No one spoke a word on the ride home.
Sodapop pulled the truck to a stop outside of our house. With all that had happened, no one was particularly eager to get of the truck, because the first one inside would have to face Darry and explain the events of the afternoon. Soda killed the engine leaving and awkward silence in the air. I turned to look at the front window of the house and my eyes caught with Sodapop's eyes. Soaking wet, I spoke up before he could. "Listen Soda, for what it's worth, I am sorry about what Casey did to you. It's not right and it's not fair."
Soda thought a moment then gave me a comforting smile. He blinked away a few silent tears and turned towards Pony and me. "I hear you Scout, and I am sorry I lost my temper with you two. I really lost my cool, but you didn't. If you hadn't grabbed the keys, I'd probably have done something stupid. You guys didn't let me." I leaned forward and hugged my older brother. It felt good to give him a bit of comfort, even though he had to get a little wet to accept it.
Ponyboy looked at the house and groaned. "You two know Darry is sitting in there waiting for the three of us to get home. So which one of us is going to have to tell him about all of this?"
Soda laughed at our brother and reached over to playfully punch him. "Ponyboy, you worry too much!" Sodapop meant what he said, but he didn't fear Darry's opinion the way Pony did. Soda also didn't know what Ponyboy knew. Darry sent him outside a few hours ago hoping Ponyboy would convince me to choose to go to Ashford Academy. Pony was coming in to face Darry with no accomplishment. We climbed out of the truck and headed into the house. Soda led the way, naturally.
I walked through the front door behind Sodapop and saw that Darry had set the dining room table with bread and a hot kettle of soup. He stood by the kitchen door trying to look casual, but he was really just anxious to hear my answer about attending the Academy. As usual, with the three of us under his wing, he got more than he bargained for.
The smile faded from my oldest brother's face as he watched the three of us file solemnly into the house. "What happened?" Undoubtedly, our brother's mind drifted to the events of the past year and the variety of unbelievable answers we might have in store for him. I sighed hard and kicked off my loafers into a pile with Soda's shoes by the end of the couch. Searching for answers, Darry walked into the living room.
Soda grimaced and spoke with bloodshot eyes. "You'll be happy to know Casey broke up with me today. Seems she's found someone else, but hey, misery loves company, right?" Soda wandered past Darry and slapped him on the back hard enough to make a loud slapping sound.
Darry didn't flinch from the hard hit. Instead, his face frowned and he turned around to face our brother. "Little buddy, I am sorry to hear that."
Soda grabbed a slice of bread from the table and hissed, "Save it, Darry! I know how much you didn't want us together."
"You know that is not true!" Darry stood tall and defended himself.
"Yeah, right," Soda argued.
"Soda, this is exactly what I was talking about!" Darry argued back, referencing an earlier discussion that Pony and I were not privy to. "I don't know why this is a surprise to you. I've told you this before! This is Casey Dobbins we are talking about! She is the most free loving, boy chasing girl we know. You knew that about her long before the two of you ever hooked up. I'm right, aint I Scout?"
My eyes grew wide at the question. I wanted to stay out of the conversation. I avoided answering by staring blankly at Darry the way Ponyboy often did.
Seeing I wasn't going to confirm his statement, Darry softened his tone of voice. "Listen little buddy, I know how quickly you get attached, but Casey is only sixteen years old and you are only seventeen. You're both too young to be falling in love."
Sodapop walked by Darry again and flopped on the couch. "Me? You think I'm too young. What about Scout and Owen?"
I looked at Soda with a sour face. "What are you dragging me into this for?"
"You and Owen are in love and you are way younger than me. I don't hear Darry preaching to you. It's cause Owen is a Soc, isn't it Darry? He gives us a car. You give him our sister." Soda shoved a chunk of bread into his mouth. Funny thing about boys, no matter how bad life gets there is always time for food.
"Soda!" I was offended by his comment.
"Knock it off! Both of you," Darry interjected. "You know, of all of you, Ponyboy is the only one who shows any sense at all with this subject. I think if Pony were dating too, it'd be the death of me." Pony let a tiny grin slide onto his face.
Sodapop looked to the ceiling and blurted out, "Darry, you're just bitter."
Darry shot a cold glare to our cocky brother. When he had made his silent point, Darry unexpectedly turned his frustrations to me. "Sissy, why is it Soda loses a girlfriend and you come home soaked to the bone?"
"It's a long story, and I am wet. I'm going to change my clothes," I said and quickly left the conversation that I didn't want to be a part of anyway.
Darry didn't hold me up, so I headed back to my room to change into warm sweatpants and a t-shirt. I sat on the edge of my bed and was pulling on a dry pair of socks when someone knocked on my bedroom door. "Come in."
I looked up. Darry entered the room, dressed in blue jeans and a white muscle t-shirt, and shut the door behind him. With a bit of a negative manner, he asked me, "Sissy, I'd love to know how you go from sitting on the front porch contemplating the decision of a lifetime to standing wet and dirty in the middle of the living room."
I looked at Darry, a little miffed that he always made his life all about us and never about him. I answered back with the same attitude he was giving me. "I'd love to know what Soda was talking about."
Darry raised his eyebrows in question. "What?"
"You know- misery loves company; you're just bitter." I acted on a hunch. "So… how's Kathryn been?"
Darry's lip tensed with anger for a second and then he frowned. He knew he had been caught keeping a big secret from me. His tall body slumped it's posture, and at that moment I wished I hadn't asked the question in such a snotty way. I exhaled a little and asked with empathy, "Not too good, huh?"
