I stepped out of the officer's patrol car and headed up the walkway to my house. Inside my head, I was angry at myself for the words I said to the boys outside the diner. I was also frustrated with myself for the situation I created by dating James in the first place. I wanted to be alone, but the officer exited his car and followed me. I turned to him. "It's okay, Sir. I'll be fine now that I am home."
"No, Miss, it's department procedure that I meet with your parents before I go."
I stopped on the second step of my porch and turned to face him. "You can't," I said blankly. "They're dead."
The officer seemed stunned by the news. "Oh… my apologies...I'm sorry to hear that."
"Don't worry. I'll be fine." I waved the Officer away hoping he would leave. I turned to continue up the stairs.
The officer called for my attention, "You do live with an adult, don't you?"
I snickered at the possibility that he considered I might be entirely alone. Then a thought of Casey passed through my mind, and the question no longer seemed absurd. "No Sir. My older brother cares for me, but he works two jobs to support us. Most nights I don't know when he'll be home and when he won't."
"Is anyone here?" The officer strained his neck to look through the living room windows.
I looked up at my house, but I didn't see any signs of life. If anyone inside had seen me come home in a squad car, they would have made their presence known long before now. I answered the officer's question. "I don't think so, but I'll be alright."
The man sighed heavily, no doubt over some type of protocol he was about to follow. "So you say you were in an argument, the boy pulled a knife, but you don't want to press charges. All this said, and you think it is going to be okay for you to go into an empty house and be alone 'til your brother comes home at a time you can't tell me?" His summary of the situation made me think about the state of affairs from someone else's viewpoint. I had just assumed, as often is the case, the officer couldn't - or wouldn't - do anything for me. That was usually common practice in this neighborhood. It appeared this officer hadn't worked much on my side of town. "No, I can't just leave you here by yourself."
"Listen, I'll be fine. I've stayed by myself plenty of times. I'll just go inside and lock the doors."
"I can't leave you here with out anyone here. I'm going to have to take you down to the station. We'll leave notice for your brother to come there and get you." The officer said and waited for me to move in his direction.
"I have other brothers. What if one of them is home? They will stay with me. I'll go see if anyone is inside." Before I could get to the front door, a familiar engine revved up and came down the street from the direction of Johnny's house. I watched the metallic blue paint glisten in the late afternoon sunlight. Owen pulled his car to a stop. Half of me wanted to run inside and hide and half of me was glad he was here. He climbed out of the car with my school books cradled in his arm. The missing books had been the farthest thing from my mind, as well as the steno notebook holding the letter to my future. Darry would not be happy if I lost that letter.
"Afternoon, Officer." Owen greeted the man, "I'm a friend of Scout Curtis'. I was at Rusty's Diner awhile ago. If you don't mind, I'd like to speak with her."
The officer was agitated by the interruption. He put his hands onto his hips. "It will have to wait. We were just leaving."
"Wait, I don't think anyone is home right now, but Owen can stay here with me. It won't be too much longer till Sodapop comes home from work." Apprehensively, I looked at Owen and hoped he was willing to stay.
The officer's disbelief of my brother's name made the features of his face squish together. Owen didn't wait for the man's verbal response. "Sir, if its okay I would be willing to stay and look after her. I am a good friend of hers and her family."
The man's face was still squished together when he peered up at me. "I suppose that would be fine."
I looked at Owen. "I'll be fine with him."
"Alright, but try to talk some sense into her about filing charges against that kid. We can't do our job right if she isn't willing to help us out," the officer said with discouragement. He began to walk back to his squad car and then he turned back to me. "Sodapop is your brother's nickname, right?"
I folded my arms across my chest. "His real name is Sodapop and if you don't believe me you can meet him when he gets home."
The man's face was still wrinkled in disbelief. "No, I'll believe you. I don't think my chief is going to believe me when I write my report, but I believe you." The officer tipped his hat and headed back to his squad car.
My arms stayed folded across my chest as Owen came through the chain link gate. Unexpectedly, he threw his free arm around me and squeezed my shoulder as he spoke. "Are you okay? Everyone at the diner was really worried about you." Owen backed up a step to look into my blue eyes.
"Worried, what for?"
Now it was Owen's turn to squish up the features on his face in disbelief. "What do you mean, what for? Because that hooligan stopped by to threaten us, he grabbed you with a knife in his hand, and you wouldn't tell the cops about any of it. Then you left." Owen's face reflected the slight pain in his heart. "Scout, why didn't you wait for me to bring you home?"
