Chapter 2:
As we sat in Bucks and the boys all threw back a few beers, exactly the way Dally would want them too, I sat and thought. Dally would never pick me up for another milk shake date. He would never give me another impromptu driving lesson. He would never steal another Christmas present for me, or open whatever I had made or bought for him and proudly display it for all to see. He would never ask me for advice when he was fighting with Sylvia. Or pick a fight with a boy that had me in tears. Dallas just wasn't here anymore. But that was okay. I had made a deal with Mama and Daddy. They would take care of him and Johnny up there, and I would take care of the six boys left down here. I even crossed my heart and swore it, so they would know from whatever mansion they were staying in on the street of gold that I was serious.
I watched as Soda, Steve, Two bit, and Pony were roaming through their game of doubles pool, Hudson right up there with them and just happy to be part of the big boys, listening to them telling stories about Dally and laughing with each other. Darry and Buck were doing the same at the bar, over a few mugs of beer. The smiles that lit up all their faces made me smile when I remembered their first meeting.
...
I was in the fifth grade, two months shy of turning eleven when Dallas had rolled into town. I was once again struggling with school. Mama had said it was normal with my age and the changes that would be happening within my body, but I didn't think that had been it. I felt a storm brewing, and that storm affected my class work.
And so one cold February day, we found ourselves in the eye of the hurricane. Johnny and Pony were in the fifth grade with me, Soda and Steve were in the sixth grade, Two Bit in eighth, and Darry in 10th. On that day in particular, Darry was at the junior high school baseball field for tryouts. The high schooler's field had gotten ruined over the winter and wasn't quite ready yet. Us middle schoolers walked there to watch him, with a promise that Two Bit would join us.
And join us he did, with a new kid next to him. Something had seemed awfully familiar about him, but I just couldn't place it, and so I had tried to shake it off as Two Bit told him each of our names. "- And this is Avery Jane. She's Pony, Soda, and Darry's sister, but we let her tag along with us anyways" I rolled my eyes at Two Bit but smiled at the kid, and was a little disheartened at the coldness in his eyes.
"They your real brothers?" He asked, shocking me, my mouth dropped open as I accusingly glanced at Two Bit. Had he told my secret? "Yes, we're her real brothers" Soda said annoyed, puffing out the twelve year old chest that had recently formed a little more muscle. "What's it to you jerk wad?" "I dunno" he shrugged cooly, making me wonder if this was even real right now, it felt like a nightmare. "Avery Jane sounds like the name of the daughter of a slut who runs off across the country" and with that, Soda had turned to Two Bit, who was wide eyed, and tackled him, landing a few good punches on his jaw. "Why would you talk about that man, that's private stuff!" "I swear soda, I didn't! I would never say that!" I could hear him yelling, as I walked up to the new kid.
"Why are you acting like such an asshole?" I scowled, annoyed at everything about this encounter. "You left!" He exclaimed, making me cock my head to the side. "On my birthday, no less!" He pushed me into the mulch, earning the attention of the crowd that had gathered to watch baseball try outs. I stuck my legs out and tripped him like Darry had taught me, and the kid came crashing to the ground. With that, chants of "fight fight fight!" Were heard as I climbed on top of him and punched him in the face. "I don't even know you, creep!" I shouted, freaked out about the kid who seemed to know parts of my past, without knowing me.
"Curtis!" I could hear in the background. At first I didn't know which one of us they were referring to, and took a moment to glance up. Soda was being restrained by Steve, Pony and Johnny, and Two Bit was profusely apologizing. "Get ahold of your sister!" I followed the teachers stare and saw that Darry was running in from the baseball field, straight towards me. Shit.
I glanced down at the kid, who smirked and said, "What's the matter? Did mommy leave you too?" And with that, I landed one last punch, effectively breaking his nose and my knuckles, causing both of us to cry out in pain as Darry finally had caught up, grabbing me in his arms and pulling me back as several teachers were running over. The gym teacher grabbed both Two Bit and Soda by the scruff of the neck, walking them towards the doors, heading to the principal's office and talking about how detention for a week is the usual punishment for fighting.
Darry held onto me, making me face him. "What the hell is the matter with you?" He asked, his face looking eerily similar to dad's when he's mad, "This jerk was saying things about my mother!" I shouted angrily as I watched a history teacher pick him up, smirk still on his face, and take him inside. I saw the confusion in Darry's eyes. How would a total stranger know anything about Cynthia? But the confusion was quickly replaced with a stroke of fear as the couch, spitting fire, came over to us.
