The Little Winston

Chapter 18- I Meet A Bitch

Everybody was gone when I got home, except for Ponyboy. It was Saturday, and Pony never really had anyone besides the gang to hang out with, but I guess neither did I. He was playing cards. He smiled as I walked in and set my stuff down before sitting on the other end of the table, grabbing all of the cards and shuffling them. I was never good at cards, but I figured that maybe Ponyboy wasn't either. We played for a couple of hours, since everytime I lost I would demand a rematch. No one came home in those hours either.

"Oh, come on Pony, how are you so good at this!" I slammed my cards down on the table while Pony laughed. "I'm gonna be broke if this keeps up!"

Ponyboy grinned as he set his cards down. "I'm not that good. You're just really bad."

I gave him a dirty look as the door opened and in walked Sodapop. He looked pretty beat up and had bruises and cuts all over him.

"Oh my god, babe what happened?" I got up to go get the first aid kid from the bathroom while Sodapop sat down on the couch next to Pony.

"These socs were jumping this girl, and I tried to save her."

"How many were there?"

"5."

I sat down next to Sodapop and started to clean his face off. "Well, it's not that bad. At least you don't need any stitches." I got the peroxide out and started putting them on his cuts. He flinched back a little bit, but let me do what I needed to do.

"I was looking for a fight anyways. I could've taken em' if they hadn't pulled a blade on me."

"You gotta stop looking for fights, Sodapop. You're gonna get yourself killed one of these days." He breathed in deeply, apparently not wanting to argue the point. I knew he needed a way to blow off steam, but it really bugged me sometimes. I didn't want to have to live without him if he got himself killed, I knew I wouldn't be able to live without him. 

Pony looked at Sodapop oddly, kind of like he knew something that I didn't. I couldn't understand why though. "What is it?"

Sodapop eyes snapped away from mine and darted to Pony's, who now looked more disappointed than anything. Then Ponyboy scarcely whispered a single name: "Sandy."

My heart dropped to my stomach and my intestines did cartwheels in dread. I understood why Sodapop didn't want to tell me the whole story: Sandy was the girl he was saving.

"Sodapop, did you have Sandy because it was the right thing to do, or because you still love her?" I whispered, even though I already knew the answer, and it wasn't a good one. He didn't answer, but looked sadly at the floor instead. He didn't question how I knew about Sandy and I was thankful for that. A tear rolled down his perfect cheek and I couldn't sit there any longer. I stood up and walked into the kitchen, slamming my hands on the counter as my eyes filled with angry tears. Of course he could never love me, I was so stupid.

The door opened, and another person's voice filled the room. I peeked through the doorway to see a beach blonde girl a little but taller than me. She was petite, and had a cheerleaders body. It didn't take me very long to see that this was Sandy.

She said something to Soda, who stood up and hugged her quickly. Pony shifted uncomfortably before walking into the kitchen himself and standing behind me.

"He won't ever forgive her, you know." He whispered, watching them sit and talk. I could tell she was in love with him, by the way she looked at him. Somehow, he didn't look at her the same way she looked at him.

"I know. But he doesn't have too. He just has to love her enough to trust her again."  Sodapop turned his head to look at me and smiled at me grimly, before grabbing Sandy's hand and leading her to the kitchen with him.

"Sandy, this is my girlfriend Nicole." He let go of her hand and grabbed mine instead. I used my free hand to wipe my tears as I smiled. Gosh she was pretty.

"Nice to meet you Nicole, I'm Sandy." Her voice was sickly sweet.

"I know who you are." I didn't mean to be rude, but I heard Ponyboy snickering to himself in the corner as he dug through the cabinets.

"She's Dally's little sister." Sandy's eyes shot to mine as she examined me for the fire Dallas had. I could tell she didn't like me, and trust me, the feeling was mutual.

"Huh. They both have the mouth I'll tell you that." She chuckled as I fake laughed with her. I couldn't understand how Sodapop could have dated her.

The door opened again, luckily stopping this awkward encounter as Two-Bit walked in. 

That night, Sandy joined us for dinner, and boy was that great. The gang hated her as much as I did, with pretty much Sodapop being the only one talking to her the whole night. Every so often, she would shoot me a dirty look, and obviously I would give her one too. Miraculously, Soda never noticed our little war. After Dinner, Darry almost threw her out of the house before giving Soda a mighty lecture about her. My life was about to get a lot more interesting.