A/N: This chapter should be filed under "just when you thought things couldn't get any more complicated…"

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At lunch on Monday, I waited outside the side door for Ben, and we went over to the shady area under the trees where most of the greasers sat. We never ate inside unless it was freezing outside and nobody had a car to take us anywhere else. Anna sat with us too, usually, but she was home sick. I sat up against a tree and Ben threw his books down and sat against another tree, facing me. We took out our lunches and compared.

"Ham and cheese. You?"

"Turkey." Darry was in charge of making lunches this week. We took turns, just like with the dishes. Darry and I were usually pretty straightforward sandwich meat kind of people, Pony was incessantly boring and normally gave us peanut butter and jelly every day, and Soda's lunches were always an adventure. I was glad it wasn't Soda's week- I wasn't in the mood to find a cheese and olive sandwich or peanut butter and corn flakes on rye.

I wasn't feeling too hungry, so I took a few bites of my sandwich and listened to Ben ramble on about the fight that had erupted during his English class. Even though I was in eighth grade and he was in seventh, we pretty much knew all the same people, since I had been in his grade until the year before.

I noticed a few middle class girls from the high school sit down on the grass a few feet to my right. They were the kind of girls that really drove me crazy- all they wanted to talk about was makeup and boys and who was cooler than who else. I was sure that, in their book, I was the least cool of all, so I normally just ignored them. I was looking at Ben and listening to his story when suddenly I heard Soda's name come up in the girls' conversation.

I tuned out what Ben was saying and listened in on the girls.

"I don't know, I've been to the DX and I don't think the guy there is all that cute." This was from the girl with the matching skirt and headband.

"Then you didn't get Soda waiting on you. He's adorable!" This one had argyle socks to match her sweater.

"That's his name? Soda?" Everyone laughed. I was used to that.

"What time did you go, anyway, Joan?" Argyle girl.

"I don't know, seven?" Headband again.

"Oh, then you got the night guy, Marty. He's nothing like Soda!" Marty was actually a great guy- I liked him. He was always nice to me and didn't treat me like a kid. He was too good for them anyway.

"I don't know, Colleen. I heard some bad things about that Soda Curtis." This was another one, basically identical to Argyle girl, a.k.a. Colleen, except her knee socks were plain navy.

"Like what, he's a heartbreaker? 'Course he is, good-lookin' as he is."

"No, I'm serious. Bad stuff. My sister says to stay away from him. She heard he's rough with girls."

I did not like this navy-socks girl, at all. What was she talking about? Soda was never rough with anyone, unless they started something! He certainly would never be rough with a girl!

I sat up straight to hear them better and Ben noticed I wasn't listening to him anymore and was staring in the girls' direction. He knew those kind of girls drove me crazy.

"What, Scout?" He couldn't imagine why I was interested in their conversation.

I motioned to him to shut up.

"Oh, be quiet, you don't even know who he is. That's just rumors." Colleen.

"No, it isn't. You know that girl Sandy he used to date?" Navy socks.

"Yeah, she moved." Someone else, I didn't even bother to look at her.

Navy socks kept on talking. "Yeah, well she moved because she was getting beat up. Her parents sent her to live with her grandmother, to get away from him! My sister saw her at the bus station when she was leaving."

Yeah, well, I heard that Soda's sister got beat up, too, a while ago. He probably hits her, too!" headband added.

I was on my feet and running before Ben could stop me. I leaped into the middle of the group of girls and got in the face of the one who had been talking, restraining myself from ripping her headband right off her head.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" I yelled.

She shoved me backward and stood up. "What's your problem? Who are you anyway?"

I shoved her back. "I'm Soda Curtis's sister and I don't appreciate you spreading lies about him!"

"See, told you. The whole family's a bunch of bullies! He probably did beat her up!" Navy socks, the bitch. I turned to face her, about ready to tear her apart as well. Ben held me back.

"My brother would never, in a million years, hit a girl," I said. "Who told you that?"

"My sister saw his girlfriend Sandy before she left. She said she looked like she got beat up, all bruised and stuff. She said she even had bite marks on her. That's sick, if you ask me. Your brother's sick!"

"It's sick that you're willing to believe lies about someone you don't even know! Soda never laid a hand on her, or me! Don't you ever accuse my brother of hurting someone again! I swear to God, I'll kill you myself."

She laughed, probably since I was at least a full foot shorter than she was. I'm pretty sure I could have taken her, though, especially with the lessons the boys had given me. She was all bone.

"Get over it, bitch." She shrugged me off and turned back to her friends. It was obvious that Ben was not going to let me start anything. He was still holding me back.

I kicked the pile of books next to the girl, shook off Ben, and took off toward the track. I needed to think. My head was spinning. I couldn't even believe what I had just heard, and suddenly the secret I had been keeping felt a million pounds heavier on my shoulders. As I was running I started to cry. Ben ran after me, having no idea at all what was going on.

"Scout, stop. Scout! What is going on? You and I both know Soda never hurt Sandy, or you! Calm down."

I couldn't talk. I sat down on the bleachers by the track and buried my head in my hands.

"It's a rumor, Scout, a stupid rumor!" Ben sat beside me. "Nobody cares what those dumb girls say anyway! Don't worry about it! Since when do you care what they think? It was just gossip!"

I had to tell him. I knew I had to tell him. He could help me tell the others. I knew now, I had to tell. It wasn't just about me anymore.

I looked up and Ben must have read it in my eyes that this was serious.

"What, Scout? This isn't like you. You don't care about what those girls say."

I wiped my eyes and tried to gather my breath.

"Ben, you heard what they said, right? About Sandy?"

