Three; Parks and Socs
•••
{Linden's POV}
I wiped my eyes, looking up at the starry sky. In the summer, I would climb onto the roof of my house, and just lie there, trying to count as many stars as I could. I never got past two hundred before I would fall asleep.
I sat up, and leaned up against the fountain, looking down at my hands. My finger nails were bitten to the quick, and I had a callous on my middle finger from writing so much. I've never been a big fan of school, but English class was a good excuse to just write. Poetry, being my favorite. Yes, it can be a little tedious, but whenever I finish writing a new poem, I just feel like I've let everything down off my shoulders. My poems contain everything about me - of course, I don't just bluntly write it down on paper. That's what my diary is for - but rather, I just hide it behind words. I never let anyone read my work, except the teacher when I hand it in, but she never catches on. No one even knew that my parents abused me until I just blurted it out not even five minutes ago.
"Linden?" I jumped, and looked up, my eyes widening as I spotted Ponyboy and Johnny standing over me. "Please don't run away again," Pony added, holding his hands out in front of him as if he was showing he wasn't going to hurt me.
They sat down beside me, and I looked down at my lap, fiddling with my fingers to avoid looking either of them in the eye.
"Why didn't you ever tell anybody?" Johnny asked, gently placing his hand on my shoulder, but retracting it quickly when I flinched.
I shrugged, looking back up at the night sky. "I don't know, Johnnycakes. I just...I guess I just wanted to be normal. I didn't want anyone to think of me as the 'poor girl whose parents beat her and kicked her out of her own house.'"
Pony shakes his head side to side. "No Linden, no one would have thought of you different."
I turned my head to look at him, into the eyes that are more green than grey. "Yes, Ponyboy. You would. Everyone looks at me as if I'm some sort of angel, little miss perfect. I'm not perfect, and I'm certainly no angel. You guys are already starting to treat me like glass!"
"You're Dally's angel."
I look at Johnny, startled. "What?"
He smiles gently at me. "You're Dally's angel. He loves you, Linden. The whole gang knows that except you and him."
I draw my knees up to my chest, and hug them, burying my face into my arms. "No one loves me."
"Linden Beverly James, the whole entire gang loves you. Especially Dally. So don't you ever think no one loves you!" Johnny exclaimed, hugging me.
I buried my face into his neck, and pulled Pony into the hug.
We spent the rest of the night talking, until we fell asleep, looking up at the stars and dreaming of a place with no Socs or Greasers, that was filled with golden light.
•••
I woke up to someone shaking shaking me roughly by my shoulders. I yelped, and jumped away, before realizing it was only Pony. "What's wrong?" I asked him, dusting myself off.
"I gotta go! Darry's gonna kill me!" My eyes widened. How long have we slept for?
I stood from the ground, and noticed that Johnny had woken up to. "I'll come with you, Pony. You gonna stay here, Johnnycakes?"
Johnny nodded, lying back down.
Pony and I ran back to his place, and I could feel my heart thumping in my chest. Darry's gonna be pissed. So, so pissed.
We walked up the steps to his porch, and I peeked through the window. Darry was wide awake, flipping through this morning's newspaper. Soda was asleep on the couch, one arm thrown lazily over his eyes, one leg hanging off the cushions.
Pony slowly opened the door, and I followed him inside. Darry was in front of us in an instant.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Darry yelled, towering over Pony.
Pony shook his head. "N-no."
"Well it's one o'clock in the morning, bud. One more hour and I would've had the cops after you!" The look on Darry's face was frightening, his blue eyes hard, nostrils flaring, jaw tense.
"D-Darry," I started, "it's m-my fault-"
Darry whirled on me, and I shrunk back against the wall.
Soda woke up about then. "Hey, Pony. Where've ya been?"
"We accidentally fell asleep in the lot," Pony said, taking Darry's attention away from me.
"You fell asleep in the lot? Do you have any idea how worried we were?"
