𝐓𝐔𝐋𝐒𝐀 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐏𝐨𝐧𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬

𝑇𝑊𝐸𝑁𝑇𝑌 - 𝐶𝑎𝑠𝑡

"Fine, but I might win, you never know." I said. He smirked and passed out cards.

After about 4 minutes Two-bit walked by.

"She's got 2 diamonds, 1 heart." He said.

"You jerk!" I said trying to slap him. He did his demon laugh and went to the fridge.

"Well, isn't that a good thing?" He said laying down his cards.

"Dang." I said. He smiled and took the money.

"We're playing it again." I said shuffling my cards.

"Trying to loose again, huh?" Steve said.

"You know what Stevie, let's play lowball, I know you're horrible at that." I said mockingly.

"That's not fair." He said. I continued on and passed out the cards.

At the near end, I looked down and at my shoe.

"Ah man, my shoes untie- hey you're cheating!" I said. He quickly moved his hand away from his card, which he just took out of his belt.

"Am not!"

"Yes you are—I just caught you!"

"Liar!"

"You're the filthy liar! That moneys mine."

"Nu uh, it's mine."

"Steve don't even try it."

"Fine, we'll solve it the manly way." He put his hand out to arm wrestle. I wasn't nearly as built as Steve, but I could try. We engaged and started moving. He was winning it over but I kept trying. I was slowly making no progress, but holding him there. After what seemed like forever, and attracted Sodapop, Steve was slowly winning. I gave it one last hopeful push, when Steve pushing my arm.

My arm came down too quick and weird for me to say anything. There was an ominous crack and I let out a full lunged scream.

"Oh my God, oh my God." I started saying.

"Steve! You just broke her arm!" Soda said.

"What in Gods name is going on in here." Darry asked coming in there. His face looked at my distorted arm and he looked confused.

"How bad is it." I said turning away from it. I was doing everything not to cry. I felt like being a little dramatic too.

"Well it's definitely broke." Darry said. Dally and Two-bit came rounding the corner.

"What happened?" They asked at the same time.

"Steve broke my arm!" I said. My voice cracked with it.

"Yikes." Two-bit said. He reached out and poked my arm. That was my cracking point. I started crying, right in front of them. Not a waterworks fest, but enough. I felt dumb, but man it hurt.

"Don't we need to get her to a hospital?" Sodapop asked.

"Yeah, I'll take Devyn and Two-bit in my truck." Darry said. Steve was looking at me shocked. I went out the door, but I got the window seat and Two-bit was stuck in the middle.

"How did this happen again?" The final doctor asked looking at the paperwork.

"I broke it...arm wrestling." I said. Rather embarrassing to say.

"I see." He said. "Well, we have to put a cast on it."

"Oh man." I groaned.

"Everyone says that. It's not as bad as you think. I'll let you choose the color." He said. He brought out a tub of wrap things with a few different colors.

"Uh...Two-bit, red or black?" I asked.

"Definitely red." He said.

"Alright, red it is." I said. The doctor nodded and got his things ready.

After about 30 minutes we finally got to leave.

"Can I get window seat?" Two-bit said.

"No." I said.

"That's not fair." He said.

"I got an idea." I said. "Whoever gets there first gets window seat."

"I'm good with that." He said.

"Ready- hey!" I said when he took off early. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me. We were almost there when he tripped on the curb. I sped past making it to the truck.

"Loser." I said as he got up to me.

"Hey, in my defense I'm not as spry as I used to be."

"Two-bit, you're 18." I said.

"Doesn't make a difference." He said. I rolled my eyes and let him in. Darry caught up to us looking at us like we were lunatics.

We pulled into the Curtis household and I was first to get out. I wanted to show the guys my cast. I was about to open the door when Steve busted through it. He pulled me into a quick hug which caught me really off guard, Steve's never hugged me. But, I returned the hug.

"I'm sorry Devyn I didn't mean to, I swear." He said pulling away.

"I know you didn't, I'm not upset." I said almost laughing. He looked so worried. Although his face quickly went back to normal. I went inside to show Sodapop the cast.

"Can I write my name on it?" He said sounding like a first grader. I nodded my head yes and he rushed off to his room.

"How long do you have to have it on?" Dally asked.

"Said about 8 weeks." I said.

"That's gonna suck." He said.

"You're telling me." I said. Soda came back in the room with a sharpie. He took my arm and started writing his name. His handwriting wasn't sloppy, but it wasn't clean. Sodapop was about to say something to Dal when Darry came in.

"You guys always forget to get the mail." He said. He tossed anything not addressed to him on the table.

"You wanna sign it Dally?" Soda asked.

"That's stupid." Dally said.

"Please Dal." I said acting a little dramatic. He made that smack sound with his lips and grabbed the sharpie. He started writing his name and looked up.

"You want like my full name or just nickname?" He asked after a moment.

"Just your nickname Dal." I said. I don't think he's ever done this before.

"Steve?" Soda asked. He nodded and wrote his name. As he was writing his name Soda was looking through the mail. He elbowed me and showed me the letter. It was from Pony. I looked at him. He opened it and started reading it.

"Does it look alright?" Steve asked pointing at his name.

"It looks divine Steve." I said. He smiled and went back to his spot. I looked at all their names. You could tell it was boys handwriting.

After a few minutes Soda handed me the letter.

Dear Sodapop,

I am doing pretty good here, Coach thinks I might get first place. The people here are rather different. Except, lots of them are country folks. It's not too bad. I don't know when you're getting this, but I wrote this on Saturday. I'm gonna be coming home midday Thursday. Tell the gang I said hi, I miss y'all. I hope I didn't make Devyn mad at me, if she is tell her I didn't mean to hurt her in any way. I have a small feeling you're gonna show her this, so I'm not gonna say anything I can tell her in person. If she doesn't read this, tell her I miss her please.

Sincerely,
Ponyboy Curtis