All The Ways I Could Love You

Chapter 12

Brinley's Pov
I sat at a wooden table next to an old man. He was my lawyer. I wore my nicest clothes, my hair curled, and a tiny amount of makeup. Today was the trial over Johnny's murder. We had all been dreading this day. The judge had called me up to his stand awhile ago. We were now just waiting for the results from the jury. The had all the evidence against the Socs to be guilty, but they are Socs so who really knows how this will go.

My heart was racing rapidly as we waited. I turned behind me and met Soda's gaze. His blue eyes gave me a bit of comfort. I turned back around and stared as a lady of the jury walked over to the judge with a note. The judge nodded and sighed as he looked over the crowd.

"I announce Bob Shelton, Randy Adderson, Peter Wilson, and Austin Miller guilty to forty years of prison due to first degree murder," the judge said sternly, hitting his gavel against his stand.

Everyone jumped up and cheered as the boys were taken away by the cops. I ran to Soda and jumped into his arms. He spun me around and then sent me down, kissing me.

"I knew you could do it. Johnny knew you could," he said to me.

I smiled. I did it for Johnny.

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I sat on the coach, watching Mickey with the boys. I was sitting on Soda's lap when the phone ring.

"I got it," I said running to the phone.

I answered and heard a low voice. It was familiar. "Hello, is this Darry?" The guy asked.

"One sec. I'll get him for you," I said. "Darry!" I yelled to him.

He rushed into the kitchen and took the phone from me. When he heard the man's voice his smile dropped. Then it returned and he nodded and began to agree with the man. He hung up the phone and looked at me smiling.

"That was Brad. He is making a peace treaty with us greasers," he said frantically.

We all started hooting and hollering. We had been waiting a long time for this day. I began to dance and sing random words of excitement. The boys laughed at my dance moves and I rolled my eyes.

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{5 MONTHS LATER}
I was sitting on the ground, staring at the blue flowers in front of me. I traced my finger over the letters of Johnny's name on the gravestone that had been placed there only a few weeks ago.

"Hey, Johnny. I miss you man. We found out the gender. It's twins. A boy and a girl. I'm scared and excited. I don't know how everything is gonna turn out. We got names for em too. Ansley and Cade. You would've been a great uncle," I said. I sighed and continued on my conversation. "I've been attending school. I'm gonna be a lawyer. Help people out. Brad is throwing me a graduation party next month. Pony's bringing his girlfriend, Cherry. She's good for him. I love you buddy. And I miss you a lot. Have a good day, Johnny," I said as I stood up, brushing the dirt off my jeans.

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{7 YEARS LATER}
"Kids!" I screamed.

Ansley and Cade came rushing down the stairs. Today, me, Soda, the kids, and the rest of the gang were having a picnic at the lot.

We all got in the car and headed over to the lot. It was only about a 10 minute drive from our house.

We parked the car and hopped out. Dally was leaning against the chain fence smoking.

"Hey, Dal," Soda said.

They bro hugged and Dally put out his cigarette.

"How's Sylvia and Morgan?" I asked.

Dally sighed. "Me and Sylvia are divorcing. She cheated on me with my co-worker. And Morgan is doing good. She's over there with the others," he said pointing to the other kids.

Ansley and Cade ran over to Darry and Mads, giving them huge hugs.

"Hey, guys," Mads said, hugging them back.

"Be careful of Aunt Mads's stomach," Soda warned the kids.

They nodded and backed away a bit. Mads was 2 months pregnant with their first kid. They decided to wait til after marriage to have kids.

Pony and Cherry walked over to us, hand in hand. Soda hugged Pony and I hugged Cherry. We hadn't seen them since they left for vacation.

"Hi, guys," Cherry said. She smiled at the kids.

"Where are Jordan and Cooper?" Soda asked.

Pony smiled and pointed over to the 4 year old and 5 year old wrestling. "Remind you of someone," he said referencing to them.

Soda laughed. "Hey, Soda, I'll be back. I'm gonna go check on Steve and Two," I said walking off. He nodded as I joined the others.

"Hey, boys. How's life?" I asked them.

Steve smiled. "Evie's with her mom. She took Danny to meet her parents."

I nodded and looked over at Two. He rolled his eyes. "What am I suppose to say? Jill broke up with me and took Harper with her," he said almost crying.

My jaw dropped. They were the perfect couple. I wrapped him in a hug and rubbed his back. Then I heard him laugh and looked up to see Jill holding 3 year old Harper.

"Wow, of course you guys did that," I said.

They all laughed at me as I rolled my eyes and scoffed, soon joining in on the laughed.

I looked over at the kids, all playing together. They were climbing a tree. Then I remembered. That was my tree. My jaw dropped and I looked over at Soda. He followed my eyes and saw the tree, his jaw dropping also. Everyone had completely forgot about the tree. I ran over to it and grabbed my notebook, flipping through each page. I smiled to myself and looked up at Soda who smiled back.

"I lied when I told you I didn't read it. I did, and that's when I realized all the ways I could love you," he said as his lips met mine.