"I-I'm sorry. I didn't think-"
Darry threw his hands up in the air, and I flinched back, earning a curious look from Soda. Two-Bit didn't tell anyone yet...
"I didn't think! I didn't think! That's all I ever hear from you! You never think!"
Soda took a step forward. "Darry-"
Darry whirled on him. "I'm sick and tired of you sticking up for him!" He yelled, "he needs to take responsibility for his actions!"
This got Pony mad. "Don't you dare yell at him!" He shouted.
It all happened so fast.
Darry spun around and slapped Pony across the face. Pony fell back into the wall, and looked up at Darry, holding his reddening cheek.
Darry was looking down at his own hand, shocked. "Pony, I-"
Ponyboy stood and ran from the house. "Ponyboy! I didn't mean it!" Darry yelled after him, standing on the porch.
He turned around, and walked back inside, kicking the wall.
"You hit him," I whispered, staring blankly at him.
Both Soda and Darry looked over at me. "I didn't mean to," Darry whispered, dropping himself down onto the couch.
I glared at him, my eyes prickling with tears. "Of course you didn't mean to. Just like my parents didn't mean to beat me every day of my life. Or how they didn't meant to kick me out of my own house. You better fix this," I growled out, I grabbed a jacket for Pony, and ran after him since Darry or Soda weren't. They just stood there, looking at me with such shocked faces.
I just keep blurting it out.
Good job, Linden! Why not broadcast your problems to the entire world?
When Dally finds out... I don't even want to think about what will happen when he finds out. Knowing Dallas, he'll try to go beat them up, or something else along those lines.
I found Ponyboy with Johnny in the park, and I climbed up next to them on the jungle gym.
I didn't say anything, neither did Johnny or Pony. We just sat there in silence. "Pass me a cigarette, Pony."
He said nothing as he passed me a cigarette and a lighter.
I lit up, and passed Pony back his lighter, puffing out a cloud of smoke.
A loud engine roaring reached my ears, and all three of us looked over to see a blue mustang pull into the park.
"What're they doing here?" Pony asked. "This is our territory!"
Johnny puffed out a cloud of smoke from his nose. "We picked up their girls."
The mustang rolled to a stop in front of us, and we climbed down from the jungle gym. "Act cool," Pony hissed, popping the collar of the jacket I'd given him.
The Socs clambered over, clearly drunk.
"You're in our territory," Pony warned, "you better watch it!"
"No," the lead Soc, Bob, growled. "You watch it!"
My eyes slid over each of their faces, and I stiffened at the last one. He was one of the Socs that beat me up earlier today. His mouth was twisted into a wicked grin as he leered at me. I started shaking, and I subconsciously moved closer to the boys, who were both a good few inches taller than me.
"You know what Socs are? White trash with mustangs and madras!" Pony spit towards them, clearly angering Bob.
"You look like you could use a bath, grease," Bob said, smirking at Pony. "David, give the kid a bath."
The one called David advanced on Pony, and I scrambled away, catching Bob's attention. "Jack, you can handle the broad."
The blood in my veins froze as Jack stepped forward. He was the one who beat me up.
All hell broke loose after that. Pony was being drowned in the fountain while Johnny tried to stop them, and Jack was wrestling me to the ground.
"Please! Stop!" I begged, thrashing against him.
"Shut up, you little bitch," he growled, the alcohol on his breath burning my nose.
I managed to knee him in the groin, and pull free of his arms. I ran towards where they were drowning Pony, and leapt onto Bob's back, knocking him down and away from Pony. Pony managed to fight off the two Socs, and get himself away from the fountain, but the Socs were still going after him.
He rolled over on top of me, and smirked. "You could use a bath, too. Especially hanging around with all those filthy greasers."
He threw me over his shoulder, and threw me down on the ground, dunking my head into the cold water of the fountain.
I struggled against his strong grip, my lungs burning for air. Bubbles escaped from my nose and slipped from my lips, and my vision was darkening around the edges.
Eventually I just gave up.