I stayed home with Pony again the next day. He was awake and mostly with it, though I was careful not to talk about Johnny or Dallas at all. He just thought that Darry and Soda were at work, so I didn't have to mention anything about the burial. It was a grey day; not so much rainy as just plain gloomy, the kind of day that seemed entirely fitting for burying two lost souls like Dallas and Johnny. I imagined the gang at the cemetery, watching their caskets get lowered just as we had with my parents. Part of me wished that I was there as well, but I was glad, too, to be home with Ponyboy. Even as out of it as he had been, we were getting along better than ever, and we took turns doing each other's homework. This we had done even when we weren't getting along that well, and we had each other's handwriting down pat. He did my Math and History and I did his Biology and French. We each did our own English. By the time Darry and Soda got home we had nearly the whole week's worth done, and Darry was really impressed with us.
"Maybe we should just do all our schoolwork at home, and not bother with school at all any more," Pony suggested. That sounded fine to me.
"Nice try," Darry said. "You're both going back next week." I don't think Pony or I were too thrilled with the idea. It felt to me like I hadn't been to school in months. I was definitely not looking forward to going back, after having been in the papers and all.
"Yeah? We still get tomorrow off, though, huh?" Pony was trying to be funny, but both Darry and I froze and looked at each other. We realized our mistake and tried to play it off, but, even after his recent lack of clarity, Pony was on to us in a second.
"What?" he asked. "What's up with tomorrow?"
I moved over from the desk where I had been sitting and sat down on the bed. Soda must have heard the change in the tone of the conversation, as he suddenly appeared in the doorway, too.
I had assumed Pony was still not coming with us.
"Pony…" Darry started, "We have to go to court tomorrow."
"He has to go, too?" I asked.
"Now that he's awake and alert, yeah, he does," Darry told us.
"Why? For what?" Pony looked terrified.
"About us," Darry said. He hesitated and I knew he was deciding whether or not to tell Pony the truth. "They're thinking about splitting us up. Because of everything that's happened." Soda came over and sat with me and Pony on his bed.
"That's not fair, Darry," Pony said. "It's not right. None of what happened had anything to do with you, or us being a family."
Soda put his hand on Pony's shoulder and rubbed. "Don't worry Pony. We'll just make them see. We're all gonna go together."
"I don't like it," Pony said. "We shouldn't have to prove anything to anybody. We're doing good. Soda likes his job, and Scout and I are doing a good job with school… You saw what we did today. We did a week's worth of schoolwork in a day, Darry."
"Yeah, I know. And I know you shared it, too, as usual." Pony and I glanced at each other but didn't say anything.
"Look," he continued. "I wish we didn't have to go tomorrow but that's how it goes. I don't get to decide what the court makes us do. All we can do is tell them the truth and hope they see that we should stay together."
"We gotta stick together," Soda said. "No matter what."
We all sat there in silence for a minute or so until I had an inspiration.
"Hey, Darry, it's Thursday. Can we get pizza?" We hadn't been for our usual Thursday at Angelo's since before Pony and I were gone. I was dying to talk to Anna and I knew that Darry wouldn't pass up a chance to see Alison, either. I shot Soda a sideways glance to get his support.
"That sounds good. I'll stay here with Pony and you and Scout can go get it." Soda obviously got the message.
"That OK with you, Pony?" Darry asked. I would have killed him if he said no.
"That sounds real good, actually," he said.
Darry stood up. "OK, Scout. Wanna go?" I jumped up. I was going to challenge him to a race to the car but I forgot about my ankle. I pulled up short and Darry glared down at me.
"Baby, you wanna keep playing basketball, you gotta go easy on that."
"Right," I said. I hobbled out the door after him, and he helped me into the truck.
The ride there was quiet, at first.
"Are they gonna make Pony talk about what happened?" I asked. I was worried he wouldn't be able to handle it.
" I hope not. I get to talk to the judge first, let him know about what's going on with him," Darry said. "And everyone."
"So… what are you going to tell him about me?" I asked, looking at him.
He pulled up to a red light and looked back at me as he downshifted.
"Only good things," he said. "That you do well in school, that you're good at basketball, and that you pitch in around the house… and that Pony and Soda need you and me as much as we need them." I couldn't help but smile up at him. He got it.
"Do I get to talk to him about you?" I asked.
"I don't know," he admitted. "Why, what would you say?"
"That you're a big handsome football star and we have to drive all the girls away with a stick!" I joked.
"Then no, you don't get to talk," Darry laughed.
We pulled up and parked almost directly in front of the pizzeria. I peeked in the window and saw Anna and Alison talking with another waitress behind the counter. I was relieved to see that they weren't that busy; maybe Ali and Darry could get some time alone. Usually the day waitress was gone by then.
I walked in first and Alison saw me and waved, but as she saw Darry come in behind me her face lit up. She called through the kitchen window and as Darry and I walked up to the counter Mr. Harvey came out from the back.
He grabbed me up in a hug. "Scout! I am so glad to see you back! And you look great!"
"Thanks, Mr. Harvey." He turned immediately to Darry.
"Alison has told me about all you've been going through. I'm so glad to see you back."
"Well, Pony and Soda are stuck at home, but we all wanted our Thursday night pizza. So they sent Scout and me out for it."
"Well, we can take care of that," Mr. Harvey said. "That'll be the usual?"
