Reunited | Dally's Little Sister

seven

Sage P.O.V.

The walk would take hours to get back on our side of the train tracks and we would be asking to get jumped. 

I saw a payphone up ahead and ran through the names of people we could call, but all of them seemed like a bad answer. If I called Dally, he would most likely kill someone and end up in the cooler. Tim would be as bad as Dally, if not worse.

 The Curtis house would involve Soda and Darry freaking out and the last thing I wanted right now was to be lectured.

 Which meant my other option would be Two-Bit. "The only one I could see picking us up without asking questions would be Two-Bit." 

She looked up at me and I could see she was doing the same thing I was with weighing her options. She nodded her head and we walked across the street to the payphone.

 I put in a nickel and silently prayed that he was home. On the third ring, his voice answered those prayers. "Hello?" 

"Hey, Two. It's Sage. I need you to do me a favor." I could hear him moving around and he asked what was up. I hesitated and then said, "Angela and I were at this party on the south side and really need a ride back." 

I heard him whistle. "Looks like you two were looking for trouble. Do your brothers know you are there?" I was trying not to get snappy with him. "Look, we messed up and need a ride. If you can't give us one then we will walk back. But if you tell our brothers where we are, I will kill you before they even get the chance." 

Angela looked at me and told me to take a deep breath. She was right. If Two-Bit couldn't give us a ride, we were even more screwed than what we are now. When he didn't say anything, I apologized. "I'm sorry if that came out harsh. We have just had a really shitty night and just want to get home. I would call Dally or Tim but they would most likely end up in the cooler for murder if they found out what happened." 

I stopped myself before I said too much. No one needed to know what happened to us and I plan to keep it that way. "Stay where you are. I'm on my way." I hung up and told Angela he was coming. 

Everyone knew this party was the biggest one on the south side and greasers knew to stay away except the dumb ones like us. Angela and I had an unspoken promise that neither one of us were going to speak of this night again.

 Ten minutes later, I saw Two-Bit pulling up beside us and we got in without saying a word. He looked at us both and shook his head, "Did you think they were going to welcome a Winston and Sheppard with open arms to their fancy club? Hell are you both going to the country club for brunch tomorrow?" He started laughing but neither one of us said anything. 

He started driving back to our side of town and asked what happened? I figured my best option was to not speak in hopes he would drop it. Once he figured out neither of us were going to talk, he asked where he could drop us off. 

I didn't even think that far ahead. Angela said her house would be fine, and I eventually told him Buck's, hoping Dally wasn't there. We rode the rest of the way in silence and he dropped Angela off before me. She didn't say anything when she got out and I knew I needed to give her a few days before I saw her again. 

I was lost in thought when I realized we had already passed Buck's. "Where are we going?" "The Curtis's. You need to get cleaned up and Dally is at Buck's." I shook my head and I knew I should be thankful he wasn't throwing me to the sharks, but I don't think I can keep it together long enough to make it through their questions. 

I am going to keep the same tactic as I did for Two-Bit and ignore them enough for them to leave me alone. We pulled up to their house and I could see through the windows that everyone was there besides Dal.

 I told myself I just need to make it to the bathroom before I breakdown, because I could feel it coming. We walked up the steps and Two-Bit let me walk first into the house. I hadn't made it two steps before Soda asked what happened.

 This of course caught everyone else's attention and now Darry was blocking my way to the bathroom. He repeated Soda's question and I stood there looking at the floor. 

Two-Bit said, "Her and Angela were at that party on the south side. I tried to get more out of them, but I got the same silent treatment." Now I was thinking it might have been a better option to walk instead of giving Two-Bit some juicy information. Lord knows he can't ever keep his mouth shut. 

Darry put a hand under my chin and made me look at him. "We just want to help. What happened?" I shook my head and pushed passed him to get to the bathroom. Luckily, he didn't put up a fight and I managed to get in there and lock the door before anyone could stop me.

 I could hear footsteps coming down the hall and I was going to do my best to ignore whoever was out there. I turned the water on in the sink and started cleaning the blood and makeup off my face.

 The cut wasn't too deep and didn't need any stitches thankfully. I could see the bruise near my eye was starting to swell and knew that was going to take a few weeks for it to go away. 

Knocking on the door made me jump and I silently cursed myself for being this skittish. I wasn't going to turn into Johnny no matter what happened. I was tougher than that. 

Soda's voice came through the door. "Baby girl, can you let me in?" He was talking to me like I was an injured animal and that got under my skin.

 In that moment I made a decision. Dally's voice ran through my head, "You get tough like me and you don't get hurt." I was going to get tough and there was nothing anyone could do about it. 

As I turned the water off, I looked at my reflection again and saw that cold, icy stare my brother was known for and I knew I was going to be better off this way.

 I opened the door and saw Soda standing there with Steve. They both looked at me, expecting an answer for why I was here with a busted face. "I'm fine. Just got into it with one of the super socs there. No big deal." 

I heard how cold my voice was towards them and I don't think they were expecting that. I walked past them and made my way to the front door. Darry called out and asked where I was going. "Home. Where Two-Bit should've dropped me off in the first place."

 I shot him a look and I could see him trying to figure out why I was acting this way. Without any other words, I walked out the door making my way towards Buck's.