Considering my words to him and his friends, I felt puzzled by Owen's reaction. "But I yelled at all of you. I thought you would be mad?"
Owen chuckled a little at how naïve I was being. "No Scout. I'm not mad. No one is mad."
Guilt flooded my thoughts. "But I yelled those nasty things at everyone. I embarrassed you and myself."
"No one cared that you yelled. We weren't worried about what you said. For most of the guys there, it was true. I've told you this a dozen times, I don't keep 'those kind' of friends. Alright?" I nodded my head in agreement to show I was listening. I couldn't speak because if I did it would have opened up a floodgate of frustrated tears. Owen kissed my forehead and gave me a nudge towards the house. "You've had a long day. Let's go inside and talk."
I walked with him up the steps and into the house. We sat together on the couch, and he put my schoolbooks on the coffee table. As he pulled off his letterman's jacket I reached for the steno notebook. I gave it a hard shake, but nothing fell out. I began to panic and fumble through the pages of the other schoolbooks. Owen reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out the tattered and folded letter. "Is this what you are looking for?"
Wide eyed, I looked at the letter and wondered if he had read it. Then I figured he had, or it wouldn't have been in his pocket. I gently took the letter and asked to be sure. "You read it?"
"Yes." Owen smiled proudly and his eyes twinkled. "Is it what you wanted to talk to me about back at Rusty's?"
My frown was in contrast to his smile. "I just got it. I haven't decided if I am going to go."
"Why wouldn't you go? Ashford Academy is one of the premier schools for girls in the state. Only the most elite girls in the state are invited to attend. You'd be perfect there."
"What?" I questioned, not really expecting a positive response from him. "How do you know about Ashford Academy?"
"Ashford is the premier girl school where most of the top debutantes of Oklahoma go." Owen raised his eyebrows and proved to me what a great offer this was. "Charlotte has been trying to get into school there for the last three years, but they won't accept her. Scout, this invitation is like grabbing the golden ring on the carousel!"
Quietly, I unfolded the letter and looked at it, then to Owen. "But it's so far away."
Owen's smile drifted away slightly. "It's the chance of a lifetime, and it's your dream to go to college. Going to the academy will make that dream come true for you."
"What about us?"
"We'll still be us." Owen cocked his head to the side a little. "Scout, when a college calls me next year and asks me to play football for them, I'm going to go."
The harsh realization of the truth hit me hard. Even if I stay at home Owen was bound to leave after is senior year. "So, you think I should go?"
"Yes, I want you to go. I don't want to see you miss out on your dream." Owen reached up and rubbed my right ear with his soft fingers. "I don't want you to go, but you have to. You need to do it for yourself and for your family."
Owen was right. At the very least I needed to do it for Darry. He gave up too much and worked too hard for me to refuse the opportunity. I nuzzled my head into Owen's chest and he kissed the top of my head. I looked up, into his ocean blue eyes. "I love you. If I do go, I don't want you to forget that." Then I kissed his warm lips.
Owen wrapped his arms around me and returned my kiss with a more passionate one that lasted for minutes. Slowly, I lay backwards on to the sofa. Locked in a kiss, Owen followed me. He reached down and pulled my knee up. Gravity helped to pull my skirt down, exposing my skin. Owen placed his hand on my bare knee, then methodically moved his hand down the back of my thigh. His action stopped just an inch short of my undergarment. My body lusted for him to go further. I couldn't explain why, but I felt all of my inhabitations give way and I would have been more than willing to let his hand wander anywhere beneath my clothes.
Intrusively, the sound of our truck pulling to a stop outside drew my attention away from my love. The need for flight replaced earlier feelings of lust. I pushed Owen off of my body and peeked out the living room window. Sodapop and Ponyboy clambered out of the truck and trotted up the front steps. I gasped, smoothed out my hair, and put a schoolbook on my lap. I hoped my brothers wouldn't notice my flush face when they walked in and suspect me of unladylike behavior. Owen followed my lead and grabbed a school book from the coffee table as my Pony and Soda walked into the house.
"Hey guys? How's it going?" I causally asked.
Sodapop kicked off his shoes, sniffed the air, and headed to the kitchen with no notice of me. "Sissy? Why didn't you start anything for dinner? I'm starving." He disappeared through the kitchen door without needing a response.
