(1/3) The Outsiders - the Sequel.

Chapter 7

        Not much happened the next week. I mean, I don't remember a whole lot happening that week. I felt pretty disoriented and kinda out of it for awhile. I do remember that grandma babied me. I didn't have a whole lot to do, mostly because it hurt to do anything except read, and I had already read every book in the house, even the ones I wasn't supposed to, many times, mostly because of being home for a week a couple months ago. I don't remember if anyone came over, which I assume they did, or if we went anywhere. I guess I'll just skip to what I first remember after we got home from the hospital. I woke up one morning, almost a week after, and my first instinct was to get up and get breakfast. I stood up, which really hurt, so I grabbed my crutches and hobbled over to the kitchen. Soda was cooking breakfast again, but he stopped and turned around when I walked in. "You feelin' better today, Pony?" he asked. "Yeah," I said. Soda smiled. "That's great! You've seemed kinda out of it the past few days," he said. "And I got up today," I reminded him. He kinda laughed. "You're right," he said.

        My arm was still in a sling, and my ankle was still wrapped up. Oh yeah, and I still have to take annoying pain meds all the time. I sat down at the table, and I was so happy to give my ankle a break, even though I had just walked from my bed to the kitchen table. I was still sore and ached all over from the car accident almost a week before, but I could at least move now.

        Darry walked into the kitchen, and saw me up and going. "Hey kid, you look like you're doing much better today," he said. I nodded. We hadn't been eating breakfast for long, when we heard a familiar, "Anybody home?" Two-Bit walked in. "We're in the kitchen!" Soda shouted. Grandma Curtis walked in, still in her night clothes, and asked, "What is all the ruckus, you whippersnappers?" "Sorry," said Sodapop. Two-Bit walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge, took out the cake we were going to eat, and sat down in front of the TV. Classic Two-Bit.

       It felt kinda hot in the house, so I asked grandma, "Is the air conditioner on?" She just stared at me for a minute. "Are you kidding? It's the middle of winter! What do you need it on for?" she said. "Nothing. It just feels a bit warm in here," I said. She just raised her eyebrows and gave me a look that told me she was suspicious.

        Since it was too hot inside, I wandered outside. I made my way to the backyard, and was surprised to see a carrot garden planted by Grandma Curtis, in the middle of the winter! To this day, I am still amazed at that woman. Suddenly, Darry yelled at me from the back door. "Put on a jacket, Ponyboy Curtis! It's below freezing out there!" he shouted from the doorway. But I just wasn't cold.

        The next day, Grandma Curtis left. Not for long, though. She bought an apartment in the middle of town, so she just drove back to Washington to pack her stuff and say her goodbyes, mostly to her small group of little old ladies that would knit in their rocking chairs with her, probably.

        We all decided to go down to the drive in that night, even though it was a school night. I wasn't feeling so hot (actually, bad choice of words), but I went anyways. Shirley was there. I loved when she would flip her hair, her beautiful, rusty-colored hair, behind her shoulder. And I loved that sparkle in her eyes. So, I asked her to go get popcorn with me. And I wondered, why do I always do this with girls? Why do I always buy popcorn with pretty girls?

        Waiting in line, we talked. We talked about school, we talked about tuff mustangs, and we pretty much talked about anything that was on our minds. The line was long, almost twenty-five minutes. We were gettin' towards the front of the line, when we heard gunshots. I pushed Shirley to the ground, a bullet skimmed my arm, and I jumped onto the ground. People were screaming everywhere, and Shirley got up and ran off.

        When I got back to the group, Two-Bit looked angry, and Shirley was crying and shaking pretty bad. Two-Bit looked up at me, and shouted, "I thought I could trust you! I want better for my sister!" And he stormed off with Shirly. What? I didn't do anything wrong! In fact, I saved her life, and Two-Bit's mad at me? Everyone else looked at me. "Ponyboy Curtis, what did you do!?" asked a very angry Darry. "Nothing," I said, and when it appeared no one would believe me, I walked off home by myself, before the movie was even finished.

        Walking home, I didn't pay attention to anything. I didn't care that my arm was bleeding. I didn't care that I still had a fever (yeah, I'll admit it now), I didn't care that I almost got run over by like, five cars. All I was thinking about was the friends that I just lost. The people that I had apparently hurt. And yeah. It would be tuff to have everything work out.

        When I got home, I didn't go to bed. As soon as I walked in the door, Soda and Darry, who were already ready for bed, left the kitchen and went to bed. I just sat on the couch and cried. I cried because I was hurt, both mentally and physically. I cried because I lost friends. I cried because I realized that not only was the world unfair, it could be flat out cruel sometimes. And it took me fourteen years to see it.

        I looked at the clock. It was already three o'clock in the morning. I heard a door creak open, and Soda came out. "What are you doing awake, Pony?" he asked. I guess he noticed I hadn't gone to bed yet. I tried to hide my eyes, red and puffy from crying, but Sodapop noticed. He sat by me on the couch, looking genuinely concerned, and asked me, "What happened tonight?" Good old Sodapop. Always taking care of me. I tried to answer, but I knew I would start crying again if I said anything, and I didn't want to cry in front of anyone. Frankly, I felt terrible. I had a fever, one that had been steadily getting worse for days, probably since that car accident, and my arm was still bleeding (not much, but now we were at the point that I was starting to feel a little lightheaded) and Two-Bit was angry at me, and I assume Shirley was angry at me, and I felt like the whole universe was against me.

        Soda decided to go get the chocolate cake, because everyone knows chocolate fixes everything, and he turned on the living room light as he left the room. I heard the refrigerator door slam, and Soda, forgetting that Darry was asleep, hollered, "Sorry, Ponyboy! Grandma left us I nice little gift to replace the chocolate cake! Now we only have carrot cake." I'm sure Darry was awake now. He'd probably show himself in the next few minute.

        When Soda walked back in from the kitchen, he had this look of pure shock on his face, and he dropped the carrot cake. He must've seen my arm. He yelled for Darry to get out here, and as I said: Darry was awake. He came running out, knowing that that tone Soda used meant "get out here fast." Darry called the paramedics, and Soda wrapped my arm in a towel, unsure what else to do. He looked at me and asked again, "Ponyboy, you never did tell me what happened. Care to enlighten me?" I almost laughed at his use of big vocabulary (which I didn't know he had), but I started crying. I really tried not to. Especially 'cause Darry was out here now. But there was nothing I could do about it now. I poured out my story in between sobs, and told Soda and Darry that I didn't do anything to Shirley, except save her life from the bullets flying everywhere. At least I was the only one that got hit by a bullet. And I didn't really even get hit. I don't remember what happened the rest of the night.