Chapter Five

"Darry! Darry! Play ball! Play ball!" I shouted with joy, as I stood on the greaser side of the bleachers. Momma kept telling me to sit down, but I was too excited to; I loved watching Darry play football. My big big brother grinned at me from the players benches before Daddy put his helmet on his head.

"Sure, kiddo." He leaned over and ruffled my hair with his big hands, "You gonna wish me luck or what?"

I squealed and stamped my feet, "The football loves you, Darry! I promise, it'll come flying to you!" I giggled before launching myself into his chest. I heard Momma gasp and call my name out admonishingly. Darry didn't care though, he caught me and wrapped his strong arms around my smaller frame. He twirled me around and I felt the air warp around me and Darry into a great big hug. I loved it. I loved Darry.

"Oh yeah?" He grinned and held me at arm's length, "Well, you watch and see your big brother destroy those socs, alright?" I let out a shriek of joy as he handed me to Momma and ran off into the field into position. He was a receiver, which meant he caught the ball. I didn't understand much about the game, except that Darry catches the ball and gets points. Sometimes, he got tackled by other players, and it made me scared every time he went down. Daddy told me that's just how the game works, but it still made me hide my face in Momma's chest.

Momma scolded me as I climbed onto her lap. I think she was telling me not to jump into Darry's arms anymore because I was getting too big, but I was still small enough that I could fit inside the kitchen cabinet when we played hide and seek. I barely listened to her as my eyes locked onto Darry's figure on the field, as he crouched slightly. Daddy was with the coach near the player's bench; he was friends with Coach McKoy and sometimes helped with football practice. I frowned as I suddenly remembered Soda wasn't here. He wanted to play with Steve instead, who hated it when I tagged along.

I'll make sure to tell them how much fun I have, and they'll wish they came with me.

I thought as I grinned. Momma's arms wrapped around my waist as a whistle blew, "Hut hut!" I heard a deep voice shout as the football was thrown under his legs and caught by the center. I watched as Darry sprinted across the field and tried to get open, but there was a soc cornerback chasing him around like no tomorrow. I frowned, but started to whoop and clap like everyone else on our side of the bleachers when the football was thrown to another receiver on Darry's team. Joy grasped at my heart as I watched the ball soar towards the receiver, before their hands fumbled it and it dropped to the ground. I pouted and was about to make myself comfortable again on Momma's lap when I saw the receiver vanish from where he was standing.

I gasped as I watched a cornerback on the other team tackle Darry's teammate to the ground. His helmet bounced off the ground, and he shoved the soc off of him. "The hell, man? It was dead ball!" He yelled out angrily, as he stood up and took a few off-balanced steps back.

The referee quickly got between them and talked to them. He talked to the both of them in a reproving manner, and he pointed his finger disapprovingly at the soc as he scolded him. After a minute or so, the referee patted them both on the shoulder and each player stalked off rather angrily. I saw Darry pat his teammates back as his friend spoke in a rage to him, and Darry just nodded along.

I tilted my head back and looked up at Momma, "Why he do that, Momma?" and I knew she was really concerned when she didn't even correct my bad English, "I don't know, Baby."

I pouted and turned my head back to the field once the whistle blew again, but yet again the same soc cornerback followed Darry around like a dog. I was surprised that he was even able to keep up with Darry. My big big brother was the fastest person I knew, and even if he was only a sophomore, I believed he was the quickest person in Tulsa.

I shrieked with happiness when I saw our center throw the ball right into the receiver's arms. I heard the people behind me get louder as the receiver ran across the field, dodging tackles and defenders as he approached the touchdown zone. I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted as loud as I could, as if my screams could will his legs to go faster. I hoped it worked.

However, I found my hands going to cover my mouth soon after. Two defenders had seemingly come out of nowhere and grabbed onto his waist and legs. I gasped and instantly hid my face in Momma's chest as I curled my legs into my own chest. I heard shouts and yells of angry curses that Daddy sometimes used when he worked on our old truck. Momma always told him off for it though, especially when I was around. I think she wanted me to talk politely and softly, kind of like the soc girls at school who wore sharp looking dresses all the time.

I heard Momma's heartbeat thump loud against my ear as I peeked a glance at the field. I let a low whine escape me as I watched Darry's greasy looking friend stand with his arm around Coach McKoy. One of his legs was off the ground and I saw his face crumple with pain as he tried to stand on both legs, his helmet lying forgotten a ways away from him.

They took him off onto the bench as I saw someone give him an ice pack, as he threw his head back. I expected him to cry, but he didn't. His cheeks flushed with anger as he squeezed his eyes shut. I mused to myself, He must be tuff like Darry. I think I would cry if I were him.

