SADLY, I DO NOT OWN THE OUTSIDERS! ALL RIGHTS GO TO THE AMAZING S. E. HINTON!
Author's Note: I know, I know. 12 days since I've updated. Unacceptable. Sorry! I was in Texas, then started dance camp on Monday. Eight hours straight of dancing can really wear a person out. I've been too tired to do anything except shower and sleep when I get home. I had an excellent 4th of July, hope everyone else did, too. Had an awesome time in Texas, except I got insanely sunburned :( I appriciate your reviews so much! I wish I could thank all of you personally, I try to PM most people, but of I don't to some of you, don't worry, I'm gonna mention everyone in the last chapter!
Also, you may have noticed that reviewer #50, "Guest," is actually my twin sister, Julianne. Pretty funny how it happened, really. Mainly cause I have never told anyone I'm writing this, not for any reason. 2 hours before we woke up to leave for the airport, at 2 in the morning, she came marching into my room, woke me up, and goes, "How come you didn't tell me you were writing the most amazing Fanfic story ever?" I was totally shocked, because I didn't know she even knew fanfic existed, let alone read my stories. Apparently, she had heard of Fanfic, and that night she randomly got on it, and the first story she read was mine. She was able to tell it was me cause of my profile, I said I was leaving for Texas, so on, so forth. Haha. Anyway, on with the story! Enjoy!
At The End Of The Road, Chapter 6: Fights Don't Make Rights
PONY'S POV
Pain. Blinding, white-hot, eye-watering pain. I'd had plenty of headaches before, but never like this. It felt like someone had sliced through the top of my head. I could only grit my teeth, close my eyes, and pray that this wasn't serious. Pray that Dr. Mitchell would be here soon. Heck, pray that all of this would be over soon.
Why was I praying? I was angry, angry at God. Why was he punishing me? Hadn't he already taken my parents? Now this? Why was he making my brothers, friends, and I suffer? He wasn't trying to teach me a lesson. I had seen all of those brochures, and they were strewn about the hospital. One was titled: Understanding and Coping With Illness. It was worse than the crap that Curly Sheppard was loaded down with every time he came back from reform school. I just didn't get it. The brochures constantly repeated that God has a plan for us, that this is part of it, and we need to put our faith in him. I used to. I actually have gone to church pretty often, even after Mom and Dad were gone. I had always trusted God to help me make my life easier in the long run. I had always been grateful to him. And this is how He repaid me? I'm just confused. Flat out confused. But even so, I prayed anyway.
The curtain was drawn back. Maggie walked in, followed by Dr. Mitchell, who was carrying an assortment of needles. Great.
Dr. Mitchell nodded at Darry and Soda, and turned to me. "Maggie tells me you've got a headache." I nodded. He pressed on, "Can you describe the pain? Dull or sharp? Where is it in your head?"
"It's kind of a sharp pain, and in my temples." I told him. He nodded, brow furrowing. "I'm gonna draw some more blood and run a couple tests, this isn't s common side effect. Well have the results by tomorrow, probably." I nodded.
Soda spoke up. "Meanwhile, can you give him something for pain?"
Dr. Mitchell smiled. "Of course. I believe Maggie gave you some pain meds, but I'm going to give a stronger dose." He inserted another I.V. It's a bad sign when it's only day 1 in the hospital, and needles don't even bug you anymore. He took a little more blood, and then he was off again. Maggie sat in her chair, and began reading another one of her endless magazines.
The pain meds kicked in after about 20 minutes. They got rid of my headache, all right, but they made me even more tired, if that was possible. I tried to stay awake, but Soda stroked my hair and told me to go to sleep, and that's just what I did.
I woke up, feeling so worn out that I didn't even open my eyes. I kept them shut tight, hoping to fall back asleep, but I heard voices whispering, and naturally, being curious, listened in.
"No way." Soda's voice, unusually sharp, whispered angrily. "We are not selling it."
"Sodapop." Darry's exasperated voice broke in. "Get real. Do you have any idea how much this costs? A few extra shifts at the DX ain't gonna cover this. This is expensive. Really expensive. And there's no way were going to be able to continue treatments without the money. And without treatments, you know what would happen."
I stiffened. My heart was pounding under my chest. Sell what? If it was making Sodapop this upset, then it must be big; Soda hardly ever gets mad about anything.
"Darry, do you have any clue how mad he would be if he found out? You know how he is! The guilt would kill him. And we can't sell it. It's, like one of the only memories left of her that we have."
My stomach clenched and gave a nauseating lurch. The pieces all fit together. Mom's wedding ring. They wanted to sell Mom's wedding ring.
