Note: I don't own The Outsiders

Chapter 31

Maybe if he stared hard enough at the book she would think he hadn't heard her. Maybe she would think she was interrupting and leave him alone. Maybe --.

"Johnny," Sarah said, "did you hear my question?"

Mentally, he cringed, but he tried to adopt a confused look so she wouldn't catch on that he was uncomfortable.

"Huh?" he said, furrowing his brow as he kept his eyes trained on the textbook in front of him. He'd read the definition of cellular mitosis at least five times now and was pretty sure he couldn't explain it if his life depended on it. One more time couldn't hurt.

They were sitting at the kitchen table. Johnny was doing schoolwork and Sarah was just killing time after helping her mom plant flowers in the garden. He liked having her around. Growing up, he'd always wondered what it would be like to have an older brother or sister. He figured he would have been lucky to end up with a sister like Sarah. She talked to him like one of the guys, like Soda or Pony. She seemed to really value his opinion and want to know how things were going, if he had any problems, or if he just wanted to talk. She was cool. Of course, her ease around him sometimes brought about situations like this one. Not actually having an older sister made it kind of difficult to know how to talk to someone who had basically become one overnight.

Feeling her eyes on him, he forced himself to look up. She was chewing on her bottom lip - a habit that made her look younger and vulnerable.

Leaning forward, like she was telling him something top secret, she said, "Is Darry seeing anyone?"

"D-Darry Curtis?" he asked, trying to pretend he didn't know who she was talking about. He hadn't realized how bad he was at stalling until just now.

She sighed a sigh that sounded kind of amused and exasperated at the same time. "No, Darry Queen. Just how many Darry's do you know?"

"Just wanted to make sure who you meant," Johnny shrugged, returning his attention to the book. He kept reading - the cell stuff still didn't make any sense; it made even less when he skimmed over the words without actually reading them.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sarah narrow her eyes and he got a little nervous - he'd seen that look before. He wasn't going to get out of answering her question. First Two-Bit and now Sarah - he wondered when he'd become the designated go-to guy for relationship advice.

She cleared her throat, and he carefully placed the textbook on the table, taking a moment to mark his page with a piece of paper before closing it. He was about to put the cap on his pen when she cleared her throat again and he gave in, finally meeting her gaze.

"You aren't going to make me ask a third time, are you?"

"No?" He hadn't meant for his voice to rise at the end and it wound up sounding like a question. Her answer was silent but it spoke volumes - a single raised eyebrow.

"I don't think so … I don't think Darry's seein' anyone …" he said slowly, his voice trailing off.

The change was immediate - a smile spread across her face and her cheeks colored like she was blushing. "Really?"

"Um … I'm pretty sure?" He did that question thing again and winced, but Sarah didn't seem to notice.

She leaned forward in her chair, an excited gleam in her eye and Johnny had to fight the urge to back his chair away from the table. As it was, he had casually placed his right hand on the wheel in case he had to make a quick escape. "So," she started, "what type of woman does he usually date? What is he interested in? What does he like?"

"Darry Curtis?" He hadn't really meant to ask it again; and he certainly hadn't meant to ask it in such a disbelieving tone.

"Is that so hard to believe?"

"Well … don't you guys hate each other? You're always arguing."

"We don't argue," she explained with a wry look. "It's more like we have spirited conversations."

"Right." Whatever you say, he silently added.

"So …" she said, evidently still eager for answers.

He shrugged. "I don't really know. Basically, Darry takes care of Pony and Soda. He works two jobs and he likes sports - football especially. He's probably the strongest guy I know and he's always the toughest guy in a rumble."

"Toughest guy in a rumble?" Sarah repeated and Johnny nodded, pleased with his description.

"Well, that's certainly good to know," she said. Johnny could have sworn he heard her mutter something under her breath and it sounded like, "Boys."

"Jeez, kid - next she'll be askin' you to pass Darry notes in class, or somethin'," Two-Bit said with a laugh as took a sip of his root beer float.

