We didn't say much on the ride home. I noticed Steve's car was still in the driveway and realized that, eventually, he would have to come back to get it. I kind of hoped the keys were in the house, and maybe somebody could just drive it to his house. I didn't want to see any confrontations between him and my brothers- I just wanted him to be gone.

I went into the house and went straight into my bedroom. I tried to do homework, but I couldn't concentrate to save my life. I got my math done, but I was fairly certain that I would have to do just about very one over again after Darry looked at it. I didn't bother with anything else- he only checked the math anyway. I brought it out and he looked at it, circling the ones that were wrong, which turned out to be about half, but not saying anything. I knew he was thinking the same thing I was- that we still had to tell Soda about Sandy. He had been sitting outside with Two-Bit since we got back, smoking, which meant he was already plenty upset. I guess Darry was planning on waiting until after dinner.

Ponyboy turned to us, pulling a dish out of the oven.

"Somebody go get Soda and Two-Bit. This is done."

Darry went, and I was glad. I was worried about what Soda might be thinking about me- that he might be angry, even if he had said that he wasn't.

I had thought that telling would make me feel better- that not having to keep the secret would make dealing with the whole situation easier- but it didn't. I still felt just as bad, maybe even worse, knowing that I had altered the dynamics of me and Soda's relationship, and pretty much eliminated his relationship with Steve. Everything had changed so much, since that night, that I no longer knew what normal was- or would be. Normal, I was guessing, no longer included Steve. And if that felt weird for me, I could only imagine how it felt for Soda.

I was glad Two-Bit stayed for dinner. He somehow made everyone feel a little bit more relaxed. He wasn't his usual outrageous self, but he kept the conversation going enough that it wasn't as uncomfortable as I imagined it would be. I was feeling sick with the anticipation of how Soda would react to learning the rest of what I knew, so I hardly ate anything. I noticed he wasn't eating much, either. Darry noticed, too, I'm sure, but he kept his mouth shut.

After dinner, I started on the dishes and was shocked when Ponyboy came over and started helping me. The surprise must have been showing on my face, because he grabbed the plate out of my hand and started drying it, saying,

"Look, I just want to help you, okay?"

"Okay," I answered, shocked that none of the other guys had a wiseass comment to add. Pony occasionally will do chores when it isn't his turn if he is trying to make up for something bad he said or did, but he doesn't usually just offer to help out of the blue. As far as I knew, he didn't need to apologize to me about anything.

When we finished up the dishes, I went back to my room and just sat there, on my bed, trying to make sense of everything that had happened.

Finding out about Sandy- that was what had changed everything. Before that, I had no plans to ever tell anybody. But then, Steve coming to pick me up- I couldn't figure that out. He couldn't have known that I found out about Sandy – Ben hadn't shown up at the house until after he left. Why had he come after me, I wondered. Was it really just to talk? Or was it to get what he had missed out on the first time? Had he really thought he could make things better, when he said he would "fix" everything? How could he even think that was possible? In a way, I felt sad for him, despite what had happened, because he had lost his best friend and it was his own fault.

"Scout?" I jumped, turning around to find Soda at my door.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said. "Can I come in?"

I nodded. I looked at him closely, trying to read what he was thinking, to determine if it matched what he was saying. He said he wasn't mad at me. He didn't look mad at me. But, still… for reasons I couldn't understand myself, I felt like he should be mad at me.

He came and sat on the bed, and for a minute or so neither of us said anything. I hated this; us not knowing what to say to each other. Soda and I had always gotten along the most easily, out of everyone in the family. I honestly could not remember us ever fighting, really.

"Scout, I hope you don't hate me because of this," he finally started.

My jaw dropped, literally. Was he kidding? Me, hate him? Why on Earth would I hate him? God, It was because of how much I loved him that I hadn't said anything.

"Soda, why..?" I began.

"I should have figured it out," he said, and he sounded like he wanted to cry. "I should have picked up on it. You not wanting to come into the DX that time… That night… I should have figured out that Steve could have been here. I hate myself that I can't remember that night. He brought me home, didn't he? And that's when it happened?"

I nodded. I couldn't look at him.

"I'm so sorry, baby," he said, and he was crying now, though I still couldn't look at him, I could hear it in his voice.

"Please don't hate me," he barely whispered, sounding miserable.

That sent the tears streaming down my face, too, and I grabbed him, hugging him as tightly as I could.