My other brother tossed his schoolbooks onto the coffee table and walked over to pull the power button on the television set. He came back to the couch and flopped down next to Owen and me. "Did you two just get home?" Owen popped up off the couch without a word to Pony or me, and followed Sodapop into the kitchen.
"We've only been home a few minutes." I looked at Ponyboy. "The afternoon didn't go too well."
---
Owen walked into the kitchen and stood quiet a few seconds as he watched Sodapop grab the bottle of milk from the refrigerator. Their eyes met when Soda stood up and turned around. They could see each other had something troubling on their minds. Owen took the lead in the conversation when he leaned on the edge of the stovetop. "You remember that boy Scout dated a year ago, James?"
The name grabbed Soda's attention and he ceased gathering the ingredients for his chocolate milk. "Uh huh."
"He showed up at Rusty's Diner today when Scout and I were there…"
---
Ponyboy turned towards me to ignore the television show on the screen. "What do you mean he was watching you?"
I grimaced. "He told us he'd been watching us." I hesitated in telling Pony what I had been doing, "kissing inside Owen's car."
Ponyboy's face crinkled up in disgust at the image in his head. "How'd he get all the way over to that side of town?"
"I don't know, but it was scary because he was really mad…"
---
Owen spoke in a low voice so no one but Sodapop could hear him describing the scene, "He jumped right in front of my car and pounded on the hood. I jumped out and told him to get lost. But he wasn't scared. Not even when the other guys from the football team came outside."
"What did he want?" Soda asked quietly.
"He told me to keep my hands off his girl. The he yelled at Scout to get out of the car. I told her to sit tight, but you know her. She didn't listen. I guess she figured she could handle him on her own…"
---
I could tell from the look on his face Ponyboy was concerned for me. I hesitated to tell him the next part, but I knew he needed to hear about it. "I didn't want to get out of the car, but he had a blade hidden in the sleeve of his jacket. He said he was going to use it on Owen if I didn't get out of the car."
"Why didn't you two just get out of there?"
"I don't know, Pony. Owen wouldn't get back in the car. I guess he was just trying to be tough and protect me, but he didn't know James had the blade. And I didn't want him to find out the hard way, if you know what I mean."
Ponyboy nodded his head. "I sure don't like all this, knowin' he's running with the Northside Boys..."
---
Sodapop kept quiet about the gang that Ponyboy said James was running with these days. He figured Owen wouldn't know anything about their reputation. "So, James walked right up to her?"
"Yeah," Owen swallowed hard. "The boys and I moved in to get him, but he grabbed her and pulled out a knife. To be honest with you, I haven't ever gotten into a fight with anyone with a knife before."
"Did he hurt her?" Sodapop's eyes grew wide and he stood up tall like he was ready to run and check on me if he needed to.
"No, he didn't have a chance to." Owen shook his head. "He heard the sirens in the distance and he took off running…"
---
A chill ran up my spine as I recalled the incident. I rubbed my arms and looked Ponyboy in the eye. "He said he'd be back for me. Then he smiled like the devil himself. The whole thing made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up."
"I'll bet." Ponyboy's eyes widened with urgency. "That boy ain't going to be nothing but trouble 'til someone does something about this…"
---
Owen shrugged his shoulders. "Then she told the officer she wasn't going to press charges. Before I could talk to her the police officer was taking her home. I finished telling the officers everything I knew then I raced over her to be sure she was okay."
Sodapop patted Owen on his shoulder to let him know he had done all he could. "Why don't you head home for dinner? I'll talk to Darry and the boys and we'll figure something out about James."
Owen agreed and walked back out to the living room with Sodapop on his heels. Owen wiped his sweaty palms on his khaki pants and flashed his charming smile my way to hide what he and Sodapop had been doing. "I better head on home for dinner."
I noticed the nervousness on both his and Sodapop's face. I smiled at them, hoping to calm their nerves. "Ya'll are worrying about nothing. I'll be fine!" I stood up and handed Owen his letterman's jacket from the couch. Hand in hand, we walked out together to the front porch. Dusk had set in. Our privacy was nil, as Soda and Pony followed us out to keep an eye on our safety. Owen and I shared a glance and giggled. He leaned down and gave me a well-mannered kiss on my cheek. He let go of my hand and looked me in the eye. "I'll see you at school tomorrow"
"I'll be there." I backed up a few steps and landed by Ponyboy's side.
Owen trotted down the porch steps, climbed into his car, and drove away with no sign of James.