Infatuation

Chapter 42

Soda helps me take my bandage off. Underneath are the stitches. There is some formation of scabs but its a thin line. The rest of the skin is a soft pink.

"We can take them out," I tell him.

"Are you excited?" He asks.

"I don't know." I say truthfully. Its easier to ignore the red head when the bandage is on. It forms some kind of barrier in my mind. I'm scared that when I take the stitches out I'll have to see the scar he gave me and it will send me back.

"It's okay, Roe. You're safe. I'll never let anyone touch you again. I promise," He gathers my hands in his.

"Thank you." I say. "For being here. Just your presence helps me." I tell him. He smiles sweetly at me. The same smile that sends butterflies through my body. I can't help but smile in return.

I watch as he pulls the sewing scissors out from the first aid kit. I lean into his shoulder. I don't want to watch. I can feel the scissors slide under the thread. There is a sharp pinch and then nothing.

"One," Sodapop whispers. He runs his hand up and down my arm before he slides the scissors under again.

Soda gently pulls me out of his shoulder when he is done. I reluctantly look at my arm. The scar is raised higher than my normal skin and it is a dark pink compared to the pale color next to it. Tears prick my eyes. I hate it. I hate the scar. It is so ugly.

"Don't cry, love." Soda whispers. I avoid looking at him. I'm crying over something stupid.

"I hate it. It's ugly." I admit.

"It isn't ugly. It doesn't change one thing about you. You are still beautiful. I don't want you to be sad." He tells me.

"I'm not trying to cry," I say as I wipe my tears. Sodapop's hand lands under my chin. He gently pulls it up so I have to look at him.

"I know, Roe. I know." He wraps his arms around me and pulls me close to him. One of his hands rub my back in a soothing manor.

I pull away and look at my arm. Now that the stitches are out and my skin has had time to go back to its normal color, it doesn't look as bad. Its isn't as puffy and the dark pink that used to be there is now a soft baby pink. I know it will fade over time. It was just a shock to see it.

"Its not that bad," I say with a light laugh as I wipe the rest of my tears away.

"It really isn't, huh?" Sodapop says. He picks me up and holds me close. I lean farther into him.

We decide to go back to the livingroom. We don't want everyone to think we are doing the type of things we did earlier today. Lord knows some of them have already noticed something. Like Johnny and Steve.

I turn the corner and almost run into Ponyboy. He is sitting on the floor digging through a backpack.

"What are you doing?" Soda asks.

"Looking for a paper I need you and Darry to sign." He explains.

"What for? You get in trouble?" Steve asks.

"No. For one of my classes." He pulls a paper out of a folder and hands it to Soda. I step closer to him so I can read it too.

It's a permission slip about bringing home a fake baby. I had a class like this in nineth grade. It sure was real fun. I roll my eyes at the thought. The teacher of that class and I had a personal conflict. He didn't like my Dad and things escalated from there. I had to complain to the school board about it because he was failing me. I was very meticulous on my grades. I was not about to have an F for a class that was easy to pass.

"You gotta bring home a bag of flour and pretend it's a baby? Why do you need a permission slip for that?" I ask.

"It has a thing inside now that makes it cry like a normal baby." Ponyboy explains.

"Are you sure you're up for that, Pony? How often does it cry?" Soda asks.

"I don't know. The teacher said that sometimes its hard to get the baby to stop crying. I can handle it, though. How hard is it to take care of a baby anyways?" He asks.

Its difficult. The lady I babysat for had a two month old baby. He was really hard to take care of. Changing diapers, feeding him, playing with him, and even holding him was hard because babies do not have good head support. He was a very fussy baby. It was difficult to get him to stop crying.

"Harder than you think." Darry mumbles from the couch as he signs the paper.

"Monroe knows about taking care of babies, don't ya?" Dally asks from the couch.

"Yeah. I had a babysitting job back in Missouri." I shrug.

"Was it hard?" Ponyboy asks.

"It was pretty difficult. The lady I babysat for had six kids all under the age of seven. It was a challenging job," I explain.

"That sounds horrible. How much did you get paid?" Two-Bit asks.

"It wasn't too bad. I enjoy being around little kids. They are so pure and innocent. The pay wasn't bad, either. I got paid two dollars an hour. I babysat at least four hours a day." I tell them.

"How long did you work for her?" Dally asks.

"Six months." I tell him.

"And you babysat everyday?"

"Everyday." I admit.

"If you were getting two dollars an hour, and you worked everyday for six months, where is this money?" Dally asks.

"I'm not sure. Dad wouldn't let me keep any of it." I rub the back of my neck with my hand.

Ponyboy has a notebook in his hand now. He is standing by a calendar writing how many days are in a month.

"Did he let you keep any of it?" Dal asks.

"No. Occasionally she would let me get a necklace or a shirt. Thats it. I have no idea what he did with the rest of it." I inform him. He probably spent it all on alcohol. Wouldn't surprise me.

"Monroe, in total you would have gotten one thousand, four-hundred, and seventy-two dollars. That's assuming you didn't work any extra hours on the weekends." Ponyboy finally chimes in.

I watch as everyones eyes get wide. I had no idea I earned that much money. Everytime I got a paycheck it was only in my hands for a short time. My Dad took it from me as soon as he saw me. He payed attention to when I got payed. I only continued to work there because it allowed me time away from home. I didn't have to be in the same house with my Dad.

"Wow," I simply say. I have no idea what to say. I knew it was a lot of money that he took from me. I just didn't know how much. I never cared to do the math. All I cared about was getting away from my Dad and it worked.

"Do you think James still has the money?" Dally asks.

"Maybe." I say with a shrug. I didn't notice an increase of alcohol after I started getting paid. Or an increase of anything come to thing of it. I'm pretty sure he just took it from me to show me that he is in charge. That he could do anything to me.

"I'll find out about it," Dally says. I nod my head.

Ponyboy puts the permission slip back in his backpack.

"When are you getting the baby?" Darry asks him.

"October thirty-first through the third." Ponyboy informs him.

I glance at Soda. He is already looking at me with a smile on his face.

"What?" I ask. "Is there something on my face?" I self consciously wipe my hand across my face.

"There is nothing on your face. I just love you," he tells me. Feeling erupts in my stomach and spreads through out my body. I am losing self control. He looks me up and down and then winks at me. The feeling becomes more prominent.

I step a little closer to him. "Want to go to bed?" I whisper.

"Come on," he whispers as he grabs my hand