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13. Interrogation

Pony stayed in her room on Monday morning, calling out an 'I'm up!' to Sodapop when he knocked on her door, calling out her name. She was just glad it wasn't Darry. She'd managed to avoid talking to him the day before and she was hoping to keep that up. She didn't think she could handle any kind of fight with him…not now, when all she could think about was Bob Sheldon and the fact that her big brother hated her bad enough to hit her. Susie had told her that her and Keith would give her a ride to school, so she waited in her room, keeping an eye on the street from her window.

Once she was dressed, wincing a little at the bruising around her eye when she caught her reflection in the mirror, Pony leaned against her bedroom door and listened to her brothers moving around in the kitchen. She could smell food cooking, and her stomach grumbled angrily, but she wasn't hungry enough to brave facing Darry. "Ain't she ready yet?" she heard Darry ask from where her ear was pressed to the door.

"Probably." Soda's voice was hard, and she was glad he was still mad at their brother too. It made her feel less alone.

"Soda…" Darry started, sounding upset, but Soda cut him off.

"Drop it, Darry. Just because I want breakfast don't mean I ain't still pissed at you."

Darry sighed, and she could just see him tiredly running a hand through his hair. She'd thought it would make her happy to hear Soda bite his head off. Instead, she just felt sad. And hungry.

There was silence in the kitchen, other than the sounds of forks scraping on plates, and it wasn't too much longer before Keith's car pulled up. She grabbed her backpack, shoes already on, and headed for the door, not looking at the kitchen table. "Keith and Susie are giving me a ride to school," she called over her shoulder to the room in general, but mostly Soda.

"Pony, you want breakfast?" Darry offered.

"No." With that, she let the screen door slam behind her, not caring if it made Darry mad.

Susie scooted over so she could climb in, her eyes asking if everything was alright. Pony smiled a little, putting her backpack down on the floor between her feet, then caught Keith watching her in the rearview mirror.

"So," he said simply, pulling out onto the road once she'd shut her door. "Bob Sheldon, huh?"

She froze at that, heart dropping, then turned incredulously towards her friend. Had she told him? Surely she wouldn't! But he kept going before her friend could do more than shake her head, wide-eyed.

"I heard you talking to Soda."

Pony guessed they all had a bad habit of eavesdropping. It didn't make her feel any better, though.

"When I told you to stay the night, I didn't know I was harboring a fugitive."

"That ain't funny, Keith," Susie snapped.

"Yeah. I ain't laughing." He shook his head, solemn. "You should have told us, Pony."

"Dally told me not to."

"Trust me, I'd have a chat with ol' Dal if I didn't think Superman would get to him first."

It took her a minute to puzzle out what he meant, and when she did, she shook her head. "Darry don't know."

He hesitated, then turned around to look at her despite the fact he was driving. "You didn't tell him?"

"Keith, watch the road!" Susie barked.

"He didn't ask."

"Are you kidding me? You think he don't have a right to know…"

"Keith!"

He rolled his eyes, turning back to the road as his sister requested. He'd managed to stay in his own lane at least.

"Darry doesn't need to know anything!" she snapped. "Neither does anyone else."

He huffed out a sigh, shaking his head. "My lips are sealed, kid. You think I want to be the one to break this to Darry?" She thought the conversation was done, but when he spoke again, his voice was real soft. "I don't blame you, Pony. I'd have killed him too. Hell, I'd like to dig him up and kill him again."

Just him saying that made a knot in her chest release. Susie reached across the seat, gripping her hand and giving her a weak smile.

Steve, Evie, and Johnny came and found them in the parking lot when they got to school. Evie was holding hands with Steve, but when they approached, she let go, reaching out to ghost a finger over where the bruising was still dark against the skin of Pony's cheek and around her eye. She knew it would get her plenty of looks, but she doubted anyone would say anything.

"Damn…look at your face," she murmured, shaking her head and tutting. "Allen Russell did this?"

"Yeah. It's alright. It doesn't really hurt anymore."

"You sure?"

Pony nodded.

"I can't believe they'd go after you like that. It's a good thing Soda and Steve came along." Evie shook her head, looking scared.

