I reacted immediately. I struggled to free my arm, and I pulled up my feet and kicked him full-on in the chest. He cursed and let my arm go. I jumped out of the car and started sprinting towards the football field. I knew that, at this point, there was no getting back into the school building- after regular school hours, the doors were locked from the outside. I was fast, but Steve was so much taller that once he got out of the car, he was gaining on me quickly. I headed with all I had for the small building that contained the bathrooms for the football field and the public park. There were no real outside doors, so it couldn't be locked.

I reached the building and ran into the womens side. There was a ledge along the wall, which hid the plumbing for the toilets. It made a shelf-like platform about six feet off the ground. The ceilings were high, exposing pipes that ran overhead.

I ran into a stall, locked the door, and climbed from the toilet tank onto the ledge. There was a broom leaning up against the wall, and I grabbed it and pulled it up to my perch just as Steve rounded the corner.

"Get out!" I screamed.

"Come on, Scout, calm down. I just wanna talk to you."

"Get out, Steve! I swear to God I'll kill you." I was actually pretty sure I would.

"Oh, that's cute, Scout. You're gonna kill me? How? I know Darry won't let you out with the knife Shepard gave you. Calm down!"

"Calm down? Do you even know what you did to me? Do you have any idea? Just get away from me!" I was screaming and waving the broom at him.

"Look, it was a mistake, I…"

"A mistake? A mistake, Steve? You hurt me! You scared me to death and made me feel like it was my fault, and made me into someone who is scared all the time and hates herself for it, and now I find out you did the same thing to Sandy? God, Steve, Sandy? I thought Soda was your friend!"

He looked horrified when I metioned Sandy.

"He is my friend... I didn't touch her."

"Shut up, Steve! I know you did. You hurt her just like you hurt me."

"You don't understand…" He was getting worked up now, too… I was afraid to make him angry but couldn't help myself from yelling. This had been building up inside me for so long, there was going to be no holding it back now. I exploded.

"What? What don't I understand? That you're on drugs, and you were drunk? Do you think I care about that? I don't get to forget about what you did. I have to remember it, and think about it- all the time- and Sandy… how could you? How could you, Steve? Soda loved her! He still does! I hate you, for what you did to me, but I hate you just as much for what you did to Soda!"

"I wasn't.. I didn't mean to…" he was stumbling to defend himself. "You can't say anything, Scout! I'll fix it!"

"You can't fix it, Steve. That's the problem! You can't, and I can't… I don't even know if anybody can!" I didn't.

"I didn't deserve this! Sandy didn't deserve this." With that comment, he moved forward to grab the broom from me and I shoved it back at him, not willing to let him get near me. I was shaking and terrified, but between Tim, Darry, and the rest of the boys, I had a confidence I had never before possessed.

He still came towards me.

"Let me explain…" he started.

"No!" I yelled. "No. Don't come near me. Just stay away. Just go away!" I was yelling, but sobbing, as well. I had never been so scared, yet strong, at the same time. Every time I drove him back he waited a minute then approached me again. This back and forth went on for a few minutes, him trying to reason with me, and me not having any of it. Finally, he grabbed on and yanked the broom handle out of my hand. He came toward me and grabbed my ankle.

I started screaming at the top of my lungs for him to let go of me, telling him again that I would kill him if he didn't, when I heard a breathless voice yelling from the doorway.

"Get away from her, Steve!"

Ponyboy. Thank God. I had no idea where he had come from, but thank God.

Steve let go of my ankle, and I shrank away to the wall.

First Soda, then Two-Bit, Darry, and Ben appeared behind Pony.

"Scout, you alright?" Darry asked, also breathless. They must have all been running. I covered my face, wiping my tears, and nodded.

Steve tried to say something, but Darry wouldn't allow it.

"Get out of here," he said. "Now!"

I had a feeling the boys would be joining him outside. He was no match for all of them.

Steve tried to talk again but Darry wasn't hearing it.

"Out! Get out of here, Steve! Jesus Christ!"

I sat on the ledge, shaking. I had thought for sure he was going to rape me this time, eventually, if the guys hadn't shown up. I had truly been ready to kill him, in any way possible, if it had come to that.

Darry looked like he would have liked to personally drain the life out of Steve, but he just watched him leave and came over to stand under me. He reached up and took my hand.

"Are you hurt? Scout, did he hurt you?"

I shook my head no. Darry looked up at me, and I thought I might cry again, but the tears never came. He reached up and encircled my waist, pulling me down gently.

