I felt so helpless, what could I do?
Remembering all the things we'd been through
In school they all stop and stare
I can't hide the tears, but I don't care
I'll never forget him (the leader of the pack)
I headed over to Dally's room. Johnny had passed out again after the boys left and I figured Dally could use some company.
"Hey Dal...what are you doing?" Dally was out of bed and getting dressed, dragging his shirt over his head as I walked in.
"The rumble is tonight." He looked at me like I was stupid.
"I'm well aware Dally, but what are you doing out of bed?"
"I'm going to this rumble, after what they did to Johnny they are not getting off that easily."
"Dally...your still injured. You shouldn't be going out and fighting right now."
"I'm going Ali." He moved across the room, a small noise of pain escaping him.
"If your going to be so stupid and insist on going then at least let me give you a ride, my mother's car is in the garage."
Dally nodded, slipping into his shoes before we headed out of the hospital. The ride to the Curtis's house was silent and tense. I didn't have a good feeling about tonight, and I didn't have a good feeling about Dally fighting.
"Dal...I don't have a good feeling about this tonight, please don't go." I finally said as we pulled up in front of the house.
Dally turned and gave me that scary smile of his "I'll see ya later doll." he kissed my cheek and then ran off towards the park where the rumble would be.
I sighed; this was always the worst part of when the boys fought, the waiting. There was no way I was going down there, I'd get in the way and people would be more worried about me then about protecting themselves.
I went inside the house and went about gathering things I knew I'd need based on past experience. Bandages, alcohol (wipes and beer), ice, gauze, antiseptic, and a cake in the oven. Even before I'd been dating Soda I'd always been the one waiting to survey the damage, patch everyone up and while we were no longer together this still needed to get done.
Once everything was waiting in the living room and the cake was frosted I went out to sit on the steps and wait. I didn't have to wait long, before those boys came whopping and hollering down the street. They had obviously come out on top judging from their mood, I would never say they had won because who really won in a fistfight? No one.
"Ali!" Two-Bit yelled. "We wholloped them good!" Two-Bit wrapped an arm around my waist and spun me around in a circle.
"Alright, alright, lets get inside and see the damage." I said herding them all inside.
Inside, in the light of the living room everyone began to calm down, even with the beer they were drinking to help dull the pain...both physical and emotional.
Soda hadn't said anything to me yet, simply sat in the corner nursing his wounds. No one had been hurt too badly I couldn't help but think with a little bit of pride, my boys were good fighters.
"This missing tooth makes me look tuff." Steve said to no one in particular. "Don't you think it makes me look tuff Ali?"
I looked over from Darry's knuckles that I was cleaning and bandaging, "Ya Steve, real tuff." Darry tried to pull his hand away from me, but I kept a tight grip. "And you stop being such a baby, or stop getting in fights, and Two-Bit get over here and get some ice for that lump on your head."
Both boys smiled at me sheepishly and did as they were told.
30 minutes later the boys were patched up and sitting around drinking beer and eating the cake I had made. Soda had been sitting across the room for me all night, avoiding looking at me. This was getting ridicules...
"Soda?"
"Huh? Ya?" He looked startled that I had spoken to him.
"Can...can we please talk?"
"Sure...come on." Soda pushed himself off the floor and headed back towards his bedroom.
"Johnny's dead." We all turned to the now open door were Pony was standing, still dirty and bloody from the fight. "Johnny's dead and Dally...Dallys gonna blow."
We all nodded, and I began to tear up, while we had known it was coming it didn't make the sting of death any less painful. "Come on Pony, let's...let's get you cleaned up." I forced the words out through a throat that was threatening to close up on me and walked towards him finding it hard to see through the tears.
I had barley began cleaning the blood from his knuckles when the phone rang,
"Hello?" Darry said answering the phone.
"Ya, we know man, we already know about Johnny." Darry nodded a few times listening to Dally.
"Ok, ya, we'll be right there."
"Dally just knocked over a store and the fuzz is after him, we have to meet him at the park."
Everyone took off running out the door, myself included. Soda grabbed my hand and pulled me along, helping me keep up, for whatever reason we all knew it was important that we get there together.
As we came up on the park we could all see Dally standing on the rise, waving a gun in his hand, the cops standing below him yelling for him to put the gun down.
"Don't Shoot!" "It's not loaded!" "Wait!" Were some of the screams that penetrated the air as we ran closer, but our screams fell on deaf ears as the cops opened fire in a hail of bullets and Dally crumpled to the ground.
"No!" Someone yelled, it could have been all of us. It could have been me.
Dally crawled towards us as we ran, dropping the gun and falling dead on his back as we reached him.
Darry fell to his knees at Dally's side, Soda stopped running and grabbed me into his arms, pulling me close and burying his face in my hair as he began to sob. I hid my head in the crock of his neck, inhaling his familiar scent as I completely lost it, Soda being the only thing keeping me from hitting the ground.
"He was just a kid!" Two-Bit screamed at the cops. "He was just a kid and the gun wasn't even loaded."
As we stood there crying and yelling Pony fainted dead away in the middle of the road.
A/N – The song is Leader of The Pack by the Shangri – Las, sometimes that 50s music is catchy…
So…the part about having pride in the boys being good fighters, hate to admit as a high school teacher, but when one of my boys (who goes so far as to sometimes call me mom even though I'm not even 10 years older lol) got jumped by two older boys last year and ended up whipping them both…I had some pride in that. I think I need to get out of the inner city…
Lastly, we were one review shy last week of getting an early chapter…shoot for 5 again…maybe this will be the week?