The referee looked strange, as he talked to the other team's coach instead of the players this time. The coach just merely nodded along. His nonchalance reminded me of Soda when I tried to talk to him about the new hairstyles I learned from Ms. Matthews last Friday.

The next several plays were more tame compared to the first two, and I felt Momma's grip on my midriff slowly loosen as time went on.

I whined in irritation, and swung my legs back and forth a bit too aggressively as I watched the other team score a touchdown. The people on the very right side of the bleachers that supported the soc team erupted into cheers.

However, my chest still felt light as I watched the players get into position. Darry's team was still winning, and they only needed six points to win. It was the perfect opportunity for Darry to score the game winning touchdown.

Everybody settled into their position again, and since the other team got the last point the ball went to Darry's team. "Hut hut!"

I watched as the football flew into the center's hands. I squealed with delight as I watched Darry manage to escape the pesky cornerback with a new found speed. I wiggled my body side to side as I excitedly watched the center handle the ball into a spiraling throw into the air. It was perfect.

I watched Darry jump for the ball and quickly cradle it to his side as he launched off towards the touchdown zone. In the excitement, I scrambled off Momma's lap and stamped my feet with anticipation as I realized Darry was going for a touchdown. I shrieked his name and whooped like everyone else on our side of the bleachers did.

I barely noticed the same cornerback that had been nothing but a thorn in Darry's side this whole game, diving after him. My whole body shuddered as I watched in horror. The soc was aiming way too high, and I was sure if Darry's teammate didn't pull the soc back by the scruff of his uniform—making him fall backward—that my brother would have ended up with a concussion.

I felt myself start to calm down and climb back into my Momma's lap for comfort for fear of what could have happened, when I saw the soc do something strange. As he was falling backward, one of his feet stretched out and hooked itself under Darry's armpit. I saw his foot straighten out again as he bent his knee and pulled it back so hard he almost knocked himself in the face with his knee. I watched with a terrifying realization of what he was trying to do as Darry's right arm let go of the football and whipped out to follow the soc's direction. His shoulder gave a horrifying rattle as it suddenly shifted back towards his shoulder blade. Darry's shoulder pads shifted out of place as his jersey shirt hiked up to his shoulder. I saw the two of them fall to the ground, before Darry shouted in pain.

I heard a loud scream as I stood shell-shocked for a moment, before scrambling to get over the fence closer to my big brother. I felt my mother's arms wrap around my torso as she struggled to keep me contained, and I realized that I was the one screaming.

I watched with wide eyes as the soc quickly got up and pressed his sharp football cleats into Darry's shoulder. I saw Darry's teammates quickly dive after him, and the spikes on his sharp looking cleats dragged on Darry's skin before ending in the middle of his bicep.

Blood seeped into Darry's white jersey as Daddy rushed onto the field to Darry, who lay on the ground. Never before in my life had I felt further away from my big big brother, even though he was right there. I thought with a panic that something was going to take him away from me.

I screamed and kicked my legs at anything that was close enough to touch, "Let me go, Momma! Let me go, Darry's hurt!"

My sobs and wails got lost in the noise of the bleachers; Momma's grip got tighter, "No no no! Darry!" The feeling that he was going to vanish from my life got stronger as his teammates crowded around his figure, blocking my sight of him.

"C'mon, Shortcake." I heard Momma's voice whisper in my ear, and suddenly the noise stopped, "It's okay, you're safe now." She told me, but why would she be comforting me now? And why wasn't it my Momma's voice, but Soda's instead? How did Soda's voice get so deep all of a sudden, and how did I even recognize it as his?

My brain fuzzed over as Darry's dislocated arm and bloody shoulder imprinted itself into my brain.

I shot up with a gasp.

My chest felt tight as I looked around the room. We were back at home, and for some reason I was laying on the couch in the living room. My body hurt, I thought plainly. My eyes first locked on Johnny's, who was leaning against the wall with wide eyes. He looked strange, and much older than I remember him being, yet the sight of his taller figure didn't look unfamiliar for reasons unknown to me.

I was barely aware of tears cascading down my cheeks as I squeezed my eyes shut and put my head in my hands. My mind went fuzzy as it struggled to grasp what was going on, and I could faintly hear someone call my name. My body felt strangely heavy compared to when I was at the football game, and I was vaguely aware of my sides throbbing with what I think was pain. Why did my body hurt so damn much? My brain was in shambles at this point, and I soon realized it was futile trying to understand anything.

I jolted as someone's hand gently touched my shoulder.

