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Chapter 10

When dinner was over, Soda and Steve offered to do the dishes. With a smile of thanks I stretch my arms over my head and scratch my scalp. "Well I'm tired. I'm off to bed. Johnny pancakes in the morning?"

"With bacon!?" His eyes light up and it brings a smile to my face. "We'll see."

I walk into Soda's old room and just as I start to shut the door, I see Darry's shocked and sad face. I pretend I hadn't seen him, knowing good and well he knew I did and sit on the bed. I pull my knees to my chest and lay my head down, tears streaming down my face.

I'm not sure how long exactly I sat like that and silently cried but I knew it was a long time. A bloodcurdling scream pulls me to my window. There's a house not too far away with fast moving shadows in the downstairs light. The only light on in the house it seems. There's another scream seeming to come from that house. Wait…isn't that Johnny's house?

Pulling on my boots I rush out the door, not bothering with a coat in the light night chill. I didn't even bother to close the doors. As I race down the street, Johnny burst out the front door headed for the street. A larger man appears, Grabbing his collar and pulling him back. "Johnny!"

My scream brings his bruised and bleeding face to mine. "Esmeralda, go back!"

The man growls and punches Johnny's already bleeding lip. "Just the hell up piece of trash."

"Hey!" I'd reached them by this point and the man turns to me. He's a few sizes larger than me and I smelt the booze ten yards back. He man's fist remind me of sledgehammers there so large. "Let him go!"

The guy glares down at me. " Listen here bitch, this is my property your trespassing on and you got no right telling me to let my own kid go."

I'm beyond furious now. One because this guy called me a bitch, you do not do that. Two, he's beating up on Johnny, who I see as a little brother if not a son. Three, this is his own flesh and blood he's beating. And four, you do not hurt the people I care about. I throw him my own icy glare. "You listen to me BITCH, this is someone I care about and I said to fucking let him go!"

All I hear is a roar of rage before I find myself on the pavement, my jaw broke and bleeding and heavy breathing over me. I thrust my foot between his and kick, sending the large man to the ground. He turns to get me but I simply twist away before standing. Grabbing Johnny's jacket sleeve, I pull him with me as I run down the street back to the Curtis's house.

Halfway there we are met with the gang running towards us. Darry and Dally in the lead. I stop, turning to Johnny, breathing roughly from the run and pain in my jaw and face. I look him over. "Shit I can't see. Johnny hang tight."

I pull my shirt off, not caring that it leaves me in just a bra and gently wipe his face. He's got a lot of bruises and a busted lip but otherwise looks okay. I dab at his lip with a scowl. "You better be glad this is as bad as it got. If it was worst I would have killed him, fuck the consequences."

Johnny's hands pull mine down between us, looking me in the eyes. "Es, calm down and look at me."

I sigh roughly but try my best to calm down for Johnny, finally turning my face fully up to his. The gang gasped and I look at them all questioningly. They all looked beyond pissed, Dally and Darry being the worst. Dally steps forwards, putting a finger under my chin. Just the tiny brush of his knuckle has my winching. He growls. "How bad Al?"

I shrug, looking away. A fist hitting the pole by us causes me to flinch, but I stand where I am. "How fucking bad Esmeralda!"

I glare at Dally. "Real fucking bad but I don't care. I'm worried about Johnny! How long has that been going on?"

No one will meet my eyes and Johnny's head is down. "A while."

When no one will look at me, it hits me. Putting me into an almost state of shock. "You…You all knew? You all knew! You knew and didn't think it was important to clue me in that my little brother was getting the living shit beat out of him!"

"It's not every night. I sometimes stay in the abandoned lot or at the Curtis's." Johnny's voice is soft, but he still won't meet my eyes.

I glare at them all in turn. Darry and Johnny looking the most hurt. "I don't give a damn if it's the first time, which I know it's not. I should have been told."

Something seemed to snap in Darry, his cold glare almost bringing me to tears of fear. Almost. "Why should you have? We don't, or didn't, know you. You're just a girl that needed a place to stay while she got her act together before leaving. You're not part of the gang, you're not family, why should we have told a stranger something no one can change? We do what we can but bringing the cops into this doesn't help. It's Johnny stay with us or be sent to a fucking boys home where it's probably worse than here with us. What the hell makes you think you have a right to know fucking anything?"

I take a step back, fist clenched and tears caught in my eyes. Soda puts a hand on Darry's shoulder. "Dar, man calm down."

Darry throws Soda's hand off. "I am calm. She can't honestly believe she had a RIGHT to know something like this when all she plans on doing is leaving anyway. Why tell her just for her to take off and have Johnny in the exact same spot he was in when she left."

I don't think anymore. My body hurts, but not as much as my heart. I don't feel anything. I'm absolutely hollow. I wasn't even this bad when Dad died. I pull my fist back and punch Darry square in the face, hearing the satisfying sound of bones breaking. He looks at me in shock. They all do. All except Dally. He chuckles. "Well damn. Girls got a nice right hook."

I turn my empty dead eyes to Darry, who looks at me in pure shock, hand on his cheek. Brushing by the, all I march into Soda's old room. They all watch as I pack my bag and grab it along with my guitar. I get to the door before turning to them again. "Thanks for the bed STRANGERS. It's time I head home."

Steve, Soda, Ponyboy, Johnny, and Two-Bit look heartbroken; all begging me with their eyes not to go. Darry has on the same face he had when I met him that first night. Dally isn't here, but I feel his presence behind me. I know he's at the gate waiting for me. He'd walk with me while before taking off to a party. Tears finally fall down my cheeks as I turn. Just before I walk out do I say anything else. "I love you guys."

I hear their begging as I slam the door behind me and trot down the street aways. Dally hot on my heels. After about a mile I stop and turn to him. "What Winston."

He doesn't smile, just grabs my bags and nods with his head. With a shrug and aggravated sigh I fall in step beside him as we head farther and farther away from town.