My eyes flew open, I sat straight up, and promptly threw up everything in my stomach into the basin. Soda gently took hold of my shoulders as I heaved again, and Darry patted my back. I gasped for air. Mom's wedding ring was one of the only keepsakes we had left. They didn't know what happened to Dad's , it wasn't on his finger when they asked us to ID the body. We assumed it had been lost in the crash. Mom's sparkly diamond ring was still glinting on her finger. Darry gently removed it from her finger, and put it in his pocket. It was stored away now, under a floorboard in a box with other valuables, under Mom and Dad's bed. Even though they had only been gone for 2, almost 3, months, there was a time we almost had to sell it. 3 weeks after the funeral, Soda was still in school, Darry wasn't getting paid full-time yet, and we were real bad off. But we kept the ring and managed to pull through. But this was ridiculous. We were not selling it.
Soda rubbed circles on my back. "Pone," he asked gently. "Are you all right now?"
"No." I managed to choke out. "Cause you're not selling it."
Darry and Soda exchanged a look that clearly said, "D*** it, he onto us," and "Deny," but it was too late. I was onto them. And I was furious.
"Are you crazy?" I half-screamed. "Sell Mom's wedding ring? You do realize that's the only thing left of her we have? We can't sell it. We're not selling."
Darry was starting to get the old look on his face, the mask face that he used to get before we got in a fight. His icy eyes were blazing with a cold fire.
"Ponyboy." he said in a controlled voice, obviously trying to control his temper. "You do realize we're broke. We were hard up before all this happened. And now we could really use the money. Now stop being difficult and go back to sleep."
I was annoyed and grumpy. I felt bad for Darry and Soda; they had been sitting in uncomfortable, plastic hospital chairs for 13 hours straight. That didn't change the fact that I was still angry at Darry and he was still angry at me.
"Well, you heard Dr. Mitchell," I argued."He says there are organizations that will help out."
Darry looked even angrier."First Soda, now you! Do t you understand that we are not going to accept money from some d** charity!"
Soda tried to interject then. "C'mon you guys are just tired. We should all get some sleep. We can talk about this in the morn-"
Darry cut him off. "No, we're not going to talk about this in the morning. What good is that going to do? No, we're going to discuss this now."
I was getting really frustrated now. Couldn't he see I didn't want to talk about this now? It was just making me guilty and stressed. And I was really starting to feel sick now.
Darry kept ranting on. "Look, Mom and Dad would want us to sell it. Why can't you understand that? They know we're desperate. So let's just sell the d*** thing already."
Soda was going pale. I could feel my heart rate starting to speed up. I was so stressed and tired, and just wanted to sleep. Darry just kept on yelling.
I felt dizzy as a sharp beeping noise cut through the air. The room spun. My heart moniter.
DARRY'S POV
God, I did not plan on any of this happening. I was so incredibly tired. I had a crick in my neck and a stiff back from sitting in that stupid plastic chair for hours. I had a horrible headache from waiting so long before eating. I was annoyed at this whole situation, we shouldn't even be here. I was sad from watching poor Pony suffer for hours. I was just flat out stressed. Then I tried to explain the money situation to Soda, and my plan, and he flipped out. That woke Ponyboy up, and he reacted even worse than Soda. Then I felt the familiar feeling; the anger, the exasperation, the frustration, the inability to understand. Before I knew it, we were fighting like the old days. Then that stupid heart moniter started beeping double time, and I was silently panicking, wrestling down my guilt.
Maggie had been sitting in the corner, quietly, and without interfering, but now she flew over to the bed and started examining Pony and the machines and I.V.s. Soda was panicking, comforting Pony, and shooting me furious glances. And me? I stood there like a bumbling idiot, not doing a thing.
Pony was really pale, leaning back on his pillows. I felt horrible already for fighting with him like that. Why didn't I see that he's sick and tired and needs to rest? Soda always tells me that I need to understand him and put myself in his shoes, but I can't. I honestly can't remember a thing about being 13, can't remember how it feels. I just how too much responsibility now, 13 was a long time ago. But I still should have had enough sense to not fight with him.
"What's the matter with him?" Soda said frantically, in a much higher voice than usual. "Why is that machine beeping?"
Maggie was fiddling with the machine, and Pony's tubes. "His blood pressure went up a little. Ponyboy, could you relax for me?"
He nodded, eyes closed. The machine went back to its steady, rythmitic beeping.
"Thanks. Go to sleep now, alright? You'll feel better." He nodded again, and relaxed. In a couple of minutes, he started breathing slowly and deeply. Maggie turned to Soda and I.
"I need to ask you guys not discuss stuff like that with him now, okay? At this point, he's just worn out, and he shouldn't be doing anything strenuous. Fighting is defiantly exhausting and stressful. In a few days, when he's moved to his room, you can discuss this all you want, be my guest. But not now, alright?"
