Simply a Greaser

Chapter 29

She sighed and looked down. "I dunno... are you stayin' with your dad? Or seein' him at all?"

I didn't want to talk about what he did to me, but I couldn't keep Stacey in the dark any longer. "No. He wasn't- he would hit-"

"I.. yeah. I know." Stacey gave me a weak smile.

"I don't see him anymore."

"Okay, well, I saw him the other day and he told me to tell you he was sorry and all this other shit." She shrugged.

I felt bad even if dad's actions weren't my responsibility. He needed to leave my friends alone. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault.. and that's not all that happened." Stacey was nervous, I could tell by the way she was picking at her shirt. "He called a few times and asked where you were. I told him I didn't know."

I didn't know what to say.

Stacey grimaced. "And he asked where Dally was."

"Dallas? Did he say why?"

"He said he needed to teach Dallas a lesson."

I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to tell Dally because he would freak out and get into trouble, but he might be in danger. Either way, he could get hurt.

"I won't say anythin' yet, but if somethin' else happens, please tell me." I rubbed my eyes, adding, "I just want to sleep."

The next day, Stacey dropped me off at the Curtis'. I gave her their phone number so she could call if something happened.

Darry was at work for the day and Soda had a drag race that Darry didn't know about. We were all invited and we were all going. I figured a little bit of fun with the gang is what I needed to get my mind off Dad.

Two-Bit sat down next to me on the couch and winked. I was sure the entire gang had to have seen him but no one said anything.

"So, a drag race?" I asked, looking at Soda. He was so excited he was practically bouncing up and down.

"Yeah, I used to do them all the time. It's fun and if you win, the prize is nice. Tonight I can win forty bucks."

Dally called to Soda from the kitchen, "Who's car are you gonna use?"

"A guy owes me a favor..."

"Just don't scratch his ride." Steve sat down on the armchair with the entire cake on a plate and just dug into it.

Soda smacked the back of his head. "We're leavin' in twenty minutes! Quit-"

"I'll be ready!"

Twenty minutes later, he wasn't ready and held all of us up. Soda seemed like he was about to throw a temper tantrum if Steve didn't hurry.

We were only a few minutes late, not that anyone really cared.

We all lined up on the sidewalk at the 'finish line', which was a broken stoplight. A park was behind us, empty because of the time of night. There were a few other people here for the race, but not many.

I saw Tim Shepard, but I knew by the bruise on his cheek and Dally's broke nose they had settled their issues. Dally wandered off and went to talk to him for a while.

Steve left to get Evie and Sandy before the race started.

"School's gonna start soon," Two-Bit said cheerfully, smiling.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't remind me."

Nudging my shoulder, he asked, "What's so bad 'bout school anyways?"

Before I could answer, Pony cleared his throat and was obviously holding back laughter. Looking at Johnny, I saw him smirking.

"What?" Two-Bit asked, looking between them.

"Nothin'..." Johnny muttered.

Pony picked up, "We just saw this movie at the Drive-In last night we thought you two would like."

"Really? That's cool," I said, playing dumb. I knew what he was getting at. How he knew was beyond me.

Two-Bit nodded and turned towards the street.

"We saw a car that looked like yours, Two-Bit." Johnny was smiling even bigger now. "Even saw Tim there."

I swallowed and forced myself to look at the street with Two-Bit. They started giggling behind us and I tried my best to ignore them.

Two-Bit glanced at me from the corner of his eye and shook his head. "Nosy bastards," he mumbled.

"Yup." I nodded, looking around again. More people had come, but no one I really knew.

I heard Pony and Johnny start to talk to other people behind us.

"So... um, I was thinkin' about goin' to the Dingo tomorrow. Do you wanna come?" Two-Bit asked, smiling. 

"Yeah, of course." I felt my cheeks heat up even if I knew we were going on a second date already. I couldn't wipe my smile off either, especially as Two-Bit and I talked until we could hear cars approaching.

We could hear better than we could see, so we had to quiet down and listen.

Their engines were loud, and soon two cars could be seen fighting for first place. I didn't know which was Soda, but I noticed that people were backing up. I did the same until I felt grass under my feet, and then some.

The cars pushed up against one another, swerving into each other. I wasn't good with cars and I still knew that it was dangerous.

People began to shout, cheering for their friend or trying to get them to stop driving so dangerously. Soon, after a few seconds, everyone was calling for them to stop before someone got hurt badly.

I was scared Soda was behind the wheel of one, and I could tell that Two-Bit, Pony, and Johnny were too.

Someone tall stepped in front of me, obscuring my vision.

While I moved to try and see, the sound of rubber burning exploded from in front of me. A loud crash, like a bomb, had gone off in front of me followed.

Some people screamed, others only instinctively moved away.

I shoved the boy in front of me out of the way.

A car was crashed, bent around a light on the sidewalk where people had stood less than thirty seconds before.

Two-Bit looked at me, his jaw on the ground and eyes wide. "That's not-"

"I don't know!" I yelled, having to shout over the sudden uproar of the people around me.

"Get Pony! I'll go look!" He ran off, shoving past people, trying desperately to get to the wreckage.

Pony was still behind me, just staring at the car. I could tell he was thinking of the worst-case scenario, not that I could blame him.

I grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the crowd, and he stumbled along behind me.

"It's not him, Ponyboy." I hoped I was right as I looked behind me to see him still staring blankly at the car. Johnny had followed us and was talking to him as well, in a quiet voice I couldn't hear.