Chapter Fifteen

Scar POV

I didn't know how long I'd been there, but it'd been a while. The room was muggy, damp, and freezing. I was starting to feel pretty crappy.

"Oh, she looks horrible."

I felt something cool touch my face.

"I'll get Vinny to come look at her. He'll keep his mouth shut."

I opened my eyes. I was covered in blankets and freezing. I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

"How're you feeling, honey?"

"Just peachy, Marie..."

I glowered at them both.

"This is getting old. I wanna go home..."

Marie looked uncomfortable.

"Freddy, maybe we should just..."

"You are home."

I stared at him wide eyed.

"Excuse me?"

"You're not going anywhere."

"No... What're you... This... No... No! I wanna go home!"

Freddy frowned.

"Listen, you don't understand it now, but it's for the best. For you to be with family."

"Wait, what?!"

"Family. We're you're family. Your mom was my sister. You'll learn the family business and..."

I jumped out of bed, albeit a little wobbly. I couldn't believe this! They were family?

"No! I won't do anything for you! I barely cared for my mom!"

My eyes narrowed.

"And why didn't you tell me that when I first came here?!"

Marie patted my arm, making me look at her.

"He didn't think he'd be keeping you..."

I turned my attention back to him, glaring.

"I'm not just some dog you found on the street!"

"But, you're my niece."

"I'm also Sodapop and Ponyboy's niece! And I want nothing to do with the Smith "family business"! I hated what my mom was in, I'm not doing it!"

He started getting angry.

"Your mom was never in the business. We don't do drugs, we just sell them. June got in with the wrong crowd."

"Are you kidding me?! You're justifying what you do?!"

I was shaking. Marie sat me on the bed.

"Freddy, you're upsetting her, and she's already sick."

"I won't do it! I refuse! I wanna go home!"

I ran to him and started hitting him. He didn't hit me back, but pulled something out of his jacket. I felt a poke in my arm, and the next thing I knew, I was sinking down to the floor."

"Dean, Ben, some help please."

I felt myself being lifted and placed on the bed. The voices were getting softer and softer.

"Why'd you do that?! That was uncalled for!"

"Marie, she'll learn. Eventually she'll..."

"You can't force her to do anything! This isn't about Darry, this is about June! You want her to do what June wouldn't! You gave June a choice, give her one!"

The voices finally stopped coming through, and I was in a deep sleep.

Keegan POV

School had just started and it was awful. Everyone knew by now what had happened to Scar, and people wouldn't stop asking us about it. It was getting old. I was screaming at some kid when I was pulled away.

"What the hell are you doing, kid?!"

I shook him off.

"People keep asking me about Scar! I know as much as they know!"

I sat down on the floor against the lockers.

"Don't they realize this is killing us? I mean, hell Danny, I can't even sleep! It's been almost three months!"

Danny sat down next to me.

"Come on, let's get out of here. One day won't hurt... I'll grab James and Cam."

We all went to Jason's. Mikey was there, along with Matt.

"Dad's gonna kill you."

I scowled.

"I don't really care..."

I walked back outside to grab a smoke. I heard a sigh as the door opened.

"You've gotta tell Dad what this is doing to you. I was honest with him, and he transferred me here so I could be at home. At least until Scar..."

I turned around, cutting him off.

"Shut up... She's not coming back. It's been too long..."

Concern was etched across his face.

"Don't talk like that. Don't lose hope..."

Other than yelling at that kid, I'd kept everything bottled up. I lost it.

"You don't understand! She might be my cousin, but I loved her like a sister! I needed her and she needed me!"

I was pacing. The tears started falling, I couldn't hold them back anymore.

"You weren't there... When she came around, I felt like I wasn't alone anymore... I felt like..."

"Oh. Oh, kiddo..."

He wrapped his arms around me and we sank to the floor.

"I'm sorry... I'm so damn sorry, Keegan... You're right, I should've been there. I ain't doing it anymore. You have my word. I'm not. I haven't since I moved back home..."

After a while, he went back inside. I stayed where I was. I heard a car pull up, but ignored it thinking it was Tim.

"Kiddo?"

I bristled, but didn't look up. He knelt next to me and put a hand on my back.

"It's hard, I know that... But, you can't shut down. You've got to talk to me..."

He sat down next to me.

"You can't lose hope. Scar needs you to be strong for her... Come here."

He put an arm around me and pulled me close. The tears stared falling again.

"Dad, I don't know what I'm doing anymore..."

"You wanna be home schooled? Take a step back?"

"Can I?"

"Me, your Mom, and Ponyboy had been thinking about doing that anyway."

Scar POV

I felt someone touching me and what felt like a blood pressure cuff on me. At one point, a thermometer was plopped on my mouth. Whoever was doing it sighed.

"Freddy, this girl needs a hospital. I can't do anything for her here."

"What's wrong with her?"

I opened my eyes and saw Freddy, Marie, and another man. They didn't notice I was awake.

"It's hard to say with a fever like that. If it goes too much higher, she could die."

"You're a doctor, Vinny. Treat her."

"I don't have what I need. Including a blood sample."

"I can get you whatever..."

"It's not that simple... She needs to be in a hospital where they can find out what's wrong and monitor her 24/7. I can't do that, I have my own practice. I can't drop it to make her better."

The man sighed again.

"Honestly, this probably has something to do with this room you're keeping her in, but could also have to do with stress. She misses her family..."

"We're her family..."

The guy named Vinny, who was apparently a doctor, pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Her other family. Darry's side. You already told me she doesn't wanna be here. Let her go."

"That's not an option."

"She's gonna eventually die at this rate. It may not be soon, but she'll suffer. Do you want that?"

"She won't die. Thanks for nothing "

They both left the room. Marie looked over at me and got a surprised look on her face.

"You're awake..."

"Marie..."

She walked over and put a cool washcloth on my face.

"Sweetie, I'm doing everything thing I can..."

"Why is he so hung up on this?"

She hung her head.

"I'm Freddy's wife... I can't have kids, which means there's no one in the immediate family to take over when Freddy's gone... He was mad at Darry..."

"But... What happened? What did my dad do?"

She sighed.

"Technically, he didn't do anything... Freddy got busted for having a lot of drugs on him around 20 years ago or so... They wanted June to testify that she'd seen her brother with it. She didn't want to, and Darry convinced her to. That's why they moved away..."

"So, you're telling me that I'm being punished because my Dad convinced my Mom to do the right thing?"

"You're not being punished... I think this was his plan all along... I don't think he ever meant for you to go home..."

"What about you?"

She smiled sadly at me.

"I want what's best for you... If you need to go home, then that's what I want. But, I don't run the show..."

Tears started pouring from my eyes.

"Oh, sweetie..."

She started rubbing my back.

"I want Sodapop and Ponyboy... I want Lydia, Keegan... Matt, James, Cam, Danny... Even Mikey and Jason... I just wanna go home..."

I was bawling by this point. Without either of us noticing, Vinny and Freddy had walked back in the room. Marie looked up at him...

"Freddy...?"

"I... I need to think... Stay with her, Marie..."