"I thought it was gonna happen again," I admitted. "This is what I was afraid of."

"But it didn't, baby. Thank God, it didn't." He let me rest on his shoulder a couple of minutes before setting me down. I heard yelling outside but couldn't tell what was being said. I was still shaking as he walked me outside. He was limping.

"Oh, Darry, your foot…" He must have been running on the stitches.

"It's fine," he said. There was no sign of any of the others, including Steve. Darry walked me over to the bleachers and we sat down.

"How did you know? To come after him?"

"Ben came over," he said. Ben. Of course. "He went crazy when we told him Steve had gone to get you."

"Scout," he continued, looking down at me, "Why in hell didn't you tell me it was Steve? Right away, that morning?"

"Because…Soda, Darry." I said… "I love Soda, and Steve- he's his best friend. I didn't want…"

"Scout… he hurt you. God, Scout, we let him hang around in our house after he almost raped you! Jesus! You never even said…" I could completely see why Darry couldn't understand. My reasoning didn't even make much sense to myself anymore.

"I was never alone with him, after. I made sure."

"Well, you were tonight, and we were the ones that sent him for you! If anything had happened, we would have set you up for it, because we didn't know, Scout!" I could tell he was pretty upset by the thought. I wasn't exactly thrilled about it, either.

"I know. I know. It's just… Soda... he lost so much… I didn't want to be the one to take away his best friend on top of everything. Steve was so drunk that night, and I know you know he's taking drugs, too… He wasn't really even Steve, that night. I thought maybe he didn't mean it, or even know."

"Scout, if you think Soda, or any of us, would ever want to be friends with someone we knew was hurting you, you've lost it. And I don't care how drunk or high he was, it's absolutely no excuse for what he did to you. Lord knows, I've been drunk as anyone, but it would never even cross my mind to hurt a girl. I still feel sick when I remember what you looked like when we found you in bed that morning. There is no excuse for that. None."

I knew how he felt. The thought of it made me sick, too.

"I'm sorry I lied to you," I said.

"I wish you hadn't felt like you had to." Darry was confused. "Why now then? Why did you tell Ben? I mean, thank God you did, but why?"

"Well… Where's Soda?" I asked, realizing I didn't want him to reappear in the middle of telling Darry about Sandy.

"I assume he's off with the rest of them taking care of things with Steve," he said.

I realized that, wherever the guys had gone, there was no doubt that they were hurting Steve. Payback. Revenge.

"Why aren't you…"

"Another time." He answered. "I will." He must have known I was wondering why he wasn't getting a part of the action himself. I knew he was plenty angry. "Right now, this is Soda's score to settle," he said, "for you. I wanted to make sure you were all right."

"Do you think Ben's getting involved in it too?" I asked.

"I imagine so. I'm sure he wanted his fair share of Steve, too. He's pretty disgusted that we let that bastard be around you. We all are."

"Darry?" I knew I still had to tell him about Sandy.

"Yeah?" he answered, putting his arm around me and rubbing my shoulder.

"I told Ben because I wanted him to be with me when I told you. That's why he came over the house- I told him to. So… now you know… about Steve, but there's more to it... and it's worse."

"What more?" he looked scared.

"I found out something at school today."

"Okay...and..."

"What happened to me… what Steve did… well, I think… it looks like I wasn't the only one he did it to."

"What? Who else?"

I took a deep breath. "Sandy, Darry. Sandy too. And he probably hurt and scared her as bad as he did me. She loves Soda and she wouldn't want to hurt him any more than I did, so I think she hid it, too."

He leaned his head on my shoulder.

"God," he whispered.

"Darry, he told me nobody would ever believe me if I told. And that he'd hurt me, or worse. He even made me think I asked for it, somehow. That's why she left, it has to be. She loves him. But his best friend… She probably felt ashamed."

"If this is true, she has nothing to be ashamed of." Darry looked disgusted.

"I know that, but I felt that way for an awful long time, too. I still kinda do. Like I deserved it."

"You didn't deserve it. Nobody deserves that." He looked me in the eyes as he said that, then pulled me into a full hug.

"How did you find this out, anyway?"

I told him about the high school girls and how they had accused Soda of hurting both Sandy and me, leaving out the part about me nearly getting into a fight. When I told him about the bites and bruises, he admitted it all added up. He looked down and noticed my arm, a new bruise forming where Steve had first grabbed me in the car, and I had kicked him to pull away.

