Waking Up

Belonging

Chapter Seven

After Darry took Johnny and Pony home, I fell asleep. The couch was comfortable and felt like a cloud. When I woke again, I saw Matt sitting in the chair, reading a car magazine. "Matt?" I muttered. He looked up and smiled.

"It's about time you woke up, kiddo," he said. "Sorry I was out so late. I only had two beers, don't worry I'm not drunk," he chuckled. He put down the magazine and carried me off to bed. Carefully, he pulled back the covers with me in his arms. He set me down and pulled the blanket up to my shoulders. "Good night Reagan, I love you," he said and kissed my forehead.

"I love you, too," I whispered back. He smiled and carefully shut the door. For a while I stared at the ceiling, not as tired as before. Since I had slept throughout the day, I wasn't all that tired now. I was still achy, but not as drowsy.

I took a deep breath, tensed up, then exhaled and completely relaxed. Quietly, I yawned. After that, I had no trouble getting to sleep.

I opened my eyes what seemed like a while later. The room was still dark. "Matt?" I called. His footsteps neared my door and it opened. Only it wasn't him, it was a Soc. I gasped. He had rings and a switchblade.

"Please don't hurt me," I begged. "I was just trying to sleep." He approached my bed, laughing maliciously.

"Stupid greaser," he said, leaning over my bed. All of a sudden, four more Socs came out of my small closet. They were tall, largely framed. I quivered under the blanket. They all hovered over me. Evil smiles were all painted across their faces. I tried to yell for Matt, but they stuffed tissues in my mouth and in my face. I couldn't breathe that well. I struggled and wiggled all over the place. That's when they started pounding on me real hard.

"This should shut you up for good, grease," the head Soc said before plunging the switchblade in my stomach.

I woke with a jolt, screaming and hollering for Matt. He rushed in. "What's the matter?" he asked worriedly. I told him about the nightmare as he pulled me into a hug. "I love you," I whispered in his ear and he smiled.

For breakfast, Matt fixed bagels and cream cheese. Today was his last day doing the later shift for training. He would officially start tomorrow.

"What are you gonna do when I'm gone?" he asked, spreading the cream cheese across the lightly toasted bagel. I shrugged.

"Probably read some more of Anthem, uh... draw, watch TV, maybe look for some new friends around town. The gang is nice, but I need some friends that are girls," I responded. Matt nodded, no arguments, just a nod. He took a bite of his bagel. "Have fun then," he said, his mouth full. I rolled my eyes.

"You have no manners," I joked, wiping the cream cheese off his chin with a napkin. "Sometimes its like your eight, not eighTEEN." He laughed and went back to eating.

When I finished breakfast, I brushed my teeth and got dressed. In the bathroom, I studied my reflection. I wondered if my bangs looked okay. I used a tiny bit of hairspray and exited the bathroom.

For a while, Matt and I sat and talked about school. Even though it was a while away, he felt the need to discuss it.

Before we knew it, it was noon. "Goodbye, Reagan. Stay safe, I mean it. I love you and I hope you can make some more friends." He waved and walked out the door. Today was a new day. I already felt better, so hopefully the day would be, too.

I cleaned up the dishes before heading outside. I was still bruised, but no longer achy. I walked to the park, calmly and slowly. If there wasn't any people there, I'd probably just walk around the neighborhood after that.

Not very many people were there. Just a young couple, watching there son play around. They looked kinda middle class. It was weird to think that there were regular people. I wonder what they thought of the social status rivalry. I sat myself in a swing a pushed off.

I was calm, in a peaceful state of mind. The town really was a nice place, I guess it just depends on the people around you.

For a while, I swung and thought. Eventually, I got bored, so I left the couple and their kid behind.

The town was buzzing with people. Quite a few people in one place, quite a few in the other. It wasn't like a rush hour type thing, but for a small town there were more people than I expected.

Furthest away from everything was the shoe store, which I didn't feel like visiting. I walked into the book store and looked around. Many good pieces of literature still had yet to be bought here.

I was a slight fan of poetry, so I decided to look; it couldn't hurt. I pulled out an Emily Dickinson collection and flipped through.

"You like her work, too?" I heard a voice ask. I looked up from the pages to see three girls standing in front of me. One had real dark brown hair, one blonde, and the other a chestnut type color. I nodded. The blonde one smiled.

"I absolutely love it, but I can't seem to pick a favorite. My friends here don't care for poetry as much as I do," she said, smiling. They didn't look like Soc girls. All three of them were wearing some type of jean; jean skirt, jean pants. They seemed to nice.

"I'm Delaney," said the blonde said smiling brightly. Her friends were leaned up against the book case.

"I'm Sara," said the one with the real dark brown hair. The one with the chestnut hair stood up straight and held out her hand for me to shake.

"And I'm Jamie," she said and I shook her hand. "Aren't small towns just great?"

I shrugged. "I guess so," I said. "Its a lot easier to meet people that way." All three girls nodded at my comment.

"So I take it your new in town?" Sarah asked. I nodded. "And since you're all bruised up, you're either abused at home or you got into trouble with the Socs." I laughed and told them what happened.

"That's awful!" Delaney gasped. All three girls were welcoming. We talked for a while and discussed favorite authors.

"If you ever want to hang out," said Delaney, "I'm just around the corner of the gas station in the small baby blue house." I grinned at the invitation.

"Thanks," I said, getting up. "It was nice to finally meet some girls here. There's a lot of boys. Bye guys!" I waved to them and left the store.

Now time to visit the gang....