BLACK SHEEP | DW

041.

"my darling, you will never be unloved by me. you are too well tangled in my soul."

"why," was all venus could ask tim, over and over again. "why?" she questioned again.

it was a trivial question. one word saturated in so many answers, so many possibilities. she wanted the long answer, he gave her the short one.

"that son-of-a-bitch slashed my tires," he grumbled trying to push past the girl that had stood in his way stubbornly.

venus found herself thinking, if she made it through this year, it would surely be a victory. fighting— it was all around her. when sylvia poured her drink on the girl, when johnny got jumped, when Dally fought reggie, when reggie punched her, when pony got jumped... and now, tim wanted to fight Dally.

insane. venus became insane. she couldn't think anymore without her default being to protect that stupid boy. "can't you call it even!?" she exclaimed, trying to stop him once again. "you got him arrested for the gun! you slept with his girlfriend! can't you call it even, tim?"

it was still. all was still for just a moment, and for a heartbeat, venus thought he might let up. little did she know she was in the eye of a perfect storm— heading directly toward the worst part.

angela screamed. that was the first thing that venus noticed. her ear splitting shriek that sounded like someone had just gotten murdered.

for a second, the girl thought it was the scream that made her ears ring.

the next thing she noticed was the ground, and how the back of her head pressed into the blades of grass. she felt the pressure, building up at the back of her neck, and exploding spurts of pain through her nerves.

then, when she brought her arms down to steady herself, she felt the first signs of bruising in her shoulders. like someone had stuck their thumbs there and pressed as hard as they could.

the last thing she noticed, was tim, walking towards his car, telling her to— "stay the hell out of my way," with traces of ferocity.

it was then she was able to piece together the picture, like the scenes of a movie were all scrambled up and she was able to put them into chronological order. tim shoved her, right to the ground.

the pain wasn't bad. at least, it wasn't anything compared to the time reggie had decked her in the face, but it still hurt. perhaps it hurt more that it was coming from someone she knew.

the thought in her head perpetually rotted inside of her, and turned sour quickly, refusing to come out. she was angry. angrier then when she yelled at Dally in the jail. angrier then when her mother left without a simple goodbye. angrier then when those socs were picking on her at the drive-in.

the feeling that bubbled inside of her could not be kept down much longer. she was going to blow up.

but, she wasn't impulsive. she didn't snap at angela when the girl helped her up. she didn't waver even a little as she sped off towards the nightly-double. she didn't even let it show that she was absolutely seething when she approached the boys who sat in the metal folding chairs.

it was coming, but it was calculated.

"hey venus," ponyboy said quietly, while other movie-goers urged her to sit down. she didn't. standing with her arms balled up in tight fists, she couldn't unfurl her fingers for even a second. "you okay?" he asked, unsure.

nodding simply, the girl crossed her arms as she gained her composure, only slightly noticing the two girls who sat in front of her friends. "hey cherry, hey marcia," she said simply, but didn't look at them.

"hey venus?" cherry greeted, looking to her confused, before turning back forward. "sit," the girl seemed to notice the twitch in her eye, and motioned for the chair next to her.

though she obliged, hoping that people would stop yelling at her to stop blocking the screen, she still turned around in her seat— facing her friends. "tim's looking for you," she muttered, focusing on nothing but her breath.

Dally leaned forward, closer to her. "how do you know?" he questioned, wanting to get more out of the girl.

venus only partially took notice to cherry and marcia's pensive stares, and ponyboy's look of pure confusion, and johnny's grimace. "he knows you slashed his tires," the girl tried to form the sentences. "he's looking for you. i told him he was being ridiculous and..." she drifted off.

like he was waiting for her to continue, he motioned his hand in a get on with it kind of way. "he gave me this," she brought her hand to the back of her head slowly, rubbing it against the uncauterized wound that bled. she showed him the crimson color on her fingers, making ponyboy gasp.

"tim did that?" pony leaned forward now too.

when she nodded, Dally threw his fist into the chair, standing up and grabbing her arm. "hey! cool it, pal!" some guy yelled, but he didn't hear him. Dal only saw red.

"where you going?" johnny called after them, making venus shrug as Dally pulled her away from the movie.

like an invisible thread between the two, she felt it tugging. tugging at her heart. and she noticed what this was. war.

of course in a more crude sense.

but war was what happened when words fail. Dally might not have known the right things to say, and maybe he didn't speak eloquently with a careful tongue, but what he did show was through his actions.

and his actions— going to find tim and beat the absolute shit out of him— showed venus that he lied.

he had always been lying to her.

when he told her to stop writing him. when he swore they weren't friends. when he wanted her to stop helping him out. when he was infuriated with her for visiting him.

it was all lies.

and that was it. in this world, there were so many phonies. the fake people, like bob or cherry, that pretended they were people they weren't. people liked them.

but people hated Dally, because he was real. because he didn't spare feelings. because he treated everyone the same. because he didn't lie, and was unapologetically who he was. that's why people didn't like him.

maybe this won't work out, venus supposed. maybe right now would be the nicest thing Dally would ever do for her again. but she found what it was to understand, and be understood, and it thrilled her.