"Yeah, nothing like that's going to happen again if they know what's good for them," Steve piped up, turning over his shoulder to look Pony over. She figured Soda and Darry must have called the whole gang when she hadn't come home on time on Saturday night, but he didn't say anything about that. He just winced a little when he saw the bruises on her face, then turned back around and resumed his conversation with Keith and Johnny.

Evie shook her head. "It's dangerous to walk alone these days. Those socs are awful mad about their friend. I never thought they'd start jumping girls, though."

"Me either," Pony told her, and Susie nodded in agreement.

"You two, don't walk anywhere on your own, you hear?" Keither ordered. "Stick together. And if they start bugging you between classes, let us know."

They both agreed, Evie nodding too and patting Pony on the shoulder. "He's right. Things are getting rough around here."

Steve reached back, catching Evie's hand and squeezing, and they shared a look that made Pony avert her eyes. She didn't know how she felt about seeing Steve as a person that would comfort his girlfriend because she was worried, but it sure was weird to see him anything but annoyed.

At lunch, Pony sat with Susie again, and she was surprised when Evie joined them, followed by the guys. She didn't exactly want to hang out with Steve, but Keith and Johnny made it more tolerable. She didn't ask why they weren't going to the DX or to get something off campus. She already knew. They were looking out for her. And it would be kind of ungrateful to start questioning them. So she just ate her food and talked to Susie and Evie, the guys keeping one eye on the surrounding people like they were waiting for an attack.

The attack didn't come until after school, and it wasn't Allen Russell…it was Cherry Valance.

She'd just gotten out of art class where she'd spent most of the time passing notes with Susie again. It was good to have her friend back, despite everything else, and they'd been talking about meeting up with a couple of Susie's other friends from class so Pony could get to know them too. It made her kind of nervous, but she just wanted to get back to normal. They were right outside the art room, on their way to meet Keith who would give them a ride home, and they both paused when Cherry Valance came around the corner, heading straight for them.

"Hey, Pony?"

"Uh…hey Cherry." Before that night at the movies, Pony had never spoken to Cherry…she hadn't had the occasion. She mostly stuck with her own group of rich girl friends and her boyfriend, and Pony was just fine with that. But now she was standing in front of them, looking nervous.

"Hi. Um…can I talk to you?"

Cherry had missed a couple of days the week before, but she was back at school and everyone was talking about how brave she was for showing up when her boyfriend had been murdered. Now she stood in front of Pony with her perfect red hair and stupid, shiny shoes. She wanted to hide her own scuffed tennis shoes, but she didn't want to give Cherry the satisfaction.

"Sure, I guess." Trying to act like her heart wasn't pounding in her ears, she crossed her arms. Cherry gave Susie a look and Pony turned to her friend. "I'll meet you and Keith out front?"

"You sure?" Susie asked, hesitant.

"Yeah. I'll be fine." Cherry was a girl after all. Besides, even if she did attack her or something, Pony was sure she could beat her in a fight.

Susie nodded, backing off kind of slow as she kept an eye on Cherry until she turned the corner, and then they were alone in the hall, a few stragglers walking right past them, all of them in a hurry to get out of school. Cherry glanced around, and Pony wondered if she was embarrassed at the thought of being seen with a greaser girl. Just the thought was irritating and humiliating in equal measure. "What's going on?"

"I need to ask you something."

"Okay."

"Why did you tell Allen that you weren't at the bathrooms that night?"

Her blood went cold, but she tried to keep her face blank. "Are you the one that sent him and Randy to jump me?"

"What?" She looked honestly confused, and Pony glared at her. Everyone at school knew Allen had jumped her. No way Cherry was that dumb. All she had to do was look at her face.

"Are you serious? They cornered me after school last week and beat the shit out of me. He would have kept going if my brother hadn't come along."

Cherry flinched. "No. I didn't tell him to do that. I…I didn't think he would hurt you."

"What did you think he'd do?"

"I just…people are saying that you weren't by the bathrooms so you couldn't have seen what happened to Bob. But you were. That's all. I thought he'd just ask you."

