AN: Yo(: Sorry I haven't updated in over a stinkin' month! So unlike me, I'm really sorry! High school's more work than I thought. Anyways, here's chapter two!
Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders – S.E. Hinton beat me to it (:
That night I didn't get any sleep. Most of my night was spent crying my eyes out and eating our only tub of ice cream. Johnny and Steve stayed over to try and console Pony and Soda. Dally and Two-Bit went to Buck Merrill's place; they both had a hard time dealing with death. The only person that I'd called to tell was Angela. She was one of my best friends; though we were total opposites. She came over and kept on telling me that everything was going to be alright. It was nice to have a friend like her.
The next morning I acted like I was asleep when Darry woke up and checked on us. About five minutes after I did, I went down the hall to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and saw huge bags under my eyes from crying so much. I went to the phone in the living room and called Angela, "Hey, Curly. Is Angel home?" I asked her younger brother. "Yeah, hang on." He said, handing the phone to Angela, "Yeah?" She asked. "Hey, it's Isabelle. How do you get bags under your eyes to go away?" She was the person I called because out of all my friends, she was the one that went out to drink at midnight and not get home till seven in the morning. "Yeah, put a cold spoon under each eye. That should do it. Hey, Izzy? You alright?" She asked. "Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Well, I have to go. I'll see ya later." I hung up and walked towards the kitchen.
Darry asked me what I was doing with the spoons when I took them out of the freezer. "Angel told me that if I put them under my eyes, it makes the bags go away." I said simply. He just nodded. When I put the spoons under my eyes, I flinched. They were colder than I thought. I put them back under my eyes for about two minutes and dealt with whatever pain was sent my way. They eventually went away. When they did, I put the spoons in the sink and sat down at the kitchen table across from Darry. I watched him as he sat there and read the paper. After about two minutes he finally looked up, "Could you stop burning a hole through the paper? I'm trying to read it." I sat there and kept on staring.
I don't know why Darry didn't deal with death so badly. When our grandparent's died about three years ago, I would catch him bawling like a baby at any time. I wish he would show emotion like then.
I got up and went out to the living room and woke up Steve to tell him to get off the couch. "Kid, don't wake me up, sit on the floor." Okay, so I guess his niceness streak is gone. "Whatever." I said, shoving his shoulder into the back of the couch and walking outside. I sat on the couch and watched all the little kids play with jacks across the street. I wish I could go back to that time when everything was so simple and nothing really mattered.
I was so lost in my own head that I didn't hear someone come out and sit next to me until they tapped my shoulder. I looked back, "What do you want?" It was Steve. "I just wanted to tell you sorry for yellin' at you like that a while ago. I know you're having a tough time with all of this, but all of us are. They were like our parents, too, ya know." I rolled my eyes to try and hold back some tears, "Oh yeah, they were your parents for all of what, four years? They were mine for a good and solid fifteen!" Now I was face to face with him and he was really pissing me off. "I'm almost 100 positive that you've never lost three people all at the same time who meant that much to you! So how about you just go back to bumming off of our family and leave me alone while you're at it!" I said, walking off of the porch and down the street. I had no idea where I was going to go. I made a small detour by the park and sat on the swing that I would always swing on when Mom and Dad would take us down here when we were littler. I wiped away the tears, even though I don't have a real big reputation for being tough and stuff, you still don't want to show any sign that you're weak; it could cost you your life. I stayed at the park swinging for about an hour or two when I saw a car pull up. I knew it wasn't a Soc, the car was too trashy. I looked real hard to see who it was, but all I could make out was an elfish figure in the front seat – definitely Dallas. He parked the car on the side of the street and walked up to me.
"Hey, how you holding up?" He asked. "Fine, I guess. I mean, how are you supposed to handle this kind of thing? I dunno, I really went off on Steve earlier, then I ended up here." I explained. He nodded, "Yeah, I got ya. Do you wanna do something to get your mind off of it?" He asked, I shook my head. "I just wanna go home, okay?" "Yeah, here, let me give you a ride." He said walking towards the car. I followed him and went home.
Dallas dropped me off outside of my house and said he'd be back later. I reluctantly walked up to the door, when I opened it I saw my brothers, Steve, and Johnny all in the living room, talking about what we were going to do. I sat down next to Ponyboy with a blank expression on my face, I didn't even want to hear about the future and what was going to happen next. When I heard the words "girl's home" my head immediately shot up, "WHAT!?" "Well, I don't know what we're going to do now that Mom and Dad are gone and they're not going to let a twenty year old be the guardian of three teenagers. I'm sorry, but I think it's the only option we have." Darry explained to me. "Okay, no. You cannot make me go to some snotty boarding school place, no thanks." I said, waiting to hear what he had to say back, but instead of hearing Darry's voice, I heard Steve's. "Yeah, Darry. Those places are so strict, you know Isabelle would never survive in one of those things. Okay, if Dally, Johnny, Two-Bit, and me help you guys out with the bills and all that stuff, you promise you won't send this guys away?" Steve asked, pointing to Soda, Pony, and me. I couldn't believe that he was helping me out again. It was so unlike him to show any sort of compassion unless it was for Soda or some broad of the week.