Chapter 8

Virginia washed down two aspirins with a swig of tap water.

It was her second headache of the week, which was a huge improvement compared to the (probably) three hundred or so she'd had the past couple of months. They'd randomly come over her, a throbbing in the forehead or behind the eye if she accidentally watched too much television, slept a little too long or not enough, or looked out the window into a beam of sunlight.

Frequently, she thought about how guys on the football team dealt with this all the time. Coach would tell them to walk it off and then they'd sit on the bench for a week or two. How did a tumble and a rock to the head send her out of commission for this long?

Okay, it wasn't exactly like that, and she was still functional, no matter how much it sucked or how inconvenient it was. It was as inconvenient as sitting in the dark all day and fairly frequent return trips to the doctor's office could be. All in all, she would live and be back to normal eventually.

Maybe her parents weren't seeing that as a good thing, she thought. Perhaps, it was equal parts convenient and a suitable punishment in their eyes. Summer break had come and gone and she had scarcely left her house except to accompany her mother to the grocery store or by being dragged to church on the occasional Sunday. Virginia went into work once, only on account of the two other check-out girls both catching a cough. Her father drove her to the store and home again as soon as they closed up early.

He still wasn't talking to her, not really. Not after that morning where he had gotten out everything he needed to say in regards to never seeing "that boy" again, turning into the town skank, and how not listening was going to get her killed one of these days. There were a few other things thrown in without explanation, like how she was apparently just like her mother or how no one would marry a burnout.

Actually, Virginia had to correct herself. That wasn't entirely true. He had repeated the entire spiel the day after a cop showed up at their house.

Three days had passed after the incident before a local officer knocked on the Campbell's door at 9AM. Virginia would have figured it be sooner, but in truth she had no idea how these sort of things went down.

Her mother had called her into the living room and Virginia stumbled out of bed gingerly, pulling a robe tight over her pajamas. It was a slow walk to the other side of the house, complete with baby steps and hands running along the wall for support. If someone unfamiliar witnessed her, it would look like a complete overreaction. She was so preoccupied with not pulling the stitches if she could help it that she was more than willing to move at a snail's pace.

The man on the front porch looked like any other character the City of Tulsa could have provided: short cropped hair, tan tucked-in shirt, pale skin, shiny badge. He tipped his hat to Virginia when she stepped outside, one foot then the other, and called her "ma'am." She was feeling small again so that did at least a little to help her feel better about herself, the fact that at least someone wasn't treating her like a complete child. It didn't make her any less nervous, though.

She had spent the quiet, dark hours in her room thinking. She replayed the night at Buck's over and over in her head, so many times in fact that she was afraid it would change the story permanently in her memory if she wasn't careful. She had also taken that time to rehearse every possible answer to whatever she could be asked.

As far as she, or the officer, was concerned, the story went like this:

Virginia had been picked up to celebrate a friend's birthday. Their group ended up at the tavern on Admiral without her prior knowledge. She was assured they would leave quickly, but they didn't, and a fight broke out with some adults (whom she was ready to describe in great detail). She got pushed down in the commotion and the rest was history.

It was quick, simple, and maybe, just maybe, she could pull the "I hit my head so it's hard to remember much else" card if it was necessary. Was lying through omission with a police officer the best idea? Perhaps not, but if she could get away with it….

And somehow it looked like she could. He asked for times and descriptions of the men, but not much else. When he asked if she had been drinking, she said "no," and when he asked if the other kids had, she said "yes," and that was that. He thanked her for her time, wished her a speedy recovery, and said he'd be back if anything else came of it but it was unfortunately looking like a case of "wrong place, wrong time." He returned to his car and Virginia headed back inside to sit down and take a deep breath.

Her father had to hear about it when he got home, of course. She got chewed out and called names over it, but at least that might have been the end of it all. He didn't go down to the station, demanding a more thorough questioning or calling in a search warrant on Two-Bit (not that he knew his name). The real height of the drama seemed to be over, and Virginia couldn't be grateful enough.

Now it had been over seven weeks since the whole affair, only a matter of days until the new school year hit, and Virginia was worrying about a whole new slew of drama.

It had been the same amount of weeks since she last saw Two-Bit.

That wasn't to say she wasn't trying. Her few times outside of the house were never spent anywhere that he or the other boys would be caught dead, and she didn't want to think of what further punishment would happen if she was caught trying to sneak a phone call. She had even seen the Curtis house from the passenger window one time, taking a cut through a neighborhood to avoid traffic, but the front door was closed and the street parking empty.

Virginia missed his laugh. She probably hadn't laughed, a genuine one, in over a month. It was a sorry departure from what he had accustomed her to- unflatteringly snorting air out of her nose while she watched him throw his head back, letting out that cackle at whatever smart aleck thing he had come up with. She also missed his smile, which went in tandem with the laugh, and how far back the corners of his lips could go at whatever he found amusing, or when looking at her.

It wouldn't be fair to say she didn't miss that kiss, too. Her face would turn red when she thought about it, and then her stomach would churn at the fact she never got a follow up. Wait and see if he regrets it in the morning, she recalled telling herself after it happened, or if he even remembers. Now, it felt like she would never have an answer, and it worried her to death that she would walk into the first day of school and it would be like it had never happened. Or, even worse, she'd walk into school and it would be like they had never talked at all.

That was what scared her the most. She could live with a kiss not leading to anything, but she wasn't sure she could live without a friend.

She tried not to dwell on that too often, but in the dark of night with aches filling the left side of your head, pain keeping you awake, it was sometimes hard not to. She really had put all her eggs in one basket with him. He was the one who gave her the courage to internally give her old "friends" the boot, and he was the one who got her. Virginia didn't know how he did it, with how different they were to the naked eye, but he had wormed himself into her life. A gnat, she could have called him to pick at him. A pesky mosquito.

Then he would have come up with something much more clever to say back. Hell, he could have even pulled a classic, childish "I know you are but what am I?" and it could have gotten her to roll her eyes but be amused all the same.

Man, she really missed him.

How stupid was that? A modern day Rapunzel trapped in her tower and the first thing she thought about doing when escaping was seeing a boy.

There was more to it than that, of course. She liked that she'd get some new clothes and folders and pencils, and that she'd get her split ends trimmed up and finally get a chance to hear about peoples' summer trips. She'd get to stretch her legs in the August sun somewhere that wasn't on the way to a doctor's appointment. She never expected she'd be excited to look at a text book for more than an hour, but, allegedly, she had finally been cleared to do it without her head swimming from staring too long.

The first few weeks of school were always easy, with reviews and assemblies. She had things to look forward to, like football games and the Turnabout Dance.

And she'd be able to see Two-Bit again, and Sodapop and Johnny, and the rest of the gang, if they would have her. She didn't know what she'd do if they wouldn't.

Thanks for being patient, it's my busy season with work! Be back before you know it