At My Side (The Outsiders Fanfiction)

Chapter 11- Part 1

Sorry for slow update again,but hey, exams are over! I plan on finishing this book and starting the sequel by March at the latest, February at the earliest! The official release date for the sequel will be on March 2nd, 2015! Also, I have a naming contest for the sequel! If you have any ideas on what I could call it, put your idea in the comments!
-F.M.H
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As they walked out into the hall, they saw Johnny's mother. Pony knew her. She was a little woman, with straight black hair and big black eyes like Johnny's. But that was as far as the resemblance went. Johnnycake's eyes were fearful and sensitive; hers were cheap and hard. As they passed her she was saying, "But I have a right to see him. He's my son. After all the trouble his father and I've gone to to raise him, this is our reward! He'd rather see those no- count hoodlums than his own folks . . ." She saw them and gave us such a look of hatred that almost made Cocoa hide. Almost. "It was your fault. Always running around in the middle of the night getting jailed and heaven knows what else . . ." Two- Bit's eyes got narrow and Cocoa was afraid he was going to start something.

"No wonder he hates your guts," Two- Bit snapped. He was going to tell her off real good, but Pony shoved him along. No wonder Johnny didn't want to see her. No wonder he stayed overnight at Two- Bit's or at the house, and slept in the vacant lot in good weather. Cocoa didn't remember her mother.

"Oh, lordy!" There was a catch in Two- Bit's voice and he was closer to tears than Cocoa had ever seen him, even after they watched the Micky Mouse cartoon where Micky had disappeared.
"He has to live with that." They hurried to the elevator to get to the next floor.
Dally was arguing with one of the nurses when they came in. He grinned at them, "Man, am I glad to see you! These- hospital people won't let me smoke, and I want out!" They sat down, grinning at each other. Dally was being himself again it seemed, but Cocoa could tell he was worried. "Shepard came by to see me a while ago."

"That's what Johnny said. What'd he want?"

"Said he saw my picture in the paper and couldn't believe it didn't have 'Wanted Dead or Alive' under it. He mostly came to rub it in about the rumble. Man, I hate not bein' in that."

Only last week Tim Shepard had cracked three of Dally's ribs. But Dally and Tim Shepard had always been buddies; no matter how they fought, they were two of a kind, and they knew it. Dally was grinning at
Pony. "Kid, you scared the devil outa me the other day. I thought I'd killed you."

"Me?" Pony said, puzzled. "Why?"

"When you jumped out of the church. I meant to hit you just hard enough to knock you down and put out the fire, but when you dropped like a ton of lead I thought I'd aimed too high and broke your neck." He thought for a minute. "I'm glad I didn't, though."

"I'll bet," Pony said with a grin.

Dally looked out the window. "Uh . . ."- he sounded very casual- "how's the kid?"

"We just left him," Two- Bit said,"I don't know about stuff like this . . . but . . . well, he seemed pretty bad to me. He passed out cold before we left him."

Dally's jaw line went white as he swore between clenched teeth. "Two- Bit, you still got that fancy black- handled switch?"

"Yeah."

"Give it here." Two- Bit reached into his back pocket for his prize possession. It was a jet- handled switchblade, ten inches long, that would flash open at a mere breath. It was the reward of two hours of walking aimlessly around a hardware store to divert suspicion. He kept it razor sharp. As far as they knew, he had never pulled it on anyone; he used his plain pocketknife when he needed a blade. But it was his showpiece, his pride and joy- every time he ran into a new hood he pulled it out and showed off with it. Dally knew how much that knife meant to Two- Bit, and if he needed a blade bad enough to ask for it, well, he needed a blade. That was all there was to it. Two- Bit handed it over to Dally without a moment's hesitation.
"We gotta win that fight tonight," Dally said. His voice was hard. "We gotta get even with the Socs. For Johnny." He put the switch under his pillow and lay back, staring at the ceiling. They left. They knew better than to talk to Dally when his eyes were blazing and he was in a mood like that. They decided to catch a bus home. Two- Bit left Pony and Cocoa sitting on the bench at the bus stop while he went to a gas station to buy some cigarettes. Pony looked kind of sick to his stomach and sort of groggy. He was nearly asleep when Two-Bit has come back and put his hand on Pony's forehead. He almost jumped out of his skin. Two- Bit was looking down at him worriedly. "You feel okay? You're awful hot."

