Stay By Me

Chapter 25

Diana was surprised when another person walked into her hospital room. She was even more surprised to see that it was Ponyboy visiting her. But that brought her some relief, it meant that he wasn't injured so badly that he was still a patient there.

"Hey Pony," she rasped in her ever-weakening voice. "What's new?"

"I just went and saw, Johnny, I was on my way to see Dally when Two-Bit suggested I see you first."

"Oh, so that buttchuck guilted you into here? If that's the only reason you're here, go ahead and see Dally," she replied sarcastically.

Ponyboy was taken aback. "Sorry, is this a bad time for you? I can come back again some other time if you're tired-"

She smirked as best she could. "Nah kid, it's fine. I'm just being bitchy cause I'm stuck in the hospital, and I don't have any way to smoke."

She sounded so much like Dally, even the intonation a bit, it was clear how much time they spent around each other. It was slightly disturbing, she sounded like Dally in female form.

"So how's Johnny?" She asked. "How are you?"

He shrugged. "I'm pretty good. They let me out a while ago, didn't get many burns because of Dally's jacket. I'm kinda banged up, but I'll be okay."

"That's good. What about Johnny?" She asked, trying to sound casual and to keep the fear out of her voice.

"Well, he didn't seem too good to me. His back is busted up. Even if he makes it out, he'll never be able to walk again. He didn't seem so good when we left, he was out cold."

"If?" She demanded, eyes wide. "It's that bad?" Her eyes started welling up with tears. She hated crying in front of other people.

"They think he might of been gone by now had he not had that jacket of yours," Ponyboy said, in hopes that maybe it would make her feel a little better.

"Is he suffering?"

"If he is, he ain't letting us see."

She didn't want to push it, she knew he and Johnny were best friends, and she could tell he was hurting, simply because Johnny was hurting.

"Hey, all of our names got in the paper. Called us heroes."

"Even mine?"

"Yeah. Didn't say anything bad though."

She groaned. She really didn't want that. She didn't feel like she deserved it, she was no hero. It was bad news anyways, her cover had now been blown.

"Fuck," she swore under her breath. "Means the socs prolly know where I am too."

"Sorry."

" 's not your fault. Thanks for telling me."

"You're welcome."

They sat in silence for a moment.

"Hey, pass on a message to Dally, would you? Tell him I said, tell him that I'm not dead yet."

"Diana, I think he knows you're alive," Ponyboy said, sounding puzzled.

"There's more to it than that, I might explain the whole thing sometime when you're not already stressing out about everything under the sun."

"Okay. See you later, Diana."

"Bye, horseman."

"Oh, and one last thing!" She hollered as he left, straining her voice. "If you see Cherry Valance around, tell her to come see me!"

_____
Ponyboy thought over what Diana had said. When he'd first met her, he really hadn't known what to think about her, because she'd seemed like one of those girls that Darry would call a bad influence, and Sodapop would tell him to stay away from. But it had been Sodapop who'd forced her to meet the gang, and now she was an unofficial gang member, she was now part of his everyday life. He'd gotten to know her better, but part of him still didn't know what to think of her.

His first reaction had been that she'd been a real free spirit, the kind of person who did whatever they wanted without letting anything stop them. But he'd come to realize it wasn't really pursuit of freedom that powered her, it was years of anger that had never got to be released. The gang would get out that energy by fighting or by racing, but she hadn't been able to do anything of the sort. But when that anger was gone, there was something cold about her. Unfeeling. Empty. Like the person she was, or was supposed to be was gone. Like she was a shell of the person she used to be, and that she knew it.

Maybe that was what she meant when she said that she wasn't dead yet. Maybe she was figuring out who Diana was supposed to be, since from what he'd heard her home life hadn't been too fantastic either, even though she'd been a soc.

He shook his head. He had to stop thinking like that. It hadn't mattered that she'd been a "soc." At the end of the day, it hadn't helped her. Hadn't protected her, or made her life any easier. It was just a title that drove people apart, that didn't fix anything.

He arrived at Dally's hospital room. He could hear him and Two-Bit talking, something about Tim Shepard.

"Kid!" Dally said when he walked in. "You scared the devil outta me the other day, I thought I'd killed you."

"Me? Why?"

"When you jumped out of the church, I meant to hit you just hard enough to knock you down at put the fire out, but when you dropped like a ton of lead I thought I'd aimed too high and broke your neck. I'm glad I didn't though."

"I'll bet," he said with a grin.

After a moment, Dally looked out the window, trying to look casual. "Uh... how's Diana? Two-Bit already filled me in about Johnny."

Both Two-Bit and Ponyboy winced. There wasn't really much good to say about how she was going. She was recovering, but other than Johnny she was the worst off.

"She's healing," Ponyboy said eventually. "Two-Bit went in before I did, but she seemed to be okay, I guess. Her voice is still real rough, and her hands aren't too good either, but she's alive. She'll make it."

Two-Bit scowled. "When I walked in her shitbag of a father was in there, givin' her a hard time, wouldn't leave. I can see why she ain't quite right now."

Dally matched his scowl. He looked like he personally wanted to get out of the hospital bed right that moment and go and beat the shit out of Diana's father.

"Anyways, we didn't even tell you the worst part," Two-Bit said with a grin.

Dally glared. He wasn't in a mood to hear any more bad news, but from the look on Two-Bit's face, maybe it wasn't actually that bad.

"The paper had some real fun with you and Diana, what did they call y'all, modern day Romeo and Juliet? Get it? Cause y'all are from opposite sides of town?"

Dally looked like he was about to explode.

"Two-Bit, I thought we weren't gonna tell no one that part," Ponyboy scolded.

"We weren't?"

"No!"

"Oh. Whoops."

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