By the time Ponyboy and I arrived at the restaurant, we still hadn't determined if leaving for Ashford Academy was for the better or for the worse. The one thing we knew was that we didn't want to be apart from each other, but maybe we were just delaying the inevitable. We walked into the two-star restaurant and an older waitress walked up to us. "Ya'll just seat yourself and one of us'll be over to getcha order."
"Ma'am," I grabbed her attention as she turned to walk away. "We're wondering if Casey Dobbins was working today."
"Casey?" The woman asked. "You'll find her out back. She's on her break." The waitress winked, turned and wandered back into the kitchen to complete her work.
Ponyboy and I shared a glance, but didn't question the gesture. Together we walked out the front door of the restaurant. Outside, Pony pushed me in the direction of the alley. "That way."
We rounded the corner of the restaurant and looked down the shaded alley lined with old metal trash cans and beat up doorways. A few dozen feet away, the two of us noticed Buck's red Thunderbird convertible with its top down, just the way Dally liked to drive it. I wondered if the car brought back poor memories for Ponyboy the way it did for me.
I hurried to start conversation. "I guess Casey wasn't kidding about Buck letting her drive his car. He must really trust her because I don't even think she has a license."
"What could Buck and Casey possibly have in common?"
"I don't know, rodeos, maybe? She said she used to ride barrels back in New Mexico."
The two of us approached the convertible. I noticed Casey's jet-black ponytail as she lay in the backseat making out with her boyfriend. The two of them were embraced in a passionate moment and his hand was all the way up the skirt of her waitress uniform. I shook my head not believing my own disbelief and giggled. "Would the two of you come up for air? Break time is…."
Casey instantly pushed herself up to a seated position with a look of sheer terror on her face. My eyes met with her eyes and I heard a disappointed "ugh" escape from Ponyboy's lungs. I looked at the boy in the backseat of the car. It wasn't a boy. It wasn't Sodapop.
"Get out of here you little brats before I chase you down and beat you silly," Buck Merrill yelled at us.
Ponyboy grabbed my arm and began to pull me away from the scene. "Let's get out of here." He muttered. I couldn't help but continue to stare at Casey wondering how she could have betrayed my brother. Ponyboy tugged hard enough to pull me from my stance. My feet began to trail his. My mouth hung open as I looked at my friend in disgust and anger began to boil inside of me.
"Scout, wait!" Casey screamed and climbed over the edge of the convertible. "Don't go! It's not what it looks like."
A dozen feet away I pulled loose of Ponyboy's grip, turned towards my friend and screamed back. "What is it supposed to look like? Because it sure looks like you are cheating on Sodapop. My brother!"
Casey panicked at the sound of her boyfriend's name. "Scout, please don't tell Soda. I didn't mean to do this. I didn't know what I was thinking." While she pleaded, Buck climbed into the front seat, fired up the engine and squealed the tires as he pulled away, leaving Casey alone.
"Casey, how dense do you think I am? That was no accident. He had his hand up your skirt!"
Tears formed in Casey's eyes. She begged for forgiveness. "I know… I'm so sorry, Scout. You have to believe me. I don't know what I was thinking."
Ponyboy snarled, "I doubt that. Come on, Scout." My brother pulled my arm again and I turned and walked away with him.
Casey ran to us. She grabbed my free arm and cried out in desperation. "Scout, please don't tell Sodapop. Let me tell him. I will apologize and tell him everything. I promise. Please just give me another chance."
Angrily, I yanked my arm from her grip. "I came here because I needed a friend to talk to. I thought I could trust you. I thought you were my friend, but obviously, I was wrong!" Having said what I needed to say, I turned and hustled away from her.
"I am still your friend! We are best friends," Casey yelled as tears streamed down her face. "You are my best friend! What happened here has nothing to do with you."
I turned back and pointed angrily at her. "This has everything to do with me. You know how I feel about my brothers. They are all I have, and I will not stand here while you betray one of them!"
"But we had a pact! We promised each other to stay friends no matter what." Casey stood in the alley and yelled to me as I continued walking away. "I was stupid. I made a mistake. Is that what you want to hear?"
Her voice echoed through the alley, but I ignored the comment. Ponyboy and I turned the corner and didn't look back. I was angry, frustrated, and heartbroken, all in the same moment.
Ponyboy fumed. "You don't need a friend like that, Scout. No one treats Sodapop like that. He ain't never hurt anyone and he never would. She's no friend."
"Why would she do this to him?" I rambled, not paying full attention to Ponyboy voicing his thoughts.
"Soda said he loved her. He fought with Darry for her. Soda never fights with Darry."
"How long has she been having an affair with Buck Merrill? Yuck!"
"Sodapop is going to skin someone when he finds out."
I heard my brother's comment and I stopped. Wide eyed, I looked to my brother. "How are you going to tell him?"
Ponyboy stopped and looked back at me. "Oh no… don't look at me. I ain't telling him."
"Pony, we can't not tell him!"
"You tell him! She was your friend," Ponyboy reasoned as he fished around in his pockets for a cigarette and a lighter.
I became defensive. "Just because Casey was my friend doesn't mean I'm the right person to tell Soda. This is going to kill him. First Sandy, now Casey. You two are close…you should tell him."
"I aint telling him!" Ponyboy took a moment, rubbed his forehead as if he was clearing away a headache, and then sighed. "We've got trouble enough. Let's not fight about this."
"What are we going to tell him?" I whined.
Ponyboy hitched his thumbs into his belt loops. "We'll tell him his girlfriend is a two-timing broad."
I looked over at my brother and rolled my eyes. He was kind of right, but I really wasn't interested in putting Casey in the same category as greaser girls like Silvia or Cindy. I shoved my hands into the pocket of my skirt and complained. "Why us? Why our family? Life isn't supposed to be this hard, is it?"
"I don't know, Scout."
There was a long pause between us as we walked down the street past the barber shop and clothing stores. I looked at my reflection in the window and noticed Ponyboy and I appeared as one. It was just the way the two of us had always felt together. Apart we were halves, but together we made sense.
"I'm not going."
"What?" My brother asked, not sure what I was talking about.
"I'm not going away to the Academy. Being here with my family is more important. I can't be hours away when something like this happens." I looked to my brother to find a sign of approval but there was none. "What?"
Ponyboy took a long drag on his cigarette. "I was just thinking the opposite. I was thinking you should go. You should get out of here and get yourself that college scholarship."
"But I'll be so far away! I can't be that far away."
"I don't want you to go, but you have to. Somehow I think it would be what Mom and Dad would want. They wouldn't want you here dealing with this."
"Ugh!" I threw my head back in frustration and tears began to well up in my eyes. "I wish we could just talk to them. You know…I can handle them not being here, but I can't handle not knowing what they think would be best."
"You already know what they would want you to do," Ponyboy said.
"What?"
"They would want you to do what felt best in your heart. It's got to be a decision you can live with, and I don't think years from now you will be able to live with yourself if you never tried for the scholarship. You would regret it every day of your life."
I swallowed hard and felt a little sick to my stomach. Ponyboy was right, and I hated that.