's getting late; we better get going or they'll think we ran off to Mexico." I laughed. It was a funny thought. After a minute I stopped laughing and yelled for Benny. Then I felt a cold breeze. It's cold out here. Benny came running and we left. After we left the park, we headed in the direction of our neighborhood. I looked at Ponyboy and saw he was cold. I took off my jacket and gave him it.

"Put it on," I said. "You need it more than I do." He put it on and I could tell me saw the scars on my arms. Benny ran ahead of us. Even though I was in shorts, I was warm. I've been in a hot car all day and the cold air felt good.

"How did you get those?" he asked.

"…A fight," I said. It was partly true.

"How?"

"Some guys cut my arms."

"Do Tyler and Mark know?"

"Yea; Ponyboy I really don't want to talk about it."

"Sorry; I didn't know."

"It's alright." I looked behind us and saw a blue car following us. "Benny, go home and get Mark. You know here we live right?"

"Yes; be back." Benny ran off. He knew if I asked him to get Mark then something was going to happen. The car parked in front of us and five guys came out of the car and surrounded us. They were wearing nice clothes. These must be the Socs Ponyboy told me about.

"Look at what we got here boys: two greasers," one said.

"So what," I said.

"Both of them need a hair cut; especially the female," another said.

"Don't you dare touch her with your fitly Soc hands," Ponyboy said. That's when the guys attacked Ponyboy and me. We ran but soon one tackled me. Ponyboy came back and pushed the guy off me. Then two grabbed me and the other three went for Ponyboy. They forced him to the ground and these guys forced me against the wall. I hit the wall and kick them below the waist. Then I attacked the guys on Ponyboy. I got one off and he took care of the rest. Then we tried to run away but they tackled us again. Two guys held Ponyboy and two held me down. We were both on the ground. I looked in front of me and saw the fifth guy had a switchblade knife.

"I'll start with you," he said as he came closer to me. Then he put the blade on my left cheek and cut it. I bit my tongue so I wouldn't scream. I looked at him and he was smiling.

"Leave her alone," Ponyboy said. "You Socs have no right here. This is our turf."

"So what," another said.

"We go wherever we like," another said.

"I suggest you get out of here," I said.

"Why should we?"

"You'll see soon," I said as I head butted the guy. He fell to the ground and dropped the switchblade. The guys let go of Ponyboy but punched him in the stomach. Then they came toward me. I shut my eyes and the next thing I heard was them yelling. I opened my eyes and saw Mark, Steve, Two-Bit and Soda attacking them.

"You Soc bastards need to stay off our turf," Two-Bit said.

"And don't mess with my kid sis'," Mark said as he punched one of them. All the Socs ran to the car and tried to drive away. I got up and walked over to Ponyboy. Then I looked up and saw Mark hit the Socs back window with a stick. The glass went everywhere. Then they drove away. "Don't ever come back," he said as he ran over to me. "You two alright?"

"Yea," I said. "I'm sorry Mark; I was weak."

"It's alright; you just moved here and you didn't know what they were like," he said. "I'm glad you didn't fight."

"Pony, are you okay?" Soda asked.

"Yea," he said. "They didn't hurt me. She did." Mark looked at my left cheek.

"They used a blade?" he asked. "Why didn't you use your blade?"

"They had my hands held back and Ponyboy has my jacket," I said.

(Ponyboy's POV)

I looked at Martha. She was shaking and trying not to cry. She tried to save me. I owe her. She reminds me of…Johnny when he saved me from drowning. But how can she remind me of Johnny. She has a different hair color than him, she's my height and she's not as scared as him. But I feel like I can tell her anything like Soda and Johnny.

"Ponyboy," she said. "Are you alright?"

"Yea," I said. "You need to get that cut cleaned." I helped her up and we all walked back to her house in silence. We walked in the door and saw Anthony holding a crying Marissa and Benny was trying to pull Tyler out the door. We entered and he let go of Tyler and ran over to Martha. He hugged her legs. Anthony came over to her and handed her Marissa. I didn't see Darry so he must have went out.

"She won't stop crying. I changed her dipper, I fed her, I gave her the toys but that didn't work," he said. "What is wrong with her?"

"She's tired," I said. Everyone looked at me. "What? He tried every else so she must be tired."

"He's right," Martha said. "Lay her down on her mat on her back. Don't anyone wake her up." Anthony took Marissa and went up stairs. Tyler went and got the medical supplies. Martha sat down on a chair and I sat next to her. Tyler poured some stuff on a piece of cloth and put it on her cheek. She jumped up a little then. "That hurts Tyler," she said.

"It cleans the wound," he said as he wiped all the blood off. "Do you want a bandage?"

"No," she said. "I'll be fine; next time I'll use my blade."

"Use it as a last resort," he said.

"It was good you didn't use it," Mark said. "They could have cut Ponyboy too."

"So I guess I did a good thing then," she said as she smiled. That was the first time I've seen her smile.