Chapter Text
I had gone with Ponyboy to the movies. I never truly saw the appeal of Paul Newman; Pony did. I didn’t actually like the movies Ponyboy chose, or most movies for that matter. They all have some kind of sexist undercurrent to them. Ponyboy only likes me to come because I don’t make my presence overbearing when he’s watching. I’m quieter than the others, I don’t really let emotions get in the way anymore, not since mom and dad.
I can occasionally hear Soda and Pony talking about how they think me and Darry could have been Socs if we didn’t stick with the gang. I wonder if Darry can hear it too. I share a room with Darry, he said that he thought it’d be better for Soda and Pony to share a room since they’re still maturing. I kinda miss sharing a room with my twin.
Pony’s quiet. I wonder what he’s thinking about. He always seems to get caught up in his head. I let us stay in silence on our way home. I doubt he remembers I’m right here with him. Then again, our relationship became strained after mom and dad’s wreck. At least Soda lets him talk to him.
“Ponyboy,” I say as soon as I notice the red car trailing us. Pony probably could’ve identified it, I sure as hell can’t.
He seems to have noticed it as well. We both speed up. We’re two blocks from home, crap. We were both on the smaller end, Pony had a better build than me. We were so screwed.
Five Socs get out of the car, Pony slouches and I follow suit. Maybe we’d be lucky?
We were in fact, not lucky.
“Hey, greasers.” One taunts with a smile on his face.
“We’re gonna do a favor, grease. We’re gonna cut all that long greasy hair off.” He says to Ponyboy. No one gave two shits about a girl with long hair.
“Need a haircut, greaser?” another taunts. I notice the blade in this one’s hand.
“No.” Ponyboy finally says. They lunge at him, immediately pinning him to the ground. Pony’s face twists in pain.
I clench my jaw and tackle one of them off him. The Soc grunts but has my flipped around and slugs my face a few times. I kick him where I know it’ll hurt. He curls over for a moment with his face scrunched up in pain.
“You’ll regret that, greaser.” I spit in his face.
I glance back over at Pony, there’s a blade to his throat. Pony’s screaming. A hand covers his mouth. I’m about to help him before I get kicked in the back of my knees and fall forward. I’m kicked in the head a few times before I hear more screaming. I lift my head to see Darry shaking Ponyboy.
I wish Darry knew how to be gentler on him.
“I’m okay. Quit shaking me, Darry, I’m okay.” I hear Ponyboy say. Someone’s kneeling next to me.
“Sorry.” Darry says.
“Glory, Darry, look at her.” Dally?- I think- says. Probably Dally, he’s the only one that says “glory” like that.
Darry’s head whips around and before I know it, I’m the one being shaken and being asked if I’m okay.
“Please stop.” I mutter, eyes squeezed shut so I don’t hurl. Darry stops, thankfully.
“You got cut up a bit, huh, Ponyboy?” Soda says. Darry sets me back down
“I did?” Pony asks.
“They had a knife, what do you think, Pony?” I mutter. I loved my twin, but damn did he not use his head.
“They pulled a knife on you two?” Two-Bit asks, I nod my head.
My head feels like it’s pounding, I have a killer headache. Something feels off, I open my eyes to look at Pony. His eyes look misty and he’s staring at the ground.
I force myself up, ignoring how dizzy I am. I sit down next to Pony and offer a hug. He takes it and I can tell Soda joined the hug too.
“Easy, Ponyboy. They ain’t gonna hurt you two no more.” Soda says.
“I know, I just got spooked is all.” Pony mutters. I can tell he’s trying to cover up the tears, no one cries in front of Darry unless you were hurt real bad, like Johnny had been a little while ago.
“You two are alright kids.” Soda mutters. Pony grins.
“You’re crazy, Soda, out of your mind.” Ponyboy says, I chuckle.
“You’re both nuts.” Darry shakes his head with a sigh.
“Runs in the family, Darry.” I tease. Darry stares at me and I realize that only Soda has gotten away with teasing Darry like this. Shit. Both me and Pony would rather tease a grizzly bear.