"I'm all right," Pony said, and when he looked at me as if he didn't believe him, Pony got a little panicky.

"Don't tell Darry, okay? Come on, Two- Bit, be a buddy. I'll be well by tonight. I'll take a bunch of aspirins."

"All right," Two- Bit said reluctantly. "But Darry'll kill me if you're really sick and go ahead and fight anyway."

"I'm okay," Pony said, getting a little angry. "And if you keep your mouth shut, Darry won't know a thing."

"You know somethin'?" Two- Bit said as we were riding home on the bus. "You'd think you could get away with murder, living with your big brother and all, but Darry's stricter with you than your folks were, ain't he?"

"Yeah," Pony said, "but they'd raised two boys before me. Darry hasn't."

"You know, the only thing that keeps Darry from bein' a Soc is us."

"I know," Pony said. In spite of not having much money, the only reason Darry couldn't be a Soc was them. The gang. Pony, Cocoa and Soda.

Darry was too smart to be a greaser. Pony was silent most of the way home. Cocoa was thinking about the rumble. Cocoa didn't like it, it made her feel weird. It was the same kind of helplessness she had felt that night Darry yelled at Pony for going to sleep in the lot. She had the same deathly fear that something was going to happen that she couldn't stop. As they got off the bus Pony finally said it. "Tonight- I don't like it one bit."

Two- Bit pretended not to understand. "I never knew you to play chicken in a rumble before. Not even when you was a little kid."

Cocoa knew he was trying to make Pony mad, but he took the bait anyway.

"I ain't chicken, Two- Bit Mathews, and you know it," Pony said angrily. "Ain't I a Curtis, same as Soda and Darry?"

Two- Bit couldn't deny this, so Pony went on: "I mean, I got an awful feeling something's gonna happen."

"Somethin' is gonna happen. We're gonna stomp the Socs' guts, that's what." Two- Bit knew what Pony meant, but doggedly pretended not to. He seemed to feel that if you said something was all right, it immediately was, no matter what. He's been that way all his life. Sodapop would have understood, and Pony and him would have tried to figure it out together, but Two- Bit just ain't Soda. Not by a long shot. A girl was sitting in a Corvette by the vacant lot when we came by. Her long hair was pinned up. That Sting Ray was one tuff car. A bright red one. It was cool. "Hi, Ponyboy," she said, "Hi, Two- Bit."
She gave Cocoa a weird look and the six year old stuck her tongue out at her.
Pony went off to talk to her and Two-Bit talked to Randy. Cocoa frowned, she herself had no one to talk to. Cocoa sat down in the grass, waiting for her brother and Two-Bit to be done their conversation.

When Two-Bit dropped them off at home, Pony swallowed five aspirins, and didn't eat much for dinner. Cocoa didn't like this, and snuck some bread from dinner to give Pony later.
Pony, Soda and Darry went to get ready for the rumble. Cocoa knew she wasn't allowed to go, and decided she wanted to go and see Dally instead.
"Darry?" Cocoa said, tugging on Darry's shirt as he fixed up his hair in their room, "Can I go see Dally while you guys are at the rumble?"

Darry smiled softly, "Sorry kid, ya gotta stay here."

"Okay, but after?" Cocoa pleaded. She wanted to see Dally badly, she wanted to tell him that Johnny wasn't looking good at all. She wanted him to say he loved Johnny. He never did. Johnny told Cocoa that once, and she didn't want him to disappear without Dally telling him the one thing he wanted to hear.
"Yeah, I'll take you over there after, alright?"

"Darry, " Pony said tiredly, "I think we should take Cocoa with us. We can keep her away from the fighting, but she needs to know why she can't sneak over ya know?"

Darry looked conflicted,"I don't know."

Soda looked to Darry, "I-I think Pony's right. We can make sure no one can see her, ya know?"

Darry looked like he was fighting internally, "Alright. But,Cocoa you must stay hidden, understand me?"

Cocoa nodded, "Alright!"

"Go get changed into jeans and a teeshirt," Darry and Cocoa bolted off to their room.