"Jesus Christ." He said, as he lightly rubbed my bruise. "That sick bastard."

Finally, I said, "I think maybe you should tell Soda… about Sandy. I'm not sure if he should be hearing it from me. You're better at that stuff."

"You're the one who found out, Scout."

"Would you want your kid sister telling you your best friend raped your girlfriend? God, Darry, the baby… it's probably Steve's. Or maybe she doesn't even know whose."

He drew in a breath, and I realized he hadn't thought about that part of things.

"I guess not. We'll tell him later. At home."

"Okay," I agreed.

We just sat there without really saying anything else for ten minutes or so, until the boys came walking back across the field from the bank of trees that separated the football field from the basketball and tennis courts. They looked somber. This wasn't the kind of fight that made you excited if you won- it was the kind of fight that arose out of the realization that someone you thought you knew wasn't really who you thought they were, and the anger that someone you had trusted had completely and irreparably broken that trust. I was wondering what had become of Steve. They sat on the bleachers with us, and all of them, except Two-Bit, lit up cigarettes as Pony passed his pack down.

"He won't be botherin' anybody else for a long while," Two-Bit said. I was surprised to feel a little relieved that they hadn't actually killed him. There was a siren in the distance, and he added, "There's his ride, now." I guessed somebody must have seen him and called either an ambulance or the cops. I knew, no matter what, he wouldn't say a word to the cops.

"I'm sorry, Soda." I said, eventually. I was. I just wished none of this had ever happened; that Steve hadn't turned out to be an asshole of a friend who attacked both his sister and his girlfriend.

"Don't you even fucking think that, Scout. You ain't got nothin' to be sorry about." He was angry, and I knew it wasn't at me, but Darry didn't like his tone.

"Cool it, Soda. You got no reason to be mad at her."

"I ain't. I'm mad at myself for ever letting that two-faced piece of shit anywhere near her." I shot Darry a look. This was not gonna get any better when we told him about Sandy. Ben glanced at me and I shook my head. Not here.

"You didn't know, Soda," I said quietly. "It's not your fault." I truly had never blamed Soda for any of it.

"I brought someone into our house who beat up and almost fucking raped my twelve year old sister. That's unforgivable."

I moved to sit next to Soda.

"No. It isn't." I said quietly. "Nobody needs to forgive you for anything. You didn't do anything wrong. None of us knew what he would do."

"She's right, Soda." Two-Bit said. "None of us figured it out either. You think I'm not wishin' I had put it all together weeks ago?"

Soda just sat with his head in his hands. "Scout, we sent him to get you, tonight. He coulda…"

"I'm okay. He didn't hurt me."

"Yeah, this time," he said. "If he ever comes within a mile of you, one of us gets told. Immediately. You hear me? No more secrets. I don't want him so much as looking at you."

"I'll tell you, Soda. I swear."

"Why didn't you tell me?" his look almost made me cry, and I hung my head.

"I just… It's complicated. Can we just talk about this at home? I'm getting cold." It was getting dark, as well.

Two-Bit suddenly stood up. "Hey, where the hell'd that bastard leave my car?"

I looked up. "It's probably still by the gym doors. I thought it was you in the car and got in. When I saw it was Steve, I kicked him in the chest and ran away, and he chased me. He just left it, I guess. What was he doing in your car, anyway?"

"I was blocking him in," Two-Bit answered.

Sure enough, it was sitting by the gym doors, both doors open, and the motor still running.

"Asshole wasted my gas, too," Two-Bit lamented. "See you guys at the house?" Pony and Soda climbed into the car.

"I'll ride with Darry," I said. I helped him around the building to where his truck was in the side parking lot.

"How'd you know I was in the bathrooms?" I asked.

"Soon as I shut off the truck, we could hear you yelling and cussing him out." Darry opened the door for me, and I climbed in.

"I would have killed him, Darry. I'm pretty sure."

Darry looked over at me.

"I don't doubt it, Scout," he said. "And nobody would have blamed you, either."

.......................

A/N: Thanks for the onslaught of reviews from last chapter, and I forgive all of you who cussed me out. Haha. Sorry. I know cliffhangers suck! I felt like I had to justify Steve's actions in this story, somewhat...the drug use and abuse of the ladies... I will be posting a one-shot later tonight, called "Looking for the Whales" as a peace offering, trying to explain why he is pretty messed up. Hope you will read and comment on that, too...