"Curtis, if that's the type of crap that'll be in the crowd on game day, you can forget your tryout!" Darry grimaced, glancing at me and then letting go. The hope in my eyes fell as he trotted away from us, saying "No sir, no problems from me. They won't be coming to our games" My eyes watered with anger as I realized Darry was picking baseball over me. As a ten year old, I hadn't understood right away that Darry felt like sports were his only path in life, and that if he didn't make the team, he wouldn't get scouted out and eventually, earn a college scholarship. All I could see was that my brother was leaving me in a moment of need.
Mrs. Jenkins, one of the science teachers, frowned at me as she grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the building. I glanced back at Johnny, Steve and Pony, the only three who hadn't gotten in trouble, and they all nodded at me, silently letting me know everything would be alright.
The hallway to the main office was long, and seemed like it would never end. Yet, it did. And at the end, the new kid was sitting in a chair, sulking, as my brother and friend were inside getting yelled at.
"Sit," Mrs Jenkins pointed to the only open chair, right next to the reason I was here. I rolled my eyes but complied and she entered the office, muttering about "stupid kids causing issues" and "paperwork". I turned away from the boy and stared down the hallway, picking the pink fingernail polish Mama had painted on my nails earlier that week.
I heard a THWAP and glanced over to see mystery boy had a straw and pieces of wadded up paper. He was aiming spitballs at the ceiling! "You're gonna get in more trouble you know!" I said in a know-it-all voice, not really caring that it would happen, and yet wanting him to know at the same time. He shrugged, smirking, "Shoot girlie, this ain't trouble. Now, getting smacked around at home, that's trouble. Getting a blade pulled on ya in a street fight, that's trouble" He pulled a cigarette out of his jacket pocket and lit it, making me wrinkle my nose. Nobody I knew smoked cigarettes, and this kid couldn't be more than twelve or thirteen.
"Leaving your brother in the middle of the night, on his birthday, and forgetting all about him, THAT'S trouble!" I opened my mouth, but a comeback wouldn't even grace my lips. "H-How, How do you know about me?" I stuttered, honestly concerned at this point. He blew a ring of smoke in my face, causing me to cough. "Cause you never even said goodbye. I spent years wondering where you were, and you couldn't even remember me?"
My mouth dropped open. "Dallas?" I asked quietly, leaning forward. He nodded. "in the flesh, not like you'd care" he muttered. Suddenly, I forgot what had happened outside, and I flung myself forward, wrapping my arms around him, tears falling down my face as he tried to push me off. "Cool it kid!" He exclaimed when he finally succeeded and I was sitting back in hm chair, staring at him. "How'd you get here?" I asked. He shrugged, something he seemed to do a lot of. "Old man got sick of me, sent me out here to live with Uncle Broderick. How'd our whore of a mother get remarried? It's nice to see she forgot all about me."
His eyes were cold, like ice, and that was the first time in my life I realized just how hurt Dally had been. I was just a little kid then, so there wasn't much I could've done, and there wasn't much I remembered, but he was a little older, and because of that, he remembered a lot more than me.
I bit my lip and looked away after I realized I had been staring. "She's dead" I said softly, kicking my feet back and forth as they dangled off the chair. "She's been dead since I was seven years old." His eyes shifted, and I saw something that almost looked sorrowful, or lost. But quickly they were back to the icy stone. "Oh," he muttered. "Sorry kid, that bites."
Both of us were silent for a minute, until I said "Pony, Soda, and Darry were my friends from the neighborhood, and their parents adopted me, after it happened." I shifted in my seat, both embarrassed and guilty that while Dally had been living a life so cold it changed him in New York, I had spent the last three and a half years in a loving family.
The door to the office opened pretty soon after that, and the principal punished all four of us by making us clap erasers after school for a week. But that was fine, because after he got done hollering and screaming, I introduced the brother from my old life to my friend and brother from my new, and we walked home together.
A jacket being placed around my shoulders pulled me from my thoughts, and I watched as Tim Shepherd took a seat on the bar stool beside me, a small smile on his face. I furrowed my eyebrows as I took it off and held it in front of me, my fingers tracing over the bullet holes that had been smoothed and mended, the areas that should have been stained with blood scrubbed clean. "How?" I asked softly, looking up at the tough greaser.
He held a hand up at Buck, who slid him a beer, before answering with a shrug, "There's a dry cleaner who owed me a favor. Now, stealing it back from evidence at the police station was the harder feat" I grinned and leaned over, wrapping my arms around him as I whispered "Thank you." I could feel him tense, then relax, as he wrapped his arms around me and said, "Don't mention it darlin'"
Darry and Buck moved their conversation over to us at that point, and the rest of the night was spent reminiscing with friends about my brother, the hood, and how much we would miss him, icy stares included.