Chapter 19: After Party (Skywriter's Point of View)

I can't believe I let Chris talk me into this. I can't believe I listened to her! Kate is already at the house when we get home, along with Pony and Soda. Darry seems really mad, but right now I don't have time to deal with him.

"Lexan, what happened to you?!" Kate yells as soon as I walk in the door.

"Chris, what's the matter?" She asks Chris who's still cryin'. Darry comes into the house, slamming the door.

"Where do you keep the first aid kit?" I ask Soda, trying not to loose my temper. God it's going to be a long night. Soda rushes off, and reappears a second later with rubbing alcohol, Band-Aids, and towels. Kate is over at my side in an instant trying to help me. She pours some alcohol onto a paper towel and dabs my forehead with it. It burns instantly.

"Jesus Kate! Cut it out!" I yell. "I'm don't need your help! Leave me alone!" Kate backs away instantly and goes back over to talk to Darry.

"What happened?" She asks. I can tell Darry is about to explode.

"What happened?! I'll tell you what happened! Chris and Sky snuck off to Buck's when they were supposed to be at the movies! I wanna know what the hell the two of em' were thinking!" Darry yells. Boy is he loud. Pony shrinks up subconsciously and goes off to his room. I clean all the blood off my face and start applying Band-Aids.

"Well, what were thinking?" Darry asks when neither of us answer. I really don't need this right now.

"Fuck off!" I yell, pulling Chris off the floor where she's been sitting. Soda's eyes grow huge and Kate looks like she doesn't know what to say. Darry looks like he's about to fly through the roof.

"You okay?" I ask Chris. She's pretty hysterical, and I'm not sure why. It isn't the first time she's sen a fight.

"Skywriter! Go to your room before I do something that'll land me in jail!" Darry screams. And I mean, screams. I pull Chris by her wrist towards my room, but Darry stops me.

"Alone!" He yells, and the look on his face warns against objections. Normally, I wouldn't go down that easily, but I don't feel too good. I go to the bathroom instead and throw up whatever beer is still in my system, listening to Darry bang his fists on the wall and scream all sorts of obscenities. In other circumstances, it might have been funny.

"I can't believe this! One day! What am I going to do with him?!" Darry screams.

"Listen, don't worry about it, I'll talk to him." Kate says, trying to calm him down.

"Oh Is that right?! You'll talk to him?!" He yells sarcastically. "I don't see why you should even give a shit! You never stopped him from drinkin' and fightin' before!" Oh boy, I think, rubbing my head. It's pounding like crazy.

"You okay?" Soda asks from the bathroom door. I focus in on him and nod. Everything is a little blurry.

"You mind getting me some water?" I ask. I hate to send him into the hell in the living room, but if I go I might be killed.

"Sure. Be right back." He answers without hesitation. Apparently Kate and darry don't notice him, cause they keep on screamin'.

"Well I did the best I could! But his father didn't want him, and his mother didn't want him, and his aunt didn't give a rats ass about what he did, so by time he got to me, he was a lost cause." Kate defends. Thanks a lot. That's the kind of thing I like to hear. Honestly though, in this state, I don't even care.

"Here you go." Soda says, giving me a glass of water. I have it down in a second.

"Thanks." I tell him. He smiles and squeezes my shoulder. How he manages a smile through all this, I'll never know.

"That's a tuff lookin' cut on your head. What happened?" He asks. I feel the spot on my forehead when it'd been bleeding.

"Probably a ring or something one of the guys was wearin'. Didn't really have time to figure out." I tell him. He nods, understandingly. I know good and well he's been on my end before. Probably drunk as well.

"I better go to room now." I tell him, and he helps be stand. I manage to sneak into my room without drawing attention to myself. I shut the door and listen to the fight that's still going on outside my bedroom.

"Just go back to not caring and I'll straighten everything out!" Darry yells.

"Fine. That doesn't sound that a bad idea! C'mon Chris!" Kate screams, followed by the sound of the front door slammin'. Gee, love you too sis. A minute or so later I hear the truck start up, and the house is so quiet it's scary. The knock on my door seems loud compared to the sudden silence.

Pony's Point of View

I don't think I've ever seen Darry so mad before in my life. Man he was angry and I really feel back for Lexan. I know how he feels being yelled at like that, but I've never done anything like this before. Darry is going to kill him. Darry goes out for a drive, I think to cool off, and I take the opportunity to talk to Lex. I knock on his door before entering, just in case.

"Yeah?" He calls. I open the door and step inside.

"You mind if I come in?" I ask. He shrugs, looking really calm considering what's gone on.

"Sure, it's your house." He answers. His face is pretty mad messed up, but nothing that won't heal in a few days.

"Look I um…I'm sorry about the movies thing." He says looking down at his hands uncomfortably.

