AN: Hey, everyone, thanks for the great reviews. I'm going to leave you with an omnious warning...don't get your hopes up.
P.S: I don't own anybody, except regretfully Mr. Lilc. I do have to deal with him. He sleeps in a pretty cage with steel bars. He's mad because I 'lost' the key...
Chapter 5
I hold Johnny's letter in my hand. Mr. Lilc has gone to a bar to get a drink, so I'm alone for the first time in almost three months. It's a glorious feeling to be free of fear, even if I'm still tensely awaiting a slamming door. I open it slowly and unfold the contents, laying back on my bed and beginning to read.
Dear Ponyboy,
How're you doing, man? Things have shaped up a lot since Soda came back to town, Steve's stopped drinking so much and Two-Bit's a little happier. It'd be better if you could come back, though. We're beginning to think you've forgotten us, Pony. You could probably sneak away for one weekend, couldn't you? Aren't we worth getting grounded over? Don't mean to sound so mean, but I miss my best friend. Call Two-Bit's house if you decide something.
Your Buddy Johnny.
I bite my lip and decide right then that I'll do it. I hastily put on a jacket, grab money for the bus and a phone call, pack up my book bag with clothes, and write a note to him, explaining that I'll be back Monday. School starts in two weeks, my birthday's in a day, but I won't bring it up. It's enough I get to spend the day happily before the pain. I run out the door and skirt through the streets to the bus station, grabbing the bus that goes to the town bordering Tulsa. I sit in the back and watch the scenery, memorizing escape routes in my mind, in case I should ever need to get out and can't take the bus. I get off at the last stop and I put my plan into motion. I set my bag behind a corner and walk back to the bus bench, tears streaming down my face and I whimper slightly. I thank God that I can look much younger than my age, that I haven't hit my growth spurt yet. The lady next to me turns in concern,
"Are you alright, honey?" I nod in fear,
"Y-yeah…my brothers said we was playing a new game, and that I should take this bus 'til it stops and come back. They forgot to give me money for the ride back, though. Daddy's gonna be so mad at me…" I explain through my fake tears. She frowns and asks,
"How old are you and your brothers?"
"My brothers are fourteen and seventeen, I'm ten." She scowls and hands me some money,
"There you are, child. Tell your brothers they ought to be ashamed of themselves, the very idea! You're such a sweet child too!" She gets on the next bus and I smile at her, thanking her silently for believing my bluff. Now I have enough money to get to Tulsa. I grab my bag and get on the bus to Tulsa. I then stop at a payphone and call the Matthews' place.
"Hello?" Two-Bit's voice carries over the phone. I say happily,
"Hey, Two-Bit, you'll never guess where I am." He laughs,
"What have you done, Ponyboy Curtis?" There's immediate shouting at the mention of my name, mostly questions. "Calm down, I haven't gotten there yet." Two-Bit tells them all impatiently.
"I'm in Tulsa, I'll be at your house in about fifteen minutes."
"See you then." I hang up and start the walk.
Now that a Mustang's tailing me, I'm thinking it's not such a good idea to be walking. I could've gotten them to come get me and just endured Steve's moaning about the trouble I cause. Steve don't like me. I start to run as the car swerves and the guys tumble out. There's five of them, and they surround me instantly. I fight them off courageously, feeling almost thankful for my new strength and stamina. But, in the end, they're in high school and I'm going into the eighth grade, and there's five of them. One of them pulls out a blade, and that's when I start screaming, I know they could kill me. The punches and kicks I took without complaint. Those I could handle. They aren't going to kill me. I scream in a frenzy,
"Soda! Soda! Help me!" They cuss and one cuts into my neck a little.
"Shut him up! Shut the kid up!" Another yells in panic. A rag is stuffed into my mouth and the knife goes even deeper. I gasp and try to choke out the rag, eventually spitting it out. They continue to beat their fists into my body, but all I can think of is the knife at my throat. I give it everything I have then,
"SODA! DALLY! JOHNNY! TWO-BIT! STEVE! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" Feet come pounding from somewhere, eventually, and I stay on the ground for a moment before I get up and wipe the blood from my neck distractedly. Soda tilts my neck to look at the cut as the rest of the gang throws trash at the escaping car. His concerned eyes appraise me carefully,
"They pull a blade on you?" I nod and wipe up the blood again. He brings out a rag and wets the end of it with his tongue, cleaning my wound carefully. It feels good to have somebody care about you. The rest of the gang comes back and I smile,
"Thanks" they nod,
"No problem" Two-Bit says flippantly, and I know he honestly doesn't mind. Dally cusses the Socs out,
"It's bad enough they jump some kid their own age when they're outnumbered. But you're just a little kid! Gutless cowards…" he continues to call them every name under the sun, but the words no longer turn my ears red. I've been called most of those things by Hugh at one point or another. I amble with them when Steve says bitterly,
"What the hell are you doing walking the streets by your lonesome anyhow?" The gang all fix him with glares, saving me the trouble. We go into the lot and toss around the football; it's me, Soda, and Two-Bit against Johnny, Steve, and Dally. The others end up winning, but that's hardly the point. It was just for fun anyway. None of us take football all that serious. Darry sure did, whoever had him on their team was a shoe-in. Darry never half did anything, he didn't know the meaning of playing for fun. He plays to win. And he did, always. We laugh and walk home companionably, Johnny and I lagging behind the others, jokingly wrestling in the streets.