Darry sat down on the other bed and rested his elbows on his knees, "To be honest with you, not too good. I didn't really know how to tell you, but she's moved on, Scout."
The remaining pieces of my heart, already broken by the sadness over the Sodapop and Casey fiasco, were shattered at the news. "What happened?"
"It's simple really. She told me she loved me, but I couldn't say it back to her. For some reason, I just didn't feel it was the right thing to tell her, so she moved on." Darry shrugged his shoulders. "Another guy, without three kids to take care of, caught her eye." A guilty lump formed in the middle of my throat and the scowl on my face must have shown it. Darry looked at me with sadness. "Don't worry about it, Sissy. I can't have the luxury of falling in love. I have my hands full with court cases and car accidents and trying to make the best decisions for each of you. Or at least trying to get you to understand you need to make the best decision for yourself."
My eyes peeked over at him and I furrowed my brow. "I know."
"Scout, I know it's not fair to you, but you need to realize that more than anyone else in this house you are going to need to grow up the fastest. You are so smart and have such a future ahead of you that you can't stay stuck here with us."
I sighed hard and looked into my brother's ice blue eyes. "That's kind of ironic coming from you. Isn't it?"
"Yeah, just a bit," Darry said slowly. "You know what baby girl?"
"What?"
"For almost everyone, there comes a time in life when you've got to do what you don't want to do, but you have to."
A tiny smile pierced my lips. "That's true, Darry."
He grinned back at me and raised his eyebrows. "What?"
"If I have to be honest with myself, then you have to be honest with yourself. I think you should call her again and tell her how you really feel."
Darry stood up and looked down at me. "She's moved on, Scout."
"No, she hasn't, and neither have you. If you call her and tell her how you really feel, I'll give the academy some serious thought." Darry looked at me with disappointment, but I knew I had his attention. "We're all pretty grown up around here. We don't need you that badly."
"I'll give it some thought. But with the bad luck we boys have been having with girls I don't know that it would do any good." Darry reached over and tussled my damp hair. "I am still waiting to hear how you ended up all wet."
"To make a long story short, I got in a fight with Sodapop."
"What for?"
"He was really upset when he found out that Ponyboy and I caught Casey making out with Buck."
"Buck?" Darry's voice was filled with disbelief. "Are you talking about Buck Merrill? What is going on in that girl's head? Buck is a grown man and she is only sixteen years old!"
"Not to mention she already had a boyfriend."
"I know," Darry said with frustration. "I know." Darry sat back on the other bed and looked at me. "How did the two of you tell him she had been caught cheating?"
"We didn't. We went to the DX station to tell him, but before we could say anything, Casey pulled up in a stranger's car and told Soda herself. Then she left him and drove off."
"How did Soda take it?"
"Pretty rough, but Steve was there to help him out, so Pony and I didn't say much."
"If you all were at the DX, how did you manage to get soaking wet?"
"That happened on the way home. Sodapop got in the truck and was pissed because he figured out we knew more about Casey then we were telling him. He snapped and screamed at us for not being honest. He really lost it, Darry. Driving home he was speeding and crying and yelling at us to tell him who the other man was. He finally beat it out of us by scaring the living daylights out of us. When we told him it was Buck, I thought he was going to go and kill the two of them right then. That's when I pulled the keys out of the ignition and took off running through the park. Soda wrestled me to the ground and tried to get the keys back, but I accidentally threw them in the fountain. I went in the water to get them and slipped getting out." I thought a second about the moment I went underwater. "Or at least… I think I slipped."
"What do you mean, you think you slipped?" Darry asked.
I shrugged my shoulders and spoke quietly. "I slipped, or maybe … maybe I was pushed."
"Who would have pushed you?"
"Bob Sheldon…. Maybe?"
"That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard," Darry stated. He didn't believe in anything like the supernatural or things that were non-scientific. I sometimes wondered if he really believed me that I had seen Mom and Dad when I was in the coma. Darry ran his hand through his hair and shook his head. "You and Ponyboy are two of the most imaginative people I know. You are unbelievable."
"Well, whether it was me being clumsy or something else, it was the perfect thing for Soda. Being in the park reminded us of Johnny and Dallas and how good we have it that we have each other. So instead of going after Buck, Soda calmed down and came home with us."
Darry lowered his head and sighed heavy. "Casey… Casey… Casey." He picked his head back up. "I feel like I should do something. She's too young to be with an older man like Buck."
"What could you do?"
"I could go and get her and bring her home."
"Here? What about Sodapop?"
"What about your best friend? She's got no one, Scout. I never told you this, but I called New Mexico a few weeks ago to talk try to talk to Mary Lynn about having Casey go home, but the phone number was disconnected. She is alone, just like Dally was."
My chest felt heavy with sorrow as I thought about my best girlfriend without anyone in this world other than that shifty man, Buck Merrill. I didn't want that for her. I loved her too much. I swallowed hard. "Darry, I think you are right, but Casey can't come here. Soda isn't ready for that. I don't think I am ready to see her either."
"I know," Darry said and stood up. "I just don't like the idea of her being with Buck. Nothing good can come of that." Darry walked over and pulled my bedroom door open. "Come on. Soup's getting cold and I am getting hungry." Darry walked out of the room and left me alone.
I reached down to the floor and picked up my wet skirt. I reached my hand into the pocket and pulled out the letter from Ashford Academy. I took it out of the envelope. Carefully unfolded the page and laid it on my dresser to dry. I looked once more at the address in southern Oklahoma.
I didn't want to go.