Sarah had finally given up on hassling any useful information out of Johnny when Two-Bit and his sister, Sabrina, came over to hang out. It wasn't a moment too soon, as far as Johnny was concerned. Two-Bit seemed surprised when Johnny suggested they go out for lunch. He rarely volunteered to go out in public unless he absolutely had to, but he was half-afraid Sarah would start in on Two-Bit next. He could just imagine the wild stories Two-Bit would make up on Darry's behalf. Two-Bit Mathews - Matchmaker was probably something the world didn't need.

The Tasty Freeze was packed - what with the muggy heat and everyone in a five-mile radius apparently needing an ice cream cone at the exact same moment. They lucked out though, grabbing an outside table that was toward the back, away from the crush of people.

"I think it's so romantic," Sabrina said with a sigh, propping her chin in her hand as she chewed absentmindedly on her straw. She had a faraway look in her eyes - kind of like that starry-eyed thing girls always got in the movies whenever Elvis strolled by.

"Maybe Sarah thinks Darry is dreamy." Two-Bit fluttered his eyelashes and Johnny almost choked on his cheeseburger.

Sabrina didn't realize her big brother was making fun of her. "Do you think so?" The ten-year-old sighed again and Johnny almost laughed that time. He didn't mean to - he didn't want to hurt the kid's feelings, but it was pretty funny.

"Oh, I know so," Two-Bit continued, bating his sister. "Ya know - it's kinda like how you feel about Johnny here."

"Keeeeith!" Sabrina exclaimed. In her embarrassment, she accidentally knocked over her cherry coke, sending ice and soda everywhere. The world seemed to stop in that moment and Johnny was afraid of what was going to happen next. Her cheeks flushed a deep pink that clashed with her hair and it looked like her bottom lip was trembling. Johnny felt a panic start to build in his chest - she was going to bawl, he knew it. He quickly grabbed some napkins and was trying to help her clean up the mess. He gave her a crooked smile, but she didn't notice - she wouldn't even look at him.

"Nice, Two-Bit," he said, fighting the urge to throw the dripping napkins at his grinning friend.

"Aw, Runt - Johnny knows I was just kidding," Two-Bit said as he stood up and dug into his pocket, pulling out some change. "Here ya go, buy yourself another coke and maybe some candy."

She reached out blindly to grab the coins, her eyes never leaving the ground. Shoulders slumped, feet dragging; she made her way over to the long line to wait her turn. After a minute or two, another girl walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. They apparently knew each other and it wasn't long before Sabrina was giggling and talking a mile-a-minute.

"So, what have you found out about our little mystery?" Two-Bit asked excitedly, pulling Johnny's attention away from the kid.

"What?"

"You remember - our mystery. The guy. In the picture. The mystery." Two-Bit was on the edge of his seat, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

"Um, I haven't found out anything," Johnny said slowly.

Two-Bit looked disappointed. "What do ya mean you haven't found out anything? You ain't holding up your end of the investigation, man."

"I didn't know we were investigatin' anything," he said as he took a bite of a French fry.

"Come on - don't you wanna know who that guy is? Isn't it eatin' away at you?"

Johnny grinned and shook his head. "Nah, but it seems to be buggin' you enough for the two of us."

"Today," Two-Bit said abruptly. "Today would have been perfect. Tom was at work. Mary was out in the garden. You had Sarah all to yourself. You could have asked her about it then. Man - talk about a missed opportunity."

"You want to know so badly - you ask her. I ain't asking anyone about it."

"Why the hell not?"

Johnny was thoughtful for a moment and then said, "What if it's somethin' bad? There's gotta be a reason nobody talks about him and I don't wanna be the one to bring it up."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Two-Bit asked, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms defiantly.

"The library." A young female voice answered, full of confidence. Sabrina was standing behind Johnny's chair and had evidently heard part of the conversation.

"Library?" Two-Bit echoed and Johnny groaned - Sabrina's encouragement was not something they needed right now.

"Yeah - you can look stuff up, duh," she said, gnawing on a piece of red licorice and shaking her head like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Two-Bit was nodding. "Yeah … we can compile facts. Do some research. Dig up the truth. Good plan. Definitely a good plan." He was practically talking to himself at this point, a manic gleam in his eyes.