"I don't hate you, Soda. I could never hate you. I love you. That's why I didn't want to tell. I didn't want to be the reason you lost your best friend."

"I already lost my best friend, Scout, months ago. She left me. You should have told me, right away. I would never have let him anywhere near you again."

Oh, Christ. He had to bring up Sandy. There was no way I couldn't tell him now. I had really wanted Darry to be the one to do it, or at least be with me if I had to do it, but he was outside with Pony and Two-Bit. I guess it was going to be just me.

"Actually, I'm pretty scared that you might hate me after what I have to tell you," I whispered. I tried to pull away from our hug, but he pulled me back in.

"I could never hate you, either," he whispered back. I hoped it was the truth.

I couldn't think of where to start.

"What? What is it?" Now he was pushing me back so he could look me in the face. I looked down and he lifted my chin back up. "You can tell me anything. I mean it."

"I just don't know where to start."

"Try the beginning, and see how that goes."

"I wasn't going to tell, about Steve. Ever. I was just going to try to forget it and make it go away."

"Scout, you can't…"

"I know. I know, now. But something made me change my mind, anyway. Something I found out at school today. Ben and I heard some girls… some high school girls… talking, and they were talking about you, so I started listening, and one of them said that you beat up girls."

"Who said that? Are you kidding me? I would never lay a hand on a girl."

"I know, Soda. Let me finish. So, I got in her face and told her she didn't know what she was talking about, and she said that her sister saw Sandy the night she left, at the bus station, and she was beat up, and had bite marks on her."

Soda hadn't yet made the connection, but I could see him getting there.

"The bite marks, Soda," I was crying hard, now, out of fear of how he was going to react more than anything else. "He bit me, too… What Steve did to me… I think he did it to Sandy, too. I'm sure he did. He pretty much admitted it. I don't think she cheated on you, Soda. I think Steve raped her."

Soda turned white as a sheet and I thought he might pass out, but what he did do was just the opposite.

"No!" he yelled, jumping up from the bed and tossing my books onto the floor. "That bastard!" He started hitting the wall, yelling, kicking at the doorframe. Darry and the others came running in. He looked at me and I nodded, and he knew I had told him. Darry held onto him and walked him over to the couch, talking to him in the soothing voice he has that always works to calm us down.

"What the hell happened?" Two-Bit asked. Pony looked just as confused.

"I found out today that Steve didn't just hurt me."

"What? Who else?"

"Sandy."

"Shit, no." Two-Bit looked disgusted.

"Are you sure?" Pony asked.

"Yes," I said. "I was never gonna tell anyone it was Steve, but then I found out about Sandy, and I knew I had to."

"I knew she wouldn't just leave him," Pony said, and turned to go into the living room to be with Soda.

Two-Bit reached out his hand for mine and we followed him in. Soda sat on the couch, surrounded by Pony and Darry. Two-Bit sat in Dad's armchair, pulling me down onto the arm next to him.

"Who told you this, Scout? I need to know who." Soda had calmed down but was still crying, a little.

"I told you, some high school girls. They were talking at lunch."

"I need to know their names."

"I don't remember," I said. I didn't. I remembered their outfits, but not their names.

"How old were they?"

"I don't know… maybe juniors? Not freshmen."

"Darry, where's your yearbook?"

"In my bedroom. Why?"

"Go get it." Soda had a plan.

Darry came back with the yearbook and Soda took it. He motioned me over to where Darry had been sitting.

"I need you to find the girl who said her sister saw her. I need to talk to her."

I wasn't sure why he cared, but I did as he asked, looking through the book. It turned out she wasn't a junior, she was a sophomore. There she was: navy socks girl. Her real name was Janice Evers.

"Hey, I know that girl," Two-Bit said, of course.

"You know where she lives?"

"Yup. Took her sister out a couple o' times."

"We're goin' for a ride, Two-Bit." Soda stood up and was out the door before we could stop him.

"Two-Bit?" Darry called after him.

"Yeah?"

"Don't let him do anything stupid."

……………….

A/N: Thanks for the reviews of the last chapter. I heard all your requests for me to write in a different POV the part where Ben realizes that Steve has been sent to get Scout, and what exactly happened between Steve and the others in the woods… I will do it, as soon as I have a chance. Unfortunately, I do have some other things that I have to do besides write fanfiction… you know- work, sleep, etc. Thanks for reading :-)