"Yeah, he asked alright. After he punched me a few times and bashed my head against the ground. Where do you think I got this black eye?"

Cherry put a hand to her mouth, shaking her head and looking distressed. "I didn't ask him to do that. I promise. I never thought he'd hurt a girl. Randy, either."

"It's not really a surprise. They're all a bunch of assholes."

"Listen…Pony, I just wanted to know if you saw anything. Anything that could help the police find out who killed Bob." Her voice quivered a little, and she leaned in, eyes wide like she was begging. "That's all. If you saw anyone out there…anything could help."

Pony wanted to tell her that Bob was a drunk that went around beating up on kids and jumping greasers, and that he was a rapist too. That he'd gotten what was coming to him. But that would just make people look at her closer, and she didn't need that. So she just shook her head. "Sorry, Cherry. I didn't see anything." Pony started to walk past her, but Cherry stopped her, stepping into her path again.

"Dallas went to find you after you didn't come back. I saw him leave. He quit bugging us when you showed up, you know?"

"So?"

"So…he's different with you than he was with us."

"I've known Dally for years. He's friends with my brothers."

"He doesn't harass you or…or say nasty things to you."

"Okay…so what?"

"So…so if he thought he was protecting you from something…like…if someone was bothering you or something because they…they were drunk maybe…maybe Dallas might step in. Right?"

Pony huffed out a laugh that she hoped sounded less forced than it felt. "You seriously think Dallas killed him? Over me?"

"I'm just saying. I know he drinks…he drank too much. I hated it. It was why we were at the movies. They both got drunk and we fought with them over it. When they started drinking…it's like it turned them into different people! But they weren't always like that! So…if he was bothering you and then…then Dallas came and caught him…I understand why you'd want to protect Dally. But he went too far, don't you see that? He killed him!"

Cherry's eyes were wet, but all Pony could feel was a bone-deep exhaustion. "Look, I'm sorry. I can't help you. But I can tell you for a fact, Dallas Winston didn't kill your boyfriend, okay? I swear. He didn't do it."

"So who did?" she demanded, wiping a hand over her wet cheek.

Pony shrugged, heart pounding too loud in her chest. "I don't know what to tell you, Cherry. He probably pissed off the wrong person."

That, at least, was kind of true.

She knew she probably ought to make someone up…someone for the police to investigate. Some drunk walking by or a local greaser. But she wasn't about to risk someone else going down for something she'd done. She'd just have to hope the police never got any leads.

"Pony?" She glanced up, surprised to find Keith approaching, Susie in tow. His eyes lingered on Cherry for a moment, then he dropped a hand on Pony's shoulder. "Everything okay, kids?"

"I don't understand why you'd protect him," Cherry whispered, shaking her head, a tear falling down her cheek, voice getting louder. "You saw how he was talking to us…what he was saying! Why are you protecting him?"

"I'm not protecting anyone," Pony told her, and for once, it wasn't a lie. "Dally didn't touch Bob that night."

Keith squeezed her shoulder. "Pony's right. Don't go pinning this on Dal."

"He was harassing us! He wouldn't leave us alone!"

"Yeah? That sounds like Dally. Doesn't make him a killer." Keith turned to Pony. "Come on, kid. I'll give you a ride home."

She followed him, glancing back one more time at Cherry who stared after them, tears running down her cheeks, and she would have felt guilty, except she remembered all too well why she'd been forced to defend herself against Bob Sheldon. Susie stuck close to her side, glancing back at Cherry too, but she glared. "What's her problem? Her boyfriend was a prick."

Keith didn't get on her for language like Darry would have Pony, but he did glance over at her, grimacing a little. "Steer clear of her, Pony."

"She came to find me after class." Looking around the hall, she made sure the coast was clear before she spoke again. "She thinks it was Dally too."

"Yeah, I know."

"We can't let Dally get in trouble for this."

"Don't worry so much, Pony-kid. Dal's gonna be just fine."

Pony exchanged a look with Susie, both of them skeptical. But just for a while, Pony wanted to pretend that Keith Matthews was both older and wiser and let herself believe him.