I do not own The Outsiders. S.E. Hinton does :)
"Darry has cancer?! No way!" Steve exclaimed, but Soda quickly hushed him.
"Geez Steve, the whole world don't need to know." Soda muttered, throwing his rag down on the counter. Steve gave Soda an apologetic look.
"Sorry man, it's just so terrible." Steve said sadly, and then edged towards Sodapop to get a good look on his best friend.
The man had dark circles under his eyes, and his skin didn't have its natural glow, and Steve could swear that some gray was starting to spout over the greaser's blond hair. Basically, Sodapop looked like a zombie.
"You don't look so good Soda. Maybe you should go home. I got your shift covered." Steve offered, but Soda declined straight away.
"Nope, I need to get more money by myself. You won't always be here to cover my shifts, and I don't want to become dependent on you." He snapped.
Steve knew that it was from the lack of sleep that Soda was short-tempered, but he couldn't help but feel a little bit hurt.
"Sorry for trying to help." Steve grumbled, wiping his forehead and going outside to see if any clients needed assistance. Soda just sighed; he'd been feeling like a screw-up lately, and fighting with his best friend had just made everything seem worse.
Everything was changing in the Curtis household; Darry getting cancer affected all of the boys. Darry was losing weight rapidly, and he was throwing up more and more due to chemotherapy. The greaser's hair had started falling out, though Darry had chosen to not cut it all of just yet. The man refused to eat; his stomach simply couldn't take it.
Sodapop wasn't his cheery self anymore, and though he did smile, it was often forced and people could tell; the greaser just didn't seem to have that sparkle in his eyes anymore. Also, he had started arguing with people lately, making people turn away and resent him. Only a few people understood him, and even they were starting to become annoyed by his attitude.
Ponyboy…well Ponyboy seemed to be affected the most. His grades had started slipping, he was beginning to isolate himself from everyone and unlike Sodapop who faked his smile, Ponyboy didn't smile at all.
The youngest Curtis didn't eat as much; he was too busy 'sleeping'. Ponyboy didn't tell anyone, but his nightmares had started coming back, and they were worse than before. Luckily, he didn't scream in his sleep, and since he was in a different bedroom he wouldn't be able to disturb anybody since they wouldn't be able to feel him thrash or squirm in his sleep.
The day when Sodapop came home from work after fighting with Steve seemed different though. When the middle-brother walked through the door, he saw that Ponyboy was actually sitting at the dinner table.
"This is strange; why's Pony sitting at the dinner table? He doesn't even eat no more."Soda thought, though he didn't say anything, and instead sat next to his younger brother.
"What's the occasion?" Sodapop asked, looking at the food in front of him. It was mashed potatoes and chicken, but for some reason the food didn't look very appetizing to Soda.
"Dar's shaved his hair off." Ponyboy mumbled, picking at his plate.
"So he finally decided to do it? Huh, at least he won't have to watch his hair slowly fall out. Though it's gonna be weird seeing Darry without any hair." Sodapop said lightly.
"It was my fault." Pony blurted suddenly.
"What?" Sodapop questioned; how could Darry shaving his hair have anything to do with Pony?
"I was the one who told him to get it over with, yet when he picked up the razor, I didn't want him to shave it off. When he was done shaving it, he started crying, and it's all my fault; I've just made him more upset." Pony whimpered, pulling his knees up to his chest.
Soda just patted Pony's back gently and smiled at him.
"I'm pretty sure if Darry didn't want to cut his hair off, then he wouldn't have; you know how stubborn he is." Soda reassured, trying to comfort his younger brother.
Ponyboy just withdrew his knees from his chest and slowly raised his head to look at his brother.
"I guess." Pony laughed.
"You don't sound so sure." Soda grinned, and Ponyboy raised his eyebrows.
"What are you-" Pony started, but was cut off when he felt Soda's fingers dig into his sides. "Soda, no!" Pony screamed, and fell of his chair. Sodapop just sat his knees on Ponyboy's stomach and instead started tickling the greaser's neck. Ponyboy squealed and tried to squirm out of Soda's grasp, but it was no use; after all, Sodapop was a lot stronger than him.
Sodapop continued to tickle Pony until he felt himself getting pulled off of the younger greaser. He looked up to see Darry, and instantly his mood changed from happy to shocked.
Darry had tried to hide his shaved head with a cap, but anyone with a brain could tell that the man was clearly bald. His face was pale, and his eyes were bloodshot, though thankfully were no longer yellow.
"Hey Dar." Soda greeted, getting up off the floor.
Darry looked at Soda sadly and sighed.
"You ever gonna look at me the same?" Darry asked, and Sodapop looked at him, confused. "Well, you've never looked at me like that before. Do I really look that bad?" the oldest Curtis went to find a mirror before Soda could respond.
The man looked in the mirror that hung above the sink in the bathroom, and he almost started crying.
"You aright, Dar?" Soda sked from the doorway, and was joined by Pony a moment later.
"I just, I just need some time to…" Darry muttered, but didn't finish his sentence. He took one last look at the reflection that stared back at him, and then punched the mirror with all the strength he could muster.
A big crack ran down the mirror, which made Darry feel awfully upset; he would've been able to smash that mirror into a million pieces if his strength hadn't been taken away from him.
"What the hell?!" Darry screamed, ripping the mirror off the wall and throwing it to the ground. He stomped on it until all of the glass fell out of the frame, and then he just began jumping on it, liking the crunching sound that the glass was making.
Ponyboy looked at Darry, horrified. Darry never lost control, but now, seeing his older brother completely out of control, actually scared Pony.
Sodapop wanted to do something, but was afraid that Darry would turn on him. The man simply just placed his hands on Pony's shoulders and led him down the hall to the living room.
Darry was laughing; he was having a great time listening to the sound of the glass breaking. When he looked up however, he saw that his two younger brothers weren't there, and it actually terrified him.
"What if they're scared of me?" Darry thought, and kicked all of the broken glass out of the way.
He quickly made his way into the living room, and saw his little brothers staring at the TV, even though it wasn't switched on.
"Guys?" Darry said warily, edging closer to the couch.
Ponyboy and Sodapop didn't say a word, and just carried on staring into nothing.
Eventually Darry noticed Pony's eyes swivel around, and when he looked in the direction that Pony was looking, he felt his heart break.
Pony was staring at a picture of the whole family, including Mr and Mrs Curtis, all looking happy. They were together, and that's all they needed. But now they were just a broken family, like most families on the East side of town.
"Oh guys…" Darry whispered, and fell to the floor.
Ponyboy's gaze shifted to Darry, however, Soda kept staring…but he wasn't staring at the TV, or anything for that matter. His mind had created a whole new world, where everybody was equal, where illnesses didn't exist, where families were still together, where people were still happy…
AN: I'm sorry I haven't updated recently guys; I've just been caught up in a lot of stuff. Today, I invited my friend over to watch Ghost, and she had never seen it but I told her that everybody who we knew cried when they watched it. She claimed that she wouldn't cry, and she didn't, though I did (again). I can never have a dry eye when watching the end of that movie, anyone else agree?