"Yeah," Darry smiled. "And throw in an extra order of French fries? We're trying to get Pony to eat."
"No problem," he smiled. "Alison, as long as Susan is still here, why don't you take Darry and Scout upstairs to wait? I have a feeling he's had enough of waiting rooms lately."
"Susan's the day girl," Ali said. "Her Dad's car broke down, so she's stuck here 'til seven when her brother can get her," she explained.
Anna and I looked at each other like we couldn't believe our luck.
"Come on!" Anna yelled, and led me to the stairs to the upstairs apartment. I had never been in her apartment before. Darry and Ali followed us up.
"So… welcome to our house," Alison said when we all got upstairs. It was actually very similar to our house, the way it was set up, but just on the second floor. Anna pulled me into her room while Darry and Alison sat on the couch in the living room.
"So… how is it being home?" Anna asked, after she had shut her door.
"Different," I said. "Everything feels different."
"Different, how?" She asked.
"Well, It's hard to say. Pony and I get along so much better. Soda, I think… trusts me more (I didn't tell her about his crying to me), Darry and I get each other better… even Ben seems different."
"Ooooh, Ben?" She had always been obsessed with my relationship with Ben. She had no close boy friends.
"Shut up, Anna," I said. " I don't think it's like that."
"You don't think…" she said.
"I don't know," I said. "It just seemed different with him, after I got back. Like, I never saw him as a boy before. But suddenly… I don't even know."
"He's so cute, Scout!" she gushed.
"Is he?" I really didn't know. I knew him forever; I couldn't judge him objectively.
"He's really cute," Anna said. "You don't think so?"
"I can't tell," I said. "He's just Ben to me. I can't even see what he looks like."
"He looks good," Anna said. "You should kiss him."
"What?" I hadn't been thinking that. But I did consider it, once she said it. For a first kiss, Ben would be safe. He probably wouldn't reject me, at least.
"Whatever, Anna," I dismissed it, to her face, though I entertained the thought, privately. It sounded a little interesting, actually.
"You think they're kissing?" Anna asked, motioning to the living room.
"I hope so," I said, meaning it. Lord knew, Darry needed some distraction.
"So what are you gonna wear to court tomorrow?"
I hadn't given it a second's thought. "I have no idea," I admitted.
"Want to borrow something?" Anna was way more into clothes than I was. I had to laugh, though, since she was, easily, three sizes bigger than I was.
"I would never fit in your clothes," I said.
"I have stuff that's too small for me." She thought for a minute. "I know exactly the thing," she said, running to the closet. She dug through the back of her closet and dug out a skirt and sweater set that did look like it might fit me, and, I had to admit, was probably exactly what Social Services would want me to be wearing. It was conservative, almost Soc-looking. "This is perfect," she said.
"You don't mind?" I asked.
"Are you kidding? That'll never fit me again! I'll go through my closet later and you can have all the stuff that doesn't fit me anymore."
"That's really nice, Anna, but you don't have to."
"I want to, Scout. Otherwise I'd just be throwing it away."
I didn't know what to say. I wasn't sure if Darry would mind me taking it, if he would consider it charity and be mad… but I did want to look my best in court. Every little bit helped, I guessed.
"Well, OK Anna, but only because it's too small for you anyway."
Just then we heard Alison and Darry burst out in laughter from the living room. We were about to open the door to spy on them when Mr. Harvey called up to all of us:
"Curtis Family order up!"
"Okay, Dad. We'll be right down," Alison answered. Anna and I came out to find Ali and Darry standing up from the couch, holding hands. Darry looked more relaxed than he had when we came over. I remembered that he had promised me he'd take her out on a real date when I was in the hospital.
After we were in the truck, the pizzas hot against my lap, the bag containing Anna's outfit at my feet, I reminded him of that promise.
"Darry, you told me in the hospital that you'd take Ali out on a real date."
"Oh, you were conscious for that?" he joked.
"Come on, Darry. You deserve some fun," I said. "So does she. Take her out. Please?"
"You know what, Scout? Let's see how court goes tomorrow. Then we'll talk about it." I could tell he was really nervous about the hearing.
"OK," I agreed. I was trying to ignore how nervous I was, too.
______________
Soda and Pony were both outside smoking on the porch when we got back. Darry looked surprised but didn't say anything. I wondered if Soda had told Pony about Sandy. I hoped so. And I hoped Pony was more comfort than I had been, though I don't think he knew too much about love either. He never seemed interested in girls.
"What took you two? We're starving," Pony called out to us.
"Well, that's good to hear, coming from you," Darry said.
"Darry needed some time with his honey," I said. He smacked me playfully on the head. He started to chase me but remembered I couldn't run, so he called Soda over to get the pizza and piggybacked me into the house.
We all sat together around the kitchen and ate pizza and picked on each other. It felt so close to how we had related to each other before any of the hard things had happened to us – Mom and Dad dying, Pony and me being gone- that I couldn't believe it could all get messed up again, just because somebody who didn't even know us thought Darry wasn't doing a good job.
More than most kids my age, I knew how much things could change in just one night. So, as I lay in bed, having said goodnight to my brothers, I hoped more than anything that the next night it would still be the four of us sitting down to dinner together.
It had to be.
A/N: Sorry, kinda boring... just taking care of some details here. Next chapter will wrap up "Reality." Please review!