I whipped my head to the side and my blood ran cold. Soda sat closest to me as he said something to me, but a loud buzz took over my hearing as my eyes zeroed in on Darry who sat a bit farther away from me. His face looked taut with an emotion I couldn't quite place my finger on as he stared at me with his icy blue eyes. Suddenly, the image of him lying helplessly on the football field with Daddy yelling at coach McKoy to call the ambulance resurfaced. His white jersey sleeve marred with blood as his shoulder popped towards his shoulder blade.

"Oh Darry!" I cried out as I felt my face crumple into a sob. I launched myself at him, and this time Momma didn't stop me. I didn't care that he looked mad, or that he might start hounding me for acting too much like a child for my age—but Darry never scolded me? Momma usually did that.

I wrapped my arms around him and hardly noticed how my arms were covered with bright red cuts and scrapes. I felt his arms wrap around my body just like how he did at the football game. The football game that ended with his shoulder dislocated and a tuff looking scar from the soc's cleats. How did I know that?

"Darry Darry Darry…" I repeated his name like a mantra as I tried to hug him tighter, and I begged in my head not to let the socs take my big big brother away from me. I sobbed as my whole body shuddered in his embrace. He didn't say anything, and he usually didn't when he comforted me. He just stayed silent as his strong arms held me as I kneeled over his lap, my knees throbbing in retaliation. This time, no wind wrapped around us as I wailed into the crook of his neck.

After a minute I braved a look at his face, and my eyes focused on a small scar near his temple. Suddenly, everything I was struggling to understand a minute ago all came back to me in a horrifying moment.

Momma and Daddy were dead. Sodapop dropped out of highschool. Johnny got jumped a few months ago and flinched at the sight of his own shadow. Dallas got out of the cooler yesterday. Steve Randle still hated my guts. And Darry; my big big brother that had grown up too quickly in his twenty years of living, now worked two jobs to support me and Sodapop. Darrel Cutris Jr., my brother who got a scholarship at a college and was Boy of The Year his senior year. I realized with a shudder that the scar was from a month ago when a bundle of shingles fell and scratched his face as he narrowly avoided it. These days, I felt like he hated me with how much he hounded me for everything I did.

And me? The only daughter of my mother's, who never swore and liked sunsets? I got jumped. I even managed to drag my best friend into my mess as well. Maybe if I hadn't worn the strawberry lip gloss they would've left me and Susie alone.

I looked at his right shoulder and heard a sob leave my body as I looked at the tuff looking scar he had from the soc's cleats.

My shaky hands clutched at the back of Darry's shirt as I gasped for breath. I buried my head back into his shoulder and sobbed. I sobbed for my brother, who quit school to work at the DX, when he was so smart and deserved so much more. I sobbed for Johnny, who got jumped so viciously when he already got beat on at home. I sobbed for Darry, who ignored the life he could've had because he needed to support me and Soda. I sobbed at myself, for letting myself get jumped. I sobbed at the socs, for making me forget everything and making me relearn my parent's deaths all over again.

"I'm gonna destroy those socs." My breath hitched as I heard Darry ground out the same words he said to me before the football game.

"No, Darry! Don't—you're gonna leave me!" I cried and didn't care if Soda, Johnny, Two-bit, or Susie thought I was a baby. I didn't want my brother to ever leave me again.

He said something to me but I didn't hear it over my sobs. "Don't leave us, Darry." I sobbed as I recalled the way he collapsed to the field in a snap of a finger, "Don't do that." I quietly cried out to him. He stopped talking and smoothed out my hair. I heard him plant a kiss on the top of my head.

"Shh, I've got you now." I heard Darry whisper. I realized that things had changed.

As the minutes ticked by, I became more aware of the throbbing pain on my sides and the sting of cuts all over my body. I slowly pulled away from Darry's arms and wiped my puffy eyes on the shoulder of my tee-shirt, biting back a whine as I accidentally pressed into my bruised cheek. I fell back against the foot of the couch behind me and hissed at the sudden pain that spread over the surface of my back. I fuzzily recalled the soc throwing me to the ground. I groaned and shut my eyes. I didn't want to think about that.

I felt a shoulder nudge me as my eyes looked up at Soda's honey eyes. He looked plain worried. There was no other way to describe his face at the moment. I dryly mused about how my face must look right now. I think I got socked a couple times in the face. I let out a tired sigh and let my head drop onto his shoulder. He pulled me close and planted a kiss on the top of my head like Darry did.

I knew he wanted to ask me a million questions, but he held back. I was thankful for that, I was going to explode with emotions if I had to relive what happened a few hours ago. Soda knew me better than anyone, and I loved him more than I've ever loved anyone else, even Momma and Daddy. He brought me comfort like no other.

I felt my eyes close, as the pain from the bruises and cuts on my battered body numbed over as I fell asleep to the sound of soft murmuring.