Soda and I simultaneously looked down and mumbled, "Yes, ma'am." I knew my face was turning red. Well, golly, I couldn't help it, this lady made me feel like I was 5 years old again. Probably bacause she reminded me so much of Mom.
She cracked a smile. "No need to be ashamed. I know this whole thing is stressful on you. You should get some rest."
Soda grinned back. "That's alright, I'm not tired." He yawned. I rolled my eyes.
"Sure." said Maggie. "Tell you what. You boys go home and get some rest. I'll stay here and watch him."
We both shook our heads firmly. "No, we're staying." I said. "I don't want him waking up and thinking we left him."
"I think he's out for the night, he won't wake up." Maggie pressed, but I shook my head.
"No, I'm staying. Sodapop, I want you to go home and get some rest. You'll need it."
"No way."
"Soda, don't be difficult. I know how you get when you're tired. You won't be helping Pony a bit if you're grumpy."
"What if he has a nightmare?"
I considered this. "He won't."
"How do you know?"
"I know. Do you want me to drop you off at home, or do you want to call one of the guys and have them pick you up?"
"I'll call Steve," he said, sounding grumpy. "If you leave too, he'll be alone, and I don't want him to be completely alone."
I nodded. "I'm sorry, Soda, but he'll be okay. Hey, also about the whole ring thing..."
Soda cut me off. "Forget about it, Darry. Well talk about it later. With Ponyboy. He should have a say in this, too."
I didn't really agree with him, but I didn't want to start up another argument, so I reluctantly agreed. "Call our house first, I told the gang they could crash there tonight. Just get something to eat, shower, sleep, and you can come here in the morning. Bring the gang, too, they said they wanted to come."
"Alright."
He quietly made his way over to Pony's bed, kissed his forehead, whispered "Love ya, Pone," and came back over. "Night Dar, see ya tomorrow. Call me if there's any problems. Promise?"
"Promise. Thanks for helping out, little buddy. Sleep well." He grinned and slipped out into the hallway.
I sighed, sitting in that plastic chair, and staring at my skinny little brother, hooked up to machines and lying still and pale on the bed. I took his hand in mine, trying to warm it. It was cold.
I sat there for about a half hour, until Maggie came in with a cot for me to sleep on. I stretched out, and fell asleep beside my brother.
SODA'S POV
I walked down the white hallways. White walls, white floors, white doors, white uniforms. You'd think that they'd add a bit of color to cheer it up a bit, after all it is a hospital, but I didn't design this place, so no use worrying over it. I found a pay phone in the waiting room, punched I our phone number, and waited. It answered on the fourth ring.
"Hello?"
"Hey."
"Soda?"
"Steve?"
"Yeah. What's up?"
"I have a favor to ask. Can you come pick me up? I'm at the hospital."
"Yeah, I figured that much out for myself. Everyone ok?"
"Yeah, Darry's just making me come home to get some rest. That okay?"
"Sure, be there in 10. "
"Thanks, buddy."
"No problem. See ya."
"See ya."
I leaned back against the wall, knees still trembling. Pony had scared me something awful, his machine going all crazy like that. I was still kinda angry with Darry for fighting with him. I mean, it's bad enough that they fight so much anyway, but the fact that Darry fought with him while he was lying sick in a hospital bed is just about killing me.
I think the problem with them is that they're too alike and too different. They're both smart, try too hard to please people, stubborn, and they overreact things too much. When they get into a fight, they're both too stubborn to be the first to end it. They both overreact things that the other one did. Pony always gets so angry when Darry contradicted him, claiming that he wasn't Dad. Darry overreacted when Pony did the smallest things. Like one time, Pony walked home without a jacket, and Darry flipped, ranting about how he never uses his head, and how he's so absent-minded. Pony was sick the next day, and you should have heard Darry go on about how "If he had just worn a jacket.." but obviously, he wasn't sick from that reason. And they were both too proud to see their own faults.
They're different in just as many ways. Pony's always daydreaming, thinking about what could happen, what could've happened. He's always lost in thought. Darry has no patience for that, he always hates when people "Dwell and the past and future more than the present." They just don't see things the same way, don't think alike. That's their problem.
I had been thinking for so long that I didn't realize that the elevator had opened and Steve was walking out of it. I stood up.
"Hey Steve."
"Hey Soda."
We walked in silence to the elevator and got in. Steve hit the lobby button, and we rode in silence for a couple of minutes. I think he knew I wasn't feeling very social right now. Finally, he spoke up.
"Well, how is he? How's the kid?"
"Ponyboy is doing as good as you can expect him to be, I guess. Except for his heart moniter went all crazy earlier when he and Darry got in a fight. I think that's why Dar made me leave. He feels guilty."
"They got in a fight? Well, no new news there."
"Shut up, Steve. Darry wants to sell Mom's wedding ring."
