Maybe you'd like to hear the consequences I've come up with" said Mr. Taylor before Darry could speak.
Darry finally said "I'd like to hear your punishment; mine will be a little different."
"Seeing as this is the twenty-fifth time Ms. Curtis has been sent to the office this year." I gulped it was only mid- October. "She will receive a five day suspension and will stay after school for a week when she gets back to help with clean up. Each time she is sent to the office after today, punishment will worsen."
Darry nodded. "That seems fair." Mr. Taylor then turned to me. "I'll see you next week." We left. I was not looking forward to being alone with Darry so I stalled by going to get my books out of my locker.
Finally the time came when I had to face my fears and ride home with Darry. "So" I said awkwardly part way through the ride.
"Why?" he asked "Why do you do this stuff? Do you want to screw up your life?"
"I'm not screwing up my life." I said "And it's my life anyways so what the hell does it matter to you?"
"Why does it matter to me!" he yelled. "Because I care about what happens to you and don't want you to end up as some bum on the streets. And you should start caring to because I'm not supporting you my whole life."
"You're overreacting" I said simply.
"Overreacting!" he yelled and I shook. "You've seen Mr. Taylor twenty-five times is seven weeks! You're grounded." He continued calming down. "No movies, no friends, no football, and no leaving the house."
We got home so I got out of the truck saying. "I'll just get Soda to invite people over then"
"the no friends rule applies to you can't hang out with the gang when they're here."
I went inside slamming the door and stomping up the stairs. Why was life so unfair? I thought. I couldn't sit through an hour class it was way to long and uneventful. I had to make something exciting happen. And now I was grounded for god knows how long. I started to think about how much this sucks, not hanging out with the gang, and then I thought about our money problems and started crying. I layed down on my bed and thought about mom and dad and cried myself to sleep.
I woke up listening to all the guys coming home from school and work. I heard someone running up the stairs and I pretended to be asleep. Hell I thought Darry can tell them to go home. Someone opened my door then softly closed it again. I heard them go downstairs and start talking to everyone else. Then my door opened a second time and someone sat down on the edge of my bed.
"Darry told me what happened" said Soda. "I understand what you're going through." You sure as hell don't. I thought. Then I remembered Soda had failed classes in school and he knew what it was like to not be able to sit for a whole hour. I rolled over to face him and he looked at sympathetically. I sat up and he gave me a hug. I almost started bawling all over again. I'm not an emotional person, I can usually hold it together but today wasn't a usual day. Soda explained Darry said I could hang out with the gang while they were here but I still couldn't leave home. At least it was better that sitting upstairs like a loner but not leaving the house was killing me.
Dally especially took advantage of this. Whenever someone said they were bored he would come up with an idea that involved leaving the house. Even though he was only joking and never followed through with it, I still kicked him.
The five days I was suspended were the longest days of my life. Everyone else was at school or work and to keep me busy Darry decided it was relevant to leave me a huge list of chores each day. Well hell I thought. I already do the housekeeping he doesn't need to write it down. You'd think I'd know what to do by now. He was treating me as if I was a little kid and I hated it.