"Yeah."

"What she looked like? Bruises? Bites?"

"Yeah, so? You and I both know Soda would never do that."

"Soda didn't do it. But I know who did, Ben. Because it was the same person that did it to me. He bit me, too."

Ben stared at me, and I knew he was remembering the way I had looked that morning, afterward. The bite marks. His surprise turned to accusation.

"You said you didn't know who it was! You said you couldn't see him! You knew? This whole time, you knew?"

"I lied." I hung my head. How could this situation possibly be getting worse? I hadn't thought it was possible.

"Jesus Christ, Scout. Why did you lie? Why didn't you tell us? Who? Who the hell was it?"

I stared Ben right in the eyes.

"Steve. It was Steve, Ben. Steve tried to rape me. And it sounds like he did it to Sandy, too."

Ben was completely aghast. "Steve? Jesus, Scout, he practically lives at your house! Are you kidding me? After what he did to you, how could you even stand to look at him? Christ! I've seen him a hundred times since then! How can you stand to be around him?"

"I can't. I really can't. I just thought … he's Soda's best friend, and I thought Soda needed him, after Sandy… but now that I know why she left… it was because of him!"

"Oh, God, Scout. You gotta tell them. I've a mind to find Steve right now and… that bastard! I can't believe you didn't tell me! I'm going to find him."

"Not now, Ben." I stopped him there. "Not yet." I needed him with me, for now. "But… can you come with me to tell them? Just be there, when I tell Darry anyway?"

"Darry? What about Soda?"

"Darry first," I said. "Then he'll tell Soda with me. He'll take it better from Darry than me."

Ben thought about it.

"Let's go now," he said. "God, your brothers are gonna kill him."

"No. Not now. I'm not ready. Darry's at work, anyway. After practice. I need to think about what I'm gonna say, first… how to tell them."

"I'm not going to practice today, remember? Dentist."

Right. He had told me that.

"Well, just come over after you get back from the dentist, then. I'll wait. I don't think I can tell them alone. I know I can't." I still wasn't really sure I'd be able to tell them, at all.

"Oh, man, Scout. This is huge. You shoulda told us then."

"Yeah, well hindsight's twenty-twenty," I said. "It was a little hard to know what was the right thing to do at the time. I thought I was doing the right thing…for Soda."

He was quiet as he considered that.

"I think you should have done the right thing for you," he said gently. "You have to, now, or I will. I'm not keeping this secret for you, Scout. If you don't tell them, I will." He took my hand and covered it with both of his.

"I just… I never thought… God, Ben, he did it to Sandy, too. God." I couldn't imagine how, just when I thought that things might be starting to get better, they had suddenly become a million times worse. And Sandy… any hatred I had ever felt for her was gone. She knew. She knew exactly what had happened to me. I thought nobody knew what I was feeling like, but she did. And for me, it had just been my brother's friend. For her, it had been both her boyfriend's best friend and her best friend's boyfriend. God, the poor thing. No wonder she ran away.

And then I remembered- she was pregnant, too? God, I thought, what if it's Steve's? I put my head down between my legs, feeling sick.

Ben leaned down next to me.

"It'll be okay, Scout. Once you tell everybody, you won't have to be afraid of him anymore. I can't believe you kept this a secret. This must have been killing you. I don't understand why you didn't tell us."

I was crying again, overwhelmed with the whole mess. I didn't know anymore, why I hadn't told. Now I didn't know how Soda would react. Maybe if I had told, things would have been different… maybe Sandy… I just didn't know.

We heard the lunch bell in the distance and realized we were both late for our next class. I picked my head up, wiping my eyes.

"Go, Ben," I said. "I'll see you after I get home from practice. Just come over to my house, okay?"

"I'm glad you told me, Scout. I wish you would have before."

"Well, me too, now. I'm okay. Let's go to class."

He reached over and kissed me on the cheek. I was glad Steve was in the high school and he and Ben would not cross paths. The last thing I needed was Ben in trouble for fighting with Steve.

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I survived my afternoon classes and practice, thinking about nothing except what I could say- how I could try to make them understand why I hadn't told. I was terrified that they would be mad, and that Soda would hate me, resent me, maybe even believe Steve over me, and think I had somehow wanted it, or asked for it. I had no doubt that Soda loved me, but I was scared to death that he might for some reason side with Steve. I went back and forth between feeling like I could tell, and then feeling like there was no way on Earth I could do it.

After practice, I waited by the gym door, rehearsing in my mind how the conversation would go. I was glad to have Ben willing to be there for support. Darry was likely to explode – having Ben there might serve to temper his reaction, at least a little bit. I paced in the hallway, as one by one everyone else was picked up. Normally Ben and Anna would have been there with me, but Anna was sick, and Ben had that dentist appointment. Pony didn't have track practice anymore, the meets were over and the team just practiced on their own time between seasons. Finally, I stood alone at the gym door, waiting for Darry's truck to pull up, thinking of how I would fill the silence on the ride home. I would not tell without Ben, I couldn't.

Finally I saw a car. It didn't look like Darry's truck or Soda's new wreck, so I stared and eventually was relieved to see that it was Two-Bit who was sent to pick me up. His car rattled up to the door and I grabbed my bag and ran out and around the drivers side and hopped in.

"So you drew the short straw, huh?" I kidded, trying to sound normal.

There was no answer and I felt a chill rise in me. I turned to the driver's seat as I felt a hand on my arm.

"Hey, kid." I froze. Zero at the bone. It wasn't Two-Bit. It was Steve.

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A/N: OK, so anybody see that coming? Review! I'll try not to leave you hanging too long!