I try to grin, hoping that Darry won’t be upset with me. He suppresses a smirk and yanks me up to give me a noogie. I could normally handle them just fine, but my head was still killing me.
“Ease up on her, Darry. She looks like she’ll hurl.” Soda says, looking at me with concern. He wasn’t far off, my stomach was twisting. I swallow any bile in my throat before it rises further.
Darry stops.
“Jeez, they gotcha good in the head, kid.” Darry mutters, now roughly inspecting my head.
“Didya catch ‘em?” Ponyboy asks in my peripheral vision. Two-Bit answers that the Socs got away and calls them a bunch of names I’d be scolded for even muttering.
“The kids’ okay?”
“I’m okay.” Pony answers, I give a thumbs up. They go on to talk about something, I’m not sure what actually.
Darry sets me back down and I end up leaning against Soda’s side. I wasn’t big on touchy feelings, I’d do it for the gang if needed, but I typically avoided casual contact like the plague. Soda knew this so he probably figured I wasn’t doing so hot if he let me stay put like that.
Everyone ends up taking a smoke. Smoking always calmed the nerves. I already avoided doing things that would cost more money since Darry had to take care of all of us. I stopped smoking after I started my period. Pads are still more expensive though so I took up a paper route to help with it a bit.
I lean against Soda’s back, I shifted once everyone sat down. I close my eyes and let their conversation flow in the background. I try to tune back in when I notice Darry’s voice raising.
"not at home or anywhere when it counts. You must think at school, with all those good grades you bring home, and you've always got your nose in a book, but do you ever use your head for common sense? No sirree, bub. And if you did have to go by yourself, you should have carried a blade."
“Darry, lay off him, I wasn’t prepared for it either.” I mutter, not even opening my eyes to see Darry glaring at me.
“When I want my kid sister to tell me what to do, I’ll ask, so shut it.” Darry snaps, I look at Ponyboy with an apologetic look. He just shrugs. But I close my eyes again and shut up.
Darry had always been strict with me and Ponyboy. I didn’t really talk to any of them as much. I tried to help Soda when Pony and Darry argued, I knew he was stressed from being a mediator.
“Next time take one of us with you, any of us will.” Two-Bit says, my presence once again being forgotten.
“I probably would’ve been worse off without her, she was tuff.” Pony says. Soda glances back at me with a concerned arch of his eyebrow.
“Still.” Two-Bit says.
I zone out a bit as the conversation goes, my mind always seems to drift. I end up being invited to hang with Dally, Johnny, and Pony tomorrow night. Where? No idea.
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I clean up after dinner while Ponyboy does his homework and Soda gives Darry a backrub. Soda could put anyone to sleep if he wanted to, even me. I avoided them though. I didn’t want them to get concerned if they realized just how ease it’d be to get me to sleep for a while.
Darry worked too hard, we all thought it. Me and Soda did whatever we could to help while Pony focused on school.
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I can hear Ponyboy and Soda talking through the walls. I can’t make out what they’re saying though. I lay on my side facing away from Darry. It was nearly every night that I tried to figure out other ways to save money, and legally. We were all screwed if we got into too much trouble with the cops.
My head still hurts, I hoped it’d be more quiet now that it’s night. I can feel the bed dip as Darry gets into his own side.
I wait until I’m sure he’s asleep before carefully getting out of bed. I grab a box underneath the bed and open it. It mostly has sewing stuff.
I learned how to sew from mom, so I started doing it now to save some money. If a few shirts got too small? Cut them in half down the neck hole and sleeves, then sew the other shirt that also gets cut in half. It provides a bit of extra room which means me and Pony can use the shirt for a bit longer.
I’ll use the rest of the scraps to make shirts when I have enough. I saved every piece of fabric that the others thought couldn’t be reused. Most of my shirts are my patchwork ones at this point because I didn’t want Ponyboy to get bullied for having scrappy clothes at school.
I slip the new shirt into a laundry bin, none of them ever noticed I was doing it. Well, Soda might have, he asks me to patch holes in his and Pony’s clothes occasionally.
I go to bed once I’m finished. My head hurts a little less.