"Hey, I'm not mad at you. Dary bein' mad is enough. So, what happened?" I ask. His eyes light up with excitement and anger.

"Well, Chris was so fuckin' set on goin' to Buck's right? So, after we left the movies the two of us go there to have some drinks-" He starts, stopping when Soda enters the room.

"I wanna hear too." He says, smiling at the thought of a cool story. Lex laughs and shakes his head.

"Alright." He says, and Soda sits on the bed beside me.

"So we get there, and things are going fine. We were havin' a lot of fun, playin' a little poker, and shooting pool with a few guys. Then, I leave to get another drink, maybe my third or forth one, and when I get back this redneck is hittin' on my girlfriend. And, it's not even that, but he's bein' real rough, and she screams for me to help her. So of course, I gotta, I mean, she's my girlfriend. So that's when the fight starts." He says, continuing on to explain the details about Dally and the redneck's friend. Now that it's over, it's slightly funny, and Soda and I can't help but laugh. Soon, we're all laughing hysterically at the thought of Buck tryin' to take out some guy when he's stupid drunk. Myabe it's not even that funny, but sometimes under pressure, things seem funnier I guess.

"I don't see what's so funny!" Darry booms from the doorway of Lex's room. We alls top laughing immediately. Darry still looks mad, but not as angry as before.

"Well, when you envision it in your head…" Soda says, starting to laugh again. Darry does his best to keep a straight face.

"Hey, hey, what's up with the big times?!" Two-bit calls, stomping in the front door. "I'd say it's a nice day for some football! Where is everybody?"

"Soda, Pony, you guys go play some football with Two-bit to get em' to shut up." Darry says, daring to show some amusement in his voice. Soda and I get up to leave.

"Stay in the lot though. You guys gotta come home soon. You have school tomorrow." Darry adds, putting his straight face back on. I nod and leave, giving Lexan a sympathetic look before leaving.

Darry's Point of View

I got rid of Soda and Pony so I could talk to Sky alone. I'm not sure what I'm gonna to say, since I don't want to lose my cool, and I don't want him to lose his either. He leans back against the headboard behind his bed and sighs deeply.

"You feel okay? Nothing broken?" I start out. He looks up at my, startled, and I can't blame him. He's probably expecting me to beat in the ground, which doesn't sound like a half-bad idea.

"Uh, yeah. Fine." He answers, looking back down at his hands. Man this kid Is tough. He got the shit beat out of em' today, and didn't shed not one tear. I think it's normal of him too, because Kate didn't seem surprised.

"Why did you feel the need to go to Buck's after I told you not to?" I ask. What I really want to ask is, what the fuck am I going to do with you?. I can tell he knows this too, because he's squirming, like he's just waiting for me to break. I refuse to give him that kind of satisfaction though.

"Well, it's not about feeling the need." He says with sarcasm. "It's just about wanting to. Or at least, Chris wanted to, and I didn't see the big deal. I still don't. He answers. I feel my blood boil and try counting to ten.

"You don't see the big deal?" I ask as calmly as possible. "Have you looked in the mirror?"

"Yeah well, that wasn't my fault. At least, not really." He states matter-of-factly. I can't believe the guts this kid has.

"Really? See I would say it is your fault, because you weren't supposed to be at Buck's in the first place. You weren't supposed to be drinkin' in the first place. You were supposed to be at the movies. So you lied to me, went where you weren't supposed to, and drank, all in a days work. Which, are three of my biggest rules." I tell him. His reaction is far too relaxed for my taste.

"Well, I've been drinkin' since I was eight, going places I wasn't supposed to since before I could walk, and lyin' all my life. So maybe, it just didn't seem, to me, to be that big of a deal. Shame my mother never taugh me better." He sneers. I have to keep remindin' myself that this is a twelve year old kid. Damn, when did kids start actin' like this? And, as angry as I am, which is beyond all reason, he's got a point.

"Well, now you have me to teach you different. And believe me when I say that this is the last time you're ever going to do something so stupid." I answer, standing up.

"I hope you really like school, because it is the only place you're going to go that involves leavin' this house." I tell him, watching his confused reaction as I leave the room and shut the door behind me.

Skywriter's Point of View

It might be wrong, but when Kate and I got into fights, it almost always turned physical. Maybe it was for that reason that I am completely confused about what just happened. I was expecting something. Some kind of something. A fight or some kind of argument. But none of that happened. I'm not sure what happened, but it wasn't any of that. And, Darry's pretty big. Really big. And earlier when we got back home, with all that yellin' and fussin', I was sure I was going to have the shit beat out of me for the second time tonight. And then this. What is this? Maybe this is being grounded. I've had friends that were grounded before, but I mean, it never lasted.

I lay down on my bed and close my eyes. Man my head I killin' me. I can't help but think about school. It's going to be a pain and half. My first day of school is tomorrow, and I'll be both bruised and hung-over.