"So, how'd you get here, Pony?" Johnny asks me. I shrug,
"I kind of stole some money from Mr. Lilc, enough for one bus and a phone call. Then I gave this old lady a sob story about my older brothers sticking me on a bus." Johnny laughs hardily,
"What did you say?" I start the waterworks and recite my story dramatically, Johnny's laughing like crazy. I realize suddenly that the gang is looking at me and blush,
"What?" Soda's staring,
"Where'd you learn to lie so good?" I shrug, and Johnny looks at me carefully,
"So, Pony, how long do you think you'll be grounded?" I look away and say in a calm voice,
"Don't know. Probably won't be able to sit down for awhile though." That gets them red.
"What?!" I shrug again at Soda's outrage,
"He's more of a 'spare the rod, spoil the child' type of guy." I explain, "Don't worry, I don't get myself in trouble too often."
"What about his wife?"
"He don't have a wife, I told you Soda, she's more of a permanent, well, actually she kind of left, so not that permanent, fiancée." I shrug it off with a smile, and Soda frowns.
I look at my face in the mirror and grin at the beginnings of yet another bruise. I've got on a pair of jeans, a muscle shirt, and a jean jacket, so they can't see the others. Most of my face is free of real noticeable ones as well, but if there were I'd explain it away somehow. By tomorrow they'll blend in. I walk out of the bathroom and sit down at the table with the others, and so the fight for food ensues when Mrs. Matthews puts the food on the table. It's been awhile since I've had real good food, my skills are limited to pastas, pre-prepared food, and things that come in a box. I eat the homemade food with relish.
"The food ain't going to run away kid." Two-Bit laughs. I smile and dig in more. The gang is eating just as much as I am, so I don't care. I love homemade food. They start piling into the living room to watch TV. I start picking up plates mechanically. Mrs. Matthews smiles,
"Thanks honey." I shrug, it doesn't make much of a difference to me. I smile as Emily, Two-Bit's little sister, waltzes into the room. She smiles at me, the kid's always liked me for some reason. She's six, she's real cute. I pick her up and set her on the counter, she looks at me carefully.
"Ponyboy, what happened to your face?" I make a face at her as I run the water,
"What's wrong with my face?"
"Well, it's uglier than usual." She quips, "You've got bruises on your face." I shrug,
"Ran into some trouble with some kids." She nods knowledgably,
"Socs?"
"Yep" she looks at me and then looks at the ceiling,
"Pony? Why is the grass green?" She asks me all sorts of questions, she likes that I try my best to answer.
"Well, all green plants have this thing in it called chloroplast, that's what makes it green."
"How does it work?"
"It absorbs the sunlight and the chloroplast emits a green color." I answer. She smiles and leans back into my shoulder as I scrub the dishes,
"What about the sky? Why's it blue?" I laugh and say,
"Light gives off color waves. The air in the sky absorbs the blue and rejects all the other colors, so we only see it as blue." She nods,
"How come it chooses blue?"
"I don't know," I admit, "maybe it just likes that color best." I shrug and she smiles at my honesty. She smiles and splashes me with the suds. I wipe it off my face and flick it at her face. She giggles and I smile at her. "Any more questions, shorty?" She chuckles,
"I'm not short. Why are you and Johnny so much littler than anybody else?" I consider it for a minute,
"Well, I'm younger, and Johnny…don't eat enough, I guess. He never ate his vegetables." I grin at her as she rolls her eyes.
"That's not true."
"Sure it is." Two-Bit's voice comes into the room and the two of us turn to see the gang grinning at us. Emily smiles at them and turns to me again.
"Pony?"
"Yeah?"
"Am I annoying you?"
"Nope"
"Ok, so how come vegetables make you grow?" I start off on an explanation of how vitamins and minerals work, the gang shakes their heads and leave one by one, 'til it's only me and Emily again. I dry off the last dish and put Emily on the floor. She looks at me with a shy smile,
"Pony?"
"Yeah?"
"How come you have to leave?" My smile falls and I say quietly,
"I don't know." She knows that she's made me sad, she reaches out and pulls my hand. I smile tightly and she scampers off. I walk into the living room and sit down on the floor, resting against Soda's legs. He ruffles my hair and says nothing, just continues to watch the movie. We watch TV until really late, getting a warning from Mrs. Matthews to tone it down because Emily is sleeping. We finally crash in the living room, Two-Bit going to his room, Soda taking the couch and the rest of us sleeping on the floor. I guess Steve, Johnny, Dally, and I are used to sleeping on the floor. I fall into a fitful sleep, which is unusual. I have these really bad nightmares that wake me up screaming murder most nights. I can't help it, even though it makes Mr. Lilc mad as heck. The dreams are even more terrifying than him. I never can remember them, though, for which I'm kind of thankful.