Chapter Eleven

Scar POV

A month went by, and nothing happened. We all started breathing a little easier.

It was March, and I was in a bad mood for some reason. I didn't know why, I just knew I was. Then, it hit me like a ton of bricks in the middle of class. What was bothering me.

I decided to ditch school. It wasn't like me, and I knew we weren't suppose to be alone, but I was having a hard time. Everything was bottled up and I couldn't get it out. Not caring anymore, I drove away from school and I pulled into the DX.

When I walked in, Soda stared at me wide eyed. He had been talking to Steve. His expression changed to anger.

"Scar? What're you doing here? You're suppose to be at..."

"I can't do this anymore..."

I backed up against the door. They both started walking towards me as I slowly sank into the floor.

"What? What cant you do?"

They both knelt down on either side of me. I looked down at my hands.

"Come on, kid. You gotta give us something."

"I know why dad never told you... I know... He told me about you... All of you... You guys were his world... I just... I don't..."

My words were coming out all jumbled. Steve shushed me.

"Relax, Scar. Just calm down."

I nodded and looked at Soda.

"I'm ready... I need to talk or I'm gonna explode..."

We went back to the house and sat in the living room. They'd called Two-bit over.

"You ready?"

I nodded.

"My dad... He loved you guys... All of you... More than anything... He... He never told you about me because he was ashamed..."

"Ashamed?"

"He couldn't stand the fact that he'd grilled everybody to be better when he ended up in a crappy marriage. He never told you about me because he didn't want you guys to be disappointed that he had a kid with my mom. He thought you guys would be mad..."

Soda took a deep, shaky breath and brought his hand to his mouth.

"I've known you guys my whole life. I knew your kids, wives, everything. I used to wonder about y'all. Think about... What'd it be like to meet you guys..."

"Then, why didn't you want..."

"I didn't wanna be taken away from my mom. Or for her to get in trouble. I know she was a bad mom, but not as bad as some. She'd never hit me or anything. She was always gentle... When she would be sober, it was great. But, after dad died, it just got worse. She got into harder stuff..."

I wiped my eyes.

"My dad... He was the greatest dad ever. He said I had your smile and Ponyboy's eyes. That he always had a piece of y'all..."

I lost it. I had only let tears escape, but now I was bawling. Soda got up and hugged me.

"Why don't you go lay down. Okay?"

"I'm sorry I ditched... I just..."

"It's fine. Go."

Soda POV

"Soda..."

"I don't know what to say... How could Dar think we'd hate him for having a kid?"

Two-bit looked down.

"He thought y'all would be disappointed because he had a kid with June."

"That wouldn't have mattered. That girl's my niece, I love her. Whether I hated her mom or not..."

"You didn't hate her, Soda. You hated the things she did. There's a difference..."

Steve was right. June had been a real nice girl. The first few times I met her, she was great. When I realized the heavy shit she was in... That's when I didn't like her anymore. It was harder on Pony than anybody. He wanted Darry to be happy, and I don't know if he was ever really happy with June. I just know he wanted to fix her.

I called Pony and told him what happened.

"I can't believe he thought that..."

"I know..."

"Damn... When'd everything get so complicated?"

"When our parents decided to have kids."

He chuckled.

"So, she's known us her whole life. That's crazy."

"I know..."

Scar POV

Later that day, I went to pick up Keegan and James. We went to Jason's and hung out for a while. It was when we got back home that everything fell apart.

"Oh, shit."

There were cop cars outside. We ran inside to see a crying Lydia holding a scared Nicky. Soda looked at us.

"They tried to take him..."