He stopped laughing, his expression darkening. "Sell it? You can't sell it! Why the h*** would you?"
"For money, I guess."
The elevator stopped and we walked into the lobby, still talking.
"That's ridiculous! You can't sell it. Just cause the kids sick.."
"Ponyboy, Steve, not "the kid." And don't make it sound like it's his fault, cause its not and you know it."
Steve held up his hands. "I ain't! Chill, Soda."
"Hey, I'm sorry man. I'm just stressed."
"It's alright buddy. C'mon, let's go."
I hadn't realized that we had reached Steve's beat-up truck. He slid into the drivers seat, I got into the passengers, and we rode home in silence.
STEVE'S POV
We were sitting around the Curtis's living room, when the phone rang. We looked at each other.
"It's probably them." said Dally. No one else moved, so I got up to answer it.
Hello?"
"Hey."
"Soda?"
"Steve?"
"Yeah. What's up?"
"I have a favor to ask. Can you come pick me up? I'm at the hospital."
"Yeah, I figured that much out for myself. Everyone ok?"
"Yeah, Darry's just making me come home to get some rest. That okay?"
"Sure, be there in 10. "
"Thanks, buddy."
"No problem. See ya."
"See ya."
I hung up, grabbed my keys, and headed out to the living room.
"What's up?" Two-Bit asked.
"I'm gonna go pick up Soda at the hospital."
"Why?" Dally.
"I think Darry wanted him to get some rest. I'll be back in twenty minutes. No one steal my money, I'll know." I said, gesturing to our poker game. I headed towards the door, till Johnny spoke up.
"Is Pony alright?"
I turned around. I didn't really know. How great could a kid with cancer be doing?
"I don't know, Johnnycakes, I think Soda said he was," I added in, so he wouldn't worry. "Soda'll tell us when he gets back."
I headed out and drove to the hospital. As I drove, I argued with myself. I didn't hate Ponyboy, I never had. At least, I don't think I did. We sure didn't like each other, but h***, I don't want the kid to die, either. The problem is that he's always tagging around after Soda and I. Well, not so much anymore, he did a lot when he's younger, but now, he rarely tags along. But it's too late, the damage is done, and the grudge continues. Truth is, he bothers mebacause he has, or had, what I want: A loving family, A mom who cares, a dad who doesn't beat on him, and two brothers who don't ditch him somewhere. He doesn't have parents anymore, but he's got Darry and Soda, and he's got so much d*** potential. Academics, track, everything. So that's the truth. I dislike, not hate, Ponyboy Curtis cause he hogs Soda and the girls, and I'm jealous of him. And that's all there is to it.
I arrived at the hospital, picked up Soda, and drove him home. We talked a bit, but not much, and I didn't push him. I could tell he was exhausted. When we got back, Johnnycakes was half-asleep in the armchair, Two-Bit was dozing in front of the T.V., which was running quietly, and Dally was cleaning up the poker game. He usually took responsibility as the "man of the house" when Darry wasn't here, because he was the second-oldest, and Two-Bit was too lazy to do it.
I "accidentally" slammed the screen door loudly behind me, causing Johnny and Two-Bit to jerk awake. The three of them immediately started to bombard Soda with questions.
"Hey Soda!" "How's Pony?" "How long will he have to stay in the hospital?" "Where's Darry?" "Can we visit tommorrow?" "Does he have a roommate?" "Greaser or Soc?" "When can he come home?" "Do y'all have any chocolate cake in the icebox? We checked but couldn't find any."
Poor Soda couldn't get a word in edgewise, but eventually their questions slowed down. Soda sat down at the couch.
"Golly, a guy can't get a word in edgewise." he joked. "Alright. It went okay, I guess. Pony's pretty sick, he'll be okay in a couple of days. Darry's staying with him. He's got a roommate, but I can't tell what he's like yet, guess we'll find out later. Yeah, y'all can visit tomorrow, and God, Two-Bit, lay of the choclate cake, would ya?"
We went to bed after that. Soda in him and Pony's room, me on the couch, Johnny on the armchair, and Dallas on the floor, which he preferred. Soda had offered his parent's, now Darry's room, to us, but we refused, it was too painful.
I stretched out on the couch and fell asleep.
Author's Note: This chapter was completley off track from what I planned. I was planning on having Ponyboy meet and talk to Nathan a lot, Ponyboy and Johnny talking, and Darry and Soda having to go to a support group. Oh, and also the cause of Pony's headaches. But this happened instead, the idea just came to me. Well, I guess that's your sneak-peak for next chapter ;) I know I said the story will focus more on friendship and stuff, and it will in the next chapter. Hope you liked it! Read & Review, guys, Read & Review. Thanks so much! Stay Gold!-Emily ;)