An Unlikely Allie

Chapter 4

Sodapop's POV

It was a slow morning at the DX. Steve was checkin' his hair in the mirror, makin' sure it was in place. He spent more time on his hair than anyone I know, includin' broads.

After he finished, we went into the garage to work on a mustang that some soc brought in for an oil change, "Whaddya think Soda? Should we tell em the whole starter is shot and make some money?"

"And when he wants to look at it?" I asked in an amused tone.

Steve reached into the car into the hood, pulled out the spark plugs and cut a wire on the distributor, "It's busted now," he grinned his toothy grin.

I couldn't help but bust out laughin. That was my best bud for ya. The phone start ringing and I went back up front, "DX." I answered

"Ssss...Soda?"

"Pony? Pony? What's wrong?" I could tell by his voice somethin' wasn't right. "Pony, where are ya?"

"Hos....hos...hospital."

"Are you hurt?" I was trying to keep my voice as calm as possible.

"Phae," I heard him breakdown. I just listened as he sobbed on the phone, "so much blood..."

"Pone, I'm on my way." I hung up and ran into the garage, "Steve!" I yelled, "I need your car! NOW!"

"Woah, Soda what's wrong?"

I started freaking out, "I gotta get to the hospital. Something's wrong with Phaedra."

"You ain't driving like that." Steve spoke calmly. "I'll drop ya off. Keep me posted." He said when he dropped me off. I barely responded as I slammed the door shut.

I ran into the waiting room and saw Pony, sitting in a chair, head in his hands. Darry was pacing around the waiting room. His face taut with worry. "What happened? I demanded.

Pony started crying, "Phae," was all he could say.

I threw my arm around my baby brother and looked at Darry. "Phaedra left for school early. She got jumped. It's bad, Soda."

I felt my face pale, "Did they rape her?"

"I don't think so, but they beat her bad. Cut her face up too." I could tell Darry was trying to be strong, but he just as terrified as I was. "I signed consent form for surgery if needed."

I sunk down next to Pony, tears filling my eyes, "does the gang know?" Darry shook his head, "I'm gonna call Johnny and Steve. They can call the rest."

Steve's POV

I knew something was wrong the second Soda came into the garage. I've only seen him like that one other time; the night his parents died. It was awful. Soda called me a little later and told me what little he knew. I felt sick. I told Soda that I would call Two-Bit and Dally. I wasn't surprised Johnny was all ready on his way. He and Pony were best friends and from what Soda said, he was a wreck.

I called Two-Bit and was relieved when he answered, "Hey Two, you gotta get to the hospital. Phaedra got jumped real bad."

"Is she ok?" There was no emotion in his voice at all.

"I don't know, man. I'm tryin' to get someone to cover me so I can go. It don't sound good."  I paused for a second, "can you bring some new clothes for Pony?  Soda said he's cover in blood.

Two-Bit hung up and I called Dally, but didn't get an answer. I went to into the garage. I felt my temper rise. I kicked over my toolbox and punched the side of the garage. I was gonna find the fucker if it was the last the I did.

Darry's POV

One by one the other members of the gang trickled in. It took some worry off of me as Pony and Soda both had their best buddies with them.

I paced back an' forth. I felt like we had been waiting forever when the doctor came out, "family of Phaedra Curtis?" A short, balding man came out from the back.

Pony shot up and was over there first, "is she ok? Can I see her? What's wrong? Is she ok?"

I squeezed his shoulder, "let the guy talk."

"She is resting right now. You can see her, but try not to overwhelm her. She ruptured her appendix. We removed it and were able to stop the bleeding. The gash on her face," he paused, "there are a lot of nerves in the face, when she got cut, a lot of those nerves are damaged. The left side of her face is paralyzed. Eating, drinking, and talking will be difficult as a third of her mouth is paralyzed. She can blink so that's a good sign that something is working." The doctor pulled me aside, "physically she will heal, but mentally it's going to take time. If you need anything, here is the phone number of a good psychologist. Also, this is the second attack of this nature. I already filed a report. The police will be by to ask some questions." He patted my shoulder and walked away.

"So...I guess we can go see Phae, but she's sleeping." We all walked down the hall, silently to her room. I stopped at her doorway. She was laying in bed, with IVs stuck in her arms, she had dried blood in her hair. The bruises on her upper arm were obviously fingerprints, her face was one big bruise. I swallowed the lump in my throat, relieved that the stitches were bandaged. I sat down next to her bed and held her hand, "I'm here Phae. Your big brother is here. I'm not goin' anywhere."

Pony sat on the other side of her, he brushed her hair back and tucked it behind her ear, "you and me, Phaedra, it's you and me against the world."