Grabbing his car keys off the table, he stood up suddenly. "You ready to roll, kid?"

Johnny was working on a half a plate of fries and was just about to reach for one, but he didn't get a chance. Without waiting for an answer, Two-Bit grabbed the handles to his chair and started to steer him toward the parking lot with Sabrina trailing behind carrying a bag of candy and a cup of soda.

Roughly an hour later, the trio found themselves stationed at a round table in the back of the library, surrounded by scattered newspapers. Johnny was bored out of his mind, flipping through page after page, searching for the name Martin. That was all they had to go on - no first name, just the last. At least they had managed to narrow it down to newspapers from last year.

On the ride over, Two-Bit kept bombarding him with questions, trying to get him to remember something. Johnny figured it was years of being taken into police custody and getting questioned by scores of cops that had honed Two-Bit's interrogation skills. Two-Bit looked especially triumphant when Johnny finally remembered something worthwhile. When those two ladies at the hardware store were talking about Tom and Mary they had mentioned last year and alluded to something bad happening. Well at least it was place to start - narrowing it down to only 365 newspapers to go through instead of a few thousand. Of course, it was still like searching for a needle in haystack and the air-conditioning in the place was the only thing keeping Johnny from calling the whole thing off.

Despite being the one with the brilliant idea in the first place, Sabrina had gotten distracted fairly early on and was now reading a book she had found on the shelves. It was a Nancy Drew mystery and Johnny found himself wishing Nancy were here to help.

He picked up the next paper in the pile and unfolded it. His breath caught in his throat and his eyes grew wide. He couldn't look away. His brain screamed at him to put the paper down, to close it and toss it aside. But he couldn't. It was like his whole body, not just his legs, had become paralyzed.

A picture of Bob Sheldon was plastered across the front page. Handsome, with a cocky grin and confident set to his shoulders, Johnny could see the perfect All-American guy that the article made him out to be. There was a picture of the fountain - it was in black and white, of course, but Johnny's mind painted it with the red he could see as clearly as though it had all happened just moments ago.

"Does it hurt?" Sabrina voice broke through the red haze and brought him back to the present. He dropped the paper and pushed it aside.

"What?" Johnny asked, his mind somewhere else. She was looking down and he followed her gaze. She was staring at his arm and he realized the sleeve of his shirt had ridden up - or he had pushed it up out of habit, not thinking. His scars were ugly - roping over his forearms, around his neck and down his back in an angry patchwork of pink, white and red. He usually forgot they were there until something reminded him.

"Oh, uh … not really," he answered as he self-consciously pushed his sleeves down, covering the damage.

"Did it hurt?" He hadn't realized how direct kids could be. It was a little disconcerting. The only one who ever asked him about his burns was Mary and that was because she had to make sure everything was healing the way it was supposed to.

"Yeah, a lot," he admitted.

"But not anymore?" She worried her bottom lip, twisting a lock of hair with her finger.

"No, not anymore," he assured her, forcing himself to smile.

"Good," she said simply and returned her attention to the book she was reading, her legs swinging in the chair, not quite reaching the ground.

"Aha!" Two-Bit suddenly exclaimed. Sabrina jumped, dropping her book, but Johnny didn't react. Two-Bit scooted his chair over to Johnny and pointed out the article he had found. It was in the obituaries and Johnny didn't want to look - he didn't want to know.

Realizing Johnny wasn't going to read it on his own, Two-Bit folded the paper and, clearing his throat, he began to read out loud. Johnny caught bits and pieces of it - "Daniel Martin … Son of Thomas and Mary Martin, brother of Sarah Martin … 22 years old … Star athlete at Will Rogers … Honor Student … College … Undisclosed causes … Funeral arrangements …"

It was pretty much what he feared all along.

Johnny backed his chair away from the table. "Let's get out of here," he said quietly.

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A/N - Thanks again for all the great reviews. The next chapter will be a Dally one ... I promise. Throw a little bit of Tim in there and it should be fun, or in the very least - interesting.